Gaming History: UFO: Enemy Unknown / X-COM: UFO Defense “A Sacred Monster”

[@Scrubwave]

One more thing you didn't mention, the scope: in OG X-Com you spend millions, hire hundreds, deploy dozens, build multiple bases, lose thousands and climb their corpses to reach Cydonia.

[@Liamper]

You were always one blaster-bomb away from getting squad wiped haha

[@kistuszek]

@@Liamper You mean one wrong mind control away. Dick to ass like sardines in the dropship, you better not swing around a loaded rocket launcher. Bezerking rookies also sink dropships. :) Keep that puppy in the bag until you need it.

[@toddkes5890]

@@Liamper Night-time Snakemen Terror mission. You miss one Chryssalid, that Chryssalid gets to a few civilians, and then it goes nightmare

[@Zeithri]

@@Liamper End Turn 1 Aliens Turn: Blaster Bomb finds way inside Skyranger

[@tyler89557]

@@toddkes5890 I remember my first chryssalid encounter. I heard chittering. I heard slithering. **they didn't stop**

[@kadajsnightqueen]

I have so many fond memories of watching my Dad play the original X-COM as a kid, before getting into it myself. I've often seen it ranked as one of the most perfect, greatest games ever created, and I must agree. It's got a steep learning curve, but it never feels unfair or like the AI is cheating. Best of all, it's so memorable and personal. Even today, Dad and I sometimes swap war stories from our X-COM games wherein we lost everything due to one bad round (I once watched an Ethereal take out an entire Skyranger crew in the first round just by tossing a grenade into the ship; learned some new words that day from Daddy), we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat (one particular Floater terror site with a very lucky Reaper springs to mind), or occasions where we just couldn't win (once lost an Avenger and its entire surviving crew to one stinkin' Chryssalid after I'd cleared out every other alien in the streets and buildings). The new iteration is interesting, sure, but it just can't compare to that glorious original.

[@BarbarosaAlexander]

I've been playing this for 30 years. It's simply awesome.

[@SeekerLancer]

I always had a negative opinion of X-Com growing up because I had the demo on some shareware disc and without the manual I had no idea what was going on and it seemed impossible. Finally this year with nothing to do while looking at lists of best DOS games while trying to find something to play I kept seeing X-Com near the top of those lists. I figured what the hell, I already had the game on Steam when they gave it away for free at some point, and I'm really glad I did. I absolutely love the scale of this game, you really feel like you're struggling to defend the Earth, always on the back foot against a superior force. It's suspenseful yet oddly not stressful. The missions, while somewhat repetitive, are still engaging and challenging enough to remain interesting. Slowing unraveling the mysteries of the aliens and their technologies and figuring out why they're invading how how to turn things around and take the fight back to them is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done in a video game. I can now see why it's often considered among the best DOS releases ever and I'm glad I gave it another chance. I'll probably give the reboot a shake next since the expanded version of it costs next to nothing for 360 these days.

[@gratuitouslurking8610]

This is why the Open XCom project was such a big deal, and yet it seems to be mostly underground in internet circles. Seriously, a modification to the base level of XCom that allows you to make it as vanilla or as tweaked as you want, with the added bonuses of modern-era resolutions and system advantages. Lets the youngin's that didn't grow up with the clunk have a go with as much or as little as the dumber issues like the starting base, or giving the game TFTD level AI tricks, as they wish.

[@JamieBainbridge]

Bless the people making OpenXcom. It makes this wonderful game even better AND moddable. Incredible.

[@TreuloseTomate]

I've played this last summer and it felt like an actual simulation compared to the new XCOM. I was especially impressed with how it "calculates" chance-to-hit and line-of-sight (read it on the wiki). OpenXcom also supports higher resolutions. Must play if you liked new XCOM at all.

[@Adam-nc6qg]

@joseaca "New games make that information clear" lmao at missing that 96% shot

[@justanotheryoutubechannel]

@@Adam-nc6qg It wouldn’t be XCOM without missing a 96% shot

[@matthewjones39]

@@Adam-nc6qg And not only that, but having the rest of your squad fire at the same enemy on the same turn with the same hit chance and never hit it once.

