Post by Tyler Legrand on Nov 19, 2013 18:43:48 GMT
Things that are cool:
- The intro logo movies are now skippable
- I tried the tutorial out and this time it seems to be more extensive; there's a lot of cutscenes I don't remember
- Soldiers now speak different languages instead of just English
- During squad assembly there is now an option to instantly unequip all soldiers not currently on the mission (for the love of Christ yes)
- New toys are cool, especially flashbangs which are great for capturing aliens
- When you upgrade all soldiers to carry two items each, the new toys are even more fun
- Covert operations is a fun diversion
- New hipster human enemies are cool, I laughed at what happens when I tried to stun one of them (suffice it to say, you can't stun them)
- It references Civilization V (and incidentally Civilization V references XCOM)
- I like the really subtle changes in camera orientation during battles; when a reaction shot is activated, the targeted unit is shown in slow-motion first (the camera is in normal overview position) and THEN the camera switches to an over-the-shoulder shot of the shooter; as opposed to switching almost instantly to the OTS shot in the original.
- I also like that you don't ALWAYS get an action-cam when you make a successful killing shot. It means I don't know what to expect each time; as opposed to always getting an action-cam when I get a kill in the original. (except for reaction shots)
Things that aren't so cool:
- I think Thin Men's accuracy got really buffed up for this expansion (i.e. critical hits from a distance against soldiers in cover, just about every other turn). I suppose it's a fair tradeoff for allowing me to have MECs almost as early in the game, but they made my first council mission (i.e. when you face nothing but Thin Men) the hardest mission I ever had so far. I thought I was just getting soft but apparently it's a pretty common complaint. I consider Thin Men almost as much of a threat as Mutons.
- Seekers are cool but pretty easy to kill, unlike Thin Men they don't counter the new MECs I can get so early in the game very well. And it can get pretty dull if they're the last aliens left and you're just waiting for them to come out of stealth.
- After the first council mission though, once I got the MEC, that coupled with my soldiers being able to carry two items each makes me feel a little overpowered for now.
- I don't like how the game loads up the soldiers when you look through them in the Barracks, it appears to be more choppy than in the original
- I don't like how how when a unit gets shot enough that it loses all its health, it takes the shot and returns to standing position, THEN crumples to the ground; as opposed to instantly falling to the ground when it takes a killing shot in the original.
- I still have no incentive to build laboratories, I always build workshops first. I even held off on building the Genetics lab in favor of the Cybernetics lab. (As Cybernetics lab provides adjacency bonus to workshops while Genetics lab gives adjacency bonus to laboratories)
I haven't finished the game yet and apparently the base defense mission will be a blast so there's that to look forward to.
I'm also pretty sure the ending will be the same as in original XCOM:EU but if Mass Effect 3 has taught us anything it's not the ending that matters, it's the journey!
- The intro logo movies are now skippable
- I tried the tutorial out and this time it seems to be more extensive; there's a lot of cutscenes I don't remember
- Soldiers now speak different languages instead of just English
- During squad assembly there is now an option to instantly unequip all soldiers not currently on the mission (for the love of Christ yes)
- New toys are cool, especially flashbangs which are great for capturing aliens
- When you upgrade all soldiers to carry two items each, the new toys are even more fun
- Covert operations is a fun diversion
- New hipster human enemies are cool, I laughed at what happens when I tried to stun one of them (suffice it to say, you can't stun them)
- It references Civilization V (and incidentally Civilization V references XCOM)
- I like the really subtle changes in camera orientation during battles; when a reaction shot is activated, the targeted unit is shown in slow-motion first (the camera is in normal overview position) and THEN the camera switches to an over-the-shoulder shot of the shooter; as opposed to switching almost instantly to the OTS shot in the original.
- I also like that you don't ALWAYS get an action-cam when you make a successful killing shot. It means I don't know what to expect each time; as opposed to always getting an action-cam when I get a kill in the original. (except for reaction shots)
Things that aren't so cool:
- I think Thin Men's accuracy got really buffed up for this expansion (i.e. critical hits from a distance against soldiers in cover, just about every other turn). I suppose it's a fair tradeoff for allowing me to have MECs almost as early in the game, but they made my first council mission (i.e. when you face nothing but Thin Men) the hardest mission I ever had so far. I thought I was just getting soft but apparently it's a pretty common complaint. I consider Thin Men almost as much of a threat as Mutons.
- Seekers are cool but pretty easy to kill, unlike Thin Men they don't counter the new MECs I can get so early in the game very well. And it can get pretty dull if they're the last aliens left and you're just waiting for them to come out of stealth.
- After the first council mission though, once I got the MEC, that coupled with my soldiers being able to carry two items each makes me feel a little overpowered for now.
- I don't like how the game loads up the soldiers when you look through them in the Barracks, it appears to be more choppy than in the original
- I don't like how how when a unit gets shot enough that it loses all its health, it takes the shot and returns to standing position, THEN crumples to the ground; as opposed to instantly falling to the ground when it takes a killing shot in the original.
- I still have no incentive to build laboratories, I always build workshops first. I even held off on building the Genetics lab in favor of the Cybernetics lab. (As Cybernetics lab provides adjacency bonus to workshops while Genetics lab gives adjacency bonus to laboratories)
I haven't finished the game yet and apparently the base defense mission will be a blast so there's that to look forward to.
I'm also pretty sure the ending will be the same as in original XCOM:EU but if Mass Effect 3 has taught us anything it's not the ending that matters, it's the journey!