XCOM : Enemy Unknown & Enemy Within

[Darren S]

At first, I thought it was a one off. Then, I thought I might just be a bit unlucky. But increasingly, the rather superb XCOM : Enemy Unknown appears to be crippled with a rather ludicrous and frustrating hit detection system. Some screenies I've taken in the last few rounds....


45% chance at hitting what, exactly? Something behind a fountain that my character is crouched behind, then some stone-work...... apparently.

'No targets available'? Really. I would have thought that small, grey, humanoid thing just facing you through the doorway would be a pretty obvious target?

Hmmmm. Not good odds on hitting this grey dude - just over a one-in-four at 28% in open terrain....

...no worries. I'll just target the dude further away and behind two seperate lots of cover and gain 45% chance of hitting him instead?

The game seems to be full of issues like this and my primary sniper seems to be getting more inaccurate with the additional accuracy bonuses that I'm giving her. Some long distance successful shots are comical - then counteracted by complete annoyance when a burst of lead misses an alien literally 6ft away.

I wouldn't mind so much if this didn't happen so regularly. Yes, the original games had this inbuilt 'feature' as well - but I would have thought by 2012 that turn-based strategy games could have moved the whole accuracy game along somewhat. Put another way, if these shots were taken in a mainstream FPS game (and were successful) - there would be uproar about hackz, cheating, etc.

It's still a very good and very enjoyable game. But this silliness does tarnish an otherwise epic game.

D.

 

[Cookie]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

I've been playing it a bit. Frustrated with the difficulty. Even on easy, it ramps up the difficulty after a few missions to stupid levels.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

I've been playing it a bit. Frustrated with the difficulty. Even on easy, it ramps up the difficulty after a few missions to stupid levels.

Not sure if you ever played the originals m8, but they were really quite difficult too. I'm not 100% convinced that the aliens aren't scripted to get hit or be missed on a repeat basis, either. When I've retried a level (I don't want to get a squad member killed - lol) - the same alien, in a similar position proves to be just as easy to shoot - or has the ninja evasion skills of Chuck Norris. If that's true, then the whole tactical control core element of the game is rendered irrelevant. If I can snipe an alien from 80ft with nothing more than a pistol, yet need two shotgun rounds to the face on his mate around the corner - then it makes a bit of a mockery of even playing it.

Still, look on the bright side. The genre has come a long way since the grand-daddy of it all spawned the turn-based strategy game - Laser Squad. Played this to death when I was at school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Squad

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

I had a quick go last night, but found myself re-doing the first tutorial as I wasn't aware the game had no auto save feature. Thanks.

It's had fairly good reviews, above average anyway. I got to the mission with the fountain as above. There are a few performance issues for me lol. Mainly with dust n' stuff like that. But nothing chronic, sure it'll get patched. I've not come across anything like the above yet obviously, but I honestly didn't give a flying crap about any of the cut scenes. Am I alone there? Like generally I always watch in game cinematics and listen to plot points, but I genuinely couldn't give a toss in Xcom.

It's got a funky soundtrack mind.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

I had a quick go last night, but found myself re-doing the first tutorial as I wasn't aware the game had no auto save feature. Thanks.

It's had fairly good reviews, above average anyway. I got to the mission with the fountain as above. There are a few performance issues for me lol. Mainly with dust n' stuff like that. But nothing chronic, sure it'll get patched. I've not come across anything like the above yet obviously, but I honestly didn't give a flying crap about any of the cut scenes. Am I alone there? Like generally I always watch in game cinematics and listen to plot points, but I genuinely couldn't give a toss in Xcom.

It's got a funky soundtrack mind.

Yep - the sound track is good. There is a save feature that can be switched on in the options, but it's not on by default. :S

What issues are you getting? I've got pretty bad tearing - even with vsync on, forced on, forced off - makes no odds

D.

 

[Cookie]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

No auto save pissed me off too. It crashed about 3 hours in on my first play :/

 

[Silent_Scone]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

So far it's just when there is debris or dust in the air, just makes the frame rate have a fit for a few moments. Can't say I've had any tearing issues but my refresh rate is 120hz so that might be something to do with it. Look forward to experiencing the hit accuracy bugs you've been having.

