Wth? Why so hard?

[dondino]

I've been a gamer for 35+ years and have mastered every previous x-com game. Why is this crap so hard? I want to enjoy it but all I'm getting out of it is frustration.

Not to mention it's pretty buggy. I miss the old days when games were released AFTER they were completed and not use the public as a perpetual QA department while the manufacturer fix their code. I think I might cash in my first refund.

[Kunovega]

Hard?

This is the easiet of any Xcom to date and I've played them all.

[Trappist]

Hi, I think the difference is that this xcom encourages you to play more aggressive than previous versions. If you an adapt your tactics to be more gung ho then you should get better results.

I am far from a pro player and i managed to get a game on Ironman commander to the final mission (two times i closed the game and restarted - but one of those was cos i had cursor slip before making a move). That said i am now playing without commander and its more relaxing!

[sheep from hell]

to be fair, to complain about the difficulty in a turn based strategy game after 8 hours played is a bit weird. for these games always a big part of the game experience is to learn and get better, wonder how you managed to have fun with other games in this genre with this mindset

[drake_hound]

Originally posted by dondino:

I've been a gamer for 35+ years and have mastered every previous x-com game. Why is this crap so hard? I want to enjoy it but all I'm getting out of it is frustration.

Not to mention it's pretty buggy. I miss the old days when games were released AFTER they were completed and not use the public as a perpetual QA department while the manufacturer fix their code. I think I might cash in my first refund.

Don´t worry once you understand the doom counter isn´t the end.
The timed mission are more then enough turns. and understanding the scanning is all made as interruption for to annoy you but give you feeling of choices.

The stress is a lot less.

Now unlike previous game. where tactical layer victory or defeat is much more prodominant.
This time choices in strategy layer, makes a huge difference between a easy game. or impossible game. (example research, have GTS or no GTS, have AWC or no AWC)

The strategy layer this time is what makes it a easy game. or a impossible hard grind that feels you like always are challenged on the edge of success or failure.

[Dies Fourth]

As stated above, the old school/game tactics dont work here. It challenges/forces you to adapt new tactics.

When i 1st got the game and played vanilla i wasnt that impressed tbh. The 1st mod i grabbed was either " stop or no avatar project " that helped immensely. Tehn i looked for some mission timer tweaks.

Bottom line is the saving grace of most new games is the modding community. Lets not get into the debate of it you should need mods, lets focus on making it as fun for you as it currently is for me : )

Browse the workshopr, EVERY issues you have has an answer in the form of a mod. Yes its your game, yes it should be " fun " for you, mods are your answer : )

Through mods you can make it into anything you want, easy/hard/a cake walk/a nightmare. You spent the money now spend the time to make it what YOU want it to be.

[Kunovega]

Originally posted by drake_hound:

Originally posted by dondino:

I've been a gamer for 35+ years and have mastered every previous x-com game. Why is this crap so hard? I want to enjoy it but all I'm getting out of it is frustration.

Not to mention it's pretty buggy. I miss the old days when games were released AFTER they were completed and not use the public as a perpetual QA department while the manufacturer fix their code. I think I might cash in my first refund.

Don´t worry once you understand the doom counter isn´t the end.

This was a big one. I spent my first 20 hours thinking I was doing something wrong; until I realized you can basically just juggle the doom counter right on the edge of failing for about 80 hours before it bothers to end your game (from lack of things to make it go down); and if you've played for anywhere near that long in one game you are long past the point where you can win at-will and are just messing around for fun.

The timed mission are more then enough turns.

^This

I was so worried from all the complaints on the forums that the timed missions were going to be hard. But they just aren't. I have yet to even think about needing any of the mods that make the timers easier.

The big thing with these is that nearly all of the timed missions are not timed all-the-way-throuhg. Most have a specific goal (hack something, destroy something) and than clean up the aliens left over. In all of those where only the goal is timed, you can take your time afterwards cleaning up the aliens.

And realize that with any of the hacks your specialists can do them from a distance with the gremlin.

Only the VIP extractions have timers on the overall mission length and those are hit & run missions, get in, get out, you don't even need to kill all the aliens if you don't want to. And those still aren't terribly hard even if you do take the time to kill everything.

I keep expecting to need those timer mod adjustments and yet after 100+ hours of playing I've yet to find a timed mission I can't beat with the vanilla timers.

and understanding the scanning is all made as interruption for to annoy you but give you feeling of choices.

It can feel overhelming, but it really is about feeling like you have choices. Most of the scanning stuff is optional. Go after what you need now, worry about the rest later.

I can go scan for some rookies? Meh, I probably don't need them, let me go scan for intel or supplies or something else I do need. Prioritize your needs, ignore the rest.

Now unlike previous game. where tactical layer victory or defeat is much more prodominant.
This time choices in strategy layer, makes a huge difference between a easy game. or impossible game. (example research, have GTS or no GTS, have AWC or no AWC)

The strategy layer this time is what makes it a easy game. or a impossible hard grind that feels you like always are challenged on the edge of success or failure.

I have to agree. The strategy layer is a flimsy switch. Do it right and it's straight forward and makes the game easier pretty quickly. Miss a few key choices and you struggle pointlessly until you either fail or get back on the right track fast enough to fix it.

Unlike previous xcoms where the strategy layer was far more in depth and had room for many levels of success. Xcom2 is build XYZ, kick aliens in face, win.

