XCOM2 - Glorious PC Exclusive (for now)

ancapailldorcha

I stopped trusting mainstream reviewers a long time ago. I just watched their videos for gameplay footage now.

Nody

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

I stopped trusting mainstream reviewers a long time ago. I just watched their videos for gameplay footage now.

Agreed; the only time I bother is on sites like meta critic and mainly for ruling out buying games. If I'm going to buy it I'll watch game play on youtube and/or youtube reviews from TotalBiscuit etc. (i.e. people I trust to tell me the truth about the game rather than BS about it).

ancapailldorcha

I never really use Metacritic. I tend to go with the likes of Totalbiscuit as he seems to know a lot about PC Gaming.

degrassinoel

I tend to use metacritic's critic reviews as a guide, it's handy seeing a few condensed reviews from actual reviewers ye know from elsewhere - there's some dodgy ones in there aswell though, pinch of salt ye know yerself

ancapailldorcha

Fair point. Using just one reviewer can be just as bad. Steam's new curators feature is great for this.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i9yl73xEfQ

Azza

Friaxis have said Enemy Within is not part of the X-Com 2 timeline. Still find the decision to abandon the story from the first X-Com abit odd.

http://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-enemy-within-isnt-part-of-xcom-2s-timeline/

degrassinoel

This all makes me wonder if the mec's you see in the E3 gameplay video are a larger part of the story which is currently untold.

ie: Firaxis' refusal to confirm or deny the return of Vahlen and Shen, consider that in EW they were the key people that researched and manufactured Meld and MEC's and the obvious MEC's in the gameplay, also the advent soldiers appear to have the same coloured blood as the meld substance itself, the genetically modified Sectoids. All of those point to human research on meld - the denial of Vahlen and Shen could mean that they were captured early in the campaign to stunt XCOM's progression from ballistic weapons onwards.

But, totally just conjecture at this point

degrassinoel

Yay, more customisation for your XCOM2 soldiers, including accents - they wont all be american

I imagine with mod support we should have a dublin brogue or two in there before the year is out, even as gaelige would be awesome!

http://www.pcgamer.com/xcom-2-will-offer-greater-soldier-customisation/

degrassinoel

info is slowing bleeding out - kind of like a rookie on it's first mission

the official site has been updated over the last few weeks with info we've already had regarding the various classes, aliens and each ones abilities.

Firaxis confirmed the return of the standard Muton today, and he's been gene modified too.

I guess they all have in the 20 years since capitulation

http://xcom.com/news/the-muton-returns-in-xcom-21

Nody

Not a fan of the new Muton; the Xcom1 style of a Gorilla was much more in style with their gameplay then this new version which looks like a 90s comic hero of a V chest with no legs set up

Zillah

degrassinoel wrote: »

info is slowing bleeding out - kind of like a rookie on it's first mission

Dark.

Nody

Zillah wrote: »

Dark.

Well seeing them playing the first mission it's very true though :P

degrassinoel

Decent and detailed interview with Garth DeAngelis on the Sharpshooter class here


Not just a sniper anymore, yeeha!

degrassinoel

Massive surge of screenshots just hit the interweb revealing a load of info about the game and gameplay

http://www.gamersyde.com/news_gc_new_xcom_2_screens-16918_en.html

Probably not official so they might not be up there long

Dair76

Nice! There's a huge range of customisation available now. Losing these guys will hurt even more.

degrassinoel

Oooh, gameplay at 5hours 6mins in - cheeky, they havent announced that publicly yet - and they show the antfarm

http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/9768676

Dair76

degrassinoel wrote: »

Oooh, gameplay at 5hours 6mins in - cheeky, they havent announced that publicly yet - and they show the antfarm

http://www.twitch.tv/twitch/v/9768676

Nice find!

