[Megathread] XCOM : Enemy Unknown

[Thrage]

Oh well, cant wait for an expansion Overall, even though its supposed to be a sequel, I never really played the first part so didnt have anything to compare it with but it left a pretty good impression.

It's not a sequel, it's a complete reboot. The previous XCOM games have nothing to do with this current one, from a story standpoint. I'm a little jealous of people who didn't play the original. I think I'd have been more impressed by XCOM: EU had I never played them.

That said, I still give it like a 94 out of 100.

[Jigain]

It's not a sequel, it's a complete reboot. The previous XCOM games have nothing to do with this current one, from a story standpoint. I'm a little jealous of people who didn't play the original. I think I'd have been more impressed by XCOM: EU had I never played them.

That said, I still give it like a 94 out of 100.

Well, for arbitrary points, I'd have to give it 73 out of 100, for being solid and amusing yet way too bug-ridden (to date I've yet to be able to complete it, game breaking bugs (and I do mean game breaking) have prevented it three times) and in some cases too simplistic. Also I wish they'd put some more effort into the voice acting - I find it strange that squaddies from Germany, Sweden or Japan would speak with a fluent American accent. Maybe there'll be a mod for that.

Despite my complaints about the bugs, of course, I immensely enjoy it.

[Howard Moon]

Some "quality of life" improvements I need badly:

1) Homogenized keybinds. Example: '2' should always be Overwatch, '3' should always be item/granade, '4' always class ability, etc. It's a confusing pain in the ass that every character has different keybinds.

2) More music variety. The repetitive "epic" combat music during ground missions drives me crazy. Right now, it is my biggest motivation to kill the aliens currently in sight as quickly as possible: to make the music stop!

3) Constraining the camera when throwing granades/missiles. Whenever I want to see how far I can throw my granade, I end up scrolling to the end of the map. It seems the granade/missile interface makes the camera jump like crazy. It would be easy and effective to simply limit the camera movement to the granade's or missile's range during this action.

4) Confirm when game has been saved (in non-ironman mode). The whole save/load system seems kind of buggy and clunky. For example, to overwrite an existing savefile I usually have to double-click on it about 5 times.

[Jigain]

3) Constraining the camera when throwing granades/missiles. Whenever I want to see how far I can throw my granade, I end up scrolling to the end of the map. It seems the granade/missile interface makes the camera jump like crazy. It would be easy and effective to simply limit the camera movement to the granade's or missile's range during this action.

Thank the Gods I'm not the only one experiencing that. Often I won't be able to utilize the full range of rockets and throwables simply because as the pointer approaches the edge, the view starts jumping like crazy and it's a gamble whether the shot lands where you want it or not.

Next time I'm playing, I'll bloody turn off the mouse edge scrolling.

[Schmittay]

Been playing this game since release and I really like it.

My only issues are:

Camera: This can be a nightmare when on a map with multiple levels, you might think you clicked the nice ledge overlooking the area with good cover....but you just clicked the lower area and you're right in the middle if em! I find it very annoying with flying too (Archangel Suit and Hover S.H.I.V) because you have the regular square where your flying unit is going to fly to and then this pillar thing that I assume is meant to help you show what you'll be hovering over but they can be very...wrong.

Missions: I'd like more variety, most are just run in and kill everything, while some incorporate VIP's that you either have to escort or rescue. The terror attacks are a good challenge if you play to save as many as humanly possible which can lead to some very tight situations...

Overall I really like this game, I plan on playing it to the fullest (work my way to Impossible Ironman) and I hope the developers keep it going with DLC.

It'd be awesome if you could reverse the game and play as the Aliens and your goal was to keep panic up.

[Phaedros]

Played the demo of this game, very much looking forward to getting it. ^_^

[Shinzai]

Some "quality of life" improvements I need badly:

1) Homogenized keybinds. Example: '2' should always be Overwatch, '3' should always be item/granade, '4' always class ability, etc. It's a confusing pain in the ass that every character has different keybinds.

2) More music variety. The repetitive "epic" combat music during ground missions drives me crazy. Right now, it is my biggest motivation to kill the aliens currently in sight as quickly as possible: to make the music stop!

3) Constraining the camera when throwing granades/missiles. Whenever I want to see how far I can throw my granade, I end up scrolling to the end of the map. It seems the granade/missile interface makes the camera jump like crazy. It would be easy and effective to simply limit the camera movement to the granade's or missile's range during this action.

I agree with all 3 of the above. Also on the sound side of things - I think that the scientist's voice files are some of the lowest quality recordings I've ever heard. Sometimes it sounds as though I'm listening to a badly recorded 240 res youtube video. Normally I jump to mission control just to cut off whatever she's going on about. I also wish I could completely turn off the alien reactions to my approaching - I really don't care that a bunch of Mutons have just spotted me and run off when I've seen it 50 times before. Same goes for 'we need to get the vip here!' *game drags the screen miles away from the action and doesn't even return it to the soldier I was about to move* - Why can't it just snap back to him?

Another thing that bugs me when playing on Classic - having about 6 countries practically ready to go dark before my first satellite's even finished construction. I know it's meant to be hard, but when you can't even influence what's going on it's more just annoying than anything. I want small and large radar arrays back in the game.

