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[BFEL]

Still better then Mass Effect 3

[SOLDIER First]

"ADVENT IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND COMING OF GOD, XCOM ARE TERRORISTS, AND EVERY TIME YOU SAVESCUM THE ENTIRETY OF XCOM REMEMBERS IT BUT DOESN'T ACKNOWLEDGE IT AND LIVES WITH THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE SEEN THEIR COMRADES DIE HUNDREDS OF TIMES OVER, MAKING THEIR MENTAL AGE MUCH HIGHER THAN THEIR REAL AGES AND GIVING THEM ALL EXTREME PTSD.
Now isn't this game fun!?"

[Sensei]

I cant find it, but there was this comic that went like:

Xcom soldier "what, just got right in the door of the UFO? Well, the commander seems to always know these things..."
(Sounds of horrible death) "OH GOD WHY"
(Load Game menu)
"What, just shoot a rocket at the UFO's wall? Right there? Well, the commander seems to always know these things..."

[Rolan7]

"ADVENT IS ACTUALLY THE SECOND COMING OF GOD, XCOM ARE TERRORISTS, AND EVERY TIME YOU SAVESCUM THE ENTIRETY OF XCOM REMEMBERS IT BUT DOESN'T ACKNOWLEDGE IT AND LIVES WITH THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE SEEN THEIR COMRADES DIE HUNDREDS OF TIMES OVER, MAKING THEIR MENTAL AGE MUCH HIGHER THAN THEIR REAL AGES AND GIVING THEM ALL EXTREME PTSD.
Now isn't this game fun!?"

It's only fair, if *I* have to listen to them scream for their children as they die.  Seriously, I love how dark this game is.  I kinda like playing high-loss...

Somewhat frustrated that some people find it so easy (seriously, how could an enemy who teleports into flanking cover on EVERY HIT be EASY) but meh.  Winning easily isn't fun, late-game NewCOM 1 was boring as hell.

[Cthulhu]

Hey, that's a spoiler.

Nah, that's not a spoiler. This is a spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Just joking, this is a spoiler.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

So basically what the ending is is that we find out that the Avatar project is really about the unification of the human mind with the Ethereal hive network (or whatever it's called I don't remember). They need to do this so humanity can be properly subjugated into their armies and blah blah. It's cliched but what can you do. Additionally, the source of this global unification is another one of those guys inside the vat suits who now sits in a secret lab under the ocean.

With no way to access it conventionally, XCOM has to resort to accessing the transdimensional gate into the base of the Network Tower (after fighting the Gigasectopod and mind-controlling the Ethereal that was piloting it), Bradford pilots the Avenger into the gate and plows into the underwater lab from the inside out. The Avenger is critically damaged and now ocean water is flooding into the badly-damaged underwater lab. However, we find out the lab is actually an entire alien city that's been submerged underwater for who knows how long.

So the final XCOM challenge begins. Bradford has you assign all remaining XCOM troops to assault various parts of the city while you take a final group to push straight through the center where they think the last vat suit guy is. It's an incredible challenge as you fight Ethereals, Sectopods, multiple Overseers, etc. through a neverending gauntlet. As you fight you hear what happens to the rest of the teams you assigned and sent out (it's not good).

The team breaks into the underwater palace and fights all the way to the throne room. There the final vat stands, connected to a huge amount of pipes and wires and all sorts of things that make up the massive long room. In front of the vat stands Dr. Tygan. Bradford and Shen show up from behind your squad and slowly approach Tygan asking him stuff like "how did you get here?", "what are you doing?", and so on.

Tygan looks at you, his eyes glazed over, and then talks about how in the course of his research he discovered the true nature of humans and how what we're doing is tantamount of genetic treason. He goes on about how the Ethereals were right all along but because we were too malicious and blindly cruel, hating with no reason or purpose, and just acting out of pure blind paranoia, we didn't want to accept that perhaps we were in the wrong all along. He then says he was contacted shortly after the incident with the Index brain which told him the truth and what needed to be done. He had to guide XCOM into this underwater prison as they had to be stopped, for the good of mankind.

The vat opens, and lo and behold. There's no one in there. Bradford moves to shoot Tygan in rage but Tygan somehow reflects the bullet (kinda exactly like how an Ethereal does) and Bradford gets hit in his shoulder. Tygan then says goodbye and walks out of the room through a door in the back. Aliens come pouring in from every angle and every side and the squad returns to combat. Here you basically fight what seems to be a neverending battle, killing hordes upon hordes of aliens, all the while getting taunted by Tygan, Ethereals, as well as that alien speaker guy.

After about 10 turns suddenly massive crystaline but plant-type constructs blast through the room and slaughter the remaining aliens (and presumably the entire underwater city). Dr. Vahlen then speaks in your comms chiding you on your stupidity. Everyone is confused and Vahlen says she'll explain when you get to her. The screen cuts to the source of the crystaline / plant things... a massive glowing fault under the ocean.

So you're going to write the ending for the next XCOM, right?

