What do you think of UFO:ET so far?

[Jh316]

So far I've run into 3 terror missions. I'm up to June at the moment, so there's not nearly as many as in X-Com, but they're there. Civillians are just as stupid as ever, too.

[illegal youth]

hey all,

 

long-time lurker here and big x-com fan. this site has helped me get my old games up and running again.

 

that said, i've been anticipating this title for a long time now, hoping it would live up to all the hype.

 

for those interested, i wrote a rather lengthy review of the game.

 

ufo: extraterrestrials - a review

 

cheers

[Slaughter]

New voices are always welcome! Extensive review you've written there. I'll see about taking a look tomorrow.

[Aralez]

Awesome review! You wrote about things that REALLY matter to us Xcom fans. I like your honest opinion and the excellent layout as well. Good work.

 

I especially liked the info about the different mods, i gonna check for them asap!

[illegal youth]

thanks!

 

i can only assume that you're the anonymous commenter on my blog. i'm glad that other x-com fans feel the same way about some of the design changes in ufo: et. i don't think they necessarily break that game, but the vanilla implementation of those features draws away from the gameplay.

 

right now, i've been running bman's mod, version 1.9. let me tell you now, this mod really makes all the difference. i can't even go back to the vanilla version anymore. but moriarty also has a new mod out that makes some other really excellent changes (finances screen fixed, terror sites spawn from ufos -- not just randomly appear as they do in the vanilla game), so it's a hard choice. just keep your eye on the frankenmod by iskandar, which combines the latest versions of the bman and moriarty mods.

 

lets just hope that official patch incorporates these mods, as well as some other things too... since writing that review i have noticed other problems. windows are useless (can't see through them), night missions are no different from day missions as far as visibility range goes (and ufo: et doesn't have flares either -- basically, i get the impression that lightning plays no role in the tactical game at all. which is pretty disappointing, considering that x-com: genesis was supposed to make lightning a much bigger part of the tactical game), interceptors are forced to be armed with a cannon and a ranged missile (no double plasma cannons like in x-com), and ammo clips are discarded if one round is spent (just like the bug in x-com). considering that laser weapons require ammunition to be produced, and that production is really slow in ufo: et, that last one is a real problem. you'll spend a lot of time making clips in the early game.

[UfoMan]

https://illegalyouth.blogspot.com/2007/05/u...als-review.html

 

--

 

Yes, nice balanced review there.

 

Chaos Concepts has gotten permission from the modders over there to incorporate the mods directly into the next patch thus saving the coding time, and making the patch come sooner, and thus making the game more like what we wanted it to be.

 

That's what they really need most now, is mods fixing all the things we don't like about the game, and there are already lots of mods.

 

They also need more complete lists of where UFO ET falls short of expectations, so that CC and the modders can go in and make it even more like X-Com.

 

UFO ET is the thing that comes the closest to being like X-Com, and what they need is lists and input where it falls short, so that they can work on making it more like what we want it to be.

 

https://www.ufo-extraterrestrials.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=2

[DarkPaladin]

Hi there

 

Well it's been a LONG time since I visited here, and no doubt an awful lot longer since I posted!

 

I have just bought UFO:ET and will admit I'm only a few game hours in, but so far I am quite impressed overall with the game. I have noticed the lack of being able to buy soldiers, that you have to buy a lab or workshop in order to get scientiest (10 per lab/shop) that your soldiers don't die to name a few

 

I can confirm that UFO's DO land, trouble was by the time I got there it had taken off again

 

I was a little disapointed to find that after researching laser weapons, then the weapons themselves, one costs 4,000 to manufacture, and yet only sells for around 1,200! You mean to tell me the latest in modern weaponry, only available from "you" wouldn't sell like hot cakes?! Of course it shouldn't sell for stupid amounts of money either, but come on! A Widescreen TV sells for more than that! It also helps to justify having a staff of engineers sitting around doing nothing every day. Not a big issue, but researched tech and alien equipment is of course going to be pretty rare, there's no-one else out there selling Laser Rifle's and UFO Engines on GalaxyBay

 

Oh and so far all the UFO's I've shot down have been intact, no damage at all... I used to enjoy entering a partially wrecked UFO

 

I would imagine that if you loved the original X-COM game and want to play a very similar game without the hassles of trying to get the old game running again on your modern PC, then this would be the game. It's much closer to X-COM than any of the UFO After* series games

[Buatha]

The screenshots from your blog review are missing.

[illegal youth]

buatha,

 

hmmm not sure what's going on... i just checked them all and they display just fine for me.

 

maybe try reloading the page?

[rezaf]

Sorry for the blatant self-advertising, but since Slaughter explicitly mentioned missing item information on the equipment screens, I also missed this and modded it back in.

Has some very minor issues (basically cosmetics) and I stopped working on it for the time being, but it does what it sets out to do.

Thread on the official boards here.

