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

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Mindfracker removal proceradure:

Spoiler

It does sting a bit.

Those things can bounce; that one came almost quarter of level away.

Idle animations seem to be gone when you aim at enemies.

 

[kirin]

Things that were incline:

1. Physically shooting off headcrabs
2. Shotgun blast hitting multiple enemies
3. Joining a faction haven defense
4. Limited ammo consumed from inventory?

If you had diplomacy penalties for friendly fire during these joint missions, that would be real neat. Bonus if weakened havens were also easier to takeover.

Things that were dumb:

1. Going back to base to swap loadouts
2. Points of interest automagically appearing
3. Knowing exactly what loot is available for scavenge before you go

 

[ArchAngel]

Things that were incline:

1. Physically shooting off headcrabs
2. Shotgun blast hitting multiple enemies
3. Joining a faction haven defense
4. Limited ammo consumed from inventory?

If you had diplomacy penalties for friendly fire during these joint missions, that would be real neat. Bonus if weakened havens were also easier to takeover.

Things that were dumb:

1. Going back to base to swap loadouts
2. Points of interest automagically appearing
3. Knowing exactly what loot is available for scavenge before you go

As a dev that joined the chat in one of the streams said: This is a pre alpha.

 

[Mustawd]

UnstableVoltage, any plans to have non lethal weapons that can knock out any soldiers that have a head crab attached?

 

[luinthoron]

And they said they don't need Steam Early Access because Xsolla is good enough :D

The problem with DRM Bullshit Early Access is that it won't work for those of us who chose to get the game on GOG.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

If you had diplomacy penalties for friendly fire during these joint missions, that would be real neat. Bonus if weakened havens were also easier to takeover.

Handling how allied forces would be agroed will be difficult balancing issue.

 

[ArchAngel]

Watching people stream this yesterday I seen people shoot the hell out of their Armadillo while trying to hit aliens.
This is something that was impossible in nuXcom.

 

[cvv]

Hm the UI looks like a stand-in made by an autistic programmer instead of a graphical artist. The Geoscape again looks ugly and unappealing but I'm intrigued by the mechanics. Looks more engaging than XCOM 2 "watch-a-scanner-circle-go-round" type of mechanics that's for sure.

But most importantly it seems there's is no one-shotting mechanics that Firaxis love so much. Especially in XCOM1 you can one-shot aliens but they can do the same to you, from across the map, in full cover, in a smoke, especially in the early game. Which is retarded because while you have to kill hundreds of aliens you can't afford to lose more than a handful of soldiers. That's what makes Ironman so fucking frustrating and Ironman is the only mode where the game is actually fun. In PP it seems the emphasis is more on tactic and outmaneuvering mobs instead of dumb dice rolls which is fantastic.

Overall I'm more and more intrigued. Gameplay looks solid, as well as the art assets. Too bad the UI looks so wart-ass ugly. Oh well, so does the UI in XCOM1 and we got over it.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Nest assault:

Spoiler

Geospace:

Spoiler

 

[cvv]

Yeah, Geoscape looks terrible. Like a map app with bad UI.

I guess there are people who like games that look like serious programs. I don't. To be clear, I hate garishness too but there is a middle ground.

 

[ArchAngel]

Our favorite Open Xcom streamers are trying PP: https://www.twitch.tv/yogscast

 

[GrainWetski]

Wached them scroll the equipment UI for 15 seconds before I turned it off. That shit is an unusable mess.

Someone needs to invent a time machine and destroy Firaxis before FiraXCOM was made so we can get a proper game from Gollop instead of this pointless cash grab.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Our favorite Open Xcom streamers are trying PP: https://www.twitch.tv/yogscast

WTF, I like Yogscast now. I have no idea why a channel catering exclusively to autistic 12 year old zoomers has decided to just stream different OpenXcom mods. Even the awkward ones like X-Com Files.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Wached them scroll the equipment UI for 15 seconds before I turned it off. That shit is an unusable mess.

Someone needs to invent a time machine and destroy Firaxis before FiraXCOM was made so we can get a proper game from Gollop instead of this pointless cash grab.

I agree. The equipment UI needs some work. I understand the spirit of it but OG X-Com had loads of different squares and different weapons took up more or less dependant on size in an RPG-like manner. I really like that kind of system because it's an elegant and non immersion braking way of giving items a sense of weight and size. You never see this stuff in console stuff because it'd be a ballacher to navigate with an analog stick. Which is probably why the current UI is the way it is. Changes will be artistic at this point. Nothing more.

 

[ArchAngel]

Our favorite Open Xcom streamers are trying PP: https://www.twitch.tv/yogscast

WTF, I like Yogscast now. I have no idea why a channel catering exclusively to autistic 12 year old zoomers has decided to just stream different OpenXcom mods. Even the awkward ones like X-Com Files.

