It's really great todays attention to x-com sphere

[Kirill Selivanov]

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/xcom_enemy_unknown/news/xcom_enemy_unknown_arriving_on_october_12_in_the_uk.html

XCOM: Enemy Unknown arriving on October 12 in the UK

NewsPosted 22/05/2012 - 2:04pm GMT+1

Special Edition of the game will be available exclusively for PC.

something one is going on globally-)

[thothkins]

Gaaaaaahhh! they are giving a patch. I said we should have a patch but Nooooooooooooooooo Gaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Obviously my back up plan of offering bespoke* tin foil hats is still worth going for...

*bespoke: hand made from bacofoil by a group of moderately drunk acquaintances.

[Swe_Racoon]

Moderately drunk is good. Not too much, not to little. Just perfect.

As for XCOM Enemy Unkown, I dunno. Wasn't there talk about ditching certain stuff from the original? Limited to a single base, smaller squads, no soldier inventory?

Or am I just spurting nonsense?

[Kaguya]

As for XCOM Enemy Unkown, I dunno. Wasn't there talk about ditching certain stuff from the original? Limited to a single base, smaller squads, no soldier inventory?

Or am I just spurting nonsense?

They are streamlining it a lot, yes. There won't be time units (you get 2 "actions", move+shoot or move+move, think there were also special actions depending on the soldiers class (Assault/Support/Sniper/Heavy weapons) etc), limited to 6 soldiers on the field (start with 4), no ammo, not grid based.

It's a whole lot different. Still seems quite good, tho. Nothing stopping from playing both Xeno and the new game.

[thothkins]

I don't remember soldier inventory's but then I've not been paying that much attention to it, so you're probably right.

They haven't announced anything that's made me say - 'this will be zero fun, so I'm not going near it.' Not at all. I'm looking forward to it. I imagine I'll stump up for the elite version too, if it's not a rip off price.

[Swe_Racoon]

I remember reading way back when about the removal of soldier inventory (and with the addition of classes, that kinda seems logical), and I dunno where I stand on that.

The game looks neat, but I'm not sure on the whole streamlining bit. I suppose that if they want to cater to new and old X-COM fans alike they'd have to find a middle ground, of sorts. Time will tell, I s'pose.

I'm pretty hyped about the game, truth be told. The chance to customize my soldiers' looks will be pretty neat, for one (I see a squad of Swedish blondes, gunning down aliens all the while shouting "HACKA LÖKEN!"). I'm just doubtful it'll ever reach up to the standards of the original.

I'm pretty damn sure it'll be a whole lot better than that FPS remake though. Now I'm being anti, very anti. X-COM's got no business being an FPS.

[Gorlom]

Ok you are going to have to explain "slice the onion"...

[Photec]

I see a squad of Swedish blondes, gunning down aliens all the while shouting "HACKA LÖKEN!"

This made me lol, my scandinavian neighbour

[Peterwalgreens]

I'm dropping 75 bucks on this xenonauts, and 60 for xcom2012. This is Beginning to get a bit expensive...

[Swe_Racoon]

Ok you are going to have to explain "slice the onion"...

Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time, you should check them out. As a cook I find them utterly hilarious. Kinda makes me wish I could work like them

I aim to please, Photec

[sectoid]

They are streamlining it a lot, yes. There won't be time units (you get 2 "actions", move+shoot or move+move, ....

everything gets simplified nowadays! even diablo 3 also simplified its skillset by unlocking and mix 'n match.

is it youngling gamers of current era have no brain? curse this kind of game design trend!

[XenoMask]

everything gets simplified nowadays! even diablo 3 also simplified its skillset by unlocking and mix 'n match.

is it youngling gamers of current era have no brain? curse this kind of game design trend!

Sometimes simpler is better, sometimes its not. Depends on situation.

[thothkins]

fear of an adverse reaction to the game?

If something is particularly tough or a little complex, then there is more chance that a minority will find it difficult. Of said people there is more likelihood that they will share their views.

It takes practically nothing for people to flame away, so perhaps the developers wish to spare themselves potential lost sales.

perhaps partly that, but also the way the development process has changed. Streamlining and folding together features are nice in concept as long as they don't destroy gameplay.

