Why Haven't I Played XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[Thoughtful_Salt]

While it can be said that this is still one of the better strategy games out there, the flaws still can't be ignored. Why Haven't I Played? is back. Let me know what games from 2013 would make a good fit for the second season.

 

[ChristopherT]

The story isn't great, it's basic, it's not really a story focused game though. The cutscenes are there to help move the game along, and it makes a difference, it grabs you by the hand and eases through the progression. While a good story, or even a great one would have been really cool, in this game it's not really needed, a negative point for sure, the story is lame, it doesn't say anything, it doesn't go anywhere, there's no character moments, but it does what it is needed for in this game, keep you in the loop. The originals didn't have that, and while they were still great games, and the story was what you did rather than what the game was telling you was happening, at times the originals would feel like they were leaving me behind, or on early playthroughs like the enemies would take a big leap and you wouldn't be sure why or what exactly was going on, which was part of the games though.

There's no problem with the soldiers having no personality, it's part of X-Com. How you play with your soldiers says something about you. Are they random faces there to kill or be killed? Or do you put time into them, go through their settings till you find the right mix, name them after your friends and family, or favorite fictional characters (my Jill Valentine died to a zombie attack), and then how much love do you give their way. Does it become soul crushing when one of your soldiers dies because they were named Isabel "Dizzy" Flores, and you were hoping maybe this time she could live? Or are they all expandable little peons? Granted this game changed that up (from the originals) a bit with the character classes and meaningful level ups, but even then with a few officer training perks you can beef a character in a few missions anyway so that lessens that side of the blow.
And as much as I like Valkyria Chronicles' way of having soldiers, where they have set personalities and stories, even though the extras can up right die and not be seen again, and it's fun when they burst out some personality "eww boys", the X-Com approach is just as important to have exist and is just as valid, for the reasons listed above, and for customization sake. With DLC, there are a good sized number of options for how your soldiers can look, making them yours, making it personal, if you put the time and care into them.

The game's difficulty on Normal is not that bad, as the game goes on it becomes easier I find. During a playthrough on Normal I took a break and became interested in the new Space Hulk PC game, enough so that I realized I had as old Space Hulk CD hiding on my self. Popped in old Space Hulk, and nearly tore my hair out, a few hours, or days later I was still cheering after every kill my terminators delivered, even when alien deaths were reaching the 30s and 40s, of course that just meant I was usually doing bad at the game. Anyways, I put down Space Hulk, started up XCOM Enemy Unknown, continued where I left off, and a few missions in, began laughing at how easy normal difficulty was, in perspective. On Classic I find the game so far to just be unfair, early missions only so far for me, not hard, just very unfair. But I don't think many people are going to tell anyone to play the game on Classic on their first try, unless they're a veteran with turn based strategy.

The game has some bugs, some are bullshit, some are a mild annoyance, however it's certainly not alone in that regard with a good portion of games coming out in the last few years have major bug problems. Bugs shouldn't be ignored, but perspective. I've quit the game a few times after some bullshit with enemy triggering at the end of my turn, which then resulted in them getting into cover, and then right after that it was their turn, my guys getting flanked, and just murdered. It's one of the big problems I have with the game, where strategy doesn't mean dick at times, you happened upon the enemy and instead of getting your free shot, they get into cover. It's something that a lot of people seem cool with, but it just gets on my nerves.

I'm not sure how Thin Men have much of anything to do with Slender, really, they seem more like Men in Black to me, the classic mysterious spooks, running around during Mothman and other things. They're thin, wear suits, but that's it, thin men have faces, eyes, glasses, and spit poison. And while some of the other character designs may seem like other sources, their play style is fairly based on the originals from 1994, though the floaters seem more Strogg to me than their red cape flying predecessors.

The game has problems, and it can be be shown up in a few things by it's 1994 counterpart, and while it's not a game for everyone, and some may not see the greatness in it, it is a great thing that we have it, that it was released, and is a solid game.

