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I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299638]

Tue, 21 February 2012 02:14

GASK3T is currently offline

Messages:172
Registered:March 2011
Location: USA

I know I am going to get major flap for this - but I actually like JA BIA. Its not that bad at all. Solid engine. Its a refreshing feel to the JA series. Yes, JA2 1.13 was amazing but it did get old with the mechanics. We cant expect perfection from any developer because there are so many variables and "wants" for this new game. But regardless, it is still enjoyable and I will play this over JA2 1.13 for a while.

I am sure there will be MORE DLC (right now the 4 DLCs are pretty useless) on the way. And yes, the game is screaming to have more weapons and tweaks, but overall this game is fun. So to all those crabby people who deleted it within 5 minutes - get over it. Still fun. And I will argue with anyone that thinks this game is unplayable. Massive potential here.

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Staff Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299648]

Tue, 21 February 2012 04:22

judecca_hel is currently offline

Messages:33
Registered:January 2011

I hate to admit this,too. But I like it more than I thought.

New system is solid, it need some tweaks (in fact,a lot of it) but it has much potential here.

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Private 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299658]

Tue, 21 February 2012 07:21

dinglehopper is currently offline

Messages:134
Registered:January 2008

What! How dare you like it.

Just kidding, it is decent. My main problem is realizing a small amount of additional effort could have made it so much better.

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Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299659]

Tue, 21 February 2012 08:06

Fozzie is currently offline

Messages:183
Registered:April 2010
Location: Germany

The demo at least surprised me, since it turned out the thing was even worse than I had imagined.

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Staff Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299670]

Tue, 21 February 2012 12:28

DaethWalker is currently offline

Messages:98
Registered:September 2003
Location: Rocky Point, NC

LIke it?

Hell, I confess, I'm addicted!! Razz

Razz

75+ hours playtime.

3 or 4 restarts. Deciding on my starting team.

At day 16 I'm only in control of the top half of the map. But I do have 2 full 6 man teams and another 2 man squad.

Does it need work? Yes. But, that can pretty much be said about every game ever made.

And the developers do seem to be trying, they're up to v1.06 and supposedly have at least 2 major patches in the works that will do more than just tweak the game.

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Corporal 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299723]

Tue, 21 February 2012 17:25

GASK3T is currently offline

Messages:172
Registered:March 2011
Location: USA

Thank you for confessing you like it. Glad WE all had the balls to say it.

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Staff Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299729]

Tue, 21 February 2012 18:46

Shanga is currently offline

Messages:3479
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

People come into this game with so many different expectations it's normal that some will absolutely hate it and some will think it's ok.

There's such a shortage of good non-scifi squad games on the market due to the pew-pew-pew madness that BiA should be given a chance just for that.

To give you a short personal example: there are many people who love Fallout 3. I hate it. I am sick of 1st person RPGs. I got bored of Skyrim in under a week and that's supposed to be the coolest thing to hit the planet. And I have a feeling I'll hate Mass Effect 3, too, judging from the demo.

Beside JA2 and Company of Heroes, I've only really enjoyed Dragon Age in the last years. I mean like really savour it. But they managed to mess that one up too. And don't even get me started of the mess they made out of x-com.

So the gaming industry kinda lowered my standards. BiA fails to meet the standards JA2 set. But remember, judged by the standards of JA2, JA2:UB was a major fail too. Two bit story and a quick campaign, whambam thankyou madam.

So although I can't blame people for blasting BiA for not being a true follow-up to JA2, I can see some potential in it. And since there doesn't seem to be another willing party ready to invest 100 million into the franchise to make it the best looking game of all times, I'd say we should take what we have and see what we can do with it.

Moaning forever won't help.

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299789]

Tue, 21 February 2012 22:04

lockie is currently offline

Messages:3717
Registered:February 2006
Location: Scotland

Dunno about the actual game , but the demos hard enough !

On the plus side , scenery really good , figures , weapons all look nice , movement seems as good as it might get . One thing , how do you rotate the battle screen ?

[Updated on: Tue, 21 February 2012 22:05] by Moderator

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299794]

Tue, 21 February 2012 22:21

GASK3T is currently offline

Messages:172
Registered:March 2011
Location: USA

Ha, Company of Heroes is such a underappreciated game. Why they havent made a 2nd one of that frustrates me. Stupid consoles and their lame games killed the market for PC games.

to rotate the battle screen i think you hold alt?

