XCOM: Enemy Unknown (on 360/PS3)

[Stark]

You ... don't know anything about MoO2? Best 4x game ever made.

[noiseredux]

Some of the best strategy games of all time. Jagged Alliance 2 is a SRPG so it's more battle centric, while Master of Orion and Alpha Centauri are more traditional 4X(*) turn based strategy, both with a scifi theme. So if you like the tactic battles of Xcom, Jagged Alliance 2 is great (best in the genre according to many strategy fans, usually tied up with the original Xcom in polls). But if you like the scifi theme and resource management and large scale strategy of Xcom, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares are great
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_ ... s#Gameplay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier% ... i#Gameplay
*=explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate

Very informative. Thank you!

As much as I love XCOM, I'd probably like it more (or at least the same) if base-management wasn't even a thing.

I love strategy games like FFT, Battle Ogre, Shining Force (SHINING FORCE!), etc. But truth be told, it's the battles I adore. I'm a lot less interested in the exploration part (meaning, traveling from one town to another or finding new characters to recruit). I guess to me a perfect game would be just the battles, with all XP, $, items, characters, etc just being rewards.

Anyway, I'm rambling. I'll be sure to look into these games.

^Woah, WTF is this???

What is Final Fantasy Tactics 1.3?
FFT 1.3 is a modification of Final Fantasy Tactics made by Archael. It greatly increases the difficulty of the game and re-balances it by tweaking items, skills, jobs, and giving the enemies the player faces more options, which unlocks the AI's true potential. It is a very different experience from the original game. All the changes that 1.3 makes to the game can be found in this website. It is based on the original FFT 1.1 and 1.2 patches by Philsov.
Counting every minor change, FFT 1.3 contains 404,421 individual differences from the original game.

An improved and harder version of FFT
http://www.insanedifficulty.com/index.p ... 201.3/home[/quote]


ah ok a mod.

That being said, I didn't realize that Tactics had been officially released on PC. Where could I get such a thing? I don't remember ever seeing it on Steam. Is it a Square-store exclusive or something?

You ... don't know anything about MoO2? Best 4x game ever made.

Nah dood. But remember I've been mostly out of the PC scene for a while!

[Jmustang1968]

Yeah I balance satellites and upgrades. Dont be afraid to use the grey market.

oh don't you worry, I dabble in the grey market!

Final Fantasy Tactics is ok. Still much prefer Tactics Ogre.

LOL. I know what FFT is. I love it. I just have never heard of "1.3" - is that an official release or just some kind of mod?

Oh was t suggesting you didn't. It was more of a response to menegro recommendations.

[MrPopo]

So to go back to your original question, I'd keep going. Getting better weapons should be the biggest thing that will help your performance. In my playthrough where I won Classic Ironman I lost everyone but a Squaddie in one mission (leaving me with a Sergeant and a bunch of Squaddies) and I was able to rebuild because I had kept up with the weapons research.

One thing to note is that if you take down an alien with the Arc Thrower you get to keep their weapon. Additionally, the alien interrogations and autopsies give you a boost to various research projects, such as weaponry. So you can try stunning a few aliens with good weapons to kick start yourself.

[Menegrothx]

As much as I love XCOM, I'd probably like it more (or at least the same) if base-management wasn't even a thing.

I love strategy games like FFT, Battle Ogre, Shining Force (SHINING FORCE!), etc. But truth be told, it's the battles I adore. I'm a lot less interested in the exploration part (meaning, traveling from one town to another or finding new characters to recruit). I guess to me a perfect game would be just the battles, with all XP, $, items, characters, etc just being rewards.

SRPG/tactics and strategy are totally two different mindsets, both are fine on their own right but depends on what you're looking for what you should try out. Jagged Alliance 2 is one of the biggest names in the combat simulation (=no over the top spells and crazy numbers like in something like Disgaea)/tactics department.

Shadowrun Returns is a game that should be right up your alley. It was released a few months ago and it plays very much like the new Xcom game, but it's a RPG so you've got no base management, you only upgrade your own character as he/she levels up. So based on your message, it seems to me like everything what you're looking for. There's dialogue and non combat part since it's a RPG (well written dialogue and good story though), but the game is very linear so you never have the spend too much time wandering around between the combat missions.
Gameplay footage

The only problem with this game so far is that it only has 1 campaign which is about 12 hours long and only has a couple of more challenging battles, but they're going to release new campaigns for it for free in the future so it's a good investment in my opinion.

Another great combat centric SRPG is The Temple of Elemental Evil, but that one uses Dungeons&Dragons rules so unless you're familiar with that stuff, I recommend you check out Shadowrun and JA2 first before you try it (or any 4X games).

If you don't care about finding a physical copy (all can be found for relatively cheap as boxed though), they're all on GOG/Steam
http://www.gog.com/game/jagged_alliance_2

http://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri
http://www.gog.com/game/master_of_orion_1_2
http://www.gog.com/game/the_temple_of_elemental_evil

ah ok a mod.

That being said, I didn't realize that Tactics had been officially released on PC. Where could I get such a thing? I don't remember ever seeing it on Steam. Is it a Square-store exclusive or something?

It hasn't, they play it with a PS1 emulator. Or you can patch your PSP version of the game.

Final Fantasy Tactics is ok. Still much prefer Tactics Ogre.

That's what the mod is for, to make the game more challenging so you have to plan things more carefully.

[noiseredux]

wow dood, Shadowrun Returns looks like something I would love! I actually had no idea what kind of game Returns was - as the series in general was pretty all over the play gameplay-wise wasn't it? (Like the Genesis and SNES versions were totally different games?)

Anyway, yeah that looks incredible. I'll have to check that one out for sure. Wonder if it'll get a sale anytime soon.

@Popo, yeah I'm gonna keep at it. If the project shuts down, that's an excuse to play something else between now and Enemy Within.

[Jmustang1968]

wow dood, Shadowrun Returns looks like something I would love! I actually had no idea what kind of game Returns was - as the series in general was pretty all over the play gameplay-wise wasn't it? (Like the Genesis and SNES versions were totally different games?)

Anyway, yeah that looks incredible. I'll have to check that one out for sure. Wonder if it'll get a sale anytime soon.

@Popo, yeah I'm gonna keep at it. If the project shuts down, that's an excuse to play something else between now and Enemy Within.

Did you listen to our interview with Jordan Weisman?

SRR is more true to P&P. The old console games were action rpgs.

[noiseredux]

Did you listen to our interview with Jordan Weisman?

SRR is more true to P&P. The old console games were action rpgs.

I actually missed that episode, I'll have to go back and check it out!

[Hatta]

As much as I love XCOM, I'd probably like it more (or at least the same) if base-management wasn't even a thing.

Try Silent Storm. It's a 2003 tactical RPG for Windows set in WWII. I don't think there's any base management in it. There is a big emphasis on team management. Each unit has his own skill tree, but there's no overall tech tree for the game. IMO, it's a fair bit easier than X-Com (1994) but harder than X-Com (2012).

[Menegrothx]

Oh yeah I almost forgot: Wasteland 2 will be released later this year. Or well, the estimated release date is late 2013, but it might be delayed. Just something to keep in mind, if we're lucky, we get that and Enemy within the same month It's another grid based tactical RPG, a (spiritual) sequel to the classic RPG Wasteland from 1988
The developers are posting new gameplay footage on their youtube channel often