Post-Demo reactions article

Rock Paper Shotgun - http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/25/some-things-you-should-know-about-the-xcom-demo/

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@Jams said:

@Tennmuerti: I read your tips before I jumped in and had no problems with the mouse ( was expecting the worst from some naysayers).

People are just being exceptionally whiny. They focus too much on the tiny problems and rather than get used to them, write the entire game off as being broken.

There's nothing whiny in expecting the mouse to function properly.

Like, how would the gaming community react if a console first-person shooter port was released and the mouse was just mapped straight to the analog stick without adding smoothing or changing the sensitivity? Would they just say, "Oh, get used to it"?

"Don't worry, man, all you have to do is take a whole bunch of silly putty and wrap it around the analog stick, and then it's just as slow as it's supposed to be. That's what I did." It really boggles my mind why we put up with it. And this is just one of several problems I noticed.

But you guys enjoy it, I guess. I'm gonna go play the original X-Com and think of better times.

The mouse does function properly, I have no idea where most of these complaints are coming from. Having played the demo twice I can say that you click your mans, then click where you want them to go and they go. Click the button to shoot the alien, then click the alien, the alien gets shot. People are dismissing an entire game based on some minor control issues which sound more user side than a problem with the game itself. Referencing the original X Com, I have been playing it for the first time recently and I find that I have more issues controlling that game properly than the new one. Constantly having my dudes walk across the map after getting them in position because I'm not hovering properly over one of my other guys when I left click.

I forgot to ask. Did anyone have any issue with the audio being kind of distorted in the higher frequencies? The woman doctor sounded like she had some kind of high hat lisp going on when she was talking (and a few other sounds had the same problem). I was thinking that maybe the sound files were of lower quality for the demo?

Seems very promising. I actually ran into a small bug when accessing the upgrade menu. And after seeing the myriad animation bugs in the quicklook, I'm a bit worried about how glitchy it will be. But I remain hopeful.

@Artemesia said:

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@Jams said:

@Tennmuerti: I read your tips before I jumped in and had no problems with the mouse ( was expecting the worst from some naysayers).

People are just being exceptionally whiny. They focus too much on the tiny problems and rather than get used to them, write the entire game off as being broken.

There's nothing whiny in expecting the mouse to function properly.

Like, how would the gaming community react if a console first-person shooter port was released and the mouse was just mapped straight to the analog stick without adding smoothing or changing the sensitivity? Would they just say, "Oh, get used to it"?

"Don't worry, man, all you have to do is take a whole bunch of silly putty and wrap it around the analog stick, and then it's just as slow as it's supposed to be. That's what I did." It really boggles my mind why we put up with it. And this is just one of several problems I noticed.

But you guys enjoy it, I guess. I'm gonna go play the original X-Com and think of better times.

The mouse does function properly, I have no idea where most of these complaints are coming from. Having played the demo twice I can say that you click your mans, then click where you want them to go and they go. Click the button to shoot the alien, then click the alien, the alien gets shot. People are dismissing an entire game based on some minor control issues which sound more user side than a problem with the game itself. Referencing the original X Com, I have been playing it for the first time recently and I find that I have more issues controlling that game properly than the new one. Constantly having my dudes walk across the map after getting them in position because I'm not hovering properly over one of my other guys when I left click.

So, you try to click guys in the original, and you miss, and you think that's the game's fault, but when people can't do that in the new one, it's theirs? The mouse just doesn't move like a mouse in the new game. And having used a mouse since the advent of Windows, I'd know.

Totalbiscuit brings you a short analysis of the new XCOM: Enemy Unknown demo.

XCOM: Demo Analysis - YouTube

For those interested. The rest of you can leg off.

Never played its predecessors, however playing the demo has peaked my interest reminds me a lot of the Disgaea franchise, in terms of turn-based, tiled strategy-like gameplay, WHICH I LOVE. However I thought it was fine, camera controls get some getting used to, but nothing drastic that turned me off. I thought it was great demo that introduced the basic storyline, to wet your appetite and a few levels to get the hang of the gameplay.

