Didn't classic XCOM have a thing where explosives on the ground would blow up if other explosions happened near them?
I seem to remember a common thing would be to have Rocket Guy get killed by direct fire, then later an alien grenade would hit nearby and light off all his ammo, which would super kill any of your other guys that were nearby. Or maybe I'm making that up
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
I do personally love XCOM 2's Reaper, with the specialty of stealthily detonating cars, barrels, and other obviously explosive items on the battlefield. Unlimited explosions...as long as there's environmental hazards around.
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SaldonasSee you space cowboy...Registered Userregular
The thing that PP needs the most is class balancing because the heavy is mostly useless in the base game. The second thing is mob balancing because some things, like the corrupting brain bug thing or the tiny flying bugs that explode, are completely imbalanced.
The thing that PP needs the most is class balancing because the heavy is mostly useless in the base game. The second thing is mob balancing because some things, like the corrupting brain bug thing or the tiny flying bugs that explode, are completely imbalanced.
Why do you say that the heavy is useless? They have some accuracy issues, but those can be worked around. Their jetpack and melee skills make them extremely handy.
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SaldonasSee you space cowboy...Registered Userregular
Their action economy is terrible. If it was just accuracy issues, that wouldn't be too bad but their weapon also requires three AP, and their character is slow. You can't jump jet and fire your heavy weapon in the same turn. So any damage bonuses you might reap from their heavy weapon is lost when a sniper is just hands down better. Even late game builds you're better off with a berserker/assault with heavy weapon proficiency. The only decent set up for heavies is long range grenades/missile with boom blast IMO and until you get the ancient launcher you're dealing with very pricey ammo.
Their action economy is terrible. If it was just accuracy issues, that wouldn't be too bad but their weapon also requires three AP, and their character is slow. You can't jump jet and fire your heavy weapon in the same turn. So any damage bonuses you might reap from their heavy weapon is lost when a sniper is just hands down better. Even late game builds you're better off with a berserker/assault with heavy weapon proficiency. The only decent set up for heavies is long range grenades/missile with boom blast IMO and until you get the ancient launcher you're dealing with very pricey ammo.
I would argue that the action economy actually works pretty well. While the heavy weapon costs three AP, the back mounted rocket launcher only costs one, as do their (easily buffed) melee attacks. I also often grab the pistol bonus skill on heavies so they can fly in and tap someone.
The point of the jet pack is not to use it and the heavy weapon in the same round, it's to be able to manuver your lowest-speed characters, scout, grab objectives, and get heavy weapon angles in subsequent turns. Also multiclassing them with berserker is hilarious when you get the ability to make every action cost 1 AP.
Really, the strength of PP's multiclass system is that you can mix and match. Sure your sniper/heavy can't use the big gun in the same round as they cross half the map and land on a perfect sniper perch, but I guarantee you that you're going to be up there distributing lead poisoning for several turns to come.
Dracomicron on
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
Is there a good guide to Phoenix Point? Last time I tried I didn’t feel like mechanics at the strategic layer were well explained and I managed to work my way into a death spiral where I wasn’t keeping up with enemy DPS or health mid-game before I gave up
Is there a good guide to Phoenix Point? Last time I tried I didn’t feel like mechanics at the strategic layer were well explained and I managed to work my way into a death spiral where I wasn’t keeping up with enemy DPS or health mid-game before I gave up
I am not aware of a good one; a lot of the old ones are out of date after Gollop addressed a bunch of issues and exploits, and DLC switched up the metagame.
That said, I can probably answer any specific questions.
Damage can be tricky. Look at your soldiers and their bonus damage skills, and try to get them into their best gun, even if it isn't a main class weapon. If that means that you have an assault pistolero or a sniper with a cannon, so be it.
Step 2 is get the faction gun tech ASAP. New Jericho assault rifles have armor penetration and are key to busting crab men. Anu shotguns are flat better than the base PP shotty and frankly easier to get since you can reverse engineer them instead of working up the tech tree. Keep an eye on your research and look out for fun stuff (flamers! Burning is murder on lots of enemies).
Step 3 is follow the quest lines, because the living weapons are baller.
Step 4 is find the new DLC shop; they sell some high damage weapons that are really handy until they blow up in your hands.
Step 5 is vehicles, mutoids, mind control, and other non-standard bullshit.
