X-COM Firaxis - XCOM: Enemy Unknown + Enemy Within Expansion

[Surf Solar]

Please explain in detail. I am a simple soul and am easily confused.

Jagged Alliance 2 has different elevations and mechanics for it. He wants an X-COM game in the Jagged Alliance 2 (1.13) engine with all new graphic assets and mechanics of the, duh, X-COM games. (I'd cum buckets for this too)

 

[Captain Shrek]

But I am talking about cover!!!! Elevation is a-okay in JA2.

My claim was (and maybe I am wtong) that there is nothing wrong with cover in Tb squad based tactical games where positioning only adds to the depth.

 

[Surf Solar]

Perhaps I misunderstood you, but Jagged Alliance 2 also takes into account if you are behind cover or not. So I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with cover in TB squad games (I am trying to find a way to put it in my game too). The cover in the new XCOM was a bit too gamey for my taste though.

 

[Captain Shrek]

Perhaps I misunderstood you, but Jagged Alliance 2 also takes into account if you are behind cover or not. So I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with cover in TB squad games (I am trying to find a way to put it in my game too). The cover in the new XCOM was a bit too gamey for my taste though.

Could be a completely unncessary misunderstanding: What I thought was that MaxHellfire was AGAINST cover. Which was bothering me since JA2 has cover.

 

[Surf Solar]

In that case I completely agree with you! (it's late here and I am tired, hence the misunderstanding )

 

[Infinitron]

Other than that I am going to take an apologist stance from now and explain why some of the DUMBING DOWN (it is DUMBING DOWN and no denying it) is still not as bad as it could be.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

ok, let me rephrase it: xcom ruleset is retarded. just forget it and start again with something decent like ja2's one.

 

[Gord]

I'm close to finishing my second playthrough of the game and will probably uninstall afterwards.
I had my fun with it (according to steam ~65hours for my two games) and I think the core gameplay of the new XCOM is relatively good - if you don't expect very high complexity and can live with the "boardgame" approach. What it does try to do, it's doing quite well, though.
Some soldier abilities could use some rebalancing, esp. the sniper class (nothing beats squad sight), but overall I found them relatively balanced.

Still, what the game is ultimately lacking the most is diversity.
Every game will be relatively similar, without major differences - after two games you know most maps, the aliens will always show up the same over the course of a game and the story-mission approach for advancing the story makes the game feel too static.

I feel the game would gain tremendously from a DLC that adds more maps (and tilesets), missions, new technologies and more aliens and shuffles everything up when you start a new game, anything that will make different games feel more diverse - make not all techs show up everytime, let you meet, say 10 out of 15 different alien classes, etc.

Unfortunately they have shown with the silly "Slingshot" DLC that they have zero interest in going down that route. Instead we can expect pointless story DLC that will only serve to make each game even more predictable.
As it is, I don't see myself playing it again anytime soon.

I certainly don't regret buying it, but then again I managed to get it at a substantial discount. If anyone thinks about buying, I wouldn't pay more than 30$/€ for it and chances are it will reach the 15-20 bucks region quite soon.

 

[spectre]

One month after my second and last playthrough... I would've totally forgotten about this game if not for this thread.

I feel the game would gain tremendously from a DLC that adds more maps (and tilesets), missions, new technologies and more aliens and shuffles everything up when you start a new game, anything that will make different games feel more diverse - make not all techs show up everytime, let you meet, say 10 out of 15 different alien classes, etc.

This. I vaguely recall Salomon saying they're designig the tech tree so that you won't be getting everything in a single playthrough. I felt pretty bitter when it turned out that it only holds true for the blaster launcher. Unfortunately, mods aren't helping, last time I checked there's only minor rebalances and news skins.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

New patch was just released. It's a bit better than making easy difficulty easier.

Patch 3 Notes

Second Wave addition

If a player has beaten the game, they can access a variety of gameplay toggles upon starting a new game. The Second Wave option will be available on the New Game menu.


