# Xcom 2: Back in the habit



## tommers (Jun 7, 2015)

Firaxis have announced that this is going to be released in November. 

The aliens have taken over and Xcom are now a guerrilla organisation, fighting back to chuck out the invaders. 

Trailer is here:



They're promising procedurally generated maps,  new soldier classes, more aliens.   From that trailer - there are melee weapons!  And snakemen! And is that man using a heavy cannon?!? 

I'm very excited.


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## Bob_the_lost (Jun 7, 2015)

Mmmmm. Want.


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## Fez909 (Jun 7, 2015)

Looks good, but surprised at Linux/Mac support, but no consoles.

Was the first a console flop??


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## tommers (Jun 8, 2015)

Fez909 said:


> Looks good, but surprised at Linux/Mac support, but no consoles.
> 
> Was the first a console flop??



Yes, I think it must have been.  It IS much more a PC game then a console one, let's face it.


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## Fez909 (Jun 8, 2015)

tommers said:


> Yes, I think it must have been.  It IS much more a PC game then a console one, let's face it.


It's definitely a trad PC type game, but there's nothing in the gameplay that would be ruined by sitting on a sofa with a joypad, IMO. I think it might even be _better _(thought I only played the PC version).

Also, Linux! Is this a Steambox effect or what? I can't remember many large releases targetting Linux recently (or ever).


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## tommers (Jun 8, 2015)

Fez909 said:


> It's definitely a trad PC type game, but there's nothing in the gameplay that would be ruined by sitting on a sofa with a joypad, IMO. I think it might even be _better _(thought I only played the PC version).
> 
> Also, Linux! Is this a Steambox effect or what? I can't remember many large releases targetting Linux recently (or ever).



Linux is so hot right now.  Geeks innit.  Hipsters.  They love a bit of Linux.


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## yield (Sep 3, 2015)

Spoiler: gameplay review







Delayed till February 2016 unfortunately. Wish I had a PC that could play this.


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## tommers (Sep 3, 2015)

yield said:


> Spoiler: gameplay review
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Boo.


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## tommers (Sep 3, 2015)

Imagine if it has auto cannons in it?  With incendiary ammo!  Just imagine that!

That video is weird btw. Who's the nodding woman in the vest?


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## tommers (Sep 3, 2015)

That does look amazing though.  Got to be said.


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## 8den (Sep 3, 2015)

I've had X-com enemy unknown sitting on my shelf for a year now. I've not played it I fear I'll be sucked in.


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## tommers (Sep 3, 2015)

8den said:


> I've had X-com enemy unknown sitting on my shelf for a year now. I've not played it I fear I'll be sucked in.



Do it! It's really good!

Your soldiers have silly nicknames and they go "booyah" when they kill something. Play it on Ironman though so that when your soldiers, who you have spent hours crafting and building up, get a plasma bolt in the face you're not tempted to cheat and reload.

The first time I played it I think I was expecting something more like the older games, but if you judge it on its own merits it's actually really good in its own right.

Can't wait for this one.


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## yield (Sep 4, 2015)

tommers said:


> Imagine if it has auto cannons in it?  With incendiary ammo!  Just imagine that!
> 
> That video is weird btw. Who's the nodding woman in the vest?





tommers said:


> That does look amazing though.  Got to be said.


Doesn't it just! Haven't looked forward to a game some much in ages. No idea who the nodding woman is. 


8den said:


> I've had X-com enemy unknown sitting on my shelf for a year now. I've not played it I fear I'll be sucked in.


As tommers said it's great. My game of the year 2013 or was it 2012? And yes play on Ironman.


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## 8den (Sep 4, 2015)

tommers said:


> Do it! It's really good!
> 
> Your soldiers have silly nicknames and they go "booyah" when they kill something. Play it on Ironman though so that when your soldiers, who you have spent hours crafting and building up, get a plasma bolt in the face you're not tempted to cheat and reload.
> 
> ...



I know this. Laser Squad is pretty much one of my all time favourite games. 

I've not played Xcom because I fear if I start playing it it'll be only a matter of time before a intervention needs to be staged and I'm in the priory dealing with my crippling addiction.


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## tommers (Jan 15, 2016)

Going deeper into XCOM 2: resistance isn't futile

More details here.

