Capsule computers article - clarification about what the previewers have been playing

[LeftyRighty]

http://www.capsulecomputers.com/2012...known-preview/

A bit more on the psionic class abilities...

One of the more interesting looking units were the Psionic type of Agents. <...> One example we saw in action was a mind-control ability which was used on an Alien creature to lob a grenade at is own feet and blowing itself to pieces. If you opt not to make an enemy commit suicide, you are able to control them for a limited time and take use of their unique skills, which could also be useful.

And it looks like the recent hands on previewers are playing a separate tutorial campaign which sounds more like a scripted experience to explain the game... (emphasis mine)

One of the things that appealed to most of the classic games fans was the fact that missions were randomly generated to some degree. In our preview we were unable to play any of the main game components, but were playing on the tutorial campaign (which felt like a full campaign on its own, I never finished it) which was a pretty fixed experience. We had some choice on which missions we took, but the mission path was the same for each person playing.

speaking of which... 'Tactical' and 'Story' modes?

I’m still interested in seeing what the Tactical and Strategy modes are, they are (what I assume to be) single player components of some kind. I’m also interested to see if there is a kind of free-play mode and a story-mode in the full release version as we could only really access the tutorial story for the playthrough that we were doing.

[ste-V]

I might go and buy the classics on Steam as my Dad owns all the discs and stuff.

jesus! how old is that guy? 15???
otherwise okay article; what got me interested the most is that the dual-occuring mission seems to be just an example in the tutorial, to show that you'd have to make a tough choice sometimes. so I doubt it will happen ALL the time, in regular play.

I’m also interested to see if there is a kind of free-play mode and a story-mode in the full release version as we could only really access the tutorial story for the playthrough that we were doing.

holy crap. this guy is weird. i almost expected him to ask for a beta

[LeftyRighty]

sounds like he's been playing a little too much lego


but yeah, putting what some of the other previews have said about their campaign experiences into the context of "in the tutorial campaign" changes things quite a bit. Helps salve the "OMG it's a scripted campaign!?!!!"... of course the tutorial is going to be scripted!

[ste-V]

ah dude, sorry, you said the exact same thing in your previous post (with the MUCh better aussie article) about the choices on missions. only read it after i posted this. mea culpa!

hahaha and yeah! totally LEGO wars kids

[LeftyRighty]

no worries, I'm scouring the interwebz for tidbits...

the aus article only implied the (note singluar) campaign was somehow part tutorial, this one outright states they got to play a tutorial campaign, and there are several discreet campaigns to select (plural).

they really need to put more info out soon... *shakes* running low *starts gnawing at fingers*

[katscan]

Tutorial?? We don't need no stinking tutorial ! The original plopped you down in the geoscape, didn't explain the mechanics or even the buttons on the GUI, and away you went !!

Classic mode should eliminate any tutorial, tool-tips, and replace all icons with ambiguous looking buttons.

[LeftyRighty]

*chews on and spits out*

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-first-contact

another article... devoid of any new juicy facts though.

[Mazi]

Seems like that everybody played at least 2 hours of game but they can't say anything more we already know by interviews and screenshots -_-.

It is possible that nobody can't even describe a full playthrough of a mission?

The only hope is the third part of "rock paper shotgun" hands on, but that "TOMORROW will be ready for your eyes" was YESTERDAY.

[Alucardex]

Tutorial?? We don't need no stinking tutorial ! The original plopped you down in the geoscape, didn't explain the mechanics or even the buttons on the GUI, and away you went !!

Classic mode should eliminate any tutorial, tool-tips, and replace all icons with ambiguous looking buttons.

Yeah that is a great way to introduce a new audience to the game! I'm sure that wouldn't have any ill effects on sales or angry support calls whatsoever. /sarcasm

No; really it was already mentioned the tutorial IS skippable so I don't see any problem with that.
A game shouldn't be hard to play just because you have no clue HOW to play it.

[Mazi]

Here's another hands-on, in Italian:

http://www.everyeye.it/pc/articoli/x...hands-on_16884

I read it all (i'm ita) but there's nothing particular new, just

-Campaign will last 20 hours

-Normal difficulty is more difficult than expected

-First two missions are a tutorial \ scripted

-Very good AI

[LeftyRighty]

... 20 hours?

I was about to complain about that... but I've no idea how long the original took me, lol

I suppose with the combat being more streamlined affair (couple of clicks for a grenade, not 15, only a couple of troopers not 100's etc.) it could be about the same.

[Inkidu]

... 20 hours?

I was about to complain about that... but I've no idea how long the original took me, lol

I suppose with the combat being more streamlined affair (couple of clicks for a grenade, not 15, only a couple of troopers not 100's etc.) it could be about the same.

Twenty hours give or take sounds lovely. In an industry where most games last maybe ten (and I'm not saying that's bad. There's no way I could physically take forty hours of Dead Space) a strategy game should have heft. Plus I imagine after ten twenty hour games I'll still be playing this.

My saddest day is when I decide to Scorch Earth Skyrim or Fallout. Never do all the quests... D:

[Mazi]

I'm afraid that game experience will be something like
"story \ 30 scripted missions (with choice between 2 sometimes) \ end"
....same as starcraft 2 or other classical rts campaign and completely different from "random big open" playthrough of original

[Inkidu]

Actually the developers outright said they were being as unobtrusive as possible and that the narrative is minimalistic. They have a few tent-pole scenarios that may or may not pop up depending on how well or in what way you're playing, but the majority of the missions are randomly generated.

Also, the aliens are implied to have different goals with each game, so they're not even playing the same way each time.

