UFO2: Extraterrestrials - actually finally out

[sgc_meltdown]

graphicsfag critique:

The environments look like a huge step up from the first game, where everything indoors just looked like mechanical tech 'stuff' with very little recognisability no matter what kind of lighting conditions you're looking at them in (what the fuck is that? Is that a machine? A generator? some kind of space table thing?), and the outdoors just have the same damn plants or blocky rock mountain terrain or what looks like a ghetto space parking lots.

Monster design looks fine. In fact they kinda look like they've given up on trying to make their own crap new designs and are just going with XTREME versions of the originals. The robots and suits still look way too busy though.

Now the only thing they have left to do is get the music, shooty and alien sounds right. Solid sounding pewpew, nice iconic alien death screams and ominous music instead of elevator space hiking music = atmosphere X 300%

 

[BattleGoat]

I'll be curious to see how much of BMan's mod affects the direction of this one. Also looking forward to it being earth based.

 

[Sitra Achara]

A couple more screens posted, they seem to be releasing those about once a month now.

http://www.ufo2extraterrestrials.com/screenshot/

 

[MetalCraze]

Why do people copy XCom so much which isn't even the best tactical game?

 

[Achilles]

Because as a whole it's the best game ever created.

 

[MetalCraze]

Except it is not.

As single bits or as a whole both JA2 and Silent Storm are much superior.

Of course it's hard to copy something with a lot of depth.

 

[20 Eyes]

Except it is not.

As single bits or as a whole both JA2 and Silent Storm are much superior.

Of course it's hard to copy something with a lot of depth.

JA2, sure. Silent Storm was better in some respects, but I'd say X Com was overall a better game. One thing that sets X Com apart is the base building/research aspects of it. Also the atmosphere, I think its easier for people to get more excited about the X Com setting than the more realistic (at least until the silly ass mechs started showing up in Silent Storm) settings in the other games.

The Jagged Alliance universe is still awesome, just in a more subtle way.

 

[MetalCraze]

The problem is that the research in X-Com is too simplistic. Surely it does create a good illusion of you researching something all the time but ultimately it boils down to you getting two weapons (first laser gun with unlimited ammo and then plasma gun).

Research is a good idea but JA2 had weapon customization and crafting which produced more useful things than just 2 weapons of awesome.

Apart from those XCom also doesn't have stances (which weren't just a gimmick - a prone stance wasn't just rendering you a harder target to hit but also caused objects like tall grass to obscure your view), suppression fire (this is what any self-respecting tactical game must have), more variety in weaponry as mentioned (and I don't just mean rifles - stuff like mortars seriously added to the game).

Because the battlefield is where you ultimately spend most of the time.

Heck JA2 even models looking/not looking through weapon optics (like looking through sniper rifle optics will let your soldier see further but limit the radius of view).

Tactics is where XCom falls short in comparison to JA2 and SS which clones JA2's gameplay. You just move your soldiers around and fire and that's it.

It can be fun of course.

 

[vevercak]

Well, the original's interface is 100x better. Lean and clean. What is this green poo they are throwing in our faces, now?

What's wrong with the ET2 GUI? I do not see much difference in comparison with original UFO:Enemy Unknown GUI.

There are stand and knee buttons, 4 time reservation buttons, floor up and floor down buttons, elevator up/elevator down, a flee from mission button, menu button and end of turn button in both UFO:EU and UFO2ET. There is a health status button in adition in UFO2ET.

In my opinion any player of the turn based games can cope with that

 

[Exmit]

This looks like total shit, they should delete all their work and fire the art team and start from scratch.

I would be ashamed for making something like this and saying it is a xcom clone.