Out on Feb 5th.

That person has an autocannon.


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## tommers (Feb 3, 2016)

Preloading.   I cracked and went for the deluxe thing, got 25% off at green man so kind of pays for itself or something.

Reviews are in:

Eurogamer - "Essential"

RPS -"Enduring extended loadtimes and the occasional wonky camera angle is a small price to pay for a game so accomplished. XCOM 2 is an improvement on its predecessor in every way and the vast majority of those improvements have been applied so intelligently that they risk making Enemy Unknown obsolete. That game was a smart remake of a classic. XCOM 2 is a classic in its own right and as good a sequel as I can remember."

Haven't been this excited about a game for a looooong time.


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## moon (Feb 4, 2016)

I've been watching Christopher Odd play this on YouTube...


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## tommers (Feb 4, 2016)

What does pre-loading do?  Cos I did it and now it's saying it's going to be another hour before I can play the bloody thing.


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

Welcome back...commander. 

Bed time though


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

This game is awesome.

Whole squad was wiped out in the first mission.


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## stdP (Feb 5, 2016)

I vowed not to buy/start XCOM 2 until I'd beaten the Long War mod on iron man. I am worried I will not be able to play this game for a decade :|


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

stdP said:


> I vowed not to buy/start XCOM 2 until I'd beaten the Long War mod on iron man. I am worried I will not be able to play this game for a decade :|


Life's too short mate. Might as well get it now.


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## moon (Feb 5, 2016)

Am watching the full version now with cut scenes etc
It looks really good!


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

I've only played maybe four or five missions and there is a slight whiff of terror from the deep (in that some bits have just been renamed but are exactly the same) but yeah, it is really good.  New Sectoids are a genuine threat rather than a slighty weedy opener.  There are time limits on pretty much every mission.  Organising ambushes is integral to succcess.  I love the rebel thing.

Early days but yeah, it's decent.


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

So, for example, the first time I tried this mission I ran too far when I was concealed and I triggered the enemies.

Everybody was in the open with no actions.

The enemy was a sectoid and an ADVENT footsoldier.  Within 2 turns 1 of my soldiers was mind controlled.  I tried to flank them and triggered another pair of enemies - Sectoid and footsoldiers.

Shortly after that I had 2 mind controlled soldiers and everybody died.

Restarted the mission, set up an ambush, killed everybody on the map without taking a hit.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 5, 2016)

Bloody hell those Sectoids are a bit tougher now, eh?


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## tommers (Feb 5, 2016)

Opera Buffa said:


> Bloody hell those Sectoids are a bit tougher now, eh?


Yeah,  they're bastards.  Mind control,  straight from the start. 

Almost just had another total party wipe.  One lone rookie made it out of the burning building,  frantically legging it across a field with the package I was retrieving and just about made it up the rope and back to base.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 5, 2016)

Opera Buffa said:


> Bloody hell those Sectoids are a bit tougher now, eh?



It is like fleeing from a fucking war god.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 6, 2016)




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## tommers (Feb 6, 2016)

It's hard.  I've played a lot of X-Com in my life but with this I am constantly teetering on the edge of disaster.

Almost decided to restart the whole campaign just then and the next mission I managed to get everybody extracted on the last turn in a mad dash to the Skyranger.  All my experienced soldiers are fucked and I'm paying the price for only having rookies to use I guess.  You live and learn.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 6, 2016)

tommers said:


> Within 2 turns 1 of my soldiers was mind controlled.






Spoiler: very slight spoiler, possibly



Mind control seems to be re-rolled per turn; your surviving soldiers are _fast_, so leg it back into the trees with your flea-bitten survivors and the poor lost soul will shrug it off in two or three turns*

*I have summarily executed a few of them.

Use the map's depth to run away, get behind decent cover and ambush. If there's no timer, you don't have to go in gung-ho. Your (temporarily) mind-controlled rookie will shake it off him/her.


So, yeah, get back and run!


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 6, 2016)

<drunken exuberance>


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 6, 2016)

On the down-side:

The music seems so-so, not as good as X-COM, it doesn't get your adrenaline pumping, and the scriptwriting and voice acting for the tutorial missions is cliched and a bit poor. Not a grand intro really, a bit disappointing.

