WILDFIRE

@LoboNocturno: I really like your photo with the soldier who is equipped with a saber. This group of soldiers would be great as enemies when you look at their outfits. Exotic, colorful but still grounded, serious and not over the top. In JA3 some enemies have really colorful face paints and that is a little bit too much but I guess it is a gameplay decision, so that the visibility on the colorful maps is guaranteed and that you can easily differentiate the enemy squads. Also it is I guess some kind of tribal but I prefer the more grounded outfits on that photo.

Yes Deedee really looks like a comic book nerd and also the GTA guy with the gold chain is a little bit out of place but maybe in context of the story it all makes sense. Right now we dont know. I can only say that I prefer a more realistic look not some kind of Far Cry character design. Sure JA2 also had crazy characters but somehow they felt more grounded.

@Haemimont_Boian: Dont get me wrong I really love your work so far, I just want to point out that dark humor is definitely needed and a big part of JA but in the right dose. If too many characters are too quirky or cartoony that can drift in a goofy direction were it will be no adult story anymore. Sure the characters/mercs must be fun and should also have their funny characteristics but in the end you as a player should take them serious for the most part. JA2 had the perfect balance between serious and humorous. So please keep the JA2 formula that is perfect in character design.

@elenhil: Jagged Alliance 2 is really far away from the new XCOMs, so I really hope that JA3 has nothing to do with these games. They are totally different and I really do not like the new XCOMS compared to JA2. The simplified, generic and limited gameplay, characters and maps of the new XCOM Games absolutely bore me.

Hmm I still do not know what to think about the design of Fox. Maybe it is too early to judge. But with the sunglasses and her smile it looks like a holiday photo. The same applies to the outfit of Hitman. It does not look bad but they do not look like they fight on a battlefield.

@Rui Carrer: I also love the Devs work so far but I also hope they find the right balance between realism and fun. The same applies to the design of the mercs. They should be grounded in reality, tough and serious but some should also have their own funny, crazy side. I hope in the end we get a good mixture of realism and fun.

@Haemimont_Boian: I still hope that most mercs will have a serious background and look?! Sure some quirky characters are ok but overall you as a player must take the mercs serious. Its a gritty, brutal and tough world JA takes place. The mercs are soldiers who risk their lives for money and they are on a serious mission. So I hope you find the right balance. Rainbow Six Siege for example had mostly realistic operators that were grounded in reality in the first years but later they added colorful characters with crazy abilities that did not fit in the world anymore. So please do not follow the same path. Most characters should be believable soldiers who operate in an realistic environment.

@LoboNocturno: Yes the balance must be right. Overall you must take the mercs serious. It should not be a goofy game for kids. Its just an first impression for sure and I dont want to be too harsh but some characters like Fox, Deedee or Livewire look a little bit out of place with their outfits. When too many characters get too quirky you can not take the world or mission serious anymore. Rainbow Six Siege is an good example. The first years the operators were mostly grounded and realistic but later you had all kind of colorful goofy characters with crazy abilities. But its just too much. So I hope the devs find the right balance here. Some quirky characters are ok but mostly they should be serious soldiers.

I was following all the JA projects that came after JA2 and was always in contact with the developers to give constructive feedback. I also know the Bears Pit forum since I guess 15 years. So we are extremely dedicated veterans and try to help as good as we can. My goal is that we all can enjoy the best JA3 we can get and that task can only be achieved when constructive criticism is heard by the devs. We must work together and surely also the veterans opinions can be wrong sometimes. No one is perfect. But together we can find the best solutions. Sadly most of the last projects were not worth of the name Jagged Alliance, even if the devs tried their best. So when you as a veteran poured your heart and soul in it and the result was so disappointing it really hurts. We simply feel burned out. So for every new attempt that tries to create a worthy Jagged Alliance successor we are very skeptical. Is it really worth it? For JA3 I waited consciously to jump on the train. But the more I saw of this project the more I liked it. Many parts of JA3 look great like the beautiful maps, talents, skills, deep combat, destructible environments and so on but elements like some mercs/npcs that are too cartoony, colorful or the missing animated portraits/hire screen need more work. Maybe some decisions are well thought through and just need some explanation. Maybe some things work well but only the future can tell. But the die hard fans studied Jagged Alliance for over 20 years so they know what they are talking about. So if the devs listen together we can create a game that is worthy of the name Jagged Alliance 3.

