Nuttss

ok, never mind the roof thing I'm 1 part idiot. ahh the hot fix unzip didn't drop into the same folder so I was playing vanilla version after all.

I'm on the hotfix, not the vanilla desura download. First time I've played it in a while and I was definitely feeling the fun factor. With that said... I'm at sep 29th in the game, this must be 5th or so mission. % to hit seems off. I noticed it most with precision rifle as it would say '0%' and I'd shoot and hit anyway. I'm suspecting the shown % is wrong as it looked like it should be a reasonable shot. Similarly throw a grenade and hit 5 times in a row with a 3% chance. Both maps I noticed with multi-story dwellings I had issues where it wouldn't make the roof transparent. That certainly made finding the alien tough Once had an issue on the desertish map with the well where I walked through and outside arch/door way and couldn't walk back through it. Same map when a soldier (mine or civilian type) stood next to the solid part of the mixed wood/stone fence the stone fence would overwrite the soldier so you could only see the solider's feet and head. (Did that description make sense?) Last, and game breaking, I started using stun grenades and the battle map keeps crashing. I walked a unit through the purple smoke and game crashed. This was very repeatable. I had a few other crashes on different battle maps but they were not repeatable and I don't have a good idea what was different to speculate on.

Did some time with the USAF...

It seems a theme with the draw to the higher tiers is customization. Pilots, random events, billboards, portraits, names etc.. If one tier is a name existing portrait, another tier is name and custom portrait, how about a third level where you can hard code the soldiers stats. This isn't a game break/or uber soldier idea... just allowing the person to choose what their soldiers starting stats would be; perhaps from a list of options. ie. I have a tendency to hit what I shoot at, I'd like my guy to be an obvious sniper pick and not the random dude running aroud doing medkits. Also, I support the idea of no more custom portraits, part of the draw is the 'limited pool' of portraits. Having 1 out of 1000 custom portraits would dilute the experience.

Can't tell my wife, I'll get 'the look' $15938 at the time of my kick.

I had this happen on 10.1 yesterday as well. Missed shot hit and already dead xenonaut, he stood up screamed and laid back done. All he was missing was saying "I'm not dead yet".

just noticed this one, and the poll is closed. Add one to #3 please

I'd go for Jean-Luc's second one as well. I bet I could get my wife to wear it even though she won't get it.

Took me about 15 hours of game time for my first play through on normal. Found 3/4 of the secrets on my own. Second play through on bonus mode old school took me about 7 hours. So I guess 1/2 my play time was scratching my head at the puzzles

When its so good it "defines" the game play, comparison are unavoidable. Doom is still referenced now and then to modern FPS. Two good points Jean-Luc, people are going to want more of what they enjoyed (even if mutually contradictory between fans) and a reference so well know is going to be used as a short cut. It is how we speak, unavoidable. To XenoMask comment, this game has to be fun on its own regardless of how much it copy's or strays from x-com formula. Personally I'm less interested in this game as a x-com successor than I am in a game that is fun and uses elements that I greatly enjoyed and that are not that well done among its recent competitors.

well, no surprise I guess that first play through my characters are certainly not optimized... who thought a rock throwing minotaur was a good idea before playing the game?? Ahh well, actually part of hte charm of this game the 'not knowing', having to figure out the spells, how not all the secrets are obvious. Some of you have had trouble with poison. My mage finally got poised and didn't promptly die from combat damage. (first time for me it survived the combat that gave it poison) Yea, the mage wasn't going to survive without an anti-venom... it took like 20 damage in a tik. Anyone else notice how ice shards appears to be an 'instant cast' while everything else has 'time on target'. It seems the animation is slower than the damage for this one spell.

