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Code Name S.T.E.A.M. |OT| They made Lincoln Force! Or: "Welcome to Earth!"

B4s5C

Member
I plan on picking this game up in November during Black Friday. The impressions seem like this game will be a pretty positive experience as I loved XCOM casually.
 

Regiruler

Member
Newest Public Tourney is called "Election Day". Fairly clever.

I wish the multiplayer wasn't so imbalanced though. The lincoln superpack being a straight upgrade over so much shows that they really didn't consider multiplayer balance when making the characters, and the secret character is just dumb in how much damage it can do (+unstunnable).
 

NeonZ

Member
I didn't even know about the secret unlockable character. I guess that gives me a reason to replay the game.
 
No. It's very tailored to aggressive play. If you sit around enemies will respawn until you get overwhelmed.

Yep. Once you learn to play extremely aggressively the game becomes very manageable. Made me wonder if the reviewers who struggled to get past the 4th level or whatever were playing like wusses. I suck at strategy games, but got through STEAM.
 

Craft

Member
Newest Public Tourney is called "Election Day". Fairly clever.

I wish the multiplayer wasn't so imbalanced though. The lincoln superpack being a straight upgrade over so much shows that they really didn't consider multiplayer balance when making the characters, and the secret character is just dumb in how much damage it can do (+unstunnable).

Is the Multiplayer worth a look, and fairly active still?
 

RedToad64

Member
Is the Multiplayer worth a look, and fairly active still?
It was never active. Not even on day one.
Honestly, the online multiplayer was by far the weakest part of the game for me. It's just not fun waiting for the other player to make their move with no communication. I would assume it is significantly better on local multiplayer.
 

Regiruler

Member
You can find a game bit more easily during tourneys, but the teams are always tryhards and some people have been known to quit so their loss isn't recorded.

Even though there is no private game settings, if you coordinate you can use the empty public lobbies to set up a game with someone else. Hell, I'm willing to play tonight if anyone is up to.

On tourneys, having a title is neat but hardly notable. I have two from the first two tourneys to choose from myself (top 10%, I'm not good enough to place).

EDIT: I like how this game is so ignored the mods forgot to move it to community.
 

Craft

Member
It was never active. Not even on day one.
Honestly, the online multiplayer was by far the weakest part of the game for me. It's just not fun waiting for the other player to make their move with no communication. I would assume it is significantly better on local multiplayer.

You can find a game bit more easily during tourneys, but the teams are always tryhards and some people have been known to quit so their loss isn't recorded.

Even though there is no private game settings, if you coordinate you can use the empty public lobbies to set up a game with someone else. Hell, I'm willing to play tonight if anyone is up to.

On tourneys, having a title is neat but hardly notable. I have two from the first two tourneys to choose from myself (top 10%, I'm not good enough to place).

EDIT: I like how this game is so ignored the mods forgot to move it to community.

Thanks guys that's what I suspected, never actually tried it despite loving the single player.
Perhaps we could get some GAF games going at some point...
 

yoshiunity

Member
You know, It does my heart good to see this game gradually get some love on here. It's a shame that it wasn't received as it should have been.

I've pretty much 100%'d, and I still find myself diving back in. The strategy element is so demanding and rich that you'll find yourself able to approach missions in a multitude of ways, despite the restrictions and pretty much going in blind.

Man, I would love for a sequel to come, but with how badly this game bombed, I guess it's only wishful thinking...
 

L95

Member
Still stuck on the final boss. Any tips?

I hid behind the pillars like a coward, fox hides behind pillar and snipes the bosses weak spot, and Randolph uses the lure to keep everything distracted and facing away from fox, other team mates were on healing duty.
 
Still stuck on the final boss. Any tips?

I hid behind the pillars like a coward, fox hides behind pillar and snipes the bosses weak spot, and Randolph uses the lure to keep everything distracted and facing away from fox, other team mates were on healing duty.

I just went all in, had everyone surround him from behind the pillars and the group of aliens he summons. Tiger Lilly nearby the savepoint in case everyone died so I could revive em. Randolph with lures and a shotgun. Henry behind a pillar nearby Tiger Lilly. And that dude that shoots those penguin bombs in front of the Boss just sending bombs every turn. Aim for the back and eventually it'll break and show a weakpoint. When the weakpoint was available I just used everyone's Specials on that thing.

Usually tried to ignore the aliens and take care of them via overwatch.


