I was pleasantly surprised by the new Jagged Alliance 3 release last week. It really flew under the radar, but I’m glad I snagged it because it’s been really great so far.
I did run out of cash on the first island, so I treated that as a trial run. Every situation feels fresh, and the RPG elements seem more fleshed out than the new XCOM games.
I’m really liking how open-ended it seems; it reminds me a little bit of the original 2 Fallout games. I’m hoping for a PVP dlc or mod in the future, because (perhaps an unpopular opinion) Deadly Games was my favorite entry in the series; I played against my brothers all the time when I was a kid.
Don’t have time right now and i never played the originals, but i read great things. Seems like a pretty weird mix between mechanics, but great if the developers pulled it off. Glad to hear you’re enjoying it as well!
Is there a story or is it “just” mission after mission?
There is a story that ties the campaign together, mostly acted out through dialogue trees and (so far optional) mission objectives.
The missions are tied together through control of the overworld map. For example, the first fortified position that you are supposed to take has some side quests tied to it that make it’s capture easier. One of these is to stop the fort from buying explosives from a vendor in the area. You can try to talk the vendor out of selling to the Legion or you can kill her; both accomplish the task.
There are morale systems for friendly settlements, too. If you’re working to improve the local conditions, then your mine output is better.
It’s pretty close to the mission/downtime mix from something like XCOM.
Thanks, that sounds like a good mix between story and gameplay.
i played the original and 2, and i love what they did with 3. JA always had a clumsiness to it, but the new one is very nicely streamlined and i usually get the results that i want from my mercenaries. How did you run out of money on tutorial island?? Too many Mercs? Just pick Mouse, a doc, a mechanic and Fidel and liberate everything except the fortress. I try to play as a good guy, but having Fidel in my team makes it hard, that funny psycho. In the end of the Island you should have enough AKs, Rifles and SMGs for the whole Team, scrap what you dont need, i started the main land with a nice plus and long running contracts
I ran out of money by spending too long doing everything on the island before securing a mine on the mainland. I was only $500 or so in the hole, but you can’t charter a boat without cash.
On my second start, I ran to the closest mine possible to make sure I wouldn’t get stranded again.