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

There's no problem with the soldiers having no personality, it's part of X-Com. How you play with your soldiers says something about you. Are they random faces there to kill or be killed? Or do you put time into them, go through their settings till you find the right mix, name them after your friends and family, or favorite fictional characters (my Jill Valentine died to a zombie attack), and then how much love do you give their way. Does it become soul crushing when one of your soldiers dies because they were named Isabel "Dizzy" Flores, and you were hoping maybe this time she could live? Or are they all expandable little peons? Granted this game changed that up (from the originals) a bit with the character classes and meaningful level ups, but even then with a few officer training perks you can beef a character in a few missions anyway so that lessens that side of the blow.
And as much as I like Valkyria Chronicles' way of having soldiers, where they have set personalities and stories, even though the extras can up right die and not be seen again, and it's fun when they burst out some personality "eww boys", the X-Com approach is just as important to have exist and is just as valid, for the reasons listed above, and for customization sake. With DLC, there are a good sized number of options for how your soldiers can look, making them yours, making it personal, if you put the time and care into them.

The problem comes when your soldiers become important to the plot (mostly in the cutscenes). The cutscenes are directed in such a way as to try and stimulate an emotional response to the events happening to your soldiers. Heck, even the tutorial tries this, structuring it in a way to make the loss of your soldiers have an impact on you, (though admittedly this was the intent, the point stands). I didn't mind losing a soldier here and there, but the game seems to think I'd care, which was the problem. If the story didn't frame itself in that way then I would have had no problem with it (though I still detest the panic function)

I'm not sure how Thin Men have much of anything to do with Slender, really, they seem more like Men in Black to me, the classic mysterious spooks, running around during Mothman and other things. They're thin, wear suits, but that's it, thin men have faces, eyes, glasses, and spit poison. And while some of the other character designs may seem like other sources, their play style is fairly based on the originals from 1994, though the floaters seem more Strogg to me than their red cape flying predecessors.

Regardless, they're rehashes and not anything new. I'v taken a look at the old designs, they look almost nothing like the new ones (except for the grey men). When even the XCOM wiki acknowledges the visual similarities between the brutes and mutons, then it's hard to argue that Halo didn't at least "inspire" some of the aesthetics in XCOM.
The slender man was invented in 2009:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man

The game's difficulty on Normal is not that bad, as the game goes on it becomes easier I find. During a playthrough on Normal I took a break and became interested in the new Space Hulk PC game, enough so that I realized I had as old Space Hulk CD hiding on my self. Popped in old Space Hulk, and nearly tore my hair out, a few hours, or days later I was still cheering after every kill my terminators delivered, even when alien deaths were reaching the 30s and 40s, of course that just meant I was usually doing bad at the game. Anyways, I put down Space Hulk, started up XCOM Enemy Unknown, continued where I left off, and a few missions in, began laughing at how easy normal difficulty was, in perspective. On Classic I find the game so far to just be unfair, early missions only so far for me, not hard, just very unfair. But I don't think many people are going to tell anyone to play the game on Classic on their first try, unless they're a veteran with turn based strategy.

The game has some bugs, some are bullshit, some are a mild annoyance, however it's certainly not alone in that regard with a good portion of games coming out in the last few years have major bug problems. Bugs shouldn't be ignored, but perspective. I've quit the game a few times after some bullshit with enemy triggering at the end of my turn, which then resulted in them getting into cover, and then right after that it was their turn, my guys getting flanked, and just murdered. It's one of the big problems I have with the game, where strategy doesn't mean dick at times, you happened upon the enemy and instead of getting your free shot, they get into cover. It's something that a lot of people seem cool with, but it just gets on my nerves.

It did get easier as things went along, but the game still had a nasty habit of throwing hordes of those damn insects and drones at me. It just got boring going through the same old slog tactics every single mission. It took me thirty minutes to cross a ufo once, because I was paranoid about what enemies remained, only to find a single grey man remaining. sigh. Because the bugs and cheap tactics of the enemies exist, I vowed to never pick the game up again.

It's still a solid game, but I couldn't handle another playthrough without smashing my tv.

