Quick Look: XCOM 2

I would love to see a Breaking Brad of this on Commander+ Ironman. This game makes me sweat on stream, would enjoy seeing Brad take on the challenge. He's a fan, if I'm not mistaken, so maybe not out of the question?

@lotr_dan said:

Yeah, it's like he doesn't know what the shield icons mean. No wonder he's having trouble on Easy!

I reaaaaaaaly want controller support for this. The last game worked so well with a controller, and I want to sit back and relax while I strategize.

I've got 350 hours in Xcom Enemy Unknown and probably even more sunk into the original X-com, so I was prepared to lose my life to this one. I'm not too far in but I'm kinda surprised how little it's gripping me so far. I'm really not sure what to think about it. The changes all make sense. I understand the need for the limited turns to stop the overwatch camping you could get away with in EU. But it feels limiting, too. I'm also not sure how I feel about the different routes I might like to take being blocked by citizens that will rat you out and those alarm poles. It makes the maps feel more constricted to me. I'm even finding myself pretty cold on the new ways the overworld and supplies system works. I'm hoping it all clicks once I push further in.

Dan might have had a hard time with this game because he ends turns outside of cover a lot?

I gave this a go but spent more time struggling with the UI and camera controls than actually playing the game.

Build some radio towers and get those continent bonuses.

I do intend to buy this but I'll probably wait a few weeks to see what patches roll out. I still haven't finished the first one yet.

Wowowow. I know Dan was mostly goofing off on an old save for the QL, but that was the fastest and loosest xcom play I've ever seen. I'm legitimately surprised no one ate dirt.

I love when menus can't even pull 30 fps, let alone 60

Hey man don't knock the guy being happy he has a GF! Is nice! I would like to meet the girl that can put up with Dan though ....

Dang it I can not find Ryckerts call out name sigh .... DAN if you play this on a higher difficulty iron man STREAM THAT STUFF!!! The frustration you would go through oh man would that be some good content!!!

I hope Dan gives it 5 out of 5 stars, but based on his commentary it sounds like he is going to give it 4 out of 5 stars due to the performance issues/glitches.

Guys, he's just playing like it's old old X-COM.

I am praying for double pod activations with sectopods and gatekeepers.

Edit: I can't wait to hear him talk about the last level.

XCOM is a masterclass in the study of how terrible people are at understanding randomness.

25:00

80% does not equal a guaranteed hit. You have a 20% chance to miss. It may not be "fun", but that's how probability works.

Never end a turn out of cover!!!

Definitely do not watch this if you care about the story and story missions in this game. Even some of the enemies that are shown off I would consider spoilers.

Him starting the video by saying how much of a difficult game this was confused me. I don't think the game is easy, but I was getting the idea that most people considered it a step down from EW in that front. From what I've played (just got the power armor on classic ironman), that's how I feel at least.

And then his first move of the game was a blind dash and it all made sense

@zaldar: I normally find it to be an incredibly insufferable quality in people when they constantly feel the need to bring up their girlfriend/boyfriend, but Dan's girlfriend seems rad so I don't mind it as much. I kinda wish she'd come on an episode of UPF or something, hearing her in the background of Dan's streams help make those enjoyable for me. The two of them have a real good dynamic.

@brad

There are mods that allow you to add character pools (Steam workshop / Nexus). The problem is if you remove a mod from your save game, it will break your save. Steam's syncing feature exposes this, as someone could remove a mod for any reason and break tons of save games.

Not sure how valid my input is on this as I have a 980 ti, but I didn't really have any performance issues. I also didn't experience any of the weird camera bugs Dan had (basically at end game).

Steam controller works fine.

Dan "No Cover" Ryckert. Woof.

I can't tell if you are joking or not. He did fine for a quicklook, jesus.

I'm pretty sure they were referring to console controller since Steam controllers are not very common.

Strategy layer has waaaay less going on than the tactical game.

The first one was buggy because, if you go back to the interviews and presentations they did when EU was coming out (particularly the PAX one), it's clear that the process of making it was rapid prototypes all the way up to just months before the game shipped. It produced a great game but there's technical debt in how they're using the unreal engine to make a turn-based game on a grid. Line of sight bugs and every xcom vet's favorite, the ladder that prevents flanking by pushing an alien an inch out from the wall, all come from discrepancies between UE 3d stuff and the tactical grid. From EU to 2 they improved a lot of that stuff.

