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

[Galdred]

One Pandoran lair keep freezing the AI turns forever. I will try to re-assault it at some other time instead. I hope it doesn't spell the end of my playthrough.

Anyway, here are my findings:
I liked the lack of pod activation (I know, it is really weird that it feels like a genius feature, but sadly, in this day and age, it kind of is), and the fact that each engagement feels like a single large battle instead of 4 mini encounters. I like the difference of pace between fights against humans and aliens (many aliens are HP bags, while humans are usually deadlier, but die much faster). However, in the end, I found the "wysiwyg" aiming system more of a gimmick than anything else:
I should not be micromanaging the aiming reticle of each of my soldiers, and I always was OK with the TB combat system being an abstraction in the first place.
But what triggers me the most is to have a "realistic ballistic model" combined with a disabled head incurring some minor debuff. I don't know, last time I checked, a disabled head looked like a serious injury...

Many missions result in a net loss of resources, so getting farming up and running is pretty critical.
I really liked the geoscape feeling as alive as in X-COM: Apocalypse, but there were a few minor inconveniences:
- too many teams to shuffle around (I was at 1 interceptor and 3 squads only)
- It triggers me that haven are kind of randomly placed. There should be some territorial sense to it.
I really liked independent heavens feeling distinct (and even some faction ones having their own leader and event chains).

Overall, it feels like a mix of great and lackluster elements. I really look forward to a more polished sequel/successor.

 

[ArchAngel]

One Pandoran lair keep freezing the AI turns forever. I will try to re-assault it at some other time instead. I hope it doesn't spell the end of my playthrough.

Anyway, here are my findings:
I liked the lack of pod activation (I know, it is really weird that it feels like a genius feature, but sadly, in this day and age, it kind of is), and the fact that each engagement feels like a single large battle instead of 4 mini encounters. I like the difference of pace between fights against humans and aliens (many aliens are HP bags, while humans are usually deadlier, but die much faster). However, in the end, I found the "wysiwyg" aiming system more of a gimmick than anything else:
I should not be micromanaging the aiming reticle of each of my soldiers, and I always was OK with the TB combat system being an abstraction in the first place.
But what triggers me the most is to have a "realistic ballistic model" combined with a disabled head incurring some minor debuff. I don't know, last time I checked, a disabled head looked like a serious injury...

Many missions result in a net loss of resources, so getting farming up and running is pretty critical.
I really liked the geoscape feeling as alive as in X-COM: Apocalypse, but there were a few minor inconveniences:
- too many teams to shuffle around (I was at 1 interceptor and 3 squads only)
- It triggers me that haven are kind of randomly placed. There should be some territorial sense to it.
I really liked independent heavens feeling distinct (and even some faction ones having their own leader and event chains).

Overall, it feels like a mix of great and lackluster elements. I really look forward to a more polished sequel/successor.

Are you using just TFTV mod or some others as well?
This should not happen unless you also mixed some other mods. There was a bug with Better Enemies mod at some point because it spawned invalid Chiron that would cause this endless turn bug.
Also you just need to clear one lair to get access to tech needed to progress to end game.

 

[Abu Antar]

Play XCOM 2 instead.

 

[Galdred]

Play XCOM 2 instead.

XCOM 2 has pods! I also played it to death (but not Long War XCOM 2, though).

 

[redsky]

Play XCOM 2 instead.

XCOM 2 has pods! I also played it to death (but not Long War XCOM 2, though).

my 2 favorite games ( but with mods) Xcom 2 with long war i played for 3000 hours. You have to try LW. Other is PP with Terror from the Void mod. I must say that PP has probably the best way to handle the shooting in turn based games. I love how everything counts.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

it's still rather irritating to have to game around breathing animations, but honestly i wouldn't know how to solve that.

 

[udm]

it's still rather irritating to have to game around breathing animations, but honestly i wouldn't know how to solve that.

Freeze all animations. See Project Haven.

 

[Skinwalker]

Is it shit?

 

[Trithne]

Is it shit?

