GODSPEED

Now you've got my curiosity pumping!

And the music is only coming out of one speaker for you? Unfortunately, I haven't had such an issue with audio in games. Only recommendation I would have is to uninstall you audio driver, and simply re-install it. The very few times I've had audio glitches, that has resolved the issue 99% of the time.

It should be fixed when you receive the audio cable for the other speaker.. 😅

Yep! Always my favourite part of the game. I guess THIS is the part that is referred to most when we talk about JA having that "Action Movie" vibe... being able to take out military units, using pistols and SMG's. Arnold Schwarzenegger style! 😅 'Cause once you hit the high-tech and modern weaponry and a team of pro's, overthrowing a dictator is somewhat "realistic". 😊 Put it this way, I prefer the way writing was done in JA2, by a mile! The way the NPC's speak, the lines they say, the interjectins your mercs share.. they feel - for the most part - like what the person, with the description of their profile, would say.. it feels grounded enough to feel like a realistic personality. JA3 has that modern treatment (and I'm not using "modern" in the good way) like every movie now has; Every movie that is released within the past couple decades is always over-the-top, humour that tries too hard. It's like they cranked it a few too many notches. You watch and in your mind just go... "guys, give it a break, your not helping me feel immersed in your story!" Movies with Arnold, Stallone, etc... weren't nearly as bad. In JA2, I never once had a cringe moment, even after 18+ years playing it, none of the lines or dialogues feel cringe. In JA3, quite a few of the mercs have lines that I feel just way too poorly written. Trying too hard to be funny. It lacks the subtlety of JA2 in that department.

I'm probably not all that far into the game.. I'm a slow player and a completionist as well. So I tend to have to explore every nook & cranny. But after nearly 30 hours of play, while the game mechanics don't feel Jagged Alliance, the balance does. Actually, it feels like what I think Jagged Alliance should feel.. hitting a wall, scrounging and at some point and then bathing in money (I mean, after all, mines are extremely profitable)!! I'm enjoying the balance, and to be honest, my only regret is not having started the game in a harder difficulty. I had debaterd going Commando to start, but I wasn't sure if the game was going to be one of those like Xcom 2 with timed crap and super tight puzzles. Next time I play, it'll be the hardest diff, because on the standard one, it's kind of a breeze.. and I don't even have a GOLD AIM account. Nor do I plan to. Half my mercs are recruits. Same as JA2... My issue is that, some changes in mechanics, I don't like, but at the same time, they bring another positive I do like. I don't like "perks" and unique abilities, feels too gamey/xcom... but at the same time, it brings fresh life to playing with weapons that we're harder to keep playing with in JA2. Pistols, shotguns, smgs (MP5K, UZI) now feel like I can play with those over the long term, simply due to some perks. Hey, it's a little bit of give & take right.. Really enjoying the game though!!

I seem to come across so many comments like the one below on this forum: I usually don't reply or ask within the topic, because it would completely sidetrack the original post topic. So, my question to those who don't like 1.13, why do you guys hate it so much? What is it about 1.13 that takes away from JA2 without 1.13? Does playing with a higher resolution kill the immersion? Does having some quality of life features like many more hotkeys kill the joy of JA2? Does having the option of seeing the complete cone of vision of your merc, instead of the select square take away from JA2? Does the option of having more weapons create too much of a problem? Does the option of having a new type of inventory kill your joy? Does the option of having higher difficulty with more enemies kill the fun of the game? Does the option of having a large counter-attack on drassen halt your fun? Is the addition of the JA1 roster a deal-breaker? Is it because the .ini tweaking is too much for your interest in the game? Does the alternate bullet graphics make the game feel too fast-paced? Honestly, I'm asking, because I really don't understand why there would be so much hate for a mod that simply externalized the files to make other modding easier, I don't see why 1.13 would be such a change from base JA2. The mercs haven't changed, the locations haven't changed, the banter hasn't changed, the guns haven't changed, the story hasn't changed... 1.13 simply enables the USER to customize his experience to his difficulty level. It opened the door so that you can decide that YOU want more enemies, YOU want the Drassen Counter-Attack (which actually makes sense, because in the dialogue cutscene, she does say she will send a big force to take it back). So, how does a "mod" that simply offers YOU the ability for Quality of Life improvements and higher resolution take away from the soul of JA2? As far as I know, with 15+ years of playing JA2 1.13 pretty religiously, the reason I play 1.13 is that the soul of JA2 is intact, while providing me with options (I decide what I want) to make the game harder. I'm NOT looking for a 'fight'.. more to understand such thoughts, as in my mind, 1.13 is what has kept JA2 pretty much alive and still pumping out content to this actual day. Without it and it's push to constantly tweak the file system and externalize content, there would be way less full mods for JA2, way less attention to the game as well.

I guess you have to wait for multiple persons to have finished the game, or the strategy guide. I don't know if my route was the "best".. but once I left the island, I "felt" like the game WANTED me to go to the nearest port.. ..so I went to the mine up north instead. 😅 Turned out to be a decent choice I think. It wasn't the "easiest" set of battles, but it was a good way to capture some income quickly. ..and I've been floating in money since, even started a second squad and haven't even needed another mine yet.

