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

[Hellraiser]

Hmmm, crappy designer and crappy industry/company as a whole do not exclude each other. In this case I certainly lay the majority of the blame at the feet of the designer.

Every time somebody referenced something in the original game, the reply goes like "ohhh, we tried that, yo, we had a prototype just like that, but it was no good, what we have now is just too cool, see?"

Considering his initial instinct was right, and he still says he preferred elements of the original prototype, I'm more inclined to believe it's a matter of peer pressure/keeping a career.

Unless Inifnitron confirms it wasn't them this time.

 

[anus_pounder]

Dat gif.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

In case one of you declinefags is planning to buy this garbage, it's currently on sale. No need to pay more when you can pay less for shit like this.

 

[RK47]

....the staff of xcom wouldn't shut the fuck up.

 

[Average Manatee]

Did anyone get what nationality Dr. Vahlen is supposed to be, by the way?
Someone said she's german, but honestly, whenever she talks german (I think once in the tutorial and one time later on during some cutscene), she has a terrible accent.
And her other accent when talking english doesn't exactly sound like a native german speaker to me, either.
Not mentioning that "Vahlen" isn't exactly a typical german name.

If she is, however, they could at least have put her in some dirndl, given her blonde hair and some mug of beer (maybe also a cutscene showing her eating Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut) to really drive it home that she's supposed to be german.

German enough to be NAZI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Vahlen

It would be interesting fluff-wise to have an X-Com set immediately after WW2, where your entire team is composed of ex-Nazi scientists/engineers/soldiers. Would actually make sense as to why your finances would be limited (countries don't trust you assholes), why you need to be a secret (even as aliens are obviously attacking earth and destroying cities), and why only your team has the advanced knowledge to have a chance of beating them.

 

[Raghar]

Well the original implied they are something like X-FILES parody, and the project is financed from money for black projects because they don't want to create a world wide panic.

Aliens made not creating world wide panic difficult by doing terror missions.

 

[Zeriel]

Well the original implied they are something like X-FILES parody, and the project is financed from money for black projects because they don't want to create a world wide panic.

Aliens made not creating world wide panic difficult by doing terror missions.

I felt like the original implied that throughout the game the public is kept generally unaware what's going on, aside from individuals who are victimized. The new one certainly doesn't, though, with aliens on TV footage and whatnot.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Did anyone get what nationality Dr. Vahlen is supposed to be, by the way?
Someone said she's german, but honestly, whenever she talks german (I think once in the tutorial and one time later on during some cutscene), she has a terrible accent.
And her other accent when talking english doesn't exactly sound like a native german speaker to me, either.
Not mentioning that "Vahlen" isn't exactly a typical german name.

If she is, however, they could at least have put her in some dirndl, given her blonde hair and some mug of beer (maybe also a cutscene showing her eating Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut) to really drive it home that she's supposed to be german.

German enough to be NAZI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Vahlen

It would be interesting fluff-wise to have an X-Com set immediately after WW2, where your entire team is composed of ex-Nazi scientists/engineers/soldiers. Would actually make sense as to why your finances would be limited (countries don't trust you assholes), why you need to be a secret (even as aliens are obviously attacking earth and destroying cities), and why only your team has the advanced knowledge to have a chance of beating them.

Xenonauts is set during the cold war, you might like it.

 

[knightley]

....the staff of xcom wouldn't shut the fuck up.

exactly!

 

[MetalCraze]

Hmmm, crappy designer and crappy industry/company as a whole do not exclude each other. In this case I certainly lay the majority of the blame at the feet of the designer.

Every time somebody referenced something in the original game, the reply goes like "ohhh, we tried that, yo, we had a prototype just like that, but it was no good, what we have now is just too cool, see?"

Considering his initial instinct was right, and he still says he preferred elements of the original prototype, I'm more inclined to believe it's a matter of peer pressure/keeping a career.

Keeping a career? Bro shitting on your game after sheeple bought millions of it so your next excrement will sound like something better is an industry standard.

 

[Achilles]

So it's been what, 4 months later and almost nobody cares about this game anymore. What a classic, huh?

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

most of us didn't care after 4 days.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

So it's been what, 4 months later and almost nobody cares about this game anymore. What a classic, huh?

I'd care if they ever add randomized maps, basic shit like "Time on the geoscape correlating with time in the tactical map", and possibly made it less grindy.

As it is I'm glad I played it and I had fun but I can't keep playing it constantly. I even tried some MP recently with a buddy and it's kinda piss-poor. Not only did the game crash multiple times (Unsure if that's due to MP, recent Xcom patches, or me using Windows 8 now) but there's some basic shit that shouldn't be an issue in MP, like if you have someone next to a closed door the giant "CLICK THE DOOR TO OPEN IT" icon shows for everyone. So your opponent knows you have a guy hiding at that door. Not only that, sounds are played for everyone. So during your opponent's turn you can figure out what direction he's moving if you hover over his side of the map and listen. None of the "I hear something" directional sound alerts from SP, just laziness.

