XCOM: Enemy Unknown

[flamingkillamajig]

www.xcom.com/enemyunknown/

This is a game i'm really looking forward to and its main site. Hopefully we can get into more details when the game is released Oct. 9th. If i have the money (which i most likely won't) i will get it. It is currently the game i think i want most or in between that and Aliens: Colonial Marines.

[flamingkillamajig]

Been playing this game and i've gotta say i'm addicted. I'm totally hooked. Usually one poor bastard usually dies per mission (like a red shirt from star trek) and i don't think anybody else dies. However the casualties have taken their toll somewhat. Still i spent my money unwisely early on i think. So far research seems to be going well though. Somehow it seems easier to staff scientists than anything else so far. Interrogation seems to help quite a bit too.

[flamingkillamajig]

I was playing the game and for some odd reason when i won i got the defeat screen. I hate glitches. Still have yet to get a colonel in any playthrough.

[flamingkillamajig]

Ok so updates i beat the game and tried to find some weird stuff (possibly gained from boarding a downed battleship which i couldn't do) so that i could get some odd weapons like psi grenades and that crazy as hell rocket launcher. Unfortunately it took too long and i didn't have the right fighters to take down the battleship the first time because it chose a terrible spot to hover over.

I started a new game on classic difficulty and on ironman mode (for reference classic difficulty is hard difficulty and it's very hard and ironman mode is one save to go on without allowing you to go back) just like emptyhat and after a couple failed attempts i managed to get a good solid working game going with no countries at full panic although one is close. My weapons are all pretty basic but i have a captain, 3 lieutenants and a sergeant i think as well as a squaddie. I'm really trying hard to handle this one. We'll see how it goes. I'd probably do well to invest in better armor. So far my two main strategies in combat are to never face more than 2-3 enemies per guy and to try hitting them where they have few guys. The other one is i am trying to stay in hard cover almost constantly. It's also beneficial not to get too close to your enemies too fast even if your hit rate can go up. You just have to sort of see what moves your enemy can make in your mind before it's their turn. I suppose in a way it's kind of like chess in that respect. That's why usually when i'm making moves it leaves their other guys flailing about without the ability to get in too close too fast. It helps sometimes when they spread themselves too thin as it's harder for them to react and defend. So far in this playthrough i've fought chrysallids (the bug-like aliens), thin men (infiltrator agents), sectoids (little gray aliens), the guys that protect the ships and the jetpack dudes (whatever they're called again). I think that's all i've faced so far but i remember fighting mutons was a serious pain in the ass.

Also my strategy this time around for the game as far as doing stuff goes is to sell the stuff i don't need right away including some ship parts and elerium (i'll probably get more later anyway) and to go heavy on engineers because you need a ton of them to build anything like satellites. So usually if a mission gave engineers early on i did it so i could set some satellites up later (you have to build buildings constantly). For some reason scientists don't seem as useful and i dunno why. You could probably buy labs easier anyway to fix up research time that numbers of scientists do. Also it's helpful that i chose the europe starting position as they give you scientists anyway and they allow construction of labs and workshops to be cheaper and similar things and workshops give you an extra 5 engineers. Really so far it's been working pretty well and i think my starting location helped boost my strategy for all this. Once i get satellites going up around all these countries i may even have some full continental boosts as well and then i'll be in serious money and serious good boosts helping my battle plan even further. So far so good i guess but this can all go downhill in a hurry. I wish there was some way to lessen the chance of critical hits on my guys. Mutons have one shotted my guys. Hell i think even weaker dudes one shotted my guys. I really should get some better armor on my guys.

[flamingkillamajig]

You know what? I was totally wrong. I was pissed off yelling at the game this whole time and you know even at ridiculously good odds (you'll miss 50% or higher shots like 4 times in a row) you end up missing constantly. Classic difficulty by itself is merciless esp. when mutons come out at you in hordes with 10 hp and each one can instant kill each of your guys with better weapons and armor. Hell the one thing you have on them is experience with your guys and each mission is tactically ridiculous. You can be on the high ground behind high cover and still get one shot to death. If you're out in the open or flanked you're dead. Don't even try they'll destroy you. Classic difficulty on iron man mode is there so you can die. Impossible difficulty is there just as a sick joke for the developers. Right now i need to sleep anyway which is probably good as this game had me screaming so loud that my roommate actually told me to quiet down which he's never told me in the 2 years of us living together in the same apartment. This game is hard and it's so so bad.

The final straw for me this game was facing down hordes of mutons or other things that hit successfully from across a grocery store and through their own guys and intervening objects and still hit you. The mutons are insane to face because they kill people easily and are hard to take down. Hell have the time you need the heavy class for rockets in this difficulty. It's pretty much necessary. Just to kill mutons i had to shoot that thing at them and blow up the cars they were leaning up against simultaneously. Even that's terrible as the rockets are now going off course about half the time despite saying 90% hit rate which is total bull shit. The sad thing is i needed to get the whole 'new guy' upgrade from the officer training area and then i need rockets badly. It's just too needed. Not to mention after i botched one mission and all my vets died that was pretty much it. Rookies and even some of the higher up like lieutenants even love to panic and piss their pants. I remember one mission where 2 shot the VIP in the head. As if it isn't enough that they panic but they have to do it even over being hit by poison rather then watching a buddy die. These guys are the biggest pussies i've ever seen. I thought these were all of the world's toughest bad asses banded together in one group. Instead i almost feel like they really are worth the 15 dollars in fake money i buy them for. It's so ridiculous that somebody can hit you with an attack from the other side of a house through light cover and multiple things and this is frequent. I just can't take this shit it's too much. I need a break and i need some sleep. I need to get ready for work in like 4 hours anyway.