Phoenix Point - New X-Com Sucessor

cruizer101

Came across this video its about a game called Phoniex point which is being developed by the original X-Com designer, looks very impressive from the video and also some interesting new mechanics, aliens that evolve, boss aliens, factions (these were in apocalyse)

They are having a kickstarter type thing, havn't heard of fig before mind, which I think only started few days ago and they are already half way. I'm a bit wary of kickstarters in general but they seem to already have a fair bit done and they have previously published a game, which you seem to get the key for also, so think be worth a punt.

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/phoenix-point

Here is the official trailer also

degrassinoel

seen that last night, Gollop has a grand plan for it, hope it does well in it's kickstarter

Shiminay

I'm done with crowdfunding games, just a personal choice (I don't pre-order things anymore either), but I'm keeping an eye on it cause it looks pretty damned sweet. Lots of interesting ideas already shown in that trailer that could make it a real winner.

Mr Crispy

Yeah, I have the same policy re: pre-orders and crowdfunding. But it's on my radar for sure.

Mr Crispy

They reached their target anyway, and have announced a couple of stretch goals.

Mr Crispy

Interview with Gollop on RPG Codex (never heard of the place myself). Anyway, some highlights from the chat;

• fully destructible terrain (apart from the ground)
• "significant amounts" of procedural generation in both the battle maps and the strategic map
• squad sizes of up to 16
• more than one possible ending
• branching narratives = the story may change between playthroughs.

Mr Crispy

The campaign for this ended yesterday, with them reaching 53% more money than targeted. I think you can still buy in as a "slacker backer", but the game is pretty much funded now. Any new pledges will go towards stretch goals.

Anyway, watch this space. Due in late 2018.

degrassinoel

seems to be coming along nicely

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmyjr13yNuk

Skerries

This weekend, Julian is presenting Phoenix Point at EGX.

For the event, we have a special promotion:

Pre-order any package with a 20% discount
Offer starts from 8am BST on Friday 22nd
Offer ends midnight BST on Monday 25th
Visit our store and use promo code EGX20

You can watch Julian's presentation live from EGX on Friday 22nd at 2pm BST (6am PT / 9am EST) over on the EGX Twitch channel.

Mr Crispy

Been a while since this was updated, but it looks like things are progressing nicely. The beta is out for anyone who backed it on KS - here's some early thoughts on Polygon, especially focusing on ballistics. Sounds good!

ancapailldorcha

Some gameplay from Many a True Nerd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OczBU--FWC4

Mr Crispy

Pushed back until June '19, alas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AWT4WO5VyE

Mr Crispy

Backer Build 2 is out tomorrow. The Armadillo (vehicle) and the technician (new class) are the big additions. Read more here.

Mr Crispy

"5 Phoenix Point Features NOT in XCOM"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9piYWgIu6o

Kiith

I love all of that, especially the aiming and limb targetting system. It's idiotic missing a point blank shots.

Ten of Swords

Love the inventory system, old XCOM had that (thinking specifically of TFTD) and it was a great feature, not sure why new XCOM did away with it to be honest.

The APC though! Looks great and a welcome addition. My only concern would be if the vehicles turn out to be more problematic than useful, the example I'd use for this would be fallout tactics, the vehicles in that game must have seemed a great idea on paper but in the game itself they were an absolute disaster

From the clips though it looks well implemented anyway, I haven't played the backers version

Mr Crispy

Delayed until September.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y31EVpv8jv8

Mr Crispy

This is now an exclusive for the Epic Store (for a year anyway).

Kiith

Ah for **** sake. Don't like how Epic are going about this exclusive ****e, so no way i'm buying this now.

ancapailldorcha

Kiith wrote: »

Ah for **** sake. Don't like how Epic are going about this exclusive ****e, so no way i'm buying this now.

Aye. I'm a bit dismayed as well. It's just the same anti-consumer BS that console-makers and crappy game shops pursue.

Mr Crispy

Will be interesting to see how many will avail of the refund being offered. Here's the actual video;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmjFZMEoEZ0

Kiith

Yeah, can't stand how they are using the Fortnite money to make their own console environment on the pc. Exclusivity is bad, regardless of what platform you use. It's such a shame as well, as the game looks great.

