Poll: XCOM 2 is Nigh - Prepare Your RNG Holes

[Veldel]

I already bought XCOM2 DD edition and I plan to continue my Ironman for first playthrough

Im playing with a bit of Legacy rules

Sense I won my first XCOM:EU game Im taking all surviving units from it and making them Veterans along with a few having children and such to build a massive backstory for my forces. Iv been working on it a bit and im quite happy with it.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As an addendum, I have a feeling that Long War Studio's contribution will come in the form of 'Second wave'-ish options: Specific modifiers that players can activate to change individual aspects of each playthrough. I guess I'm not really anticipating a 'Long War' difficulty level as much as a list of potentially challenging toggles that can affect a given playthrough.

Yeah I don't think we'll be getting another Long War size conversion...that took a couple of years of balancing and iteration...but I don't think it'll be something like "NEW HELMETS" either. XCOM 1 was *notoriously* hard to mod, which contributed greatly to Long War's development time, and XCOM 2 has been designed from the ground up to be incredibly easy to mod. In addition, Long War Studios has been working together for a while now and has a good team dynamic going, and they were working hand in hand with Firaxis on this project for an undisclosed period of time.

Apparently we'll get elaboration on just what they've provided in terms of mods tomorrow. Review embargo lifts two days after that.

 

[DoPo]

I'm really excited about XCOM 2. It's my most anticipated game this year, for sure. I'll go off on answering the questions now

1. I've preordered the Deluxe edition. That's going to be preorder number five I've done in my life. Yeah, I'm that excited about the game.

2. I'm planning to go Commander. That's my thinking, at least. I don't entirely trust Firaxis, though, so I'll not play Ironman on my first go, but if it seems like the game isn't going to screw me over due to bugs, then I might restart on Ironman.

3. As outlined above - bugs. I'm always wary of them in new releases and the previous title kinda sorta suggests there might be bugs in this one. I doubt they'll be severe but until the first patch comes out, I'll play it safe. That is, no Ironman (possibly). Another thing that sort of worries me is that it's being released on the 5th. That's Friday. That's not entirely good. I'm moving house on the 6th. Meaning - less play time over the weekend. On the bright side, even though I don't know if I'll have the interwebs set up at my new place, I'll be able to just download the game on Friday before my move.

Anyway - the game looks really promising, and I really like nearly all of the changes done. The only one I'm sort of on the fence is the loot drops - I like them but they are also non-deterministic, so you could get a cool mod at the start or...not for quite a while. I doubt the mods would be entirely useless, but to be entirely non-deterministic means another point where RNG can fail you.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

1. Really, really want to get it. I've been holding off on a lot of new games lately, waiting for sales and such but I need to get out of my replaying old games rut. Still haven't got Fallout 4. So it really depends on which one of the 2 go on sale first.

2. Still not sure about Normal start. It's what I did with the last XCOM, start Normal then work my way up. But that seemed a little too easy, so I'm tossing up between going Ironman or just trying Commander instead.

3. Only thing that I've got to go off that disappoints me is the continuation of the lore, obviously. But I can get past that if the story still carries the game well. Other than that, I'm just full of hype. All the customization, new weapons, stealth tactics, languages and voices, this game just looks so much more and better XCOM overall.

The only disappointment I had with the last game was the simplified turn-based combat, but I guess in turn it's a good kind of simplified. I just really enjoyed managing AP in previous-gen games like this. AP to crouch, turn around, reload/switch weapons, it just seemed to offer so much flexibility before, and when you coordinate and pull off some amazing stunts it felt really good. Maybe it's all those years of Jagged Alliance that I get that bias from.

 

[Worgen]

My ponies I mean squad is ready. I wish the physical version of it was going to be as nice as the one for enemy unknown was.

 

[Souplex]

It seems foolish of Firaxis to launch their game so close to Fire Emblem.

Why, exactly?

