Ultratwinkie said:
1. Does the "juggling act" panic mechanic seem tacked on?
2. Is the game easier? And dumbed down?
3. Are Ethereals as unforgiving as the original? With the ability to mind control your entire squad in the second turn?
4. Are laser weapons as over powered as before? With god-like accuracy and good stopping power that surpasses plasma in 9 out of 10 situations?
5. Is plasma as sucky in the original game? I remember all plasma weapons sucked compared to laser rifles.
6. Are multi-level buildings the death traps they used to be? Lone alien snipers picking off teams, chokepoints, and such? Or did they just keep it to one level buildings?
7. Are aliens just spawned randomly and roam about or do they just "drop" in the middle of nowhere?
8. Are floaters the bud of every joke like in the original XCOM? Or did they get beefed up? I remember that they were slow and inaccurate, and often dropped their guns in panic. Even in terror missions their terror alien sucked, as they would run away instead of charging at my troops. I just couldn't take floaters seriously in any situation.
1. Preview build doesn't last long enough to have to start making tough decisions, but I foresee it being an issue down the line. Panic also appears to make subsequent abduction missions harder. For example, I ignored Russia the first time around and then the second time it was up it was rated as very difficult(and was considerably harder with more aliens to clear).
2. Yes and no. I think certain aspects have become easier, but more so in that they've become less clunky. Normal difficulty didn't feel like much of a challenge, expect for that mentioned higher difficulty mission. However, it still has those XCOM moments of missions spiraling rapidly out of control, like missing a 90% chance to stun. One new thing I constantly wrestled with was Will, which appears to basically replace Bravery, but unlike Bravery your soldier's Will gets reduced when they suffer critical wounds. So for example, my best assault class had my worst Will score. She'd wreck face, but as soon as something when wrong she'd be running around for cover and screaming for extraction.
3. Again the preview build doesn't run long enough to encounter them, if I maybe gamed what I believe to be the triggering event for it to end I could get a little further.
4. See #3.
5. Unfortunately also see #3.
6. I didn't notice anything extra deadly about them, but I'm always like to take the high ground early. Yes though there are multi-level structures.
7. From what I saw they either start in random or predesignated spots(the maps are random rotation somewhat so even repeating the same mission wouldn't let me test), but once you first establish line of sight they scatter for cover.
8. Floaters are annoying fast and deadly this time around, they like to jet in close and gang up now. It also appears to factor in their altitude for firing at them, so they are not often in cover but they are a little harder to hit since they are just a little further away usually. Like being next to one isn't a perfect shot with a shotgun.
