I’d say Jagged Alliance 2 came close to being perfect in both the tactical, strategic and narrative elements. The small cut scenes with the female dictator were funny, especially after sending her flowers. The tactical gameplay was awesome, and all the soldiers were unique and interesting in a way that has not been matched by any other game.
The strategic layer was maybe a bit less stellar by comparison, but still very good.
JA 2 was a terrific game… played it for years including a number of fan made iterations… great story with a villain worth hating and a ton of memorable characters…
The tactical system was a true advancement for the times…
Ja2 was a great game, and a clear case of far more than the sum of its parts.
So did I, though in my recollections the vanilla was the best (that just my opinion, mind you - might have to do with the fact I played them at different times).
However, the late game was not that good. The micromanagement (particularly inventory management) got to insane levels. Dealing with higher level enemies involved a lot of save scumming (that in a game that never lend itself well to being played on ironman - or at least not to me, I tried quite a few times, but it was too frustrating).
Not a game that would lend itself well to iron man… and you are right about the inventory management, but it is an old game…
There was a fan made mod that created a super-villain… a woman, I forget her name… it became the go to version of the game, and was itself modified for years… At any rate, the point became hunting her down and killing her and by the end of the game you really wanted her dead. Among her various sins, she had a cadre of assassins (read clever use of an ambush mission here) that would show up at the most inconvenient times… but the bounty on said assassins made up for their rude interruptions of what were otherwise perfect plans…
PP is set up more like a tabletop miniatures game such as Warhammer40K . You have fantastic lore, varying customizable unit archetypes, and a campaign consisting of interconnected scenarios played out on virtual dioramas. I don’t need a preset protagonist or a mustache twirling villain. The eventual antagonist in the game is enough and the plot of finding the truth of the Pandora virus and a way to push back the Pandorans to save what remains of humanity is likewise enough.
I’m excited to see how the cybernetics and air units come into play later on as well as the Antediluvians.
Yes, absolutely. Conceptually it’s like a miniatures game with ballistics, and how awesome is that?
Of course it does need polishing, balancing and more content…
I don’t feel like I am doing any progress as Phoenix organisation. Research is hardly ever a brakthrough. Missions just happen. There is no feeling of counteratack or active defense. Phoenix doesn’t expand in a controlled way, just find bases that are already somewhere there regardless of strategical significance. Phoenix doesn’t even train own soldiers, just rely on hiring external pre-trained recruits. Noone relies on us, noone is giving a damn if we’re doing anything. Just like we’re not the humanity last hope, but some bystanders that wait till something happens to decide if we wan’t to be part of it or not. There is lore out there and cosmic horror plot, but actually I don’t feel like I should do anything and loosing the game isn’t bad ending at all. I have no idea why should I fight pandorans. Game feels like hopping from a mission to mission without deeper thought to exploit some mechanics stiched together and repeat this cycle untill you see end credits.
Brilliant idea!! Much better than central from xcom etc.
I completely agree with not needing all the videos. I think that the videos are for the younger age market. Maybe it an attention span thing, but maybe I’m just getting old. So one interpretation could be after completing the game (storyline association) that one wakes up and it was all a nasty dream and then I turn into a harden climate change activist. Clever Julian Gollop tryinng to encourage us!
Yes, it was always tough losing my wife, stepfather, dear friends etc. It always made me more careful of my troops, which as I understood was Jake Solomon’s intention. But interestingly with the difficulty scaling that is build into PP, often I find myself using these soldiers as cannon fodder occasionally. In the ealier part of the game, one can quickly replace troops with more rookies if they don’t already have much experience - then their not a big loss.
If you don’t care much about ballistics, Mordheim: City of the Damned pretty much beats PP in every aspect. 
A bit of a moneysink, considering warband pricing model, but worth it if you didn’t played it before. Feels a lot like tabletop Mordheim.
I hadn’t heard of it before, but RPS didn’t like it much.
Also, I do care a lot about the ballistics 
Not here to convince you. 
Game has it flaws. But it did tactical battles much better than PP and if you read the review, all of arguments are also valid for PP. AI in Phoenix Point is non-existent and enemies are pumped up to counter their stupidity as they run forward shoting without deeper thought. That’s very subjective and the RPS review isn’t different. An argument about two-handed sword not killing outright in a swing in a fantasy RPG setting? Sure. You may or may not like it. Yet we have Phoenix Point where few sniper rifle headshots may disable your head which has absolutely no lethal effect whatsoever. 
How awesome is that?
Can’t discuss Mordheim, because I haven’t played it.
As to PP, the AI, at least for Panda, some quirks aside, is pretty decent. IMO the AI is not a problem, it’s that Pandas don’t have the necessary skills to counter PP. But then most players are complaining about how difficult the game is so… 
Why are lethal headshots a good idea exactly? I mean, this is not a milsim. I wouldn’t want to die by a single arrow in a fantasy game either, mind you.
Just saying review is biased and putting the same arguments to PP would absolutely wreck it. Try Mordheim yourself (or don’t), it’s much better game in my opinion.