Thanks for your thoughts.
I thought Enemy Within was a nice improvement over vanilla XCOM 1, but it still couldn't address some major flaws of the first game (like a base building that had basically just ONE right order of progress to go and a limited amount of maps that already started to feel repetitive at your second playthrough).
I can't really follow you on the linearity of base building, I suppose you're right but I don't remember feeling especially constrained in EW or all that free in WotC. I suppose I could make a psi chamber really early or something but I wasn't really enticed to stray from whatever seemed like the most efficient build order. Maps are great, but I would say even better than EW, which I also felt had a ton of maps, with the exception of specific missions that always take place in every game I didn't feel like I was repeating the same maps very often.
XCOM 2 had me with mixed feelings at first, but I honestly think War of the Chosen added some CRUCIAL improvements. The campaign feel far less linear, between unique stats (combat intelligence) and and entirely new third tree of unique perks each soldier feel way more unique. The fatigue mechanic forces way more turnover among your men, which in the long term makes for a far larger and more diversified roster of top soldiers, and this ties wonderfully with covert missions that give you even more chances to hire and/or level up men. So you have a larger roster with a larger amount of high level and unique soliders that you are forced more vehemently to rotate. Perfect.
Pretty much have to agree with you about these improvements. I certainly agree that the soldier perks are awesome in WotC. The ability to give your guys such customizable abilities is insanely powerful and fun. I especially agree the fatigue mechanic is crucial. A big part of what's great about xcom is the tension of being forced to take weaker or less suitable soldiers on a difficult mission and the fatigue mechanic keeps that from fading away as your forces grow stronger, it's great. Covert missions also tie into this really well, no doubt.
I'd also add that the chosen themselves really add something to the game. Insanely powerful bad guys who can take on your whole team, it's like when all of the X-men have to team up to fight Magneto or something. And it kind of incorporates the nemesis system from shadows of mordor in a way, with the chosen gradually developing new powers as the months pass, like immunity to melee or some other cool ability. You get stuck with this great decision of whether you should attack their base now, even if you don't feel ready yet, or wait knowing they will grow even more powerful. And the weapons they drop feel so empowering to wield, truly a worthy reward for the difficult task of taking them down.
But they also tie in a bit to why I prefer EW, and I think it's just because of the way I like to play X-Com. I fell completely in love with Ironman mode, where you only have one auto-save and any consequences of your mistakes are permanent. It might sound nightmarish, and it is in a way, but beating EW Classic Ironman mode (after losing multiple times) is probably the most rewarding strategy game experience of my whole life. When you can't load away your problems, every decision really counts, so the sunken feeling of permanently losing a good soldier after a failed mission really hurts, but in the same way the thrill of pulling off a difficult mission is incredibly satisfying, much more so than when the game is played normally. I feel like EW is made to be best experienced in ironman mode, but that may also be why the design is a bit simpler and more linear. Still, I would say the difference in the gameplay experience between playing EW regularly and playing it on ironman is actually a bigger difference than playing X-Com 2 vanilla and playing WotC, even though EW Ironman doesn't add new content the way WotC does. For all I know you already play ironman mode, but If you've never tried it, it's so awesome and game changing that it could raise your opinion of EW.
I haven't got to try it, but I expect that the design of WotC isn't better suited to ironman mode than regular mode. I just raided a chosen's base and it was insane. After using all my team's best abilities working together to kill the chosen, they kept endlessly respawning while an army also kept teleporting in to attack me at the same time, while I was supposed to be destroying some high hp artifact to end the chosen's constant respawns. It seemed almost impossible even when I could reload earlier turns! And there are more of those timer based missions than there were in EW, missions where you can't be cautious and instead have to charge ahead, which is absolutely brutal on ironman mode. Still, I'd like to try it, but I don't dare when the game crashes so much on my PS4, I could be having a great time deep in the game and get stuck in an infinite crash loop.
Another reason I prefer EW might be that I'm not an X-com veteran like you, EU was my first exposure to the series. So it may have a certain glow to it, the way your first experience with a certain type of game makes a stronger impact on you.
Oh, and admittedly I played it on a decent PC with a SSD so I didn't suffer too much about the performance issues or long loading times. Also, the game in 1440p and 80+ fps is fucking gorgeous and a pleasure to play, to be honest.
That must be truly a joy. It looks lush on PS4 with great models and amazing lens flares and other lighting effects, it just can't run for shit. The sound of glass breaking doesn't even synchronise with when your soldier jumps through a window. Better than when I tried X-com 2 vanilla on my old pc though, lol.