Phoenix Point is barely the same game as you played, I'm guessing. Lots more options.
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SaldonasSee you space cowboy...Registered Userregular
I definitely like the cross-class system and you make good points. I do think we just have a difference of opinion here and that's probably heavily influenced by play style. I want to try out the mod that's already out there that has a lot of class balancing, like a jet pack specialization that reduces the AP cost.
Is there a good guide to Phoenix Point? Last time I tried I didn’t feel like mechanics at the strategic layer were well explained and I managed to work my way into a death spiral where I wasn’t keeping up with enemy DPS or health mid-game before I gave up
Not sure what resources I recall finding but I can say with certainty that getting a feet of planes early is key to rapid expansion and coverage. This means you probably want to steal one blimp, one helicopter, and two Synedrion planes in the first week or two. It'll hurt your rep but the rep penalty early game is pretty minimal and only gets substantially worse as the game goes on. Then you wanna get two teams of 8 ASAP to maximize SP and EXP gains.
Just those two things early game should carry you though most of the game. You could maybe have a third squad ready to go (have them training in a base up to level 8) for later on when you can afford another couple planes.
I definitely like the cross-class system and you make good points. I do think we just have a difference of opinion here and that's probably heavily influenced by play style. I want to try out the mod that's already out there that has a lot of class balancing, like a jet pack specialization that reduces the AP cost.
Is there a good guide to Phoenix Point? Last time I tried I didn’t feel like mechanics at the strategic layer were well explained and I managed to work my way into a death spiral where I wasn’t keeping up with enemy DPS or health mid-game before I gave up
Not sure what resources I recall finding but I can say with certainty that getting a feet of planes early is key to rapid expansion and coverage. This means you probably want to steal one blimp, one helicopter, and two Synedrion planes in the first week or two. It'll hurt your rep but the rep penalty early game is pretty minimal and only gets substantially worse as the game goes on. Then you wanna get two teams of 8 ASAP to maximize SP and EXP gains.
Just those two things early game should carry you though most of the game. You could maybe have a third squad ready to go (have them training in a base up to level 8) for later on when you can afford another couple planes.
This feels like step one of my problem. I had just a single plane and squad for much of the early and mid-game, later built a second one for scouting and deliberately avoided pissing off the factions by stealing and similar
I definitely like the cross-class system and you make good points. I do think we just have a difference of opinion here and that's probably heavily influenced by play style. I want to try out the mod that's already out there that has a lot of class balancing, like a jet pack specialization that reduces the AP cost.
Is there a good guide to Phoenix Point? Last time I tried I didn’t feel like mechanics at the strategic layer were well explained and I managed to work my way into a death spiral where I wasn’t keeping up with enemy DPS or health mid-game before I gave up
Not sure what resources I recall finding but I can say with certainty that getting a feet of planes early is key to rapid expansion and coverage. This means you probably want to steal one blimp, one helicopter, and two Synedrion planes in the first week or two. It'll hurt your rep but the rep penalty early game is pretty minimal and only gets substantially worse as the game goes on. Then you wanna get two teams of 8 ASAP to maximize SP and EXP gains.
Just those two things early game should carry you though most of the game. You could maybe have a third squad ready to go (have them training in a base up to level 8) for later on when you can afford another couple planes.
This feels like step one of my problem. I had just a single plane and squad for much of the early and mid-game, later built a second one for scouting and deliberately avoided pissing off the factions by stealing and similar
Oh yeah, Saldonas is absolutely right that you need multiple planes, though I typically steal only one or two and commit resources to build a couple more. Also look for unactivated Phoenix bases that have a plane next to them. You get a manticore just by activating the base.
I usually choose one faction per game that I'm going to support and one that I'm not afraid to piss off. This gives me some leeway in stealing stuff as well as reliably getting tech drops. I have yet to suffer for pissing off factions...turns out that they're reluctant to go to war with you as long as you still save their havens from Pandoran attack.
Didn't classic XCOM have a thing where explosives on the ground would blow up if other explosions happened near them?
I seem to remember a common thing would be to have Rocket Guy get killed by direct fire, then later an alien grenade would hit nearby and light off all his ammo, which would super kill any of your other guys that were nearby. Or maybe I'm making that up
Microprose XCOM definitely had this. This is what I assumed the natural balance for my rocket team.
Yes they can light up the map, but a stray bullet can blow up your entire team.