[@junkahoolik]

i love how you don't check if you have enough time to throw a grenade after you prime it, then bring someone else in the blast range at the end

[@Folk_var]

My favourite game of all time. Absolutely love it.

[@mightyminotaur5056]

I think XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2 are still fantastic games, they’re just very different. They’re more about the battlefield itself, like Fire Emblem, than the actual war effort, which this game nails.

[@strafer8764]

Great game. I almost didn’t play it because I thought the graphics were bad at the time. After a couple of tries it clicked and I knew it was a masterpiece.

[@ghostman76015]

Much respect for this game because it included so many fair and logical events. Base defense I thought was a genius concept to include, the feeling of scrambling to repel the invaders or lose the base was so intense. The real life reactions of the aliens when you try and board their ships; opening a door and throwing a grenade and then close door, shooting a blaster rifle down a grav lift to give the invaders a warm welcome. It made for epic stories. One battle I realized I had shot down too big of ship and my guys were going to get wasted so after taking out half dozen aliens around the ship decided to pull out and save them to fight another day.

[@SgtWiking]

12:13 "If you were sure there were no civilians..." hah My main tactic was, if its 2 stories tall, blow it up, we ain't climbing it. Civilian loses were nothing (small negative score) compared to losing veteran soldiers or good gear.

[@flaminginferno6641]

my strategy is "if its a corner look over your shoulder, because those alien fuckers actually know what they are doing"

[@kistuszek]

Civvies are actually meta, if you are going for an immersive play. Or if you are low on score, which is the time you are actually trying to win a terror site. Small point penalty you say, sure. 30 points right? Well 30 points for losing them, and 30 points for not saving them. There is no in between tho, so if one die you are down 60 points effectively. So a terror site has the potential to swing your points by 600 points just in civvies alone. Of course you can get that by two good ground assaults, but those are not exactly risk free either. And saving some civvies are usually a matter of having a stun rod. You will bump in them anyway, as they will be in your way of movement, then just zap them. They wont get up, and this increases their survival chance by 90%. :) I even abducted civvies before. Land, clear landing site zap civvies, pack them up and leave. If you can get 3 or 4, you can get a rating around 0, which is around a rating when you go scorched earth.

[@UtubeEric12345]

@@kistuszek Abducting civies, I never thought about doing that *facepalm* =P Talk about emerging story, the “good” guys comes down, zaps and kidnaps half the village and leaves the other half for the aliens =D One could do a dark mod of the game with a new base building and resource called “civilian organs”. As long as you have CO in stock and the “expanded medsuit” in your base your healing times are halved.

[@lo-fidevil2950]

Ok sure but people seem to really enjoy the new XCOMs from Firaxis. It isn’t just that they sell a lot of units. People genuinely love playing them. There are KZbinrs who play through War of the Chosen over and over and they have an enthusiastic audience that sends them fan fiction. I just watched a vid where a guy did a analysis of the dialog of the scientist from Enemy Unknown. He developed a whole theory of the thematic message of her character. So maybe the new games aren’t bad, just different, you know? Idk, personally I find turn-based anything an exercise in tedium. So I have no opinion. But even I can appreciate the sheer joy other people get from these new versions.

[@j_atkinson]

I'm a huge fan of the original especially the refreshing of OpenXcom to add new life to it. However, you can't deny the impact that new XCOM has had on tactical strategy in modern games. I see it's influence everywhere these days even Julian Gollop's own Pheonix Point which I consider a remake of X-COM: Apocalypse.

[@GaminGHD]

Well, there's another game I forgot to make a video about. Thanks for reminding me.

[@lukeMac]

I love the new ones, but this was definitely still a better game, and still beats the new one in terms of atmosphere, story-telling and depth... all with 4 dudes? A monumental achievement.

[@chrismoberg1581]

Ufo Defense created a sense of dread that few other games I have experienced can manage. Maybe BioShock was similar in that way.

[@resonance01]

The discussion regarding explosives made me nostalgic for when i reached 'screw it' and started using Blaster Launchers to negate cover... and eliminate those things hiding behind it. As far as Civvies were concerned i viewed them as acceptable casualties... especially if it was a Snakeman terror mission!

