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

[jac8awol]

I thought they said somewhere along the line that they'd be on steam after a year with all the 3 main DLCs finished. Could just be my imagination, but with these guys there's no point trying to remember what they said...

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Seems they "forgot" that Festering skies DLC and GOG as well.

How quaint

 

[Shog-goth]

Seems they "forgot" that Festering skies DLC and GOG as well.

They have not forgotten, GOG accepts only good games...

 

[ArchAngel]

I thought they said somewhere along the line that they'd be on steam after a year with all the 3 main DLCs finished. Could just be my imagination, but with these guys there's no point trying to remember what they said...

That is also what I was hoping as well

 

[Shog-goth]

You will receive a Steam key or gog key in addition to an Epic store key, after the period of exclusivity. You can do what you like with these keys.

The steam/gog key will be a special edition that includes at least 3 major DLC packs released in the first year. Backers who stick with Epic will get this DLC as it is released.

The two stretch goals from the fig campaign - sea bases and underwater missions - will form the basis of the first 2 DLC packs. There will be at least 1 more major DLC pack during the launch year

https://forums.snapshotgames.com/t/...are-offering-to-backers-of-phoenix-point/3083

 

[anvi]

Has anyone finished this damn game? I think I am getting closer but I am bored now and want to stop playing. Is there anything worth pressing on for?

 

[toro]

"procedural maps" ... How bad is it?

 

[anvi]

You'd never know they are procedural, but they are all kinda small and basic anyway. Occasionally you might go inside a building but mostly it is just whack a mole with guns through some trees and stuff. I just wish the regions were bigger and had indoor sections. I beat 99% of maps just standing on a roof of one building and blowing shit up and the enemies all come to see whats going on and get blown up too. It is still kinda fun but it would be better being more of a hunting type of experience. The engine is decent though. Nice graphics and everything is destructible, every bullet hits something. Various weapons that are fun to play with and varied and some abilities like stealth, hologram decoy, etc. Some characters can sacrifice most of their turn to give some AP to some other character, so you can play kinda rambo once you get the hang of it.

It's pretty fun. But could use more interesting maps, and it goes on way too long. There are other maps by the way, there is some sort of James Bond type enemy base in a mountain or something so you can't use the jetpack which makes outdoors easy. And it was pretty tough and a nice change. But I had that place once or twice, and then a million other battles in the same few outdoor areas.

 

[ArchAngel]

Has anyone finished this damn game? I think I am getting closer but I am bored now and want to stop playing. Is there anything worth pressing on for?

I have finished it multiple times. Yes end of the game drags a bit. Best way to finish it is to have 6+ research centers and skip all non story missions if your population meter is not low. You need 9 max level guys for last mission and if you have that just do research to access it and do it.

Xenonauts had same problem. I did over 100 mission in that game before I got a chance to access last mission (I didn't skip any there).
With UFO I usually skipped all mission once I had access to all tech and I was just waiting to get access to last mission

 

[ArchAngel]

"procedural maps" ... How bad is it?

No worse than Xcom 2 or UFO that both had procedural maps. Actually I would say it has more variance than UFO had.

 

[anvi]

Has anyone finished this damn game? I think I am getting closer but I am bored now and want to stop playing. Is there anything worth pressing on for?

I have finished it multiple times. Yes end of the game drags a bit. Best way to finish it is to have 6+ research centers and skip all non story missions if your population meter is not low. You need 9 max level guys for last mission and if you have that just do research to access it and do it.

Xenonauts had same problem. I did over 100 mission in that game before I got a chance to access last mission (I didn't skip any there).
With UFO I usually skipped all mission once I had access to all tech and I was just waiting to get access to last mission

Thanks I think I can probably trigger that ending soon. I hope nice indie games like this can manage to make enough money to keep growing.

 

[ArchAngel]

Has anyone finished this damn game? I think I am getting closer but I am bored now and want to stop playing. Is there anything worth pressing on for?

I have finished it multiple times. Yes end of the game drags a bit. Best way to finish it is to have 6+ research centers and skip all non story missions if your population meter is not low. You need 9 max level guys for last mission and if you have that just do research to access it and do it.

Xenonauts had same problem. I did over 100 mission in that game before I got a chance to access last mission (I didn't skip any there).
With UFO I usually skipped all mission once I had access to all tech and I was just waiting to get access to last mission

Thanks I think I can probably trigger that ending soon. I hope nice indie games like this can manage to make enough money to keep growing.