Got the backstab thing, thanks. Problem was I wasn't quick enough to set it up on spiders and I usually had the rogue throwing.. Also, i think I had gotten it just didn't prompt the achievement flag the first few times. Most of my deaths have come being swarmed and getting trapped in a corner. I have a lizard and Minotaur up front. Minotaur has a lot more HPs, but kind of sucks. Lizard evades way more effectively than the extra HP is used on the Minotaur. Also, the Minotaur misses noticeably more often. Think next time I'll take the suggestions about a rock throwing minotaur. As for cheap tricks, I use the heck out of the environment to avoid being hit to include opening/closing gates. I love the 2x2 room for one on one encounters. strike/strike, move...repeat ogre no problem. i didn't mind the poison. Most dungeon crawlers I've personally played has poison/disease as a major problem; I kind of take it for granted. Eat the wrong thing in Nethack and you'll probably die with no hope of outlasting our curing it. There is some variation in poison damage I think (but not sure) it is tied to poison resistance. I had my high vital fighter with poison resistance actually take 'zero' poison damage on a tik.

I discovered the lack of typical rogue skills as well... no search traps or pick locks. i.e. it is a range fighter. I had given my rogue high dex so I went with reach weapons; if i had to do it again I'd also throw rocks instead Playing dungeon crawling games of different types i anticipated poison as a @#$@ so I took the resist poison trait. Not sure it helped, both my fighters get poisoned a lot. Might help them with how fast they over come it or the damage they take but I haven't tested it with mage poisoned at the same time to see.. I may try a two mage build in the back row but with the real time dance I'm not fast enough to load up two spells before the monster attacks. I usually get two attacks and then move out of retaliation range, repeat to minimize hits. I've yet to sneak up behind a monster. You guys a lot better at the combat mechanics than i am? I horded torches too, I found them to be more weight effective than rocks for depressing the trigger plates.

That is, Eye of the beholder.

RE: Moonie and possibly the same? or someone different that mentioned this in a thread months ago. I like the look of this title and pre-ordered, appreciate the notice. The format is a cast of 4 in a fix formation of 2x2 pretty much forcing a two fighter front line. That is ringing a bell, I swear I've see a dungeon crawler in this vein before, probably 15 or more years ago. Anyone aware of a similar stlyed game from ages ago? Nate

I found carying enough ammo for the two part missions in TFTD a royal pain. Made it a point to use the enemy's drops to manage ammo. I'd like to use human weapons some times, just was really inconvienent. I think one of the first two or three things i researched was the sonic clip and the acompaning rifle/pistol depending on what I had received at that point in time from drops. But to the other points, options for depth were you want it, or options to ignore if you don't are a hallmark of great games with wide appeal.

The short of it is I'm playing it and having fun. If you are going to be critical, don't get it. If you like the game play elements, this game works and it is fun though not super challenging. Lots of what Bigity said hold true for me too. This JABIA is not going to knock the socks off any one, but I'm enjoying it. Difficulty level is blah.. no FoW is the most puzzling thing. I imagine this game would be seriously difficult/engaging if you weren't able to spot the fortified zone and immediately send your squad around to attack it from the rear. Lots of things would be nice but don't break the experience for me. Training, create your own merc, more options on weapons/ammo, destructible terrain. Better AI. I get enemy AI charging a sniper that has LoS on them… but perhaps they should just duck. It is to easy to exploit the charge; set up in a filed and then just mow them down as they charge. Indoor AI is better. (What game haven't I wished for a better AI???) Guess there is no substitute for a human opponent yet. Better/detailed manual. Seems a detailed manual is a thing of the past now. Half the descriptors on the mercs leave me with a what the '__' does that do? Is it just flavor or does being a nudist actually have a game impact? Nothing against flavor/background/imersion I just like to what has a game impact and what doesn't. Either way I'd still use the nudist A better mechanic for getting to/from airport would be nice. Seems stupid to have detail a merc as an gopher.. Get one with path finding just to grab your orders and bring it to front line. I'm neutral on the pure turn base like x-com or the real-time with pause. They both work, both have quirks that for me mostly mean just getting use to how it works as opposed to one really being better. It is easier to forget about mercs in real-time pause if you are not paying attention. I lost one merc as I was setting up an ambush entry on one side of a building only to have a previously immobile enemy wander out and shoot the merc in the back. (Having FoW would prevent that lack of attention as you wouldn't think you know all.) I'm still on the fence about how melee is included. I'm thinking if a guy hits me with an axe, and I have a handgun (and I'm not dead) I should still be able to shoot him and not have to club him with the handgun. Graphics are better than what I've seen from Xeno so far. Guard mode works better/realistic than my experience in X-Com. (Always hated how an alien could run by your squadie.. break dance, moon you, and then shoot your squadie in the face with no reaction fire. Seriously, my grandma has better reaction time than x-com squadies.) Healing is as bogus as any FPS. Guess this game play doesn't have room for recovery as the mission last weeks, not years like x-com. I have not had the problems other’s mentioned about all knowing enemy’s. On the contrary without of FoW I feel like I’m cheating. The visual/sound alertness seems to work. But, over all, it works. Shotgun at close range kills most things. Snipers out range everyone as they should. Ammo has somewhat reasonable armor piercing balance. Armor gets used up fast if you get shot. I'm happy to play this one and I'm still looking forward to Xeno being ready for release. And if somehow, the x-com remake is real I'll mark this down as a golden year for gaming