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Staff Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299813]

Tue, 21 February 2012 23:04

Shanga is currently offline

Messages:3479
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

CTRL and ALT are your friends. Hold them and magic happens. Doing the tutorial also helps.

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299814]

Tue, 21 February 2012 23:08

DepressivesBrot is currently offline

DepressivesBrot

Messages:3653
Registered:July 2009

CTRL is actually just an inconvenient replacement if you lack a mouse wheel.

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299815]

Tue, 21 February 2012 23:13

Shanga is currently offline

Messages:3479
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

Btw, if you think militia are useless you're wrong. Mine are all chicks and they strip for me at the flick of a finger!

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299875]

Wed, 22 February 2012 10:48

lockie is currently offline

Messages:3717
Registered:February 2006
Location: Scotland

Tutorial ? Tutorial !! I don' need no steenking tutorial ! Very Happy

Very Happy

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299897]

Wed, 22 February 2012 12:51

Shanga is currently offline

Messages:3479
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

I've bought BiA yesterday off Steam and I had a white night playing it. I took it at a very slow pace, zooming in to watch the scenery.

And boy, I am impressed.

The scenery looks bloody awesome, on par with ANY modern game engine. BiA's remake of JA2 world is also jaw dropping (i am talking about eye-candy, not functionality). Seeing Drassen in a fluid sector brings back the memories of the modders struggling with Big Maps. Only this one makes sense visually.

Heck, I've zoomed into a home and there was a bloody frying pan STIRRING on the gas stove!

Talking about mercs, it's true, someone decided to sacrifice the interface and give the FUGLY faces. They look like my 5 year old tried to draw them. But the 3d models, from isometric perspective, are way way over what we dared to expect from a JA2 mod. I mean you can see clothing details such as different boots, t-shirts, cammo types! Even the slightest detail such as mounting a telescope or a laser sight on a weapon is visibile...

Combat is on par and better than JA2, too. I mean, things go FUBAR extremely fast in BiA if you fuck up. Doesn't matter your squad is wearing spectra armor and have top of the range weapons, if you go 2 vs 5 hoodlooms with some machettes, you will be hacked to death instantly. At least if you play bad and forget to set things as "Guard" (automatic retaliation) on. And I respect that.

So there's a lot to like about BiA.

But then a lot to hate. Interface work is absolutely horrific. And the superb engine is layerd on makes it look even more horrific. Oh that strategic screen... oh that laptop... omg those faces.

Anyway, I am back to playing. And I hope I find at least and equal ammount of things to like as those I'll dislike.

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299922]

Wed, 22 February 2012 14:08

Shambone is currently offline

Messages:6
Registered:February 2012
Location: Oregon

I don't care if it isn't on par with Ja2. What can be? I remember getting the demo in a gamer mag in 1998 and playing it so much that my eyes swelled shut from the prolonged radiation exposure coming from my monitor. I have played every title in the series except the one on the DS. I did the same thing for Fallout and will do the same thing for X-com. These are the games from my childhood. Im nostalgic and ill play any of them even if they suck. Chalk it up to brand loyalty.

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299923]

Wed, 22 February 2012 14:39

Shanga is currently offline

Messages:3479
Registered:January 2000
Location: Danubia

It's just too bad they had this kind of great engine and they slapped such a poor interface on it. Basically most of the bad things in BiA can be solved with a better interface - just give it the options JA2 had and bingo.

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299946]

Wed, 22 February 2012 17:54

Omega is currently offline

Messages:63
Registered:January 2004
Location: Peterborough, England

To be honest I do like the game as well, it has it's flaws (like any other game) but overall I can look past them and for the most part, enjoy the game. I also think that the dev's made the game and then just assumed that modders would do the rest for them, as all they are doing at the moment is fixing bugs (it's their job) and not really adding any content (or extra options such as FOW) that has been requested 1000 times.

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #299980]

Wed, 22 February 2012 21:24

swatman89 is currently offline

Messages:57
Registered:August 2007
Location: Israel ,Jerusalem - tel a...

The problem that its diffcult level is strange after 33% of game you have a lot of money and annoying enemy with strong armor.

