Quick Look: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

@Kosayn said:

1. In comments here - "It seems like they instantly become aware of you and your entire squad's position the moment you peel back the fog of war and reveal them." The IGN review also states that aliens aren't roaming, and won't come and slaughter your dudes till you find them. There's still the barest of chances that this isn't accurate, based on the way the original game handled enemy movement (tons of TUs, no energy, I think... which kept them pretty confined to specific regions of the map while still allowing them to roam and snipe you). But it's starting to look like this new XCom is not an exploration game where aliens can ever wander off the beaten path and need to be hunted down, so much as a linear path to the target with choreographed encounters. That's a really big problem for replay value

Alright, sure. Aliens don't tend to wander too far from their positions which is not immediately a bad thing. The excitement now lies in the encounter and outmaneuvering, out-thinking and out-shooting the opposition rather than slowly plodding your way across the map for 4 turns trying to find the ONE Sectoid hiding behind a tree where you can't see him except for at certain angles only to have the two guys that found him get killed from reactive fire. The moment to moment gameplay is more focused, which may not be what certain people want from XCom and I guess if people really want a "walking around and diddling myself hoping to find something" simulator there's nothing that can be done there.

@Kosayn said:

2. Inventory. I know paperdoll systems aren't console friendly, but having inventory seemingly consist of apparently just main weapon / sub weapon / item, rather than picking up and dropping items and using them on the fly, priming grenades, stowing equipment in your pack, choosing to carry way too much stuff for your strength rating and getting penalized... I wanted that stuff. That's changing a game with unique pedigree on the PC far too much for the sake of consoles which aren't doing so hot against the PC right now.

It's been streamlined so you can get into the action faster. Streamlining =/= making worse or dumbing down. The inventory system in the original is cool and allows for more flexibility in that you could strap 80 grenades to one dude if you really, really wanted to, but it got real fucking old. Frankly, it was a waste of my time to have to go in and manually equip everything I wanted individual soldiers to have on any given mission when all it really came down to was a primary weapon, SOMETIMES a secondary weapon and a grenade or high explosives.

@Kosayn said:

3. So much of this game's interface is nothing but text and button prompts. How about putting in some of the sweet 2d art of Xcom members kicking ass in the interface, hidden movement, and loading screens, like in the original game? I love Firaxis to death.. they made Alpha Centauri... but come on, this isn't that same sort of game. Put some cool atmosphere into it, it's far too sterile. It doesn't have to be like Double Dragon Neon, but there are a lot of 90s people out there who will want this game to have something between its legs.

Uh, the original UI was nothing but text and buttons too. The UI in the original didn't even tell you what the buttons did, you had to learn that stuff through repetition and the loading screens in the original game were a black screen because they didn't exist. In the remake, you get a shot of your dudes en route to wherever they're going. Hidden movement was obtrusive and "ALIEN ACTIVITY" serves the same purpose without literally removing your ability to see what's going on for every individual alien that you can't see that wants to do something.

@Kosayn said:

4. Was it too much to hope for, seeing some Geoscape action? I mean, the ad for the game doesn't even acknowledge that this is a turn based strategy game, but I've come to think of Quick Looks as 'real talk,' right? Geoscape was actually one of the weak points of the original game, you just got the mighty Avalanche missile, kept hitting standoff and aggressive attack, and that handled most of the early going. I'd like to know about whether it's better balanced and more tactical now. I'd like to know if fuel or fueling time still matters. ETC.

It's a thing. People whine that you can't do much of anything during the interceptor portions but most of the buttons in the original didn't do a whole lot anyway. They amounted to "don't do anything" or "shoot that guy." I NEVER found a difference between the different attack types so I don't know enough about those systems to be able to comment.

@Kosayn said:

5. What is up with that drifting camera as soon as you stop pressing buttons? Are we putting presentation before user experience, here?

That's Ryan being a dumbass and drifting the stick, and the game working with the camera pressed up against the edge of the map. Lots of games do that, this isn't a valid complaint.

@Kosayn said:

6. 6 dude limit? That goes up with bigger craft right? Right? Oh, it starts even lower than that?

