XCOM 2 is on sale 60% off...

[warty goblin]

I like them in normal gameplay. They hit that sweet spot of not being *annoying* to deal with, but I can't just ignore them. When they show up on a map it shifts my gameplay enough to remain interesting.

Though Lost World event would get really frustrating, REALLY fast.

What I find interesting is that they shift my strategy a bit, but I can't say I find they make a map any more difficult. Because they're so crazy easy to mass-murder, it often doesn't even cost an action to clear a bunch of them out. Mostly it means that instead of move-shooting I shoot a bunch of Lost, reload, shoot a few more Lost if necessary, then shoot the Advent/Alien whose death is actually my priority.

Also, when you have Lost World going on, the game is basically turn-based Halo. I mean it sort of already was, but we're just a vehicle level away at this point.

[Avilan the Grey]

Yet again the game proves to me that playing on Iron Man would be moronic.

I got a very common bug (that's been around since the beginning and they still haven't fixed): The "AI gets stuck not being able to decide on an action" bug. At the end of a turn the turn... well never ends, because the AI won't make a finishing move (not to be confused with the bug where the AI gets turned off completely and no enemies on the map ever moves or shoots).

It apparently usually happens like it did for me, when the AI frakks up and then tries to determine how to best repair the situation (in my case running a stun blade dude through fire, so he's burning, and ending up between two of my rangers. Then he just kept staring at them for eternity). I left the game on while going out with the dogs and 45 mins later he still was just standing there.

[Eldan]

I still don't know what's wrong with your game. I've had it since it came out and the only bugs I've had are graphic and not too common. Sometimes, a soldier points his gun in the wrong direction and the shot comes outsideways, or someone has their hair shot off. Never had anything worse.

[boomwolf]

Seriously, the only bugs I've ever encountered are a CTD on game start that caused directly by mod conflicts.


Something is wrong in your computer. really wrong.

[Avilan the Grey]

I still don't know what's wrong with your game. I've had it since it came out and the only bugs I've had are graphic and not too common. Sometimes, a soldier points his gun in the wrong direction and the shot comes outsideways, or someone has their hair shot off. Never had anything worse.

Never had any graphics or animation bugs.

As for something wrong... No bugs in fo4 or Skyrim or ck2.
But this game is notoriously buggy for a firaxis / 2k release. The amount of ppl on the official (and steam) forums that has game breaking bugs were immense and are still very common.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

I like them in normal gameplay. They hit that sweet spot of not being *annoying* to deal with, but I can't just ignore them. When they show up on a map it shifts my gameplay enough to remain interesting.

Yeah, Lost are a cool addition to the game. Lost-only missions are fairly easy but still feel quite tense, and play like a Bizarro Earth Xcom where everybody hates cover and using high explosives. Missions where they're mixed in with aliens are different again. They're a dangerous asset then, breaking overwatches, soaking hits and slapping ayys but also generating risk for XCOM. Cover destruction becomes very limited as you have really think about each explosive and a swarm at the wrong time can make a tricky situation into a sticky stituation.

Coupling the fact that once you get a good pistol user around, you can practically clear out an entire horde without even spending an action-the lost are more of a boon than a bane if it was not for cheaty AI (bunch of lost surrounding an advent dude? better run them all to the closest Xcom operative! even if he is concealed and we technically are not supposed to see him. ESPECIALLY if he is concealed and we are not supposed to see him.)

Yeah this part is annoying. You'd think the Lost AI would be as simple as "rush nearest target in sight and melee it to death", but it definitely isn't.

But this game is notoriously buggy for a firaxis / 2k release. The amount of ppl on the official (and steam) forums that has game breaking bugs were immense and are still very common.

XCOM 2 is a decidedly buggy game, yeah. Some people get no issues, some (like me) get lots of animation glitches and the occasional CTD, others get regular gamebreakers because XCOM doesn't like their particular combination of graphics card and printer drivers or whatever.