If I actually wrote the ending for the next XCOM, people would rage over how futile their game was.

It'd probably be something like this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

1. Despite the events of the previous game, Advent is just as powerful as it was originally due to how they completely dismantled all of humanity's existing militaries after the initial invasion.
2. The resistance, without the infrastructure and logistics of a powerful standing military of any sort backing them (other than the pathetic ragtag group called XCOM that literally consists of a few dozen people) get completely annihilated by the millions-strong army that is Advent (now unbound).
3. Additionally, after realizing how worthless humanity is and without having to rely on the shackles that bound them in the previous campaign, Advent actually grows in both power and brutality. No longer do they actually have to care about casualties or PR, they unleash their full power upon the hapless humans. Orbital bombardments, viral devastation targeting expectant mothers and newborns, latent genetic bombs within past clinic-goers, nothing is off limits.
4. Every day, thousands upon thousands of humans are culled and disposed of. Entire cities are burned to the ground. The aliens develop atrocity upon atrocity, becoming more and more efficient in the slaughter.
5. XCOM, completely understaffed and incapable of preventing this nightmare, attempt to conduct clandestine raids upon key Alien personnel and infrastructure in the hope they can stem the rising tide.
6. Unfortunately, they realize the futility of their actions as since the Alien numbers are simply too large and even if they assassinated a hundred leaders, there are tens of thousands of leaders across the entire globe. The Advent having evolved into a multi-celled organization which is only united in its purpose of annihilating the human race as revenge for the previous game.
7. Eventually, the Aliens bring in the entirety of their fleet. They obliterate what remains of humanity from orbit while making preparations for departure. They take the genetic information they needed as well as a few hundred thousand test samples with them.
8. As a last gift, the Aliens seed the planet with millions of dormant Chrysalid eggs and massive psi-beacon towers that vaporize any living thing attempting to use psionic ability. Should mankind or life in general ever resurface, the Chrysalids would merely slaughter them all.

Edit:

Though that being said, I think it'd be kinda cool if they did something with saving and loading, and made it a part of the story. I mean, it already is an integral part to everyone's XCOM experience.

Not every game needs to be >so meta

[Flying Dice]

I think that a portion of that is because nuCOM2 requires a very different approach compared to nuCOM: EU, and not everyone is adapting at the same rate. It's still got that core aspect of "try to only activate one pod at a time", but within that paradigm it's all about rushing down the kills because everything is much more lethal and has more nasty ways to fuck you over. In EU there was basically just Thin Man poison, Berserker/'lid insta-kills, and Ethereal mind control. Basically everything else was "it shoots at you" or "it shoots at you, except better/harder/faster/stronger", and occasionally Muton grenades. In other words, it was mostly a few nasty tricks and a lot of stuff that could be countered effectively with creeping, camping, full-cover, and Overwatch.

XCOM 2's combat meta is basically what EU would have been if it had timers and all the enemies had more dangerous versions of those tricks. It's no longer effective to play procedurally and cautiously, you have to just kill everything fucking yesterday before it ruins your day. Hence why four of the five classes have really powerful AoE/multi-target attacks. (One guess which one doesn't; hint: I buffed it).

[Cthulhu]

Even beyond "realism" which is always whatever you want it to mean, accurate swords makes sense.  It makes the sword a situational tool.  The shotgun is safer and when optimized often does more damage, but you might miss.  The sword is a guaranteed kill if he's weak enough but forces you to jump ahead out of cover.

I think it usually falls on the sword just because of the kill everything now angle of the game and all the stuff the ranger gets to stay alive even out of cover, but with inaccuracy the sword feels useless. 

Also mutons and the like can still counterattack you when you have 100% accuracy.

[Aklyon]

I cant find it, but there was this comic that went like:

Xcom soldier "what, just got right in the door of the UFO? Well, the commander seems to always know these things..."
(Sounds of horrible death) "OH GOD WHY"
(Load Game menu)
"What, just shoot a rocket at the UFO's wall? Right there? Well, the commander seems to always know these things..."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Close enough.

[SOLDIER First]

[uses NuCOM pause menu on OldCOM comic]

[Cthulhu]

That armor they have is from nucom.

[Flying Dice]

Also one of the dudes doesn't have Guile hair. That was standard-issue in OldCom for male operators.

[Egan_BW]

Savescumming is a sin.

[SOLDIER First]

it's oldcom STYLED

Savescumming is a sin.

Playing a campaign you know for sure you're going to lose becasue you wiped a squad of your best is stupid.

[AlleeCat]

So are MECs ever a problem for anyone? The first time I encountered a MEC was after I'd gotten Haywire Protocol on my best specialist, and I've never failed a hack on them to take control so far. I just take a specialist with Haywire Protocol eith me on almost every mission now, and whenever I see an enemy MEC, my first thought is "Ooh! They're bringing me presents again!"

I mean worst case scenario, they shoot the hell out of it before it gets a chance to act, and then it's still out of their hands permanently.

[Neonivek]

MECs stronger ability is that they count as advent solders as far as reinforcements are concerned.