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X-COM: Enemy Unknown Game Informer Mag Details [Up8: Sid Meier Talks XCOM]

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Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Yeah, messing that would be pretty bad. One of the best things about GAF's X-COM Ironman Challenge is the little stories about your beloved soldiers getting ripped to pieces by alien nasties.

X-COM's awesomeness owed no small part to the fact that it made you care about your troopers, only to have them killed in the most nonchalant way. Opening a door was a hair pulling adventure by itself.
 

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Not bad, I like what they did with the Cyberdiscs. Really cool.

The sectoids look alright, I think I would have liked the head and eyes to be bigger. Perhaps have the psi-capable sectoids have larger heads maybe?

I dunno about the mutons. If they wanted a hulking soldier type enemy, they probably should have just created a new one, or made it a separate class of muton. I prefer the sleek, fit design of the old school mutons. I think my complaint is that the new mutons just look a little too brutish or hulkish for my tastes.

Thin men - eh, neat concept I guess, but I'm not feeling them at the moment. I get the concept of the "aliens among us", but to just have them appear in a mission would be strange, unless they kinda pop out from the civilian population in disguise or something.
 
I want to see those Cyberdisks in motion, it kind of stinks of Bayformers a little too much for my liking. Also those Aeon Flux comments are pretty concerning given how shit that film is, but I don't honestly see any influence of it in the current art design though which is relieving.
 
I want to see those Cyberdisks in motion, it kind of stinks of Bayformers a little too much for my liking. Also those Aeon Flux comments are pretty concerning given how shit that film is, but I don't honestly see any influence of it in the current art design though which is relieving.

I thought they meant the cartoon
 
Edit:
You know what, I'm talking shit I think. Don't know why I thought he said 'film', because that is nowhere in the article. So scrap that comment, the Bayformer one still stands though.
 

ruttyboy

Member
The devs have specifically and repeatedly stated that the challenge and perma-death in the original game are cornerstones of their design approach.

Can someone explain to me how they will keep the impact of losing 15 of a 16 man team with a four man team limit?

It seems the opposite approach to the original, if anything you needed (to lose) more men at the start of the game than the end and so could send out smaller teams as time went on.

If they've kept it the same, and the survivability increases as you go through the game that means the more you don't need them, the greater squad numbers you have access to.

Unless they just swamp you with enemies or make the enemies rock hard as you go on?



NB: This isn't me denigrating the game or the design team, I am genuinely interested in how they have affected (if at all) the balance of the game with these changes. I expect I will buy this game.
 

Sullen

Member
There isn't a 4 man squad limit. How does misinformation like this keep cropping up on every page? Just read the op.
 

peakish

Member
They could increase difficulty as the game progresses up to a certain point so that you're expected to lose one or none of your squad in the beginning but more later on. Maybe they'll not balance it correctly (impossible to say), but for good or bad they certainly will not follow the same type of balancing the original had. I'm very interested in seeing how they'll solve it.

There isn't a 4 man squad limit. How does misinformation like this keep cropping up on every page? Just read the op.

I don't think he's saying that, though it's said in a weird way.
 
i hope they have a new version of the Chryssalid, still have nightmares about getting my entire squad wiped out by a single one of those :E
 

robin2

Member
Can someone explain to me how they will keep the impact of losing 15 of a 16 man team with a four man team limit?
I can't say if this game will be good or bad; what I think I can say is this game won't be the that sequel (it isn't after all) the fans (I mean people who still plays the originals every year) were waiting for. Because I'm one of them and I believe this design, on paper, won't satisfy my hunger for a"new x-com", that I have since Apocalypse.



Edit:

EDGE interview with Julian Gollop about this game and turn based games:
http://www.edge-online.com/features/julian-gollop-xcom


..please, someone rich, let him make the turn-based game he has in mind, pleaseeee!
 

Minsc

Gold Member
Today's update: Sid Meier Talks XCOM: Enemy Unknown

And a few new shots I haven't seen, only thumbnails from the video though.
xcom8Picture 3.png

xcom8Picture 1.png


Nice to see the LB/RB target selecting, that should work well. I think we've just about exhausted this location, hopefully there's a game video or trailer at the end of these GI exclusive features.
 
EDGE interview with Julian Gollop about this game and turn based games:
http://www.edge-online.com/features/julian-gollop-xcom


..please, someone rich, let him make the turn-based game he has in mind, pleaseeee!
With Gollop currently working on an unannounced game that's "part of a major Ubisoft franchise" at its Sofia studio,
Huh I wonder what this is... Hopefully its turn based. I could see a Rainbow 6 TBS, or another Ghost Recon. I can't really see it being a Splinter Cell game.
 
Nah it'll be Tom Clancy. Most likely a sequel to his Ghost Recon strategy game.
Yeah that's the safe bet especially after this topic Julian made on GameFAQs (and yes it really was him, I confirmed through Ubisoft's Twitter account):

What would you like to see for GRSW 2 ?

