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

[MadMaxHellfire]

did this bomb yet? last time i ask this because i finally put my dirty paws on it.
i like taking aim, i also like the free aim, the times of willingly shooting down a wall to take it down are back. there seems to be variety in enemies, this is always good. there is in weapons and armors too, but without a "compare" it's actually a nightmare. i'm not liking the geoscape much, and i hate hard time limits. how many maps are there? three? four? because i had the same one three times in a row. but i was ready to turn a blind eye to all of this. the real deal breaker is the ai: it cheats. shamelessly.
new jericho steal research map, behind the first small building two heavy spawned, one of whom with a grenade launcher. with line of sight with only one of my men he always bombarded the rest of my team. i restarted the mission several times to verify this, and he always dropped a grenade in the midst of the group he couldn't see, it didn't matter how far and how hidden i stashed them, he would always hit them. this is retarded and ruins the whole combat experience.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

i still don't get why you're all acting surprised and outraged. all this was clear since the first change in art direction, and unavoidable when they moved to the epic fail store.

the art change is and was unfathomable to me. I really just can't imagine what they were thinking. It looks so much worse, the motorcycle people with the bumpy armor. WHY?

The only reason I maintain hope for this game is that I think there may be some slight possibility that when it is released on steam with the workshop that eventually mods will release some total overhaul longwar type mod and restore the original vision. Because I do think there is a good game buried in here somewhere- especially once they get all the DLC out (if onlly to give mods more content to work with). But its clearly going to have to be mods because these developers have completely lost their way.

Even when the developers do manage to release some update or small DLC it seemingly takes them forever to accomplish, and feels somehow like a massive struggle. I get the feeling they hate working on the game anymore, and likely that has been the case for some time now. From an outside perspective I get the impression its painful for them to keep coming in everyday and that they are just going through the motions which is why everything feels so generic. They are not immersed in the world- they are just trying to get this all over with. Its partly an Epic issue that might evoke results like this (the cash upfront) but something else happened here; not sure what it was, but the creativity and passion suddenly drained from the project at one point and it coincided with the artwork and theme change like you said. I simply can't imagine what they were thinking, or why they thought that this would be a better direction. I really would be fascinated to find out someday.

 

[ArchAngel]

I think you all are too obsessed with art direction shit.
These games are about gameplay first and this is where they fucked up. Also with UI.
There are so many little things missing, and they don't fix them. They don't fix stuff people keep reporting for months or other stuff.
It feels like they lost their main team and now are training new guys who work at snail speed.
Owlcat released a super buggy game but all of their patches would have 100 fixes.

Snapshot keeps releasing patches with 20-30 fixes which also introduce 5 new bugs.

 

[PanteraNera]

I think you all are too obsessed with art direction shit.

It was supposed to be an stragetic horror game.
It is not just the artstyle, it is also the setting, the background, the world the game plays in. The enemies, the factions, the maps everything has nothing to little to do with the original vision.

But I agree it wouldn't have saved them, as the gameplay is not good.

 

[holla_cabezas_de_mierda]

I think you all are too obsessed with art direction shit.
These games are about gameplay first and this is where they fucked up. Also with UI.
There are so many little things missing, and they don't fix them. They don't fix stuff people keep reporting for months or other stuff.
It feels like they lost their main team and now are training new guys who work at snail speed.
Owlcat released a super buggy game but all of their patches would have 100 fixes.

Snapshot keeps releasing patches with 20-30 fixes which also introduce 5 new bugs.

its not simply the art as an isolated issue. The art seems to have also marked a huge change in tone with regards to game play, and who phoenix point actually is and the feel of the world and the game and the creatures and weapons etc..

 

[True Ukrainian]

I got this at day one and completed it. Its not a bad game but just so disappointing. I remember the sour feeling in my gut the first time I started a campaign and saw the list of "coming soon" stuff all over the screen.

 

[ArchAngel]

I think you all are too obsessed with art direction shit.
These games are about gameplay first and this is where they fucked up. Also with UI.
There are so many little things missing, and they don't fix them. They don't fix stuff people keep reporting for months or other stuff.
It feels like they lost their main team and now are training new guys who work at snail speed.
Owlcat released a super buggy game but all of their patches would have 100 fixes.