 

[Naeras]

The game does have genuine problems, but I could look past them with ease. It made several design decisions I thoroughly despise, and it made me rage-quit more than once, but the game also hooked me enough for me to play it for 70 hours, including two full playthroughs on Classic.

I don't blame anyone for not being able to look past the issues the game has, though, but it was still one of the games from last year that I enjoyed the most.

The game's difficulty on Normal is not that bad, as the game goes on it becomes easier I find. During a playthrough on Normal I took a break and became interested in the new Space Hulk PC game, enough so that I realized I had as old Space Hulk CD hiding on my self. Popped in old Space Hulk, and nearly tore my hair out, a few hours, or days later I was still cheering after every kill my terminators delivered, even when alien deaths were reaching the 30s and 40s, of course that just meant I was usually doing bad at the game. Anyways, I put down Space Hulk, started up XCOM Enemy Unknown, continued where I left off, and a few missions in, began laughing at how easy normal difficulty was, in perspective. On Classic I find the game so far to just be unfair, early missions only so far for me, not hard, just very unfair. But I don't think many people are going to tell anyone to play the game on Classic on their first try, unless they're a veteran with turn based strategy.

I'd say XCOM is very well balanced on Classic, at least early on(it gets significantly easier once your tech improves, sadly). As long as certain of the ridiculous bugs don't happen, or the gods of RNG decide that you're a shithead and cause you to miss five 95% shots in one turn, or you get a bomb mission really early, you'll usually be completely fine. The thing is that the game punishes mistakes heavily, and a lot of people don't realize what a mistake in this game actually constitutes, which can easily make it seem unfair. Once I realized what I was doing wrong, Classic became completely manageable.

Impossible, on the other hand, is like Fernet Branca. I know some people claim to like it, but I suspect these people really hate themselves, as I can't see any other reason why anyone would subject themselves to it.


edit: also, to anyone saying "THE ALIENS GETS A FREE MOVE OMGAR": the fact that they do is something the players can abuse so hard that it's laughable.

 

[ChristopherT]

The problem comes when your soldiers become important to the plot (mostly in the cutscenes). The cutscenes are directed in such a way as to try and stimulate an emotional response to the events happening to your soldiers.

I agree and disagree, the trio of specialists give a lot of feed back about how horrible it is your soldiers died, and how sad and regrettable, but then wouldn't that count to their character and not yours? It's still easy to play the game, listen to their feed back and still maintain an idea that the soldiers are expandable. I'll grant the game tries to have you care, but I don't find it difficult to put your own feelings over that of three cardboard cutouts. As for the end, the ending is just not well done. Not dismissing these problems, they exist, I just don't believe the soldier customization and blank-no-slate personalities, even combined with the few NPCs 'care', developes into a negative. A bit counter, but I just don't see the problem with the soldiers.

(though I still detest the panic function)

Granted the panic function is a giant ass pain in this game, a left over from the previous when you had the option to run with a much larger squad, and one or two of them going into panic could be filed under acceptable loses. However the squad size is limited now, and panic is giant pain now, so, yeah, problematic, I agree.

Regardless, they're rehashes and not anything new. I'v taken a look at the old designs, they look almost nothing like the new ones (except for the grey men). When even the XCOM wiki acknowledges the visual similarities between the brutes and mutons, then it's hard to argue that Halo didn't at least "inspire" some of the aesthetics in XCOM.

The sectoids look the same, the cyberdiscs look the same, the Mutons look like they replaced skin tight overlay with armor (granted nothing original looking about their armor), The etherals changed only a bit, I don't know what else to say. There not really rip-offs though, inspired by, sure.

The slender man was invented in 2009:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slender_Man

But slender man is not a new design, it's not something never seen before, it's like one of the Gentlemen from Buffy's Hush episode, except without a face, and before Buffy did it, I'm sure it's been around in other things, namely as I was saying the Men in Black http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men_in_Black

It just got boring going through the same old slog tactics every single mission. It took me thirty minutes to cross a ufo once, because I was paranoid about what enemies remained, only to find a single grey man remaining. sigh.

