Xcom, very late to the party

[lord of the mark]

Just bought from Gamersgate (my first Direct DL purchase of a game) and am fooling around with it. Using this http://www.ufopaedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page as a manual, for now.

[El_Cid]

I would say that that site you are using is going to be more than enough to replace the manual, but if you ever have something you find is missing I have that manual to hand(and a big fat play guide somewhere). I wont give any spoilers - you're going to have to just work it out as you go, it's too good a game to spoil.

but i will give some advice where i can, like the naming of your troops thing, stuff that just makes the game smoother to play. You will have to edit the names of your guys(if you use that system i told you about) as they get better skills btw.

Probably the hardest part is learning to not blow your budget right away, getting some manufactiong on-line to help your income flow, and working out how best to use the UI in the tactical battlemaps. This game came out in that 'in-between' period of gaming where uniform rules over Ui's hadn't been widely adopted and each game would do things it's own way. So it will feel a little cluncky at times, but overall considereing the breadth of the game it does a pretty good job - actualy much better than any of the recent Xcom wannabe remakes.

Go kill some aliens!

[DrSpike]

Good luck LotM - it's a great game, even if you are playing it more than a little late.

[Unimatrix11]

Just recently, i downloaded the Amiga AGA version and played it on WinUAE for a couple of hours. Even for me, the graphics just turned out to be too bad. I remember, i enjoyed ´Terror from the deep´ on my 486´er quite a lot, back in the day.

El Cid: Just wondering - what´s wrong with the newer installments of this franchise? I never tried them, and wonder if i should give it a shot...

[Quillan]

Apocalypse tried to go real-time strategy for the combat, and it's just not as good.

[DrSpike]

You could still play in TB.

[Standup]

I just spotted this and didn't realise they'd been released for XP and Vista. I'm tempted especially after some disappointments like Aftermath but....just not sure about the graphics. I'm not a graphics fiend but having tried a few older games like Railroad Tycoon or Transport Tycoon recently I'm beginning to think some games are best left as fond memories.

[El_Cid]

First up - @LotM, be carefull on that wiki link, just use the sections that deal with game mechanics(how to play etc). All the info about weapons and aliens and plot etc can be considered spoilers!

@Unimatrix11,
Apocalypse changed things too much possibly? from a whole world focus you shifted to a single 'mega city'. And the graphics style is either something you like or not, higer res but a slightly odd 1950's retro car style(think shiney chrome american cars from the 50's). It wasn't a bad game by itself, but it was an odd jump to make in the evolution of Xcom, well it felt that way imho.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/x-com-ufo-defense

The Amiga1200 version was the best looking(higher res) version on home computer, probably the Playstation was the best overall graphicaly but it moved so fast that i felt the natural pace(slow) of the game on the tactical battle maps was lost on that version, it was too easy to blunder quickly into disaster just because it ran that fast(even slowed down).

@ Standup,
The PC version is pretty blocky and on a large full screen monitor doesn't look too smart, but seriously, for those worried about graphics; you dont play this game for that - you play it for the all-encompasing game play and engrossing moments when your last trooper is down to his last few rounds and is freaking out due to the horror of seeing all their team mates getting wasted by some lurking alien brain sucking menace. It's a game that looks soo much better in your minds eye when you play

And the 'wannabes' like Aftermath missed most of what made Xcom great - it really isn't a game about battles(go play Quake/another fps if thats what you want) - it's about the infrastructure behind those battles, it's the building of stuff, the research of all the weird alien tech you pick up from the battlefields, of keeping as much money flowing into the organisation each year.

it's awesome, old graphics or not

[lord of the mark]

Good luck LotM - it's a great game, even if you are playing it more than a little late.

I knew I'd get that response, but seriously, I think this is probably the last 20th century game I really NEED to play. No?

[Unimatrix11]

I dont dare to say - have you ever played Jagged Alliance 2? Though i´d doubt it´s your kind of game - pretty brutal. But apart from that, i think you´d enjoy it immensely. I would think it is the game that won the most awards in ´99 (and one of those, that has countless more or less desastrous pseudo-successors).

