The Late Game issue

[Scarface One]

So everyone I've ever heard discuss XCOM 2 usually complains about the late game and its easiness to just blow through. I must say that WoTC truly made this game amazing to play, I myself felt that XCOM: EW was much more fun to play in all regards, but this expansion changed that. Why reference the expansion and a base game problem you may ask?

Well after you kill the Chosen its just....... empty. I must say great job with creating the Chosen, you know you've made fantastic enemies when you miss their presence. After you kill all the Chosen however.... the late game just feels empty and bland when you kill them all and it just becomes a breeze to finish the game. No more insults, no more anything, just.... silence. I was excepting more cutscenes for each fallen Chosen, I wanted to see their reactions when there was one left..... and how they reacted when I killed them all.

With the new classes... like the base game, once you get everything decked out, you become unstoppable and your only concern is the timers.

XCOM: EU/EW had a fantastic late game with the addition of Sectopods, Muton Elites, and Ethereals (Though it was boring to see them over and over) as you slowly realized the enemies got more and more numerous. You felt that subtle pressure so you felt the need to launch the final assualt against the invaders. Here you just feel.... meh, I guess I can do this later. The Avatar Project late game is really easy to deal with. After you get Powered armor and Plasma your golden.

I've tried different mods and things, but I still can't get over the boredom of slowly attacking each base to get the final mission. Any thoughts on this or suggestions?

[Aranador]

I basically agree with you, although the problem is in no small part due to the common player mindset of 'wait until I got all the toys on all the colonels'.

Perhaps if there was a end game 'score' based on how quickly you finished, it might encourage people to 'get on with it' rather than wait for all the researches.

Anyway - one of these days I will get around to modding the later game pods - Once I have finished my current legend playthrough I fully expect never to play that difficulty again, but I want the bigger pod numbers and sizes it has in a commander level game, and further pod increases later game. I think that will be fun for me.

Still - I can hardly complain too much, I have had so many hours of fun already, and that is a win right there. If I can get more hours through tweaking, thats just a bonus.

[Viper]

Isn't this how wars usually work out. Look at WW II for example. After the allies got the upper hand in technology and manpower they basically had victory after victory and the final outcome was assured long before it happened. Once you destroy Advents main deterrents victory is assured. If they added more it would still be the same. Once you reached that point victory is assured. After that its just playing out the string.

[Scarface One]

Originally posted by Viper:

Isn't this how wars usually work out. Look at WW II for example. After the allies got the upper hand in technology and manpower they basically had victory after victory and the final outcome was assured long before it happened. Once you destroy Advents main deterrents victory is assured. If they added more it would still be the same. Once you reached that point victory is assured. After that its just playing out the string.

I know, but a video game is supposed to entertaining and there is more to war then simply technology. I honestly DESPISE that basically: EU/EW was a simulation and XCOM lost, because how did XCOM, a goverment funded highly elite organization lose, but XCOM+The Resistance, a rag-tag group of rebels with guerilla warfare and supplies, beat them?

[Viper]

Originally posted by Scarface One:

Originally posted by Viper:

Isn't this how wars usually work out. Look at WW II for example. After the allies got the upper hand in technology and manpower they basically had victory after victory and the final outcome was assured long before it happened. Once you destroy Advents main deterrents victory is assured. If they added more it would still be the same. Once you reached that point victory is assured. After that its just playing out the string.

I know, but a video game is supposed to entertaining and there is more to war then simply technology. I honestly DESPISE that basically: EU/EW was a simulation and XCOM lost, because how did XCOM, a goverment funded highly elite organization lose, but XCOM+The Resistance, a rag-tag group of rebels with guerilla warfare and supplies, beat them?

So how would you change that. Once you kill all the Chosen there is no more. Once you develop your tech to an overwelming point you will roll over the opposition. If you want it to be tougher attack earlier..be more aggressive. If you wait till your an unopposable force then victory is assured.

[Viper]

Not saying I don't understand what you are saying though. Just trying to relate my opinion of why it happens.

[easytarget]

Originally posted by Scarface One:

Originally posted by Viper:

Isn't this how wars usually work out. Look at WW II for example. After the allies got the upper hand in technology and manpower they basically had victory after victory and the final outcome was assured long before it happened. Once you destroy Advents main deterrents victory is assured. If they added more it would still be the same. Once you reached that point victory is assured. After that its just playing out the string.

I know, but a video game is supposed to entertaining and there is more to war then simply technology. I honestly DESPISE that basically: EU/EW was a simulation and XCOM lost, because how did XCOM, a goverment funded highly elite organization lose, but XCOM+The Resistance, a rag-tag group of rebels with guerilla warfare and supplies, beat them?