[@zzygyy]

I still have this game on PlayStation one. This game was the best strategy game for counsole. So much fun

[@unacomn]

Note: This video was made before the release date of The Long War 2 was announced. So replace "weeks" with "already available"

[@SkullHeroLord]

Are you going to touch upon a Total War title in the future?

[@unacomn]

Yes. I was going to do Rome Total War a few months ago, but the game works horribly on the current CPU for some reason.

[@SkullHeroLord]

Seems to be a common problem when stronger PCs try to run it and Medieval 2,so finding a fix shouldn't be an issue. I never actually experienced it since my PC is awful. Those two games still have a super-active modding community that is making full-conversion mods to this day. I've been playing Europa Barbarorum II in the last couple of weeks,the atmosphere achieved by trying to stick as close to history as possible (loads of historical info and interesting scripting that doesn't hamper player freedom or spam stacks left and right,the mod has it's own music,and most of the factions speak in their native tongue),the added layers of complexity and the steroid boost that was given to character traits make it a joy to play for me.

[@mikeoyler2983]

I agree with your conclusions about "X-com 2". I like the missions that are on a timer and how you have to find certain people or objects. I also like the limited resources, which force the player to make certain decisions. On the other hand, in UFO Defense there was no hand holding. There was no path to follow. The only story was in the manual. One had to be smart enough to read the manual and in game information to know that you had to identify and capture certain aliens. It really was better. There are aspects of the newer ones that I think are ok too, but there is no substitute for the original.

[@jamesstaggs4160]

Lotta good memories with this one. Had this sucker on floppy disk.

[@squall116]

A timeless masterpiece

[@NoahNobody]

It was interesting to learn about the incremental development history.

[@tbone5757]

I am from the US but somehow the bootleg I had was the UFO version. I loved this game and used a hex editor to make my characters and base OP. I also had the sequel but didn't get into it like the orig.

[@Superschokokeks]

How many people worked on X-com? I didn't quite hear it

[@andreworders7305]

The XCOM remake was in development long before the Bureau, you can’t just ignore facts, look up the development history. It took like a decade (and Sid Meier) to get off the ground.

[@stephanemignot100]

This game had a 16/10 aspect ratio, like a lot of games of this era...

[@Superschokokeks]

Take a look at X-Piratez, a mod to X-com. It expands a lot to the core game. furthermore it succeds in bringing its theme into gameplay. you really feel like a group of pirates raiding what it's left on earth after the X-com project failed and aliens won.

[@Superschokokeks]

oh and Long war 2 brought mainly performance issues :P

[@RetroJedi9]

Good video and your points about the original game vs the reboot are exactly right

[@GaranPaneos]

Playing this game right now. Just outside having a smoke because I lost important soldiers.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Cool strategy game, just a little slow paced.

[@riekopo7638]

"Somewhat dated" lol

[@GaminGHD]

Hey folks, remember to press that bell (🔔) button next to the subscribe button and select the "Send me all notifications for this channel" option , that way you'll get a notification whenever we post a good video ! :) Join Now on our Discord Server ! discord.gg/CZSXJwy If you like our work and want to support us, you can become our patrons. www.patreon.com/gaminghd Note: This video was made before the release date of The Long War 2 was announced. So replace "weeks" with "already available"

[@edgarsantos3034]

I lost 2 soldiers while seeing this video. 😒 I love this game.

[@djgraphics3627]

Im love for atmosfere and capabilities,Im rised from it.

[@GodDemis]

I enjoyed Terror from the Deep more than the original for the sole difference that in Terror you could open doors without stepping on the next block. Yes, I know, I am a weirdo :P

[@williamoverton7775]

he Shadowrun board uses a similar D6 system for hit points like Xcom everyone dies all the time.

[@CaudaMiller]

13:22 lol

[@MicoSelva]

This game is such a classic. What modern title would you recommend for a similar feel? While I have a love-hate relationship with XCOM and XCOM 2, they are not really the same thing as the old UFO.

[@GaminGHD]

The closest thing to it, that I have played, would be Xenoauts, it tries very hard to have the same feel and gameplay. It's limited, feature wise, by being a low budget game, so don't expect psionics. Hopefully the second one will be out some day.

[@MicoSelva]

@@GaminGHD Thanks for the reply. I did try Xenonauts a while ago (for an hour or so) and it did seem promising, but I was scared of investing more time into it and leave disappointed. I will give it another go then, more serious this time.

