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« on: June 23, 2013, 04:54:54 am »
I registered an account to pretty much say the same thing, so I figured I'd just post in here instead (Long post warning).
The original XCom came out when I was 9 years old, so I kind of missed out on it then. But in the year 2000, PC Gamer magazine had a disc with a bunch of older classic games for free that they sent out with one of their issues. XCom was on it. At the time one of my favorite games was Jagged Alliance 2, so I figured I'd try out this XCom game since it was another tactical turn based strategy game. Ever since then, I have been hooked. XCom is one of the few games I always come back to and never seem to get bored of. I just love games that lay out the rules for you and then say: "Have at it", and that was one of my major problems with Firaxis's "remake".
When I first heard about Firaxis's game, I got really excited. Especially how they kept going on and on about staying true to the original. All of the screenshots and videos looked super slick. I thought to myself: "My god, XCom? Looking like this? I'll never need another game again!". I preordered the game as soon as I could and excitedly waited until I could play the damn thing. Needless to say, when it finally came out, I was let down. It's not a bad game for what it is. And it sure looks fantastic, but all the complexity of the original was gone. And I think my biggest problem was that I felt railroaded down a path that the plot demanded. I didn't want a plot focused game out of a new XCom, I wanted a sandbox like the original. To be able to go at my own pace. I should have seen it coming I guess. The closer we got to release the more I had read about things they had taken out or changed. Removal of TU's, class based soldiers, but I was too excited. I kept telling myself that it would be fine.
And it was fine. Just fine. I wanted amazing though. So after that let down I had to play the original again, and that's when I found out about the Enemy Unknown Extended mod. I thought it was awesome. All the little fixes and tweaks made the game so much more enjoyable, and I was perfectly happy with it. I thought that it was the definitive version of XCom, the version I will always play.
That is until I discovered OpenXCom. This is the XCom I had always wanted. And this is the version I will be playing until the day I die. You guys took my favorite game of all time, removed the annoying bugs, added in the great optional features, added modding support, and let it run perfectly on modern hardware. And even though to me that sounds like it couldn't possibly get better, you guys are adding more things in all the time.
There aren't any words to describe how grateful I am for all of your hard work, so these ones will have to do: Thank you. Thank you for everything you've accomplished. I hope you all feel truly appreciated by others like me that one day feared they may not be able to play their favorite game. And not only that, but now we get an improved version of that game.
Thanks again, and keep up the fantastic work.