XCOM 2

[SupremacyKing2]

New video with gameplay from the new "lost and abandoned" mission where you have to escort a reaper and a skirmisher through lost territory to a rendez-vous point. Looks pretty interesting.

And another video with 80 minutes of gameplay:

 

[Ailedhoo]

Kill Zone is so powerful the sharpshooter does not need to aim her rifle at the enemy to hit them!

The ADVENT MEC from the dropped in reinforcements was wise and conducted overwatch.

Overall Legend mode is fun in its own ways indeed!

 

[SupremacyKing2]

New resistance faction, the Templars:

They look super powerful!!

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I really hope the Lost and Abandoned doesn't play out the same every time and Templars can become one of the factions there.
Other than that, the expansion really looks awesome. There has been some backlash about the pricem but I don't think 40 € is that unreasonable compared to Enemy Within. I also don't mind paying more for Firaxis games that I play for literally hundreds of hours.

 

[sherbz]

I really hope the Lost and Abandoned doesn't play out the same every time and Templars can become one of the factions there.
Other than that, the expansion really looks awesome. There has been some backlash about the pricem but I don't think 40 € is that unreasonable compared to Enemy Within. I also don't mind paying more for Firaxis games that I play for literally hundreds of hours.

Yea, Firaxis kind of dominates my steam hours. This could be an interesting thread in and of itself. But ill post mine here anyway for firaxis titles:

XCOM - 950 hours
Civ V - 733 hours
XCOM 2 - 658 hours
Civ VI - 64 hours
Beyond Earth - 60 hours

Looked at another way, just this list tells me i have played a Firaxis game for 102 solid days of my life

I have left off Civ IV, Civ III and Alpha Centuari because they were before the days of steam. And Civ I & II doesnt count as they werent published by Firaxis. But all three will be comparable to the top of the list.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

I really hope the Lost and Abandoned doesn't play out the same every time and Templars can become one of the factions there.

You might be disappointed then. I get the impression that Lost and Abandoned is a scripted mission designed to introduce players to the new concepts in the expansion. Since it is scripted, I am thinking it will always feature the reapers and skirmishers. The next live stream will feature the warlock and the templars. So I am thinking there is a separate scripted mission to introduce the templars.

Other than that, the expansion really looks awesome. There has been some backlash about the pricem but I don't think 40 € is that unreasonable compared to Enemy Within. I also don't mind paying more for Firaxis games that I play for literally hundreds of hours.

I agree about the price being reasonable. There is a lot of new content to justify the price IMO.

 

[Ailedhoo]

I think the scenario "Lost and Abandoned" may be like the tutorial to 2 of the 3 factions; the third, the Templars, may be saved for... I guess we will see.

What I am especilly wondering though is the Priests:



What psi powers will they have? Mind control? Panic? A rift attack? A inspire ability for ADVENT troopers?

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Jake just had an embarrassing game crash during the xcom2 live stream just now. LOL

 

[Ailedhoo]

We have sights on the Hunter!

It will be interesting to face a enemy sniper.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

We have sights on the Hunter!

It will be interesting to face a enemy sniper.

I feel like game balance might be tricky because of how powerful a sniper class can me. The fact that the player will get 1 turn to move their soldier before they get sniped and also that the hunter often shoots to immobilize rather than kill your soldiers outright, will be 2 ways that the hunter will be balanced. Plus, we will probably be able to revive soldiers that get hit by the hunter's tranquilizer darts.

 

[Ailedhoo]

Trailer on the new enemy troops:

Special mention to the pious posing of the Priest.

 

[sherbz]

There are two Youtubers who have been given early access to War of the chosen and are Lets playing it (there might be more, but these are two that i watch). Marbozir and Christopher Odd if anyone wants to check them out. I am half keen and half put off by these. I kind of want to experience the game myself from fresh, but then cant really stop myself from watching out of temptation. Damn me and my curious mind

 

[SupremacyKing2]

There are two Youtubers who have been given early access to War of the chosen and are Lets playing it (there might be more, but these are two that i watch). Marbozir and Christopher Odd if anyone wants to check them out. I am half keen and half put off by these. I kind of want to experience the game myself from fresh, but then cant really stop myself from watching out of temptation. Damn me and my curious mind

I watched Christopher Dodd's part 2 where he plays a new mission type. So far I am very impressed with War of the Chosen. It adds a ton of new stuff and greatly improves the world building and atmosphere of the game.

