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Played the Demo and being a huge fan of the original Microprose game I must admit I love the new version. Same game play style just improved a ton.
They add some customization to shoulders looks which is fun and the ability to design your base. You also have to decide which missions to take. Help the US and get scientists to help and let Asia go or help Asia get money but US falters. Every choice has an positive/negative
I am looking forward to playing on Oct 9th
I'm hesitant. It plays more boardgamey than the original, and I'm not sure if I like theartificial choices. The original made you choose between saving different cities due to your own base placement, craft speed and readiness, not an arbitrary 'you can't go here' rule.
First thing first, I never played any X-COM game before and I really don't care about the franchise (I'm too young and I was not a PC gamer back then). However, I'm such a sucker for turn-based strategy games that I pre-ordered the game and now I can't wait to get my copy today!
*Sing* "Real-time is overrated (chorus: o-ver-ra-ted), turn-based was all I wanted! (chorus: all-I-wan-ted)" :D
So, has anyone tried out the demo with the fan-made level editor that's roaming around the internet?
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Got the game. A lot of things I'm loving. Some things not so much. (Reaver's note on forced dilemmas as opposed to the organic ones from teh original for example)
It feels a lot like coming home for this sort of game though. I like zooming in on the base with all my peoples in it. It's not as scary as the original, at least not so far, partially due to the music.
And man, things go bad quickly if you get a panic chain reaction.
I think I'm close to losing China. I'm scrambling to be able to get a satellite over there.
edit-Really do want to see what people come up with with that level editor. Especially once heavier modding starts.
edit2-See if you can spot the recycled sound effects from the original!
edit3-I keep expecting to catch a glimpse of morlocks or something in those caves undearneath my base.
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Is Sanchez the guy everyone gets at the beginning of their game?
Because I refuse to rename or remodel him. The man has been an absolute champ.
He, "Death From Afar" Fontaine, "Run Up And Stun Like I Don't Give A @#$%" Santiago, and "Leeroy Jenkins" Romero are the ones I can't make myself rename. I've gotten too attached to them.
But I know I shouldn't get attached. :(
edit-Digging deeper, no morlocks yet. And I really need new recruits too.
I cant wait to get this...
Yeah, I totally must put off getting this until after next Saturday, when I've written an important exam. Arrrrgghh.
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Got China's panic level down all the way. Now I ju- OH DAMMIT FRANCE AND NIGERIA. Okay, these Abduction Mission/Pick Your Poison scenarios are getting to me now. I think I need more satellites.
For those that haven't played it yet, here's a phrase that will will absolutely dishearten you followed by a statement that will instantly make you feel completely better:
Escort Missions
You control the escortee after your reach them.
This game is so good. My only gripe is the twitchiness of the mouse when you try targeting a square next to any elevation. I've lost squad members because they jumped down into the open instead of going behind cover.
Some other thoughts:
-My starter I think was Sanchez also. Unfortunately, I lost him to the game's first glitch; it crashed when I had a ufo appear while the sky-ranger was in route to a sight. I think they fixed it in the patch, but I learned the hard way how saving works.
-Save after every successful mission, and if you totally screw up, you can reload.
-Beware of Chryssalids! When you see one, you have about one or two turns before the 1-3 of them close in on of your guys. These guys are the best target for the Rocket Launchers and grenades, since they tend to hunt like a pack and cluster around one guy. Once they kill someone, (even with their poison), the zombie they create hits like a ton of bricks. I had a TPK when I got surprised by a pack of them.
-As bad as the Chryssalids are, the Sectoid leaders are worse. I shown up to a crash sight with six dudes, fought my way through everything, then got to the three sectoid commanders. They wiped my team in about five turns. Mind Control is horrible, I've only seen my Major (Sniper) able to resist one. You can kill the one controlling your guy, but if someone panics and decides to shoot their changed squadmate, it can escalate pretty quickly.
Played my friends copy on the Xbox, never played the originals.
I'm enjoying it, but it's rough in the beginning. You are GOING to lose some countries it seems, it's more a matter of losing as few as possible.
