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[Antiwhippy]

Wait.

Apparently they're now locked out of enemy within content because of dan?

Also wow people are really missing the point of the series and are getting pissed at Dan in the comments.

 

[BTA]

Watching now and I haven't ever played this; can someone explain 1. what the Chrysalids you guys keep referring to are and 2. what they keep doing wrong with cover exactly?

I think 2 is them not actually picking the correct edges? But I can't tell.

 

[Human Trashcan]

Watching now and I haven't ever played this; can someone explain 1. what the Chrysalids you guys keep referring to are and 2. what they keep doing wrong with cover exactly?

I think 2 is them not actually picking the correct edges? But I can't tell.

well for one thing on several occasions Dan put people in no cover at all. And a couple of times he put people in flanked cover, meaning there is an enemy in line of sight with a clear shot, which is indicated by the cover icon being red.

 

[Zocano]

Watching now and I haven't ever played this; can someone explain 1. what the Chrysalids you guys keep referring to are and 2. what they keep doing wrong with cover exactly?

I think 2 is them not actually picking the correct edges? But I can't tell.

Chryssalids are super fast up close melee aliens that will FUCK YOUR SHIT UP. They are the first big difficulty spike and unexperienced players will often completely wipe on the mission that they first appear.

Dan is literally keeping his guys out in the open. No cover means = VERY high % to hit (often 100%) and high critical high chance which means even more damage. Dan also kept his guys flanked by an enemy (there was one behind his guys for multiple turns and he didn't move them into a better position). Flanking is a similar bonus to dmg + hit %.

 

[Incandenza]

Yeah the comments on the site being like "this series is ruined for me" are weird. This is a great series. To quote Dwarf Fortress, "Losing is fun." The only bummer is it probably won't last long, but then hopefully they move on to XCOM 2 or something else.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Watching now and I haven't ever played this; can someone explain 1. what the Chrysalids you guys keep referring to are and 2. what they keep doing wrong with cover exactly?

I think 2 is them not actually picking the correct edges? But I can't tell.

Cover isn't absolute. You can get flanked and dan keeps putting his team in situations where they are surrounded.

Also chryssalid missions are where everyone gets their first wipe. If anyone said they didn't they are LYING.

 

[HashtagLapsed]

That was painful to watch. Entertaining but fucking painful.

 

[oti]

Yeah the comments on the site being like "this series is ruined for me" are weird. This is a great series. To quote Dwarf Fortress, "Losing is fun." The only bummer is it probably won't last long, but then hopefully they move on to XCOM 2 or something else.

General rule: The opposite of what the comments on the site say is true.

First Dota, now this.

 

[Zocano]

Man the start of the episode was really hopeful with Dan remembering the macro-level game and optimizing where Alex was overlooking.

But man. It's just compounding oversights and mistakes and willfully playing into the mistakes in combat. Man.

First terror mission will absolutely fuck them. Then mutons after that. They won't hit the absolute fail state for a bit but it'll hit them.

edit: Super XCOM vets, since I don't remember very well, is half-cover worthwhile in XCOM: EU/EW? Long War buffs half-cover but I dunno if base game it's heavily suggested to not do so.

 

[Jintor]

it's funny seeing xcom held up as being this absolute bastard of a game because truthfully it's just kinda that it doesn't screw you immediately, just multiples errors down the line.

 

[BTA]

...this feels rude, but how do they completely miss the text on the screen telling them they can't do the thing they're trying to do?

Spoiler

It says right there by the button they're clicking that Lang can't shoot his gun (and therefore overwatch) after moving.

EDIT: Wait, no, they even read it but it didn't set in for them, I guess. Huh.

EDIT2: Ok, cool, they got it soon after.

 

[Harpuia]

edit: Super XCOM vets, since I don't remember very well, is half-cover worthwhile in XCOM: EU/EW? Long War buffs half-cover but I dunno if base game it's heavily suggested to not do so.

It's better than standing in the open. Otherwise if you have full cover, take the full cover.

 

[Zocano]

it's funny seeing xcom held up as being this absolute bastard of a game because truthfully it's just kinda that it doesn't screw you immediately, just multiples errors down the line.

On Classic/Commander difficulty, it definitely can because the numbers are more against you (in that you won't 1-hit enemies from the start like you do on normal).

But yah, the game definitely eases you in at first to understand what works and what doesn't and what's a bad move and what's not. But that only lasts for so long before it decides to up the ante very starkly and begin to fuck with you.

 

[daveo42]

Sounds like a hum-dinger of an episode.

 

[Ashby]

I can't believe I believed Dan when he said he was good a XCom.

 

[Antiwhippy]

On Classic/Commander difficulty, it definitely can because the numbers are more against you (in that you won't 1-hit enemies from the start like you do on normal).

