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Yeah, at 66% off I finally broke down and got Slingshot. Now I need to start another game. drat you, Soloman.
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May 13, 2013 03:24
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Coolguye posted:Yeah, at 66% off I finally broke down and got Slingshot. Now I need to start another game. drat you, Soloman. Likewise over here. I'm glad I finally have the hats.
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May 13, 2013 03:46
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Slingshot is cool. Why the hate?
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May 13, 2013 03:48
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Its kinda poo poo.
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May 13, 2013 03:50
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Doctor Reynolds posted:Slingshot is cool. Why the hate? Oh, I'm just playing too many games recently, that's all. 
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May 13, 2013 03:53
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Doctor Reynolds posted:Slingshot is cool. Why the hate? Mostly cause it's a series of hard missions with a set character and story. Several people in the previous thread mentioned that they didn't like having how Zhang was presented or something, I don't honestly remember. I don't prefer it cause if you skip out on it the first time you can't do it later. However the hats are pretty sweet, everyone loves the hats.
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May 13, 2013 04:19
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Doctor Reynolds posted:Slingshot is cool. Why the hate?
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May 13, 2013 04:30
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#1 alien-themed Hat Simulator.
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May 13, 2013 04:32
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The Crotch posted:Slingshot's existence just does not make sense to me. It happened because  !
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May 13, 2013 04:43
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I liked Zhang. Granted, I always imagined him as Wei Shen who'd moved the Sun On Yee to the mainland, but...
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May 13, 2013 04:48
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Admittedly I was pretty bummed that Zhang was only a recruited character and not also a voice option for asian male soldiers.
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May 13, 2013 04:55
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Debating whether to get this on sale, someone convince me/deter me. I read all the material but I'm still on the fence. I basically want something I can zone out to, with lots of randomization and rare/unusual encounters well into the game's lifespan.
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May 13, 2013 05:19
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It's one of those games people bitch about so much because it's almost excellent, except for those few niggling bugs, odd design decisions, and absent or untimely post-release support. It's worth the sale price, IMO.
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May 13, 2013 05:36
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Revener posted:Debating whether to get this on sale, someone convince me/deter me. I read all the material but I'm still on the fence. I basically want something I can zone out to, with lots of randomization and rare/unusual encounters well into the game's lifespan. It's a perfectly good game, bugs and minor irritants asisde, but I don't know if it'll fit what you're looking for.
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May 13, 2013 05:42
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The Elite Soldier pack is also up for two bucks.
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May 13, 2013 05:47
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Keeshhound posted:It's a perfectly good game, bugs and minor irritants asisde, but I don't know if it'll fit what you're looking for. So there's no real variation among missions?
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May 13, 2013 05:56
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Revener posted:So there's no real variation among missions? I think he's referring to the zone out part. You kind of need to keep your head in the game.
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May 13, 2013 05:58
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Revener posted:So there's no real variation among missions? There's variation, but not in a really major way, it's all built on the same basic gameplay concepts, and 9 times out of 10, is "kill all enemies." It's just sometimes "kill all enemies on this crashed spaceship" or "kill all enemies terrorizing this city" or maybe "escort this VIP but also kill all enemies." There is some nice variation in the enemy types, they all behave in different ways. But the way the game surprises you doesn't appear to be the way you want it to. Which ties into the other thing, it's not mindless, it's not something you can zone out to. It's something you have to actively think about and stress over for the entire duration of play. The game surprises you not by a weird new mission type, but more dynamically when your squad gets 'ambushed' (as much as can happen in this game) in mission, or when your rocket blast opens up a wall to an even meaner set of enemies (oh, there's an Ethereal, muton elites, and floater elites all within that room, and the cyberdisc still isn't dead, whoops), and so on. It's constantly challenging you and forcing you to change your existing strategy or come up with new tactics to overcome the latest surprise, in a completely unscripted way. Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 06:05 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 06:03
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S.J. posted:I think he's referring to the zone out part. You kind of need to keep your head in the game. Also, most missions are very similar. Sure there's enough alien variation to keep it exciting for a while, but by the time you get ghost armor, it's pretty routine Does anyone actually use archangel armor? It just seems like a great way to get experienced soldiers slaughtered
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May 13, 2013 06:06
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The Door Frame posted:Also, most missions are very similar. Sure there's enough alien variation to keep it exciting for a while, but by the time you get ghost armor, it's pretty routine Archangel armor on drat good ground snipers is pretty good, but almost excessive at that point in the game. And I never use ghost armor. Just seems too cheap.
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May 13, 2013 06:07
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I was under the impression this was turn-based combat? I can't imagine a turn-based game you can't zone out to since you have infinity to make any decision. And I guess by variation I mean unique map situations, unique enemy tactics/models, maybe even easter eggs or surprising scenarios. I know the game is going to boil down to "kill mans" every time, but will it be different enough every time to make it interesting, or is it just different scenery around the same encounter a thousand times?
