Anyone playing XCOM? - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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Mosquiton
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"Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Fri 12 Oct 04:43post reply

If so, I'd like to share stories, strategies, experiences.

If not, the game is really good and you probably should be playing it.





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KTallguy
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"Re(1):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Fri 12 Oct 10:15post reply

Yessssssssssssssss! It's amaaaaaaazing :)

My strategy is alienate all the nations simultaneously, while simultaneously losing about 3-4 rookies a mission. At least, that's the path it seems like I'm going down.

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm on Classic (non-Ironman), and so far it's actually going OK. I did lose Australia though. :(





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badoor
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"Re(2):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Fri 12 Oct 13:05post reply

quote:
Yessssssssssssssss! It's amaaaaaaazing :)

My strategy is alienate all the nations simultaneously, while simultaneously losing about 3-4 rookies a mission. At least, that's the path it seems like I'm going down.

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm on Classic (non-Ironman), and so far it's actually going OK. I did lose Australia though. :(

I'm curious whether you guys are playing it on PC or consoles. Given that it's a turn-based game I imagine that "quickness of control" isn't really a big issue. But I wanna know how you feel about the versions you're playing with.

It's good to see that the XCOM franchise is back in great fashion and that old-timers and newcomers seem to like it. Who knew after all the hubbub soon after the reveal of the FPS XCOM that a real sequel would be announced and released months before that version (and from recent news, maybe if ever?). Weird industry.





Mosquiton
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"Re(2):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Fri 12 Oct 15:49:post reply

quote:
Yessssssssssssssss! It's amaaaaaaazing :)

My strategy is alienate all the nations simultaneously, while simultaneously losing about 3-4 rookies a mission. At least, that's the path it seems like I'm going down.

What difficulty are you playing on? I'm on Classic (non-Ironman), and so far it's actually going OK. I did lose Australia though. :(



Sounds like a classic strat for Classic mode. It's rough out there! I'm on Classic Ironman at the moment.

I had been losing too many soldiers the first month, but I'm now through the second month with only six casualties and three soldeirs have made lieutenant. I've had some lucky breaks... I was shitting bricks trying to capture an Outsider (I had to kill him the first time when my soldier with the arc stunner got a face full of hot plasma) but I caught that Pokemon with 49% odds on the next try and avoided losing any of my A-team (one squaddie K.I.A. but not the worst case scenario).

What did you pick for home base continent bonus? My first game gave me the idea to prioritize satellite coverage above all else, so I offered to help Nigerian princes access their bank accounts for the 30% Africa cash bonus. Seems to be working out, I have five satellites after two months and net income of 534 space bucks. Which seems pretty amazing to me compared to my last game.

The downside is that I only now was able to build the officer school and up my squad size. Losing two dudes when you have only four total and twice that many aliens can be pretty burly. Still, the future looks promising (funds-wise at least)... although I expect horrifying tragedy is just around the corner.

Also, I have a sniper in my current game named after my Mass Effect character. Cross-series RP!

I may be a little bit too into this game.

Edit: Sup Badoor. I played normal on PC for work, playing on PS3 for fun. Some people may bitch about sub-optimal PC controls, but it works well on any platform IMO.





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[this message was edited by Mosquiton on Fri 12 Oct 16:53]

Pollyanna
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"Re(3):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Fri 12 Oct 17:22post reply

quote:
Nigerian princes


I know literally nothing about this game, excluding the fact that it involves aliens and strategy, but it sounds like I should at least pick it up during an inevitable $10 direct download sale (as all PC games tend to have within half a year).

Ooh! Steam has a demo. I'll check that out. Hurray for the future!





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KTallguy
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"Re(4):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sat 13 Oct 02:03:post reply

The demo is very handholdey but it gives you the jist. The real game is so much more open ended, it's stupid.

I need more time to play this game. I have it on PC but I play with equal parts mouse (work) and controller (home). Since the patch fixed the mouse it feels a lot better.

Edit: sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss





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[this message was edited by KTallguy on Sat 13 Oct 08:08]

Zepy
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"Re(5):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sat 13 Oct 02:41post reply

This game is everything I wanted in an XCOM game! I wish more people knew about it, a lot of people still think it's an FPS.





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"Re(6):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sat 13 Oct 03:43post reply

quote:
This game is everything I wanted in an XCOM game! I wish more people knew about it, a lot of people still think it's an FPS.



After seeing ads for it on Hulu pretty much non stop for about a month, I thought it was a FPS until I saw this discussion! I had to go and read the wiki entry for it, which clarified things for me. Honestly, I never would have gotten 'turn-based tactical strategy' from the very FPS-y commercial!






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Pollyanna
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"Re(7):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sat 13 Oct 16:38post reply

quote:
The demo is very handholdey but it gives you the jist. The real game is so much more open ended, it's stupid.

