Because Giant Robots. Also, X-COM. Everything X-COM is good. Piecewise's Adventures in X-COM (and some other people and a couple Let's Plays) have convinced me to get the game finally. And I have. What an amazing game.
Me After the First Few Missions: This really isn't that bad. Take cover, get Meld, shoot aliens. PW's either overreacting or just bad at this game, maybe-
Instead of 'Enemy Unknown' or 'Enemy Within', Firaxis should just call it "X-COM: What A Bunch of Bullshit, Look At All This Fucking Bullshit That's Happening Right Now."
I haven't played a game with so much satisfaction potential in a long time. It's the way you spend missions hiding in fear from Cyberdiscs and Mechtoids, who I used to think were the worst things ever, until you upgrade and suddenly your soldiers become the harbingers of death.
One thing I should have realized was that Interceptors should be everywhere. That's how I lost Germany and Japan. Eh, didn't need those guys anyways.
Lost Soldiers:
First soldier I lost was a Russian Support, who got sniped by an Outsider.
Second was a heavily upgraded British Assault in my first encounter with a Cyberdisc. The very first attack I ever saw a Cyberdisc make, was a critical hit that did 14 damage, instantly killed him.
Finally, one of the Squaddies, a French Sniper, who I took along on a Terror Mission to train her. Bad idea. Oh well, I still have enough snipers left over. And is it just me, or are French soldiers not very good in this game? I know it's purely coincidental, but everyone I've seen play the game always ends up with bad luck French soldiers, as opposed to the 'Save Yo' Ass' Russians or 'Wreck That Shit' Americans or 'Why is Everyone Dying Guess I Have To Be The Team Sentential' South Africans.
Classes:
Assault - Always can use them, since 'Run & Gun' is fantastic. Rapid Fire is Boss too. Also, defending a certain point with an Assault that has Close Combat Specialist while hordes of enemies come right up to your face? Incredible. But my favorite ability is Lightning Reflexes, as that negates out Overwatches. The Assault Class is a pretty good guy who runs up and kills aliens and doesn't afraid of anything.
Heavy - Why do people think that the Heavy's are useless? Oh, they're inaccurate and don't do much more damage than Assaults or Supports. The fuck? First off, give your Heavies Scopes. Snipers are supposed to have Scopes though, right? I disagree, since they can have insane Aiming skills anyways. After you supplement their ability to hit, let's look at what they have. First off, Heavy guns do 1-3 more damage than their normal counterparts. That's a big deal, considering how many times I've shoot an alien, only for them to have a sliver of health back, meaning they were still able to either run away or shoot back their next turn. Holo-targeting is great, so even if you miss a shot, it's still worth taking one. And then HEAT Ammo. This one ability ended my fear of Cyberdiscs and Mechtoids, as a couple Heavies, especially with at least one back-up shooter, could take down any robots. And then they have Rockets. Enemies love to cluster together, especially in similar groups. One move, which is almost always completely accurate, and you injure all of them instantly. And then Rocketeer gives you another Rocket. Man, these guys are underrated.
Support - I thought these guys were mediocre to start out with. Smoke Grenades, wooooo....And then Field Medic makes them the line between life and death. I didn't even remember about Savior. As always, Medics rule.
Sniper - Almost overpowered. They can hit everything. Usually can kill it. But what about their 'No Shooting After Moving' Restriction? Pistols. Pistols are great. Sniper's can finish off wounded aliens, and then their accuracy means they'll most likely hit even at longer ranges. Or you could just get Snap Shot. Headshot is useful and all, and I thought Deep Cover was their ultimate ability. But then Double Tap. Then everything instantly dies all the time. Everywhere.
MECs - Not as badass as I initially thought. Then have a lot of Health, but not enough of it that they can charge out into the open and take every shot. No cover is a big issue too, and they don't have great aim. Using a MEC seems more problematic than using a Heavy, in my own opinion. Still, their abilities are really useful, especially Grenade Launcher and Kinetic Shunt. I think Kinetic Shunt alone makes it all worth it. When I first saw one of those CQC Gurren-Lagann-Ass Fighting Animations with the Berserkers and Mechtoids.
