XCOM 2 (PC/Mac/Linux, Firaxis, November 2015) announced [Up: New info/screens in OP]

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Lumine said:
Oh look, Just EW is more expansive than buying the full collection. Been meaning to pick it up for a while now actually, but I guess I can wait until Summer Sale. Hate it when publishers do this *stares intently at Bethesda*.

Anyway, yay for more XCOM! Kinda wish they went with a Terror from the Deep theme though. A very underused theme in general, would've been neat to see I think.
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Honestly you should probably just buy the bundle anyway unless you already own the other pieces of DLC. Cause they give you more Barbie options for your soldiers which is the greatest thing ever, even if you don't want to play a campaign with the scripted missions.
 
Fragamemnon said:
This begs another question-will the procedural generator pull in assets from modded sources, and if so can we provide metadata alongside those assets so that they are used logically by the generator.

Or even better, can we configure the generator's map construction algorithms ourselves.

If you could do these things there is honestly little reason why you couldn't make a XCOM2 style game (it's always going to feel like XCOM2) in completely different settings.
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Well, considering the actual differences between UFO Defense and TFTD, you probably could make a TFTD-version of XCOM2 just with simple asset replacement.

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i'll show myself out
 
Sober said:
I'll be interested in why 2K is moving XCOM to PC only. An entire exclusive article for IGN gives me some thought it's also somehow about mod support or some of the other features, cause honestly I would've just pegged it as 2K moving XCOM to join up with Civ and just become another franchise for PC-only based on however the previous game sold or Soloman convinced them it was for the best and that was that.
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I'm hoping thats because they plan a different console game that works better with the controller, ideally which also gets a PC with controller port

I'd love to see a Mass Effect style game where in a similar fashion your team mates can be relatively left to their own devices (versus xcom bureau where they constantly wander into enemy fire)
 
Falk said:
Well, considering the actual differences between UFO Defense and TFTD, you probably could make a TFTD-version of XCOM2 just with simple asset replacement.

image.php


i'll show myself out
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Fuck that, it's time to remake [your favourite SRPG] in XCOM2.

Let's port over that Fallout: Tactics ruleset!
 
Everything they said gameplay wise sounds pretty interesting, visuals though... that is some bland looking sci-fi channel grade art style
 
Keep in mind that if we can feed the procedural generator assets, we can get barns, orchards, and farmhouses even if they don't "make sense" in the XCOM2 universe as campaign settings.
 
cleveridea said:
Looks like an actual real game to me vs marketing materials
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I'm not really criticising visual fidelity, just the art style.. take for example stuff like The Banner Saga, Endless Legend/Space, Klei stuff... they all have interesting-imaginative lore and design.

XCom is always this cookie-cutter bland generic sci-fi
 
So losing is the canon outcome? What a bummer, all of my fallen heroes R.I.P, it was in vain :(.

Kind of puts a damper on my planned Long War walk through, but I'll manage I guess.
 
Sijil said:
So losing is the canon outcome? What a bummer, all of my fallen heroes, R.I.P it was in vain :(.

Kind of puts a damper on my planned Long War walk through, but 'll manage I guess.
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I saw this on Reddit-think of XCOM2 as a what if for one of your campaigns gone horribly wrong. XCOM 2 tells the story of that campaign.

The story of the volunteer and your heroes triumphing over the aliens is a story that has been told and is closed. Earth is safe in that world, thanks to your team's effort.
 
So, it seems scamper is still in, but they've implemented some stealth stuff so you can sneak up on them and get in the first shot, maybe even leave them stranded out in the open if you time it right.

Honestly, that sounds pretty great.
 
Erheller said:
Battle scanners are a band-aid solution. Long War has more pods in most missions than vanilla, so moving up aggressively gives you a higher chance of activating pods. And those pods are actually a threat throughout the game, unlike in vanilla where you can roflstomp them mid-to-late game with 100% crit squadsight double tap snipers. Battle scanners help you plan your engagements, but don't fix the underlying problem that Long War is campier than vanilla. And it's not like battle scanners are unlimited, either.