They started playing X-Com Files after streaming vanilla Open Xcom for a long while. They also play other fun strategy games.

 

[ArchAngel]

Wached them scroll the equipment UI for 15 seconds before I turned it off. That shit is an unusable mess.

Someone needs to invent a time machine and destroy Firaxis before FiraXCOM was made so we can get a proper game from Gollop instead of this pointless cash grab.

I agree. The equipment UI needs some work. I understand the spirit of it but OG X-Com had loads of different squares and different weapons took up more or less dependant on size in an RPG-like manner. I really like that kind of system because it's an elegant and non immersion braking way of giving items a sense of weight and size. You never see this stuff in console stuff because it'd be a ballacher to navigate with an analog stick. Which is probably why the current UI is the way it is. Changes will be artistic at this point. Nothing more.

Even with current UI being more for controllers, it is still too small even for them. It is super hard to navigate with only two rows of few items each.

 

[FireKing]

Garriott, well, just look at Shroud of the Avatar, you have him running donate-o-thons

Begathons, mate. We refer to these fucking things as begathons.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

I am positively surprised with the strategy layer and inventory management so far. I was expecting less. Nice nice stuff

The game shown has nothing to do with UFO. There is nothing in it that reminds me of UFO.

It does look like a cheap NuXCOM clone.

 

[LESS T_T]

"Necrofauna" - is another track composed and performed by Simeon Dotkov. You may recognise it from our previous Backer Builds.

Many people have asked if we would release the music currently heard in our development builds and promotional materials by our in-house composer and sound designer, Simeon Dotkov. We are delighted to announce that Simeon's music will now be featured in the final release of Phoenix Point alongside the music of John Broomhall.

 

[Space Satan]

As long as this game have no mandatory degenerate mechanics like mission timers I am ok with this. But it is damn laggy and enemies take shitload of time to act..

 

[ArchAngel]

As long as this game have no mandatory degenerate mechanics like mission timers I am ok with this. But it is damn laggy and enemies take shitload of time to act..

That part is irritating but at this stage of game development they are not even trying to optimize stuff.

 

[Frusciante]

From watching the videos:

- realistic ballistics is cool and pure incline
- being able to shoot body parts and disable monsters is pure incline
- artstyle is miles above nuXcom and pretty dark, though obviously it could be much creepier/better still
- theme and tone of the game is pretty nice, with the havens being attacked by swarms of aliens etc, being able to chose to defend havens or just rob them of their stuff
- UI is pretty clunky and not that pretty, but this may be improved
- having these vehicles that you can enter and mobility options (jetpack) is pretty nice as well

Conclusion: Codex is nuts to hate on this game so much

 

[Thal]

From watching the videos:

- realistic ballistics is cool and pure incline
- being able to shoot body parts and disable monsters is pure incline
- artstyle is miles above nuXcom and pretty dark, though obviously it could be much creepier/better still
- theme and tone of the game is pretty nice, with the havens being attacked by swarms of aliens etc
- UI is pretty clunky and not that pretty, but this may be improved

Conclusion: Codex is nuts to hate on this game so much

Also consider that this is pre-alpha footage that we are watching. The game is clearly not optimized or balanced in any way, it's very easy and vehicles are instawin now. But all of this will change with difficulty levels.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

From watching the videos:

- realistic ballistics is cool and pure incline
- being able to shoot body parts and disable monsters is pure incline
- artstyle is miles above nuXcom and pretty dark, though obviously it could be much creepier/better still
- theme and tone of the game is pretty nice, with the havens being attacked by swarms of aliens etc, being able to chose to defend havens or just rob them of their stuff
- UI is pretty clunky and not that pretty, but this may be improved
- having these vehicles that you can enter and mobility options (jetpack) is pretty nice as well

Conclusion: Codex is nuts to hate on this game so much

You haven't listened to any of my moaning. It's the misleading and distortion of game features we're all angry about. If these guys just came out at the start and said, "it's inspired by Firaxis's exciting reboot of the Xcom series" I don't think anyone would of minded. The codex would of snarked about it and moved on. But they didn't. They specifically said this was a sucsessor to OG X-Com. Then implied we would be getting the game that combines the best features of that game with modern gameplay. We're not getting that. We're getting Xcom 3. Me and others on the Codex feel misled.

 

[Jimmious]

I actually do feel like we are getting something that combines features of old UFO games with nuXCOM stuff. I guess you want specific features?
Because I see inventories, I see multiple squads, I see vehicles, I see ammo, I see a world map that is more like the originals, I see factions...