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2012-08-31, 02:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2007
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
About the After-X series and their difficulty:
Aftermath has the most normal difficulty curve. Enemies start easy and get stronger in time - late game aliens can really ruin your day, especially in close quarters. But by that time, you should have good enough equipment to handle them.
Aftershock is broken. The number of bugs make the game frustrating and borderline unplayable. Don't bother.
Afterlight is ridiculously easy - IF you don't forget to upgrade your soldiers' stats as they level up. You did remember to do that, right? The game is a trivial run-and-gun with shotguns (or lasers for som enemies) if you did. But if you forget that they have attributes and not just skills, as I did when I played it the first time, it becomes nigh impossible.
The original X-Com is different difficulty-wise than the Aftermath's curve - you start hard, gameplay gets steadily easier, then you get a spike of difficulty as enemies introduce new weapons and tactics. Then you learn to deal with them and difficulty goes down. Then, it goes back up again.
Also there is little potential for pyrrhic victories writing you into failure - dead soldiers can always be replaced, and rather cheaply too. In general I feel the old games (especially Apocalypse) are easier than Aftermath, but harder than Afterlight.
EDIT:
Terror from the Deep is less Hard Mode and more Fake Difficulty mode. It's more tiring to play but not that much harder.
Apocalypse is actually more like the After-X games, with lessened soldier mortality and a real-time + pause combat system. You can still play in turns but I advise against it.Last edited by tensai_oni; 2012-08-31 at 03:01 PM.
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2012-08-31, 03:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I managed fine with that game, and I thought that was rather the best out 'em.
Originally Posted by tensai_oni
Originally Posted by tensai_oni
Originally Posted by tensai_oni
I'll have a crack with the first one then (and for three quid if it only keeps me amused for a few hours, it ain't bad value.)
I've already gone and searched out some potential (and up-to-date) fanpatches (UFOExtender and whatnot, and instructions to use them on the right version thereof.)Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-08-31 at 03:30 PM.
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2012-08-31, 03:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2007
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
In Afterlight, you just research shotguns and give everyone skills that let them run. Then it's all literally run and gun - they are too fast for the enemy to react, you just run up to them and shoot them in the face. Everything dies except for some lategame spoiler units that require their own (laser or melee) specialized weaponry.
Anyway, the fan patch thing you want is XComUtil. It fixes some of the worst bugs and offers new gaming options, completely optional ones of course.
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2012-08-31, 04:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
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- The cyberpunk present
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Truth resists simplicity.
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2012-08-31, 05:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Well, I'm pretty sure I didn't do that, so that's was probably my problem!
That's what I've picked up (for one thing, in was on the Steam forums and still an active thread). I've fiddled so far, but it's crashing out on the mission (which appears to be due to the MP3 fix, which I'm downloading a theoretical fix for now!)
The first thing that struck me about this game was that I recognised the music from endless games of Civ II Fantasic Worlds (which had a mod of XCom and music on the CD!) It's kinda weird, then coming it at from the other end!
Edit: Can't get the MP3/.ogg music to work, and the CD is...sketchy (a bit like Civ II used to be, actually!) So, back to the default music for me I think.
So, not really played much, but enough to fiddle around and work the controls. And do a mission, and get three out of my eight guys killed right away, because I had no idea what I was doing! (Yes, on beginner mode..!)
But that was a trail run; now I actually have some idea what to do, so I'll start a fresh game 'pon the morrow, and try again.Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-08-31 at 06:14 PM.
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2012-09-01, 08:27 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2008
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- Enköping, Sweden
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I must admit I am one of the very very few geeks of my generation that did not play UFO: Enemy Unknown when it came out (I did play Laser Squad, though), so I am on the fence about this one. I am very interested, but not all that excited (yet).
Blizzard Battletag: UnderDog#21677
Shepard: "Wrex! Do we have mawsign?"