Aliens:
Sectoid - Squishy. Their Mind Meld ability makes them even easier to kill in my opinion.
Thinmen - Semi-Dangerous early game, annoying later. Oh boy, 3 Damage Threshold, how terrible. I used to think Poisoning was really bad, until I realized it just goes away on its own pretty quickly. I just went on a Bomb Disposal Mission in Brazil, which consisted entirely of waves of thinmen. If I had known beforehand, I would have brought more Squaddies to train.
Floaters - Somewhat scary in packs, but otherwise just annoying and relatively fragile.
Heavy Floaters - Pretty much the same, as I met them later and had better equipment.
Muton - I view these guys as the 'Regular' enemy. Big and beefy, and they do decent damage.
Berserker - An interesting enemy. They hurt, but unlike the Chrysalid, run at anyone who shoots them. This makes them simultaneously more dangerous yet easier to kill.
Chrysalid - Oh jeez. These were terrifying at first, running up to you and doing tons of damage, and if you killed one, it seems two more would appear the next turn. Much less threatening with upgraded weapons, as Plasma Rifles kill them in one shot, and they can't shoot back.
Zombies - Would be intimidating if they weren't so damn slow. The only thing is that they're tough, so they usually need two good hits to go down.
Cyberdisc - Tons of health, either encased in a defensive shell or doing tons of damage that wipes out half my soldiers health. I find the best strategies for them are using HEAT Ammo, Rapid Fire and Double Tap. That usually takes care of them before they can't pull out the hurt.
Drones - Pistol fodder.
Mechtoid - They have their own MECs, fucking fantastic. Tons of health and damage, always overwatching, and the ability to shoot twice. Well, at least the strategies for the Cyberdisc still work.
Seeker - This is one of the enemy types that they were hyping up for Enemy Within. Not worth it, they're just a nuisance. Even Thinmen are more dangerous in my opinion, as a horde of Thinmen could possibly do damage. These guys die from any Overwatch, and even if they manage to Strangle someone, it just takes one shot to kill them, and they end up dying for delivering two damage and ruining one turn for a single soldiers.
Sectopod - I've seen these in other playthroughs. Don't want to meet them. Please no.
EXALT - Despite all their annoying traits, I think these guys are awesome, at least aesthetically. Sure, they're stupid and can't hurt that bad. But there's just something about a bunch of guys wearing business suits, sunglasses and bandanas, charging the most powerful international force in the world while wielding assault rifles and LMGs. It's like I'm fighting a Rap Song or something. They can get out of hand if you don't deal with them fast when reinforcements start coming.
I just got to their Base. I learned that charging straight through the main door is a bad idea. My best Support died, but that was because the game glitched and wouldn't let her move. So I simply raged and did everything in my power to destroy X-COM. Lost the game in 5 minutes. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.
What I want:
Fix Glitches - Sometimes, my soldiers can't move or any enemy turn lasts forever. This has only happened a couple of times, but in this kind of game, it's dreadful losing all that progress. This is the only one I'm truly concerned with getting implemented, the others are stylistic or minor.
Have Nations Include Missions in Smaller Nearby Countries - I'm pretty sure that England, France, Germany and Russia don't make up all of Europe. Instead of having Missions always taking place only in the large countries, what if some were in the smaller countries not named in-game but included in the Listed Nations. Belgium could be in France, some Eastern European countries could be in Russia, Indochina could be in China, Indonesia and the Philippines could be in Japan's territory, etc.
More Languages - Seriously? Firaxis made Civilization but they don't have enough resources to find people that speak Arabic or Chinese or several of the national language of other nations? Apparently, X-COM takes place in an alternate timeline where only Europeans have different languages. And for that matter...
Accents - This wouldn't be hard to implement either, just a few more voice actors. There's not even this much dialogue in the game, and yet I have English and South African soldiers sounding like they grew up in the Mid-West.