Jagged Alliance Jagged Alliance 2, Temple of Elemental Evil & Silent Storm Retrospectives

[Slaver1]

Played a bit of TOEE earlier. It holds up magnificently 15+ years on as magnificent 2d isometric games are want to do. Not quite in the Infinity Engine league graphically but timeless nonetheless. It's easy to get immersed in because you know painstakingly watertight rules underpin every part of the experience. Enjoyed cruising around Hommlet which is actually a pretty big map containing lots of different shops and townfolk and managed to deal with the first couple of combat encounters. I like my party, led by a flamboyant noble female rogue and consisting of a black female monk, dwarven fighter, elven wizard and human cleric but I do wonder how they'll do during the first serious combat encounters.

 

[Lilura]

I've added an Index page for ToEE due to increasing my commentary by 55 write-ups in the month of March (mostly on builds and spells).

For motivation to play, check out the recently updated and expanded retrospective.

 

[Jason Liang]

Lilura, no offense but your builds are ass

 

[typical user]

Don't see any other recent and more relevant threads so I guess I will post here.

Lilura Thanks for your blogposts about JA2 - those helped me beat the game on expert for the first time (and with only small part of savescumming, just so my mercs wouldn't insta-die from bullshit enemy strats at the end).

The game was pretty intense and enjoyable apart from infested mines with ridiculous numbers of enemies and the goddamn Meduna full of terminator elites scoring interrupts every nanosecond with infinite fatigue and phasing through walls (I had one merc plant HMX at wall only for an enemy to glitch through before the blast). Oh and also the game kinda bugged at Meduna SAM - elites could see my soldiers on the roof from other half of the map at full night while my mercs had to come very close to spot them. But everything else was fair, no other game let's you pit 12 vs 40 units on swamps at night and use mortars to blast them apart into victory. Or lay down behind some low foliage in bright day and make potshots at terrified enemies who cannot see my units - felt even better as I got long range weapons before attacking Alma during that encounter while on my way there, Army intercepted me on the outskirts as I deployed my squad from chopper.

Only thing I have to complain about JA2 is how the economy could be handled better - enemies should drop all gear as they die and militias should cost more than petty $750 to train. Also I wish I could move them between sectors and actually secure Tixa or Orta. It didn't feel right to assault palace while enemies have retaken some sectors behind - but then the game has limit of 18 mercs and later on sending only 6 is too extreme while army is still mass spawning new forces and sending them in other directions.

BTW. Buns participated in over 60 encounters and had exactly 90 confirmed kills with around 60 assists, others were sitting at around 30-60, with just fresh-recruits or backstage soldiers going with around 10 body count. I probably have had killed over 700 hostiles. Finished the game with over half a milion bucks - there should be some sort of scoreboard taking this and other things into account. Like nu-XCOM does.

 

[Lilura]

enemies should drop all gear as they die

Stracciatella *.json includes toggle for drop all loot. It's not 100% accurate, and it's game-imbalancing, but it's yet another tailoring option for a "version" of the game that doesn't deviate far from the original experience.

Temple+ and Stracc are monocled "mods" because they seek mostly to future-proof (for lack of a better term) the games and facilitate modding by others, rather than change them by default.

 

[Lilura]

Oh, and yes, Buns is v. useful. One of my fave mercs.

I liked her reaction to crows pecking at corpses.

 

[Latro]

Oh, and yes, Buns is v. useful. One of my fave mercs.


I liked her reaction to crows pecking at corpses.

"every day in every way, i get better and better" - her kill quote reminds me of you

 

[Sykar]

Lilura, no offense but your builds are ass

If only that was the one thing which is ass about its "blog"...

 

[typical user]

Stracciatella *.json includes toggle for drop all loot. It's not 100% accurate, and it's game-imbalancing, but it's yet another tailoring option for a "version" of the game that doesn't deviate far from the original experience.

Don't think so, if enemies drop pistols, kevlar or 9mm ammo then it doesn't ruin balance - stuff could be used to actually get funds early on to fund militia training like I said before. Later on enemies be dropping damaged gear on par with your equipment and they are only dangerous because they have numbers advantage and unlimited access to explosives. Selling gear would need more buyers than Tony, perhaps Drassen Airport would be more useful in this regard.

Buns is ok, kinda pissed me that Magic had a beef with her since I wanted to have him, Blood and Ice thanks to their excellent VO. Blood was a second-runner on kill-count and had the pleasure of instagibing Mike with LAW.

