XCOM 2

Pyre

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http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/05/why-xcom-2-had-to-be-pc-exclusive
“When we looked at what we wanted to do with the sequel, we had all these very, very ambitious goals,” said Solomon. On his must-have list were high-fidelity characters and environments, better-looking destruction, physically based rendering, and the crown jewel he’d wanted to get into Enemy Unknown but couldn’t: procedurally generated maps. “To do that, we had to use all of our studio expertise … and our expertise here is PC. That's our home, and that's where we're really comfortable.”

Focusing all of Firaxis’ efforts on the PC made logistical sense to DeAngelis, too. “Internally, with a relatively small team for the size of the game that we are, to be able to say we can focus on our platform that the studio has a pedigree for, and that X-COM: UFO Defense has a pedigree for, as PC-only... it just made a lot of sense, and that's how we wanted to dedicate our time.” XCOM 2 runs on a heavily modified version of Unreal Engine 3.5 (Firaxis’ customizations are too extensive to easily move to Unreal 4), which in some ways has been rewritten to the point of being “unrecognizable,” and it’s much simpler to make that work on one platform than three or more at once.

“We talk about ‘What is the experience like on PC? What does the mouse feel like in this experience?’” The most obvious change resulting from those conversations is how the team is optimizing the interface to be mouse-and-keyboard friendly, moving UI elements and grouping them logically so that buttons we’re likely to press one after the other aren’t placed on opposite sides of the screen. “It will certainly be recognizable, but there isn't one UI widget that's the same,” said Solomon. We’ll also see more tactical information (such as detailed explanations of why your chance to hit is increased or decreased) displayed on the tactical interface, since Firaxis can now count on players sitting closer to their PC monitors and being able to read smaller text. And though Firaxis plans to add it in the future, the current plan is to launch without gamepad support.

Of course, the one thing that a console version of XCOM 2 wouldn’t be able to handle at all is modding, which Solomon and DeAngelis consider to be one of it’s biggest features and key to offering the kind of long-term replayablity and value people have come to expect from the makers of Sid Meier’s Civilization. We’ll have more on how Firaxis is embracing modders in XCOM 2 next week.
 

silencer13

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good riddance, so now there's no reason for them to dumb down the game mechanics juz so they can put it on consoles and mobile devices.

Yes! Totally agree!
This need to make games compatible with consoles just makes all the games so dumbed down and monotonous.

I miss my complex PC games with complicated mechanics and gameplay, where you actually had to think before making every move.
 

Pyre

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“People will see the gameplay source, all the scripting,” he promised. “This is the code that makes the game what the game is. Here's the editor and all the assets that went into this game.”

That’s all music to the ears of modders and fans of modding alike – especially since XCOM 2 will have Steam Workshop integration to make browsing, downloading, and installing the mods talented people create a one-click process. Sadly, we seldom see this level of support and open access to a game’s inner workings these days, so it’s terrifically refreshing to hear developers express such enthusiasm for embracing the mod community.

...

When asked what kind of XCOM 2 mods they expect to see, the team had a few ideas:

“We don’t have free-aiming. That will be one of the first mods, and that certainly will be fine,” said Solomon. “Maybe somebody will bring back time units,” he mused. “I'd be fine with that.”

Art Director Greg Foertsch had some words of encouragement for map makers: “If you want to make a completely static level, you can. If you want to make a basically completely procedural level - which is basically what our levels are in the game right now, that's 100% doable. It could be narrow; it could be square. It could be super big. And, again, it's super flexible. There's really no limit – you can do whatever you want. You could literally make an Enemy Unknown map.”

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/08/xcom-2s-exciting-modding-potential-ign-first
 

Pyre

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The new sword-swinging scout of XCOM 2 could be its deadliest class yet.


The Ranger is largely built for close-range combat, hefting a shotgun or assault rifle as a primary weapon. But the Ranger's signature tool will obviously be the machete sword, which introduces melee combat to XCOM. These weapons allow you to upgrade your Ranger for either pure damage dealing or as a fast-moving, agile scout who can move quickly and quietly through rough terrain – and even scale walls.

"One of the things I love doing when I have [the Specialist and the Ranger] together in my playthroughs is I will put the Gremlin on my Ranger so my Ranger's buffed and protected as I go out and scout," said XCOM 2 Lead Producer Garth DeAngelis. "And then, if I can catch an enemy off guard, I go slice things up real quick."

While a stealth approach allows you the first shot, the Ranger doesn’t do backstabbing or throat-cutting style kills. "It's hardcore melee combat," DeAngelis clarified. "We talked a little bit about the backstabbing stuff, but we led with the melee."

Concealment is a big part of XCOM 2 combat, and that can work both for and against the Ranger. “Every unit is in concealment when they start the map; the ranger can push that further, depending on how you spec them out in their specialty tree,” said DeAngelis., and the Ranger is among the best equipped to make the most of the element of surprise. Leaping out of the shadows with a sword to deal a huge amount of damage on the most powerful enemy targets before they know what hit them, or locating enemies for long-range allies can turn the tables on what would have been a losing fight. But once spotted, the close-range nature of the Ranger’s abilities means using them aggressively can leave him out of cover and vulnerable. “So, making that risk/reward choice is very powerful. It's an interesting decision; there's other enemies around you, so you probably don't want to do that.”
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/09/meet-the-xcom-2-ranger-ign-first?watch
 

silencer13

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The new sword-swinging scout of XCOM 2 could be its deadliest class yet.