Ran through this game a few weeks ago and it was awesome. Incredibly hard though. Hate those missions where the eyestalkers follow you around the entire map.
 

Craft

Member
Some amazing Amazon flash deals the last few months, it's been listed for 5 pound multiple times now, and everytime i've bought a copy for somebody. This game needs more love!
 

Effigenius

Member
The op is a bit out of date. Do we know what Roin and Lucina's Amibos do? Are any of the fe characters good, or should I just stick with the included characters? I just have to scan them once to unlock them? Can I scan one who has already been scanned on another 3ds? (Like a friend's?)
 

KevinCow

Banned
Could somebody explain to me how I'm supposed to deal with enemies who overwatch around corners? It seems like there's absolutely no way to avoid taking damage in these cases.
 

TheMoon

Member
Could somebody explain to me how I'm supposed to deal with enemies who overwatch around corners? It seems like there's absolutely no way to avoid taking damage in these cases.

Overwatch is not an instant thing. They have to react and move which gives you a split second to try and evade (move back into cover). Stuff like the grenade launcher that you can fire around corners yourself come in handy there, too.

The op is a bit out of date. Do we know what Robin and Lucina's Amibos do? Are any of the fe characters good, or should I just stick with the included characters? I just have to scan them once to unlock them? Can I scan one who has already been scanned on another 3ds? (Like a friend's?)

You can scan any amiibo into anything if the game only has a read feature. Games with read-only features don't care what's on the amiibo or if anything is on the amiibo or who "owns" the amiibo. They just want to know "what amiibo is this? ah, this one? okay got it, here we go!" Scanning/reading does nothing to the amiibo. Hardly any game has read/write features. This one doesn't either.
You have to scan them when you want to use them. It's their usual way of ensuring you don't just borrow a friend's amiibo once and then have all its benefits unlocked forever.
 

Effigenius

Member
Overwatch is not an instant thing. They have to react and move which gives you a split second to try and evade (move back into cover). Stuff like the grenade launcher that you can fire around corners yourself come in handy there, too.



You can scan any amiibo into anything if the game only has a read feature. Games with read-only features don't care what's on the amiibo or if anything is on the amiibo or who "owns" the amiibo. They just want to know "what amiibo is this? ah, this one? okay got it, here we go!" Scanning/reading does nothing to the amiibo. Hardly any game has read/write features. This one doesn't either.
You have to scan them when you want to use them. It's their usual way of ensuring you don't just borrow a friend's amiibo once and then have all its benefits unlocked forever.

Ah, ok thankyou for answering.

How are the fire emblem characters? Are they worth using? Is one better than the others?
 

TheMoon

Member
Ah, ok thankyou for answering.

How are the fire emblem characters? Are they worth using? Is one better than the others?

Haven't played with them. Are you asking because you're thinking about buying the amiibo specifically for this or just in general? Because personally, I wouldn't want to mix them with the normal guys really but do a full FE-squad playthrough of the game.
 
How are the fire emblem characters? Are they worth using? Is one better than the others?

Marth is OK since he doesn't take damage from enemy overwatch attacks, and he can do decent damage, but he has no ranged option.

Ike is borderline useless as, despite the Ragnell having very good range with the shockwaves and going through enemies, it has horrible damage output, and the Urvan axe isn't good since it only takes way too much steam and not enough damage to compensate.

Robin is pretty good since he has good range with his tome, and can stun enemies with the levin sword

Lucina is very good since the Nidhogg takes very little steam, has good damage output, and has good range, and the Falchion is good I guess if you want to jump some gaps.

Though, towards the end of the game, once you have almost every character, and most of the good weapons and boilers (which the amiibos cannot use) the Fire Emblem 4 lose their usefulness.
 

Glix

Member
I finally finished this game recently. Had been playing on and off since launch.

Thoughts:

All in all game is fantastic.

I'm not a huge fan of the art, but it worked well here. I also like that it allowed for very animated environments (gears turning, etc)

I love the plot. The characters and all the Lovecraftian stuff was a real hoot. I wish the game sold better, as this is a fantastic setting.

I love the difference between the characters. Every character was significantly different from the others (excluding Fire Emblem, I don't have any of those amiibo so I can't try them).

I love a lot of the gameplay. Lots of thought and different tactics are required.

I hate some of the gameplay. There is no way I could have gotten past most of the levels in the second half of the game without using the save points to restore my whole team. Maybe I just suck, but it bothered me that I couldn't even come close to beating some of the levels without using that crutch.

