XCOM 2

[mlnevese]

Now I need to get a wireless mouse and keyboard so I can play this on my steam deck. All the talk of this game has me feeling the itch.

I was always partial to the melee weapon builds and taking all the perks because swords = cool. I made it work on normal difficulty, that was enough for me. I kept two around so one could make use of the axe you can find. Much safer to do the higher level you get. Supported them with a sniper and plenty of healing.

In my first couple runs, I actually had a much harder time against the clock than I did with the battles. Which I actually enjoyed a lot. Sure, you can win battles, but if your larger war strategy is ineffective, you still lose. Great stuff.

The videos are a little long, but it's possible to do a full melee run.

 

[JanJansen]

I only realized now that War of the Chosen is an expansion. It is a DLC but can't be deactivated on Android version. It would have been interesting to play the base game version first maybe, but it is what it is. It adds 3 factions and classes to the game with unique soldiers (I got one from each faction), but also an additional challenge and pressure on the strategy layer, because the Chosen will appear randomly in regions they control and steal supplies, abduct soldiers or sabotage my progress. Eventually I'll have to kill them. While at the same time building my base, recruiting the people needed for it, researching, getting supplies, making contact with resistance cells all over the globe, trying to stop the avatar project, handling all the interruptions and trying to keep my people alive and not too long in the infirmary. I can see how juggling all that and setting the right priorities while racing against the clock is a real challenge and will be screwed up most likely. But it is fun. I especially like how they manage to give the game a personal touch. It is not like the kind of strategy that plays like a board game. You have the global strategy layer, you have the base building and resource management, but you are "The Commander", you have those cutscenes where your crew interacts with you, and your soldiers have names. It feels different.

 

[mlnevese]

Most players will tell you to always play with War of the Chosen. It introduced new classes and a lot of mechanic corrections. It's also completely integrated in the story. I usually try to have them all dead by my midgame, though. Their weapons are quite useful.

XCOM 2 manages to make you feel part of what is going on. Just wait until one of your soldiers die and you actually feel sorry for them.

 

[JanJansen]

Just wait until one of your soldiers die and you actually feel sorry for them.

Indeed. It happened on one of the missions where the Chosen Assassin appeared out of the blue and reinforcements dropped from the air in all directions, which made it near impossible to stay covered. And our armor is still made of paper.
I was sad but decided to roll with it.

On an Advent Blackside now I accepted a few reloads though, because unexpected stuff happened, like a mech appearing and blowing down the whole rather solid looking roof over his own head that had 3 of my people on it.

To occasionally lose a soldier seems part of accepting the game and its learning curve. To lose the whole squad because of a mechanic I wasn't aware of is not what I'll go along with on a first run.
Another thing are the vertical layers, a bit tricky to see who and what is where exactly on small screen.

I'm also beginning to understand why they call it the Dark Souls of strategy.
Looking forward to normal difficulty setting once I know my way around.

 

[mlnevese]

That's why I said to play slow and learn how things work. What is included in a scenario may greatly influence your decisions.

 

[JanJansen]

It is not frustrating though, but interesting. It doesn't feel like a failure, but like a tricky puzzle waiting to be solved in multiple attempts, trying a few times which tactics and approaches work.

 

[Skatan]

Most players will tell you to always play with War of the Chosen. It introduced new classes and a lot of mechanic corrections. It's also completely integrated in the story. I usually try to have them all dead by my midgame, though. Their weapons are quite useful.

XCOM 2 manages to make you feel part of what is going on. Just wait until one of your soldiers die and you actually feel sorry for them.

Is it possible to finish Xcom2 without having soldiers dying? I am pretty sure I could in Xcom 1.

 

[mlnevese]

Is it possible to finish Xcom2 without having soldiers dying? I am pretty sure I could in Xcom 1.

And before you ask there are people out there who completed the game using a single soldier...

 

[Skatan]

Hehe, there always are of course. I meant more for a "normal" player I finished Xcom1 without losing any soldiers with very minimal savescumming after learning the mechanics and finding some tricks. Ie using the stun gun already from the first missions. Even if you couldn't keep the aliens alive before you had the appropriate chamber for them, you did get to keep their plasma weapons and accumulate enough to give your squad much earlier than otherwise possible, skipping lasers alltogether (except heavies and snipers, though I never really used snipers). But in Xcom 2 I got hammered since there were sooo many missions that had time limits so the normal slow, defensive play didn't work.

 

[mlnevese]

Hehe, there always are of course. I meant more for a "normal" player I finished Xcom1 without losing any soldiers with very minimal savescumming after learning the mechanics and finding some tricks. Ie using the stun gun already from the first missions. Even if you couldn't keep the aliens alive before you had the appropriate chamber for them, you did get to keep their plasma weapons and accumulate enough to give your squad much earlier than otherwise possible, skipping lasers alltogether (except heavies and snipers, though I never really used snipers). But in Xcom 2 I got hammered since there were sooo many missions that had time limits so the normal slow, defensive play didn't work.

I did finish it on hard without anyone dying. Some of them probably wished they did anyway.

 

[JanJansen]

I did finish it on hard without anyone dying. Some of them probably wished they did anyway.

If that was the first time you played, I'm going to cry. Only for a moment though.

But yeah after getting the hang of some mechanics (just made the acquaintance of higher level vipers) it seems possible to avoid savescumming. There were only a few fights where I misjudged the situation in advance, got some flawless missions already. But that's still on Rookie of course.

I really like this game, it has several layers and still feels personal. Probably won't play much soon because vacation but they're friendly aliens and will freeze their progress until I'm back.

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of games I have most fun with. This one is a bit of a surprise for me how much I like it.

 

[mlnevese]

If that was the first time you played, I'm going to cry. Only for a moment though.

But yeah after getting the hang of some mechanics (just made the acquaintance of higher level vipers) it seems possible to avoid savescumming. There were only a few fights where I misjudged the situation in advance, got some flawless missions already. But that's still on Rookie of course.

I really like this game, it has several layers and still feels personal. Probably won't play much soon because vacation but they're friendly aliens and will freeze their progress until I'm back.

I'm still trying to figure out what kind of games I have most fun with. This one is a bit of a surprise for me how much I like it.

Nope. First time I uninstalled the game and didn't play it for a few months.

 

[JanJansen]

That sounds reasonable.

Nope. First time I uninstalled the game and didn't play it for a few months.

At least I knew what to expect and decided to take it easy

 

[JanJansen]

I have picked up where I left after coming back from vacation and finally built the communication center or whatever it is called that allows me more contact slots and makes it possible to build communication relays.
It's probably going to bite me in the ass at some point that I didn't do this sooner, because it now takes me several steps to get to the place I need to reach to delay progress of the Avatar project.

But I suppose that's what first campaigns are for, to learn what only looks like a priority and what actually is one.

Speaking of priorities, does anyone have an advice how to handle those "inspired researches" that pop up and basically say we have to research this now or never?
Are they actually to help prioritize essential research or are they just an additional stress factor the game adds? Until now I've done them all when they appeared, and other research later, but as Avatar project pressure is increasing I'm beginning to wonder.

 

[mlnevese]

It really depends on what technology is being offered as an opportunity. It's often quite accelerated and if you don't have something more important to research first it will save you some rounds later.