Jagged Alliance 3

[skally_wag]

Just purchased Jagged alliance 3. Is it recommended to play the previous ones first, if so which ones are any good? Jagged 1 gold, Rage, Flashback?

 

[Couchpotato]

Not really as it's not a direct sequel. Though if you want to understand the party banter and mercenaries you hire then by all means go ahead. So enjoy your first play-through.

Don't forget there are mods on Steam and Nexus that improve the game as well.

 

[HiddenX]

Jagged Alliance 1 is fun - if you are fine with old graphics.
Jagged Alliance 2 is one of the best games ever made.

 

[Carnifex]

Totally agree with what HiddenX stated above, especially concerning just how great 1 and 2 truly are. Must plays for sure.

 

[HiddenX]

Then there is Jagged Alliance: Deadly Games - a very challenging mission based game with the JA 1 engine.

And Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business - a very short game, but it enables JA 2 mods.

 

[Stingray]

Just purchased Jagged alliance 3. Is it recommended to play the previous ones first, if so which ones are any good? Jagged 1 gold, Rage, Flashback?

View attachment 5993

1, Deadly Games, and 2 (already described by HiddenX) are the only truly relevant ones really.

My take on the others: most JA fans don't consider Back in Action, Flashback, or Rage to be real JA games. Flashback and Rage in particular are complete jokes. Some people thought Back in Action was okay.

But as Couch said already, there's really no need to play the others before 3.

 

[skally_wag]

1, Deadly Games, and 2 (already described by HiddenX) are the only truly relevant ones really.

My take on the others: most JA fans don't consider Back in Action, Flashback, or Rage to be real JA games. Flashback and Rage in particular are complete jokes. Some people thought Back in Action was okay.

But as Couch said already, there's really no need to play the others before 3.

These are the Jagged games available on steam, a little confused, which one is Jagged 2? are the others mentioned above, mods or just not available on steam?

 

[Stingray]

Jagged Alliance 1 Gold in your list is the first one. It also includes Deadly Games.

Jagged Alliance 2 is on Steam too, but it wasn't in your screenshot. The different versions being sold nowadays of 2 are a bit of a clusterfuck, and I haven't kept up with it that closely. There was the original JA2, the Unfinished Business expansion, and then another mod/expansion that came out years later called Wildfire. I see 3 separate JA2's being sold on Steam (JA2 Gold, JA2 Classic, JA2 Wildfire). Maybe this thread explains what's going on? https://steamcommunity.com/app/215930/discussions/0/4638240774905981018/

You might be better off buying these on GOG where they put more effort into making these kinds of games work correctly...

 

[HiddenX]

You can buy Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire - Platinum Bundle on Steam for 5 bucks.

This includes the JA 2 classic.

 

[Stingray]

Interesting that the classic version is being sold as "DLC" on top of Wildfire now Judging from the threads, I guess that package doesn't include Unfinished Business? Because of Win10/11 issues with it?

On a side note, as a first time player, you probably don't want to play Wildfire...you'd want classic. Plus UB if possible.

 

[HiddenX]

I have the Gold Version, too - I think this includes Unfinished Business.

I think you need the Stracciatella Mod to work with Win 10.

 

[skally_wag]

Thanks Guys. Not sure why, but 2 never showed up in the ultimate bundle, anyway appears I already have it.
So its best to play Jagged 1 gold first then jagged 2 wildfire, then onto Jagged 3, with maybe a bit of modding on 1&2.

 

[Stingray]

You can buy Jagged Alliance 2 Wildfire - Platinum Bundle on Steam for 5 bucks.

This includes the JA 2 classic.

I have the Gold Version, too - I think this includes Unfinished Business.

I think you need the Stracciatella Mod to work with Win 10.

From the discussion threads, sounds like the Wildfire version on Steam (with the Classic "DLC") gives you v1.06 of classic. While the Gold version on Steam gives you v1.12 of classic + UB.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Is it worth playing through the old ones? How have they aged?

I recently had a kick through Disciples 1/2, but figured part of the reason I still loved them was because I also played them 20 years ago. I wonder how the old JA games would feel now to fresh eyes. I played through 10-15h of JA3 and liked it, but figured the old ones would be hard to enjoy nowadays.

I did play some Silent Storm back in the day, which I understand is similar?

 

[Stingray]

Silent Storm was one of the best JA-like games.

 

[danutz_plusplus]

Silent Storm was one of the best JA-like games.

I only spent a bit of little bit in it, and then I tried going back to it 10+ years later but it felt considerably aged.

Seems I also have quite a few JA games gathered across the years.


The bag thing is, everything competes for your shared time pool. Too many choices.
Any time spent on these is time not spent on anything else. And I tend to be very indecisive, especially as I get burned out.

 

[skally_wag]

I only spent a bit of little bit in it, and then I tried going back to it 10+ years later but it felt considerably aged.

Seems I also have quite a few JA games gathered across the years.
View attachment 5997

The bag thing is, everything competes for your shared time pool. Too many choices.
Any time spent on these is time not spent on anything else. And I tend to be very indecisive, especially as I get burned out.

I'm old school but J1 does look awfully dated, are there any decent mods?

 

[danutz_plusplus]

I'm old school but J1 does look awfully dated, are there any decent mods?

No idea. But whenever I play any older game I first do a bit of searching for ultrawide and hires mods, just in case. Usually there's something to at least make it run decently on modern hardware.

 

[bjon045]

Just play Jagged Alliance 3 first. There is absolutely no reason to play them in release order as there is very little linking them together. There is a couple of NPC's in Jagged 3 that are from Jagged 2 and might miss a few tiny in-jokes. If you bounce from Jagged 2 it is very unlikely you will enjoy 3. If you don't like 3 you may not enjoy 2 as 3 is slightly simplified from 2 just with significantly better graphics.

On the other hand JA Wildfire is worse than standard JA2 in most ways - bugs and the new mod content is very patchy. If you have to play JA2 just play JA2 Gold but I would recommend playing 3 first and then 2. No reason to play 1 as 2 and 3 are both superior to 1. I also recommend staying away from the fan made 1.13 patch unless you are a veteran of JA2. Stick to pure JA2 Gold and play with tons of guns turned on.

 

[Carnifex]

The gold version is the way to truly enjoy the JA classics.