Firaxis Announces XCOM 2!

[irishScott]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/01/xcom-2-announced-ign-first?watch

YES! YES! YES!

Love the first one, have over 100 hours with the Long War Mod, can't wait to see how they make the next one even better! Some might call this blasphemy, but I'm more excited about this than I ever was for the Wild Hunt. Looks like there's going to much more of a plot! AND SWORDS! AND HELICARRIERS!!

 

[Mem]

Cool !!!!!!....XCOM fan here so will be keeping an eye on this one .

 

[CPA]

I'm going to support it just because of the PC exclusivity.

 

[darkewaffle]

Glad to hear it, thought that Enemy Unknown was a great game.

 

[mikeymikec]

So err, continuity?

 

[irishScott]

So err, continuity?

Why not? We defeated the aliens attacking Earth in the first game, nowhere was it said that those were the only aliens.

 

[local]

So it is the logical continuation of the game over screen from the original X-Com? I always wondered why I had to start over after too many governments fell when I was self sufficient.

I hope they add back some of the free form design from the original. The new one felt like it was too stuck on the rails. Maybe they can learn a little from Xenonauts.

I am guessing the base will be the helicarrier so probably limited to one base again.

 

[geforce255]

Loved the first one.

Making the second better will be easy.

Retain the core play, BUT this was supposed to be a global war, yet every city looked identical. Paris and Los Angeles were the same model, same cars, stores, etc. One thing they can do is render the environments to match the location. Think of narrow Hong Kong alleys with no idea what is around the next corner, or Venice full of canals that need to be navigated, New York city with hundred story sky scrapers, etc. These alone will make the game far different.

 

[irishScott]

So it is the logical continuation of the game over screen from the original X-Com? I always wondered why I had to start over after too many governments fell when I was self sufficient.

I hope they add back some of the free form design from the original. The new one felt like it was too stuck on the rails. Maybe they can learn a little from Xenonauts.

I am guessing the base will be the helicarrier so probably limited to one base again.

Not sure, but it certainly could be. Judging by that trailer aliens have infiltrated human society and control the ruling regime under some benevolent guise, and X-Com is the rebellion. Makes sense given that X-Com won the first round, so they try a different approach. Nothing original but could still be interesting.

I'm thinking they'll learn from the Long War Mod in particular. The Firaxes devs have openly endorsed the mod and have been in active communication with the modders.

 

[local]

Not sure, but it certainly could be. Judging by that trailer aliens have infiltrated human society and control the ruling regime under some benevolent guise, and X-Com is the rebellion. Makes sense given that X-Com won the first round, so they try a different approach. Nothing original but could still be interesting.

I'm thinking they'll learn from the Long War Mod in particular. The Firaxes devs have openly endorsed the mod and have been in active communication with the modders.

Good. I tried to get the Long War Mod working but the modding process is horrible and I gave up.

Also, I want more than six guys in a squad. We need meatshields. It is a right of passage for every new trooper to run blindly into a room with a grenade.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Awesome. The first game was really well done, and the expansion was excellent also. Dare I say it, but I actually liked it more than the original.

 

[motsm]

Never cared for their removal of action points. I guess it doesn't really matter now though, since Xenonauts is released.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Awesome. The first game was really well done, and the expansion was excellent also. Dare I say it, but I actually liked it more than the original.

How dare you!
Aw ok it was a great game.

 

[Hinda65]

gimme gimme gimme

 

[Artorias]

I loved the first one and it was such a breath of fresh air, I cant wait for #2.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Both versions of 1 were fun, so I'm looking forward to this too.

I should try the long war mod someday but reading the docs make it seem like they went overboard with complexity for its own sake. 6 unit types not enough? Let's have 60! *


* slight exaggeration. But every aspect had tweaks piled on top of tweaks.

 

[mikeymikec]

I think people have forgotten the Ethereal's speeches at the end of the game to think that the suggestions posted on this thread make any kind of plausible "so therefore" sense.

The Wikipedia entry regarding the sequel says that it takes place x years later after the aliens defeated the human race, which makes only a tiny more bit of sense, but still not really:

Spoiler

http://xcom.wikia.com/wiki/Uber_Ethereal

The final speech to me sounds like prepping a species to 'ascend' and 'prepare them for what lies ahead', as opposed to "meh, let's subjugate everything we encounter, seems like fun, and then we'll bring in a few new species later (ie. game 2)".

