Poll: XCOM 2 is Nigh - Prepare Your RNG Holes

[BloatedGuppy]

The timed campaign, for a few reasons. It could be wildly imbalanced. The other reason is that one of my favourite things to do in XCOM was to grind and drag it out, seeing how far as I could take myself.

To be fair, the original campaign was timed as well, the timer just existed in the form of passive pressure via panic. Even Long War had a timer on it.

I do hope there are marathon/long game options though. I enjoy sinking hundreds of hours into XCOM, and wouldn't want a too-quick campaign.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

BONUS ACTUAL DISCUSSION VALUE

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?
2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?
3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

1. I have it pre-ordered, but I might hold off for a week or so a) I can finish up with Dragon's Dogma and b) hopefully by then most of the launch bugs should be cleaned up (Not saying the game will be buggy, just that there is pretty much always something they miss during testing)

2. I might give Commander a go first up. If I get beaten badly, I'll drop it down a notch, otherwise I'll stick with that. I don't like dropping down difficulties unless I'm really getting hammered, as I'd rather learn from my mistakes than just make the game easier so that I can win. I'm a bit weird like that.

3. Nothing as yet. I admit that I haven't been keeping too close an eye on it, but what I have seen looks promising.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

The cover art hits a really- I dunno, strong, I guess? -note with me.

Spoiler: I mean just look at this thing.

Reminds me of Terminator: Judgement Day and does an awesome job of conveying the state of our race in the game. Nice and ominous too.

Ahem.

1. Debating it. With Amazon's automatic 20% off for Prime members, I'd be kinda stupid not to...but I gotta see how my finances work out. Been a light month.

2. Easy or Normal. And I'll be save-scumming like the filthy casual I am. No way I'm letting RNG off my carefully customized team of badasses.

3. Enemies look like they're going to be a pain: Sectoids got a major upgrade into being genuinely disconcerting + mind control = suck. And Vipers look like they're going to make my troops' lives a living hell.

 

[StormShaun]

The thing I look forward to the most.
Is customizing all of my troops... ... ... and seeing them all die. :'D

1. Yes, and I even pre-ordered it... mostly thanks to TotalBiscuit. YES, yes, I know pre-ordering can be shit, and TB would beat me senseless with a metal bat, still, his video gave me the confidence I have in this game.
2. Normal for the first run, and I'll be saving like an ass. YOU CAN'T BLAME ME!
3. The RNG... I always worry about the RNG. How it evolves, how it changes, and how it'll try to kill all of my troops, but hey, that's apart of the game, and I'm going to have a bad time.

The most important thing though, is that I'm going to have fun.

 

[Bernzz]

1. Already pre-ordered, which is something I usually avoid doing.
However Enemy Unknown satisfied me so much and this looks so good.

2. Gonna play on Normal/Ironman, like I did with Enemy Unknown. Was a tad too easy, but Classic was too much of a step up for me, and I imagine Commander will be too.

3. Uh, I guess what I've been hearing about timed missions and campaign, but I've got faith in Firaxis, so we'll see.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Already have a pre-order down, and will probably do my first run on Normal/Ironman difficulty.

I loved the first game, and everything I've seen about this has gotten me only more hyped up. Somehow, Firaxis/2K have even managed to do a game trailer properly: show off things that can be done at pretty much any point/all the time throughout the game, rather than just a single setpiece. New and exciting enemies, stealthy insertion, soldier extraction, even the hacking.

As for people who hate it because of RNG: the game gives you plenty of opportunities to push up your odds, including a certain item in this version. If you still consistently miss 95% rolls, then pics or it didn't happen.

 

[DoPo]

As for people who hate it because of RNG: the game gives you plenty of opportunities to push up your odds, including a certain item in this version. If you still consistently miss 95% rolls, then pics or it didn't happen.

Worth noting that there are even further bad RNG mitigation mechanics in XCOM 2. For example, there are some weapon mods that ensure you do some damage, even if you miss. May be 1 or 2 points of damage (I don't actually know but it's a fair guess), however, this is more than "better than no damage" - in some situations it can be really big.

 

[conmag9]

My previous experience with XCOM was simultaneously enjoyable and painful. I love the way the game is laid out, how the combat works (even if certain specifics could be changed), the research system and the fact that they did that think like the first English Fire Emblem and Starcraft 1 did where they made the player into a sort of in-game entity/general/commander. I loathed the satellite stuff and many of the implications of the timer (recovery times, research durations etc.) made it so hard that I eventually got myself obliterated before I realized that my hours of work were gone due to a lack of auto save.

1. The changes sound nice, for the most part. Will probably not pick it up day one, as that's not really my style, but eventually? Not unlikely.

2. Will definitely play on normal. I've never felt much compulsion to play on harder modes, to be honest, even on replays. With the exception of Jade Empire and Mass Effect 1/2/3, for whatever reason.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As an addendum, I have a feeling that Long War Studio's contribution will come in the form of 'Second wave'-ish options: Specific modifiers that players can activate to change individual aspects of each playthrough. I guess I'm not really anticipating a 'Long War' difficulty level as much as a list of potentially challenging toggles that can affect a given playthrough.

So we have our three Long War Studios mods for launch. A new weapon type (submachineguns), a new alien type (Muton Commander) and a new "advanced class" (Officers with a Leader perk tree).

I'm both disappointed at the absence of a super-marathon-mode, and pleased that these are three mods that will essentially be no brainers from launch and simply add to the depth of the game.

 

[AT God]

I liked the first XCOM reboot well enough but I did find it incredibly frustrating so I am not going to rush out and get XCOM 2 at launch. If I hear good things I might get it soon but I'll probably wait for a sale and for when I have more time to spend being angry at an RNG.