Oh, and a note on some Phoenix bases having free manticores: That's only with the Festering Skies DLC enabled.
Ah dang. I thought I just missed them my first four playthroughs. Maybe not worth it, as Festering Skies is maybe the least good in terms of what it adds compared to the bullshit you have to go through to get it.
I never played release so I can't compare but I had fun enough playing it last month. I'm not a fan of how the late game strategic layer plays out but it's more a situation where what the late game was doing didn't click with me rather than the late game being bad.
I really, really, like some of the changes it introduces at the tactical layer. Dropping the singular to-hit percentage is genius and really reduces my turn anxiety. I'm also a big fan of the game stopping your movement when you spot an enemy. Really smoothes out those situations where you're 99% certain you've killed everything but you still need to move halfway across the map for an objective. Wish it still had pods though.
Edit: base game is on Gamepass and it's definitely worth a download if you're a subscriber. I ended up Gamepassing the base game and buying the dlc pass.
So is Phoenix Point good now? I remember hearing at release it was a buggy un-fun mess.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
So is Phoenix Point good now? I remember hearing at release it was a buggy un-fun mess.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
But if it captures that certain intangible quality of OG X-COM (that I always felt was missing in modern XCOM), then I'd be highly interested!
So is Phoenix Point good now? I remember hearing at release it was a buggy un-fun mess.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
But if it captures that certain intangible quality of OG X-COM (that I always felt was missing in modern XCOM), then I'd be highly interested!
If you mean, "more granular, to the point where you're debating whether or not you can make it to the exit alive if you pick up one more assault rifle and hit your overburdened status," then maybe.
I always felt that OG X-COM was unintuitive. Phoenix Point at least has a friendlier UI, but is similar in terms of being a simulation (it keeps track of the population of every human enclave on Earth!).
So is Phoenix Point good now? I remember hearing at release it was a buggy un-fun mess.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
But if it captures that certain intangible quality of OG X-COM (that I always felt was missing in modern XCOM), then I'd be highly interested!
If you mean, "more granular, to the point where you're debating whether or not you can make it to the exit alive if you pick up one more assault rifle and hit your overburdened status," then maybe.
I always felt that OG X-COM was unintuitive. Phoenix Point at least has a friendlier UI, but is similar in terms of being a simulation (it keeps track of the population of every human enclave on Earth!).
Well, since Xenonauts was totally my thing, yes! I'll need to check out Phoenix Point then!
It's actually more so the feeling of starting from total desolation, your small squad against an unstoppable force, until you have an army of your own, bases all over the world providing an umbrella of missiles, steel, and energy beams to protect the world. This is something that modern XCOM never successfully did for me. I want an army! I want to land with 20 men and a tank, throwing bombs and smoke in every direction as we disembark! I want room service! Not a small spec-ops team struggling for survival in our third year still!
So is Phoenix Point good now? I remember hearing at release it was a buggy un-fun mess.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
But if it captures that certain intangible quality of OG X-COM (that I always felt was missing in modern XCOM), then I'd be highly interested!
If you mean, "more granular, to the point where you're debating whether or not you can make it to the exit alive if you pick up one more assault rifle and hit your overburdened status," then maybe.
I always felt that OG X-COM was unintuitive. Phoenix Point at least has a friendlier UI, but is similar in terms of being a simulation (it keeps track of the population of every human enclave on Earth!).
Well, since Xenonauts was totally my thing, yes! I'll need to check out Phoenix Point then!
It's actually more so the feeling of starting from total desolation, your small squad against an unstoppable force, until you have an army of your own, bases all over the world providing an umbrella of missiles, steel, and energy beams to protect the world. This is something that modern XCOM never successfully did for me. I want an army! I want to land with 20 men and a tank, throwing bombs and smoke in every direction as we disembark! I want room service! Not a small spec-ops team struggling for survival in our third year still!
Well you're not going to land with 20 men and a tank. Max mission size is 8 soldiers (with vehicles being considered as 3 soldiers) for most missions. Your starter plane only carries 6 troopers (or 3 troops and a tank), so what you can do is send 2 planes so you can hit the mission cap.
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SaldonasSee you space cowboy...Registered Userregular
Oh hey, looks like PP just got that final patch with the Steam Workshop support. Very excited to see what the community comes up with.
