XCOM 2

[Thommo]

Less than a month to go now before XCOM 2, the sequel to the 2012 reboot game XCOM: Enemy Unknown launches on February 5th.

I've been looking forward to this for ages. Anyone else planning on spending time with this one?

[CdesignProponentsist]

Absolutely. I plan on...

1: Buying the game
2: Installing
3: playing through the first few missions
4: getting my ass handed to me on a silver platter.
5: going back to step 3

[Thommo]

My biggest concern at this point is that it might be a bit too easy. I've been watching some gameplay footage (because for once I'm properly bitten by the hype bug - I really loved XCOM), particulary from the rather awesome Beaglerush and in his latest videos he's been playing the first few missions with 0 casualties having modded the hardest difficulty to be harder.

Time will tell.

[CdesignProponentsist]

It isn't XCOM if you win the game.

[Thommo]

Exactly!

I did quite enjoy the kerfuffle over them making the sequel based on assuming you lost first time around.

I thought it was quite novel, but some people on the internet™ (or at least the gaming site I visit from time to time) were maaaad.

[Rumraket]

Pff, nothing beats the originals.

[Thommo]

I loved them at the time, but I find it very hard to go back to them now. I think we still have an original boxed copy somewhere. Man games can in big boxes back then.

[Rumraket]

Yeah I remember. I still have my original simcity 2000 box, and Ultimate Doom. I remember getting Doom for my birthday

[Cthulhu's Trilby]

[quote="Thommo";p="2359545"]I loved them at the time, but I find it very hard to go back to them now. I think we still have an original boxed copy somewhere. Man games can in big boxes back then.[/quote]

I've still got all of the old X-Com games installed on a PC. They're still fun for an hour or two but, nostalgia aside, the new one was better.

I really enjoyed X-Com: Interceptor but can't get it to work properly anymore.

[Thommo]

Well, XCOM 2 seems to be more or less cleaning up at the reviews. Currently sitting at 90% on metacritic. So everything looks good. Really looking forward to playing over the weekend!

I couldn't help laughing at one hapless reviewer though. Giving the game a 7.5/10 seems to have raised the ire of the fans, who seem to dislike the idea of a COD playing console gamer reviewing a tactical PC exclusive.

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/reviews/xcom-2-review/

To be honest, doesn't seem all that harsh a review, considering it's about the worst rating out there so far.

[Animavore]

Dang! I naturally assumed this was coming to PS4. It's not.

[Thommo]

[quote="Animavore";p="2368974"]Dang! I naturally assumed this was coming to PS4. It's not.[/quote]

Yeah, I think they've quite disappointed some fans. There are some fair sounding reasons for the decision, such as relative sales of the first game and making the game suitable for modding (I say, as a PC gamer), but it really sucks for those who are only able to use a console.

[Rome Existed]

THEY FUCKED IT!

[Thommo]

Really? I'm loving it so far. Having a whale of a time!

Class balance is a little odd I would admit. Specialist is way buffed from support, sniper is buffed up a lot to sharpshooter, heavy is slightly nerfed to grenadier (but still pretty much the best, which goes to show how far they were ahead in XCOM:EU) and assault has been slammed so hard with the nerf bat I find it hard to believe.

What problems are you having?

[Rome Existed]

The stupid turn limits. Yawn.

[Thommo]

Well, I had a little read of the steam community because you posted that. It seems you're not alone.

[Rome Existed]

The 100% chance of success with the Sectoids constantly mind controlling your soldiers is just not fun at all.

[Thommo]

Conversely they (almost?) never fire on you with their first turn, so you can just flank them point blank to break it.

Quite a lot of the aliens have weirdly predictable behaviours. Makes it a bit of a learning curve of course, but I've found that relying on high cover is pretty bad a lot of the time. If you come across an early game sectoid + 2 advent troopers pod, then basically you just need to get the two shooters with usual grenade their cover and shoot them dead tactics, then charge the sectoid on the next turn when he uses mind control or creates a zombie.

Edit: I also encountered something just now that I need to try out - flashbang breaks the MC or something according to the forums. I stumbled on this while trying to find why people were angry about the timers, following your comments. I've mostly been avoiding guides/spoilers/info.

[Rome Existed]

I got banned from the Steam XCOM 2 forum for voicing my opinion about the game.

Fuck em. I guess they don't want any more of my money in future.

[Thommo]

That's a shame.

What did you say?