The demo peaked my interest, with the pre-order sales almost at the next threshold the opportunity of receiving Civ V for free, in addition solidified my purchase.

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@Jams said:

@Tennmuerti: I read your tips before I jumped in and had no problems with the mouse ( was expecting the worst from some naysayers).

People are just being exceptionally whiny. They focus too much on the tiny problems and rather than get used to them, write the entire game off as being broken.

There's nothing whiny in expecting the mouse to function properly.

Like, how would the gaming community react if a console first-person shooter port was released and the mouse was just mapped straight to the analog stick without adding smoothing or changing the sensitivity? Would they just say, "Oh, get used to it"?

"Don't worry, man, all you have to do is take a whole bunch of silly putty and wrap it around the analog stick, and then it's just as slow as it's supposed to be. That's what I did." It really boggles my mind why we put up with it. And this is just one of several problems I noticed.

But you guys enjoy it, I guess. I'm gonna go play the original X-Com and think of better times.

The mouse does function properly, I have no idea where most of these complaints are coming from. Having played the demo twice I can say that you click your mans, then click where you want them to go and they go. Click the button to shoot the alien, then click the alien, the alien gets shot. People are dismissing an entire game based on some minor control issues which sound more user side than a problem with the game itself. Referencing the original X Com, I have been playing it for the first time recently and I find that I have more issues controlling that game properly than the new one. Constantly having my dudes walk across the map after getting them in position because I'm not hovering properly over one of my other guys when I left click.

So, you try to click guys in the original, and you miss, and you think that's the game's fault, but when people can't do that in the new one, it's theirs? The mouse just doesn't move like a mouse in the new game. And having used a mouse since the advent of Windows, I'd know.

Alright, I am not being confrontational just because I disagree with you, and I know what a mouse works like too. I had to use one to get here, after all!

It is a fault of the old game if the size of the click here boxes do not actually encompass the entire sprite. I get around this by taking some extra time to make sure the border is actually flashing before I click. I have to change my normal fast paced playstyle to get the most out of it. Go try to play the old X Com, you might notice what I am talking about.

However, my original point was that people are dismissing the entire game based on what more or less comes down to a triviality that, if it actually IS a genuine issue, is overcome with getting used to the system and maybe a little common sense. If shooting is too difficult, pressing space twice gets around that. Tab cycles your mans. WASD moves the camera. Though hearing people say that the mouse moves weird, when everybody I know does not have that issue, makes me think it isn't one hundred percent the game's fault. Maybe some weird hardware issues going on there, I do not know.

Just played through the demo with a keyboard and mouse and it played fairly well sure there is a lot of keyboard shortcuts but you can get by just pointing and clicking, after the tutorial i played the china map to see how well i would do in a real early game scenario with these controls and it worked out pretty well got my guys in position to eliminate the first couple of grays and moved them up cover by cover until the flying units appeared, went a bit hairy with my sniper getting suppressed on the boat and then flanked but i managed to take down the flanker before he actually fired and my heavy guy from the first mission riddled the remaining enemy with gusto.

a sweep of the last building revealed two thin men who jumped out the window and where subsequently by a now free and conveniently well placed sniper.

really enjoyed the demo even though its a little short and pretty big at 5gigs

Judging from the demo...this game will kick my ass. I did great in the demo, but I know that in later missions many humans will die due to my decisions

Before the demo came out, I was fairly excited for the game. I had never played an XCOM game prior to playing the Enemy Unknown demo. But I enjoy turn-based strategy games, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every Firaxis game that I've played. So the thought of them making a sci-fi turn-based strategy game sounded pretty cool to me. But that demo. Man... I just couldn't get into it. It didn't feel like a bad game or anything, but there was something off-putting about it. I just wasn't having any fun playing it. I don't even know how to explain it. It just didn't click with me. My dislike for that demo goes to a much deeper level than I could possibly explain with words.

I feel kind of bummed out, because most people seem to really be digging the game, but I just can't get into it. I don't know.