Yes, especially that so many characters speak a "french" in the game. 🤣 Would have loved his "opinion" on their French..

Come to think of it... ...you hit the nail on the head!

+1 You've written a very well balanced review. I agree very much with most of your views here! I think this is the only point where I disagree. In JA 1 & 2 you only had unique portraits, but everything else was very generic and same as even the npcs (just colour difference). I also thought I was going to REALLY HATE the new merc looks.. but to be honest, after a few hours of playing... I love the choice they made! I think this is also something that has controlled how many mercs they had to choose to create. Having such unique looking 3d models means it was surely way more work to create the mercs that if they were simple models without defined features. I know this is not the popular idea, but I really like the choice! I feel it fits with the idea that mercs in JA are unique, instead of generic like XCom. XCom needs colours because they are all the same clones.. 🤣 +1 that ^ At least we can always play a second time to experience different mercs and choices.. ..and then we can go back to 1.13 and wait for JA3.5 🤣

Dedee Bombastic.... 🙄 I'm really enjoying many parts of the game. THAT ^ ...was not one of them. I know MANY will correct me and say, "Jagged Alliance is not a military simulation, it was always a spoof on the genre" ..... yyyyeeeeaaaahhhh.... NO! It had humour, but always found a way to feel grounded. A person into explosives just blowing herself up and laughing... it's straight out of a kids show. Pretty cringe moment and I was happy to rid the game of her persona. Devin Connell vs Dedee Bombastic 🤣

I'm not THAT far into the game, so I also don't know if there are aim mercs I meet along the way (please don't tell me), but I think Stephen would have fit in perfectly, especially with his experience as a "Diamond Mercenary". Who knows, I would see him in a "story" further down the line (big DLC or expansion), with him working as security consultant for one of the biggest mines of the region. You would have some moral dilemma to sort out, maybe having to make a choice of having him with you at the expense of huge loss of mine income, or keeping him on board with a huge bonus to profit. Something of the sorts. Stephen and Buns have always been my two most used mercs. Usually have them from day one all the way 'till the end. Very cheap wages, high wisdom, extremely reliable shooters. All around useful at other tasks as well. Also, not too "cartoony", more serious and down to earth.

Huuhh.... Well, here we go! Is everything in JA3 perfect? No! Anyone who says so is deluded. But make no mistake, lots of work was poured into the game. Anyone with even a ounce of common sense could see that. Do I like all the changes in game mechanics, not necessarily. But it also has quite a few strengths of its own. Inventory needs work, yes, we all know this. You are forgetting one important thing. JA2 was all EXTREMELY basic sprites. We did not even have different sprites for different mercs! Mercs looked like anyone else in the game, only differentiation was the portrait and the pants/shirt colour to distinguish between the enemies, milita and mercs. Yes, we had very nice 2D talking portraits; that was VERY unique! Now, it is the opposite, we have "simpler" portraits, but fully animated and EXTREMELY unique-looking mercs. There are so many variety even in the enemy composition. Not to mention way more voiced lines in the game, even from common villagers, not only text box, but fully voiced npc's, even the unimportant ones. The maps, landscape, weather and various effects are extremely well done as well. It's very easy to see how much time and effort was put into that feature alone. Nothing feels generated, but fully handcrafted! All these graphical and sound upgrades over JA2 are way more time-consuming than making straight 2D sprites over 2D assets. In a world were finances, contracts and having to answer to a large publisher, choices MUST be made. Inventory and some UI is not game-breaking, these things can be polished. They focused on the things that mattered, and like ANY game, these things get fixed (yes EVEN our perfect JA2 had many bugs, which is why only GOLD version 1.12 fixed most of the issues). You try to belittle their work by going for some lowball insult (AI generated 🤣), yet you don't even grasp the basic of how time consuming some aspects of the game were to work on. No one is saying the game is perfect... but for a modern JA game, it sure as hell beats what most studios would have done with it!! Be glad Firaxis didn't get their hands on it!!

In JA3, flares are considered "explosives" when it comes to throwing them, select them, and the "explosives" stat is highlighted in the merc portraits. Mishaps happen based on your explosives skill. So, Vicki, with her Throwing Trait, is useless with grenades and flares, because her explosives are low... So all she can throw are knives?? Throwing grenades in JA2 is among my biggest pet-peeves in the game. I usually modified the .ini files to put grenades into the Throwing category instead of Explosives. I get it, a grenade IS an explosive. But, for the game, it should be considered a "knife", same for flares. Explosives is the handling of C4, TNT, arming and disarming explosive traps, etc.. that is so different from pulling a pin on a grenade and throwing it. Grenades should be a mix of Dexterity/Wisdom (mishaps chance), Strength (distance) and Dexterity (accuracy). It's simple in my mind: In combat, it requires good handling and focus not to fumble the pin or drop it. You need to have a good arm to throw it, and very good precise movement to throw it accurately. ie: Mishaps = Dexterity + Wisdom /2 for an average Distance = Strength /by wtv scale they use for distance stuff Accuracy = Dexterity /wtv they use to calculate it +/- various envrionmental or visual or buffs debuffs That's among the things I wish they would have fixed from JA2.