At one point I was like, yes more satellites..... in 20 days.... crap.
I'll pick it up eventually, probably for Xbox, since my computer is going lame and I don't feel like spending the money to fix it.
I'm enjoying it immensely. Currently I am playing on classic difficulty and it's as difficult as I remember the original being. I didn't like the choose one of three disasters mechanic at first either, but it is growing on me. I dread looking at he options, Nd seeing a country that is already on the brink of withdrawing with the "very difficult" moniker.
I have had some pretty awesome moments, from killing aliens through soft cover with a laser rifle, to when my support officer tried to jump off a ledge to help a civilian only to be shot in midair by the slim man hugging the wall beneath him unbeknownst to me. Overall a great game,
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The reveal of who the Thin Men technically are made me happy. It's really obvious when you see their eyes, like in their interrogation cutscene.
-As bad as the Chryssalids are, the Sectoid leaders are worse. I shown up to a crash sight with six dudes, fought my way through everything, then got to the three sectoid commanders. They wiped my team in about five turns. Mind Control is horrible, I've only seen my Major (Sniper) able to resist one. You can kill the one controlling your guy, but if someone panics and decides to shoot their changed squadmate, it can escalate pretty quickly.
Sweet Christmas, this is true. Just lost my second best sniper due to psionic-induced friendly fire.
Capturing one was nerve wracking all on its own.
At one point I was like, yes more satellites..... in 20 days.... crap.
I'm still waiting for my first satellite order to be completed. D:
i HATE... HATE bomb missions.
...I haven't had one of those yet and now I'm thinking about everything the phrase "bomb mission" implies.
Oh God. No. Hell no. Those are going to be absolute meatgrinders...
The bomb missions I've done haven't been bad, but you need to keep moving steadily through the map. If you aren't advancing, you're done.
-As bad as the Chryssalids are, the Sectoid leaders are worse. I shown up to a crash sight with six dudes, fought my way through everything, then got to the three sectoid commanders. They wiped my team in about five turns. Mind Control is horrible, I've only seen my Major (Sniper) able to resist one. You can kill the one controlling your guy, but if someone panics and decides to shoot their changed squadmate, it can escalate pretty quickly.
Sweet Christmas, this is true. Just lost my second best sniper due to psionic-induced friendly fire.
Capturing one was nerve wracking all on its own. ** spoiler omitted **
If you think the Sectoid Commanders are a pain, just wait, the Psi induced havoc only gets worse, and gets worse fast.
At one point I was like, yes more satellites..... in 20 days.... crap.I'm still waiting for my first satellite order to be completed. D:
The Satellite Nexus is your best friend, when planning your base, two things seem to be important quickly, section off an area for your satellite controls, and section off an area for you power generators, those adjacency bonuses are VITAL in the beginning, and save your a lot later on.
I'm playing in Iron-Man mode, because take-backs are for dweebs. Then I put my first and only sniper in a stupid position and got him killed. RIP Nakamura, you followed a stupid order from a dumbass commander.
That's for my next play through. I think I'll do normal difficulty with iron man setting. I may be closer to it than I think. Last month I lost 2 countries. I'm now down 4. Half way to project termination.
Good game. Haven't had a chance to play that much yet, but my initial impressions was that I think it puts a bit too much emphasis on the squad-tactical game, which is also the game's weakest part. IMHO.
I find the controls a bit awkward, and the camera, when you have men on multiple levels, gets a bit quirky. Also, I'm a bit disappointed in the size of the maps, it's rarely more than a question of advancing everyone forward slowly and methodically.
Also kinda hate how the aliens get a free turn when you "aggro" them. I think I lose a guy every time I run into those Chryssalids. Oh there's some melee guys. Now they are right next to me. And now it's their turn. Ow.
Mostly minor gripes though. Hopefully it get better!
Just picked this up today (or rather Amazon Prime delivered it today), plan on starting today or tomorrow.
