X-Com: Enemy Within

[Valikdu]

So... Today was the reveal.
First, there's this ominous teaser:



And then, there's this interview. It is guaranteed to make you think thoughts that amount to "DO WANT".

She never asked for this:

[Downloaded Skill]

Looks very interesting, but I'm kind of worried it'll make your soldiers too powerful too soon. IMO the worst part of the game was when you matched or were superior to the aliens you fought. I hope there are more enemy types and tactics to compensate.

[Kippershy]

Someone needs to make a robo-assault female and name her Blackjack.

[Moodyman90]

Damn it! I was gonna make a post in my X-Com thread about this.

Oh well. I'm looking forward to this. Dr. Shen probably isn't going to like this though. He disapproved of the Floaters, and it was stated by end game that was a dead end.

I wonder if the cyber-facation will come with a downside. Like the troops losing their psi-on abilities... or if there's a chance of them going mad. Like the unholy hybrid of physic control and panicked, shooting everything in sight.

Sure will be an interesting addition to the Let's Play that's for sure.


Edit: Just watched the interview. I think I came.

The idea that my multinational troopers will actually sound like they're from different countries rather than All English all the time is one I wanted since I got the game. I would also love it if they found a way to make is so that my troopers actually develop externally as they level up. Or maybe randomized unlocks depending on their rank and class, kind like when they get their nickname. Like alien skull facepaint for my Assaults troops based on which aliens they've killed the most of. Kinda like the idea of an Assault with a Muton skull painted on his face running up to an Elite and saying hello with his Alloy Canon.

[Ketchup]

Lots of really great additions. A bit worried about how the new resource, and how it is gotten, will affect the pacing of the game. Also, rebalancing has ups and down, but it appears they're adding more than they are taking.

Dr. Shen will not like this. Not a bit.

[Moodyman90]

Well it was stated that shaking up the pacing was one of the reason for the expansion.

And like the video said "The old standard of "Rookie, take point." may become "Rookie, go after the MELD."

Now what would be interesting is if you could turn Enemy Within on or off, just like Slingshot or the Second Wave stuff.

Also, it's still called Enemy Within so I'm expecting something to make the tone darker.

[Valikdu]

An article at IGN: http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/08/21/xcom-enemy-within-announced-tons-of-details

Bonus info! There is a button in the pre-mission UI that strips all soldiers not currently assigned to the Skyranger team of all equipment. So no more digging through your entire roster looking for the off-duty guy who has the arc thrower equipped, or that extra set of Ghost armor!

OH FUCK YES

[Moodyman90]

That is good news. I can't remmeber having too much of a problem with that, outside of a wounded trooper getting all their stuff back as soon as they was healed and I wasn't planning on using them next mission, but that is good news.

Love the annoucsment of shaking up existing abilities, making some of the lesser picked ones more desirable. Yeah it sucks Squad Sight sounds like it's getting nerfed, but at least maybe this way the final boss doesn't go down in two Sniper shots and a rocket.

Also interested in the Second Wave option to randomize what abilities the troops get. Granted they'll probably stay inside the same Rank upgrades, but a man can dream about a Support with full Medkit upgrades AND Lightning Reflexes, or a Heavy with Bullet Swarm and Rapid fire.

[Meleagridis]

So this is going to be a seperate "adventure" from the normal Xcom game? The fact that Enemy Within will be a standalone on PS# seems to support the idea.

There's also a much-needed option to pre-configure your squads offline, before jumping into a match and awkwardly fiddling with your points for 20 minutes before starting a game.

Bonus info! There is a button in the pre-mission UI that strips all soldiers not currently assigned to the Skyranger team of all equipment. So no more digging through your entire roster looking for the off-duty guy who has the arc thrower equipped, or that extra set of Ghost armor!

OH FUCK YES

Finally!

[Moodyman90]

From what it sounds like to me, it's an expansion for the PC and an updated re-release for XBox and PS3.


Granted, there may be an actual plot to it that I'm guessing is gonna run parallel to the main game. Of course if there is an actual plot will it be something fully integrated to the game or just kinda tacked on like Slingshot and whatever that other DLC that was canceled.

Also still wonder if you'll have the option of turning Enemy Within on or off at the start of a new game.

[Valikdu]

Unrelated note:
I'm playing The Betra Bureau right now.
Well, it's... not as awful as it could have been. But still, there's no way that this actually fits in with the EU world, as 2K claims.
Also, the protag's growly voice got annoying really fast.
On the other hand, I like the decorations. And the gameplay is ok. It's got better tactical elements than Mass Effect, certainly.

[Katarn]

Basically we playing as Batman with company of Garrus and some other dude (don't tell me you wouldn't pick 'Garrus' VA!)

Put it simply, game is about 'heal/disable bot' and 'those two retards'.  

I think I'm half-way through.

[Moodyman90]

I guess I should pick up that game as well. If for nothing else then to see if I like it or not. I have too many games as it is though.


