My Rant On This Tftd Dislike

[Hyper_Barret]

Note before I start, I am not in anyway criticising UFO because I love that game and to me they are both equal.

Ok, I am basing this on what I've read over countless sites, gaming forums and message boards alike. It seems that in general people just don't like TFTD. Now if those same people didn't like UFO, I could understand because at least then you could say thy just don't like the type of game. But this is coming from people who LOVE UFO, and it's the reason I'm a little confused. There are very few differences between the two, so I cannot comprehend why people love one and hate the other. Sure it's a matter of preference but TFTD gets slammed for all the wrong reasons. The research bug is annoying, but that's all it is - a minor annoyance, not a reason in itself to hate the game.

I also disagree with the argument which claims that the sonic weapons should have autofire - imagine a sonic cannon with autofire, I feel it would make the game too easy.

 

There is more variety in the missions - there are some really cool underwater ones, the base, the pipes, Atlantis and so on. There is also more than one type of terror mission - I know people get frustrated on ship terror sites hunting down the last alien, but in it's own way it is pretty fun I think - also I've had that problem on very large UFOs where I just cannot find that last sectoid.

 

Colony assaults are awesome, they are hard, and you are reminded of that all the way through. Think you did pretty good destroying that synonium device didn't you? Pretty pleased with yourself on the way back to the exits aren't you? Wrong! Guess again, because from out of nowhere the dreaded Tentaculat comes and zombifies your troops, yes that includes your Captain with _uber_ stats and with _insane_ number of kills.

You can never let your guard down even for a turn.

 

Not to mention alien artefact sites which are infested with those things - there is just so much atmosphere in TFTD.

 

I know a lot of people don't see it as a true sequel, but I ask you - what exactly needed improving in UFO? I can't really think of much. Being able to open doors with right click is nice in TFTD, the sound when you load ammunition into a weapon is sweet, HTH weapons add more depth to the game, the Gas Cannon rocks even late on in the game, and so on.

 

I also think its cool how in UFO you have Sectoid and Ethereals who use MC, and in TFTD you have Aquatoids in Tasoths... and ... Gillmen Commanders, which is kinda random, but cool, and adds another layer of strategy to those very large USO missions.

 

Anyway, my rant is over now, if anyone actually read through all this then thanks, I just wanted to say my bit on this game.

[Zombie]

As a hard-core Enemy Unknown player, I actually like TFTD too. The improvements (such as HTH with bladed weapons) are great additions, and multi-race psi throws a monkey wrench into normal X-COM strategies. Nothing wrong with learning different strategies IMHO.

 

I guess that one of the reasons why some people don't like TFTD is because most of the changes were made just to make the game harder to play, not to make a underwater sequel. A screwed up research tree which needs an unrelated alien to continue in a certain line is not uncommon, and getting "locked-out" of another line is also possible if you foul up the order. Alien stats are juiced up for the higher difficulty levels and the damage modifiers for one alien is so low that it's nearly impossible to kill with most weapons (I'm thinking of the lobbieman here). No auto-fire alien weapons and low clip sizes add fuel to the fire, not to mention that the Gauss weapons suck just as bad as everything else. (I never use Gauss because of the let-down in all categories when compared to lasers from EU). Have I mentioned that most missions can only be completed in 2 stages?

 

But like you mentioned, the big plus is the variety of missions. That's what keeps my interest alive and well.

 

- Zombie

[Negator]

I think most people simply prefer the game they started on. Unlike most i started on TFTD, not EU, so thats what my idea of the game should be like.

 

I think the size of some levels in TFTD is gross, probably due to being designed by a comittee rather than a talented individual, but once you know how to fast track through the bases the game becomes quite playable. Same with ship missions, once you know how to decide when its not worth bothering to find that last alien.

 

I got a pleasant surprise when EU didn't have that problem - the bases and missions are much more reasonably sized. But I still like the atmosphere of TFTD.