Yes, I've reported it in the bug report of the game (CTRL-F1).

Answering myself 🤣 Here @GODSPEED: Feels WAY TOO OP!!!! Free move after each melee attack... but the punch can also replace a free move?? Feels broken.

I'm also wondering this.. I can take what feels like unlimited FREE PUNCHES with Dr. Q.

I went through this at one point. How I fixed it: Inventory management, made count of what I had. Took away all weapons, put all on the "ground" (sector stash). Looked at how much ammo I had left for each caliber. I even had to resort to going back to pistols with some mercs. MP5, Hi-Power, Shotgun. Only could have one Ak-47 and had 30 rounds with it. So no overwatch, and single-shot only. I got through it.. and to be honest, I'm happy it happened. It taught me a lesson and actually made the game interesting. The next battle, found a little more 7.62 NATO, so I could actualyl give Buns her 98K with suppressor for a couple of takedowns. Slowly getting back in shape. But I control my fire way more, less bursts and I don't rely on overwatch as much (I wish we could manage a weapons fire mode outside of "combat".

@sandman25dcsss Look, I'm honestly NOT trying to be insulting here. I am really really not.. I want to put this kindly, but no matter what, it comes off as being rude.. since you've entered these forums, you're main topic of conversation was about the CtH. Not sure how many posts you've written about it. Even a poll was created and showed how much no onw wants it. You argued and argued and said everyone's arguments are 💩... Now, you have your mod and your CtH info... and you're still houding the forums about CtH. !?! I mean, common man!! What's your goal here, are you just here to troll or something? The game is NOT MEANT TO BE PLAYED WITH NUMBERS! There are perks and situations that you aren't really supposed to "know" beforehand that will automatically cause a miss. As an example, there is a perk (I went to take a screenshot for you, posted below), "Lightning Reactions", that causes a character to dodge the first successful attack against him/her. I don't play with the CtH mod, because this game isn't about numbers. But you should not "KNOW" before taking a shot that it is impossible to hit the enemy on that shot. If you know that, you are defeating the purpose of learning it when in action. Anyways, look man, again, not trying to be insulting here, I'm not here to be abrasive with others, but you're going against the way the game is supposed to be played, you mod it to have a CtH, and then you still manage to come up with complaints. It's a little infuriating. On a more friendly note... Yesterday I came across my first enemy who had this perk. I was like, "oh shit!!!!" lucky for me, Dr. Q was nearby, so the prone enemy got a good knockout. (Guess he saw it coming and decided to lie on the floor, he knew it was going to happen with Dr. Q so close by.. 🤣)

They got the Dragunov wrong though, burst and auto. Anyways..

Common sense. The amount of turn-based games I've played... is this your first turn-based tactical game? If your reticule on the distance slider is way to the right, or too much to the left, you are outside the "optimal" aim distance. I don't really know how to put this kindly... but the game is dead easy. I mean they provide so much more information than they did in JA1 and 2... and it's ALREADY an easier game. Not sure how or why you'd want to make it even easier. The game is already extremely well balanced even if you miss many shots. You choose how you play.. but you aren't playing the "game".. you're playing the numbers. That must suck hard!

Honestly, the game isn't really such a hard game, unecessary I find. There are already so many hints on the screen with the meter for gun range, +/- info... I think there should be a mode in the game to disable the hints actually. But to each his own. I just figure it's best to always try the game the way it is intended before going into mods.

So far, my favorite merc (not all that surprised) is Buns. Her starting cost is extremely cheap! Yet, she has all the right attributes in the right places to be a mainstay in my squad for the entire game. Just like in JA2. In a pinch, her 50 Medical also doubles as a pretty quick (agile) combat medic. And while her Leadership is nothing to write home about, she does have the "Training" trait; she can actually be kind of useful at Training Militia if other mercs are occupied with something else. For the moment, she's been my designated marksman; getting the vast majority of headshots and stealth kills. As a "sniper", her agility is kind of wasted. The Perk that can get her out of Overwatch cones, is not really being used. So, planning on changing up her role to make better use of her mobility. Grunty really likes her! Buns doesn't return the sentiment though. As her JA2 profile says, she really is "prim and proper" and her attitude and comments (similar to JA2) are here as well. Unlike Grunty, who's been completely changed from JA2, she is one of the "serious" mercs which perfectly ressembles herself 2 years prior, which I like!

I think Dr. Q is broken. Twice now, I've been able to make unlimited punches even with 0 AP left. I wondered if it was part of some sort of special move. Because the punching ability seems to somehow be tied to some free moves. But I had 0 (zero) AP, and I was next to an enemy, manage to make 5 punches, 2 of them missing, and killed the enemy, then even prone from a standing position. I manage to "replicate" a similar situation on the next battle. Had zero AP left, manage to "free move" next to an enemy and punched him a few times to death. Kinda fun at the time of it happening, but OP and/or broken if you ask me.

So far, I'm loving the balance of the guns as well... I've got a nice modded M-14, but no more 7.62 NATO to use it... 🙄 I've seen enemies (Pierre I think) carry the FAMAS, but have yet to get my hands on one.