Wow, lots of comments on this. On the existing ideas, I like Chris's idea of medal verus achievement. I suggest making the nature of the medal harder to achieve if you save scum, not easier. Essentialy, if you are the type of player that reloads a lot, an event that cause a medal would be an event you might prefer to reload on. To me # of kills sounds like achievement, not a medal. campaign ribons are the only thing I can think of that might fit that violates my suggestion about making medals difficult. Medal for taking damage and surviving is a good (purple heart or other name.) I didn't read all the comments (15 pages) but I did a search so if the following has been covered...my appologies Possibly a new idea on a medal already named. Medal of Honor (American) is often given to those that save their squad mates. PSo instead of using a kill counter, consider a calculation like healing X teammates and then killing an alien and/or taking an injury while healing a squad mate.

After the rookie initation, I generaly felt if I could touch it I was way toooo close.

haha, the first time I shot one in the face... it didn't work out so well for me, I think I was still level 1. Now sneak attack *30 does wonders on about everything though I haven't managed to sneak up on a dragon yet. May have to break down and use invisibility to give it a try. I didn't finish oblivion, though I usualy finish these types of game.

I'll second this one... I ran into this problem as well but somehow didn't make the mental connection that it was a missing feature.

What do you guys think about the 'dumbing down' or simplifing of the game? The previous itterations had more stuff around character development with spells, skills, and actual classic RPG stats such as str/int etc.. And in RE: to the previous, I also think being top dog in mutliple different outfits is odd. Thieves/assasin/circle/mage etc.. you'd think a few of those would be mutually exclusive.

I don't see how adding radar sites makes much difference in the game. Current method is limited coverage and fast forward till contact. Alternate method is more coverage and fast forward till contact. Both methods you start fighting (or pursing) in less than a minute of real time once you hit the fast forward button. But to keep the central feel of the game you'd still need that pressure of not being behind the curve on the alien invasion so more radar coverage early would require a faster alien invasion. Net effect should be same scale of actual play (interceptions/squad level combat) in real time just the pace of the game clock would be different. The goal isn't to make the game any easier by overpowering our squads with too much experince/loot while the aliens are still scouting. The other change would be cosmetic; it would be the 'imersion' factor and that is so subjective. One person wants to keep the isolated elite feel and the other wants a tad more 'realisim' and have signs that other countries are attempting to defend themselves. I prefer the original formula where it wasn't broken.

I just got the star/soul gem so I'm going to do the soul trap pix axe. Hadn't thought about it since I avoid melee were possible, but I carry a pix axe so I might as well. Good idea. I hadn't messed with weapon enchants before as recharging was a hassle with. Standing stone and extra pockets certainly make the inventory easier. I've taken the thieving archer with destruction build. Most of the time, if they survive the first few arrows, a dual fire finishes them off easily. Not so good with crowds though. Anyone else find the dragon fights rather Anemic or Anti-climatic?

That would totally mess with my playing style... NOT destroying the area.. can you play that way? I value my troopers more than all the buildings combined