shocking news: XCom: Enemy Unknown by Firaxis

[Volutar]

Alright. Option to disable glam cam and enemy health bars. Nice. But  RPG elements with "grappling hook" ... still kind of a... nah.

Speaking of enemy health. I think there shouldn't be any bars or numbers which shows you how effective were your actions, though there should be some visual feedback. I can only suggest bloody injuers or even splatters (someone told of bloody trails to trace injured alien).

[SupSuper]

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is now available for pre-order on digital distributors like Steam and it's already one of the best-selling games so far.

[xcomgeneral]

Can't wait,,,,,,,, can't wait,,,,,,,, must defend Earth,,,,,,,,, must kill aliens,,,,,,,,team must be prepared,,,,,,,,,,,scientists and engineers must be ready,,,,,,,,,,,,,,must keep funding stream active,,,,,,,,,,,,need their tech to survive,,,,,,,,,,,,,GO GETTEM XCOM!!

Seriously, I get beautiful Skyrim for D&D like dungeon exploring and now XCOM is remade?  I feel so guilty!

I've been tracking this since I first heard about it a while ago, the only thing that is really bugging me is no base defense?  That was one of the best parts.  That's really irritating.  Maybe in the sequel or a mod or something but how you leave that out I don't know.

[pmprog]

In one of the vids, it shows your squad containing different "classes" of units - ie, a sniper, a heavy etc. Does anyone know if these are fixed roles?

I've seen a few things that have me close to clicking cancel on my pre-order. I probably won't cancel, but I fear being disappointed - I have been with most of the non-indie games I've bought recently. 

[moriarty]

yep. you get your rookies, and once they gain some experience, they automatically gain a class - randomly generated, afaik, but probably with the fitting attribute bonus.

the whole system is somewhat different from the original xcom, but I guess if you want to play the original, go for openxcom

the most complete list of stuff (some spoilers, I guess, but nothing too serious, nothing you couldn't guess from having played the original) is here:
https://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?117515-X-COM-Information-Summarized-READ-ME-FIRST!

[luke83]

I like some of there mission types , most of them have been mentioned here before though:
- Hostage Extraction [27]
- VIP rescue, (player controlled VIP) [27, L]


I dont know if this game will give me the same long term LOVING feeling the original does , but i am sure it will be good for a few weeks .

[pmprog]

the whole system is somewhat different from the original xcom, but I guess if you want to play the original, go for openxcom

I suppose, Given what I read in your link, might be more favourable (comments below)

the most complete list of stuff (some spoilers, I guess, but nothing too serious, nothing you couldn't guess from having played the original) is here:
https://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?117515-X-COM-Information-Summarized-READ-ME-FIRST!

Thanks.

Here's some of my thoughts from that post:

"Class hidden until first promotion"
"Psionic - Late game class"
- I don't like class systems (in most cases)  It feels like they are locking you out from having the team you want, to the team they want you to have
- What happens if your recuits randomly generate to all heavies for example? 
- Are your troops "locked in" to said class? Would that mean you need new recruits later in the game to get psionics?

"Funding and resource bonuses varies"
"One base only"
- Surely these contradict each other?

"Walls and Cover destruct able, Roofs or Ground are not"
- Urm, so what if you blow all the walls out? Roof just hangs there?

"Soldier customization"
- Doesn't include Male/Female!?

[moriarty]

I suppose, Given what I read in your link, might be more favourable (comments below)
Thanks.

Here's some of my thoughts from that post:

"Class hidden until first promotion"
"Psionic - Late game class"
- I don't like class systems (in most cases)  It feels like they are locking you out from having the team you want, to the team they want you to have
- What happens if your recuits randomly generate to all heavies for example? 
- Are your troops "locked in" to said class? Would that mean you need new recruits later in the game to get psionics?

classes are locked, but psionics are a kind of "meta-class", apparently... any soldier can (randomly determined) later become a psionic additionally to his class. that's what I read from the semi-cryptic remarks I've heard from Jake Solomon in the interviews.

"Funding and resource bonuses varies"
"One base only"
- Surely these contradict each other?

you get certain bonuses depending on the region you place your single base in. so the bonuses vary from game to game, depending on where you play from. also, you do get "secondary bases" (interceptor hangar-bases, basically), and if you place them in another region you get some of their bonuses, too.

"Walls and Cover destruct able, Roofs or Ground are not"
- Urm, so what if you blow all the walls out? Roof just hangs there?

no, that would be xcom   actually they designed the houses so that the corners and some structural elements like pillars can not be destroyed, but the rest can be.

"Soldier customization"
- Doesn't include Male/Female!?

gender and nationality (as seen by the little nation flag they carry on their back, up at the neck) are locked, but the rest is quite open. you can change a soldier from a baldie albino to a dreadlocked dark-skinned guy without a problem. plus you can give them a helmet, if you don't want to see their faces at all - although I think the helmets might be "elite soldier pack" only (what you get when you pre-order or buy a game from the first shipment).

I was alternating between totally excited and deeply suspicious ever since I heard that they are actually doing a "re-imagining". But now that I've seen some in-game action (like this epic multi-player battle, I'm quite convinced that it will be at least "good".

I still think that openxcom will have a higher re-play value, though

[pmprog]

Awww, building destruction was allowed in Apoc 

I must admit though, I am interested in the multiplayer aspect. Shame it wasn't more like "The Two Sides" multiplayer, but hey

[Volutar]

Anyone tried demo? People who tried say there are very few points of choice, pretty linear and reminds jRPG.

