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Post by Joseph Joestar on Aug 19, 2014 14:58:59 GMT -5
I'm probably going to give the PS3 edition a try because I'm starting to get a little burned out on the PC version. I love playing the game, but the battles are taking way too long, and I seem to be getting into way too many of them - then again, I think that's half because I got several hyperwave scanners and was going after everything. At the end of May 1999 I got a monthly score of about 20,000.
Anyway I just researched Alien Origins and it seems to have unlocked a new objective - I've got several leaders in captivity already but I'm currently in the middle of researching stuff, so we'll see where that goes.
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Post by Feynman on Aug 19, 2014 18:04:00 GMT -5
The Alien Origins research path is... kind of important.That, plus the ability to make a troop carrier capable of spaceflight, are the two required things needed to begin the final mission and clear the game.
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Post by The Great Klaid on Aug 19, 2014 18:21:36 GMT -5
I'm probably going to give the PS3 edition a try because I'm starting to get a little burned out on the PC version. I love playing the game, but the battles are taking way too long, and I seem to be getting into way too many of them - then again, I think that's half because I got several hyperwave scanners and was going after everything. At the end of May 1999 I got a monthly score of about 20,000. Anyway I just researched Alien Origins and it seems to have unlocked a new objective - I've got several leaders in captivity already but I'm currently in the middle of researching stuff, so we'll see where that goes. I'm not sure if you've ever played the PS3 version, but you may wanna pick it up on a different platform. As of right now it is really laggy and stuttery. It seems like it's a bug with loading voices. Battles are kind of fixed by just turning them off. That or don't get the expansion. Figured I'd warn ya.
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Aug 19, 2014 18:28:47 GMT -5
I'm probably going to give the PS3 edition a try because I'm starting to get a little burned out on the PC version. I love playing the game, but the battles are taking way too long, and I seem to be getting into way too many of them - then again, I think that's half because I got several hyperwave scanners and was going after everything. At the end of May 1999 I got a monthly score of about 20,000. Anyway I just researched Alien Origins and it seems to have unlocked a new objective - I've got several leaders in captivity already but I'm currently in the middle of researching stuff, so we'll see where that goes. I'm not sure if you've ever played the PS3 version, but you may wanna pick it up on a different platform. As of right now it is really laggy and stuttery. It seems like it's a bug with loading voices. Battles are kind of fixed by just turning them off. That or don't get the expansion. Figured I'd warn ya. I appreciate the heads up but it's too late ;p. I'd picked it up a while back during the holiday sales - we shall see how it goes! Thanks again though; I hate it when that happens and the port is buggy...
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Post by The Great Klaid on Aug 19, 2014 18:35:10 GMT -5
I'm not sure if you've ever played the PS3 version, but you may wanna pick it up on a different platform. As of right now it is really laggy and stuttery. It seems like it's a bug with loading voices. Battles are kind of fixed by just turning them off. That or don't get the expansion. Figured I'd warn ya. I appreciate the heads up but it's too late ;p. I'd picked it up a while back during the holiday sales - we shall see how it goes! Thanks again though; I hate it when that happens and the port is buggy... Well like i said. The best thing to do is to turn off the soldier voices. It makes battle not unbearable. And it seemed like it was only if you have the Enemy Within thing. Because when I first had X-Com it didn't do that.
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Post by X-pert74 on Aug 26, 2014 6:15:15 GMT -5
So... did anyone here managed to beat UFO Defense?
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Post by Joseph Joestar on Aug 26, 2014 10:17:34 GMT -5
So... did anyone here managed to beat UFO Defense? I'd like to, but I don't think it's gonna happen in time for the podcast. I've been quiet for a while so here's some random thoughts and commentary: -I've been playing on Beginner; so far it's totally manageable, combat seems to be the biggest challenge (more below). -I had a lot of false starts, which goes back to problems I had in Master of Orion - I'm afraid to sink a lot of time into a run only to fail, so I end up wasting the same amount of time playing then restarting then playing and restarting. I'd play the first couple months then restart because I'd find out something new that I could have done better - I went from getting a $40,000 pay raise in January 1999 to a $1,500,000 pay raise after a couple of restarts, though. -The booklet is completely worthless, btw. -The rest of my wasted time comes from save-scumming in combat. Half the time someone dies, it's one of my "ranking officers", so I figure I'll save scum to save the time of finding new rookies, training them, etc. I'm probably wasting the same amount of time, though; although, it's nice not having to deal with hiring people then firing then hiring more because their stats are completely shit. -Combat is ok, aside from the "one hit, one kill" nature. It seems really arbitrary how damage is dealt; early on you almost always die when hit. When you get armor it seems totally arbitrary when you take damage or not (and if you do take damage, it's like 1/50 you survive wounded). That's my biggest complaint about the combat - although it's true to real life it makes battles really tedious sometimes. As a result of this and my save-scumming the field missions are getting tedious... -...which sucks, because I need shitloads of Elerium to build UFOs and Flying Suits and stuff now. AGH! That, and every time I shoot down a UFO now it seems like the power sources get destroyed. FUCK! -Only one country has gone traitor so far - South Africa. It's sad that a video game is reinforcing negative stereotypes I've gotten from growing up in the 80s. That being said it's a fun game, and it's inspired me to play some more 90's pc games. GiantRobot's recommended some, I'll have to check those out. Also I started the Firaxis reboot/remake thing, but haven't played enough to form an opinion. I do like the battlefields better in that one and how they're more "focused", I guess - half the problem of the battle in the original is that you have to send out scouts to find the enemy, and most of the time there's one asshole that eludes me by hiding in a weird corner of the map at the very end, making the battles even worse.
