Merc uniqueness extends past personality quirks as well. New players won’t know what they’re missing, but hey, Back in Action is aiming at oldsters, validating the criticism. Perhaps the most disappointing omission for veterans is the inability to create your own custom mercenary via gaming’s most entertaining, inscrutable personality test.
Mercenaries are now hired for the duration, eliminating the need to renew their contracts every few days. Healing has been simplified and permanent injuries no longer require significant downtime to heal. Skills progression is handled by a simpler leveling and point-distribution system. Recruiting and upgrading local militia to defend locations in your squads’ absence is now done on-location. The main map screen itself is of little use beyond facilitating travel between zones. Put simply, many of Jagged Alliance 2‘s larger, “strategic” features have been pared down, simplified, or eliminated entirely.
Unfortunately, it’s at that strategic layer that the veneer of familiarity begins to peel away, revealing significant - and potentially upsetting - differences from the original.
