I remember the first time I saw Chryssalids. In 1996 my friend and I were playing Xcom on the PS while his Vietnam Vet dad was watching and giving us tactical advice. We threw a high explosive at the feet of a Chryssalid that spawned in front of the ship on the first turn of a terror site. It detonated...and the Chryssalid was still standing. My friend and I were shocked! Unlike the other aliens, though, this one didn't shoot at us. It calmly walked up the ramp and onto our Skyranger, only to stop and do nothing. When the alien's turn ended, my friend's dad said "OK this is a pretty powerful alien we're dealing with, so we're gonna go ahead and abort the mission." This was a guy who NEVER wanted us to abort missions, but on his orders we were doing it on turn 2! I still think of that every time I see Chryssalids in OpenXcom. Good memories.
Oh i have such fond memories of this game. I bought terror from the deep and played it alot to. As it came out in the age before internet, terror from the deep was a superious version with alot of fixes and was HARD.. now i know why - the original release was bugged and reverted to easiest difficulty after the first mission.
Heard someone say once that the old xCom games were like a real military. Your people will die, you will lose battles, you will have to run away. That doesn't mean it's over just that you lost a battle. The newer ones are more like a group of super heros. If those soldiers start to fall it's too late to recover.
@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 One's a military strategy simulator with tactical battles and RPG elements, the other's a military strategy tactical RPG.
I still remember I and a friend of mine firing up this game and playing it in the dark twenty-five years ago. First time an alien fired at one of our X-COM men in a corn field, we both jumped out of our seats. Ah, thanks for the memories!
@@dtkedtyjrtyj in xcom 2012 there was only the first mission I encountered them with that whale I had little bit of trouble. After that they got more easy as had better gear and soldiers.
I remember how they had zombified my entire crew say for 5 men who where each camping a direction from the upper floor windows of a building and the staircase hiding in smoke, it was a night mission and me and my brother where so scared that we might lose everyone.
You've just invented maybe the best hardcore quote for any (suitable) game ever: (In Fallout narrator voice) "Running away... ...it's not what heroes do... ...but it's what survivors do. ...and as long as you survive, there's a chance you can win." like... that's so amazing I can't even (think of what game it would suit. But there's some out there, made or yet unmade, for which that's the best intro quote they could ever hope for).
Started a new campaign yesterday again, i love it. Second mission was a terror attack on some russian town. It went quite well actually with my 12 men team. I took out most of the floaters and terror units. But then one enemy turn all hell broke loose. I saw a grenade "whoosh" in my direction. When the turn ended, 8 of my men were dead and the rest were running around in panick. Two turns later the remaining 4 seemed to get a grip of the situation again, only to be picked off by 2 remaining floaters. Entire squad dead, ship lost, just another day in the office. I started laughing hysterically, numbed by all the deaths.
I started playing this game around 2016 but I've only been picking up here and there with a year or two between playing. I started playing again more seriously and I'm finally learning to just let yourself get defeated, I kept trying to save every soldier with saves and I would just hang around the first few encounters of each game indefinitely. Now I'm letting myself get game overs, I'm finally starting to really "get it".
I got the original game with my first PC in 1996. I started it, clicked around a bit, but did not understand at all what to do. So went on to read the whole manual with it's 100+ pages and came back two days later and was hooked for months. Games like this don't exist anymore. Calling it unfriendly for beginners is an understatement, but once you got the hang of it, you got out so much of this game. I still play it from time to time and just recently installed Terror from the Deep on a six year old Android gaming handheld via DOSBox.
You'll quickly recognize all the familiar buildings and weapons and techs and aliens wearing new names and underwater-themed trappings. But TFTD is more than just a re-skin of the first game, it's made more difficult in many subtle ways. None of these nuances are insurmountable in themselves, but they collectively make the entire game substantially more difficult. I thought I was boss after defeating UFO a few times on veteran and superhuman difficulties, I knew everything about the game, I was totally ready for TFTD. I was cocky and complacent (or perhaps deliberately fooled into complacency?) because of the obvious similarities in the second game. Lost my first mission vs a terror zone in the second week of the game. I'd equipped my troops with the weapons with the best stats available - but the moment I tried to take my first shot I learned the hard way that there's a big difference between _surface_ and _underwater_ combats. I did get my people out alive, but my noob mistake made the mission a total fail. Lost my second mission vs a terror zone a just a week later. It was onboard a ship, a really big ship with blind corridors and corners and cabins and closets everywhere, aliens hiding in all sorts of threatening places. I'd brought extra clips for each of my (new) weapons but they weren't enough - it was a two-part mission (like Cydonia), and those lobsters took a _lot_ of shots to bring down. So I ran really low on ammo, half my people had empty guns, I was salvaging ammo off the dead. But the tentaculats (chrysallids ver 2.0) and relentless -psionic- molecular control attacks made things ugly. I did not get my people out alive. My third and subsequent missions weren't failures. But they taught me that almost all underwater combats are effectively "night" missions, that the maps are designed to be generally harder and tighter, that the alien AIs are greatly improved (and very aggressive), that aliens were tougher and weapons were weaker than before, that all of my equipment-based tactics (based on flares, smokes, proximities, rockets, lasers, etc) had to revised or discarded. So I think calling TFTD "unfriendly for beginners" and perhaps "unfriendly for experienced players" is no understatement. Times have changed, we're more sophisticated and jaded by games now, we have different expectations. But I still don't think you'll find your first TFTD game an easy walkthrough, the game is "simple" but it is not at all "easy".
Yes the newer ones just seemed to remove features to simplify the learning curve without adding anything new. The 3D graphics are nicer but otherwise the originals perversely seem light years ahead in terms of gameplay.
@@KieronHoward You need to add mods to unlock the full game. The year long war mod which gives you the full, unadulterated metal as shit game fit for anyone with an asperger diagnosis.
@@KieronHoward Having been introduced to XCOM by the remakes, I think removing complexity can be a good thing. Sometimes less is more. The remakes boiled the game down to the core experiences of base management and turn-based tactics, removing the layers upon layers of unnecessary micromanagement. Unnecessary complexity can easily make a game an overall worse experience. If the player spends more time memorizing and clicking through menus/buttons than actually making strategic decisions, the game can quickly become a drag. For example, does there really need to be a button to make your soldier kneel? Does kneeling add any significant enjoyment to the gameplay? Would the game be fundamentally different/worse if there was no kneeling? Do you really need to make the player manage 14 individual soldiers at once, all with their own stats and fully fleshed-out inventory? Do you really need to make the player constantly click through every soldier's inventory screen during the mission whenever they need to swap weapons or use an item? Do you really need to make the player specify when they want their grenade to explode when the answer is usually "right the hell now"?
@@dragonslair951167 TL:DR The old and new games are really different and there's no shame in liking either for whatever reason, people find different things fun. First of all, I agree with your comment/understand your perspective in a broad sense- I know I've been turned off from many games by their complexity, and it's fair to question why those elements exist beyond for their own sake. "For example, does there really need to be a button to make your soldier kneel? Does kneeling add any significant enjoyment to the gameplay? Would the game be fundamentally different/worse if there was no kneeling?" The way I see it is that kneeling is part of the OG's 'cover system'. Kneeling behind low cover can make the difference between taking a shot in the dome and not taking said shot in the dome. Kneeling lets backline troops fire over the heads of the frontline ones. Kneeling gives characters a small boost to accuracy, further encouraging methodical play and picking positions carefully. It's not the biggest thing in the world, not as important as the cover system in the newer games, but it does have enough benefits imo to make it worth weighing against its cost. "Do you really need to make the player manage 14 individual soldiers at once, all with their own stats and fully fleshed-out inventory?" I think this is best explained as different strokes for different folks. Some people enjoy micromanaging more than others, and the larger squad sizes in the OG mean that you and the aliens are roughly equal in numbers. You can afford to take a few casualties as long as the mission succeeds. Individual stats make different characters better suited for different roles, as something decided by the player instead of by the game designers through explicit classes. (notably, there's a mod for the original which simplifies this process of character classing and lets you give characters to help keep things straight.) "Do you really need to make the player constantly click through every soldier's inventory screen during the mission whenever they need to swap weapons or use an item?" Fair point, it'd be possible to have both the more detailed grid inventory and hotkeys for equipping the next loaded weapon/grenade. I'm not sure if the modding scene has anything that helps with that specific issue. "Do you really need to make the player specify when they want their grenade to explode when the answer is usually 'right the hell now'?" ... Good point. I do know that OpenXcom has a mod that changes this so grenades default to timer 0. Presumably highex still has the timer so you can set it and gtfo.