[moriarty]

I've tried the demo, and also watched lots of the videos available where some developers play against other people or against the computer and chat about the game.

the demo consists of the tutorial mission and one additional mission, with a bit of very limited base-management and sutff like soldier promotions, research allocation and the like in-between.
the tutorial mission is heavily scripted, but of course that's intentional. you can't use any of the commands that are not supposed to be used at that time, and have to move the soldiers precisely where the tutorial wants you to go. but that's okay, it's supposed to show you the basics, nothing more.

the second mission allows for more free play, but the level design keeps it pretty linear: it's basically a narrow strip of playable dockyard-terrain, so all you can do is advance, find the aliens and kill them.

from what I've seen of the rest of the game, this demo is VERY limited, yes. I'm still not sure how the game itself will feel with the non-random terrain... every single level is hand-crafted, after all. sure they all have multiple spawn points and stuff, but I guess it will get repetitive after a few play-throughs. then again, the levels are a good deal more complex than those from the original... and to be honest, the original was quite repetitive, too. the actual number of different levels may have been greater, because the map tile arrangement was almost entirely arbitrary, but how much difference is there between a farm where the house is on the left side  of the barn and one where it is on the right side?

the only real problem I think I'll have with the new xcom is that they didn't implement free-aim modes except for the area-of-effect weapons. for me, shooting at a wall with auto-fire because I knew that there was an alien behind that wall was a big part of the original game.
but I guess I can live with that - after all, how realistic is it really to shoot down a wall section approximately 1x2m size with a rifle? if you want to do that, you use a grenade



one thing that did disappoint me, though, was the limited camera freedom. from what I'd seen in the videos, I thought it was a completely free camera. as it turns out, you can only turn the camera in 90°-steps, and zoom in and out in five or six steps. the camera only closes in in the "action-view" (when you want to perform an action with a soldier like shooting, the camera drops in for an "over-the-shoulder" view, looking at the target), and you cannot look around in that view, the camera direction is always "at the target".

I'm very curious how the full game will turn out. I suppose it will be great, but I don't know if it will be quite the same... as I've said before, I love the original because it is so very simplistic and leaves so much for your own imagination.


EDIT: oh, and >5GB for a demo? and one that's this limited in functionality? come on. people have already started dissecting the files, and found a lot of spoiler info in there... I think if you bring out a demo, you could at least put a little more effort into it, like removing all unnecessary game data. from what I've read, there are probably all of the autopsy reports in there, and even the end movie...

[SupSuper]

Yeah the demo is very limited, just part of the game tutorial (the full game has an even longer tutorial, since it has to cover everything you'd usually find in a manual but it can be disabled). I guess it's to get new people hooked more than the old fans.

I am in love with the PC interface though. Finally, I can shoot aliens in two clicks! The music is great too, and I found it amusing how the Options screen specifically has all the stuff fans bitched about: Disable Soldier Voices, Disable Action Cam, Disable Enemy Health, etc.

[moriarty]

also, the keyboard shortcuts work nicely. wasd for scrolling, q and e for turning the camera, f and v (or was it g and b?) for zooming in and out, space for entering action mode and using selected action. if you want to play quick (i.e. timed multiplayer...), you can just tap spacebar twice as soon as you spot an enemy and your unit will fire on the enemy in sight.

and yes, the options menu is very interesting the "Disable Enemy Health" button reminds me: I have yet to check whether that also disables the "damage dealt" numbers that float up when you hit an enemy... do you know if it does, SupSuper? I don't know yet if I want to use that option, though. It certainly will make the game a little bit more challenging, forcing you to plan more carefully...

[Daiky]

The intro movie reminded me of Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds.

The linear effect indeed is probably very obvious because it's a demo. The first mission, it even says where you have to move your soldiers to and when to fire. Second mission is more like the real thing I guess. Great visuals, sounds and music. I can't wait to research all the alien stuff and see where the story leads Cydonia? :p

[Kyzrati]

from what I've seen of the rest of the game, this demo is VERY limited, yes. I'm still not sure how the game itself will feel with the non-random terrain... every single level is hand-crafted, after all. sure they all have multiple spawn points and stuff, but I guess it will get repetitive after a few play-throughs. then again, the levels are a good deal more complex than those from the original... and to be honest, the original was quite repetitive, too. the actual number of different levels may have been greater, because the map tile arrangement was almost entirely arbitrary, but how much difference is there between a farm where the house is on the left side  of the barn and one where it is on the right side?

Actually, that's a *huge* difference when it comes to tactics--It's not that the level becomes more visually interesting due to the rearrangement, it's that it changes how you play.

With a set level you can generally rely on a "most effective" path to complete a mission, and that would get boring much faster than a map where that path keeps changing, and doing so exponentially because it's not just one building that moved, it could be all of them, which means there may or may not be aliens on the other side or not.

This game's not going to have the same replayability, but they obviously had to go that route to appeal to a slightly more casual audience (consoles...), not to mention it's much easier on the technical side.

EDIT: oh, and >5GB for a demo? and one that's this limited in functionality? come on. people have already started dissecting the files, and found a lot of spoiler info in there... I think if you bring out a demo, you could at least put a little more effort into it, like removing all unnecessary game data. from what I've read, there are probably all of the autopsy reports in there, and even the end movie...

I believe they've said it may be possible to unlock the entire game using just the demo (and an update?), so you don't have to download it again. So yeah, there's a lot of stuff in there for a reason.