XCOM: Enemy Unknown - Strategy Game - Developed by Firaxis

LtWarhound wrote:

Its a pretty game, and fun, but as I expected its not X-Com. Lack of troops (4/6 man fireteam? dinky), lack of secondaries, inability to exchange gear on the field, the compromises of the action system (instead of a TU system), etc, etc. It was talked to death earlier in this thread, so I won't keep kicking the horse's corpse (managed to stay out of it before, don't feel the need to get in to it now).

The maps feel cramped compared to the original X-Com, seems like every time I turn around I'm running into the edge of the map. This leaves me feeling like I'm being funneled, and removes the ability to effectively flank and maneuver. Much the same way a lot of modern FPS games have very narrow and small maps. Of course, with so few troops, it removes any squad level tactics, reducing you to fireteam level tactics at best.

Only 3 missions in and the game's tutorial is still expertly hand holding me. At this early stage I'm also getting a strong case of the "linear corridor" vibe, as if they plucked up a modern shooter map and dropped it into my turn-based tactics game. I'm expecting/hoping that the battlefields open up a bit in the mid- and late-game.

Even if they don't, it sounds like the strategic meta game is kicking people's asses, so it's more a case of design priorities rather than over-zealous streamlining. On the latter point, I do love what they've done with the UI, console controls and "2-moves" system. I miss the more fiddly, grognardy details but the proof of the pudding is how much I wanted to stay in this morning and say to hell with commuting to work...

Vega wrote:
talsworthy wrote:

Is it possible for a downed medic to be resusuciated by another member using the downed medics kit?

Nope, can't loot soldiers' bodies, but items soldiers are carrying are recovered from their bodies after the mission is over so it's back in your inventory.

Does anyone know what the rules for equipment are? What I mean is, when a guy is wounded, does all of his stuff go back into the pool, and when he's healed he gets it back automatically? I think that's happening, but I'm not sure.

I am loving this game.

That said, I would also really love a more simulationany old school version.

Tach wrote:
Vega wrote:
talsworthy wrote:

Is it possible for a downed medic to be resusuciated by another member using the downed medics kit?

Nope, can't loot soldiers' bodies, but items soldiers are carrying are recovered from their bodies after the mission is over so it's back in your inventory.

Does anyone know what the rules for equipment are? What I mean is, when a guy is wounded, does all of his stuff go back into the pool, and when he's healed he gets it back automatically? I think that's happening, but I'm not sure.

That is what I am seeing, that includes armor as well

Malor wrote:

Oh, and if you find the startup movies unbearably slow, like me, you can have the game start almost instantly. You need to move a bunch of .bik files out of the Movies directory.

I don't like modifying game directories, and this might not survive a patch. You want to edit xcomengine.ini and comment out the four lines starting with StartupMovies.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...

As someone who hasn't played yet, why is it "M"? I will let my kids (6 and 4) watch me play most games and from the videos I have seen this isn't overly gory. Is it? Is there stuff I should be careful about letting them see?

farley3k wrote:

As someone who hasn't played yet, why is it "M"? I will let my kids (6 and 4) watch me play most games and from the videos I have seen this isn't overly gory. Is it? Is there stuff I should be careful about letting them see?

Good writeup here.

The ESRB wrote:

This is a strategy game in which players must save present-day Earth from an alien invasion. As players manage resources, research weapon technology, and monitor alien presence, they can dispatch squads of soldiers to attack human- and insect-like creatures in turn-based combat. From a 3/4-top-down perspective, players use assault rifles, grenades, and other military-grade weapons to kill nearby enemies. Battles are accompanied by intermittent cutscenes that depict close-up (e.g., over-the-shoulder) instances of violence: soldiers getting impaled or beaten to death by alien creatures; realistic explosions that result in larger blood sprays. If an alien “implants” an egg into a dead human, the character will eventually explode amid additional gibbing effects. Some scenes depict dead or dying soldiers whose bodies are burned or mutilated. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” can be heard in the dialogue.

Tach wrote:

Loving the game but things I'd like to see:

Ability to free fire all weapons (not just grenades and rocket launchers) to tear down obstacles/cover
Ability to at least use a downed troop's equipment (medikit specifically).
Equipment locker on kitting out screen so I don't have to try and track down the guy with the missing suit of armour
Single button to go to Mission Control and start scanning
A troop status bar that shows me my entire 6 guys and their current health (or life state)
A less obtuse way of knowing things like how many satellites I have built, how many I can put in the air, how many engineers I have, how many scientists etc.
Also, let me know *before* I research something what I'm going to need to build it. Nothing worse than researching laser rifles only to find out that I don't have the engineers to build them.

A lot of these things I know are console compromises for the PC, but still, I'm using a PC, so give me a better interface!

I'd like way points. My idiots always seem to move from cover to cover using the least cover-y path possible.

mcdonis wrote:
Tach wrote:
Vega wrote:
talsworthy wrote:

Is it possible for a downed medic to be resusuciated by another member using the downed medics kit?