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300089]

Thu, 23 February 2012 17:37

TazDevlin is currently offline

Messages:1
Registered:February 2012

I rather like BiA, the fact that I can see all modifications I do to my mercs is very appealing. But my biggest gripe with the game is the interaction between my mercs. As in, there doesn't seem to be any.

That's what really made the JA series a cult classic as far as I'm concerned.

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Civilian

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300098]

Thu, 23 February 2012 18:52

nkoulaf is currently offline

Messages:5
Registered:February 2008

A lot of money + lots of enemies with strong armor.

Sounds like the ideal setup to go in with 2 teams with heavy weapons and grenades. Why see a number called in-game money increase? shoot 120 rockets in a sector (12 mercs X 10 rockets) and tell me if there are any "strong" enemies alive.

It isn't like the first couple of cities and mines are hard to defend! As you said, a LOT of money and the merchants don't have infinite guns, but bobby ray does. So give 20+ people FN FAL + good vest and have Ira stand there and watch if the enemy ever sends enough people to take the central city. If i understand correctly, most peoples problem is that they give militia handguns and no vest (i did that too) and that they arm 3-5 militia and complain about loosing all of them. If you wait and store 10-20 sets of Assault rifle + vest + helmet, and then equip ALL the militia at the same time, they are not to be messed with.

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300410]

Mon, 27 February 2012 10:44

callanrocks is currently offline

Messages:6
Registered:February 2012

GASK3T

Ha, Company of Heroes is such a underappreciated game. Why they havent made a 2nd one of that frustrates me. Stupid consoles and their lame games killed the market for PC games.

to rotate the battle screen i think you hold alt?

they released 3 expansion packs for company of heros and still a few thousand people will be playing at any one time, its not as dead as tribes yet, give it time before they release a sequal

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300412]

Mon, 27 February 2012 10:57

DepressivesBrot is currently offline

DepressivesBrot

Messages:3653
Registered:July 2009

ToV and OF, did I miss something or do you count the main game as well?

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Captain

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300414]

Mon, 27 February 2012 11:18

callanrocks is currently offline

Messages:6
Registered:February 2012

DepressivesBrot

ToV and OF, did I miss something or do you count the main game as well?

whoops only 2 then

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300425]

Mon, 27 February 2012 18:04

350zspec is currently offline

Messages:32
Registered:February 2012

First few days that I was playing this, I was "Meh, this is all they could come up with?" But now, I'm starting to appreciate it, it does need a few tweaks especially most of the features from good ol ja2. I just hope the developers dont give up on this project.

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Private 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #300647]

Thu, 01 March 2012 04:03

UlrichVonBek is currently offline

Messages:16
Registered:March 2012

The more I play it the more I like it. If it was a different setting and not called JA then it would have come in for more praise I think.

I'm using the Blue Sun mod. Even with no FOW with the BS mod things are getting really tough. With FOW I'm not sure how playable it would be, they'd have to cut back the constant growth of enemies. At the moment I'm dealing with 30+ in one go and it's rising.

Constant attacks and having to equip the militia all the time drains my resources. I may have come to a stalling point to be honest. I'm 35% of the way through.

The combat really does grow on you, it's a shame it isn't loaded with all the features JA 2 has but it's still good fun. I think this day an age we should all support developers who are willing to make these sorts of games.

I went into it with little hope, after a fair few hours of playing I find it's become my main spare time eater. Love the animations, even dust kicks up when your running.

Also it's alot more newb friendly than JA2. I personally am quite happy not having to worry about keeping my mercs due to funds. When I first played JA2 having no idea how much money your going to make etc means your not sure how much to spend when hiring your first mercs. No worries here. However it needs a sector Inv and some form of transport from the airport to sectors, as ferrying weapons is a pain. I'd like the training aspect back and I'd also like to see the hospital used for badly injured mercs rather than just speeding up time for a few hours.

I hope it gets more features though and I really hope a sequel is made. The game does have a charm of it's own.

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #301033]

Mon, 05 March 2012 19:49

josemp73 is currently offline

Messages:21
Registered:April 2010

I must say that I downloaded from steam and although there are many features that could be improved, in general terms, I enjoy it.
of course, many things should be modified to make it more realistic (a guy with a machete and a bit of stealth is almost a killing machine in this game).
I'm still trying to learn how to get around the game, but in this couple of days i've had quite fun.

