X-Com Advice sought

Honestly, I've never modded the original and I enjoy it quite a bit, vinraith. But then again, I'm generally one for vanilla experiences in my older games.

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Nope, bad advice. TFTD ramps up the difficulty significantly, and doesn't really do anything different except add multi-part terror missions which drag on for ages and are incredibly unforgiving due to the tight cruise ship layouts with no room to move. Um, and part of it is underwater I guess?

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Yeah, I don't know really. I haven't played TFTD yet, so I was unsure. But okay then!

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Originally Posted by DevinSmoth

Honestly, I've never modded the original and I enjoy it quite a bit, vinraith. But then again, I'm generally one for vanilla experiences in my older games.

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I'm mostly thinking fan patching, considering that bug list.

I am in the UK. I would like to play X-Com whenever it actually releases, on the 8th or 9th or whatever the hell it is now, instead of waiting for Friday.

How do I do this, barring the purchase of an airplane ticket?

I see no problem in obtaining it from a bunch of dastardly pirates if youve bought it already.

Atleast they dont care about internet waters that seem to separate us from our goods.

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Originally Posted by SectoidBro

I am in the UK. I would like to play X-Com whenever it actually releases, on the 8th or 9th or whatever the hell it is now, instead of waiting for Friday.

How do I do this, barring the purchase of an airplane ticket?

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You could try something I overheard your friend Mr. Bird saying to your other friend Mr. Ear, something about VPNs.

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Originally Posted by Oshada

You could try something I overheard your friend Mr. Bird saying to your other friend Mr. Ear, something about VPNs.

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Isn't that a little dodgy though? Don't want my steam account banned.

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Originally Posted by vinraith

OK, say I've been convinced to just try the original. What mods/tools do I need? XComUtil? Extender? What settings should I use? Is there a consensus on this stuff among fans?

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I prefer UFOextender, since many things it does better (for example show stats on inventory screen instead of creating statstrings in soldiers' names), and most important things (like soldier placement in craft, saving equipment configuration etc) are the same. Some other optional things (like world terrain randomisation - nice to have since there are some terrain types you may not even see once during your first playthrough) are only in XComUtil. In the end I think UFOextender is the one to have. Also start on the lowest difficulty for your first time. It is still very unforgiving.

(ps. If there is a way to have both someone please enlighten me, although I have tried and failed.)

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Originally Posted by duff

Isn't that a little dodgy though? Don't want my steam account banned.

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The steam SSA says this:

“You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, we may terminate your access to your Account.”

I wrote an annoyed article about this stuff when Borderlands 2 released, the consensus seems to be that Steam don't really give a damn unless you're using proxies to get region specific prices. Valve are pretty quiet on the matter, but the fact is it's still in the SSA so you're taking a risk. I've done it in the past, but I'm not willing to lose my Steam account by continuing to do so.

All I see in this thread are console playing cry babies who think they are the elite master gamers who can't learn how to be play a game unless it's spelled out to them in some thirty minute hand holding session. Despicable

The original xcom was so good it left me scratching my head why there wasn't any good copycats for decades. I'm not sure many people would have the patience to get into it today though.
Turn based tactical... jagged alliance 2 was good, not so many others

Having a bad day, Patrick?

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Originally Posted by Jockie

The steam SSA says this:

“You agree that you will not use IP proxying or other methods to disguise the place of your residence, whether to circumvent geographical restrictions on game content, to purchase at pricing not applicable to your geography, or for any other purpose. If you do this, we may terminate your access to your Account.”

I wrote an annoyed article about this stuff when Borderlands 2 released, the consensus seems to be that Steam don't really give a damn unless you're using proxies to get region specific prices. Valve are pretty quiet on the matter, but the fact is it's still in the SSA so you're taking a risk. I've done it in the past, but I'm not willing to lose my Steam account by continuing to do so.

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Of course, it has its attendant risks. Isn't it absolutely insane when it's more dangerous to access your legitimately purchased product instead of pirating it?