Nope, can't loot soldiers' bodies, but items soldiers are carrying are recovered from their bodies after the mission is over so it's back in your inventory.

Does anyone know what the rules for equipment are? What I mean is, when a guy is wounded, does all of his stuff go back into the pool, and when he's healed he gets it back automatically? I think that's happening, but I'm not sure.

That is what I am seeing, that includes armor as well

Yes, if your soldier is wounded, all his armor and weapons are put back into the 'pool' of available items. If the soldier is not wounded, he/she retains all of the items.

farley3k wrote:

As someone who hasn't played yet, why is it "M"? I will let my kids (6 and 4) watch me play most games and from the videos I have seen this isn't overly gory. Is it? Is there stuff I should be careful about letting them see?

Also this gives an idea of the action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5eP...

The chrysallid attack animation (at about 1:00) is fairly gruesome.

TheHipGamer wrote:

Good writeup here.

The ESRB wrote:

The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” can be heard in the dialogue.

I could almost have lived with the rest since I think I can explain how aliens aren't real so this wouldn't happen, etc. but I know my wife will kill me if they start with language like that.

Tkyl wrote:
mcdonis wrote:
Tach wrote:

Does anyone know what the rules for equipment are? What I mean is, when a guy is wounded, does all of his stuff go back into the pool, and when he's healed he gets it back automatically? I think that's happening, but I'm not sure.

That is what I am seeing, that includes armor as well

Yes, if your soldier is wounded, all his armor and weapons are put back into the 'pool' of available items. If the soldier is not wounded, he/she retains all of the items.

Excellent, thanks. Does the soldier get them back automatically when he's unwounded?

Tach wrote:
Tkyl wrote:
mcdonis wrote:
Tach wrote:

Does anyone know what the rules for equipment are? What I mean is, when a guy is wounded, does all of his stuff go back into the pool, and when he's healed he gets it back automatically? I think that's happening, but I'm not sure.

That is what I am seeing, that includes armor as well

Yes, if your soldier is wounded, all his armor and weapons are put back into the 'pool' of available items. If the soldier is not wounded, he/she retains all of the items.

Excellent, thanks. Does the soldier get them back automatically when he's unwounded?

No.

Tach wrote:
farley3k wrote:

As someone who hasn't played yet, why is it "M"? I will let my kids (6 and 4) watch me play most games and from the videos I have seen this isn't overly gory. Is it? Is there stuff I should be careful about letting them see?

Also this gives an idea of the action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz5eP...

The chrysallid attack animation (at about 1:00) is fairly gruesome.

Yeah that is a bit more than I would like.

edit: I was wrong

TheHipGamer wrote:
farley3k wrote:

As someone who hasn't played yet, why is it "M"? I will let my kids (6 and 4) watch me play most games and from the videos I have seen this isn't overly gory. Is it? Is there stuff I should be careful about letting them see?

Good writeup here.

The ESRB wrote:

This is a strategy game in which players must save present-day Earth from an alien invasion. As players manage resources, research weapon technology, and monitor alien presence, they can dispatch squads of soldiers to attack human- and insect-like creatures in turn-based combat. From a 3/4-top-down perspective, players use assault rifles, grenades, and other military-grade weapons to kill nearby enemies. Battles are accompanied by intermittent cutscenes that depict close-up (e.g., over-the-shoulder) instances of violence: soldiers getting impaled or beaten to death by alien creatures; realistic explosions that result in larger blood sprays. If an alien “implants” an egg into a dead human, the character will eventually explode amid additional gibbing effects. Some scenes depict dead or dying soldiers whose bodies are burned or mutilated. The words “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole” can be heard in the dialogue.

If you turn off the glam cam in the options, it will remove a number of the extremely gory shots. That said, there is still a decent amount of blood and violence, albiet not from an in your face perspective.

Well, my first attempt to save the world has taken a sudden turn to the left. A mission wipe left me with 5 soldiers - all rookies - and my attempt to throw some more satellites in the sky has paupered me. So no plasma weapons for you, Rook.

I might still win through, but the appearance of Mutons has made all the missions very scary.

I've been hoarding Elerium and Alien Alloys, but I may need to go on a selling spree to buy my way out of trouble.

Sorry Tkyl. You've died many a gruesome death... Patch is awesome, though!

This game is truly awesome, but I am going insane from the amount of "RNG screw" going on. I just missed a 99% shot and then immediately missed a 98% shot with the next guy. Then I missed a 65% shot on the same stupid alien. For those not wanting to fire up their calculator, that sequence of events carried a .00007 probability. I demand to see combat source code and the RNG algorithm/seeding!

Also I have no goddamn money.

