XCOM Enemy Unknown [Oct 2012]

[Mach 5]

Originally Posted by Justin Kace

Loadout slots too limited.
Actions per turn too restricted.
Movement far too restricted.
Can't trade gear between soldiers or pick up stuff from your casualties during a mission.
Aliens can often shoot me right through walls (they don't destroy the wall, that would be fine, their shots just pass straight through).
Aliens know where you are even when you're out of their line of sight.
And more and more tears, but I wont go on with my whinging and whining.

To keep it in perspective, I am a huge fan of the original. I re-play it once every year or two. All playing this new version has done is make me want to go back and re-play the original.

Very sad XCOM fan here. My opinion is that they have taken the utter brilliance of the original and dumbed it down, made it quicker and more accessible at a cost of the glorious depth the original had.

No fault but my own. Higher the hopes the greater the potential for disappointment.

pay no mind to JK's rantings...he's obviously weary, overworked with school presently, and just plain cranky, to be sure.

in all seriousness, the original X-COM was one of my first true PC games (along with Master of Orion and Dark Forces), and i think Firaxis did a fine job capturing the "spirit" of it, without too many compromises. i'm having fun in the game (and now know to wait a little longer before raiding the first underground alien base )

as with many things, one's serenity is inversely proportional to our level of expectations and directly proportional with our level of acceptance.

[hastarin]

Originally Posted by Justin Kace

Wow, such high hopes. And after getting my first good session in, I'm so very disappointed.

Too much of a fan of the original and this is just too far from that. It appears to be a good game in it's own right and I really hope I can bring myself to enjoy it, but... It's just too lacking, and there are just too many irritating factors.

Loadout slots too limited.
Actions per turn too restricted.
Movement far too restricted.
Can't trade gear between soldiers or pick up stuff from your casualties during a mission.
Aliens can often shoot me right through walls (they don't destroy the wall, that would be fine, their shots just pass straight through).
Aliens know where you are even when you're out of their line of sight.
And more and more tears, but I wont go on with my whinging and whining.

Sorry to hear that mate. I guess whilst I played the original quite a bit, and the odd sequel to some extent, it has been MANY years and my only recent knowledge of the original is the short try I gave it whilst waiting for this. I feel this game fits the feel of the original and certainly fits my need for a turn based strategy game for now.

I do hope you can learn to enjoy it for it's own right. It definitely has it's issues... My biggest issue is with the interface and no way to play animations out faster but there have been things I can only hope are bugs that make me wonder if I'll even try Classic Ironman now. I've had aliens spawn in on top of each other in areas I'd already cleared. I ended up loosing a Colonel to it. Odd pathing issues getting soldiers stuck, shooting through walls as you mentioned and more.

But still I am playing it almost non stop and loving it. In my current game (Normal Ironman) I've actually managed to get full satellite coverage at the cost of a few good troops but the sacrifice was worth it with cash starting to role in and my only limiting factor now being resources from the aliens and a lack of troops with any Will power.

[Justin Kace]

Originally Posted by Mach 5

as with many things, one's serenity is inversely proportional to our level of expectations and directly proportional with our level of acceptance.

Haha yeah that about sums it up. My sadness at the reduction in complexity comes from the fact that the epic moments that come about from that complexity are lost to this new game. Saving the day by snatching a nade from a deceased comrade and hurling it through the door that the alien was lurking in, or disembarking from the skyranger to complete disaster, those really memorable moments from the original that only Alzheimers will erase... :P

Anyway, great to hear there's a chance of modding.

[hastarin]

You still get memorable moments in this for sure. Though my memory isn't that great at the best of times.

My most recent memory is discovering the hard way a VIP hiding next to a burning car isn't going to survive the inevitable explosion.

A spreadsheet (spoilers) of data I've compiled in case anyone is interested:
XCOM: Enemy Unknown Research and Development

[Fox]

Ive just lost two squads of four, have no money, lost one of two satelites and one 'continent' pulled their funding with most others on alert 5. Learning curve much? YES - but enjoying it. My difficulty is not realising you can sell artifacts for much needed cash early on. And the aliens have some powers im not use to. AWESOME!

[Dressy]

Originally Posted by Fox

Ive just lost two squads of four, have no money, lost one of two satelites and one 'continent' pulled their funding with most others on alert 5. Learning curve much? YES - but enjoying it. My difficulty is not realising you can sell artifacts for much needed cash early on. And the aliens have some powers im not use to. AWESOME!

Gee, Fox, what difficulty level you got it on? Ive gone back to normal, was having to hard a time on hard level. Yeah, I'm a noob.

[ReaperSmurf]

Almost completed it on Normal, and have lost about a dozen troops on the way, including a couple of colonels.

[astrospud]

lol France, Russia and Germany have removed themselves from the council, I've lost at least 2 captains and probably 14 jnr rank units, and just completed the hyperwave relay.
I think for mission success, advance slowly (within one move), put at least 2 on OW and "leapfrog" forward. Not always possible, esp against mutons, but I found sending a single fighter forward 2 moves to scout possible contact, I almost always lose.

[Smoke]

Finished my first playthrough on normal with 19 hours played. Had a bit of a go with "Classic" difficulty today, HOLY FUDGE It's a lot harder than normal! If you're not in heavy cover you're as good as dead, Sectoids quite often survive being hit by an assault rifle and Thin Men can 1 shot my soldiers.

[Fox]

I've tried classic ironman twice now and given up. It is officially impossible. I'm no noob to these games but the enemy is totally OP. If my rookies could actually hit during OW I'd have half a chance. Dropping back to normal to see how that goes.