Why no hype for Xcom?

[dyre]

It looks pretty good, but I've only seen one article about it, so I'm guessing there hasn't been much marketing. Not everything has to be blamed on the "ADHD generation."

I haven't played the originals myself because they look ugly as sin (and I'm usually pretty forgiving with old games...I think other turn-based stuff like Fallout 2 and Jagged Alliance 2 look just lovely), and there doesn't seem to be much of a story. Does X-com offer something that Jagged Alliance doesn't? I'll probably try the new one though (the new Enemy Unknown, that is).

 

[Terrible Opinions]

limiting the initial squad to only four is not a great sign.

Wait.

WHAT?

It's 4-8 actually.

disappoint.png

I'm still hopeful about the game, but... damn. 4-8? What about remote-controlled mini-tanks? Do we know anything about those?

 

[octafish]

I want to see a 'revamped' XCOM UFO Defense come out, but I'm cautious as to how it will come out. Since from what I heard the people working on the remake are consulting with the original team behind it (could be a rumor, but it's what I heard), and judging by the alpha trailer I saw a month or so ago, it looks like it could be pretty good.

Hell, they could re-release the exact same game and fix the following issues:

Difficulty Bugs: (XCOM's difficulty dropped to Beginner(Easy) after the first mission/save. Terror from the Deep rose to Superhuman (Oh God I'm a masochist difficulty) afterwards.)

Equipment Management: I like to choose what weapons/grenades and such my soldiers use, but not between EVERY. SINGLE. MISSION.

Troop Order: I don't know how the game figures out it's troop placing, but I wold prefer to decide myself who leaves the Skyranger/Triton first. While having my best troops leave first might not be bad at the beginning, the panic wave that will overwhelm my troops because their fearless commander died on turn one because I can't make him start in the back is not good.

Research Bugs: This one applies to Terror from the Deep, but if you research certain things in the wrong order, you might lock yourself out of the final mission. XCOM had this issue, but it could be resolved by re-capturing and re-researching an enemy commander.

Save/Load issues: I am a perfectionist... I will not accept a troop's death because of my stupidity. So I save and load a LOT. I hate having to abandon the mission first, than load the game. Allow me to load/save my game wherever.

Inventory Limit: This isn't so much a problem in XCOM as it is in TftD, but 80 items is not always enough... especially in 2/3 part missions.


I know most of these are fixed using Xcomutil, but the troop order thing I would like to be able to order them how I would like to, not just "red shirts" first. (even then it sometimes puts my high ranks in front.)

I'll also just leave this here, for those who might want to see/play XCOM. (it's only $5 on steam, and it's worth it)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UKrk10ixiY&list=PLD91BACF0E36EE427&index=1&feature=plpp_video

I'd like to add the ability to open doors without walking through them from TFTD to XCOM. So many lives could be saved.

It looks pretty good, but I've only seen one article about it, so I'm guessing there hasn't been much marketing. Not everything has to be blamed on the "ADHD generation."

I haven't played the originals myself because they look ugly as sin (and I'm usually pretty forgiving with old games...I think other turn-based stuff like Fallout 2 and Jagged Alliance 2 look just lovely), and there doesn't seem to be much of a story. Does X-com offer something that Jagged Alliance doesn't? I'll probably try the new one though (the new Enemy Unknown, that is).

Research trees, base building, advanced tactics (jet packs, mind control), outrageous weapons, brutal difficulty, emergent story telling, and enemy variety offer more than JA but JA2 still has more personality.

BTW. Is Silent Storm available anywhere via digital download? My netbook will run it but it needs an external optical drive which is a pain.

 

[Quaidis]

I was too severely injured by getting hyped over the last xcom, which ended up being a shooter for some weird reason. The disappointment and mortal wounds subsequent to it have led me to feel nothing towards this new version of xcom. Perhaps when it comes out and people are raving I shall show interest... Maybe. Until then, leave me with my band-aids and feelings of betrayal.

 

[paislyabmj]

Never heard of it. That might be why

I'm also in the same boat as Hazy992, never heard of it. (RTS or FPS, if it's an FPS that is)

This surprises me, its an old classic.

I was born in 92' so I'm a youngin, that's probably why I don't know about it.

i was born in 98' but i have still played alot of it.

OT:there was a steam sale of the bundle a while ago and the bundle got to about 3rd place on the top selles list so i would have thought that that would have increased interest.also we have just had syndicate.another revival of a classic strategy franchise aqnd we all know how that turned out.

EDIT: and how could i forget the new jagged alience.given a guess xcom is probably going to be better than these two ,or it could be a travesty.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

So long as there are chrysalids and gratuitous environmental destruction, I think I'll be alright with it.

 

[Necron_warrior]

No, not the shooter.

I mean the new strategy game. The original X-Com is held up as one of the pinnacles of turn based strategy and PC gaming in general, yet no one seems excited for the new Xcom strategy game, made by Fraxis no less.

