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Not sure I'm perfectly OK with the storyline - I mean, it will be new and refreshing and interesting, but having humanity lose "off screen" after putting so much effort into winning the first game is annoying. I guess XCOM is less about the story than it is about the mood, but still.
First game was awesome, Enemy Within was surprisingly worth the price, so I have high expectations.
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I'm gonna have trouble riding both the MGS hype train and this one. Luckily the former dismounts first. I actually started playing Enemy Within again recently, so this was a pleasant surprise.
I think doing something different with the setting is also important in diversifying gameplay. By going against common sense and saying "humanity lost and the aliens took over", there is a lot of new directions you can take the game. It think it'll be worth it.
If any of you haven't read, they have announced a lot of stuff.
- here will be 5 classes, 4 of which will be similar to the ones in the last game. 5th unknown.
- maps will now be procedurally generated now, so no map boredrom.
- There will be a lot more soldier customization options, from multiple body part options, to even changing gender and nationality.
- Enemy equipment will be retrievable within a few turns before the failsafe detonates, so you can scavenge equipment if you are quick. Still has to be taken back to base, presumably to disable biometrics or something.
- Enemies won't immediately scamper when revealed. Now you can set up ambushes and use a light stealth system. No full stealth, though.
Overall XCOM 2 looks awesome. The only issue is that I would need a new computer for this (and Fallout 4).
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IGN's XCOM 2 reveal page. I think this page will have more added to it at a later date.
There are two things i would really like them to improve in this game:
1) a properly functioning line of sight system. No more getting shot through walls by the AI, unless its a weapon designed to shoot through walls maybe.
2) an indicator that highlights the area a soldier can see before you move them to the spot your cursor is hovering over. It happened to me too often that I wanted to move my soldier to a spot to get better LOS on an enemy only to find out that they know can't see it at all anymore.
Aside from that, I'm looking forward to this title, I hope they will further explain why the earth is suddenly taken over by aliens, since you beat them back in both Enemy Unknown and Within. However I like dystopian regime type scenarios, so I'm on board with it even if it means that "You failed" is th canon ending of the previous game.
I can see the gameplay reason for this story, since you need an excuse why Xcom is back to square 1 technologically.
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I would guess that the synergists who conspired against humanity in Within were behind the surrender, hoping to blend with their new overlords, much as they were trying to do so in the game.
I am super excited. Unknown and Within are two pretty good games, and a procedurally generated and not instantly run away aliens are huge steps toward that being one of my most anticipated upcoming games.
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There are mentions of Unification, so probably political infiltration was the way of conquest, just like in the original UFO.
Anyway... Snakemen are back! Tsss tss tsssss...
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So, sad thing is, I'm seeing a lot of comments around the web that basically be boiled down to "Are we the bad guys? This seems so xenophobic. I don't want to be a terrorist.".
Like, really? In the face of forced capitulation and obvious propaganda, people are thinking the aliens are anything but the bad guys?
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AWESOME!
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So, sad thing is, I'm seeing a lot of comments around the web that basically be boiled down to "Are we the bad guys? This seems so xenophobic. I don't want to be a terrorist.".
Like, really? In the face of forced capitulation and obvious propaganda, people are thinking the aliens are anything but the bad guys?
Could be that there's always some people who miss the point.
Could be the that the hallmarks for a police state (like the heavily armed 'police' insisting on a 'full security scan' out on the street) are less incongruous than they used to be.
Could be that since the US has been fighting it's 'War on Terrorism' that people have been forgetting that 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' and forgetting that riots and revolutions can actually be pretty effective.
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So, sad thing is, I'm seeing a lot of comments around the web that basically be boiled down to "Are we the bad guys? This seems so xenophobic. I don't want to be a terrorist.".
Like, really? In the face of forced capitulation and obvious propaganda, people are thinking the aliens are anything but the bad guys?
Could be that there's always some people who miss the point.