You might be surprised I guess then to hear your idea of what's entertaining isn't necessarily universally shared.

[Rockfire ✘]

Recommend this mod as a bandaid to this, makes the strat layer harder, but it wasnt like it was hard anyway.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1140251687&searchtext=plot+gated

[Mhblis]

Honestly I found EU/EW and even the original X-coms suffered from this just as badly. You just run out of stuff to research and roll over every encounter.

Though it can be fun for a while after your their or fourth play through it just becomes pure slog.

The mod linked helps but yes I wish there were one or two more surprises in store or there was a way to push certain aspects faster to wrap up.

[red255]

Sigh.
no.

you are supposed to play with the chosen weapons until you get bored then beat the game.
thats just all you should be doing after the chosen.

I do have an absurd amount of fun with the assasin's sword. it does...like 12-13 damage +35% chance to crit. 100% chance to hit, no chance to dodge. you just jump a crowd of aliens, they run to scatter, and Blade storm procs. one alien takes 24 damage the others take 12. except specters because lightning reflexes blocks bladestorm apparently

the hunter's sniper rifle can be fired post move, which means with death from above its basically a serial every shot.

But yeah you feel bored after the chosen you should be beating the game.

[learnedhand]

It's very simple, don't drag the game out when you don't need all the bells and whistles to finish. Its overkill to get Tier 3 weapons and armor, fully trained psi-ops, etc. I used to feel like most players that the end game was a drag but it is entirely a choice. Just don't delay on the story progression.

Since I've been doing speed runs, the game stays tense from beginning to end and I have to make choices about what kind of weapons or armor to take into the final mission. I've been trying to finish in october or earlier on LI, but even if you set yourself a deadline of december (again legendary) that is still plenty of time to get most of the toys, just not everything. Trust me, the game stays exciting if you don't drag it out.

[.O.]

I would suggest you get ABA and ABC, those will increase the difficulty. Or try out some of the built in advanced options like beta strike.

I'm just starting a beta strike campaign now and while I wouldn't say it makes things more difficult, it has definitely considerably changed things. Wounds are everywhere since alpha striking entire pods becomes difficult early game(haven't reached late game yet, probably still possible by then), but surprise deaths are rarely a concern.

Personally I enjoy the tactical side, which is why I have a tendency to drag out the campaign as long as possible, but as plenty of people have said, once you're all maxed out, 2 of your soldiers can easily take out 10+ enemies in a single turn so it's not as fun anymore. I think my personal best was when my sharpshooter took out 16 enemies (not lost and not viper babies) in a single turn

[♂Crasher♂]

I don't think I have any suggestions as how you could make your personal experience better. But I know what I whould do if I was working at Firaxis. And that is to simply give the avatar project a point of existence again.

I've litterally gone through half a year on Legend difficulty without a single block of progress on that thing and its been at zero all that time. If there actually was a pressure of time then you would likley prefer to do the story missions and try to overthrow the aliens as fast as you could instead of just gearing your soldiers up and trying to defeat the chosen. But since in WOTC you can just litterally click a button and have it go down whenever you want, whats the point of it existing?

In vanilla you had to take the fight straight to their front door meaning you took a risk in order to buy more time. Thats completly gone from Wotc. Not saying vanilla late game was good but atleast then the avatar project would eventually complete. You whould atleast have some sort of deadline there.

So I generally think the game whould be better if:
1. Covert actions and Resistance orders regarding the avatar project whould be removed all togheter.
2. The avatar project started slow and started progressing faster and faster as time goes on instead of the opposite.
3. Finding the chosen strongholds whould require going on actual missions(i.e. more risky). If this was a thing the the chosen weapons could possibly stay in as a reward for defeating them. Otherwise just remove them since they make researching weapons less satisfying.
4. Psi ops leveled as regular soldiers in addition to training.
5. I whould be allowed to skip missions like Council and Supply Raids whitout losing contact to the region(wtf?).

Otherwise I can say I enjoy Wotc a lot even though it has many flaws.

[Mr. Nice]

Just to say, only 1 & 3 on your list are WotC specific, 2/4/5 worked the same in vanilla WotC.
Even before WotC made Avent progress management easier, it was quite possible to finish all research before unleashing Codexes if you want, pretty much have to do the black site and whatever the second mission in that chain is called, but they aren't that much more difficult than standard facility raids which you have to do to stay on top of Advent progress.