Getting into the game proper though, the tactical combat seems to be really good.

I'm not into a free, strategic game yet, the tutorial handcuffs are binding me too much. The reviews say that the strategic game is really good, hopefully this will prove to be the case.


But yeah, it's pretty good


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2016)

I've noticed a few bugs to be honest.  Men with women's faces and vice versa.  I had to reconnect to a region I'd already connected with (although that might just be cos I'd lost a couple of missions).


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2016)

Oh and the vipers drag thing is broken.  Dragged one of my soldiers through a wall and they ended up miles away from the viper but not bound. And when I moved the limits were showing as if I was back inside the building.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 6, 2016)

I'm going to say, if you haven't bought the game yet, don't.

I was a bit surprised that it was 'only' £34.99 on release, I think the answer is: the game isn't really finished yet 


There is very little of the fluid, punchy immediacy of XCOM-1, certainly if you have a mid-range PC. It's laggy and not that engaging. 

Give it six months and see if they can patch it to be a bit better.


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## moon (Feb 6, 2016)

That is terrible to hear...


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2016)

I'm not sure I can agree with that.  There are some long loading times but I've had some of the best fights in a long time.  I like the timers,  they seem to be well judged and I seem to be scraping by quite a lot. 

I'm finding it all quite exciting to be honest.


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## tommers (Feb 6, 2016)

I've just developed incendiary ammo. 

Finally.  Autocannon with incendiary ammo.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 7, 2016)

I've had a good run at it today, and I have enjoyed it, so I take back what I said about it not drawing you in.

I like the loot pickups and think the new skills for your soldiers are well thought out, I'll see a perk and think: 'I really want that!'

The way troop panic works now is much better than in XCOM.


It is bloody hard though!


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## tommers (Feb 7, 2016)

Yeah,  I've had to restart. It's hard to know what to choose. You need comms ASAP.  But you also need proving ground which means you then need power, which means you're stuck with 4 squad members for ages and ugh.


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## yield (Feb 7, 2016)

Jealous that I can't play this. Hope it gets ported to console. Can't justify upgrading my pc.


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## tommers (Feb 7, 2016)

yield said:


> Jealous that I can't play this. Hope it gets ported to console. Can't justify upgrading my pc.



I would say that if you can play Divinity Original Sin, then you can play this.

Why not download an evaluation copy and check first?


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 7, 2016)

I think the thing that threw me is I had so much information coming at me at the beginning of the game - 'ambush here!.. no, make contact here!.. no, interdict here!' that I got a bit overwhelmed by it. It did seem that no sooner had the skyranger taken off to start one mission they would get a call to go to another, more urgent one. The start of my campaign was frenetic, to say the least.

I've had a really good time playing it this evening, no major bugs or anything.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 7, 2016)

I'm guessing the 'Avatar Project' is analogous to global panic in X-COM, where you'd lose a country if the panic rating got too high, and if you lost too many countries, game over.

Every time the aliens build a black site, that advances the Avatar project by one point, maybe other things bring it forward, and you can bring it down by performing certain actions, the two I've done are seizing the black site in New Mexico and killing a Codex(?) I think it was called, teleporting golden alien thingy.


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## tommers (Feb 8, 2016)

Yeah, they can have dark events that advance it as well. It's pretty much the same thing. You need comms as soon as possible so you can attack the sites that are in your territory if you see what I mean.

I neglected that first time cos I was too busy doing everything else. I think maybe you have to accept you can't have everything.

The advanced combat school or whatever it's called gives your soldiers a chance of getting skills from other classes. I like that, it's pretty cool.


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## yield (Feb 13, 2016)

tommers said:


> I would say that if you can play Divinity Original Sin, then you can play this.
> 
> Why not download an evaluation copy and check first?


I'm playing Divinity Original Sin on ps4. My pc is really old. No chance unfortunately. Just got to hope they port it.


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## tommers (Feb 14, 2016)

I've been playing it whenever I get the chance and although some bits are just the last game in a slightly different skin (e.g. Standard to magnetic to plasma rifle) it differs enough to keep it interesting. 

There are also lots of new ideas which I think work in general.  I like the concealment thing,  I love the melee weapons and the timed missions make it much more exciting sometimes than just edging forwards with overwatch on. 

