X-Com 2, Midnight Suns & Jagged Alliance 3

[Honolulu_Blue]

I played this a lot yesterday. Really enjoying it. It's definitely not easy. I have lost a lot of troops.

Has anyone had an issue with certain character looks/props/etc. available in the recruit pool - when you create a soldier - not being available "in game" and, thus, disappearing from your created soldier's appearance?

For example, I can create a soldier with an eye patch in the pool, but when I went to edit him in the game there was no eye patch available and it then went away.

Also, I recruited a random generated soldier who had the "blow out" hair (that crazy hairstyle in the original X-Com) and then later in the game, after saving and re-loading, his hair changed and it wasn't available in the edit features.

It's weird.

[jeff061]

I've restarted a few games, similar to XCom 1. Bad pacing or research choices. 3rd play through now, made a beeline for squad size upgrades, armor upgrades and magnetic weapons. Seems to be going much better. In mission benefits aside, when you are up to 5 or 6 teammate you can absorb a rookie much more easily. Ideally you end up with a pool consisting of less rookies as you cycle them into mission, but they can also serve as cheap meat shields that don't impact you too much if they die(just recruiting costs).

First time through I raced up the story before getting my shit in order and it wasn't pretty. Second play through I waited too long to upgrade squad size.

Really enjoying the game. I don't mind the turn limits, but I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of the advent doomsday clock. I haven't gotten further enough in to see how that impacts things at a macro level.

[Groundhog]

I've restarted twice now. Current game I made it 5 missions without a single death, and just got my hands on predator armour. Mission 6 my entire team was wiped.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I've restarted twice now. Current game I made it 5 missions without a single death, and just got my hands on predator armour. Mission 6 my entire team was wiped.

I'm wondering if the whole game is going to be like that, always on your heels, whenever you make a tech jump, the aliens make a bigger one, or you wind up with badder enemies. Just feels like you can never get ahead, not less even.

[Groundhog]

I think it is intentionally like that, but you really have to go against the grain as far as research goes - ignore the research items that the game tells you to go for, and instead focus on everything that makes your men more numerous, better armed, and better armored.

[korme]

If you add to the character pool can you then use the newly added characters on a save?

[Groundhog]

Yep, I created two characters, loaded my current game, and I received one of them as a reward for a mission.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by nilodor

I'm wondering if the whole game is going to be like that, always on your heels, whenever you make a tech jump, the aliens make a bigger one, or you wind up with badder enemies. Just feels like you can never get ahead, not less even.

It seems to me to be very similar to the first one. If you make the right choices early, you set yourself up for future successes which in turn allows you to continue to make right choices and set yourself up for further success. I don't think the enemies are always 1 step ahead of you. Since I got predator armor and mag weapons I've been having a relatively easy go of it. Just upgraded to W.A.R. armor, even though I hadn't really felt any pressure to do so. Plasma is researched, just need supplies to upgrade to those.

On the flipside, if you are trending down it tends to snowball, because you aren't capable of winning without massive casualties and you can't field a capable roster. Without a capable roster it's real hard to turn it around.

The more I play the game the more I really like it. The environment destruction is turning into one of my favorite new aspects. Whether it's just shooting a hole through a wall or literally clearing a quarter of a building and dropping all the covered enemies with it, a lot of fun and good strategy. I love the faceless guys going to town on the terrain, they clear cliffs and buildings with one swipe. The heavy class is much more useful and the drones with the support class are fantastic. The first time I took down an heavily armored mech with a single armor piercing shot from my sniper had me grinning.

The way engineering is handled is significantly better as well. I thought it may be a bit to micromanagement, but I'm liking it a lot.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by jeff061

The more I play the game the more I really like it. The environment destruction is turning into one of my favorite new aspects. Whether it's just shooting a hole through a wall or literally clearing a quarter of a building and dropping all the covered enemies with it, a lot of fun and good strategy. I love the faceless guys going to town on the terrain, they clear cliffs and buildings with one swipe.

