So, IGN is running a bunch of articles on the game this week (they seem VERY excited about it). A couple of articles…here is one on the plans for modding right out of the gate. Basically, it’s going to have a developers kit and Steam Workshop support when released, and they are talking about releasing the source code to allow for deeper modding and scripting. Someone asked up thread if it was going to be PC only…and it is. They are developing strictly for the PC to begin with, without any plans for other systems at release. Here is an article talking about why (boils down to they want to stay focused and the modding thing).
The game sounds better and better the more I read about it, but the modding thing could put this one over the top. Even if it’s crap when it ships (which I doubt), the potential for future mods, including stuff like Long War might give this game literally years of replay value.
Is there? I’ve been messing around with this, and it seems like there really isn’t. There are more “classes” but there are still the same number of skill trees (each one is shared by two classes) and while there are now three choices at each promotion level, one of them always seems to be a boring “And you get better stats!” choice. I guess there are at least more levels of promotion.
But honestly, the pacing in Long War put me to sleep. I had done a ton of missions and basically nothing had happened.
It is good you can have bigger squads and you need a deeper bench since troops have to be rotated in and out (unlike vanilla X-Com where you get an A-Team and kill everything).
Your planes also get experience and you can’t ignore them.
SHIVS are actually useful and even necessary.
If you lose a country you can get them back later.
The pacing certainly is slower (hence LONG War) but it is a lot harder (there is an option in the mod called “Not So Long War” which reduces the completion times for stuff).
Sure, but if it continues anything along the lines of initial weapons, it’s… I dunno. It just doesn’t feel like any of the weapons were worth switching away from the default assault rifle for. Yeah, sure, you can get one that’s light, so you can move further, but you can’t even kill a sectoid once you get there, so what’s the point?
Yeah, I guess, but I just ended up taking “whoever the six guys at the top of the list” were, sometimes trying to get a sniper in the rotation if possible. Everyone felt mediocre at everything.
These things sound nice on paper, but so far have not meaningfully increased my enjoyment.
Oddly, I didn’t see it. The earlier thread on the mod seemed to indicate that you needed to win once to unlock it or something?
I was looking forward to this game until it was actually announced. I like the modding support and the procedurally generated maps, but I hate everything they’ve done with that.
I hate the backstory, that XCOM’s being sitting around for 20 years with their thumbs up their asses, that the previous aliens have been replaced, that the aliens have been relegated to the role of mini-bosses instead of the primary enemy, that Sectoids have mind control, that Sectoids can reanimate the dead, that running up to an alert enemy with a machete is treated as a valid strategy instead of just sneaking up on someone with a knife, that the Vipers are supposed to be Thin Men. I feel like I’d have to rewrite the whole damn thing. I could, thanks to the modding support, but I shouldn’t have to do their jobs for them.
