XCOM EU Comparing XCOM to UFO: The Good, the Bad, and the AWESOME!

[SniperJoe3397]

And life seems to be too cheap with regards to soldiers ... Basically ATM you just send out rookie after rookie and if they don't get turned into green tinted dog food, they might be useful, but then again maybe not, But that's OK apparently, just keep sending out the meat shields until you get one good one ...

 

That's the way it was in the original game, just on a larger scale. Instead of sending one or two Rookies into your team of 6, you sent out teams of 6 rookies among your squad of 20 and just wondered who wouldn't die from a spitball.

 

Why can't I browse the soldiers BEFORE having to hire them? Currently I end up firing most for being useless ... And why are they useless? These guys are "supposed" to be the best of the best ?!?!?!?

 

That was the way it was in the original too. Hire a couple dozen soldiers, then sack 90% of them when you saw their crap stats and/or after they get a month of Psi Training and you find their willpower was more akin to a wet noodle.

 

I mean, just look through some of the Tropes on X-Com's TVTropes Page, some shining examples are

 

Almighty Janitor: Your newly hired and unranked recruits, thanks to their randomly created stats, are potentially capable of being incredible marksmen, Made of Iron or - when you have researched a Psionic Laboratory - mindraping any alien they see into commiting treasonous and suicidal acts of violence against their own side. (But more likely they're completely useless and you'll have to sack 8 out of 10 when you finally get their psi evaluations.)

A-Team Firing: Most recruits will hit everything except the aliens.

We Have Reserves: Rookies make good scouts.

*The game mechanics actually encourages a We Have Reserves mentality. If you feed TFTD rookies to keep it happy, the game can be quite manageable... but if you've truly mastered your tactics and so almost never lose a man, you're screwed.

*The death of a rookie is less damaging to a squad's morale than the death of a higher ranking agent. And if you're feeling particularly cold, the aversion of Easy Logistics makes it a lot easier, and cheaper, to send rookies in to combat with a bare minimum of equipment so that higher ranking and more skilled agents can get the good stuff.

With This Herring: With this bunch of folks who would have failed the physical for any self-respecting military and have the reflexes of a dead fish, you must save the world...

*The standard-issue X-COM rifle is supposedly based on the best traits of a variety of human firearms, combined into one package perfect for your work. Unfortunately, it was built by the lowest possible bidder.

*Played even straighter in Terror From The Deep. The standard equipment you get is worse than their UFO counterparts, and about half of them only work underwater.

*Despite that fact that "Starlight" night vision scopes and binoculars have been available since at least the Vietnam War and passive infrared night vision has been around since the 1980s...you're reduced to throwing flares.

[Hawk07]

Well, this is my opinion and criticize all you want: (:P)

 

First off to make it clear I have not been a fan of the origjnal XCOM simply because I was 1 year old when it came out and got my first PC way later (about 2002) so yeah, I did not even have a chance!

Now that we got this one, let's get to the points I want to make:

1. Graphics-wise the game looks fantastic, everything is sleek and good-looking while retaining the urban settings I have seen in Let's Plays of the original (yes I haven't played it still) and keeping the ultimate ability to destroy everything in the terrain. But there are some clipping issues and de-coupled animations, this is something that can be modded to get improved so yeah not too big a deal as it does not affect the game a lot.

2. Base management is dull and could use a lot more things plus I hate the defaut placement of the things inside my base. Let me build me uplink where I want it to make a ton of uplinks and a nexus in the middle, don't pin it to a location I hate even more if it is 9/10 times surrounded by steam veins. And the base is not too great by a long shot. It is a graphic overload only, we could have it text-bsed with more attention paid to the stuff we can do and our decisions. I would love to see base being attacked as people say it was possible in the original, it would be cool - probably moddable over time as well.

3. I absolutely love the tactics of the game in terms of cover and how you need to manage who does what, I would like a little more depth like a system with 4 action-points (each of the current ones to be replaced with two smaller moves, allowing for more precise things to be done), but the cover system is quite polished and allows you to make decisions.

4. Inventory... well actually items, cause there is no inventory. You pretty much understand it is not here because many people hate micromanaging and this will anyways be modded in the game at some point, just the vanilla experience needs to be accesible even by the unaware crowds (like me) and even some vets of the game may actually not like the micromanagement of the inventory. It forces you to make hard choices before a battle and choose only one item (2 with deep pockets) in order or you to think and not take all the vests and chitins in your team plus a couple medikits and scopes just in case. You have to pick a medikit for the doctors, a scope for the guy far in your back and buff those assaults and heavies with chitins and vests just in case a heavy armor is not enough. Hard choices are good and they do not feel pretentious here...

