Wizardry is so immensely cool, that when I saw JA2 for $10, I HAD to pick it up. Haven't done much with it yet, other than load it and dink around the first area. Graphics are dated, game looks tough to master, but it got great reviews way back when.

Opinions please? Greatest thing since sliced bread? Worst thing since dangling chads? Or somewhere in between?

JA2 was my favourite game for about 8 months. I must've finished that game about 7 times. This game was one of the reasons I bought Wiz8.

Jagged alliance 2 was a big bread winner for sir-tech. They stuck with the same engine throughout all the JA games because its for the people who love strategy more than the people who love bells and whistles. One thing you need to keep in mind while playing through that game however...Keep all the anti-Tank rockets you can find...or this game is unbeatable....trust me on that one ;)

Thanks for the tip, I'll keep it in mind. Dated graphics don't bother me, I still enjoy the original Fallout. I tried to play it a bit last night, and it does look like big fun, but the whole time I was itching to get back to Wiz 8. *Sigh* this one will sit on the CD rack for awhile, I'm afraid.


(But I have the PERFECT party now, I swear I do! No more re-starts, I swear to Phoonzang, no more re-starts. But...what if I had both a Bard AND a Gadgeteer)
*Merkin breaks down in uncontrollable sobbing*

I liked JA, JA :D eadly Games and JA2 very much, and I guess I have some tips, too. First, JA2 is a bit different from the earlier games. With the real time parts it is much more difficult to control a tactical enemy approach. While in Deadly Games I used about 6 mercenaries in JA2 I just used 1. I had high agility, dexterity, health and wisdom (which influences learning capabilities). Then, almost all attacks I made were during the nights. I had specialties of stealth and night operations and so it was quite easy to sneak to an opponets back in real time and kill him silently in hand to hand combat. Preferably without weapons to gain more dexterity and strength. You can see if any enemy has seen you after killing 1 by counting the turns you need to get back to real time after disengaging. If it takes 2 turns someone has seen you and they are warned, if it takes 1 you can return to sneak attacks. After some time you can also start firing guns. Its possible to kill even 15 enemies alone, although you'll need Alt-S and Alt-L often [img]smile.gif[/img]
To the tanks later in the game: Even they don't always see you and you don't have to destroy them. They are imobile and can't hit you if you are standing right beside them. The use of explosives is often enough for them.
If you have not patched the game you can set and disarm and explosive and raise your skill to 100. Even wisdom increases by this.
I had much fun playing this comletely other style. Also, if you are male you can get much better hand to hand attack by the martial arts specialties.
I guess that should be enough [img]smile.gif[/img] Hope it helps you a bit.

JA2 is a great game, with plenty of RPG/strategic features that its successor/add-on completely lacked. There was only one thing I preferred in the original JA that was dropped from the sequel: the tendency of mercs to display personal idiosyncracies that could be detrimental or positive. In JA, for example, there was one merc, a sharpshooter, who, if he missed a target, simply wouldn't move despite any of your orders, but insisted on continuing to shoot until he scored a hit. I really liked that. By contrast, JA2's mercs, though fun, are really just a series of stats covered by different graphics and voiceovers.

I absolutely ADORE Jagged Alliance 2! It has become my all-time favorite game. NO two games are the same; the mercs have become old chums (I have favorites I wouldn't dream of taking on a mission without 'em). Yes, the graphics seem dated... but we're talking about a 1998 game here. The game play will never be dated, in my opinion.

Unless you have a real phobia about 2D ISO views, which I personally love, I can't imagine anyone who loves adventure RPG's not adoring this game!!!

My heart breaks that there won't be a JA3.

~Di

It is a great game Don't forget to check the screen with all the bussiness on it for the flower store. It is a crack-up!

JA2 is a great game, there's no question aboutit, if you haven't played it, do so [img]smile.gif[/img]