If subjugation was going to take a logical path from the first game, the human race would be used as part of a military campaign against the next potential candidate/species. But then, the way the final mission went (with bodies disappearing into thin air despite bodies being left on the planet's surface), it's unclear to the point of WTF as to how these guys wage a military campaign in the first place. The original game (ie. the 1994 one) made 100% sense in this respect IMO.

Why not? We defeated the aliens attacking Earth in the first game, nowhere was it said that those were the only aliens.

I think you've been watching too many Hollywood sequels to think that's plausible. Humanity encounters aliens for the first time,

Spoiler

there's a freaking huge cloaked ship in orbit

and UFOs buzzing around all over the planet, and meanwhile there was another group of aliens with a bloody grand/obvious intention yet that had no effect/influence on the original game or apparent interaction with the ones from the first game.

 

[mikeymikec]

Awesome. The first game was really well done, and the expansion was excellent also. Dare I say it, but I actually liked it more than the original.

I would agree except the combat bugs were infuriating (less so after the patch, but still irritating); things like an alien appearing then immediately disappearing and appearing again in a closer or further away location. It was truly infuriating originally when I once had all nineteen aliens of a large UFO spawn in one room (before the patch). It made me not want to play the game on anything higher than normal difficulty, or try the expansion pack (which still seems rather expensive given its age and nature being an expansion pack).

The original game by Microprose was a bit irritating in that aliens could mind control units seemingly without any boundaries to their ability; it would have made more sense IMO if the game engine insisted on line of sight between controller and victim (for mind controlling the unit to begin with).

 

[Danwar]

underwhelmed...

when i read the OP title 'XCOM 2' what came to my head was:

Multiple Bases
Base defense (real base defense not scripted like the one in the expansion).
Random generated maps.
bigger squads per mission. (by the trailer it still looks like 4-6 man squads)

from what i can gather this new game is basically a glorified expansion of the first game. avengers flying carrier as a base? (sounds cool , but that leaves base building out of the picture).

Im still gonna buy it nonetheless...

 

[darkewaffle]

Actually procedurally generated maps is one of the big features they're touting.

 

[Artorias]

I'm not sure if I like the procedurally generated maps. I've played a lot of the their first XCOM and rarely encountered the same map twice or ever in a single campaign play through.

I like the handcrafted design more but still soon to say if the quality is going to be worse.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

underwhelmed...

when i read the OP title 'XCOM 2' what came to my head was:

Multiple Bases
Base defense (real base defense not scripted like the one in the expansion).
Random generated maps.
bigger squads per mission. (by the trailer it still looks like 4-6 man squads)

from what i can gather this new game is basically a glorified expansion of the first game. avengers flying carrier as a base? (sounds cool , but that leaves base building out of the picture).

Im still gonna buy it nonetheless...

^^^^this^^^^

 

[irishScott]

I think you've been watching too many Hollywood sequels to think that's plausible. Humanity encounters aliens for the first time,

Spoiler

there's a freaking huge cloaked ship in orbit

and UFOs buzzing around all over the planet, and meanwhile there was another group of aliens with a bloody grand/obvious intention yet that had no effect/influence on the original game or apparent interaction with the ones from the first game.

I think you're letting your cynicism cloud your imagination.

They could also be survivors from the original game, who made their own faction after being released from the Ethereals' control. Given that such a faction would be on the run and cut off, it would make sense for them to go to ground and infiltrate.

Or maybe XCOM 2 takes place 70 years or something after the first game and they explain it all in cut-scenes. Either way there are narratives that could work.

 

[irishScott]

I'm not sure if I like the procedurally generated maps. I've played a lot of the their first XCOM and rarely encountered the same map twice or ever in a single campaign play through.

I like the handcrafted design more but still soon to say if the quality is going to be worse.

Yeah I liked the handcrafting too, but procedural generation could work well if done right. What I'd really like is some line of sight movement indicators (i.e. "if I'm mousing over squares pondering where to move a character, the game would show me all visible aliens that could see my character from that position."). Granted they managed to patch most of the LoS bugs (aliens shooting through walls and whatnot) but even today there's the occasional "WTF NO! NO! NO!" moment. They're rare enough that they don't significantly impact the game, but infuriating when they do happen.

 

[JTsyo]

Wonder if the current XCOM sale on Steam was meant to overlap with this.