[Mazi]

"majority of the missions are randomly generated"...

i guess how can they merge with handcrafted maps....maybe they have an algoritm who erase a map from random selection after played once, or there is just a specific map for every mission, so u won't repeat same mission=map.

[LeftyRighty]

I think that's the kind of fear all of us have and is driving the *need to know* about the strategy layer of the game... we just don't have anything concrete to go on.


Actually, 20 hours is fairly good... that's about 2 weeks for a run through given a few hours a day (... ok, fine a weekend without sleep but time to eat ).

[Inkidu]

"majority of the missions are randomly generated"...

i guess how can they merge with handcrafted maps....maybe they have an algoritm who erase a map from random selection after played once, or something similar...

I think and number they threw out was "Over 200" that's a lot of maps even in this day and age and they said you'd never see the same one twice in a single playthrough.

And even if you do eventually get the same map it's not like the aliens will be in the same spots, or be the same types.

[Mazi]

Over 200 is a big awesome number! I didn't know :-)

[ste-V]

i dont even worry about maps beeing repetitive. they wont be.
i mean those are the same guys who made civ. I have NEVER had a map look the same twice in the game.
so if firaxis is good at something, then knowing that repetitive levels kill the joy of replaying their games.

[Inkidu]

Tutorial?? We don't need no stinking tutorial ! The original plopped you down in the geoscape, didn't explain the mechanics or even the buttons on the GUI, and away you went !!

Classic mode should eliminate any tutorial, tool-tips, and replace all icons with ambiguous looking buttons.

Uh... they did give you a manual with the game, and even if you got yours in England it's not like extensive translation was required. A cursory search of Google will give you the PDF.

[ShredZ]

Ummm it seems to me theres no way! it could only be 20 hours. Impossible! Even one massive UFO battership mission or a terror mission can at least take you close to an hour to play thru - unless all the AI does is come storming right at you.

20 hours must be the time it would take to research everything and not counting a single mission - then I could see 20 hours + 20 more hours for all missions included.

Or else you only play 1 terror mission, 1 UFO mission of each sized UFO, and a couple rescue missions - but that would mean you'd be going on each mission with either new armor or a new weapon as the speed of tech would have to be quick to have an end game in 20 hours.

Did I skim read something and it was actually 20 hours for the tutorial ? That I could understand.

[Lovecraft]

The tutorial takes two and a half hours of play time, it is also the introduction and tells the beginning of the invasion. Source: Ananda Gupta (Game Designer of XCOM) [1]

I have always been a fan of printed handbooks, too bad most games don't have them anymore and if a game has a printed manual it is sloppily made...


[1] http://www.gamestar.de/spiele/xcom-e...8,2568090.html

[Voqar]

Never heard of this site and the author was rambling like some random forum poster doing one of those beta impressions reviews that you often see for games that actually let players see the game before release.

This part of my problem with how 2K/Firaxis does things. Why not drop the NDA, let what few testers you have post videos and stuff, or have some kind of open beta event with no NDA to give your rabid fans a taste, which is what so many companies with obviously good games do these days?

Instead, you give the "press" access to check out the game, when the "press" these days is anything from people from more mainstream sites to anybody that has a blog or website that calls themself a game reporter/commentator regardless of how obscure and clueless they are.

It was the same with Civ 5. Instead of getting reliable and well written info OR truly solid info from players with a clue, we'd get gibberish from people and/or websites nobody had ever heard of.

At a few points during that wall of text he indicates that he can't adequately describe something or how he feels. So...why are you writing and publishing? I guess that's why I've never heard of this site.

[BCD917]

Somehow I would not be surprised this game would take only 20 hours for the campaign. I sure hope not. It would end up on my shelf in a week.

Pretty much the same as JA:BIA did. Played that for just over a week. Restarted the Campaign twice, almost completed it those two times and just got bored.

[LeftyRighty]

the problem with the 20 hour figure is the complete lack of context. "the developers talk about 20 hours total" is that just mission time? or as above just the research time? the speed blitz bare minimum if you already know everything? a guesstimate ie at least 20 hours but more throw away comment than fact... ?

[Inkidu]

Somehow I would not be surprised this game would take only 20 hours for the campaign. I sure hope not. It would end up on my shelf in a week.

Pretty much the same as JA:BIA did. Played that for just over a week. Restarted the Campaign twice, almost completed it those two times and just got bored.

Ironically you never get bored if something doesn't go on long enough, you only get bored when something goes on for too long.

[ste-V]

Somehow I would not be surprised this game would take only 20 hours for the campaign. I sure hope not. It would end up on my shelf in a week.

Pretty much the same as JA:BIA did. Played that for just over a week. Restarted the Campaign twice, almost completed it those two times and just got bored.

this game is made for its replayability value. you will definitely not get to see all of the content in 20hours gameplay. also there are many, many ways of winning/losing the game.

Ironically you never get bored if something doesn't go on long enough, you only get bored when something goes on for too long.

this exactly.

[carldivine]

conjecture on the part of the writer i believe. nobody has played the game in its entirety other than the developers at this point.

[DazzD]

the problem with the 20 hour figure is the complete lack of context. "the developers talk about 20 hours total" is that just mission time? or as above just the research time? the speed blitz bare minimum if you already know everything? a guesstimate ie at least 20 hours but more throw away comment than fact... ?

That's how I see it. Without that 20 hours being put in proper context it's a useless figure. Is that 20 blitzing the game or is that a standard play though etc etc. I think one of the more recent interviews someone asked so you can never complete all the research in one game and the answer was something along the lines of well I guess you could but it would make for a very long game. All depends on how we play it I guess. Do you want to hit the finish line first or do you want to see everything along the way.