@@dragonslair951167 I disagree. I used to think like you did, but then I realized 99% of games are a complete waste of time, and the ones that aren't are hard as fuck, inscrutable, or have massively high skill ceilings and/or level editors. Ironically after this realization I play fewer games and spend less time on games in general, precisely because I've cut the bullshit out of my life. People who play games to "relax" disgust me. Listen to Mozart if that's what you want. If you want to have "fun," go ride a bike. It's better for you.
Tentaculats in TFTD were FAR worse than Chryssalids, because they could 'fly'. Chryssalids once you get Flying Armor are sort of trivial unless they catch you in an area in which you can't fly, because they can't attack UP.
Tentaculats aren't "far" worse, because they don't have nearly as many TUs. They're really just rebalanced Chryssalids. They can't be cheesed by flying (or rather, swimming) but are easier to zone out.
The trick is to research laser rifle before the saucer terror mission., keep recruits only above 50 bravery.., can afford it by making stuff and selling at first., hide behind the tank.
I have a fond memory of this game as a kid, had good troops I walked out of the plane an ethereal proceeds to mind control my rocket launcher guy and kills 95% of the squad after just getting out. Good times lol.
I have played many, many, MANY hours of this game and know it inside-out like my own underware drawer. The game still has the power to freak me out 30 years later. Really nuts.
Yeah i used to hate chryssalids as well. Until i ploayed terror from the deep and in one mission was like "Ew that wobbly brain thingie looks gross! Cool let's send a disposable guy in and see what it does!" One round later i knew exactly what they do. "They fly now."
Not sure what you mean by terrestrial invaders. I was touching on the complete lack of investment for the local council and the comparably high rates of rent landlords are charging on units making non-viable for small business to open and remain open for more than a couple of months, making the place a ghost town. Comment wasn't an observation on the type of people that visit, arseholes exist in all walks of life, whether it be in Rotherham or Mayfair.
This game perfectly describes why the original X-COM (actually, TFTD) is my favourite game of all time. I'm one of those younger viewers, and I love it. Just brilliant.
Yep, TFTD is my favorite also :-) I've just always been a fan of subs and underwater stuff, it's one of the reasons I enlisted in the Navy! I started with the OG X-COM, but TFTD was my jam. I'm sure I've logged 10,000+ hours in that game at this point. And now with OpenXCOM, I am doing it again, but now I can mod it!
@@endersblade I only this year bought those games, and man are they the most addictive and engrossing games I have ever played, I just cannot believe it to be fully honest, its too good.
@Derp Inshmurtz Oh many I binged the game hard, Lost several times but my current run through I am at power armor and plasma guns, as well as alien tech ships! Very fun about to do the final mission as well! I am so excited!
Bran: *plays first Xcom game* Me: *stares at Dad dominating Xcom: Enemy Within* Me years later: *incoherent panicked screaming as troops are tag teamed by Berserker Queen, Avatar, and Chrysalids in Xcom 2.* I have never played any game series in order. But I might do a Star Wars and play Xcom in reverse cause I love this type of game... Even if all my troops die on the first mission EVERY SINGLE TIME
1996, I came home from my final GCSE exam and started a fresh save of xcom on my A1200 on alien difficulty. My adult life was stretching out in front of me and I just shot down a rare 1 man tiny tiny UFO ideal to kick off the research tree. Life was good.
I’ll never forget my first encounter of the chryssalids on a terror mission! I lost everything on that mission! I’m one that will not reload a save file for failing a mission because it takes away just how hard this game can be at the time. The next terror mission was my second and everyone had high explosives on them and did a 3-Man Sweep where if one is found, 2 get a chance to shoot it and then blow it up! That strategy worked from then on out and when the game was remade on the ps3, I was disappointed because they weren’t so hard to kill! lol
Pro tip: when you shoot a chryssalid and it goes down, make sure you hear the death scream... it may just be unconscious. I've had one wake up after the squad had advanced.
I bought and started to play this game back in 2012 since I could not afford xcom enemy unkown reboot. the best purchase of my life. I got instantly hooked and with openxcom extended and mods the game is just perfect.
Thanks to playing XCOM in 1994 and 1995 like crazy, I do understand now the term "addiction to drugs". XCOM 2: TFTD was obviously upgraded, developers learned from XCOM. Do you remember the panic when entering the alien base which was like 10x bigger??? 😲 The horror.... Great summary sir Bransfield.
My most traumatic memory of all time is when I was assaulting a battleship with my crack squad of soldiers, laid down smoke for cover, push turn over and bam three chrysalids come charging through the smoke into my terrified psyche… and squad… I literally jumped out of my seat. Fond memories…
I think what made this game so great (and the only thing the remake kind of missed out on) was how you invented your own stories with it as you went under the umbrella of the main plot.
I won my first game by my guy panicking - going upstairs to alien console. Throwing a grenade which blew up triggering a win for me. If not for that panick I would've lost that mission
Your troop movement speed is insane, I don't know how you can play like that! The 2 biggest crimes of the reboot series are the lack of business sim elements and of horror.
Hah, play it for a quarter of a century and you just _know_ how things are going to work out, so don't need to see the full waddling animation at regular speed.
Sir, im Born 1984 und turn 40 Next year. I loved this game so much back in the day and still do! Your video encouraged me to play it again and again because this Game in particular defined the DOS-Era for me. I’m not writing much in the comment section of any video on UA-cam but here I got the feeling I just had to! Much love from Germany…and Chryssalids still suck!
In the earlier stages of the game, Chryssalids were absolutely terrifying, especially at night in urban terror missions. It was nigh impossible to see where they were coming from. They had crazy amounts of time units, high resistance to your early weapons and could basically cross the map to bite your soldiers in the arse. I remember putting my soldiers in defensive formations that covered each other in different directions. A Chryssalid would come along and kill nearly all of them anyway, if not outright in one turn then the zombies would 'hatch' and then the rest of my soldiers were doomed. But later when my soldiers had flying suits, the Chryssalids were a joke. They could only watch as I flew one level above them, drop a few grenades, and then fly away. 😁
What compelled me to play X-COM: Enemy Unknown from the moment that I became aware of it was how it dredged up memories of watching Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "UFO". I became Ed Bishop and led what was SHADO (in all but name) to defeat the alien invaders. X-COM lacked a moon base, SID the early warning satellite, and ground based mobile unit vehicles, but it had everything else.
I remember the first time I really understood the game and tactics and it just started to click for me. So I brought a buddy over to show off the game. First thing that happens - typical mission where you're ambushed right out of the ship and taking all sorts of fire (I didn't appreciate the smoke bombs yet). Three or four turns in of just trying to get a foot hold, one of my guys in the back of the ship gets mind controlled. He starts wiping me out from the inside. Then we see an alien grenade swoop in. Lands at the front of the ship (inside). BOOM!! My last few survivors panic fires each other to death. Then the last one runs off scared directly into the enemy to be executed. Our jaws dropped in absolute horror. Then after about a minute of complete shock, the uncontrollable laughter hit us from the massacre we witnessed. We must have played for 20 hrs straight without a break. We were delirious by the time we called it a day. No other game could own your emotions like that. The investment in your squad. The stress of making the wrong decision. Not knowing the research tree and discovering / unlocking the upgrades for the first time. Having the time to mull over every move. The randomness of events turning on a dime. I'm still obsessed with this game to this day.
