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XCOM2 goes beyond strategy (rant)
MadFrenchie
Member LegendaryPosts: 8,505
Being a huge fan of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, I was incredibly excited for XCOM2.
Boy, was I let down. XCOM2's to hit chance calculator is terribly flawed (3 squad members standing shoulder to shoulder with enemy and a 91-94% hit chance scored 3 misses, as well as a 77% hit chance missing on 14 consecutive reloads). The game is, quite honestly, artificially stacked against the player. It's noticeable enough that I've requested a refund through Steam.
Firaxis has ignored or forgotten the first rule of strategy gaming: reward the player for good decisions. Instead, they've focused on RNG to the point that it no longer feels as if you can control your own destiny; your entire mission (and game) depends on the luck of RNG. That's, quite frankly, a horrible way to go about Strategy gaming.
As much as it pains me, I would recommend steering clear of this game. It's, quite honestly, a poor excuse for a strategy game and fails miserably to meet up to the standards set by its predecessor.
When I reload a saved game 14 times, moving my soldier into position and firing each time identically, only to have a 77% hit chance miss every single time. Additionally, when I move three different squad members into literal melee range (shoulder to shoulder with the enemy with no cover between), scoring a 91-94% hit chance, only to have all three squad members miss... The strategy title starts to feel stacked against you. That's a terrible way to go about "balancing" a strategy title, and it's something that was not included (or, at least, noticeable) in the original title. It seems, to me, to indicate a change in the seeding system.
Long story short... Firaxis seems to have skimped on the actual strategy portion to artificially create strife for the player... Which results in an entirely unsatisfactory playing experience that I didn't get from the original title.
EDIT- More to the point, and less superfluous ranting.
Boy, was I let down. XCOM2's to hit chance calculator is terribly flawed (3 squad members standing shoulder to shoulder with enemy and a 91-94% hit chance scored 3 misses, as well as a 77% hit chance missing on 14 consecutive reloads). The game is, quite honestly, artificially stacked against the player. It's noticeable enough that I've requested a refund through Steam.
Firaxis has ignored or forgotten the first rule of strategy gaming: reward the player for good decisions. Instead, they've focused on RNG to the point that it no longer feels as if you can control your own destiny; your entire mission (and game) depends on the luck of RNG. That's, quite frankly, a horrible way to go about Strategy gaming.
As much as it pains me, I would recommend steering clear of this game. It's, quite honestly, a poor excuse for a strategy game and fails miserably to meet up to the standards set by its predecessor.
When I reload a saved game 14 times, moving my soldier into position and firing each time identically, only to have a 77% hit chance miss every single time. Additionally, when I move three different squad members into literal melee range (shoulder to shoulder with the enemy with no cover between), scoring a 91-94% hit chance, only to have all three squad members miss... The strategy title starts to feel stacked against you. That's a terrible way to go about "balancing" a strategy title, and it's something that was not included (or, at least, noticeable) in the original title. It seems, to me, to indicate a change in the seeding system.
Long story short... Firaxis seems to have skimped on the actual strategy portion to artificially create strife for the player... Which results in an entirely unsatisfactory playing experience that I didn't get from the original title.
EDIT- More to the point, and less superfluous ranting.
Post edited by MadFrenchie on
Comments
Strategy gaming IS about decisions and well...strategy, but that also means that if things go south for you, you have to accept defeat and maybe even permadeath. Even if you place your troops correctly on the battlefield they can still miss their shots you know. Realoding from a certain point multiple times when you miss a shot is like cheating on the game as much as (in your opinion) the game cheats on you.
All i'm trying to say is give it another shot and try different approaches rather than quitting after a few defeats. Cheers.
The one thing I can say is don't plan to play it unless you have a gaming computer and a laptop is not a gaming computer.
Now if you had changed something, you could have moved past the bad result in the RNG seed. But simply reloading will not generate a new seed.
Save Scum was added as an option in XCOM Enemy Within. Selecting that, would allow you to reload and get a new random seed, so you could hope for a different result.
Though I share your pain when several 70%+ shots all miss or just that crucial 97% shot that now leaves your guy as open as the alien was. Or when their suppressed and disoriented muton kills your guy on a 1% shot.
It is not a bug if they havent added a Save Scum option yet. It is a standard feature, that is in all XCOM games. A Save Scum option was added in EW, but since I havent gotten XCOM 2 yet, I dont know if it is an option in the new game, yet.
So basicly you shouldnt expect a different outcome, after reloading, if you change nothing.
I did like the last line you put in, that is the definition of "insanity" by the way.
Other than that, I would assume it's a bug. But most likely it's a seed.
This wouldn't be such a problem had they used the same kind of to hit chance system as EU; if I remember correctly, standing beside someone resulted in a 100% to hit chance. Here, I had a squad member standing one tile away get a hit chance as low as 88% at one point during my 6 hours playing. While I realize RNG is a component, the method by which they generate the RNG component is counter-intuitive and results in feeling less like true RNG and more like simply trolling the player.
I played the crap outta EU, losing the metagame multiple times without really feeling like I was railroaded into it, and am familiar with the maddening quirks of RNG.. However, XCOM2 seems to go beyond this.
Those missions are quite tense. However, I found that the missions have just enough turns to make you move deliberately but not frantically. I actually enjoyed them, even though I (like you) preferred moving methodically throughout the missions. In some of them you can complete the time-sensitive objective without killing all enemies or moving your entire squad to a point, so you can move one guy to the objective while covering him with the rest of the squad.
When I buy this game I'll get a far better experience, I'll have less bugs, more content and get it cheaper.
Next time use a different strategy instead.
Cheers.
With the modding potential it's a good value overall too.
It should determine the outcome the moment you select an action, and it should reflect the displayed chance. If you have 90% chance to hit, you should actually hit about that often, so it should not be a total RNG, but stacked in your favour. You should still be able to miss, but that should be as unlikely as that you hit with 10%.
Which reminds me of the funny thing, that low hit chances almost always work as intended - you miss. No three consecutive hits with 5% hit chance, or hitting all five aliens with a grenade when you only have 30% to even hit the one you are aiming at.
The point of the game is strategy/tactics (though they already threw that out of the window when they allowed to enemies to *move* when *you* see them. Not sure if it's still in in Enemy Within and XCOM 2, but i'd guess so), not rolling a lucky seed.
They where either lazy, under pressure to release the game, or it was actually on purpose like the other dozen things they removed compared to the originals.
The XCOM reboots are only good because we do not have anything comparable right now. If we had a real succesor to this type of game, the XCOM games would be no where as popular.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore