Jagged Alliance 3 Preview (Turn-Based RPG) – In this Jagged Alliance 3 Preview, I’m going to run through the gameplay mechanics and combat of the upcoming turn-based tactical RPG, which could potentially be a worthy sequel to Jagged Alliance 2. I’ll also talk about features that are similar to the original games as well as some elements, which can be improved down the line. If you’re curious about whether or not Jagged Alliance 3 lives up to its predecessors, then this article is for you!

Jagged Alliance 3 Preview (Turn-Based RPG)

Jagged Alliance 3 Preview – What Is Jagged Alliance 3?

Jagged Alliance 3 is a Turn-based Strategy, Tactical RPG, which is set in the fictional country known as Grand Chien. Rather than having to fight against a prominent dictator, players will find themselves in the middle of a grand plot to search for and save the abducted President Alphone Lafontaine from an enigmatic figure referred to as The Major, with the help of several mercenaries.

Just like in Jagged Alliance 2, you’ll be recruiting highly skillful people including Mechanics, Doctors, and Explosive Experts, to name a few. There’s also an equivalent version of the tactical screen, which allows you to control the passage of time, repair damaged items, and tend to the injuries of allies. What’s more, is that the turn-based tactical combat system is meticulously put together from letting players utilize multiple kinds of firearms to closely managing their next moves based on the Action Points they have left. Jagged Alliance 3 aims to deliver an experience that harkens back to the good old days of strategy and shooting. And this doesn’t come as a total surprise since the writer is none other than the Game Director of Jagged Alliance 1 & 2, Ian Currie.

In Jagged Alliance 3, the build that I played didn’t have a complete set of character voice lines available and so some banters and conversations were diluted in the background. The mercenaries you would hear weren’t captivating enough or enticing to listen to either but I’m hopeful this will change when the rest of the voice lines and interactions have been added later on.

When it comes to visuals and design, Haemimont Games has done right by considerably improving the game’s overall aesthetics. Most especially, I do appreciate the biome diversity and day and night cycles that come with exploring different sections of Grand Chien. From the jungles at night to the dry and desolate mines during the day, players are going to want to discover what this war-torn country has to offer.

Jagged Alliance 3 Preview – Character Recruitment & Progression

In Jagged Alliance 3, there are two ways to recruit mercenaries, one is via the A.I.M. Database while the other is through the I.M.P. Web. The Association of International Mercenaries or A.I.M. provides a list of people you can recruit based on their stats, perks, equipment, and expertise. For those of you who have played the earlier Jagged Alliance, you’ll notice a couple of returning characters such as the Explosive Expert Barry Unger and Doctor Fox Guzzman, which are nice treats.

But if you prefer to customize your character from scratch, then it’s better to opt for the Institute for Mercenary Profiling or I.M.P. Here, you’ll be answering a Personal Evaluation Test or P.E.T. to identify your personality type, dominant psychological need, and finally, spirit animal. With this information, the system will generate a character and have his or her stats and perks tweaked accordingly!

When it comes to character progression, Jagged Alliance 3 allows characters to deviate from their initial specializations based on the stats they learn along the way. Similar to the older titles, some of these stats alongside their corresponding effects have been retained. For instance, Leadership continues to influence the rate at which militia is trained, whereas Marksmanship still determines the preciseness of a gunshot.

To increase a stat’s value, you’ll need to consistently perform the actions associated with them, or have another character with a higher specific attribute teach you. In doing so, you’ll gain access to more powerful perks when you level up. For example, Kalyna’s high Agility can improve her Free Move when she makes a Melee Attack or if she were to wear Light Armor only. Note that there are also perks given to the characters right from the very beginning called Traits and Talents.

Traits are personality quirks, which don’t have major implications and are often useful outside of combat. Like Barry, he’s a reliable hacker and is adept at disarming landmine traps to prevent further injuries. On the other hand, each character has a defining Talent that’s only unique to them. Because Barry is into bombs, he has the ability to craft 1 Shaped Charge every now and then whereas the sharpshooter Kalyna can effectively deal damage against armed opponents.

There are a lot of different pathways a single character can take, and the classless system certainly makes it more interesting. From changing the core stat of a mercenary to deciding the proper perks that will synergize well as their level increases, players have a ton of flexibility when it comes to effectively managing their team.

Jagged Alliance 3 Preview – Gameplay

Jagged Alliance 3 retains several familiar gameplay elements from Jagged Alliance 2 that’ll make fans excited for the sequel. This includes features like the SAT View to make strategic decisions as well as gain insightful information on the surrounding area.

SAT View & Intel

The SAT View shows the overall layout of the entire map of Grand Chien. Here, you’ll get to decide where your teams should go, meaning, if they ought to walk on foot or set sail to another part of the gigantic country. There are also different ‘Operations’ or a series of activities that you can assign characters to while they’re not embroiled in combat.

As mentioned earlier, doctors can treat wounds provided that they have enough medicine while other mercenaries can scout the area to gain additional supplies and know the precise positions of enemies. Scouting works well with Intel since you can use this information to hunt down good-quality loot and understand the terrain of particular locations. Making use of the “Overview Camera” lets you survey a version of the city to quickly spot points of interest.

Moreover, you also have the option to train the local population to defend themselves against invasions from the Legion who is working for the Major. However, while this is ongoing, you won’t be able to explore other sections of the map unless you split occupied characters from their current squad or stop the Operation altogether. Remember though that they can still participate in combat encounters.

The beauty of the SAT View is you can pause and play activities to think things through. One of the advantages of doing so is to allow exhausted characters from excessive exploration to rest in order to remove the negative effect of having reduced AP. Or you can gauge whether or not you need extra income to renew mercenary contracts since growing your band of misfits doesn’t come cheap.

Blood Diamond

In terms of making money, Jagged Alliance 3 will have you liberate diamond mines from the Legion to take advantage of. The higher your Loyalty points are with neighboring settlements by driving away this antagonistic group, the more profit you’ll take home. Additionally, looting and completing tasks for NPCs will reward you with money but this won’t be as sustainable and reliable as taking ownership of the mines.

Tough Choices to Make

Similar to other classic RPGs like Fallout, there are tough conversations in the game that characters will need to engage in as the story progresses. Oftentimes, these are unavoidable, especially since you have to interact with others to identify the whereabouts of The Major.

Depending on whom you speak with, your popularity and reputation will soar but you’ll end up inevitably antagonizing someone else. In one scenario, I was able to intimidate an NPC, who moments later, I encountered once again. Instead of gunning down my group, I made him surrender his weapons by capitalizing on his fear. As I’m also constantly reminded by the game in the middle of dialogue, choices have consequences and so I imagine that the repercussions, later on, will be harder to swallow.

Combat

The next feature I’m going to discuss, and one that I think is the best part of Jagged Alliance 3, is the turn-based combat system. Battles are initiated when your squad ends up occupying the same space as your opponents’ in a bid for control over that section. You have the option to hit auto-resolve if they’re weaker than you, otherwise, you’ll need to surge forward and fight ahead.

Here, combat happens in real-time, and similar to other turn-based games, every movement and action consumes a limited set of Action Points whether it involves changing the character’s stance to blend into the background for cover or throwing grenades at a group of enemies. At the start of every round, you recover your Action Points unless you get penalized based on the status effects you’ve incurred.

There are a number of things that can affect your performance with the environment and weather effects taking the top seed. Fighting during the day while the sun is still shining is the most optimal condition because you can clearly see everything. But this drastically changes at night when your vision is considerably skewed, making sources of light a must-have to raise the accuracy of your shots. Moreover, an effect that hampers effectiveness is the rain, which increases the likelihood of your gun jamming while you’re shooting, thereby wasting your turn to fix it.

Another interesting aspect of combat in the game is shooting various body parts of the target to either deal greater damage or inflict a condition such as Inaccurate when you aim at their Arms. You can also blow up objects and walls by throwing explosives, which makes the world highly reactive to your actions.

However, what needs to be improved on is the absence of a “% Chance to Hit” indicator. This shooting success (or lack thereof) is based on several factors like the character’s Marksmanship stat, range from the target, and whether or not the enemy is crouched. You also need to account for the armor and body part of your opponent and your weapon’s fire rate. Even if you’re standing in front of them, and you’re only a few grids away, you can still miss your shot. As such, the unpredictability can be frustrating, especially when the odds are stacking up against you and your only chance of survival is to make precise shots in the coming turns.

But as confirmed by Haemimont Games several months ago, this decision is purely intentional in order to avoid XCOM-like qualms. Who can forget the 99% chance to succeed, which can still result in failure after all? Instead, they’re hoping that people will be more open to taking risks by having minimal information about their hit chances. However, perhaps they would consider leaving in a % range sometime in the future to at least give us a hint of what the eventual outcome would be rather than leaving us blindly fumbling around.

Final Thoughts

Jagged Alliance 3 follows a turn-based strategy system that hopes to capture the spirit of its predecessors in more ways than one. Based on its current gameplay elements, the direction this title is taking seems to be promising from how reactive the world is to the player’s choices and actions, to the flexibility that comes with character progression. There are enough complexities and nuances that’ll keep you invested.

However, there weren’t enough banters and interactions in the first couple of hours between the mercenaries themselves. The main focus was understanding how the game worked. But hopefully, the development of their relationships will be improved in the next updates to truly bring back the magic that the original games had. Despite this, I continue to stay positive about the future of Jagged Alliance 3 because it has notable strengths such as the highly engaging combat and the effects of the player’s choices on the citizens of Grand Chien.

If you’re looking for a game to scratch the itch of classics like Jagged Alliance 2 and Fallout, then Jagged Alliance 3 may just be the title for you. Who knows? We might just know the release date soon enough.

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What are your thoughts on this Jagged Alliance 3 Preview? If you’ve played Jagged Alliance 2, what are you hoping to see in the sequel? Let us know in the comments below! If you have questions, feel free to drop by our Twitch Channel. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to check out our recent content, Elder Scrolls Online Necrom Preview – Arcanist Class and More! and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Gameplay – Light Years Ahead.