Apocalypse was the high point for me and I've played every X-com game other than interceptor. UFO & TFTD are freakin' amazing but Apocalypse with it's real time 'space to pause' micro management was the better tactical game. This won't be a common opinion.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Swayze

All I see in this thread are console playing cry babies who think they are the elite master gamers who can't learn how to be play a game unless it's spelled out to them in some thirty minute hand holding session. Despicable

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Odd, I don't see any of those. You should really check the dosage on your medication.

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Originally Posted by Oshada

Of course, it has its attendant risks. Isn't it absolutely insane when it's more dangerous to access your legitimately purchased product instead of pirating it?

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Exactly. This policy is anti-Gabe (at least in interviews). They are supposedly fighting piracy by giving better value (which does sound like rhetoric, I guess) but this is quite the opposite.

If you pay for the game, use a proxy just to get the game a tad early, you are threatened of being banned. If you pirate the game you will be (presumably) anonymously playing it. For that reason I believe it's probably an empty threat...if you want to test it.

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Originally Posted by Patrick Swayze

All I see in this thread are console playing cry babies who think they are the elite master gamers who can't learn how to be play a game unless it's spelled out to them in some thirty minute hand holding session. Despicable

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Yep.... Not even going to comment.

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Originally Posted by BenWah

The original xcom was so good it left me scratching my head why there wasn't any good copycats for decades.

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I don't know if XCOM was wildly popular back in the day... I mean it was obviously popular enough to get two sequels, but towards Apocalypse gaming was changing and moving into the FPS era, so it's not surprising that it was a casualty. Even then most of the remakes were bad, because they completely forgot what made XCOM great was the asymmetrical warfare aspect.

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Originally Posted by Sparkasaurusmex

Exactly. This policy is anti-Gabe (at least in interviews). They are supposedly fighting piracy by giving better value (which does sound like rhetoric, I guess) but this is quite the opposite.

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One thing I love about Valve is that they don't play this region bullshit. I got to buy The Orange Box at the same US price as the people in the US (which was slightly more expensive because our dollar was weaker but still $40AUD better than from a brick and mortar store) and it unlocked at the same time as the US.

In today's digital age these staggered release dates have little physical reason to exist, except to appease the physical stores I guess. XCOM isn't an MMO with server balancing issues or any technical reason to delay the release. I wish publishers wouldn't stop pulling this shit, or I wish Valve would set down a rule that if you distribute on Steam you play by their rules. Surely the platform is big enough and so deeply entrenched that pubs would take notice?

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Originally Posted by soldant

I don't know if XCOM was wildly popular back in the day... I mean it was obviously popular enough to get two sequels, but towards Apocalypse gaming was changing and moving into the FPS era, so it's not surprising that it was a casualty. Even then most of the remakes were bad, because they completely forgot what made XCOM great was the asymmetrical warfare aspect.


One thing I love about Valve is that they don't play this region bullshit. I got to buy The Orange Box at the same US price as the people in the US (which was slightly more expensive because our dollar was weaker but still $40AUD better than from a brick and mortar store) and it unlocked at the same time as the US.

In today's digital age these staggered release dates have little physical reason to exist, except to appease the physical stores I guess. XCOM isn't an MMO with server balancing issues or any technical reason to delay the release. I wish publishers wouldn't stop pulling this shit, or I wish Valve would set down a rule that if you distribute on Steam you play by their rules. Surely the platform is big enough and so deeply entrenched that pubs would take notice?

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You hit the nail on the head, it's because of retailers. Traditionally games release on Tuesday in the US and Friday in Europe. Blame the EU retailers, basically.

Since I've seen so many threads like this one over the years I've been online, I decided to make some YouTube videos to introduce people to the original X-COM and answer every question anyone could have. Only the first one is done, which covers the UI, but the next two (basic gameplay and what fixes/updates to use on a modern system) are coming soon. Instead of making Vinraith wait for part 3, I'll say that I think UFO Extender and XComUtil together go a long, long way towards smoothing out the few issues the original has. In any case, for those still struggling with the admittedly imposing UI, which is not awful so much as very intimidating and unlabeled, here is my first video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzA8dpcveUY

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Originally Posted by Hypernetic

You hit the nail on the head, it's because of retailers. Traditionally games release on Tuesday in the US and Friday in Europe. Blame the EU retailers, basically.

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Can I just blame everyone instead? Because that's an awful lot easier and I'll hit the target anyway.