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Rorahusky posted:If I remember correctly, Mission Difficulty determines how many enemy squads you'll encounter. The higher the difficulty of the mission, the more groups of aliens there are on the map to trigger. Easy and Moderate both have two squads. IIRC, it's actually just "number of aliens" that are different. If I'm remembering right, the squad makeup is 2+2 (easy), 3+3 (moderate), 3+3+2 (hard), 3+3+2+2 (very hard). So the totals are 4/6/8/10 aliens total.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:51
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From what I've seen so far, Seekers seem like they would be a great counter to The One in multiplayer, but the mentions of gene mods that counter them makes me think that's probably wrong. Also Close Combat Reflexes might neuter them, come to think of it (if they have that). I'm still sad I didn't have the chance to see if 3 chrys could run it down.Veloxyll posted:I thought it was meant to be the game of maximum offense v maximum defense. And one team won HARD (I was at work while the game was on, okay.) It was supposed to be, but it ended up being a game of maximum defense vs. minimum competence. DatonKallandor posted:Also the Titan enemy in the Bureau - it's so ridiculously easy: after you've beaten the fight once and you get the document that tells you how to fight Titans. But then they never show up ever again. Frankly I found it horribly annoying. I don't think I died to it, but the in-game advice of "take cover to protect yourself" was a complete red herring, as with a single shot it'd destroy a large swathe of cover and hit me anyway. It was easy enough after I realized I should just run around like a ninny whenever I thought it was going to fire, but that misdirection irked me, and the rest of the time whittling away its health made it feel like a very simple puzzle boss that had long overstayed its welcome.
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Feb 18, 2014 16:54
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Spiffo posted:If I'm remembering right, the squad makeup is 2+2 (easy), 3+3 (moderate), 3+3+2 (hard), 3+3+2+2 (very hard). So the totals are 4/6/8/10 aliens total. Which is pretty funny considering how many aliens the larger UFOs have (up to 20, with 14+ being common).
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Feb 18, 2014 17:00
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ulmont posted:Which is pretty funny considering how many aliens the larger UFOs have (up to 20, with 14+ being common). Large UFOs are pretty big though, and can handle more aliens. Some of those Very Hard maps can get fuckin' PACKED. (unrelated: UFO crashes on that rooftop map are the worst and killed several early classic runs of mine. The Outsider spawns at the edge of the ufo, NOT in the navigation room)
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Feb 18, 2014 17:15
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I am 99% sure that a seeker attempting to strangle a dude ignores all overwatch or reaction abilities from its intended target.
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Feb 18, 2014 17:39
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So, as a guy that actually enjoys third-person cover shooters (and the awesome first-person cover mechanics in Far Cry 3) is The Bureau with checking out?
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Feb 18, 2014 17:42
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Green Intern posted:I am 99% sure that a seeker attempting to strangle a dude ignores all overwatch or reaction abilities from its intended target. 100%, they get the drop on the target and don't give them a chance to react.
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Feb 18, 2014 17:42
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Felinoid posted:Frankly I found it horribly annoying. I don't think I died to it, but the in-game advice of "take cover to protect yourself" was a complete red herring, as with a single shot it'd destroy a large swathe of cover and hit me anyway. It was easy enough after I realized I should just run around like a ninny whenever I thought it was going to fire, but that misdirection irked me, and the rest of the time whittling away its health made it feel like a very simple puzzle boss that had long overstayed its welcome. Oh taking cover works - but the cover has to obstruct the disintegration beam entirely otherwise the splash hits you. Also the trick they only tell you after the fight is that for a few seconds after firing the beam the center of the Titan is a gigantic weakspot. I think you can take down the whole Titan in a single magazine of the rocket launcher that way. Takes less than a minute for the whole fight. Pvt.Scott posted:So, as a guy that actually enjoys third-person cover shooters (and the awesome first-person cover mechanics in Far Cry 3) is The Bureau with checking out? Absolutely as long as you don't mind a lack of polish in the details and a pretty straight Mass Effect combat system rip (but executed better, frankly).