Wrex: "Shepard, we have mawsign the likes of which even Reapers have never seen!"
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2012-09-01, 08:56 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I think we'd only just got a PC about the time it came out (maybe slightly later - post '96 was when we moved from Atari ST to PC), so I don't think even if I'd heard of it, I'd have been able to find a copy. (We didn't even get internet until about 98/99ish.) I think my mate wh had a PC for a year or two prior to us might have played Terror from the Deep; but at the time, I wasn't really a computer gamer, aside from the novelty.
(It was only the combined efforts of US Navy Fighters, SimCity2000 (?), Civ II and later Baldur's Gate, TIE Fighter and C&C that got me there... and our first PC was sufficiently low-spec that I couldn't run C&C until about the second or third upgrade, and I started playing Civ II in only sixteen colours! (Being able to actually see the hills as hills eventually came as something of a culture shock!)
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2012-09-02, 06:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2006
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I didn't either. It was a couple years later when my cousin moved from his original version to a newer one, and I got the old one.
Of course it inspired months of frustration to get it to work, but it was worth it.
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2012-09-04, 01:45 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2005
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- Seattle, WA
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Anyone catch any of the stream from PAX showing off the PC UI, multiplayer, and general question/answer sessions? I especially liked the panel about their (now-discarded) bad ideas along the way. It felt good to see the developers taking the recreation of X-Com as seriously as they are.
I'd link to the recordings of the streams, but I can't do that from where I am just now, unfortunately...
October 9th is too far away...Author of Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure, a comedic fantasy novel set in a version of our world where reality TV show heroes slay actual monsters and the Greek gods have their own Twitter feeds!
Now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!
~ ~ ~
Twitter: @TheWriteMunzspace My Blog: GeekNotesspa!
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2012-09-04, 10:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Hotel California
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Can you find a video of it?
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
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2012-09-05, 12:10 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2005
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- Seattle, WA
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
All the PAX stuff:
Friday: http://no.twitch.tv/2k/b/330605570
0:22 - technical issues mean you don't get gameplay, but they talk about the game
1:55 - multiplayer XCOM
3:49 - singleplayer XCOM on Normal
Saturday: http://no.twitch.tv/2k/b/330728983
0:45 - multiplayer XCOM, after which they talk about the visual design
2:47 - singleplayer XCOM on Impossible
3:36 - panel on the game's development, hilarity ensues
(specifically, 4:16:50 shows off their test of a super-cinematic version of the action camera)
Sunday: http://no.twitch.tv/2k/b/330851810
0:16 - multiplayer XCOM (shows the multiplayer unit purchase screen)
1:54 - singleplayer XCOM on Impossible
3:17 - multiplayer XCOM
Note, those times are hours:minutes (and approximate--I copy/pasted this from a post in another forum).Last edited by Muz; 2012-09-05 at 12:18 AM.
Author of Zeus Is Dead: A Monstrously Inconvenient Adventure, a comedic fantasy novel set in a version of our world where reality TV show heroes slay actual monsters and the Greek gods have their own Twitter feeds!
Now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!
~ ~ ~
Twitter: @TheWriteMunzspace My Blog: GeekNotesspa!
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2012-09-05, 06:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Hotel California
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Why can't October come faster?!
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
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2012-09-06, 11:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2006
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- Indy
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Awesome avatar by Kurien.
Good Decisions come from Experience. Experience comes from Bad Decisions. Bad Decisions come from Tequila.
I am B.
Are you B?
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2012-09-07, 11:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Hotel California
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
No, that won't work. I need a strategy fix.
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
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2012-09-07, 02:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Location
- TEXAS and 49 Other States
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
You can pre-order it on steam now. If enough people pre-order it from Steam, you get a free copy of Civ V.
If God had wanted you to live he would not have created me!
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2012-09-07, 02:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2005
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
It needs Windows Vista or 7, though. Someone over at RPS just made that mistake.
