That article was a joy to read. Thanks a bunch for the link.

With all the burden of expectation and doubt, it manages to be both a hugely respectful reimagining and, all ties ignored, one of the best turn-based tactical games I’ve played in, well, forever.

The only real negative I noticed:

Maps aren’t randomised, which distressed me a little, but although I’ve seen a bit of repetition enemy placement and types don’t repeat, and no two missions have been quite the same.

This got me to pre-order even though I've never played a game like this before. I did just try to play UFO Defense but it's too bloody old now. I can't enjoy it.

Game Reactor typed up a little Preview as well, I'm just adding it to this thread:

http://www.gamereactor.eu/previews/45571/Xcom%3A+Enemy+Unknown/

The combination of turn-based mechanics and the fact that you never really know what is hidden in darkness, makes Xcom a rare experience, with a mixture of excitement and tactics you can not really find anywhere else. This preview build bodes well, and the game looks like a sure winner when it launches in October.

Hype get, strap it on, dicktits, etc.

Thankfully I've still got Darksiders 2 and Dark Souls to keep me busy for the next few weeks until XCOM launches.

@Funkydupe said:

That article was a joy to read. Thanks a bunch for the link.

With all the burden of expectation and doubt, it manages to be both a hugely respectful reimagining and, all ties ignored, one of the best turn-based tactical games I’ve played in, well, forever.

The only real negative I noticed:

Maps aren’t randomised, which distressed me a little, but although I’ve seen a bit of repetition enemy placement and types don’t repeat, and no two missions have been quite the same.

I'm actually in favor of the predesigned maps, its better for them to design some maps that are interesting from a tactical standpoint, than end up with crappy maps like those randomized Frozen Synapse maps.

Also, they are selected at random (or depending on the area you go to a mission in). According to Jake Salomon (lead designer), there are so many maps in the game that you shouldn't see one repeating in your first playthrough. And the enemy placement and makeup is randomized.

So lets see, its hard to tell if that will bother me or not. I think I'd like to know a place enough to know where would be good advantage points for my soldiers, but not knowing what to expect from the enemy forces.

Super stoked for this game!

A tad disappointed that there are not randomized maps, but that's a minor complaint all things considered. Pre-ordered since forever, and hype isn't dying down anytime soon.

I have this crazy idea that I want to play on the worst or at least almost the worst difficulty, with perma-death and the works. No save/load opportunity for missions. It just feels like the right way to play games like this and get max tension out of every shot fired. I know I'm going to get owned hard, but an alien invasion is supposed to be daunting. I don't want it to be simple. A game like Demon's Souls, unforgiving but still really entertaining is what I'm hoping this'll be similar to in that regard.

@Dredlockz: Yes, it helped a bit to read that enemy strength, type and their starting places are totally randomized, and that naturally your difficulty setting plays a part in those aspects as well.

I've got this pre-ordered too by the way. If we're lucky this'll do well in reviews and with players, and Firaxis continues to make games like this. (perhaps a sequel?)

I just played Jagged Alliance, and I can tell from that experience that I won't be missing a tedious inventory management system. I welcome this change to something more streamlined.

Kinda early innit?

Still, will read. Not that i need to at this point ^.^

@Funkydupe said:

I have this crazy idea that I want to play on the worst or at least almost the worst difficulty, with perma-death and the works. No save/load opportunity for missions. It just feels like the right way to play games like this and get max tension out of every shot fired. I know I'm going to get owned hard, but an alien invasion is supposed to be daunting. I don't want it to be simple.

Yeah dude, Classic difficulty with Ironman mode all the way for my first playthrough.

That guy from the youtube videos you linked in another thread seems to be doing alright playing on classic mode. And he doesn't seem to grasp the notion of flanking at all, and he's trying to hit with 35% chance shots. So I'm sure we XCOM vets can do better :)

@Dredlockz: @Funkydupe: You guys are crazy.

I will at least do a dry run on non ironman mode first to learn all the ins and outs and mechanics to be able to fully exploit the shit out of it's systems on the hardest difficulty + ironman.

Then i'll think about doing a solo ironman run. :D

@Dredlockz: He tried like 6 times before he managed the first mission in the game without someone dying. Sounds promising. :)

I don't even like those kinds of games and I'm excited for this. No ironman mode for me though, it's gonna be bad enough at normal difficulty.

@Dredlockz said:

I'm actually in favor of the predesigned maps...

I agree. In comparison to the original X-COM, the geometry, traversal, and environmental interaction are far more complex and a skilled level designer is going to be able to craft areas that make the most of the added complexity far more easily than it would be for some software guys to develop an algorithm to generate decent levels.

I throw money at screen and nothing happens :(

@Funkydupe said:

@Dredlockz: He tried like 6 times before he managed the first mission in the game without someone dying. Sounds promising. :)

Haha true. I saw the first video again and he does say he played the original a ton too. But I dunno, some of the actions he was doing seemed really bad, like dashing before encountering any aliens. That's just disrespectful! I'm gonna be moving really methodically, and only dashing if I want to get a flank, or retreat to safety, etc.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Dredlockz: @Funkydupe: You guys are crazy.

I will at least do a dry run on non ironman mode first to learn all the ins and outs and mechanics to be able to fully exploit the shit out of it's systems on the hardest difficulty + ironman.

Then i'll think about doing a solo ironman run. :D

My problem is I'm crazy-obsessive about perfection in games. If a game allows me to quicksave/quickload, I'm going to be doing that over and over and over until I get the perfect run. So I actually need Ironman mode, otherwise I'd be reloading every time I miss a shot.