Rescuing a VIP and then having a grenadier destroy a wall to make an exit for everyone feels so satisfying.

[Groundhog]

Played both my first landed UFO assault and ship defense missions last night. The UFO assault was fairly easy, but the defense mission is intense. Timer ticking down to disable the mission objective before wave after wave of increasing number of enemies land around your craft. I sent 2 men to take out the objective with the rest of my men camped out in overwatch to cover the retreat, and had two reserve alien crafts land while I was scrambling back and I just made it back in time to take off when a 5-unit strong alien craft landed….

Finding it a lot more fun with max-sized squads, there’s enough men to split your force a little, especially when setting ambushes while hidden (which is my favourite part of the new game I’d say).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

An Unlikely Fix For XCOM 2’s Long-Ass Back To Base Load Times

[revrew]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

An Unlikely Fix For XCOM 2’s Long-Ass Back To Base Load Times

I've found another fix that helps tremendously. I have a computer just below the recommended specs for the game, and when I first tried it out, it crashed every time. Couldn't even get to the title screen.

Then I turned off my wi-fi and used Task Manager to shut Steam down and ran it again in offline mode. Works like a charm, now. Every time.

Have I said before how much I hate Steam? Yes, yes I have.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I played this a lot yesterday. Really enjoying it. It's definitely not easy. I have lost a lot of troops.

Has anyone had an issue with certain character looks/props/etc. available in the recruit pool - when you create a soldier - not being available "in game" and, thus, disappearing from your created soldier's appearance?

For example, I can create a soldier with an eye patch in the pool, but when I went to edit him in the game there was no eye patch available and it then went away.

Also, I recruited a random generated soldier who had the "blow out" hair (that crazy hairstyle in the original X-Com) and then later in the game, after saving and re-loading, his hair changed and it wasn't available in the edit features.

It's weird.

I figured out the answer. All of the customization options don't open up until a soldier reaches the rank of sergeant.

I am officially hooked on this game. I have gone to bed at 3 am the last two nights - weekday nights. Oops!

I have been really enjoying the stealth ranger on non-stealth missions.

I only have 5 man squads and have been leaning towards double heavies. I love grenades and taking out cover is so key.

I just got plated armor. I really haven't found a use for medkits or medics like the old game. It's nice to heal wounds, but I have yet to have a soldier get hit and start bleeding out like the old game.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I just got plated armor. I really haven't found a use for medkits or medics like the old game. It's nice to heal wounds, but I have yet to have a soldier get hit and start bleeding out like the old game.

I've really only been using medkits to cure poisoning from viper attacks and viper rounds. Lousy jerk aliens.

For the first time in the game I feel like I'm almost level pegging with the aliens, the last few difficult missions have gone by with only minor injuries and some semblance of control from my side. Although it may be too late for me as the aliens got to the avatar project counter (although I managed to raid a factory to knock it back 1) and the factories are a long way away from my current operations.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by revrew

Have I said before how much I hate Steam? Yes, yes I have.

That's okay. I probably love Steam as much, if not more, than you hate it, so it all balances out!

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I figured out the answer. All of the customization options don't open up until a soldier reaches the rank of sergeant.

I am officially hooked on this game. I have gone to bed at 3 am the last two nights - weekday nights. Oops!

I have been really enjoying the stealth ranger on non-stealth missions.

I only have 5 man squads and have been leaning towards double heavies. I love grenades and taking out cover is so key. .

I used double heavies up until I got psy operatives. Shred/grenades are key with all the armored enemies (side note, research armor piercing bullets and the shred cannon!) and holotarget is very useful. For Psy soldiers there may be nothing more handy than Stasis, but all the powers are great and Void rift is magnificent.

Also had all my specialists trained with a healer spec, just took 1 of them and respecced to offensive hacker. Haven't tried that out yet.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by jeff061

I used double heavies up until I got psy operatives. Shred/grenades are key with all the armored enemies (side note, research armor piercing bullets and the shred cannon!) and holotarget is very useful. For Psy soldiers there may be nothing more handy than Stasis, but all the powers are great and Void rift is magnificent.

