XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[SlyFrog]

Yeah, so far it looks like they only have foreign languages for European languages (though not Portuguese). So all the Brazilians speak English.

Honestly that kind of sucks. I guess I’ll just turn it off, as I’d rather have it work for everyone or not at all than have two or three people speak Russian and German, and everyone else speak English.

The addition of the expiring resources just seems to blatantly show how bad this system is. “Hey, everyone is playing the exact same way because that’s the only option we’ve given them… in the expansion, let’s incentivize them to rush forward and trigger three spawns and get their squad wiped completely to really show off how fundamentally broken our game is!”

This part really doesn’t bother me though. I mean, I did the same thing in the original XCOM. Of course I’m going to try to keep my combats minimized so that I have a numbers advantage. I remember in the original XCOM slowly rolling across fields, etc., so as to only encounter one alien at a time. I’ve heard others complain about this issue, but I do not really see how it is a drawback to the game - it’s just a fairly fundamental thing in tactical combat games. In Jagged Alliance, I’m trying to only reveal and fight a couple guys at a time. In Diablo, I’m trying not to expose that second group of monsters before the first group is done.

If anything, I would give them kudos for doing something to force you to occasionally be more aggressive. It’s just a McGuffin, and it isn’t any worse for me than if they did something else hackneyed (oh no, they could kill the captured scientist, you have to get in quickly).

[mjgreeny75]

Honestly that kind of sucks. I guess I’ll just turn it off, as I’d rather have it work for everyone or not at all than have two or three people speak Russian and German, and everyone else speak English.

Well, any (non-American) soldier that doesn’t have the rich American accent is a bonus to me… But I hope they fix it for all nationalities before I try the expansion, somewhere next month…

[Shellfishguy]

Just found out my wife picked this up for me a few weeks ago during a Gamefly sale event. I swore she said she didn’t wind up buying it. Can’t wait to dig in and start up a new game. On my last playthrough I wound up giving up on the last mission due to a crash bug that sent me all the way back to the start of the level. I can’t decide if its worth going through the last mission again to unlock some more of the second wave options or just say screw it and go in fresh right away.

[qbakies]

I played through Enemy Unknown two times and started a third playthrough but never finished. It’s one of my favorite games in the last few years and I’d love to get into Enemy Within but since I’m on the 360 I’d have to buy the entire game again. While that isn’t a stopping point for me, what is pertains to whether I would be able to access the second wave toggles from the beginning. I enjoyed the second playthough much more on a harder difficulty with some of the second wave options turned on and it’s why I got halfway through a third run. However if I would still have to play through the whole thing again before I could open those options I’m not sure I want to spend the money. I would think that it could see my 360 save (with second wave unlocked) for Enemy Unknown and give me the options unlocked from the beginning of Enemy Within. Anyone know the answer to this?

[Jab]

I’ve heard reports of people saying that the second wave stuff was turned off, but at least for me, the ones that I did have unlocked in Enemy Unknown were available right from the start of launching Enemy Within.

[Sepiche]

I’ve heard reports of people saying that the second wave stuff was turned off, but at least for me, the ones that I did have unlocked in Enemy Unknown were available right from the start of launching of Enemy Within.

Yup, same here.

[flyinj]

Honestly that kind of sucks. I guess I’ll just turn it off, as I’d rather have it work for everyone or not at all than have two or three people speak Russian and German, and everyone else speak English.

This part really doesn’t bother me though. I mean, I did the same thing in the original XCOM. Of course I’m going to try to keep my combats minimized so that I have a numbers advantage. I remember in the original XCOM slowly rolling across fields, etc., so as to only encounter one alien at a time. I’ve heard others complain about this issue, but I do not really see how it is a drawback to the game - it’s just a fairly fundamental thing in tactical combat games. In Jagged Alliance, I’m trying to only reveal and fight a couple guys at a time. In Diablo, I’m trying not to expose that second group of monsters before the first group is done.

If anything, I would give them kudos for doing something to force you to occasionally be more aggressive. It’s just a McGuffin, and it isn’t any worse for me than if they did something else hackneyed (oh no, they could kill the captured scientist, you have to get in quickly).

I have no issue with extensive use of overwatch.

What I hate is that there aren’t enemies scattered around the map or patrolling. They are all in trigger volumes that if you step one square into the game spawns 2-4 enemies which then are completely aware of you and do a free move.

