More info/screen shots have been posted and a video! I'm liking the art style and he actually gives a lot of information out about the tactical portion of the game.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...y-unknown.aspx
More info/screen shots have been posted and a video! I'm liking the art style and he actually gives a lot of information out about the tactical portion of the game.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...y-unknown.aspx
The art is the one thing I'm feeling at ease with to be honest. XD
Is that a Muton in the video? I guess people might have something to say about that but I quite liked it.
there are also three screen shots at the bottom of that link that people don't really seem to be mentioning:
- better battlescape shot than what was released the other day
http://media1.gameinformer.com/image...0watermark.jpg
- looks like the muton from the video is pictured in this one and it's an interesting camera angle
http://media1.gameinformer.com/image...0watermark.jpg
- engineering bay, looks like zoomed in of the base view
http://media1.gameinformer.com/image...0watermark.jpg
Looks cartoony. Should be scarier.
Muton i mean.
Yeah, the art so far looks spot on and pretty awesome. I was worried with that first battlescape screenshot we got with the goofy looking men in black\blue, but everything else so far has looked fantastic.
I don't think thats an engineering bay, i think its either a maitenance bay or a loading dock. On the base screenshot that part is right below the hangar with what looks like a lift holding the skyranger.Originally Posted by MEdwards
The image name is 'Engineering_1280watermark.jpg'
I beg to differ, I mentioned them in my post.
That second battlefield shot is as night to day compared with the one first released! It's like it's had its lighting added and so on. And I'm loving that almost over the shoulder camera shot - it's great that we can get that close to the action now. I just hope they haven't streamlined too much of what goes on in the Geoscape.
Then whoever named the pic is wrong! Furthermore it can be the name that the press gave to it.. and.. and...The image name is 'Engineering_1280watermark.jpg'
Yeah.. okay.. nevermind =(
I'm hoping these camera angles don't take too much away from the fog of war aspect of the original. I mean whilst it looks good. (Much more impressed than the first screenshot) I fear that we are trying to go "Too 3D". When you have a camera that can zoom around everywhere surely it takes away from the intrigue of "around the corner" situations.
XCOM need to stick to the CIV approach. Hopefully those camera angles are snippets of when a solider fires or Aliens appear out of thin air, but the game keeps a certain camera position.
I'm happy with the physical look of the models / vehicles..
The soldiers (as has been stated).. a figurine/faux cartoon look that i think fits with the series...
That 'muton'?? looks more like a protoss unit... if indeed it is a muton, they certainly have had a facelift since i last saw one...
I'm still curious to see how many units we can take on a mission - but given that chap stated we needed to develop a skyranger that could accomodate the amount of troops required, i would say this suggests we can take more than 4... which if right, is great news...
Zooming in to see kill shots??... well, a little warm to the idea but i dont really think it is necessary... they need to tame down the elements that make it arcadey, to keep that gritty militaristic feel...
The jury's out on how the camera works.. i want it purely zoomed out isometric...
The most painful thing in modern strategy games is finding a camera angle that doesn't obstruct your field of vision... Hopefully you can lock it in a 'classic mode' (i.e. As Heroeos of Might & Magic 5 did)
All in all, visually, I think it is looking relatively good... gameplay elements still have me concerned though...
Classic mode is always a winner.
Oh i wholeheartedly disagree. If it means that we get a bullet-time zoom-in of the soldier firing and the alien dying in a perfect 1-shot-1-kill strike... specially if the alien death is followed by an explosion such as when shooting a cyberdisc dead... well.. Count me in!
Just so long as we can turn it off once we get used to it and want to start focusing more on the gameplay and less on the wow factor. I found it got tedious in Fallout 3 quite quickly.
I can safely say that I care not at all about any of that. So uh, sure, fine, but let me turn it off.
Bullet time??? In an X-COM game??
Personally i think it's over used stylistic rubbish..
Hah.. well, each to their own....
That's a curious name for the 'hardest' difficulty. Personally...I hope it's actually a toggable option, and it allows for all the classic goodies (ammo clips, multiple bases, time units, and so on)
WHAT? A man can dream, can't he?
On Kill Shots: I don't mind them, although having it as an option and/or the ability to control the frequency of it is a must.
I think I seen something that looks like a motion scanner in the group of weapons!
Also did you notice the Imperial Walker in the background of the huge battle scene that was drawn on the white board, I got a chuckle out of that.