 

As for bugs, the research and gauss bugs in TFTD are irritating but can be avoided once you are clued to them - not like the random crash bugs in EU.

 

For me the main problem with TFTD is its too easy to research advanced weapons before you've had a few missions to plod through with gauss - gauss rifles and pistols are great fun, but I can't justfy their use once anything sonic becomes available.

 

So each to his own. Earth needs successful commanders for both battles if its to survive

[dagorkan]

Note before I start, I am not in anyway criticising UFO because I love that game and to me they are both equal.

Ok, I am basing this on what I've read over countless sites, gaming forums and message boards alike. It seems that in general people just don't like TFTD.

 

People are dumb. That's all, nothing deeper.

[Sir Crashalot]

When I first got TFTD I enjoyed it, same type of game to UFO but set underwater and with a better UI + ability to open doors.

 

Ship missions were the first annoyance for me, spending literally hours trying to find the last closet hiding alien on a passenger ship.

 

I didn`t realise my research was all screwed up at the time until it was too late and back then I had no internet so couldn`t hunt for answers to this problem. (if there was even online help back then..)

 

I don`t mind artifact sites as they can offer tactical challenges like luring the Tentaculats out of their *ambush* spots with minimal losses.

 

Base missions were a pain if you wanted loot from the mission and I eventually just gave up on that, opting to just rush in and blow the place.

 

The main thing that puts me off this game is the Lobstermen, whenever I try to play TFTD, they appear too early IMHO and are a boring and annoying race to fight. I don`t hate TFTD, it`s ok but for some people spending hours doing one ship mission or dealing with irritating lobstermen just isn`t fun.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Sir Crashalot

[xalien]

I've started with UFO and played it for a few years before I've got TFTD and I like TFTD a lot more - I really love it's underwater theme.

 

Annoying and tedious missions can be skipped if you make good score and the research tree is good when you know all the quirks.

[Yoni]

I like TFTD more. I played TFTD before I played UFO.

My guess is that the reason people hate it, is because:

1) They had already played UFO

2) TFTD brought nothing new. It was more like an expansion of the same game or something. Everything of UFO got copied with new graphics, and a few minor tweaks, such as the ability to open doors.

 

Subjectively, one can like the atmosphere of either game more. Objectively, I think it's possible to say TFTD is the better game of the two. But when you know UFO was there first, and then look at what TFTD added...

 

It's like making an exact remake of an old movie (just with better special effects which were impossible in those days) and then say it's better than the original.

[Horoma]

+

 

TFTD is more challenging (though MC attacks and DPL make the game too easy later on).

TFTD has better atmosphere.

TFTD lets you open doors without walking through.

 

-

 

TFTD adds very little to be called a sequel, it's more like UFO Version 2

TFTD has some annoying bugs (though not much of a problem once you know them)

 

Overall, I like TFTD much more than UFO.

 

 

PS : Those of you who think Lobstermen are too strong, should try using Thermal Shock Launchers + Vibro Blade/(Heavy) Thermic Lance. Lobstermen are easy if you use the right weapons.

 

PS 2 : About finding the last alien, I use motion scanners a lot, they are THE most underestimated item in the game, though not useful against static aliens. But looking for hours, that seems a bit exagerated to me, it doesn't take hours to scan the whole ship.

[dan2]

PS 2 : About finding the last alien, I use motion scanners a lot, they are THE most underestimated item in the game, though not useful against static aliens. But looking for hours, that seems a bit exagerated to me, it doesn't take hours to scan the whole ship.

You may look for hours sometimes due to a bug placing aliens outside the searchable area. A quite frustrating experience, I tell you

[Bullet-Tooth Tony]

TFTD lets you open doors without walking through.

Ironically, compared to UFO Defense, this feature has saved me much more soldiers, than newly introduced "challenging things" killed.

[Horoma]

PS 2 : About finding the last alien, I use motion scanners a lot, they are THE most underestimated item in the game, though not useful against static aliens. But looking for hours, that seems a bit exagerated to me, it doesn't take hours to scan the whole ship.

