KickStarter Phoenix Point - the new game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop

[Alienman]

Here are some random thoughts after playing a little:

Well, the camera is atrocious, and actively ruin the "match". I can't see what is going on half the time. It's also a real pain to have the camera to constantly zoom in/out and jump around at every turn. The game also slows down when it happens fps wise. Otherwise it seems to run fine.
I would recommend slowing down the projectiles a bit because it's difficult to tell where the shots land which kinda ruins the whole thing with bullets being an actual projectile now. Maybe it will be easier to see with the action cam disabled though. Also I hope you can remove the status effects that pop up when you hit something. It takes me out of the game and just seems "gamey". I rather just figure out what happened looking at the alien, seeing it bleed etc.
Not sure what I think about automatic return fire. One alien returned fire on every action I took it seemed, like when I was attacking his friend. It just felt gamey as well. I think I rather just have overwatch spam than having aliens (and yourself) getting free attacks. Or best of all, going real old school and letting characters doing interruptions depending on their "reaction" stat

Overall, I'm getting a bit of schizophrenic impression. The new and the old don't mesh all that great together in my opinion, but looks like it will be a better game than Xcom 2.

 

[Alienman]

Just want to add when the big monster popped up the performance went to shit. It started to lag just like Xcom 2. Actually the exact same kind of annoying stuttering when action was taken, by myself and the aliens. I played the demo on fantastic. Maybe it runs better on something lower. I do hope we get more specific settings to chose from in the future.

Edit:

Forgot to mention one thing that really surprised me. You can't seem to fire when you are hiding behind a solid wall. I was expecting my guy to be able pop out and take a shot like in Xcom 2, but nope. That what I mean with skitzo impression. In X-com OG you would just step out using time-units, take a shot and go back. The whole thing feels a bit confusing. I have to re-wire my brain, and not just having to make a switch between the two game-styles since they are intermeshed.

 

[ArchAngel]

I think it looks pretty cool from watching people play it on twitch. Problems with camera I also noticed, hopefully that will get improvements. Inventory UI is pretty console like, I was hoping it would be more similar to UFO. But at least we got an inventory.

Grenade/rocket targeting bubble needs improvements. It often shows you are not going to hit the enemy even with it being inside the bubble. Especially noticeable with the queen where if you got only her legs inside the bubble and not her body it will show like she is not going to get hit at all.

 

[luinthoron]

Played a little, as much as this ancient machine could handle before the game finally freezing. Nice enough so far. Please tell me the bridge can be destroyed or maybe even opened with the button next to it in the final game? I would've loved to drop the Queen off it when it decided to just stop on it. :D

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

- Camera seems to be all over place to a point that observing result of a shot is somewhat difficult at times. Please add options for disabling those autozooms.
- Dead crabmen seem to occasionally clip through ground.
- I've seen corners of buildings stay on air when rest of the structure was destroyed.
- Bodypart & equipment disabling system is quite nice.
- Grenade throwing interface could be better.
- I like the music and sounds in general.
- Slight stuttering here and there on my system, but nothing as bad as in Battletech.

edit.
-It is nice that units can pick up items from some squares that are around them, but some kind of "give" option would be nice. Had a situation where assault trooper had disabled hand and I send him to sniper for some gear exchange; had to drop items that I wanted moved around before equipping those.
-Sometimes units seem to shoot the cover that they are using because how "taking shot"- animation seems to work.
My heavy put entire burst into armoured car he was covering behind.
-Big red container of fuel should go boom and not just disappear when shot at.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

- procedural maps = demo map with slightly differently positioned building

I've tried random level 5 times and always gotten different result.
It always uses same blocks, but at least those get re-arranged.

 

[luinthoron]

-It is nice that units can pick up items from some squares that are around them, but some kind of "give" option would be nice. Had a situation where assault trooper had disabled hand and I send him to sniper for some gear exchange; had to drop items that I wanted moved around before equipping those.

You should be able to give items to a soldier next to you, UV even demonstrated this a few times in his latest video.

-Big red container of fuel should go boom and not just disappear when shot at.

I do agree with this, though. But like every bit of cover disappearing the same without regard for different materials, I'd assume this is something that will be different in the final game.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Gameplay starts up around the 4 minute mark.

 

[Shog-goth]

You should be able to give items to a soldier next to you, UV even demonstrated this a few times in his latest video.

From Game Guide: "You can also give an item to an adjacent character by dragging it onto that character’s icon on the right side of the inventory screen".

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

You should be able to give items to a soldier next to you, UV even demonstrated this a few times in his latest video.

From Game Guide: "You can also give an item to an adjacent character by dragging it onto that character’s icon on the right side of the inventory screen".

I should've bothered to read the darn thing.

 

[ArchAngel]

UnstableVoltage seems that in current build it is almost impossible to loot items of dead bodies of allies. I seen people try to loot place where body landed after dying and looting area where they were during death and no loot to find. I hope at some point the place to find loot on ground is marked in some way.