 

[Grunker]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[Exmit]

If you like poopoo

 

[sgc_meltdown]

http://www.ufo2extraterrestrials.com/images/screenshots/AlienBrood.jpg

what the fuck is this, it's ET's indistinguishable clusterfuck of vaguely alien environmental objects again

seriously look at that shit, all I can say after considering what the hell it is that's supposed to be on the screen is that they look like they're pods of some sort and maybe turrets or life support things? Vagueness like this has no character at all to it and ends up as visual noise

contrast this with X-COM's alien bases where one look and you can go, yeah that's a vat cloning room, that's a glowing orb power room, that's a disco room, this is a navigation room with chairs, etc

it pretty much looks like they hired the artist from Dungeons for this drek

http://i.imgur.com/OaTeu.jpg

 

[vevercak]

what the fuck is this, it's ET's indistinguishable clusterfuck of vaguely alien environmental objects again

seriously look at that shit, all I can say after considering what the hell it is that's supposed to be on the screen is that they look like they're pods of some sort and maybe turrets or life support things?

Actually you are right. Although they are not bred for battle, Caretakers wield two formiddable weapons. Each Caretaker carries 2 photon emitters implanted on telescoping eye stems on top of their body. The energy beams produced by these emitters are powerful enough to melt through the strongest of our armors in an instant. The Caretakers also have the extraordinary ability to lay explosive eggs. These eggs have a sophisticated sensory apparatus which allows them to detect any human which approaches within 2 meters of the egg, at which time it explodes with a force greater than any Terran grenade. The Caretakesr floats above the ground upon a suspensor field created from internal gravity generators.

 

[Lord Chambers]

Let me be sure.

seriously look at that shit, all I can say after considering what the hell it is that's supposed to be on the screen is that they look like they're pods of some sort and maybe turrets or life support things? Vagueness like this has no character at all to it and ends up as visual noise

You're saying that because you don't know exactly the function of a piece of an alien environment, that something is wrong? Would you also say that aliens should be understandable, at a glance, in a single screnshot?

contrast this with X-COM's alien bases where one look and you can go, yeah that's a vat cloning room, that's a glowing orb power room, that's a disco room, this is a navigation room with chairs, etc.

And this kind of easily dismissed, cookie-cutter design is good? You are displeased by the lack of glowing orb power rooms in the screenshot because that's the type of environment that made sense in X-COM?

 

[aron searle]

That screen doesnt look good to me.

For fucks sake it's 2011, can we please move away from this boxy grid shit. It was great for dungeon keeper in 98, because it made it easy for anyone to make levels, but when games like this and NWN2 still use it, fuuuuck.

It also does just look like a clusterfuck of colours and "stuff", all cut n paste.

I am not a fan of the cartoony style, but i could overlook that alone.

 

[tindrli]

FINNALY SOME ISOMETRIC!!!!!!!

 

[vevercak]

Firing the art team?

This looks like total shit, they should delete all their work and fire the art team and start from scratch.

I would be ashamed for making something like this and saying it is a xcom clone.

What is wrong with the art team??

 

[sgc_meltdown]

Let me be sure.You're saying that because you don't know exactly the function of a piece of an alien environment, that something is wrong? Would you also say that aliens should be understandable, at a glance, in a single screnshot?

You seem to be confusing disliking aesthetic direction by projecting the usual 'I do not understand it therefore it sucks' on me for sake of your argument. Don't grasp at straws, it'll only embarrass us both.

Your spirited attempt at condescension aside, tell me, what is it that we're looking at here?

Am I looking at a cluster of large upturned jars with weeds in them attached to webbed feet? Guarded by turrets? I think that's a fetus in that turned in sunflower. Inspiring.
The film grain on top doesn't help.

See, I could make an glassy pear covered by moldy cylinders and call an elite sectoid experimental endboss flagship, that'll be different and alien and only people who hate stuff they don't understand would dislike it, right? The victory-heralding blood in the water you sense isn't from your overworked brain, perhaps? There's your projection back, by the way.

