Welcome Back Commander: XCOM 2 Invades Your PC In November

[SonOfVoorhees]

I would have been annoyed if it wasnt for the fact their last xcom game was mediocre. Dont get me wrong, i had fun with it, just was so aware of what was missing compared to the original. So will watch closely when more info gets released. With the randomly made levels in XC2, i hope this will mean more random misc missions like crash sites etc. One thing i would like changed for XC2 is to be able to sneak up and catch aliens awares. Oh and add more indepth research and alien artifacts. Ok, i guess what i would like is a combination of the old XCOM and Terror from the Deep with the graphics and combat of the last Xcom game. An additional stuff ontop like, for instance, some kind of teleporter so you can beam into alien bases, ships or alien planets as misc missions.

 

[kekkres]

The way I see it. The games you won? They're safe now. They have their future. They need you no longer.
But every lost game, every campaign abandoned when things went too wrong, every save scum has a story to tell. They cry out in pain and fear.
They are the ones that need you, Commander. Save them. Put it right.

 

[4Aces]

"Few games struck the perfect mix between challenging and engaging quite like XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Between its limited resources, hard-to-replace soldiers, and increasingly powerful alien forces, players were on the edge of their seats until finishing the final mothership assault."

I guess Firaxis never actually played EU then. The only challenge was in the early missions, and only if you were playing on Classic or Impossible. Soldier were easy to replace, you just had to rotate in squaddies and give them easy kills. I particulary like how they avoided claiming that EW was at all balanced, by specifying EU-specifically.


"XCOM 2 will introduce procedurally-generated levels that make every mission unique, even when objectives are identical."

I remember Firaxis saying something similar with the Slingshot DLC, where we were getting "new maps". There were two maps that had insignificant alterations to already exisitng maps, and one without any changes. Procedural generation being "unique" is easy, since a single prefab element being moved a tiny bit will qualify. I hope this is well done, with enough elements and intelligent semi-randomization, but will wait for actual proof that they are living up to the impression they are trying to sell. I will not be surprised if they quickly become highly repetitive due to insufficient lego blocks to combine.


"At the head of a group of hardened resistance fighters rather than an elite military unit, players will take control of a different sort of XCOM that doesn't have access to the advanced technology that gave it a fighting chance in the last game." (http://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-2-details-emerge-and-its-bad-news-for-humanity/)

"We?re outmatched ? even more so than before, as we?ve lost the home-field advantage, and the aliens have become even more powerful." (http://ca.ign.com/articles/2015/06/02/xcom-2-welcoming-our-new-alien-overlords?page=1)

So we are going to be facing Beserkers, Elite Mutons, Advnaced Floaters, Ethereals, and the various bots at the start of XCOM2, while only armed with knives and 9mm handguns. Then we are going to move onto the tougher aliens? Riiiiight...


All I am seeing right now is a lot of PR-spin. While I will be pleasantly surprised if they manage to come up with a decent game design without losing key elements of the series (research/manufacturing), I will not be surprised if this is far less impressive than the Firaxis hype machine would have us believe. Remember that Gupta's claimed that Meld was going to put a much needed spark of organic urgency into the maps. I guess that is why he no longer works for Firaxis, so perhaps they are learning. Then again, the rest of the people at Firais agreed with Gupta's design, and they are the ones working on XCOM2.

The only ray of pure hope is their promise that they will be embracing modding. If they give full access to the core game, then we should be able to correct most shortcomings. Of course that will take some time after initial release.

 

[sagitel]

Hehe, the fun thing about X-Com was that it very effectively broke save scumming. The random numbers weren't generated the moment you took the shot. Instead, there was a bunch of rolls made when you started the battle, and the results were entered into a list. This list would then be used top to bottom for each random chance action. If you loaded a save game, the list (and what rolls were next) was reloaded as well. So no matter how often you reload a save to retry that 80% shot, it would re-use the same list entry next in line, and the result would always be the same.

Also real men play ironman anyway!

there was a second wave option that changed it. so anytime you loaded a save the rolls would be redone. but yeah normally this stopped save scumming

OT: at first when i saw the title i thought this is going to be another cash grab sequel. you know the kind. but when i read the article some news about it and the video im so hyped.

all aboard the hype train! choo choo!

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Awww man, hope it gets that console release one day.

On the game itself, I'm torn between what I think.

On one hand I think their approach yields some real potential, with infiltration, kidnapping, and invasion missions being great ideas. Essentially we're the aliens now and I love that.

On the other hand, I'm gonna miss the terror missions, and think that a big part of XCOMs charm - both the modern versions and original - was in the whole scenario of protecting the world from an alien invasion. Encountering the unknown, and seeing an alien in someone's back garden.

One thing I really don't like is the setting. The "futuristic utopia" looks bland and detaches me from the game. For the sequel I wanted to see places I know like a battle near Big Ben, the Ifle tower, or Times square. Ah well.

Here's hoping the whole "human invasion" concept can carry it instead.