[Megathread] XCOM : Enemy Unknown

[SirRobin]

true

there are no base attacks... maybe dlc will introduce them

Yep, and it seems like you don't go to Mars. You attack a hidden base on Earth and then some sort of Mothership. At least that is what the videos buried in the demo made it look like.

Two hours to go.

[obdigore]

15 Minutes. And I'm at work for another 8 hours. It burns us!

[endersblade]

Currently installing >< I'd completely forgotten to check if I could pre-load it earlier! What a pain!

[obdigore]

Currently installing >< I'd completely forgotten to check if I could pre-load it earlier! What a pain!

You could have from noon on Sunday.

[endersblade]

You could have from noon on Sunday.

Well, like I said, I forgot to check >.>

[obdigore]

Well, like I said, I forgot to check >.>

Just rubbing it in since I'm frustrated I can't play. :P

[Howard Moon]

Yep, and it seems like you don't go to Mars. You attack a hidden base on Earth and then some sort of Mothership. At least that is what the videos buried in the demo made it look like.

That's no big surprise, considering that they don't even have different terrain for desert missions, forest, farm, snow, etc. Anywhere you fight, be it Africa or Alaska, the terrain will be a generic urban setting. So I don't expect them to add a Martian terrain set for just one or two missions. Huge missed pooprtunity, IMO :/

Pre-download almost finished!

[khalltusk]

Hopefully we get to have some nice DLC that expands upon the game looking forward to getting some gameplay in

[Kathandira]

Very excited to get out of work and head to the store to pick up this game! First thing i am doing is decking out my Blonde dude in blue armor and naming him Guile. Maybe eventually in a later game i might recreate him and name him Ulie, and hopefully he will survive to General status!

(For the young folk, Guile's original name was G.Ulie aka General Ulie.)

[SirRobin]

Its fun so far. Definitely not "my" XCOM, but not terrible either. Its "dumbed down," aka simplified, too much in my opinion. Keeping my fingers crossed for an "update," instead of remake, someday.

[Kathandira]

Its fun so far. Definitely not "my" XCOM, but not terrible either. Its "dumbed down," aka simplified, too much in my opinion. Keeping my fingers crossed for an "update," instead of remake, someday.

Could you elaborate on that a bit? What difficulty are you playing on?

I understand the fundamental differences such as no "Fog of War" and only having 1 main base. Also the Class system and how inventory has changed. These are the only things i'm really aware of that have dumbed down the game.

have you found something else i haven't listed that veers away from the way the older games have played?

[puppypizza]

Stayed up later than I should have trying to play it after the midnight unlock. I was kinda torn between playing either this or Dishonored, but I've been waiting a lot longer for XCOM than the other.

I still don't like the cover-based model for battles, feels like a turn-based version of Gears of War. Also feels awkward that each soldier can only carry one "accessory" into battle (unless I'm missing something). So you have to decide between the medikit or arc thrower.

The cutscenes don't take away too much as I was afraid they might, which is good. They're just enough to give the characters some personality and the story some direction, but not overly dominating the narrative or game yet.

Basically a few nitpicks or disagreements with the direction, but I'm definitely eager to get home and get back into it.

[unholytestament]

The tutorial is making me want to kick puppies. I think I hit a menu glitch trying to do something it didn't want me doing yet. The game was still running but there were no menus on screen and nothing I clicked or pushed did anything.

When I play next I'm skipping the tutorial.

[puppypizza]

I understand the fundamental differences such as no "Fog of War" and only having 1 main base. Also the Class system and how inventory has changed. These are the only things i'm really aware of that have dumbed down the game.

have you found something else i haven't listed that veers away from the way the older games have played?

Just off the top of my head:

• No base invasions, which leads to...
• Base development is no longer a strategic process, it simply exists to get the adjacency bonuses
• Arbitrary ternary choice to decide which mission/country to go to, when you're not chasing UFOs
• By giving up "time units", combat is now mostly a two-step process for soldiers: move, then shoot
• Enemy doesn't seem to be playing a "counter game" to yours, there's just abductions or terror missions
• Squad size limited to 4, or eventually 6, soldiers
• Game "strongly" suggests you research or do things in an order likely to lead to the end-game, even if their significance isn't apparent

[unholytestament]

• Enemy doesn't seem to be playing a "counter game" to yours, there's just abductions or terror missions

Wait. What?

