Quote from: Ladybird;591585No. The game simply isn't sitting back and waiting for you to beat it, like most  do these days. The aliens are playing to win.

Think about it like a roguelike. You probably won't win the first time. You're meant to learn what works and replay the game with your new knowledge.

Name one game that sits back waiting for you to beat it? Is this a sideswipe at the likes of CoD? If so try playing World at War on Veteran difficulty. Cheap doesn't come close.

I find having to replay games in that way an economy of loss. It might be a little different with this kind of game, but there isn't that much in it that offsets the repetition of experience. I have never liked this methodology, regardless of the game type. It's no less absurd in Mass Effect where you might want to play again to experience the paragon/renegade 'ending' or choices. They are never worth having to do it all again.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;591589They are never worth having to do it all again.

For you perhaps.

But this game, much like the original, will be a game I return to and get a ton of mileage out of.

The elements of the game do not work together very well and the random mission spawns are stupid. What;'s the point of giving you missions at the hardest difficulty when all your best soldiers are still healing? Even losing one HP puts them out for days on end, it's ridiculous. Either make the game playable or go home.

Keep a large roster of available soldiers. You can have 99 of them. Don't concentrate just on 4-6 dudes. I have 15 that I use in the rotation. I have a bench of solid soldiers ready to hop in when I have some guys injured, just like a sports team.

Maybe it's not a problem with the gameplay, maybe you just need to change up your strategy.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;591589Name one game that sits back waiting for you to beat it? Is this a sideswipe at the likes of CoD? If so try playing World at War on Veteran difficulty. Cheap doesn't come close.

CoD is never trying to beat you, though. It's just setting up an obstacle for you to get past. You can try again. And again. And again. You can keep going until you get past it. And that's fine, I do like a good corridor shooter, but it's not the sort of game XCom is.

(In the Baghdad section of MW1, there's a bit where you're helping a tank fight off some Brown People who are hiding behind a wall. I died so many times on that bit, that eventually the game just gave up and marked the objective as complete.)

QuoteI find having to replay games in that way an economy of loss. It might be a little different with this kind of game, but there isn't that much in it that offsets the repetition of experience. I have never liked this methodology, regardless of the game type. It's no less absurd in Mass Effect where you might want to play again to experience the paragon/renegade 'ending' or choices. They are never worth having to do it all again.

I think this is another video game that simply isn't for you. Exactly what video games do you like?

The problem with this game is that how you're meant to play it beyond what the buttons do is never explained while it goes against what it seems to want. You are supposed to build satellites but the process of upgrading your base is prohibitively expensive, and takes ages, much like buidling satellites. Meanwhile the world goes mental. What exactly am I meant to do? If i concentrate my pitiful funds on one thing I lose heavily in aother area, such as not being able to shoot down ufo's. I don't think the game is per se bad, I just find the disparate elements completely out of kilter. Training different squads is not made easy when the difficulty of the missions available, which spawn as and when (which strikes me as poor), ramps right up and doesn't change. Once the panic levels start rising the missions are very difficult. This in turn means you need to upgrade your equipment as well as your troops, all of which is more money. How to negotiate this is just not made clear and with these kinds of games you need that clarity otherwise strategy, the whole point of these games, is meaningless.

First it was Dark Souls, now its Xcom. I see a pattern here: Ghost dont like games where you must discover things by yourself (and fail sometimes in the process).

Ghost, what do you think of games like King of Dragon Pass, Faster than Light or Crusader Kings 2 ? All of these are trial-and-error games too. Do you find them good games?

I decided to take a chance on this game.  I'm glad I did.  I like it.

Quote from: silva;591693First it was Dark Souls, now its Xcom. I see a pattern here: Ghost dont like games where you must discover things by yourself (and fail sometimes in the process).

Ghost, what do you think of games like King of Dragon Pass, Faster than Light or Crusader Kings 2 ? All of these are trial-and-error games too. Do you find them good games?

i can't run pc games made anytime after the stone age.

The original X-Com is from the "stone age" and is even more difficult, trial-and-error based and user-UNfriendly than this one, and is regarded as one of the best games of all-time.

Do you also find it a poorly designed/bad game ?


