Marvel Last Alliance it's very different from what it used to be. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order may have a similar formula with various settings visited and associate characters recruited or fought, but its menus and insistence on ISO-8 farming unfortunately turn it into something of the previous two Marvel Last Alliance games were never mistaken for.
Everything is fine Marvel Last Alliance the game has had its own means of increasing stats and abilities – equipment, medals and ISO-8, respectively – and which ones are better or worse than another will be subjective as each installment is quite different from each other anyway. That said, if a quarter Marvel Last Alliance is always in the cards, he would need to learn from all of them and decide what is the best path forward for the franchise.

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Marvel Ultimate Alliance has a decent base with Gear
Marvel Last AllianceGear comes in the form of individual items tied to heroes and villains that grant various passives and buffs to the characters they are equipped on, with some gear only able to be equipped by a specific character. Each character could only have one piece of gear equipped, which meant players had to constantly reconsider whether a new piece of gear had a passive stat increase or boost that they would prefer to have on a particular character, and with plentiful pieces of gear that inundated the players. inventory often made for a decent source of SHIELD credits if deconstructed.
Aside from its sheer volume of items, gear is arguably the easiest stat allocation system to manage from the inventory menu, while also being the most beneficial and significant in gameplay: Enchantress drops Aura gear of Seduction which grants a 5% chance of enemies becoming allies for 30 seconds in case of melee hits, which is completely unique and useful, for example.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 unnecessarily simplifies equipment into medals
Marvel last alliance 2Medals include equipment, offering similar passives and upgrades, but apply to each character and must be equipped in slots that increase sequentially as players progress through the story. The sequel begins with only one medal slot available and the game ends with four; Four medal categories are also chosen, with melee, power, defense and special to mix and match.
Only one special medal can be equipped at a time as they are a little more unique and powerful, and eventually different quality grades are introduced for each category of medals: bronze, silver and gold, with the bronze and silver medals obviously becoming redundant compared to everything gold medals offer. Managing medals is easier than managing gear, but with only a total of four equipped, players lack the breadth of skill- and stat-boosting items that the first game boasted, and characters can feel less empowered as a result or specialized.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order's ISO-8 is highly controversial
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order's ISO-8, the most controversial of the three stat-based RPG features, leans more on gear than medals, but is so jarring in its presentation and structuring of progression that it makes the entire game feel alien . Equipped with individual characters, ISO-8 comes in the form of color-coded crystals earned through various Infinity Rift activities and rewards.
Equipment is never extremely fun to examine Marvel Last AllianceBut The Black OrderManaging menus and inventory can be a huge task when it comes to its UX. ISO-8 also encourages farming/milling compared to the previous one Marvel Last Alliance games have never had, and the additional Infinity content that players indulge in isn't incredibly varied in terms of offering slight twists on levels or campaign stages.
Of course, much if not all of this content is complementary; some players might like it Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order encourages more investment in leveling up characters, especially with a much larger roster and more expansion packs, while others probably wish its systems were more like the first and second Marvel Last Alliance titles.
There's an argument to be made that the ISO-8 formula should be reworked or discarded, and it would probably be preferable if something closer to equipment was considered a quarter Marvel Last Alliance game. Otherwise, a newcomer may find success by experimenting further with this system and exploring other options. It will largely depend on the type of game Marvel last alliance 4 turns out to be, as if it incentivizes the grind or simply immerses players in the rich Marvel atmosphere they live in by focusing on lore rather than leveling up.