The Amazing X-COM Thread

[Tails]

Some new stuff:
PSG RebelSquad - RR+RS+LS+X:COM1 in manga style.
Ufo: The Two Sides - Another Enemy Unknown remake. The difference is that author wants to add multiplayer and playable alien side.

 

[entertainer]

New ufo/xcom remake:

http://nefurii.my-place.us/

there's working multiplayer beta already

 

[kyrub]

I hope this is not a repost.

There's an excellent patch for the original, called UFO EXTENDER, fixing most bugs and adding some extra flavour.
The patch is customizable via editing the ini file included in the patch.

To be found HERE

And HERE is a page with more details about other possiblities and the installation of the patch.

 

[Hobbit Lord of Mordor]

Um, you're aware of this?

http://www.ufo2extraterrestrials.com/

 

[Martin]

Are any of the UFO later spinoffs worth playing?

I always hear the original one is still the best. And it runs fine on dosbox.

 

[a budda]

so what about this ufo titties (two sides), no download link on their page

also: you're not melcar

 

[Tails]

so what about this ufo titties (two sides), no download link on their page

Here you have actual side of Two Sides.

 

[forgotmypasswordagain]

I'd never played anything in the UFO/X-Com series, or any of its variants, spin-offs, fan-made versions, open-source editions, whatever -- then I downloaded a freeware project based on the series called, "UFO:AI".

I'm loving the setting and the game design, so I'm very curious about the other versions out there now - especially since I'm finding the AI of the aliens in this particular version to be way too dumb in the squad-level engagements.

Which versions of the game are best? Should I play the originals, or are the newer versions the better in terms of AI or anything else?

It's just that this thread lists a lot of versions, and instead of thinking for myself I'd rather just conform to the codex hivemind and play only whichever has its approval.

Thanks.

 

[kyrub]

Well, if you did not play the original Enemy Unknown, this is the best stuff to begin with. AI is not excellent, but it still excels at beating the crap out of your whole army in just 2 turns (until you learn better). The game is perfectly written and ends relatively quickly without becoming boring.

I'd reccomend going straightly with improvements, Xcomutil 9.7 (beta, but it is very stable) and Ufo Extender by Seb76. Both can work together. This solves several bugs, it improves playability and gives you some pieces of better interface.

For Ufo Extender settings, there are points that make problematic changes to the gameplay. As a good, conservative rule of thumb, use this: http://pastebin.com/f404b2763


Last note: I love the Xcomutil's "Research help from aliens" setting, but that is more of a personal taste. And it is quite hard to play as well.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

UFO: Extraterrestials Gold seems to be closer to the original X-Com than the first release.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rWARh6JDcM

 

[Lightknight]

Yeah, because it incorporates fan mods. Which are still updated, so there's no point in having this gold version.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Well, at least they have acknowledged that there's a superior way of doing some stuff than in the first version.
IIRC mostly stuff that they have invented like immortal soldiers has put me off from even trying that game.

 

[zeitgeist]

Well, at least they have acknowledged that there's a superior way of doing some stuff than in the first version.
IIRC mostly stuff that they have invented like immortal soldiers has put me off from even trying that game.

The mods kind of push the game over the edge and into the realm of playable, but there are so many flaws and oversights that I wouldn't exactly recommend it to anyone who's not absolutely sick of other, better genre titles yet.

This is a prime example of what I'm talking about - see how the character you're currently equipping is female, and it has an obviously male paperdoll. Doesn't seem to be a big deal? But think about what it represents. They were too lazy to even make two default paperdolls instead of one - just one for each gender, with generic faces (even though soldiers have different portraits). They didn't even make the paperdoll gender-ambiguous, or just a silhouette that blends into the GUI, they made a "realistic" representation of the character sprite with a gender/face combination that doesn't appear on the actual character and thought that would do. (same goes for sprites - male only)

Now, please take into account that I'm not using this as an example of a horribly gamebreaking issue as such, I'm using it because it's an immediately obvious visual representation of a developer attitude that led to an incredible amount of design blunders present throughout the entire game, on all levels, from visuals to game mechanics, UI issues, etc. It's especially grating when you realize that feature X that's missing (or is implemented poorly) was already present (or implemented in a better way) in XCOM and almost all post-XCOM games.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

The thing that I disliked the most when watching the LP was less brutal sounds.