If/when I do get it, first playthrough will be on Normal but I'll attempt to get all the achieves so eventually I'll play those ridiculous difficulties.

 

[Silverbeard]

So we have our three Long War Studios mods for launch. A new weapon type (submachineguns), a new alien type (Muton Commander) and a new "advanced class" (Officers with a Leader perk tree).

I'm both disappointed at the absence of a super-marathon-mode, and pleased that these are three mods that will essentially be no brainers from launch and simply add to the depth of the game.[/quote]

Hmmm. Nothing ground breaking but needs must. I hope this won't be the entirety of Long War Studio's contribution to the modding scene. It seems too likely that they're going to say 'We did our part!' and wash their hands off of XCOM 2 from here on. These options don't really seem that challenging either- at least not in the traditional Long War sense. Beefier mutons are about the only thing that could make our lives more painful on the whole.
Bit disappointed, I confess!

 

[DoPo]

I'm both disappointed at the absence of a super-marathon-mode

In all fairness, a super marathon mode seems like the kind of thing that would require a tad more development, so it would make sense it may not be ready yet.

That is if it's being worked on. It sounds like the kind of thing it would be but dunno if the Long War guys would be up to it, if they are essentially making Long War: the Game [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/165698-Terra-Invicta-Is-A-New-Game-From-XCOM-Long-War-Creators] right now.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

It was gifted to me for my birthday. I actually keep forgetting because it's taking so long to come out.
I'll probably play it on normal first time, like... well, normal.
I make a habit of not looking too much at games I'm looking forward to. Bad experiences with hype and all that. So I know little about the game outside of a couple of early trailers.
And here's a bonus:

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Hmmm. Nothing ground breaking but needs must. I hope this won't be the entirety of Long War Studio's contribution to the modding scene. It seems too likely that they're going to say 'We did our part!' and wash their hands off of XCOM 2 from here on. These options don't really seem that challenging either- at least not in the traditional Long War sense. Beefier mutons are about the only thing that could make our lives more painful on the whole.
Bit disappointed, I confess!

Yeah I'd hoped for a bit more in terms of an entire new game mode, but these at least go beyond superficial additions. New enemy types, weapon classes and soldier trees are usually expansion province, or at least DLC-worthy, so it's not minor. Not mind-blowing, but not minor.

 

[Fallow]

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?

>2016
>Not buying XCOM 2 at launch.

Spoiler

2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?

Spoiler

Long War. I'm not some filthy casual content with a song and story. I need pain and blood and flagellation to feel the accomplishment of victory in my veins. If someone steps on my testicles at the same time it's even better.

3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

None so far, but no doubt some will appear. I felt that the soldier advancement paths were too short in the first, and that too many feats were simply incompatible. TB mentioned that had been fixed to some extent, but we shall see.

 

[baddude1337]

1. Are you planning on getting XCOM 2 for launch? Yes? No? Why? Why not?

No, I'd rather wait to see how well optimised the game is first at the very least. I game on a laptop with a 765m, so scalability is a factor for me. I don tend to pre-order oor day 1 buy any more, especialy as their pre-order and season pass rubbish is a bit of a turn off. Still, I do want it. But I'll likely buy a complete edition a year from now when a major expansion comes along.

2. What difficulty level are you planning to undertake? Easy? Normal? Commander? Legendary? Or whatever the Long War sadists have cooked up?

Normal. I was never really a fan of the BS RNG you got in the harder difficulties in the last game.

3. Anything about the game that worries/disappoints you?

Eh not really. Kind of a shame they didn't expand on the ending of the first game, instead going for this "you lost" thing. Feels like a bit of a cop out. Still, not really a big deal.

Are MEC's back in this one? They were straight up my favourite thing from the Enemy Within. Always looked badass, and my MEC's always ended up becoming death machines with a pet SHIV or two.

 

[cleric of the order]

>pc only at launch
>crying about it

Spoiler: Can't sympathize with that, playing xcom off of a pc seems dumb

the hell are you going to get mods for it and you can't tell me that xcom 2 will not have a long war mod

While I'm admittedly looking forward to buying the new one once it goes on sale, along with it's expansion pack, I have a feeling it's going to be a bit disappointing and a bit shallow. The resistance side of it really intrigues me either way. Going to try a solid harder difficulty without saves. I want to be dazed, reeling, about to break.
For the time being I'm going to be playing either xcom (original flavour) itself or dankest dungeon.

Hyped, ripe and ready to wipe.

I think it came out just fine, mind you i read that with the voice of the ancestor

 

[DoPo]

instead going for this "you lost" thing. Feels like a bit of a cop out.

Considering over 90% of the games do not actually do that, it's more of a nice change. XCOM has even more of a justification for it, considering most playthroughs have ended up with a loss.

The only game I can think of that very sort of does something like this is Soul Reaver 1 - for reference, the previous game was Blood Omen 1 and that gives the player two choices: sacrifice yourself (well, Kain) and all the shit that the land has been through goes away, or stay alive and build up an empire on tyranny and the blood of the innocent. SR codified that the latter happened and when it starts of the whole world is the closest you'd get to a nuclear wasteland, without actually having nukes. It's not exactly "you lost" being chosen but "the whole world lost" was suddenly turned into the canon, so it was still the bad ending.

Are MEC's back in this one? They were straight up my favourite thing from the Enemy Within. Always looked badass, and my MEC's always ended up becoming death machines with a pet SHIV or two.

Not exactly, but there would be power armour. I'm not entirely sure what advantages the power armour has but it's supposed to somewhat work like MECs, yet you also keep your soldiers largely as they are, so they can still take cover and so on.