They are two different games of different genres, with different enough fanbases, different consoles and different target groups. Whatever overlap there might be can't realistically hurt sales. Not to mention that Fire Emblem didn't have that much of a following in the West until Awakening, or the fact that a PAL release for Fates is still to be announced, and thus half the west not getting it quite yet. I honestly don't see the competition here.

Because a lot of strategy fans are people like me who love Fire Emblem (In spite of the poor turn the writing has taken) and will wait for XCOM 2 to be out for a while rather than blow money on a PC game at launch and risk the bugs when we can get a patched version on sale in a few months.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Because a lot of strategy fans are people like me

You know this how, exactly? How many Fire Emblem fans are also XCOM fans? Do you have statistics? Do you have any numbers to support which purchase they intend to make first, or why?

I mean, your reasons are your reasons and that's all fine. It's this weird/insecure thing people do when they summon the phantom support of "a lot of people" when in reality the entirety of their extended social circle would be completely statistically insignificant weighed against the projected sales of even the smallest title. Which is to say nothing of comparing a historically venerated PC strategy game against a console/hand-held specific title. They're not remotely in competition with one another. It's like saying Blizzard holding back WoW so they don't have to compete against Mario Party.

 

[Souplex]

Because a lot of strategy fans are people like me

You know this how, exactly? How many Fire Emblem fans are also XCOM fans? Do you have statistics? Do you have any numbers to support which purchase they intend to make first, or why?

I mean, your reasons are your reasons and that's all fine. It's this weird/insecure thing people do when they summon the phantom support of "a lot of people" when in reality the entirety of their extended social circle would be completely statistically insignificant weighed against the projected sales of even the smallest title. Which is to say nothing of comparing a historically venerated PC strategy game against a console/hand-held specific title. They're not remotely in competition with one another. It's like saying Blizzard holding back WoW so they don't have to compete against Mario Party.

I admit, my evidence is anecdotal from people I've met (Both in meatspace and cyberspace) but it's not unreasonable for strategy fans to like multiple strategy games, so I highly doubt its isolated.

 

[cathou]

i've pre-order it at best buy since september. i had a really good deal actually, by preordering fallout 4 and xcom2 i had a 15% off on each, so instead of the 79.99 price for xcom, i pay only 67.99...

by the way the fan made trailer is absolutely fantastic.

i will probly do my first run at commander to have time to fully master the game before doing it at legendary...

 

[meiam]

Because a lot of strategy fans are people like me

You know this how, exactly? How many Fire Emblem fans are also XCOM fans? Do you have statistics? Do you have any numbers to support which purchase they intend to make first, or why?

I mean, your reasons are your reasons and that's all fine. It's this weird/insecure thing people do when they summon the phantom support of "a lot of people" when in reality the entirety of their extended social circle would be completely statistically insignificant weighed against the projected sales of even the smallest title. Which is to say nothing of comparing a historically venerated PC strategy game against a console/hand-held specific title. They're not remotely in competition with one another. It's like saying Blizzard holding back WoW so they don't have to compete against Mario Party.

If the last FE didn't renounce everything that made me like FE AND gotten a huge positive reception I'd be interested. But it's clear this one is going to go even more dumbed down, so I don't really care. At this point FE is anime simulator before being a tactic.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I admit, my evidence is anecdotal from people I've met (Both in meatspace and cyberspace) but it's not unreasonable for strategy fans to like multiple strategy games, so I highly doubt its isolated.

They do, but you have to consider platform and pedigree. Fire Emblem is a well loved game, but it's also exclusively a console/handheld game. I'm about as big a strategy fan as they come, but I'm also a PC Gamer. I'm aware of Fire Emblem by reputation, but I've never played it, nor even seen it played. Fire Emblem competes against other 3DS games.

