Welcome Back Commander: XCOM 2 Invades Your PC In November

[DrunkOnEstus]

As someone who loved EU/EW on console, I don't think I've ever went from massive hype to overwhelming disappointment quite so fast.

Now I have to live in hope of a console release later down the line I guess.

It's not like the last game was all that graphically impressive, so are you saying you don't have a single PC or laptop that could run this game?

Yeah I just checked, the last game's minimum requirements was 2ghz CPU and 2 GB of ram, 20 GB HD space. That's practically a mobile phone these days.

You're on the right track, EU/EW has an iPad version. Xcom2 is probably still going to use UE3 as its engine, I'm sure even Intel embedded and APUs should be able to handle it at some graphical setting, possibly with a controller if they'd like. Though I'm sure it's bound to end up on PS4/X1 (or iPad I guess) down the line, there's too many users who actually embraced the genre on console last time around.

On that note, I played EU on PS3 when it was a PS+ game for the hell of it, and Firaxis did a pretty incredible job making the game work with the controller, I genuinely enjoyed it (PS3's notorious and repeated issues with UE3 notwithstanding). There must have been some sweating at 2K about the possible audience for EU, I'm glad they took the gamble and that its payed off this well. I just hope that the launch for Xcom2 is a lot less buggy and rough around the edges this time.

 

[lacktheknack]

So all those times I failed ended up being canonical? I'm OK with this!

Also, THE HYPE IS REAL

 

[Andy Shandy]

As someone who loved EU/EW on console, I don't think I've ever went from massive hype to overwhelming disappointment quite so fast.

Now I have to live in hope of a console release later down the line I guess.

We need to create a support group. In great times of crisis, console gamers need to band together to support each other in this grave time of need.

If anyone needs me, I'll be weeping in this corner.

Oh good, my favourite console strategy game is getting a non-console sequel. -_-

As someone who loved EU/EW on console, I don't think I've ever went from massive hype to overwhelming disappointment quite so fast.

Your pain ... I feel it.

There we go, one more of us and we'd have enough for an initial XCOM squad.

...

As someone who loved EU/EW on console, I don't think I've ever went from massive hype to overwhelming disappointment quite so fast.

Now I have to live in hope of a console release later down the line I guess.

It's not like the last game was all that graphically impressive, so are you saying you don't have a single PC or laptop that could run this game?

Yeah I just checked, the last game's minimum requirements was 2ghz CPU and 2 GB of ram, 20 GB HD space. That's practically a mobile phone these days.

Honestly no. I have an old laptop that runs Football Manager (the main game I play on it) and everything else I need it to do just fine. And as much as I loved EU/EW, I don't particularly intend to get a better one just to play this new XCOM.

 

[Aeshi]

None as we did eradicate them almost entirely. I suspect that those humanoids are just another type of alien, just a bit closer to human shape than before. Think "Thin Men", but a step further (and probably also a bit more sadistic to deal with)

My guess is that they're probably something akin to the Metro Police in Half-Life 2: Regular Joes who've willingly sided with the Aliens for whatever reason.

 

[Objectable]

In honor of our failed fight with the aliens, let us remember the names of all the X-Com Soldiers

Slab Bulkhead,
Bridge Largemeat,
Punt Speedchunk,
Butch Deadlift,
Hold Bigflank,
Splint Chesthair,
Flint Ironstag,
Bolt Vanderhuge,
Thick McRunfast,
Blast "Faith" Hardcheese,
Buff Drinklots,
Crunch Slamchest,
Fist Rockbone,
Stump Beefknob,
Smash Lampjaw,
Punch Rockgroin,
Buck Plankchest,
Stump Junkman,
Dirk Hardpec,
Rip Steakface,
Slate Slabrock,
Crud Bonemeal,
Brick Hardmeat,
Rip Slagcheek,
Punch Sideiron,
Gristle McThornbody,
Slate Fistcrunch,
Buff Hardback,
Bob Johnson ,
Blast Thickneck,
Crunch Buttsteak,
Slab Squatthrust,
Lump Beefbroth,
Touch Rustrod,
Beef Blastbody,
Big McLargehuge,
Smoke Manmuscle,
Beat Punchmeat,
Hack Blowfist,
and our beloved leader, Roll Fizzlebeef.

 

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

Looks much like the first one but with bug fixes and a different campaign to be honest.

I have hopes for this to turn out good, but Beyond Earth was pretty damn disappointing. I honestly believe that Enemy Unknown needed a second expansion pack to fully realise it since the late game was still a slog, but here's hoping that Xcom 2 does things right.