And if you're not ready for it, or it's just not your type of game you'll just get fed up with hunting down enemies, and taking time per mission. Part of the point of a game like XCOM (more so X-Com) was that it was kind of scary not knowing how many aliens there were or where they even were, and one could be right around the corner and kill you in a single shot, if you don't like down time it might not be the game for you, and there's nothing wrong with that.

However the new one does lack on having the same levels pop up again and again, and that part can get boring, just because you already know the layout of the land and the slight exploration of the terrain is then over and done with and all that's left and search and destroy. Where the originals each level was generated and so each mission had that exploration part helping it along, the new ones are pre-set maps. While the new one has a few extra mission types, they're so few in between, and half of the ones they present are just search and destroy. so, it could use some more variety mission wise.

EDIT:

I'd say XCOM is very well balanced on Classic, at least early on(it gets significantly easier once your tech improves, sadly). As long as certain of the ridiculous bugs don't happen, or the gods of RNG decide that you're a shithead and cause you to miss five 95% shots in one turn, or you get a bomb mission really early, you'll usually be completely fine. The thing is that the game punishes mistakes heavily, and a lot of people don't realize what a mistake in this game actually constitutes, which can easily make it seem unfair. Once I realized what I was doing wrong, Classic became completely manageable.

Thanks, I might actually try Classic again then.

edit: also, to anyone saying "THE ALIENS GETS A FREE MOVE OMGAR": the fact that they do is something the players can abuse so hard that it's laughable.

I don't feel it's a free move, or unfair, it's just I prefer the old way, and with the new trying to get used to it, I seem to trigger aliens either in the middle of my turn, or after moving my very last soldier less than ten feet in front of the previous one, or five feet to the right, just little steps that suddenly trigger enemies to then leap into cover and come closer to my guys to kill them, or then after triggering one set of aliens, the aliens somehow trigger another set of aliens. It's something I just can't get used to yet.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

It's been mentioned before, but it's not so much the identity of your soldiers or their lack thereof that's supposed to leave a mark on you when they die; it's the fact that they've progressed as soldiers. Losing them means you're stuck with levelling a new Squaddie, or that you have to fall back on your B Team.

Does that carry emotional significance? I think it depends. I did start playing while imagining backstories and lives for these little people, but they soon faded away into Mook status. They're cannon fodder, and the only real emotional significance comes from seeing your several missions' worth of hard work being killed off by one well-placed Muton grenade. I guess others could find ways to maintain that initial hook, but I personally can't.

That's even if I rename my soldiers and use the names or screen names of my friends.

In terms of difficulty - augh. I'll admit I'm getting sick of seeing the veteran complain about Enemy Unknown being too easy, but that's largely because I'm biased. I suck at strategy games and I largely took up gaming to have fun. For me, serious challenges aren't consistently what I consider to be part of a fun experience. Let's just say I like the occasional sense of being able to steamroll my opponents with a decent strategy - and EU gives me that. I'm not the type to complain about the aliens getting a free move or landing an insanely lucky shot - I just roll with the punches.

The narrative concerns don't really bother me. Aliens invade Earth, XCOM gets set up, XCOM kicks ass. End of story. As much as I love games with narrative weight, I don't mind the occasional lighter approach. I'm not itching for Shen-meets-Vahlen romantic subplots and I don't care about Central Officer Bradford's backstory. I'm happy enough as it is, knowing that I have a couple, oh, thousand other games to check out if I want something with more narrative weight to sink my teeth into.

 

[Naeras]

I don't feel it's a free move, or unfair, it's just I prefer the old way, and with the new trying to get used to it, I seem to trigger aliens either in the middle of my turn, or after moving my very last soldier less than ten feet in front of the previous one, or five feet to the right, just little steps that suddenly trigger enemies to then leap into cover and come closer to my guys to kill them, or then after triggering one set of aliens, the aliens somehow trigger another set of aliens. It's something I just can't get used to yet.