Whiteboards are one of a game dev's favourite communal toys. No joke.
I liked the shot of the diner with the wall damage. To quote on of my favorite lines from the Incredibles: "Is that ... rubble?"
Would love to see a before shot of that wall.
Couldn't help but notice no X or Y or RT in that screenshot.
I'm assuming that "Biased" is the soldier's nickname and not the name of an upgrade?
I'm guessing it's a nickname/callsign/whatever.
And to the left of that is probably rank and class. Or level and class. Almost certainly class though, that fist has to mean something that I won't like one bit.
So like a level-something Heavy with a LMG and a rocket launcher. And a side arm, if "what-you-see-is-what-you-get". That guy would be mad encumbered in the original, no wonder they removed ammo.
This is purely speculation, but they did cite Dragon Age: Origins as an example of how they wanted to make the PC UI different from the console UI, and one of the things BioWare did with the PC version of DA:O was allowed the player to go from a third person perspective and zoom all the way out to a very isometric perspective. Perhaps Firaxis will be including a similar mechanic here?
Now, a real life soldier going into battle with a M-249 and an AT-4 on the back might be a bit on the heavy side, but not outside the realm of believability if the soldier is a bit stronger then average and only have short engagement in mind an not having to march around the field for hours and days and maintain combat readiness. The heavy cannon and the auto cannon are quite far removed from light machine guns that even now don't weigh much more then assault rifles. Ok, you carry much more ammo then with an assault rifle and an AT4 is a one shot weapon, carrying a charlie g and ammo would perhaps be more appropriate. But hey, its the future, they use better alloys and new composits or something, it's not that unbelievable. Actually, I think that the lmgs MUST be made of spiffy new alloys since I doubt they have implemented barrel changes to prevent overheatingI'm guessing it's a nickname/callsign/whatever.
And to the left of that is probably rank and class. Or level and class. Almost certainly class though, that fist has to mean something that I won't like one bit.
So like a level-something Heavy with a LMG and a rocket launcher. And a side arm, if "what-you-see-is-what-you-get". That guy would be mad encumbered in the original, no wonder they removed ammo.
Guys ! Kill shot zooming in are confirmed by the gameinformer magazine article. The animations last for precisely 3 sec and also happen when YOU get killed. allow me to quote the magazine article here for a we bit.
Yupe... hows that for preserving the "gritty" elements of battle ? Now imagine you were attached to that soldier...The camera cuts to a cinematic view of the support soldier being obliterated by unnatural alien weaponery, his blood painting a macabre mural on the ground behind his lifeless body.
XCOM's valiant support soldier isn't unconcious, or knocked out, or otherwise incapacitated. He was hit square in the chest by a plasma rifle. He's dead.
What you're saying is probably all correct, I wouldn't know since I haven't carried around an M-249, an AT-4, a side arm and other assorted odds and ends, along with armor for any length of time. At all, in fact.Now, a real life soldier going into battle with a M-249 and an AT-4 on the back might be a bit on the heavy side, but not outside the realm of believability if the soldier is a bit stronger then average and only have short engagement in mind an not having to march around the field for hours and days and maintain combat readiness. The heavy cannon and the auto cannon are quite far removed from light machine guns that even now don't weigh much more then assault rifles. Ok, you carry much more ammo then with an assault rifle and an AT4 is a one shot weapon, carrying a charlie g and ammo would perhaps be more appropriate. But hey, its the future, they use better alloys and new composits or something, it's not that unbelievable. Actually, I think that the lmgs MUST be made of spiffy new alloys since I doubt they have implemented barrel changes to prevent overheating
All I was really saying was that in the original you would have trouble fitting all that in to begin with, let alone get around.
That said, this does make me curious to see what the inventory screen looks like and what they 've done there, and if stuff like the rocket launcher is a perk or something like that.
No, it's not.
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...y-unknown.aspx
Watch from 1 minute in....
I find his words about wanting to 'move the camera around' as much as possilbe to create that immersive feel a little odd...
For a tactical game, you need an overview, not a 'zoom in' everytime something of note happens...
I'm with the other's who suggested an option to disable that...