I think the best bit about it though is that you have a real choice of approaches.  That's getting back to the original series.  The last game was too scripted,  you need to do this to win. In this one do you pick guerrilla school (which gives you increased squad size plus other bits and pieces) or advanced training (lowers heal times and gives bonus skills).  Do you develop psionics straight off or improve your weapons?  Do you develop experimental weapons? If so,  which type?   It feels like there are loads more options,  which makes everything much more interesting. 

I'm struggling to think of downsides.  The line of sight is pretty messed up sometimes, shooting through walls and stuff.


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## tommers (Feb 14, 2016)




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## tommers (Feb 16, 2016)

Just finished it.  The last mission took about two hours  

I'm glad it's over. It was just starting to get to be a grind.  It is good though.


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## ruffneck23 (Feb 22, 2016)

Started playing this today to evaluate it and I'm loving it bugs and all , will buy it when it has been patched up a little


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## tommers (Feb 24, 2016)

Julian Gollop just tweeted that this is the greatest strategy game ever made.

High praise.


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## ruffneck23 (Feb 27, 2016)

I've been playing this literally non stop for days , only on rookie admittedly just to learn the ropes , it was quite tricky at first and after few lost or abandoned campaigns , all my crew are the top of the top . Although I'm just waiting for my first psi op to train up.

I'm actually looking forward to trying it on a harder level.

I can honestly say it's one of the best games I've ever played and the fact each play through is different I think I'm going be playing this for a long long time.


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 28, 2016)

I have just realised you can upgrade rooms on the Avenger


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## Opera Buffa (Feb 28, 2016)

tommers said:


> The advanced combat school or whatever it's called gives your soldiers a chance of getting skills from other classes. I like that, it's pretty cool.



Just got a sniper with blast-padding, fuck yes 


I do like the way elerium cores work when researched: a one-off special loot drop - poison ammo or acid bombs or flamethrowers or powered armour or whatever. I'm genuinely hanging onto the edge of my seat, thinking: What will I get? What will I get?


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## ruffneck23 (Feb 29, 2016)

Just completed for the first time , loved it, I only trained one psi-op but turned him into a magi, really powerful gonna train more next time.

I really didnt think i was going to win , i only had 7 intel and needed to make contact so i could destroy a facility, then the timer started going,about 11 days before doom i suddenly got a mission for intel and was back in the game. Excellent game indeed


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## tommers (Feb 29, 2016)

Yeah,  I like being constantly on the edge of disaster - whether in the missions or the campaign.  

I'm probably a pretty average XCom player and I felt like I kept snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. 

Very well judged.


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## tommers (Jul 10, 2016)

Restarted this yesterday with all the DLC.

Gave up today.  The Viper King is a motherfucker.  He killed 3 when I met him and things snowballed from there.  You do get the silliest armour ever if you kill him though.


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## tommers (Jan 30, 2017)

If you have this game then you should get hold of the Long War mod.  Just download it from the Steam Workshop.

Completely changes the game - gives you so many more options.  More classes, more perks, more weapons, more enemies.  Cannot stop playing it again.


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## ruffneck23 (Jan 30, 2017)

will have to check it out


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## tommers (Feb 1, 2017)

There's an article here about what has changed:

Battling XCOM 2: Long War 2's Biggest Changes - IGN

The main thing is that it is now even more difficult.


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## tommers (Apr 25, 2017)

Julian Gollop has just started crowdfunding his new game Phoenix Point on Fig. Looks good. X-Com "spiritual successor"


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Apr 26, 2017)

Anyone managed an Iron Man playthrough? I got too annoyed and gave up. 

One mistake - I forgot the mutons could parry a sword attack - and the whole team destroyed.


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## 8den (Apr 26, 2017)

Just got a notice from Apple that the latest update of IOS will render my X-Com (old school) game unusual. 

It really is the perfect Ipad game, best finish it and move to the update before Tim Cook destroys X-com


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## tommers (Apr 26, 2017)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> Anyone managed an Iron Man playthrough? I got too annoyed and gave up.
> 
> One mistake - I forgot the mutons could parry a sword attack - and the whole team destroyed.



