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XCOM 2 out in two days, What do you think?
Die Hindenburg
post 3 Feb 2016, 18:57
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Most reviewers seem to like it, how is your opinion, if you played the game? tongue.gif
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SGM. Jazzie Spur...
post 4 Feb 2016, 11:56
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>Hates being poor.

I will have to wait until it gets cheaper >:

I'm looking forward to it. I hope it is as good as EU and EW biggrin.gif


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Planardweller
post 4 Feb 2016, 13:56
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QUOTE (Die Hindenburg @ 3 Feb 2016, 19:57) *
Most reviewers seem to like it, how is your opinion, if you played the game? tongue.gif

You are kind of asking if any of us was a reviewer happy.gif

I bought the game and have already pre-downloaded. A day-off at work for Friday is set, so as the game is released, i'll dive in it.
Then i'll share my thoughts on Friday evening
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(USA)Bruce
post 4 Feb 2016, 15:50
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I preoderd the game with the additional content...

Dont do preorders or day one DLC but Im a HUGE Xcom fanboy....Now I hope to actually play it rather then just looking at my desktop and play a game of rotr cause I dont have alot of time.
Had the same thing with MGS5...Sorta three months late to complete it lol

Game looks great, there are some stuff I disagree with in design (Squadsight being a lvl1 passive to every marksman)
Theres been plenty of playthroughs I havent looked into, like the last alien insight was the sludge monster, the rest I'll keep to myself and be suprised in the game.


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Die Hindenburg
post 6 Feb 2016, 1:46
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QUOTE (Planardweller @ 4 Feb 2016, 13:56) *
You are kind of asking if any of us was a reviewer happy.gif

I bought the game and have already pre-downloaded. A day-off at work for Friday is set, so as the game is released, i'll dive in it.
Then i'll share my thoughts on Friday evening


It would not stop me from buying it. biggrin.gif
I am just interested in different and similar opinions. C:
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DELETED MEMBER
post 6 Feb 2016, 3:30
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i made the mistake of advancing the story, fuck codex and everything they are


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Planardweller
post 7 Feb 2016, 10:34
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QUOTE (Die Hindenburg @ 6 Feb 2016, 2:46) *
It would not stop me from buying it. biggrin.gif
I am just interested in different and similar opinions. C:


Okay, so after a big friday delay (i had to reinstall to 64-bit OS) on Saturday i played XCOM quite a lot
So here are my thoughts as of 3 month of the game on Veteran (equivalent to Normal in XCOM EU) difficulty:

TLDR;The game is definitively good and worth the wait. Despite the minor balance issues, jerky graphics and not so optimized performance this is a game worth your time.

Strategical layer is varied and huge and you have to prioritize a lot:
How to build up the Avenger and where to get the supplies and engineers for that?
Should i stay at HQ and build up the Avenger (HQ bonuses are nifty) or go pick up that supply/intel/personnel pick-up?
Should i expand to a different continent or build up the resistance network here?
Which researches are more important than others? Answer: Don't do autopsies except for the ADVENT officer and even that one is needed only for story purposes and proving grounds facility

All this will come with experience but a player is never left alone and bored as it was in XCOM 2012. Besides you don't have to rush the one and only route of base development
On tactical level:
Soldiers level up slower than in XCOM on impossible. The game still uses pod logic and combat revolves around overpowering pods you have discovered.

Rangers are pretty powerful, run and gun is still very good, but additional concealment can be powerful too.
Grenadiers are very useful due to grenades, but could use a range buff and some perk rebalance.
Sharpshooters: much less powerful class than in the old game: pistols are okay, but rifles are less viable
To elaborate: sniper rifles take 2 actions to shoot and the damage is the same as with other class weapons.
SR don't ignore armor and snipers overall have slightly less accuracy (smaller Accuracy bonus from scopes and level progression)
Damage bonus ability - Deadeye instead of crit% gives pure damage bonus, but at a hefty penalty of 25% to accuracy
Specialists: they are your hack specialists, so have at least one. I went with combat tree and it was worth it on normal. Specialists are now no longer left out in terms of damage, as assault rifles still can KO basic ADVENT soldiers, officers or lancers which are aplenty on any mission. Still some perks are outright useless - Covering fire and suppression, i look at you.
Hacking in the game could have been better balanced: sometimes the bonuses from hacking are ridiculously good: once i had a bonus which replenished spent action points of the whole squad and on a timed mission too. Only specialists are decent hackers and i haven't seen any perks or items which improve your hacking chances. Hacking doesn't have a middle ground fail effect, so if you fail it is always pretty devastating and more often than not it is better not to hack. Also there is rather small amount of things to hack- usually 1 control tower and robots. I kind of expected more hacking for resources. As a mechanic it is good, but as i said could use a rethink. Btw, nice thing is that checking what are you hacking comes at no action point cost - if you don't like your chances just cancel the hack and you are still good to go.
I haven't got to psionics yet, so can't say anything about that.

