Help me enjoy X-Com

UFO defense is the best starting game.

It was the original and is widely regarded as the best.

Thanks for the info guys. UFO Defense it is!

There is no disagreeing that UFO defense is the best. You must conform.

I think Apocalypse is the 2nd best, but others wrongly disagree.

Also, for anyone going to play Apocalypse, don't even try to play the missions turn based. Real time, all the time, but use the pause function a lot.

I toally agree, the time system in Apoc is really great. If they just ported that to UFO defense it would be a perfect game.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I just got the $2 deal, too. Shamefully, I admit I've never played X-com.

Marked for reading and future playing.

I'm trying to get a handle on what all these games Steam just sold me are. Here's my present understanding:

UFO Defense is the legendary original
Terror from the Deep is an extra-hard, "more where that came from" sequel
Apocalypse is more RTS-y
Enforcer is an FPS loosely connected to the series
Interceptor is a space combat sim loosely connected to the series

Is that basically sound? Is there anything interesting about Enforcer and Interceptor, or were they just attempts to milk the franchise for more $$$?

misplacedbravado wrote:

Is that basically sound? Is there anything interesting about Enforcer and Interceptor, or were they just attempts to milk the franchise for more $$$completely and utterly rape the series' good name?

Fixed that for you.

OK, to be fair, I never played Enforcer, and am in fact installing it now. That being said, I am confident that, once I play it for the five minutes I can stand it, it will not have anything vaguely X-Com-ish about it. Interceptor I tried several times, and it was just a bland space sim with a research tree tacked onto it.

Xcom is one of the few games on Steam that I'm region locked out of, and this thread has me in agonized curiosity. Anyone feel like gifting it to me? I'll transfer or something in return.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

Xcom is one of the few games on Steam that I'm region locked out of, and this thread has me in agonized curiosity. Anyone feel like gifting it to me? I'll transfer or something in return.

Hrm, evidently you aren't on my friends list. Added you. Will chuck it your way once you've accepted the request.

$2 I'm in. Though I already had xcom running in a dos box, I didn't have the other games.

Coldstream wrote:
MrDeVil909 wrote:

Xcom is one of the few games on Steam that I'm region locked out of, and this thread has me in agonized curiosity. Anyone feel like gifting it to me? I'll transfer or something in return.

Hrm, evidently you aren't on my friends list. Added you. Will chuck it your way once you've accepted the request.

<3

Although, all of a sudden I can find it on Steam, guess it's been unlocked at some stage, so I bought it. Thanks for the offer.

We can still be friends though.

Don't do it Coldstream! that's how the Devil gets you!

Prozac wrote:

Don't do it Coldstream! that's how the Devil gets you!

Too late. *evil laugh*

Oh damn I caved. Another one who has shamefully never played these before. When that full decade of rainy days comes round, I'm going to sorted, thanks to these deals.

I hate terror missions in a warehouse district. All close quarters, all the time.

I've been bad-mouthing X-Com: Enforcer for years without having ever played it. It was a terrible FPS with "X-Com" tacked onto it I always said; I'd never bothered to look at it for myself. Now, thanks to the Steam sale, I have.

Somewhere, out there, there is a gaming executive who looked at this game and said, "You know, this would probably sell better if we made it part of the 'X-Com' mythos, let's do that!" Somewhere, there is a voice actor who provided work for the annoying scientist character. Somewhere, there is someone who developed these levels and who was responsible for what passes as collision detection in this game. Somewhere, somebody approved this game.

All of those people? In all likelihood none of them have been punched in the face today. This is tragic. These people all need to be punched in the face, every day. Possibly twice.

Good lord, what a stinking, awful game.

nihilo wrote:

I hate terror missions in a warehouse district. All close quarters, all the time.

Seriously. I had one in a residential area and about halfway through I completely gave up on not killing civilians and just used my tank to bust down every available wall, invasion of Nablus style. You can run, Floaters, but you can't hide!

misplacedbravado wrote:

I'm trying to get a handle on what all these games Steam just sold me are. Here's my present understanding:

UFO Defense is the legendary original
Terror from the Deep is an extra-hard, "more where that came from" sequel
Apocalypse is more RTS-y and was the last X-Com game made

FTFY

I'm really trying to convince myself that this game will be worth the amount of time I'll have to invest to learn it. I briefly booted it up and stared blankly at the screen as little blips flew around the world. I managed to figure out how to send ships after the UFOS but my ships fly at like 1/3rd the speed of the UFO's.