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Feb 18, 2014 18:02
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Pvt.Scott posted:So, as a guy that actually enjoys third-person cover shooters (and the awesome first-person cover mechanics in Far Cry 3) is The Bureau with checking out? If you don't go in expecting game of the year it's pretty good. Like a lot of games, what really did it in was hype backlash. And that wasn't its own hype, but spillover hype from Enemy Unknown.
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Feb 18, 2014 18:30
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Green Intern posted:I am 99% sure that a seeker attempting to strangle a dude ignores all overwatch or reaction abilities from its intended target. They ignore it even when not strangling. It's not the strangling that makes seekers a real threat, its what they do when they can't strangle you. (Which is why I refuse to use gene mods or equipment to make EVERYONE immune to choking. Heavy can eat a strangle for a round or two if it means keeping the seeker from doing to me what my assaults do to the aliens.)
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Feb 18, 2014 19:13
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 Nice firing squad on that second seeker.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:49
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Pvt.Scott posted:So, as a guy that actually enjoys third-person cover shooters (and the awesome first-person cover mechanics in Far Cry 3) is The Bureau with checking out? It's a decent enough game. Like Bruceski said, most people that poo poo all over it have either never played it or are looking at it to be Enemy Unknown.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:52
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Tommy Guns and aliens it is then! I keep getting wrecked by early council missions combined with poo poo luck and bad moves on my part. Thin Men are scary when you have 6 health.
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Feb 18, 2014 19:57
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If they had announced XCOM:EU before The Bureau then I don't think it would have had the same problem as it had, mostly it was just everyone that liked the old XCOM that went berserk and wasted all their TU on random barrages of rage aimed at The Bureau because it wasn't what they wanted. 
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Feb 18, 2014 20:08
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The best way to think of The Bureau is Mass Effect without an ambitious story and roughly half of the Bioware-isms. If that sounds interesting to you, by all means go to it. It's not a poorly made game. It is, however, a poorly directed game, so if you go in expecting something really cool you're going to be disappointed.
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Feb 18, 2014 20:35
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It's incredibly pretty on high settings. They really got some top notch lighting out of that old engine. Just disable cloth physics and directx 11 and you're good to go.
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Feb 18, 2014 21:16
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Pvt.Scott posted:is The Bureau with checking out? I enjoyed it enough to get all the achievements. Base management can be a bit plodding, but the combat is really, really fun. However there are numerous places in the story where things just jump around or don't get explained because the game needed another few months of polish before release. It's easily worth it next time it goes on sale. Silent W - a question. Why in the hell did anyone bother with the "cover-up" story at the end of the game? You've got mass abductions, giant alien structures in the middle of ruined cities everywhere, freaking orbital bombardments going on...and it all got covered up? Like, really? Out of all the rough edges that game has, that one was the worst. Well, aside from loading a game in the decontamination room of the base and having the doors refuse to open, thus breaking the save. That was the worst.
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Feb 18, 2014 21:41
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GuavaMoment posted:I enjoyed it enough to get all the achievements. Base management can be a bit plodding, but the combat is really, really fun. However there are numerous places in the story where things just jump around or don't get explained because the game needed another few months of polish before release. It's easily worth it next time it goes on sale. It was all just swamp gas and a weather balloon. Nothing to see here, move along, or you're a communist.
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Feb 18, 2014 21:43
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Pyroi posted:It was all just swamp gas and a weather balloon. Nothing to see here, move along, or you're a communist. Seems Legit, but sounds a bit like Imperial Secret keeping, with less *blamming* of People. (although that last part is an assumption, having not played The Bureau) Sign up is out, oh boy, i just hope i dont get horribly Maimed and/or Killed. and i would also sign up for a Multiplayer game, if the possibility comes.
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Feb 18, 2014 22:31
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Jade has been surprisingly successful at not taking casualties so far. Though maybe once the stronger aliens show up we'll start seeing some casualties. Also doesn't help the aliens' case that Jade is a dirty cheater!
