X-COM XCOM 2 + War of the Chosen Expansion Thread

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

XCOM 3 WHEN?! I must reunite Jane Kelly and Tori Black.

Jane Kelly is lowkey my favorite female video game protagonist, because she's a throw away tutorial character who many turned God.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

XCOM 3 WHEN?! I must reunite Jane Kelly and Tori Black.

Jane Kelly is lowkey my favorite female video game protagonist, because she's a throw away tutorial character who many turned God.

Not heard of Chimera Squad, have you?

 

[H. P. Lovecraft's Cat]

That's not part 3. Also I hate anime crap.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Nu XCOM is dead baby, XCOM is dead...

 

[Infinitron]

 

[gurugeorge]

Playing LWR - so far it seems really good with a hell of a lot of possible variability in tactics and builds, although I'm only cruising through on a Classic run atm. Years ago, I did a LW Impossible run up to getting plasma and big mecs, and I think this is maybe better than plain LW. There seems to be less getting-bogged-down in it, and it has QOL touches out the wazoo, it feels very complete as a game experience.

Very much not nuXCOM in terms of totally nixing Overwatch creep, pulling to Overwatch, etc., which is a bit jarring at first, but you get used to it. (Basically you can only enter Overwatch once combat has started and some enemy is in LoS), and there are enough Overwatch (well, what used to be called "Opportunist" type + Sentinel) specializations in some of the classes to make it still viable within the not-out-of-combat limitation. Infantry in particular are absolute beasts for Overwatch.

It strikes me that with LW and the LW variants, you're getting about as far away as you can get from that initial highly abstracted, board-gamey aspect of EU - the combat and flow feel much more simulationist. But as always, I wonder whether it's really the right type of engine for that (especially when I compare it to JA3, which I'm also playing off and on atm, which feels more simmy from the ground up).

 

[mastroego]

I've been saying that for a long time by now, LWR is the way to go at this point, but codexers never seemed very interested.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

So those timed missions where you have to like stop a pylon (green pillar thing), you can shoot them? You don't have to hack them every time? I just watched a lets play and saw him do that and my mind was blown.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

So those timed missions where you have to like stop a pylon (green pillar thing), you can shoot them? You don't have to hack them every time? I just watched a lets play and saw him do that and my mind was blown.

I think hacking and kaboomski are two different missions.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

So those timed missions where you have to like stop a pylon (green pillar thing), you can shoot them? You don't have to hack them every time? I just watched a lets play and saw him do that and my mind was blown.

I think hacking and kaboomski are two different missions.

You are right, I'm retarded.

 

[ghardy]

I found XCOM 2 with DLCs to be a good game. Not great, not terrible.

• The Chosen were annoying as hell. They were nice challenges, but such cartoony personalities.
• I'm not a fan of the setting, with XCOM set as scrappy, scruffy underdogs that commandeer an alien ship.
• Tygan is less interesting than Vahlen.
• One Shen is a good as the other.
• The Geoscape is a bit too busy.
• Everyone talks far too much.
• The factions were a good touch. Reapers are simply great fun. Skirmishers are cool as well.
• Tactical combat, the meat and potatoes of the game, was very good: tense, anxious, exciting.
• I'd prefer to have a few maps with fixed layout. Every mission right now is procedurally generated.
• Mission loading is slow, and there was stuttering here and there.

 

[ind33d]

I found XCOM 2 with DLCs to be a good game. Not great, not terrible.

• The Chosen were annoying as hell. They were nice challenges, but such cartoony personalities.
• I'm not a fan of the setting, with XCOM set as scrappy, scruffy underdogs that commandeer an alien ship.
• Tygan is less interesting than Vahlen.
• One Shen is a good as the other.
• The Geoscape is a bit too busy.
• Everyone talks far too much.
• The factions were a good touch. Reapers are simply great fun. Skirmishers are cool as well.
• Tactical combat, the meat and potatoes of the game, was very good: tense, anxious, exciting.
• I'd prefer to have a few maps with fixed layout. Every mission right now is procedurally generated.
• Mission loading is slow, and there was stuttering here and there.

the chosen should be like the angels in evangelion, making them power ranger villains is retarded

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It's fucking irrelevant. What type of dimwit plays XCOM for the main story, anyway?

Making them less chatty, more in general, would have been a welcomed change, on the other hand.
It doesn't help that the fucking game doesn't just bother you with the chitchart, but it acts as if wrestling the controls away from the player every time someone speaks was a brilliant idea.
When you put them on top of Bradford it starts to feel like the game was almost purposefully designed to be gratuitously grating.

I found XCOM 2 with DLCs to be a good game. Not great, not terrible.

It's overall a GREAT game.
It's just not a perfect replacement for the original, because they go for a very different approach to their core mechanics.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

You are so many years late but better late then never. This is how I felt right after Xcom 2 release once first version of Long War 2 was released.

The first version of Long War 2 was a complete shitstain, though?

 

[ArchAngel]

You are so many years late but better late then never. This is how I felt right after Xcom 2 release once first version of Long War 2 was released.

The first version of Long War 2 was a complete shitstain, though?

No, it was good but only for non expansion version of Xcom 2.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

No, it was good but only for non expansion version of Xcom 2.

No, I'm not confusing anything. I know for what it was.
The first version of Long War 2, made by Pavonis, for the vanilla version of XCOM 2.

I'm telling you it was complete crap. One of the worst designed mods (or games in general) I've ever attempted to play.
It's arguably the mod that made me the most jaded about how incompetent some modders can be as "system designers" in their struggle to be "hardcore" over making things fun.
And I wasn't exactly alone in my dislike fore it. There's a reason if it unlike the first Long War this never took off (at least not until LWOTC salvaged some of its parts and shaked up the formula a bit).