I've played it a couple of times but never finished.  Had one mission where everybody died except one soldier.  When she died about 15 missions later I was too sad to carry on.


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## InfoBurner (Jul 3, 2017)

War of the chosen, a nicely huge dlc is being launched on 29th of August. Yummy.



Despite the hero enemies, 3 new classes, the hoard mechanics of 'The Lost' New enviroments and story. It's the little things I'm most looking forward to...

...After a mission you can pose your squad for a selfie that will be used for Resistance propaganda posters throughout the arenas. Your soldiers get fatigued if you use them too often. They can also form bonds with team mates that they're on mission with, that provide special buffs.

It's inspired me to download a few steam workshop cosmetic mods. The voice of Bob Ross (With accompanying beard and afro) is especially amusing.


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## InfoBurner (Jul 4, 2017)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> Anyone managed an Iron Man playthrough? I got too annoyed and gave up.
> 
> One mistake - I forgot the mutons could parry a sword attack - and the whole team destroyed.



That was a shock when a muton parried. Restart level, sigh.

I did a couple of classic iron man playthroughs on Enemy Within but Xcom 2 is an entirely different beast. 
If one of those mid-game shield bearers gets it's force field to cover a squad of enemies, then fan and shit meet and my squad gets chewed, I tend to self regulate; If I lose most of 'em heroically then I'll take the hit and soldier on and visit the bar's memorial wall later to add epitaphs.


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## tommers (Aug 4, 2017)

Just finished an Ironman playthrough on veteran.

It was good, the last mission was genuinely a bit touch and go.  My best ranger died and a couple of others were on 1 health, surrounded by about 15 enemies.  Relied on my psionic inspiring another guy who could then take a shot with 68% chance to kill the last boss and finish the game. If he'd missed then we would have lost at least another 3 team members and probably the whole playthrough.

This is such a great game, can't wait for the expansion.


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## ruffneck23 (Aug 20, 2017)

Got this on PS4 the other day , back to it I reckon , loved it when I played it on pc


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## tommers (Aug 24, 2017)

Wot I Think – XCOM 2: War Of The Chosen


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## tommers (Aug 30, 2017)

So I've been playing it all day.  It's good.  It changes stuff up, you get different missions and different factions and more enemies and stuff.  It seems a bit more difficult to me, although that might be just that I dont know some of the missions so well.  I want to kill the chosen just so they stop popping up in my missions and fucking everything up.

The photo thing is stupid.

But the Lost are brilliant.  Proper swarming bastards.


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## tommers (Aug 30, 2017)

There are lots of ideas in here from other games. 

The Chosen are kind of Shadow of Mordor warbosses. They pick up weaknesses and strengths if you don't kill them straight away (which you can't). 

Your soldiers can pick up mental illnesses as per Darkest Dungeon. 

And you get advantages for certain research objectives a la Civilisation VI (that's the only bit that doesn't really work for me).


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## tommers (Sep 8, 2017)

I think this might be the best strategy game I've played since the first X-Com.  It makes you constantly feel like you're going to lose,and occasionally you do,but most of the time you win.  The balance is really, really well done.


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## InfoBurner (Jan 8, 2018)

Just caught 'War of the Chosen' on the Steam winter sale. I've waited ages. Sheer awesomeness. 

Your right Tommers, the balance is incredible. Playing on veteran (no ironman, yet) and my mid-level troops are dropping like flies, with that tiredness mechanic and all those covert/bonding timeouts, I'm having serious trouble fielding a squad I'm confident in. 

The pure joy when a squad of Fucking New Guys pulls off an excellent or flawless mission, though!


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## tommers (Jan 8, 2018)

InfoBurner said:


> Just caught 'War of the Chosen' on the Steam winter sale. I've waited ages. Sheer awesomeness.
> 
> Your right Tommers, the balance is incredible. Playing on veteran (no ironman, yet) and my mid-level troops are dropping like flies, with that tiredness mechanic and all those covert/bonding timeouts, I'm having serious trouble fielding a squad I'm confident in.
> 
> The pure joy when a squad of Fucking New Guys pulls off an excellent or flawless mission, though!



I'm so jealous. Absolutely fucking loved it, one of the games of 2017 for me.  That feeling when you're in the middle of a bunch of lost and then one of the chosen turns up. Fuck.