In fact might just not bother for awhile TBH, I was only having a quick gander last night as had nothing to do

 

[Sargara]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Im on my 3rd game and doing much better now. Classic difficulty. Only bug ive encountered was my Skyranger taking a detour to the North Pole instead of flying to a landing site? :S

1st game i didnt research Beam weapons quick enough and started getting my ass handed to me. 2nd game i screwed up putting a satelite over a country with no fighters so the UFO shot down my satelite and about 3 countries left Xcom.

I think the game is great personally, if you enjoy it on its own merits rather than comparing it to the old Xcom i think its a solid title and i hope they do a sequel! I miss being able to return countries to Xcom by assaulting the Alien base in their country.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Im on my 3rd game and doing much better now. Classic difficulty. Only bug ive encountered was my Skyranger taking a detour to the North Pole instead of flying to a landing site? :S

1st game i didnt research Beam weapons quick enough and started getting my ass handed to me. 2nd game i screwed up putting a satelite over a country with no fighters so the UFO shot down my satelite and about 3 countries left Xcom.

I think the game is great personally, if you enjoy it on its own merits rather than comparing it to the old Xcom i think its a solid title and i hope they do a sequel! I miss being able to return countries to Xcom by assaulting the Alien base in their country.

Fair points - and I do think it's a great game that I'll pursue with. But these firing niggles are beginning to bug me. If they weren't so critical to the game itself, then I could overlook them. And my sniper definitely isn't as good as she was in her first mission.

The save feature has become my new best friend in this game.

D.

 

[Sargara]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Haha im guilty of that. "Noooo not Ellen Ripley" (reload). Dont make the mistake i have of naming them after Aliens characters you become too attached and every death is a reload :nono:

I also colour coded my squad. Support (medic) is Red, Sniper is Green etc. Makes it alot easier instead of having to cycle through everyone.

 

[Brand86]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

I can't wait to get this game! Think I will wait for Christmas and have a serious blast then.

People's stories of attachments to characters makes it seem really personal - love t he hybrid style gameplay - guns and tactics. Love this sort of thing!

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Haha im guilty of that. "Noooo not Ellen Ripley" (reload). Dont make the mistake i have of naming them after Aliens characters you become too attached and every death is a reload :nono:

I also colour coded my squad. Support (medic) is Red, Sniper is Green etc. Makes it alot easier instead of having to cycle through everyone.

PMSL. I've done that so many times before with games like this. Makes it much easier to recognise who is carrying what and where they are.

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

After clocking a few hours on Sunday I can see what you're on about Darren. That said I'm really enjoying it now. I've lost two countries but I'm trying to just let that slide lol. Building uplinks and satellites takes fookin' ages. As the game gradually gets harder I've started to try and keep my more experienced recruits alive as best I can. I've had a few new recruits get wasted so far .

I think although they've tried to cater it for 360 players it still takes a good bit of time to fully get the hang of how the functions in the game work. I'm not doing too badly for a first play through. At least I don't think so lol. Was receiving Grade A all the way through until I lost Nigeria and France (hardly a massive loss lets face it)

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

After clocking a few hours on Sunday I can see what you're on about Darren. That said I'm really enjoying it now. I've lost two countries but I'm trying to just let that slide lol. Building uplinks and satellites takes fookin' ages. As the game gradually gets harder I've started to try and keep my more experienced recruits alive as best I can. I've had a few new recruits get wasted so far .

I think although they've tried to cater it for 360 players it still takes a good bit of time to fully get the hang of how the functions in the game work. I'm not doing too badly for a first play through. At least I don't think so lol. Was receiving Grade A all the way through until I lost Nigeria and France (hardly a massive loss lets face it)

That's a terrible loss. Where will all those spam emails asking for your bank account details come from now???

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Another bug. Unit stuck on an imaginary floor.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Even Chuck Norris would have trouble making that shot.... :dapprove:

Also - Minor Gripe 1. Why aren't the action keys in the same place for each character? Like Romanos's Overwatch above is key 4. Yet other characters will have it in 3 or 2. You have to check each time for each character. Daft.

