Jagged Alliance 2

considered one of the best crpg ever by many "crpg veterans" but the game is actually pretty average. yes you have tons of options during combat but these are totally wasted by the braindead AI. and in the end, you end up fighting by using the SAME tactic most every fights (at least like 80% of them). besides, the game is not hard enough and most options are not even worth using. but for some weird reason, crpg veterans tend to believe they're playing the hardest games ever made lol. JA2 is not hard at all, it is extremely tedious tho, but not hard. this game somewhat reminded of TOEE, which also had a FANTASTIC combat system but totally wasted by the repetitive encounter design and the lack of difficulty during MOST fights. so in the end, what's the point making a game with so many options? just to show how good you are at coding? also, let me remind you the favorite "crpg veterans" line: less is more. you don't need that many options in order if you wanna play some better tactical crpgs with smarter AI and some meaningful difficulty you should try: dungeon rats or knights of the chalice 1 and 2. the 3 actual best tactical crpgs out there.

Do not buy the GoG version; it is an unplayable mess of flashing screens and distorted resolution.

If you enjoy punching yourself in the private parts, then THIS is the game for you. Not only will you need to find a patch to run it, you'll be burdened with all the buggy random goodness a crap a 90's somewhat-rpg tactical combat game can provide. Fallout Tactics was better than this BY FAR. I ran the 1.12 version from a recompile of the binary I downloaded off of Github. Most people use the unofficial 1.13 patch which is not playing the game they're downloading here or playing the game as it was intended. Thus most people will rate it higher with the patch. Gameplay is very repetitive, especially toward the end where save-scumming is practically required. Combat is incredibly buggy and random. NPCs will sometimes decide to never hit or always hit or shoot 3 times instead of 2 or not appear and be invisible. So much horseshit a horse could shit it could shit horse shit shit. While combat game play is not one of them, there are a lot of positives with this game. The story and details to plots and characters are incredibly well done. While not truly and RP in RPG, it is somewhat. Calling this game an RPG is stretching the meaning a bit. This is a tactical combat game mostly. Over the decades I have tried numerous times to finish this game. This latest is the furthest I've ever gotten. I cleared and militia'd all of the towns, started my run on the final town and ran out of explosives for tanks. Over the years it has brought me back because of it's story, interesting characters, and attention to detail but no more. The combat game play is so bad and random that skills seem to either everything or nothing and that causes combats to be not fun and you just end of screaming "BULLSHIT!" and "WHAT?!" at the screen. Don't buy this. Wait for a remaster or something. Most reviews here are rose-colored nostalgia glass reviews. Or better yet, buy a better game like Fallout or Fallout 2, which IS an RPG and has these details and better gameplay.

Dont bother downloading unless you intend on playing it all the way through without saving. Wasted my money on this one because all save files become corrupted and cant be loaded.

First off your characters will have a very limited amount of the Action Points --- the points needed to do anything during battle --- walking, running, crouching, shooting, reloading etc. etc. etc. --- this will make even the most basic goals take 15.6 hours --- simple goals such as killing even one enemy. This dynamic makes it quite difficult to get close enough to an enemy to actually hit him, let alone kill him. This, no doubt, helps create the challenge and strategy in the game that folks seem to like --- well, most folks anyway. But, really, it might have been reasonable to allow a little Action Point leeway on some tasks --- tasks such as reloading and crouching for example --- just to quicken things up a little if nothing else. Sound like nitpicking? Maybe, but it will get kind of old after a while be forced to take 229 Action Point replenishing turns to get near enough to actually fight an enemy --- then start the process all over for the next one. Which brings up another criticism --- even on the novice/easiest setting --- even with a super high priced character geared to be a sharpshooting-marksman-superstar --- a 98 rated marksman --- even at point blank range --- he will sometimes miss his target --- and almost never kills him in one or even two shots --- WTF? Meanwhile, these "easy setting" enemys will hit and hit you like it's going out of style --- even at fairly long range --- even when you are prone and appear to be safely behind cover. This fairness problem when combined with the Action Point issue can make for a frustrating or at least tedious gaming session. Of course, getting hit will necessitate the need for healing --- which is also a bit needlessly and painfully contrived for a game of this nature. Other problems are mostly minor and due mainly to the age of the game these can be overlooked fairly easily. To sum it up, strategy is a good thing --- and very satisfying when a difficult goal is achieved --- but, fairness, fun, and playability are also good things --- and little better balance between these things would have made this game much better. As it is, be fairly warned that it's not for everyone.