Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[SOLDIER First]

I'll put you on the front line of my SSFaFP. Right in front. I'll also make you wear a shirt that says

"I can't tell the difference between French and Spanish and I dared to challenge the Commandant's superior command of all human languages"

When we fight the Sectopods, I'll make you charge at them solo with a broken toothpick.

Edit: Also now because of you all my Google ads are MSF asking for my donations. AND I WILL DONATE TO THEM. Because of you.
[/quote]pls dun kil me

[Rolan7]

Terror From the Deep was mostly the first XCOM, but underwater.  Your bases are underwater, most of the aliens are aquatic (though there were missions on coasts and ships where some weapons wouldn't work, and (theoretically) some aliens wouldn't appear). 

Basically you blew up the alien base in Cydonia in X-COM 1, but a decade or so later countless numbers started awakening under the oceans.  Apparently they had visited before, millions of years ago, and cultivated all manner of mythos beasts.  Some, like the floating brain-dome, pretty creepy.

I guess it's actually kinda weird...  Unlike in NewCOM, they never really explain what the aliens were after in OldCOM 1.  OldCOM 2 sorta provided some explanation, if you count "they wanted to twist us into body horror abominations because they're literally Mythos monsters".

> 5 new replies

[LordPorkins]

I mean, to be honest, the etherals seemed a little... shifty. I dont think thy were just looking for a replacement race. We wouldnt have to fight that hard to prove it. I think that was their last-ditch attempt at survival.

[Cthulhu]

I haven't beaten the game yet, so I'll compile my guesses.  Don't answer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Still guessing the forge specimen is doctor vahlen.

I was originally thinking the avatar project was going to convert everyone into gene-paste and use them to build a supergod like Mass Effect's reapers did to reproduce.  The forge suggests a lot about all the servitor races, that they're not actual aliens but manufactured from aliens.  I think they're going to harvest humans for their DNA and use it to manufacture a new bespoke servitor race for their next conquest.

[umiman]

I haven't beaten the game yet, so I'll compile my guesses.  Don't answer.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Still guessing the forge specimen is doctor vahlen.

I was originally thinking the avatar project was going to convert everyone into gene-paste and use them to build a supergod like Mass Effect's reapers did to reproduce.  The forge suggests a lot about all the servitor races, that they're not actual aliens but manufactured from aliens.  I think they're going to harvest humans for their DNA and use it to manufacture a new bespoke servitor race for their next conquest.

You're correct on every level.

[Rolan7]

I mean, to be honest, the etherals seemed a little... shifty. I dont think thy were just looking for a replacement race. We wouldnt have to fight that hard to prove it. I think that was their last-ditch attempt at survival.

I haven't beaten NewCOM 2 yet so I don't know what Avatar is.  But...  I feel pretty confident about my interpretation of NewCOM 1.  The Ethereals served some unknown entity that wanted a perfect race, a blend of psionics and toughness.  The ethereals failed, they were too frail.  The other races failed due to insufficient psi power, or the sectoids being weak in body AND mind.  Human DNA seems to hit some idea middle ground, one they were unable to reproduce (by, saying, mixing a muton with a sectoid or ethereal).

So they wanted our genes.  That's why they abducted so many people, and experimented with human psionics.  Their human psi captives had abilities beyond even the Volunteer, by the way. 

After NewCOM 1 I thought they wanted humanity as a slave race, mostly intact except for some tweaks.  NewCOM 2 goes in a different direction - using those amazing human genes to enhance the existing races, most notably the sectoids.  I get the impression that new sectoids are almost half human, even.  And I'm sure the Avatar project is a continuation of that, some sort of ideal human-alien hybrid with JUST the right mix of physical stamina, reflexes, and most importantly psi ability.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Again, I'm pretty sure it's this timeline's version of the Volunteer.

I'm tempted to let my current, very suboptimal run fail.  Just to see what it looks like.  Though I bet they don't actually show it off much in the failure ending...

[Rolan7]

Hey, that's a spoiler.