I cannot get enough of this game. Back in the day i didn't have the patience to fully enjoy it. In 2016 or so i finally finished it. There is quite a lot of letsplay videos and noticed everyone has their own style, with or without common tactics. I play the game hardcore, i do save but never reload when i lose soldiers. SOmetimes i lose entire teams. Oh, i also never give up or retreat :-)
My first chryssalid encounter was a terror site I tried to play the game as I would normally but then after my entire squad got wiped 5 turns in I reloaded a save and then flattened the city to the ground and destroyed any cover they could possibly use before eventually wiping them out
I ran into my first chrysallids in a terror mission as I was beginning to pump out personal armor. I didn't actually run into chryssalids, so much as I heard them scuttling around and slaughtering civilians and made eye contact with one of their snakemen buddies before immediately clicking the evacuate button. My second run with chryssalids was when I luckily managed to take down a terror ship mid-journey. I made great progress and killed every chrysallid I ran into while keeping (most) of my boys alive. And then it hit turn 20. And then I ran, after losing a good chunk of my A-team. This was all on beginner difficulty.
I'm convinced that Original X-COM is coded to throw you a bone if you are struggling and on brink of failure cascade. Like alien base popping not too far from your base or the ufo you can't fight in air landing for extended period of time. However, this is a lucky break you gotta earn and capitalise on it. It won't mean much if you don't pick your slack afterwards. XCOM is reason why I enjoy most of the Alien defense games and their spin to the genre. While I DO return to the original XCOm from time to time, I do enjoy the different takes too. XCOM After-series is nice real time adaption with nice chunky bodyhorror spin. The Aftershock sequel has interesting basebuilding mechanics and fun arsenal of guns. Xenonauts is nice of "streamlined sim" representation of XCOM, what I'm currently playing. The new XCOMs are great and all, my biggest gripe about the Enemy Within was the bloated, fake hit chances (No seriously, the game adds some +20% when displaying your hit chance. So, your 95% to hit could very well be 80). The lack of troops to deploy and how there was no stat growth involved. And I end this rant of a comment with. Fuck Chrysslalids. They are both awesome and utter bullshit. I do wish that the zombies didn't just turn to full mature terror machine when killed, everytime I keep thinking the zombies oughta have somesort of gestation periods, like 2-3 turns and still have the zombifying attack.
I played on a bog standard a500, pretty sure there was no darkness on night missions, when I got the pc version it suddenly explained why troops couldn’t see aliens half the time. Also any explosion animations gave the computer a seizure, which meant we never used grenades, rockets etc.
I think that was one of favourite games of my teenage years. It had such a impact on me that I still remember my first mission with alien appearing suddenly in a wheat field. By the way I was sure I'm master of this game, but I recently met a guy who would track trajectories of alien spaceships with a liner and look for the base where the lines intersected. But that guy also went through Centurion on max difficulty with a goal of not loosing a single battle. ;)
Terror from the Deep was more special, even when outsourced by microprose and the actual original dev team made Apocalypse. Terror from the Deep cannot be replaced either, by any of the many successors, because its settting is way too unique and well executed.(difficult lol) But to be honest, you can also say, TfTD was just a skinmod of UFO Defense - but then again the best skinmod i have seen up to date in gaming. :)
Greatest game. I've been playing since my buddy's dad had a cloned copy not long after it came out. I even remember losing my photocopy of the login codes, and thinking I could never play again.
The line of sight/fire system in xcom seems a bit wonky because it's actually quite interesting in how it works. When firing a weapon, the game treats each object, structure, person etc in the line of fire as a 3d object, calculating a path from the soldier's gun barrel to see if they can line it up with their target beyond each object or piece of a structure in the way, and then applying some spread. CTH actually indicates how much that soldier's shots will spread over distance, not raw chance to hit. This is why hits are more frequent at close ranges - the projectiles simply haven't had a chance to spread much yet, it's not a straight hit-or-miss roll. 100% = no spread, 10% = massive spread. Hitting or not is based on whether the projectile's path lines up with the target after spread is applied. A similar mechanic is used to determine whether a soldier can see an alien, and vice versa, but calculated from the unit's eyes instead of their gun barrel. If a straight line can be drawn from the eyes of the unit to any part of another, it will be treated as within line of sight, even if not enough of the other unit is exposed to the gun to shoot at. The path of the shot to actually hit that target after being spotted is calculated from the gun, not from the unit's eye level, which is why line of fire can seem weird, especially with aliens on roofs, at wide angles behind doorways, or below a soldier shooting from a window. The soldier might be able to peek a little bit of that alien's body to know he's there, but that's nowhere near enough to get a clear shot. If too little of the target is exposed from the gun's "perspective" or on angle that doesn't line up well, the game will simply not allow the player to shoot without force shooting with ctrl, because the target will be near impossible to hit. This is all calculated internally and not displayed to the player, as actually rendering this would be well beyond the limitations of the hardware most commonly used at launch, but you can get a look at how it works in openxcom with some tools from the forums such as loft viewer. This is also why despite the graphical simplicity of the game, it chugs like a motherfucker on older home systems of the time such as the various models of amiga. The calculations for LOS/LOF are a bit heavy on their processors.
I'm gonna install this on a laptop I have that was made in 1996. Just played enemy within, and that got me into it. I'm only 24, so now you know that at least one millennial likes this stuff.
Check Open xcom with final mod pack. It is the original game with a massive mod which adds a bunch of new weapons,crafts,alien races,different terrains,A LOT of new research/manufacture options/quality of life improvements and a lot more... And it was made with intention of not breaking the original feel of the game .It feels like a huge expansion for the original game. As a huge fan of the original game i was blown away on how good this mod is.
@@romanlinnik7441 Yeah it is awesome and it made the game feel fresh again cause at this point i can beat the original game with my closed eyes probably :p
Surprised the mods for OpenXcom didn't come up honestly. That, The X-Com Files, The World of Terrifying Silence, and X-Pirates are pretty well regarded.
XCOM 2 is my favourite game ever and I've owned the older games on steam for a while now but I get overwhelmed when I boot them up 😅 This has convinced me to just dive in. Wish me luck fellow Commanders.
I spent so much time playing this game on PS when I was a teenager thinking feeling alone while others prefered FIFA and Tomb Raider. I'm glad to see now that I was wrong and we were plenty ;)
I am one of those guys that played it when it first came out and loved it from the start. I was torn at the time between buying the Amiga 500 version or the PC version, I went with the PC version because I was transitioning to the PC, so that is the one I am used to playing. I still play the game now and then and have just finished the game through STEAM yesterday. I remember playing Terror From The Deep when it came out as well, but have not stuck with that one as much, I just like this one more. I do however remember being creeped out by it thinking that CTHULU was going to rise up since there was so many images of it on the underground buildings and scenery, especially at the end with his images being all over the place.
the point of armor is that you can carry heavy weapons with no penalty, the standard armor is pretty useless but I have noticed that if a soldier survives a shot they are easier to heal using medikits
5:25 that image tells everything. Rifle and basic armor against those odds? I would prime high explosive to 0 and go AAARGH! 😀 Hands down the best strategy game ever made. Just yesterday tried PSX version and didn't know it has some added animations and superior soundtrack. Played for hour, then few more... Now it looks like I'll hate complete that version too 😍
Also your base comp needs some work. Hangars up top, everything else below the access lift. Gives you a single choke point to funnel aliens through during base attacks. Might leave you with less space for structures and take a while to move things over into place, but it's worthwhile to make early game base attacks less of a hair-ripping experience. It's a great way to set up your second base, too, and then you can just move everything over from the first one as you build up the second, and turn the first base into an airbase or production base with a garrison while your second becomes your main. This option saves a bit of time and money compared to overhauling your starting base, because you're going to build that second one by mid February anyway.