So I turned it off and played Peggle.

I think this is one of those games I'll have to tab back and forth from gamefaqs to figure out. It's kind of depressing because I think my old school game chops have withered on the vine. I'm used to these fancy new games with their GUIs and their tutorials and all that namby mamby crap.

TheArtOfScience wrote:

I'm really trying to convince myself that this game will be worth the amount of time I'll have to invest to learn it. I briefly booted it up and stared blankly at the screen as little blips flew around the world. I managed to figure out how to send ships after the UFOS but my ships fly at like 1/3rd the speed of the UFO's.

So I turned it off and played Peggle.

I think this is one of those games I'll have to tab back and forth from gamefaqs to figure out. It's kind of depressing because I think my old school game chops have withered on the vine. I'm used to these fancy new games with their GUIs and their tutorials and all that namby mamby crap.

I agree, I did the exact same thing. I'm sure it's possible to get into, but I think that a lot of these older games contain a lot of nostalgia, and if you didn't play it around the time it came out, then you have a whole lot less chance of ever playing it.

Citizen86 wrote:

I agree, I did the exact same thing. I'm sure it's possible to get into, but I think that a lot of these older games contain a lot of nostalgia, and if you didn't play it around the time it came out, then you have a whole lot less chance of ever playing it.

The thing about these older games is that there also was a lot less distracting you at the time when they were released. I would love to get into X-COM, but it does seem like a heavy time investment, and I have a hard time justifying that with so many other games I desperately want to play that have much easier learning curves.

misplacedbravado wrote:

Is there anything interesting about Enforcer and Interceptor, or were they just attempts to milk the franchise for more $$$?

Interceptor is actually pretty interesting, if poorly implemented. Think Wing Commander with a dynamic campaign, plus X-Com style research and base building. Unfortunately, the spaceship combat is janky and frustrating. It had some unrealized potential, and is worth a look, but nothing more.

Enforcer is exactly as you describe it.

TheArtOfScience wrote:

I think this is one of those games I'll have to tab back and forth from gamefaqs to figure out. It's kind of depressing because I think my old school game chops have withered on the vine. I'm used to these fancy new games with their GUIs and their tutorials and all that namby mamby crap.

It's happened to us all. Don't fear the GameFaqs.

Dysplastic wrote:
Citizen86 wrote:

I agree, I did the exact same thing. I'm sure it's possible to get into, but I think that a lot of these older games contain a lot of nostalgia, and if you didn't play it around the time it came out, then you have a whole lot less chance of ever playing it.

The thing about these older games is that there also was a lot less distracting you at the time when they were released. I would love to get into X-COM, but it does seem like a heavy time investment, and I have a hard time justifying that with so many other games I desperately want to play that have much easier learning curves.

I have a sudden urge to run out to my yard shaking a cane and screaming at you damn kids to get off of my lawn.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I have a sudden urge to run out to my yard shaking a cane and screaming at you damn kids to get off of my lawn.

Meh, I grew up with Wing Commander and Return to Zork. And I did have to free expanded RAM to play Dark Forces....

I only vaguely played this game back in the day. Never got into it. This thread, however, encouraged me to seek a beginners guide and actually get somewhere. And seriously, it's worth it.

I've kept myself in the dark about the tech tree and what happens later in the game as best as I can, and I've had a lot of fun so far discovering and just barely keeping things from disaster.

By the way, running around with a tank is a must. Send that thing out there to soak up the enemy fire right away and follow with my soldiers. That's the biggest thing I did this time around to increase my survivability.

nihilo wrote:

By the way, running around with a tank is a must. Send that thing out there to soak up the enemy fire right away and follow with my soldiers. That's the biggest thing I did this time around to increase my survivability.

Only if you're emotionally attached to your squaddies. A soldier (with low morale, and therefore a liability), is much cheaper than a tank. And he lasts almost as much as long as the tank (especially after the enemies start shooting heavy plasma at you).

MoonDragon wrote:
nihilo wrote:

By the way, running around with a tank is a must. Send that thing out there to soak up the enemy fire right away and follow with my soldiers. That's the biggest thing I did this time around to increase my survivability.

Only if you're a decent human being.

Stop trying to pretend you're a decent Human being Yonder :p

Is there a way to change the position of my soldiers inside the ship at the start of the mission then? Right now it always puts my heavy weapons people right beside the door, and if they're first out, they're dead. That's one of the advantages of running with a tank: it's always by the door.