Also had all my specialists trained with a healer spec, just took 1 of them and respecced to offensive hacker. Haven't tried that out yet.

I don't have psionics yet. I can't wait!

I'm a big fan of the Offensive specialist. They are great against turrets and robots. And, even against non-robotic enemies, the automatic 2 point hit can come in /very/ handy when you have a really dangerous enemy with just 1-2 hit points left.

[SirFozzie]

It's also good when one of your people gets Viper Grabbed (2 points of damage means auto release, which usually means the guy released gets to express his displeasure with Snakehugs at short range.. I save my specialists with Combat Protocol just for that.

[korme]

Any cheap tricks to speed up a painfully slow internet connection?

[Groundhog]

Yikes, walk down the street and buy it boxed?

[korme]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Yikes, walk down the street and buy it boxed?

That still exists???

[nilodor]

Man gunslingers are death dealers. I've just gotten to plasma pistols and my favourite way to break concealment is to get to take a high ground pistol shot (costs 1 action), then use lightning strike (free shot) and faceoff (to shoot at any enemy within range). Nothing picks up the mood better after your squaddies miss on a whole bunch of shot then for your gunslinger to deal death to all the near-by enemies.

[Marmel]

The negative reviews on steam are scaring me off paying $60 for this. I know you are going to get your share of negative reviews that are not justified, but I am seeing some pretty detailed reviews that are negative.

The whole timer thing is a huge turnoff. Is it as bad as it sounds? Here is one negative review. Is it at all accurate?

Unfortunately, I have to echo the sentiments of a lot of other reviewers here. XCom2 delivers a great core game, playing off of the strengths of its predecessors, but a few design flaws (and a LOT of bugs and graphical issues) have sunk the game experience for me.

People have already outlined those issues in detail, but a short list:

EVERYTHING IS ON A TIMER (EVEN THE WORLD MAP). The aliens are working on the "Avatar Project" (which might as well be named the Deus Ex Machina project), which ticks forward, often out of your control. God help you if you want to try to get anything done, because you'll be spending all your time on...

RESOURCE DROPS. Yes, to get any supplies, you'll now have to sit over them, like a hen laying on an egg, to get any resources. However, you won't be able to do this, because...

EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS ALARMING ALL THE TIME. Missions pop up all the time and while you're sometimes given a choice as to which one to do, you damned sure better do ONE of them, and best of luck because...

YOU'RE S.O.L. IF YOUR A-TEAM DIES. I don't mind difficult games. In fact, I like the permadeath nature of XCom; it gives your missions and decisions weight and I'll admit having to fight the urge to save-scum when one of my favorite soldiers died. However, the random nature of your missions means that it's entirely possible to get three of those "not mandatory but actually pretty mandatory" missions outlined above, and if you take any damage at all, you'll have to bring in fresh recruits. Even by mid-campaign, Squaddies and Corporals are effectively useless because...

THE COVER MECHANICS AND TO HIT NUMBERS MAKE NO SENSE. I take a reasonably seasoned corporal with a Tier 2 railgun, put him directly next to a muton with no cover at all under the effects of suppression, and my to hit is... 18%. What? Are XCom soldiers half-stormtrooper? A big giant unit with big giant HP and armor is apparently faster than a speeding bullet. You'll be surprised when a stun lancer hits you literally through a wall because...

THE COVER MECHANICS MAKE LITERALLY NO SENSE. Hitting through walls? a 20% to hit percentage difference on two of the same creatures literally right next to each other? Sure, why not. I don't care anymore.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Marmel

THE COVER MECHANICS AND TO HIT NUMBERS MAKE NO SENSE. I take a reasonably seasoned corporal with a Tier 2 railgun, put him directly next to a muton with no cover at all under the effects of suppression, and my to hit is... 18%. What? Are XCom soldiers half-stormtrooper? A big giant unit with big giant HP and armor is apparently faster than a speeding bullet. You'll be surprised when a stun lancer hits you literally through a wall because...