One strange fact: I remember all graphic data on my PC version was .lbm files. This carries to the idea UFO was born as Amiga game, but at the time Commodore was fading out while PC was rising and at last moment they pushed the game most on PC platform.
Nice video. A friend and I, we played this for the first time in like 1996. And we won. We had to load a savegame, because it wasnt working out for 1 or 2 months. I finally decided to not play this game any more. After more then 5+ playthroughs, I noticed the ammount of time it took. Also I had a bug in TFTD. Where I could not finish the game. But...the mods now and OpenXCOM makes it very appealing again. BTW you had nice clips in the vid. But no friendly fire. ;-) And no one died with a life grenade which then.....friendly fire again. EDIT: Every grunt needs 2 grenades, 1 smoke, 1 flare, a rifle and a medkit ASAP. I dont know what the guys on YT do when they do their messy X-COM thingies but you have to have 2 grenades per dude every mission. Just to switch them out later for the alien grenades.
@@dangerotterisrea tbf even if you play open x-com and that version that fixes all the problems the games FREAKING BRUTAL(though i have been playing UFO DEFENSE and TERROR on superhuman but still its rough)
30 years now. Also , try Open XCom project. Rewrite of original that runs on moders machines and has quite a few QoL improvements. (And you wont have game stretched verticaly like in this video)
You should make a tutorial for UFO Enemy Unknown. I've been playing it once or twice every few years since it came out (when I had a shareware version). I never got that far, though, because of the brutal difficulty. Yet, I keep coming back to it, because what ever fascinated me so much when I first played it as a kid, still got its hooks in me ^^
Chrysalids, very terrifying, especially the originals. When you have a Chrysalid hatch as you kill a zombie next to you and there are no other soldiers near by, ouch. Chrysalids were nerfed a bit is the 2012 and later in that killing a zombie only killed the zombie, no Chrysalid would hatch.
At age 22 I am younger than you, and this game rules. X com enemy unknown 2012 is much worse than the original x com ufo defence 1994. (And I hate reboots which make it so you need to add years of release to not confuse anyone)
A reboot of the original game with modern Technology would be a dream come true. Rotating battlefields, zoom function, the possibility to switch to 1st Person view, etc.
"Phoenix Point" is a spiritual successor, made by creator of original "X-Com". In it you can aim from 1st person perspective and hitting different body parts produces different results.
@@carolingio1152 I have played "Phoenix Point" (which turned out to be mediocre at best) and of course "Xenonauts". I liked the latter very much but it's not the same feeling. My hopes were with Firaxis for a reboot of the original game in the style of, let's say, "Jagged Alliance 3". But since Jake Solomon has left the company the series is most likely dead.. ☹
I first played it on the PS1. Got hooked but the enemy hidden movement turn took unbelievably long. Loading times were beyond reasonable. Memory took 2 to 4 blocks for world map saves, and 6 to 10 blocks for in-battle saves. Then rhePS1 died so i got a PC with windows XP and Xcom Collections. Perfection achieved. All was well until i finally upgraded from XP and lost the ability to play xcom. Then steam came out and all was well with the world....
i AM 22 years old. I love XCOM:UFO Defence and i too was terrified of Chryssalid back when i was 5-7 years old. I finally pulled through by imagining X-COM saving me) Oh, how naive i was.... X-COM actualy living long enough to do so... In my last playthrough i think i lost more than 100 people. Imagine losing as much in XCOM: Enemy unknown, lol
The best version of Enemy Unknown is OpenXcom Android. It's fast, the controls work great and the subtle mods fix most of the niggles. Plus you can play it wherever you are. I bought XCOM: Enemy Within and whilst it has it's good points, it's far too stripped back. They've removed much of the freedom to play the game how you want. My favourite early game tactic was to equip everyone with rocket launchers and just flatten the landing site, simply not possible in Enemy Within.
xcom3 was my favourite xcom game, it basically took everything from the first two games and turned it all up to 11. Sort of an advanced xcom for those that enjoyed the first two but want something more. Not an xcom game but Battle Isles 4 Incubation is also an amazing Turn Based Strategy game that is arguably more a puzzle game than strategy but still almost as good as xcom.
This game did have something for it. But god was it awfull to look at, and also awkward with this choice of real time OR turn based. Did anyone ever enjoyed it in fully turn based mode ?
I fully agree: A500 version has a much better OST than AGA version. During last 15 years I'was desperately looking for a way to combine graphics from A1200 version with music from A500 version, but music in A1200 version was in weird format. Finally, thanks openXcom, I did it. Now I can play in 256 colors and all animations and hear this beautifully „Geoscape” module from A500 (nad form other versions too!).
I remember the first time I saw Chryssalids. In 1996 my friend and I were playing Xcom on the PS while his Vietnam Vet dad was watching and giving us tactical advice. We threw a high explosive at the feet of a Chryssalid that spawned in front of the ship on the first turn of a terror site. It detonated...and the Chryssalid was still standing. My friend and I were shocked! Unlike the other aliens, though, this one didn't shoot at us. It calmly walked up the ramp and onto our Skyranger, only to stop and do nothing. When the alien's turn ended, my friend's dad said "OK this is a pretty powerful alien we're dealing with, so we're gonna go ahead and abort the mission." This was a guy who NEVER wanted us to abort missions, but on his orders we were doing it on turn 2!
I still think of that every time I see Chryssalids in OpenXcom. Good memories.
*No wonder you guys lost Vietnam!*
@@GoldenGateNum9 stupid zombie-producing explosive-proof NVA
@@GoldenGateNum9 To be fair we had no idea the North Vietnamese had Chryssalids.
They are weak vs laser
So the Chryssalid got a nice Skyranger ride home. Nice.
My God... 25 years? I'm too old man. The best game ever.
Oh i have such fond memories of this game. I bought terror from the deep and played it alot to. As it came out in the age before internet, terror from the deep was a superious version with alot of fixes and was HARD.. now i know why - the original release was bugged and reverted to easiest difficulty after the first mission.
The best game ever? Uuuehhh... No..
But, a fantastic game? Oh yeah. This and it's tileset-graphics change sequel Terror from the deep.
Got this when it first came out lol.
Game had a bug, and I had to call the publisher, and they sent a patch on a floppy disk in the post.
me and my buddy used to play this on his old 486. we'd c4 a house and level it. but the sectoid would still be a-ok. good times
Im 22 and this is one of my childhood games.
Heard someone say once that the old xCom games were like a real military. Your people will die, you will lose battles, you will have to run away. That doesn't mean it's over just that you lost a battle. The newer ones are more like a group of super heros. If those soldiers start to fall it's too late to recover.
The 1994 one is much preferable.
@@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714 One's a military strategy simulator with tactical battles and RPG elements, the other's a military strategy tactical RPG.
Even xcom EU and EW are reasonable in the sense that as long as you play well, yeh people will die, but you should have depth in squad
I still remember I and a friend of mine firing up this game and playing it in the dark twenty-five years ago. First time an alien fired at one of our X-COM men in a corn field, we both jumped out of our seats. Ah, thanks for the memories!
Chryssalids marked the first time in my life I noped out of of a video game.
I share your pain/fear.
It's been way too long since I fought Chryssalids. I remember them being dangerous in UFO: Enemy Unknown, and being a joke in XCOM 2012.
@@dtkedtyjrtyj in xcom 2012 there was only the first mission I encountered them with that whale I had little bit of trouble. After that they got more easy as had better gear and soldiers.
@@bdel80 Like landmines, they're only dangerous if you don't know they're there or they constrain your ability to deal with _real_ enemies.
I remember how they had zombified my entire crew say for 5 men who where each camping a direction from the upper floor windows of a building and the staircase hiding in smoke, it was a night mission and me and my brother where so scared that we might lose everyone.
You've just invented maybe the best hardcore quote for any (suitable) game ever:
(In Fallout narrator voice)
"Running away...