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Private 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #301200]

Wed, 07 March 2012 02:51

givemeabuzz is currently offline

Messages:42
Registered:March 2003
Location: California

After playing JA, JADG, JA2, & JA2UB thousands of times, I've decided to give BIA a shot. my big question is, in the "plan & go" system, how do I make it "go" after my plans are made/

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #301217]

Wed, 07 March 2012 09:45

Fozzie is currently offline

Messages:183
Registered:April 2010
Location: Germany

How about pressing SPACE again? Wink

Wink

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Staff Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #301463]

Sat, 10 March 2012 09:37

berowe is currently offline

Messages:1
Registered:February 2012
Location: OH

I love this game! I hope that the modders really embrace it and make some cool stuff. I've lurked here a while so I hope it will be a hub for Jabia in the future too!!!

I was just on metacritic and am trying to figure out where the heck all of the JAbia haters are coming from! The player reviews there are so polarized... it seems like half of them are ratings of 0 with the review being something banal: "teh sux. is not JA2 1.13. merc portraits suxk"

I'm just glad to see a bunch of fans. Can't wait for the new patches/dlc/mods.

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Civilian

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #301498]

Sun, 11 March 2012 01:39

ib2cool is currently offline

Messages:3
Registered:April 2001
Location: Melbourne, Autralia

Yes, I love this game, just taking my time to enjoy it. Upto day 31, 20 mercs on my roster, 10 sector maps to go.

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Civilian

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #302047]

Tue, 20 March 2012 17:31

Walrick is currently offline

Messages:1
Registered:March 2012
Location: The Netherlands

For rotating the battlefield press the Alt-key.

The cursor will change into an arrow pointing in two directions .... you can rotate it by moving your mouse.

Greetz, Walrick

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Civilian

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #302049]

Tue, 20 March 2012 17:48

josemp73 is currently offline

Messages:21
Registered:April 2010

just managed to get the million bucks from the kid in balime. now the fun can start. a team of 4 top players and full supplies are on their way to the airport.

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Private 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #302057]

Tue, 20 March 2012 19:08

LokiOne is currently offline

Messages:52
Registered:February 2001
Location: Issaquah, WA 98029 USA

There are times that turn it all around and last night I had just such an experience. I love JA going back to JA1 and Deadly Games and leading all the way up to the present. I have played nearly all of the mods and all of the games with the

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #304095]

Mon, 30 April 2012 22:30

Nixou is currently offline

Messages:56
Registered:January 2008
Location: France

I don't "hate" BiA nor its developpers in any way.

Graphics may be indeed more eye-candy than JA2

Some forgotten sectors of videogame suddenly get audiance and with major founding developpers are able to make unbelievable graphics, like fallout3, war of the roses, etc etc

But JA2 wasn't just the graphics. It was the immersion, the music, the character taking life when they were speaking, Ira disgusted when crows are eating rotten corpses, Razor not understanding that Haywire is really dead.

Different and proper behaviour and personality that every charcter had.

Nomatter how much eye-candy and good gameplay a "modern JA" can be, JA2-1.13 will still remain unbeatable

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #304129]

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:32

Ramon is currently offline

Messages:1
Registered:May 2012
Location: San Antonio, TX

I've been playing Jagged Alliance since the original DOS game was released in 1995. That initial game is one of the few that I've played repeatedly to completion (about 7 times now), and I've even purchased it, Deadly Games, Jagged Alliance 2, Unfinished Business, and Wildfire repeatedly over the years, both in physical (CD-ROM and Nintendo DS chip) and in digital (Steam and Good Old Games) formats.

I bought, several years ago, a game called Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge, in the hopes that it would be something akin to an updated form of Jagged Alliance, but couldn't even find the interest to finish its first combat mission since it felt so counterintuitive (and the mercenaries lackluster voiceovers didn't help, either).

I was afraid that JA: Back in Action would prove similarly disappointing, but so far, after investing 149 hours into it, I must say that I've been pleasantly surprised.

It isn't perfect, it's far from that. The voiceover talent isn't anywhere near as appropriate and professional as that with which the staff of Sir Tech spoiled us, the character portaits look worse than the regular VGA ones from 1995, and some elements of the game upon release, such as the inability to manage inventory and militia on the map screen, are tedium inducing and detract from the series's progression, though I'm thankful that those two latter issues have just, as of a few hours ago, been corrected in an update/patch. Day 1 DLC seems to be the industry standard these days, and though I don't like that trend, I will buy the content upon release (as opposed to later when it's sold at a discount) if the game or franchise to which it's linked is compelling enough, and the Jagged Alliance series certainly qualifies.