That's fine, since "open-ended" is not a selling point for me. That's why I'm not interested in Dishonored, despite the hype. "Open-ended" and "first person" are two strikes already. Neither are deal-breakers, but I think an open-ended, first person game full of angry bald guys probably would sit at the bottom of my "must play" list.

quote:

After seeing ads for it on Hulu pretty much non stop for about a month, I thought it was a FPS until I saw this discussion! I had to go and read the wiki entry for it, which clarified things for me. Honestly, I never would have gotten 'turn-based tactical strategy' from the very FPS-y commercial!


I wonder how many people wanted an FPS and were disappointed? So many games have so much FMV in their commercials that you don't even know what the hell they're selling. I guess the idea is just to get your attention enough for you to look it up later.





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Ishmael
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"Re(8):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 02:19post reply

Thanks to this thread I downloaded the demo for XCOM and rather enjoyed it. While I have too much to play right now I will keep this title in mind during the next dry spell for games.

Random thoughts: While I was initially worried about the idea of perma-death I found the soldiers in the demo had all the personality of little plastic army men. This isn't going to be the next Valkyria Chronicles where I took along characters because I liked them as much as because of their skill set. Although I may end up liking a character in XCOM because I gave them a funny haircut I'm not going to feel too bad if they blunder into a death ray.

I also like that outside of my little squad nobody on Earth can do anything about the aliens. Geez, get it together people!

quote:
That's fine, since "open-ended" is not a selling point for me. That's why I'm not interested in Dishonored, despite the hype. "Open-ended" and "first person" are two strikes already. Neither are deal-breakers, but I think an open-ended, first person game full of angry bald guys probably would sit at the bottom of my "must play" list.

I think I might have been more interested in Dishonored if it had been third person. Instead it's another one of those first person games where the main character walks around holding a knife up in front of their face. Who holds their hands like that?





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"Re(8):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 04:18post reply

quote:

That's fine, since "open-ended" is not a selling point for me.

"Open-ended" and "first person" are two strikes already.



It's a bit of a jump to go from open-ended being not a selling point to it being an actual detriment to your experience. I'm actually curious as to why that is, would you care to explain?

From watching my friends play Dishonored, it's not really THAT open-ended. There are most definitely quests that advance the plot that are given to you and have very definite and fixed story elements. It's open-ended in the sense that you have some leeway in the order you take side-quests, and that there is a lot of tangential exploration you can do, which tends to be interesting due to how nicely realized the setting is. A few of the characters are very weird when it comes to their facial expressions, but the look and feel of the place is most definitely not middle-aged space marines in power armor; if anything, I thought that the pseudo-Victorian stylings would've been appealing to you.





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"Re(9):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 06:21post reply

Back to the topic!

A funny thing about the original XCOM is that all the soldiers had even less personality (no dialogue lines whatsoever! even less customization of appearance!), but the gameplay models allowed for all kinds of quirks to show up. You could have cowardly guys who had huge amounts of strength, characters with really high reactions but terrible accuracy, tough guys who seemed amazing but were in fact terribly vulnerable to mind control, etc. What made me get attached to those characters, though, wasn't just their quirks but the expression of those quirks during combat, and the crazy things that could happen during combat as a result of the interesting ways the rules could play out.





Pollyanna
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"Re(9):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 07:34post reply

quote:
It's a bit of a jump to go from open-ended being not a selling point to it being an actual detriment to your experience. I'm actually curious as to why that is, would you care to explain?

It's not like "I hate having choices" or anything, but I don't like sandbox games. If "open ended" is a major selling point, that's not going to sell me, because I like focus. I don't care to explore a world for the sake of exploration and experiment with little things everywhere. The more options you give someone, the less focus there tends to be. "You can do anything" makes me want to do nothing. I mean, you can say "but you can just skip immense amount of exploration elements and stick to the core plot", but then shouldn't I just play a different game rather than missing the point of the one I'm playing?

(A game with strong forward momentum and a rich amount of "sidequest" stuff that's actually relevant is good, though.)

I'm not saying open-ended is a bad thing, but "I tend to not like open-ended games."

quote:
if anything, I thought that the pseudo-Victorian stylings would've been appealing to you.

They are. Summoning rats is even more appealing, though.





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Mosquiton
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"Re(9):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 11:46post reply

quote:

Random thoughts: While I was initially worried about the idea of perma-death I found the soldiers in the demo had all the personality of little plastic army men. This isn't going to be the next Valkyria Chronicles where I took along characters because I liked them as much as because of their skill set. Although I may end up liking a character in XCOM because I gave them a funny haircut I'm not going to feel too bad if they blunder into a death ray.



You'd be surprised. If you end up getting the full game, I could almost guarantee you will get attached to and get to know your generic dudes... I know Valkyria has permadeath as well, but XCOM combat is almost shockingly lethal and more dramatic than you might expect.

You'll remember who did what, trust me. Especially when they start getting nicknames.





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"Re(6):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Sun 14 Oct 15:46:post reply

quote:
This game is everything I wanted in an XCOM game! I wish more people knew about it, a lot of people still think it's an FPS.