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## Dandred (Jan 11, 2018)

How do I tell which missions are from the DLC? Just spent two hours and got all my squad wiped out bar two, got a new robot, but I don't want to go through that again....


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## tommers (Jan 11, 2018)

Dandred said:


> How do I tell which missions are from the DLC? Just spent two hours and got all my squad wiped out bar two, got a new robot, but I don't want to go through that again....


It basically changes the whole game. All of the new classes, new mission types, the lost, new maps - it doesn't really just add new missions.

If you don't play iron man you can save every turn and then replay it if people are getting killed (or however frequently you want).


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## Dandred (Jan 13, 2018)

I downloaded this from torrentday, and I have two different games, started the war of the chosen one yesterday and it's much better than the vanilla one, but in the vanilla there is the Shen's last gift mission, I didn't realize it was an extra DLC.... Without playing this before how could I have know how fucking hard is was going to be?


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## tommers (Jan 13, 2018)

Dandred said:


> I downloaded this from torrentday, and I have two different games, started the war of the chosen one yesterday and it's much better than the vanilla one, but in the vanilla there is the Shen's last gift mission, I didn't realize it was an extra DLC.... Without playing this before how could I have know how fucking hard is was going to be?


Ah right. I get you. Yeah those two DLC missions from the original game are quite hard. You can allow or remove them from WoTC. I would still have them as they give you Sparks and the cool alien ruler stuff (Shadowkeeper, ruler armour etc etc.).

Alien rulers are bastards though. They have a move after every single move your squad takes. Stun them if you can or incapacitate them in some way.


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## Dandred (Jan 21, 2018)

I find I'm doing well and then another mission will pop up and I get slaughtered, quite a steep learning curve. I've watched youtube videos of people on legendary and they just manage to kill everything, I'm on normal and in the same situations get destroyed.


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## tommers (Oct 11, 2018)

There's a free DLC (for people who own WoTC) just been released.  It's cool.  A series of new mini-campaigns.  I'm just currently playing through the ones that show what happened to Central after the fall of XCom from the first game.

There's also one that looks suspiciously like the mission from the first game with the fishing village and the Chrysallids 

I think it starts being chargeable after a while (£7.99).  You need to have WoTC to play it but you should have that if you have the base game anyway, right?


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Oct 11, 2018)

tommers said:


> There's a free DLC (for people who own WoTC) just been released.  It's cool.  A series of new mini-campaigns.  I'm just currently playing through the ones that show what happened to Central after the fall of XCom from the first game.
> 
> There's also one that looks suspiciously like the mission from the first game with the fishing village and the Chrysallids
> 
> I think it starts being chargeable after a while (£7.99).  You need to have WoTC to play it but you should have that if you have the base game anyway, right?



I finally got WotC a few weeks ago and (controversially) I'm not quite convinced yet. eek

It just seems a bit 'busy' - there are too many things going on now and areas to manage etc. The original version was better balanced IMO. Maybe I just need to give it a bit more time though.


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## tommers (Oct 11, 2018)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> I finally got WotC a few weeks ago and (controversially) I'm not quite convinced yet. eek
> 
> It just seems a bit 'busy' - there are too many things going on now and areas to manage etc. The original version was better balanced IMO. Maybe I just need to give it a bit more time though.




Yeah, there is a lot going on in it.  And I'm sure the second base game had more than the first as well.

I haven't played it for a year or so, I think I'll give it another go once I finish these little missions.  (They aren't busy at all, they're very simplified)


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## tommers (Dec 3, 2019)

Phoenix Point is out tonight.

I have booked a day off work.


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## InfoBurner (Dec 3, 2019)

Will buy it if you like it, I know you're an aficionado of these games.


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## tommers (Dec 3, 2019)

InfoBurner said:


> Will buy it if you like it, I know you're an aficionado of these games.



To be entirely honest, it would have to suck considerable balls for me not to like it.

Let's see.  One guy I saw said it had "balance issues".   

I've watched a couple of videos.  I love the whole "circle" thing to aim.  Such an elegant way to do it.

Obligatory, "it's on Xbox game pass, you don't need to buy it" thing.