But I'm having quite a fun time with this new system, and this is from someone who traditionally strongly favors turn based strategy games over their real time counterparts. The development team for BiA seems to have gotten it right this time, and with a few tweaks (say holding the left mouse button while clicking the right one to move all squadmembers somewhere, or holding the right mouse button while moving the cursor to change where a selected merc faces) it could be a near perfect game engine, with the potential to be recycled and reused in many sequels as well as in titles that are far removed from the Jagged Alliance universe.

As I close this, I'd like to compliment user LokiOne for his review two posts ago on this thread. The in-game anecdotes were entertaining, the autobiographical bits were relevant and of interest, and the entire post was just well written.

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Civilian

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #304169]

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:27

Cocapelli is currently offline

Messages:7
Registered:April 2012

id like to second the post from LokiOne... sums up my ideas of BiA... and he remembered ColecoVision!

and thanks to you Ramon for telling me how to make everyone move to the same spot... that is great stuff.

we Were spoiled by Sir Tech, and jagged alliance is the crown. Even XCom with it's base building can not quite reach the pinnicle that is JA2 1.13.

i guess i have to choose where my money goes, and i would rather pay someone to try to remake a jagged alliance game than pay someone to slaughter Fallout. although i have and continue to replay all my old favorites, i really need and appreciate this newblood to the genre. certainly much better than any other recent incarnation.

not sure how i feel about dlc though. really, how much do they plan on making me pay for this game. i bought JA2 4 times before i got a disk image, but it was a masterpiece of community loved software with more hours being worked on it than company could possibly afford. How much am i going to have to pay for my [tons of guns} checkbox?? Disgraceful. Not even a stupid 7.62mmWP machine gun. dumdumdumdum

in then end i will lay down my bucks and hope for a solid sequal (it took a second sequal for Burnout to make a good game, the first was freaking terrible).

i so wish i could drive one of the hundreds of pristine camouflaged Hummers just sitting around. Trevor would defiantly jump start it if we didnt have any keys.

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Private

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #304237]

Thu, 03 May 2012 06:28

Nixou is currently offline

Messages:56
Registered:January 2008
Location: France

Wow i just saw this vid of jagged alliance online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lVL0muHbl44#!

And the Mercenary portraits are authentic JA2, action points are back too!

Looks amazing...

Edit: Tested it, quite a deception.

OK let's face it, nothing will ever beat JA2-1.13. We had better get over it

[Updated on: Thu, 03 May 2012 14:27] by Moderator

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Corporal

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #304446]

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:53

EXile 150 Abyss is currently offline

EXile 150 Abyss

Messages:137
Registered:September 2009

Perhaps but lowering our standards to this mediocre crap isn't the answer either.

Lets face it, they gave 3D and took the rest away.

It's been over a decade, and I would have welcomed a half decent JA.
But after finally coming around to play it. (I had a boring weekend.) It doesn't hold a candle to JA2, it's not even a light source.
And comparing to 1.13 is actually a killing blow. A group of amateurs (granted having 13 years) did a better job than a company full of professionals. The modders took a good game and made it into a behemoth still going strong after 13 years.

Now I must say I haven't tried the mods yet. Perhaps in another two months when I get bored again.

I'm just glad I downloaded this and didn't spend money on it. Maybe after it drops the price to the level of other indy games. Because that is how it feels. (Bastion was better!)

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Sergeant

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #306553]

Wed, 27 June 2012 17:52

Doc Croc is currently offline

Messages:91
Registered:September 2003
Location: VT

I just wish that BIA let us create our own custom merc like the original did. The new game is more advanced and visually impressive than JA2 but not being able to create my own custom character is a tremendous drawback.

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Corporal 1st Class

Re: I like JA BIA - deal with it[message #307750]

Thu, 19 July 2012 22:25

Doc Croc is currently offline

Messages:91
Registered:September 2003
Location: VT

The game looks great but took eight steps back from JA2. No IMP, yet to see merc, and awful voice acting, and I am not sure if the rebels will be around. I like the game, but it is no JA3.

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Corporal 1st Class

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