Could be the that the hallmarks for a police state (like the heavily armed 'police' insisting on a 'full security scan' out on the street) are less incongruous than they used to be.
Could be that since the US has been fighting it's 'War on Terrorism' that people have been forgetting that 'One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' and forgetting that riots and revolutions can actually be pretty effective.
Hell, the Founding Fathers of the United States of America would have been consitered terrorist.
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~shakes my finger at Sharoth~ Stop that. This is no place for that kind of talk.
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I think that the canon is that XCOM won the events of the first game but that the aliens came back later in overwhelming numbers and conquered earth anyway.
They're calling it Unification, so I'm assuming the X-COM won militarily (Temple ship destroyed, and the Ethereals don't get to capture The Volunteer, and so on).
But in the background of X-COM, even without Enemy Within, was a political battle to encourage surrender. It could simply be that enough powerful people were turned that it didn't matter that a giant temple ship was detonated in the atmosphere - Earth surrendered or reached a peace accord in which it was the 'junior partner'.
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I think that the canon is that XCOM won the events of the first game but that the aliens came back later in overwhelming numbers and conquered earth anyway.They're calling it Unification, so I'm assuming the X-COM won militarily (Temple ship destroyed, and the Ethereals don't get to capture The Volunteer, and so on).
But in the background of X-COM, even without Enemy Within, was a political battle to encourage surrender. It could simply be that enough powerful people were turned that it didn't matter that a giant temple ship was detonated in the atmosphere - Earth surrendered or reached a peace accord in which it was the 'junior partner'.
Maybe the insidious influence of alien technologies helped. Just like your chief engineer and science adviser were speculating...
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Another possibility: the destruction of temple ship and shattering the Ethereal hopes let whatever the opponent Ethereals were afraid of take over the Ethereal subjects and infiltrate Earth?
Maybe in-game we learn that the aliens are now actually controlled by an extradimensional microbes with an extensive hive-mind and now they are working on a strain compatible with human biochemistry?
(ok, that is my own idea for referencing XCOM: Apocalypse)
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Well, we know from the trailer that sectoids have gotten bigger and sleeker, and we have Snakemen (which didn't appear in X-COM: Enemy Unknown except as possible precursors for genetically engineering the Thin Men.)
Maybe the Ethereals were beaten, but the sectoids and other 'uplifted'/genetically modified servitor races decided a proper invasion was in order?
I mean, the only reason the aliens didn't simply stomp in to victory with Mutons and Sectopods in the first month of the previous invasion was because they were grooming humanity to produce The Volunteer - the Ethereals were toying with us. Without the Ethereals to keep them on the leash, the other alien military forces could clean up in short order.
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Well, we know from the trailer that sectoids have gotten bigger and sleeker, and we have Snakemen (which didn't appear in X-COM: Enemy Unknown except as possible precursors for genetically engineering the Thin Men.)
Maybe the Ethereals were beaten, but the sectoids and other 'uplifted'/genetically modified servitor races decided a proper invasion was in order?
I mean, the only reason the aliens didn't simply stomp in to victory with Mutons and Sectopods in the first month of the previous invasion was because they were grooming humanity to produce The Volunteer - the Ethereals were toying with us. Without the Ethereals to keep them on the leash, the other alien military forces could clean up in short order.
Behind the statue of the "new sectoid" uplifiting human there is an image of simplified ethereal.
Are the remaining ethereals here around? We don't know yet but I wouldn't be surprised if they were still here. Or if it were sectoids who took the advantage of temple ship destruction they might have silently removed them but kept them as a symbol to retain loyalty of other subjugated species...
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I also have a theory concerning the Vipers. With their feminine figure and their clear "cobra-ness", I think the vipers might be an entirely terrestrial experiment. With the Ethereals (presumably) chilling on earth, they see snakes and have the great idea of creating a snake-humanoid. They are just too "earthy" to be a proper alien race like every other species.
