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Game Lacks "wow factor"


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Heya all, i've been extensively playing beta since the steam pre-launch and i'm enjoying the game so far since i'm a big fan of the original x-com.

Unfortunately i think the game it's a little too "dull" and lacks a little imagination. Not on its mechanics wich seems realy good, but in the design. For example the aliens are somewhat boring and don't apeal to a sense of mistery or terror. For example the "sectoids" are a very powerfull and iconic 1st alien that realy reminds people who play the original X-Com of the aliens that we know from RL movies and pictures, so we imidiately "relate" somewhat between the game and RL pictures. That is but a simple thing that draws us into the original X-com from the first mission.

Unfortunately on Xenonauts the first races are not as good. Sectoids-look-alike are too similar to humans with a jacket and the lizards are just not very convincing. Also the game could use an intro that explains the iceland incident story. I did read about it but i'm pretty sure most people buying the game won't bother to do it. Also something that explain a little better what is the xenonauts.

This is basicaly my main complain about the game, the lack of "character" of the alien races especialy the most iconic ones from the beggining. It doesnt realy make us feel we are fighting a force that is menacing and we can associate with RL fear and curiosity. We are just thrown into a geoscape, build stuff, intercept a craft and then when we see an alien its just "meh... was that an alien?" in X-com i was like "omg thats a grey one, i want to kill him and perform tests in him!", i am not as curious and drawn-in with mystery in xenonauts as i was with x-com EU (and even firaxis xcom wich is a much worse game for me than the original).

Ofc i have to leave a few good words because the game realy is cool in many other aspects like the music that brilliantly creates a good vibe for the ground missions. Also the artstyle is realy cool and detailed, love it. I understand that a lot of the menus on the geoscape are still placeholders but they could have a major overhaul since they are mostly text inside rectangles only but i do love the artstyle of the hidden movement screen (for example).

Sorry for my bad english.

Edited by Knightpt
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No problems with your English, you were very much understandable. :)

The alien races aren't diversified at the moment, they're all exactly the same more or less, to assist in balancing. This will change, making each race behave differently and uniquely. Hopefully this will add mystique and curiosity, wondering why this guy acts the way he does.

It's a good catch, though. I'd like to see more interesting things come out of the different races as well. I haven't seen all of them yet, granted, but diversity and interest-piquing details are always a good thing for this sort of game, I'd say.

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I don't like falling back on this argument but I really think it's nostalgia in this case and the fact that X-Com was the first and thus had the privilege of leaving the strongest impression. When you think about it X-Com also just threw you into the game and did little to present any kind of "story" (not that it needed one) and sectoids were the only relatable ones since they resembled the grays but that's it.

The Iceland Incident, as presented on the official site, is no longer canon I believe since the novella changes some of the circumstances but Xenonauts does make an effort to present a kind of background both with the novella (which I understand not everyone will bother to read) and also the "Alien Invasion" research topic and other bits of lore that are uncovered via research later on.

As to the believability and character of the aliens, that can only come down to subjective impressions imo. All of the aliens have their autopsies, interrogations, descriptions and even special abilities like regeneration, teleportation, robotic bodies, psionic powers, etc., not to mention the more diverse and interesting UFO design. I really don't feel that the aliens in Xenonauts fall behind X-Com in this regard, they even surpass it a little imo. It's just that everything about X-Com is iconic, having become such over almost two decades, while this game isn't even out yet.

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Sir, please ease up.

Sir? SIRRR? So, you don't like a mom joke, do ya? Well, I don't know about you, but you sound like some stupid idiotic jerk.

You want one Xenonaut to wait for five thousand aliens?? Izzat it?? You better know your laws, mister, because you sure don't.

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Sir? SIRRR? So, you don't like a mom joke, do ya? Well, I don't know about you, but you sound like some stupid idiotic jerk.

You want one Xenonaut to wait for five thousand aliens?? Izzat it?? You better know your laws, mister, because you sure don't.

Those of us that have been here since ALPHA have prided this forum as a place where people can voice their opinions and have an intelligent response in return. This means that it each has at least one of the following:

1. Constructive Criticism

2. Reasons for counter-point view

Your comment contained neither.

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Your comment contained neither.

Well, it's hard to argue with that.

Come on guys, let's just get back to the reason we're here. Making sure Xenonauts is the best damn tactical sci-fi game in the world!

Also please ban KnightPt, I find his posts distasteful to say the least.

