To 2K, Research and Random Missions

[podtech115]

RESEARCH:

I think I spaek for all the X-COM fans when I say: we do not want an Upgrade System in place of Research. What do I mean by that? I'll explain:

In Bioshock, you had a camera for 'Research'. but I never felt like I was "Researching" anything. It felt like I was just sucking out items and upgrades from all the Splicers. It never fit organically into the game; the camera is an enigma; It doesn't even feel like a Megaman power-taking tool, it just feels like you're getting random upgrades from whatever Splicers you use it on.

I don't want that for XCOM. I do not want to take photos to your scientist and he goes "Okay, come back from your next mission and I'll have something new for you to play with." That's not research, that's a MMO Upgrade System, in which you get something for an NPC, and he gives you something in return. I want to take all my alien artifacts and corpses from a mission, and tell all my scientists which artifacts they can research first, and even tell them to work together on a single project.

I also want the research to take some time. None of this 'come back after 2 missions'. I want it to take up to hours, days, and even weeks to research. I want to feel they are *doing* something in the lab.

RANDOM MISSIONS:

What I'm not liking here is how you are forcing the player to take only one mission, while up to 4 missions can go away. In X-COM, You can take on all the missions, as long as you knew what you were doing. It would be nice if there was a 'second unit' to help you with all the missions.

And I really don't know what you guys are getting at with the 'Funding' missions. Isn't the Government doing the funding? It would be nice if this was some kind of Under-The-Table missions, in which you were made to sneak into somewhere, and deal with a guy with a briefcase full of cash. Like so:
http://lparchive.org/LetsPlay/XCOMUF.../4-xcom575.png
(Ooh, scary men in the background)

But I'm sure your not going to do something that fun. Its probably going to be something boring, and play just like the other two mission types.




Oh, and finally: please don't take any ideas from xcom Interceptor! It has *nothing* to do with the X-COM name, and was made as a fanfic joke! It was garbage, and I'm being nice here.

This is X-COM:Apocalypse, which came out in 1997:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InUQ1TebMGk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmbHti5FxlA

See how serious it was? The intro was like that of the first Trailer for District 9, or those live Halo ads. And it loved the 1950s, just like you guys!


And this.... thing.... was xcom Interceptor. Which came out in 1998:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYMdqkvO3wE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQP-KOMkZk

See how it starts the intro by declaring the 50s to be sh*t? Everyone who worked on Interceptor thought X-COM was a giant joke. And did you see how cheap they were with the animation?

To add more insult to injury, here is the Credits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MHyqpWWYgA

[AlphaCent]

Oh, and finally: please don't take any ideas from xcom Interceptor! It has *nothing* to do with the X-COM name, and was made as a fanfic joke! It was garbage, and I'm being nice here.

This is X-COM:Apocalypse, which came out in 1997:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InUQ1TebMGk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmbHti5FxlA

See how serious it was? The intro was like that of the first Trailer for District 9, or those live Halo ads. And it loved the 1950s, just like you guys!


And this.... thing.... was xcom Interceptor. Which came out in 1998:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYMdqkvO3wE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSQP-KOMkZk

See how it starts the intro by declaring the 50s to be sh*t? Everyone who worked on Interceptor thought X-COM was a giant joke. And did you see how cheap they were with the animation?

To add more insult to injury, here is the Credits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MHyqpWWYgA

Interceptor is far more X-com than Xenoshock could ever be (well...duh)!

[Cpl_Facehugger]

Interceptor is far more X-com than Xenoshock could ever be (well...duh)!

Podtech is running a one man crusade against David Ellis. It's better to just ignore his rants and focus on the good points he sometimes makes.

[podtech115]

Podtech is running a one man crusade against David Ellis. It's better to just ignore his rants....

Nice to see you too, old man.

....and focus on the good points he [always] makes.

Damn straight, old man!

You know, I have some questions for you:

1. Why do you defend Interceptor? Is it better then X-COM UFO Defense?

2. Do you think Interceptor is better then the movie Alien? And if so, why? And if not, why?

3. You do know that Interceptor was a space FPS shooter, right? All you did in that game was shoot lasers and missiles. In fact, this new XCOM is going to have more strategy then Interceptor ever had.

4. Did you know Alliance was a FPS? And did you also know that it was going to have levels? Yes, levels! Like Doom and Quake. Isn't that worse then what XCOM is doing?

5. You said you didn't like the way the guy says 'Die!' in the Trailer because it was campy. But wasn't Interceptor one big campy joke? For every bad thing you can say about XCOM, I can give you 5 bad things in Interceptor. So what gives?

