XCOM 2 - Interview with Jake Soloman @RPS

[Silver]

Jake Soloman shares his thoughts on XCOM 2 with Alec Meer @rockpapershotgun.

Alec: I read some particular complaints that you can't have everything all the time in base mode, you always have to spend more than you can earn. I don't agree, but the concern was that there wasn't enough pay-off for your struggles.

Jake Solomon: Personally as a designer my experience is that all feedback is factual, so when you do hear feedback like that my instinct is not to say ‘you are incorrect.' My reaction is always to say ‘ok, does that have to be at odds with the other people who are enjoying the difficulty, and if not, how do we find a way to make both people happy?'

It's interesting, because obviously if you're not spending more than you're bringing in... it's a standard strategy design, it's in XCOM particularly but Sid [Meier] does this too. You give the player five all options, all of which seem viable and seem cool and seem necessary, but you only let them pick one. Then by the time they buy that one, we've added two more which are ‘these are also cool.' You're trying to offer the player things that are all beneficial things that the player wants, they just can't afford all of them at once.

[...]

Adam: The biggest difference in XCOM 2 is the classes, the soldiers feel much more like a toolset in themselves. You said early that XCOM isn't a puzzle, and I agree, it almost feels more like an RPG as well as a strategy and tactical. There are some many points where I look at the situation and I've got so many options, whereas in the original it was which guy isn't going to shoot now? It's a more intricate strategy game.

Jake Solomon: That is definitely a distinct thing. Making all of the soldier abilities do something not big, but obvious, so that the player can mentally map them out, so you can look at your soldiers and their abilities, and they always do something that is simple and the tactical benefit of it is obvious. It's not like +15% to something, it's you get a free move when this happens or the ability Untouchable - if you kill someone, the next attack against you is guaranteed to miss. People were like "even explosives?" and I said "yes, just make it simple because that's the only way that as a player you can manage all these different characters and their abilities."

In that sense it is kind of like a Tetris puzzle where you can slot things together. In some senses it becomes a challenge because you only have so many knobs you can turn: you've got moves, you've got actions, you've got aim percentages, you've got cover. They all slot together in fairly interesting ways, hopefully, no matter who it is you've brought on your squad. In that sense it does sometimes feel puzzle-ish.

More information.

 

[domein]

Does he not get, that game is not too difficult, but too volatile? Getting your guys killed with one shot when they are with full hp in full cover, that is not difficult, that is volatile and it is an exact source of frustration for players attempting ironman runs on legend.

 

[Archangel]

Does he not get, that game is not too difficult, but too volatile? Getting your guys killed with one shot when they are with full hp in full cover, that is not difficult, that is volatile and it is an exact source of frustration for players attempting ironman runs on legend.

That is how original Xcom worked, the problem is that soldier ranks have too much effect and later cannot be killed that way. Also squads are too small and should not be connected with levels of soldiers.
This guy gives very good ideas how to fix the whole thing: http://www.pentadact.com/2016-02-25-solving-xcoms-snowball-problem/

 

[DArtagnan]

I thought it was much less volatile than the first one.

They've upped the starting amount of hit points - and your guys are much less likely to get one-shot in this one.

The game is challenging in the beginning stages, that's true - but I broke the power curve too soon and the rest of the game was way too easy.

That's on Veteran, though. I haven't tried any other difficulty.

 

[Archangel]

I thought it was much less volatile than the first one.

They've upped the starting amount of hit points - and your guys are much less likely to get one-shot in this one.

The game is challenging in the beginning stages, that's true - but I broke the power curve too soon and the rest of the game was way too easy.

That's on Veteran, though. I haven't tried any other difficulty.

I played Commander Ironman and start is pretty volatile and from mid game and on it becomes super easy.

From what I seen and read about Legendary start is even more volatile and from mid game and on it becomes super easy.

 

[DArtagnan]

I played Commander Ironman and start is pretty volatile and from mid game and on it becomes super easy.

From what I seen and read about Legendary start is even more volatile and from mid game and on it becomes super easy.

That doesn't surprise me.

I'm not really a "super gamer" - though I usually do pretty well in a tactical sense.

So, I'm puzzled by the general complaint that the game is super hard.

 

[Archangel]

Because those that complain are having problems in start of the game.

Also in mid game they didn't figure out the power of Grenadiers or Meme beacons.

 

[domein]

That is how original Xcom worked...

Original xcom was working fine that way due to player ability to field 20 units and couple of tanks, in that case random loss was acceptable. It does not work so well when you get only 4 dudes to the field, that are also do not allow to pickup any critical gear off their corpses and use it right away.

 

[JDR13]

I've been so busy that I haven't even purchased this yet. I'm fine with waiting though because it sounds like there are still a few glitches that need to be addressed.

I also want to replay the first game. I've actually never played it with Enemy Within installed.

 

[Archangel]

Original xcom was working fine that way due to player ability to field 20 units and couple of tanks, in that case random loss was acceptable. It does not work so well when you get only 4 dudes to the field, that are also do not allow to pickup any critical gear off their corpses and use it right away.

Well I did say the same thing in later part of that sentence...

 

[ChaosTheory]

Anyone see sales figures for this, yet?

 

[Carnifex]

I played the game through on veteran, and I lost four squaddies in the first three battles I think it was. After that I lost no one, I realized I needed to slow down and plan better, simply not rush into things. Even the timed maps weren't really that hard, as long as you made good use of cover and overwatch.....that last battle with the five avatars took me a long time to play though. I think two of my guys survived with less than four hit points on that one.