 

[lancar]

None as we did eradicate them almost entirely. I suspect that those humanoids are just another type of alien, just a bit closer to human shape than before. Think "Thin Men", but a step further (and probably also a bit more sadistic to deal with)

My guess is that they're probably something akin to the Metro Police in Half-Life 2: Regular Joes who've willingly sided with the Aliens for whatever reason.

Power, fancy guns & free donuts.

 

[Paragon Fury]

Wait, so we lost EU/EW?

I'm pretty sure we steamrolled their asses. Unless they came back...

 

[MCerberus]

Wait, so we lost EU/EW?

I'm pretty sure we steamrolled their asses. Unless they came back...

We beat the Ethereals, not what the Ethereals were running from.

edit- to clarify, the invasion was seeking to weaponize humanity to win the war the Ethereals were losing. We... may have goofed by not being a bit more diplomatic at the end.

 

[Doom972]

I haven't had hype for an upcoming release for a very long time. I didn't even feel much hype for Witcher 3 (which I didn't get yet).
But a sequel to XCOM:EU/EW, and with a PC release coming first is exactly what I needed to get hyped again.

 

[Diablo2000]

Goddamn and here I was thinking that the most exciting thing on my birthday was gonna be a family gathering with hotdogs and cake. And they announce this... Can't wait...


Wait... We LOST? So Stephani "Deadeye", the badass french sniper and the only survivor of the chrysalid incident lost her life at the alien ship for nothing? That fucking sucks... I guess that Amelie Stephour, her daughter gonna carry the torch then... (If I don't suck and get her killed as well)

 

[BeerTent]

Sorry guys! I lost the game while playing Long War, and then like, 2 days later this was announced. Sorry, I lost XCOM for everyone. [Even on Normal and cinematic mode, and the INI edits for jet repairs... I kind of suck but I love it sooo much. .,. ]

Just one question: How did we LOSE the war in the first game when we basically wiped out the entire leadership and main-base of operation and the only mayor outpost the aliens had? I suspect there is another, unseen conflict in that 20-year-gap we didn't see (after all, the Ethereal did hint at 'another group' when you finished the game - so I currently suspect those are the guys we lost to in those 20 years)

They're going with the cannon that the Volunteer never existed, and that the temple ship assault never happened. They're going with THIS [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNXGktfGm1Q] being the actual ending for XCOM. And with so many people playing Long War, the likely cause of a PC only release at this time, that's probably the only ending we're familiar with for the past few years. I only beat the game once in EU, and I don't even remember the ending.

I kinda feel like the good ending was forgettable, and quite meh, where-as the bad, game over ending had a lot of impact. I also kind of felt robbed, because the end boss was easily killed mid-turn by my Sniper with Double-Tap. I was like, "That's it, really? How do I mod the end boss to be a freaking challenge?"

Although, it's be interesting if they kept what would have happened in the temple ship assault canon. The discoveries and conversations that told us so much about the invaders. should still be relevant in the new game too.

For the console side of things, I'm kind of happy they didn't start there this time. Mouse+KB controls really suffers in EW. I still think that a console port should be in the tubes, because every person I talk to says they have it on console so they can't Long War it with me. I'm getting the feeling though that the project's a bit too ambitious for consoles. Log War is the reason the game is still popular today. I can only assume after the near constant badgering and hex-editing the modding community has done, they felt like mod support had to be a priority. And you can't get mods on a console.

 

[laggyteabag]

I NEED THIS IN MY BODY NOW, FIRAXIS

[small]Gotta say though, this wasn't exactly expected, but damn, I am excited. I love XCOM EU/EW, and hopefully this is as good, if not better.[/small]

 

[Aedwynn]

For the first time in a long while, I am actually excited for a game release.

Wait... We LOST? So Stephani "Deadeye", the badass french sniper and the only survivor of the chrysalid incident lost her life at the alien ship for nothing? That fucking sucks... I guess that Amelie Stephour, her daughter gonna carry the torch then... (If I don't suck and get her killed as well)

It may well turn out that the Temple Ship mission was a complete success - but it was hinted that the Ethereals were engaged in another conflict and we were essentially a recruitment opportunity - whatever 'the Volunteer' did with the Temple Ship may have attracted the attention of the Ethereal's enemies.

Also, the Ethereals apparently didn't care much for the Snakemen, as they bioengineered them into Thin Men instead. So I think these xenos may be the enemy of our enemy, so to speak.