Is there that little interest in the game? Or is it still under the radar?

Oh,a bit of a divergence, a friend was/is at PAX and quoted a wonderful part from the Xcom gameplay demo Q/A with a developer.

Press:"So in the original, the game had the tendency to kill off your seasoned veterans as a feature, are you continuing with that?"

Developer: No...We're making it worse"

Made me laugh and cry at the same time.

TL;DR
Why no interest in the new Xcom strategy game?

After reading through the thread, and seeing that the original of this game is still good for 95ers like me, you've convinced me to buy it from steam

You should phone valve for your cut of the sale

 

[babinro]

Poor marketing.

I've never heard of the game even though the title sounds familiar.

I can't tell you if it's an original IP or a franchise, AAA title or indie, if it's already released or just recently announced. If it's a PC, Console, Facebook, or mobile phone game.

I don't frequent IGN/Gamespot/Kotaku daily but I can't recall ever seeing a headline for it there either.

 

[Kilo24]

I'm personally hopeful for the game.

Myself, I got a good bit through the original a few years back, but ending up taking a break that still hasn't stopped. I got my guys in all the best equipment and was just waiting around for some psi aliens and/or base commanders to capture and interrogate to keep the game moving, but just wearied of the endless save-and-reload loop followed by hunting down the last alien to get through each relatively unimportant battle that would gain me nothing but lose me a lot if I didn't fight it. It just got too tedious.

It's still the one of the best TBSes I've played, but there're a lot of things that it should have done to keep the focus on the interesting parts. Most of the time you were fiddling with inventory, juggling 26 soldiers in each battle with a fairly crude interface, and playing hide-and-seek against the last surviving guy. I have hope that the new game will streamline the crappy parts and keep the good ones, and not much I've seen has given me cause to doubt that (well, except for the legions of other crappy games under the X-COM brand.)

 

[More Fun To Compute]

It could be good but who is it aimed at who is going to get that hyped about it. The original fans are not teenage boys any more and the game is too different to the original to get more than a, "I hope this works out and I'll give it a go," from them. People who like tactical jrpgs might not be excited by the style of the game. Console FPS fans just don't give a crap about most things other than the current most popular MP game.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

The OP was talking about the strategy remake, not the FPS.

 

[Saviordd1]

-Snip-

Haha I'll consider it xD
Enjoy

 

[Slycne]

Well for starters it's only recently been revealed, and it's a little harder to do big bombastic teasers for a strategy game. Though I suspect the most important reason is that the people who would be most excited for a proper re-make of a tactical strategy game are the sort to appreciate with cautious optimism than rampant fervor.

 

[somonels]

The People don't want something like X-COM, The People want a remake; The People want Xenonauts [http://www.xenonauts.com].

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

No, not the shooter.

I mean the new strategy game. The original X-Com is held up as one of the pinnacles of turn based strategy and PC gaming in general, yet no one seems excited for the new Xcom strategy game, made by Fraxis no less.

snip

TL;DR
Why no interest in the new Xcom strategy game?

Ok, I played the original X-com, and I didn't get very far because it was horrible. The controls were ridiculously clunky, and it really wasn't all that interesting to me.

For something that was "one of the pinnacles of turn based strategy...." was it really that popular? If so, what made it great? I have noticed that it usually tends to be a love-it or hate-it game.

The fans of the series are of course going to look forward to going back to something they really like. But was X-com a widely acclaimed game or just a big hit with a small crowd?

I have it on Steam, and maybe it just has aged horribly, but when I tried to play it the controls were terrible and even with that aside it just didn't seem all that great to me. Maybe that's where the lack of hype/excitement comes from, or perhaps the developer/publisher don't want to go into over-hype.

Who knows? maybe they are waiting until closer to release to try to snatch everyone's attention.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

"Abilities with cooldowns, no inventory, unlimited ammo except for the rocket launcher, armor and items giving special abilities, no Time Units, cinematic kill camera, scripted plot-critical missions, single base only, reimagined aliens"

Half that stuff is actually just straight up improvement. Inventory management is flat out excruciating in tactical turn based shooters like X-Com and Jagged Alliance. It doesn't add interesting wrinkles. It just makes everything really fucking annoying. I'm not thrilled about the single base or small squad size, but seriously...fans of old/underrepresented genres need to not be such fussy bitches when it comes to adaptations of this shit, or it's never going to happen. It can be different, and still be good. I'm super hyped for this game.

The People don't want something like X-COM, The People want a remake; The People want Xenonauts [http://www.xenonauts.com].

Meh. I actually want both games (and have already preordered Xenonauts), but I'm less enthused about Xenonauts than the Firaxis remodeling. Partly because Xenonauts has some...curious design and aesthetic choices...and partly because the engine feels pretty rickety/old school, and not in a good nostalgic way, but in a "cheap indie project" way.