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XCOM: Enemy Within announced, coming November 12th

D

duckroll

Member
After reading these two previews, I think Firaxis just sucks at explaining stuff to people:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/21/xcom-enemy-within-announced-tons-of-details
http://www.polygon.com/2013/8/21/4642424/xcom-enemy-within-expansion-announcement-release-date

It definitely sounds like the Enemy Within campaign is going to be greatly expanded and possible very different storywise from Enemy Unknown, but uses the same basic outline. They are adding new stuff to every single part of the game, including the strategic layer, which suggests that the game will probably play out differently too, especially with all the new additions. Seems like they're not ready to talk about everything yet (Why? It's coming out in Nov...) so instead it sounds like a weird halfassed no-campaign thing.

Hopefully they clear things up soon.

clockpunk said:
I do hope that this content can be bought digitally and aded to the base game... but that press release bears no pricepoint, other than the separate full-game release, which does not bode well.

I enjoyed X-Com very much, but not so much I'll buy it again at that price.
Click to expand...

The expansion is 30 bucks, which is the add-on, digital or retail. The separate full-game release is 40 bucks.
 
C

CecilRousso

Member
If there is no new campaign, then there will probably be quite a lof of changes to the existing one. There is a new faction, new resources, new projects and more, so it will hardly be like playing the same thing over again.

A more meaty XCOM sounds fantastic.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Kotaku has an explanation of the plot situation:

Kotaku said:
Vital stats first: The expansion will drop on November 12 for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. On PC it'll work just like Firaxis' expansions for Civilization V, in that it'll fold onto and replace the original game.

...

Last week I spoke with Enemy Within's lead designer, Ananda Gupta. Let's bullet-point the things I learned.

-The overall thrust of the campaign will be similar to Enemy Unknown. Most of the details Gupta was talking about involved the ground game, and enhancements to the troops in the game's turn-based combat. Gupta did say that there would be changes to the larger global war-game, but didn't elaborate on them.

-The endgame will remain largely unchanged, though the new alien units will now appear aboard the alien ship. Generally speaking, the "arc" of the story will remain about the same, provided you get to the endgame.
Click to expand...
Source: http://kotaku.com/xcom-enemy-unknown-gets-its-first-major-expansion-this-1175378649
 
W

web01

Member
Sounds good to me, there was really no reason to replay the game due to the limited maps.
An expansion pack in the same vein as the Civilisation games that expands, enhances and adds greater depth is a good thing.
 
Dakota47

Dakota47

Member
web01 said:
Sounds good to me, there was really no reason to replay the game due to the limited maps.
An expansion pack in the same vein as the Civilisation games that expands, enhances and adds greater depth is a good thing.
Click to expand...

This. XCOM wasn't much about the plot anyway.
 
A

Aaron

Member
It is much too linear though in progression. Maybe they'll shake it up with this new pack, but I really doubt it.
 
T

Totakeke

Member
Difference is Civ games had a very meaty main game where it could spiral in various different directions depending on the RNG and what you did. The campaign in XCOM: EU was very predictable in its overall structure and adding stuffs to it doesn't seem that enticing.

Guess we can only hope for the best.
 
S

Sloane

Banned
Totakeke said:
Difference is Civ games had a very meaty main game where it could spiral in various different directions depending on the RNG and what you did. The campaign in XCOM: EU was very predictable in its overall structure and adding stuffs to it doesn't seem that enticing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, XCOM was one of my favorite games of last year but compared to the original it really lacked in replayabilty -- finished it once on Ironman and never felt the urge to play it again, mostly because of how the campaign was structured.

A few new enemies, weapons, maps, and a few seemingly minor changes to campaign probably won't be enough. Guess I should hope Xenonauts will be finished this year...
 
W

witchedwiz

Member
Sloane said:
Yeah, XCOM was one of my favorite games of last year but compared to the original it really lacked in replayabilty -- finished it once on Ironman and never felt the urge to play it again, mostly because of how the campaign was structured.

A few new enemies, weapons, maps, and a few seemingly minor changes to campaign probably won't be enough. Guess I should hope Xenonauts will be finished this year...
Click to expand...
This nails it..
Finished at ironman (not hardcore) and the game was good, although if you poured enough time you could produce imbasoldier...
But it was too streamlined.. No optional stuff, no anything..
Now they add a new class... Cool, but Why should i replay the whole campaign again?
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
I want this because I spent a LOT of time with XCOM--even got part way into a second playthrough--but having to go through all the training stuff and dealing with that first mission and the like... kinda bleh. All the additions sound GREAT, but... hm.

I wish there was a bit more management and stuff. As it is, builds and the like are pretty much identical. Management isn't exactly super deep in the game.
 
G

GrandHarrier

Member
I really enjoyed the "plot" / "arc" of the game. It's just the right balance of generic and scripted for my tastes. The motivations of the aliens are also just obfuscated enough that you can eventually understand and accept the justification for why Earth even stood a chance of "winning" the war.

All that said, while this expansion isn't the TFTD that I might want, making the already amazing game better is a compromise I can be alright with.
 
M

More Fun To Compute

Member
Are there any mods out there yet that do things like up the soldier count and do big revamps on the class system? And if not I wonder if they would add more support to modders in this to change the game rules.
 
