Why should I have to watch streams to understand what's going on in a game? Anyway, the first two weren't really complaints just so much as silly observations. The last one was not explained at all in game and the fact that some abilities can still be used after a dash and some can't doesn't make it entirely clear which ones that apply to. And yeah, the difficulty wasn't much of a complaint. I know it'll not only get harder beyond the first couple of missions but that there are other difficulties. I was just comparing the scripted first scene where a few sectoids nearly wipe out a whole squad with single shots. And the second mission where the soldiers can take a few hits without much trouble.
From what I've seen in developer interviews, while they want to be very clear about what abilities your soldiers have and how to use them, they want to let first time players figure out the alien's abilities through observation, autopsies, and interrogation.
My thoughts on the demo are mixed.
The interface took some getting used to, but the tutorial was comprehensive so after the first mission it felt pretty comfortable (the new system of hotkeys is certainly faster than the original's wall of buttons). I found myself trying to double-click some of the action buttons for activation, but I quickly realized why they had a separate confirm button (instant confirmation can still be achieved by double tapping the number of the command), as in some cases a quick activation could lead to throwing a grenade or firing a rocket at your feet. In a game where turns should be thought out and a single misstep can be punished with anything between a permanently dead soldier and a total party wipe it's a pretty good idea. The tooltips and more info buttons were excellent examples of clear gameplay (the good kind of "accessability). I could break down precisely why my soldier had a given chance to hit and crit chance.
The "frills" (cutscenes, voiceacting, graphics, and animations) really captured what I imagined was happening in the original X-COM. I'll agree about the lack of soldier accents, but given that we've already seen people bitching about the 20 gb install it might not be worth the extra 5-10 gb for all of the additional combinations, so along with realtime physics based building destruction that might be the only X-COM dream that's still impractical. Also, if the game receives voiceacting for the EFIGS + Polish and Russian translations, it should be possible for modders to hack in extra soldier voice sets. I'd probably be cooler to hear the soldiers gloating, boasting, cowering, and panicking in their native tongue instead of a (possibly racist) accent. The writing was cheesy, but it's
pretty much what I'd expect it to sound like if the original had voiceacted cutscenes (I'd also like to know whether you'd prefer your superior to pump you up with the line "You're our third line of defense, after the Air Force and Navy but before the Army, Marines, and Coast Guard").
The gameplay was the best and worst part: best because it captured the tension of the original while cutting back on the micromanagement (in the original, I would sometimes find myself choosing options that involved less menu fiddling over options that were more strategically sound), worst because there was so little of it. I had to ask myself whether I wanted to use my action points to shoot or get to cover, had my cover repeatedly blown up by plasma, and got to indiscriminately level areas of the map with explosives. The biggest thing bringing the demo down was the fact that it ended so quickly. I also would have liked if the difficulty slider was more prominent (i.e. somewhere in the game in addition to the .ini file), as I've heard that on classic and impossible things work properly (you die in one hit and aliens don't).
Finally make it to a mission... now I"ll get to control my-... more tutorial... on how... to open... doors... and climb ladders... Okay maybe now...
To be fair, opening doors quietly vs. bursting in is a one sentence explanation of gameplay element you might otherwise not be aware of and knowing what scenery objects are climbable is probably the most important element of sniper play pre-grapple upgrade. Both of these are in a tutorial that is skippable in the full game, though you're right that the demo should have consisted of more than the tutorial and they should be well aware of this.
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Topic: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (New by Firaxis) (Read 961451 times)