Jagged Alliance - Back in Action

[grumbler]

Are they talking at all about bringing back the PC-based merc?

And do they still have (Igor?) the young Russian merc with he high intel that you basically get to train up into whatever merc you need?  Always enjoyed that feature, with the decisions necessary to allow him to gain experience without being killed 'cause he was a n00b.

[Syt]

RPS has a review:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/14/wot-i-think-jagged-alliance-back-in-action/

Seems rather mediocre at best and not true to the original.

[grumbler]

RPS has a review:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/14/wot-i-think-jagged-alliance-back-in-action/

Seems rather mediocre at best and not true to the original.

I think that "not true to the original" in this case is a silly claim.  The original exists, and is true to itself, so if you want to have a game that is 'true to the original" you can just play the original.

I think the valid complaint is that the changes have not compensated for removing interesting decisions by adding equivalent interesting decisions.  The reviewer at RPS made an important observation, I think when he said that "I've complained about the fog of war before... because of its revelation of the enemy's incompetence at existing."  One of the reasons this game looks so bad to so many reviewers, IMO< is that the lack of FOW means you can see how bad the AI is; in JA2, the AI was bad, but you didn't know it so much because the AI troops running back and forth were not visible.

[Monoriu]

Are they talking at all about bringing back the PC-based merc?

And do they still have (Igor?) the young Russian merc with he high intel that you basically get to train up into whatever merc you need?  Always enjoyed that feature, with the decisions necessary to allow him to gain experience without being killed 'cause he was a n00b.

All the AIM mercs have returned, including Igor.  Problem is, he refused to join me initially.  I have captured 2 towns and only now does he agree (I merely tested it, I didn't really hire him). 

[FunkMonk]

Giant Bomb had an hour-long video quick look on this game:

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-jagged-alliance-back-in-action/17-5666/

[grumbler]

Giant Bomb had an hour-long video quick look on this game:

[FunkMonk]

Yeah not exactly short is it. 

To be fair, I think most of their "Quick Looks" are less than twenty minutes.

[Monoriu]

Captured San Mona and was given 50k.  Hello Raven and sniper rifle.  Maybe I should get Lynx instead

I really don't understand how people can say this is not true to the original.  They even implemented one of the most annoying aspects of JA2 - a train of kids following you around the town and blocking doors 

The AI is bad but I don't recall JA2's AI being anything approaching decent. 

[Monoriu]

I now have 2 more mercs, Iggy who joined for free after I captured San Mona.  Also hired Wolf for his mechanical skills. 

But it now strikes me that it isn't necessary to bring too many mercs into a single battle, unlike JA2.  In JA2, I needed more people because there was no instant healing.  Plus I couldn't see where the enemies were, so I needed to be careful and guard against different possibilities.  These two are probably the worst design decisions of Back in Action.  As things stand, I don't see much point to bring more than 3-4 people into battle. 

I am hoping that they'll change them in a patch. 

[Monoriu]

I am still playing it.  The sniper rifle changes the game.  I was a bit worried that I could just kill the passive enemies from a distance one by one.  The designers are obviously aware of this problem.  Their solution is that the AI can pinpoint the exact location of the sniper, always.  All the enemies within a certain distance of the sniper hit will rush in a straight line toward the sniper.  My tactic to counter this AI behaviour is to snipe from a prepared defensive position.  The sniper must also have a secondary weapon, because sniper rifles are really slow. 

The lack of fog of war not just applies to the tactical battles, but also on the strategic map as well.  I can click on an enemy holding and know the exact number of enemies and their levels. 

I tried to assaut a place that I know was difficult, and was pleasantly surprised that I couldn't take it.  The enemies were higher level, that means better guns and armour.  I divided my guys into two teams of 3, and only one team was invovled in the assault.  Now I know I need both teams.