ysbreker

XCOM 2

Recommended Posts

I agree, I'm also enjoying the game but the strategic UI is bad, especially the base one (but I'm also starting to see what you mean when talking about the strategy map). As you said, there's a lot of scene transitions (the stupid dissolving globe!) but also you have to adapt to the new scene and menu layout after every click constantly which can be pretty tiring and disorienting. I think it's also caused by them probably wanting to do a console version at some point, there's no way they would design the interface this way if the game was meant to stay a PC only game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think Wetwork was retroactive in EU/EW as well.

 

That may well be, in my memory it wasn't but I didn't double check, just made an assumption.

 

 

Also, another thing I was wrong about (this seems to be a running theme!).  I had a Specialist miss a Skullmine on an enemy at sprinting distance, and that specialist also got to take a shot afterwords.  Maybe this is intended to reduce the risk some of attempting a skullmine, since you're often already running yourself forward into a less safe position, and if you miss the skullmine and couldn't go ahead and shoot the target, you might never take the risk. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh wow, I think I just lost a soldier to a weird bug. I finished a mission with everybody surviving and the post-mission screen said my sniper was KIA. When I check the memorial, it says she died because of unknown reason (other soldiers do have various reasons stated there). There was no time limit nor an extraction zone in the mission. I'm playing ironman so there's no way to make sure I didn't miss anything, but I'm pretty sure she was alive and sniping in the last turn and wasn't standing next to anything that could blow up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Oh, warning for Ironman players, I did get a corrupted save last night.  Thankfully I wasn't in Ironman, I'm still on my non-Iron learning run.  But I had both a quicksave and the previous Autosave get corrupted and crash upon load.  The third save back was fine.  One thing that the two corrupted saves had in common was that I had mind controlled a Faceless One.  But it could have been anything (the third save back happened to be like one turn before I mind controlled the faceless one, so that's the only reason it stuck out to me).  I was messing around with the Faceless One breaking cover and shit and then reloaded to make a real turn with him and the save just wouldn't load.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had a corrupted save on the final mission! I beat it anyway; it actually benefited me, having to revert.

 

Anyway, the game's done on Veteran. The plot was dumb as hell after the first hour or so (I've decided that Firaxis' writers generally have no handle on good stakes in fiction, about on par with late-era Blizzard, and that the XCOM games bring this out into the open even more than the disappointing writing in Civilization: Beyond Earth) but the ending cinematic was actually quite excellent... except...

A "terror from the deep" expansion got teased very explicitly. I don't know how I feel about that, not at all.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I started my second playthrough on ironman this time. I like it a lot more, not being able to save scum has forced me to accept defeat and pull out on some missions, or to simply achieve the objective and bail without killing all the enemies. I noticed that in missions that will set back dark events & give other rewards, blowing up the data xmitter or hacking the node or whatever will ensure that the dark event is delayed. However, unless all enemies are killed and the mission is completed normally the other rewards will not be obtained. I like that this adds degrees of success essentially. 

Oh, skulljacking only happens twice for plot reasons. Skullmining is the thing you'll actually be doing a lot of. It really annoys me that they don't remove the 'skulljack' icon from my list of hot keys after it becomes irrelevant, or that skullmining and skulljacking were just the same thing. Weird choice.

Also, I'm about to get my hands dirty with modding. I'm planning rounding up my friends and recording Japanese language voicepacks for character customization. Should be interesting!  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

skulljacking also says it has a 70% success rate, like skullmining, but ive never missed with it and im not sure you can

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

skulljacking also says it has a 70% success rate, like skullmining, but ive never missed with it and im not sure you can

If it's plot related "skull jacking" I don't think you can miss either. Let's just say I had a few issues with one of those skull jacks and I ended up needed several missions to finally get the objective. I didn't miss a single one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Also, I'm about to get my hands dirty with modding. I'm planning rounding up my friends and recording Japanese language voicepacks for character customization. Should be interesting!  

 

Awesome!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

skulljacking also says it has a 70% success rate, like skullmining, but ive never missed with it and im not sure you can

 

I've missed a couple times with a skulljack. Never when it was a story objective, so I can't say for sure if that's a factor, but it's happened.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've missed a couple times with a skulljack. Never when it was a story objective, so I can't say for sure if that's a factor, but it's happened.

 

Non-story mission skulljacking is called "skullmining" and only its chance to miss is reported honestly, I think. Skulljacking, to unlock the Codex or Avatar, always seems to hit.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I assume that they are separate powers so that you can't burn your skulljack getting intel from a random soldier on a mission when you need to advance the story.  It still feels weird that it is always present and makes it feel like you should be able to use both powers. 