Oh, your from Sweden as well? To young to ever end up in lumpen before they turned professional (Not that running around with both a ksp-90 and a pskott was that normal there either...)? You're always welcome to the home guard *wink**wink*What you're saying is probably all correct, I wouldn't know since I haven't carried around an M-249, an AT-4, a side arm and other assorted odds and ends, along with armor for any length of time. At all, in fact.
All I was really saying was that in the original you would have trouble fitting all that in to begin with, let alone get around.
That said, this does make me curious to see what the inventory screen looks like and if they've "streamlined" weight and stuff like that. Or if the rocket launcher happens to be a perk or something. Who knows!
on topic
The thing that bother me a little about abstract ammo is for the rocket launcher. I would almost want them to be one shot disposable types. If they take an entire turn, two actions to reload and maybe an entire turn to shoot like sniper rifles, you wouldn't be able to fire that many shots.
Yes, I understand that the camera will be pulling in to emphasize certain things, however, what I was referring to was a mechanic that allows the player control over that. In DA:O the player can, at will, change the view from third-person to isometric or anywhere in between on the PC Version. That's what I was suggesting, so that if you could hypothetically disable the automatic zoom-ins you would still be able to zoom in manually if you so desired.
I already know I'm not going to like the zoom in for dramatic effect, because why else would you zoom in. For me a dramatic death just feels unrealistic and anticlimactic. I want my guy to be moving along when a plasma shot comes out of no where and strikes him down and that's it. None of that dramatic prolonged stuff, three seconds is a long time go ahead count it.
Blood? Blood is good. Auto-zoom in is not. Off-switch please, Firaxis. I'd like to be able to zoom into the action when I want to, but not for dramatic effect kill-cams.The camera cuts to a cinematic view of the support soldier being obliterated by unnatural alien weaponery, his blood painting a macabre mural on the ground behind his lifeless body.
XCOM's valiant support soldier isn't unconcious, or knocked out, or otherwise incapacitated. He was hit square in the chest by a plasma rifle. He's dead.
As far as I know, only the computer version will give the players any ability to move the camera around. The console versions will apparently be locked in isometric position with the exceptions of kill shots. As for the kill animations, it should be very easy to disable from a tech point of view. As such, if enough people request it in the "feature request topic" I don't see why they would not include such a option.
Interesting. Perhaps the two versions are on separate development tracks then? After all, a game that's stuck in isometric is considerably different from one where you can move the camera around.
I seriously doubt that. This game is made with the unreal engine I believe. The camera was never meant to be fixed in that engine. Therefor, allowing the PC version to move it around is very easy.Interesting. Perhaps the two versions are on separate development tracks then? After all, a game that's stuck in isometric is considerably different from one where you can move the camera around.
Also, from what I seen, the computer version will mostly get just a "richer user interface taking advantage of the unique properties of the platform". I doubt it will be getting much more else.
Atomic magazine seems to have mostly the same screenshots, except for one. Interestingly, in that shot the Thin Man doesn't seem to have noticed the X-Com dude. I sense a surprise attack :P.
[EDIT]: Closeup shot of the Thin Man and his weapon. Note the green going into his collar and cuffs. Thin limbs, long feet, flat face, painted-on hair. Creepy looking bugger.
Well, I asked and somebody posted this link: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discu...pdate-01112012 There is the screen of the intact diner, from a higher perspective. Compare that to the OP's link to picture of a diner with a huge flaming hole for an entrance! Destructible Terrain in all it's glory!
Okay, that's weird - the top-down shot of the diner has a "zone" on the terrain that looks a lot less hex-based (there's at least one 90 degree angle). Does this represent line of sight or something?
Also, plasma fire! Dead trooper! Tree trunk getting burned to ash!
I wonder who will be suprised first, noticing that the X-Com dude is hiding behind a Gasoline Pump!! I've tried that tactic before. It didn't end well...
Has it been confirmed that movement is hex-based? I understand it clearly looks that way from the first battlescape screenshot we saw. Maybe movement is a zone that you can move within with terrain modifiers and movement penalties already applied to it. Not tile based at all. Thinking along the lines of tabletop miniatures here.
I dunno. Maybe the hexes represent cover types that your men will automatically interact with? That one shot with the Muton hitting the tree would make it look like both those Mutons are on the same hex, since IIRC it looked from the earlier shots like trees were centered on hexes.
[EDIT]: Hmm... no. Maybe the first battlescape shot is from slightly earlier in development? I guess we'll have to wait for more info.
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