XCOM: Enemy Within

RedvGreen said:
I've bought Enemy Unknown (had it on Steam for about a year), but never been inclined to install and play it.

I wasted years playing the original - how does it compare?
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Terminal_Boy said:
Very faithful to the original, but far prettier and more cinematic.
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It's nothing like the original. No TU, no inventory, no firing at terrain, no diminished night vision, only one base...

I could go on. I'm not going to offer my opinion of the game, but to say it's faithful to the original is just plain wrong any way you look at it.

anthony566 said:
Is it going cheap ATM ??
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It's been as low as £3.75 on Steam and elsewhere (EU).
Haven't seen the expansion (EW) for less than £6 so far.
 
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Completed EU yesterday, ive got about half-way through a few times but figured i'd start again recently and get through it. Today i started playing EW... I was expecting it to be a completely different game, but it really feels like im playing EU from the start again, and all the stuff which is new is stuff im not going to be able to access for ages anyway.

The only thing which seems to be new which i can make use of is the medals, which are a nice touch, but im not seeing them having any real change. The meaningful content is going to require various other things being built (workshops, and satellites/sat station) which costs a fortune and means a lot of sacrifices elsewhere otherwise you'll lose a lot of countries and their funding & benefits later on.

Seeing as its feeling very much like the same game at the moment, with the same struggles, is it perhaps worth abandoning this start and going to the Long War mod? At least then its a bigger change, a longer game which still means it'll take forever to access the new EW content, but at least its not feeling almost identical for the first 10h of gameplay.

Thoughts?
 
PaulC2K said:
Completed EU yesterday, ive got about half-way through a few times but figured i'd start again recently and get through it. Today i started playing EW... I was expecting it to be a completely different game, but it really feels like im playing EU from the start again, and all the stuff which is new is stuff im not going to be able to access for ages anyway.

The only thing which seems to be new which i can make use of is the medals, which are a nice touch, but im not seeing them having any real change. The meaningful content is going to require various other things being built (workshops, and satellites/sat station) which costs a fortune and means a lot of sacrifices elsewhere otherwise you'll lose a lot of countries and their funding & benefits later on.

Seeing as its feeling very much like the same game at the moment, with the same struggles, is it perhaps worth abandoning this start and going to the Long War mod? At least then its a bigger change, a longer game which still means it'll take forever to access the new EW content, but at least its not feeling almost identical for the first 10h of gameplay.

Thoughts?
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The meld forces you to adopt a more aggressive play style if you want to progress. Its easier to gather it in the earlier missions than it is later on.

The addition of Exalt adds more maps, human enemies and also a couple of new mission types. The one where you have to find and escort a pistol wielding infiltrator can be a particular challenge. This also makes some of the less than useful foundry upgrades become more interesting. Pistol Upgrades and Reaper rounds are useful if thats all your allowed to equip.

Both the enemies in EW progress at a similar speed to you.

The medals work in 2 ways. They allow you to bolster you existing troops. Extra defence or willpower can make a big difference when things go pear shaped.
Its also an easy (although cheesy) way to boost rookies. Give them a couple of medals before mission 1 and they will not be so ****.

If you played EU without slingshot then you may also have this mission arc to complete.

There is also a mission arc for EW with the much fun zombie whale mission.

Depending on how your performing you also get base defense missions. Not being able to choose your starting troops or weapons makes these a big challenge.

For me at least the skills for each class were different between EU and EW.
They are more fleshed out and some of the OP ones altered.

EW throws all the difference research at you and expects you to make choices. Long term and short.
The LongWar mod staggers research more, so you dont have as much "active" and thus your game is longer.

The first hours are the same because its the same game. You get access to new stuff (across the board) once you have encountered, researched or activated it.
 
I have the slingshot DLC, but im pretty sure it wasnt there, possibly because i didnt enable it when starting the game. Looking at what it says about the DLC on steam, i dont recognise it.

If i did The Long War, will it still have everything from EW in there, the different arcs etc? Im just thinking it doesnt feel any different and i'll either come back to it in a month and do it again, or maybe skip EW and do the TLW version. As i mentioned, ive done the first half of the game a few times, getting to the point where you need the key, and then stopped there. This weekend is the first time ive gone beyond that, so another fresh start doesnt feel all that great. I probably should have just gone from EW to begin with, but i went with EU thinking they were 2 completely different games, so do them in the right order, rather than EW then EU and know how much its missing that i liked.

The Meld is something which is different, thats about the biggest thing ive noticed so far, but i havent been able to use it, but im guessing its very useful later on, and like you say it becomes a real challenge to get to it in time. Im going with Classic mode this time, last time i did normal and once i had my satellites up, it wasnt much of a challenge. So much more funding made it easier to give everyone the best items.
edit: I've also noticed im pushing into a map much faster, rather than short move w/ overwatch, because of the need to get to the meld locations ASAP. It kinda screws with you, slow and careful but lose one meld pickup, or charge in head first.

I'll carry on a little longer, hopefully it'll open up a little, otherwise i might take another break from it.
 
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FoxEye said:
It's nothing like the original. No TU, no inventory, no firing at terrain, no diminished night vision, only one base...
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True. A heavily watered down-version so it's playable on the consoles.

It's not that that bothers me so much (There is xenonauts if I want all that), it's the lame alien spawn points on the battlefield that do.

Disappearing corpses are also a let down.

Still great fun. Gonna try the long war mod soon. Heard good things.
 
Is it worth playing Enemy Unknown first, or should I just get Enemy Within and the LongWar mod and play?
(With so many un-played games on Steam, I'm not likely to replay Enemy Unknown after finishing it, and if Enemy Within is essentially the same but adds extra features, it doesn't make sense to only play Enemy Unknown).
 
Difficult one.

They are different, not dramatically so but certainly enough that players of Enemy Unknown who put in 60+ hours, also were quite happy playing Enemy Within for a similar amount of time.

Maybe just go with Enemy Within first, there's more map variety.
 
molinari said:
Is it worth playing Enemy Unknown first, or should I just get Enemy Within and the LongWar mod and play?
(With so many un-played games on Steam, I'm not likely to replay Enemy Unknown after finishing it, and if Enemy Within is essentially the same but adds extra features, it doesn't make sense to only play Enemy Unknown).
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Its subjective but FWIW, I agree with your logic - if it were me Id just start with Enemy Within if available.
 
The Long War Mod.

Playing on classic difficulty about 30 hours in.

Started a terror mission and like always, I bunker down in my spawn point for most of the mission because venturing out is total suicide. Anyway having later neutralised most of the alien threat, I start to advance to weed out the remaining aliens and then this happens.


image posting

Out of nowhere a horde of Chryssalids charge up to my team. Was a good job they ended their turn right at my feet ;)


images

:cool:

Although I should remove the shades as it took a couple of goes to get right :o
 
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I've had to take some time away from Long War. Things just got totally out of hand during July with cyberdiscs and Mechtoids turning up and watching them one shot all of your soldiers. Then there were the Exalt missions, which started ridiculously OTT, before becoming laughable, and this was after I modded them to only carry pistols. :D

If I ever go back it will have to be on Normal difficulty.
 
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