@Artemesia said:

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@gladspooky said:

@Artemesia said:

@Jams said:

@Tennmuerti: I read your tips before I jumped in and had no problems with the mouse ( was expecting the worst from some naysayers).

People are just being exceptionally whiny. They focus too much on the tiny problems and rather than get used to them, write the entire game off as being broken.

There's nothing whiny in expecting the mouse to function properly.

Like, how would the gaming community react if a console first-person shooter port was released and the mouse was just mapped straight to the analog stick without adding smoothing or changing the sensitivity? Would they just say, "Oh, get used to it"?

"Don't worry, man, all you have to do is take a whole bunch of silly putty and wrap it around the analog stick, and then it's just as slow as it's supposed to be. That's what I did." It really boggles my mind why we put up with it. And this is just one of several problems I noticed.

But you guys enjoy it, I guess. I'm gonna go play the original X-Com and think of better times.

The mouse does function properly, I have no idea where most of these complaints are coming from. Having played the demo twice I can say that you click your mans, then click where you want them to go and they go. Click the button to shoot the alien, then click the alien, the alien gets shot. People are dismissing an entire game based on some minor control issues which sound more user side than a problem with the game itself. Referencing the original X Com, I have been playing it for the first time recently and I find that I have more issues controlling that game properly than the new one. Constantly having my dudes walk across the map after getting them in position because I'm not hovering properly over one of my other guys when I left click.

So, you try to click guys in the original, and you miss, and you think that's the game's fault, but when people can't do that in the new one, it's theirs? The mouse just doesn't move like a mouse in the new game. And having used a mouse since the advent of Windows, I'd know.

Alright, I am not being confrontational just because I disagree with you, and I know what a mouse works like too. I had to use one to get here, after all!

It is a fault of the old game if the size of the click here boxes do not actually encompass the entire sprite. I get around this by taking some extra time to make sure the border is actually flashing before I click. I have to change my normal fast paced playstyle to get the most out of it. Go try to play the old X Com, you might notice what I am talking about.

However, my original point was that people are dismissing the entire game based on what more or less comes down to a triviality that, if it actually IS a genuine issue, is overcome with getting used to the system and maybe a little common sense. If shooting is too difficult, pressing space twice gets around that. Tab cycles your mans. WASD moves the camera. Though hearing people say that the mouse moves weird, when everybody I know does not have that issue, makes me think it isn't one hundred percent the game's fault. Maybe some weird hardware issues going on there, I do not know.

Well, I don't know what to tell you. I know mouse smoothing when I see it, and this game's got it. Even with V-Sync off. And with every video I've seen, the mouse is sluggish there, too. And this just combines with other issues I've got with this game.

(And by the way, to those who think otherwise, old-school X-Com fans do not just want X-Com but with the colors changed slightly. I just think it's strange how the developers keep saying X-Com is their favorite game ever made, but let's change the action points system, and let's get rid of some of these alien designs, and let's change it into a class-based system, and let's change this, and let's change that. Why fix what isn't broken in the first place? It's like, what would you rather play, Ms. Pac-Man, or Pac-Man World? Some of these changes are good. The action cam is fine. The Geoscape looks great. The base stuff is fantastic. But the core gameplay is different. And the two things that mattered about X-Com were the gameplay and the atmosphere.)

And, yeah, I don't know what you're talking about with the original X-Com. Are you playing the Steam version? They didn't optimize their version of DOSBox to run X-Com like it originally ran, so it's got weird speed issues that might be messing with you. I remember the edge scrolling goes real crazy if the settings are even a little off.

The demo was a bit short and the game doesn't run too well on my system even at low but I've gone from "Ehh maybe" to "BUY IT NOW!".

Not sure whether to go PC or 360 though.

The Quick Look EX got me interested enough to give the demo a try and the demo was good enough that I preordered the game. Looking forward to playing it properly now, yet another game for the Extra Life 24 hours as well.

I have very high hopes for this reboot and the demo really left me wanting more. Well done Dev.s , well done