Julian_Gollop (tc)

(tc)
Posted 4/20/2011 12:45:14 AM
filter
#001

Hi everyone. I am interested to hear your opinions on what you would like to see improved or added for a sequel to GRSW - if we ever get the chance to make it. Try to prioritize your suggestions - what are the 2 or 3 most important things for you? (of course we would like to do everything, but time and resources would be limited).
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/997780-tom-clancys-ghost-recon-shadow-wars/58861975
 

Emitan

Member
Julian Gollop said:
In fact, I'd say Pokemon is very similar in many ways to X-COM when you think about it - you recruit your squads, you have lots of choice over where you go and what you fight, though the story is ultimately linear. And it has a strategic meta-game to it as well as a tactical one. It's an involving and complex game. Pokemon is not a small-selling game, though at its core its a turn-based system. That's enough to say that turn-based does not mean some geeky niche for spotty RPG nerds.

Heh heh heh... next time someone says Pokémon is shallow...
 

r1chard

Member
I can't say if this game will be good or bad; what I think I can say is this game won't be the that sequel (it isn't after all) the fans (I mean people who still plays the originals every year) were waiting for.
I'm a fan. I've played all the XCOM games there are, including the ones that weren't official XCOM licences (or at least all the ones I've become aware of - about 5 games by now). I re-played UFO Defence last year. It was awesome, nostalgic, clunky, challenging and frustrating when compared to modern games. You do not speak for me.
 

robin2

Member
I'm a fan. I've played all the XCOM games there are, including the ones that weren't official XCOM licences (or at least all the ones I've become aware of - about 5 games by now). I re-played UFO Defence last year. It was awesome, nostalgic, clunky, challenging and frustrating when compared to modern games. You do not speak for me.
But you just admitted you don't play it every year, just once last year!
Jokes aside, of course I'm fine about fans thinking differently from me, after all I'm one of the few who likes Apocalypse too.
 
That's a weird picture now that I think of it, considering that X-Com won't feature crounching. Maybe you can crouch but only to take cover?
Yeah I think they just mean when you can't take a knee at any time. Taking cover is probably automatic when you're up against a wall or whatever. If I had to guess.
 

Orgun

Member
Seeing as i've been enjoying X-com UFO Defense massively I thought I would try Apocalypse..wow it's it's just horrible. Back to UD for my X-com fix until this arrives.
 
Seeing as i've been enjoying X-com UFO Defense massively I thought I would try Apocalypse..wow it's it's just horrible. Back to UD for my X-com fix until this arrives.
I think it's a masterpiece on par with Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep. What didn't you like about it? Did you play it in real-time or turns?
 

epmode

Member
I think it's a masterpiece on par with Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep. What didn't you like about it? Did you play it in real-time or turns?
I hope you don't suggest that he play with turns. I still have nightmares from when I tried that back in the day.

I remember it being a decent to good game with interesting ideas but it's certainly not on par with the originals.
 

robin2

Member
Apocalypse stats are just not balanced for turn based play.

In real time units take a lot of hits, so these can't be as deadly as they need to be for turn based play (like they were in UFO:EU); and that's how they're balanced in Apocalypse.

I played it almost only turn based last year and things just never get messy or tense.

Tension tough is still low in realtime too (also no night mission!), and that is, together with its incompleteness, what I think is the major problem of Apocalypse (which I still consider a masterpiece, and the only game ever that keeps and tries to expand the design principles of UFO).

(And I love its graphic style and setting).
 

Orgun

Member
I think it's a masterpiece on par with Enemy Unknown and Terror from the Deep. What didn't you like about it? Did you play it in real-time or turns?

Everything! The look, the colours, the gui, the setting. I was playing in real-time but i've deleted it now.
 
i watched a lets (re)play of enemy unknown to try to understand the love for this series, it was harrowing, i actually found myself getting attached to certain named characters and almost shed MAN TEARS when they passed on and could see how fulfilling a plan going right was..got up to the first base defense section and afterwards found it a bit redundant and lost interest..but overall, i fully understand the disdain for the FPS idea, and can't wait for this game to drop!
 
Dissecting A Classic: How To Modernize X-COM - Video interview with lead designer Jake Solomon

Recreating and updating a classic game isn't easy, especially when the original is your favorite game of all time. The lead designer of XCOM: Enemy Unknown is Jake Solomon. It's his job to pick apart the original game and update the key ingredient for a 2012 audience. X-COM fanboys will no doubt object to any and all changes from the original formula, but Solomon is quick to stress his own allegiance to the 1994 PC title. There's a reason behind every change, Firaxis Games understands what makes a strategy game enjoyable and, as Jake Solomon puts it, they're "as hardcore as it gets."
 

Yozetty

Game Informer
Hey guys,
I hope you enjoy the latest interview I just posted with the game's lead designer. He seems like a great guy and I hope the information in that interview wins over the skeptics.
 

krakov

Member
I really don't like the artstyle judging from the screens. I feel the same about the alien redesigns, can't imagine them any less interesting than the final results. They look ripped straight out of some god awful ps2 shovelware title. All this negativity aside, I'm really looking forward to this game and hope it turns out good.
 
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