 

[RK47]

yeah i rather play CK2 at this point.
I'm kinda shocked at how fast i got bored of the gameplay.
checked steam play time . 5 hours.
that's just sad.

 

[RK47]

It's not an unsalvageable piece of shit.
They can re-use the assets and have an AP based movement system - with non-streamlined inventory as an expansion pack.
That is the first step to making it actually playable instead of this 'move, overwatch, next turn, rocket' spam bullshit we're getting.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

But muh graphics.
Muh UE3 graphics.

 

[Zewp]

It's because the design of the game pretty much ensures you're always going to play it in pretty much the exact same way, whereas the first game allowed for quite a bit of diversity in gameplay.

 

[RK47]

yeah i like the tank option in the original xcom. i also love spamming rockets or firing at petrol stations to improvise on explosives, there's even a suicide explosive jacket option with 6 primed TNTs - the options are there - in this newest iteration you can't even fire your primary blindly to flush out the aliens from cover.

 

[Achilles]

It's because the design of the game pretty much ensures you're always going to play it in pretty much the exact same way, whereas the first game allowed for quite a bit of diversity in gameplay.

Exactly. You had the freedom to devise all sorts of crazy (and fun!) tactics in the original game, which is why it has such longevity. In the new game you've pretty much done everything there is to do after one, maybe two playthroughs. I bet than in a couple of years the original games will be outselling the new one on Steam sales.

 

[Gord]

Pretty much, yes.
After two playthroughs, I don't feel the game has anything else to offer.
I don't regret buying it - I had fun while it lasted and the basics are good enough, also I got it pretty cheap anyway - but the long-time motivation is severly lacking.
In the unlikely case that they offer a great randomization DLC that will bring at least some variety to the campaign, with random selection of aliens out of a larger pool of more different ones maybe, changing research tree, much larger selection of maps (because random maps are obviously out of question), then I might consider reinstalling it, but otherwise I think I have better things to play.

 

[felipepepe]

It's because the design of the game pretty much ensures you're always going to play it in pretty much the exact same way, whereas the first game allowed for quite a bit of diversity in gameplay.

^ This. Beating the game on normal then on Classic Ironman with some second wave options played exactly the same, even with randomized units, always criticals on flanking, new econmomy and all that...

 

[knightley]

So it's been what, 4 months later and almost nobody cares about this game anymore. What a classic, huh?

Pretty much. They dropped the ball on this game bad. Sid and Solomon surely will back-pedal, say it was pretty good game, blablabla, prolly blame the pirates and PC, etc. In the future this is going to be regarded as a big damp-squib, at best a abortive attempt that everyone forgot when Firaxis made a better sequel (like FO3 vs FNV), then totally forgotten once someone on Kickstarter finally manages to bring out something truly superior to the original game, possibly Xenonauts.

Truth is: This game is still inferior to a game made in fucking 1993. Twenty years of difference, and all that new technology meant crap in the end. Moore's Law just means your computer runs faster, not that someone will use that potential to its logical conclusion. Random maps? Ahahahhaha no how dare you ask for a feature that existed since 1990 it can't be done! Realistic scenario destruction? IMPOSSIBLARGH, despite the fact X-COM Apocalypse did it 16 years ago.

Why can't people grow a pair and ruin a game of their own, no confidence to create something good on their own, not even to try, but tough enough to ruin somebody else's franchise.......

It is like stealing the diamond earing from somebody's grandma and then pawn it for 50 cents to get some easy money to buy a warm and half empty beer.

Fuck.

 

[felipepepe]

As goes the BR saying, shame is stealing and not being able to carry...

 

[Lightknight]

But muh graphics.
Muh UE3 graphics.

Yeah, graphics that are so good, that it takes a second when equipping soldiers to switch through all their LODs, and it takes a whole minute to load a tiny level. Batman AC also runs on UE3, and loads an entire city block chock full of entities in 15 seconds.

 

[Zero Credibility]

It's because the design of the game pretty much ensures you're always going to play it in pretty much the exact same way, whereas the first game allowed for quite a bit of diversity in gameplay.

^ This. Beating the game on normal then on Classic Ironman with some second wave options played exactly the same, even with randomized units, always criticals on flanking, new econmomy and all that...

^ This again. I started a marathon game with a bunch of other second wave options and finished that DLC as soon as possible, trying to make the game play a bit differently this time. I was hoping that if I can research the tech captured early on, I could change the game flow at least a little. And indeed, I discovered I can research a fusion lance. It took me a couple of months while I was fending off mutons with conventional weapons and armor in the same damn maps over and over again, but I did it. I could then even build the weapons. But I couldn't mount the damn things on my interceptors. Fusion lance can only be used on a firestorm, and the weapons can just sit there useless until I build one. Fuck you game, just fuck you.