EoinHef

Exclusives are fine when the platform holder helps fund/develop the game. Its their game and i think its fair enough if they want to keep it exclusive. Sony do a very good job of this.

Bit like fortnite being on the epic store only

Its the third party exclusives that are just straight cash grabs that annoy me. Considering this was crowd funded id say it might annoy people even more.

cruizer101

EoinHef wrote: »

Considering this was crowd funded id say it might annoy people even more.

Yeah I never pulled the trigger on it myself but wouldn't be too happy if I had,i think a lot won't be happy.
It was funded through fig.co, which isn't quite as open ended as kickstarter either, I thought there would have been more conditions

Also mention of getting free access to all dlc, implies they plan releasing a fair bit to try make more money, I kinda hoped for better.

Shiminay

I'm genuinely curious as to why people seem to think that it's ok to force everyone to use Steam. You're not being charged for the Epic launcher, it's got a small footprint, they give developers a better deal than Steam does.

Yea, Steam's been around the longest, but if the last few years have proven anything it's that Valve are as bad as the likes of EA and Activision of for being hungry capitalist cnuts wanting all of the money. Companies have no compulsion to simply hand their competition 30%+ of all their revenue because their competition was first to market with a digital shopfront. There are any number of things you can, for example, only get in Tesco that you can't get in Dunnes, or that are only in Amazon and not on Kobu.

ancapailldorcha

Who said anyone should be forced to use Steam?

Shiminay

The hundreds, maybe thousands of people across the tubes who lost their minds (plenty of them here on Boards) when EA announced Origin and stopped selling their titles on Steam. Same again now when Epic started buying exclusivity deals for their launcher and developers were thinking "that's less money we have to give away for being hosted on a store-front that's already reaching untold millions of people thanks to Fortnight and that has curation, no games about rape and no Unity asset flips"

ancapailldorcha

Shiminay wrote: »

The hundreds, maybe thousands of people across the tubes who lost their minds (plenty of them here on Boards) when EA announced Origin and stopped selling their titles on Steam. Same again now when Epic started buying exclusivity deals for their launcher and developers were thinking "that's less money we have to give away for being hosted on a store-front that's already reaching untold millions of people thanks to Fortnight and that has curation, no games about rape and no Unity asset flips"

I don't see why anyone would lose their minds. It makes no sense. A Steam monopoly benefits nobody.

However, did they really have to confine themselves to just the EGS? Surely Origin or GOG would have been ok as well?

Kiith

Steam doesn't require exclusivity on their platform. Origin only does it with first party EA games (afaik). UPlay did (does? not sure), but that's always kind of sucked. Epic just buys up games near completion and forces exclusivity on them. Which in this case is even worse, after one of the selling points of their kickstarter campaign was it being released on Steam or another platform.

cruizer101

Shiminay wrote: »

I'm genuinely curious as to why people seem to think that it's ok to force everyone to use Steam. You're not being charged for the Epic launcher, it's got a small footprint, they give developers a better deal than Steam does.
.

From their original campaign on fig they said it was to be available through Steam and Gog, so it a big enough turnaround to now just go with Epic

Shiminay

I mean, I completely understand and support people being pissed off about a money driven decision like this so late in the day, so I'm not suggesting that people are out of order in being annoyed to have the choices they were sold taken away from them.

I didn't back the game, but what I've seen of it looks like it's going to deliver what they said it would, so I'll probably pick it up after it's released and it should tide things over till we get a new X-Com

Lone Stone

that was a really scummy move they made, if i was a backer i would be fuming.

The problem with digital stores is the launchers. Just let us launch games directly without having to go through an ad laden launcher then it doesn't matter where you buy the game, no different to buying discs from different stores.

Microsoft are the only ones doing this (edit: and Gog). Just a pity the store is barren.

Fwiw, I absolutely hate the steam UI, it is an unintuitive mess designed for 800p resolution. Personally I'm glad there is decent competition now.

ancapailldorcha

Deleted User wrote: »

The problem with digital stores is the launchers. Let us launch games directly without having to go through an ad laden launcher.

