XCOM EU Game difficulty unbalanced

[Jackal2233]

I'm up to game 76 as of the moment (yeah... a lot of restarts), moved from Classic (lost)... to Normal (won), to Normal/Ironman (won), to Classic/Ironman (lost), to Classic (won), then to Classic/Ironman (won), then to Impossible/Ironman (going well, almost done... but got bored -> reasons below)

 

At first the game was awesome, having been a fan of X-com and UFO and every spinoff game that came out trying to create the atmosphere. The X-com remake most definitely nailed it the best for me. The original X-com got tedious after a while moving troops one by one and really tested my patience and punished me for the lack of it. There are changes that I'm happy with in the remake, it's more simplified and less maths, less time to finish a battle (original could get tedious), but unfortunately... the lack of depth is also evident. You don't really get much control over your hit chance in the remake which I don't really like, no more aimed or snap shot. No more stances, a bit too streamlined for my taste in that, even UFO had combat stances which if I do lose a few soldiers - I can blame it on more reasons then "WTF?! BS shot!!!" - common in this current X-com unfortunately. But meh, enough of my personal review... let's discuss the game difficulty.

 

From my experiences, normal AI is just stupid, you can pretty much just advance, spot them, retreat, and overwatch them all to oblivion each time. Higher difficulties make them flank you a lot more and can be just as infinitely patient as you are (making the advance/spot/retreat tactic worthless at times). In my opinion, it's great! But after a while, you get used to the new AI after playing a new difficulty setting.

 

At impossible you can end up with 10+ aliens on the screen at once making one innocent move forward. It is incredibly frustrating until you get your troops to the essential promotions:

Assault: Need lightning reflexes ASAP (aliens overwatch VERY often, and always have to move your assault FIRST every turn)

Support: Need 3 medikits ASAP (and save one for a downed soldier)

Heavy: Excellent after bullet swarm (fire, bunker down, repeat)

Sniper: Squadsight (tactics change in impossible, it's not advance/spot/retreat, it's positioning your snipers far back, spot, and RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!! And hope your snipers kill them off before they get in range of all your troops. But that's just my survival tactic.

After a while you learn to NEVER fire while in half cover (especially in impossible), it's spot and RUN, and only fire behind full cover, and only after you've whittled them down from sniper fire while you retreat. And terror missions get almost impossible without ammo conservation! And I bring THREE assaults lol!

 

But once you get a full squad of Colonels, with Skeleton Armor, and Laser weaponry, that's it, you'll be mopping up the field and only getting better and better. Disabling shot becomes essential with trying to capture aliens/deal with cyberdisks etc, but in the end, it just gets boring. The +10 aim gets negated with skeleton/ghost armor, and with careful positioning your weaker soldiers (snipers/supports) won't be in much danger anyway. So now I've reached what I wanted to achieve: Impossible/Ironman...

 

But found myself playing the game the same way I played late game in other difficulty levels. What you guys think?

 

I was thinking of changing the +10 aim thing based on the alien in question. For example, a sectoid gets no bonus, while a muton elite would get something like +20 or something. Still, at impossible you end up making a point - to kill off all the enemies before they can counter-attack at all. To never take chances, to bunker down and move around their sides and fire with only clear shots. And guess what? You're still going to hit them, it's still too easy with all the abilities at late game especially with your snipers with Archangel armor and double tap (you can kill 2-4 at once when you bring 2 snipers)... In my opinion the game has to be rebalanced with an upwards difficulty curve, not being frustrating at the start forcing you to restart until you get lucky, and then suddenly so surprisingly easy once you get everything you need to survive.

[justwannaddl]

The normal difficulty does feel like a joke though I cannot attest to the other difficulties yet. The game definitely lacks challenge late game but I also feel that it is the same with other X-Coms as well. I do feel it holds the player's hands too much though since difficulty of enemy encounters only really ramps after completing key story missions, essentially making it easy to be beyond properly outfitted before the next level of difficulty begins. In the original, it was a desperate race against time to capture and research tech before you have to deal with terror missions full of Chrysalids or they send battleships full of Ethereals.

 

In defense of the the late game difficulty though, once you got avengers with plasma cannons to shoot down UFOs and heavy plasma, flight suits and psionics for ground missions, you pretty much were unstoppable in the original.