Long War itself seems to promote a more passive style of play, with its myraid of perks, weapons, etc. that give bonuses to not moving: Infantry, LMG's, Battle/Heavy Rifles, Platform Stability, Rocket Scatter mechanics. Sure, you have Assaults and sometimes Scouts, but pretty much every other class is long-range oriented. When the majority of your squad gets bonuses from staying still, you can't engage properly when moving up aggressively. There's a reason why the most popular strategy for dealing with landed large UFO's in Long War is sitting behind cover and spamming alt-O until most pods are dead. Moving up is a huge risk.
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What am I reading? Long War more campy than EU? Good luck getting any meld then. And no that isnt the most popular strategy on land larges because of a lack of offensive options. Its because landed larges are fucking scary and depending on where you end up you might have problems moving into cover. Its more a map thing.
 
HK-47 said:
What am I reading? Long War more campy than EU? Good luck getting any meld then. And no that isnt the most popular strategy on land larges because of a lack of offensive options. Its because landed larges are fucking scary and depending on where you end up you might have problems moving into cover. Its more a map thing.
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It's only the stupid supply ship map. That thing is awful. Abductors are a riot provided you only start missions from the front of it. The grand melee that results as all the pods come at you is glorious.
 
Reading that IGN article, XCOM 2 is starting to sound a bit like Jagged Alliance... :-)

They clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the fundamental complaints that people had with the first game.
 
Some new info highlights from IGN's Day 2 update:

Combat
  • Stealth allows you to ambush enemies and deny their scampering into cover, but doesn't replace combat (ie. no backstabbing or picking off enemies one by one)
  • A large part of fights will be the setup and getting your crew into position. You can botch the ambush and wind up getting caught with your pants down.
  • Enemy AI has been made more dynamic to allow for navigating the procedurally generated maps.
  • You can trace your movement with waypoints for more precision when moving your squad.

Classes
  • Sharpshooter replaces Sniper as the long range specialist and can use Pistols as a focus instead of a backup.
  • Ranger is an evolution of the Assault. Specialized in close combat with Shotguns and lethal melee.
  • Grenadier is similar to the Heavy with an emphasis on blowing things up.
  • Specialist is the new Support and has a drone called a Gremlin that can stun enemies and buff teammates during combat, and do long ranged hacking outside of it.
  • A fifth class is being left a mystery until closer to launch.

Customization
  • Gender and Nationality can be swapped at will.
  • Can customize the headgear, left arm, right arm, torso, and pants.
  • Veterans will gain unique cosmetics to show how hardcore they are.

    XCOM2_Soldiers_MedArmorGuerilla-720x347.jpg

Plot
  • Story takes place in an alternate history where XCOM fails to acquire advanced tech and the world governments surrendered.
  • Setting came after gameplay. Firaxis wanted to design the game around controlling combat encounters. Turning XCOM from an elite soldier force to a group of guerilla freedom fighters helped facilitate the change in direction.
  • The idea is to move from location to location, inspiring the masses to take up arms against their overlords along the way.

Edit: Link to the entire article.
 
A big "combat" point is you can more or less waypoint and trace your movement path rather than letting the game do it for you, so you aren't at the mercy of a crappy path to a tile you want to reach because the game only ever picks the shortest distance.
 
Sounds like good stuff. I really like the increased focus on soldier personalisation, because Jake Solomon correctly identifies it as a big part of the series' greatness.

The alternate history stuff raises interesting prospects for XCOM's future.
 
Story takes place in an alternate history where XCOM fails to acquire advanced tech and the world governments surrendered.
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Not a fan of the bolded, tbh. They should have waited a little bit before going that route in my opinion. There's still a huge universe to explore before using the old "let's switch dimensions to keep it fresh" tactic.
 
Sober said:
A big "combat" point is you can more or less waypoint and trace your movement path rather than letting the game do it for you, so you aren't at the mercy of a crappy path to a tile you want to reach because the game only ever picks the shortest distance.
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I'll toss that into my post.
 
Sober said:
A big "combat" point is you can more or less waypoint and trace your movement path rather than letting the game do it for you, so you aren't at the mercy of a crappy path to a tile you want to reach because the game only ever picks the shortest distance.
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Sounds great. There were too many times where the 1st game would direct your solder right through a poison gas cloud.

I also hope they changed it so soldiers can carry two accessories by default now. One accessory slot was way too limiting and made Support classes more valuable than they probably should've been.
 
Commander McDuckyswag will be ready for action.

Also New World Order? I fought hard to save the planet, that would imply that McDuckyswag lost.
 
Another interesting tidbit in that article not mentioned above is how the terrain is going to be even more destructive with fire that spreads or acid that "melts through the floor". Oh this would be so cool if it let you set up ambushes from above, surprising aliens a floor below you by melting through the floor.
 