Four to six dudes that matter is more fun than sixteen that don't. The point of the new game is that XCom is actually an elite organization designed with the idea of fighting against an advanced alien threat. They are the tip of the spear, thrust into the vitals between the armor. They are strike teams, not sixteen idiots in jumpers trying to find their way out of an airplane without getting shot. Going back up, from a design perspective, it's about not wasting your fucking time with clutter.

It looks to me that you, like so many others, have already decided on your position and aren't willing to accept new things because they are different. If you give this game a try instead of comparing it to something it doesn't want to be you might actually have fun.

For some reason I just cannot stop shitting in my pants while watching this video?

this is my goty so far, and it's really not as hard as ryan is making it out to be.

@outerabiz said:

this is my goty so far, and it's really not as hard as ryan is making it out to be.

Unless you save/reload a lot, there are definitely many parts that are fuck-you hard on normal difficulty or higher. And I share his annoyance at how enemy groups get that free move into cover when you first discover them.

I find a good strategy for a lot of missions is just to set up a slowly moving overwatch "killbox", and then have one assault up ahead trying to discover groups, then retreating back. Once you've come upon enemies, they will move to attack your group.

And snipers in this game can be borderline overpowered, once you have the ability to see teammates' targets, and double tap. Ohhh double tap....

To be clear, you cannot Run'n'Gun and then use an Arc Thrower, even if you do end up in range. The Arc Thrower is an item and so not usable after a Run'n'Gun.

This game is basically a tactical rpg? I've played the Final Fantasy Tactics series and the Disgaea series so I should be set to play this game if I rent it.

That was an amazing QL there guys. Personally I love it when the Quicklookers really get into the game and Ryan and Jeff here are into this game hook, line and sinker. It was terrific.

Not only that but this QL has made me wanna check out XCOM for myself now that I know what kind of game it is.

Thanks duders!

:)

I feel like I'm playing a different game than the Giantbomb crew. I'm way past the base mission that they talk about and I've only ever lost 2 folks once I was out of the tutorial. On normal, this game hasn't been hard at all.

Fuuuuuuu Just swiped the macs track pad gotta watch the fucking starcraft league trailer Nasl or whatever again GG! GG!......fuck off.

I really don't think the "free move" that aliens get when they are discovered is a "free move" at all. My feeling is that the design decision was that all enemies you encounter would always be in cover, because the AI isn't going to pull a bonehead move and just be sitting totally exposed. But, in order to add some flavor to the discovery of an enemy, they added the "free move" just so you could see something happening when you discovered an alien. In addition, it's a visual queue for the player.

The only real advantage the aliens get is that they are always in cover in the right direction (as opposed to being in cover, but the cover is protecting the wrong side, essentially making them exposed to your direction). But, I think that's balanced out by them never being in overwatch when you find them (at least I haven't seen that yet).

42:09 "you get bonuses for full coverage incontinence"

I'll give that bonus a miss thanks.

Holy crap. Is waiting that long to assault the alien base normal? I did that pretty quick, long before I had a lot of the stuff that Ryan does. I beat it without any casualties but it was a very long, room by room mission.

@Artemesia said:

@Kosayn said:

1. In comments here - "It seems like they instantly become aware of you and your entire squad's position the moment you peel back the fog of war and reveal them." The IGN review also states that aliens aren't roaming, and won't come and slaughter your dudes till you find them. There's still the barest of chances that this isn't accurate, based on the way the original game handled enemy movement (tons of TUs, no energy, I think... which kept them pretty confined to specific regions of the map while still allowing them to roam and snipe you). But it's starting to look like this new XCom is not an exploration game where aliens can ever wander off the beaten path and need to be hunted down, so much as a linear path to the target with choreographed encounters. That's a really big problem for replay value

Alright, sure. Aliens don't tend to wander too far from their positions which is not immediately a bad thing. The excitement now lies in the encounter and outmaneuvering, out-thinking and out-shooting the opposition rather than slowly plodding your way across the map for 4 turns trying to find the ONE Sectoid hiding behind a tree where you can't see him except for at certain angles only to have the two guys that found him get killed from reactive fire. The moment to moment gameplay is more focused, which may not be what certain people want from XCom and I guess if people really want a "walking around and diddling myself hoping to find something" simulator there's nothing that can be done there.

