eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
what do you guys think? plus i want a fallout tactic (or any classic) mod upon release 
Xcom 2 ?
- Thread starter eissa
- Start date
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
One of my most anticipated games at the moment. Loved the first one, have played it to the point I long for some changes in gameplay. Loved the Long War mod as well, but it tends to drag the game out way too much. Speaking of which, I'm curious to see how the game the Long War team is developing on their own turns out. I'm also curious to see how much inspiration Xcom 2 has taken from their mod and if we will get a similar mod for it. Seeing as how the developers are now very open to modding it'd be nice to see the game gain longevity and replayability through mods.
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
yeah, 50 gb of game asset/ unreal engine kit just for modding resource at release. unlike those beth heresy who delay it in 3 month for the sake of consoles.
i'm certain that mod similiar to long war will be emerge soon, maybe after 1 month. there are currently no confirmation if long war team will be working on the mods, but xcom EU was thought to be impossible to mod even by the developer. so yeah maybe.
i just think that long war is surely brutal just to mimick the original one, albeit much more forgiven. also like what i said, there's been a talk of fallout tactic/1/2 conversion mod which is just awesome
i'm certain that mod similiar to long war will be emerge soon, maybe after 1 month. there are currently no confirmation if long war team will be working on the mods, but xcom EU was thought to be impossible to mod even by the developer. so yeah maybe.
i just think that long war is surely brutal just to mimick the original one, albeit much more forgiven. also like what i said, there's been a talk of fallout tactic/1/2 conversion mod which is just awesome
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
many alien enemy where revamped to the point that every lone alien you ecounter in a squad of advent trooper will be feels like mini boss.
also the dark event is basically alien research feature in long war.
I pre-ordered since I loved XCOM:EU & EW (as well as the old ones, though Xenonauts makes a better reboot of the old ones), but I'm not sure I like the direction they took the game in. Seems like there's a lot of focus on gimmicky stuff rather than gameplay improvements over EU.
Chromevod
Nope.
I'm looking forward to it. I haven't ever played the classics, but I enjoyed Enemy Unknown, and Enemy Within expanded on it in such a way that I found really enjoyable.
I've been meaning to try a playthrough of The Long War, but just haven't gotten to it. I may try to fit a couple of campaigns in before XCOM 2 comes out. I want to try a game where I have specific teams for certain types of missions, instead of just having one team with extra members to shift in and out as injuries are incurred.
I've been meaning to try a playthrough of The Long War, but just haven't gotten to it. I may try to fit a couple of campaigns in before XCOM 2 comes out. I want to try a game where I have specific teams for certain types of missions, instead of just having one team with extra members to shift in and out as injuries are incurred.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
How so? A lot of new additions and tweaks are things that I longed for after the first game. Mainly more customization and upgrades paths. But also several improvements to ui and combat systems. Still, a lot of thing haven't been revealed yet, and it remains to be seen how the overall game itself plays - what missions will look like, what overarching strategies we'll see, how aerial combat will play, how the story unfolds etc.
Not arguing your point, you may feel a lot of it is gimicky, but I'd be curious to hear what direction you felt they should've taken it.
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
there are some feature which appear to be let down compared to EU;
1) no starting bonuses, though someone pointed out that certain continent gives uniq resources buff and blackmarket
2) slightly small base building; which might be in case because the lack of aerial warfare and satellite being replaced with radio relay. though, assigning named staff (customized from character pool) is a nice overhaul
3) as mentioned above, the lack of aerial warfare.
4) 5th class actually psionic, which were rather a sub-class in EU. though it could be justified since being a dedicated class, it got more perks.
1) no starting bonuses, though someone pointed out that certain continent gives uniq resources buff and blackmarket
2) slightly small base building; which might be in case because the lack of aerial warfare and satellite being replaced with radio relay. though, assigning named staff (customized from character pool) is a nice overhaul
3) as mentioned above, the lack of aerial warfare.
4) 5th class actually psionic, which were rather a sub-class in EU. though it could be justified since being a dedicated class, it got more perks.
Dr Fallout
Centurion
Sounds interesting, never played any other Xcom games though.
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
xenonauts have an issue with its AI, far worse than teleporting ai in EU
but overall more improved aerial combat which is in real time
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
I really liked Xenonauts too, once I got over the graphics. I don't at all mind retro graphics and I still find a lot off the 90's games I grew up with to be beauiful, but Xenonauts was just rather... plain. Some of the tech designs were cool though. But overall it did a great job of capturing the gameplay of the originals while making it more approachable and improving upon it in several ways.
