KickStarter Phoenix Point - the new game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

So this game has this simulated ballistics system, is there going to be anything like wind that can have an affect on shots, (and grenades) and even help you make shots you normally wouldn't be able to make?

 

[ArchAngel]

So this game has this simulated ballistics system, is there going to be anything like wind that can have an affect on shots, (and grenades) and even help you make shots you normally wouldn't be able to make?

Did any TB game ever have something like that?! That is a rhetorical question.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

So this game has this simulated ballistics system, is there going to be anything like wind that can have an affect on shots, (and grenades) and even help you make shots you normally wouldn't be able to make?

Did any TB game ever have something like that?! That is a rhetorical question.

Worms games have it.

 

[Shog-goth]

UnstableVoltage

Could you please tell me if the upcoming EA demo will be a "vertical slice" with (almost) all the expected features or just a single tactical battle like the last one? Thanks.

 

[Grotesque]

So 10 random people that commented negatively on youtube are half the target audience now?!
You are try harding way too much now.

They were not random, they're about half the comments of PC Gamer's youtube video posting amidst neutral and not impressed comments and some others that are hyped like "Another XCOM si always good!!".
It's safe to extrapolate and assume that the tendencies will hold and remain proportionate at a larger scale, especially when on other comments sections filled with casuals (and not filled with Gollop adulators that would be ok in their book even if he would kick a small dog in the belly), time and time again the same type of comments pop up constantly.

When you have the nuXCOM that freshly received a facelift with War of the Chosen, you don't base your game awareness campaign on what it makes it look more of the same (right to the fuckin UI and walking grid style) but on what it makes it different like the planned geoscape intricate strategy layer, base management, research etc.
You can talk all day about them in a presentation for sure but will never have the same impact as a visual representation and will always be regarded as something immaterial/not there.

The reason I backed PP was because of firm promises of complex strategy layer & base management , soldier inventory (possible interceptions etc.) because I am a TFTD simulationist enthusiast (bordering fanboism) and because XCOM took a big dump on all that.
But they have almost nothing to show in that department to my dismay, being too set on combat where people that know better on comments section shout "Show us the strategy layer!"

 

[ArchAngel]

So 10 random people that commented negatively on youtube are half the target audience now?!
You are try harding way too much now.

They were not random, they're about half the comments of PC Gamer's youtube video posting amidst neutral and not impressed comments and some others that are hyped like "Another XCOM si always good!!".
It's safe to extrapolate and assume that the tendencies will hold and remain proportionate at a larger scale, especially when on other comments sections filled with casuals (and not filled with Gollop adulators that would be ok in their book even if he would kick a small dog in the belly), time and time again the same type of comments pop up constantly.

When you have the nuXCOM that freshly received a facelift with War of the Chosen, you don't base your game awareness campaign on what it makes it look more of the same (right to the fuckin UI and walking grid style) but on what it makes it different like the planned geoscape intricate strategy layer, base management, research etc.
You can talk all day about them in a presentation for sure but will never have the same impact as a visual representation and will always be regarded as something immaterial/not there.

The reason I backed PP was because of firm promises of complex strategy layer & base management , soldier inventory (possible interceptions etc.) because I am a TFTD simulationist enthusiast (bordering fanboism) and because XCOM took a big dump on all that.
But they have almost nothing to show in that department to my dismay, being too set on combat where people that know better on comments section shout "Show us the strategy layer!"

Still does not make it half the audience. Stop being so stupid.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

UnstableVoltage

Could you please tell me if the upcoming EA demo will be a "vertical slice" with (almost) all the expected features or just a single tactical battle like the last one? Thanks.

In a word, no - it won't be anywhere near feature complete. Saying that, the demo that we showed wasn't either. The inventory was missing, we only had 3 classes, the UI was incomplete, only 3 enemy types (and the queen was missing some of her attacks), most of the skills and abilities were missing.

As stated, it is pre-alpha. It's going to be coming in bits and pieces.

 

[Shog-goth]

In a word, no - it won't be anywhere near feature complete.

So what should we expect exactly from the first alpha demo? Will we have a glimpse of the strategic layer, or just the tactical one?

 

[UnstableVoltage]

In a word, no - it won't be anywhere near feature complete.

So what should we expect exactly from the first interaction? Will we have a glimpse of the strategic layer, or just the tactical one?

I don't have the exact details, but I would say it's most likely going to be some limited tactical battles to start with - most likely testing the procedural generation.

 

[Shog-goth]

I don't have the exact details, but I would say it's most likely going to be some limited tactical battles to start with - most likely testing the procedural generation.

Is it confirmed that it will be available in April? And when you think we'll can see something new about the strategic layer? Thanks.

 

[Alienman]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

Most skills are equipment based, but your class does dictate to an extent which equipment you can and can't use.

 

[Shog-goth]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

I hope there won't be any class-locked equipment but only some kind of skill bonus, most important every soldier must be able to use any weapon even if with penalties.

 

[ArchAngel]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

Most skills are equipment based, but your class does dictate to an extent which equipment you can and can't use.

I hope you remove that limit for weapons themselves. Also let us pick up enemy weapons on the battlefield. If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

 

[Zombra]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

Most skills are equipment based, but your class does dictate to an extent which equipment you can and can't use.