They will sink or swim based on how well they do with the Steam release. I hope they will be able to fix enough stuff for that but time is fast running out.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Seems they "forgot" that Festering skies DLC

Was that the one that would've added interceptors and other aerial warfare elements?

 

[Shog-goth]

Seems they "forgot" that Festering skies DLC

Was that the one that would've added interceptors and other aerial warfare elements?

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-...ring-skies?sessionInvalidated=true&lang=en-US

The skies darken with alien vessels, and Phoenix Point must rise to the challenge. An all-new interception mode, inspired by the original X-COM, lets players build and upgrade their own aircraft, fight aliens in the skies, and harvest tech from downed alien vessels. Festering Skies boasts an entirely new play style, new mission types, new vehicles, and much more.

 

[thesecret1]

I tried the game and found it rather mediocre. Extremely repetitive. Like a dozen hours in, and there are only like two enemy types (not counting mushrooms and worms)? I mean sure, their body parts and weapons change... but they're still the same fucks. I much preffered the ever increasing variety of aliens to dissect and research, like XCOM and Xenonauts have. Outside the missions, it feels rather barebones too – research seems less fleshed out and interesting (some of it only rewards a couple resources) and there's little to do but engage in some very simplistic base building and fly from place to place to either progress the quest lines or get some resources/missions. That is, unless you are forced to take a detour to defend a haven, which quickly becomes the most repetitive shit you do, yet shouldn't skip because humanity counter and faction relations and stuff.

I like the setting and many of the ideas (evolving parts of enemies are a pretty cool concept), but it just seems to lack the meat of an XCOM game. I keep thinking "what does this game do that Xenonauts don't do better?" and keep coming up with nothing.

 

[anvi]

It was better when I played it. There were a lot of enemies, better than xcom. There are these tank guys who create a shield and rarely even attack you, they mostly just charge at you with their shield, and it absorbs bullets. You have to flank them or blow up the shield. There is an alien that goes invisible once you hit it, and you can usually find it if you go stand where it looked like it sneaked off to. There's a huge thing that squirts out a goo that stops units moving if it hits them. There's a sniper dude, there's an elite boss type dude who looks like a lizard alien and is tough, for a while anyway. Lots of various bandits... and axe wielding psycho melee guys. Creature that jumps on a characters head and takes control of them. And you cant shoot them without shooting his head. Fire worms, poison worms, they are deadly. There are lots now.

The research list is massive and takes real effort to capture them all. I only got like 70% or so and I'm about to end. Yeah research upgrades are great. The artillery type vehicle is pretty cool. Base building seemed under developed but not bad. Expanding on the world map was interesting because the world is getting smaller constantly and it isn't just victory after victory either. There are ally bases being captured all over the place because I can't save everyone. I like that it is challenging, again better than xcom. Combat is way above average too. Just a shame the maps and missions are kinda dull / old school. I think it is worth a play but I wouldn't play it again unless they get some DLC or preferably an expansion/sequel.

 

[thesecret1]

It was better when I played it. There were a lot of enemies, better than xcom. There are these tank guys who create a shield and rarely even attack you, they mostly just charge at you with their shield, and it absorbs bullets. You have to flank them or blow up the shield. There is an alien that goes invisible once you hit it, and you can usually find it if you go stand where it looked like it sneaked off to. There's a huge thing that squirts out a goo that stops units moving if it hits them. There's a sniper dude, there's an elite boss type dude who looks like a lizard alien and is tough, for a while anyway. Lots of various bandits... and axe wielding psycho melee guys. There are lots now.

Well where is all this shit? I'm certain I drowned over a dozen hours there; that's a very reasonable amount of time for the game to start picking up. The shield guys are a total joke and the easiest enemy you can come across, since there's always a shoulder jutting from behind it, or you just take a couple steps to the side; I've never seen them as anything other than free kills. The invisible chucklefuck is annoying rather than anything and just means I either kill him outirght, or let him have a free shot on his second turn before offing him. I haven't encountered the rest.

It's really mindnumbing to have two enemy types (shielder, shielder without shield, shielder with gun, fishman, fishman with guns, fishman with invisibility, fishman with black farts) and run like 30 missions against them, in maps that usually don't differ very much. Hell, my main squad is already at max level and basically laughs at these enemies, smearing the ground with them like with a wet shit, while the second squad is on endless haven protection duty. Everything tells me I should be in midgame now, but the enemy variety is still extremely poor, and the missions all feel the same.

 

[anvi]

Yeah that's similar to where I am. Later on there were missions with several shield guys coming at me which makes it a bit tougher. But yeah the balance is weird. I spent most of the game slaughtering anything that moves. It still needs to be tougher and the maps are too plain to repeat so many times. I just want it to end now. But I had some fun.