[umiman]

I mean, to be honest, the etherals seemed a little... shifty. I dont think thy were just looking for a replacement race. We wouldnt have to fight that hard to prove it. I think that was their last-ditch attempt at survival.

I haven't beaten NewCOM 2 yet so I don't know what Avatar is.  But...  I feel pretty confident about my interpretation of NewCOM 1.  The Ethereals served some unknown entity that wanted a perfect race, a blend of psionics and toughness.  The ethereals failed, they were too frail.  The other races failed due to insufficient psi power, or the sectoids being weak in body AND mind.  Human DNA seems to hit some idea middle ground, one they were unable to reproduce (by, saying, mixing a muton with a sectoid or ethereal).

So they wanted our genes.  That's why they abducted so many people, and experimented with human psionics.  Their human psi captives had abilities beyond even the Volunteer, by the way. 

After NewCOM 1 I thought they wanted humanity as a slave race, mostly intact except for some tweaks.  NewCOM 2 goes in a different direction - using those amazing human genes to enhance the existing races, most notably the sectoids.  I get the impression that new sectoids are almost half human, even.  And I'm sure the Avatar project is a continuation of that, some sort of ideal human-alien hybrid with JUST the right mix of physical stamina, reflexes, and most importantly psi ability.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Again, I'm pretty sure it's this timeline's version of the Volunteer.

I'm tempted to let my current, very suboptimal run fail.  Just to see what it looks like.  Though I bet they don't actually show it off much in the failure ending...

You're also correct on every level.

[Neonivek]

I thought the sectoids only failed on Body.

[Rolan7]

I thought the sectoids only failed on Body.

You're probably right, I bet the Uber Ethereal only criticized their body.
But, they're mentally weak compared to ethereals.  Whereas humans measure up to Ethereals, if the ability to cast Rift is a sign.

Also, I just thought of another point-  The aliens used their human experiments when doing the base assault.  Why not just use Ethereals?  Humans must have more psi potential than even the specialized Ethereal race.

[Neonivek]

The Etherials don't treat Etherials as expendable.

[Reverie]

Okay so...this game's performance atm is, indeed, crap. It probably doesn't help that this is the Mac port, which probably uses OpenGL in lieu of DirectX :/
I could either wait until they release a patch that cleans up performance a bit, or redownload the entire thing in Windows to play there (or both), but it's kind of disappointing anyway.
Edit: This is really strange, actually. Like, the first game ran nicely even on Mac, and it doesn't look like there was much improvement graphics-wise for the sequel. Is it all just poor optimisation?

[umiman]

I thought the sectoids only failed on Body.

The Ethdudes also said they were cowardly / cruel or something like that. Don't really remember.

[Rolan7]

Okay so...this game's performance atm is, indeed, crap. It probably doesn't help that this is the Mac port, which probably uses OpenGL in lieu of DirectX :/
I could either wait until they release a patch that cleans up performance a bit, or redownload the entire thing in Windows to play there (or both), but it's kind of disappointing anyway.

I'm sure you already tried lowering settings, but people are saying that the anti-aliasing in general is a major hit.

I honestly wouldn't have known OpenGL was even a thing anymore, except I saw it in Euro Truck Simulator recently.

Also don't forget to tap caps-lock during the loading screens
no really...

[Reverie]

Okay so...this game's performance atm is, indeed, crap. It probably doesn't help that this is the Mac port, which probably uses OpenGL in lieu of DirectX :/
I could either wait until they release a patch that cleans up performance a bit, or redownload the entire thing in Windows to play there (or both), but it's kind of disappointing anyway.

I'm sure you already tried lowering settings, but people are saying that the anti-aliasing in general is a major hit.

I honestly wouldn't have known OpenGL was even a thing anymore, except I saw it in Euro Truck Simulator recently.

Also don't forget to tap caps-lock during the loading screens
no really...

Yeah, DirectX is a proprietary Windows thing. Also, caps-lock during loading screens?