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Julie Greengiant said:
Consider Xenonauts, the "true" successor to X-Com, and how its tactical battles are an absolute slog. Time units is a terrible and outdated system. The two-action system is an incredibly efficient innovation that allows the game to move at a brisk pace. I love X-Com, but I doubt I could go back. Enemy Within promises a strategy layer overhaul, which is really the weak link of the new XCOM.
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I wasn't so much thinking of time units specifically, though I still prefer even that to a system where shooting, then firing is considered a "special ability."

Besides, on the time units vs two-action system, there already exists a best-of-both-worlds alternative: Valkyria Chronicles. You have a movement meter that depletes as you move, and you may take your action any time. It's both simple and tactically versatile. The next X-Com would do well to steal that idea.

But movement method aside, I contend that original X-Com is superior to the remake in a multitude of ways:
*Freedom to accelerate technological growth, provided that you have the funds... and the fact that your personnel actually do have to be paid, so you are getting more or faster production and research in exchange for money. In the new one, you "earn" personnel who never draw a salary and somehow make production cheaper. Silly.
*The UFO-fighting minigame has basically been reduced to a diceroll in the new game.
*The new game almost entirely contrives which enemies you run into and when. Somehow you always magically end up fighting the easy guys first and ramping up to Mutons, Cyberdiscs, etc. In the original you might end up fighting a Cyberdisc on the first mission and just have to escape. You might run into Mutons before you see Floaters. You might make it through a whole game without ever seeing an Ethereal. I like the randomness and the not-cater-to-the-player-ness.
*You're allowed to build more than 1 Skyranger. Tension ramps up in the frequency of attacks, rather than the contrived "somehow there are always 3 terror missions at once and you are only allowed to pick one!"
*Free aim.
*Actual line-of-sight. New game contrives percentages based on no cover, full-cover, half-cover. Realistically, a lot of the shots at a guy in half-cover are physically impossible without destroying the cover, yet the shots will often pass through the wall to hit the target.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things, but those are my biggest gripes.
 
You might want to keep updated on the Enemy Within expansion (more expensive on console unfortunately). They've already announced tweaks to the battle system (elevation, new and evolving enemy types, free aim with the new units, base assaults have been hinted at and are almost a certainty) and the lead designer has said the strategy layer will have major changes. I'm sure there is plenty more to come in the next month. There are definitely some improvements that could be made, but it's a great game that I've invested way more time into than X-Com. This is just a different vision from a different developer for the current gaming generation.
 
Julie Greengiant said:
You might want to keep updated on the Enemy Within expansion (more expensive on console unfortunately). They've already announced tweaks to the battle system (elevation, new and evolving enemy types, free aim with the new units, base assaults have been hinted at and are almost a certainty) and the lead designer has said the strategy layer will have major changes. I'm sure there is plenty more to come in the next month. There are definitely some improvements that could be made, but it's a great game that I've invested way more time into than X-Com. This is just a different vision from a different developer for the current gaming generation.
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Yeah, I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it... in fact I'm sure I'll buy it eventually. It's just whether it's near launch or when it's bargain-bin that's in question.
 
So, there was a two-hour closed beta for Dark Souls 2 this past weekend (Praise the Sun!). I actually got an invite through PSN, but did not respond quickly enough to be one of the lucky 5,000 people to play it. Still, there's now plenty of footage up around the web for people to check out. I'm posting one video below, but there's many more. There were six pre-built characters in the beta: Soldier (average all-around melee), Warrior (big-*** weapons), Sorcerer (magic, duh), Temple Knight (melee and miracles/healing spells), Dual Swordsman (apparently dual-wielding is a better option now than it was last game), and Hunter (bow-based).

By most accounts the game seems even harder overall than the last one, and there have been some interesting mechanics changes.

1. Much like Demon's Souls, being in hollow form means you have reduced life. However, this time you actually have less life for each consecutive time you die! The only way to restore it to max is to reverse hollow.