Everything I see just raises my excitement levels. This should have sooo much replayability and depth; micromanagement in the ant farm, choosing classes,
customisation from tattoos and scars to individual troop behaviour (twitchy, hardcore, happy-go-lucky etc), randomisation of research results, consequences of moving the ship/base. Awesome.

degrassinoel

Yeah, jaysis.. that showed everything i'd been hoping for and more, it also alleviated some concerns i had about how the avenger would work with no funding

Delighted! The customization is staggeringly good and ye dont actually see everything in that video either, they glossed over some stuff really quickly haha. So my rookie soldier can be any class, and my Colonel Sharpshooter can retrain to be a Specialist, they've said previously too that everything can be customised regarding soldiers, so sex, name, haircolour, etc.. but mostly, nationality! Yay for a full squad of Irish rookies into the XCOM meatgrinder!

Digital Solitude

degrassinoel wrote: »

Yay for a full squad of Irish rookies into the XCOM meatgrinder!

Aengus MacGrinna and Sharon NíBheolan battling alongside Ryan Tubridy and Gaybo Byrne :pac:

I'm just going to take the solid piss with naming mine

degrassinoel

Poor auld Tubbers! haha, doubt he'd last long tbh, at least he'd be immortalized on the memorial wall

degrassinoel

The XCOM2 page is now on steam - no price (no preorder yet) at this very moment, but it's imminent - i'm guessing 39.99/44.99 maximum, around same as EU was at launch, but it's possible that considering the amount of awesome their including in this, plus full mod support it could be Firaxis first true AAA price of 59.99. Hope not but it's anyone's guess at the moment.

There's also no more news on a specific release date yet, still "November".

November is gonna be great!

degrassinoel

Ign have first dibs on the gamescom footage - ye can watch it here in glorious 720p HD

Kiith

That looks fantastic. Much cleaner interface for the base design, and loving the customizations.

Also, full mod support is brilliant. He almost mentioned making total conversions of existing IP's...i'd love to see a Mass Effect or Start Trek TC. Would probably get shut down, but whatever :P

Robert ninja

Never played this series. Should I wait for the latest game or give the older ones a go? I can play them for free on family sharing. I like RTS but only some. I'm a fan of Supreme Commander.

Also, this getting a GOG release?

ancapailldorcha

You should be able to pick up Enemy Unknown and the expansion, Enemy Within quite cheaply. Definitely pick them up if you can. They're turn based btw but they're utterly fantastic, addictive games.

degrassinoel

Robert ninja wrote: »

Never played this series. Should I wait for the latest game or give the older ones a go? I can play them for free on family sharing. I like RTS but only some. I'm a fan of Supreme Commander.

Also, this getting a GOG release?

Dunno if enemy unknown is on GOG but you might get the originals there. It's important to note that it's not an RTS, it's turn based and probably the best recent TBStrategy you could play. If you do buy it, make sure you get Enemy Within (it's massive expansion) as it adds a lot more depth to the game.

I've seen the game be sold for near nothing in steamsales and it's been given away free with preorders of other 2k games too. You might even find someone willing to trade it on steam.

Nody

Kiith wrote: »

That looks fantastic. Much cleaner interface for the base design, and loving the customizations.

Also, full mod support is brilliant. He almost mentioned making total conversions of existing IP's...i'd love to see a Mass Effect or Start Trek TC. Would probably get shut down, but whatever :P

Honestly it's the mod support that will really raise this game to a new level more than anything else. I can easily see a whole new campaigns being done (see old war mod for example!) from scratch.

strelok

every time i see this thread I think about trying to get past the second month of classic difficulty again but I know that just isn't going to happen

all classic difficulty does is make me angry and sad

Nody

strelok wrote: »

every time i see this thread I think about trying to get past the second month of classic difficulty again but I know that just isn't going to happen

all classic difficulty does is make me angry and sad

Then install the long war mod and try it on Normal :P

strelok

does the long war mod change the difficulty at all?

i played normal recently enough after banging my head against classic for a week. i lost one unit by the time I had full sat coverage and high ranking members of each unit class and that was only because my mouse spazzed out and sent him into open space instead of cover.


i'm too good for the beginner difficulty but too **** for the proper one

Kiith

Long war makes it much tougher. It's a massive time sink, in a good way though. Takes much longer to research stuff, and there's a huge amount of new additions (different classes, mechs, talents etc...). Definitely worth playing it if you've cleared EW.

Just get ready to get angry on a regular basis

strelok

Kiith wrote: »

Long war makes it much tougher. It's a massive time sink, in a good way though. Takes much longer to research stuff, and there's a huge amount of new additions (different classes, mechs, talents etc...). Definitely worth playing it if you've cleared EW.

