Yup, my feeling exactly. “Mental load” is something I think about a lot: what are you doing with your brain? If a game is requiring you to do a lot of computation, that’s mental power you’re not using for other things. My ideal game has got a ton of interesting choices that are enough to keep my brain occupied without tiring me out with a bunch of addition and subtraction.
I’m playing Enemy Within again, and remembering that near the end of the game, decisions become easier: as characters become more powerful, the choices are less interesting. Hopefully in XCom II, decisions will stay interesting through the endgame.
I think you’re right about the differences in action systems. In Chrono Cross, they had a system I would love to see in more JRPGs. The stamina bar gave more options without being overwhelming and added some strategic depth as characters recovered while others took actions. Somewhat more complex than the older Square ATB (or pure turn based) system but less complex than some systems I’ve seen.
I’m not quite as keen on the Chrono Cross system. As I recall, 99% of the time your best course of action was weak attack -> medium attack -> strong attack -> magic, repeat with another character. The main complication was that if you missed or if an enemy hit you in the middle, you might have to muddle around a bit until you could get back to that pattern. It was more interesting for how it did away with traditional MP and cut out a lot of the tedium of going into the menu and healing up all your guys after every battle. I think it succeeded more because it established a comfortable rhythm rather than because it pushed the player to make interesting tactical choices.
Easily my favorite game soundtrack of all time, though.
Anyway, I don’t think I can run the game. Processor should be fine (i7 2.5 GHz), RAM should be fine (16 GB), but the video card is only an AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1 GB VRAM. It’s a MacBook Pro, so there’s no way to upgrade the video card.
Your GPU is just on the cusp of being supported (it’s basically an under-clocked HD 6770), it runs the original Xcom at 2560x1440p XCOM: ENEMY UNKNOWN on iMac 2011 - YouTube mind you, it looks like it’s a bit south of 30 FPS, but it is at 1440p.
I think you should be able to run the game just fine at 1080p with some graphics options turned down/off.
Finally, remember that Steam offers full refunds, so buy it with confidence. If it doesn’t run, you cna return if for a refund.
You’ll need to run windows though, an OSX version isn’t out yet, but is coming later.
I don’t know if anyone here played Long War, a mod for XCOM 1, but the guys who did it are apparently already working on mods for the next game that will be available on day one. From here:
I hear the preload is up, 25gb. Still haven’t gotten my keys from GMG though.
It looks like modding support for this game is going to be top notch. The three mods available day 1 are: a new SMG that makes troops move faster/makes them more difficult to detect (but with reduced dmg and ammo), a new class called the leader with some buffing abilities, and a modified Muton called the Muton Centurion which is introduced as a mini boss of sorts.
From the spell casting instructions found in Drakkenomicus: You close your eyes, place both of your hands over your chest, palms in. Bend over (forwards) slightly, and incant the phrase “OUCHyergotme!”. Then allow your body to go limp, and fall to the floor/ground. You must ensure that you make no attempts to consciously move any body or facial muscles. Remain prone (and not moving) until spell effects expire.
Huh. Darkest Dungeon is like X-Com? That’s the best recommendation for it I’ve heard. Is it really like X-Com, or is it gonna disappoint me like Shadowrun did?
Shadowrun disappointed you? Which one? Dragonfall has got to be one of the best cRPG game’s in recent history, and Hong Kong is fantastic as well.
I’ve barely touched the game so far, but it’s Xcom-like in that you recruit adventurers that are likely to die at some point, can be upgraded and equipped, and the combat, while not the same, is still turn based and tactical (it’s 2D). It’s also a very punishing, hard game.
They’re really not remotely the same, except in the most generic sense. Darkest Dungeon is a side-scrolling fantasy rogue-like that uses Final Fantasy-style combat: all your guys lined up on one side of the screen, all the bad guys on the other, and each character takes turns making an attack. It’s a cool game, and a lot of fun, but it’s not a natural comparison with X-Com.
I’d suggest Hard West or the Blackguards series for a more X-Com style experience.
The easiest way to put it is this: the strategic game is similar to XCOM, the tactical game is not. It’s a game about putting together squads of adventurers and sending them on dungeon crawls, but the tactical side only cares about marching order, not about positioning around the dungeon.