I recall tabletop wargames that were utterly fiendish in their complexity. As the years went on there were a greater diversity of such rules, and a lot of the complexity was deemed unnecessary and removed to create, faster more streamlined games. I see this as a continuation of that. It's been a gradual process and not necessarily a recent thing that's due to current gamers being zombified. Unless IQs have been dropping sharply for a while of course

[Gauddlike]

Me not know.

Me think true.

[Commissar Pancakes]

From what I've been seeing of the kids around me, a dumbed down game is REQUIRED (a la Point aim-y thingy at that thing and pull trigger) less the kids not even figure out what the heck they're supposed to be doing.

Heck! I've seen a 12-14 year old quit on a game since he never figured out that he needed to SHOOT THE BIG RED BUTTON TO PROGRESS.

Not kidding, IT WAS A BIG RED BUTTON.

[XenoMask]

What game that was?

[Gauddlike]

It was an xbox exclusive called "Shoot the Buttons That Are Big and Red"

[Swe_Racoon]

Streamlining isn't all bad, but one should be careful of streamlining too much when you're trying to remain true to something (as in this case X-COM). The removal of ammo for standard weapons isn't something that bothers me overly, it's a hassle equipping your troops in X-COM sometimes, and I don't think I've never been out of ammo (well, once I used my last bullet to kill the last Floater).

What I can't get my head around, mainly, is the squad size. Why on Earth did they think 4-6 would be enough? Either this means a lot of failed missions due to losing all your troops, or they're just not as frail anymore. Dunno which one is worst. X-COM is supposed to lethal IMO. If I know that the only way to loose my hard-as-nails-eating-grenades-for-breakfast soldiers is for me to screw up horribly, it takes away a lot of the tension I find in X-COM (where a rather small mistake can kill the best of the best).

TL;DR - I'm not overly worried about most of the stuff, except squad size and how lethal the game is, so to speak.

[Commissar Pancakes]

If they have it so on basically every mission, you're left with maybe 25 or 50% of the squad left alive maybe it'll still present that challenge...but then that would just be alienating the casual player base...

[Gorlom]

With the reduced squadsize and RPG elements I think they are trying to get you more attached to your squad. It can probably be balanced so that you can still die alot without meaning the mission is over/lost. It's jsut one of those things that are hard to imagine without playing (although I'm a bit confused about that since their supression mechanism is supposed to completly lock down your unit as far as I have understood? You either have to kil the supressor withanother unit or wait untill he stops? Got to be a pain if you only have one guy left)

[Gauddlike]

They wanted smaller squads, they also wanted to introduce skills and abilities rather than generic troopers.

Having to manually use special abilities and skills on each of your 25 man squad would be a bit of a chore.

The two meet quite well so hopefully they will get it right.

I prefer the old approach myself but that just doesn't sell AAA games these days.

[Commissar Pancakes]

At least give us 8 guys! Otherwise, they might make the members all RAMBO...

[Swe_Racoon]

Skills and abilities I've got nothing against, but as the good Commissar says I'd like around 8 rather than 4-6. Managing skills and the like for 8 dudes/dudettes doesn't seem to much of chore for me, of course I wouldn't know untill I've played the game.

I don't think they've reduced the RPG elements as much as redone them, the way I understood it was that abilites are unlocked as your troops advance in rank. That to me seems somewhat better than in the original where every guy has more numbers than I care to keep track of. Sure number crunching has its charm, but I does make everyone a tad, as Gauddlike said, generic as opposed to having "that guy with the grappling ability" or somesuch.

Either way it's going to be a very different game from the original X-COM.

[Gorlom]

sweracon. i meant that they added RPG elements. If you consider the stats and the stat increases rpg elements the I guess I should say increased RPG elements.

[Jean-Luc]

I've seen comments like "Controlling 20+ guys was a chore so the small squad size is a good change". I mean, yeah, but you don't correct one extreme by applying another. It's funny how you have this whole base that you expand with a great array of facilities, hangars, forges, laboratories, workshops, etc., and it's all there to service 4-6 guys. Not that X-Com ever had realistic scale but still.

Of course the developers aren't stupid, they had their reasons, but it's still bleh. My biggest gripe with the game. Even Jagged Alliance allowed for much more and that game was all about character and getting attached to your mercs.