Pissed about an X-Com FPS? Firaxis hears ya...

[CmdrSlack]

I am still torn between Xbox and PC for this.

I'll probably end up on the Xbox simply because I know it will run the game.

[Thrawn]

Kind of glad I'm so busy right now that I wouldn't be able to play it anyways since it makes the decision to not pre-order much easier.

[Merusk]

Kind of glad I'm so busy right now that I wouldn't be able to play it anyways since it makes the decision to not pre-order much easier.

But if you preorder you get the soldier customization DLC for free.

/dangle bait

[Thrawn]

But if you preorder you get the soldier customization DLC for free.

/dangle bait

Nope, if I wait until I finish school I can just pick it all up in a Steam sale for half the pre-order price probably.

[Sky]

As much as I'm dying to play this one, it will have to wait for a steam sale. Kickstarter kicked the shit out of my wallet.

Wish I had budgeted for this one, though.

[Llyse]

As excited as I am for this game I am almost as excited for the Let's Plays it's going to generate.

Yeah, I enjoyed watching a Let's Play of X-Com Superhuman Antartica Challenge.

Mildy amusing

[Megrim]

I think I will generate enough entertainment for myself, by watching myself trying to play it on Ironman Classic, on the first playthrough.

[lamaros]

Yeah, I'm more excited about playing it myself. Watching others play... all these videos are making me tear my hair out. "I ran my rookie out in the middle of the aliens without any support, and he got an unlucky hit and died. Oh well! That's XCOM!"

I have become very excited about this game. I really want to play it now.

Lots of previews going around today. This one provides a pretty decent overview:

http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/4mw519/xcom--enemy-unknown-first-contact-preview

[apocrypha]

Wow, this has now turned from a "hmm, wait and see" into a "damn, I can't really afford this right now but I'm going to buy it as soon as I can anyway" for me.

At least it's a reasonable £30 on Steam :)

[Morat20]

That video made me want to play it so bad that it resonated backwards in time and got my younger self to wonder why he suddenly wanted to play Xcom.

I'm torn between Xbox and PC. I want it on PC, but if I get it on Xbox I can not only play head to head against my actual "drink beers with in real life" friends (none of whom will get it on anything else) but I can drag my Xbox along and harass my brother into playing it.

Without letting him into my house, because that always ends up with me watching his kid.

[lamaros]

IGN has a preview up too, quite short. Guy opens with "sorry if I seem funny, been up to 3am the last few nights playing this thing".

This could be my favourite game since the 90s, or a huge, huge letdown.

[lamaros]

So the steam rewards are motoring up towards Civ 5, and we almost certainly reach it before the game is released (possibly in the next week or so). Good news for all!

I wish there was a demo in the works, but it seems rather unlikely we will see one before release.

[DraconianOne]

Pre-ordered on Green Man Gaming for £22.50 (with this 25% coupon code GMG25-1BW0K-K1A3G ) after seeing some of the initial reactions on RPS and places.

[Zetor]

Yep, same here. GMG's been pretty solid for me overall (even allowed me to get games on Steam that would otherwise be unavailable in my region... btw, fuck you very much Bethesda)... I assume I won't get the preorder goodies, but that's ok.

[DraconianOne]

You will still apparently get the Guile haircut goodies and soldier customisation.

[lamaros]

Yeah you still get the pre-order bonus. Just no TF2 hats, or whatevers.

[lamaros]

Not sure if there are many aussies interested here, apart from maybe Megrim, but:

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/Competition/315859,play-xcom-enemy-unknown-before-the-rest-of-australia.aspx

Atomic are having a little competition with the reward being a preview evening. I think you have to be in Sydney.

For those that pre-ordered on Steam the TF2 hats/badge are supposedly unlocked now.

I want this game to succeed so bad. We need a bit of a revolution where RPGs go back to turn-based combat, none of this real time pause crap, and I think this game will provide a good model of how we can make that happen.

[Lucas]

DEMOOOOOOOO available on Steam!!!

[lamaros]

DEMOOOOOOOO available on Steam!!!

Button is there, but not actually available, as yet.

[Sky]

We need a bit of a revolution where RPGs go back to turn-based combat, none of this real time pause crap, and I think this game will provide a good model of how we can make that happen.

While I obviously agree as a first-gen fan of TBS; I think the strength of support will be in the 2nd gen 'kids' who played the tactical stuff on the gameboy/game gear/etc. Wasn't Final Fantasy turned based for combat, too? I'm still a bit shocked TBS has faded so much when both the 'old school' and 'slightly more recent yet at this point also old school' gamers were weaned on TBS and RTS was a pc gamer thing.

[Lucas]

DEMOOOOOOOO available on Steam!!!

Button is there, but not actually available, as yet.