Example: Supermutants in Fallout 3. I do not need to know exactly how they came to be to dislike their appearance during the previews before the game was released. Neither did many FO1 and 2 fans. I was comparing them to the 'feel' of the original supermutants, as I am comparing what I see in that screenshot to alien breeding hives and what have you.
You can stack a ton of written lore until your face goes blue, and the FO3 mutants will still be greenish-brown tuskless orcs. Contextual understanding or justification or being a human who doesn't get the subtle supermutant nuances in appearance and evoking 50s science fiction silliness has nothing to do with it. Oh the vats were different. I guess that makes their choice of supermutant appearance all fine now. Bravo, Bethesda!
Bravo you.

And this kind of easily dismissed, cookie-cutter design is good?

Relative to this and taking the differences in technology and interface, it is. It had a personality of its own. Let me guess, you're one of the special cases who think Altar Interactive created great alien designs and aesthetics for the span of their UFO series, arguably superseding those in UFO and TFTD, and that fellow fans shared this opinion and the thought process by which you arrived at that conclusion?

You are displeased by the lack of glowing orb power rooms in the screenshot because that's the type of environment that made sense in X-COM?

Don't they? X-COM aliens and structures were obviously based on stereotypical tropes, as you have pointed out yourself. Yes, basic glowing orb with pipes leading out = power. Yes, I prefer a sectoid's appearance to UFO:ET's metal birdheaded robot scout thing. The commonality of a design has nothing to do with its own inherent personality, just as more unique doesn't make a design great. A standard boring ufo is often used because it works. A plaid one with pink disco balls glued on, while more unique, doesn't. Not for me at least.

Look, if you think that one screenshot (note I praised the earlier ones) looks great, wonderful. This is the codex, you should know what an opinion is, even stated as bluntly as it was. My condolences if your instincts told you that headlong indignation was in order.

 

[vevercak]

Am I looking at a cluster of large upturned jars with weeds in them attached to webbed feet? Guarded by turrets? I think that's a fetus in that turned in sunflower. Inspiring.

No. You are not looking at a turret. According to the description right at the screenshot on the ufo2 website, you are looking at an alien - The Caretaker.
The Caretaker is a 2 meter tall roughly cylindrical creature that is found almost always within alien hatcheries. It floats above the ground upon a suspensor field created from internal gravity generators. Without this field, the Caretake would not be able to move its 200kg body around. We are certain that Caretakers did not evolve naturally, but were instead bred for the specific purpose of caring for the alien young. Each Caretaker carries 2 photon emitters implanted on telescoping eye stems on top of their body. The energy beams produced by these emitters are powerful enough to melt through the strongest of our armors in an instant. A secondary responsibility of the Caretakers is the protection of the eggs and the young alien brood.

 

[Sitra Achara]

Aug 23 update was somewhat interesting - it implies the aliens try to use some kind of hardening foam to seal hull breaches and trap your guys inside. Then again maybe it's just fiction to accompany the screenshot.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

No. You are not looking at a turret. According to the description right at the screenshot on the ufo2 website, you are looking at an alien - The Caretaker.

A turret classification is not mutually exclusive of alien origin, so to be clear that wasn't a criticism. Semantics perhaps, but even if it's organic the description says it has been bred for one specific purpose, floating around in one type of place to guard alien young, and not part of the alien social or command decision-making structure. Engineered servent beings like this usually do not end up anything approximating autonomous sentience.

Alien turret! It's alien because it's made of meat.

 

[Achilles]

Except it is not.

As single bits or as a whole both JA2 and Silent Storm are much superior.

Of course it's hard to copy something with a lot of depth.

We agree to disagree? While both JA2 and Silent Storm were awesome, awesome games, I still think that X-Com is superior as a whole.

 

[vevercak]

UFOET1 gameplay

I ve just stumbled over UFOET1 gameplay. There is an unimportant video at the beginning but after that there is the cool gamplay probably tuned by a fan player. The music sounds very good to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSNIt3QI ... re=related

 

[geno]