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X-COM

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Re: X-COM

#141

Post by nottorp »

eru wrote: post #138
nottorp wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LSN was play by email only . It probably made sense in 2002. They did add a web interface to get your new turns a few years later. Plus you could spend a day setting up your turn in a rated game against a good opponent, so who cared how the turns arrived. Frozen Synapse decided to go with a time limit for turns... same mistake as xcom 2.

The limited number of turns in Frozen Synapse make more sense than in XCom 2. Mostly because Frozen Synapse is actually a multiplayer game. Also compare the 'turn limits' in Into the Breach that are very well done: you have to hold out for four turns in all missions.

I'm complaining about the time limit to send your turn in in multiplayer. I'm afraid I never played single player Frozen Synapse.

Laser Squad Nemesis (multiplayer, that game was never seriously single player) was so good that when I saw Frozen Synapse copied the simultaneous orders mechanic I jumped straight into the multiplayer and never looked back.

However instead of having 90 day games like in LSN you had like... 10 minutes per match? Felt too much like Starcraft.

Re: X-COM

#142

Post by IgorPartola »

I love this game. Growing up, it was along with Civilization the most played in my house. On one of our first successful play throughs we got this soldier called Maria Smith. She started out talented but by the end of the game was a certified badass. She was a sniper but with high morale and tons of action points. She was our favorite that decades later I still name one of my soldiers with the same moniker in her honor. The pure joy we got out of her ability to make seemingly impossible shots stayed with me. I should give this game another go as it’s been a few years. There is actually a fairly decent iOS clone that I played, but for the full effect you need a mechanical keyboard and a beige CRT, I think.

Re: X-COM

#143

Post by bla3 »

int_19h wrote: post #94
JohnBooty wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a diehard fan of the series, I'm shocked! TFTD was such a major letdown to me after the predecessor, and I believe even Mr. Gollop doesn't have a high opinion of it. I'm also shocked to see the author of the linked article laud it as better than the original. I've honestly not heard that expressed by other XCOM fans. It, bizarrely, leans heavily into its predecessor's flaws instead of fixing them or at least steer…

Which of the first two X-COM games is the favorite usually depends on which one the person played first, from my experience.

This sounds believable to me. I played TFTD as a teen and loved it, but couldn't get into the predecessor.

Re: X-COM

#144

Post by htrp »

XCom: UFO Defense -- 10% accuracy ... Critical Hit

XCom Sequels -- 99% accuracy.... Miss

Re: X-COM

#146

Post by PhaedrusV »

Andrew_nenakhov wrote: post #134

I love the original X-com and take it for a spin every few years. By far the greatest thing original X-com had was the sense of mystery and dread of the unknown on your first playthrough. You didn't know what lies ahead, you didn't know what technologies to research, and how to do what. New aliens were catching you by surprise all the time, and Chrysalids, god, they were so so scary. When I got to flying armor my guy…

Agree on all points. There's a total conversion mod for the original X-COM: UFO Defense that is amazing, and being actively worked on. New updates every month or so. Hundreds more hours in the campaign. Set a few hundred years after X-COM loses, and earth is a radiated wasteland when some intrepid mutant gals start to fight back against the "Star Lords". It's called xPiratez. Rated a soft "R" for gratuitous pixellated boobage.

Re: X-COM

#147

Post by hypertexthero »

Excellent article!

Never played the original X-COM and plan to do so soon.

I played the third one, Apocalypse, obsessively and beat it in a couple of weeks one summer. It seems that I end up loving most any game that has a rotating Earth in the interface (the latest being Microsoft Flight Simulator).

Strongest memories is the panic when seeing a headhugger appear close by, getting attached to the individual commandos, and enjoying the destructability of the multi-floor building environments using the various weapons.

Re: X-COM

#148

Post by oliveoil »

Was I the only one to ever hit that bug where on some missions you randomly found so much Elerium-115 so that you no longer had to worry about depleting it as a resource? That made the game suddenly lot easier to finish.

Also, disagree that the "Terror from the Deep" was poor. It was more of the good stuff and much much harder.

Re: X-COM

#149

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

m12k wrote: post #123
TheAlchemist wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will just say - you are not alone with that 'discovery'. And I also loved Colonization - I played like once a year or two until recently - it's really fantastic.

I'm not sure what it is about Colonization, but the mood and atmosphere of it just hit the nail on the head for me, and kept me coming back again and again.

I replay Colonization regularly,and the only thing I hate about it are bugs with wagon train routes that stop me from efficiently automating them, and a hard limit on 256 citizens. That's really low for a big developed economy with strong army.
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