Snapshot keeps releasing patches with 20-30 fixes which also introduce 5 new bugs.

its not simply the art as an isolated issue. The art seems to have also marked a huge change in tone with regards to game play, and who phoenix point actually is and the feel of the world and the game and the creatures and weapons etc..

Actually they made combat less modern than what they originally planned. Originally they said your soldier will not be dying but if they "die" in battle they will need to spend longer time in base recovering. For release they made it so they just die. They always talked about how you will not have huge teams like in UFO or lots of recruits to find. This didn't change much. Enemies are mostly what they talked about. Superhero abilities are not, and while they did mention soldiers would have some abilities they never went into details how powerful those would be.

Art style is most of the change compared to what they talked at start and during development. I think the gameplay is similar to what they planned all along, it is just they released it unfinished and unpolished.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

alright, i take everything good i said back. game breaking bug, bases just vanishing, word on the street it's because "your base is under attack" didn't appear.

 

[ArchAngel]

alright, i take everything good i said back. game breaking bug, bases just vanishing, word on the street it's because "your base is under attack" didn't appear.

Lol that is a new one, I never got that one yet. But since they changed recently how much time you get before base attack I am not surprised they managed to fuck that up as well.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Alienman]

Does the gamepass version have the dlc?

 

[Child of Malkav]

baby steps..

Crayfish steps, maybe. One step forward, two steps back...

I take that back, these devs are morons.

People scream about how melee is terrible. In patch they buff all melee damage by 20 damage (not nearly enough) but in DLC they introduce body part that lets you use melee weapons for 1 AP instead of 2.. Pay2Win!

Then people scream how infiltrators are OP and you can either be 100% invisible or using sniper rifles from half the map away, be in stealth all the time and do 2x damage with every shot. Devs in last patch make it so if you use non silenced weapons you lose stealth always and then in DLC they introduce head part that makes all weapons you use silent.. Pay2Wiin!

Fucking morons.

Another whiner. L2P.

 

[geno]

UnstableVoltagehoy a las 19:55
Snapshot Games is in the process of putting together a “Community Council” for Phoenix Point. We’re looking for a small group of dedicated people, passionate about Phoenix Point and strategy games in general to help us. Members of this Community Council will work closely with the development team, examining and testing internal ideas for gameplay changes and future updates, providing valuable insight from our players. We’re looking for articulate people who can apply objectively focused constructive criticism in a polite and professional manner. You must be over 18 to join the Community Council, as you will be required to sign a legal agreement (NDA), as you will have access to development information which hasn’t yet been released to the general public. The initial group will be relatively small, but we will be expanding as time goes on. As spaces are limited, please only apply if you have the time and commitment to participate in this program. If you are interested, please fill in the form below. Again, initial places are limited so please don’t feel left out if you don’t get selected for the initial group. Over time we will continue to extend the invite to more people. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFo4vmnfMus-jZLljUKf6Naxt3lz9Rdt7JfwV7gxjMhrjL5Q/viewform

 

[ArchAngel]

UnstableVoltagehoy a las 19:55
Snapshot Games is in the process of putting together a “Community Council” for Phoenix Point. We’re looking for a small group of dedicated people, passionate about Phoenix Point and strategy games in general to help us. Members of this Community Council will work closely with the development team, examining and testing internal ideas for gameplay changes and future updates, providing valuable insight from our players. We’re looking for articulate people who can apply objectively focused constructive criticism in a polite and professional manner. You must be over 18 to join the Community Council, as you will be required to sign a legal agreement (NDA), as you will have access to development information which hasn’t yet been released to the general public. The initial group will be relatively small, but we will be expanding as time goes on. As spaces are limited, please only apply if you have the time and commitment to participate in this program. If you are interested, please fill in the form below. Again, initial places are limited so please don’t feel left out if you don’t get selected for the initial group. Over time we will continue to extend the invite to more people. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScFo4vmnfMus-jZLljUKf6Naxt3lz9Rdt7JfwV7gxjMhrjL5Q/viewform

