[Megathread] XCOM : Enemy Unknown

[Howard Moon]

About the new soldier classes:

(In case you don't know, the new XCOM has a class system. Each soldier has now a preset role and preset abilities. For example, there is the "heavy" which can use rocket launchers, the "support" which can heal others, the "sniper" which does exactly that, etc.)

Not sure I like that there are soldier classes now. In the original game specializing your individual soldiers was limited to what they were carrying. Other than that every soldier was equal (aside from the randomized stats with which they were born, ofc). On one side, the new system involves a lot more strategy, but it is also very limiting. In the original game, if my guy carrying medikits was killed, I could walk to his corpse with another soldier, pick up the medikit, and he was able to heal other just as effectively as the other guy. Or if I killed an alien who was using a rocket launcher, I could go to its corpse, pick up the weapon, and use it just fine. Picking up stuff and having an inventory gave you a ton of flexibility. However, with the new classes there will be a lot more strategy involved in "who does what", so that's quite appealing. So yeah, it has both pluses and minuses, I think.

PS: from the way base building works now, I assume Aliens attacking your bases is no longer a thing. That was an awesome part of the original game that will be missed

[Finangus]

PS: from the way base building works now, I assume Aliens attacking your bases is no longer a thing. That was an awesome part of the original game that will be missed

Dunno, it still could be. Instead of building a base that makes it difficult for the aliens to travel horizontally through your base, you'll instead be designing your base to make vertical travel difficult. An example would be that you place the access shaft to the next level on one side of the screen for each level, that way the aliens have to traverse the entire level to get to the next one.

[Shinzai]

Dunno, it still could be. Instead of building a base that makes it difficult for the aliens to travel horizontally through your base, you'll instead be designing your base to make vertical travel difficult. An example would be that you place the access shaft to the next level on one side of the screen for each level, that way the aliens have to traverse the entire level to get to the next one.

I must admit, I hope this is true. It'd be a shame if the aliens didn't fight back directly.

Also, can anyone confirmed if we're having multiple bases become available and therefore multiple strike teams, to deal with multiple country threats and such?

As much as I like the new design of this game, I'll still be keeping my install of the original game (in OpenXcom style) on my drive.

[SirRobin]

I am hoping the aliens attack our base as well in this one. In addition to the videos I posted earlier, here is an older hour long one. Though it takes a few minutes for the footage to start. Maybe its just me but there doesn't seem to be a way to actually tell which "class" your soldier is when they are "rookies." I am also not a fan of the "class" system instead of the older equipment based one. I would like "skills" to be involved, but I would like them to be ones that we choose instead.

Now I did like the demo but its not just the original XCom with a face-lift that I was sort of hoping for. Still, I'll give it a chance. We'll see how well it holds up.

[Purlina]

The demo was way too short for my taste.

They had two skinny aliens in suits, and two or three of the short ones.

All it took was 1 grenade through a window and the mission was basically over...

[SirRobin]

Well they had those two floating cyborg ones too, besides the sectoids and thin men but, yeah, way to short. Wanted to play around with the base a lot more. Also it was the same map whether you choose U.S. or China for that second mission. I have a sneaking suspicion that the maps will be the same, whichever country they are supposedly taking place in.

Hope they actually have randomized mission mapping.

[Zdrasti]

Oh mah gawd... I need to find some free time...

[endersblade]

THANK YOU! I didn't know the demo was out! Woot woot, have the game pre-ordered, counting down the days!

---------- Post added 2012-09-27 at 03:02 PM ----------

Hope they actually have randomized mission mapping.

They already said they don't. There will be a certain number at release, and they've hinted on the forums that they may release others in patches. They're toting that they have a whopping 45 (I think) maps at release...ok fine, so it'll take me TWO weeks to memorize them all instead of just one? This is definitely the biggest disappointment I have with this game so far.

I find it laughable that a game pushing 30 freaking years old could do it, but with our 'new technology' they can't. I call BS.

---------- Post added 2012-09-27 at 03:05 PM ----------

I must admit, I hope this is true. It'd be a shame if the aliens didn't fight back directly.

Also, can anyone confirmed if we're having multiple bases become available and therefore multiple strike teams, to deal with multiple country threats and such?

As much as I like the new design of this game, I'll still be keeping my install of the original game (in OpenXcom style) on my drive.

Nope, only one strike team. And they come up with some lame-brain excuses as to why, if you check out the official forums. On top of that, squads are limited to 3-6 (or so) members, instead of the massive clean-up crews we are used to in the originals.

---------- Post added 2012-09-27 at 03:06 PM ----------

The demo was way too short for my taste.

They had two skinny aliens in suits, and two or three of the short ones.

All it took was 1 grenade through a window and the mission was basically over...

The install is 5 freaking GB, and that's all we get? How is that a demo?

[Revik]

I'm gonna be giving this game a shot. Best X-Com like game I've seen since.

This might be a bit early but I'm thinking a lot of the issues brought could be easily fixed up in an X-Com sequel making a really refined game.