I think the big change I need to adapt to in this one is the fact that your Skyranger has unlimited range, and I need to get satellites and interceptors up on multiple continents immediately. I spend 90% of the days just twiddling my thumbs, not seeing any UFOs. I had 5 satellites spread over 2 continents and I think I only had the opportunity to shoot down two UFOs that weren't special objective types over 6-7 months of play. Hence I can get no stuff to sell off. Compare this to the original XCOM, where you were shooting down UFOs constantly and seeing multiple alien landings with just a single active base. You rapidly reached a point where you shot down so many that you could pick and choose when you wanted to go scavenge some stuff and when you didn't feel like it was worth the bother of sending troops.

Now I just sit and sit with a big roster of healthy soldiers and idle interceptors, ticking through research and waiting on an alien abduction to pop up so I can fight.

I restarted in non-tutorial Classic mode. No ironman though, I don't hate myself that much.

I've seen people talk about selling stuff, where do I go to do that? I've seen requests come up to fulfill but is there a way to sell some of my goods?

Loving this game, as well. Three missions in, a downed craft's defenders wiped out the strike team. Classic ironman, no tutorials enabled. A grim day!

mrwynd wrote:

I've seen people talk about selling stuff, where do I go to do that? I've seen requests come up to fulfill but is there a way to sell some of my goods?

In the situation room, click on the Grey Market.

mrwynd wrote:

I've seen people talk about selling stuff, where do I go to do that? I've seen requests come up to fulfill but is there a way to sell some of my goods?

The Gray Market. It shows up in the same tab as finances and pending requests.

farley3k wrote:
Faceless Clock wrote:

Is anyone having trouble with audio skipping on the Playstation 3 version? It seems to happen quite a lot - skips in the music and character comments during missions.

Beats me, but I wanted to say I have the PS3 version as well. I just bought it so I can't answer your question yet but at least I don't feel like the only person with a PS3 anymore!

No joke. The store I went to had one, just one, PS3 copy. That's it. And I got it at about 1PM yesterday.

Unfortunately I now can't exchange it because all the stores in that franchise near where I live got one PS3 copy at launch, and they're all sold out. I have to wait for the next shipment.

I hope it's just a disc issue.

Faceless Clock wrote:
farley3k wrote:
Faceless Clock wrote:

Is anyone having trouble with audio skipping on the Playstation 3 version? It seems to happen quite a lot - skips in the music and character comments during missions.

Beats me, but I wanted to say I have the PS3 version as well. I just bought it so I can't answer your question yet but at least I don't feel like the only person with a PS3 anymore!

No joke. The store I went to had one, just one, PS3 copy. That's it. And I got it at about 1PM yesterday.

Unfortunately I now can't exchange it because all the stores in that franchise near where I live got one PS3 copy at launch, and they're all sold out. I have to wait for the next shipment.

I hope it's just a disc issue.

Selfishly, me too.

Satellites seem to serve the same purpose as radar bases in UFO Defense. Satellites have limited coverage so you want to get one over every continent ASAP. It's expensive though.

farley3k wrote:
Faceless Clock wrote:

Is anyone having trouble with audio skipping on the Playstation 3 version? It seems to happen quite a lot - skips in the music and character comments during missions.

Beats me, but I wanted to say I have the PS3 version as well. I just bought it so I can't answer your question yet but at least I don't feel like the only person with a PS3 anymore!

PS3 hi five!

IMAGE(http://img.diaperswappers.com/images/smilie/highfive.gif)

I've only played a short while, but I didn't notice any audio issues last night.

I grabbed a copy on my way in to work yesterday and the guy said it was the only PS3 copy they got in there as well.

fleabagmatt wrote:
farley3k wrote:
Faceless Clock wrote:

Is anyone having trouble with audio skipping on the Playstation 3 version? It seems to happen quite a lot - skips in the music and character comments during missions.

Beats me, but I wanted to say I have the PS3 version as well. I just bought it so I can't answer your question yet but at least I don't feel like the only person with a PS3 anymore!

PS3 hi five!

IMAGE(http://img.diaperswappers.com/images/smilie/highfive.gif)

I've only played a short while, but I didn't notice any audio issues last night.

I grabbed a copy on my way in to work yesterday and the guy said it was the only PS3 copy they got in there as well.

For Firaxis's sake I hope its because they are all sold out and not that they only stocked 1 or 2.... But somehow I doubt that

I will be very curious how sales go considering this article....

http://penny-arcade.com/report/editorial-article/xcom-is-a-gamble-on-a-hardcore-genre-and-there-is-more-riding-on-its-succes

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I restarted in non-tutorial Classic mode. No ironman though, I don't hate myself that much.

That's OK, we all more than make up for it!

complexmath wrote:

Satellites seem to serve the same purpose as radar bases in UFO Defense. Satellites have limited coverage so you want to get one over every continent ASAP. It's expensive though.

I also noticed that if you get multiple satellites over certain countries you get the same perks you would have gotten had you built your base there.