THE COVER MECHANICS MAKE LITERALLY NO SENSE. Hitting through walls? a 20% to hit percentage difference on two of the same creatures literally right next to each other? Sure, why not. I don't care anymore.

I've played for about 10-15 hours or so and I really haven't experienced this at all. Sure, I've had my people miss their fair share of 75%+ shots and sometimes things seem a bit off, but nothing like you're talking about.

The railgun situation sounds like it could be because it's your sniper? Sniper rifles + short range = Shit. Use your pistol next time or keep your snipers at a distance.

If there is a 20% difference between aliens right next to each other it's probably do to a combination of the angle of fire and partial vs. full cover. My solution: throw/lunch a grenade, eliminate the cover situation, and fire at will, Commander.

The game does its best to simulate a cover mechanic and stressful, squad-based fights in a turn-based atmosphere. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good and not as wild and arbitrary as described above.

[jeff061]

I never got annoyed by timers, I guess if you are really slow it may bug you. In any case there are workshop mods that can disable it.

Resource drops are bonuses, not critical. They shouldn't be gotchas and grabbing them should be strategic.

Everything alarming all the time is kind of how it's been working since the 90s games and all the knockoffs, sounds like a newbie critique.

Don't create an A-Team. Cycle guys in and out, create a roster. You can now train rookies up to squaddie outside of battles with a facility and you can of course purchase an XP booster.

The rest just sounds like whining and frustration. Which there is always going to be in a game with a lot of luck involved.

Honestly I haven't heard most these complaints. The ones I see are the same one that I saw with XCom 1, that it's not 100% faithful to the originals, not as indepth and doesn't allow as much strategy. If that's what you want pick up Xenonauts, which is a great game as well.

Long story short, I just beat it and I loved it. I'll likely play through it multiple more times, just like I did with the first one. If you loved the first one you will love this one. If you didn't like the first one, chances are you will not like this.

[nilodor]

I'm enjoying it way more than the first one, which is saying a lot as it is one of my favourites.

At first the timers can be jarring and you really need to think that you are the underdog, you are fighting a much larger more powerful force and the only way you can survive is if you get in and get out. So the timer works pretty well to push this agenda.

I've never really felt cheated by the shot percentages. I've missed some 80+percenters, and I've made some 30ish percenters. I've also seen the aliens experience the same luck. The animations may be a bit weird sometimes, which can lead to unrealistic looking shots but I think the mechanics are solid.

[Marmel]

thanks guys, those were not my complaints, just a bad review I copied and pasted. Im still on the fence about spending $60, but im sure ill pick it up at some point.

[BYU 14]

Just had an amazing mission at an Advent black site, encountered 20 aliens guarding some technology. Killed them all, lost two troops and was headings towards evac site when 5 Advent reinforcements landed.

Got two of my three survivors evacuated and thought I would lose the third as he had to get through two Advent soldiers on overwatch, and a stun lancer charge. I was writing off a very promising sniper, when the stun lancer missed, the first overwatch triggered and missed, then the second one hit him for 5 damage.........Luckily he had 6 health left and made it to the evac spot with 1 heath left and was hoisted out.

Intense as hell, really loving this game!

[Neon_Chaos]

This game makes XCOM EU and EW just feeling like a freaking beta. You have to unlearn the bad habits of that game. Playing aggressive is recommended, specially once the new abilities and equipments get unlocked.

Very very good game. As they say, easy to learn, difficult to master.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Awesome.

Kotaku

[Eaglesfan27]

I can't get enough of this game. I don't have a lot of free time right now (back in school) but most of my free time is going to this game.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I can't get enough of this game. I don't have a lot of free time right now (back in school) but most of my free time is going to this game.