 

[sherbz]

I watched Christopher Dodd's part 2 where he plays a new mission type. So far I am very impressed with War of the Chosen. It adds a ton of new stuff and greatly improves the world building and atmosphere of the game.

And apparently Solomon has said that they have added so much new stuff in war of the chosen they are using it as the base game for XCOM 3. So i would wager we arent a million miles from that either. After all, Solomon never made enemy within. He made the vanilla enemy unknown and then went on to make XCOM 2, whilst another team played around and made enemy within.

I cant really argue with the price anyway (being that this is essentially a reskin of XCOM2). XCOM is now easily my favourite series in gaming. It has long since surpassed Civ as my go to game. And i got so much from enemy within it was like a different game entirely. So i suspect that this will be no different and better.

Also - loading times have been drastically improved. Yay!

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I've been avoiding all videos after Lost and Abandoned because I want to go into the game as unspoiled as possible, but there are already some reviews.
RPS recommends it.
TLDR:
Pros: Adds tons of stuff and a lot more variety. New skill system makes soldiers more unique and forces you to cycle more through a larger team. There's also more variation in research and build order. Calling the game XCOM 3 wouldn't really be an exaggeration.
Cons: The Chosen aren't integrated that well into the story after you defeat them. The tone is inconsistent and it starts to resemble more a superhero story than a guerilla war.
Pleasant surprise: Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars start out as pretty OP, but your other soldiers can catch uo through the new skill system and more equipment.


Gamestar (Achtung! German)! has also reviewed it. I only skimmed the review, but they say it's worth every cent and the only cons are a bit too much randomness and that it can be overwhelming sometimes.
For those who like numbers: they gave it 89/100.

I'll definitely get it immediately. Might "preorder" so I can play it at midnight on Tuesday.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

I'm playing it right now. Pretty good.

The first thing I noticed is that performance is much better. Loading times are really short now and scrolling is really smooth.
I'm still early (first month) but I've already completed the Lost and Abandoned mission and had a new old mission type. Well, not really new, it's basically a thematic variation on the bomb defusal missions in Enemy Unknown.

 

[sherbz]

Yea performance is much better. Unless im mistaken, its actually harder this time round on legend. I completed gatecrasher no problems. Then on the next mission i had an assasination. Things were a bit dicey, i JUST about managed to kill the commander, then 2 stun lancers and the psionic advent dude teleport in as reinforcements. There was still one sectoid which was miles away, it raised a zombie, then next turn mind controlled one of my soldiers, and i died. I couldnt get through the HP of 2 stun lancers, the psionic dude and the sectoid. I swear stun lancers never showed up till month 2 in vanilla. Think i might drop down to commander for round 2

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Well, I'm not that hardcore. I just play on comander, and yes, it is onsiderably more difficult. I think a big reason -apart from the chosen and new enemy types- is that with the fatigue and covert ops, your soldiers level up much slower. I just fought my first retaliation mission with Berserkers (and the Assassin showed up) and don't even just got a captain for the second squad size upgrade. It was quickly "turning into a massacre", At least there were allied resistance fighers. They're not great, but I've seen them kill at least three mutons and two berserkers. I had to grin when a wounded muton ran away from me and some guy with a crappy assault rifle hunted it down.
I also really like the interface improvements.

I couldnt get through the HP of 2 stun lancers, the psionic dude and the sectoid. I swear stun lancers never showed up till month 2 in vanilla. Think i might drop down to commander for round 2

I've seen stun lancers in vanilla appear during the first month. Very rarely they would be part of a reinforcement squad. I don't think I've seen mutons appear as early they do now.

 

[sherbz]

Yea - two 8 HP stun lancers, a 10 HP advent psionic guy and a 10HP sectoid is enough to ruin anyones day in the first month. Especially when you only have 4 soldiers.

Im liking it so far. I think the reaper card that guarantees a kill on the lost is pretty game changing. Sharpshooters are also much more useful now. They rule against lost with the between the eyes perk. Draganova is also really good. Her sniper rifle is as lethal at close range as it is at long range. And her movement is godly. Not sure about Mox so far. His pull attack is only a bit better than a sword. And his gun is a bit crappy.

 

[ls612]

IMO legend is actually easier. Reapers trivialize many missions with shadow and remote start early game, and the hardest missions in the vanilla early game such as the first council mission, have been removed or changed. I just got plated armor in early May so I'm about to enter the mid game, which I've heard has become much harder once you start fighting all three chosen.