Thank God it's not! I like the new XCOM, but I prefer the fan remake; I like the 90s feel of the original, the maps, the sprites, the sectoids being actual greys... I still have a copy of the game for Amiga CD32.

About Dishonored: tried it yesterday. Very interesting, borrow bits from every single fps I liked most (Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Deus-EX) and the exploration elements are a good breathe in fresh air. I don't like open world games too, but Dishonored is not a sandbox; the gameplay resembles more an adventure game than an rpg and you have a feel of accomplishment on everything instead of "you have the power to do anything, so don't do anything because is boring". Is not like Fallout or Skyrim, and thank every Kami you know is not developed by Bethesda (even though is published by).
Also, am I the only one would have preferred Dishonored (and Deus EX) to be third person? Stealth is somewhat oppressing and claustrophobic using first person view.





[this message was edited by Nekros on Mon 15 Oct 14:22]

Pollyanna
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"Re(7):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Mon 15 Oct 09:05post reply

quote:

Also, am I the only one would have preferred Dishonerd (and Deus EX) to be third person? Stealth is somewhat oppressing and claustrophobic using firts person view.


I find first person to be clumsy and dehumanizing, so the only game I've played I really think it worked in is Bioshock 2. And...Jumping Flash, maybe?





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chazumaru
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"Re(1):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Mon 15 Oct 18:16post reply

The demo was very convincing. I think I'll wait for Q1 2013 to play it as FE is already giving me my share of tactical and this is typically the kind of software I buy during the post-Christmas sales.





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KTallguy
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"Re(10):Anyone playing XCOM?" , posted Tue 16 Oct 06:00post reply

quote:
It's not like "I hate having choices" or anything, but I don't like sandbox games. If "open ended" is a major selling point, that's not going to sell me, because I like focus. I don't care to explore a world for the sake of exploration and experiment with little things everywhere. The more options you give someone, the less focus there tends to be. "You can do anything" makes me want to do nothing.


I'm very similar, and I generally don't enjoy the Elder Scrolls series that much because of that. I like having a goal and purpose in my games.

Xcom is kinda like the best of both worlds in a way. There is a main plot thread (aliens invade earth). Time passes as you play, so inevitably you'll run into the events that the game wants you to run into. The difference is that the majority of the missions have random maps, the way you build your base can be different each time, your soldiers may have different skills if you so choose, etc. It's akin to a strategy game, like Civilization, but there are major beats in the story that occur. The challenge is having your base built up, your soldiers trained, and your situation stabilized before you reach those critical junctures.

The soldiers are blank, customizable slates, unlike Valkyria, so I like to name them after close friends or relatives (sorta like Oregon Trail), and protect them. There are characters at your home base that you interface with, but they're not really the point.

Anyway, YES XCOM :)





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Mosquiton
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"XCOM" , posted Tue 16 Oct 10:57post reply

quote:

Anyway, YES XCOM :)



Right on. I can't seem to shut up about it. It's not perfect, but it is very, very good and I dig the hell out of it. I'm actually really curious what game month you're on and where you are on priority objectives.

My Ironman Classic game has progressed to the middle of June. My tech level isn't quite as advanced as I'd like it to be, but I have carapace armor across the board and several members of the team are using light plasma rifles. Snipers are still with lasers and my Heavies still fire off good old-fashioned bullets. My mega-money strategy will have put 12 satellites in the sky by the end of the month (more money more sats, more sats more money) and have four out of five continent bonuses. Barring any unforeseen catastrophes, at least.

In terms of major milestones I just used the skeleton key and made it through the resulting mission without sustaining any casualties. My ass-kicking gunner Support gunner (codename 'Demon') survived a pretty vicious mauling, and I managed to capture a high-value target thanks to coordinated suppressing fire, an Assault ambush from overlooking cover, and a fleet-footed support trooper with an arc thrower, and a bit of luck.

It was pretty glorious, but only one mission prior I had my best Heavy critically wounded by a series of explosions and saw a Cyberdisk one-shot my second-string heavy one turn and splattering a hapless Greek rookie the next. I'm having serious problems cultivating Heavy troops and raising them through the ranks. If Asher eats it down the line I'll be scrambling to get someone with Heat ammo. I know what's coming down the line and I need that ability.

I've lost nine soldiers all together so far. Most of them were rookies and squaddies that hadn't had the chance to distinguish themselves, sadly, but I haven't really had any crippling losses of vital personnel. My alternate-universe Mass Effect Sniper (or Infiltrator, hah) was just promoted to Colonel with 33 kills over 14 missions, but since he's got a few days to recover from a minor wound I've got a talented Major (medic-specced Support nicknamed 'Angel') stepping in to lead a batch of less-experienced troops as they assault a large scout craft that's landed somewhere in Africa.

Anyway, that's my game so far. Fingers crossed for this next mission.





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