Thats really it. I tried to get collectibles, as some of the new power packs were cool, but they were not cool enough for me to go back and get any gears I missed, or to play the levels again or anything like that.

All in all a 90 on my scale.
 

Effigenius

Member
Haven't played with them. Are you asking because you're thinking about buying the amiibo specifically for this or just in general? Because personally, I wouldn't want to mix them with the normal guys really but do a full FE-squad playthrough of the game.

I have Marth and Ike. Not sure if I have Robin. I dont have Lucina. Just curious. I will probably open Marth and use him and leave Ike sealed.

Marth is OK since he doesn't take damage from enemy overwatch attacks, and he can do decent damage, but he has no ranged option.

Ike is borderline useless as, despite the Ragnell having very good range with the shockwaves and going through enemies, it has horrible damage output, and the Urvan axe isn't good since it only takes way too much steam and not enough damage to compensate.

Robin is pretty good since he has good range with his tome, and can stun enemies with the levin sword

Lucina is very good since the Nidhogg takes very little steam, has good damage output, and has good range, and the Falchion is good I guess if you want to jump some gaps.

Though, towards the end of the game, once you have almost every character, and most of the good weapons and boilers (which the amiibos cannot use) the Fire Emblem 4 lose their usefulness.

Thank you, thats very helpful. If I happen across a Lucina I may pick her up, but I wont worry too much about it.
 

Shiggy

Member
I finally started on this game and am rather disappointed. I really enjoyed the demo (collected 40000 coins there), but the full game is too repetitive and a bit boring. Bear in mind, mission goals vary but it always feels like you do the same thing.

The story and visual design don't really help either. What I hate the most are that enemies respawn.

I'm not sure if I want to finish this game.
 
Keeping in mind that you should generally go for speed, and not killing all the enemies, makes it more enjoyable. You also get more characters as you go that can really mix up your strategies. If enemies are respawning, it's usually a sign that you're going to slowly, or as pressure to make you move forward. Hopefully you get into it a bit more!
 

Regiruler

Member
I finally started on this game and am rather disappointed. I really enjoyed the demo (collected 40000 coins there), but the full game is too repetitive and a bit boring. Bear in mind, mission goals vary but it always feels like you do the same thing.

The story and visual design don't really help either. What I hate the most are that enemies respawn.

I'm not sure if I want to finish this game.
What chapter are you at? The gameplay flow doesn't get into a proper cadence until you get scarecrow, IMO.
 

Shiggy

Member
Keeping in mind that you should generally go for speed, and not killing all the enemies, makes it more enjoyable. You also get more characters as you go that can really mix up your strategies. If enemies are respawning, it's usually a sign that you're going to slowly, or as pressure to make you move forward. Hopefully you get into it a bit more!

If I don't try to kill most, they just kill me. And I don't think the game gives you a good overview of the characters either. It seems to me they are all weak compared to the enemies.


What chapter are you at? The gameplay flow doesn't get into a proper cadence until you get scarecrow, IMO.

Chapter 8


Oh, and you can't save during a mission, close the game and play another title, and then return to that mission?
 

Regiruler

Member
If I don't try to kill most, they just kill me. And I don't think the game gives you a good overview of the characters either. It seems to me they are all weak compared to the enemies.




Chapter 8


Oh, and you can't save during a mission, close the game and play another title, and then return to that mission?
"Go to title screen"

It could be marked better but it's definitely there. Only restriction is that you can't use it during enemy's turn.
 

Regiruler

Member
I clicked on "Go to Liberty", my fault then.

It's a little weird like that. Probably because the game assumes you want to do a different mission if you're heading to the liberty.

It would have been awesome if you could have a save state for each mission but that's asking for a bit much.
 

ShadowOwl

Member
*buuuuuuuuuuuuuump*

So, while I was very interested in the game when it was first announced the long turn times due to enemy movement kept me from buying the (unpatched) game back then. Also, I just got a New 3DS just recently.

Well, today I felt like buying the game after playing quite a lot of the fantastic Steamworld Heist. I went looking for it in the local stores (they all use to sell the game for 20€). To my delight I found the last copy in our local Saturn (Germany) for 10€. What a steal!
At least I hope so :p

Any recommendations for a new player?
 

Nbz

Member
*buuuuuuuuuuuuuump*

So, while I was very interested in the game when it was first announced the long turn times due to enemy movement kept me from buying the (unpatched) game back then. Also, I just got a New 3DS just recently.