[@zoloftdependant5246]

I'm glad someone else thinks the new XCOM: EU is fucking garbage, they really fucked up by removing features and turning the game into an overwatch slog.

[@PlanetZoidstar]

I've long wondered WHICH version of the title came first. Did both versions launch simultaneously or did one version come out later? I know they're both the exact same game outside of the title, but it's made me curious. I guess you can't copyright UFO as easily as X-Com. Maybe that's why it won out?

[@cleon2267]

hey what do you think about phoenix point?

[@majk023]

"Abomination: The nemesis project" for the pc was fun and gourgeous at the time and inspired by this holy relic(no joke), check it out won´t ya. :)

[@ROPname]

wow this game has quite the history :))

[@TheBfutgreg]

0:45 HELP HELP I'M BEING REPRESSED

[@theultramage]

The DOS game has a bug - difficulty always resets to beginner after first mission. Nobody noticed for a loooong time. There are now custom patches for it (XcomUtil). The game is still quite challenging as-is, I'm afraid to apply the fix xD

[@ghostman76015]

Totally true, I played the original like each person mattered, so I think I made it harder on myself instead of just pouring soldiers onto the battlefield to die so I could get through the mission

[@GumMagnum]

I love the video but good lord where did you get that gameplay? It was making my spine cringe into all kinds of interesting shapes

[@Sedona_FD3S]

13:23 lmaooo omgahhhhhh

[@TheLibrarianUU]

Ook! [One rule was not equal: psionics. The damn ethereals didn't need to see you to take control. That was bullshite.]

[@TheGoukaruma]

I like the new and the old game but the second new one lost me. It was like the first new but worse. Time limits aren't fun and they had it in most missions.

[@SteveAkaDarktimes]

another option that doesn't make your eyes bleed is Xenonauts.

[@GumMagnum]

SteveAkaGoatpile xenonauts is really insanely broken. I am excited for xenonauts 2 though

[@ghostman76015]

I agree Xenonauts is so unfair in combat

[@jeronimovasquez5877]

come see the violence inherited in the system!!!

[@codedecode878]

the save scumming, tsk tsk. come on, have some respect and take your losses like a man!

[@Janopooh]

....UFO

[@boyanpenev9822]

The second game was horribly hard even at the early difficulties.

[@LaxenLarsson]

It's to easy!

[@Zycoxy]

loading when something goes wrong? why even play?

[@vladimirrodionov5391]

Firaxis makes everything casual.

[@incaseofimportantnegotiations]

i thought XSOM 2012 is the worst game in the series, way worse than UFO reboot trilogy but then i played apocalypse

[@abcdef2069]

X-com UFO is the one of the best game, really rich in all directions. it is THE mother of all turn based games. microprose and sid meyers and more microprose. if this game had the keyboard support during the combat, i would still play this game. but too bad.... Now i play jagged allience all the time along with age of wonders. remake this game with more user interfaces, do not let an ethreal commander or a lobsterman commander(X-com UFO 2) be captured easily. I want to keep on fighting. and remake this game with the small numbers of directories. do not trash my HDD and my managing my OS. i played someone's windows version of X-com UFO, maybe it was too hard.. but i already moved on to jagged alience. X-COM UFO didnt matter anymore. but i want to see and play sectoids and aquatoids again.

[@MrDgf97]

This review sucks lmao, 90% of it is either comparing or bashing the 2012 reboot in the most nitpicky way

[@oldbluekid]

I can see you never played the original.

[@R3GARnator]

Dude doesn't understand the concept that x-com two will be PATCHED. Give it a break.

[@ingikratzer9043]

Trust me, he knows but gives shit because the reboot is shit compared to the old xcoms. its dumbed down version optimized for consoles. I played xcom2 war of the chosen a month ago. its an okaaaaay game but compared to the old ones its shit. it shits on the old games which had complexity and freedom. even the music and atmosphere were better. and the graphics were fitting.

[@InternalMusings]

@Mercb3ast to be fair, shooting a wall a few times to break its cover is dumb. Also, there isnt anything wrong with linear stories. Books have been telling linear stories for millennia.

[@ghostman76015]

@Mercb3ast 100% right on!