AI teleport bug fix

Minimizes the bug where aliens teleport into the middle of a player’s squad


Defeat screen when beating the game

Minimizes a bug that displays a Defeat screen after winning the game



PC Only

Chris Kluwe as XCOM Hero unlock

 

[Captain Shrek]

@MHC

What does the Hero do?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

I assume it's like the other heroes and has maxed everything stats.

 

[Gord]

Here's an overview of the new starting options:

• Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.*
• New Economy: Randomized council member funding.*
• Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.*
• Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.*
• Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
• Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
• The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
• Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.
• Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
• High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
• Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
• More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

*Unlocked prior to completing a campaign.

It seems there are 4 more that are unlocked when beating the game on impossible, like one that gives Elerium a half-life.
There's also an interview with one of the designers where he makes some hints about another DLC that will be different from the first one and possibly offer new maps and aliens.

Wish they would have released this sooner, becasue I doubt I'll start another game for it.

 

[spectre]

So, no fixes to the fucked up levels display yet?

 

[Surf Solar]

Here's an overview of the new starting options:

• Damage Roulette: Weapons have a wider range of damage.*
• New Economy: Randomized council member funding.*
• Not Created Equally: Rookies will have random starting stats.*
• Hidden Potential: As a soldier is promoted, stats increase randomly.*
• Red Fog: Combat wounds will degrade the soldier’s mission stats.
• Absolutely Critical: A flanking shot guarantees a critical hit.
• The Greater Good: Psionics can only be learned from interrogating a psionic alien.
• Marathon: The game takes considerably longer to complete.
• Results Driven: A country offers less funding as its panic level increases.
• High Stakes: Random rewards for stopping alien abductions.
• Diminishing Returns: Increased cost of satellite construction.
• More Than Human: The psionic gift is extremely rare.

*Unlocked prior to completing a campaign.

It seems there are 4 more that are unlocked when beating the game on impossible, like one that gives Elerium a half-life.
There's also an interview with one of the designers where he makes some hints about another DLC that will be different from the first one and possibly offer new maps and aliens.

Wish they would have released this sooner, becasue I doubt I'll start another game for it.

This sounds actually decent..

 

[knightley]

One month after my second and last playthrough... I would've totally forgotten about this game if not for this thread.

I feel the game would gain tremendously from a DLC that adds more maps (and tilesets), missions, new technologies and more aliens and shuffles everything up when you start a new game, anything that will make different games feel more diverse - make not all techs show up everytime, let you meet, say 10 out of 15 different alien classes, etc.

This. I vaguely recall Salomon saying they're designig the tech tree so that you won't be getting everything in a single playthrough. I felt pretty bitter when it turned out that it only holds true for the blaster launcher. Unfortunately, mods aren't helping, last time I checked there's only minor rebalances and news skins.

Solomon lied quite a bit, like "you shall not see the same map twice in 2 walkthroughs". I do not mind subjective or biased opinion so much, but lying about facts is another matter.

 

[Gord]

This sounds actually decent..

Definitely. It almost makes me want to try out a new game with those options.
The thing is that after two playthroughs, I'm rather burnt out on the game and don't think the Second Wave options would be enough to motivate me.
Maybe if a second DLC actually offers more variety.

Solomon lied quite a bit, like "you shall not see the same map twice in 2 walkthroughs". I do not mind subjective or biased opinion so much, but lying about facts is another matter.

I thought I remember him saying that you won't see maps repeating in one game, but I'm not sure about it, tbh.
You definitely see lots of repeating maps in a second game, though, although there's always a chance for that with pre-fabricated randomly selected maps, of course.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

There are a bunch that may be different but feel the same, too. UFO wrecks for example. Those maps almost always have the same feeling and play to 'em even if you get a wildly different tileset or whatever.