No, but it is a bit jank.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

The 3 best things about the game for me, that actually make it meaningfully different from other nuXCOM-likes:
1. The aiming system. So simple yet so genius. The actual physical targeting and blocking by the 3D terrain and creature parts.
2. The destructible terrain
3. The will system. It's kind of like the stamina = mana mechanic, but instead of running out of breath guys run out of morale.

 

[Zero CHAR]

Give me the TLDR, is the game finally good now with updates and DLC?

 

[SomeGuyWithAnOpinion]

Give me the TLDR, is the game finally good now with updates and DLC?

No. The issues are with it's core mechanics, not the level of content.

The free-aiming system that everyone is blowing their load over is one of the worst features implemented in any Xcom-style game ever. It turns the whole thing into a pixel hunt and destroys the value of cover and tactical placement because your characters will randomly stick their heads out as part of their animations, and then get sniped. The developers for some reason seem to be proud of this abortion of a feature, so it's staying in.

 

[Shaki]

Give me the TLDR, is the game finally good now with updates and DLC?

Yes, it's great.

 

[Jaedar]

Give me the TLDR, is the game finally good now with updates and DLC?

I had a good amount fun with the full edition with http://wiki.phoenixpoint.com/Terror_from_the_Void mod.
I also had decent fun with it previously with most of the DLC enabled, but not enough fun to finish a campaign.

But you can't get a tldr, because the game doesn't compress well to just "good? yes/no".

 

[Trash Player]

The sum isn't greater than the parts but some of the parts are interesting enough is how I will put it. Genre enthusiasts will have fun for the first couple of dozens of hours before the flaws catch up. It has a decent and promising enough framework but does not really build anything substantial on top of it.

 

[Grunker]

Give me the TLDR, is the game finally good now with updates and DLC?

It's better *without* the DLC - a lot of the DLC adds superflous micromanagement to a game already heavily plagued by it.

The long and short of it is this: the game has great core tactical gameplay with one of the best bullet models ever made for TRPG. The latter is way more important and enjoyable than you might think, it makes the combat really gradual and meaty.

However, the systems are untested and feel unfinished, and there's a ton of just little annoying things.

In the end, the package was not worth it for me, but it definitely will be for some.

 

[Jaedar]

It's better *without* the DLC - a lot of the DLC adds superflous micromanagement to a game already heavily plagued by it.

It's not just that, the dlc also all pile on extra missions right at the start of the game.

But it also depends on the dlc. The ancients dlc is kinda good, because it actually adds a tier of "strictly better" weapons which the base game was lacking (lots of sidegrades though).

TFTV mod really is the best way to play the game I think, it takes the good stuff from the dlc's, integrates them better into the game and cuts a lot of the chaff. The GOTY edition really should have done this, but they didn't for whatever reason.

 

[Crispy]

I've just re-discovered this game on Game Pass and I'm quite pleasantly pleased with it so far.

Some people are calling it janky but I'm guessing that over the two years since I first tried it (and abandoned it) they must have really polished it -- and I'm only talking about the base game here -- because it plays very smoothly, all systems are easy to understand and work correctly, cut-scenes and general presentation are perfectly acceptable, and even the voice acting is fine in my opinion. The jank factor is nearly zero.

Just different enough from nu X-COM to be interesting, I'm quite looking forward to enjoying this one.

 

[Shaki]

I've just re-discovered this game on Game Pass and I'm quite pleasantly pleased with it so far.

Some people are calling it janky but I'm guessing that over the two years since I first tried it (and abandoned it) they must have really polished it -- and I'm only talking about the base game here -- because it plays very smoothly, all systems are easy to understand and work correctly, cut-scenes and general presentation are perfectly acceptable, and even the voice acting is fine in my opinion. The jank factor is nearly zero.

Just different enough from nu X-COM to be interesting, I'm quite looking forward to enjoying this one.

I was telling people it's actually really good, since I've played it few months ago, and everybody thinks I'm trolling

 

[ArchAngel]

I've just re-discovered this game on Game Pass and I'm quite pleasantly pleased with it so far.