...it's not what heroes do...
...but it's what survivors do.
...and as long as you survive, there's a chance you can win."
like... that's so amazing I can't even (think of what game it would suit. But there's some out there, made or yet unmade, for which that's the best intro quote they could ever hope for).
Started a new campaign yesterday again, i love it.
Second mission was a terror attack on some russian town.
It went quite well actually with my 12 men team. I took out most of the floaters and terror units. But then one enemy turn all hell broke loose.
I saw a grenade "whoosh" in my direction. When the turn ended, 8 of my men were dead and the rest were running around in panick.
Two turns later the remaining 4 seemed to get a grip of the situation again, only to be picked off by 2 remaining floaters.
Entire squad dead, ship lost, just another day in the office. I started laughing hysterically, numbed by all the deaths.
A grenade, or blaster bomb?
@@randallwong7196 Alien grenade.
I started playing this game around 2016 but I've only been picking up here and there with a year or two between playing. I started playing again more seriously and I'm finally learning to just let yourself get defeated, I kept trying to save every soldier with saves and I would just hang around the first few encounters of each game indefinitely. Now I'm letting myself get game overs, I'm finally starting to really "get it".
I got the original game with my first PC in 1996. I started it, clicked around a bit, but did not understand at all what to do. So went on to read the whole manual with it's 100+ pages and came back two days later and was hooked for months. Games like this don't exist anymore. Calling it unfriendly for beginners is an understatement, but once you got the hang of it, you got out so much of this game. I still play it from time to time and just recently installed Terror from the Deep on a six year old Android gaming handheld via DOSBox.
You'll quickly recognize all the familiar buildings and weapons and techs and aliens wearing new names and underwater-themed trappings. But TFTD is more than just a re-skin of the first game, it's made more difficult in many subtle ways. None of these nuances are insurmountable in themselves, but they collectively make the entire game substantially more difficult.
I thought I was boss after defeating UFO a few times on veteran and superhuman difficulties, I knew everything about the game, I was totally ready for TFTD. I was cocky and complacent (or perhaps deliberately fooled into complacency?) because of the obvious similarities in the second game.
Lost my first mission vs a terror zone in the second week of the game. I'd equipped my troops with the weapons with the best stats available - but the moment I tried to take my first shot I learned the hard way that there's a big difference between _surface_ and _underwater_ combats. I did get my people out alive, but my noob mistake made the mission a total fail.
Lost my second mission vs a terror zone a just a week later. It was onboard a ship, a really big ship with blind corridors and corners and cabins and closets everywhere, aliens hiding in all sorts of threatening places. I'd brought extra clips for each of my (new) weapons but they weren't enough - it was a two-part mission (like Cydonia), and those lobsters took a _lot_ of shots to bring down. So I ran really low on ammo, half my people had empty guns, I was salvaging ammo off the dead. But the tentaculats (chrysallids ver 2.0) and relentless -psionic- molecular control attacks made things ugly. I did not get my people out alive.
My third and subsequent missions weren't failures. But they taught me that almost all underwater combats are effectively "night" missions, that the maps are designed to be generally harder and tighter, that the alien AIs are greatly improved (and very aggressive), that aliens were tougher and weapons were weaker than before, that all of my equipment-based tactics (based on flares, smokes, proximities, rockets, lasers, etc) had to revised or discarded.
So I think calling TFTD "unfriendly for beginners" and perhaps "unfriendly for experienced players" is no understatement. Times have changed, we're more sophisticated and jaded by games now, we have different expectations. But I still don't think you'll find your first TFTD game an easy walkthrough, the game is "simple" but it is not at all "easy".
Brilliant game, I absolutely love the first X-Com.
The more recent remakes were pretty good too but not quite as engrossing, in my opinion.
Yes the newer ones just seemed to remove features to simplify the learning curve without adding anything new. The 3D graphics are nicer but otherwise the originals perversely seem light years ahead in terms of gameplay.
@@KieronHoward You need to add mods to unlock the full game. The year long war mod which gives you the full, unadulterated metal as shit game fit for anyone with an asperger diagnosis.
@@KieronHoward Having been introduced to XCOM by the remakes, I think removing complexity can be a good thing. Sometimes less is more. The remakes boiled the game down to the core experiences of base management and turn-based tactics, removing the layers upon layers of unnecessary micromanagement. Unnecessary complexity can easily make a game an overall worse experience. If the player spends more time memorizing and clicking through menus/buttons than actually making strategic decisions, the game can quickly become a drag.
For example, does there really need to be a button to make your soldier kneel? Does kneeling add any significant enjoyment to the gameplay? Would the game be fundamentally different/worse if there was no kneeling? Do you really need to make the player manage 14 individual soldiers at once, all with their own stats and fully fleshed-out inventory? Do you really need to make the player constantly click through every soldier's inventory screen during the mission whenever they need to swap weapons or use an item? Do you really need to make the player specify when they want their grenade to explode when the answer is usually "right the hell now"?
@@dragonslair951167 TL:DR
The old and new games are really different and there's no shame in liking either for whatever reason, people find different things fun.
First of all, I agree with your comment/understand your perspective in a broad sense- I know I've been turned off from many games by their complexity, and it's fair to question why those elements exist beyond for their own sake.
"For example, does there really need to be a button to make your soldier kneel? Does kneeling add any significant enjoyment to the gameplay? Would the game be fundamentally different/worse if there was no kneeling?"
The way I see it is that kneeling is part of the OG's 'cover system'. Kneeling behind low cover can make the difference between taking a shot in the dome and not taking said shot in the dome. Kneeling lets backline troops fire over the heads of the frontline ones. Kneeling gives characters a small boost to accuracy, further encouraging methodical play and picking positions carefully. It's not the biggest thing in the world, not as important as the cover system in the newer games, but it does have enough benefits imo to make it worth weighing against its cost.
"Do you really need to make the player manage 14 individual soldiers at once, all with their own stats and fully fleshed-out inventory?"
I think this is best explained as different strokes for different folks. Some people enjoy micromanaging more than others, and the larger squad sizes in the OG mean that you and the aliens are roughly equal in numbers. You can afford to take a few casualties as long as the mission succeeds. Individual stats make different characters better suited for different roles, as something decided by the player instead of by the game designers through explicit classes. (notably, there's a mod for the original which simplifies this process of character classing and lets you give characters to help keep things straight.)
"Do you really need to make the player constantly click through every soldier's inventory screen during the mission whenever they need to swap weapons or use an item?"
Fair point, it'd be possible to have both the more detailed grid inventory and hotkeys for equipping the next loaded weapon/grenade. I'm not sure if the modding scene has anything that helps with that specific issue.
"Do you really need to make the player specify when they want their grenade to explode when the answer is usually 'right the hell now'?"
...
Good point. I do know that OpenXcom has a mod that changes this so grenades default to timer 0. Presumably highex still has the timer so you can set it and gtfo.
@@dragonslair951167 I disagree. I used to think like you did, but then I realized 99% of games are a complete waste of time, and the ones that aren't are hard as fuck, inscrutable, or have massively high skill ceilings and/or level editors. Ironically after this realization I play fewer games and spend less time on games in general, precisely because I've cut the bullshit out of my life. People who play games to "relax" disgust me. Listen to Mozart if that's what you want. If you want to have "fun," go ride a bike. It's better for you.
Tentaculats in TFTD were FAR worse than Chryssalids, because they could 'fly'. Chryssalids once you get Flying Armor are sort of trivial unless they catch you in an area in which you can't fly, because they can't attack UP.
they are the reason why engame flying armors were so strong.
"They fly now?!"
Somebodys first reaction to having their soldier cought.
Yeah... Tentaculats are also more terrifying because you can't cheese alien bases like in UFO Defense
Tentaculats aren't "far" worse, because they don't have nearly as many TUs.
They're really just rebalanced Chryssalids. They can't be cheesed by flying (or rather, swimming) but are easier to zone out.