[Jackal2233]

That is true, common problem in a lot of strategy games as well. I guess I'm just disappointed though because my impossible/ironman run was SO freakin intense UNTIL mid-late game =/

 

Unlike other difficulties, cover in impossible is simply useless at early game, you have to spot and only fire where you know the repurcussions are limited (such as using a heavy to fire, then bunker down), or when you're sure of the kill. And when approaching an enemy, slowly advance while bunkering down ALL the way until you're in range to pull off a flanking maneuver (and NEVER try to maneuver wide round, enemies are freakin everywhere in impossible). Thin man too with their poison attack or mutons with grenades... THEY ARE A PROBLEM!!! lol

 

I actually HAD to use explosives! I actually HAD to pick frag grenades over a 1-use medikit until my medic got promoted to SGT, I actually HAD to abort my stun-charge with my assault because 70% just ain't high enough to risk without backup! It was a lot of fun and tension and trying to survive with what little you have. And hell how many times have I restarted the whole damn game? It was epic!

 

But then you get to mid-late game - which takes a while sure but... then it plays just like other difficulties -> move assaults, see enemy, double tap them to oblivion with snipers, overwatch/reload, then continue moving, no more tension or the feeling that death is around every corner... it just became a grind to level up the rest of the squad/get plasma/firestorms etc etc

 

Wish impossible was challenging ALL the way through...

[Perraine]

What they should have done is ramp up the alien activity by about 400% after you destroy the alien base ... More terror missions, more abductions and WAY larger maps with way more High Level enemies (basically aliens fricken everywhere!) ...

And why are Ethereals and Sectoid Commanders consigned only to downed/landed ships?

 

Imagine doing an abduction mission on the destroyed freeway map (which has some big gaps, with NO cover) and having to deal with not only Cyberdiscs, Sectapod's and Muton Berserkers, but throw in a Sectoid Commander or Ethereal to mind **** your troops!

 

The cutscene of the "News Reports" where the aliens have increased activity as a response to your actions, should be later in the game and it should be WAY more intense combat after that! ...

 

And they REALLY need to alter the tech tree ... I don't even bother with Laser Weapons now ... Because you can just go straight to Plasma, and I don't bother with Carapace Armor, just straight to Archangel ... It should be harder to get those techs, not just make the materials harder to find, or just making them more expensive (that's just a copout cheat by the devs) but the actual items needed to even research them should require more time and research. And going straight to an Alien Hybrid Interceptor is just wrong ... There is no progression at all with aircraft.

 

We need the Hyperwave WAY earlier in game, so that we know what type of alien is on the ship ... "Hmmm full of Thin Men and Sectoids ... I'll hit that one ... or ... Mutons and Etherals? ... erm ... Half my best troops injured, no spare heavy armor ... I might skip that one ... Oh s**t wait, that continent has really high panic and I'll lose them if I skip it .... Damn what do I do ...!!!"

[Jackal2233]

I agree, late game is too easy across all difficulties

 

The reason I start new difficulties is because it gets too easy at the end, hence my disappointment after the intensity (and frustration) of impossible/ironman mode only to find out after I got all my troops prepped - the gameplay at late game remained the same. Said to myself "Don't worry, survive a few more battles and it'll get fun"... but NOOO!!! It became a grind... *sigh*

Not to mention Titan Armor + Combat Stims + Chitin Plating... it's pretty much godmode lol

 

It's a shame that after a while the maps become really repetitive too, they try to mix up the architecture abit but you still know where they spawn which robs of the tension. The number of enemies at impossible is fun but still at late game you can kill up to 9 targets at once with a squad of 2 assaults, 1 heavy, 1 support and 2 snipers.

 

Maybe I should discipline myself to only stick to conventional weaponry... but then that's half the fun gone from trying to catch up with the aliens. Would give a starship troopers feel though -> I think I should go for second wave mod - that marathon mode looks interesting actually. Still, it only increases the time the game takes so I doubt it'll change much in late game.

 

I might not finish my impossible/iron man mode despite how good it's going now because frankly, it's boring now. Think I'll just keep restarting the game, the BEST experience is from early to mid game.

[FMod]

It should be harder to get those techs, not just make the materials harder to find, or just making them more expensive (that's just a copout cheat by the devs) but the actual items needed to even research them should require more time and research.

I'm working on a mod that does just that. Balances the game such that you have to put off some techs. Still depends on your good faith to actually do that alien base mission and not drag it out forever though.

 

Would give a starship troopers feel though -> I think I should go for second wave mod - that marathon mode looks interesting actually. Still, it only increases the time the game takes so I doubt it'll change much in late game.