But yah, the game definitely eases you in at first to understand what works and what doesn't and what's a bad move and what's not. But that only lasts for so long before it decides to up the ante very starkly and begin to fuck with you.

Though in this case it is the players fucking themselves.

 

[Zocano]

Though in this case it is the players fucking themselves.

Like I said, it gives you the time to pick up what works and what doesn't. It's on the player (them) to take in what's a bad move or not. They're not doing so. And splitting it up across 3 different players will make it even worse (better?) down the line.

 

[jambo]

PUBG

More like PUBGOTY

Spoiler

shamelessly stolen

 

[Sleeping Lesson]

Oof, Exquisite Corps might be over even sooner than I thought.

 

[Diancecht]

I don't understand why Vinny died. Didn't they stablize him?

 

[LurkerPrime]

XCorps's intro continues to be great.

Oh boy.

Dan really does not know how the cover system works.

Wait, what? I haven't seen it yet, but IIRC he stated he beat both XCOM 1 and 2, so... how?!


And man, playing XCOM: EW right now on Veteran or w/e and full, unflanked cover should be the default state of all XCOM soldiers. Full stop. Anything less is tempting death.

 

[Ashby]

keknep asked:Is there a game you've played more this year than PUBG?

Jeff: Yeah. I don't even have 40 hours in that game yet.

Huh.

 

[NumberThree]

Watching now and I haven't ever played this; can someone explain 1. what the Chrysalids you guys keep referring to are and 2. what they keep doing wrong with cover exactly?

Chryssalids are probably the most difficult enemy in the game relative to the soldiers' power level. The damage you take from each hit doesn't get much higher than the melee hits from chryssalids (especially combined with them having chance to poison your soldiers), but the soldiers' health pools get noticeably bigger, as does your toolkit for dealing with enemies.

Also chryssalid missions are where everyone gets their first wipe. If anyone said they didn't they are LYING.

I never did. My first wipe in XCOM (before Enemy Within) was in the first

Spoiler

alien base assault

mission. I didn't have a lot of casualties before that and I didn't rotate my crew so I basically went from a team of captains/majors to a bunch of rookies.

Spoiler

It was still chryssalids that killed me on the assault mission.

 

[Zocano]

I don't understand why Vinny died. Didn't they stablize him?

That specifically seemed like a really dumb bug/oversight. Vinny shoulda been fine since they didn't force evac with a guy out in the field and actually "completed" the mission. I think because they technically failed because the VIP died, the game read that as a failure (and thus force evac) and so stabilized soldiers were left behind. Probably just a bad oversight on the game's part.

 

[Jintor]

I can't believe I believed Dan when he said he was good a XCom.

i just couldn't see dan having the patience for a strategy/tactics game

 

[LurkerPrime]

That specifically seemed like a really dumb bug/oversight. Vinny shoulda been fine since they didn't force evac with a guy out in the field and actually "completed" the mission. I think because they technically failed because the VIP died, the game read that as a failure (and thus force evac) and so stabilized soldiers were left behind. Probably just a bad oversight on the game's part.

Evac and recovery of stuff is a lot less logical in XCOM 1. You definitely keep items from dead soldiers on failed missions, but I guess downed soldiers are not counted. It's inconsistent.

Meanwhile, XCOM 2 makes a big deal out of recovering wouned/dead soldiers and the items they leave behind, 'cause anything you abandon is lost. To counter this, you can pick up people/corpses and haul them to evac--it's amazingly tense when you have to pull it off.

 

[danm999]

Yeah, that mission was rough. Dan made some errors with cover but that was also bad luck in how the game

Spoiler

killed Vinny.

I am replaying Enemy Within at the moment and am finding it much easier than I remember, I only had to save scum on the first Chryssalid mission. My only concern is Exalt is kind of fucking up my meta.

 

[Liquid Shake]

That specifically seemed like a really dumb bug/oversight. Vinny shoulda been fine since they didn't force evac with a guy out in the field and actually "completed" the mission. I think because they technically failed because the VIP died, the game read that as a failure (and thus force evac) and so stabilized soldiers were left behind. Probably just a bad oversight on the game's part.

Yeah that was unfortunate, it even said only one soldier was lost on the "Mission Failed" screen before they went back to base.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

I really hope they don't give up on the feature if they fail early on, and move on to XCOM 2. Although that game is even more unforgiving from the start, so hopefully they will have actually learned something by then haha.

 

[Patrick Young]

Damn, not another one.

First they suck arse at Sunshine and now I'm reading XCOM is the same deal. I have the latest one downloaded, but I think I'll drop this series from my list too.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Damn, not another one.

First they suck arse at Sunshine and now I'm reading XCOM is the same deal. I have the latest one downloaded, but I think I'll drop this series from my list too.

Hey don't judge so soon, watching people suck arse can be fun too

 

[Antiwhippy]

I believe the proper term is "eating ass"

 

[Patrick Young]

Hey don't judge so soon, watching people suck arse can be fun too

No, not for me. In recent memory I've skipped Hitman and Sunshine. XCOM has just joined the list.