I hope you remove that limit for weapons themselves. Also let us pick up enemy weapons on the battlefield. If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

Eh, I am fine with them using weapons that require 3 heads and 6 tentacles and my guys not being able to use those at all.

 

[ChaDargo]

Backed this game, will play it. Can't wait for it to come out.

I'm excited too, but I have a profound aversion to disappointment

At the very least, it's great to be able to observe/interact with the process of a game's development, and to be able to talk to such a polite and informative member of the development team in UnstableVoltage

Then again, maybe that just makes me a newfag lol

 

[thesheeep]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

Most skills are equipment based, but your class does dictate to an extent which equipment you can and can't use.

I hope you remove that limit for weapons themselves. Also let us pick up enemy weapons on the battlefield. If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

Eh, I am fine with them using weapons that require 3 heads and 6 tentacles and my guys not being able to use those at all.

I'm also fine with it, as long as there is a logical reason.

If there is another soldier and he has a perfectly fine gun and my soldier can't use it, then that is just weird.
On the other hand, I don't think I ever really picked up guns of enemies in any UFO/XCom game during combat as I was usually perfectly fine with the guns my soldiers had.

 

[PanteraNera]

Honestly what is so hard to understand? PP is marketed as "from the creator of the original XCOM", why would people NOT expect it to be closer to the original game than to NuXCOM? So far, as what has been shown, and that is pretty much only the tactical game play it looks like/feels like it's just a mod of XCOM 2 and I can agree to that. It's a bummer, but I expected that, that is why I have not backed PP.

Might the game still be okay or decent? Sure.
I for example love the lore, read all the short stories and briefings. But maybe I rather read a novel about PP than play the game, who knows. Especially since it is not certain how and to what extend the lore will be "in the game".

I think, a lot of people hoped for a GREAT game. But so far it just doesn't seem like to be happening.

Like it has been said before here, and most of the other places where there is discussion about PP, show the stuff that is different. It's all talks, words, ideas, that are NOT in the game now, and who knows, maybe never will? How long are you guys working on that game for now? And in 10 months it should be finished? Where is the geoscape, the 4x stuff? Where is freeaim? Where is all the stuff you talked about in the fig and on your web page? In what state is it? We (the players) do not know, or SEE with our own eyes any of it. What we see is a video of a game that looks like an XCOM 2 mod .

All that said, I still hope PP will be a big success, that the game will be what is promised. At that point I just can not belief in it.

 

[UnstableVoltage]

Classes make me a sad panda. I would rather have the weapons equipped dictate the skills if you now need to have skills.

Most skills are equipment based, but your class does dictate to an extent which equipment you can and can't use.

Also let us pick up enemy weapons on the battlefield. If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

This has been the plan from the start.

 

[PanteraNera]

+ How is Phoenix Point related to XCom?
Phoenix Point is being created by Julian Gollop who was the original designer, programmer and artist of X-Com (X-Com: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown) in 1994. Phoenix Point is a spiritual successor to the original X-Com games and hopes to invoke the same feeling and atmosphere of those classic games, retaining many of those much-loved gameplay mechanics while adding some new ones.

Huh, that is from the official FAQ.
Would be true if it was regarding to XCOM 2 but not the original X-Com.

 

[Endemic]

If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

Actually you can't use alien weapons in UFO: Enemy Unknown or Terror from the Deep without researching them. It just shows up as "alien artefact".

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

UnstableVoltage, so will there be anything like this?

So this game has this simulated ballistics system, is there going to be anything like wind that can have an affect on shots, (and grenades) and even help you make shots you normally wouldn't be able to make?

 

[ArchAngel]

If crab man carries a heavy machinegun, we should be able to pick it up and use it (with a penalty) for that one mission like you could alien weapons in UFO.

Actually you can't use alien weapons in UFO: Enemy Unknown or Terror from the Deep without researching them. It just shows up as "alien artefact".

Ok but that does not change what I said. Later when you run with full squad of heavy Plasma guns you are not longer interested in picking up alien stuff but once you researched them but don't have not enough of them or enough ammo for example you will be picking up those from the battlefield.

Anyways, in PP aliens are not going to be using their weapons but human weapons. So there is no reason why a human soldier cannot pick it up if they run out of ammo during longer battles.

 

[ArchAngel]

+ How is Phoenix Point related to XCom?
Phoenix Point is being created by Julian Gollop who was the original designer, programmer and artist of X-Com (X-Com: UFO Defense / UFO: Enemy Unknown) in 1994. Phoenix Point is a spiritual successor to the original X-Com games and hopes to invoke the same feeling and atmosphere of those classic games, retaining many of those much-loved gameplay mechanics while adding some new ones.

Huh, that is from the official FAQ.
Would be true if it was regarding to XCOM 2 but not the original X-Com.

Considering the game is still in pre alpha it might look and feel like that.
For now people are jumping to conclusions too much and judging end product mostly on its art style and UI.

 

[Shog-goth]

For now people are jumping to conclusions too much and judging end product mostly on its art style and UI.

Probably you're right but, for me, TU are a "much loved gameplay mechanic" to be retained and I wouldn't want to see it scrapped for AP.