 

[K12]

So... I guess we canonically lost the first game? Or did the aliens just come back in force, wondering what happened to their scouting party?

Apparently the former (which would be a bit bull, to be honest) but EU did hint at "something else being out there" which the Ethereals wanted Humanity to raise to fight against. Might be that those other guys came a lot sooner than expected or that we weren't actually ready.
We do have 20 years of blank in the timeline, after all.

I'm hoping that after the Ethereals got wiped out the other alien races were freed from whatever mind control they are under and promptly team back up again and took over the Earth as a thank you for freeing them from mind slavery... Because aliens are dicks!

It might also be a Half-Life 2 kind of situation where the first conflict basically gave a big shiny "we are here" signal to a bunch of other separate malicious alien beings.

 

[Bindal]

Log War is the reason the game is still popular today.

I highly doubt that. I personally never bothered with any of the XCOM mods for being, among other things, too much of a hassle to install in the first place and for always changing things to the worse as far as I am concerned - especially Long War, which looks to me just a worse game overall.

Also I don't think that a mod is going to influence how the story continues when the developers themselves already added things into the basegame themselves to start off a sequel proper from. Never happened before, either.
So, how about you stop fanboying (don't deny it - you did, in your whole post) over Long War and start to think again how this whole 'steamrolled the aliens and then still lost' thing being possible.

 

[Frankster]

I'm cool with an Xcom sequel, looking forward to this.

I don't think I've ever seen an X-Com style game where you were the invader

UFO Afterlight says hi. Xcom Apocalypse also had you invading the aliens turf though this was for the end game.

Actually this is one thing I'm not liking. Earth lost? Then why does it look so good? I see futuristic cities and normal people going about their lives. Oh noes they have random security checks, you can feel the oppression of the alien grip around humanities throat D:

By contrast in UFO series did this a lot better.. After the initial games they went with the "aliens won" storyline (which was an actual way to lose the game, accepting the alien terms of surrender) and the Earth payed the consequences.. Earth got covered up in grey goo that ate everyhing and become an alien supercomputer along with those poor humans left on the ground.

The human survivors who signed a surrender with the alien conquerors were divided between those hopeful colonists who went to mars seeking a new life (UFO Afterlight) whereas the other half stayed in orbital stations around the earth watching the earth get turned to sludge (UFO Aftershock I believe was the name of that one).

And in the original Xcoms if you lost...Well...:

So yeah the aliens of the new Firaxis Xcom seem the nicest aliens out of any xcom like franchise. I'm not so sure I want to be leading a resistance against our new overlords, we could do a lot worst.

 

[gigastar]

As someone who loved EU/EW on console, I don't think I've ever went from massive hype to overwhelming disappointment quite so fast.

Now I have to live in hope of a console release later down the line I guess.

We need to create a support group. In great times of crisis, console gamers need to band together to support each other in this grave time of need.

If anyone needs me, I'll be weeping in this corner.

Id be surprised if 2K didnt release it on consoles come 2016 though.

At any rate, expect activity in the XCOM group come november, ill be sure to stain your eyes green.

 

[Aeshi]

Also, the Ethereals apparently didn't care much for the Snakemen, as they bioengineered them into Thin Men instead. So I think these xenos may be the enemy of our enemy, so to speak.

It's also possible that they just (re-)bioengineered the Thin Men (back) into Snakemen. I mean, it's not like they need the Thin Men's infiltration capabilities if they rule the world.

 

[Bindal]

By contrast in UFO series which went the same route..As in after a certain game it went with the "Aliens win" ending and when that happens.. The earth got covered up in grey goo that ate everyhing and become an alien supercomputer

The "grey goo" wasn't nanomachines, it was a semi-sentient growth and it didn't eat anything, it grew over most of it.
And after 50 years, it was almost gone again because it kind of collapsed into itself (but that was somewhat intended as it was supposed to pair itself with a male counterpart which was then supposed to arrive - probably arrived later than expected or something)
And Earth itself? Looked perfectly fine. Abandon, but otherwise fine. There was tons of flora, buildings were - for 50 years of being without maintanence - in rather decent shape and even people still lived there! With the exception of the occacional mutant or braindead alien, it was pretty decent there until the events of the second game. The biggest thread were the Cultists and... well, that's just a group of madmen, too. Still, it could've been a lot worse than that.

And in case of the third UFO Afterblank - we weren't invading there, either. We were settling and the place we settled in was then attacked by the original inhabitants which were driven off by other invaders we also woke up. Not an invasion of any kind.