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Feb 18, 2014 22:38
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I enjoyed what I played of the Bureau, but I have a problem where I'm just complete balls at micromanagement and multitasking. And when the game tells me I need to keep a close eye on my squad, and make sure their positioned correctly, my brain just yells "Nope" And I just could not get past the very first muton in the game. Back to enemy within though, I'm the kinda guy that always circles the wagons when seekers pop up. I don't trust myself to be able to get out of the situation if I activate something, and than a seeker strangles my heavy or something. Meld isn't something I place highly enough to get into a situation like that for.
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Feb 18, 2014 22:54
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Sometimes it doesn't even make a difference that meld is involved. Half the time, I just dash over, and it takes the seeker extra invisible time to bother strangling anyone. The only upshot to the seeker stealth mechanic is that you can use mimetic skin stealth while they're around, so you can ignore them for a couple turns if you want.
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Feb 19, 2014 00:08
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Operation Crimson Savior It didn't take long for the next mission to pop up on me. Sprahl and Tony White are still in the medbay healing up, and with Ragnar still benched awaiting on the decision to MEC him or not he's not going out either. I needed a 5th man for the mission and pulled up a new recruit.  Isobel Guiteirez 45 Will 70 Aim Another promising recruit. Isobel is 5 points above the average in terms of Will and Aim making her a very nice addition to the team. Going into the mission I am hoping she promotes to assault so we have some back up for Sprahl.  Polsy There isn't a lot to talk about post mission with this one. A pretty standard sweep and clear mission with a little bit of difficulty from managing the terrain. The only new point to touch on was that this was a landed UFO and not a crash. I didn't have to intercept it on the globe, it just sort of appeared in Oregon for no reason. Landed UFO's are pretty much the exact same as a crashed UFO with the main difference being that landed UFO's will have all of their components left intact. That means if you're careful you can salvage all the UFO Navigation and power sources the ship has to offer. This can be very beneficial to either use these parts in building your base or Firestorms, or just for selling for a quick increase in cash. Just try to take care of where you shoot or lob explosives when clearing the UFO itself. Also James Dean wins MVP for the Penta-Kill rocket launcher shot.
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Feb 19, 2014 07:19
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I am so glad I didn't read the second half of your update until after I watched that video, seeing the rocket without warning just made me smile.
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Feb 19, 2014 07:40
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Heavies are useful. I like 'em. They're probably the hardest class to know how to use effectively, though. Whenever a friend starts out on XCOM, I usually hear them complain about heavies, because they don't know how to position them right to get maximum use out of rockets. They make the mistake of letting them fall behind. Don't do that! They're Heavies; they're tough. The LMG functions best in close and medium ranges. Moving them out in front means you've plopped them into position to use a rocket next turn. Heavies are rad. You don't make an entire squad of them like you can with Assaults and Supports and be fine, but you should probably have one in any squad.
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Feb 19, 2014 08:07
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Mighty Dicktron posted:Heavies are useful. I like 'em. Agreed. Once you get used to playing them a bit recklessly (by ironman impossible "we hate having fun" standards) it tends to open up a lot of opportunities for good rockets.
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Feb 19, 2014 08:53
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Mighty Dicktron posted:You don't make an entire squad of them like you can with Assaults and Supports and be fine, but you should probably have one in any squad. You take that back.  Honestly, I always keep at least two heavies in my squad whenever possible. They are only second to mecs at removing cover, and are pretty crucial for setting up controlled fights and kills.
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Feb 19, 2014 09:03
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Nice, I'm happy I got the penta kill with the rocket, so happy I'm a heavy.
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Feb 19, 2014 09:19
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Hi everyone, it's me. I will be taking questions and stuff about The Bureau for the next day or so, and write up a big effortpost where I answer as many as possible. No, I will not name names. No, I will not break my NDA, as I still work with some of the people who I worked with on the Bureau. And no, 2K Marin is no longer in existence. That said, ask anything. I'll just say 'no comment' or ignore it if I can't answer.
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Feb 19, 2014 09:59
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Zebrin posted:I am so glad I didn't read the second half of your update until after I watched that video, seeing the rocket without warning just made me smile. Ha, yeah, I did the same thing. Got a good chuckle out of that. Glad to see Isobel rocking the purple uni on the squad. Oh, and can I just say that this is one of the most informative LPs I've ever read? This is great and I'm learning a TONNE. Not just from Jade Star and GuavaMoment, but everyone in this thread.
