Phoenix Point, the next game from X-COM creator Julian Gollop, now on Fig

[the_dog_days]

34 minutes ago, melkathi said:

They send you an email with my key as well?!?

 

Whoa, good thing I redeemed it before you did.

 

You should ask for your own though.

No, no, no. Its like your key, only better 'cause its Wormerine's.

[Hurlshort]

I'm kind of excited, but also a bit worried about how stable this game will be at launch. But mostly excited.

[melkathi]

6 minutes ago, the_dog_days said:

No, no, no. Its like your key, only better 'cause its Wormerine's.

Good thing I am living alone. It would be hard to explain why this has me laughing so hard

[Wormerine]

3 hours ago, the_dog_days said:

No, no, no. Its like your key, only better 'cause its Wormerine's.

 I was about to try to write something witty, but that takes the cake. I will just tip my imaginary hat. 

3 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

I'm kind of excited, but also a bit worried about how stable this game will be at launch. But mostly excited.

There is a very likely possibility that it simply won't by much fun - either due to overwhelming ambition, technical difficulties or lack of polish. Luckily, there is no "purchase or not to purchase" dilema. In the worse case, I will write a disappointed but supportive post on snapshot's forum, and hope it will be better when I redeed my gog key in a years time. 

 

Opening cinematic + tactical tutorial. Minor spoilers?

 

Also, launch trailer:

 

[Hurlshort]

So today is launch day. I was hoping to install it this morning before heading to work, but they've got a pretty vague window of when it will be available and I keep getting an error on the Epic store. Apparently it is coming to the Xbox gamepass too, but I can't find much out about that. Ah well, hopefully I can play it by tomorrow. 

[melkathi]

11pst so in 4 hours.

Not vague, just very well hidden

[melkathi]

Installing...

[melkathi]

God, the tutorial is stupid. It has you dashing into the open, then end turn without using your other soldier. Next turn you are forced to end turn without running to cover, so the enemy can attack you again.

[pmp10]

And first tube review is out.

 

[melkathi]

Something is not right with the name/gender matching. I had women called Peter, Patrick, Mark... may be an issue with too many backer names from male backers. Other than the tutorial lady I have gotten no female names.

[Wormerine]

I am pretty sure it was said somewhere, that majority of backer names were male. It's odd that they didn't tag them with appropriate genders. 

So far I enjoyed it quite a lot, though it is quite janky. Unless one is really interested in the project, I would probably recommend to wait till steam/gog release and see how it develops. 

[melkathi]

It's a lot better than the last backer build though. You can actually have fun now.

[Humanoid]

Surely no one can command a tutorial worse than Bradford does with his 25% survival rate.

 

[Hurlshort]

I love the elements of the game, but there are some odd performance issues and it lacks the polish of the Xcom games. Also I haven't figured out what my chances to hit are yet. Still, it's early and I can tell I will enjoy it.

[Wormerine]

12 minutes ago, Hurlshot said:

I love the elements of the game, but there are some odd performance issues and it lacks the polish of the Xcom games. Also I haven't figured out what my chances to hit are yet. Still, it's early and I can tell I will enjoy it.

As to actual math - it's been mentioned on Snapshot forums that bullets are distributed using curve bell - meaning they are less likely to hit bullzeye, or spread at the edges. If I understand it well, aiming straight at the things you want to hit, isn't necessarly the most efficient way of doing things. 

[melkathi]

I find some UI choices unfortunate. Especially the tutorial UI is too intrusive.

That said, I don't truly agree with the comparison that Phoenix Point is unpolished compared to XCOM. XCOM 2 built on XCOM and Enemy Within and still had issues. XCOM and Enemy Within had a lot of issues. Off the top of my head, Raptors shooting through the floor. There were a lot of clipping issues with the gun camera when the soldier was in cover or too close to the target.

Phoenix Point does have issues, and some of those will never get fixed. For example that projectiles have a path but no mass. A bullet missing the target and just scratching a sleeve is realistic. But a rocket should not miss because the trajectory took it through the gap between chin and shoulder.

[Wormerine]

43 minutes ago, melkathi said:

I find some UI choices unfortunate. Especially the tutorial UI is too intrusive.

Yes. Overall, be it inventory or base management, it feels rough, and as if it were not final. As originally after Backer Betas Phoenix Point was to be Early Access title, I do wonder if this release is an Epic funded EA. I do hope so, as it needs some work.

44 minutes ago, melkathi said:

That said, I don't truly agree with the comparison that Phoenix Point is unpolished compared to XCOM. XCOM 2 built on XCOM and Enemy Within and still had issues. XCOM and Enemy Within had a lot of issues. Off the top of my head, Raptors shooting through the floor. There were a lot of clipping issues with the gun camera when the soldier was in cover or too close to the target.

True, especially XCOM1 got away with murder, with switching elevations not working properly, enemy teleportation etc. However, in a short time I spent with Phoenix Point I enountered enemies stuck within a cover, some inconsistancies with cover, a seethrough glass not being see through, and a game hung up on me on enemy turn and had to restart a mission. 

[melkathi]

I haven't encountered any bugs yet.

But for a "true trajectory" system I am missing an alarming number of sure shots.

Or they all hit the carapace and miraculously do minimum damage and get soaked. Projected damage: enemy dead. Actual damage: 0.

[Hurlshort]

Is anyone else getting really long load times?

[melkathi]

Possibly. But as Backer Build 5 had 15 minute loads and initial load could reach 45 if you were unlucky, nothing feels long anymore.

 

What I am getting is continuous ambushes. 8/10 explores lead to ambushes lately.

[melkathi]

Has anyone encountered any neutral havens? I haven't found a single one...

[Wormerine]

13 hours ago, melkathi said:

Projected damage: enemy dead. Actual damage: 0.

I rarely find snap aim useful. I tend to free-aim everyshot, and I found it fairly reliable. 

12 hours ago, Hurlshot said:

Is anyone else getting really long load times?

Not really. First load is a bit longer but afterwards it seems within reason.

12 hours ago, melkathi said:

What I am getting is continuous ambushes. 8/10 explores lead to ambushes lately.

I am yet to get ambushed. I don't know what determines that.

11 hours ago, melkathi said:

Has anyone encountered any neutral havens? I haven't found a single one...

Now when you mention that - no. 

[melkathi]

Found my third base.

Also had the first instance of a New Jericho haven getting attacked were I could not reach it.

Attack strength 16, defender strength 16, haven got wiped out

 

With so many ambushes I am getting low on materials

Also made the mistake of recruiting two Synedrion infiltrators and am seriously disliking them. Anu Berserkers are so much more awesome.

[Wormerine]

Okey. I am done with it for now. Spend a solid 10 hours reporting bugs, and complaining about Line of sight, cover problems and door problems. I am putting PP on hold. I can’t see it being able to bypass design issues it is struggling with, and I don’t expect to give it more then one playthrough, so I will wait for the game to be more complete and functioning. 

[Hurlshort]

35 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Okey. I am done with it for now. Spend a solid 10 hours reporting bugs, and complaining about Line of sight, cover problems and door problems. I am putting PP on hold. I can’t see it being able to bypass design issues it is struggling with, and I don’t expect to give it more then one playthrough, so I will wait for the game to be more complete and functioning. 

I'm right there with you. I mean, I have a lot of other games on the stove right now anyways, so it's going to be alright to wait. These types of games need polish. I remember the JA2 demo came out like a year before the game, and I played it to death, bit Sir-Tech kept pushing back the due date to make sure the game was ready.