My cousin Shaun Lyng was a writer/director for this game and also was the voice of Peter 'Wolf' Sanderson. When I was a kid (probably 2001?) I went to visit the Sierra studio in Montreal with my mom and got copies of all the games and witnessed them doing live voice recordings for another game he was working on (S2: Silent Storm) Very great memory and always loved playing this game. Thanks for doing it service.
I'm 35 years old now and I first played this game when I was 11. So yeah, it's definitelly the oldest game I still play nowadays. But it was sooo ahead of its time: Open world. Endless replayability because of so many choices. Realistic gunplay that felt dangerous and deadly without allowing any mistake. New stuff to discover even in your 100th playthrough. ... I never have and never ever will see another game that is so ahead of its time. I'm certain about that.
All true but not ahead of its time - those great times were already. It's just sad reality that evolution doesn't really happen here. Dumbing down is what happens for sure. So yeah, find a really dumb game from 90's - that one was ahead of its time.
Oh man I picked the game up from GOG and it’s a blast from the past! I love the way the game immerses you in its world through its 90’s ass interface. The little touches like the loading bars when using the web browser, EVEN THE HARD DRIVE INDICATOR WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD FILES! Takes me back. So glad you guys put the spotlight on this gem, even if it’s rough around the edges.
Always glad to add more people to the Jagged Alliance 2 fanclub! If you haven't already, check out our vid on the Stracciatella patch - it fixes some of those rough edges.
Holy Macaroni, you two are quickly becoming my favorite UA-camr. You have no Idea how much this game means to me. Back then when Windows XP had JUST come out, as a kid, JA2 was one of the few games that worked flawlessly (or at all) on my Family's PC. It was also the first RPG I really got into because it had German localization AND voice acting. It had guns, MERCENARIES (which were like soldiers to me, but 300 times cooler because 6 people were as strong as an entire army), blood, memorable characters that I connected with as a kid, AND it taught me how to read, what the Internet is, and that there is more to gaming than Jump n' runs and racing games. The Humour was important to hook me while growing up with this game, the cartoonisms made the otherwise grim and scary premise lighthearted enough to both understand AND be able to deal with the extent of the story. It was also a cool enough game to make me the cool kid in school, DESPITE being a complicated RPG on PC and not an N64 or Playstation game (almost nobody in my school had a PC back then, mostly N64). ALSO, the simulated Internet was the ABSOLUTE COOLEST THING ON EARTH. We did not even have Internet until WAY after I "had Internet" on JA2. Imagine all the faces on my 11 y/o classmates when I showed them JA2 on my PC. I honestly think Jagged Alliance 2 played a part in surviving my childhood as a nerdy kid who didn't connect with "typical" schoolkid stuff back in the day. Instead of being excluded for not having a GameBoy, or Pokemon Stickers, or an N64, or not being interested in Wrestling or rap music, which all happened to me, I was untouchable and able to hang out with older kids because I had a Playstation and later a PC, so I learnt by myself VERY early that My PSX and my PC and my OWN interests are much stronger than the approval of random schoolkids. I could even Roleplay pretty impressively as a Mercenary when I played outside with others, which also helps when the coolest thing for most schoolboys were guns, soldiers and armies. Being a Mercenary with a Gun meant you don't have to be the strongest kid who can wrestle and bully everyone else to the ground. If you make it convincing enough that you are a trained soldier with a gun that you know how to use, you could fight against typical alpha schoolkid bullies, and WIN with the power of nerdy imagination. Man bein a 10 y/o kid was a hell of a trip. Thank you for bringing back these memories, and ALSO taking the time to instruct me on how to relive them.
Wow, this is a super inspiring comment! Thanks for the kind words, and we are really glad to have some small part in helping you relive some good childhood nostalgia!
It's almost bizarre that no other game in history touched so many points and checked so many boxes like JA2. Definitely a top contender for #1 of all time in any general gaming list.
If you guys have never tried 1.13, I highly reccomend it, though not using every feature. Endless improvements. Great video and the devs of JA3 should watch this to inspire them.
@@2HeadedHero they have continued to work on it. If you go into the INI file you can browse many things to toggle and change to your liking (including a zombie mode if you so choose, but so much more) the AI is much more competent as well. 3 looks like xcom to me so far
@@2HeadedHero did you do 1.13 yet? If not there are also loaders available to customise the options including 6 MERC, mine payout. The options and replay are near endless.
This is the best game ever. There has not been one like it before (maybe JA1 as a prototype) or another like it since. I still play it to this day, after more than 23 years, and I think this will be the game I'll still be playing the day I'm gone.
yep, i imagined how awesome and detailed future strategy games would become if this was possible in 90s...but now we have "my face is tired" and non binary characters in games.
If I were to recommend playing Jagged Alliance 2 nowadays, I'd say to go with the 1.13 fan patch. You can turn off most of it's additions, but it does offer a lot of quality of life stuff, like instead of the quiz you can just choose the personality and traits. It also has the windowed mode and resolution options.
I am 43 years old. I am playing JA2 on a laptop. This is still one of my most favorite games. Just because of the fact that it is sort of open ended and even for the day the physics and destruction of the environment is awesome.
This game is my all time favourite. Great storyline, gritty atmosphere, great characters and voice acting. Last but not least, the isometric view instead of the 3D attempts from failed spin-offs.
This game was so well made that any sequel/remake of the IP is often met with unfair comparisons and reviews. I say unfair because this game was made by a small, devoted team that clearly loved the idea and invested themselves in it so deeply. No profit oriented* studio can compete with that. (*profit-oriented in that making a profit is the main goal, making the best possible, novel game is secondary) That Haywire quote at the end is one of my favourite lines. Once you take Haywire you'll want him on every playthrough. The low-end mercs are awesomely colorful and watching them get better is rewarding.
Thank you very much for the kind words, and welcome to the channel! Definitely planning on more of these nostalgia trip videos based on all the positive comments 😁
Voice acting 10/10 Storyline 10/10 Gameplay 10/10 Character development 10/10 Jokes 10/10 To this day this game is an absolute masterpiece! Even if you are not a big fan of turn based combat this game does everything right! Many games tried to copy Jagged Alliance but nothing comes even close to it in my opinion.
Voice Acting 8/10 (some are just terrible, like Ira. But the ones that are not bad are 10/10) Story Line 10/10 (the fact that it is pretty modular to provide more challenge as you progress is masterclass!) Game Play 9/10 (Some definite choice in strategy and can build your team around that concept - UI is clunky at times...) Character Development 10/10 (I mean some mercs learn to like or hate each other, how cool is that?) Jokes 10/10 (a little dated, but so am I) Hidden Gems 10/10 (from side quests, plot twists, merc personalities to hidden stores - game has it all) Replay Value 9/10 (use different mercs and tactics)
@@jackfredricks6223 fair I agree some of the voices are a bit weird but the german one is incredible well done. Played it on both English and German and I usually play games English only but the German voice over was perfect
Well, I have multple Installations of JA2. 1. 1.13-Mod, 2. Urban Chaos Original, 3. Urban Chaos with 1.13. Simply my favorite Turn-Based Strategy Game to this Day!
Yep, I played it before my child was born. I still play it now he's 22. This is the only game left on my hard drive after going through dozens of PC's over the decades.
@@allanzhang3138 Same here, it's been on my Hard drive since when it come out in 1998. Between vanilla, 1.13, or other mods maybe I have played the main campaign 20 or 30 times. In my opinion, It's much better than any Baldur's gate or Fallout games.