[Jalek]

They actually said there was 200 different maps all with different spawn points, so even if you get the same map, it will still play out differently.

I like the class system and that it's randomized. It makes each game different, you can't just stack heavy plasma on every guy and make them all clones, you need to use each character differently. Each class has different skills to select from too.

[markdall]

God I loathed every XCOM game I ever played. That said, I'd love to know if this one is good. Maybe I'll try the demo. The XCOM games always seemed really popular.

[alba007]

OMG, this is great news.
I played the original back in the day so much. I will definitely take a look at this.

[Howard Moon]

They're toting that they have a whopping 45 (I think) maps at release...

<snip>

Nope, only one strike team.

I was going to ask you for a source, but I found it myself: http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread...READ-ME-FIRST!

1) "Large number of hand-crafted maps.
- Unit placement procedurally generated."

"The levels themselves are hand-crafted but we have an obscene amount… you could not play through a full game twice and see those levels again. But what happens on those levels with aliens when they come up, that stuff is all procedural. "


2) "One base only
- Hangar bases for Interceptors on multiple continents
- Up to 4 Interceptors per interceptor-base."

"You only get one base, and there are a couple reasons for that. But you have one base, and then you have hangar bases on every other continent that you expand your interceptor force into. So you still do interceptions on every continent, or every continent where you have satellite coverage. ..."

[endersblade]

OMG, this is great news.
I played the original back in the day so much. I will definitely take a look at this.

Back in the day...psssh...I've been playing UD and TFTD constantly up to this day lol. Actually in the process of taking on a dreadnought in TFTD :-)

While the graphics got dated, the gameplay did not. Still my top game of all time.

---------- Post added 2012-09-27 at 04:23 PM ----------

I was going to ask you for a source, but I found it myself: http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread...READ-ME-FIRST!

1) "Large number of hand-crafted maps.
- Unit placement procedurally generated."

"The levels themselves are hand-crafted but we have an obscene amount… you could not play through a full game twice and see those levels again. But what happens on those levels with aliens when they come up, that stuff is all procedural. "

Shows you how long it's been since I was on their forums :-P I'm still disappointed in having only one real strike time. I liked having several, and they were in competition with each other - the most UFO/USOs shot down, most aliens killed, etc. Really added some good backstory to the game :-)

[Shinzai]

Hrum. They definitely should've at least let you have 2 strike teams. It's just going to make it tedious when the game gets busy. Say you shoot down 2-3 ufos in a short period of time, you're basically just going to send out one group of troops, take the ufo, wait to fly back to base, cycle troops, fly back out to another ufo, wait to return, etc etc.

To me it just seems like unnecessary busy work being created. It's ok when starting out; you're supposed to struggle until you have the financial backing to really deal with the alien threat, at which point you expand and maximise your abilities. I do get why they're doing it though; to force decision making, but I don't approve.

[Achaman]

its short..

[endersblade]

Just finished the (short) demo...man. I'm REALLY going to sink a lot of hours into this game :-) I honestly don't think it'll stand the test of time like the first one did (although TFTD is my fav - I love underwater games!) it's definitely going to be a good one. Much better than the other X-COM game that may or may not EVER get released, that's for sure.

[obdigore]

Just finished the (short) demo...man. I'm REALLY going to sink a lot of hours into this game :-) I honestly don't think it'll stand the test of time like the first one did (although TFTD is my fav - I love underwater games!) it's definitely going to be a good one. Much better than the other X-COM game that may or may not EVER get released, that's for sure.

Actually the first person shooter could be really cool if done well, but it seemed a terrible violation of the name when they announced that without announcing a xcom game. Now that we have this, I'm perfectly fine with them trying an Xcom FPS.

[Deleted]

They're toting that they have a whopping 45 (I think) maps at release...

They actually said there was 200 different maps

"The levels themselves are hand-crafted but we have an obscene amount… you could not play through a full game twice and see those levels again. [...] "

Now this has me a bit worried. Considering statement 3 is from the development team, we'll take for granted that it's true. That means that if statement 2 is true, the game will have ~100 encounters (or more accurately less than 100) between start and finish... which is fair enough, I guess. But if statement 1 is correct, that means less than 22.5 encounters from start to finish. That seems disappointingly short. I'd love to see a source for the 2nd statement, just to calm myself.

In other news, started playing through the original yesterday eve again. It's just as unforgiving as I remember it. Lost my entire squad on the first mission. I love it.

[obdigore]

Now this has me a bit worried. Considering statement 3 is from the development team, we'll take for granted that it's true. That means that if statement 2 is true, the game will have ~100 encounters (or more accurately less than 100) between start and finish... which is fair enough, I guess. But if statement 1 is correct, that means less than 22.5 encounters from start to finish. That seems disappointingly short. I'd love to see a source for the 2nd statement, just to calm myself.

In other news, started playing through the original yesterday eve again. It's just as unforgiving as I remember it. Lost my entire squad on the first mission. I love it.

Only the last one about 'obscene amount of levels' is sourced.