 

[udm]

UnstableVoltage seems that in current build it is almost impossible to loot items of dead bodies of allies. I seen people try to loot place where body landed after dying and looting area where they were during death and no loot to find. I hope at some point the place to find loot on ground is marked in some way.

Ah no wonder I couldn't get my buddy's rifle. Tried moving my guy around adjacent squares but just couldn't locate the items.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

UnstableVoltage seems that in current build it is almost impossible to loot items of dead bodies of allies. I seen people try to loot place where body landed after dying and looting area where they were during death and no loot to find. I hope at some point the place to find loot on ground is marked in some way.

Ah no wonder I couldn't get my buddy's rifle. Tried moving my guy around adjacent squares but just couldn't locate the items.

Yes. Definitely bugged at the moment.

 

[Stavrophore]

Watched this gameplay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlEYLTUnWk

Game already looks great and i see some ideas from RPGCodex already -first person targeting, time units system. limited ammo capacity. Game just need polish, music, ambience, better creature sounds. Hearing only whistling sound is not the most fun thing

The only thing that is a thorn in the side, is the cover system, i mean rigid grid based cover system is not ideal with free aiming that is currently in the game. IDK if its possible to even code at the current state of the game, a free form soldier placement system, where you point a place and a character will stand exactly there. Of course there are places where it can't be possible because of not having enough space, and that would be a real mess for programmers -either remove such places, make them impossible to stand there, or make few animations to accommodate these.

 

[udm]

Grid is ok. It's the cover system that bugs me.

I'm sure there are games where it fits--Vigilantes comes to mind (because it abstracts many mechanics). Not a game like Phoenix Point tho.

 

[Alienman]

Been playing it a bit more, and the return fire mechanic is really started to grate on me. First off, your men will waste a lot of shots. Some times it pays out, but in the demo you have so little ammo every missed shot feels like a huge waste. And second, punishing the player for attacking is pretty lame. Attacking by itself is risky business. I had to take a few pot shots with my sniper using the pistol. The distance was pretty far so he missed which eventually made him suicide by monster because every miss let the alien take a free shot...

 

[luinthoron]

Grid is ok. It's the cover system that bugs me.

I'm sure there are games where it fits--Vigilantes comes to mind (because it abstracts many mechanics). Not a game like Phoenix Point tho.

What exactly bugs you about it? I doubt you would prefer an XCOM-style flat hit chance reduction. A mostly simulationist game like PP seems exactly the place for WYSIWYG cover. The only bad thing about the cover in this build is how fragile it is, but it's already confirmed that this will change once different materials are properly implemented.

 

[ArchAngel]

Been playing it a bit more, and the return fire mechanic is really started to grate on me. First off, your men will waste a lot of shots. Some times it pays out, but in the demo you have so little ammo every missed shot feels like a huge waste. And second, punishing the player for attacking is pretty lame. Attacking by itself is risky business. I had to take a few pot shots with my sniper using the pistol. The distance was pretty far so he missed which eventually made him suicide by monster because every miss let the alien take a free shot...

I noticed multiple streamers asking if it is possible to turn off Return Fire so their troopers don't waste ammo.

UnstableVoltage

 

[Alienman]

Well, he said in his gameplay video that it would be a toggle, but I'm guessing it's only for your own troops. Suicide by alien will still be a thing

 

[Stavrophore]

Ok apparently it was marbozir video without the ingame music, watched christopherodd, and i must say you did amazing job with combat music. Very tense, some the thing vibes, pretty grim.

 

[udm]

Grid is ok. It's the cover system that bugs me.

I'm sure there are games where it fits--Vigilantes comes to mind (because it abstracts many mechanics). Not a game like Phoenix Point tho.

What exactly bugs you about it? I doubt you would prefer an XCOM-style flat hit chance reduction. A mostly simulationist game like PP seems exactly the place for WYSIWYG cover. The only bad thing about the cover in this build is how fragile it is, but it's already confirmed that this will change once different materials are properly implemented.

As mentioned before, one of the biggest problems is that you only crouch when you're next to cover—and we know that crouching definitely affects hit one's chance to be hit (either by an enemy or friendlies), so it makes no sense why you can't crouch when you're not next to cover.

 

[luinthoron]

As mentioned before, one of the biggest problems is that you only crouch when you're next to cover—and we know that crouching definitely affects hit one's chance to be hit (either by an enemy or friendlies), so it makes no sense why you can't crouch when you're not next to cover.

The inability to manually crouch elsewhere is not a feature of the cover system, though. It could be a welcome additional feature, but the lack of it does not mean the cover system itself is flawed.

 

[Stavrophore]

Then crouching would need a downside, as people could use it by default everytime they move, stay or sit in cover. Toggle button, that would let you move while crouching but with decreased movement range, or crouch after the moving action, and spend some AP on that.

 

[Shog-goth]

I agree that manual crouching, facing and reaction fire nerfing are fundamental aspects to be addressed asap.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Has anyone seen enemies running out of ammo?
Or panicking? There are those "-1 willpower" floating texts, but I cannot confirm or deny it doing anything.