Help our channel by buying the game through our GOG Affiliate link: adtr.co/3NsGtD Stracciatella is the easiest way to get JA2 running with some modern OS fixes - you can check out our tutorial here: ua-cam.com/video/lM5XkBRqDVE/v-deo.html Got any memories of JA2? Any funny mid-mission situations that stick out in your mind? Or do you think another game deserves the strategy RPG crown? Let us know in the comments!
@@tuomasandfolkmusic I double checked to see if a new version needed to be linked in the pinned comment, but looks like the latest release is v0.18 from April 2021 - that's the one we used 🙂 For the curious you can follow the Github page here too github.com/ja2-stracciatella/ja2-stracciatella
Bro ja2 was the best game I ever played or ever will play. It's sad that the graphics are so outdated, I unironically played this game for years. Its so much fun to just keep on endlessly acquiring better and better weapons. 1.13 is a must.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I actually was the first person to get past the lvl cap on Bane of the Cosmic Forge...lol. there is one particular dead end gate near the beginning where I kept getting killed at low level. I found a bit later I could just spin on that spot and get instant boss fights! But Jagged Alliance 2 is the pinnacle of video games for that day and in some ways unsurpassed to this day. You can't change the interface, its awesome. In one version it's a sandbox version and you can create a treasure zone right at the beginning of the game. Give your troops top armor and weapons, whatever you want. GREAT REVIEW
@@2HeadedHero i think the sprites are the winning recipes here, we need a remaster where the sprites of all the characters matched their talking heads..and also have them customizable ..some modders have tried..i think they just need funding..
@@2HeadedHero also, the game mechanics are so damn good, stamina and bleeding effecting the morale and action, going crazy, all mercs have their own personalities, its all there from the jump (in stalker MODDER have to add those shit in)... games like x com, wasteland and fallout wishes they're half as good as this, whiles all they did is just shoot up characters until their health's gone, this game beats darkest dungeon's morale system and pile in a lot of other crazy stuff with care and passion behind them on top of it.
Why is it so much gooder then JA3 ? I rebought a copy (cd) of JA 2 and it runs just fine, at least it did on windows xp andi think windows 10. One major tip: Hire Lynx early for one day, get his Remmington rifle. The first rifle makes the early game way more easy. What you seem to miss in your Review is how challenging the combat system was. The ai was good enough to let you pay for every mistake, they used to lay down and make every straight move to them very dangerous. One sometimes had to fall back and reposition and flank. High level mercs were important, their level determines if they react first, depending on the enemy level. The item management problem you see i dont, it was realistic and it was no problem, there was no need to keep a storage or sell weapons. It made strength more usefull to have some mules in your roster and it also encouraged you to have your party equipment prepared properly during intermission.
KCD is still on the backlog for now since there's a TON to that game, but JA2 feels like a familiar warm blanket every time we fire it up. Still so damn good :D
A few of the voice actors (including the one I always use for my main merc) do voices in Tom Clancy games. I remember freezing right before taking out the main objective on the cargo ship in Chaos Theory because I heard a convo between two of them and got too nostalgic to take their lives. If only you played 1.13, you'd know that you end up with an entire store page where you unlock vests and MOLLE gear to put on those vests. I'd say that the vast majority of inventory management becomes Pocket Simulator and it's the best shit ever.
Those game blew my tiny little mind in 2007, everything from finding and killing the international terrorists undercover in alurco, selling a female merc into marriage with the crazies on the farm, to rescuing tourists to only have them send you crazy high powered pistols in the mail. Lol
1.13 + AI patch makes the game much harder and more fun. The AI isn't genius level or anything, but you have to really switch up your tactics and strategies. Even a 5v5 fight with redshirts are a challenge. Unfortunately the last time I played it a few years ago, I ran into some serious bugs, and couldn't continue, but hopefully that's been fixed now.
I deeply love this game and have loved this game since the demo originally came out. I cannot quantify how many hours I put into this game, because back then there was no way to track it. I estimate it's been over 2000 hours. That's including Unfinished Business, Wildfire and - most importantly - the unbelievably expansive, detailed and simply brilliant overhaul that is 1.13 mod. My god. I've beaten this game countless times with different self-imposed challenges, as if it were a Pokémon Hardcore Nuzlocke. And still, every once in a while, I find myself going back to it. In fact I currently am playing it again. As devoted a fanbase this game has, somehow, this is still kind of an underground cult classic, and other classic games of its era have more presence in memory. I don't even often meet gamers from my generation who have played it.
4:52 minute: Heavy critique point This game was from late 90s. People were smoking INSIDE cafés still and restaurants/pubs/cafés were generally open until strange hours, even if there was just 1 customer. Totally normal back then. It was a different time boys. Even if it doesn't occur on your minds (I don't mean this impolite). These were the 90s. Sry for my english, I'm german. The rest of your video: AWESOME! Good job in recognizing this gem.
hey man i search jagged alliance 2 review and stumble upon your video I gotta say i didnt expect much but the quality of your content is really good i already sub and to be fair you deserved more subs anyway just comment to say thanks for the good work and hope you keep pumping out high quality contents
I have played through this awesome game at least 3 times and every once in a while I start it back up again and just love it to death. Thanks for the review. The German sync is absolutely hillarious and genious by the way.
Despite being a video game, the setting definitely does fit the whole Post Cold War/Pre War on Terrorism era of the mid to late 90s with all those small proxy wars going on throughout the world at the time.
Personally I roleplay as a mercenary from the 1980s with all my mercs with FALs and WW2 surplus and uniforms. I my own personalized version of of the arulco vacation mod
Probably my all time favorite pc game. This may sound weird, but I liked that you start with worthless guns and work your way up. I played it again a while back and chose a few mercs with 9mm guns and it was surprisingly easy. In the years past, I would always start with the cheapest merc.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the user created 1.13 patch on bear pits forum. It fixes many of the QoL issues and adds tons of new mercy’s guns and features.
Yeah, this review is aimed at evaluating JA2 as close to the vanilla experience as possible, and Stracciatella did that best imo- maybe in the future we'll look at mods but the 1.13 patch fundamentally changes the game a lot!
I totally agree that this could work with a superhero game, provided that the maps had more verticality! JA2 has found its way onto every PC we've ever owned as well :D
@@2HeadedHero well... to be completely honest, I've always hated her. Always found her voice annoying. I tolerate her because she's an excellent medic. :)
Aww, her silly NY accent was always great to me. Plus, high Wisdom means by the end of the game you could have her trained up to be pretty lethal if you wanted to, and she never asked for a paycheck!
JA2 is one of my all-time faves! Honestly, I'm still wishing Stallone would reach out to the developers or get the game engine and create an Expendables game.
@@2HeadedHero Right? Did you see the game they chose to release with the movie? Meh at best, IMHO. I watched a play-through of it, and JA2 was all I could think of. The potential for snarky interactions alone would have made the game epic. :D
Such a shame Sirtech went bankrupt. I can only imagine how much this game cost.. Still though, their choices after JA2 surely contributed to that. Who knows what thisteam of devs would have made if they were given the opportunity, besides one of the most revolutionary best turned based strategy games of all time. I remember being in school and making notes on what city to attack next and how to prep and it took me 5 months to finish the game on the first run. Not to mention, my job 20 years later is to make animations of ja2 isometric combat maps for a history channel 😂 Awesome review, keep it up!
1996 start playing the JA1 then when JA2 available i also play until now for god sake I still like this game especially now got so many mods. Other than Command & Conquer series i dont think i have the longest game i played stretching so many years. 1996 i am just in standard 6 school. Now I am 38 and still at IT!!
Yep, for years I was hoping for a sequel. But now I'm at peace, knowing that this master piece JA2 is like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it cannot be reproduce again, by anyone, ever.