At the time I'd never played Hitman and I knew for sure I was already way better than Brad.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

Dan ate a lot of ass in this Xcom episode

 

[Piston Hyundai]

No, not for me. In recent memory I've skipped Hitman and Sunshine. XCOM has just joined the list.

that's really sad

Dan ate a lot of ass in this Xcom episode

I didn't see anything of the sort

 

[Tagyhag]

I'm all for them sucking at video games, but it's totally lame if it means that XCORPS just ends like 4-5 episodes in, I highly doubt that's what Vinny wanted. Especially since you can tell that he's been wanting to just re-create their characters.

And I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Dan sucks at Tactics games lol.

 

[Liquid Shake]

No, not for me. In recent memory I've skipped Hitman and Sunshine. XCOM has just joined the list.

At the time I'd never played Hitman and I knew for sure I was already way better than Brad.

Since when does one come to Giant Bomb for expert play?

 

[NumberThree]

Damn, not another one.

First they suck arse at Sunshine and now I'm reading XCOM is the same deal. I have the latest one downloaded, but I think I'll drop this series from my list too.

What Giant Bomb content do you even watch? They're pretty bad at any game they play.

Except Jeff playing old games.

I'm all for them sucking at video games, but it's totally lame if it means that XCORPS just ends like 4-5 episodes in, I highly doubt that's what Vinny wanted. Especially since you can tell that he's been wanting to just re-create their characters.

I wouldn't mind them bumping the difficulty down to easy if they decide to do XCOM 2 after this. It's still not a cakewalk, especially with how they play the game.

 

[Nishastra]

Damn, not another one.

First they suck arse at Sunshine and now I'm reading XCOM is the same deal. I have the latest one downloaded, but I think I'll drop this series from my list too.

If you're expecting good gameplay, honestly what are you even doing here?

I don't agree with the "it's only fun because they suck!" people on this game, though. I watch people play through the original games (UFO Defense and Terror From the Deep) on Superhuman Ironman regularly. The difficulty of that is far beyond anything in the newer games. These people very much know what they're doing, though, as they've completed both games this way before.

But sometimes things just go bad. That's how X-Com is. And it's way more entertaining when there's actually some real time and effort on the line, rather than losing everything in the intro missions

 

[danm999]

Giant Bomb has never been about high level play.

 

[jambo]

No, not for me. In recent memory I've skipped Hitman and Sunshine. XCOM has just joined the list.

 

[patapuf]

If they die to early they can just retry. Or try their hands at XCOM 2.

Though seeing how this playthrough went so far, they are better off trying again with Enemy within. XCOM 2 is ruthless in the beginning.

 

[Human Trashcan]

If you're expecting good gameplay, honestly what are you even doing here?

I don't agree with the "it's only fun because they suck!" people on this game, though. I watch people play through the original games (UFO Defense and Terror From the Deep) on Superhuman Ironman regularly. The difficulty of that is far beyond anything in the newer games. These people very much know what they're doing, though, as they've completed both games this way before.

But sometimes things just go bad. That's how X-Com is. And it's way more entertaining when there's actually some real time and effort on the line, rather than losing everything in the intro missions

Yeah I agree. At this rate they won't even make it another 5 episodes and at that point who cares which squad members live or die or if they fail entirely? I don't want or expect high-level play, but some baseline competence, just so the series lasts longer than a few weeks, would be nice.

 

[Antiwhippy]

Dan ate a lot of ass in this Xcom episode

Like groceries.

 

[oti]

They start XCOM 2.

Each crew member creates a player which represents their GOTY.

The last crew member standing wins.

Their game wins GOTY.

 

[Tagyhag]

I wouldn't mind them bumping the difficulty down to easy if they decide to do XCOM 2 after this. It's still not a cakewalk, especially with how they play the game.

Yep, the game is already stupid easy, easy mode would solidify that.

Hell, they could even edit the DefaultGameCore.ini for all I care. I just want Vinny's series to last longer than this lol.

 

[Gozer the Gozerian]

If they die to early they can just retry. Or try their hands at XCOM 2.

Though seeing how this playthrough went so far, they are better off trying again with Enemy within. XCOM 2 is ruthless in the beginning.

I'm excited for their first reaction to the Faceless

 

[Antiwhippy]

They should just move onto mario X rabbids next.

 

[Liquid Shake]

They start XCOM 2.

Each crew member creates a player which represents their GOTY.

The last crew member standing wins.

Their game wins GOTY.

So three soldiers named PUBG and one named Splatoon?

 

[BTA]

I had to stop the video 2/3 of the way in for a bit and I guess in the meantime y'all managed to openly spoil the rest of it.

I mean. Not that any of it's a surprise. But still.