 

[OSK]

Chris Kluwe? The punter for the Minnesota Vikings?

lol

 

[knightley]

Solomon lied quite a bit, like "you shall not see the same map twice in 2 walkthroughs". I do not mind subjective or biased opinion so much, but lying about facts is another matter.

I thought I remember him saying that you won't see maps repeating in one game, but I'm not sure about it, tbh.
You definitely see lots of repeating maps in a second game, though, although there's always a chance for that with pre-fabricated randomly selected maps, of course.

I remember he said the "no repeat in 2 playthroughs" after someone asked him about replayability. (i could be wrong, though no repeat in one playthrough does not sound that good either.)

The game has enough different maps for one single playthrough, it is very basic to add an extra check to make sure every map got played at least once before repeats are allowed.

 

[Zewp]

well, technically you won't play the exact same map again in a single playthrough, but that doesn't mean much when the game only has five or six types of maps whose layouts just get mixed up a bit every time they come into play.

Large parts of certain maps would be the exact same as they were when the same tileset came around earlier.

 

[Infinitron]

Jake Solomon XCOM post-mortem: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/14/firaxis-jake-solomon-post-mortems-xcom-part-one/

Jake Solomon: That’s true, the idea of using the hand you’re dealt and dealing with mounting losses and unexpected losses. From a post mortem angle, the Iron Man mode was never something that we considered to be a big deal internally, and it has become a very very big deal now that the game is out. That was something that went in post-alpha, and I don’t know that we considered it to be that big of a deal, it was just sort of like ‘oh yeah, this is a feature we think we should offer people.’

It’s become a lot of people’s de facto way to play the game, which was again surprising, and if you think of Iron Man as the de facto way to play the game then I think you can do a lot more interesting stuff too. You could have something where… you know in Torchlight where you can enchant weapons, and I love that, it’s this sort of random ‘oh fuck, you just cursed the weapon’, every time you’re like ‘well, I’ll have one more enchantment’, and then it’s like ‘oh, it’s ruined, it’s ruined?’

You can tell he's sort of surprised/disappointed at how only the more hardcore audiences ended up playing the game.

In part two, we talk bugs, patches, console vs PC reception, attachment to soldiers, what XCOM may mean for the future of strategy and the potential perils of fantastical settings.

Part two will be more interesting.

 

[Average Manatee]

It's nice to see someone in charge able to admit that the original was superior in many ways. Part two will definitely be interesting.

you know in Torchlight where you can enchant weapons, and I love that, it’s this sort of random ‘oh fuck, you just cursed the weapon’, every time you’re like ‘well, I’ll have one more enchantment’, and then it’s like ‘oh, it’s ruined, it’s ruined?’

Throw your best soldier in the psi-lab, he comes out a lobotomized jellyfish. Would be a good way to make psi feel more dangerous and less of an instant win button. Make it so!

Hopefully there's a TFTD remake or something similar on the way.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

There are a bunch that may be different but feel the same, too. UFO wrecks for example. Those maps almost always have the same feeling and play to 'em even if you get a wildly different tileset or whatever.

True, no matter if your UFO wreck is in USA or African Jungle, it plays always the same, forever: A big open area with some trees and elevation. I would love some enviromental diversity - Explore a (burning) coal mine hit by a UFO, scale a snowy hill, walk and swin through amazon jungle and its watery and muddy riversides and swamps, etc.

 

[felipepepe]

True, no matter if your UFO wreck is in USA or African Jungle, it plays always the same, forever: A big open area with some trees and elevation. I would love some enviromental diversity - Explore a (burning) coal mine hit by a UFO, scale a snowy hill, walk and swin through amazon jungle and its watery and muddy riversides and swamps, etc.

The farms, I miss them greatly.

You can tell he's sort of surprised/disappointed at how only the more hardcore audiences ended up playing the game.

Weird that to me Ironman was a no-brainer. The games gets too frustrating if you start to savescum, you simply start to reload after each death/important miss and spent more time reloading than playing the fucking game...