Good video, you guys got a sub. I have been thinking of doing my own retro series and wanted to see if anyone covered JA2, because that is one of the games of my radar. Have to give it up to the 90s. Even larger studios were willing to make innovative games and take ground breaking risks and make such gems. I suppose this still exists in modern indie market, but you don't see AAA developers do anything but rehash another COD or BF. Long live the 90s!
The director, Ian Currie, once said in a FAQ that you can stab one of your mercs to leave a trail of blood to lure the Aliens, then patch the merc up and go further underground, without fighting.
One of the funny things about this game was when it was tactically advantageous to simply punch your enemy to death while they were helpless on the ground lol. Especially when it took several swings and/or multiple turns because they'd make a noise every time. Made me feel like a real heartless bastard haha
The fatigue meter mechanics were so cool, making it viable to knock enemies over even if you were using junk ammo. You could also spam tear gas grenades and they'd be so exhausted they couldn't move for a dozen turns 🤣
I think autos save do exist(unless it has been so long since I played JA2 vanilla that I mistake these features for a mod). Every 1, 12, or 24 hours(I can't remember) spent on the strategy screen during time laps results in an autosave. Plus a pair of rotating autosaves that occur when you end your turn(or at the start of a new one?) during turned based combat in the tactical screen. Also, best game ever. Except fan patch 1.13; it practically makes it a new game, albeit the same visuals. Digression: Project Zomboid looks more like this game than it does the Sims, and anyone who disagrees is probably wrong.
No autosaves in vanilla JA2, very easy to lose a few days of progress. However some mods provide some advanced save features, Stracciatella does not appear to be one of em. But yes, Zomboid definitely is similar and JA2 IS the best game ever!
today jagged alliance 3 will be released :-> i remember playin first game on my pentium 90 133hz, the second on a pentium3 with 500hz i think. This game was his time ahead for years without 1010120 patches like games nowadays, imagine how big this was... would be cool if the new game can catch that up.
This game doesn't have a remakde; it has two; first there's the 1.13 mod which updates pretty much everything from the base game, then there's wildfire, a fan mod that was turned into a full commercial release (ignore the initial publisher shenanigans,it was sorted out afterwards).
Ira is the best... lol. I love this game...... I've played in 1999 after it came out, and I'm playing again now in 2024..... Elliot you fool..... haha. What a journey in a game. :)
Reason for it being the best game is all the detaild and micro management, you dont have to, but you always ends spending hours equipping your mercs for a battle that might take 15 minutes
With some quality of life improvements around the inventory system the game could be vastly improved, but it's definitely great how much control you have over your merc loadouts!
6:25 When you beat the game the custom character adresses you the commander as a different person saying you did a good job, and the custom character can die without it being a game over. So the custom character is not you, wierd as it may seem.
Hmm, but in the beginning all the IMP questions are asked towards the first person and most of the other dialog follows suit. So maybe the ending is a fourth wall break addressing the player directly? Or maybe they just never really thought about it as much as we're thinking about it now!
@@tsartomato Care to explain why they are not? RPG = Role Playing Game, in its because multiple characters? so Final fantasy is not an RPG? is it that its semi open world? please tell me why they are not RPS´s?
@@lacai527 there's literally no role no playing, no quests no story. this game doesn't even have a protagonist. you hire premade goons. what the hell is rps? jagged alliance is like an epitome of a turn based tactics game. if you say turn based tactics you expect it to bee like jagged alliance, not like sanctus reach, because ja style is the more popular format. like have you ever play an rpg? baldur's gate pool of radiance? wasteland? rpg started as pnp, you literally talk to people to solve the quest. people who hated stories but loved math split rpg into dungeon crawlers, where you roll dice. crawlers were the first one to be digitized with moria and wizardry if we go for a commercial. when pcs became powerful enough to run a digital game master, the real computer rpg started to appear. so if you think rpg are pure then there can't be an rpg without a diverse dialogue system multiple chocie branching main quest with different solutions. if you hate rpg and want just math, then you can't have an rpg without the main character created by rolling dice gaining exp killing enemies rolling dice for every attacks doing all the math. there's literally nothing rpg about ja2, there's no hero, you are managing finances as a company manager you can fire everyone and you can just hire better people. the fact that there are stats gained by TRAINING not on level ups doesn't make it an rpg at all. even if you want to stretch an owl over a globe ja has some minor rpg elements at best. it's turn based tactics through and through, and the fact that you don't even know this genre exists, and don't know what's an rpg means you haven't even played games go buy pool of radiance on steam and there's a new graphics mod on steam for wizardry 1 from 2024
@@lacai527 final fantasy is a dogshit weeaboo clone of wizardry 1 you are so confused that you talk about an open world. literally pool of radiance, akalabeth, baldurs gate, wasteland, bards tale etc etc
@@lacai527 have you even played ja2? or you are like the kids who played oblout 3 and think that fallout is an fps? ja3 is a half-crpg hybrid with a mandatory main character a ton of multi choice quests, a bad story, killing tons of goons with magic, dice rolls instead of simulation etc etc, not that different from baldurs gate or fallout if you look at it from only that side. ja2 is nothing like ja3, they only share turn-based tactical combat where ja2 is running on a simulation and ja3 on dicerolls spells skills and magicks. ja1 is very different too with it being a more global strategy with tactical fights of goons instead of entire tank batallions
My favorite game forever, by far. I wish I was better at running mods, besides 1.13 just go play more. Hoping 3 is good but it doesnt really look like what Id want it to be. Hell, id take another full game in the old ass engine. I dont care.
ja2 is definitely an all-time favorite we keep going back to! Whatever they do with 3, I hope it goes back to turn based. The real time pause combat mechanic should die off forever. 😂
Thanks for the video. I would like to play this game but the versions are so confusing There’s JA 2 Gold on Steam, JA 2 on GOG, Stracciatella and 1.13. So many strong opinions about which one is best. On top of that I wonder if any work on Win 11?
Unfortunately, this launcher does not work with the Wildfire version of the game, but I do appreciate this video and will try the CD version. EDIT: I LIED!! THIS WORKS!! There is a folder called JA2Classic. Linking this folder in the data tab now allows me to play the game! Thanks dude!!
I love almost everything about this game, but I hate some of its mechanics. Sometimes it's just feels too random and RNG based. My merc can lay behind a tree and shoot without any success at enemy that is standing in open ground and in next turn that same enemy can pop two accurate shots and knock out my merc. It's just frustrating and unfair. Also game doesn't like to tell player about essential things like chance to hit or if enemy can spot you. There is a build in overlay showing in green "safe" spots where enemy shouldn't spot you, but it doesn't work. Even if you are laying and sneaking enemy has no problem with seeing you. For me things like this makes vanilla unplayable, because I feel the game is just messing with me. I prefer 1.13, because I can at least see what I am doing wrong. I can finish game with 1.13 without much problems, but with vanilla I can't conquer more than two cities on experienced difficulty.
Definitely hear some of those complaints but just wanna throw out there that Stracciatella patch adds visible chance to hit as a keybind, just in case you'd rather play something closer to vanilla. Probably will revisit 1.13 and see if it's improved since it's been a few years though!
@@2HeadedHero I know about Stracciatella and its features, but I was talking strictly about vanilla without any fan-made content. It is how the game was released back in the day and how it should be judged. At least for me just to be fair.
You have problems with the inventory system? Get the game fully modded with thousands of different load bearing kit options and 500 weapons with all the caliber and bullet options and you are in a military porn micromanagement heaven... Yes, you can choose which kinds of pockets your merc has for their MOLLE vest... Mods are the only remaster the game needs. 😏
Not really a problem with item variety. More of a problem with the interface and inventory management, which is super cumbersome. It's great to see such a vibrant community still exists around the game though, and if there's a way to mod in a friendlier interface I'm sure we'll eventually see it!