Marathon doesn't fully work. It works, that is, but it's just stretching.

 

What does work in SW is Diminishing Returns - it makes covering the whole map with sats impossible.

[Jackal2233]

Is it possible to increase the number of enemies even more? On impossible after a while one learns how not to alert the enemies but if one group is like 5 enemies instead of 3, it would present a MUCH better challenge, and makes it much more dangerous to advance.

 

At mid-late game on impossible it still plays the same to the point that you can alert 3 groups at once and still kill them all before they can counter-attack.

 

I'm working on a mod that does just that. Balances the game such that you have to put off some techs. Still depends on your good faith to actually do that alien base mission and not drag it out forever though.

 

That would be good actually... or to make the later techs require more prerequisites, or somehow make laboratories/workshops more useful (they are useless atm)

Edited November 4, 2012 by Jackal2233

[Beriallord]

I thought this game was hard enough for me on normal, and I wouldn't even dream of trying classic mode. It took me 3 game resets just to beat normal and not lose any countries. I almost quit the game permanently my second run after losing the USA because a UFO shot down a satellite 1 day before the intercepters were completed. Of course I tried reloading the game from a week earlier, but the same event kept happening. I dunno how anyone can say they hold your hand in this game, because it didn't feel like that to me at all. It seems to me like just the way the general circumstances work out, it does so in a way that ALWAYS screws the player. They don't give you any breaks in this game at all. Once you get to mid game and got satellites up on all the countries and got plasma weapons, then its smooth sailing, but I really terribly hate just the random crap it throws at you in the beginning. You are forced to skim for resources to put everything into launching as many satellites as fast as you can early on or you are guaranteed to lose countries at some point. I honestly think the panic levels are broken. Because you have to go through extraordinary means early on to keep them at bay.

[Jackal2233]

Yeah that's the main problem, impossible was frustrating at the start, classic as well. I did it because at mid-late game it was just too easy and I had hoped a classic then impossible run would provide me with a more consistent challenge. It didn't -.-

 

For not losing people from councils you just have to know what to sell in the gray market. Those corpses are only good for interceptor techs (I only keep floaters), and chitin playing (chrysallid corpses), the alloys and elerium you would want to stock up for later techs but from my experience by the time you get to those techs you already have plenty. I always keep satellites/uplink in production at all times (due to the freakin length of time it takes to actually get them up and running). Impossible took me a few retries due to too many key deaths or failing missions.

 

The difficulty curve seems to be like:

 

Normal: Balanced difficulty... gets easier and easier

Classic: Hard difficulty, gets easier and easier and becomes like normal

Impossible: Frustrating difficulty, STILL gets easy at mid-late game

 

It's sad =/

Now I have my very nice impossible/ironman game which I can't be bothered finishing because it's not fun no more

 

I also only buy the bare minimum for my squad (which I'm assuming everyone does), like 2 scatter lasers which can be shared amongst ALL assaults instead of giving it to each of them etc.

[justwannaddl]

@ Beriallord: While the new game on normal may provide a measure of challenge not common to current games, Enemy Unknown is still far more forgiving than UFO Defense. This isn't meant to imply that this is necessarily a bad thing though. The old X-com was unforgiving even in beginner difficulty and demanded a hell of lot of micromanagement. The inventory system alone was a time consuming mess.

 

In the old X-com games, just moving a few squares out of the carrier could mean instant death for the first soldiers out even in late game. Soldiers panicked quickly and friendly fire was always on. Interceptors died in one hit against ships bigger than large scouts. Really, instant death was a pretty common occurrence in the old games. Lose everyone in a mission and you lose the landing craft. This was a very real possibility even in late game if the random generator decided to troll you and stick a couple of chrysalids or a mutons with grenades or fusion ball blasters in front of it.

 

You don't really need to play perfectly to beat normal with the new game. Losing two or three countries and even a few missions doesn't mean game over in Enemy Unknown (though it is obviously preferable if you do not). Losing support from a few factions/nations in any of the games was never that big a deal. As I said earlier, it felt like it holds your hand because it will only really jump in difficulty if the player finishes major story objectives. You seldom have to fear ambushes either since they announce themselves in cut-scenes before they run for cover and attacks are always clearly within line of sight. You even completely outclass the aliens in terms of abilities and weaponry. Conversely, in UFO Defense, shots and psionic attacks often came out of the middle of the fog of war several screen lengths away and gear only helped bring units up to parity with alien counterparts.

Edited November 5, 2012 by justwannaddl