QUOTE (Die Hindenburg @ 6 Feb 2016, 2:46)
It would not stop me from buying it.
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.