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May 13, 2013 06:07
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Archangel is fantastic for snipers since it basically makes them Saint Michael. I can't say I recommend it for anyone else, since the grapples are actually more useful for than flight in practice, and Ghost is, well, Ghost.Revener posted:I was under the impression this was turn-based combat? I can't imagine a turn-based game you can't zone out to since you have infinity to make any decision. I would encourage you to go take a look at one or two of Beaglerush's videos on Youtube. Yes, the game is turn based, and yes, you can get up and go mow the lawn in between turns and the game will patiently wait for you to finish. However, when you are actually playing the game, any one of your decisions can branch into a dozen different tactical situations, and the structure of the game means that a single gently caress-up can cost you extremely dearly. This is not Allied General, where a gently caress-up costs you a squad or two and you have to back up to re-consolidate. This is not Age of Wonders, where a gently caress-up means you lose some extra units, maybe a town, whatever, I'll just spam some more low-level units. This is not Civilization, where a gently caress-up means you get pushed back, but whatever, it's just some hammers, my strategy's still good and I'll clobber this AI in good time. This is XCOM. When you gently caress up, everyone on the field suffers. A single lost battle can completely alter the course of the game, perhaps make your position totally untenable. When you gently caress up, Earth itself suffers. Coolguye fucked around with this message at 06:16 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 06:08
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Revener posted:So there's no real variation among missions? He gets linked often enough, so have a look at Beaglerush's XCOM videos. They're easier to understand if you've played the game a lot, but you can see what the game looks like in action to get a better idea of what you'd be doing. Episode 3 of his less edited run is my personal favorite, since this is the kinda poo poo that gave us the emote.The Door Frame posted:Does anyone actually use archangel armor? It just seems like a great way to get experienced soldiers slaughtered Flying counts as low cover automatically, and it's best on squadsight snipers who shouldn't be all that close to the fray anyways.
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May 13, 2013 06:09
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The Door Frame posted:Also, most missions are very similar. Sure there's enough alien variation to keep it exciting for a while, but by the time you get ghost armor, it's pretty routine On anything other than a sniper, it's shite. But I'd imagine that a heavy with larger rockets could be set up with AA to blow the poo poo out anything on the ground.
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May 13, 2013 06:13
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Coolguye posted:I would encourage you to go take a look at one or two of Beaglerush's videos on Youtube. Yes, the game is turn based, and yes, you can get up and go mow the lawn in between turns and the game will patiently wait for you to finish. However, when you are actually playing the game, any one of your decisions can branch into a dozen different tactical situations, and the structure of the game means that a single gently caress-up can cost you extremely dearly. This is not Allied General, where a gently caress-up costs you a squad or two and you have to back up to re-consolidate. This is not Age of Wonders, where a gently caress-up means you lose some extra units, maybe a town, whatever, I'll just spam some more low-level units. This is not Civilization, where a gently caress-up means you get pushed back, but whatever, it's just some hammers, my strategy's still good and I'll clobber this AI in good time. I don't know what half this poo poo means but it kind of makes me want this game.
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May 13, 2013 06:18
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Revener posted:I was under the impression this was turn-based combat? I can't imagine a turn-based game you can't zone out to since you have infinity to make any decision. It's turn based, so you can take your time, but you still have to pay attention and carefully consider each move. To me, "zone out" means not paying attention or thinking about what you do, but you really do have to do these things unless you play on easy mode. The game is pretty pure as far as strategy games go. There's little variation in the scenarios, there are terror missions where you have to save as many civilians as you can, there are abduction missions which are the most bog standard extermination missions out there, then there are missions after you shoot down a UFO, or sometimes landed UFO missions, which are all also extermination missions, then there are a few other more unique types like bomb defusal, vip escorts, etc, but those ultimately aren't all that different and are pretty rare. there are also a small handful of plot missions that are mostly like the dynamic stuff. I say the game is pure because it doesn't rely on gimmicks or setpiece moments, but instead relies on dynamic encounters that try to surprise the player through the strategy gameplay instead. So no, there aren't really any of those things you mentioned. But also in that respect, no encounter is ever the same, even after you've played the game a dozen times. edit: Beaglerush's Ironman Impossible series is well edited and concise. Watch it, right now: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXctaw5JGF4LcidFVdkQMV1tc2DfC8x3D Dr. Video Games 0031 fucked around with this message at 06:20 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 06:18
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The Door Frame posted:Does anyone actually use archangel armor? It just seems like a great way to get experienced soldiers slaughtered Besides snipers, Archangel Armor is particularly good on Heavies, as it allows them unobstructed LOS for rocket attacks, particularly for those from outside LOS. But it's pretty decent on Assaults too, because the can now run in to flank an enemy unit and still be unflankable themselves and have up to 40 defense with Tac Sense. Of course you can achieve the same result by having them stand out of cover and popping a smoke grenade. Assaults tend to die a lot because even after they OHKO their target, some other alien pops up behind them. Immunity to Berzerkers and Chryssalids is also quite useful in many situations.