Thing is, I never played the original XCOM. I started with Terror from the Deep. Hoping for a remake of that one as well!
Good game. Haven't had a chance to play that much yet, but my initial impressions was that I think it puts a bit too much emphasis on the squad-tactical game, which is also the game's weakest part. IMHO.
I find the controls a bit awkward, and the camera, when you have men on multiple levels, gets a bit quirky. Also, I'm a bit disappointed in the size of the maps, it's rarely more than a question of advancing everyone forward slowly and methodically.
Also kinda hate how the aliens get a free turn when you "aggro" them. I think I lose a guy every time I run into those Chryssalids. Oh there's some melee guys. Now they are right next to me. And now it's their turn. Ow.
Mostly minor gripes though. Hopefully it get better!
A lot of that has to do with the timing of when you do it. If you can trigger them with your very first move, you get your whole round to pick them off.
Good positioning on snipers takes practice, a little bit of luck and lots of patience.
If it isn't a bomb mission, don't be shy about wasting a turn to get better positioning. Stacking up on a door/corner when you're not under fire so that you can get everyone into a firing position quickly and at the same time.
Just picked this up today (or rather Amazon Prime delivered it today), plan on starting today or tomorrow.
Thing is, I never played the original XCOM. I started with Terror from the Deep. Hoping for a remake of that one as well!
The differences between first XCOM and Terror were mostly cosmetical -different names, different graphics, refluffing of everything to water-based...
I'm having at least as much fun with this version of Xcom (xbox) as I did with the old school. I lost my first game although my soldiers and research were going strong and all had plasma, for lack of satellite coverage. My next game everyone gets satellites and interceptors.
Bomb missions, at the start look around the map for the glowing nodes, split your team in two if you must and beeline for those nodes. Activating them buys you time on the bomb, so keep moving forward wiping out enemies and tapping those nodes until you get to the bomb.
I think my least and most favorite missions at the same time are the Terror Missions. If there's a pack of Chrysallids, it can quickly turn into a night of the living dead scenario... which I think is awesome, despite the fact that the zombie escalation all but ensures you lose the mission. Also, I don't know why, but it seems humorous to me every time a Cyberdisc wacks a bystander when there's a guy with a plasma cannon sitting next to him.
So far, I've beaten it on normal, but I used a lot of 'save cheating' to get through the game. I guess Ironman is the next task, but first I wanna try the higher difficulties just to see how smart the aliens get...
I also love how it suggests to send lots of rookies the check out downed smaller craft.. except late in the game, when the 'average' scout has Muton Elites, Berserkers, and Ethereals. I once had to use a squad of all rookies when all my veterans were out due to injuries; it was horrible.
I have grown to love alloy shivs. My preferred squad is:
Assault
Heavy
Support
Support
Sniper
SHIV
Terror missions aren't horrible, unless you get that 2-story restaurant and chryssalids.
Multiple sectoid leaders are pretty dangerous. Which is why I recommend breaching rooms with a SHIV if you think you might see one. It just rolls up to them and blows them away.
I tried to hold out, I really did. But just ordered it and it is on its way to Afghanistan so I can start playing.
I love the Original X-COM.
Finished on normal in 13 hours. I was expecting more duplicates of some of the special missions.
In the original, I'd often take out five or more bases before going for the final mission.
UR what is its replay-ability after finishing. Is it a game you will start again or once you finish - it goes on the shelf?
Well, I am kinda stuck at the end on normal, with apparently nobody of my psi-soldiers having high enough willpower for the use of an important thingamajig. I'll have to train up a new psi-soldier to Colonel to get the highest willpower. Word to the wise: Buy the upgrade from the officers school for higher willpower upgrades when your soldiers level, before leveling your psi-capable soldiers.
The best set-up, as far as I am concerned is:
Sniper
Sniper
Assault
Support
Support
Support
Later gameplay is pretty brutal even on Normal difficulty. Sectopods punish closely grouped squads if you let them. You'll need the nine med-kit uses per mission.