@@2HeadedHero I know.... half of my channel is dedicated to it :). I used to save scum and cut all the fails and reloads out of the video. Was a ton of work but fun. Good times :)
It really is one of the best tactical games ever made. And every subsequent game in the series has been an embarrassing attempt to recreate its formula. Or rather, its reins were handed off to crews that had no clue what that formula consisted of to begin with. And this will probably also be the fate of JA3, to some degree. Sad, really. But I'm content with playing the GOAT (with 1.13), just like I can play HoMM3 (with HoTA) until the end of my days. Who needs sharper graphics with lazier gameplay? LAME. There are ETERNAL CLASSICS--enhanced by passionate fans that truly understand their magic, more so than the clowns that are paid to attempt to "improve" on the formula, yet consistently fail.
Some games can pull off the reimagining pretty well - the new Xcom titles are a great example. I have hopes for JA3 though, from what we've seen so far it seems like some of those lessons from the series' missteps might have been learned. If JA3 falls on its face, well, JA2 will still be around and people will still be modding it for as long as the power grid still runs! 😄
The only downside of this game is it being near impossible on true Iron Man, at least for me. In some situations there are enemies hiding in locked rooms and no matter what you do, even if you toss a grenade inside they will still get the first turn and burst fire the crap out of your mercs. Same with mortars. Very tough without savescumming.
I played this game wrong for 15 years by save scuming and copy paste item exploit while always playing on easy. then i played it with mods that don't let you exploit it that much.
@@DrRESHES No matter what you do I suspect you will still need to savescum at some point. I have the 1.13 mod too if that is what you mean, and game seems to simply not be designed for iron man.
One thing that is bad about JA2 is the music. "The music, how can you say that, are you nuts?" Well not exactly the music but the composer. You can forget about making Let's Plays on UA-cam for example, because he will automatically Content ID every single video you upload with the games music on. Imo, one of the most disgusting and stupid things you can do as a composer, especially when you have been comissioned specifically to compose the music just for that game and of course have been fully paid for it.
Not sure why you never touched 1.13 or even wildfire. Both have been around for a decade now. Its just unfair, since they are massive improvements over the original ja2.
@@2HeadedHero you literally haven't even played it you hire goons, you get small town mines, you kick out the goons, you hire good goons and get big town mines (or don't really you can fast run), you kick out med goons and hire elite goons and shoot the queen. finish.
My cousin Shaun Lyng was a writer/director for this game and also was the voice of Peter 'Wolf' Sanderson.
When I was a kid (probably 2001?) I went to visit the Sierra studio in Montreal with my mom and got copies of all the games and witnessed them doing live voice recordings for another game he was working on (S2: Silent Storm)
Very great memory and always loved playing this game. Thanks for doing it service.
That is so cool! Thanks for sharing the story Mark!
Also want to just throw out there that Silent Storm vids are coming up soon 🤣
@@2HeadedHero I look forward to it! Glad I found your channel.
@@odasiti Welcome!
Is Shaun Lyng alright ?
I heard he had health problems, I hope your cousin fine.
This game is just masterpiece. the best game of the planet earth I think.
There's really nothing else quite like it!
Ты прав, друг! :))
You're not wrong about that.
yes but also x-com: terror from the deep exists :)
So u still play it?
I'm 35 years old now and I first played this game when I was 11. So yeah, it's definitelly the oldest game I still play nowadays.
But it was sooo ahead of its time:
Open world.
Endless replayability because of so many choices.
Realistic gunplay that felt dangerous and deadly without allowing any mistake.
New stuff to discover even in your 100th playthrough.
...
I never have and never ever will see another game that is so ahead of its time.
I'm certain about that.
It's still THE BEST! Crazy that no other game has ever come close to JA2's magic formula.
All true but not ahead of its time - those great times were already. It's just sad reality that evolution doesn't really happen here. Dumbing down is what happens for sure. So yeah, find a really dumb game from 90's - that one was ahead of its time.
Oh man I picked the game up from GOG and it’s a blast from the past! I love the way the game immerses you in its world through its 90’s ass interface. The little touches like the loading bars when using the web browser, EVEN THE HARD DRIVE INDICATOR WHEN YOU DOWNLOAD FILES! Takes me back. So glad you guys put the spotlight on this gem, even if it’s rough around the edges.
Always glad to add more people to the Jagged Alliance 2 fanclub! If you haven't already, check out our vid on the Stracciatella patch - it fixes some of those rough edges.
Holy Macaroni, you two are quickly becoming my favorite UA-camr.
You have no Idea how much this game means to me.
Back then when Windows XP had JUST come out, as a kid, JA2 was one of the few games that worked flawlessly (or at all) on my Family's PC. It was also the first RPG I really got into because it had German localization AND voice acting.
It had guns, MERCENARIES (which were like soldiers to me, but 300 times cooler because 6 people were as strong as an entire army), blood, memorable characters that I connected with as a kid, AND it taught me how to read, what the Internet is, and that there is more to gaming than Jump n' runs and racing games.
The Humour was important to hook me while growing up with this game, the cartoonisms made the otherwise grim and scary premise lighthearted enough to both understand AND be able to deal with the extent of the story. It was also a cool enough game to make me the cool kid in school, DESPITE being a complicated RPG on PC and not an N64 or Playstation game (almost nobody in my school had a PC back then, mostly N64).
ALSO, the simulated Internet was the ABSOLUTE COOLEST THING ON EARTH. We did not even have Internet until WAY after I "had Internet" on JA2. Imagine all the faces on my 11 y/o classmates when I showed them JA2 on my PC. I honestly think Jagged Alliance 2 played a part in surviving my childhood as a nerdy kid who didn't connect with "typical" schoolkid stuff back in the day. Instead of being excluded for not having a GameBoy, or Pokemon Stickers, or an N64, or not being interested in Wrestling or rap music, which all happened to me, I was untouchable and able to hang out with older kids because I had a Playstation and later a PC, so I learnt by myself VERY early that My PSX and my PC and my OWN interests are much stronger than the approval of random schoolkids. I could even Roleplay pretty impressively as a Mercenary when I played outside with others, which also helps when the coolest thing for most schoolboys were guns, soldiers and armies. Being a Mercenary with a Gun meant you don't have to be the strongest kid who can wrestle and bully everyone else to the ground. If you make it convincing enough that you are a trained soldier with a gun that you know how to use, you could fight against typical alpha schoolkid bullies, and WIN with the power of nerdy imagination. Man bein a 10 y/o kid was a hell of a trip.
Thank you for bringing back these memories, and ALSO taking the time to instruct me on how to relive them.
Wow, this is a super inspiring comment! Thanks for the kind words, and we are really glad to have some small part in helping you relive some good childhood nostalgia!
It's almost bizarre that no other game in history touched so many points and checked so many boxes like JA2. Definitely a top contender for #1 of all time in any general gaming list.
Absolutely true, not even other JA series games have even come close!
@@2HeadedHero I really enjoyed BIA's plan&go combat but...that was all there is to the game
@@rdf274 I bounced off that one pretty hard. Just give me that old school turn based combat and I'm happy
@@2HeadedHero yeah I realized I'm in the minority liking the combat system :D
Good luck with the channel bros, good stuff
@@rdf274 hey thanks for the kind words!
If you guys have never tried 1.13, I highly reccomend it, though not using every feature. Endless improvements. Great video and the devs of JA3 should watch this to inspire them.
Planning on trying 1.13 again at some point, it's been years!
