ysbreker

XCOM 2

Recommended Posts

Also perhaps this is just my experience or perhaps the "real" journos are just better at hiding their skeletons, but it seems like there is a higher proportion of well-known YouTubers who are problematic than there are of traditional games reporters. At this stage I feel like every time I hear about a YouTuber it's due to a discovery about them being troublingly bigoted or at least wildly ignorant.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If one also want so see a bit more from XCOM 2 from another source (they, I guess, since I am not following close, give preview copies to a lot of people, some which even not be close to popular youtubers and I don´t mean this in dismissive way, but to point that smaller channels might got it too) - quill18 (which have a channel mostly on strategy games) have his own playlist of videos

but at that point I kind see everything I need from the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm really looking forward to XCOM 2. Perhaps more than I should. On paper at least, the differences to previous XCOM, namely forcing players to move faster by having more timer-based missions and introducing more hard decisions on mission select / base building, sounds like the opposite of what I want out of my XCOM experience. I hope that the tweaks to the system work, though, and that I will be able to enjoy the game, because god damn I want to play more XCOM.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Also perhaps this is just my experience or perhaps the "real" journos are just better at hiding their skeletons...

 

Haha, it takes me a moment to remember that "skeleton" is still used in ways that predate the popular text replacement mod.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Haha, it takes me a moment to remember that "skeleton" is still used in ways that predate the popular text replacement mod.

Oh, jeez, yeah. I couldn't figure out what that sentence was supposed to mean. I saw "skeleton" and "games reporters" in the same sentence and my brain wouldn't let it go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I can't seem to find an email adress the email. :/

 

I guess it's a sign of the times. But it makes this whole thing a pain given that any meaningful attempt to let them know how I feel could just end with me getting harassed by his fan base. Or not cause I'm a white dude. But I'd still rather not take the chance.

 

Looks like this is the best I can do: http://support.2k.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

If anyone wants to send them an email that's where I'll be sending mine.

 

I'll maybe post the contents of the email here and then leave the rest out of this thread.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's a lot bit weird, but I tweeted to the XCOM twitter asking if they had an email address I could write to directly. It's at least worth a shot. I'll post here if it exists.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Okay letter is sent off with a note about why I would send it to a support forum. Though I found that on a steam forum post as the only known way to contact Firaxis directly aside from snail mail, so hopefully it reaches Firaxis and not some poor 2K employee who has to go over that mail.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I wasn't going to post this response I got but it's a good example of "Games should just be fun!" so I'll take out the name and post it here for a bit. If anyone finds this inappropriate for some reason let me know and I'll take it down.

 

Hello Commander My Email Address which I'm not posting here,

We are sorry that you feel this way about TotalBisquit, but we are not affiliated with him nor do we endorse him. His was just a early access previewer, which hundreds of people we're given access to.

I understand how you may not want to confront him on certain topics since it can cause you to be harassed by his fans. They mostly start when people bring serious discussions into a relaxed environment. I chat mod for a few sites and the rules I keep are the same across all of them. No Politics, No Real Religious talk. (Praising the sun and Lord Helix on those sites are fine since they are game memes.) Back on topic though..

It would be disheartening to hear that you may be missing out on all the great things XCOM2 has to offer. I myself am mostly looking forward to all the customization that will be available, and new enemies such as the Gatekeeper.

Thank you very much for taking the time to email us and letting us know of your concerns.
If you have further issues with stuff related to this please contact An Email Address that could come back to whoever sent me this email which I won't post here

I still hope to see you on the battlefield to help reclaim the Earth February 5th.