Oh hey, looks like PP just got that final patch with the Steam Workshop support. Very excited to see what the community comes up with.
Actually a pretty smart move to add the mod tools to the final version of the game. If the fanbase is sufficiently motivated they can extend interest in the game by a fair amount.
I imagine releasing the mod tools earlier would have led to situations where mods get broken by a patch or DLC.
Dracomicron on
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
The thing about PP is even outside of bugs it's very much an aquired taste. The devs obviously have a vision for it and if you're not up for said vision you probably won't have a good time.
If you get it I recommend getting a discounted version to test the waters.
The thing about PP is even outside of bugs it's very much an aquired taste. The devs obviously have a vision for it and if you're not up for said vision you probably won't have a good time.
If you get it I recommend getting a discounted version to test the waters.
I would argue that most XCOMs are an acquired taste in this FPS-littered hellscape.
Phoenix Point has some...uh, points of contention, but ultimately it's not THAT different from other XCOMs, and it's actually closer to the formula than, say, the King Arthur game, or even Chimera Squad.
Oh hey, looks like PP just got that final patch with the Steam Workshop support. Very excited to see what the community comes up with.
Actually a pretty smart move to add the mod tools to the final version of the game. If the fanbase is sufficiently motivated they can extend interest in the game by a fair amount.
I imagine releasing the mod tools earlier would have led to situations where mods get broken by a patch or DLC.
Downside to delaying the tools that long is the majority of your player base has already moved on to other things. Then it takes some truly special mod(s) to get them back.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
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-Loki-Don't pee in my mouth and tell me it's raining.Registered Userregular
King Arthur: Knights Tale is precisely that. It's more of an RPG in terms of characters, levelling and loot, but also has a home base that you upgrade and spend time in between quests. Quests are freeroam, but once you hit combat, it's very, very similar to XCOM, though with hit percentages removed.
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
The King Arthur game I'm playing now is somewhat XCOMmy but is pretty linear (the missions can vary with choices and alignment) and has an overarching narrator in the Lady of the Lake.
I've also heard that Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is pretty linear but has fairly heavy tactical elements, but I haven't played that one.
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
It's not quite what you want because it's more of an emergent narrative, but Wildermyth is definitely in this vicinity.
Generalísimo de Fuerzas Armadas de la República Argentina
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
It's not quite what you want because it's more of an emergent narrative, but Wildermyth is definitely in this vicinity.
Wildermyth is also simply incredible in general. The characters you can build in that game feel like accomplishments in and of themselves.
I was just reminded of Wintermoor Tactics Club, which is very linear and has a simple but surprisingly satisfying grid-based combat system. The story is fantastic, too.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Chimera Squad does have storytelling between the squad members. Overall I wouldn't characterize it as deep, but it is well written and adds layers to the standard Xcom experience
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
In my opinion the absolute best game in this genre with a strong narrative thrust is the Banner Saga trilogy.
It's beautiful, it's got an interesting fantasy setting that you see fleshed out as it's being annihilated, significant chunks of the story can ride on your tactical performance and significant tactical decisions can ride on your narrative choices. It's also got a slightly weird system for combat that emphasizes slowly wearing down multiple opponents and leaving weakened people on the board rather than focus-fire. A lot of the fights on higher difficulties end up with you limping across the finish line for the last few rounds dealing chip damage to the enemy who are also dealing chip damage. I liked it a lot though, it was a neat change from the sort of decisions I'm used to making in these games.
And I just really jibed with the narrative. Real big picture intense end of the world shit that still manages to feel like a story about a lot of normal people who have to take an incredibly long walk somewhere.
Are there any games in the style of XCOM which also have really deep storytelling? Like a linear, narrative plot with tactical turn based action combat?
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
In my opinion the absolute best game in this genre with a strong narrative thrust is the Banner Saga trilogy.
It's beautiful, it's got an interesting fantasy setting that you see fleshed out as it's being annihilated, significant chunks of the story can ride on your tactical performance and significant tactical decisions can ride on your narrative choices. It's also got a slightly weird system for combat that emphasizes slowly wearing down multiple opponents and leaving weakened people on the board rather than focus-fire. A lot of the fights on higher difficulties end up with you limping across the finish line for the last few rounds dealing chip damage to the enemy who are also dealing chip damage. I liked it a lot though, it was a neat change from the sort of decisions I'm used to making in these games.