P

pringles

Member
Sounds great, I've already gone through the game like 4 times so I'm ready for a major add-on to change it up a bit. Would have liked it to come out a bit sooner instead of dropping right when there's a lot of other releases, but I just know I'll be starting an Impossible Ironman run Day 1 regardless of what other games are fighting for my attention.

witchedwiz said:
This nails it..
Finished at ironman (not hardcore) and the game was good, although if you poured enough time you could produce imbasoldier...
But it was too streamlined.. No optional stuff, no anything..
Now they add a new class... Cool, but Why should i replay the whole campaign again?
Click to expand...
Have you checked out the Second Wave modifiers? At the very least they can help add some challenge/variation to the strategy layer. Between that, the slingshot DLC and this upcoming expansion I think there will be more than enough incentive to play through the game again. Major changes to how the game plays out will probably come in the sequel, which I hope they're hard at work on.
 
D

Deadly Cyclone

Pride of Iowa State
Can't wait. My only issue is how late it's coming out. PS4 launches that same week, I almost wish they'd have done a new cross-gen version with the expansion included. Even if it was just the PC high end versions on next gen consoles.
 
G

Grimsen

Member
That Destructoid vid was great.

Can't say no to an expansion that has:

-Rocket punching aliens through cars.
-Soldiers can speak their own language.
-Farmhouse map!

Everything else is just gravy.
 
C

Clunker

Member
Beyond stoked for this. Will be one of the few things I pick up this fall (schedule is so busy that I won't even be able to play this fully, but I'll pick away at it for months). Kind of wish I had waited on the slingshot pack, then :/ but overall this sounds great. I've played this for 50+ hours and even I couldn't really tell you what the campaign/story has, so any changes or lack thereof doesn't really affect my play style there. Just bring on the mech suits.
 
F

Fragamemnon

Member
Can't believe people want some kind of new story out of a strategy game. Firaxis will re-jigger and heavily tweak the strategy metagame in the new expansion. Those kind of changes are their MO from years of Civ expansions which EW is clearly modeled off of.
 
F

Fireblend

Banned
TomO said:
Blatant self-promotion, but we got access to this a week or so back and our internet love/hate man Matt Lees made a video. 8 minutes of footage and info - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaAT7x-pKyg
Click to expand...

This looks reeeeaaallly cool. It's funny that Matt says he's worried about the DLC stuff potentially introducing balancing issues, doesn't he realize this is Firaxis we're talking about?
3AQmK.gif


I'm also kinda disappointed about it not being a new campaign, but seriously, alien-punching mechs look awesome and hopefully the new maps will introduce plenty of new environments anyway. I wonder if they're adding any new tracks to the soundtrack? I absolutely loved the music in this game. Bring it on! Definitely a day 1 purchase for me.

Edit: That over video looks great as well.
 
B

BigWeather

Member
Happy to have no more story, and would be great if they could patch out the linear story they did have. More elements, more maps, less story is ideal for me.
 
R

Remachinate

Member
I don't really care that they're not changing the overall arc; no one should be playing XCOM for the structured narrative. What I really hope we see is more diversity in the way the arc plays out, such that replayability offers a more fresh experience each time.

I think the enhanced breadth of solider upgrades is a good sign, but what we really need is variability in enemy progression, such that one's overall strategy needs to be reevaluated for each playthrough. As it stands in the base game, the Carapace Armor > Plasma Weapons research path is all you really need to know on a strategic level to get to endgame. What I'd really like to see is the need to adapt to the type of aliens that appear, crafting your troop and equipment progression to counteract the specific enemy composition.

I hoping that Firaxis' reveal of the enemy and strategic enhancements show something along these lines as we get closer to release; rocket punches are exciting and all, but I'm holding out hope for changes that make each new playthrough a new challenge.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Sounds like something I will play through once and be done with. Enemy Unknown was really lacking in replayability. I loved the game, but there was nothing left to experience one I beat it on the highest difficulty. No random maps, same structure and even plot points, this information doesn't give me much hope they will change that with this expansion.

Fragamemnon said:
Can't believe people want some kind of new story out of a strategy game. Firaxis will re-jigger and heavily tweak the strategy metagame in the new expansion. Those kind of changes are their MO from years of Civ expansions which EW is clearly modeled off of.
Click to expand...
Civ is a poor comparison. EU wasn't a sandbox game, wasn't structured anything like Civ, nor did it have Civ's replayability. If they were adding random maps or a random scenario option with EW, It'd be a little different.
 
S

Sblargh

Banned
Excellent news. I hope it doesn't clash with the campaign too much, as I feel the last DLC that did it broke the perfect pace of vanilla a bit.

But more XCOM is always good. Amazing, sensational, excellent, exemplary piece of gaming.
 
C

Curufinwe

Member
Nirolak said:
I think people want the new content to not be tied to the same victory conditions and forced research paths as the base game.
Click to expand...

Yup. I loved XCOM, but I don't know if I want to do it all over again no matter how many new options there are to play with.
 
A

Ashtar

Member
Wow this is really exciting, I love Xcom but no way am I paying 40 bucks for this game again. for 20 I might have sprung it but 40 is just too much.
 
B

BronsonLee

Member
No new campaign? I mean, I get it, since it's a yearly turnaround, but...

That being said, WOO MORE XCOM! Glad to know it was succesful enough to get juice behind it.
 
A

afternoon delight

Member
I think people want the new content to not be tied to the same victory conditions and forced research paths as the base game.
Click to expand...
Pretty much. Varied or even randomized conditions would've gone a long way in giving some flavor to the game, and they've had more than enough time to think of how.

Definitely on the fence about this, will wait for previews, but probably won't bite until next summer sale.
 
N

Neuromancer

Member
I liked last years X-Com but I'm finding it very difficult to get excited about this. The mech soldier sounds cool but the rest, eh. I was really hoping for procedurally generated maps this time around but apparently that's impossible.
 
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