Yeah, I'll just keep hammerin' it  

Now it works, and it's about 5.8 GB 

[lamaros]

Let the downloading begin.

[Merusk]

We need a bit of a revolution where RPGs go back to turn-based combat, none of this real time pause crap, and I think this game will provide a good model of how we can make that happen.

While I obviously agree as a first-gen fan of TBS; I think the strength of support will be in the 2nd gen 'kids' who played the tactical stuff on the gameboy/game gear/etc. Wasn't Final Fantasy turned based for combat, too? I'm still a bit shocked TBS has faded so much when both the 'old school' and 'slightly more recent yet at this point also old school' gamers were weaned on TBS and RTS was a pc gamer thing.

The "Big games" were all action-based and lent themselves very easily to multiplayer setups. MP seems to be the key to blowing a genre up and nobody had eloquently produced a way to multiplayer in TB games without dragging them on forever.  These multiplayer skirmishes are a great step towards that but may take too long for folks who just want to hop in and hop out at-will.  We shall see.

[DraconianOne]

This game cannot come out soon enough.

[Korachia]

Played the demo. Liked it. I think I will buy it. (eventhrough it lags a little on my lappy)

[Lucas]

Wow.

[lamaros]

Fun demo, but yikes is it short.

If you want to muck around in the second level a bit more then don't kill the last enemy and let them kill you instead. It will give you a replay option.

[Quinton]

Totally sold on this after the demo.  Gameplay feels great.

[Amaron]

Too scared to download the demo.  If it's as good as I think then the 2 week wait will become excruciating.

[Lucas]

Totally sold on this after the demo.  Gameplay feels great.

Yeah, the atmosphere of the original is there, at least for me, and the eerie (and sometimes kinda scary) atmosphere of the assault/battles was one of the main highlights of the original game, so that's great. From what I read (I haven't kept myself up-to-date on this title), you will only manage a single base in this game, and apparently the aliens will never attempt to raid it. Also, while the two tutorial missions were obviously easy, it seems that the game can become VERY unforgiving, especially at the harder difficulties.

Gamespot streamed a 2 hour gameplay session, yesterday (2nd tutorial mission and other stuff):

Click here

[lamaros]

How to change difficulty:

Just go to the XCOM demo steam install folder (\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown-Demo\Engine\Config).

And then open "BaseGame.ini" with notepad, edit the line "GameDifficulty=+0.0" change this to "GameDifficulty=+3.0"

Make it a bit more of a challenge.

Also some keyboard shotcuts I've sussed out:

Tab: Swaps soldiers, or swap enemy targets in shoot mode.
[/], PageUP/PageDown: Swap soldiers.
Space: Shortcut for target enemy, shortcut for ok.
Escape: Cancel command (ie, you don't want to throw a grenade anymore).
Left shift: Fire weapon & cancel command.
Right Mouse: Click to move / cancel skill command.
Left mouse: Confirm fire rocket / throw grenade.
Q & E: Rotate camera.
1-5: Select your skills. Pressing again will use the skill.
Double clicked 1-5 will select and use the skill.
W,A,S,D or Arrow Keys or Mouse to edge of screen: Move around the map.
V or Left mouse click on door: Open door.
F & C: Raise & lower elevation.
G & T: Zoom out, zoom in.
Backspace: End turn.
Y: OVERWATCH.
R: Reload.
X: Swap weapon.
F1: Current soldier extended info.
F2-F7: Select soldiers.
F11: Toggle window mode on the fly.

[Yoru]

I tried the demo last night. Mmm, turn-based tactics with a heavy emphasis on positioning and line-of-sight. Nice aesthetic, and it seems the relatively simple mechanics will lend themselves nicely to more difficult scenarios than the hand-holding demo missions.

Preordered instantly.

[Xilren's Twin]

Already knew I was getting this but man did the demo whet my appetite. I may have to start getting extra sleep now to make up for the "one more mission" up til 2am behavior that sure to follow.  Love the atmosphere and tension the structure brings.  To me that one of the missing ingredients that turn based strategy games can have that real time can't seem to reliably develop - tension.  The atmosphere of games like System shock, bioshock or even first and last latest Deus Ex bring tension b/c you have the one man alone sneaking about bit, but once the combat starts you lose that.  X-com turn based battles force you to balance you competitive instincts to run and gun on in to win vs preserving your squaddies so they can develop, patiently using cover and overwatch and realizing there may be all kinds of nasty surprises waiting for you in the darkness.  Plus, mind control.

[Yoru]

So, towards the end of the second demo mission,

Has anyone found a way to do that? Or is it just gitty-gitty-gat-gat and hope the loot roll at the end of the mission turns out OK?

[lamaros]

So, towards the end of the second demo mission,

Has anyone found a way to do that? Or is it just gitty-gitty-gat-gat and hope the loot roll at the end of the mission turns out OK?