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2012-09-07, 03:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
It would be helpful if 2K actually came out and said that it definitively won't run on XP (which they haven't) and end the apparent confusion, or even, y'know, put up some system specs, considering the game's due out in not much over a month.
But I'm pretty sure that not being XP compatible is going to be the case, for the sole fact that it would mean that I can't play the only freaking PC game on the horizon I'm remotely interested in (because frag knows when Heart of the Swarm might materialise), and one of the only three games coming out this year period, and that's considering Pokemon Black/White 2 as two games. Freaking perfect.
I'm depressingly actually getting used to this... getting excited for a new game coming out in time for my birthday and then finding I can't play it. (Though with SotS2 last year, I think I dodged the bullet there, anyway.)Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-09-07 at 03:35 PM.
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2012-09-07, 04:38 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Hotel California
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
I thought they did put up system specs...
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
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2012-09-07, 04:59 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
- Location
- Derby, UK
- Gender
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2012-09-07, 08:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2006
- Gender
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
They mentioned in the PAX Prime stream that PC specs are one of the last things released because they're testing on a huge range of systems.
I suspect that even if it requires 7, I'll still buy it even if my laptop isn't powerful enough to run it. Just to say I have it.
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2012-09-08, 04:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2008
Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Minimum:
OS:Windows Vista
Processor:2 GHz Dual Core
Memory:2 GB RAM
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT / ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT or greater
DirectX®:9.0
Hard Drive:20 GB HD space
Sound:DirectX Compatible
Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection
Additional:Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and Microsoft .NET 4.
Recommended:
OS:Windows 7
Processor:2 GHz Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Athlon X2 2.7 GHz)
Memory:4 GB RAM
Graphics:NVIDIA GeForce 9000 series / ATI Radeon HD 3000 series or greater
DirectX®:9.0
Hard Drive:20 GB HD space
Sound:DirectX Compatible
Other Requirements:Broadband Internet connection
Additional:Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and Microsoft .NET 4.
Straight off steam. Pretty generous requirements. Not quite as easy to run as the original, but any modern PC should be able to handle it easy.
And the original X-Com has more of a reputation as a soulbreaker than it absolutely deserves. I mean, you lose soldiers fairly often, but not that many people lose, even their first time out.
There's a save function for a reason, after all. Then again, the game without mods is locked on the Easy difficulty.
TFTD is another story.
If you're just starting out, some tips.
1) Read the manual. X-Com's from the days before tutorials and tooltips, and it shows.
2) Save, save, and save often. Not every turn or anything absurd like that, but losing an hour of play and your best team to one grenade isn't a good way to get introduced to the series.
3) There are LPs of the games. They can help.
4) Chryssalids are not your friend.Remember how I was wishing for the peace of oblivion a minute ago?
Yeah. That hasn't exactly changed with more knowledge of the situation. -Security Chief Victor Jones, formerly of the UESC Marathon.
X-Com avatar by BRC. He's good folks.
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2012-09-09, 06:17 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Expat in Singapore
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
For a game that looks like it could run on a PS2, this game does not run on Windows XP? It requires ****ing Vista?
**** YOU Firaxis! I don't care if you give me the original X-com with 2012 graphics and no bugs, I ain't getting ****ing Vista!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
(Was originally posting to say I was psyching myself up for this game by watching the Starship Troopers TV series. But now.... Vista?! **** it.)
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2012-09-09, 07:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2005
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- Refugee of Aiur
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
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2012-09-09, 08:08 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
This, of course, assumes you have the seventy-plus quid to spend on an upgrade, plus the resultant money required to upgrade to your hardware (especially memory), given games have higher minimum requirements when running under Vista/7, plus the huge amount of time and effort required to re-install everything after transferring all the data (and the even more time pratting around to be able to get all the older games you still play working on Vista/7).
As I have said priorly with Sword of the Stars 2 last year, there is no one game worth that amount of money and hassle. If I had £100-£130 quid to burn on a single game, I'm sure could find better uses for it.