 

The only thing I'll add is that this is almost certainly a 2K not Firaxis employee.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That email is just an ad disguised as a response. I've not seen what you emailed, but it looks like they just did a really shitty job of avoiding your question/comments then putting in some marketing material. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As someone who answers support emails for my company it blows me away how marketing heavy this is, surely people who are already invested enough to write to your support don't need a sales pitch?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The first lines appear accurate in the sense, that yes, they did send gazillions preview copies to a lot of people, I was giving a look on youtube and you can see the lots and lots of people which got preview copies (many of them which also got RT by Firaxis/2K too), so the guess that among the lot of previews he did recieve one (then again, in ideal place he shouldn´t, but that what happened) instead of special treatment to him.

 

Also I did remember that Firaxis has a "Firaxisoclock" kind of post, where they promote some channels (quill16, beaglerush and llomachomp and their own stream) which do streams or videos from time to time, guess how isn´t among them... TB (not that I could spot).

 

The middle part is curious, because the text there appear to trying to be a bit more natural, not very well worded, but I don´t think the person meant ill (it may sound, but I don´t think that is the intention), and judging by it the person might even have some familiarity with TB and his kind (in negative way), as the rest of the lines maybe a bit PR or some genuine expression (the person behind, might not be working direct on the game, as it can be some sort of community manager) or a default answer for some cases.

 

A bit unrelated:

 

Meanwhile I was looking at XCOM2 twitter, I kind find one photo which show I think a ranger using a later game machete...

it´s kind a machete + light saber

 

Talking about late game I am curious how armor will be and if look cooler as the advent ones.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Talking about late game I am curious how armor will be and if look cooler as the advent ones.

 

I've mostly gone on a moratorium of looking at new stuff for Xcom 2, as I want the pleasant surprise of discovering what all the techs like as you upgrade.  But it is very tempting to look. 

 

 

So I wasn't going to post this response I got but it's a good example of "Games should just be fun!" so I'll take out the name and post it here for a bit. If anyone finds this inappropriate for some reason let me know and I'll take it down.

 

<snip>

 

That's just a mess of a response. The beginning does seem genuine, and like the person responding to you is well aware both of TB, his reputation and his fans.  But the rest of it is just junk, it's like 3 different emails crammed into the same paragraph.

 

Good on you for going ahead and contacting them though, sorry you didn't get a better response.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah I'm not sure that email could realistically have been more disappointing. And it's about what I expected to be honest. Here's my full email for context:

 

First I would like to apologize for using this support forum for this issue but I could find no where else to send it. And for reasons I get into in the content of this letter did not wish to make it a public statement. But I felt I needed to send this to someone in the hopes that I could at least reach someone. At least then I could say I tried.

I noticed recently that the official XCOM account on twitter has retweeted a video by YouTuber Totalbiscuit playing a preview build of XCOM 2 and I wished to email you about my discomfort with this. John Bain is known to have made remarkably transphobic statements such as "If he was misled into sleeping with a man, it's entirely possible you could claim this guy is a rape victim, for instance." ( this statement is found in this soundcloud file: https://soundcloud.com/totalbiscuit/pillars-of-transphobia though it is far from the only case of it from him and more can be found readily on the internet)This is a statement that fundamentally denies the identity of Trans people, women especially, is incredibly cruel and contributes to a culture that leads to things like being able to justify the murder of a trans person by claiming they lied about their gender. This is a man so toxic that I know of several people, myself included, who have either decided to not buy XCOM 2 or have begun to seriously reconsider buying XCOM 2 simply because of how incredibly unwelcome that retweet makes them feel. And I can’t blame them in the least. This is on top of him all but sending his legion of fans to harass people he disagrees with (example: https://twitter.com/Totalbiscuit/status/574706488154939393), which by the way is why I am emailing and not posting in this any public space, as I do not wish to face any of the harassment that has been sent towards others. And said this “Or perhaps that's just what happens when you find your journalistic inspiration at the bottom of a bottle. Sigh.” about Leigh Alexander after she showed up to a late night E3 stream supposedly drunk. This is not to mention all the times he has come out in support in of various gamergate causes (as evidenced here” https://medium.com/@SvizraLion/everything-totalbiscuit-got-wrong-in-way-too-many-words-4df407e8113c#.besgdmsao ). And while I understand that this was likely just a simple case of a PR person doing their best to promote a game that a lot of people have worked very hard on, and likely to some degree depend on the success of for their continued employment, I felt the need to write to you about this. This may have been a simple mistake, but it is not a simple issue and I wish to make my feelings known about it, in the hopes that someone at Firaxis shares my concerns and can in the future help to not endorse in any way this man that so many feel so uncomfortable with.

Thank you very much for your time. I hope this email was more then just a waste of it.

 

As I see no way this could have been a Firaxis employee I can't say it's actually changed my opinion on Firaxis or rather or not I'll buy XCOM 2. But I will say that while I might be willing to give them the benefit of the doubt this time, I will not be if they do this again.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This has absolutely no bearing on the messaging in the email, but I'm dumbfounded that they would write his handle as "bisquit" which is not a word or his name. I guess it just makes me tune out because you can't even take the time to get his name right when you're discussing your PR campaign.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, a week until release. I'm trying to decide if I want to pre-order the $75 whole-shebang pack, since I assume most future mods will require all the DLC, or buy the regular pack and then buy the DLC all at once later.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm pretty annoyed at the DLC pack for XCOM 2, first that it's a pre-order for future, unfinished content and then that it adds 1 new class to the game and new weapons (not just skins/cosmetics).  A new class and weapons to me feel like absolutely mandatory content, not something like the additional missions of the original XCOM dlc (not counting Enemy Within, because that was a whole expansion). 

 

I'm not sure how you balance something like XCOM with the knowledge that you're adding a new class and weapons within a few months of release. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was surprised about that as well, reading through the pre-order stuff today. Also brand new sets of enemies as well.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm pretty annoyed at the DLC pack for XCOM 2, first that it's a pre-order for future, unfinished content and then that it adds 1 new class to the game and new weapons (not just skins/cosmetics).  A new class and weapons to me feel like absolutely mandatory content, not something like the additional missions of the original XCOM dlc (not counting Enemy Within, because that was a whole expansion). 

 

I'm not sure how you balance something like XCOM with the knowledge that you're adding a new class and weapons within a few months of release. 

 

yeah it's feels it's becoming frustratingly common for strategy games to bundle units and factions with pre-order DLC in a way that feel's a anathema to the inherent to the drive towards perfect balance expected of the genre

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm gonna get this game eventually, unless it turns out to be much worse than expected. But the pre-order stuff leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes it an easier decision to put this off until I'm finished with other things.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's pretty much the AAA game I've been looking forward to since E3 last year, so I'm just going to buy it and be done with it. These days I don't pre-order much, and even when I do I usually wait until the last few days.

 

You only really save 5 bucks and get a soundtrack for pre-ordering the $75 edition though, so I'll wait and buy the DLC if I'm still interested.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know how they could do XCOM DLC well. The DLC in the first game felt really silly; who cares about a narrative-based mission about a new character in a game where all the character stories come from systemic events and player imagination? But on the other hand, a game this tightly designed can't have new mechanics dropped in as DLC, because either it's balanced well enough that the game feels incomplete without it, or it's unbalanced and serious players won't want to use it. It's a tough situation for them because I can't see what kind of meaningful DLC they could add without making a full expansion.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I agree about the story missions, they seem kinda silly.

 

But I think adding new mechanical features isn't so dangerous in this kind of game. You do have to worry about balance a little bit, but with this kind of very asymmetric game I don't think it's the worst if some options are a little bit more exploitable than others.

 

Whether the value proposition is good or not, I don't know. But that's a separate issue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just something like a proper endless mode or side objectives for missions like meld could change the way the game was played without feeling mandatory like a new class or weapon might. That said i'm still probably gonna pre-order the whole thing >_<

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Soldier customization options I guess. I really liked the Enemy Within, but that's definitely not something that you can replicate with today's "season pass" trend.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now