Also the Tentaculats never spawn with civilians present and you dont have to deal with that number of zombies turning into healthy Chryssalids
Its 30 years, my friend ^^
And yes, we love Ufo too! Such a great game, always great to come back!
The trick is to research laser rifle before the saucer terror mission., keep recruits only above 50 bravery.., can afford it by making stuff and selling at first., hide behind the tank.
I have a fond memory of this game as a kid, had good troops I walked out of the plane an ethereal proceeds to mind control my rocket launcher guy and kills 95% of the squad after just getting out.
Good times lol.
actually made me chuckle out loud
I have played many, many, MANY hours of this game and know it inside-out like my own underware drawer. The game still has the power to freak me out 30 years later. Really nuts.
Watching operatives walking alone and not using flares in dark places was painful.
Yeah i used to hate chryssalids as well. Until i ploayed terror from the deep and in one mission was like "Ew that wobbly brain thingie looks gross! Cool let's send a disposable guy in and see what it does!" One round later i knew exactly what they do. "They fly now."
Funnily enough, nowadays Rotherham Town Centre looks a lot like most of the levels in XCOM. Great video!
The Chryssalids are less invasive of personal space than the terrestrial invaders, mind.
Not sure what you mean by terrestrial invaders. I was touching on the complete lack of investment for the local council and the comparably high rates of rent landlords are charging on units making non-viable for small business to open and remain open for more than a couple of months, making the place a ghost town.
Comment wasn't an observation on the type of people that visit, arseholes exist in all walks of life, whether it be in Rotherham or Mayfair.
@@TipsyAdonislmao come on dude you know exactly what he means. I don't even live in England but everyone knows what went on in Rotherham.
@@user-10.10. And yet their government does nothing! Where I the king I would do all I can to defend my people even if that means risking my crown!
@@TipsyAdonisI also know what he means lol and I have an immigration background
This game perfectly describes why the original X-COM (actually, TFTD) is my favourite game of all time. I'm one of those younger viewers, and I love it. Just brilliant.
Yep, TFTD is my favorite also :-) I've just always been a fan of subs and underwater stuff, it's one of the reasons I enlisted in the Navy! I started with the OG X-COM, but TFTD was my jam. I'm sure I've logged 10,000+ hours in that game at this point. And now with OpenXCOM, I am doing it again, but now I can mod it!
@@endersblade I only this year bought those games, and man are they the most addictive and engrossing games I have ever played, I just cannot believe it to be fully honest, its too good.
@Derp Inshmurtz Oh many I binged the game hard, Lost several times but my current run through I am at power armor and plasma guns, as well as alien tech ships! Very fun about to do the final mission as well! I am so excited!
That is true: Terror from the Deep is the best in whole series of x-com, phoenix point, x--com new and xenonauts (which is the closest friend to TFTD)
Bran: *plays first Xcom game*
Me: *stares at Dad dominating Xcom: Enemy Within*
Me years later: *incoherent panicked screaming as troops are tag teamed by Berserker Queen, Avatar, and Chrysalids in Xcom 2.*
I have never played any game series in order. But I might do a Star Wars and play Xcom in reverse cause I love this type of game... Even if all my troops die on the first mission EVERY SINGLE TIME
1996, I came home from my final GCSE exam and started a fresh save of xcom on my A1200 on alien difficulty. My adult life was stretching out in front of me and I just shot down a rare 1 man tiny tiny UFO ideal to kick off the research tree. Life was good.
I’ll never forget my first encounter of the chryssalids on a terror mission! I lost everything on that mission! I’m one that will not reload a save file for failing a mission because it takes away just how hard this game can be at the time.
The next terror mission was my second and everyone had high explosives on them and did a 3-Man Sweep where if one is found, 2 get a chance to shoot it and then blow it up!
That strategy worked from then on out and when the game was remade on the ps3, I was disappointed because they weren’t so hard to kill! lol
Pro tip: when you shoot a chryssalid and it goes down, make sure you hear the death scream... it may just be unconscious. I've had one wake up after the squad had advanced.
I bought and started to play this game back in 2012 since I could not afford xcom enemy unkown reboot. the best purchase of my life. I got instantly hooked and with openxcom extended and mods the game is just perfect.
as a person who has beaten superhuman open-xcom i highly endorse this video(though i do think its better than the reboot tbh)
OpenXCom is a godsend, especially with all the fun mods that the dedicated developer community created.
Loved X-Com since the Amiga 1200. It's a game I always go back to. I have even met its creator Jullian Gallop
Thanks to playing XCOM in 1994 and 1995 like crazy, I do understand now the term "addiction to drugs". XCOM 2: TFTD was obviously upgraded, developers learned from XCOM. Do you remember the panic when entering the alien base which was like 10x bigger??? 😲 The horror.... Great summary sir Bransfield.
the single finest turn based strategy series every made.
My most traumatic memory of all time is when I was assaulting a battleship with my crack squad of soldiers, laid down smoke for cover, push turn over and bam three chrysalids come charging through the smoke into my terrified psyche… and squad… I literally jumped out of my seat. Fond memories…
I refuse to believe its been 25 years...
For Doom and many other games as well.
well, I start in 1995 and still playing. last time I finished it again was about 2 weeks ago.
I think what made this game so great (and the only thing the remake kind of missed out on) was how you invented your own stories with it as you went under the umbrella of the main plot.
I won my first game by my guy panicking - going upstairs to alien console. Throwing a grenade which blew up triggering a win for me. If not for that panick I would've lost that mission
Modern mods to this game really take it to another level
OpenXCom is love.
Brilliant. Love that you posted this video. I wish they would remake it exactly the same, just with new graphics and maybe POV mode
30 Years. Still awesome.
It's one of my 10/10 games. I love every aspect of it
That thumbnail...that mid-mission chryssaild appearance, comming round a corner. The horror, the horror.
Your troop movement speed is insane, I don't know how you can play like that! The 2 biggest crimes of the reboot series are the lack of business sim elements and of horror.
Hah, play it for a quarter of a century and you just _know_ how things are going to work out, so don't need to see the full waddling animation at regular speed.
Picked it up again after all this time, still difficult, frustrating, tense and wonderful.
Sir, im Born 1984 und turn 40 Next year. I loved this game so much back in the day and still do!
Your video encouraged me to play it again and again because this Game in particular defined the DOS-Era for me.
I’m not writing much in the comment section of any video on UA-cam but here I got the feeling I just had to!
Much love from Germany…and Chryssalids still suck!
In the earlier stages of the game, Chryssalids were absolutely terrifying, especially at night in urban terror missions. It was nigh impossible to see where they were coming from. They had crazy amounts of time units, high resistance to your early weapons and could basically cross the map to bite your soldiers in the arse.
I remember putting my soldiers in defensive formations that covered each other in different directions. A Chryssalid would come along and kill nearly all of them anyway, if not outright in one turn then the zombies would 'hatch' and then the rest of my soldiers were doomed.
But later when my soldiers had flying suits, the Chryssalids were a joke. They could only watch as I flew one level above them, drop a few grenades, and then fly away. 😁
Im 13 and i still have played all xcom games xD my favrote game is xcom enemy unknown
Good work!
What compelled me to play X-COM: Enemy Unknown from the moment that I became aware of it was how it dredged up memories of watching Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's "UFO". I became Ed Bishop and led what was SHADO (in all but name) to defeat the alien invaders. X-COM lacked a moon base, SID the early warning satellite, and ground based mobile unit vehicles, but it had everything else.
I remember the first time I really understood the game and tactics and it just started to click for me. So I brought a buddy over to show off the game.
First thing that happens - typical mission where you're ambushed right out of the ship and taking all sorts of fire (I didn't appreciate the smoke bombs yet). Three or four turns in of just trying to get a foot hold, one of my guys in the back of the ship gets mind controlled. He starts wiping me out from the inside. Then we see an alien grenade swoop in. Lands at the front of the ship (inside). BOOM!!