5. I absolutely hate the fact classes are assigned by the game randomly. Period. Seriously lemme choose which guys I want to snipe or let me get a decent 1/6 rookies assault. I got into a mission and returned with all 6 rookies promoted (yeah I was lucky). 3 snipers 3 supports. Trolling a lot random algorithms?

6. The skill system is quite good, some choices feel like no-brainers though, would like some more hard-choice stuff here. Still most skills are decent and allow for some varied gameplay and tactics.

7. I want a map making kit badly. No, let me point it out as it has to be pointed out - REALLY REALLY BADLY! I need more maps. Being a non-veteran and not too much of a tactician I have failed 5 times on classic and I almost know most maps, it is just hide and seek. Either that or a case of hide and die... Just another thing that falls on the shoulders of the modding community.

8. This is only me I think but I hate doctor Vahl(en) or whatever she is called. Having played 6 playthroughs being told not to use explosives and not to kill outsiders when I have no arc throwers with me makes me wish XCOM is for real so I can slap her in the face. REALLY!

9. I want more progression and variety in weapons - really ballistic, laser, plasma ONLY? Ok, maybe modders will do this but why did they make it so unpolished? They could have put some effort on it so there is no need to rush to plasma or there was a reason to use lasers. And yes I know the modding community already fixed this, but hey, half-done on release date...?

10. I am just as positive as every pleyer who played the original on getting us a UFOpedia. Yes it is a good thing to have and would have been no effort for them. I can find all the info I need, but seriously they expect me to run around the game looking for this info? No, this is just half-done.

11. More missions shall be needed to finish the game. Period. I have managed to fail the game 5 times but 3 were deep in the story and I had a few missions done and got to the alien base where I would unlock the psy abilites.

12. Panic is rediculous at points, both world-wise and soldier-wise. Seriously a rookie died, what where you trained for, soldiers? Plucking feathers out of hens? It is like a chain reaction. I had one sectoid and an outsider left, then a rookie gets killed, two rookies panic and kill my colonel assault and sniper. Now, seriously game? This is not the Earth's best, this is the Earth's worst! And what is it with abductions making me lose countries? I help mexico and I lose all of Asia and South America. I might as well not help anyone and put no troops to risk.

13. Outsiders are too preditctable as well, hate the one-outsider-left-in-the-core-room feelling.

14. Loadout screen needs to be improved because it ain't useable well anough by a long shot. They wanted to avoid micromanagement, yet still they have us pick on the soldier's equipment one by one. Let me outfit the whole team with carapace, use all lasers and put nano fiber to all of them. That would be a time-saver.

15. I absolutely love the videos and all the cutscenes, but the aliens announcing themselves theatrically gets old as does the kill shots of snipers picking a floater 5 miles away. I want my adrenaline running dring a shot, while it is a case of good animation - bad animation now...

16. Need more terror and VIP mission too badly. All I get is shot down UFOs - boring or abductions - too hard choices and after a point it seems like all abduction missions are "Very difficult".

17. Squad size is just fine, but I would opt for a grand total of 8 if possible via modding. But 20 as it was in the original is ridiculous and involves rookies as pin cushions.

18. Enemies fell genuinely ferasome at least on the first plyathrough. I just pissed my pants first time against chryssalids and when I see a berserker or sectopod my initial reaction is "Oh come on, this will kill me". I absolutely love the feeling enemied evoke in most situations.

19. One up for a second skyranger. Really I had something like 2k creds at some point, why not one more skyranger?

20. Rookies are rookies, get over yourselves, do not expect fancy stuff, not goo stats. First months will be tricky to get good teams, but later on you can dump them in the dozens and get the classes you need with the stats you need. That is, if you do not lose all of them.

 

 

I think I can go on with this list forever but these are my main points. Overall score for me (as a new player to the series) is about 85% only because it is a lot of fun and has much replay value if you keep on failing. I do not forgive the development team for delivering an incomplete game, especially when they expect the community to fix a couple of thing for themselves, saying something generic that it is moddable, without any clues on how whatsoever. I think it is a nice game, feels good, can be improved a lot, but it is something for old players to say "ok we can have some fun time repaying, remembering our childhood, even if it is not as much fun and complex" and for new guys to say to themselves (like I did) "How the heck did I not know about this game in the first place? It is absolutely perfect". The fact that this game is opened up to a new playerbase and it did not turn away the old playerbase it had (like the upcoming XCOM fps is going to do) is a win-win situation in my book. Just because old players can ask for things to be improved and new players can bring more new ideas to it. And this makes it a game with potential to be too awesome.

