XCOM 2 Reviewed at RPS

JasonPratt · February 08, 2016, 12:51:15 PM

One fun touch is that the game will pick a soldier from the last save on the list, and port him or her into the opening title scene when the game loads (with him or her in cover watching the enemy in the middle distance.)

The game will also create 'mug shots' of whichever soldiers you take on a mission, and display them randomly as part of public alerts in the city advertisements.

IronX · February 08, 2016, 01:35:59 PM

Nice touch (the mug shots). Will have to keep an eye out for them on the next urban mission.

Arctic Blast · February 08, 2016, 10:53:27 PM

Finally figured out that using Flashbang grenades disorients Sectoids, meaning they can't mind control your sniper...who is in high cover...and who then lays waste to your entire team. :(

SirAndrewD · February 08, 2016, 11:30:01 PM

Quote from: Arctic Blast on February 08, 2016, 10:53:27 PM
Finally figured out that using Flashbang grenades disorients Sectoids, meaning they can't mind control your sniper...who is in high cover...and who then lays waste to your entire team. :(

Ha! It's funny cause it's true.

Wait till a codex clones itself, disables all your weapons on all six of you team and a berzerker or three runs into your ranks after you just make your first move.

Windigo · February 09, 2016, 12:16:11 AM

or when you rush/slash a muton.... I cried over the results.... FU** YOU! Alien Scum Overlords.

JasonPratt · February 09, 2016, 01:41:26 PM

^^ I read that "ravish a mutton".

And I don't even like mutton! But this site, who knows what you deviants get up to... :P :))

I'm far enough to, um, ravish Mutons with a sword, but not far enough to deal with codexes (codices?) and berserkers (unless you mean the ADVENT version of rangers, who run up and slash you).

In fact I only raided my first Avatar base last night (because I got into a no-win strategic situation in my first game and restarted the whole campaign). I haven't even done the first Blacksite mission, in my rush to gear up for delaying the Avatar project! -- that's next, this afternoon.

I even Shadowplay recorded it so I could take screenshots later for the Screenshot thread, and got a flawless victory (no damage to my troops). But then I learned Shadowplay hadn't activated. Nvidia, sigh. This is why for my 'official' AARs I always visually confirm there's a new file being made by Shadowplay before I continue. This time I started while still in the game, and didn't quit or risk a crash by tabbing out to check.

undercovergeek · February 09, 2016, 03:21:58 PM

theres a new mod that starts the countdown of doom only after youve broken concealment - seems like a fair compromise

Windigo · February 09, 2016, 03:34:26 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on February 09, 2016, 01:41:26 PM
^^ I read that "ravish a mutton".

And I don't even like mutton! But this site, who knows what you deviants get up to... :P :))

I'm far enough to, um, ravish Mutons with a sword, but not far enough to deal with codexes (codices?) and berserkers (unless you mean the ADVENT version of rangers, who run up and slash you).

In fact I only raided my first Avatar base last night (because I got into a no-win strategic situation in my first game and restarted the whole campaign). I haven't even done the first Blacksite mission, in my rush to gear up for delaying the Avatar project! -- that's next, this afternoon.

I even Shadowplay recorded it so I could take screenshots later for the Screenshot thread, and got a flawless victory (no damage to my troops). But then I learned Shadowplay hadn't activated. Nvidia, sigh. This is why for my 'official' AARs I always visually confirm there's a new file being made by Shadowplay before I continue. This time I started while still in the game, and didn't quit or risk a crash by tabbing out to check.

flashbangs work on Codex too

Capn Darwin · February 09, 2016, 03:46:53 PM

I carry 1 flash bang, 1 mimic, 2 scanners right now and just added troop #6 to the posse so another mimic may be on tap. My specialist has the scan perk as well. I like knowing where the bad guys are. O0

JasonPratt · February 09, 2016, 04:40:09 PM

I haven't tried the scan yet, but I seem to recall in XC1 scanning activated any found clusters of bad guys. Is that true for XC2? -- or true if someone on your team isn't in concealment anymore?

Because I'd rather rely on positional audio cues sometimes than to trigger a response before I'm ready to deal with them.

Perhaps relatedly, I hacked a turret in that first base mission, and it spotted two (out of three) sectoids hanging around nearby. I wasn't sure how long my possession of the turret would last so I went ahead and opened fire, but detecting them with the turret didn't trigger them. Opening fire on them did. Of course my team was still in concealment up to then (and the ranger with Phantom remained that way afterward).

Windigo · February 09, 2016, 04:44:53 PM

So last night I went looking for the Long War Studios mods for XCOM2. No biggie right?

Whelp, I saw that they also had a feature on their front page of the Devs of XCOM2 as Soldiers and you could download them into your game. Curiosity said "maybe there is a hot girl soldier..."

Interestingly there is a soldier with a nickname Wendigo near the top of their pile, but what made me really go WTH was their Dev Soldier with a Canadian Patch... I found my doppelganger. And he is handsome XCOM soldier model.

Nefaro · February 09, 2016, 05:58:27 PM

LOL @ the character biography.

Queeg · February 10, 2016, 03:34:55 PM

Quote from: JasonPratt on February 08, 2016, 12:49:00 PM

And while I find the timed missions annoying, I agree they do fit the milieu. During this playthrough I've been dealt significantly less such timed missions (was there a patch I didn't notice?? -- or just the randomizer coming out more evenly this time?), and that has made a world of difference in my enjoyment of it.

How frequent/irritating are timed missions? That's the one thing holding me back from buying this. (I'm of the general opinion that the "special place in Hell" that Madeleine Albright referred to recently actually should be reserved for lazy game designers who stoop to timed missions - but maybe this game could be an exception.)

IronX · February 10, 2016, 03:41:51 PM

My perception is that roughly 50% of the missions are timed, although it could be less. There are plenty of them, they are a PITA, and they continue throughout the campaign.

Windigo · February 10, 2016, 04:04:23 PM

The timed missions are not that difficult - IMO they add another interesting dynamic to the game play (and sheparding your troopers through the mission trying to get a flawless win). If you are negative on timed missions drop down a level of difficulty then and you'll get more turns, or there's a mod for fine-tuning the turn clock.