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I also have a theory concerning the Vipers. With their feminine figure and their clear "cobra-ness", I think the vipers might be an entirely terrestrial experiment. With the Ethereals (presumably) chilling on earth, they see snakes and have the great idea of creating a snake-humanoid. They are just too "earthy" to be a proper alien race like every other species.
I'm going with 'female Thin Men' until proven otherwise.
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Behind the statue of the "new sectoid" uplifiting human there is an image of simplified ethereal.
Are the remaining ethereals here around? We don't know yet but I wouldn't be surprised if they were still here. Or if it were sectoids who took the advantage of temple ship destruction they might have silently removed them but kept them as a symbol to retain loyalty of other subjugated species...
Nice catch. I'd missed that. Could be the Sectoids keeping the symbol of the Ethereals, like you speculate. Or maybe the rank-and-file Ethereals are freed with the Uber Ethereal gone? Or the survivors changed their plans after the 'let humans uplift themselves and capture the finished product' plan backfired.
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I also have a theory concerning the Vipers. With their feminine figure and their clear "cobra-ness", I think the vipers might be an entirely terrestrial experiment. With the Ethereals (presumably) chilling on earth, they see snakes and have the great idea of creating a snake-humanoid. They are just too "earthy" to be a proper alien race like every other species.
the aliens have super hot snake women?
I'm pretty sure this is why they won.
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Well I read on rpg.net that the creators are basing it on a 'Classic Ironman' playthrough where X-Com got crushed in the first few months.
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That's certainly possible, but it's as much speculation as anything else.
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Nice catch. I'd missed that. Could be the Sectoids keeping the symbol of the Ethereals, like you speculate. Or maybe the rank-and-file Ethereals are freed with the Uber Ethereal gone? Or the survivors changed their plans after the 'let humans uplift themselves and capture the finished product' plan backfired.Behind the statue of the "new sectoid" uplifiting human there is an image of simplified ethereal.
Are the remaining ethereals here around? We don't know yet but I wouldn't be surprised if they were still here. Or if it were sectoids who took the advantage of temple ship destruction they might have silently removed them but kept them as a symbol to retain loyalty of other subjugated species...
Ethereal Subject Species File:
Sectoid Advantages High psionic potential. Disadvantages physically weak, cowardly, excessively cruel.
Thin Men Advantages Exceptionally loyal. Disadvantages lack of psionic potential.
Floater Advantages Moderate physical capabilities, ease of cybernetic augmentation. Disadvantages Low intellectual and psionic capacities.
Muton Advantages Superior physical capabilities. Easily controlled. Disadvantages Low intellectual and psionic capabilities.
Humans Advantages High physical and psionic capabilities. Ease of cybernetic and biotechnological augmentation. Disadvantages Hard to control. Unreasonable.
Conclusion Human species needs oversight, reeducation, and development of loyalty toward the ethereal ideal.
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Yea. The aliens won. ~grins~ I decided to start a new XCOM - EW game. Classic difficulty (but I could not bring myself to do Ironman). Second mission was a council target extraction (van Dorn). All four of my men were killed in Operation Frozen Throne. Damn Thin Men.
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So, sad thing is, I'm seeing a lot of comments around the web that basically be boiled down to "Are we the bad guys? This seems so xenophobic. I don't want to be a terrorist.".
Like, really? In the face of forced capitulation and obvious propaganda, people are thinking the aliens are anything but the bad guys?
It is always interesting in science fiction to keep your mind open to possibilites. in another game and another story it is entirely possible that XCOM are the "terrorists" fighting against progress... but that's not compatible with the themes of the xcom games where the aliens are eeeevvvviiiillll, so yeah. Those wishing for a more politically complex game should probably find something else. Mass Effect comes to mind, though even it dodges most hard questions.