Now I think I shall stop typing... this purpe ray of light behind me... is getting... somewhat... more... attractive... the world needs my abilities to protect it... :P

Edited October 28, 2012 by Hawk07

[Perraine]

There's a game on steam called UFO:Extraterrestrials (Gold) ... It was a reboot of the original X-Com/TFTD done a few years ago, and for me, it's almost perfect, there are some very small issues, but it's what this game should have been ...

 

Consolitis struck again though, and It amazes me that no reviewer has the b***s to come out and say it, this game could be awesome on the PC, if Firaxis/Y2K give the modding community a little help ...

[jhneoh]

Especially the UFOpedia ... That's a complete joke really ... Where are the weapon stat comparisons? Is a found/recovered Light Plasma Rifle better than a Plasma Rifle? Is Titan Armor better than Archangel Armor for an "Assault" Class? or does Psi Armor have more or less damage resistance? (because the description says that it's the best armor ever made, but the stats would suggest otherwise) WHERE are they stats for these items? (I know the differences from poking around in the .ini file, but this information should actually be in the game!)

 

WHAT exactly are the actual strengths/weaknesses of the various ship weapons? (i.e damage vs range?) Because there is no info anywhere within the game so that you can make an intelligent or considered decision on what to equip interceptors with until you've sent one up and it's destroyed instantly ... Oh well, that was a mistake, ho hum, I guess I'll buy anther one ...

 

Consolitis strikes another game ...

 

You gotta be s***ing me. ALL the info is in the game. For weapons and armour, you can see it when equipping soldiers either in the Skyranger or in the Barracks. For Interceptor weapons, you can see when changing their loadout in the Hangars.

 

Consolitis? Or dumb gamers?

Edited November 1, 2012 by jhneoh

[Jackal2233]

^ It's not exactly easy to find at first for gamers who don't bother (and shouldn't really) to look for it

 

Even I wondered for a while where I can find stats for my interceptor weapons

[iRhuel]

Of course XCOM:EU 2012 isn't a carbon-copy of the original XCOM with a shiny new cover. That's because this a reboot series (read: re-imagining, spiritual successor, NOT an actual sequel). As its own title I think the game is fine, and stands quite well on its merits. Sure it's not perfect, there are some things that could've been more elegantly implemented. But to hold up the two titles (which, btw, are now separated by 18 years of industry convention and evolution) and do a point-by-point comparison is pretty pointless, pun intended. Honestly, if you wanted to play a clone of the original game, why not just go play the original game?

 

^ It's not exactly easy to find at first for gamers who don't bother (and shouldn't really) to look for it

 

Even I wondered for a while where I can find stats for my interceptor weapons

Seriously? You think gamers can't be arsed to figure out what the button in the corner of the item portrait does? C'mon. That's a whole new level of lazy.

[ProjectVRD]

Personally speaking I believe the real reason why this game is so much easier and smaller than the original is because the 2012 version is made with consoles in mind. If it had been PC only then the game would undoubtedly have been far more complex, which was a trait of the original games and why they were so good.

 

If a true modding resource tool was given by the developers, then this updated version would be absolutely amazing if ALL of the features from the original were brought back. The new game is just too simple, I was really looking forward to defending my base(s)... that was always a brilliant part of X-COM! You'd have a UFO on the geoscape, and if it was 'Very Large' you dropped what you were doing and study the direction is what travelling. If that UFO was on a trajectory to your base then your adrenaline spiked and it was a "Come on then! Come and get me!" moment!

 

It was even great watching the early 'VL' UFO's go in short random directions just looking for a base. Most of all, upgrading the Skyranger and getting that ultimate craft that doubled as an interceptor and skyranger, complete with a huge amount of space for over 20 soldiers. The new game misses all of this.

 

That was 1993, this is 2012. I am disappointed they took away so many things instead of adding to it to make it better. It is regression, not progression.

[YippieKaiAy]

Reading these forums are a breath of fresh air compared to 2k's. I agree with the consolitis call, it's a sad state of pc gaming.

[Groogo]

This is a good fun game. It is not in the same league as the original XCOM but not many games are. The original XCOM game is a classic, this version is not. Not reaching "classic" status is not enough to make me call this version of XCOM a bad game, I am having fun with it.

[Groogo]

Depth is what this version of XCOM lacks. It is a short game built on rails from beginning to end. It's a fun tactically but lacks all of the strategic depth of the original.