However, I try not to compare. The gameplay concepts are the same, but the new iteration of Xcom has deviated enough from the originals that I think of them as different types of games. They're story driven cinematic action/strategy games, whereas the old games and their modern adaptations are much more involved grand strategy games. There's enough Xcom clones out there that I'm ok with the deviations of the reboot.
However, I try not to compare. The gameplay concepts are the same, but the new iteration of Xcom has deviated enough from the originals that I think of them as different types of games. They're story driven cinematic action/strategy games, whereas the old games and their modern adaptations are much more involved grand strategy games. There's enough Xcom clones out there that I'm ok with the deviations of the reboot.
Well, they're going for a run of Valve patented "HATS!" for one. Customization is fine, but going for heart decals, monocles & top hats appears like a rather strange design choice. Luckily, you're free to ignore it, but since it's featured so prominently, I fear that mindset might seep into the rest of the game.
I'm not all too fond of the sword wielding Ranger either. A huge mech dealing rocket assisted punches is already a bit silly, but the sword wielding rusher is a bit lazy design from what I can tell in the preview builds.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Well, realism or believability isn't really a huge issue for me with these games. I look at them sort of like comic books. So what I look at first and foremost is mechanics, and the concept of the sword as a mechanic is interesting to me. It deals huge damage but may leave you very exposed. It takes the concept of the assault class and one-ups it.
As for customization, I agree that some of the cosmetic customization is a bit campy, but I also think that it feeds into one of the major concepts of the new Xcom games. Which is that you personalize your soldiers to the point where they feel special and you don't want to lose them. This is true for whatever kind of customization you do, be it color-coding them base on class, or letting your veterans run helmet-less. It's not just for funsies, it's supposed to make you attached to them. And the more options, the more time you'll spend with them, and the bigger the feels will be when you lose them or they gain a promotion. As for it seeping into other parts of the game, I'm not sure how or why. I doubt we'll get sectoids with top-hats and monocles.
When I mentioned customization before however, I meant practical such, which I do think they've improved quite a bit. For example by weapon mods. And more importantly, it looks like they've balanced out the skill trees to avoid the first games tendency of having too many useless and too many essential skills.
As for customization, I agree that some of the cosmetic customization is a bit campy, but I also think that it feeds into one of the major concepts of the new Xcom games. Which is that you personalize your soldiers to the point where they feel special and you don't want to lose them. This is true for whatever kind of customization you do, be it color-coding them base on class, or letting your veterans run helmet-less. It's not just for funsies, it's supposed to make you attached to them. And the more options, the more time you'll spend with them, and the bigger the feels will be when you lose them or they gain a promotion. As for it seeping into other parts of the game, I'm not sure how or why. I doubt we'll get sectoids with top-hats and monocles.
When I mentioned customization before however, I meant practical such, which I do think they've improved quite a bit. For example by weapon mods. And more importantly, it looks like they've balanced out the skill trees to avoid the first games tendency of having too many useless and too many essential skills.
ZigzagPX4
The Swiftness of the Ranger
Gimmicks, from the best definition I've heard of, are gameplay features that are only used few times in the actual gameplay and are really added just purely for marketing purposes. At no point would I consider XCOM 2's character customisation a "gimmick". I would consider it a main feature.
I wouldn't worry too much about the gameplay. The developers actually play their own game, which puts them miles ahead of a lot of developers out there, and they were a big fan of the Long War overhaul mod. So we'll be seeing a lot of features from that. They're also taking, to an extent, a "modders will add it" approach, which is great and community-centric so long as it doesn't descend into "modders will fix it".
I'm looking forward to the character customisation, for one. From what I've seen of it, it is very, very detailed and there's a whole character pool system that allows you to create characters, and put them into a pool. Characters you rescue or recruit will have their name and appearance drawn from that pool, so that you don't essentially lose units forever - on your next playthrough, you might get one you saved into the pool by random. I'm appreciating the "small-team, unique operatives" feel as opposed to Xenonauts' "several squads of interchangeable troops" feel.
I'm just happy they didn't decide to go the predicted route of simply making it like the older games, but progressing their sequels in their own way. Gives the new XCOM an identity of its own.
I wouldn't worry too much about the gameplay. The developers actually play their own game, which puts them miles ahead of a lot of developers out there, and they were a big fan of the Long War overhaul mod. So we'll be seeing a lot of features from that. They're also taking, to an extent, a "modders will add it" approach, which is great and community-centric so long as it doesn't descend into "modders will fix it".
I'm looking forward to the character customisation, for one. From what I've seen of it, it is very, very detailed and there's a whole character pool system that allows you to create characters, and put them into a pool. Characters you rescue or recruit will have their name and appearance drawn from that pool, so that you don't essentially lose units forever - on your next playthrough, you might get one you saved into the pool by random. I'm appreciating the "small-team, unique operatives" feel as opposed to Xenonauts' "several squads of interchangeable troops" feel.