Microsoft are the only ones doing this. Just a pity the store is barren.

GOG does this as well, no? I know they're DRM-free so that might be different.

TerrorFirmer

Shiminay wrote: »

You're not being charged for the Epic launcher, it's got a small footprint, they give developers a better deal than Steam does.

There's a debate about it in the Outer Worlds thread as well, and I have to say I don't get the outrage. One guy said he was going to pirate that game and Phoenix Point so to 'not reward' their behavior.

Comparing it to console exclusivity wars is ridiculous. Buying another console to avail of a game not available on your primary platform costs 2-300 euro.

Installing Epic Launcher takes 60 seconds of your life. Not sure why it's alright to have Steam/Origin/Battlenet/GOG/Uplay/etc but Epic Launcher is the devil.

So what if a game is exclusive? Epic are giving developers/publishers a way better deal than the likes of Steam....we should be celebrating this as it means better conditions for the industry, but also the consumer should see some better prices as a result.

Personally I will be buying both games on Epic, I don't care what launcher is used as long as I get to play the bloody games.

Shiminay

The only downside I've been able to think of is the separation of friends lists and related matchmaking/multi-player which we're already seen when there are versions of a game on Steam vs Windows Store. Means that instead of relying on the "convenience" (and possibly non-trivial cost-saving) of tapping into Valve's infrastructure, companies will have to make their own dedicated infrastructure per game to maintain "launcher" independence.

Now, if we take an interesting example in how to mitigate this somewhat, Apex Legends simply lets you import your Steam Friends as well as the native support for your Origin list being served via Origin, to begin with.

EoinHef

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

There's a debate about it in the Outer Worlds thread as well, and I have to say I don't get the outrage. One guy said he was going to pirate that game and Phoenix Point so to 'not reward' their behavior.

Comparing it to console exclusivity wars is ridiculous. Buying another console to avail of a game not available on your primary platform costs 2-300 euro.

Installing Epic Launcher takes 60 seconds of your life. Not sure why it's alright to have Steam/Origin/Battlenet/GOG/Uplay/etc but Epic Launcher is the devil.

So what if a game is exclusive? Epic are giving developers/publishers a way better deal than the likes of Steam....we should be celebrating this as it means better conditions for the industry, but also the consumer should see some better prices as a result.

Personally I will be buying both games on Epic, I don't care what launcher is used as long as I get to play the bloody games.

Keep seeing this,"its just another launcher argument". If you take the time to read why most people dont like whats happening you will find the main problem is not just another icon on the desktop.


A lot of people like the features steam and others offer,epic does not offer these features. Others dislike the fact that you have a company forcing their launcher on people when it lacks features that the others have just for their own gain. Lack of choice does not benefit the consumer.

Also UPlay and Origin are owned by companies that produce their own games,keeping first party games exclusive is fine with me,its the buying of third party games just to eliminate competition thats not good.

From where are you drawing your better prices argument? Can you show me one time we got a discount for using epics launcher? Id wager my house you cant.

Suppose it boils down to how much,if at all,these practices annoy an individual. We all have the choice to buy from there or not. But its far from people getting annoyed over just another launcher from what i see.

Dave_The_Sheep

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

There's a debate about it in the Outer Worlds thread as well, and I have to say I don't get the outrage. One guy said he was going to pirate that game and Phoenix Point so to 'not reward' their behavior.

Hey there, it's me "one guy".

You do you, man.

Mr Crispy

Can we get a thread going just for Epic Store discussion? Having every thread for each of their exclusives derailed by the same conversation is getting tedious.

Mickeroo

Apparently this is going straight into Game Pass when it launhes in september: https://www.pcgamer.com/phoenix-point-nails-down-september-release-date-will-be-on-xbox-game-pass-for-pc/

Epic store exclusive no more unless the headline is misleading?

Mickeroo

Mickeroo wrote: »

Apparently this is going straight into Game Pass when it launhes in september: https://www.pcgamer.com/phoenix-point-nails-down-september-release-date-will-be-on-xbox-game-pass-for-pc/

Epic store exclusive no more unless the headline is misleading?

