14 replies to this topic

[Aiki-Knight]

In the alien dimension missions, you can destroy the orange reinforcement pads with a vortex mine each. But in the final mission - the dimension gate generators - you can't destroy the reinforcement pads, which are green.

But even if you COULD destroy them, WHERE are the aliens teleporting in from???

In X1, Cydonia was nothing more than a front-line headquarters for the alien invasion. In X2, T'leth was just a lost ship. In X3, the alien dimension is a lot bigger, but it's just a production and control complex to handle the invasion of Earth. There are no civilians, no housing, no roads, no farms, no collection of natural resouces.

It's just another outpost. We haven't "won" at all.

The Mythos XCOM people were smart - they never revealed to us who was controlling the alien invasion contingents. Where is their real civilization? Their government? What species are they, and how extensive is their civilization?

Any thoughts?

And wouldn't it be nice if, in a future game, we could finally amass a suitably massive force, complete with tons of butt-kicking ships bristling with weapons and shields, and hundreds of elite agents armed to the absolute teeth? Wouldn't it be satisfying to break into the airspace of the REAL aliens, and give them a taste of their own medicine?

Imagine how many XCOMs could have been made. Imagine if, on top of that, many of the fascinating extras had been added to X3. Had there been XCOMs 4 - 10, growing in the vein of the first 3, I'm sure I would have played them all. Imagine "XCOM 10: The Final Showdown", in which WE invade THEIR world, and subdue them, once, and FOR ALL! :-)

________________________________
XCOM forever!

[komninosm]

It's been so long since I defeated the game last time, I don't even remember the invincible green pads. Just the orange ones. Are they only in the last building mission? Remind me, does that mission end when you destroy all the generators (or whatever) or do you have to exit your agents too? I think it immediately gave me the end game video when I blew the last gen.

[NKF]

It's also intresting how the Apocalypse aliens are not related to the good old Sectoids we began with - and use them for food. Even the Aquatoids are fairly distant cuzzy-bro's of the Sectoids. I like the introduction of the micronoid empire. It implies that there are other hostile alien civilisations out there and perhaps the sectoid empire isn't as great as we may think it is - and there's other dimensions occupying the same space as ours. It would've certainly allowed the series to expand more, or even introduce alternate realities - imagine X-Com set in WW2 - or the wild west. But that's just a wild imagination working.


komninosm:

The final mission uses the green teleporters as a semi-infinite source of aliens that'll eventually wear you down- so the only way to win is to actually perform what you came in to do. Just disable 50% of laser grid generators and it's over. Whether you go down fighting or you exit the mission, you'll have won the game.

That last mission, by the way, felt incomplete. It felt like only the start of a longer mission. What was in the pit? The rest of the gate generator installation with all its weak parts that a few well placed bombs would've easily dealt with, etc. Or perhaps some massive monster of an alien that makes the overspud look like pea. Ah well.

- NKF

[Aiki-Knight]

It's also intresting how the Apocalypse aliens are not related to the good old Sectoids we began with - and use them for food. Even the Aquatoids are fairly distant cuzzy-bro's of the Sectoids. I like the introduction of the micronoid empire. It implies that there are other hostile alien civilisations out there and perhaps the sectoid empire isn't as great as we may think it is - and there's other dimensions occupying the same space as ours. It would've certainly allowed the series to expand more, or even introduce alternate realities - imagine X-Com set in WW2 - or the wild west. But that's just a wild imagination working.


komninosm:

The final mission uses the green teleporters as a semi-infinite source of aliens that'll eventually wear you down- so the only way to win is to actually perform what you came in to do. Just disable 50% of laser grid generators and it's over. Whether you go down fighting or you exit the mission, you'll have won the game.

That last mission, by the way, felt incomplete. It felt like only the start of a longer mission. What was in the pit? The rest of the gate generator installation with all its weak parts that a few well placed bombs would've easily dealt with, etc. Or perhaps some massive monster of an alien that makes the overspud look like pea. Ah well.

- NKF

Oh my goodness - that is a GREAT question! What IS in the pit? After all, every time I assault the generator building, it seems a swarm of skeletoids has risen from the pit and are intent on blasting XCOM back to the dark ages.

The first time I played the final mission, I took heavy losses. I sallied forth to destroy the reinforcement pads, only to find that they couldn't be destroyed. Megaspawns were on the loose, and more bad guys were pouring in. Two of the 5 squads wound up in melee combat, as they became surrounded by skels and megaspawns. I kid you not - I had flying agents swinging their power swords against Megaspawns. Both squads went down in a blaze of glory (despite double-shields, cloaks, and disruptor armor), while the other three were busy blasting the generator towers. Incidentally, it wasn't easy for me to micro-control the melee squads while force-firing the others.

The last time I fought the final mission, I had every agent bring a heavy launcher with anti-alien gas in it. The idea was to fire off all the missiles at various targets, creating a massive cloud of anti-alien gas, drop the launchers and pull out their cloaks, and get to work. It worked like a charm: almost the whole map was pink. The skeletoid swarm in the pit died pretty-well immediately, as did most of the megaspawns. I had some agents camp, watching the green pads while I had others trash the generator towers.