This would be interesting if they didn't require us to sign shit. Last time I was part of something like this I regretted it (not directly because of signing shit but that probably allowed those devs to be retarded with how they handled it).
EDIT: Fuck I was weak and signed up anyways. I will probably not even get in as I said I also visit this forum :D

 

[jac8awol]

So they want more unpaid playtesters? On top of all of those who did the backer builds, got the game on epic, and have filled out their surveys? Well I'm all for making this game better and I do want it to reach its potential, but the way these guys do business really rubs me the wrong way. And if this community council does come together, with more passion and direction than the original team, I am sure they won't get any recognition, and it will feel shitty that at the end of the day, all you're doing is putting dollars in someone else's pocket.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

as you will be required to sign a legal agreement (NDA)

how many people do they think actually care about their game at this point?
It's a mediocre nu-xcom clone

 

[Grotesque]

the only way this council saves this game is if every member comes on board with a suitcase full of money on large bills.

 

[geno]

the only way this council saves this game is if every member comes on board with a suitcase full of money on large bills.

That didn't work for Epic.

 

[Shog-goth]

Pathetic. They should have listened at the time, we expressed our disappointment and suggestions on multiple channels since the very beginning, even in FIG comments at crowdfunding time. Now please, Snapshot and Gollop, fuck you and your stillborn (kind of) game!

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

"la tocca piano".

i must say that vanilla xcom was in a much worse state than this and xcom 2 was a clusterfuck of disasters, but both have received quite an overhaul by long war mods. if even fallout 4, one of the worst games ever, can be sort of almost barely salvaged by the right amount of mods, maybe we should just wait a year or two or five and buy it for a quid to finally enjoy it.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Community council, jeez. They must have really run out of ideas, or have no clue. Or both.

 

[ArchAngel]

Community council, jeez. They must have really run out of ideas, or have no clue. Or both.

They posted this couple of weeks ago: https://feedback.phoenixpoint.info/snapshot-proposed-changes
So they do know what needs to be improved in the short run.
My guess is that they want the community council to be ones to test out their ideas before they decide which one to implement into full game. Kind of like how you show the unfinished movies to test groups and then make changes accordingly.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

Community council, jeez. They must have really run out of ideas, or have no clue. Or both.

They posted this couple of weeks ago: https://feedback.phoenixpoint.info/snapshot-proposed-changes
So they do know what needs to be improved in the short run.
My guess is that they want the community council to be ones to test out their ideas before they decide which one to implement into full game. Kind of like how you show the unfinished movies to test groups and then make changes accordingly.

They shouldn't need it though. The original idea on Fig was good. Hence why many backed it. That's the game everyone wanted in the first place. If they did that, there would be no need for a community council. Because we'd all have the game we wanted in the first place. They changed their original vision and now have no idea how to follow through on their new, inferior ideas.

 

[ArchAngel]

Community council, jeez. They must have really run out of ideas, or have no clue. Or both.

They posted this couple of weeks ago: https://feedback.phoenixpoint.info/snapshot-proposed-changes
So they do know what needs to be improved in the short run.
My guess is that they want the community council to be ones to test out their ideas before they decide which one to implement into full game. Kind of like how you show the unfinished movies to test groups and then make changes accordingly.

They shouldn't need it though. The original idea on Fig was good. Hence why many backed it. That's the game everyone wanted in the first place. If they did that, there would be no need for a community council. Because we'd all have the game we wanted in the first place. They changed their original vision and now have no idea how to follow through on their new, inferior ideas.

I guess they saw it differently than you. And now they noticed their vision might be flawed so they are changing design. Maybe by the end of all this, the game will look and play more like its Fig proposal.

 

[DeepOcean]

Well, Gollop, to fix this game, you just need to give me that sensation of "Mah God, I'm fucked." that I had with your previous X-COM like game, more like you throwing meat on the meatgrinder to slow down the relentless onslaught of the virus than having super power rangers murdering crabmen on nondescript industrial/ruins over and over until the end game.

You know, I was expecting Aliens/The Thing and I got the Expendables.