As for something wrong... No bugs in fo4 or Skyrim

I'd sooner believe someone didn't experience bugs in the Amazon Jungle than that.

[Avilan the Grey]

XCOM 2 is a decidedly buggy game, yeah. Some people get no issues, some (like me) get lots of animation glitches and the occasional CTD, others get regular gamebreakers because XCOM doesn't like their particular combination of graphics card and printer drivers or whatever.

I'd sooner believe someone didn't experience bugs in the Amazon Jungle than that.

Apparently some people can't start the game if they have an USB device connected. As an example.

...well actually it's almost true. Never had any real bugs in Skyrim except backwards dragons.
In FO4 the worst that happened is the "everyone keeps ducking at Bunker Hill".

[boomwolf]

Am I the only person who never encounters any bugs that are not directly connected to mods screwing up is these games?

[Vitruviansquid]

Definitely also had bugs here. Ironically, nothing game-breaking despite me playing honest boy over Iron Man.

[Avilan the Grey]

Am I the only person who never encounters any bugs that are not directly connected to mods screwing up is these games?

Probably not
I usually have a very bug free experience; this game really is the exception.

[Anteros]

Seriously, the only bugs I've ever encountered are a CTD on game start that caused directly by mod conflicts.


Something is wrong in your computer. really wrong.

That explanation is incredibly unlikely. You've probably just been lucky with bugs.

Probably not
I usually have a very bug free experience; this game really is the exception.

I've had a very similar bug on several different turn based strategy games where the computer can't figure out what to do with a unit so it just stalls forever. I'd be very unsurprised to learn it's present in Xcom as well.

[Avilan the Grey]

So...

Slightly embarrassed here. Took me until today to figure out that if you pay attention you know where whe Assassin end up each turn even when she's invisible. The game zooms to her position for pretty exactly 0.5 seconds at the end of her turn.
It finally clicked for me today so I did a test and dropped a claymore and then a frag where the game had zoomed to, and yes, she was forced out in the open with 2/3 of her health gone and her Overwatch destroyed.
My Specialist shot her to pieces after that and well, that's all, folks!

[Dienekes]

Am I the only person who never encounters any bugs that are not directly connected to mods screwing up is these games?

I only had one bug my run. But it was a doozy, and beneficial for me.

I started the map and no aliens. I kept searching and still no aliens. Got my sniper up on a perch and then suddenly: there they were all the enemies on the map just standing together in a square on some truck. They didn't move. They didn't shoot. So I laughingly murdered them all and won the mission.

Started the next match and same thing. But by then that was too much. So I restarted and the game was fixed for the rest. But man it was funny just watching my troops kill the aliens in ridiculous ways while they weren't attacked.

[Sharoth]

I have to admit that the defense matrix earned it's keep, despite taking an engineer away from other things. Those quad cannons dealt with 2 of the four smaller guns and destroyed the bigger gun as well as taking out a few bad guys.

[Avilan the Grey]

One day from getting the magnetic weapons and I end up in a mission to counter a Dark Event.
Managed to set off all three pods at once (total of two Vipers, three Sectoids, one officer and two troopers). And I handled it with only one wounded. Feeling quite good right now.

[Leon]

The Power Pack for the gun in the Chosen Attack on the Avenger... It One Hit Killed a Sectopod that was near it when it went! I had a Reaper up spotting for the Sniper who was back down near the Avenger and wasn't expecting to see a kill message for a Sectopod as i finished the pack off.

[RagingBluMunky]

So I'm thinking of getting X-Com 2 for the PS4, how does it compare to EU and EW for the PS3?

[boomwolf]

PS4?
Why? You lose the modding option.

[RagingBluMunky]

Because I don't, and likely never will, have a computer good enough. Never really got into modding either.

[Leon]

Your missing out, particularly since they didn't bother with much in the way of "second wave" options even with War of the Chosen and all the variability and options are from mods

[heronbpv]

So I'm thinking of getting X-Com 2 for the PS4, how does it compare to EU and EW for the PS3?