Erheller said:
Doesn't the MBP have graphics switching? My 2012 MBPR has a Nividia 650M and it runs the 2012 XCOM fine when I bootcamp on Windows (I haven't tried the Mac port, and don't intend to).
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Only the most expensive Macbook pros, which are around $2600 have dedicated graphics . All the rest are now Intel iris which is so disappointing for a "Pro" computer
 
UberLevi said:
[*]Story takes place in an alternate history where XCOM fails to acquire advanced tech and the world governments surrendered.
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Sweet, so all my Classic playthroughs of EU are canon!

I actually kinda like that, I always considered the true goal of x-com to be putting off your own inevitable crushing defeat
 
Any news on number of units that can be deployed in tactical? Edit: 4 to 6? Great, they're still treating it like an rpg combat system. This alone kills a lot of my hype. :-(

Also, with only 5 classes I hope the customization is deep.

Modders to the rescue again.
 
CertifiedFP said:
The hell did I say that was ban worthy? I wasn't port begging in any form, I was just offering comment on unsavory behavior I had been seeing following the announcement. Don't be an ass.
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I got the feeling he was kinda agreeing with you. Don't quote me on that though!
 
Funky Papa said:
Not a fan of the bolded, tbh. They should have waited a little bit before going that route in my opinion. There's still a huge universe to explore before using the old "let's switch dimensions to keep it fresh" tactic.
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I kind of see why they did it but I don't think I like the execution. I mean, I understand that having XCOM 2 being yet again the same "human alliance military force repels alien invasion" could be seen as boring/safe for certain people and they wanted to shake things up, but at the same time I feel like they could have done it differently.

Perhaps have an intro cinematic where after destroying the Ethereals' ship, a lot more ships come in (didn't the Ethereals hint at something greater/more dangerous than them in the first game? Ethereal quote ->
Behold the greatest failure… of the Ethereal Ones… We who failed to ascend as they thought we would. We who were cast out. We who were doomed to feed on the Gift of lesser beings… as we sought to uplift them… to prepare them… for what lies ahead.
), XCOM is all but wiped out, and then several years later humanity is seen living in these new cities under alien control.

So yeah, I agree. I wish they had done a continuation of the initial game where something new comes up, humanity is enslaved/brainwashed, XCOM/The Council decimated; fast forward several years and then humanity lives "in harmony" with the aliens (something like The V TV series from the 80s) while a "terrorist" group is running guerrilla operations against the friendly aliens and their human security "peace keeping" organization.
 
Decado said:
Any news on number of units that can be deployed in tactical?

Also, with only 5 classes I hope the customization is deep.
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4-6 size squads.

Don't forget mod tools so if you want to break the guerrilla gameplay style and turn it into a Imperial Guard meatgrinder you could probably do that too.

Although honestly maybe 12 would be a high limit for me, or 8 so you can have a two fire team setup.
 
Gah, I hope they don't restrict Assault/Ranger to Shotguns, lest I find myself resisting very hard the urge to bench them for being liabilities.

jim-jam bongs said:
Eh, referring to people as "sperglords" is pretty shitty.
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Eh, suppose it wasn't the best choice of words for the specific set of bufoons I was referring to. Hard to resist when I'd been up for countless hours and had known the persons I had been referring to to have a history of outrageous and irrational, occasionally revisionist comments in the name of PC Gaming.
 
AWizardDidIt said:
Another interesting tidbit in that article not mentioned above is how the terrain is going to be even more destructive with fire that spreads or acid that "melts through the floor". Oh this would be so cool if it let you set up ambushes from above, surprising aliens a floor below you by melting through the floor.
Click to expand...

Yea this sounds cool. XCOM with battlefields as dynamic as Divinity: Original Sin would be incredible.
 
Decado said:
Any news on number of units that can be deployed in tactical? Edit: 4 to 6? Great, they're still treating it like an rpg combat system. This alone kills a lot of my hype. :-(

Also, with only 5 classes I hope the customization is deep.

Modders to the rescue again.
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The IGN article linked above mentions four to six troopers:
That means we’ll have the element of surprise: our small squads (still in the four to six range) will arrive unseen in enemy-controlled territory,
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Depending on how extensive modding could get I wouldn't be surprised if someone remade Enemy Within but using the improved engine and features of the sequel.
 
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