@Kosayn said:

2. Inventory. I know paperdoll systems aren't console friendly, but having inventory seemingly consist of apparently just main weapon / sub weapon / item, rather than picking up and dropping items and using them on the fly, priming grenades, stowing equipment in your pack, choosing to carry way too much stuff for your strength rating and getting penalized... I wanted that stuff. That's changing a game with unique pedigree on the PC far too much for the sake of consoles which aren't doing so hot against the PC right now.

It's been streamlined so you can get into the action faster. Streamlining =/= making worse or dumbing down. The inventory system in the original is cool and allows for more flexibility in that you could strap 80 grenades to one dude if you really, really wanted to, but it got real fucking old. Frankly, it was a waste of my time to have to go in and manually equip everything I wanted individual soldiers to have on any given mission when all it really came down to was a primary weapon, SOMETIMES a secondary weapon and a grenade or high explosives.

@Kosayn said:

3. So much of this game's interface is nothing but text and button prompts. How about putting in some of the sweet 2d art of Xcom members kicking ass in the interface, hidden movement, and loading screens, like in the original game? I love Firaxis to death.. they made Alpha Centauri... but come on, this isn't that same sort of game. Put some cool atmosphere into it, it's far too sterile. It doesn't have to be like Double Dragon Neon, but there are a lot of 90s people out there who will want this game to have something between its legs.

Uh, the original UI was nothing but text and buttons too. The UI in the original didn't even tell you what the buttons did, you had to learn that stuff through repetition and the loading screens in the original game were a black screen because they didn't exist. In the remake, you get a shot of your dudes en route to wherever they're going. Hidden movement was obtrusive and "ALIEN ACTIVITY" serves the same purpose without literally removing your ability to see what's going on for every individual alien that you can't see that wants to do something.

@Kosayn said:

4. Was it too much to hope for, seeing some Geoscape action? I mean, the ad for the game doesn't even acknowledge that this is a turn based strategy game, but I've come to think of Quick Looks as 'real talk,' right? Geoscape was actually one of the weak points of the original game, you just got the mighty Avalanche missile, kept hitting standoff and aggressive attack, and that handled most of the early going. I'd like to know about whether it's better balanced and more tactical now. I'd like to know if fuel or fueling time still matters. ETC.

It's a thing. People whine that you can't do much of anything during the interceptor portions but most of the buttons in the original didn't do a whole lot anyway. They amounted to "don't do anything" or "shoot that guy." I NEVER found a difference between the different attack types so I don't know enough about those systems to be able to comment.

@Kosayn said:

5. What is up with that drifting camera as soon as you stop pressing buttons? Are we putting presentation before user experience, here?

That's Ryan being a dumbass and drifting the stick, and the game working with the camera pressed up against the edge of the map. Lots of games do that, this isn't a valid complaint.

@Kosayn said:

6. 6 dude limit? That goes up with bigger craft right? Right? Oh, it starts even lower than that?

Four to six dudes that matter is more fun than sixteen that don't. The point of the new game is that XCom is actually an elite organization designed with the idea of fighting against an advanced alien threat. They are the tip of the spear, thrust into the vitals between the armor. They are strike teams, not sixteen idiots in jumpers trying to find their way out of an airplane without getting shot. Going back up, from a design perspective, it's about not wasting your fucking time with clutter.

It looks to me that you, like so many others, have already decided on your position and aren't willing to accept new things because they are different. If you give this game a try instead of comparing it to something it doesn't want to be you might actually have fun.

This. All of this.

I often pity people that prematurely cast judgement without trying it themselves.

Can't wait to become horribly addicted to this game.

Everyone needs to follow Chris Kluwe on Twitter. He's the punter for the Minnesota Vikings, but just because he's a football player doesn't mean he can't love him some XCOM!

This game looks incredible, thanks for the quick look.

I love this game. It definitely has a few glaring issues but overall its a really solid experience. I'm really enjoying just slow-playing it here and there. It's a nice change of pace.

Ya!

Finally on steam sale~!! Woot!!

One of my favorite Ryan Quick Looks.

First quick look I've decided to watch since Ryan's passing.

....dammit Ryan.

Love how Jeff jokingly says the Enemy Within during the title screen.

Really miss playing this on the 360. Moved to PS4 and wish XCOM: Enemy Unknown would be remastered and brought out to current consoles. Such a great game!

All heavies, no medpacks.