Black Isis, I’m already past that part so I don’t give a shit anymore, but you might want to put that AAR in the spoiler thread for people that haven’t seen those enemies yet. The mechanics and some of the reskinned units were a decent surprise.
rezaf
3102
Like I said, I didn’t work quite as well in X-Com. At least there were different grades of stability - you couldn’t even put a dent in an UFO with a laser rifle, whilst in XCOM everything that CAN be destroyed is very fragile.
But this is one thing - I have to repeat myself - they truly nailed in Silent Storm.
X-Com felt like a battlefield constructed of LEGO bricks.
Silent Storm felt like a real, fully destructible battlefield.
XCOM feels like a miniature boardgame with cardboard counters representing cover.
Evolution this is not.
I guess you can rightfully argue that Silent Storm is not part of the X-Com series, but even then, it’s a step backwards.
Then I guess you can and will argue it’s a deliberate design decision.
And I will argue that I disagree with it, and you will send me to bed without dinner. See, I already have the entire argument covered. :p
rezaf
So I spent the weekend playing XCOM:EU. And when I say “spent the weekend”, I mean, almost every waking hour of it – and there was a LOT less sleep, too, as a result of buying this game. My wife wasn’t very happy with me :).
On Saturday morning, at 6:45 a.m., I had still not gone to bed. I had been playing for nearly ten hours straight. The “just one more mission” vibe was delightfully strong. Mission after mission I played, often with a shit-eating grin - yes, even during the shots of the SkyRanger taking on and off. I don’t dispute that there is no mechanical reason for showing these – or other – cutscenes in the game, but that does not subtract from my repeated enjoyment of them. So just because they may be grating on you? There are others out there who are really enjoying those custcenes, time after time. Truly.
I do not recall when I have had this much fun playing a single player game. Ever. My enjoyment from this game is so beyond what I ordinarily experience when playing a game, it’s essentially an uncomparable game experience for me.
I think the best way to put it is, for me, my enjoyment of this release of XCOM renders it essentially the computer game version of the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. I don’t mean in the production values and so forth – I mean in my sense of ENJOYMENT of the game. Like LotR, XCOM cost me the same amount of money for my “ticket” as would any other first run movie. And like Jackson’s LotR, it serves up SUCH an enjoyable and enthralling experience that it makes you question why you keep paying this amount of money for other games which do not deliver (to me) the same enjoyment.
While I do miss multiple Skyrangers and multiple bases and some other aspects of the original, I think that the real answer is that I have NEVER had this much fun playing a single player game. Ever. In fact, it’s not even CLOSE.
I’ve never considered sending a physical THANK-YOU card to a game develpoper or a publisher for making a game. I’m loving this one so much, I may actually even do it.
End Result: If there is any justice, this will be Game of the Year.
Sepiche
3104
I like how they did it personally. Early on grenades are enough to kill the basic enemies outright, and in the later stages they should be used more to take out cover than to kill. With a good team taking out an enemies cover is pretty close to killing it outright. :P
You have to put a [spoiler=text] to get it to take.
Sepiche
3107
On this topic pistols are a good way of reducing an enemies health relatively safely without killing it.
So I discovered. I think it’s working now. :)
I just wish there was a little more joy at finding the perfect clump of enemies to toss a grenade onto. It’s rare to get a chance to safely maneuver outside of line of sight to set it up. But then the reward isn’t even worth it. Might as well just shoot at them and bring another item.
I was only able to set it up a couple times, so it’s not like it’d be game-breaking to make them do more damage or critical hits.
Silent Storm sucked because it was the inverse of the original X-Com. In the first X-Com, as your troops became more experienced they had more time units, and hence could do more per turn. In Silent Storm, as soon as the fucking Paznermechs get introduced the game turned into fucking molasses, with their three-steps-per-turn translating into FOREVER to move around the map. I really liked Silent Storm up to that point, but the game simply became unplayable once the mechs hit.
The engine was decent, but I’d take the new X-Com any day of the week. I’ve been waiting 18 years for a game like this. Not even Mythos could seemingly replicate what they had, as Apocalypse was a muddled, weird mess. (TFTD was basically a reskin done by a Microprose internal studio, and whoever thought multi-level terror missions on cruise ships filled with dozens of tiny rooms and closets was a good thing needed to be yelled at.) And all those European attempts to redo X-Com really missed the forest for the trees.