And I just really jibed with the narrative. Real big picture intense end of the world shit that still manages to feel like a story about a lot of normal people who have to take an incredibly long walk somewhere.
I bounced off Banner Saga, I think because the fight mechanics were so different from a typical grid tactical game; I found it hard to deal with my viable combat folks getting messed up and not able to finish battles well.
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I seem to remember a common thing would be to have Rocket Guy get killed by direct fire, then later an alien grenade would hit nearby and light off all his ammo, which would super kill any of your other guys that were nearby. Or maybe I'm making that up
That's called the heavy, with the fire two rockets option, armor piercing rocket(?) and the extra grenades.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
Why do you say that the heavy is useless? They have some accuracy issues, but those can be worked around. Their jetpack and melee skills make them extremely handy.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
I would argue that the action economy actually works pretty well. While the heavy weapon costs three AP, the back mounted rocket launcher only costs one, as do their (easily buffed) melee attacks. I also often grab the pistol bonus skill on heavies so they can fly in and tap someone.
The point of the jet pack is not to use it and the heavy weapon in the same round, it's to be able to manuver your lowest-speed characters, scout, grab objectives, and get heavy weapon angles in subsequent turns. Also multiclassing them with berserker is hilarious when you get the ability to make every action cost 1 AP.
Really, the strength of PP's multiclass system is that you can mix and match. Sure your sniper/heavy can't use the big gun in the same round as they cross half the map and land on a perfect sniper perch, but I guarantee you that you're going to be up there distributing lead poisoning for several turns to come.
I am not aware of a good one; a lot of the old ones are out of date after Gollop addressed a bunch of issues and exploits, and DLC switched up the metagame.
That said, I can probably answer any specific questions.
Damage can be tricky. Look at your soldiers and their bonus damage skills, and try to get them into their best gun, even if it isn't a main class weapon. If that means that you have an assault pistolero or a sniper with a cannon, so be it.
Step 2 is get the faction gun tech ASAP. New Jericho assault rifles have armor penetration and are key to busting crab men. Anu shotguns are flat better than the base PP shotty and frankly easier to get since you can reverse engineer them instead of working up the tech tree. Keep an eye on your research and look out for fun stuff (flamers! Burning is murder on lots of enemies).
Step 3 is follow the quest lines, because the living weapons are baller.
Step 4 is find the new DLC shop; they sell some high damage weapons that are really handy until they blow up in your hands.
Step 5 is vehicles, mutoids, mind control, and other non-standard bullshit.
Phoenix Point is barely the same game as you played, I'm guessing. Lots more options.
Not sure what resources I recall finding but I can say with certainty that getting a feet of planes early is key to rapid expansion and coverage. This means you probably want to steal one blimp, one helicopter, and two Synedrion planes in the first week or two. It'll hurt your rep but the rep penalty early game is pretty minimal and only gets substantially worse as the game goes on. Then you wanna get two teams of 8 ASAP to maximize SP and EXP gains.
Just those two things early game should carry you though most of the game. You could maybe have a third squad ready to go (have them training in a base up to level 8) for later on when you can afford another couple planes.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
This feels like step one of my problem. I had just a single plane and squad for much of the early and mid-game, later built a second one for scouting and deliberately avoided pissing off the factions by stealing and similar
Oh yeah, Saldonas is absolutely right that you need multiple planes, though I typically steal only one or two and commit resources to build a couple more. Also look for unactivated Phoenix bases that have a plane next to them. You get a manticore just by activating the base.
I usually choose one faction per game that I'm going to support and one that I'm not afraid to piss off. This gives me some leeway in stealing stuff as well as reliably getting tech drops. I have yet to suffer for pissing off factions...turns out that they're reluctant to go to war with you as long as you still save their havens from Pandoran attack.
Microprose XCOM definitely had this. This is what I assumed the natural balance for my rocket team.
Yes they can light up the map, but a stray bullet can blow up your entire team.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
Ah dang. I thought I just missed them my first four playthroughs. Maybe not worth it, as Festering Skies is maybe the least good in terms of what it adds compared to the bullshit you have to go through to get it.
I really, really, like some of the changes it introduces at the tactical layer. Dropping the singular to-hit percentage is genius and really reduces my turn anxiety. I'm also a big fan of the game stopping your movement when you spot an enemy. Really smoothes out those situations where you're 99% certain you've killed everything but you still need to move halfway across the map for an objective. Wish it still had pods though.