The last problem is easily solved, actually: if you don't trigger aliens with your first soldier, don't move any other units anywhere but in the footsteps of said soldier(or, at least, not further up), and put everyone on overwatch. This way, you always have the initiative: if you trigger aliens on your own turn, you have 3-5 more units that can react to what he triggers, either killing it outright or allowing you to position yourself safely. If you run into a patrol on the alien turn, these aliens won't fire on you when they trigger, but you will get a free volley from having your entire team on overwatch, and then get an entire turn to reposition yourself and shoot at the aliens. You don't even have to end your turn in cover if no aliens are triggered, because you quite simply won't be fired upon even on the alien turn.

Triggering aliens after moving most of your squad already has moved, and incorrect use of cover(never use half-cover unless you use Hunker Down and/or Smoke at the same time) are probably the two most common mistakes people make in this game, without realizing these things are actually pretty big mistakes. :V

 

[Thoughtful_Salt]

I don't feel it's a free move, or unfair, it's just I prefer the old way, and with the new trying to get used to it, I seem to trigger aliens either in the middle of my turn, or after moving my very last soldier less than ten feet in front of the previous one, or five feet to the right, just little steps that suddenly trigger enemies to then leap into cover and come closer to my guys to kill them, or then after triggering one set of aliens, the aliens somehow trigger another set of aliens. It's something I just can't get used to yet.

The last problem is easily solved, actually: if you don't trigger aliens with your first soldier, don't move any other units anywhere but in the footsteps of said soldier(or, at least, not further up), and put everyone on overwatch. This way, you always have the initiative: if you trigger aliens on your own turn, you have 3-5 more units that can react to what he triggers, either killing it outright or allowing you to position yourself safely. If you run into a patrol on the alien turn, these aliens won't fire on you when they trigger, but you will get a free volley from having your entire team on overwatch, and then get an entire turn to reposition yourself and shoot at the aliens. You don't even have to end your turn in cover if no aliens are triggered, because you quite simply won't be fired upon even on the alien turn.

Triggering aliens after moving most of your squad already has moved, and incorrect use of cover(never use half-cover unless you use Hunker Down and/or Smoke at the same time) are probably the two most common mistakes people make in this game, without realizing these things are actually pretty big mistakes. :V

I figured things out eventually, still it seems that that's the only optimal strategy. Things just got boring after a while using the same strategy over and over, the bomb missions (whenever they came up) were frequently the funnest missions because a) they didn't often have massive mutons or drones around and b) as a result they were fast paced and fun since I didn't necessarily have to worry about being instakilled by a chrysalis.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

XCOM isn't for everyone, that much is certain. But where your video says the plot is weak to it's detriment, I see the game as being deliberately broad to suit the player and their role of Commander as the central force of agency to the whole thing. Rather than giving me a story to play through, it gave me a playground to tell my own story. Where your video says the soldiers are just number stacks, I saw them as my always important team performing the tasks I set for them. My honor guard between Earth and the Alien scourge. Their victories were my victories, their failings were my failings.

The term of the day for XCOM is emergent gameplay. It's not for everyone, as I said earlier. This kind of game puts the onus on the player to ascribe characteristics and personality on their soldiers themselves rather than building the characters up for you.

 

[Abomination]

What turned me off the most was how this supposedly international team has all my troops speaking with the exact same accent. It was really jarring.

I think making them have different accents would have made the game so much more immersive, just a small thing.

 

[Naeras]

I figured things out eventually, still it seems that that's the only optimal strategy. Things just got boring after a while using the same strategy over and over, the bomb missions (whenever they came up) were frequently the funnest missions because a) they didn't often have massive mutons or drones around and b) as a result they were fast paced and fun since I didn't necessarily have to worry about being instakilled by a chrysalis.

I personally really disagree that this made things boring, but this is also coming from someone who really likes games where you have to play carefully and methodically lest you want to get blown the fuck up. It might not be for you though, and that's still a legitimate reason to not like the game.


Also, SEMANTICS MODE: what you're describing is tactics, not strategy no, you didn't see that I wrote that, and I definitely didn't write anything either