@@2HeadedHero they have continued to work on it. If you go into the INI file you can browse many things to toggle and change to your liking (including a zombie mode if you so choose, but so much more) the AI is much more competent as well. 3 looks like xcom to me so far
@@henryborges1775 definitely don't hate Xcom, but sounds like enough has changed to make it worth a revisit!
@@2HeadedHero did you do 1.13 yet? If not there are also loaders available to customise the options including 6 MERC, mine payout. The options and replay are near endless.
@@Geo-Nemesis it's still on the backlog! That sounds awesome though!
This is the best game ever. There has not been one like it before (maybe JA1 as a prototype) or another like it since. I still play it to this day, after more than 23 years, and I think this will be the game I'll still be playing the day I'm gone.
It deserves the highest praise for sure 😊
Imagine a faithful high quality 3D remaster like Blizzard did with D2 Resurrected. Just putting 3D over original game mechanics.
JA1 was also great. Still tons of fun to complete. :)
yep, i imagined how awesome and detailed future strategy games would become if this was possible in 90s...but now we have "my face is tired" and non binary characters in games.
If I were to recommend playing Jagged Alliance 2 nowadays, I'd say to go with the 1.13 fan patch. You can turn off most of it's additions, but it does offer a lot of quality of life stuff, like instead of the quiz you can just choose the personality and traits. It also has the windowed mode and resolution options.
I am 43 years old. I am playing JA2 on a laptop. This is still one of my most favorite games. Just because of the fact that it is sort of open ended and even for the day the physics and destruction of the environment is awesome.
It still totally rules
This game is my all time favourite.
Great storyline, gritty atmosphere, great characters and voice acting. Last but not least, the isometric view instead of the 3D attempts from failed spin-offs.
This game was so well made that any sequel/remake of the IP is often met with unfair comparisons and reviews. I say unfair because this game was made by a small, devoted team that clearly loved the idea and invested themselves in it so deeply. No profit oriented* studio can compete with that. (*profit-oriented in that making a profit is the main goal, making the best possible, novel game is secondary)
That Haywire quote at the end is one of my favourite lines. Once you take Haywire you'll want him on every playthrough. The low-end mercs are awesomely colorful and watching them get better is rewarding.
JA3 only needs to put new visuals and copy JA2 as its is and we are good for next 20+ years
Mostly agree, except maybe make the interface a little friendlier and add mod tools/level editors. The gameplay can stay!
I really hope this delay because of the war will give them the apportunity to do so.
i've played jagged alliance 3 on silent storm engine, before 2008 yankee crisis
This review is so awesome, no hyperactive bs like the rest, thanks for this fantastic trip down memory lane. New subscriber here! :)
Thank you very much for the kind words, and welcome to the channel! Definitely planning on more of these nostalgia trip videos based on all the positive comments 😁
Voice acting 10/10
Storyline 10/10
Gameplay 10/10
Character development 10/10
Jokes 10/10
To this day this game is an absolute masterpiece! Even if you are not a big fan of turn based combat this game does everything right! Many games tried to copy Jagged Alliance but nothing comes even close to it in my opinion.
Agreed, nothing else like it and we're long overdue for a game that captures this feeling! ☺️
and nothing will come close to it.
Voice Acting 8/10 (some are just terrible, like Ira. But the ones that are not bad are 10/10)
Story Line 10/10 (the fact that it is pretty modular to provide more challenge as you progress is masterclass!)
Game Play 9/10 (Some definite choice in strategy and can build your team around that concept - UI is clunky at times...)
Character Development 10/10 (I mean some mercs learn to like or hate each other, how cool is that?)
Jokes 10/10 (a little dated, but so am I)
Hidden Gems 10/10 (from side quests, plot twists, merc personalities to hidden stores - game has it all)
Replay Value 9/10 (use different mercs and tactics)
@@jackfredricks6223 fair I agree some of the voices are a bit weird but the german one is incredible well done. Played it on both English and German and I usually play games English only but the German voice over was perfect
Daaaamn. I just discovered this channel, and this is some really good, deep game analysis going on here. Keep it up guys!
Hey thanks for watching, and welcome to 2HH!
Well, I have multple Installations of JA2.
1. 1.13-Mod, 2. Urban Chaos Original, 3. Urban Chaos with 1.13.
Simply my favorite Turn-Based Strategy Game to this Day!
Same! It still holds up so well
Yep, I played it before my child was born. I still play it now he's 22. This is the only game left on my hard drive after going through dozens of PC's over the decades.
@@allanzhang3138 this and AOE2
@@allanzhang3138 Same here, it's been on my Hard drive since when it come out in 1998. Between vanilla, 1.13, or other mods maybe I have played the main campaign 20 or 30 times. In my opinion, It's much better than any Baldur's gate or Fallout games.
Help our channel by buying the game through our GOG Affiliate link: adtr.co/3NsGtD
Stracciatella is the easiest way to get JA2 running with some modern OS fixes - you can check out our tutorial here: ua-cam.com/video/lM5XkBRqDVE/v-deo.html
Got any memories of JA2? Any funny mid-mission situations that stick out in your mind? Or do you think another game deserves the strategy RPG crown? Let us know in the comments!
This is old version. Latest ooensource patch is JA2-Stracciatella Continued.
@@tuomasandfolkmusic I double checked to see if a new version needed to be linked in the pinned comment, but looks like the latest release is v0.18 from April 2021 - that's the one we used 🙂
For the curious you can follow the Github page here too github.com/ja2-stracciatella/ja2-stracciatella
Bro ja2 was the best game I ever played or ever will play. It's sad that the graphics are so outdated, I unironically played this game for years. Its so much fun to just keep on endlessly acquiring better and better weapons. 1.13 is a must.
What's the best version to buy? Gold from steam? I had a physical gold copy back in the day.
@@EldenFiend The Gold version on Steam or GOG should work just fine!
Just finished it yesterday. Congrats on this fantastic video.
And thank you for showing me what the original JA looked like.
Congrats on finishing a masterpiece!! 😄😀 thanks for the kind words
Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
I actually was the first person to get past the lvl cap on Bane of the Cosmic Forge...lol.
there is one particular dead end gate near the beginning where I kept getting killed at low level.
I found a bit later I could just spin on that spot and get instant boss fights!
But Jagged Alliance 2 is the pinnacle of video games for that day and in some ways unsurpassed to this day.
You can't change the interface, its awesome.
In one version it's a sandbox version and you can create a treasure zone right at the beginning of the game.
Give your troops top armor and weapons, whatever you want.
GREAT REVIEW
Thanks for checking it out! Welcome to the channel!
finally, a proper review of this true master peace !!!! thank you!
Thanks for the kind words! And yeah we agree- it's totally one of the GOAT strategy RPGs!
@@2HeadedHero none of the remakes have lived up to the expectations, the only game that is giving me a similar vibe was this war of min,
Yeah the remakes and sequels were all mediocre. It's long past time that we got a proper remaster that leaves the gameplay intact though!
@@2HeadedHero i think the sprites are the winning recipes here, we need a remaster where the sprites of all the characters matched their talking heads..and also have them customizable ..some modders have tried..i think they just need funding..
@@2HeadedHero also, the game mechanics are so damn good, stamina and bleeding effecting the morale and action, going crazy, all mercs have their own personalities, its all there from the jump (in stalker MODDER have to add those shit in)... games like x com, wasteland and fallout wishes they're half as good as this, whiles all they did is just shoot up characters until their health's gone, this game beats darkest dungeon's morale system and pile in a lot of other crazy stuff with care and passion behind them on top of it.