Fwah! Looks like a suicide class. Sure very high death rate.
For me, range is always my best friend with 2 snipers and critical shot.

Once the aliens come to within hand-to-hand distance it's usually GG for my squad. :eek::eek:
 

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Moi biggest complain with Xcom1 ish that they do not allow us to customize the skill set and class of our soldiers freely. Also not like the idea that you only get to know the class of a new soldier after promotion, a lot of time pray until si pek tu lan when finally get the soldiers that moi like to promote then realize he\she gotten a class that moi not favored for him\her to have.

And although you can choose some skills as you promote through a class, but overall the option ish very limited so you will still end up with soldiers that are roughly the same as all others of the same class. Even those few recruitable special playable characters also don't have much unique traits or skillset to make them stand out compare to the genetic Xcom soldiers. :(

The only true freedom in customization ish in the armor\cosmetic features nia.

Same with the weapons\armors too. Kind of stoopid to limit the accessories (as each add-on\accessories take one up item slot and each soldiers only have 2 items slot nia, so can't bring much). Hope they at least make weapons\armors customization as interesting at like Jagged alliances and those add-on should not take up items slots for the characters mah.

So hope they improve more on this in Xcom2. Give us more customize options and if possible give unique traits and personality that allow each soldiers to be unique in one way or another even if the class ish same mah. Also would want to see more itemization and equipment slots. :(
 

Soulhacker

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Fwah! Looks like a suicide class. Sure very high death rate.
For me, range is always my best friend with 2 snipers and critical shot.

Once the aliens come to within hand-to-hand distance it's usually GG for my squad. :eek::eek:

Moi consider melee to be broken and\or non-existence (Can't even recall got any melee weapon unless you consider that stunt gun or shotgun) in the new Xcom1. Mainly because many aliens melee ish too OP (especially those appear after mid-games) and your Xcom soldiers can't compete with aliens in melee range even with the best armor. Not to mention the only weapon feasible for melee range in that game ish your shotgun. :(

But since they are introducing a melee class now in Xcom2, suspect will have class traits and armor that could boost up the Xcom soldier survivability, not to mention powerful melee weapon.
 

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The Specialist has a versatile role in XCOM’s underground guerrilla warfare. The class skews toward providing support to your squad, but can also be built to focus on objective and enemy control. But both sides of the Specialist’s skill tree serve to enhance its remote-controlled, airborne drone – The Gremlin.

"The Gremlin is thought of as a secondary weapon," said XCOM 2 Art Director Greg Foertsch. "It's not its own unit, but the abilities that you get essentially bring the Gremlin to life. What can the Gremlin do? That's what you're choosing."

The versatility of the flying Gremlin is extended by the fact it can path anywhere, but must be guided and directed by the Specialist as his or her action move for a turn; it doesn't move on it's own. When properly upgraded, you can send it out to hack a terminal remotely, or you might use it to cast an area-of-effect stun attack on the enemy.

"The Specialist is support versus offensive," Foertsch said. "So when you say support: healing, support buffs, boosting stats." For example, you can send your Gremlin to follow your squad’s Ranger and give them protection (presumably less enemy chance to hit) while they scout the terrain.

"Hacking is going to be a prominent tactical gameplay mode that you will encounter on almost every mission type," Foertsch said. "You hack devices, workstations, and you can do that at range with the Gremlin.” Every soldier will have the ability to hack, but only the Specialist will be able to increase their hacking skill quickly, allowing them to hack faster than any other class - and when combined with the Gremlin’s remote hacking power, they could prove indispensable for many missions. They might also be able to activate certain things in the environment that no other character could.
more @ http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/06/10/meet-the-xcom-2-specialist-ign-first?watch
 

Crooni

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i'm so hyped for this, and i've never been hyped about anything, except maybe starwars a little.
 

Soulhacker

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got such things :o

Ish a good thing to know it ish now PC-exclusive.

Cause when moi pray EU and EW always got this feel they thumb thing down a lot (and moi don't mean the difficulty in game, but the gaming system as a whole) until the base management becoming too simplified compare to old Xcom game. The soldier class\ability also like nothing much to train up for, itemization also become too simple and not much thing to research and equip at end game. Not to mention dog flight also simplified until as good as like nothing. Miss the Xcom 3 dog fight like more sexciting to see actual air-craft sexchanging fire with UFO. :(

But heng ish moi still enjoy the tactical part of the game even though still find a lot of thing simplified (like each turn only one atk (two for some class skill) compare to last time AP system you can pew pew pew as long as you got the AP to pew. But compare to old Xcom maybe cause of the simplification and smaller size map the game also become much more faster in pace unlike last time a huge map or a huge UFO crush mission alone can easily eat away few hours of your time.

So hope they overhaul the itemization, class ability and base management, also improve the dog flight if possible but to keep the tactical battle short and sweet. Moi ish don't mind having a few long difficult and big map in story mode to clear but if every random battle also ganna such map sure pray until vomit blood. :(
 
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Pyre

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anbVcTs.jpg
 

tfkmueh

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was pretty disappointed with x-com unknown & within, there are graphical & tactical bug that was nvr addressed until now, not to mention it is quite shallow compared to Apocalypse.

this one is def a miss for me.
 
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