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[Sowelu]

I'm guessing that oversized hexes = you can move through a friendly-occupied hex.  Takes a LOT of annoyance out of the game.

[LoSboccacc]

sadly the screenshot show wilderness and not a city landscape.

I hope destructible terrain means breaching trough wall and not destroying props on ground.
Only time will tell...

[Dohon]

I found some information. A few guys have bought the digital magazine and have posted a bit about it.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=34170644#post34170644

What I've read is

•randomly generated missions, terrain. Developer says you'll never play the exact same mission twice outside of a few story missions which feature in-game cinematics
•fog of war is confirmed. area starts off with darkness everywhere, and the average soldier can't see shit
•enemy spawns are randomized
•mobile platform called SHIV; customizable for new chasis
•Sectoids and Mutons confirmed
•The base's screenshot is accurate. It is now a side shot instead of top down. You can also upgrade your base, like the satellite, with alien technology
•There was an example in one scenario where Japan had the laser rifle already developed before the invasion because they felt threatened, so that seems random.
•You have 16 countries in the funding council you need to keep happy. Some provide more money, but others, like Africa, provide more raw resources
•The sniper units have a grappling hook ability to get on top of buildings
•Gunners have a suppressing fire
•you can equip your xcom guys with all kinds of different guns. customization looks like a big deal
•Apparently there's some sort of cinematic view when your guys get killed. They didn't cite VATS or anything, so I doubt it's too in depth
•Unexperienced agents can panic, freak out, etc if something bad happens
•Firaxis designer states that the PC version will have an enhanced interface. He cites Dragon Age: Origins on PC and console as a big inspiration
•Destructible environments
•In the scenario they showed, one member died. Because of this the other squadmates didn't get an experience bonus
•Without the bonus, the sniper leveled up still. He was able to choose from two abilities. Either Squad Sight(which means he can shoot anything a squadmate can see) and Snap Shot(which lets him shoot after moving. Something snipers aren't normally allowed to do)
•You can't recruit specific classes. You can only recruit rookies and then level them up to become specific classes
•The guys in suits in the screenshots are 'Thin Man' aliens. They're able to leap long distances
•Challenge is stressed a lot
•same quick save/load system though they are considering an iron man type mode where you can't load previous saves
•Firaxis states that they're not rebooting it, they're re imagining it. Using the same core gameplay with modern technology, weapons, audiovisuals, etc.

http://www.goldhawkinteractive.com/forums/showthread.php?622-Firaxis-Games-XCOM-Enemy-Unknown-announced!&p=7296&viewfull=1#post7296

I got the digital version of GameInformer and looked up their article about it. It... to be honest, it looks so radically different, I can't really be enthused about it.

To answer questions re: the single base theory. From the article:

They also state that the 2k Marin game is officially a prequel to this one, however they're going to work that. The three aliens we see in the demo shots are Sectoids, Mutons (which look like they're wearing armor plucked from Warhammer 40k), Cyberdiscs (which have to change into a bipedal form to attack), and Thin Men (based on the Slender Man mythos stories).

During gameplay, nations of the funding council will make direct requests of X-COM. The example they use is Japan asking for some laser rifles in exchange for a group of 6 engineers. You can also earn bonuses for having complete satellite coverage, the example given is "raw resources" for having coverage of Africa, since the nations there are rather poor financially.

Squads of soldiers will consist of only 4 members. And that's all you get, until you somehow research the ability to send in more troops on a mission. To me, this loses one of the main strategy elements of X-COM, which was grouping your soldiers together once out of the transport and using various squads to do different things. Only having 4 team members is going to make firefights extremely difficult.

As far as battle tactics go: They're getting rid of Time Units entirely. Instead, each soldier or enemy gets to move, and then do an action. Different classes of soldiers will learn different, and exclusive, special abilities as they level up. The example given is a Sniper-class choosing between Squad Sight (shooting at any alien an ally can see) or Snap Shot (which snipers can't normally do).

Overall, while it does look pretty, the nuts and bolts of the game just don't seem to fit together to make that wonderful blend of strategy that we all loved in the classic X-COM games, so unless things radically change, I don't see myself buying this game in the forseeable future.

I'm not convinced. Far from it. Why get rid of TU's? Why? Argh. I'll reserve further judgement. But I can say that I'm looking forward to Xenonauts a whole lot more.

EDIT: Saw something on the first forum, but wasn't provided with a source, so treat this as a rumour. But ammo has been abstracted. They assume you have enough clips on hand when you reload. Reloading takes a turn though.

I don't like this rumour one bit.

[LoSboccacc]

well, enough for keeping it true.

the everything takes a turn change the game strategy a lot.