Why is it so much gooder then JA3 ? I rebought a copy (cd) of JA 2 and it runs just fine, at least it did on windows xp andi think windows 10. One major tip: Hire Lynx early for one day, get his Remmington rifle. The first rifle makes the early game way more easy. What you seem to miss in your Review is how challenging the combat system was. The ai was good enough to let you pay for every mistake, they used to lay down and make every straight move to them very dangerous. One sometimes had to fall back and reposition and flank. High level mercs were important, their level determines if they react first, depending on the enemy level. The item management problem you see i dont, it was realistic and it was no problem, there was no need to keep a storage or sell weapons. It made strength more usefull to have some mules in your roster and it also encouraged you to have your party equipment prepared properly during intermission.
This is the best game ever made, especially modded. I am still waiting for the one that beats it. Best game ever: JA2, Best modern game: KCD.
KCD is still on the backlog for now since there's a TON to that game, but JA2 feels like a familiar warm blanket every time we fire it up. Still so damn good :D
WOW! This is how high-quality reviews are done! Just like those very few high-quality games like this.
Hey thanks for the kind words! Welcome to 2HH 😊😀
I remember sneaking out of bed and paying this game all night when I was a kid, nothing else like it!!
Nearly 25 years later and there's STILL nothing like it! 🤣
A few of the voice actors (including the one I always use for my main merc) do voices in Tom Clancy games. I remember freezing right before taking out the main objective on the cargo ship in Chaos Theory because I heard a convo between two of them and got too nostalgic to take their lives.
If only you played 1.13, you'd know that you end up with an entire store page where you unlock vests and MOLLE gear to put on those vests. I'd say that the vast majority of inventory management becomes Pocket Simulator and it's the best shit ever.
That's a pretty neat little fact! Thanks for weighing in
Those game blew my tiny little mind in 2007, everything from finding and killing the international terrorists undercover in alurco, selling a female merc into marriage with the crazies on the farm, to rescuing tourists to only have them send you crazy high powered pistols in the mail. Lol
So much player agency crammed into a single CD ROM! There's still nothing quite like it
Ahahha, I remember selling Flo :)
inventory is one reason for the patch 1.13 absolute must! check that out
Someday we'll have to come back and check out the 1.13 patch! We get this comment a LOT, hahaha
1.13 + AI patch makes the game much harder and more fun. The AI isn't genius level or anything, but you have to really switch up your tactics and strategies. Even a 5v5 fight with redshirts are a challenge.
Unfortunately the last time I played it a few years ago, I ran into some serious bugs, and couldn't continue, but hopefully that's been fixed now.
Still haven't gotten to 1.13 patch yet but it's on the backlog!
I deeply love this game and have loved this game since the demo originally came out. I cannot quantify how many hours I put into this game, because back then there was no way to track it. I estimate it's been over 2000 hours. That's including Unfinished Business, Wildfire and - most importantly - the unbelievably expansive, detailed and simply brilliant overhaul that is 1.13 mod. My god. I've beaten this game countless times with different self-imposed challenges, as if it were a Pokémon Hardcore Nuzlocke. And still, every once in a while, I find myself going back to it. In fact I currently am playing it again.
As devoted a fanbase this game has, somehow, this is still kind of an underground cult classic, and other classic games of its era have more presence in memory. I don't even often meet gamers from my generation who have played it.
"Go kick some ass"
Been there, done that, and sure as heck will do it again!
Im still having this on my modern computer with rtx3070 this game never gets bored. Best of the bests
It gets a playthrough again every couple years 😂🤣
4:52 minute: Heavy critique point
This game was from late 90s. People were smoking INSIDE cafés still and restaurants/pubs/cafés were generally open until strange hours, even if there was just 1 customer. Totally normal back then. It was a different time boys. Even if it doesn't occur on your minds (I don't mean this impolite). These were the 90s. Sry for my english, I'm german.
The rest of your video: AWESOME! Good job in recognizing this gem.
Guess we didn't think about that! Thanks for the kind words though, welcome to 2hh!
@@2HeadedHero 👍
8:48 Biff, hitting those two shots, SHOULD make him question his actions. glorious rng
Poor Biff, always out of his element!
hey man i search jagged alliance 2 review and stumble upon your video
I gotta say i didnt expect much but the quality of your content is really good
i already sub and to be fair you deserved more subs
anyway just comment to say thanks for the good work and hope you keep pumping out high quality contents
Hey thanks for the kind words and welcome to the channel! It keeps us going to hear comments like this coming from you guys! Cheers
-Bawss
I have played through this awesome game at least 3 times and every once in a while I start it back up again and just love it to death. Thanks for the review.
The German sync is absolutely hillarious and genious by the way.
Despite being a video game, the setting definitely does fit the whole Post Cold War/Pre War on Terrorism era of the mid to late 90s with all those small proxy wars going on throughout the world at the time.
Very good point, which is probably why so many movies and games from this era use proxy wars as a backdrop!
Personally I roleplay as a mercenary from the 1980s with all my mercs with FALs and WW2 surplus and uniforms. I my own personalized version of of the arulco vacation mod
Probably my all time favorite pc game. This may sound weird, but I liked that you start with worthless guns and work your way up. I played it again a while back and chose a few mercs with 9mm guns and it was surprisingly easy. In the years past, I would always start with the cheapest merc.
Definitely in both of our top fives! And yes, the RPG progression made it so addictive!
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the user created 1.13 patch on bear pits forum. It fixes many of the QoL issues and adds tons of new mercy’s guns and features.
Yeah, this review is aimed at evaluating JA2 as close to the vanilla experience as possible, and Stracciatella did that best imo- maybe in the future we'll look at mods but the 1.13 patch fundamentally changes the game a lot!
You guys have a 40% view to like ratio. That says how good this content is.
Keep it up guys.
Glad you enjoyed it! Welcome to the channel!
Every computer I've had has had this game on it , the mods gave it even more life. One day i hope for a superhero game based on this system
I totally agree that this could work with a superhero game, provided that the maps had more verticality! JA2 has found its way onto every PC we've ever owned as well :D
Fun fact: Deidranna's name was first mispronounced as Deidrianna by the rebel character Ira, in the game itself.
One more reason why Ira's an awesome character, right? hehe
@@2HeadedHero well... to be completely honest, I've always hated her. Always found her voice annoying. I tolerate her because she's an excellent medic. :)
Aww, her silly NY accent was always great to me. Plus, high Wisdom means by the end of the game you could have her trained up to be pretty lethal if you wanted to, and she never asked for a paycheck!
JA2 is one of my all-time faves!
Honestly, I'm still wishing Stallone would reach out to the developers or get the game engine and create an Expendables game.
That would be amazing!
@@2HeadedHero Right? Did you see the game they chose to release with the movie? Meh at best, IMHO. I watched a play-through of it, and JA2 was all I could think of. The potential for snarky interactions alone would have made the game epic. :D
Such a shame Sirtech went bankrupt. I can only imagine how much this game cost.. Still though, their choices after JA2 surely contributed to that.
Who knows what thisteam of devs would have made if they were given the opportunity, besides one of the most revolutionary best turned based strategy games of all time.
I remember being in school and making notes on what city to attack next and how to prep and it took me 5 months to finish the game on the first run. Not to mention, my job 20 years later is to make animations of ja2 isometric combat maps for a history channel 😂 Awesome review, keep it up!
Thanks for watching and for the kind words! Also - That sounds like a really interesting job!
Awesome review :D
Thanks! Stick around for more 😸
Also, love your name's Resident Evil reference 🤣
1996 start playing the JA1 then when JA2 available i also play until now for god sake I still like this game especially now got so many mods. Other than Command & Conquer series i dont think i have the longest game i played stretching so many years. 1996 i am just in standard 6 school. Now I am 38 and still at IT!!