I am with you, EF27. If I am not working or hanging out with my girlfriend, I am playing this game. Often that means that I am staying up until two or three in the morning. On weekdays. I am really too old for that kind of shit, but I can't stop!

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

XCOM Framerate | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

[jeff061]

Yeah the framerate is horrible. I've never had a game tax my system and this brought it to it's knees even on lower settings. Not a deal breaker, framerate isn't king in this game, but nice to know they are working on it.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

XCOM Framerate | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

I still haven't installed.. finishing up EW. Hope they get it patched by the time I"m ready.

[Julio Riddols]

I just hope they get this shit onto consoles. Seems weird for a turn based strategy game to use so much computer power, but it uses more than mine can handle and I dont think XCom is worth 400-500 dollars.

[Groundhog]

I dropped some of the settings down and I don't notice much of a drop in graphics quality, but it has improved the framerate, especially of the cutscenes. There's no reason for it to be as stuttery as it is though, it's just plain poor optimization by the development team.

The capslock trick when you finish a mission is pretty amazing, works basically instantaneously for me - hit caps lock, the button goes green.

[Edward64]

I've not noticed any framerate hits but my cursor sometimes goes weird. Restarted for my second round and doing better.

[nilodor]

Just finished my first play through. All I can say is wow! That was one hell of a ride.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by nilodor

Just finished my first play through. All I can say is wow! That was one hell of a ride.

Any comparisons with Enemy Unknown? Was the ending better?

[Groundhog]

I'm at a point now where I've got the best armour and weapons outfitted on my force, but I'm still getting frustrated at the sheer number of aliens on some missions, especially when you run into two mobs simultaneously. I might got 2 or 3 missions without a loss, but then you get that one mission where it seems like you are doomed from the start.

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Any comparisons with Enemy Unknown? Was the ending better?

The ending is similar (was it different between unknown and within?) in style but I think it was better executed and I liked the story more. The final push is crazy and was a real battle. Overall, I really liked the pacing and the game overall was a big jump from XCOM EW for me.

[NobodyHere]

I need to get X-Com 2 now.

[Honolulu_Blue]

That voice pack is pretty fantastic.

My favorite voice pack ever was the "Army of Darkness" one for Doom 2. I played /so much/ Doom 2 simply because I loved hearing all of the sound clips over and over and over...

[bhlloy]

This has gone right to the top of my list of favorite games over the last few years. I can't think of many other games I've been so looking forward to diving back into when I have some free time

[Eaglesfan27]

Anyone else feel compelled to restart midway through. My squads have just been decimated and I am realizing I am in a no win situation now. Still having a blast despite the setbacks last night.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Anyone else feel compelled to restart midway through. My squads have just been decimated and I am realizing I am in a no win situation now. Still having a blast despite the setbacks last night.

I had to do the same thing during my first play through. I just got to a point where I knew I couldn't get past a certain mission based on the troops and equipment I had. Wasn't going to happen.

After my restart, I focused on things differently, and I'm having a /much/ better time of it. It's not easy, but so long as I don't totally fuck up or the game absolutely jacks me by, for example, unleashing multiple pods of super powerful aliens all up on me at once, I should be okay.

[Groundhog]

46 hours and 1 restart, I've finished the main campaign. I used mods to double the Avatar bar and increase the turn limit in the timed missions, just because I prefer a more relaxing game.

Last battle was pretty darn tough - just had to focus on the objective and ignore everything else.

[Honolulu_Blue]

I am at the point now where the final mission is available, but I don't want to do it, because I want to keep playing!

I also want to have a full complement of Colonels go in for the final assault.

MOAR ALIENS MUST DIE

[revrew]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Anyone else feel compelled to restart midway through. My squads have just been decimated and I am realizing I am in a no win situation now. Still having a blast despite the setbacks last night.

Yep. I made so many mistakes in learning the new story arc and the necessarily new tactics required for X-Com 2, that I realized I had ground my whole campaign to a halt and would soon face a brick wall.

The restart, however, now that I "know what I'm doing," has been a LOT of fun.