Just get ready to get angry on a regular basis

cool, i'll give it a shot so. i think i rage deleted x-com though so it'll take me an age to download it all again

ancapailldorcha

Kiith wrote: »

Long war makes it much tougher. It's a massive time sink, in a good way though. Takes much longer to research stuff, and there's a huge amount of new additions (different classes, mechs, talents etc...). Definitely worth playing it if you've cleared EW.

Just get ready to get angry on a regular basis

Have they finished patching it? I'm tempted to get it but I'm hesitant if it's riddled with bugs and glitches.

Kiith

Seemed pretty stable for me, though I'll admit I only got a few hours into it. The latest patch is only from a few weeks ago, and they keep it very up to date from what I can see.

ancapailldorcha

Kiith wrote: »

Seemed pretty stable for me, though I'll admit I only got a few hours into it. The latest patch is only from a few weeks ago, and they keep it very up to date from what I can see.

I may have read a while back that the patches can void saves.

Kiith

Yeah, that may be a possibility. It may even be mentioned in the patch notes.

Not that uncommon when big changes are made in mods though.

ancapailldorcha

Kiith wrote: »

Yeah, that may be a possibility. It may even be mentioned in the patch notes.

Not that uncommon when big changes are made in mods though.

Was tempted to pick it up but don't fancy having to periodically restart it.

Nody

Kiith wrote: »

Long war makes it much tougher. It's a massive time sink, in a good way though. Takes much longer to research stuff, and there's a huge amount of new additions (different classes, mechs, talents etc...). Definitely worth playing it if you've cleared EW.

Just get ready to get angry on a regular basis

How about your first base invasion when you have laser weapons only after 5 months (yes they do multiple base invasions) with the second room having 5 (yes 5!) sectoid commanders with dedicated shielders (oh and they take about twice as much damage to kill compared to the original setup)?

Longwar Mod ramps it up to the original classic level and it is punishing to the extreme; exactly what you want while adding a ton of research, new missions etc. as well.

Kiith

Nody wrote: »

How about your first base invasion when you have laser weapons only after 5 months (yes they do multiple base invasions) with the second room having 5 (yes 5!) sectoid commanders with dedicated shielders (oh and they take about twice as much damage to kill compared to the original setup)?

I added some modifies to my game to make it less difficult tbh. Smaller alien swarms, and a few others. I'm all for making it tougher, but doing that to yourself isn't healthy man...there's only so much a human mind can handle :P

Vicxas

I am so excited for this game, i've played Enemy Unknown for more time than i'd like to admit.

Nody

Kiith wrote: »

I added some modifies to my game to make it less difficult tbh. Smaller alien swarms, and a few others. I'm all for making it tougher, but doing that to yourself isn't healthy man...there's only so much a human mind can handle :P

"I don't know what you're talking about dear; we always had a window in that wall and I always had only one monitor..."

degrassinoel

The full official gamescom video has just been uploaded to youtube and other areas - also, tonight there will be a gameplay session on twitch apparently..


Back to the video, there's a sneaky part at the end that they never showed at gamescom, dunno why, it's awesome!

Robert ninja

That looked pretty cool O.O

degrassinoel

that twitch stream is live now

http://www.twitch.tv/firaxisgames

Jake Soloman giving the lowdown on the above video, not sure if that's all their doing or if there will actually be more gameplay.. but

jake just said that when you're researching a mag-rifle for instance, it will produce a whole line of them as equipable any soldier that can use a rifle

Shiminay

Boom, delayed till Feb 2016.

That's ok, game delays don't bother me too much, I know how software works.

ancapailldorcha

Shiminay wrote: »

Boom, delayed till Feb 2016.

That's ok, game delays don't bother me too much, I know how software works.

This sums it up for me.

Digital Solitude

Meh, I have faith in Firaxis knowing what it takes to deliver a full product, let them take their time

degrassinoel

disappointing news, i'll have to cancel valentines day next year

strelok

more time for fallout 4 though and should give a month or so to blast through x-com 2 before dark souls 3 comes out


this is pretty good news imo