My last few survivors panic fires each other to death. Then the last one runs off scared directly into the enemy to be executed.
Our jaws dropped in absolute horror. Then after about a minute of complete shock, the uncontrollable laughter hit us from the massacre we witnessed.
We must have played for 20 hrs straight without a break. We were delirious by the time we called it a day.
No other game could own your emotions like that. The investment in your squad. The stress of making the wrong decision. Not knowing the research tree and discovering / unlocking the upgrades for the first time. Having the time to mull over every move. The randomness of events turning on a dime.
I'm still obsessed with this game to this day.
I cannot get enough of this game. Back in the day i didn't have the patience to fully enjoy it.
In 2016 or so i finally finished it.
There is quite a lot of letsplay videos and noticed everyone has their own style, with or without common tactics.
I play the game hardcore, i do save but never reload when i lose soldiers. SOmetimes i lose entire teams. Oh, i also never give up or retreat :-)
The amount of art in this game is remarkable. It is also very realistic and scary.
At least Chryssalids can't fly like in the sequel.
My first chryssalid encounter was a terror site I tried to play the game as I would normally but then after my entire squad got wiped 5 turns in I reloaded a save and then flattened the city to the ground and destroyed any cover they could possibly use before eventually wiping them out
I ran into my first chrysallids in a terror mission as I was beginning to pump out personal armor. I didn't actually run into chryssalids, so much as I heard them scuttling around and slaughtering civilians and made eye contact with one of their snakemen buddies before immediately clicking the evacuate button.
My second run with chryssalids was when I luckily managed to take down a terror ship mid-journey. I made great progress and killed every chrysallid I ran into while keeping (most) of my boys alive. And then it hit turn 20. And then I ran, after losing a good chunk of my A-team.
This was all on beginner difficulty.
Dam this game is older than me.... and it's honestly fun as hell.
I'm convinced that Original X-COM is coded to throw you a bone if you are struggling and on brink of failure cascade. Like alien base popping not too far from your base or the ufo you can't fight in air landing for extended period of time. However, this is a lucky break you gotta earn and capitalise on it. It won't mean much if you don't pick your slack afterwards.
XCOM is reason why I enjoy most of the Alien defense games and their spin to the genre. While I DO return to the original XCOm from time to time, I do enjoy the different takes too.
XCOM After-series is nice real time adaption with nice chunky bodyhorror spin. The Aftershock sequel has interesting basebuilding mechanics and fun arsenal of guns.
Xenonauts is nice of "streamlined sim" representation of XCOM, what I'm currently playing.
The new XCOMs are great and all, my biggest gripe about the Enemy Within was the bloated, fake hit chances (No seriously, the game adds some +20% when displaying your hit chance. So, your 95% to hit could very well be 80). The lack of troops to deploy and how there was no stat growth involved.
And I end this rant of a comment with. Fuck Chrysslalids. They are both awesome and utter bullshit. I do wish that the zombies didn't just turn to full mature terror machine when killed, everytime I keep thinking the zombies oughta have somesort of gestation periods, like 2-3 turns and still have the zombifying attack.
I'm still rocking this game on the ps1 . Got to have a weekly fix of it . To put up with the grind .
Great video by the way.
Perfect commentary. The struggle is real!!!!!
Thanks for the video. It convinced me to finally play the copy of PS3 X-COM that's been sitting on my shelf since buying it years ago. It's great!
I never knew there were so many versions of the original XCOM.
I played on a bog standard a500, pretty sure there was no darkness on night missions, when I got the pc version it suddenly explained why troops couldn’t see aliens half the time. Also any explosion animations gave the computer a seizure, which meant we never used grenades, rockets etc.
I already knew I liked this game. You told me why! Thanks
I think that was one of favourite games of my teenage years. It had such a impact on me that I still remember my first mission with alien appearing suddenly in a wheat field. By the way I was sure I'm master of this game, but I recently met a guy who would track trajectories of alien spaceships with a liner and look for the base where the lines intersected. But that guy also went through Centurion on max difficulty with a goal of not loosing a single battle. ;)
Terror from the Deep was more special, even when outsourced by microprose and the actual original dev team made Apocalypse. Terror from the Deep cannot be replaced either, by any of the many successors, because its settting is way too unique and well executed.(difficult lol)
But to be honest, you can also say, TfTD was just a skinmod of UFO Defense - but then again the best skinmod i have seen up to date in gaming. :)
Greatest game. I've been playing since my buddy's dad had a cloned copy not long after it came out.
I even remember losing my photocopy of the login codes, and thinking I could never play again.
The line of sight/fire system in xcom seems a bit wonky because it's actually quite interesting in how it works. When firing a weapon, the game treats each object, structure, person etc in the line of fire as a 3d object, calculating a path from the soldier's gun barrel to see if they can line it up with their target beyond each object or piece of a structure in the way, and then applying some spread. CTH actually indicates how much that soldier's shots will spread over distance, not raw chance to hit. This is why hits are more frequent at close ranges - the projectiles simply haven't had a chance to spread much yet, it's not a straight hit-or-miss roll. 100% = no spread, 10% = massive spread. Hitting or not is based on whether the projectile's path lines up with the target after spread is applied. A similar mechanic is used to determine whether a soldier can see an alien, and vice versa, but calculated from the unit's eyes instead of their gun barrel. If a straight line can be drawn from the eyes of the unit to any part of another, it will be treated as within line of sight, even if not enough of the other unit is exposed to the gun to shoot at.
The path of the shot to actually hit that target after being spotted is calculated from the gun, not from the unit's eye level, which is why line of fire can seem weird, especially with aliens on roofs, at wide angles behind doorways, or below a soldier shooting from a window. The soldier might be able to peek a little bit of that alien's body to know he's there, but that's nowhere near enough to get a clear shot. If too little of the target is exposed from the gun's "perspective" or on angle that doesn't line up well, the game will simply not allow the player to shoot without force shooting with ctrl, because the target will be near impossible to hit. This is all calculated internally and not displayed to the player, as actually rendering this would be well beyond the limitations of the hardware most commonly used at launch, but you can get a look at how it works in openxcom with some tools from the forums such as loft viewer. This is also why despite the graphical simplicity of the game, it chugs like a motherfucker on older home systems of the time such as the various models of amiga. The calculations for LOS/LOF are a bit heavy on their processors.
I'm gonna install this on a laptop I have that was made in 1996. Just played enemy within, and that got me into it. I'm only 24, so now you know that at least one millennial likes this stuff.
Check Open xcom with final mod pack.
It is the original game with a massive mod which adds a bunch of new weapons,crafts,alien races,different terrains,A LOT of new research/manufacture options/quality of life improvements and a lot more...
And it was made with intention of not breaking the original feel of the game .It feels like a huge expansion for the original game.
As a huge fan of the original game i was blown away on how good this mod is.
Dang, just playing it 25/8 now on my phone. Amazed how big it is. And I can play it whenever I can!
Truly amazing game with an amazing mod.
@@romanlinnik7441 Yeah it is awesome and it made the game feel fresh again cause at this point i can beat the original game with my closed eyes probably :p
I second this! OpenXCom + Final Mod Pack is absolutely amazing! I love all of the added weapons and new enemies to fight!
Surprised the mods for OpenXcom didn't come up honestly. That, The X-Com Files, The World of Terrifying Silence, and X-Pirates are pretty well regarded.
@@trashandchaos I love Area 51!!
XCOM 2 is my favourite game ever and I've owned the older games on steam for a while now but I get overwhelmed when I boot them up 😅
This has convinced me to just dive in. Wish me luck fellow Commanders.
You don't need luck, just a lot of guides to figure out what the hell the interface actually does. Have fun!
I started my first ever lets play with Xcom Ufo Defense, its ametuer hour but its just an amazing game that i think others deserve to know too ^_^
My other go to game is Championship Manager 93/94. There is just something timeless about that particular game as is this one for me.
