Just in case you aren’t quite tired of XCom chatter yet…
We were lucky to have two of our semi-regular panelists (Dave Heron and Jon Shafer) join us on the show, though really we could have probably picked any of our friends at random and had a good chat. Spoilers: We all like the game and have only minor issues with it. Apologies for the sound quality in places – new mics, and Rogers home internet kicked me in the teeth and died part way through, so Michael Hermes deserves credit for not forcing us to do it all over again.
MP3 Link for those few of your who prefer to listen here.
My thoughts on XCom
Rob and Joe Robinson talk XCom
Rob argues in favour of its simpler design (This is a must read essay, btw, that really encapsulates what a few of us have been arguing for years – only better.)
Xbox wired controllers are like $27: http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Wired-Controller-Black/dp/B003ZSN600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350327607&sr=8-1&keywords=xbox+360+wired+controller
Haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but let me say ‘yay!’. Tonight is the first chance I will have had to play more than an hour or two at a time.
…and thanks for posting the link to Rob’s article, Troy — that is a fantastic read. I know a lot of people miss the micromanagement that was typical of strategy games of the ’80s to mid ’90s, but I personally don’t miss most of that stuff. I’m glad time units are gone.
When TMA aired the two shows on Jagged Alliance 2 and JA:BIA some months ago (great shows, both, and I have listened to them several times), I was very tempted to install JA2 again, which I haven’t played since I finished it when it was originally out. But then I remembered the gun and ammo micro mini-game, and the micro movement game, and I talked myself out of it. I regret nothing about playing those games, and that era of strategy gaming, but I think I’m just past it.
I will still play Xenonauts when it is released, though.
A quick point of errata: X-Com actually isn’t available from gog.com. It’s on Steam, though, and several other digital retailers have it. (I bought my copy from direct2drive years ago before they got folded into GameFly.)
GamersGate has it for about $6 and GameFly has it for about $5. Both sites also have Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse as well.
That was a great episode.
You know the honest truth of X-COM is that there too much fiddly moving your units around. It became a bore. Imagine you’ve successfully taken our what you believe are all of the aliens in a city only to find there is one left hiding in ground you previously covered. Now you have go turn by turn moving your soldiers through the level, room by room, floor by floor, and that is terribly unrewarding game play.
There were really great parts of X-COM but the game needed updating to smooth out the rougher bits. I forget who said it was a game of peaks and valleys but those valleys are why I never beat the game.
Zone of War // Oct 18, 2012 at 4:01 pm
[…] will help you. Good luck ! Use your mouse to aim and shoot. Space – air support Esc or P – pauseDefend your base through 14 enemies waves. Many upgrades and air support will help you. Good luck ! …upport will help you. Good luck ! Use your mouse to aim and shoot. Space – air support Esc or P – […]
Amazing podcast, just wish to say that got to agree with almost everything said, special to what was said that xcom followed x-com (94) without begin a prisioner of the original, and that was a good idea, since things that worked there might won´t work as the same now.
I am enjoying the game a lot, I felt that decision carry much more weight (another thing which I agree on what was side, is the need for a slight more long breaks between missions), there is some minor issues (mostly likely will be solved by patchs or mods).