Edit: base game is on Gamepass and it's definitely worth a download if you're a subscriber. I ended up Gamepassing the base game and buying the dlc pass.
Phoenix Point: Year One Edition is basically not even the same game as it was on release, even sans DLC. I'm not saying that it is a perfect game (it's missing a certain intangible quality that modern XCOM has), but it does a lot of things right, and I'm most likely going to go back to it once my list of games gets culled back to a more manageable level.
But if it captures that certain intangible quality of OG X-COM (that I always felt was missing in modern XCOM), then I'd be highly interested!
If you mean, "more granular, to the point where you're debating whether or not you can make it to the exit alive if you pick up one more assault rifle and hit your overburdened status," then maybe.
I always felt that OG X-COM was unintuitive. Phoenix Point at least has a friendlier UI, but is similar in terms of being a simulation (it keeps track of the population of every human enclave on Earth!).
Well, since Xenonauts was totally my thing, yes! I'll need to check out Phoenix Point then!
It's actually more so the feeling of starting from total desolation, your small squad against an unstoppable force, until you have an army of your own, bases all over the world providing an umbrella of missiles, steel, and energy beams to protect the world. This is something that modern XCOM never successfully did for me. I want an army! I want to land with 20 men and a tank, throwing bombs and smoke in every direction as we disembark! I want room service! Not a small spec-ops team struggling for survival in our third year still!
Well you're not going to land with 20 men and a tank. Max mission size is 8 soldiers (with vehicles being considered as 3 soldiers) for most missions. Your starter plane only carries 6 troopers (or 3 troops and a tank), so what you can do is send 2 planes so you can hit the mission cap.
Switch: SW-1493-0062-4053
Actually a pretty smart move to add the mod tools to the final version of the game. If the fanbase is sufficiently motivated they can extend interest in the game by a fair amount.
I imagine releasing the mod tools earlier would have led to situations where mods get broken by a patch or DLC.
If you get it I recommend getting a discounted version to test the waters.
I would argue that most XCOMs are an acquired taste in this FPS-littered hellscape.
Phoenix Point has some...uh, points of contention, but ultimately it's not THAT different from other XCOMs, and it's actually closer to the formula than, say, the King Arthur game, or even Chimera Squad.
Downside to delaying the tools that long is the majority of your player base has already moved on to other things. Then it takes some truly special mod(s) to get them back.
He comes to a lot of the same conclusions I did.
I know games like FFT and Fire Emblem have rich storytelling. But the combat in those games is significantly different from that of XCOM.
But XCOM, Phoenix Point, Mario + Rabbids, those games are all pretty lite on story and rely very heavily on the metagame to add context, rather than a traditional narrative.
The King Arthur game I'm playing now is somewhat XCOMmy but is pretty linear (the missions can vary with choices and alignment) and has an overarching narrator in the Lady of the Lake.
I've also heard that Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children is pretty linear but has fairly heavy tactical elements, but I haven't played that one.
It's not quite what you want because it's more of an emergent narrative, but Wildermyth is definitely in this vicinity.
Wildermyth is also simply incredible in general. The characters you can build in that game feel like accomplishments in and of themselves.
I was just reminded of Wintermoor Tactics Club, which is very linear and has a simple but surprisingly satisfying grid-based combat system. The story is fantastic, too.
In my opinion the absolute best game in this genre with a strong narrative thrust is the Banner Saga trilogy.
It's beautiful, it's got an interesting fantasy setting that you see fleshed out as it's being annihilated, significant chunks of the story can ride on your tactical performance and significant tactical decisions can ride on your narrative choices. It's also got a slightly weird system for combat that emphasizes slowly wearing down multiple opponents and leaving weakened people on the board rather than focus-fire. A lot of the fights on higher difficulties end up with you limping across the finish line for the last few rounds dealing chip damage to the enemy who are also dealing chip damage. I liked it a lot though, it was a neat change from the sort of decisions I'm used to making in these games.
And I just really jibed with the narrative. Real big picture intense end of the world shit that still manages to feel like a story about a lot of normal people who have to take an incredibly long walk somewhere.
I bounced off Banner Saga, I think because the fight mechanics were so different from a typical grid tactical game; I found it hard to deal with my viable combat folks getting messed up and not able to finish battles well.