 

[Steve16384]

There's also Stellar Forces which is more of a Laser Squad remake for those that remember (which is everyone, right? )

 

[zeitgeist]

Looks like another X-Com remake project appeared, this time they're trying to recode the entire game from scratch (and add new features after they achieve the functionality of the original game), it will be open source with externalized rulesets/stats/etc.

OpenXcom

 

[Hoodoo]

The Frozen Synapse Beta is getting rave reviews p much everywhere

 

[YourConscience]

The Frozen Synapse Beta is getting rave reviews p much everywhere

Yeah, sure. The tactical combat may be good. I don't know, haven't tried it. But why did I not try it? Because there's no strategic layer at all. Also, comments like this taken from no less than their feature list really put me off:

Bite-size, critically-acclaimed hardcore strategy with a striking sci-fi aesthetic.

Bite-size? I can have bite-sized games all over the internets, thankyouverymuch. Pacman was literally bite-sized and this is no improvement then.

 

[zeitgeist]

Frozen Synapse is, to the tactical squad-level combat genre, approximately what Darwinia was to the RTS genre.

 

[Hoodoo]

cool but retarded?

 

[Eyeball]

Overhyped and boring?

As far as X-Com clones are concerned, I really haven't found a better one than UFO: Aftermath. See, what X-Com had wasn't just good gameplay, it had definite STYLE and ATMOSPHERE, something all other ripoffs I've seen has completely lacked either because of cheery, bright graphics, shit alien design or music lacking the creepy, suspenseful touch tone of X-Com.

UFO:Aftermath is atmospheric - you fight in broken-down post-apocalyptic citiscapes overrun by horrifying mutated freaks who're excellently designed and has sombre, creepy music, all of which does a fairly good job of recreating the "oh shit, we've landed on a terror site and are surrounded by aliens with blasters, I don't wanna leave this fucking space shuttle!" feeling from X-Com.

The two sequels to Aftermath disappointed me with their cheery, bright graphics and mongoloid alien design. Play the first one, download the mod adding a fuckload of new guns and enemies, be happy.

As for Extraterrestrials: It is an almost exact clone of Xcom made more than a decade after its release and it STILL manages to fail miserably in most areas. Shit graphics, NO RANDOMLY DESIGNED LEVELS, shit weapon and game balance, uninspired creature design, shit atmopshere. I wanted to love this game and failed. Avoid like gangrene.

 

[Dangersaurus]

Reviving old dead thread.

A long time back I found a hacked version of X-Com & TFTD that came in a single DOXBox wrapper/frontend, IIRC it even had XCOMUtil included. The same guy did something similar for Daggerfal and some other games. My computer died and my copy of this died with it. Anyone know where I got it? I have other versions, both hard copies and removed from inventory, but nothing has ever been as stable as this version for me.

 

[zeitgeist]

Reviving old dead thread.

A long time back I found a hacked version of X-Com & TFTD that came in a single DOXBox wrapper/frontend, IIRC it even had XCOMUtil included. The same guy did something similar for Daggerfal and some other games. My computer died and my copy of this died with it. Anyone know where I got it? I have other versions, both hard copies and removed from inventory, but nothing has ever been as stable as this version for me.

Could it be X-Com Total Pack perhaps?

 

[Dangersaurus]

Could it be X-Com Total Pack perhaps?

That's the one. Thanks for the name, that pointed me where I needed to go.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Ufo: The Two Sides - Another Enemy Unknown remake. The difference is that author wants to add multiplayer and playable alien side.

developers cop out at 99%, all files taken down.
http://ufotts.ninex.info/