So, with Enemy Within still a ways away, who wants to start guessing what the achievements are going to be? There's 30 new ones listed on Steam, which is over half as many as what's in the game now.

Obviously there's going to be one or two for making a MEC troop or fully gene augmenting one of your others, but any idea what the others could be?

[Katarn]

Kill or du stuff with your new powers/weapons, etc. Maybe 'capture % nombers of aliens' or that sort of thing, maybe 5 or 10 of them for versus mode....hell, maybe it could be 4 team versus! Aliens, normal x-com, MEC and mutated.

[Moodyman90]

Punch/burn X number of aliens with a MEC.

Defeat a Sectipod one on one with a MEC.

[Katarn]

Damn, dat typos, sorry.

And yeah, I think that's what we'll get. Do you know if it'll be expansion pack or how it was with Slingshot and other DLC?
I mean add content past endgame or add content in-game?

[Moodyman90]

I'm going with add content in-game.

I mean, I'd love past endgame stuff but my bet's on in-game stuff. I mean, there's the mechtoids fighting along side regular sectoids, which puts some of this before midgame unless they're extending how long Sectoids show up.

[Valikdu]

They've mentioned that it will just be (tons of) enhancements to the existing game. I think.

[Katarn]

*sigh* And they will be charging for this as for whole new game, right? It's usual, what they do at this point.

[Valikdu]

I thought they've mentioned $30. That's the standard expansion pack price, I think (?)

Unrelated:

The Bureau spoiler:

[Katarn]

Bureau is one big plothole.

[Valikdu]

I could just treat it as a big AU fanfic. But I need internal consistency in it!

[Katarn]

Just forget it, it's same FPS 'based on xcom' game, but they made it 3d person cover shooter, same enemies, same ideas, just changed our POV from first person to third person.

[Moodyman90]

It's a $30 expansion on Steam, and a $40 game on X-Box and PS3 last I heard. 

And I wish I could answer that Bureau question, but I don't have it lol.

[Meleagridis]

I'm going with add content in-game.

I mean, I'd love past endgame stuff but my bet's on in-game stuff. I mean, there's the mechtoids fighting along side regular sectoids, which puts some of this before midgame unless they're extending how long Sectoids show up.

Well remember that the secbots can get boosted by secs. So secs, while not inherently challenging, can raise the difficulty of trying to contend with a secbot in the presence of so much secs.

I really hope there is more variety added to aliens than just the secbot. I know that Chryssalids can now give you a needle grenade thingy... is this just something that needs another Chrys corpse, or maybe a new breed of Chrys? I know I'd love a little more variety for multiplayer- Chrys are fun, but extremely specialized and drop like flies. And another sectoid wouldn't go amiss, either. Mutons get three different varieties to play around with, sectoids get two. Even worse, sec's specialty is using excessive secs to overwhelm your adversary. But with multiplayer layout, you are really limited in the number of cheap secs you can have. There should be intermediate secs to go along with tiny secs and dominating secs, or maybe something above the dominating commander.

[Moodyman90]

I'm predicting uber cyberdisk, and maybe Muton cybertroops.

You know, if Floaters aren't actually a form of Muton.

I wouldn't mind some completely different ones though.

[Valikdu]

Well...
I've just finished The Bureau.
I think it's okay.
It's probably as good as it could get consideing the circumstances (it being a shooter, the turns the development had taken, the inherent issues of setting it in 1962 and so on).

[Katarn]

Don't forget it was developing by different studio, than EU and started earlier, than EU...and still tried to fit the lore...tbh, this game should've been call'd The Bureau: Declassified. It has nothing to do with XCOM series, since this all contradicts any other XCOM game.

[Guest]

Not sure you should count it being a shooter as a limiting quality. Sure shooters have stagnated recently but just because a game's a shooter doesn't mean it automatically is bad or should be held to lower standards.

Unless of course you're saying that X-com doesn't translate to shooters which I would disagree.

I think the games real problem was time constraints. For instance I watched a first impressions video in which the player complained that there were no research options and that they gained powers with no explanation of where they came from. However before the games release I saw them showcasing a power which allowed for the capture of alien technology. The guy who was playing said you could use what you captured immediately for a short time to clear out foes or bring it back to your base for research and gain bonuses of some sort.

Anyway having not played Xcom myself I could be wrong entirely but I  think the devs of this game had the right ideas. And given enough time they could translate Xcom into this format. All that being said a product can not be judged on what could have been. It's too bad.

[Katarn]

The guy who was playing said you could use what you captured immediately for a short time to clear out foes or bring it back to your base for research and gain bonuses of some sort.

There is no such power. First alien weapon you find is laser shotgun. Imideatly your CO says 'it's rare equipment to find just lying around, usually they are disintegrated with it's owners'. And guess what? In next 5 minutes you'll find ~15 such weapons just lying around. You can use them immediately, unlimited period of time and any squad member can use them (if not falls under class restriction).

As for x-com...there was TPS..once...Enforcer. It's usually call'd heresy, to say, that Enforcer fits the lore of x-com or good game in general.

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