In JA2 and Xcom, you’d creep around, and the AI would be doing their own thing on the map. You might turn a corner and see a guy facing away from you. Then you could creep some guys to the right and flank him.

In the new Xcom, this can never happen. Every single combat encounter goes the exact same way:

Step into a trigger volume, animation of aliens noticing you plays, the game spawns 2-4 enemies into the game at a set location, aliens get free move, and then you fall back into overwatch hoping to god you don’t get one shotted.

[qbakies]

I’ve heard reports of people saying that the second wave stuff was turned off, but at least for me, the ones that I did have unlocked in Enemy Unknown were available right from the start of launching Enemy Within.

Was this on console (with a new game disc) or PC (where it’s an expansion to EU)?

[Jab]

Was this on console (with a new game disc) or PC (where it’s an expansion to EU)?

It was on the PC

[qbakies]

It was on the PC

That makes sense since it is an expansion pack on the PC. My concern is that the console version will not see the old save file and I’ll have to playthrough again just to open the second wave stuff again. Especially since it sounds like they made the game longer by slowing things down I’m not sure I want to take the chance.

[sclpls]

I have no issue with extensive use of overwatch.

What I hate is that there aren’t enemies scattered around the map or patrolling. They are all in trigger volumes that if you step one square into the game spawns 2-4 enemies which then are completely aware of you and do a free move.

In JA2 and Xcom, you’d creep around, and the AI would be doing their own thing on the map. You might turn a corner and see a guy facing away from you. Then you could creep some guys to the right and flank him.

In the new Xcom, this can never happen. Every single combat encounter goes the exact same way:

Step into a trigger volume, animation of aliens noticing you plays, the game spawns 2-4 enemies into the game at a set location, aliens get free move, and then you fall back into overwatch hoping to god you don’t get one shotted.

So this actually seems like something they improved upon. I was playing a game where I had a sniper hanging out by the corner of a building. What I didn’t realize was that there was an entrance to the building, and a few turns later some sectoids unexpectedly burst out of the door (so to be clear, as best I can tell I didn’t do anything to trigger them), and I had to scramble off in a panic. So that was pretty good, so combine that with the new 2nd wave option that causes the aliens to sometimes fire at you during their initial free move and you’ve got some pretty interesting dynamics at work.

[flyinj]

So this actually seems like something they improved upon. I was playing a game where I had a sniper hanging out by the corner of a building. What I didn’t realize was that there was an entrance to the building, and a few turns later some sectoids unexpectedly burst out of the door (so to be clear, as best I can tell I didn’t do anything to trigger them), and I had to scramble off in a panic. So that was pretty good, so combine that with the new 2nd wave option that causes the aliens to sometimes fire at you during their initial free move and you’ve got some pretty interesting dynamics at work.

Aliens jumping out of doorways is using the exact same system as the animation and spawn. You enter a trigger volume, and instead of showing aliens eating poop off the ground then noticing you, instead they just spawn them inside a door and have them run out. The difference is that they wait until you end your turn before spawning them.

It adds a little variety, I guess… but the whole system is so cheap and brain dead.

Why don’t they just have enemies walking around, patrolling, or hiding out like every other great tactical game? It makes for so much more varied and emergent encounters…

I think they found it too difficult and decided to design the game around the path of least resistance. The whole thing is just smoke and mirrors.

[Sepiche]

What I hate is that there aren’t enemies scattered around the map or patrolling. They are all in trigger volumes that if you step one square into the game spawns 2-4 enemies which then are completely aware of you and do a free move.

In JA2 and Xcom, you’d creep around, and the AI would be doing their own thing on the map. You might turn a corner and see a guy facing away from you. Then you could creep some guys to the right and flank him.

In the new Xcom, this can never happen. Every single combat encounter goes the exact same way:

Step into a trigger volume, animation of aliens noticing you plays, the game spawns 2-4 enemies into the game at a set location, aliens get free move, and then you fall back into overwatch hoping to god you don’t get one shotted.

Granted that’s how it most often happens, but you’re incorrect in a lot of the details there.

First, yes enemies are grouped together in squads, but some stay still while others patrol around the map… it’s like this in EU as well as EW. Each individual is there before you trigger the squad though and it’s pretty easy to sneak up on them and get a free attack before they activate. It’s also not some set distance where you get that close and they activate… it’s all line of sight. If you get within visual range of them, they will see you.