What made X-Com so great is the interplay between all its many different parts. It’s a frankenstein of a game that shouldn’t work, but the brilliance was the alchemy in how they came together.
rezaf
3111
Heh, I love Silent Storm with a passion, but even I hated the game once the Panzerkleins rolled around. I wonder if there was ANYONE who actually liked them.
But in my book, the rest of the game made up for it.
rezaf
Savillo
3112
Enemy Unknown just does this automatically without you having to step out a soldier from around a corner.
Just move a soldier to a corner. She’ll be able to see around it without having to step out. She can also fire on any aliens that become visible.
The only difference is that she won’t be able to move away from the corner after firing. You have to chose between taking a shot and leaving her visible to the enemy or using the second move to step her away from the corner, thus obscuring her from view.
I think this is one of the biggest hurdles X-Com vets have to wrap their heads around. Cover does not work as it did in UFO Defense. Standing your soldier at a wall corner does not obscure her from view.
maxle
3113
I have two memories of Silent Storm. In one mission I had to defend a house. I set my sniper up on the second floor. He was worthless, because he was unable to hit enemies who were across the street. You see, being across the street put them out of the effective range of a sniper rifle. In another mission, I was advancing some guy. Don’t recall what he was armed with. Spotted an enemy, closed to effective range, didn’t have enough time units or whatever they were called to shoot. Enemy shot me, backed up. Next turn? Closed to effective range, didn’t have enough TUs to shoot. Enemy shot me, backed up. Then I uninstalled the game.
The suggestion that you didn’t have to plan for SS’s quirky rules? That you could think realistically? Plainly untrue.
See? Visually, what’s being shown on the screen to the player does not match up to what the engine is calculating.
Razgon
3115
That was just you not understanding the game. I could tell you the exact same story about the new Xcom and it would just be me being silly and not bothering to learn the game.
The SS engine had a lot of flaws, but the TU’s were not one of them, neither was the range of weapons.
Hugin
3116
If you can see/fire at the enemy, the enemy can see/fire at you. This isn’t that hard.
Savillo
3117
Plus, the little animation of her popping her head out around the corner every now and then makes it clear enough, too.
Reemul
3118
I know what you mean and agree but it still isn’t what I want or meant, it’s more like this.
| |
| |X
A| |
|_____|
B
A= Alien
B= Soldier
X= Safe Location
Soldier walks to the corner, sees A decides I can get a quick shot off , maybe take him out the Alien and still have enough points toretreat to point X or you could spend more points to different types of shot but giving you less options to escape if you miss. Add a door to point b’s location and it gives multiple choices on where to go and where you could have gone and vice versa for the aliens.
This way makes you think further ahead deciding what you can and can’t achieve with your soldiers making it imo slightly more strategic, this doesn’t mean I don’t really like the new version however I wouldn’t mind a return to the old way either.
Apologies for the dodgy drawing :)
Savillo
3119
No worries on the drawing, heh. I understand what you mean.
I think this is just part of how Enemy Unknown really enforces the consequences of your decisions. What you’re describing is, ultimately, a three-action (minimum) system: One that would let you move into position, fire, and then move back to being obscured.
Enemy Unknown’s two-action system won’t let you do that. You have to commit to either 1) moving to position and firing, thus leaving your soldier “exposed,” or 2) moving to position and moving away, deciding that you don’t have to risk your soldier that turn.
I think this makes for more meaningful decisions. You can’t do everything you want to do in a single turn. You have to make hard choices.
One of the issues between comparing the new Xcom and SS is that SS was essentially purely the tactical game. While Xcom spends a majority of play time on teh tactical game, it really is very much about the other pieces, as well.
SS is, undoubtably, the more detailed and well-constructed tactical simulator. This Xcom doesn’t come close to SS and frankly doesn’t try. The design choice is very much abstracted and often resembles a tactical board game, which is clearly less detailed than the original Xcom and certainly less detailed than SS. Frankly, I can appreciate both.
What I think the new Xcom does well is replicate a lot of the feel of the original, without being merely an engine upgrade: e.g., you still care about your troops and there’s still tension in the battles.
As another poster has mentioned above, I think the game is currently weaker on the strategic choices/options than it is on the tactical game. For example, I’d like to see some cost-saving research options to balance the engineer/scientist dynamic. I do like making scientists/engineers mission/action rewards rather than simple purchases.