Still alot of fun, but its all in the tactical layer. The strategy is unfortunately a bit dumbed down compared to previous xcoms.

[Thomas Eichhorst]

Timed missions are pretty horrible especially on Ironman.

One failure in only one of them means restart the whole campaign.

On my Shens legacy mission, I had no idea, and faced a full Sectopod which can not be haywired to your side with lvl 2 soldiers only and of course OP Lilly. Hard as hell, if not impossible. A whole lot of 85% misses.

[drake_hound]

Originally posted by twotimesfour:

Timed missions are pretty horrible especially on Ironman.

One failure in only one of them means restart the whole campaign.

No you feel you failed. that is a different feeling. you feel a huge setback.
But truth is most people say you need all 4 not wounded to play legendary/commander Ironman.

The truth is you do not infact wounded troops early on make it easier for you on the longterm.
Cause you have replacement who are not rookies or squaddies.

Yes deaths sets you back a lot. that is a different story, cause all that work and time invested is gone. (especially if they have gear that special) but anyway deaths always hurt.

Most timed mission if you fail, just means you lost the resources and reward.
Only ones are VIP extractions or Escort mission, where if you fail to extract in time your troops are captured. (sadly the base game with avatar counter, doesn´t give you enough time to rescue them all) but for example without avatar counter. you could rescue them all again later on.

Timed mission failure isn´t the end. but it feels like you have played the whole tactical mission for no reward. while if you do not care about the rewards. you could just consider it a kill all mission in Xcom 2.

[Salamander]

Once you get the swing of it its not that bad, you just need to get the feel of the game. I make it through levels now without almost trying but that said there is a certain chess like quality to each encounter that keeps me interested, especially with rpg elements adding new ablities constantly.

[RustySam]

The game is stupid hard, not hard but stupid hard. I played maybe 3-5 missions and installed three mods: the one that slows avatar project, wounding rebalance and turn counter removal. Those are not the names of the mods but what they do. Had a really fun game after those and I'm now in the final mission (default difficulty level). I'm more of a game-for-fun type of gamer so smoothing out the rough edges of XCOM2 with mods is totally fine for me.

For the next playthrough I'm probably going to install a mod that stops avatar project completely and maybe try the one that removes pod activation (they're active from the first encounter). From my playthrough I can say that the soldier rank has way too big an effect on the team performance. I can blow up pods with two or three guys when the rest are there for backup while rookies are pure cannon fodder holding rifles and grenades. Didn't really bother training anyone else outside my primary team mates because of that.

I can't understand why these new XCOM games put so much focus on rushing through the missions and campaign, I remember taking my sweet time in the old XCOM2 (TFTD). Wish the campaign was built for longer games in mind. Bigger missions in TFTD could take dozens of turns and it is was ok to take hits along the way. But, sadly, not in this game.

[dondino]

It's the boss encounters that kill me, literally. It's like I have 4 guys, I take one step, he retaliates, I look at my watch he retaliates. He gets to move that one guy up to 8 times during the round, then all his other mobs. It's almost like they're realtime against my turn based.

I do agree the game needs a very different approach but when I swallow my pride and restart on easy, I expect it to be that. It's far from it.

I'm sure my old school mentality is clouding experience. Games just aren't what they used to be.

[drake_hound]

Originally posted by dondino:

It's the boss encounters that kill me, literally. It's like I have 4 guys, I take one step, he retaliates, I look at my watch he retaliates. He gets to move that one guy up to 8 times during the round, then all his other mobs. It's almost like they're realtime against my turn based.

I do agree the game needs a very different approach but when I swallow my pride and restart on easy, I expect it to be that. It's far from it.

I'm sure my old school mentality is clouding experience. Games just aren't what they used to be.

Ah the alien rulers. yes if you are new to this game. even some moderate veterans hate them.

I must say do not activate the viper nest mission. till you got mag weapons or plate armour atleast for new players.

Those alien rulers are sadly made for advanced players. for new players the panic and the damage done by the rulers are a bit devastating especially to moral. cause you feel it is cheating. I would, if I haven´t played Banner Saga system (it is the same system )

So remember Alien ruler your job is not to kill it one encounter, (which would be fabulous) but fight to stay alive, by 1 damaging its hp. 2 avoiding/absorbing damage 3 after X about turns he will leave.

So that is all too it, but it such a annoyance if you are not prepared for the ruler.

[Stray Inu]

Dondino, some tips for rulers, use effects, freezing them or stunning them prevents them to take action, focus fire until they retreat or die, repeat when you see them. now focus firing makes you open to attack from other enemy units, So stealth is key, having stealthed rangers scouting ahead you learn ahead of time where these rulers are hiding, take out the other pods first. If the rulers are too hard for you, do not do the ruler story missions unti you are confident in your equipment and soldier's ranks. The mission does not expire. Though you don't want to wait too long, the suits you get are extremely beneficial to have early.

[theworld]

Originally posted by Kunovega:

Hard?

This is the easiet of any Xcom to date and I've played them all.

Easiest? LOL.

You can have Flying Armor and Heavy Plasma by the end of 2nd month on Superhuman in UFO Defense 1994.

If you let early scouts land and grab them you get enough money for 3 laboratories with 150 scientists fast. Then it's a breeze to get end game tech.

TFTD Superhuman is harder but it's still easier than EW I/I.

[gerzald]

Aww, did you fav girl get her brains sucked out by an alien horror? Cowboy up man.