6. Which movie do you love the most, and why?

7. Did you play Dead Head Fred?

8. Did you play Matt Hazard?

[Cpl_Facehugger]

1. Why do you defend Interceptor? Is it better then X-COM UFO Defense?

No. It is however better than Enforcer, and is probably more of an X-Com game than Xenoshock is shaping up to be.

2. Do you think Interceptor is better then the movie Alien? And if so, why? And if not, why?

...I think they're apples and oranges. It's like me trying to compare chocolate cream pie and pizza.

3. You do know that Interceptor was a space FPS shooter, right? All you did in that game was shoot lasers and missiles. In fact, this new XCOM is going to have more strategy then Interceptor ever had.

...You are forgetting the entire strategic metagame, aren't you? If anything, it actually got slightly deeper compared X-Com 1 in that the aliens played by almost the same rules, strategically, as you did.

If Xenoshock has the same sort of strategic metagame as Interceptor, I will be extremely pleased, because it'll share a lot more in common with X-Com than it appears to.

4. Did you know Alliance was a FPS? And did you also know that it was going to have levels? Yes, levels! Like Doom and Quake. Isn't that worse then what XCOM is doing?

The problem isn't levels. The problem is how those levels are generated. A linear story is more of a problem than the fact that the gameplay is divided into levels.

Besides, a large part of why Alliance was palatable was because we were also promised Genesis, a tb/iso strategy game in the vein of X-Com 1.

5. You said you didn't like the way the guy says 'Die!' in the Trailer because it was campy. But wasn't Interceptor one big campy joke? For every bad thing you can say about XCOM, I can give you 5 bad things in Interceptor. So what gives?

There's a difference between a game that's lighthearted like Interceptor and a game that's serious having cheesy elements. Interceptor gets a pass because it's pretty clearly not as serious as the previous games. I don't think this makes Interceptor a particularly bad game since at its core, it still had the strategic elements of X-Com.

6. Which movie do you love the most, and why?

Twilight. Edward Cullen is a paragon of manliness. I wish I could sparkle with a mere fraction of the radiance that Edward does.

7. Did you play Dead Head Fred?

No.

8. Did you play Matt Hazard?

No.

[podtech115]

There's a difference between a game that's lighthearted like Interceptor and a game that's serious having cheesy elements. Interceptor gets a pass because it's pretty clearly not as serious as the previous games....

This part of your reply made no sense. Can you please expand on this? Interceptor gets a pass.... because..... it's lighthearted? And XCOM doesn't because it's serious with some cheesy elements? That doesn't make any sense. At all!

How do you know it's not the other way round? How do you know if the Star Wars Prequels wasn't lighthearted? How do you know if that awful Michael Bay's Transformers wasn't lighthearted too? How do you know if every bad movie ever made wasn't lighthearted?

Give me a *full* answer. Not a small answer; I want a 500 word or more answer.

....and is probably more of an X-Com game than [XCOM] is shaping up to be.

[....]

If [XCOM] has the same sort of strategic metagame as Interceptor, I will be extremely pleased, because it'll share a lot more in common with X-Com than it appears to.

How do you know it won't have the same sort of strategic metagame?

The Makers of God Of War 3 said they didn't show more then the demo, because they didn't want to have that movie trailer problem: i.e. once you see all ten trailers, you know exactly what is going to happen....

In other words, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpZ5D_Wc4cA

And that is what XCOM is trying to do! You know you are not going to be shooting blob for 90% of the game. So why do you think they are not showing you the base? Think, Facehugger, think!

If they told you that you were going to have a new car that can hold up to 10 agents, or you are going to have a giant robot (see link below), or that you are going to fight ghost aliens, then wouldn't that kill the surprise? That's what X-COM was all about!

Robot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YjXC...eature=related

[podtech115]

Why didn't you reply back?

I really don't get this "lighthearted" thing.

If Interceptor was "lighthearted", then doesn't that make Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace also "lighthearted". I liked Phantom Menace, but a *lot* of fans hated it. Does it still get a pass? No, it does not.

Even to this very day, people are still *****ing about the damn movies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfBhi6qqFLA

And they.... won't.... stop.... complaining.... EVER!!!!!!!!!

And if they are allowed to complain about every small thing that ever happened in the Prequels, Then I don't see why Interceptor should get a pass.

X-COM isn't some Mario name, in which mistakes like Hotel Mario and Mario is Missing can be made, because it didn't infect the other Mario names. Mario has made over 200 games, with his name on it, and sold about a half billion copys. X-COM never even sold a million, ever.

X-COM didn't have a powerful name to make mistakes on, like Interceptor; every game counts, because each game was like a 300 million dollar movie: If you make a mistake on one movie, then you don't get to finish the trilogy. We were lucky to even get Enforcer, after Interceptor sold under 30,000 copys.