But back to the enigma of the final mission: the subterranean pit-monster is a great idea! I mean, what are the crossing laser beams for, anyway? To restrain the pit-monster, which then rears its huge and terrifying form from the abyss once the laser grate is disabled? Imagine how amazing a scene it would be, with XCOM agents and aliens both turning their weapons in vain on the monster, perhaps, in a desperate attempt to escape its wrath! I, of course, would have all agents hoof it to the nearest exit, and leave the skeletoids to their grisly fate of perhaps being devoured by the monster, exploited by the aliens somehow to power the generators, or such. Who knows? But that would be a heck of a finish, with the monster surging from the giant pit.

Yes - the micronoid empire has a lot of potential, too. Whatever they can infect, they can pretty-well control and deploy. That's another thing neglected in the game: alien infiltration. XCOM agents are brainsucked, and it's not hard to notice or anything. But aren't the aliens essentially body-snatching citizens in the various orgs? Shouldn't XCOM be working on a) a detector to test humans for micronoid infection, and a way to use the toxins to recover humans who've been lost to alien infestation? That whole police/interrogation/VIP investigation stuff would REALLY have opened the game up. What a wonderfully complex, intriguing game THAT would have been.

Edited by Aiki-Knight, 14 July 2006 - 06:34 PM.

[Aiki-Knight]

It's funny - not many people have really discussed this topic, but it's the one that makes me think about it the most. Ultimately, my favorite games are the ones with a really intriguing plot, an aspect of modern gaming that is often neglected. I suppose I wish the XCOM franchise had never died, and that it had been written up with a depth characteristic of at least bestseller fiction. Someone should hire a novelist to consult heavily on the plot of the next XCOM game. What couldn't fit in? Romance, political intrigue, open-ended science (periodic, endless upgrades), and of course, a massive world in which to play. And then there's the alien civilization. Imagine reconnaissance missions, where XCOM has to just explore places without being detected. There could be key capture and interrogate missions, tons of alien-civilization research, assassination missions, not to mention full-scale battles.

What an under-represented game.

[NKF]

That's true. But sometimes it's good that the series hasn't been milked for all its worth. That leaves us with a lot of the better memories we had with it. If it had gone on endlessly, we'd become quite disillusioned with it to the point where we lose our interest in it. This tends to happen with lots of good TV series where a show with a great premise and story drags on and on, and on, and on.

X-File for example was a great television series, but they dragged it on to the point where it was no longer what it used to be. I mean, once the entire cast was changed. It just wasn't the same. Sometimes short and sweet is best. But not too short and especially not on a cliffhangar.

But that's just what I think.

- NKF

Edited by NKF, 01 March 2007 - 05:58 AM.

[Aiki-Knight]

That's true. But sometimes it's good that the series hasn't been milked for all its worth. That leaves us with a lot of the better memories we had with it. If it had gone on endlessly, we'd become quite disillusioned with it to the point where we lose our interest in it. This tends to happen with lots of good TV series where a show with a great premise and story drags on and on, and on, and on.

X-File for example was a great television series, but they dragged it on to the point where it was no longer what it used to be. I mean, once the entire cast was changed. It just wasn't the same. Sometimes short and sweet is best. But not too short and especially not on a cliffhangar.

But that's just what I think.

- NKF

Jeez, NKF - I see you made Commander on the forum. And that's just as it should be, I think. Wow.

[NKF]

Commander? Buggrit, we can't have that! I can't handle that kind of pressure.

- NKF

[Aiki-Knight]

Commander? Buggrit, we can't have that! I can't handle that kind of pressure.

- NKF

Can I just ask, how have you been able to post 3800 messages? My God - it's like this is your full-time job, and yet you're so well-spoken (or written) that I'm guessing you're a well-educated professional. If the aliens ever do invade, NKF, like it or not, I'm mentioning you to the government. How'd you like that - getting stuck in charge of a REAL XCOM? ;-)

"Yeah - I know this sounds weird - but there's a game about this sort of thing, and there's this one guy who'd be PERFECT for the role of Commander..."

[Steelion]

I'd vote for him. NKF for president!

But if aliens do invade, we'll need some expert tacticians/strategists. Zombie and NKF anyone? Of course, NKF is likely to equip the entire US army with handguns telling them it's ok. XD

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

Well, I personally say We would all be screwed, No offense Nkf, but to my understanding you use X-com weapons.. which we Kinda dont have Fyi.

[NKF]

And evil aliens heck bent on serving their micronoid masters don't exist, so we'd all be safe anyway whether I was head of a fictitious organisation or not.

Or so we may think!

But seriously, if they did exist and there were such things as laser weapons with perpetual power sources - be afraid. Be very afraid. Laser pistols will be standard issue with your normal kit. Along with high explosives. In TFTD's setting you'd be carrying a compulsary sonic pistol and gauss pistol on your person and as much ammo as you can carry. In an Apocalypse setting, you'd all get a standard issue stun grapple and power sword.

But I'd still refuse to take on the role of commander.

- NKF

Edited by NKF, 16 April 2007 - 12:20 AM.

[NRN_R_Sumo1]

Yeah, you wouldnt want a desk job now would you? Wanna get your hands nitty gritty and cap some alien Hiney >!

[Ruanomar]

What pit are you talking about? The black texture on the floor between the crossing laser beams? The agents without flying armour can stand on it so it obviously cannot be some hole. Sorry if I have destroyed the illusion of it but I had to teleport there to gather the shields of the fallen Skeletoids since I needed them. :-))

[NKF]

Shhh, it's only a model! Part of the limits of games where the worlds are constructed in a confined box.

- NKF