I spent so much time playing this game on PS when I was a teenager thinking feeling alone while others prefered FIFA and Tomb Raider. I'm glad to see now that I was wrong and we were plenty ;)
Best game that ever graced the whole of the gaming industry.
Shit I'm 37 and I'm still bloody playing it!!!!!😮
The manual was massive, I miss those days.
I am one of those guys that played it when it first came out and loved it from the start. I was torn at the time between buying the Amiga 500 version or the PC version, I went with the PC version because I was transitioning to the PC, so that is the one I am used to playing. I still play the game now and then and have just finished the game through STEAM yesterday. I remember playing Terror From The Deep when it came out as well, but have not stuck with that one as much, I just like this one more. I do however remember being creeped out by it thinking that CTHULU was going to rise up since there was so many images of it on the underground buildings and scenery, especially at the end with his images being all over the place.
Loving it.Same counts for your statement for the game.
Excellent video
the point of armor is that you can carry heavy weapons with no penalty, the standard armor is pretty useless but I have noticed that if a soldier survives a shot they are easier to heal using medikits
5:25 that image tells everything. Rifle and basic armor against those odds? I would prime high explosive to 0 and go AAARGH! 😀
Hands down the best strategy game ever made. Just yesterday tried PSX version and didn't know it has some added animations and superior soundtrack. Played for hour, then few more... Now it looks like I'll hate complete that version too 😍
Most of my soldiers are maxed out. The game has a save feature to save the outcome of your soldiers future.
The PS1 version was the first version I played and it's been my favourite game ever since. Really looking forward to Phoenix Point.
My first terror mission ever had chrysalids. After that, I ignored all the terror missions in my playthrough xD
This game was before my time, but I would have played the hell out of it on my parents old Windows 95 PC if I knew it existed then
Also your base comp needs some work. Hangars up top, everything else below the access lift. Gives you a single choke point to funnel aliens through during base attacks. Might leave you with less space for structures and take a while to move things over into place, but it's worthwhile to make early game base attacks less of a hair-ripping experience. It's a great way to set up your second base, too, and then you can just move everything over from the first one as you build up the second, and turn the first base into an airbase or production base with a garrison while your second becomes your main. This option saves a bit of time and money compared to overhauling your starting base, because you're going to build that second one by mid February anyway.
One strange fact: I remember all graphic data on my PC version was .lbm files. This carries to the idea UFO was born as Amiga game, but at the time Commodore was fading out while PC was rising and at last moment they pushed the game most on PC platform.
What a game.. great retrospective, sir
Nice video. A friend and I, we played this for the first time in like 1996. And we won. We had to load a savegame, because it wasnt working out for 1 or 2 months.
I finally decided to not play this game any more. After more then 5+ playthroughs, I noticed the ammount of time it took.
Also I had a bug in TFTD. Where I could not finish the game.
But...the mods now and OpenXCOM makes it very appealing again.
BTW you had nice clips in the vid. But no friendly fire. ;-) And no one died with a life grenade which then.....friendly fire again.
EDIT: Every grunt needs 2 grenades, 1 smoke, 1 flare, a rifle and a medkit ASAP. I dont know what the guys on YT do when they do their messy X-COM thingies but you have to have 2 grenades per dude every mission. Just to switch them out later for the alien grenades.
THE BEST strategy game. EOD ;) Altough I preffer the sequel: Terror From The Deep more, because underwater :D
Tftd was broken as fuck when I last played it that or ridiculously hard.
@@dangerotterisrea tbf even if you play open x-com and that version that fixes all the problems the games FREAKING BRUTAL(though i have been playing UFO DEFENSE and TERROR on superhuman but still its rough)
lol, I listen to the UFO soundtrack while working too. Best game ever.
30 years now. Also , try Open XCom project. Rewrite of original that runs on moders machines and has quite a few QoL improvements. (And you wont have game stretched verticaly like in this video)
First played this on my Amiga 500. Ah the memories.
I saw how it played on miggy. Man, I'm not jealous about your memories.
You should make a tutorial for UFO Enemy Unknown. I've been playing it once or twice every few years since it came out (when I had a shareware version). I never got that far, though, because of the brutal difficulty. Yet, I keep coming back to it, because what ever fascinated me so much when I first played it as a kid, still got its hooks in me ^^
Chrysalids, very terrifying, especially the originals. When you have a Chrysalid hatch as you kill a zombie next to you and there are no other soldiers near by, ouch. Chrysalids were nerfed a bit is the 2012 and later in that killing a zombie only killed the zombie, no Chrysalid would hatch.
At age 22 I am younger than you, and this game rules.
X com enemy unknown 2012 is much worse than the original x com ufo defence 1994. (And I hate reboots which make it so you need to add years of release to not confuse anyone)
A reboot of the original game with modern Technology would be a dream come true. Rotating battlefields, zoom function, the possibility to switch to 1st Person view, etc.
"Phoenix Point" is a spiritual successor, made by creator of original "X-Com". In it you can aim from 1st person perspective and hitting different body parts produces different results.
Xenonauts it's a remake/spiritual successor, 2 came out in early access and looks promising
@@carolingio1152 I have played "Phoenix Point" (which turned out to be mediocre at best) and of course "Xenonauts". I liked the latter very much but it's not the same feeling. My hopes were with Firaxis for a reboot of the original game in the style of, let's say, "Jagged Alliance 3". But since Jake Solomon has left the company the series is most likely dead.. ☹
My favorite game of all time. Personally I do think the newer versions didn't surpass this one, still they are good though.
I first played it on the PS1. Got hooked but the enemy hidden movement turn took unbelievably long. Loading times were beyond reasonable. Memory took 2 to 4 blocks for world map saves, and 6 to 10 blocks for in-battle saves. Then rhePS1 died so i got a PC with windows XP and Xcom Collections. Perfection achieved. All was well until i finally upgraded from XP and lost the ability to play xcom. Then steam came out and all was well with the world....
30 Years and still kicking
i AM 22 years old.
I love XCOM:UFO Defence and i too was terrified of Chryssalid back when i was 5-7 years old. I finally pulled through by imagining X-COM saving me) Oh, how naive i was.... X-COM actualy living long enough to do so... In my last playthrough i think i lost more than 100 people. Imagine losing as much in XCOM: Enemy unknown, lol
The best version of Enemy Unknown is OpenXcom Android. It's fast, the controls work great and the subtle mods fix most of the niggles. Plus you can play it wherever you are. I bought XCOM: Enemy Within and whilst it has it's good points, it's far too stripped back. They've removed much of the freedom to play the game how you want. My favourite early game tactic was to equip everyone with rocket launchers and just flatten the landing site, simply not possible in Enemy Within.
How do you force fire on Android without physical keyboard (it requires holding "Ctrl")?
I've just started playing this again forgot how hard it was
xcom3 was my favourite xcom game, it basically took everything from the first two games and turned it all up to 11. Sort of an advanced xcom for those that enjoyed the first two but want something more. Not an xcom game but Battle Isles 4 Incubation is also an amazing Turn Based Strategy game that is arguably more a puzzle game than strategy but still almost as good as xcom.
This game did have something for it. But god was it awfull to look at, and also awkward with this choice of real time OR turn based. Did anyone ever enjoyed it in fully turn based mode ?
@@automatescellulaires8543 i used to play xcom 3 in real time, it was certainly the superior mode imo.
I fully agree: A500 version has a much better OST than AGA version. During last 15 years I'was desperately looking for a way to combine graphics from A1200 version with music from A500 version, but music in A1200 version was in weird format. Finally, thanks openXcom, I did it. Now I can play in 256 colors and all animations and hear this beautifully „Geoscape” module from A500 (nad form other versions too!).
and who loves them? there is only one thing I hate more....Tentaculat
I was today years old when I learned about the base name cheat in TFTD. Bummer.