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Feb 19, 2014 10:04
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SilentW posted:Hi everyone, it's me. So, the whole coverup thing. How did that get into the plot? I mean, it seems weird with aliens killing thousands of people, including the President and the joint chiefs, that it's all swept under the rug without difficulty, and I'm wondering if that was a kinda last minute thing on one side or the other.
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Feb 19, 2014 10:18
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In my 4 man playthrough, I punched an alien through the hull into the power-core.
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Feb 19, 2014 12:28
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Veloxyll posted:In my 4 man playthrough, I punched an alien through the hull into the power-core. I think this is a fair trade for not getting an intact power source.
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Feb 19, 2014 13:40
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I'd like to talk a bit about outsiders, or rather, how outsiders don't get a very fair treatment from X-com. Outsiders don't really have a Thing. They lack character and impact. They are just a guy with a rifle made out of "almost pure energy". You'll see like 3 or 4 of them in a playthrough and then they get replaced by other creatures. They seem sort of vestigial as an enemy, they don't even have a defining feature as far as i can tell. Sectiods are cowards with mind meld, thin men are bastards that spit poison clouds, seekers will murder lone characters with stealth. Outsiders, outsiders have a plasma rifle, that is their thing, having a rifle. Tzarnal fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Feb 19, 2014 |
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Feb 19, 2014 14:06
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Hitting harder than anything at this point in the game is a "thing," although I grant that it isn't terribly interesting. I do agree that outsiders seem sort of out of place, as they don't really mesh with the rest of the aliens' aesthetics in my opinion. Then they disappear forever and get replaced with more dangerous enemies and everything is ok.
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Feb 19, 2014 14:13
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Green Intern posted:Hitting harder than anything at this point in the game is a "thing," although I grant that it isn't terribly interesting. I do agree that outsiders seem sort of out of place, as they don't really mesh with the rest of the aliens' aesthetics in my opinion. Then they disappear forever and get replaced with more dangerous enemies and everything is ok. If it weren't for plot it would almost be nice to just bring back a 'navigator' type of sectoid. I dislike outsiders because as mentioned they just seem totally out of place, and the fact they end up vanishing from the game makes it even dumber. The rest of the early aliens still show up sporadically throughout the game all the way to the end.
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Feb 19, 2014 14:37
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Sloober posted:The rest of the early aliens still show up sporadically throughout the game all the way to the end. Except Seekers, apparently? And really even "hits hard for the early game" isn't much of a characteristic past the very first crashed UFO. After you get burned once, you're going to approach future UFOs much more thoughtfully, and Outsiders will probably never get a hit on you. I usually don't let them get a single shot off unless I'm going for a capture.
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Feb 19, 2014 14:43
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Heavies have a bit of an issue with Training Roulette. All their rocket stuff stays, of course, and its cool. It's what heavies do first and foremost. But there is a pretty sizable window of time where a tier 2 MEC will out preform a heavy at nearly everything. Between the point where you upgrade to Alien Grenades (which should be pretty soon for Jade here) to the point where you start encountering Battleships, Heavies with Roullette are outshined by everyone else in their own role. Exploding things. (unless you pony up for Operation: Slingshot). Alien Nades do 5 damage. Rockets 6. Yes you out range nades, but after your heavy fires those 2 rockets, It's now stuck with only being able to LMG things. And a snapshot sniper with a pair of grenades does the same job just as poorly. Once you have the upgraded rocket launcher, everything changes though. (This is why Training Roulette is such a fun option. Everything is different.)
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Feb 19, 2014 15:32
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Keep a couple countries satellite free and you'll keep seeing Seekers in Abduction missions!
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Feb 19, 2014 15:35
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I did a playthrough on Normal last week, and I kept encountering Seekers on ships I downed while I was farming stuff near the end of the game. Specifically, I remember encountering them on abductors; I don't remember whether or not I encountered them on any others.
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Feb 19, 2014 16:45
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