 

[Lilura]

If only that was the one thing which is ass about its "blog"...

What is ass about my blog? It's not perfect, and I haven't said it is, but every day in every way, it gets better and better.

Whereas you and others of your kind will always be shitposters lost in the shuffle, and unread.

 

[Sykar]

If only that was the one thing which is ass about its "blog"...

What is ass about my blog? It's not perfect, and I haven't said it is, but every day in every way, it gets better and better.

Whereas you and others of your kind will always be shitposters lost in the shuffle, and unread.

And yet you not only read my post you even quoted it.

 

[Latro]

Lilura re: Silent Storm's camera; your retrospective noted that you had a custom config for camera control, did you post this anywhere that I couldn't find? If not, could you post it for us?

 

[Lilura]

Just Google: mission_camera_limits Silent Storm

 

[Lilura]

And yet you not only read my post you even quoted it.

I was speaking in terms of my blog vs. your shitposting. You said my blog "is ass" and didn't back that up with a single fact when I called you out. You could have said, "I think it's ass because [insert reason that is plausible/understandable]", but you didn't. That is the definition of a shitposter.

For years now, you and several other butthurt members of the 'Dex have called my commentary "ass", "shit", and so on, and yet it continues to march on, goes from strength to strength and bores holes through long-standing, monetized and mainstream competitors -- as a lone-wolf.

But as good as my commentary is, as prolific as it is, and as influential as it is, I must emphasize that it isn't yet enough. My commentary isn't something to stand on, but rather to build on. And by building on what I've laid down, by expanding and refining -- by having this clear, focused goal -- the name "Lilura" will long-endure as it pertains to RPGs in Google rankings.

 

[Sykar]

Always amusing when "people" are so far up their asses that they think their shitty blog is good or meaningful in any way shape or form.

 

[octavius]

None stand where Lilura stands, for she shall surely walk atop them.

 

[Lilura]

Always amusing when "people" are so far up their asses that they think their shitty blog is good or meaningful in any way shape or form.

Keep appealing for support among your shitposter ranks; it's all fuel for the fire. I've taken on dozens of your kind on public venues over the years; it's like wading into a trashmob wielding a Hackmaster +10.

 

[Sykar]

Always amusing when "people" are so far up their asses that they think their shitty blog is good or meaningful in any way shape or form.

Keep appealing for support among your shitposter ranks; it's all fuel for the fire. I've taken on dozens of your kind on public venues over the years; it's like wading into a trashmob wielding a Hackmaster +10.

Q.E.D

 

[biggestboss]

 

[NJClaw]

Wait... Lilura has a youtube channel?

And she also uploads Planescape: Torment combat videos? I'm sold.

 

[Lilura]

Not really.

The channel is just where I sometimes upload vids that support what I say in blogposts.

It's not a standalone channel for commentary.

 

[NJClaw]

Not really.

The channel is just where I sometimes upload vids that support what I say in blogposts.

It's not a standalone channel for commentary.

A couple of days ago I read for the first time your blog (precisely, the IWD retrospectives) and I immediately thought that a video with that content would have been far more interesting than Chris Davis' content on the same topic. He usually sits around 40k to 70k views, but with IE games he reached 211k with BG 1 and peaked at 219k with Fallout 1.

I mean, I don't know if it should become a proper youtube channel, but it probably could. "Retrospective" seems the word of the moment.

 

[Lilura]

Well, collectively, my BG write-ups have garnered 2 million views.

I'll be hitting 3 million total in the past 2 years when Google sends the March 2020 participation award.

Not bad considering it's written, and doesn't level down the info (most entrepreneurial bloggers recommend leveling down content for the masses).

I've had several people contact me, asking if they can "apply" my writings. Thus, I know the blog is influential. But I checked some transcripts, and found no instances of plagiarism.

 

[octavius]

A couple of days ago I read for the first time your blog (precisely, the IWD retrospectives) and I immediately thought that a video with that content would have been far more interesting than Chris Davis' content on the same topic. He usually sits around 40k to 70k views, but with IE games he reached 211k with BG 1 and peaked at 219k with Fallout 1.

I mean, I don't know if it should become a proper youtube channel, but it probably could. "Retrospective" seems the word of the moment.

"Retrospective"...and then he uses the Enhanced Edition.

 

[Lilura]

octavius , what is best in RPG?