There are new bugs, at least one of which is really bad, so hopefully those will get ironed out quickly.

As for the pure graphical performance problems, I'd just say that optimizing a game for FPS performance isn't Firaxis's forte and hopefully they'll improve it. There are a couple things you can do (like disable AA) that help a lot. Ironically the people with lower-spec machines playing on medium settings are generally having fewer performance problems.

I should set up a time-stamp database every time @danryckert mentions his girlfriend or game informer.

:28 seconds

8:17

would love to do a drinking game where he says "it's great" describing something. I'd have a good buzz going just after this 33 min QL

I seem to have gotten off light in terms of experiencing technical issues because from some performance issues, the occasional stutter and some weird visual bugs it seems to run between 30-60 fps on a 2500k and R9 280x at 1080p with most of the stuff on high/max with some settings on low like shadow quality. Still, Dan's review nailed it. I want to start an ironman game eventually, but I'd rather not risk losing a game to rolling a bad procedurally-generated map or game-breaking bugs and I'd rather not go through the hassle of making copies of the save folder.

Man, seeing Dan dash everywhere and occasionally totally ignore cover is driving me batty!

@tennmuerti: Thanks for the reply. :)

I only care about the RNG in games if it's rubberbanded for or against me.

I really want to play this game, but not so much that I can't wait for a patch.

When that Civ:Rev was released I remember the developers talking about how they rigged the combat percentages (e.g. when it showed 90% you actually had 100% chance of winning) because their research showed that people always feel cheated if the chances actually play out mathematically.

I'm not into the goofy X-Files alien conspiracy stuff, but the tactical layer looks like it would be a decent obsessive timesink on legendary ironman.

I have now added Dan "Dirty" Rykert to my character pool as a soldier and VIP. When he shows up I will be sure to give him 100% of the courage and can-do American spirit that his namesake displays in this video.

When EU came out it felt like the whole crew were playing a bunch, but Vinny kept talking about it for weeks afterward. IIRC it was just after Max was born and xcom was his favorite game to play while holding a baby.

how the fuck is Dan's avatar project so low in late game?

This game is so good, just needs some technical fixes ;(

Not surprising to hear Brad never finishied 2012 XCOM. Finish more games, Brad!

Would love to see Dan play the original X-COM 2 (Terror From the Deep).

I give Dan's play 3/5 stars.

I feel like the game has the same difficulty curve the Enemy Unknown had ... its moderately hard in the beginning, gets harder mid game (as stronger enemys show up and you struggle to keep up with research) and gets really easy in late game when you developed everything.

Dan playing XCOM is the tactical equivalent of cooking egg shells while thinking they are egg whites.

Amazing.

Edit: Breaking Brad Classic/Commander Ironman please!

Dan doesn't mention his girlfriend an abnormal amount. The other members of the site, particularly Brad and Jeff, are just incredibly private. Brad could have five children and I'd be none the wiser.

I agree! I have no idea where this weird hate for Dan mentioning his girlfriend has come from. Who cares!! Let the man mention whomever he wants. The only time I notice it, is when someone randomly complains about it in the comments. Its weird that this is the thing people are fixating on. I find it an insane thing to get hung up on.

On a more relavent note. XCOM 2 looks dope.

Really? I though EW made the reboot super easy. Gene mods and MEC troopers damn near break the game with how strong they are. In this sequel, I feel like any soldier I take onto a mission is in real danger of dying, though I'm sure they'll eventually become overpowered and unstoppable as I get closer to late game.

This was a QUICK look.. which obviously forces Dan to make hasty decisions. Some of you Dan haters are absurd to say the least.

Dan, never send your last guy's turn dashing into the unknown. You give the enemy a free turn that way.

Seeing this immediately explains why Dan thinks the game is so hard. I suppose mechanically intense games were never these guys' specialty. But it reinforces you should probably take the opinions with a grain of salt.

For me, it is easily the best game that came out in the past year. For what it's worth, I also had no technical issues apart from some frame rate issues in cutscenes. Make of it what you will, but I get the sense I almost played an entirely different game than these guys.

Man, a Halo Xcom would be freaking amazing #buildthelist!