P.S: by the way, Im not so far into the new X-Com yet, but from what Ive seen I think this remake can actually surpass the original for me. I say this because all the streamlined aspects so far just add to the game´s tactical synergy instead of capping it as is the norm in the industry. Lets see how it endures the test of time/lots of replays.

My reluctance comes from the fact that I don't want Steam on my computer. I've heard too many horror stories.

Quote from: silva;591743P.S: by the way, Im not so far into the new X-Com yet, but from what Ive seen I think this remake can actually surpass the original for me. I say this because all the streamlined aspects so far just add to the game´s tactical synergy instead of capping it as is the norm in the industry. Lets see how it endures the test of time/lots of replays.

I'm constantly revising my tactics. Two-man teams, three-man squads, which builds for which class on those smaller teams. Keep everyone together in a tight unit?

I love it and feel like I'm enjoying it on a lot of the same levels that I enjoyed the original.

I love the stress I get when I make a mistake and leave a guy hanging out to dry and have to endure an Alien Activity turn, hoping I gave him enough cover to survive.

Quick war story:

So, got a simple abduction mission and I have a four-man team. I cross a sort of courtyard, with the usual leapfrogging and constant overwatch. I have my heavy (a badass named Shin Shimuzo, who had 5 kills in his first mission). He's skirting along the edge of the map, but I can't get him to sufficient cover on his first move, so I chance it to move him all the way up for high cover against the side of the building. That spawns basically every alien on the map, as a group of Thin Men catch sight of him, as does a gaggle of floaters. The reaction fire from my support guy in the courtyard draws the attention of sectoids. All those assholes decide to come after Shimuzo, since he's the closet. They shoot him and suppress him, but when his turn pops up, I notice they've all had to gather pretty close to get an angle to shoot him. So I pull out the rocket and take out three of them and injure a fourth. The rest of my squad (even the rookie I brought along) clean up the sectoids and the last floater.

I really thought Shimuzo was pull it off....  but the last Thin Man, in cover on the other side of the building, put the final bullet in poor Shin.  My sniper was able to put away the Thin Man and complete the mission, but Shimuzo's sacrifice will always be remembered.

Combat needs a patch really. When it works it's great, but there are too many intances of silly shit happening. Aliens that move behind a wall trigger overwatch which of course does nothing. Yet from the other side of that wall, aliens are able to see my guy in cover and hit him, while the wall remains.
You really ought to be able to pick the class a soldier gets when he ranks up, i have about 5 support people just because of this. It's stupid.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;591851Combat needs a patch really. When it works it's great, but there are too many intances of silly shit happening. Aliens that move behind a wall trigger overwatch which of course does nothing. Yet from the other side of that wall, aliens are able to see my guy in cover and hit him, while the wall remains.

Overwatch carries an aim penalty, and soldiers won't make a shot if they can't see the target. What is happening is that your soldiers are missing the shot.

The way it handles walls is a bit daft, yeah. Some walls seem like they should be far more substantial than they are.

QuoteYou really ought to be able to pick the class a soldier gets when he ranks up, i have about 5 support people just because of this. It's stupid.

If you don't want support people, dismiss them. Purchase the start-as-squaddie upgrade, buy some dudes, keep the ones you like, specialise them in different ways. You aren't meant to have a small team, you are meant to have plenty of cover for units who are injured.

Supports are really versatile units, and probably the backbone of a squad.

Quote from: taustin;591751My reluctance comes from the fact that I don't want Steam on my computer. I've heard too many horror stories.

Steam was a bit rubbish originally, but it's been great for the last few years. As DRM goes (And that's exactly what it is), it's probably one of the most painless systems out there.

Played multiplayer with a buddy for a couple hours over the weekend. Really loved it. I dunno about playing power-gaming strangers, that might be terrible, but online play with a pal was pretty awesome and surprisingly deep. We did some "all-alien" teams and "all-human" teams, shit like that.

We played an unlimited points game and I had a crew of badasses with an Ethereal tossed in. He ran his heavy-pointed Heavy on top of a train to rain death on me, a solid move, except I put the Ethereal to work mind-controlling the heavy. I then had her turn on her fellows. She racked up three kills before I lost control. Then I put her away with the Ethereal's Pyschic Lance.

Moral of the story? Ethereals are worth all 9,000 points.