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Author Topic: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?  (Read 6669 times)

Offline kharille

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So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« on: April 02, 2014, 07:25:43 pm »
Havent' had time to get into it yet...  just managed a few missions in the past few months.  Its a unique style of gameplay.  I saw some video by Julian, he seemed to indicate he was unhappy with it.  Could it be because of bugs or something else?

Offline Warboy1982

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #1 on: April 02, 2014, 07:30:07 pm »
the only thing wrong with it from my perspective was the design of the aliens, other than that it was pretty darn good.

Offline moriarty

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2014, 07:51:45 pm »
I think that apoc was a little bit too close to the uncanny valley, as well as suffering from a few related effects in the game mechanics department.

what I mean is that several aspects of the game were meant to be really cool, but the execution of it failed just short of being brilliant, which resulted in the opposite effect.

- the graphics were more detailed, making the lack of certain details, the lack of variability and the choppiness of animations all the more noticeable.

- the economics system tried to simulate an intricate web of relations between "factions" (government, companies, public order agencies as well as xcom and the aliens), but the mechanics were somewhat flawed, which could result in potentially game-breaking flukes

- the real-time-combat system was interesting, but sometimes weird



apart from that, I loved a lot of the ideas. the sim-city-like environment with cars and people moving around, the ability to actually rob other factions or cripple them by blasting their buildings... the pseudo-retro-scifi look of the vehicles... destructible armor that can be changed in-battle (very RPG-like!)... half-alien hybrid soldiers with stronger psi capabilities... lots of good stuff.

Offline SupSuper

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2014, 08:17:10 pm »
Havent' had time to get into it yet...  just managed a few missions in the past few months.  Its a unique style of gameplay.  I saw some video by Julian, he seemed to indicate he was unhappy with it.  Could it be because of bugs or something else?
It was basically development hell... too much ambition and not enough execution. You can read about it in various interviews, like this one: https://www.nowgamer.com/features/1034964/interview_with_xcom_creator_julian_gollop.html

Offline yrizoud

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2014, 09:55:53 pm »
The choice of a neo-60s design (spaceships that look like cadillacs, chrome on weapons...) was quite a stopper for me.

Offline blackwolf

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2014, 11:15:24 pm »
The choice of a neo-60s design (spaceships that look like cadillacs, chrome on weapons...) was quite a stopper for me.

i believe that's called "retro-future",its the silly view of the optimistic world of the future for the early 50,and i have to say i love that concept (one good example is the fallout games)...but yes...i have to say that the art of this game...was a little lame...specially the aliens, i like the "circle of life" stuff they got...but..i dont even know how to explain it :c,beside that and a couple of flaws...in the overall its a quite good game and i like to think there is a way to do some kind of "openApoc" in the near future :D
« Last Edit: April 02, 2014, 11:19:03 pm by blackwolf »

Offline Solarius Scorch

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2014, 04:27:34 pm »
The game was just unfinished; many features did not perform their intended function, especially everything regarding politics and money (understood as one system). Plus, some graphic concepts were hideous (mostly units; the maps themselves were pretty good).

As for the 50's look, I believe the game might have used that theory that styles return every 80 years or so; that's why Blade Runner which takes place around 2020 features clothes, cars etc. based on the early 40s. The numbers dfon't add up as well for X-Com Apocalypse, but I think it's a trope we can't ignore.

Offline SupSuper

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2014, 05:48:52 pm »
Apocalypse was originally based on Judge Dredd, which is probably where the "retro-future" design comes from.

Offline MKSheppard

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2014, 08:12:55 pm »
Too many unfinished design features and or concepts -- look at the vehicle mechanics. Once again, there was a "perfect" vehicle that everyone ran to from the start -- ground vehicles were kind of useless, and most glaringly of all; there were no "advanced" vehicle engines that were a result of alien or XCOM research.

Offline blackwolf

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #9 on: April 04, 2014, 06:47:14 am »
I actually believed that the game was going to use some kind of "cyber-punk" style(imagine something like SYNDICATE)....but all the problems of the develop...make it very hard...so instead, they tried to do the retro-future

Offline pmprog

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #10 on: April 04, 2014, 11:47:23 am »
The only bug-bear I had was you couldn't speed up the walking animations in turn-based like you could in EU and TFTD. This meant moving squads sometimes felt quite tedius.

The alien design wasn't great, but meh, I could overlook that. Still think it's a great game despite the shortcomings.

OpenApoc is still in the back of my mind. I doubt I'll ever work on it though, because it's way too ambitious, and I certainly don't seem to have the time or motivation I used to.

Offline Sharp

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #11 on: April 04, 2014, 01:22:47 pm »
https://web.archive.org/web/20010202232900https:///www.mythosgames.com/xcomapocalypse.htm

Also MicroProse did the artwork for the game so it was heavily their artists in choosing how the game and aliens looked.

Offline kharille

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Re: So what was wrong with Apocalypse?
« Reply #12 on: April 04, 2014, 04:02:26 pm »
That sounds familiar...  I remember Julian making some comments about the artwork...