Forum: Public Forum

I was going to buy it, but apparently you must gather your party before venturing forth.

(Actually I did buy it - didn't play BG1 when it first came out but did play BG2, so a nice mixture of nostalgia and newness.... thanks for the tip...)

Hi, I bought it too. Not had chance to play it yet, but would be interested in trying the multi-player at some point. Perhaps a party is being formed?

David,

Thanks for the suggestion but sorry, cannot commit to anything at all at the moment, even over the internet.

The wife is suffering from all-day "morning" sickness more or less everyday at the moment. The pregnancy is otherwise going on without problems.

I have yet to install BG, after snatching it on the cheap. Currently playing the new X-Com on my PC (which I also recommend) when I can.

Laurent,

Glad to hear that all's going well, apart from the puking.

I was very impressed with X-Com - I had the original on the PS1 and before that, Laser Squad on the old Amstrad 464. It's not often I'd buy a game on release, but that was the exception.... absolutely brilliant...

Yes indeed!

The way I ended-up buying X-Com full price too is convoluted. I never played the first X-Com games but definitely heard of them because of my addiction to Jagged Alliance 2, which is turn based strategy/tactical too. Strategy because like X-Com, the player needs to prioritise what to do (which city to take) in order to liberate a country (Arulco) and tactical, because of the teams of mercenaries that are used to take said game sectors. Everybody who talks about JA/JA2 talks about the X-Com legacy at some point.

A month or so ago I was trolling on Steam to see if Paradox had bundled-up all the Crusader Kings II game and DLCs (they have not done so yet). Then I got Civ5 at 75% off, then "BG enhanced" at 75% off, basically buying great games for pennies... then I saw X-Com.
I was afraid that it was again one of those "fake" X-Com and was another failed FPS, then I saw it was mabe by Firaxis and 2K. So my hopes went up. I then downloaded the X-Com demo. This left me mightily impressed.

So I paid good Pound Sterlings for a game, something I had not done in years. While I am enjoying my purchase greatly, I was a bit miffed that last week they had a "mid-week madness" at Steam and offered it (with its two DLCs) at 75% for two days!

Because I refuse to play on Easy and Normal, I always play on "Classic". This has led me to be currently playing "Game 67". After many, many, many attempts. I have now worked out how to avoid losing any X-Com member. It is tough, requires planning and a bit of luck to get those satellites produced and up on time, but it is doable. Yes, I just cannot bear losing even one country

I have currenly given-up on "Ironman classic" to at least see the whole game through once.

Trivia: The "cover" (well, if I had a box for it of course) of XCOM-Enemy Unknown is inspired by the old "Laser Squad" box art.
Also, mentioning the Amstrad CPC 464 shows your age, even I who is more ancient than you, started on the Amstrad CPC 6128 and the attached monitor in its full green on black glory!

Laurent,

I've completed it on normal, iron man normal, and I would have completed it on classic if the game hadn't crashed in the final encounter. Haven't got round to replaying that one yet, but I've got a bunch of top level soldiers, so I'd be confident about winning. Haven't tried any of the DLC.... too many games, not enough time...

But probably the most fun was Iron Man Classic - did okay for a while, and then an unfortunate rocket launcher incident contributed towards losing too many experienced soldiers. It was brilliant circling the failure drain.... trying again and again just to win one mission, get the loot/cash/promotions and try to catch up or even recruit more soldiers. Not to be, but a lot of fun raging against the dying of the light.

I see there's an X-Com FPS coming out in a few months, but I doubt I'll bother. Hopefully we'll get a proper sequel at some point.

Adam,

The new XCom game is called: XCom The Bureau.

I have had a quick look on Gamespot and IGN the other day (I miss PC-Zone) and this sounds pretty good. The development history of the title does not bide well though. It was meant to be a first-person shooter and is now a "third-person tactical" game. Thus it is not turn-based... I may buy it in pre-release though as the third stage reward sounds nice, and with the added 10% off.

You will have to read the news items and preview to make up your mind about what they mean by "third-person tactical" but it does not look too awful.

Ironman XCOM
I wanted to be a real tough guy and play Classic Ironman too, but gave up because of the second Council Mission from the "slingshot" DLC. I only realised (recently from reading some forum) that one can ignore the second mission over and over (it comes back each month). To play the DLC scenario (three missions with unique maps) the first mission must be taken when proposed though. Anyway, I was mostly caught by lack of satellite coverage. I also always choose to activate every options in the "second wave" DLC, making XCOM member funding random.
So with regards to "Slingshot" I ended-up facing Mutons and Thin Men without enough guys, only the basic four, (one needs to build the Officer Training School in Classic and above) or decent equipment (all the money went towards Satellites and their Uplinks). Since the mission is timed (ten turns) I got screwed all the time and in the end got bored of restarting the game. I am going to have a go at this second mission tonight, but this time with my A-Team of six operatives all carrying laser weaponry and proper armour.

Death spiral
Yep, the game becomes devilishly hard (on Classic at least) as soon as one mission is lost. What kills a game for me is always the panic level. A "Terror mission" for instance just cannot be lost, this is way too costly.
Stil; there is always that feeling that you could, just could get back on the job and recover... but no matter how you get back on your feet in tactical, the money never flows again properly. Members leave, "the voice of Optimus Prime" gets pissed off and gives you bad grades (UFO begin to escape lowly Raven Interceptors after a while) and the death spiral continues indeed.

Once I chose to ignore all the fights just to lose the game "properly", i.e. without savagely quitting to Main Menu. I love the end cut-scene "The X-Com project has been a... misunderstanding from the beginning", all the lights going out and the three protagonists walking away defeated.

DLCs
They are a bit of a let down. "Second wave" is mainly about stuff that should have been in the game (armour colour and type customisation and game difficulty options). It should also unlock more difficulty settings for people who finish it in Classic and even more after Impossible. Though from the info found here, this is closer to masochism than computer gaming.

"Slingshot" is only a three maps affair, nice side story, well scripted overall, one unique soldier, but not exactly good value for money. Apparently it was hated by fans of the game and 2K decided to can this type of DLC. Look on GamesFAQ for more info.

Fun bits
Go to the XCOM database from the main menu, click on Dr Shen and listen to what the AI has to say!
I do not know why they put the XCOM database there instead of in-game, but this is a funny entry for sure.

And of course all the trivia about "Gollop", the reference to Colonel Straker (UFO TV series), the information banner in the situation room, etc.

Laurent,