On a side note, aren't you the same guy who was constantly complaining about how terrible Jagged Alliance 3 was in the weeks that followed its launch?
And THIS is what you choose to put your stakes on?

 

[ArchAngel]

No, it was good but only for non expansion version of Xcom 2.

No, I'm not confusing anything. I know for what it was.
The first version of Long War 2, made by Pavonis, for the vanilla version of XCOM 2.

I'm telling you it was complete crap. One of the worst designed mods (or games in general) I've ever attempted to play.
It's arguably the mod that made me the most jaded about how incompetent some modders can be as "system designers" in their struggle to be "hardcore" over making things fun.
And I wasn't exactly alone in my dislike fore it. There's a reason if it unlike the first Long War this never took off (at least not until LWOTC salvaged some of its parts and shaked up the formula a bit).

On a side note, aren't you the same guy who was constantly complaining about how terrible Jagged Alliance 3 was in the weeks that followed its launch?
And THIS is what you choose to put your stakes on?

I have different expectations from Xcom 2 that is sequel to Xcom 1 that was already casualized than JA3 that followed JA2.

And LW2 was not bad, it was a superior version of Xcom 2 vanilla. I finished vanilla Xcom2 once on impossible/ironman and played only LW2 after that.

 

[Ash]

I found XCOM 2 with DLCs to be a good game. Not great, not terrible.

• The Chosen were annoying as hell. They were nice challenges, but such cartoony personalities.
• I'm not a fan of the setting, with XCOM set as scrappy, scruffy underdogs that commandeer an alien ship.
• Tygan is less interesting than Vahlen.
• One Shen is a good as the other.
• The Geoscape is a bit too busy.
• Everyone talks far too much.
• The factions were a good touch. Reapers are simply great fun. Skirmishers are cool as well.
• Tactical combat, the meat and potatoes of the game, was very good: tense, anxious, exciting.
• I'd prefer to have a few maps with fixed layout. Every mission right now is procedurally generated.
• Mission loading is slow, and there was stuttering here and there.

XCOM 2 should be played without DLC first. Then with WOTC and a few essential mods. Then again once more with more expansive mods. Every ironman attempt that ends in failure, keep building your game. Anyways, starting with only the base game eliminates a lot of the annoying chatter, cartoonish tone, and "busyness". It's a good tutorial and feels a lot more immersive, but sadly quite simple. WOTC and mods take the game, the meat and potatoes, from a B rank to A-, but comes with the downside of story/atmosphere/tone decline, which while important is an easy sacrifice to make for better core.

Also, some maps are not proc gen. All major story missions are handcrafted.

 

[ghardy]

Also, some maps are not proc gen. All major story missions are handcrafted.

Yes, I mistakenly overlooked those.

 

[ArchAngel]

I found XCOM 2 with DLCs to be a good game. Not great, not terrible.

• The Chosen were annoying as hell. They were nice challenges, but such cartoony personalities.
• I'm not a fan of the setting, with XCOM set as scrappy, scruffy underdogs that commandeer an alien ship.
• Tygan is less interesting than Vahlen.
• One Shen is a good as the other.
• The Geoscape is a bit too busy.
• Everyone talks far too much.
• The factions were a good touch. Reapers are simply great fun. Skirmishers are cool as well.
• Tactical combat, the meat and potatoes of the game, was very good: tense, anxious, exciting.
• I'd prefer to have a few maps with fixed layout. Every mission right now is procedurally generated.
• Mission loading is slow, and there was stuttering here and there.

XCOM 2 should be played without DLC first. Then with WOTC and a few essential mods. Then again once more with more expansive mods. Every ironman attempt that ends in failure, keep building your game. Anyways, starting with only the base game eliminates a lot of the annoying chatter, cartoonish tone, and "busyness". It's a good tutorial and feels a lot more immersive, but sadly quite simple. WOTC and mods take the game, the meat and potatoes, from a B rank to A-, but comes with the downside of story/atmosphere/tone decline, which while important is an easy sacrifice to make for better core.

Also, some maps are not proc gen. All major story missions are handcrafted.

WotC made base game easier and more irritating at the same time. Overall downgrade to Xcom 2. LW2 for vanilla Xcom 2 was much better game. Only reason to use WotC is for engine upgrades that should have been patched into vanilla game as well. They forced you to buy crappy expansion to get bug fixes for their shitty engine.. as I result I never bought WotC, only base Xcom 2. (but I did pirate WotC to finish it once on Impossible/Ironman).

 

[Ironmonk]

The entire nu-XCOM collection is on sale on steam with a super discount of 96%

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/20109/XCOM_Ultimate_Collection/

The collection Includes:
- XCOM and all its DLCs/Expansions
- XCOM 2 and all its DLCs/Expansions
- Chimera Squad

Its a pretty good deal!

 

[ghardy]

That's a steep discount.

The only pieces I don't have are the Slingshot pack for XCOM (2012) and Chimera Squad. What am I missing not having them?

 

[Tweed]

That's a steep discount.

The only pieces I don't have are the Slingshot pack for XCOM (2012) and Chimera Squad. What am I missing not having them?

I thought Slingshot was a fun little series of missions with a decent extra soldier.

I still haven't tried Chimera Squad, but it looks awful compared to the other games.

 

[Ironmonk]

I didn't have XCOM + Enemy Within + Slingshot (on steam) and Chimera Squad and got the 96% discount... I don't care about chimera squad, but for 96% discount I can live with it.

 

[cvv]

Chimera always gave me bad vibes, like Concord in Xcom skin or some such. Like one of the first games for Modern Audiences TM.