Hell yeah, still playing this game 2 decades later 🤣
Yep, for years I was hoping for a sequel. But now I'm at peace, knowing that this master piece JA2 is like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, it cannot be reproduce again, by anyone, ever.
Good video, you guys got a sub. I have been thinking of doing my own retro series and wanted to see if anyone covered JA2, because that is one of the games of my radar. Have to give it up to the 90s. Even larger studios were willing to make innovative games and take ground breaking risks and make such gems. I suppose this still exists in modern indie market, but you don't see AAA developers do anything but rehash another COD or BF. Long live the 90s!
Everything old is new again 😃
Welcome to the channel and thanks for the sub!
Can't believe you guys forgot the underground blind creatures that hunt on smell. ;)
We mentioned em near the end but didn't want to totally spoil everything for those who haven't played that part ☺️
The director, Ian Currie, once said in a FAQ that you can stab one of your mercs to leave a trail of blood to lure the Aliens, then patch the merc up and go further underground, without fighting.
One of the funny things about this game was when it was tactically advantageous to simply punch your enemy to death while they were helpless on the ground lol. Especially when it took several swings and/or multiple turns because they'd make a noise every time. Made me feel like a real heartless bastard haha
The fatigue meter mechanics were so cool, making it viable to knock enemies over even if you were using junk ammo. You could also spam tear gas grenades and they'd be so exhausted they couldn't move for a dozen turns 🤣
I think autos save do exist(unless it has been so long since I played JA2 vanilla that I mistake these features for a mod). Every 1, 12, or 24 hours(I can't remember) spent on the strategy screen during time laps results in an autosave. Plus a pair of rotating autosaves that occur when you end your turn(or at the start of a new one?) during turned based combat in the tactical screen.
Also, best game ever.
Except fan patch 1.13; it practically makes it a new game, albeit the same visuals.
Digression: Project Zomboid looks more like this game than it does the Sims, and anyone who disagrees is probably wrong.
No autosaves in vanilla JA2, very easy to lose a few days of progress. However some mods provide some advanced save features, Stracciatella does not appear to be one of em. But yes, Zomboid definitely is similar and JA2 IS the best game ever!
They need to make a HD remaster with QOL improvements etc. Hopefully it happens but done properly unlike other HD Remasters that where done poorly.
Definitely. Been saying this for years!
I love these games but I like the semi real time system in the back in action remake just because I like speeding up the combat a bit.
Guess I'm the opposite- just couldn't get into it! JA2 will always be best for us😃
today jagged alliance 3 will be released :-> i remember playin first game on my pentium 90 133hz, the second on a pentium3 with 500hz i think. This game was his time ahead for years without 1010120 patches like games nowadays, imagine how big this was... would be cool if the new game can catch that up.
Reviews are looking good! Excited to try out JA3 when it drops today
This game doesn't have a remakde; it has two; first there's the 1.13 mod which updates pretty much everything from the base game, then there's wildfire, a fan mod that was turned into a full commercial release (ignore the initial publisher shenanigans,it was sorted out afterwards).
I'd consider those to be mods rather than remakes 😁
But either one means more JA2 to play so that's something!
Underrated Channel
Thank you 😁
No other game gives me the kind of satisfaction of killing enemies as JA2
Still nothing quite like JA2!
Ira is the best... lol. I love this game...... I've played in 1999 after it came out, and I'm playing again now in 2024..... Elliot you fool..... haha. What a journey in a game. :)
@@Blueeeberrry there's a reason it's still good after all these years!
Reason for it being the best game is all the detaild and micro management, you dont have to, but you always ends spending hours equipping your mercs for a battle that might take 15 minutes
With some quality of life improvements around the inventory system the game could be vastly improved, but it's definitely great how much control you have over your merc loadouts!
I have completed JA2 in all the difficulties level both real or sci-fi. None of my mercs received direct hits, so no injuries or death.
You must be some sort of JA2 wizard then! 😂😅
@@2HeadedHero Hahaha I ain't no wizard. If any of my mercs got shot I will just load game. Takes a lot of patient and time.
The ol' save scum trick ;)
@@2HeadedHero Yeah! My IMP's medical score is zero and I have no use of First Aid and Medical kit.
@@dominiclee5786 the most boring way to play it. You might just as well use cheats: same result, but less time wasted.
6:25 When you beat the game the custom character adresses you the commander as a different person saying you did a good job, and the custom character can die without it being a game over. So the custom character is not you, wierd as it may seem.
Hmm, but in the beginning all the IMP questions are asked towards the first person and most of the other dialog follows suit. So maybe the ending is a fourth wall break addressing the player directly? Or maybe they just never really thought about it as much as we're thinking about it now!
I glad you guys don't shoot anyone in the head with Monica Buns!
Doesn't she laugh like a psycho when that happens? 🤣
AWESOME VIDEO I LOVE MY STRATS
Thanks! Gotta have STRATS
good to see after decades this games eliteness is once again being recognised
Jagged Alliance
none of them are rpg, like not even slightest not even by a single point
@@tsartomato Care to explain why they are not? RPG = Role Playing Game, in its because multiple characters? so Final fantasy is not an RPG? is it that its semi open world? please tell me why they are not RPS´s?
@@lacai527 there's literally no role no playing, no quests no story. this game doesn't even have a protagonist. you hire premade goons. what the hell is rps?
jagged alliance is like an epitome of a turn based tactics game. if you say turn based tactics you expect it to bee like jagged alliance, not like sanctus reach, because ja style is the more popular format.
like have you ever play an rpg? baldur's gate pool of radiance? wasteland? rpg started as pnp, you literally talk to people to solve the quest. people who hated stories but loved math split rpg into dungeon crawlers, where you roll dice. crawlers were the first one to be digitized with moria and wizardry if we go for a commercial. when pcs became powerful enough to run a digital game master, the real computer rpg started to appear. so if you think rpg are pure then there can't be an rpg without a diverse dialogue system multiple chocie branching main quest with different solutions. if you hate rpg and want just math, then you can't have an rpg without the main character created by rolling dice gaining exp killing enemies rolling dice for every attacks doing all the math.
there's literally nothing rpg about ja2, there's no hero, you are managing finances as a company manager you can fire everyone and you can just hire better people. the fact that there are stats gained by TRAINING not on level ups doesn't make it an rpg at all. even if you want to stretch an owl over a globe ja has some minor rpg elements at best. it's turn based tactics through and through, and the fact that you don't even know this genre exists, and don't know what's an rpg means you haven't even played games
go buy pool of radiance on steam and there's a new graphics mod on steam for wizardry 1 from 2024
@@lacai527 final fantasy is a dogshit weeaboo clone of wizardry 1
you are so confused that you talk about an open world. literally pool of radiance, akalabeth, baldurs gate, wasteland, bards tale etc etc
@@lacai527 have you even played ja2? or you are like the kids who played oblout 3 and think that fallout is an fps?
ja3 is a half-crpg hybrid with a mandatory main character a ton of multi choice quests, a bad story, killing tons of goons with magic, dice rolls instead of simulation etc etc, not that different from baldurs gate or fallout if you look at it from only that side. ja2 is nothing like ja3, they only share turn-based tactical combat where ja2 is running on a simulation and ja3 on dicerolls spells skills and magicks. ja1 is very different too with it being a more global strategy with tactical fights of goons instead of entire tank batallions
Most excited about the upcoming JA3.
Yesssss! DEFINITELY.
Never played it, but definitely shoulda tried this instead of Fallout and GTA 1. Mostly played StarCraft and N64 those days.
Hey hey now, Fallout is still amazing!
