XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Nesrie · 2013-07-22T19:35:08.000Z

I’ve been enjoying this too. I am someone who really enjoyed the first one years ago, still have the PSONE and PC version actually. I am curious though, no matter how many ships i send to the ground, the events still happen?

Stepsongrapes · 2013-07-23T09:54:48.000Z

Nesrie:

I’ve been enjoying this too. I am someone who really enjoyed the first one years ago, still have the PSONE and PC version actually. I am curious though, no matter how many ships i send to the ground, the events still happen?

Yes. Think of the strategic layer as an abstracted board game (with re-occuring turns) rather than the original’s simulation of world events.

Murbella · 2013-07-23T16:42:30.000Z

This was one of my greatest disappointments with this reboot. They completely failed at making the geoscape feel real.

Miramon · 2013-07-23T17:27:41.000Z

Murbella:

This was one of my greatest disappointments with this reboot. They completely failed at making the geoscape feel real.

Since you mention it I agree it feels like the ground scenarios are completely abstract and disconnected from anything. Symptom of the general approach, e.g. the lack of national or regional differentiation to any of the maps, and so on. Extreme budget problems, presumably.

Nesrie · 2013-07-23T18:25:19.000Z

Stepsongrapes:

Yes. Think of the strategic layer as an abstracted board game (with re-occuring turns) rather than the original’s simulation of world events.

I knew going in the Geoscape portion was lacking which is why i waited for the sale. I guess i didn’t fully understand that i could blast all these UFOs and still have one of them “land” and cause the ground battle.

It’s still a lot of fun. I hope there will be a future for the franchise, and we see the overview strategy done better. As someone who loved the original and have a lot of complaints about the size and repeats of the maps… I’ve actually enjoyed them so far.

Murbella · 2013-07-23T19:38:31.000Z

I certainly don’t regret pre-ordering it, especially with the great GMG sale, but for me, the geoscape completely killed any replayability the game might have had. It went from being a simulation of defending the earth to a game with a static set of missions that you get at set times in no real relation to what you do in the geoscape mini game. Still a fun (first) ride though, although it definitely starts to wear out its welcome near the end.

The maps are bad, but i played dragon age 2, so i’m used to this crap. The initial talk about you not getting a repeat map when playing through the game once was a complete lie though. The maps are much more limited in quantity than they initially let on.

Stepsongrapes · 2013-07-23T19:39:00.000Z

Nesrie:

I guess i didn’t fully understand that i could blast all these UFOs and still have one of them “land” and cause the ground battle.

That’s the thing, they don’t land and cause the ground battle because the game doesn’t track them as discrete cause and effect. Ships fly around on cue. Battles spawn on cue. The two aren’t connected much at all. IIRC, all that the interceptor layer of the game decides is the level of panic of certain countries.

I hesitate to chalk that up to cost, as Miramon does. Rather, I think it’s a design decision to really abstract everything outside of the tactical battles. Doing a bunch of local textures and sounds is costly. Designing a more abstract system than the original is conceptually a choice.

JustinFletcher · 2013-07-24T06:45:59.000Z

Stepsongrapes:

Doing a bunch of local textures and sounds is costly. Designing a more abstract system than the original is conceptually a choice.

I, for one, would be happy to pay for this as DLC. Well, not happy, but willing.

Nesrie · 2013-07-24T23:34:51.000Z

Stepsongrapes:

That’s the thing, they don’t land and cause the ground battle because the game doesn’t track them as discrete cause and effect. Ships fly around on cue. Battles spawn on cue. The two aren’t connected much at all. IIRC, all that the interceptor layer of the game decides is the level of panic of certain countries.

I hesitate to chalk that up to cost, as Miramon does. Rather, I think it’s a design decision to really abstract everything outside of the tactical battles. Doing a bunch of local textures and sounds is costly. Designing a more abstract system than the original is conceptually a choice.

Sure I understand that now. The perception is there are landings and you protecting the skies. In reality, it’s all timed. The tactical maps seem to have the same thing. The aliens don’ really move until i see them. And then they just sort of show up sometimes like they are timed (outside the story/ event based maps which are clearly designed that way).

