Impressions of V27.4 after a couple months break

[maxm222]

After a break for a while (after playing beta versions for 4 years and over 700 hours, Steam tells me), I wanted to say that I think I'm the most impressed with V27.4 compared to past versions.  Movement, combat, views, UI all seem the best they've been so far with fewest or no glitches.  Base-building, choosing and equipping troops, choosing research and building projects all seem the easiest and most logical so far.  The variety of gameplay loops in the beginning game (Cleaner combat, downed craft, air-to-air, alien intel team combat (I think) base-building, research/engineering choices, etc.) seem to be the most interesting/fun combination yet.

And SO HAPPY TO SEE A GOOD INITIAL TUTORIAL!  I think tutorials can make or break games for many people.
Suggestion:  Base-building needs a good tutorial.  Starting out, I was flummoxed and frustrated by things like not knowing I could rotate a hanger with the mouse wheel, or what was the effect of two medical centers.

And JUST AS HAPPY TO SEE THE END OF THE "HIDDEN MOVEMENT" GRAPHIC!  It was a break-the-immersion experience every time the semi-zombie faces of those two soldiers popped up, covering movement that was already hidden.

Civilian NPC AI: except as an additional score measure prompting faster exploration in combat (personally, I let 'em die--better than getting my folks shot), I don't see the point in having them run around in random patterns, including running away from the troops and helicopter that would presumably offer safety and towards obvious alien locations.  It's another immersion-breaking distraction for me.  I assume there's a rationale, but why couldn't they gather around the chopper or try to put the Xeno troops between them and the aliens, once they see the troops/chopper?

My biggest wish: Better dialogue.  It mostly feels like filler that doesn't suggest that there is more than one dimension to a character or which adds interesting or useful information about a current  or upcoming situation or challenge.   For example, here's dialogue from the first Cleaner mission:

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Operations Director:
OK, Commander, The dropship has touched down.
Get in, grab as much data from their computers as possible, then get back to the dropship.
We won’t have long before Cleaner reinforcements arrive.

Commander:
Understood.
And you’re absolutely sure this building is under Cleaner control?

Operations Director:
Positive.
Well, mostly.
Too late to back out now though! Get on with it!
-----------------------------------------------------

I thought the OD's "Well, mostly" answer was humorous, but..   I'm assuming the "Commander" is the player?  Although, if so, why is there a picture of a guy with a beard, since the player might be a 15 year-old kid or a woman, and we don't get a choice to choose appearances (maybe in the future?).  I also noticed that I, as Commander, have made the interesting fashion choice:  to dress as a commercial airline pilot with a white shirt and tie and big-brimmed captain's hat.  Maybe I stay in the chopper and monitor the battle from there?  Or maybe I'm not on the battlefield at all, but monitoring from an undisclosed location?  Because if I'm on the scene, why does the Operations Director tell me that "the dropship has touched down."  I'm so stupid I wouldn't have noticed, even though I'm on the dropship?  And then she repeats what the basic mission is and that I've got to hurry--so I must have a severely impaired memory, as well.

But I indicate that I'm all over it--except that, at this late point in the mission, I'm wondering whether the objective information is actually legitimate/accurate.  Maybe the Cleaners aren't here at all?

What would have been extremely helpful, if not as dramatic, would have been to have been told that I have to right mouse click--not left click as with most other UI interaction--with the computers to grab the data.  That missing information meant accidentally finding out about right click on my second try after being unable to collect any data.  But maybe I missed something in the briefing?

The Operations Director could be telling me things like:

"We think the reinforcements will be better armed than the operatives on the site."  or "We think the current operatives are inside the building."

Anyway, whatever the dialogue, good to see all the improvements.  Keep it up!                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

[CaptainSPrice]

@maxm222There is still a lot of Abuse/Exploits that i discovered, kinda hard for me to share all xD.

[Chris]

@maxm222 Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you've found V27.4 enjoyable - although something would have gone quite badly wrong if it wasn't the best version of the game so far! 

The civilian AI is still incredibly basic, as we've not done any work on AI for a couple of years now and it's something we're planning to address fully in Early Access. I'm certainly willing to change up terror missions a little so they have more of a timer, but it's something we need to consider carefully - I'm not sure whether players would like lots of missions having a timed element, rather than just some of them. XCOM2 certainly got a frosty reception when it tried that.

As for the dialogue, yeah, again this is something I'm willing to listen to feedback on. But I think I'll need to get quite a lot of opinions on it before I start making any changes.

The logic of the conversation is that both the Commander (you) and the Operations Director are stood around the command table in the command room of your base when this is happening, but I can see how some of the lines could be confusing if you didn't already know that. I guess the "Get in" line could be tweaked to say "Your soldiers need to get in" to make it more obvious what the setup is. Would that have made it less confusing for you?