Returning Aliens

[_0_]

With the expanding emphasis on plot in X2, I decided that I'd voice an opinion about the returning Aliens: I, for one, would prefer to see a larger emphasis on new alien types. Whiles I do quite like the look of the Praetors and Androns, none of the other Aliens stood out for me. I'm not saying that the old Aliens should not return; I think that the Caesans and Sebillians should stay, as they are the more iconic of the Aliens. I think that, with the new emphasis on plot, there is an opportunity to make truly unique and distinct alien types. 

 

I would like like to finish this statement by saying that I do love the artwork made for the games and that I am not saying that I wouldn't buy the game over something so trivial, just that I would prefer different enemies.

[Chris]

Thanks for your thoughts. Most but not all of the aliens are returning, but we will hopefully be adding interesting new ones as well - however even the old ones will be getting a redesign and a visual update so they look and behave in a more interesting way than before. Hopefully that will be enough to make them feel more "new" even to veterans of the first game 

[Ninothree]

The following kind of comment is probably becoming a bit of a habit of mine - but I have long been impressed by Apocalypse's alien life cycle. They didn't resort to the vat grown soldier cliche but had a fairly deep explanation for how aliens are created. I'm not saying that X2 should necessarily have eggs and chrysalis alien types, rather, that whatever the nature of the aliens imagined, getting a fair ol' back story behind them, that unravels as the game progresses, is a real treat for the player. It probably is my favourite bit of the game, getting a new alien onto the operating table and discovering their story.

A trick that XCOM seems to have missed is that whilst they have a wide set of aliens in their menagerie, none of them has the feel of a real species; there is only a token effort made to explain how the aliens eat and they all seem to exist for a purely combat role. It feels implausible and kinda lazy. Essentially, the inclusion of something like the Harridans from X1 then makes a great example of a sensible caste system - they fit into ground combat just fine but their decent back story makes everything else hold together a bit tighter. All it takes is a bit of story.

EDIT: OK and some pretty graphics too. It doesn't hurt to have them look good.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Ninothree

[Rodmar18]

I'd pick up on this. The story becomes quite weak in Xenonauts-1 when we are given bits on societal information for some species, and at the same time we know that they are not themselves (to not spoil too much). Tell me how a Harridan soldier would sense his own cast given what we know about them? Likewise, Spectres are said to be a privileged troop that like adorn their uniform... ages ago, perhaps!

Stories in Xenonauts-2 have to be more solid and self-consistent. In the above examples, either those information should have been reserved for the most autonomous and self-aware "individuals" (officers, leaders, ... elites ?), or their state of "zombie" should have been lessened, save for their weakest and more expandable units.

I'm not eager to meet more aliens. The handful of species that we know are enough for me but they need to be polished. Well, I'm not opposed either.

By the way, is there a XCOM game where we know why we call them "Harridans", etc? Seriously, how can this be missed? Give an explanation, based on observations, interrogations, or a codename, or whatever. They could even be named by codenames at first (Grey, Flier, Raptor, etc) until they give us their true name later in the game, or we misunderstand them and rename them, or we find a new, more appropriate codename. That would mean an adaptable/appendable xenopaedia, however, and this feature wouldn't harm anyways.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Rodmar18

[FloridaBoy]

Binomial scientific names would be an easy way to add a touch of realism.

[Ninothree]

3 hours ago, FloridaBoy said:

Binomial scientific names

Add a bit of decorum to the game with a touch of Latin  I didn't know that that convention had a proper name or that binomial had two meanings.

[Decius]

One of the ways to add depth is to have different groups of humans use different names. The scientists might use binomial nomenclature in a formal report, but soldiers are going to use very different terms in their 'formal reports', and both will have formal and informal terms.

Showing that in a way that isn't confusing to the player for having to correlate four or five different names to the same creature type might be a challenge.