It’s still a lot of fun, but i miss the idea that my choices have more meaning than they do.

nKoan · 2013-08-01T12:51:26.000Z

What is XCOM: Enemy Within?

Rock Paper Shotgun

A Strange Turn – What Is XCOM: Enemy Within?

Last night a mysterious entry appeared on the South Korean ratings board website – something called XCOM: Enemy Within. And that was all that was known. Technically, that is still all that is known, except that now we know it’s for real. Publishers...

Basically, no one is sure at this point. But we’ll find out at Gamescon 2013 – August 21st

Telefrog · 2013-08-01T12:57:10.000Z

Yeah, this leaked a few days ago from a South Korean ratings board, but there’s no real news, so there’s not much for anyone to say other than “Hey, this is a thing!”

TurinTur · 2013-08-01T13:26:31.000Z

My bet: not a DLC, not a sequel, but a expandalone (or expansion).

Thongsy · 2013-08-01T17:53:02.000Z

I played though this again on the PS3 this time and wow, what a buggy mess that is. Not completely unplayable but it has a bit of an audio problem, lots of freezing and lockup requiring me to reset my PS3 several times. And a few other problems.

If they are making a sequel or expansion I hope they fix these problems as I really enjoy the game overall. Just got a bit tiring towards the end. But it was apparently good enough for me to play through twice over on different systems.

geewhiz · 2013-08-03T15:00:45.000Z

nKoan:

What is XCOM: Enemy Within?

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/01/an-outsider-what-is-xcom-enemy-within/

Basically, no one is sure at this point. But we’ll find out at Gamescon 2013 – August 21st

My birthday! :)

LordGek · 2013-08-03T17:03:56.000Z

GeeWhiz:

My birthday! :)

Then perhaps YOU are the enemy within the elder xcomers hinted at! :-O

Telefrog · 2013-08-06T12:09:51.000Z

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/XCOMEnemyUnknown/achievements/

A bunch of achievements just got added to the base game. All undefined for now.

I assume this means that Enemy Within is some kind of DLC or expansion.

LordGek · 2013-08-06T12:43:37.000Z

Telefrog:

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/XCOMEnemyUnknown/achievements/

A bunch of achievements just got added to the base game. All undefined for now.

I assume this means that Enemy Within is some kind of DLC or expansion.

Safe guess as I really can’t see them adding some 20 achievements to the existing game. Although these COULD be a bunch of Second Wave based achievements as I don’t think they’d previously existed?

Like winning a game at Impossible difficulty with all of the nastiest Second Wave options in effect.

UPDATE: Or even more likely it is some sort of tie in with their upcoming Bureau. Like a low cost to free DLC that functions to bridge the gap between these two games.

Scotch_Lufkin · 2013-08-06T13:36:06.000Z

Bridge the gap between XCOM the tactical strategy game and XCOM the fps/tactical shooter that takes place 70 years previous? I don’t follow.

This sounds like an expansion to me, of the CiV type where it’s an expansion, but it’s purchased like DLC (off the main store page).

LordGek · 2013-08-06T14:35:48.000Z

BleedTheFreak:

Bridge the gap between XCOM the tactical strategy game and XCOM the fps/tactical shooter that takes place 70 years previous? I don’t follow.

This sounds like an expansion to me, of the CiV type where it’s an expansion, but it’s purchased like DLC (off the main store page).

I hope it is just a straight expansion, as I’d prefer not to feel I’m playing an advert to another game shoe horned in with the XCOM brand name.

Virgil_Hilts · 2013-08-06T18:11:16.000Z

BleedTheFreak:

Bridge the gap between XCOM the tactical strategy game and XCOM the fps/tactical shooter that takes place 70 years previous? I don’t follow.

This sounds like an expansion to me, of the CiV type where it’s an expansion, but it’s purchased like DLC (off the main store page).

X-COM style gameplay set farther in the past is what he’s speculating about, but I’m not sure they can do that. In the Bureau it looks like they have the same human weapons-lasers-plasma weapon progression. I don’t see how you can bridge that with a prequel where XCOM forgets about all the weapons they stole in the 60s.