[El_Cid]

I knew I'd get that response, but seriously, I think this is probably the last 20th century game I really NEED to play. No?

the 20th century is THE place to game true classic after true classic.

And as Uni mentioned the JA games are good also. they use a very similar battle map to Xcom(isometric/line of fire/turnbased/time unit based) and are probably even more deadly(or each can be as lethal as the other)? I'm still on the first JA game, stuck in my 'must finsih first game before trying second' hole. Great games you should also give a spin if you haven't yet.

[Unimatrix11]

Welcome to Metavira, El_Cid. The only bad thing about the JA-games (and 1.5´s, so to say, title actually was ´deadly games´), is that i have the destinct feeling, that they have got a hell lot more to do with school-shootings than any FPS. Anytime, the killing spree is executed in an obviously sophiticatately planned manner, i think ´Damn - Jagged Alliance, again´. In these games, you do not kill people impulsevely or in self-defence, but you are planing how to do it most efficiently. The whole atmosphere is pretty martialistic - your mercaneries make triumphant comments on their kill-shots, occasionally heads burst and such. This certainly isnt a game-topic that should be served to minors. Normally i am not one of the people who clamour for age-restrictions on video-games, but the JA´s definetealy should not be sold, or in any other way made accessible, to immature people. If they go off to some school-shooting, having played JA can make the difference between 3 or 4 shot and a dozen, IMHO.

El_Cid - i admire how you can still play VGA-games (and below). I just cant make myself do that anymore, except for some very rare exceptions. I wonder, if it wouldnt be possible to have a program, that would universally double (or 3x,4x even 5x - in each dimension) the pixels of low-resolution games and use massive AA to smooth it down. That could make a lot of old games, well, more enjoyable, maybe...

[DrSpike]

I knew I'd get that response, but seriously, I think this is probably the last 20th century game I really NEED to play. No?

Yeah you've got through the rest I think - though maybe not System Shock 2?

El Cid can wax lyrical about classic after classic but the truth is once you take off the rose tinted glasses most old games sucked balls even then, and suck even more balls today in comparison to the strides gaming has made. So you only need to play the true timeless classics.

[El_Cid]

................

El_Cid - i admire how you can still play VGA-games (and below). I just cant make myself do that anymore, except for some very rare exceptions. I wonder, if it wouldnt be possible to have a program, that would universally double (or 3x,4x even 5x - in each dimension) the pixels of low-resolution games and use massive AA to smooth it down. That could make a lot of old games, well, more enjoyable, maybe...

Maybe - i know some guys were doing something with Daggerfall along those lines(improving resolution).
Lol - i started on games with just black and white displays and ASCII only graphic abilities, i''ve seen and played REAL ugly games. Once i hit games that went above 300x200 in 32 colours I really didnt NEED anything more. I get the opposite effect in most of todays HD/Hi-res games. Is this a game or a movie? Am I playing or meant to be watching?: "Uncanny Valley"

As for school shootings and JA. I think it has a lot to do with many factors, the society you're in, the availability of guns probably being more responsible than say a game of JA.

But I do worry, going back to my "uncanny valley" experience in modern gaming, that blurring the distinction between reality and fantasy could be greater on a young impressionable mind now, with the current detail in graphics and the photo-realism of the worlds we play in, than in a rather cartoon pixelated display from 15 years ago, maybe?

Social dis-ease would be my winning ticket for the real causes of these tragic events, but yeah everything around us can help contribute to pushing someone over the edge, a government, a song, a movie, a game even? We are all products of our societies and upbringing.

@Dr Spike - Grim Fandango says "rose tinted glasses - whats that then? Let me introduce you to my friends........"

[lord of the mark]

Yeah you've got through the rest I think - though maybe not System Shock 2?

El Cid can wax lyrical about classic after classic but the truth is once you take off the rose tinted glasses most old games sucked balls even then, and suck even more balls today in comparison to the strides gaming has made. So you only need to play the true timeless classics.

I am thinking I have really done yeoman's duty in playing older FPS. Half Life, Deus Ex, Ghost Recon. Really given that my main gaming interest is still strategy, I need to skip ahead on the FPS or I won't catch up. I was willing to go so far back for X-Com cause it IS strategy, and so iconic at that.