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May 13, 2013 06:21
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Revener posted:I don't know what half this poo poo means but it kind of makes me want this game. Well I dunno what other TBS games you've played but I'm trying to compare them to other TBS games. Most TBS games, if you screw up an engagement it's a pain but it's not a big deal. The real question is, is your grand strategy good enough to handle the setback, or were you being kind of an idiot and throwing all your chips into one engagement? You don't have that luxury in XCOM. Up until probably the last 1/3rd of the game, pretty much every battle, you're all in and losing would be a disaster. Sometimes even a victory is too costly, and the casualties you take mean that your capacity is so degraded that the next 3 battles will be next to impossible. On top of this, the strategic complexity is way deeper than many other games, simply because you can't know or guess what's going on a lot of the time. In Civ, for example, after the first 20 turns you can reasonably guess an awful lot about how the game is going to unfold. If you know how the next two turns in a single battle are going to unfold, you might be psychic.
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May 13, 2013 06:31
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Coolguye is describing Impossible mode, but on Classic, setbacks are manageable, and on Normal and Easy, they're really not bad at all. Unless you run into a series of really bad setbacks all in a row. I find on Classic mode, even if I get a full squad wipe with most of my best soldiers, I can recover. Unless I did a poor job at leveling up backups or something. But the sentiment is still the same, it's a very brutal game where every bad move can start a domino effect if you're not careful. A shot soldier panics, shoots a nearby friendly soldier killing them, while not getting in any better cover, etc. There are ways to mitigate failure and reduce the chances of catastrophic cascades, but you'll end up playing at a disadvantage for the next few battles. XCOM is not an easy game.
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May 13, 2013 06:40
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My biggest complaint is there no difficulty between classic and impossible right out of the box. Implassic is good but still just a mod. Classic is almost too easy now and Impossible is an exercise in seeing whether or not the RNG shuts your campaign down before you get a chance to settle in with some decent tech.
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May 13, 2013 06:56
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I put a colonel assault in archangel armor for the last few missions and did wonders, but this was on the normal run I just finished. I don't have any experience with the higher difficulties. But I kinda thought assaults were the poo poo all around. My final party had 3.
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May 13, 2013 08:49
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Revener posted:So there's no real variation among missions? The missions are all pretty similar, but there's a high replay value anyway (just started my 44th campaign.. of course a lot of those were Impossible crash and burns). The strategic layer gets pretty repetitive after a while (at some point, it's like complicated talent tree that you just level your guys up in) but the tactical layer is always surprising. It's like chess in that way. Chess with guns.
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May 13, 2013 09:03
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My heavy just missed with his rocket (forgot that was possible) and killed four of my squad. You're loving fired, dude.
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May 13, 2013 09:16
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S.J. posted:My biggest complaint is there no difficulty between classic and impossible right out of the box. Implassic is good but still just a mod. Classic is almost too easy now and Impossible is an exercise in seeing whether or not the RNG shuts your campaign down before you get a chance to settle in with some decent tech. Classic is hard the first couple of months (but then again, I've been finding early Classic pretty easy these days), it has to really ramp up for it to be fun. Also, is there absolutely any reason to buy the ELITE SOLDIERS PACK?
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May 13, 2013 09:27
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Hm. I thought this game was supposed to get more DLC after Slingshot? What happened to that?
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May 13, 2013 09:29
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Phobophilia posted:Also, is there absolutely any reason to buy the ELITE SOLDIERS PACK? Guile hair and the option to re-colour armour.
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May 13, 2013 09:48
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BenRGamer posted:Hm. I thought this game was supposed to get more DLC after Slingshot? What happened to that? Slingshot got a pretty "meh" reaction and supposedly the DLC that was in the pipeline was mostly scrapped in favour of an actual expansion. There's been a teaser, some data has been spotted in the Steam database, and here's hoping we get some info at either E3 or PAX. Until then, it's safe to bet that Firaxis is working on fixing those drat teleportation bugs and the new Civ5 expansion.
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May 13, 2013 10:33
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j4on posted:but the tactical layer is always surprising. It's like chess in that way. Chess with guns.  I've also found out that i suck at chess with guns.  Probably because i handle the chance based combat too optimistically - i blame playing days of frozen synapse where non-randomness reduced the width of the planning tree.The meta strategy part i personally find like dreadful busywork management in comparison, so i really appreciate them giving us normal difficulty level where that stuffs pretty tame. That's entirely subjective of course and it's still a rather slick and well streamlined part of the game. I guess i should just read up on a walkthrough FAQ for that. RoadCrewWorker fucked around with this message at 10:48 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 10:46
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Doctor Reynolds posted:My heavy just missed with his rocket (forgot that was possible) and killed four of my squad. You're loving fired, dude. Its funny how the odds seem great/terrible depending on how you look at them. ie 90% to hit is great, but 10% to miss is terrible.
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May 13, 2013 11:12
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Doctor Reynolds posted:My heavy just missed with his rocket (forgot that was possible) and killed four of my squad. You're loving fired, dude.
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May 13, 2013 11:49
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