And then I equipped a psi-enhancer armor on one of my Psi-Soldiers and went "Oooooh...". ^^
It's replayable, although you won't run into any different missions or enemies. The replayability is more in getting different troops and abilities, trying out research in a different order, and attempting to do better than you did last time.
I lost a few countries. I'm going through again with a plan to lose none.
I've been playing it on normal difficulty, on Iron Man mode (game saves every turn, you can never go back) and I've been having a good time so far. I've only played four or five maps, and I've lost two troops so far - one to my own stupidity, and another to a sectoid laser pistol crit from a pretty decent range.
Loving the game, and I've been posting Let's Play videos of it on the tube.
The last fight of the game is horrifying.
Also.
Do you colour-code your troops?
I do this:
Rookie: Default tan.
Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: Green
Must be getting close to the end of normal ironman on first run through. I have an A team of colonels, three of which are psi trained with full plasma/titan armor.
On the strategy side things have been easy. I gather its much more difficult on classic. I was feeling pretty cocky with satellites over everything and nothing higher than 2 panic. Then a bit of bad luck, I got a very difficult terror mission in Japan with three of my A-team with one day left in the hospital and a fourth with two days left of psi training.
Well I was worried about wiping, hadn't failed a mission yet and thought "hey so it gains a few panic levels", ignore. Bam. Japan out of the game. The rest of asia at 4. With just about everything bought or researched and plenty in the bank I don't care about the money but I feel sorry for the poor Japanese who I left to die.
In terms of classes, snipers are amazing with a few levels. At colonel they are death incarnate. Two heavies in the early-mid game was great with their rockets and double damage to machines. Less so when everyone got plasma. Supports were amazing all the way through. I could happily live with 5 supports and a sniper if I had to. Assaults soak damage almost as good as rookies although I used run and gun only rarely.
Never used a shiv as I had 6 guys before I built a foundry. Can't see myself giving up a slot for a guy who could be gaining xp. Maybe it works better for harder difficulty.
Highly amused at muton beserker's ability to move forward when hit. Come right up to my guy with the arcthrower, thats it.
I've enjoyed it greatly but not sure if I'll play again once I finish normal and a 2nd run through for classic. Heres hopping a good modding community springs up.
The last fight of the game is horrifying.
Also.
Do you colour-code your troops?
I do this:
Rookie: Default tan.
Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: Green
I don't give them colors until top rank, and then do it by specialty.
So far I have:
Heavy: Blue
Sniper: Black ("Garrote" Jackson is a stone cold alien killer. )
Psi: Purple
Berserkers are even more fun when you have assault troops with the ability that grants them a free reaction shot against any enemy that moves within a short range of them (I think it's something like 4 squares).
Never used a shiv as I had 6 guys before I built a foundry. Can't see myself giving up a slot for a guy who could be gaining xp. Maybe it works better for harder difficulty.
I'd mainly use one to replace a heavy.
You can repair them with an Arc Thrower, so supports equipped with them have 2 additional heals to use on the SHIV. It also can't be mind controlled and can one-shot sectoid leaders with plasma weapons.
The alloy version can be used as cover. At the beginning of some terror missions or abductions you are woefully lacking cover and you run up to the first car and 3 mutons pop out waiting to throw grenades. I like the SHIV because I can separate my group a little more than I normally would while only leaving one member, the SHIV, not behind cover. Plus if it's damaged or dies, I replace it with one exactly like it, no loss of experience.
They aren't required, but if you have more money than colonels, it's a nice way to spread out your elite troops a little with less risk. They're pretty accurate as well, not sniper accurate, but probably slightly more than a heavy with a scope.
The last fight of the game is horrifying.
Also.
Do you colour-code your troops?
I do this:
Rookie: Default tan.
Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: GreenI don't give them colors until top rank, and then do it by specialty.
So far I have:
Heavy: Blue
Sniper: Black ("Garrote" Jackson is a stone cold alien killer. )
Psi: Purple
The colour coding is not so much a 'reward' for achieving a class, as it is a means for me to tell my troops apart at a glance. It's handy to know which class is where.