So I can take my time and never have to worry about the aliens winning?

What kind of crap is that?

[puppypizza]

Wait. What?

So I can take my time and never have to worry about the aliens winning?

What kind of crap is that?

I haven't played it far, but from the reviews and videos, it seems that the only factor in losing a country is if its panic level surpasses level 5. This being dependent on whether you've deployed a satellite over them or ignore them when doing the afore-mentioned 3-way choice missions. Then if you lose 8 countries or something in this manner, then you lose the game.

I don't think this new XCOM has the old alien infiltration or supply missions, or alien base attacks. Which means that they're not building or maintaining bases of their own, or at least any you will ever see or need to care about. They're not playing for points like you did in the original game, where your total score was affected by how many points they scored. In that one, you gained points based on how often you shot down UFOs and stopped terror missions. The aliens won points by infiltrating countries and replacing leaders, or doing flyovers and terror missions.

[unholytestament]

But do attacks in the new game escalate on their own so that it becomes overwhelming to the point that you can't win?

I only played Terror From The Deep but what I loved about it was that you were fighting a losing battle and had to race against the clock to reach the final mission.

[Kathandira]

Just off the top of my head:

• No base invasions, which leads to...
• Base development is no longer a strategic process, it simply exists to get the adjacency bonuses
• Arbitrary ternary choice to decide which mission/country to go to, when you're not chasing UFOs
• By giving up "time units", combat is now mostly a two-step process for soldiers: move, then shoot
• Enemy doesn't seem to be playing a "counter game" to yours, there's just abductions or terror missions
• Squad size limited to 4, or eventually 6, soldiers
• Game "strongly" suggests you research or do things in an order likely to lead to the end-game, even if their significance isn't apparent

Aside from these points, are you enjoying it? I agree that since it is more linear it loses the panic effect when making choices, and i do dislike the removal of Time Units, personally that is one of the major points that made each minute decision critical.

[puppypizza]

But do attacks in the new game escalate on their own so that it becomes overwhelming to the point that you can't win?

I only played Terror From The Deep but what I loved about it was that you were fighting a losing battle and had to race against the clock to reach the final mission.

Only played the first game, but I think I know what you mean. At least in that game, you could kinda slow the enemy down by destroying their bases or just blowing every single UFO out of the air. But things tended to get frantic past a year in, and you have like 10 things happening at any given time.

I played about 5 or 6 missions in, but the difficulty seems to be ratcheting up fairly quickly. They're introducing a new enemy type every other mission, and when I logged off, I was facing a "Very Difficult" mission already. Now, whether that's determined simply by enemy numbers/types, or their AI will be more devious, I have no idea.

I imagine that the increasing difficulty of missions will mean that it becomes more likely that you fail them, and the panic level spreads to unmanageable levels. Also when you're doing non-UFO missions, where you get the choice of 3 countries, you will always be leaving at least two of them out to dry (or all 3 if you fail). If the game is particularly devious and gives you bad sets of choices, it might very well become impossible to keep all countries under control after too long. Which should be the motivation to finish the game in an efficient manner. I think once a country leaves the Council, they're gone for good.

Aside from these points, are you enjoying it? I agree that since it is more linear it loses the panic effect when making choices, and i do dislike the removal of Time Units, personally that is one of the major points that made each minute decision critical.

I am enjoying it! Stayed up until 2:30 AM, and will likely jump back into it when I get off work, and probably lose even more sleep.

It's just that by restricting a lot of the experience, it feels too streamlined. I hate to use these words, makes me feel like a hipster, but it also feels "mainstreamed" and "consolized". They put padded bumpers on everything and removed all the extraneous thinking bits just so you could just focus on their combat. Let me put it this way: my younger brother would be completely lost if he played the original game. But even he can play this new XCOM. Not that this is a bad thing.

It's a good game, I'm just hesitant on calling it a good XCOM game. Kinda like when Fallout 3 came out. But at least this one was much more welcome than the initial 2K Games FPS version.

[unholytestament]

I enjoyed what I saw in the tutorial, other than the EXCESSIVE hand holding. I have no doubt the game is good, I was just hoping for something a little more brutal.

I didn't like enemies spawning out of thin air though. That is not tactical, that's cheap.

And don't get me started on the 2k FPS...