Oh and one last thing - even though I think the new movement style is interesting, I would prefer it if I could adjust my position by 1 square while still in the 'blue' movement range, without having to sacrifice a second move. Slight mis-clicks can result in a completely wasted movement, with no way of adjusting. This is especially tedious when you think you've got a blue square highlighted and accidentally edge over onto the first yellow square and your soldier runs out and waits to die. Also I would like adjustable pathing. I hate it when the troops decide the best route to take some where is the one that breaks their cover and runs them in front of 5 aliens in Overwatch, rather than just taking a couple of steps the opposite way.

[Dewote]

3) Constraining the camera when throwing granades/missiles. Whenever I want to see how far I can throw my granade, I end up scrolling to the end of the map. It seems the granade/missile interface makes the camera jump like crazy. It would be easy and effective to simply limit the camera movement to the granade's or missile's range during this action.

Yes!

Also I don't know if others have this problem but it's almost impossible to go to certain spots in a alien ship because the camera can't zoom close enough and the ship is really small/shallow. When I move my mouse to the tile I want to move, it jumps to other spot on the other side of the wall.

[Jigain]

I want this.

[Fencers]

Impossible Ironman difficulty is maddening.

Goddamn rookie panicked and killed my assault right around a trailer in a VIP mission.

Never again. I'm done.

[Thrage]

Yes!

Also I don't know if others have this problem but it's almost impossible to go to certain spots in a alien ship because the camera can't zoom close enough and the ship is really small/shallow. When I move my mouse to the tile I want to move, it jumps to other spot on the other side of the wall.

Try changing the angle or the elevation. Changing the elevation will most likely cause the ship's ceiling to show, which sucks, but you can still kind of ... guess where you're going. Yeah, okay, it's a problem.

[WarpedAcorn]

I'm really enjoying this game. I got it this weekend and have been super addicted to it. I really like how difficult the game is without being frustratingly difficult, kinda like Dark Souls. Its very unforgiving and doesn't pull any punches. And just when you think you are Billy-Bad-Ass something shows up to put you back in your place (usually by killing your squad). I've found its really hard to stop playing. Usually I just want to finish a project real quick, then an Alien abduction appears, then I just want to restock supplies, then... =)

[Pilobolus]

Some "quality of life" improvements I need badly:

1) Homogenized keybinds. Example: '2' should always be Overwatch, '3' should always be item/granade, '4' always class ability, etc. It's a confusing pain in the ass that every character has different keybinds.

Very much would like this change. All of my vets, who don't really use grenades, tend to have overwatch on the same key. But, I also bring a rookie or two along who will use grenades for easy kills to rank up and grenade for them is the same key as overwatch on the vets. I have sent WAAAAY too many grenades sailing in terrible places due to mashing 2 or 3 (I can't remember which number key it is) over and over. Totally my own fault for being impatient but still =p

[Jigain]

Homogenized keybinds. Example: '2' should always be Overwatch, '3' should always be item/granade, '4' always class ability, etc. It's a confusing pain in the ass that every character has different keybinds.

On that topic, actually, I started last night to use the homogenized keybinds. Was a bit weird to use Y to go into Overwatch, but I do like that you don't need to confirm. I also hate that you don't have to confirm. :P

Will probably rebind it into something that makes more sense and/or is more easily pressed.

---------- Post added 2012-10-23 at 09:00 AM ----------

Also, yesterday I started using this. A decent rebalancing mod - makes the game less random in some places, more random in other places, makes conventional / laser / plasma weapons an actual choice rather than a straight upgrade. Soldiers can take much more damage before getting hospitalized, but if they do, it's for much longer. Don't agree with all changes, but overall I'd say I like this balance more than the default.

---------- Post added 2012-10-23 at 10:03 AM ----------

And I may have just found a solution to my horrible performance. Seems XCOM uses Valve's CEG file protection system, which is horrendously broken when paired with an AMD FX processor. Another game I own that's used that is Saints Row 3. And I fixed that using a program called Orochi CEG. Should still have it on the computer - will put my theory to the test today.

[Cyclone Jack]

I want this.

This would be a great addition to the game. Even if it was in broken English with some natively spoken dialog mixed in, like Ivan Dolvich in Jagged Alliance 2. Little touches like that add so much to the game.

[SirRobin]

Any DLC announcements yet?

[Vespian]

I just joined a difficult mission on classic + ironman and it spawned 7 (7!!, could have been 5 now I mention it, I exaggerate) long man aliens and they all crit my team for their full hp bar, safe the ones I got to kill first. What is up with their crit??

[Shinzai]

Any DLC announcements yet?

Yup, there's a fairly average looking armour collection DLC on Steam atm. http://store.steampowered.com/app/209811/

I just joined a difficult mission on classic + ironman and it spawned 7 (7!!, could have been 5 now I mention it, I exaggerate) long man aliens and they all crit my team for their full hp bar, safe the ones I got to kill first. What is up with their crit??

Classic Ironman pretty much just decides to flip the killswitch some times. Then laughs and kicks sand at you.

[Dezerte]

Any DLC announcements yet?

2K Games and Firaxis have announced the first downloadable content for XCom: Enemy Unknown. Entitled "Slingshot," the DLC packs in three new Council missions with a unique story arc. The story takes place in China and, says designer Ananda Gupta, revolves around a "badass Triad operative named Zhang." Said badass will be a playable character and, unlike other XCOM soldiers, will feature a pre-designed face and a unique voice.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/10/23/fi...dlc-announced/

[Whitey]

As an avid oldschool XCOM-fanatic I was prepared to be disappointed by this game, but I wasn't, which pretty much blew my mind.
Only thing I'm missing is the UFO-intercept music from the old one Was half expecting it the first time.