Well, today I felt like buying the game after playing quite a lot of the fantastic Steamworld Heist. I went looking for it in the local stores (they all use to sell the game for 20€). To my delight I found the last copy in our local Saturn (Germany) for 10€. What a steal!
At least I hope so :p

Any recommendations for a new player?

I'd recommend you take the game's advice and use the recommended characters for every map. Not only will it give you a rotating cast of different useful party members, but generally you'll be given the characters that will best handle the map you're taking on. If you just stick with the same characters all the time, likely you'll come across maps that aren't well designed for their specific needs.

Also, there is no experience grinding (unlike Steamworld Heist) so you don't have to worry that constantly switching characters will hurt you in the long run
 

TheMoon

Member
*buuuuuuuuuuuuuump*

So, while I was very interested in the game when it was first announced the long turn times due to enemy movement kept me from buying the (unpatched) game back then. Also, I just got a New 3DS just recently.

Well, today I felt like buying the game after playing quite a lot of the fantastic Steamworld Heist. I went looking for it in the local stores (they all use to sell the game for 20€). To my delight I found the last copy in our local Saturn (Germany) for 10€. What a steal!
At least I hope so :p

Any recommendations for a new player?

€10 is definitely an absolute steal for this brilliant game.

First rule of business should obviously be reading the OP since there's a bunch of useful stuff in there. :)

And make sure not to try and play this like any other game. The lack of a map is deliberate so take in your surroundings and be aware of where enemies are and where they come from. Be aware you can still move if you trigger an enemy's overwatch thus have a chance to escape.
 

Riposte

Member
If you are looking for a challenge: avoid checkpoints outright (or at least don't use them to recover), collect all three gears the first time you go through a map, and restart missions on a character falling (kind of like pretending there is permadeath). You get rewarded for doing all of these, for what its worth.

Relatively early on, there's an enemy type that's basically a tiny fly that's hard to hit, but can stun you often. My advice is to use the character you get on that map (IIRC) to take them out. There's actually plenty of ways to take them out, you can search for a post I made in this thread that details a great deal of them if you get sick of them by that point.
 

ShadowOwl

Member
Thanks for all the tips! Going to sink my teeth into the game once I'm done with SteamWorld Heist + DLC.
Btw, how does the amiibo support work? You're able to use the FE figures as characters ingame, but how exactly is that working and does it add anything to the game? Thought about getting a Lucina amiibo for a while now.

If you are looking for a challenge: avoid checkpoints outright (or at least don't use them to recover), collect all three gears the first time you go through a map, and restart missions on a character falling (kind of like pretending there is permadeath). You get rewarded for doing all of these, for what its worth.
Thanks, will do!
 
GameStop has this game new for $10 (probably gutted but you can Price Match). Everyone who like strategy games should give it a try for that price.
 

TheMoon

Member
Btw, how does the amiibo support work? You're able to use the FE figures as characters ingame, but how exactly is that working and does it add anything to the game? Thought about getting a Lucina amiibo for a while now.

The gist of that is also covered in the OP.
 

maxcriden

Member
I say it's worth it based on single player alone (multi is dead). I think the game has been close to that price for a while though.

Thanks Regi! If it's reasonably obtainable near that price I'll just wait. I don't plan to play it immediately even if I got it now.
 

Watch Da Birdie

I buy cakes for myself on my birthday it's not weird lots of people do it I bet
This might be my GOTY 2015.

I played it before the speed-up patch was released and enjoyed it immensely, first game in a while I beat all the way through in one week. The cast, while simple, grew on me far more than I expected (Scarecrow is the MVP for sure, his Pumpkin Bombs are amazing) and I'd love to see the series continue---my idea for a sequel would definitely involve a "S.T.E.A.M.: Global Initiative" where literary characters from other countries get in on the action.

Everyone should give this game a shot. Don't let it die on me!
 

NeonZ

Member
I think it's already far too late, no way this game ever gets a sequel.

CodenameSTEAM_01_zpsb5vuumop.jpg


I had fun with it, but they really needed to rethink the game's entire presentation - from the graphical style of the characters, which didn't translate well to 3d models to the bland backgrounds and locations, in spite of so many unique places being visited throughout story-wise.
 
I'm glad people are still discovering this. It's one of the more memorable games of the generation for me, especially on 3ds. It just felt really different, fresh, and just a fun idea. Really great overall. I still hold hope for a sequel some day.
 
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