XCOM has always been a PC title, stemming back to the early 90's. Indeed, it's probably the most celebrated PC tactical game series of all time. It has some competition in the strategy department...strategy fans might be tempted by Total War: Warhammer, for instance, or were there a new CiV launching this year (there isn't). Tactical gamers have very little in the way of alternatives...there's small titles like Hard West or Invisible Inc, but primarily it's an open field and XCOM runs roughshod over it. It's worthy of note that the overwhelming #1 favorite game of hardcore tactical gamers on PC right now is a mod for XCOM. The game was a niche title on consoles, but a surprise hit on PCs, which is why the sequel is a PC exclusive.

Fire Emblem and XCOM 2 are not in competition, save for the small library of gamers who own both a 3DS and PC, play regularly on both, love strategy and tactics, and intend to buy only one of the two games.

by the way the fan made trailer is absolutely fantastic.

Wasn't it though? The song really made it, I thought. Better than the official trailer by a good long shot.

If the last FE didn't renounce everything that made me like FE AND gotten a huge positive reception I'd be interested. But it's clear this one is going to go even more dumbed down, so I don't really care. At this point FE is anime simulator before being a tactic.

That makes it sound like Valkyria Chronicles. I didn't mind Valkyria Chronicles. Weird game, but not a bad game.

 

[Zenja]

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?
3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

1. Yes, I am even thinking of scheduling vacation time to binge that weekend. I have hundreds of hours put into the first one.

2. Either Normal, Commander, or Long War. I will let my mood determine it when I get it. Probably Long War.

3. Highly disappointed in $20 pre-order DLC that is just skins. This same type of DLC was given for free if your pre-ordered the first game and even then, it should have just been included. It's mostly just skins, not content, and it isn't even that many skins. I refuse to buy it because they are just art assets being held ransom from the fanbase. There is no reason to do DLC like that other than to try to sell your game for higher than $60 and apply a tax to being a fan. This isn't a map pack, or even a small mission based DLC like Slingshot - its skins.

I hear the game got delayed to really play up customization since it was so popular in the first one. Then we see the Day 1 DLC is focused on customization and costs $20 when it comes out. Which makes it look like they delayed the release of the game for DLC, which does make it look like they are disecting parts of the game out to bulk up the DLC. I can't prove it but the parallels do make me suspicious.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?
3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

1: Hells. Fucking. Yes.
Unless by some chance the game ends up being a monolithic disappointment, this is a definite day 1 for me.
2: I'm not 100% sure on this one. It might take me a week or two to actually start the game (considering how bad my backlog is) so I might listen to what people on the interwebz are saying. However, I'm leaning towards Commander. I pretty much always played X-Com on 'classic' difficult, and I thought it was the best balance.
3: Honestly, the only thing that even slightly worries me is the Vipers. The idea of a unit that can yank your guy out of cover and straight into a bunch of baddies who can then shoot them in the open sounds like it could be keyboard throwing frustrating. Still, I have faith in Firaxis that they'll balance the game well.
The only other thing is that they've sort of implied that the Aliens are up to something dubious behind the scenes. I just hope it isn't something blatantly obvious that you guess an hour into the game, and then about 75% of the way through everyone acts all shocked to discover it.

 

[Uliana]

Another thing about the good things list that missed mention here: the Character Pool.

Not only can you customize characters, you can save them in a Character Pool, a repository of customized characters that can then be used in any future campaigns, and you can choose to have said characters appear as soldiers, VIP's, or even enemy VIP's. Also, the Character Pool can be shared between players, so your customized character list can be exported for other players to use, and you can import other player's character pools for use in your own campaign.

Best of all, you can do this from the Main Menu before you even start a campaign, and you also save custom soldiers in an ongoing campaign straight to the Character Pool to be eternalized.

 

[Zhukov]

Hyped, ripe and ready to wipe.

...

That come out wrong.

My point being, yes, I'm looking forward to playing it.

Especially hoping that that the strategic layer proves a little more chewy.

