Xcom: Enemy Unknown (Oct. 2012 release)

[MDA]

http://www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/index.php

2K Games and Firaxis

One can only hope for demonic boils of mindworms.

[Venom]

With day 1 DLC and always on DRM I'm sure.

The game industry is rapidly turning into a bunch of dick eaters.

[MDA]

They've gone all Disney on us.

Maybe they'll bring back the SMAC color palette for alien bases.

[maroule]

let's not be picky about this; a big budget turn-based strategy game! yay! we niche strategy gamers are not dead yet!

[MDA]

It was kind of funny. Before this game was announced, 2K implied they thought otherwise:

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011...-contemporary/

[Venom]

I believe the release has been delayed.

[Funko]

OMG A DELAYED RELEASE?!!?

What is the world coming to.

[Venom]

usually a bad sign when they know 5 months before.

[MDA]

Release date was revealed as Oct. 9 yesterday.

Maybe it was Xenonauts (another clone-type XCOM) that got delayed?

[Venom]

Ah. It's apparently the X-COM first person shooter being delayed.

[Fistandantilus]

Anyone got it? I was planning to do but I've been sucked heavily into Bloodbowl again..

[MDA]

It's getting good reviews.

I think Maroule and Beta were both planning on it. I'll probably get around to it after my Dishonored buzz wears off.

[Beta1]

I've got it pre-ordered, unlocks tomorrow - but I wont get any time till sat at the earliest.

I did get a free copy of Civ V for preordering it.

[Funko]

Don't bother playing CivV, it's shit.

[maroule]

civ5 is not shit, it's certainly easier and more strreamlined than civ4, but there's a lot that works... I quite liked the religion aspect they added


anyway, back to xcom, It should be downloading now from steam, hopefully I'll have a few hours to test it this WE... quite excited about it... apparently the multiplayer will be fun, if anybody wants to test it

[Fistandantilus]

Funko spends too much time on Poly, sadface.

Me wants xcom review.

[Funko]

I have started 2 games of Civ V.

I've never been motivated to finish either of them. Utterly boring. All the techs and civics are basically the same and all boring. The units are all basically the same and boring.

The combat is interesting initially, but soon gets annoying and too much micromanagement.

None of the choices you have to make are fun.

[MDA]

It's just too easy to get the AI to toss its army into your meat grinding ranged units.

I go back and play once in awhile just to break things, so in a sense it's fun.

[Fistandantilus]

Originally Posted by Funko

I have started 2 games of Civ V.

I've never been motivated to finish either of them. Utterly boring. All the techs and civics are basically the same and all boring. The units are all basically the same and boring.

The combat is interesting initially, but soon gets annoying and too much micromanagement.

None of the choices you have to make are fun.

This thread is about x-com and you failed to provide me a review.
I never said anything about your liking or not CiV, just that you spend too much time on poly - FACT

I'm disappointed

[Funko]

I was responding to maroule, just too lazy to quote.

Here's an Xcom review: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...known-review_3

[Funko]

I downloaded the Xcom demo from Steam.

It looks amazingly good. Just bought the game, downloading now.

[Venom]

You know what I like about it? That it's the proper, standard price for a game.

[Beta1]

so far so good but seems easy compared to the original.

Of course by that I mean I played the first proper mission (not the tutorial one but the next one) and only 3/4 of my squad got killed.

Actually not losing my entire squad every time probably makes it better. Havn't had time to get into the world map bit yet.

[Fistandantilus]

Originally Posted by Venom

You know what I like about it? That it's the proper, standard price for a game.

50€?

[Fistandantilus]

Originally Posted by Funko

I downloaded the Xcom demo from Steam.

It looks amazingly good. Just bought the game, downloading now.

Such a Firaxis fanboy

[Funko]

Originally Posted by Beta1

so far so good but seems easy compared to the original.

Of course by that I mean I played the first proper mission (not the tutorial one but the next one) and only 3/4 of my squad got killed.

Actually not losing my entire squad every time probably makes it better. Havn't had time to get into the world map bit yet.

The rescue the girl one? I lost 3 on that. Playing on normal.

Getting the hang of it now, but I never played the original. I have not prioritised sattelites, like an idiot.

So yeah, genuinely enjoying it.

[Beta1]

still not suffering true x-com level casualties. although there have still been a few deaths that could have only been avoided with some sort of psychic ability. In the original you would frequently meet a new alien that was effectively un-killable without researching something totally random, so this is an improvement

Annoyingly difficult to get the camera to go up and stay up so snipers can get up ladders. Also very hard to predict what will happen when you encounter an alien, whether your guy will be allowed to finish his turn, whether overwatchers will fire. Whats the difference between a reaction shot and an overwatch? Has anyone actually used a pistol? Why does using a nanoweave layer prevent me carrying a medkit? Lots of rather odd things...

Have discovered the joy of the rocket launcher. Makes those groups of 3+ sectoids easy.
Just got laser rifles but havn't deployed them yet.

[Funko]

Yeah, my sniper has multiple pistol kills.

With the weapons that can't move and fire, heavy and sniper, you can still do a single move into cover and then go into overwatch or shoot with the pistol. I chose the sniper upgrade that gave her +2 pistol damage, makes it very effective.