I'm just happy they didn't decide to go the predicted route of simply making it like the older games, but progressing their sequels in their own way. Gives the new XCOM an identity of its own.
Ilosar
Vault Fossil
Easily one of my most anticipated games of the year. I've been watching a Let's Play of the press demo (from a Youtuber named ChristopherOdd) and I saw very little that I didn't like.
Extensive customization is great. I've played Enemy Unknown vanilla, Xenonauts and the Long War mod, and I actually prefer the smaller squad approach where every soldier feels a bit special and losing them is a big NO moment, and being able to customize a soldier very much helps that feeling. The faceless masses of Xenonauts just lacked the charm of my french Assault trooper who simply refused to die no matter what, so much that I let him have the Guile hairdo whereas my soldiers are usually fully helmeted.
Tactical gameplay additions such as line of sight indicators, concealment, and personal soldier/weapon upgrades seem to bring enough new stuff. I really like the Stock, a weapon upgrades that guarantees some damage done even if you miss, makes the RNG a bit less of a cruel mistress.
The strategic gameplay seems much improved. Rather than satellite spam, you have a lot of objectives popping around the map to get recruits, ressources and the like, and not enough time to do them all so you need to manage your activities carefully. The "Dark Events" replace abductions, how it works is that the aliens have 3 month-long buffs in the works for their forces (extra armor on their troops, more enemies, a UFO going after your base forcing a defense mission being those I remember) and you can only counter one of the lot with a mission, so you need to choose the lesser of 3 evils. This is an improvement also to Xenonauts and Long War where I felt too much time passed doing nothing.
Add to that the promised-to-be extensive mod support, and this looks like something I will enjoy even more than EU/EW. 2 weeks to release now, and I can't wait.
Extensive customization is great. I've played Enemy Unknown vanilla, Xenonauts and the Long War mod, and I actually prefer the smaller squad approach where every soldier feels a bit special and losing them is a big NO moment, and being able to customize a soldier very much helps that feeling. The faceless masses of Xenonauts just lacked the charm of my french Assault trooper who simply refused to die no matter what, so much that I let him have the Guile hairdo whereas my soldiers are usually fully helmeted.
Tactical gameplay additions such as line of sight indicators, concealment, and personal soldier/weapon upgrades seem to bring enough new stuff. I really like the Stock, a weapon upgrades that guarantees some damage done even if you miss, makes the RNG a bit less of a cruel mistress.
The strategic gameplay seems much improved. Rather than satellite spam, you have a lot of objectives popping around the map to get recruits, ressources and the like, and not enough time to do them all so you need to manage your activities carefully. The "Dark Events" replace abductions, how it works is that the aliens have 3 month-long buffs in the works for their forces (extra armor on their troops, more enemies, a UFO going after your base forcing a defense mission being those I remember) and you can only counter one of the lot with a mission, so you need to choose the lesser of 3 evils. This is an improvement also to Xenonauts and Long War where I felt too much time passed doing nothing.
Add to that the promised-to-be extensive mod support, and this looks like something I will enjoy even more than EU/EW. 2 weeks to release now, and I can't wait.
ZigzagPX4
The Swiftness of the Ranger
And as if this couldn't get any better, Firaxis Games is now partnering with the devs of the Long War mod to create launch-ready content for XCOM 2, possibly additional modes, modifiers, gameplay features or just pure content like enemies and weapons.
This is proper developer-modder relations, not attempting to cash-grab from the system, letting it do all the work, and then (presumably) locking it to their own site and platform so they can control all the influx of mods.
This is proper developer-modder relations, not attempting to cash-grab from the system, letting it do all the work, and then (presumably) locking it to their own site and platform so they can control all the influx of mods.
aenemic
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
The mods that will be available on day one have been revealed. Here's a nice interview with Solomon and the lead designer from Long War Studios, talking a bit about the mods and and how's and why's of XCom 2 modding:
eissa
Artanis "Altáriel" Nerwen Nos Finwe
Great news everyone! XCOM 2 got almost fucking 90 score in review!
http://opencritic.com/game/1776/xcom-2
its also rare event when a game get review before its release
http://opencritic.com/game/1776/xcom-2
its also rare event when a game get review before its release
AskWazzup
Sonny, I Watched the Vault Bein' Built!
Will buy this after i finish EU and EW (bought EU on steam winter sale). Hopefully, by that time there is a steam summer sale 
.
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XCOM2 preload is up since yesterday for those who are interested. Release tomorrow.