Like the stealth thing, although I think it was a bit of a lost opportunity. I realize that it's mostly, as you say, there to speed up the opening phase of a mission (God, approaching UFOs in EU was so tedious) but I would have liked something a little more meaty. Like a stealth specialist class who could pick off aliens without breaking stealth (yes, I know, phantom rangers, not what what I mean).

Wish I hadn't spoiled some of the surprised by watching so many dang preview videos, but that's on me.

*heads off to watch yet more preview videos*

PS. Classic difficulty. ("Commander"?) Will probably keep to self-imposed Iron Man at first in case of catastrophic glitches.

 

[mysecondlife]

BONUS ACTUAL DISCUSSION VALUE

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?
3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

1. Sadly I am not. I'm too busy at the moment and I still haven't finished the original XCOM and Enemy Within. Impulse buying the game now is waste of money for me.
2. That I don't know. Normal just because anything higher I think I'd just save scum.
3. Nothing at all. I don't follow TotalBiscuit person but he did a really good job selling XCOM2 to me. It really blew me away.

 

[philby00]

i'll definitely by buying it but need to wait to finish other games and i was hoping to go through EU/EW again and get the last couple of achievements. Also I don't have a job right now so might have to wait a bit hehe. Also that might be better with waiting for patches etc.

I will play whatever is "regular" to start with I think and then work my way upwards. I'm not really concerned about anything in particular, one thing I had wished for but don't think is in the game or has been confirmed is that with all the new customisation options I thought it would be cool if you could customise the skyranger a bit with decals and kill markings or something

The only disappointment I had with the last game was the simplified turn-based combat, but I guess in turn it's a good kind of simplified. I just really enjoyed managing AP in previous-gen games like this. AP to crouch, turn around, reload/switch weapons, it just seemed to offer so much flexibility before, and when you coordinate and pull off some amazing stunts it felt really good. Maybe it's all those years of Jagged Alliance that I get that bias from.

I'd never played the originals before EU and to be honest found that kind of stuff really clunky and annoying. I think the new version is streamlined enough without being "dumbed down for console"

 

[Silverbeard]

As an addendum, I have a feeling that Long War Studio's contribution will come in the form of 'Second wave'-ish options: Specific modifiers that players can activate to change individual aspects of each playthrough. I guess I'm not really anticipating a 'Long War' difficulty level as much as a list of potentially challenging toggles that can affect a given playthrough.

Yeah I don't think we'll be getting another Long War size conversion...that took a couple of years of balancing and iteration...but I don't think it'll be something like "NEW HELMETS" either. XCOM 1 was *notoriously* hard to mod, which contributed greatly to Long War's development time, and XCOM 2 has been designed from the ground up to be incredibly easy to mod. In addition, Long War Studios has been working together for a while now and has a good team dynamic going, and they were working hand in hand with Firaxis on this project for an undisclosed period of time.

Apparently we'll get elaboration on just what they've provided in terms of mods tomorrow. Review embargo lifts two days after that.

I'm not expecting new helmets either. That's more a 'bored artist at Firaxis' kind of thing. Something more along the lines of 'Itchy trigger tentacles' or 'Doubly armoured enemies' or 'Increased wound recovery time' or such. Seems like typical Long War sadism!

Do we really need to see any reviews at this point? Every previewer has slammed his stamp of approval on the pre-release build. Even if we just get that version of the game without any of the work in between that and launch day it'll still be great.
Assuming Firaxis doesn't pull a Gearbox and give us a shite FPS on launch day the game will be a smash hit! I might even avoid reviews entirely to save the surprise and suspense.
That said, I'm not likely to read any reviews- or indeed anything at all as I wail at the wall of dead soldiers I'm sure to accumulate over the course of the revolution.

 

[G00N3R7883]

I play most games on normal first, and then move up to higher difficulties on further playthroughs (assuming I enjoyed the game first time around). Xcom tends to be a bit tougher than most games I play, but I beat Enemy Unknown twice on normal and once on classic, and Enemy Within twice on normal.