Also, can you notice the means by which I selected the colours for each class? :P
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Tiamat squadron?
I hope sectopods have souls because Sectopod Hell definitely needs to be a thing.
I mean cripes.
First bomb mission was actually relatively painless. Then again, it was all Thin Men. I can see how things can get much, much worse.
I think I'm in love with the Archangel armor. Oh so close to getting Ghost armor for my superfast Supports.
Have to admit, I'm not too fond of not being able to shoot the last enemy on a mission if it's currently mind-controlled.
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The last fight of the game is horrifying.
Also.
Do you colour-code your troops?
I do this:
Rookie: Default tan.
Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: GreenI don't give them colors until top rank, and then do it by specialty.
So far I have:
Heavy: Blue
Sniper: Black ("Garrote" Jackson is a stone cold alien killer. )
Psi: PurpleThe colour coding is not so much a 'reward' for achieving a class, as it is a means for me to tell my troops apart at a glance. It's handy to know which class is where.
Also, can you notice the means by which I selected the colours for each class? :P
5 colours of Magic the Gathering?
My second playthrough on Classic, and I'm already discovering the value of dual snipers with Squad Sight. Combined with a SHIV, and anything with mind control has no chance. I just roll up the Shiv, use squad sight, and fill those pesky Sectoid Commanders full of lasers. I've yet to try this on an Ethereal, but I feel like the strategy would work the same. That's the real value of the Shiv: No panicking and no mind controlling.
The last fight of the game is horrifying.
Really? I played on normal and I found the "I win" button on your psychic soldier makes things much easier. I only reloaded once, when I made an unwise move and had my scout ending up alone before two Sectopods.
Also.
Do you colour-code your troops?
I do this:
Rookie: Default tan.
Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: Green
Color customization is only in for people who pre-ordered, so I can't even do stuff like that. ^^
My second playthrough on Classic, and I'm already discovering the value of dual snipers with Squad Sight. Combined with a SHIV, and anything with mind control has no chance. I just roll up the Shiv, use squad sight, and fill those pesky Sectoid Commanders full of lasers. I've yet to try this on an Ethereal, but I feel like the strategy would work the same. That's the real value of the Shiv: No panicking and no mind controlling.
You also get more mileage out of medkits, since you use arc throwers to keep them up.
5 colours of Magic the Gathering?Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: Green
Precisely. :D
I spent a while debating between red and green for assault and heavy, but assault is more 'hasty' so I gave them red.
Also, I didn't know it was a preorder bonus. It's really handy!
You may also notice that the armour looks different (no different effect) depending which tier of main weapon the soldier is carrying.
Ballistic: Tan details.
Laser: Red lights.
Plasma: Green lights.
UR what is its replay-ability after finishing. Is it a game you will start again or once you finish - it goes on the shelf?
High. It's made by the same guys as the CIVILIZATION series and it has similar replayability: you can play as different countries (which gives you different starting bonuses, which can have a big impact on the early part of the game), try researching things in a different order and prioritise things differently. There are also three difficulty modes and the infamous 'ironman' mode, which prevents you from reloading for trivial reasons (such as losing a few favourite troops in battle).
Put it this way: people who bought the original X-COM in 1994 are still regularly replaying the original to this very day. The new version could potentially equal that :)
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5 colours of Magic the Gathering?Support: White
Psionic: Blue
Sniper: Black
Assault: Red
Heavy: GreenPrecisely. :D
And the shiv has its own silver/artifact sheen!
I'm doing my second normal playthrough. I'm saving classic or ironman for when the most egregious bugs have been worked out.
For example, enemies will occasionally spawn right in the middle of your squad then get their actions, or get unlimited movement.
I once saw a heavy floater fly across the entire map from one end to the other then throw a grenade, wiping out the wounded troops I'd pulled back behind walls.
Also nasty, and the game doesn't tell you (although it may be somewhere I missed):
Soldiers permanently lose fairly sizeable amounts of stats every time they are critically wounded!