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## tommers (Dec 4, 2019)

I'm not sure if I like it. I haven't really spent the day playing it cos I got roped into IKEA, walking the dog and putting up the Xmas tree but I played a little bit.

To start with I think I haven't been doing it right.  Research doesn't seem to give you new weapons but more resources. I never seemed to run out of those. And all the different weapons (there are like 4 versions of assault rifles) all seem pretty similar. In fact the one you get at the start is better than the others.

Two of the three other factions have assault soldiers as their recruits - which is what you get at the start anyway. And the other is a melee fella but he's utterly useless. Snipers are by far your best soldiers but you only get one from what I can see and I can't find a way of recruiting more.

I'm obviously missing something cos I got to the stage where I had to shoot each enemy about five times to kill it and some were getting past ten. So I must need better weapons but god knows where they come from.

Combat itself is fine but some of the levels can be really convoluted, to the point where you can't see how to get somewhere. They're just really busy.

I'm going to play some more and see if I can get the hang of it but it suffers by comparison with XCom 2.


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## InfoBurner (Dec 4, 2019)

Xcom's mind puggling till you learn the research trees. Hang in there bud, I'm sure it'll come together


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## ruffneck23 (Dec 4, 2019)

InfoBurner said:


> Xcom's mind puggling till you learn the research trees. Hang in there bud, I'm sure it'll come together


add dark souls to the learning mix,I trust you mat,e in your research , you have certainly made my gaming life richer over the years  , plus you helped out on xcom 2


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## InfoBurner (Dec 7, 2019)

Any updates, Tommers, Worth a buy?


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## tommers (Dec 7, 2019)

InfoBurner said:


> Any updates, Tommers, Worth a buy?


To be honest I played a bit of Paranoia yesterday (which was pretty good by the way) and only played this for an hour this morning. I liked it a bit better - combining classes is good. Shotguns help with the tougher enemies. I'm going to give it a proper go over the next few days. It's definitely a cross between old and new XCom. I like loads of bits of it, just worried about some of the design and progression bits


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## Dandred (Dec 8, 2019)

Quite a steep learning curve on this Phoenix Point.


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## tommers (Dec 8, 2019)

I'm getting quite into it now.  I think my mistake was thinking it was like the new XComs, whereas it's actually a lot more like the old ones.

The difficulty can be a bit all over the place - one minute you're fighting crab men and then the next mission has two big bug things that kill one of your guys in the first turn (but it does tell you the danger level before you start the mission).  I think my problem was thinking I could do anything straight away.  It's also a bit more "granular" than the recent ones, you have to manufacture ammo and it keeps track of what you've used.  But some of the stuff is quite cool.  One of the classes is an "infiltrator" who has stealth armour and uses a crossbow or a pistol that shoots out spider drones that automatically go and blow themselves up next to enemies.  And the vehicles are quite good.  It looks like there's a load of stuff to get hold of and play with outside of the usual "better rifles" or whatever.  You don't really research anything yourself.  You get hold of a faction's stuff once you do enough things for them.

It is a bit buggy in places but nothing game breaking and I imagine those will be sorted out over the next few months.


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## Dandred (Feb 27, 2020)

Corruption 2029 is prety much like X-com, but with the added bonus you can sneak around the map taking people out stealthily or place explosives, hunt for grenades and sentry turret access codes. Once combat starts it is the sames as X-com. 

Loads of fun.


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## tommers (Apr 14, 2020)

Um... NEW XCOM GAME EVERYBODY! 

and it's out in ten days.😮



The reveal trailer doesnt really show much but there is a link to a gameplay video in the tweet replies.


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## yield (Apr 14, 2020)

Awesome. Take my money!


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## ruffneck23 (Apr 14, 2020)

ooh , they kept that quiet, thanks for the heads up  , gets excite   

Out on what could be my last payday , which is handy


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## ruffneck23 (Apr 16, 2020)

£7.79 on cd keys at the sec


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## tommers (Apr 24, 2020)

Too soon XCom.


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## tommers (Apr 28, 2020)

It's good.  It's like really, really quick Xcom encounters with the whole research thing taken down to its essence.  They don't even bother with "this tier is called laser weapons", you research "improved shotguns" which adds 1 to the damage.  That's what it did anyway.  Everything is turn based, so you know how long your research will take and how many missions you need to do first, no more interruptions.