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For example the aliens are somewhat boring and don't apeal to a sense of mistery or terror.

I quite like some of the alien types, although their main differences are not due to be implemented until after the basic ground combat balance is done.

For example the Sebillians are designed to be short ranged brawlers with decent armour and health regeneration, Androns are 8 foot tall heavily armoured robots that ignore cover and can walk through walls, Reapers are fast and deadly melee fighters (based on the Chrysallid).

Once the basic balance is done and the AI for the different behaviours is in place then the different alien races should definitely give you different challenges while fighting against them.

When you see an Andron appear you should get that bit of fear as you realise you don't have the firepower to stop it without losses.

A Reaper appearing out of the shadows within sprinting distance of your troops should be a worrying moment.

The races may not appear iconic to you at the moment but if everything works according to the dev plan for them then they should be pretty iconic before you finish the game ;)

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I think the need for a "wow-factor" is one of the biggest problems with current videogames.

Take your example, XCOM E:U. It certainly did have a wow-thing, with their "THIS is the alien!" in-your-face spining, posing camera shot. I liked it, sure. I also like how Call of duty has big showy setpiece fights. But the entertainment value wears off after 1 playthrough. I play call of duty for 6 hours, and then the campaign is done. I played XCOM for 10 hours and then it was over. I replayed it once with a pretty severe mod, but didn't even finish it. Big showyness doesn't make a game last a long time.

Meanwhile, I must have logged over 100 hours on Xenonauts, because it has good gameplay. It has replayability. The entertainment comes from the gameplay itself, not from being handed a new bit of shiny every once in a while.

The things I remember from XCOM E:U are the scripted events. That's fine, they were pretty good events. But the things I remember from xenonauts are during a nameless base defense mission, my 5 man group of reserves held back a flood of reapers with rockets and machineguns. That's also a good "event" and they're not limited to once-per-game, scripted events.

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Exactly. I barely remember missions from XCOM2012, yet I remember 3 turns firefights from Xenonauts where both me and the AI increasingly poured troops into a combat.

Or simply pinning down and flanking an alien. Small things, but they were enjoyable.

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It's somewhat true the aliens aren't that visually distinctive, but it's pretty hard to change that at this stage. It's meant to be more realistic, which has worked quite well in some respects (the aliens are more convincing) but has sadly lost a bit of the character that the original aliens had.

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From what I have seen, and I dont own the game, the aliens do look pretty lame. But then again they looked flaming terrible in XCOM Apocalypse and I played that game for ages. I will be keeping an eye on this game and when it gets relatively bug free and more playable I will be probably buy then although I am not entirely sure I could play a turn based strategy game like XCOM:EU again - I seem to remember it being painfully slow.

But thank you for doing this game anyway, we need more of these sorts of great niche games. What with Kerbal Space Program and Minecraft now, and with Xenonauts, Space Citizen and Elite Dangerous coming up, PC gaming is starting to look a lot brighter than of late! It was getting to the point where if I saw one more glossy multicoloured FPS or free to play multiplayer game I would have kicked my computer down the stairs in disgust.

Edited by Nats
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Well, it's hard to argue with that.

Come on guys, let's just get back to the reason we're here. Making sure Xenonauts is the best damn tactical sci-fi game in the world!

Also please ban KnightPt, I find his posts distasteful to say the least.

Ban me for posting an opinion in a polite manner (i think i didnt ofend anyone) and still saying that the game has strong positive aspects ?

I don't get it. Even chris said that the aliens did lose some flavour somewhat due to balancing and that was somewhat what i said.

Also, are realy "mother jokes" allowed in this forums as good comunity interaction?

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I think that the first impression will definately change when the new UI is in, which I naturally assume will be kick ass. How you control things is very crucial after all, and also presentation. I definately think it will have a greater effect than a lot of people realize.

The game may not have you say "Wow, fancy graphics" like in XCOM: Enemy Unkown.

It will make you go "Wow, I can't stop playing!".

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after seeing a few chains of posts from the two, me starting to thinks fetus mcgee and mad bomber are the same person trying to start troll flames. both names post one after another on ever post with the same writing style usually backing each other up. maybe they are twins?

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after seeing a few chains of posts from the two, me starting to thinks fetus mcgee and mad bomber are the same person trying to start troll flames. both names post one after another on ever post with the same writing style usually backing each other up. maybe they are twins?
I think they need to be banned. I've been on this forum for months and never until now have I seen such disgusting posts.
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