Jagged Alliance 2: Unfinished Business

Ok, this may seem a little strange to bring up in a forum related to a completely different game, but I thought since everyone here are gamers, some may have stumbled across JA2: Unfinished Business in their travels.
I found the game at a WalMart a few days ago for a measly 10 bucks and picked it up. The game appears to have come out around the begining of this year, but I never heard much mention of it or praise. I have yet to install it as I'm still very busy tearing through Arcanum, but read the instruction manual from cover to cover. It sounds like another complex RPG with many options to gameplay, and appears to have much to offer, but there's very few MODs supporting it as well, it seems it didn't recieve much publicity.
Has anyone here played the game, did you like it?

 

I have the original JA2, it's the best squad tactical game ever made, IMHO.

I never did get the expansion though. Just never got around to it.

 

UB was, unfortunately, a real disappointment to me. JA2 is second only to Civ2 in my list of faves, and I've spent more hours than I care to remember exploring different ways to get to Meduna. JA2:UB, however, has none of the virtues of its parent. It is short, linear, and thoroughly uninspired. IMHO.

 

yes I just loved jagged alliance and played all the games in it's series. And Unfinished buisness is just a supplement it's not a new part it's only an upgrade. That's why it's so cheap. Over here you can but it for 5 bucks. So if anyone thought buying it he would have a completly new game he was mistaken since this is just another short compilation of missions

 

Me too, and I agree JA2 is the best squad tactical game ever made..

 

While I do agree with the opinion of the other posters about the quality of JA2-UB, I have to say that there´s some GREAT mods for it. Check out http://www.freelancer.ag.ru/index_eng.shtml to get them. Also there´s a VERY GREAT mod for the original JA2 at http://www.pdssoft.com/ja2dl/ja2dl_us/index.htm

 

YURG!

Heh, I like that guy who runs Freelancer. He's an interesting person.

Freelancer has to be one of the all around best tactical gaming pages on the web, and one of my favorite rumor mills.

 

I was a fan of the X-com series, mostly for the complexity of the game and that turn based tactical is my favorite type of combat, unfortunately I couldn't play too far into the X-com games due to their difficulty level.
This looks to hold promise, to bad I wasn't able to find JA2, So I guess UB is rather short in comparison? Either way, I just hope the game doesn't suffer too much from linearity, as that's one reason that I've avoided Fallout Tactics, not too big on games that are broken into many small levels, I prefer one big map to plunder.
Thanks for everyone's crits and links!

 

Fallout Tactics' levels are fairly big, but there's zero depth to the game. Most missions are basically, "Kill anything that attacks you", and your path is fixed. You're literally funnelled from one fight to the next because you can't blast chain link fences, or climb anything.

If you don't have a gun skill, you're worthless in the game. The only other two skills with any use are doctor and first aid. You can claim that repair is useful because you can use it to fix vehicles. However, vehicles are pretty much useless because they won't appear on maps that don't support that type of vehicle.

JA2 beats Fallout Tactics in so many ways, it's not funny. Sad thing is, JA2 is nearly four years old.

 

Immediately prior to getting Arcanum, I spent a month replaying JA2 several times and found myself enjoying it as much as I had all the other times I played through it. It is a very deep and subtle game, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Too bad SirTech has tanked and we won't see JA3 :sad:

 

Yay! Found the original JA2 at Gamestop.com, all the other stores I called and browsed claimed the game to be discontinued, Gamestop apparently still had a surplus of it, once again going for only $10, so I took everyone's advice and snatched it up.
Too bad about Sir Tech, game companies come and go and it's a shame. Maybe another company can pick up and continue with the series...

 

you know that there will be a new part of jagged alliance don't you?

 

Sit Tech hasn't tanked yet. They're still working on Wizardry 8. Of course, if Wizardry 8 doesn't do well, they're sunk.

 

I've heard stuff about the new jagged. Still waiting for the new part of heroes of might and magic. those 2 titles I will embrace and ofcourse the new fallout

 

AAaaaCCCKK!
Maybe I should've attempted playing JA2:UB before sending away for JA2, I started the game and can't get past the first square!
Not sure if I'm playing the game correctly or not, but the first battle I come across lasts for a good hour and a half, as well, I loose at least two MERCs, so I start over again as it seems silly to be loosing players right at the start of the game. Is it just the way the game goes, you loose a couple men each battle, then purchase more, or should I try and escape the first battle with all my men intact? This is the same problem that I had with the X-com games, it would seem that, at the start, I'm already being assaulted by enemies that far surpass my players. No matter how many round points I distribute to aiming my guns better, I miss 75% of the time, where as the enemy hits me 75% of the time. I also notice that I get a message claiming my shot is out of effective range, but If I fire, I can still sometimes hit the enemy, In fact, to stay safe, most of my shots have had to be made while out of range.
Any tips or suggestions would be helpful, this will be a big waste if I can't make it past the first screen.
Oh yeah, all my MERCs are $5000 ones, second to the cheapest, I still have $18000 that I didn't spend, but have a full party. I thought the idea was to start out small, then work my way up purchasing more expensive mercenaries.

 

atucally I played the game so many times I achieved mastery. On the hardest level I only got injured only like 10 times through the entire game. Not loosing ayone.
The best thing I did was start with a very high end 2 merc (and myself) then don't renew their contract and take their good guns
That you have to do on hard since at the begining the enemies have rifles.
I'm not sure but since you have trouble at the begining, maybe youre not getting the style or concept of the game? the guys at the begining are the eaasiest in the entire game. look at their shirt color. try discovering their or ones position with one merc then circling them with the other. I'm not sure if you can but try climbing the buildings to get a better view and get a better shot. Also this way the enemies have a penalty to hit you

 

Thanks Jinxed, found several JA2 related forums, unforunately they're not frequented by many people, which is to be expected as it's an ancient game.
The first area I'm coming across, is a wooded area, on the map, its the first sector to the right of the crash sector. The only objects in the environment that I have to use to my advantage are trees. I guess maybe the morale to this story is that two well trained MERCs are far better than 5 amateur ones. In the situation I'm in, the only way to get in good shots and not waste too much ammo, is to move characters in dangerously close, leaving them open to heavy fire.

 

You're doing this in UB, right? That's a much tougher game, I think I'd probably play JA2 first to get the tactics down...and have more fun, since JA2 is a better game.

 

Jinxed, I had heard that SirTech stopped all development on both Wizardy and JA3 and laid off their development teams. Do you have more recent info? If so, I'd love a link.

 

nope I was hoping everything would work out in sirtech and that they would finish it. Anyone at this point who would say that is is gone for good or it's nearly complete is just making it up. Like Fallout3 they don't know yet but it's probably gonna be a reality soon. Or maybe heroes of might and magic? I heared when part 2 came out that the company announced that there will be no more parts! What a load.