You may look for hours sometimes due to a bug placing aliens outside the searchable area. A quite frustrating experience, I tell you

Yeah, I heard about that bug. It must be quite annoying, but luckily it never happened to me. I just wanted to say that, if you don't have that bug, it seems quite exagerated to search for hours, the ship isn't THAT big.

 

And if you really don't like searching for the last alien, you can always cheat a bit. Spread out and check all the rooms without leaving TU's for defence, then reload when you know where the alien is hidden. Though I personally prefer no save/reload to keep things challenging, I wouldn't mind using it just to speed up an annoying part in the game. I mean, the outcome would be practically the same, as long as you approach the last alien as if you didn't know it was there. Like not throwing a Sonic Pulser inside, because you wouldn't have done that in every single room where the alien might have been.

 

Personally, I like the ship missions, they're often quite fun really. They bring in more variation, different tactics, which enhances replay value. I never hear anyone complaining about 20 sub missions in a row, but I read lots of comments on the ship rescues. That hardly seems fair.

[VPR]

TFTD lets you open doors without walking through.

Ironically, compared to UFO Defense, this feature has saved me much more soldiers, than newly introduced "challenging things" killed.

 

Funny never knew you could do that and I've been playing tftd since it was first released

 

I started out on EU but I think TFTD is better and therefore I play it more often. The only thing I've found problematic with TFTD is the messed up research tree. There are some flaws in both though such as night missions, I've always wondered why is there was no nightvision equipment? It just seems to be something obvious that was missing in both games.

 

The bigger maps and more varied environments are the main things that draw me to TFTD, though there could be more aliens on the ship missions and better distribution of them around the levels on the second part.

 

I do like EU though and still play it occasionally, Heavy Plasma firefights in EU are awesome, especially when your guys are the ones kicking donkey.

Edited October 29, 2006 by VPR

[BladeFireLight]

When I first was told of x-com it was about TFTD and how much a friend of mine loved playing it at a cousins house.

I had recently read the back of the box of EU at the sotware rental store (yes you once could rent computer games) The game sounded like the same but was not underwater. I rented EU and soon all my friends were hooked and kept renting it over and over. I soont tracked down TFTD but my only PC was not 100% IBM compatible so it would not run. and my dads computer didnt have sound.

 

The copy of EU we had was 1.0 floppy disk release, and no one had a modem to conect to the Microprose BBS we started out with out patches.

I dont know if any one else had 1.0, the Oficial US version was 1.2 at time of release.

but it was more buggy then TFTD. It had some show stoping research errors. missing terrain files on Alien bases. Chrisalist that walked backwards. All Dificulty levels were the same as Beginer. and it frequently crashed.

Still it had us hooked for months.

 

Once I had a working system that could Play TFTD it quickly became my favorite. It was more chalenging. and with Superhuman on UFO working like Beginer it's beginer seemed amazingly hard. Most of my friends quit playing because of the terror ships every month. We did not realize that the "last alien" was almost alwase in the same closet every time. (Given the poor design of the route map in that secton of the ship it's either the result of sadistic programer or the result of a rushed deadline)

 

I personaly love TFTD and enjoy the chalenging terrain maps. the ones in UFO did not give the alient anyware to hide.

 

Given the alvalibility of the 2.0 and 2.1 patches and other mods and my research repair batch file I dont feel that the TFTD research bugs are a problem any more.

 

Sure you have to resarch a Deep One to get aquaplastics but that is because the skin/armor of the deep one is made of a flexable aquaplastic. This is sort of eluded to in the ufopedia. The aquaplastic from the ships is ridged. and unlike Alien Aloys you cant bend them till you examine the secreations of a Deep Ones skin that make the Plastic flexable enought to use as aqua armor.

 

In real life things tend to work that way. unrelated discoveries when used together push the limits of our knowlage. Last I checked our science teams dont have a research tree to follow

 

-Blade FireLight