 

 

2 is doing such a better job of making me really think about what I want the makeup of my squad to be than EU ever did.  Now that I've got Colonels of every class and a really nice Psychonaut, there's no "perfect" loadout like I felt I had in EU.  I found a loadout that worked for me in EU and never felt like there was a situation that I needed to reconsider unless I just wanted to for the fun of it.  I sacrificed taking in my medic last night in favor of my combat oriented Specialist, since the preview showed me at least two different types of robots.  The Ranger is probably the least required class to have with you, but I just like my Colonel Icepick so much she has to come along with every mission.  I do use my Ranger as my sacrificial lamb though because she doesn't feel mandatory like the rest, if someone has to get shot, I usually try to make sure it is her. 

 

I do have some ideas on interesting class mixups (I'd love to get 6 Psychonauts trained up and try to take them all out), but those will probably have to wait until later playthroughs to try. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holy moly, some of these late-game enemies are just nuts.

Er, so I ran into even worse shit. This game sure ramps it up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeahhh... just when I got to fully upgraded gear and figured the rest of the game would be a walk in the park I have encountered some truly gnarly enemies.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had a corrupted save on the final mission! I beat it anyway; it actually benefited me, having to revert.

 

Anyway, the game's done on Veteran. The plot was dumb as hell after the first hour or so (I've decided that Firaxis' writers generally have no handle on good stakes in fiction, about on par with late-era Blizzard, and that the XCOM games bring this out into the open even more than the disappointing writing in Civilization: Beyond Earth) but the ending cinematic was actually quite excellent... except...

A "terror from the deep" expansion got teased very explicitly. I don't know how I feel about that, not at all.

I'm actually fine with it as long as they come from underwater and they don't just spend ages re-skinning everything to be underwater themed. New non-ethereal controlled aliens could be cool, especially if there's some new paradigm introduced with them to replace psionics.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeahhh... just when I got to fully upgraded gear and figured the rest of the game would be a walk in the park I have encountered some truly gnarly enemies.

 

At a certain point in the late campaign, every sniper had either AP or EM ammo, otherwise I'm using too many explosives to shred armor on high-level enemies. You don't need to play the Proving Ground roulette to get EM ammo after the initial project and it is very worth it: double damage against mechanical enemies and shield-piercing. It's even odds whether I'd rather take them or AP ammo's five points of guaranteed armor piercing...

 

I'm actually fine with it as long as they come from underwater and they don't just spend ages re-skinning everything to be underwater themed. New non-ethereal controlled aliens could be cool, especially if there's some new paradigm introduced with them to replace psionics.

 

Yeah, that's fair. I was just hoping that XCOM 2 would be the game to stop retreading parts of the franchise.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not reading those end game spoilers quite yet, but I'm just going to assume that the start of XCOM 3 reveals that the Humans lost the war a second time, and now not even the skies are safe, necessitating a burrowing drill mothership that just happens to have a grid of unused rooms that must be unlocked via expensive hacking then filled with miscellaneous machinery.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not reading those end game spoilers quite yet, but I'm just going to assume that the start of XCOM 3 reveals that the Humans lost the war a second time, and now not even the skies are safe, necessitating a burrowing drill mothership that just happens to have a grid of unused rooms that must be unlocked via expensive hacking then filled with miscellaneous machinery.

I hope they don't do that. It was a cool way to create a new storyline, but would seem gimmicky if they keep doing it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had to do that mission where the UFO catches you the other day, and it was brutal.

 

t0vCUUG.png

 

I know it looks like I did well but it took me many, many, many attempts to get through this.

 

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had to do that mission where the UFO catches you the other day, and it was brutal.

t0vCUUG.png

I know it looks like I did well but it took me many, many, many attempts to get through this.

My first campaign attempt (on Commander) ended on that mission for me. In 7 attempts I never got past the 3rd turn without most of squad either dead or unconscious.

I restarted on veteran having realised that just because I had 300 hours of XCOM 1 and 100 hours of the Long War under my belt I knew nothing about playing XCOM2.

My current commander play through is going OK (I think). But haven't had that mission. Yet.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My first time doing that mission I had a relatively easy time of it. The device was pretty close to my ramp so it wasn't too hard to get LOS on it and squadsight it away. On my iron man run . . . .

We landed in a really thick forest, and the device was super far away and directly behind a thick transformer. Geralt of Riva and some balding dude sacrificed themselves to ensure it went down while the rest of my team sprinted to safety (a beserker was still active)

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