Especially considering that XCOM doesn't even appear to have the dubious excuse that it's using Dx 10/11 as the former did.
As and when the hard-drive needs replacement, then I'll look into an upgrade, because I've at that point got to spend the time and money anyway.Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-09-09 at 08:10 AM.
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2012-09-09, 08:31 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2006
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Actually, XP is still readily available, but only it's professional format, and Windows 7 is now cheaper.
That said, search the internet. Due to the horrid nature of Vista and the popularity of Halo 2, there was a project around for a while designed to allow the operation of Vista Required Games on Windows XP. Last I knew it still required some work, but it's been a couple years.
Given those requirements, which seem rather high, and might be because there's no official specs, I should be able to run it on my win7 laptop. Which is AWESOME.
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2012-09-09, 08:37 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2006
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- Under Mt. Ebott
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
You clearly have some rather time-blurred recollection of how PS2 games looked, man.
Also - seriously, there's been a lot of games that require newer systems for years now. If this is the first game where you can't play it in XP you clearly haven't been playing a lot of games. Also - Vista is crap, but 7 works perfectly well.
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2012-09-09, 08:48 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Derby, UK
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
XCOM makes the second I've encountered personally.
But, of course, I don't play things like shooters (and al of the games that I do play generally have only modest requirements; ME3 and/or Witcher 2 are about the most demanding I own), and there has been a (depressing) sharp drop-off in the amount of games that have been released I want to play (primarily strat/RTS/RPG) in the last two or three years1.
Aside from XCOM and Pokemon BW2, the only other games that I can even find that I might play potentially on the horizon for the next couple of years are Fallen Enchantress (maybe) and Heart of the Swarm.
(I've already written off C&CGenerals 2, given it's recent move to free-to-play format and EA's little statement, since the only reason I played C&C was for the single player campaigns, and from the implications of those pieces of information, I'm suspecting that will not be a priority (if addressed at all) in the new game. We'll see.)
1I think I've only bought about four games this year, total, and one of those was Pokemon Platinum and one was the first XCom.Last edited by Aotrs Commander; 2012-09-09 at 08:49 AM.
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2012-09-09, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2012
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- Expat in Singapore
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Aotrs for once we agree heartily. I have the money, but I don't have the time nor the inclination to replace a perfectly good OS, for all the reasons you know as well.
The latest Jagged Alliance? XP compatible. HOMM6? XP compatible. This is the first PC game I care about to be incompatible. Oh well, I guess I'll buy it for PS3. Which means I won't be modding it. Which means I won't play it as much...
Which probably means I'll end up not buying it.
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2012-09-09, 01:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2006
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- Under Mt. Ebott
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
Interesting. I also don't play shooters (other than Borderlands, which is basically Diablo in first person rather than what you're probably thinking of as "shooter") and yet lately it's been that I'm finding more worthwhile games to come out than I have since around the start of the Gamecube/PS2 era - I spent a lot of time basically only gaming on my portable consoles because there was crap all of interest coming out for PC, but lately my problem is the inverse and I don't have enough money to get all the games that look interesting!
It's true that about half of them still run in XP. But seriously, that's a treat by the companies, not an obligation, by now. XP is three revisions old now, with 8 coming out. Breaking off into insults at Firaxis not bothering to spend money in supporting an OS that's basically been out of catalog for years (and which very few machines that can hit the Recommended settings of the new XCOM are going to still be packing, because most machines with that power get upgraded at some point), as MLai did, strikes me as rather entitled.Last edited by Drascin; 2012-09-09 at 01:18 PM.
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2012-09-09, 02:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Location
- Hotel California
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Re: XCOM: One Does Not Simply "Shoot" a Cryssalid...
LPs that I like to think I will get back to some day.
To Make a Fan: Let's Play Final Fantasy
Let's Play Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones