Your ideal Isometric turn-based shooter crpg

[Leningradiensis]

Wasteland 2 was highly anticipated and didn't quite live up to expectations. JA2 is still one of the finest strategy games but has failed to come up with any decent successors (apart from silent storm perhaps).

So, in hope of some developer stopping by the codex, what is the game you would like to see in this underdeveloped genre of strategic crpg shooters?

I'll drop a few thoughts:
1. JA2 stat system. Having attributes go from 0 to 100 gives your characters a lot more variance and room for improvement than the 1-10 system seen elsewhere.
2. Salaries. I really like the way in JA2 where you have to balance between paying more for better soldiers or hiring inexperienced soldiers and then training them.
3. Dystopian or post apocalyptic setting.
4. Roguelike randomness. This is something I'd love to see. Gear with varying specs, randomized mansions, caverns etc. monsters with unexpected weaponry and experience etc.
5. Solid rpg rule set on damage, experience, armor etc.

What I learned with Wasteland 2 is that I'm not a fan of heavy writing. Stories that write themselves like in ADOM and Nethack are the ones that give me best memories. So
6. Keep dialogue straight-to-the-point.

 

[Norfleet]

2. Salaries. I really like the way in JA2 where you have to balance between paying more for better soldiers or hiring inexperienced soldiers and then training them.

That isn't what you balanced in JA2. What you balanced in JA2 was not paying more for better soldiers or hiring rookies and training them. What you balanced was whether or not to massively extend a rookie's contract in advance, and risk losing it all when he got wasted vs. having to pay veteran prices ANYWAY. Because the only non-veterans you really pay for in JA2 are the guys who never leave camp. Everyone else is either a veteran or dead.

 

[Grimwulf]

and risk losing it all when he got wasted

Am I the only one who actually bought insurance for my mercs? It's piss-cheap, what's the big deal?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

One thing that would be very important for me would be a simulationist combat system.

 

[hoverdog]

Jagged Alliance 2 systems
in a cyberpunk / space opera / hard scifi / wh40k setting
with semi-random generated missions/terrain OR good modding options a la NWN
with stuff to use like speeders, tanks, trenches, howitzers, force fields, aerial support

 

[laclongquan]

"shooter"? JA2 is not shooter...
..
.
Well okay. Let it pass.

Version 1: Idealized JA2. .. Fuck, I cant think of a damn thing to improve it. Most things are just necessary cosmetic: HD, ragdoll physic. Nude body. More quests if you want a more RPG feel but JA2 is rpg-lite anyway.

Version 2: Idealized Fallout Tactics. More towns and quests. More defending Bases from raiding hostiles. More rescue NPCs from a random maps. HD, ragdoll physic. Nude body.

Version 3: The aboves, but set in medieval setting. Fantasy setting. And SF setting.

 

[mondblut]

A proper modern JA2 sequel is just fine.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

JA2 but in science-fantasy or post-apo world.

 

[Leningradiensis]

A proper modern JA2 sequel is just fine.

Well, I think you nailed it. But how come no company has succeeded in it? And no AAA designer has even tried? New x-com was a huge success after all. So there is demand for this genre,.

 

[mondblut]

Well, I think you nailed it. But how come no company has succeeded in it?

Games like that only happen once. Just like no blobber can come even closer to Wizardry 7. If I had to analyze JA2, it boils down to just 3 components: solid and not terribly convoluted gameplay, sandbox world, and charismatic cast of characters. No epic majestic immershive story, no pretentious bullshit dialogues, no vehicles and construction and research and shit, just walk around the world shooting stuff and quirping oneliners. It was basically Duke Nukem 3D in turn-based. "Outdoing" it would seemingly require overcomplicating it (let's add awsum story to it! let's add player-controlled tanks! let's add 100 quests! that would surely nail it!), and overcomplicating it tends to kill it. See Silent Storm and its retarded power armors for instance.

Not to mention tactics and sandbox have little history of going out together (JA2 and Brigade E5/7.62 aside, all squad tactics tend to stick to the tried, true, boring and loathsome "mission-based" crap), and "charismatic cast" is hit or miss - or, rather, one hit out of 999 misses.

And no AAA designer has even tried? New x-com was a huge success after all.

Was it? "AAA" nowadays means not bothering with anything whose budget and estimated sales are not in 9-digit range. Not a chance.

 

[Norfleet]

See Silent Storm and its retarded power armors for instance.

That didn't kill the game because of complication, it killed the game because it violently and abruptly performed a genre shift, where first you were in the middle of a serious and gritty WW2 game, and suddenly you were fighting Mecha-Hitler with Lazors. If it had been a non-serious Mecha-Hitler game from the outset, nobody would have complained.

 

[Surf Solar]

Just give me a new JA2 campaign in a different setting and I'd be all over it. No other cosmetic bullshit required.

 

[Twiglard]

JA2 could use more variety with mission-based structure. It breaks my immershun to hunt down stragglers just stalling taking over a sector. At night takes far too long.

 

[mondblut]

JA2 could use more variety with mission-based structure.

Jump from a cliff.

 

[Norfleet]

Am I the only one who actually bought insurance for my mercs? It's piss-cheap, what's the big deal?

Probably? Does that actually work? I figured it'd be a waste of money and my claim would just be denied on some technicality like a pre-existing condition. When I hear "insurance", I am conditioned to expect either a threat to my kneecaps or a trick.

 

[Grimwulf]

Am I the only one who actually bought insurance for my mercs? It's piss-cheap, what's the big deal?

Probably? Does that actually work? I figured it'd be a waste of money and my claim would just be denied on some technicality like a pre-existing condition. When I hear "insurance", I am conditioned to expect either a threat to my kneecaps or a trick.

Fortunately, JA2 is not like real life.

 

[laclongquan]

One week to train a newbie merc to a great jack of all trade operator? Certainly.