How do you sneak up on them? Careful use of battle scanner, ghost armor, ghost grenades, or mimetic skin can easily get you within firing range before you are spotted by the aliens. I’ve taken out plenty of groups with a well placed rocket before they even know I’m there.

Aliens jumping out of doorways is using the exact same system as the animation and spawn. You enter a trigger volume, and instead of showing aliens eating poop off the ground then noticing you, instead they just spawn them inside a door and have them run out. The difference is that they wait until you end your turn before spawning them.

Uhh no… those are most likely patrolling enemies. They patrolled in EU and they patrol in EW. When a patrolling group enters visual range, they finish their movement, and then the animation fires off.

Seriously… just try throwing some battle scanners now and again. It’s pretty enlightening what you can see the aliens doing out there. :)

[jpinard]

I lost America in the second month on Classic. I think I need a refresher on what country I should be, how to manage money, and how to prioritize building. I don’t remember losing a country this fast before.

[ShivaX]

Yeah, but I checked that when I started the game, and it’s not working. As I said, the Russian is speaking Russian, but the Chinese and South Korean people are speaking English.

That’s because there are only like 8 languages and a shitload of countries.

Hell there aren’t ANY Asian languages at all. There’s like, English, Russian, German, French, Italian and Polish. If you go to Customize you can see them all and there aren’t many and they’re all European.

I don’t think I’ve ever even had an Italian soldier come up yet, but my Chinese and Japanese people get to speak English.

[flyinj]

I lost America in the second month on Classic. I think I need a refresher on what country I should be, how to manage money, and how to prioritize building. I don’t remember losing a country this fast before.

I’ve lost continents in the first month several times playing on classic.

You basically have to do nothing buy build an uplink and two satellites as your first purchases no matter what on classic.

It’s pretty annoying.

[Quaro]

Aliens jumping out of doorways is using the exact same system as the animation and spawn. You enter a trigger volume, and instead of showing aliens eating poop off the ground then noticing you, instead they just spawn them inside a door and have them run out. The difference is that they wait until you end your turn before spawning them.

It adds a little variety, I guess… but the whole system is so cheap and brain dead.

Why don’t they just have enemies walking around, patrolling, or hiding out like every other great tactical game? It makes for so much more varied and emergent encounters…

I think they found it too difficult and decided to design the game around the path of least resistance. The whole thing is just smoke and mirrors.

There ARE sometimes enemies that patrol but they aren’t very common and it seems to be a max of maybe two packs per map. If you use the debug tools to uncover everything you watch their patterns. But I can count on one hand the number of times that a patrolling enemy happened across me rather than the reverse.

I kinda regret not trying random skill trees. I think I would have really appreciated having some wacky skill options and making every soldier unique. If I fail this run I’m definitely going to enable that on the restart.

[jpinard]

That’s because there are only like 8 languages and a shitload of countries.

Hell there aren’t ANY Asian languages at all. There’s like, English, Russian, German, French, Italian and Polish. If you go to Customize you can see them all and there aren’t many and they’re all European.

I don’t think I’ve ever even had an Italian soldier come up yet, but my Chinese and Japanese people get to speak English.

Here’s how I set things up (please offer ideas as to why I should change any):

Russian Language: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, all the “X…istan” countries (except Afghanistan, Pakistan), Mongolia.
German Language: Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark. All Scandinavian countries. Hungary, Romania, Czech Republic, Lichtenstein
French language: France, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg. All Northern, Central, & Western African Nations. Madagascar (except Liberia = English).
Italian Language: Italy, Greece, all Mediterranean Island Nations, Turkey. All Arabic and Middle Eastern Nations (except Jordan and Israel = English).
Polish Language: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia. All Asian nations (except India, Pakistan, and Philippines which are English).
Spanish Language: Spain, Portugal. All of South America and Central American. Cuba
English Language: America, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, India, Pakistan. All South African Nations (South of Congo), all Caribbean nations (except Cuba), Jordan, Israel, Liberia, all tiny Pacific Island Nations.

[Telefrog]

Here’s how I set things up (please offer ideas as to why I should change any):

Polish Language: Poland, all Asian nations (except India, Pakistan, and Philippines which are English)

Why do Japanese, Chinese, and Korean soldiers speak Polish?

[sclpls]

Because of their deep admiration for the poetry of Czeslaw Milosz, why else?