I would say favorably, but let's take a look at some of the changes.

There's plenty of thematic differences between the games, lore wise, but mechanically, I think you mostly lose the customization options offered by Genemods/Mechs for your soldiers, and the air game, which is non-existant in XCOM 2, for the strategic layer. On the other hand, the new classes are a little more balanced (although shotguns continue to be overpowered compared to other weapons), and the equipment options are more varied in the second one (thanks to the proving grounds). Also, with the expansion, there's a new skill system, and three new hero classes were added, plus the Shen's Last Gift DLC also added the SPARKs as a new class (aka SHIVs with some personality).

Now, two things change drastically from the first game. Psionics, for one, is now a soldier class of it's own, instead of an extra skill three for your base class soldiers, and a very powerful one at that. The other is how the strategic layer plays out. Before, it was a satellite rush in order to fund yourself, plus reduce the spread of panic amongst the countries to avoid the gamer over screen. Now, your mobile base has to contact the regions, but there's no danger of them "leaving" the resistance permanently once you contact them, and the game over scenario is based on another clock, which you counter by doing missions.

Finally, the expansion War of the Chosen brought the Chosen as adversaries to you, which are akin to bosses that can spawn during missions, and that have their own agenda that affect the game state in the strategic layer. Plus, alongside them, three resistance factions which rival the three chosen, and which you can contact and ally yourself with. There's a good amount of new mechanics related to these, which change the pace and dynamics of the game quite a bit, and in a fun way to boot.

[Hunter Noventa]

Now, your mobile base has to contact the regions, but there's no danger of them "leaving" the resistance permanently once you contact them, and the game over scenario is based on another clock, which you counter by doing missions.

This is only partially true, if you fail or ignore a Retaliation Mission (Basically a reskinned terror mission) you lose contact with the are, BUT you can re-contact them, at a cost.

[heronbpv]

So, that's what happens when you lose a retaliation? Didn't knew that. I suppose the same happens if you ignore the mission, right?

[Leon]

Unless its in your "home" zone then you just lose some income. With WotC ive taken to skipping the first Retaliation since a Chosen vs a squad of 4 with basic gear is not fun.

[Hunter Noventa]

Unless its in your "home" zone then you just lose some income. With WotC ive taken to skipping the first Retaliation since a Chosen vs a squad of 4 with basic gear is not fun.

As long as they aren't immune to explosives...there's nothing more fun than a chosen dropping in, and your squad just throwing all the bombs at them.

[Aotrs Commander]

I started my grant, technically muitlmedia Bleakbane Olays last week on ponythread, if anyone's interested (I can cross link if anyone would like, but I link the prior installments at the start of any one anyway).



Notably, I encountered a bug first time in the TUTORIAL, where I clicked on something not in the exact order they wanted me to on the reserach screen (I went into the archive) and then got completely stuck there, as they'd disabled the Escape menu, so I had to tab and and close it.

I also has some trouble getting the colour of the weapons to stick, but it seems to have settled down now.



Some general thoughts:

The posters are WAY too much fun. I never remotely thought that would be a feature I'd use, but here I am, doing for for every mission. (Now, granted, I might be slightly less inclined - but only slightly - if I wasn't doing a Bleakbane Plays, but still.)

"Claymore." Guys, if we're going to name if after the most well-known mine, could we perhaps make it a mine and not a "thing you shoot" or at least make that VERY MUCH CLEARER in the blurb, because I have thrown so many Claymores and had them not ever do anything (except cause me to reload because they get preferentially targeted).

Firaxis... Will you just STOP with trying to force static random seeds? You do this EVERY TIME. And this time, you didn't even have the decency to put the option in, so I had to go find a mod. Stop trying to dictate how people play the game. You are just about the ONLY people who do it that way and it's annoying as all get out. I WILL NOT have the course of a mission be dictated by random rolls in advance; I don't tolerate RNG crap in Civ, in SotS, in EUIV or in X-Com 1, and sure as hell not going to in X-Com 2, either. I'll lose (or more likely, not) on my own bog-ups, not because RNG says so, especially if RNG has rolled its dice already.