I hope my man shadow gets a serious look and outfit with his classic face paint. Just like in JA2. I am afraid he gets a cartoony and happy treatment. The design of Wolf is the right direction. In the current dev diary Fox portrait looks like she is on a happy holiday trip and not on a serious mission. Most mercs should be serious and not cartoony. Sure there are exceptions and there is sometimes humor but overall the JA world is still gritty and tough.

Yes the first old game that came to my mind for good radio portraits and conversations was also MGS. I think JA3 needs lively conversations like that. A flickering hire screen and portraits are a must have to get a more authentic atmosphere. Like real radio conversations. Give us some kind of codec. When animated faces are too expensive or hard to create I think this should be possible.

To add some talents to my post here are my ideas: - Marauder: Can find more or rare items on enemies - Negotiator: Can solve conflicts in a peaceful way (conversations) - Mechanic: Can repair weapons and cars - Tracker: Can spot enemies and wild animals in a big perimeter - Boxer: Can deal huge damage with his fists in close combat - Pharmacist: Can create effective medicine out of cheap resources - Jungle guide: Knows the jungle and the weather conditions. No disadvantages in combat by the weather. - Team leader: Influences the squad in a positive way. A morale buff for the whole team. - Radio expert: Can monitor the radio of the enemy and knows which sectors will be attacked in the future. - Merchant: Can get cheap prices in all the shops

@Taurean: I think animated 2D portraits could look good in an 3D environment. To clarify my point of view, I dont want 3D faces for the portraits, that is I guess simply too expensive, could look really bad or is very tricky to create. But yes in my opinion the animated faces are something that sets JA really apart from all the other games. For me that was so special that I still remember it to this day and no one could recreate this lively bond with your mercs and the animated portraits were a very important part in this feature. As CleanAndClear mentioned here in a very clever comment AI could be the solution. It would be cheaper and faster to work with an AI that creates all the facial expressions. When I think about a 2D solution I think about games like the system shock remake or the resident evil 4 remake. Take a look at the gameplay of these games. There you can see some radio conversations. Sure they are not that extremely often and I guess in RE4 they are 3D modeled faces in a video but just to get an idea what I think could look really good.

@Taurean: The point is that these animated lively faces directly talked to you in JA2. I dont think stiff pictures with voice acting can transport the emotions enough. The details on the portraits/faces like blinking with the eyes or that the mercs moved their mouth really gave the dialogues charm that is so unique in Jagged Alliance. Sure the voice acting is as important so I hope the devs choose the right voices for every merc and that the dialogues are well written and directed. We have not seen much JA3 gameplay yet with voice acting so lets see how this will develop in the end.

I like the idea of having special talents for every merc. The mercs must feel unique and the more features we get in this field the more we get real personalities. That combined with their special quirks, conversation options and behavior can help to make the characters really diversified. I guess we get a merc who is a real chatterbox?, so it is totally natural that he has the talent to talk his way out of conversations and has the ability to change the mind of his conversation partner. Or think about a hunter merc who has the ability to tame wild animals who will fight on your side. A merc who is a weapons expert for example could have connections with black market weapon dealers, so that he could organize a special heavy weapon every week or month. There are so many possibilities to create unique mercs not only for combat. Characters who have the talent to organize resources or are leading personalities to train militia could also be very valuable. This will give the game and the characters more depth.