[maroule]

got it friday, sunk about 8 hours into it... oh joy... but holy fuck batman, that's tough... I had lost the habit of losing... obviously I had forgotten about how punishing the first one was (and even more so terror from the deep)...

started the first game on classic/ironman, and cried like a little girl...
started then on classic, and I keep crying... I never have enough money to do anything... it's the second month now, a few big countries have already left me, don't have enough money for sattelites and when I do, I don't have enough money for uplinks... which obviously means I don't have money to buy new weapons, and still fight mutons with slings... so yeah, I die quite a bit... so after 2 months only (which means little funds) I'm almost down and out.. I'll see how long I last...

Beta, if you're playing on PC, the mouse wheel down makes the camera go up and stay up / no problem for snipers (with the right elevation bonus, they get to be the best unit at first, for me at least)...

annoyingly, I had a french soldier once, and he got killed in the very first second of the very first battle... even more annoyingly, my best soldier is Australian... obviously the game is bugged

also, the proof the game is good; I want to smash my computer everytime these little bastard thin men kill my soldiers and do their ridiculous victory snake danse... rhaaaaaaaa

[Funko]

I have got one support trooper who has a laser rifle and the new carapace armour. She's the medic, and a captain. I don't know how you get anywhere in this game without having massively upgraded troops.

After the initial one of each upgrade the next 3 were all assault class.

All but one is now dead... I guess that might be why.

[Funko]

Maroule have you been selling stuff on the grey market? It seems the only way to stay solvent. I've done 2 months, finally managed to get enough engineers to build a satellite uplink and I've got 2 new satellites coming in 20 days (phew) and just completed the big end of section set piece (lost 2/6).

Researching stuff way way faster than I can build or buy it - think I went too heavy on scientists early. Before I realised what you needed them for I had 19 scientists to 7 engineers. Doh.

[maroule]

I am selling stuff, but probably not enough, I need to micromanage more what I need to keep versus what I can afford not to have

is the support class interesting? I tend to ignore them for heavies and snipers

how do you get engineers, apart from winning them on missions? any way to hire some? I have only 5...

[Funko]

Haven't found a way to hire some. You can get them from missions, some of the countries you put satellites in give you rewards of engineers every month, I think that's basically it. I got the last 4 I needed doing a favour where I gave some equipment to a country that asked for it, even though I had to sell a ton of stuff to do it.

The support class is superb, one upgrade means they can use 3 medikits, smoke has saved my ass a few times and they get some bonuses to overwatch too I think.

I normally have my sniper, a heavy and 1/2 support and 1/2 assault. I don't like having too many people who can't move and shoot their primary weapon.

But then I haven't got a second sniper or heavy yet so I don't have an option there.

[maroule]

hum, nice


heavies and snipers at 3rd bonus (i think) can move and shoot (with a penalty)

[Funko]

Ah yeah - I took squadsight for my sniper instead of snapshot so she doesn't have to see who she's shooting - and keep her hidden well back.

Hence her pistol use.

[Funko]

Apparently Normal that I'm playing on is much easier than Classic - so maybe that's the difference.

[maroule]

yes apparently there is a marked difference between the 2 levels
I hope I will stay strong and accept to get my ass handed on a plate on classic, and not whimp out... but not so sure... I'm a middle aged, balding, liberal European after all...

[Funko]

Normal was the recommended level, so that's what I went with.

[maroule]

oh absolutely... *cough*whimp*cough*


it nails the comparison pretty well for me
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-retrospective

[Funko]

Good tips here:

http://videogamewriters.com/top-5-ga...-unknown-55832

So building workshops gives you engineers as well.

[Funko]

I think I might be prepared to replay on classic - now I know the basics of what I'm doing.

Starting on a level harder than what I started on, without knowing the basics I think I'd be in as much shit as you!

[maroule]

yeah, the tips are not bad...

did anyone of you heard about Xenonauts? (just found out about it)

[maroule]

actually, the more I think about it, the more I feel I'm going to restart on Normal, but ironman mode... I've been cheating quite a bit with restarts on missions where I fuck up, so ironman should provide a more immersive experience (and classic/ironman is just too bloody punishing on the first full campaign)

[Funko]

There's a lot to learn. I'm just getting to terms with the basics of the combat

[Funko]

Just telling Venom about this on MSN and thought it was worth mentioning here:

I have a guy who's missed about 70% of the missions, the guy from the first level? Anyway on the second mission he'd leveled up as a heavy weapons guy

We're still semi in tutorial mode

The game suggests I rocket these two aliens who are hiding in a house.

So I fire at the house

What I don't realise is that if the target thing shows red, it means there's an obstruction in the way

So actually he blows up this pile of boxes his mate is standing behind - kills his mate and injures himself - out for 17 days.

The first of 3 critical injuries for that guy.

[Venom]

Were they cardboard boxes? What kind of a rocket explodes on cardboard boxes?

[Funko]

I don't know what kind of boxes they were, they weren't there any more.

[Venom]

I think you've convinced to buy this. I may buy it even earlier than intended.

[Funko]

Some advice I just read suggested always starting again in non tutorial mode once you've done the tutorial.

I've gone further than that but still think I might start again, probably still on normal, so I can prioritise some other stuff earlier on. I think where I am now might be problematic later. Hmm.

[maroule]

the little wiki they did on IGN is quite interesting... some food for thoughts on the specialisation choices at least