While I sympathize somewhat with the sentiment of old-school JA players that devs shouldn't fix what wasn't broken, I do worry slightly about their blood pressure if not their sanity when I read these conversations about the new Jagged Alliance - a game I gather no one has tried yet.

I get it if you've tried RTWP gameplay and hate it and don't want to even give the new game a shot, but asserting that the game is somehow objectively horrible and that existing fans of the franchise couldn't possibly enjoy it is an overstatement to say the least. I for one have always preferred real time with pause to turn-based because of - at least for my money - the greater immersion, realism and visceral thrill of simultaneous combat action. As someone said before, that system worked in the later UFO games and to my mind was absolutely the best thing about the one I tried, I forget which one it was. I also find it works very well in one of the deepest tactical war games ever, the new Combat Mission. Now as far as pathfinding goes, combat mission does have horrible pathfinding for vehicles, but in that case RTWP makes things better, not worse. I seem to remember the UFO game I played showing the path beforehand so you could plot it exactly how you wanted it.

The tactical mechanics of Jagged Alliance 2 were good for what they were, but what makes it a classic for me isn't that it was turn-based but rather the combination of tactical battles, overall strategy, choosing and equipping those quirky mercs (oh, the sweet mania of virtual materialism when you find another rod and spring to make that cool assault rifle a +1 cool assault rifle), plus the unique character interaction and the story of the game.

And I bet I'm not alone, so I wouldn't be so sure about RTWP destroying all commercial potential of the game.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm convinced it's going to be an utter abortion but it's because they'll mess up everything else on my above list even if they get the combat mechanics just right. They're going to make a lot of embarrassingly stupid decisions, rob the franchise of its soul and its last whining breath and then anyone clamoring for a new Jagged Alliance will be shooting a sprite-based representation of a dead horse forever.

But at least we have GOG and JA2 1.13, which will sadly remain the pinnacle of squad-level tactical combat games forever. Also, gaming is mostly just a sign you have nothing going on, so there's that whole perspective.

I know of only 1 sequel where a change in gameplay did work out great: Dune 2

For the most part sequels with different gameplay turn out terrible and the use of the franchise name is just a dirty attempt to boost sales. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Read what Al Lowe (Creator of Leisure Suit Larry) has to say about the sequel to his game Magna Cum Laude:
http://www.allowe.com/Larry/MCL.htm
"I may never finish it" and
"Those who fondly remember my games will be severely disappointed"
(VU Games (new owners of Sierra Online) deliberately spread rumors that Al was involved to generate publicity)

On the next installment (Box Office Bust) Al had this to say:
http://www.allowe.com/Larry/BOB.htm
"Ah, well; it can't be worse than Magna Cum Laude, can it?"
"Now that the reviews are in, the answer is: Yes, it can!"
"Thank you, VU Games, for keeping me completely away from this latest disaster!"

I can't remember either game being a success

Seriously guys, stop ***king around with our treasured franchises!

dune 2 was nothing compared 1, 1 was more like an adenture with strategy while 2 was i think the first rts game or at least made rts populair. But what i didnt understand that was the third faction ordos or something it was always arteiters vs harkonnen sorry if i misspell those names it is from memory :)

That was exactly my point. It's one of the very few franchises where a sequel with a different type of gameplay did work and yet companies keep changing gameplay types when the chance of success is minimal.
In the book it was Artreides vs. Harkonnen(supported by the emperor). The Ordos were made up by the game's designers.

thats true a lot of sequals these days are diffrent and dont work but i think it has too do that the previous game was too old and the devolpers need to find the right engine to reboot the game i think it was better they bring out other gams with diffrent type of games like 1 turn based and that other 1 there new system to see wich fans like and who gonna buy it.
Rebooting and a new engine is harder then you think since there need to be a new engine what has to be made from the start it is very time consuming and timing is very important since an engine can be outdated if its development so long.

The only reason I can see for bringing back an old franchise is to appeal to the fans of the originals... but by changing the mechanics (and even the genre, with the new X-Com), you're going to alienate those fans.

What I'm really trying to say is that there's no point bringing a franchise back if you're not going to bring the gameplay back as well: the name means nothing to the people that the gameplay is aimed at.

its not for the old fans they make the game its for creating new fans. Fallout 3 is the best example for this you have 2 sides 1 fallout 3 fanboys and the old fallout fans.

I'm pretty sure I get your connotation but I'm also pretty sure you're not using 'fluke' in a way that's even remotely correct.

Gosh, that was some time ago..;)
You're absolutely right... and wrong at the same time.
See, I was aiming for something that sounds like "duke" but doesn't really fit there at the first glance, so i checked what fluke meant, and it made no sense, therefore it fit perfectly, a bit like stuff in DNF itself. Seemed like a good idea at the moment, since this JA looks like something done by people who are not exactly sure what they're doing and how it works.
I guess growing up with Monty Python made my mind work a wee bit different. Yeah.. I should get that head checked out.;)