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Post by Tarsier on Aug 26, 2014 13:24:16 GMT -5
Always bring AC-HE and autofire at those dumb sheds and stuff. For houses, use rockets. That way you either get a clear line of sight if there's anything in them, or turn them into salsa. 's win-win.
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Post by Snarboo on Aug 26, 2014 17:17:27 GMT -5
Also I started the Firaxis reboot/remake thing, but haven't played enough to form an opinion. I do like the battlefields better in that one and how they're more "focused", I guess - half the problem of the battle in the original is that you have to send out scouts to find the enemy, and most of the time there's one asshole that eludes me by hiding in a weird corner of the map at the very end, making the battles even worse. I wasn't a huge fan of the new XCOM's battlescape. I prefer classic X-COM's simply because you have more options available to you, such as being able to shoot down walls to see what's inside a building, and not forcing you to move in a single direction. New XCOM really funnels you ahead so you don't miss anything, which can be frustrating when your tactical options are limited.
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Post by X-pert74 on Aug 26, 2014 17:27:55 GMT -5
As I've said before, I enjoy both the old and the new style, but I prefer the original game's approach to combat. The incredibly wide variety of available tactics made the game seem more versatile to me, and I also find it combat fairer, despite one-hit kills and the like. I think a major reason why I find the combat fairer in the old game is because if a shot misses or whatnot, you can generally recover from it if you know what you're doing, while in the new game if something goes wrong, that's it; you're fucked, and may have lost the entire campaign right there.
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Post by Feynman on Aug 26, 2014 18:07:30 GMT -5
every time I shoot down a UFO now it seems like the power sources get destroyed. FUCK! You'll have a better chance of disabling a UFO intact if you have your interceptors use cautious attacks, and if your interceptors aren't equipped with weapons that are overkill for the size of UFO you're trying to bring down. You don't need flying suits for everyone, either! It's a nice bonus if you can afford some, but generally you should focus on getting basic power armor for your team, then saving up to build the ships necessary to begin the endgame. Most importantly, don't savescum. It's tempting to do so, but if you savescum you won't really learn the tactics necessary to clear the game efficiently. You aren't supposed to beat X-COM on your first playthrough! Regarding the battlescape, I like the original X-COM's gameplay soooooooooooooooooo much better than the reboot's it isn't even funny. The remake has too maps, they're way too small, and it just has way too many limits. You can't shoot down walls at will, you're limited to 2 "moves" per turn instead of the superior time unit system, so you can't do things like step out from behind a wall, shoot, and duck back behind the wall like you can in classic X-COM. Enemies don't move around the map organically, but are instead clumped into small stationary packs and patrolling packs, which automatically activate when you get close enough, so you can't cleverly sneak up on aliens like you can in the original. In the reboot you can only carry ONE grenade unless you have a specific perk, and only ONE specific character class can use rockets... also character classes was a stupid idea, made even worse with the godawful "level up and get perks" system they use. Then there are other nuisances, like only having one base and not being allowed to deal with multiple UFOs at once. Or how all of your tactical options are artificially tied to having high level units. The reboot is diet X-COM. It's still a decent game, but at the same time it's just way too limited, artificially restricted, and dumbed down compared to the original game.
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Post by kal on Aug 26, 2014 18:24:18 GMT -5
I liked the new abilities introduced in new-Com the squad limit and maps were frustrating though.
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Post by Feynman on Aug 26, 2014 18:55:34 GMT -5
The abilities themselves aren't the problem, the problem is tying them to unit class/unit level as if X-COM were some kind of Japanese tRPG.
In the original game, if you want somebody to use a rocket launcher, you give them a rocket launcher. In Diet-COM you need to hope that the game randomly gives you a recruit who is a rocket-using class. In X-COM, if half your high-rank squad gets wiped out, you can equip a bunch of rookies with useful equipment and they can still fill the roles your old soldiers did... not as well because their stats are lower, but they are still fully functional. In Diet-COM, if half your high-rank squad gets wiped out their rookie replacements can't do shit and are borderline useless because 95% of your tactical options are tied to unit class and level instead of to equipment, which is so fucking retarded it boggles the mind.
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Post by kal on Aug 26, 2014 19:52:34 GMT -5
The abilities themselves aren't the problem, the problem is tying them to unit class/unit level as if X-COM were some kind of Japanese tRPG. In the original game, if you want somebody to use a rocket launcher, you give them a rocket launcher. In Diet-COM you need to hope that the game randomly gives you a recruit who is a rocket-using class. In X-COM, if half your high-rank squad gets wiped out, you can equip a bunch of rookies with useful equipment and they can still fill the roles your old soldiers did... not as well because their stats are lower, but they are still fully functional. In Diet-COM, if half your high-rank squad gets wiped out their rookie replacements can't do shit and are borderline useless because 95% of your tactical options are tied to unit class and level instead of to equipment, which is so fucking retarded it boggles the mind. I do agree Feynman, mostly why I said I liked the ability system, not the class restrictions themselves (particularly the changes to the rocket launcher were a real problem to me). Plus the reason they even have the class things was to create artificial scarcity compared to the original game where you just called in Soldiers. Presumably because the base metagame is rather scaled back in Nu-Com.
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Post by X-pert74 on Aug 26, 2014 22:12:52 GMT -5
Ugh, the class restriction in EU 2012 are a total pain as well. Some games I'll get one Assault (since your first four promotions are always one of each class), they'll die, then I'll get a million other soldiers promoted in every other class except the fucking Assault which I actually need. It's so irritating. That and the grouped alien pods make combat artificially harder than it needs to be.
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