(Not a popular opinion, I know, but I stick by my guns: I think RNG in general gets leveraged far more than it should and often gets far too much weight given to instead of design for emergent options, often to the detriment of the game or at thevery least my enjoyment of it. The only place I will ever let the dice land where they may without question is when I'm playing a tabletop wargame, as a player in and table-top RPG and MOST of the time when DMing. Now, I will never advocate the removal of such features for everyone - because i am a great believer in letting you play your way and me play mine and we can both enjoy ourselves), but I think giving people the option is only reasonable (just like with difficulty settings); I think the time and tedium of reloading is plenty enough "punishment," for doing so.)

Disappointed that the skeleton mod didn't texture properly. Ah well, nevermind.

I have, incidently, NOT used a mod on the turn timers yet. I did quit out and start again complete with one early mission that was on a psuedo-timer in a mass-lost mission when the Chosen showed up, because that was just ridiculous, but otherwise, I have not yet ran into so many timed missions that were unreasonable I've felt the need.




Right, back to it...

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

Yeah, they REALLY were not clear about the Claymore at all. I was incredibly disappointed when the Claymore I had placed to deal with a Lost horde so I could move on without worrying about them... didn't activate when the entire horde ran past them and I had to scramble to deal with the sudden pile of zombies behind my lines.

[warty goblin]

Yeah, they REALLY were not clear about the Claymore at all. I was incredibly disappointed when the Claymore I had placed to deal with a Lost horde so I could move on without worrying about them... didn't activate when the entire horde ran past them and I had to scramble to deal with the sudden pile of zombies behind my lines.

I found claymores to really not be worth the bother. Remote Activation was situational, but a number of times really was the bomb. Great way to say 'hi' to a pod.

[Rodin]

I found claymores to really not be worth the bother. Remote Activation was situational, but a number of times really was the bomb. Great way to say 'hi' to a pod.

The main problem with claymores is that to ensure you hit all the aliens you have to shoot it immediately, which means losing all the damage from another squad member. You would think that claymores would be suitably more impressive than grenades to make up for this awkwardness, but in fact they're pretty comparable.

The only time I found it really worthwhile to use them was when striking from ambush - toss a claymore down, then follow up with a grenade on top of it. You get full damage from both explosions without any getting soaked by the claymore itself.

Mostly though, I don't use Reapers. I've found them consistently underwhelming and while the scouting is nice I largely prefer to have another full squad member that isn't hampered by the crappy damage that Reapers dish out. Give me a Skirmisher or Templar any day.

[Excession]

The main problem with claymores is that to ensure you hit all the aliens you have to shoot it immediately, which means losing all the damage from another squad member. You would think that claymores would be suitably more impressive than grenades to make up for this awkwardness, but in fact they're pretty comparable.

Throwing the claymore doesn't end your turn, so you can shoot it with your Reaper, and it will never reveal. It lets the Reaper deal a startlingly large amount damage with no risk. In many ways it solves the same problem as remote start, but it's more flexible. One of the best things about Reapers is that, unlike using a Ranger to scout in vanilla, they can actually contribute wile scouting, by either blowing stuff up or finishing off wounded enemies; the skill that means they don't reveal from kill-shots is mandatory for me.

Another option is to trigger it with a ranger. If you're too far away to get a good shot, and worried that running forward would trigger more aliens, the claymore lets the shotgun be useful still.

Mostly though, I don't use Reapers. I've found them consistently underwhelming and while the scouting is nice I largely prefer to have another full squad member that isn't hampered by the crappy damage that Reapers dish out. Give me a Skirmisher or Templar any day.

I like them myself, and more than the other two new classes. Scouting is just so important for the way I play. And with the burst damage available via claymore, remote start, and banish I think a reaper can still contribute.