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As far as the Ethereals go, as far as i remember there is nothing conclusively proving that the ethereal you killed in the first game is the highest ranking one, or if it is, that it is the only one sharing the leader rank. There might simply be more and this one was just the leading general of the initial invasion.
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As far as the Ethereals go, as far as i remember there is nothing conclusively proving that the ethereal you killed in the first game is the highest ranking one, or if it is, that it is the only one sharing the leader rank. There might simply be more and this one was just the leading general of the initial invasion.
Horrific reveal: Humanity Uplift Domestication And Relocation Plan was a pet project of second assistant of the junior secretary of the outer rim unpromising species recycling division vice-manager, done in its spare time with embezzled resources.
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Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*deepbreath*eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeee!!!!!
That is all. Carry on.
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Overall XCOM 2 looks awesome. The only issue is that I would need a new computer for this (and Fallout 4).
I would say probably not. XCOM2 is using the original engine and doesn't look like it's been updated too far. Firaxis's attitude is that they don't see any reason to have hardcore, all-singing and all-dancing graphics and alienate half their player base, so the game will be playable on fairly old systems.
FALLOUT 4 is still using the Creation/GameBryo Engine. It's been updated a little bit with some fancier lighting, but that's about it from the look of it. If your system can handle SKYRIM with the settings fairly high, I suspect it can handle XCOM2 fine.
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Holy shrimps. That was scary.
I am genuinely impressed. It seems like this one has an entirely new style that is a logical derivation of the mechanics and feel of the previous game and the new story. This appears to be the good kind of sequel - not a rehash, not a complete overwrite, but an innovative evolution.
I'm on board.
Oh yes!
Man, that muton was brutal. It looks like improved the cinematic view a lot, which I appreciate.
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That was demonstration trailer though so there won't be as many cinematics in final game probably. I'd at least hope so since so many cinematics would slow up the game a lot xD
And, the game will be less brutal/impossible. The trailer sped things up by allowing the snake lady to snatch a completely healthy soldier in cover in a single turn, and that won't be how that attack works in the actual game. Additionally, reinforcements dropping in from the sky don't get a chance to shoot before you have a turn to rearrange your positioning.
I'd rather get a finished game for my birthday than a broken game for Christmas, so that's fine.
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I'd rather get a finished game for my birthday than a broken game for Christmas, so that's fine.
your birthday happen during Unification Day? you're so lucky ;)
I never buy games when they come out anyway, I wait a while, so I'm all for them taking time to polish the final product.
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I'd rather get a finished game for my birthday than a broken game for Christmas, so that's fine.your birthday happen during Unification Day? you're so lucky ;)
I never buy games when they come out anyway, I wait a while, so I'm all for them taking time to polish the final product.
I can understand that position of waiting for bugs to be fixed. I never buy a Bethesda game until a year after release due to the buggy nature of their games. Firaxis does a better job at bug squashing before release so I am okay with picking up their games at release. Plus, I really enjoyed the first Xcom games.
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I can understand that position of waiting for bugs to be fixed. I never buy a Bethesda game until a year after release due to the buggy nature of their games. Firaxis does a better job at bug squashing before release so I am okay with picking up their games at release. Plus, I really enjoyed the first Xcom games.I'd rather get a finished game for my birthday than a broken game for Christmas, so that's fine.your birthday happen during Unification Day? you're so lucky ;)
I never buy games when they come out anyway, I wait a while, so I'm all for them taking time to polish the final product.
For me it is a combination of two factors: price and bugs. Price realiably drops fast for computer games, to the point where if I wait a year I can easily get it for 50% off, and if I wait two I can get it practically for free. Since I have other hobbies such as reading, MTG and Pathfinder which already cost me money, I like to use that fact to really shave my gaming costs to as low as humanly possible.
As for bugs - has there been any AAA game released without bugs in the last decade? I'd honestly rather have my first playthrough of a game bug free. I can wait patiently.
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AWESOME!!!
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Well, there goes half of 2016...
~laughter~ So very, very true!