Finally beat the game, and without spoiling anything let's say things culminated in a damn tense final push.
So, let's break it down. 6-man squad. One Support, he'd been with us for a good deal of time and was high-ranked, highest of the Supports i had.
One Assault, the longest-serving + still-alive Assault i had, was at Colonel.
Two Heavies, one of whom was the Volunteer, both had Colonel.
And last but not least, two Snipers, one of whom was Colonel but started as a Captain due to being a mission reward though he'd still been through a lot with us, and the other, nicknamed "Nix", who was literally part of the first four-man squad you get at the beginning of the game and had been through every mission to date (excluding one he had to sit out due to injuries), so of course he was my first Colonel.
Now, i'd grown quite fond of Nix from the end of the very first mission, since i gave him that Guile-style hairstyle from the original XCOM (courtesy of me preordering the game) and a full beard and sideburns just to top it off. Throughout the game he'd proven to be an uncanny shot, single-handedly saving everyone's bacon in several instances. I took it upon myself to never, ever let Nix die, no matter what. I did my best to never let anyone die, but Nix was "that one", the go-to guy, the leader of the squad.
So, start of the mission, i'd failed the mission once before so i knew everything up to the Mutons. Dealt with the Sectoids, Drones + Cyberdisks, Floaters and Thin Men with a few hits (i made the mistake of bunching the whole squad in one spot, and a Cyberdisk threw a grenade), but nothing serious. With some finagling and a bit of luck the Mutons were taken out without too much trouble (couple guys still took a bit of damage) as well.
And then, the two Sectopods. I had a feeling i was gonna face them when i saw the open area, but i didn't know they were right there and that there were two of them. I moved everyone up into position, though due to everyone else dashing all i could do was get a Heavy to use a rocket on the Sectopods. On hindsight i shouldn'tve dashed anyone up, instead waiting until everyone was ready, but i didn't think the Sectopods were right there in view from overlooking the room.
Alien's turn, my Support was shot and went into critical, and since he was the only Support there was no way to save him. I got a Heavy to use a Shredder Rocket on the Sectopods, it hit them and took them down a few point more to around half. I alread had both Snipers in place, both could only see one Sectopod each for whatever reason. Nix fires, BAM, one-shotted the first Sectopod thanks to it being Shredded. Other Sniper fires, BAM, one-shotted the other Sectopod. Start moving up, took out those Muton Elites that tried moving up as my Support finally bled out, got everyone assembled outside the final room.
I predicted Ethereals ages ago, but i should've expected the game would send three of the bastards as well as more Muton Elites. Got everyone into cover and shot a few times, tried to figure out how i was gonna make it out of this clusterfuck. I lose my other Sniper (not Nix) to a grenade and pewpewpew and an Ethereal mindcontrols my Assault. I start hammering the Ethereal doing the mindcontrol with pewpewpew of my own plus a somewhat badly-placed Rift by my Volunteer, as well as shooting the Muton Elites.
At some point either that round or the next i take out that Ethereal and one of the Mutons, but the Boss Ethereal zaps my Heavy (not the Volunteer). My Assault got some shots off of her own, but she soon fell as well, so it was just Nix and the Volunteer left huddled together overlooking the room. Finished off the last of the Mutons, but Nix got mindcontrolled, so it was a tense situation with the two Ethereals still left and Nix right behind the Volunteer.
Now, the good thing about having you Sniper mindcontrolled is that Snipers can't shoot for shit at close range, so that left the Volunteer free to try and deal with the Ethereal controlling Nix. He failed, but the mindcontrol wore off after a few rounds (still damn tense those few rounds. Snipers may not have a good chance to hit at close range, but when they're wielding a Plasma Sniper Rifle and your guy's got the same amount of health left that a shot from that Sniper would do in damage, you kind of appreciate every round you make it through) and so Nix shot that Ethereal in the face in revenge, though the Boss Ethereal had moved out of sight so the Volunteer fired a rocket off at where i thought it had gone. The rocket didn't hit as far as i know, but it still made the Boss come back into view.
Two of my guys, one of him. So what does he do, the sneaky bastard? He mindcontrols the Volunteer. With Nix right next to him. That gives Nix one chance to pull this off or the Volunteer will shoot him and then get his health stolen by the Boss, failing the mission. Did i mention i forgot to save at all during the whole mission?
Nix lines up the shot.
Heart's pounding.
Bricks are being shat.
He fires.
CRITICAL. FUCKING. HIT.
Boss goes down, and ending cutscene plays out. Nix and the Volunteer are the only ones left. Volunteer urges Nix back to the Skyranger, moves the Temple ship up into space and explodes it to prevent it from becoming a black hole and destroying the earth, sacrificing himself in the process. Nix is on the Skyranger heading back to base, silently saluting his fallen comrades who gave everything to ensure the mission's success.
I salute you Volunteer, and i salute you Nix.
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Topic: XCOM: Enemy Unknown (New by Firaxis) (Read 960395 times)