Jagged Alliance has characters with a soul and feelings. You care for your soldiers and that is the huge difference between JA and XCOM. The mercs grow on the heart and are not generic boring units. For me no other game could recreate this special unique formula.

I like that the character model simulates real aiming. The arms with the weapon and the body is moving just a little bit from the left to the right while aiming. No one stays totally stiff in that process only in the last few moments when you shoot at the target. That animation in JA2 looks really nice so why not integrate that in JA3 also, it gives the combat a realistic look.

I watched some JA2 gameplay lately and in the combat I noticed a very special detail. The mercs always sway with their arms from the left to the right while they are aiming. That is a detail that for some might not stand out big when they look at the combat but it really gives these firefights a realistic look. So please Devs let the mercs/enemies sway with their arms just a little bit while they are aiming that will give the combat an authentic and realistic touch.

The special thing about JA is that the mercs talk directly to you. They are not these kind of boring generic units which you can find in XCOM. In some ways I really hate the new XCOMs, because they were so successful while Jagged Alliance had to live in its shadow. But JA is a way better universe with all these unique characters that have these personalities while XCOM in my opinion is only a good turn based game but nothing special. You can feel that these mercs in JA are a part of YOUR team and with all their special quirks, talking and animated faces they were something really unique and special. That is why these lively soldiers are so important to me, because without them it is maybe a good tactic game but not the masterpiece I remember. Today you can find many good turn based games but nothing comes close to Jagged Alliance. So it is absolutely necessary that you keep that unique formula alive.

A resident merc or freedom fighter could not only be a good advisor but also a great recruiter for the militia. He knows the people well and he could get a bonus in militia training. That would help to get an easy entrance in defending your sectors, so that these special characters are very valuable for you team.

Yes some experienced mercs should be leaders who can hold a squad together. Maybe there is even a perk for that. A team full of rookies will get at their limits very fast while a group with a professional leader can overcome tricky situations.

We have not seen much of the morale system yet, so I am really interested how deep the mechanic goes. Do mercs react differently when they get under pressure? Should you even position your tougher mercs in the frontline that is closer to the enemy, so that the weaker mercs wont loose their mind? You could create so many various scenarios with all these characters. Also what if you put a crazy rookie merc in a team of professionals? Will they leave or kill him if he risks the life of all squad members? Fear, anger, trust and experience should always influence the teams morale. For example if a weaker merc gets suppressive fire but has a good bond with the rest of the team he should keep his mind and win the fight but if you have a team where no one trusts each other the fear is greater and so the team could not handle extreme situations.

Yes I am curious what different NPCs we can hire for our team. It would be nice if we could meet special freedom fighters or lone mercenaries who already are working in Gran Chien. You can create so many interesting characters who could sell, repair or craft various weapons, items for us. First we should get the morale high in some areas with completed quests or the people wont trust us. Then we need the right answers in the dialogues so that we can convince the person to work with our team. Maybe we could also get special equipment only from these unique characters. If you kill innocent people and the morale goes down you maybe loose these persons and their equipment forever.

To wait for the night and than to strike with a stealth approach only with specialized mercs and equipment while stormy weather is changing the whole scenery is what I also would love to see. Knives and silenced pistols nothing else.

If you take on the ambitious task and call your game Jagged Alliance 3 you have to know that the fans will have big expectations and you can not blame them for that. That is absolutely normal when you want to continue masterpieces from the past. One big unique key feature from JA1 and JA2 were the mercs and their lifely portraits. They brought charm and atmosphere. It helped building a bond between you and your mercs and was something that you saw the whole time in the game. That was besides the combat a part that most JA fans love and remember to this day and you can not deny that. Why should we have to choose between unique key features from JA1 and JA2? The animated portraits and conversations were a big part of it. It was not a niche feature of mod 1.13. I red many comments in other forums and on youtube where the people asked why this is missing, so I am definitely not the only one. Is it necessary for a good turn based game? No. Is it necessary for a real big successor of JA2? Definitely yes!