 

[muds_animal_friend]

Everything tells me I should be in midgame now, but the enemy variety is still extremely poor, and the missions all feel the same.

I don't feel there's a midgame in the sense of most XCOM-style games. Pandorans just get +1, +2, +3 versions of the same units. The starting tech is adequate to finish the game. It's really just a matter of following a series of narrative missions with alpha team while bravo team plays haven invasion wack-a-mole. Once you've an appropriately spec'ed team of level 7 operatives, which is early enough, you're ready for the endgame. The entire strategy layer needs a re-work.

 

[ArchAngel]

I tried the game and found it rather mediocre. Extremely repetitive. Like a dozen hours in, and there are only like two enemy types (not counting mushrooms and worms)? I mean sure, their body parts and weapons change... but they're still the same fucks. I much preffered the ever increasing variety of aliens to dissect and research, like XCOM and Xenonauts have. Outside the missions, it feels rather barebones too – research seems less fleshed out and interesting (some of it only rewards a couple resources) and there's little to do but engage in some very simplistic base building and fly from place to place to either progress the quest lines or get some resources/missions. That is, unless you are forced to take a detour to defend a haven, which quickly becomes the most repetitive shit you do, yet shouldn't skip because humanity counter and faction relations and stuff.

I like the setting and many of the ideas (evolving parts of enemies are a pretty cool concept), but it just seems to lack the meat of an XCOM game. I keep thinking "what does this game do that Xenonauts don't do better?" and keep coming up with nothing.

There is more than two base enemy types. Also there are non pandoran enemies. This is meant to play like Xcom Apocalypse where you don't just fight aliens but other human factions as well.

 

[ArchAngel]

It was better when I played it. There were a lot of enemies, better than xcom. There are these tank guys who create a shield and rarely even attack you, they mostly just charge at you with their shield, and it absorbs bullets. You have to flank them or blow up the shield. There is an alien that goes invisible once you hit it, and you can usually find it if you go stand where it looked like it sneaked off to. There's a huge thing that squirts out a goo that stops units moving if it hits them. There's a sniper dude, there's an elite boss type dude who looks like a lizard alien and is tough, for a while anyway. Lots of various bandits... and axe wielding psycho melee guys. There are lots now.

Well where is all this shit? I'm certain I drowned over a dozen hours there; that's a very reasonable amount of time for the game to start picking up. The shield guys are a total joke and the easiest enemy you can come across, since there's always a shoulder jutting from behind it, or you just take a couple steps to the side; I've never seen them as anything other than free kills. The invisible chucklefuck is annoying rather than anything and just means I either kill him outirght, or let him have a free shot on his second turn before offing him. I haven't encountered the rest.

It's really mindnumbing to have two enemy types (shielder, shielder without shield, shielder with gun, fishman, fishman with guns, fishman with invisibility, fishman with black farts) and run like 30 missions against them, in maps that usually don't differ very much. Hell, my main squad is already at max level and basically laughs at these enemies, smearing the ground with them like with a wet shit, while the second squad is on endless haven protection duty. Everything tells me I should be in midgame now, but the enemy variety is still extremely poor, and the missions all feel the same.

What difficulty are you playing on? How fast new enemies show up depends on difficulty. Also do you have any DLC? Those add more enemies. If you unlocked Lairs two new types of pandorans should start showing up.

 

[thesecret1]

I'm playing on hard. And no, haven't unlocked lairs, only nests

 

[7h30n]

I've just started playing this after it sat on my HDD for a very very long time. Aaaand, is it just me or is this game's battlescape art style wrong on so many levels? The environments just look so kinda bland, as well as the soldiers and enemies. But the worst offender is the UI, it just looks so darn unreadable, paired with some strange control choices (probably due to having gamepad support).

Well, at least the intro cinematic/slide show and the music in general feel like they have just the right touch of horror in them, it's amazing!

 

[geno]

But the worst offender is the UI, it just looks so darn unreadable, paired with some strange control choices (probably due to having gamepad support).

Weird thing is that the UI from the alphas was better (aesthetically, it worked the same)

 

[vmar]

Finally decided to buy this since I've been in the mood for some alien killing and im pleasantly surprised. I kind of ignored this game after all the shit at release so I don't know exactly what's changed but I put a couple hours into PP and am having a great time. Definitely an improvement on nuxcom in every way it seems.

Are the dlcs mandatory or is it ok to do a first playthrough with just the base game?