I don't wan't to imply that it's better or worse; only quite a lot different.

TU allowed for pretty complex "breach and enter" maneuvers, reaction fire allowed for effective coverage and such; movement/firing phases allow for a less gamey experience and less exploiting of move out of cover, fire, get back to cover.

[Shadowgandor]

The system reminds me of TBS games like Final Fantasy tactics advance, which I liked a lot. It might work for an X-Com game as well

[Virtz]

There's a bit too much I don't like here (assuming that post is true). Putting in classes? A 4-person squad with apparent research required for a bigger squad ("durr, how put more man on plane???")? This seriously puts into question whether they'll be expendable at all. Cause it's like they expect you to win with just 4 people. And they're stressing the use of leveling up with how this gives classes and abilities. And I just don't like overly different classes.

And then there's the apparent single base thing. Not only are you now operating out of one base (probably hard-placed in the US for story consistency with the stupid fps), the side-view is the only view. And as I've mentioned earlier, that doesn't exactly look like something where you can place new rooms. Sounds like you'll only be able to upgrade stuff like in some kinda facebook game. Though maybe they'll let you put some small rooms like storage or something.

Some of the strategy layer tidbits sound interesting (like the trades with countries), but the base and tactical level stuff makes it sound a considerable bit... more casual? Maybe this'll work out in ways totally unknown, but it sounds like it'll be about as similar in gameplay as the UFO After* series.

But there's always Xenonauts for similar gameplay, so I'm still kinda curious how this turns out in the end.

[GlyphGryph]

Bluh, CLASSES.

I fucking hate classes. And story missions?

Now, this is Firaxis we're talking about, I'm sure it will be alright, but that description makes it sound less like X-Com than Valkyria Chronicles was. At least that game allowed to do a variety of actions on the same turn.

So, really? Classes? Levels? Bonuses? Class-locked equipment? Mandatory story missions? Gag.
And yeah, it sounds like they're completely removing the base construction+defense management, and probably most of the other base stuff. Meh, I guess it was a fairly small portion of the game, truth by told.

I mean, I'm sure it will still be a good game, but it sounds a whole lot like all those turn based games I don't play because I find them incredibly boring. Eh. We'll see.

As to the four-man squad thing, it may just be that your starting craft only has four seats. Hopefully that's all it is, anyway...

[LoSboccacc]

I dont think classes restriction are that bad.

doesn't seem by the press material that there will be item restriction but 'specialization bonuses', not unlike the fallout perks.

[lordcooper]

I actually quite like most of those points.  There are a few I'm unsure about and one or two I actively dislike, but the rest could work out pretty well IMO.  Between this and Xenonauts we're pretty much guaranteed at least one great game and one that mimics the original on almost every level, so I'm actually pretty damn glad they're mixing things up a bit.

[Domenique]

No TU's...
I died inside a little.

[Mephansteras]

I'm ok with most of that, although I'm not sure they are good choices. Not having TU's does seem like it'd reduce the strategy a bit, though. And only 4 people on a team? That's just rubbish. Early on the fact that you had two squads worth going into battle was one of the only things that let you win. Having permadeath on soldiers is cool, but it works much better if you've got a decent pool of soldiers to work with. Only having 4 really limits how much can go wrong in a battle without it becoming a fiasco.

[Neonivek]

Also this Xcom is a little bit more racist this time around...

News Flash: Africa has money

[Delta Foxtrot]

Ugh. 4-man squads? Classes? Lore sequel to the FPS? Actions replacing TU's? It doesn't all sound bad though. There seems to be a fair bit of randomization and added intricacy to the founding nations above just giving you cold hard cash. Lowered the expectations but I still look forward to it.

Some good, some bad. But hey, if all else fails, we still have Xenonauts. And if Xenonauts fails, we still have the original.

[GlyphGryph]

I think the thing is more "coverage of different regions provides different bonuses" rather than "africa doesn't have money", though it is a bit odd. Obviously, the bonus for covering North America will be a lifetime supply of hamburgers and french fries, while the bonus for covering asia will be a huge drop in recruitment and manufacturing costs, and the bonus for covering Europe will be a large assortment of fees, taxes, levies, and environmental regulations on your work.

[LoSboccacc]

Also this Xcom is a little bit more racist this time around...

News Flash: Africa has money

News flash: africa money is taken away by megacorps, usually. we get diamond&oil, they get bullets.

Spoiler: the image don't say it all (click to show/hide)

the problem is that even if the region is resource rich, it doesn't profit for it which is... wait, exactly that was stated in the preview. duh.

I'm all against racism, but not up to negating reality.