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| Re: yeah by Arbit 05/20/2013, 1:00pm PDT | ||||
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fabio wrote: This game desperately needs a "check line of sight" button like JA2. It wouldn't tell you what your LOS would be prior to moving to new location, but it would at least show you how LOS is calculated in general so you could make a decent prediction. I don't know about this seeing through walls stuff you're talking about, although on rare occasions the game allows me to shoot rockets through walls. Unknowable LOS and the quirks of the "peer around corner" cover system are both teeth-grinding annoyances that need to be worked at prior to a sequel/expansion. PROTIP: a soldier will not look around a corner if he has to step up or down, even if it's a 4 inch street curb. There are a bunch of X-com things that just don't work with the smaller squad sizes: panic, mind control, half the aliens getting explosives, etc. Panic is definitely stupid, particularly in the beginning when some bad panic rolls mean losing control of 3/4 of your squad (i.e. one dead guy and two panicking). I finally got some snipers up to Colonel with plasma sniper rifles and archangel armor and they're still less useful than heavies. All of their skills go towards getting rid of their limitations that make them unuseably awkward (must stand still to shoot at all) instead of bonuses like rockets or firing twice a turn. ... There is one skill choice you make (squadsight or snap shot) that goes toward getting rid of their limitations. What's not to like about a high damage, deadly accurate soldier that you don't have to risk on the front lines and barely has to move thanks to squadsight? I guess gunslinger could count too but it's a fairly shitty perk imo. Snap shot snipers are pretty decent, as all the right side perks from lieutenant on are great to have on a front line soldier, but in general I think I'd rather have an assault. Here is one late game feature that is pissing me off: MIND CONTROL. Not the enemy's. Mine. Since there is no free fire mode, once you mind control an enemy you have to wait 4 turns until you lose control before you shoot him, and he gets a free turn to shoot you the instant you lose control. So your choices are wasting rockets and grenades on him or having him run far away so he can't shoot you when he snaps out of it, but then he runs off and joins his friends so the whole thing is less useful than if I had just shot him in the first place. The worst was when I mind controlled the final enemy on the map and realized one of my guys would bleed out before I could shoot the enemy and finish the mission. I was out of explosives so I had to sit there and have the squadmate die while the mind control timer counted down. If there's a way to manually cut mind control short, I haven't seen it. Can't you just leave him out in the open with your squad on overwatch? I don't recall ever having a problem with this. The bleeding out thing sounds annoying but how often is that ever going to happen? At no point has the game been a legit challenge outside of bullshit gamey monster spawn moments. I'm up to the temple ship appearing and I have yet to encounter a UFO my interceptors couldn't easily shoot down. Even the starting interceptors with crappy weapons can handle almost anything if you use a consumable ability. Firestorms with a halfway decent weapon are auto-wins against everything, and a decked out firestorm is still cheaper than a high level shotgun for some reason. I'm never struggling for research and I'm fine for money even with 2 countries gone. Enemies are easily killed with weapons one tech level below what it feels like they want you to be at. Literally the only time I've hit hard spots was when magical enemy spawning meant that a group of cryssalids or muton berserkers got their free moves right into my face. I can KNOW the enemies are there ahead of time with a sniper's motion sensor, but they still get their magic free move when they spot me. System Shock 2 horseshit. Yeah, I remember all those times in SS2 where the aliens got free moves on your turn despite - OK what the fuck are you talking about. Are you just trying to troll me by namedropping SS2? If the game is too easy, you could try a harder difficulty level but wait that gives the aliens "bullshit number bonuses" whatever the fuck that means. The game is pretty good on classic/ironman. My only playthough on C/I used the marathon option, so that tweaks things a bit, but it was a close thing: I lost 6 countries, lost quite a few soldiers by the end of it and had to abort a few missions (bomb defusal missions, of course). The strategic game is a lot more interesting because funds are very tight and the aliens are a lot more aggressive about shooting down your satellites, and of course you can't reload when your interceptor fails to take down a small UFO. Managing the bullshit gamey monster spawns is part of the strategy, and it generally not a problem unless the game is totally fucking egregious about it (had a thinman in an alleyway ignore two heavy cover dumpsters to jump up on a three story building and run halfway across to take cover behind an AC unit that flanked a squaddie that had already taken his turn). I can see why they did it - so your squad doesn't instantly murder them while they are standing out in the open - but it solves the problem with all the elegance of a sledgehammer. South American continent bonus: WHY? Even with 1 lab I've never had an autopsy or interrogation take more than 2 days.Well, there's a reason it only requires two countries to get. On marathon it's much more useful, as even interrogations and autopsies can take 8+ days to complete, even with 40 or 50 scientists. The whole game feels like they were so impressed with themselves for coming up with a core mechanic or two to bring turn based squad shooters up to speed that they didn't bother weeding out a bunch of other bullshit. On the whole it was a decent one play but I can't picture myself trying again. I've already breezed through it the first time before I knew what the optimal choices were and the only thing raising the difficulty would do is give the aliens some bullshit number bonuses. It never feels like I'm playing a strategic game against the aliens. I went 15/20 hours with interceptors at only 2 continents and panic still wasn't an issue except for that gamey abduction "choose one of three" nonsense. No enemy bases spring up like weeds if I do a bad job, just the that one scripted to appear at a point in the story. No increased terror missions if enemy bases are operational. I'm not racing the clock to beat the game before I get overwhelmed; it feels like I have all the time in the world to grind out missions before I tackle the story. If there's an actual strategic game running under the hood instead of just scripted crap it sure doesn't feel like it. I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with having a scripted campaign like this; it just needs to be executed better because once you take out the alien base the pressure is off and it's an absolute cakewalk. The original had the same sort of tipping point, and it occurred fairly early on - set up a couple manufacturing bases so you don't have to give a fuck about what the council thinks, then park a bunch of interceptors with plasma cannons around the globe, done. Farm supply UFOs, invade cydonia with 30 flying armor super soldiers. Apocalypse was extra ridiculous - the aliens would start by sending 3 or 4 strong packs, but once you got the funds and tech to shoot down a full invasion force they'd just trickle UFOs at you. It was worth the sale price for one play through, but I'd be pissed if I bought this release day. I figured if I waited that not only would the price go down, they would have patched the usual Firaxis early issues. But no. 7 months later and they still have the "Ironman mode is now unwinnable" door blocking that only occurs in the rare instance you place the unit designed to stand in front of a door in front of a door. I bought it at release and played it maybe twice and only just recently fired it up again for my C/I run. C/I really breathed some new life into it, but after a few abortive I/I runs I think I am done with it again. They have a good framework but it can be greatly improved. Anyway, don't read about all the bugs in multiplayer because they'll make your head explode. Awesome stuff like your second action being randomly taken away, poison being more potent based on whether you're the client or the host, combat stims randomly lasting longer than they should, etc. |
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