The battles are on really small battlefields and the turn order is shared between you and the enemies so you are always going to get hit but the trick is to manage the damage and try to break up their turns by knocking them over before they can focus on you.

The breach bit is really good, it's a nice twist on normal XCom - everything in general is much more immediate.  It's like XCom 2 but without any of the padding.  I wouldn't say it is the better game, but it's a great distraction and some of the soldiers you get are really cool.

I'm going to say it's XCom crossed with Into the Breach, but I think I'm probably talking bollocks.

Incidentally there is a game from Tom Francis called Tactical Breach Wizards on the way (he did Heat Signature which is great) and this makes me want to play that.


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## tommers (May 2, 2020)

Finished this. It was good, lasted about the right length of time. Some good ideas but it was just a bit too easy and repetitive. 

Now I've started Gears: Tactics which is really surprising me. I didn't think i would enjoy a game set in a world where everybody looks like they go to the gym for eight hours a day, have steroids for breakfast and are called things like Max Danger but here we are.


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## tommers (May 2, 2020)

Jesus christ, this is great.

I love XCom but this is making me question my allegiances.  Absolutely blowing me away.  You just have to ignore the grizzled vet with his eyepatch and the fact that everybody is really thickset and the guy with the picture of his wife and kid back home.

(you can get it for £1 by subscribing to XBox Game Pass (which can also be used on PC)).


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## Dandred (May 5, 2020)

The Chainsaw kill is just amazing


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## The39thStep (May 5, 2020)

I'm struggling to like Chimera Squad tbh. Dont like the cartoony characters and the conversations , miss the exploration and tenseness of the wider spaces in Xcom and the resource management aspect. I'll keep coming back to it but disappointed with it. Would have preferred a DLC with different maps , new aliens and a short plot.


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## tommers (May 15, 2020)

Just finished Gears: Tactics.

There is the germ of a great game in there.  The idea of getting more action points by executing enemies, or from abilities, is a great one and it feels really quick and flexible.  You can get yourself out of tricky situations and feel like a genius.  But... there aren't enough different types of mission and it makes you do 3 random ones in between every story mission, so everything feels really dragged out and you're getting through drudgery to get to the good bits.  Doing the same missions over and over again is really tiring and boring.  I had some moments when i thought it was really great and some when I was struggling to get through it.  The end boss took me well over an hour to beat which was just tedious.  Plus the loot is things like gun stocks that add 5% critical chance and the next level is 7% or whatever, so you are constantly sorting through near identical bits of kit to get small gains.  And your guys don't even level up very often.  When I finished they were probably about 2/3 of the way to being complete, and now the game is telling me to do more random missions to get "better loot" but it's the same loot, I can see it, and I cannot be fucking bothered.

So yeah, maybe the next one will be amazing.  I thought this might be an XCom 2 beater, but it isn't at the moment.


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## tommers (Oct 20, 2020)

Been playing Troubleshooter and it's really good.  Korean Anime XCom.  The translations are a bit funny in places, one of the main sets of villains are some sort of weird spoon cult which I imagine makes more sense in Korean, but there are so many different things going on.  You have masteries which you learn by doing things in the tactical bit and they give you bonuses, then you have equipment which gives you a whole load of different bonuses, you get bonuses for researching enemies, for taking over districts - you can basically build whatever character you want.  Plus you can build & research items I think (haven't got to that bit yet).  Really reminds me of Disgaea, where you could spend a 100 hours exploring your own sword if you wanted to.  I get the feeling they are just going to add more and more stuff to it as I go through.

I might need to bump the difficulty up a bit as it is not massively challenging, but maybe that will change.

Some of the missions are pretty epic, some really good set pieces.  It's pretty cheap too, worth a look if you're missing your XCom fix.


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## ruffneck23 (Aug 26, 2021)

not Xcom I know, but it's the new game by the xcom people, looks interesting although it does say it's not got the xcom mechanics









						Marvel’s Midnight Suns is the next game from the XCOM team
					

Turn-based RPG shares ‘zero’ mechanics with XCOM and won’t include permadeath




					www.polygon.com


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