XCOM 2 - Randomness explained @ Gamasutra

[HiddenX]

Jake Solomon explains the careful use of randomness in XCOM 2:

“Play forever.” According to lead designer Jake Solomon, that was the mantra that echoed through Firaxis during the development of XCOM 2.

While confident in the core systems of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, tackling the sequel meant creating a more mercurial set of challenges, ones that wouldn’t be the same from player to player. “If we were to use one word to describe our tactic, it would be the idea of unpredictability,” said Solomon. “I think what’s valuable as a player is that when you go into a game, the challenges you’re confronted with are unpredictable.”

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Thanks Eye!

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[Zloth]

So how did Firaxis make sure XCOM 2 wouldn’t unduly batter the psychologies of their player base? Well, the calculations that go into each shot aren’t as heartless as you might think. “There’s actually a number of things that tweak that number in the player’s favor at the lower difficulty settings,” said Solomon. “That 85 percent isn’t actually 85 percent. Behind the scenes, we wanted to match the player’s psychological feeling about that number.” That 85 percent, according to Solomon, is often closer to 95 percent.

That just makes me sad. Match the emotional expectations?? My emotional experience is that they are dumbing it down to deal with people's mathematical incompetence. In doing so, they are ADDING to the problem.

I can certainly see why they want to do this. I've taken part in more than my fair share of "the RNG is rigged" topics where somebody is screaming about how they missed two 98% chance shots in a row. People could even miss 100% chance shots (the game rounds a 99.7% chance to display as 100%). But this leads to posts where people point out just how many shots are being fired and just how often they should expect to miss easy shots. Sometimes it's even done in a civil manner. Real learning happens! But no, they aren't going to do that. Much better to lie to them and reinforce their errors. Come on, Firaxis! Truth to power!!

What they do need to do, though, is deal with what the percentages are in the first place. If your soldier is just one square away, he's so close that the animation shows the gun actually clipping into the alien's body and firing! That's not an 85% chance to hit, that's a 100% chance to hit. There's more chance of a misfire or the alien grabbing the gun than actually missing.

 

[Pladio]

That last part would be cool.

Imagine if some boss managed to steal your soldier's gun and shoot him in the head with it