Some people are calling it janky but I'm guessing that over the two years since I first tried it (and abandoned it) they must have really polished it -- and I'm only talking about the base game here -- because it plays very smoothly, all systems are easy to understand and work correctly, cut-scenes and general presentation are perfectly acceptable, and even the voice acting is fine in my opinion. The jank factor is nearly zero.

Just different enough from nu X-COM to be interesting, I'm quite looking forward to enjoying this one.

Funny thing base game is better than all the clutter and shit they added with DLC, similar to Xcom 2 where expansion only made it worse. In both cases you need complete overhaul mods to play it.

Also if you figure out a few tricks PP becomes super easy, barely 1% challenge.. all this is fixed in the overhaul mod.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

All in all the game is decent, havent tried the overhaul mods and the dlcs were a mixed bag.
The general salt from people i guess is the kickstarter promises when they needed the moneyz, and the change in direction (art, mood, etc) that happened after plus the epic money as well.
It just left a bitter taste.

P.S. Gotta find the time to try out that total overhaul Archangel keeps talking about. One of these days

 

[Shaki]

I've just re-discovered this game on Game Pass and I'm quite pleasantly pleased with it so far.

Some people are calling it janky but I'm guessing that over the two years since I first tried it (and abandoned it) they must have really polished it -- and I'm only talking about the base game here -- because it plays very smoothly, all systems are easy to understand and work correctly, cut-scenes and general presentation are perfectly acceptable, and even the voice acting is fine in my opinion. The jank factor is nearly zero.

Just different enough from nu X-COM to be interesting, I'm quite looking forward to enjoying this one.

Funny thing base game is better than all the clutter and shit they added with DLC, similar to Xcom 2 where expansion only made it worse. In both cases you need complete overhaul mods to play it.

Also if you figure out a few tricks PP becomes super easy, barely 1% challenge.. all this is fixed in the overhaul mod.

I just wanna note that as someone who first played with all DLCs enabled, I tried it with no DLCs later since people were teling me its even better that way, and I actually liked it much more with DLCs.

The only DLC I disliked was the Legacy of the Ancients, lot of boring grind and the weapons it adds are OP and destroy all the balance. I really liked that the gear progression in the game very rarely offers straight upgrades, and most things have a niche where they can be utilized successfully depending on the build and situation, unlocking new stuff opens up more options rather than just giving you the same shit with better stats like in XCOM - and Legacy of Ancients DLC just straight up throws that design philosophy out of the window and hands you by far the best weapons in the game, invalidating everything else.

 

[gurugeorge]

It's a bit like Cyberpunk 2077, or even the PoE games, or maybe even you could say Wasteland 2. Not the game we were promised and/or expected, so there was a lot of nerdrage and disappointment on release, but it's turned out to be alright for what it is. Not stellar, but fun enough and worth playing.

All these things are a lesson in (from the dev side) overhyping and (from the player side) managing expectations.

 

[ArchAngel]

It's a bit like Cyberpunk 2077, or even the PoE games, or maybe even you could say Wasteland 2. Not the game we were promised and/or expected, so there was a lot of nerdrage and disappointment on release, but it's turned out to be alright for what it is. Not stellar, but fun enough and worth playing.

All these things are a lesson in (from the dev side) overhyping and (from the player side) managing expectations.

At release it was pretty bad. Buggy, barely working, completely unbalanced.

 

[Serious_Business]

As someone who didn't follow a lick of the hype and didn't play on release either, I like the game overall, with no special negative feelings. A part of me might one day think of it as a modern classic, but I'm not sure ; with only about 50hours in it's hard to say (you need hundred of hours for these types of games, and I can't do them all), but anyway I can say that it's worth it for 50h (if not two thousand). What I do like a lot about it, as I think I might have said elsewhere, is the lore and the atmosphere. I just gobble that Lovecraftian shit up everytime, but yeah, it was very good at making the aliens feel alien.