My favorite game forever, by far. I wish I was better at running mods, besides 1.13 just go play more. Hoping 3 is good but it doesnt really look like what Id want it to be. Hell, id take another full game in the old ass engine. I dont care.
ja2 is definitely an all-time favorite we keep going back to! Whatever they do with 3, I hope it goes back to turn based. The real time pause combat mechanic should die off forever. 😂
Quick answer: Elliot!
ELLLIOOOOOOOTTTT
"You Idiot!"
Thanks for the video. I would like to play this game but the versions are so confusing There’s JA 2 Gold on Steam, JA 2 on GOG, Stracciatella and 1.13. So many strong opinions about which one is best. On top of that I wonder if any work on Win 11?
it runs perfectly on W11 for me
Unfortunately, this launcher does not work with the Wildfire version of the game, but I do appreciate this video and will try the CD version. EDIT: I LIED!! THIS WORKS!! There is a folder called JA2Classic. Linking this folder in the data tab now allows me to play the game! Thanks dude!!
Hey! Thanks for letting us know that this also works for Wildfire! Glad we could help as well, enjoy JA2!
It doesn't allow me to play the Wildfire version exactly, but it does let me play the classic JA2, and I'm glad for that. Sweet game honestly.
@@RancorSweetly ah gotcha. Still, thanks for clarifying!
I need to play this game
Everyone should!
You could have just asked, "Have you ever seen the 2010 movie, The Expendables? That movie is basically a complete rip off of Jagged Alliance 2."
There's a non-zero number of similarities! 😄😁
I love almost everything about this game, but I hate some of its mechanics. Sometimes it's just feels too random and RNG based. My merc can lay behind a tree and shoot without any success at enemy that is standing in open ground and in next turn that same enemy can pop two accurate shots and knock out my merc. It's just frustrating and unfair. Also game doesn't like to tell player about essential things like chance to hit or if enemy can spot you. There is a build in overlay showing in green "safe" spots where enemy shouldn't spot you, but it doesn't work. Even if you are laying and sneaking enemy has no problem with seeing you. For me things like this makes vanilla unplayable, because I feel the game is just messing with me. I prefer 1.13, because I can at least see what I am doing wrong. I can finish game with 1.13 without much problems, but with vanilla I can't conquer more than two cities on experienced difficulty.
Definitely hear some of those complaints but just wanna throw out there that Stracciatella patch adds visible chance to hit as a keybind, just in case you'd rather play something closer to vanilla. Probably will revisit 1.13 and see if it's improved since it's been a few years though!
@@2HeadedHero I know about Stracciatella and its features, but I was talking strictly about vanilla without any fan-made content. It is how the game was released back in the day and how it should be judged. At least for me just to be fair.
@@MrBegmar i think the player not knowing shit is what add to the immersion... no one can truly know if a threat in an area is gone or not.
"Stephen Rothman..."
You have problems with the inventory system? Get the game fully modded with thousands of different load bearing kit options and 500 weapons with all the caliber and bullet options and you are in a military porn micromanagement heaven... Yes, you can choose which kinds of pockets your merc has for their MOLLE vest... Mods are the only remaster the game needs. 😏
Not really a problem with item variety. More of a problem with the interface and inventory management, which is super cumbersome. It's great to see such a vibrant community still exists around the game though, and if there's a way to mod in a friendlier interface I'm sure we'll eventually see it!
Jagged Alliance 3 is almost out, it still doesnt look like its good enough, no injury effecting the battle and no talking portraits
Yeah that's disappointing stuff, but I'll reserve judgement until the game comes out
@@2HeadedHero yeah lets wait and see...
It is bloody hard but so bloody good
It's the best! 🤣
My fav part is that the french characters can't stand the french canadian characters
HAHAHA! Yessss
agreed love ja2. more with 113 and other good mods.
Looks interesting
It's the best!
@@2HeadedHero I know.... half of my channel is dedicated to it :).
I used to save scum and cut all the fails and reloads out of the video. Was a ton of work but fun. Good times :)
It really is one of the best tactical games ever made. And every subsequent game in the series has been an embarrassing attempt to recreate its formula. Or rather, its reins were handed off to crews that had no clue what that formula consisted of to begin with. And this will probably also be the fate of JA3, to some degree. Sad, really. But I'm content with playing the GOAT (with 1.13), just like I can play HoMM3 (with HoTA) until the end of my days. Who needs sharper graphics with lazier gameplay? LAME.
There are ETERNAL CLASSICS--enhanced by passionate fans that truly understand their magic, more so than the clowns that are paid to attempt to "improve" on the formula, yet consistently fail.
Some games can pull off the reimagining pretty well - the new Xcom titles are a great example. I have hopes for JA3 though, from what we've seen so far it seems like some of those lessons from the series' missteps might have been learned. If JA3 falls on its face, well, JA2 will still be around and people will still be modding it for as long as the power grid still runs! 😄
There are many game options, there is no code, but there is an opportunity to have millions of money and all the weapons
That's boring tho. U can play with natives and earn millions which is more fun.
All evil will be lifted and separated.
The only downside of this game is it being near impossible on true Iron Man, at least for me. In some situations there are enemies hiding in locked rooms and no matter what you do, even if you toss a grenade inside they will still get the first turn and burst fire the crap out of your mercs. Same with mortars. Very tough without savescumming.
Save scumming is a valid strategy though 🤣
I played this game wrong for 15 years by save scuming and copy paste item exploit while always playing on easy. then i played it with mods that don't let you exploit it that much.
@@DrRESHES No matter what you do I suspect you will still need to savescum at some point. I have the 1.13 mod too if that is what you mean, and game seems to simply not be designed for iron man.
Xbox One X version needed 🤘😅
Omg I wouldn't be mad about that! Imagine playing from your couch with a better control scheme like the XCOM reboot
yeah, you'll need a keyboard for this game.
I still playing wildfire
Still playing JA2 20+ years later too! 😆
Stracciatella DOES NOT work with JA2 Wildfire.
Nope
It's the second best RPG after Fallout 2
Still my favourite game.
Big same
This Game need attention
Hopefully it'll get more with JA3 out!
Best game ever
Still!
@@2HeadedHero hoping JA3 is as good
Role playing game game.
😆atm machine
@@2HeadedHero Right? Lol
One thing that is bad about JA2 is the music.
"The music, how can you say that, are you nuts?"
Well not exactly the music but the composer. You can forget about making Let's Plays on UA-cam for example, because he will automatically Content ID every single video you upload with the games music on.
Imo, one of the most disgusting and stupid things you can do as a composer, especially when you have been comissioned specifically to compose the music just for that game and of course have been fully paid for it.
Hmm, interesting. Welp shhhhh they haven't found us yet! Haha
If i were to make a review i'll leave the music.
who gives a hoot, i'm here to evangelize a game i love.
son i am an alcohol
Man, you nice
No YOU!
Lol. Why would anyone want to be Michelle Yeoh. 😂😂😂😂
Whyt not? To each their own power fantasy!
13:29 Haha so "funny"!! --'
😂🤣
Not sure why you never touched 1.13 or even wildfire. Both have been around for a decade now. Its just unfair, since they are massive improvements over the original ja2.
why call of duty is the best racing game?
what damn rpg when there's no main character, no quests or dialogues no levelling and no story?
Spoken from a true place of ignorance, JA2 has all that stuff and more
@@2HeadedHero you literally haven't even played it
you hire goons, you get small town mines, you kick out the goons, you hire good goons and get big town mines (or don't really you can fast run), you kick out med goons and hire elite goons and shoot the queen. finish.
@@2HeadedHero and dopefish is the main character of every game