Minor Gripe 2. When attacking a multi-height target like a large alien ship - why does the default view on every turn - switch back to the external view where you see the roof of the alien ship? Then for every character on your turn - you have to zoom in to see where they are. That gets really annoying after a while.

D.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

Does the Improved S.C.O.P.E automatically get applied to any existing scopes you have equipped? I've researched it at the foundry, but I can't see where you build/equip it?

Cheers,
D.

 

[Darren S]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

So, after nearly two years - I finally finished the core game this week - and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

As mentioned in another post (http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?751925-Cheating-and-making-games-better) - hacking the money figure from the $200 or whatever it starts with, to $500,000 literally transformed the game. It didn't make it any easier, but simply negated the silly concept that nations wouldn't cough up some dollars under an all-encompassing alien invasion.

So I've now started the follow standalone expansion - Enemy Within - and hopefully it will be just as good.

Certainly worth a buy if it comes up on the cheap - either the core game or the follow on.

D.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Re: XCOM : Enemy Unknown

So, after nearly two years - I finally finished the core game this week - and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

As mentioned in another post (http://www.cliosport.net/forum/showthread.php?751925-Cheating-and-making-games-better) - hacking the money figure from the $200 or whatever it starts with, to $500,000 literally transformed the game. It didn't make it any easier, but simply negated the silly concept that nations wouldn't cough up some dollars under an all-encompassing alien invasion.

So I've now started the follow standalone expansion - Enemy Within - and hopefully it will be just as good.

Certainly worth a buy if it comes up on the cheap - either the core game or the follow on.

D.

lmao, this is true I guess. I lost my saves for this a while back! I do really want to complete it so I can move on to the expansion. It's a great game.

 

[BatFastard]

I've also been playing this again recently. A fantastic game! Just got through the Alien Base and built all new Firestorm ships equipped with Plasma cannons. Money is still a bit tight but got 5 Satellites ready to Launch at the end of the month so should get me a bit more money in!

 

[jjones82]

I didn't find the hit detection too bad tbh, if you look up at the screen shots above, the sectoid you cant hit through the door is because the stun weapon is equipped which has naff all range, it shows that you can see the sectoid by the yellow alien head in the bottom right hand corner -which signifies your more likely to get a critical as he's flanked.

Also the sniper rifle gets more inaccurate the closer the enemy is so it is harder to hit someone 6ft away with a sniper rifle, change to the pistol!

And where it says you can hit someone in cover a way away i always presumed it meant that you popped them when they took a peek out of the cover

I didn't see the point in cheating to get more money i just thought that every dollar signifies 1 million or billion, as in the original games money was tight too although they did add a few 0000's!
But in the current game an interceptor costs like a 100 dollars or something instead of1,000,000's in the old game!

I always found it integral to the game to try and balance what you need with what you want etc, i remember in the originals it was tough to fully equip your squad with all the best weapons after just completing research etc, having unlimited money spoils the game IMO.

What I did find a bit of a let down though was the length of the game, i remember putting months of play into the originals, with so much random stuff to research etc wher as in the new ones I found the research tree a little bland/ not much in it.

I really hope they make another one though just expanded more, ability to build more bases, have random alien bases pop up to storm instead of scripted missions etc

 

[Darren S]

I didn't find the hit detection too bad tbh, if you look up at the screen shots above, the sectoid you cant hit through the door is because the stun weapon is equipped which has naff all range, it shows that you can see the sectoid by the yellow alien head in the bottom right hand corner -which signifies your more likely to get a critical as he's flanked.

Also the sniper rifle gets more inaccurate the closer the enemy is so it is harder to hit someone 6ft away with a sniper rifle, change to the pistol!

And where it says you can hit someone in cover a way away i always presumed it meant that you popped them when they took a peek out of the cover

I didn't see the point in cheating to get more money i just thought that every dollar signifies 1 million or billion, as in the original games money was tight too although they did add a few 0000's!
But in the current game an interceptor costs like a 100 dollars or something instead of1,000,000's in the old game!