New mission types are nice, but i've seen people grumble that on higher difficulties the turn timer is too punishing.
Dislikes:
Weapon mods are nice, but some of them i dislike on a principle - 5% chance to auto-kill an enemy or 3 points of damage even if you miss? A number of free reloads? Seems like devs didn't know what to add
no Gremlin customization
Level 1 and 2 Excavations could have been faster
New aliens: maybe it's just my difficulty level, but starting aliens are not impressive at all:
Sectoids more often than not lose turns to reanimating corpses. When they target your soldiers it's either panic or Mind control. After mind control, your squad kills them off and on panic the soldier often berserk-kills the sectoid by himself.
Vipers and Mutons are on Focus Fire policy and don't have the HP to withstand that. As a result they just don't have time to show what they can do.
Faceless are lesser and slower chryssalids without zombie-making so just pointless, i guess.

Advent MECs are pretty powerful though and a much better muton than mutons are.
I look forward to newer aliens: Codex, Archons and Andromedon. Maybe they'll prove to be a menace.

Overall: the game pulled me in and i'll be spending next week on it.

This post has been edited by Planardweller: 14 Feb 2016, 1:32
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Serialkillerwhal...
post 7 Feb 2016, 23:54
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Planardweller
post 14 Feb 2016, 1:31
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Exactly one week after the previous post i completed the game, heh.

Overall, the game is really good and whatever is not to your liking can be modded out

Really good missions: Avenger defense, pre-final and final missions
Final mission is very, very intense and don't forget to bring at least one psi-operative with Solaceand AoE attacks.

Alien units progression is rather pleasing and final aliens are a huge trouble if not dealt with timely and correctly.
Chryssalids are a huge PITA, they now usually burrow and wait. When they sense you, they perform an instant melee charge on your turn, use scanner protocol and motion sensors.
Codex are relatively tame compared to Gatekeepers and Archons, Against Codexi and Gatekeepers use flashbangs if you can't kill outright.
Archons and other units with high Dodge stat (all human-based infantry and Vipers) are trouble too. huge HP pool, 3 action points of damaged, decent aim and powerful melee. Use disorienting abilities (Overload protocol, you are the best). When singular they sometimes can be baited by grouping up which makes them use their barrage ability
Andromedons are damage sinks and a good training in managing your soldiers' damage output. Just don't use acid on them.
Sectopods - hack meat and after hacking that become punching bags.
Avatars - really hard to kill, but they are story-only enemies. You'll meet them only 2 times.
Final tier weaponry (plasma beams) are less powerful than in the first game, but usually this is remedied by abilities, AoE attacks and all sorts of psi-tricks. Psionics are really powerful as they can learn all psi-abilities in the game. Many of their abilities are Crowd Control or AoE damage oriented and ignore armor. As such a squad of 4-6 psions is epitome of OP in XCOM 2, except you'll have to spend 4-6 boring months while training them. As i advised earlier bring at least 1, but better 2 well trained psions for the final mission, it will make your life significantly easier.

Resource management:
Early on engineers and a steady stream of supplies are very important for quick development.
If you have 2 specialists and mindjacks, you can mine enemy soldiers for intel every mission. Minor tip: identical intel caches do not count, so for maximum intel points you need both a small and a large one.
If possible an early laboratory could be very helpful to tech up quickly, but first focus on guerrilla warfare and advanced warfare centers, then proving grounds. By the end you may want 2 communication centers, but one is more than enough to win.
If you are wondering a workshop provides 2 worker Gremlins for each engineer in the workshop. Overall, you get two more workers.
For me Avenger defense mission happened earlier than i could build defence matrix facility, so i can't say if it is effective, but i've heard good things about it.

Story and lore are pretty good and satisfying, especially the ending.

Unsatisfying things:
Certain perks and class development.
Pick-up system is pointless.
Item manufacturing system
Hacking should be expanded.
Maps could contain extra item and resource stashes to facilitate exploration.
Health and armor system.

Personal requests: more story/unique missions, ADVENT base assaults, 2-3 stage missions, Evacuation missions (similar to Avenger defense, but you have to defend while civilians evacuate), more mission variety.
Ability to power down facilities on Avenger.

This post has been edited by Planardweller: 14 Feb 2016, 1:34
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