I’m not sure how random the side missions for each run through the campaign, but assuming they’re the same each time I know exactly which one you’re talking about and it was, by far, the hardest mission in the entire game. I came close to skipping it, but it had yellow loot (which turned out to be useless anyway, meh).
I thought the hardest was the one where you had to outrun bombardment while also having all your characters AP reduced by 1.
That one was painful. I think I actually let someone die on that one as fucked if I was trying it again just to keep their anonymous ass alive.
That’s why my ass tattoo is so distinctive.
I just hit that one last night. Tried it a few times and finally just noped out on it. I guess there’s a way to get everyone across the finish line but I couldn’t find it and most importantly, wasn’t really having any fun trying. Luckily the other options were better. I liked the mission that had me take two characters to assault an enemy strongpoint, but the condition was that I couldn’t use overwatch shots. I realized quickly how much I’ve come to depend on those to get by, that was an interesting challenge.
But now I’m up to the final boss and holy crap, this is a master class in tedium. I get in a shot or two on the boss each round because they keep flooding me with mobs. I’m considering just cranking down the difficulty to be done with it.
I was able to do it with no losses but had to specifically gear for it, it’s one of the only missions where I had to go back and pick gear just for the mission.
I finally beat the game! And I was really enjoying the game right up until that last level when it decided to make the last boss fight an interminable slog. I don’t know why games feel the need to do this, to turn the final confrontation of the game into a a punishing, fun-draining experience. I ended up re-speccing a couple characters, restarting the whole thing a couple of times and ultimately dialing down the difficulty to beginner just so I could get through it. Now I need to consider whether the post-game veteran missions are worth trying or if I’m just done with the whole damned thing.
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I’m torn on this one. I liked it fine in the beginning, but as I get to the end of the campaign it just drags on. I think the fact that the majority of story missions are exactly the same as the side missions really makes it repetitive.
I’m also not a fan of the way they deal with leveling. Having soldiers I take on every mission (allowed) be under the level of new recruits, just makes me not care at all about them. I actually have one hero that ended up being under the level of the recruits.
It feels like they tacked on the side missions to make the game longer. I have got a lot of hours of enjoyment out of it, but since I feel the need to complete the game, it really drags my opinion of it down.
It’s a solid game with good base mechanics but theres not as much depth I felt to things like the skill system. The basic tactics you learn early work throughout. The only change in missions is the addition of extra requirements or limitations to add a twist. Also the scout/shotgun class is worthless.
Another one of those fun for a Gamepass title but would have been disappointed if paid full price for.
This is not true, while the shotgun sucks a scout built for grenades/prox mines is super strong. My endgame scout was throwing bombs with a huge blast radius every turn.
Yeah I thought the scout was pretty awesome - beef up its stealth and close-range shooty power and you’ve got a nearly untouchable killing machine.
I find the scout to be a real beast. The rest of the classes all have pretty decent uses, but the scout is just super. I do want to get to the Veteran missions where I can respec freely and try a couple different trees out.
Been playing on Insane and it seems that there is no point for healing since you just die if you get hit. Has anyone tried a spec using a lot of damage reduction to see if it can take hits on insane? That is one thing I want to try to see if it is viable. That could make the Vanguard really strong.
Maybe bombs are good but the shotgun itslef just sucks in this game. The range is so limiting and frankly should do way more damage. I never used one unless I had too. The sniper is hands down the best class(it becomes almost broken/overpowered late game) with 2 lancers and heavy to support worked for all my missions.
Yeah, the shotgun sucks. If they had made it shoot in a cone, it might be interesting. Though grenades would probably still win.
I do like the sniper, especially in missions where I can get high ground (not enough unfortunately). But I feel like any mission where I have a scout is easier than if I don’t have one. I just did the solo insane achievement (Ain’t no one like me, 'cept me!) with a scout. Not sure I’d want to try that with anyone else. Missions become much more manageable when I can use the scout to soften things up with basically no risk. Boss fights though, the sniper is king (with the heavy close behind).
To answer my own query, you can build a DR Vanguard to take a hit. But just 1 guaranteed hit per turn (Badass). You might be able to take another, but it is risky. Maybe with some DR legendary gear you could get it up there.
I’m disappointed that the veteran missions don’t let you just focus on a single squad. I don’t really want to level 12 soldiers. The free respec definitely adds some interest for me. I wish they had allowed free respec during the campaign, that would have made it less repetitive. However, the veteran missions seem to be the exact same missions. So… damn.
If anyone was holding out, looks like we have a release date for the Xbox version.
Started playing this courtesy of Game Pass and it makes a nice first impression. Movement and skill use give quite a bit of interesting things to choose from.
It is definitely on my soon to play list due to the Game Pass pick up as well. =)
Just finished up Act 1. It is just challenging enough on normal difficulty to keep it interesting. I feel like I need to play decently to get those optional objectives but don’t really feel like I’m going to lose the mission. Playing one difficulty up seems like a good idea in a replay at some point. Without a real strategy layer, it seems like maybe they have been able to balance the combat better than similar games.
The second wind mechanic makes the game more forgiving than it seems. Without it I would have been in trouble in the boss battle in Chapter 1. One of my guess went down once (or was it twice), and he wasn’t near anyone else. Being able to get back up on his own, and then receive a stim kept him contributing damage.
This game definitely didn’t need the extra side missions. Plenty of battles with just the story missions. Closing in on the end of Act 2 and the moment to moment game play in the battles is still very good. The loot could use a little more variety, or add some new game play options. It’s pretty much just better versions of stuff I already have.
Chaining together executions is lots of fun to get those extra action points. I got myself out of a tough spot by saving a sniper in one of those pods, using the power to give me max action points on successful hit, used the power that gives 2 action points on kill and I was able to eliminate the threats that would have tore up my party.
The game is still pretty forgiving on normal difficulty.