I always found it integral to the game to try and balance what you need with what you want etc, i remember in the originals it was tough to fully equip your squad with all the best weapons after just completing research etc, having unlimited money spoils the game IMO.

What I did find a bit of a let down though was the length of the game, i remember putting months of play into the originals, with so much random stuff to research etc wher as in the new ones I found the research tree a little bland/ not much in it.

I really hope they make another one though just expanded more, ability to build more bases, have random alien bases pop up to storm instead of scripted missions etc

Good points!

I guess this genre has always nudged towards the more difficult side of turn-based RTS's - rather than being an easy and laid back game to play. Going way back to arguably the genre-starter of Laser Squad - progress has always been a challenge and I would actually say that the current XCOM is easier than the previous games overall.

The money aspect simply bugged me - it didn't need to be there. And to potentially lose a game because you dipped into the red is silly as it actually sounds. "Sorry we could help stop the alien invasion chaps, but Simon up in the accounts department didn't sign off this months' overdraft" Don't forget, money was only ever really a background factor in the early weapons and equipment of the game. Very quickly, the alien alloys, UFO components, alien corpses and other exotics, were far more important in equipping your team with decent kit. None of these values were hacked in my play-through and often I had to sacrifice better items for research or production of other more vital items.

I totally agree with the scripted missions - even I got a bit tired of cleansing out the larger downed UFOs with the "What was that?" or "We're not alone out here..." from the team - despite having been together on 60+ missions. I would have liked to have seen a few more things like weapon jams, different ammo types and even more types of mission. Maybe a squad member gets knocked out on a mission, dragged off and the remaining team get 15-20 turns to rescue him? Or a research base for anti-alien technology comes under a repeated wave attack of incoming aliens and you have to defend rather than attack instead?

A bit like zombies games - no-one ever gets tired of going up against an alien menace. I really will be hoping for a true XCOM 2 - there's plenty of interest out there for it!

Oh, and what the hell does "I've got my eyes on" mean from the team when tasked with overwatch? Surely it should be "open"?

D.

 

[Darren S]

EXALT.

What little feckers they are......

D.

 

[Brand86]

EXALT.

What little feckers they are......

D.

Really? I found them relatively easy?

I REALLY want a next gen version of this game. Make it so!

 

[Darren S]

Oh no - I meant they aren't actually difficult - just a shower of s***s that top themselves when you tazer them....

Yeah - I would really like a follow up. I was impressed at just how much an improvement Enemy Within was, over Enemy Unknown.

With Firaxis pulling the levers behind the scenes AND given how successful this XCOM has been - I'd be amazed if they didn't follow it up.

And as a rarity - it works brilliantly on all platforms - even tablets.

 

[Brand86]

Yes - I may have to purchase on my gf's tablet as my 360 is now at my parents. I'd happily just buy EW again on the One though.

The set piece missions were awesome, as are the standard 'seek and destroy'. The MP has a place too - the concept is there but needs massively simplifying, it's not very intuitive to get to grips with. An online co-op mission system could work too.

The new mech class was awesome and love everything about it - EXCEPT the awful end to the game, which is a bit easy and an anti climax. The game is best earlier on, when you're fearing for your troops at each go! It's challenging but always fair.

 

[Darren S]

Yes - I may have to purchase on my gf's tablet as my 360 is now at my parents. I'd happily just buy EW again on the One though.

The set piece missions were awesome, as are the standard 'seek and destroy'. The MP has a place too - the concept is there but needs massively simplifying, it's not very intuitive to get to grips with. An online co-op mission system could work too.

The new mech class was awesome and love everything about it - EXCEPT the awful end to the game, which is a bit easy and an anti climax. The game is best earlier on, when you're fearing for your troops at each go! It's challenging but always fair.

I've said that before too - a co-op option would work brilliantly. Especially if there was a game mode where each player could start with 'credits' and spread that between a squad of their choice. Do you want a very small, but powerful squad - or one that's quite numerous with more basic kit?

I haven't quite got to the ending on Enemy Within yet - but I was pretty pleased with my efforts at defending the XCOM base earlier......

D.

 

[Brand86]

We must be psychic. In an interview about the new Civ game I read today, they also admitted a new x com game is in development. Happy days