2. Being in hollow form will no longer prevent you from being invaded (although, if being invaded really annoys you, you can still always play offline).

3. While in another's game, you can now use Estus flasks and pick up items (perhaps facilitating and encouraging jolly cooperation?).

4. Spells now cost stamina to cast in addition to having limited charges. To me this seems like a good move, as I thought sorcery was rather overpowered in Dark Souls. One tradeoff the other way is that two-handing your sorcerer's staff will now increase spell damage in the same way that two-handing melee weapons increases melee damage.

5. There are now healing items other than Estus flasks, but it seems that they take a longer amount of time to use, and that enemies are more aggressive about attacking you when you're trying to heal.

6. Stamina seems to deplete more quickly.

7. The backstab window seems smaller.

8. You get three items slots in each hand instead of two.

9. Some of the stats govern more effects, or simply different effects. For instance, I've heard that attunement now increases casting speed in addition to granting more spell slots.

10. And lots more I'm sure I'm forgetting...

Anyway, for those interested, I'd suggest googling footage of the class you're most interested in and decide what you think of the game so far for yourself. Me, I'm starting to get excited, and the game is still six months out. Aieee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVnqGejWGw
 
Dark Souls 2 bishes. This time I'm getting in on the ground level, so to speak. First day buy my friends.. whos with me?
 
Good news: I am in on the next Dark Souls 2 closed beta network test (PS3 only). They had originally said 30,000 people would get in, now they're saying 90,000.

I'm not sure if all slots have been filled yet. People can try entering this code into their PS3 accounts, it's the same for everyone: 38QQ-8DNE-97AA. The code was first posted about 5 hours ago and is redeemable on a first-come, first-served basis.

I actually had a hell of a time getting it to work. I kept spamming the code as soon as it was posted, but apparently by doing that early on my account got flagged as some sort of spambot, so after I tried it five or ten times or so without success it kept just erroring out on me. After 30 minutes of trying to redeem the code on my account, I was able to create an entirely new PSN account just to get into this beta test, which thankfully worked. I imagine I'll delete the second account after the beta is done.

Anyway, this is primarily meant to be a network test, and with 90,000 people trying to log on at the same time, I may end up not being able to play at all, like in the launch of many MMOs. But hopefully I'll actually get to play it some.

In a somewhat irritating turn, the actual time of the test is scheduled in the wee hours of the morning. For MDT, it runs from midnight to 3:00am on Sunday! Maybe that's a convenient time in Japan or something.

Anyway, if I actually manage to log on and play this thing over the weekend, I'll post some impressions here.
 
AtheistPreacher said:
Good news: I am in on the next Dark Souls 2 closed beta network test (PS3 only). They had originally said 30,000 people would get in, now they're saying 90,000.

I'm not sure if all slots have been filled yet. People can try entering this code into their PS3 accounts, it's the same for everyone: 38QQ-8DNE-97AA. The code was first posted about 5 hours ago and is redeemable on a first-come, first-served basis.

I actually had a hell of a time getting it to work. I kept spamming the code as soon as it was posted, but apparently by doing that early on my account got flagged as some sort of spambot, so after I tried it five or ten times or so without success it kept just erroring out on me. After 30 minutes of trying to redeem the code on my account, I was able to create an entirely new PSN account just to get into this beta test, which thankfully worked. I imagine I'll delete the second account after the beta is done.

Anyway, this is primarily meant to be a network test, and with 90,000 people trying to log on at the same time, I may end up not being able to play at all, like in the launch of many MMOs. But hopefully I'll actually get to play it some.

In a somewhat irritating turn, the actual time of the test is scheduled in the wee hours of the morning. For MDT, it runs from midnight to 3:00am on Sunday! Maybe that's a convenient time in Japan or something.

Anyway, if I actually manage to log on and play this thing over the weekend, I'll post some impressions here.
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FYI, I've confirmed that as of now there are still slots open for the beta test.
 
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