Ha you gotta love it. The two most hated stores in the gaming community

Delighted this is coming to game pass but I wish game pass games would do cross save so you can mix and match PC\Xbox play.

de5p0i1er

I was looking forward to this game until I heard it was an epic store exclusive.
Epic are buying exclusivity for crowdfunded games just before release and developers are taking the money and screwing over the backers by taking away there choice and not offering refunds to the people who made the game possible.

Dave_The_Sheep

It's also on the XBox Game pass for PC if you have that.

de5p0i1er

de5p0i1er wrote: »

I was looking forward to this game until I heard it was an epic store exclusive.
Epic are buying exclusivity for crowdfunded games just before release and developers are taking the money and screwing over the backers by taking away there choice and not offering refunds to the people who made the game possible.

It's a shop, that's all. They haven't shafted anyone or changed the game in anyway that should change your opinion on it.

Exclusivity forces you to buy it from the Epic store and this whole social media outrage lark just proves the point that exclusivity is necessary if anyone is to build a viable business competing with steam.

Don't buy the game if it bothers you that much but don't be fooled for a second that others online who appear to be equally outraged are simply posting guff online and actually buying the game from Epic anyway. It's cool to hate the Epic store after all.

MrFresh

Epic is terrible though. I downloaded their launcher to give Fortnite a try. Didn't actually play it in the end. Since then, I constantly get emails telling me people are trying to access my account. I changed my password and it continued. I got about two dozen in the course of two weeks. I've received at least fifty to date. I tried to close my account but got sent to this circular process that wouldn't actually let me close it. I emailed them and asked for my account to be closed and my info scrubbed. I still get emails about access attempts on my account. I deliberately don't purchase games on Epic. I missed out on Metro for this reason and I will miss out on Outer Worlds. If I had paid for something that was supposed to be on Steam and then was switched to Epic I would be extremely pissed off.

MrFresh

MrFresh wrote: »

Epic is terrible though. I downloaded their launcher to give Fortnite a try. Didn't actually play it in the end. Since then, I constantly get emails telling me people are trying to access my account. I changed my password and it continued. I got about two dozen in the course of two weeks. I've received at least fifty to date. I tried to close my account but got sent to this circular process that wouldn't actually let me close it. I emailed them and asked for my account to be closed and my info scrubbed. I still get emails about access attempts on my account. I deliberately don't purchase games on Epic. I missed out on Metro for this reason and I will miss out on Outer Worlds. If I had paid for something that was supposed to be on Steam and then was switched to Epic I would be extremely pissed off.

Haven't had that problem and I'd say your problem is quite unique.

Both games are/will be available on Game Pass and in MS store. But I'm guessing you don't like that either...

MrFresh

Deleted User wrote: »

Haven't had that problem and I'd say your problem is quite unique.

Both games are/will be available on Game Pass and in MS store. But I'm guessing you don't like that either...

Haven't used it in a while. Use to have terrible DRM. Seems to have a good selection now on the pass though.

Dave_The_Sheep

Deleted User wrote: »

Haven't had that problem and I'd say your problem is quite unique.

On the contrary. It's a situation that rather a lot of people have experienced, if anecdotal evidence is anything to go by.

Shiminay

Yea, Epic seems to be having a major issue with intrusion attempts on people's accounts. I have 2FA enabled on my account for these reasons.

I won't be getting Phoenix Point on Epic cause it seems like the sorta game that'll do well with mods (and the dev's say they're building with modding in mind) and I don't see any equivalent of Steam Workshop making an appearance on the platform any time soon given how bereft of features it is. So it'll probably be Nexus Mods which is a great site and service, but not as convenient as Workshop.

degrassinoel

This is releasing tomorrow at 7pm, it's looking great from the backerbuild videos all over youtube too

Anyone else buying it?

Mr Crispy

I backed it during the crowd-funding phase, but my laptop wasn't up to running it. I'm looking forward to it though, whenever I get an upgrade.

Incidentally, I have a code for $10 off the season pass for anyone who wants it (I already get the pass as an early backer).