 

A preview screenshot:

https://img471.imageshack.us/img471/2526/previewkz7.gif

_____

rezaf

[Azrael Strife]

hey all,

 

long-time lurker here and big x-com fan. this site has helped me get my old games up and running again.

 

that said, i've been anticipating this title for a long time now, hoping it would live up to all the hype.

 

for those interested, i wrote a rather lengthy review of the game.

 

ufo: extraterrestrials - a review

 

cheers

Great review!

[Slaughter]

Very nice rezaf! Good to have so many excellent modders working on the game. Does it work with the new patch?

[rezaf]

Very nice rezaf! Good to have so many excellent modders working on the game. Does it work with the new patch?

 

Sadly, my version didn't require a serial# and thus I could not install the update from Matrix/Tri-Synergy.

Once on is out, I will update it.

 

If you are willing to go through the effort, you could upload the three xsrc files my mod contains as changed by the update someplace. It should be easy for me to update it to work again.

 

I'm working on a slightly more complex mod allowing to auto-resolve tactical missions now ... we'll see whether I manage to pull it off.

_____

rezaf

[illegal youth]

Great review!

 

thanks!

 

i left a comment on my blog responding to you, but i thought i'd post it here too, in case you don't check back there:

 

 

In retrospect, I inadvertently left out some important points... one of which I'd like to explore more.

 

Basically, the game has "eras," meaning that weapons researched from the early game become completely obsolete in the later game. This differs from X-COM significantly, where the player could make use of items like the laser pistol all the way through the final mission.

 

It also points to why the "no soldier death" design decision was made. It's not just about reloading, in my opinion, but a significant game balance issue. The later items, which become necessary to effectively combat the aliens, require soldiers with huge stats -- i.e., 90 strength for late game armor. Seeing as the soldier leveling system isn't exactly ideal, its difficult to get soldiers with these high stats quickly. If soldiers died, their replacements wouldn't be able to even use the later game techs, and that would make your fighting force pretty useless.

 

I should say something about the soldier leveling system -- this is an aspect of the game that I think needs to be fixed. Unlike X-COM, in which soldiers only gained experience by actually doing something -- i.e., firing a weapon and getting a hit increases accuracy, walking increases TUs, reaction fire hits during the alien turn increases reaction fire, etc. -- soldiers in UFO: ET only get experience for kills. Then the player can allocate up to five "skill points" to any given attribute. This will lead players to put everything into accuracy in the first couple of level-ups, making sharpshooters out of rookies in no time at all. It seems broken to allow the player to have that kind of control over where the skill points go, and it removes some strategic decisions about leveling-up soldiers from the tactical game.

 

edit: i should also add that the design decision to go with "strength requirements" for weapons and armor instead of an encumbrance system is also a part of the problem.

[Jh316]

Actually, you get experience from wounded aliens as well.

[illegal youth]

Actually, you get experience from wounded aliens as well.

 

still, my gripe is that soldier leveling is user directed instead of action directed. some people may like this, but i think it allows players to overpower attributes that wouldn't ordinarily be overpowered had they developed more "naturally" (i use the term loosely).

[nzgunner]

I've just the got the game and all I can say is WOW!!

 

It takes real guts to put out a game when the legacy of its predecessor is going to loom so large over it.

 

Learning and playing UFO: EU on my old Amiga is one of those watershed moments in my gaming life as it seems to be for a fair few others as well. Other games have come along knowing they will measured against the original UFO colossus - Chaos Gate, JA2, Silent Storm and the UFO: A series being the main ones - but UFO: ET has been brazenly promoted as the spiritual successor to its venerable ancestor.

 

It also takes real guts to sell a game where the graphics look like they were developed 10 years ago, and even then done badly - and unfortunately that is my overwhelming initial impression from this game.

 

The WOW!! isn't because I'm impressed, it is because I am horribly, horribly disappointed. I exited my first game feeling empty and slightly sick.

 

When I first saw one of my troopers shoot at an alien not directly lined up with direction of his gun, and the bullet flew off at a bizarre angle, it absolutely killed any sense of immersion I had experienced to that point. The shot didn't hit the alien, but it flew out of the screen, and smashed deep into my soul with a hollow thwack.

 

Yes, yes, yes - gameplay is more important than eye-candy - but I don't think that it is too much to ask that in the 21st century a game can have enough animations (it doesn't have to be 3d) to at least make things not look too bad. UFO: ET has got to be close to the worst looking commercial release in the last 10 years.

 

I still play JA2 and would play Chaos Gate if I could get it to run properly, the dated graphics don't bother me in the slightest. But UFO: ET is just plain ugly and not in a nostalgic, kitsch sort of way.

 

Maybe there's a great game in there trying to break out from underneath the grotesque visuals in the tactical interface (the strategic screens are fine) - obviously a lot of you like it - but I worry that I am not man enough to find out.

[Dix]

I have to admit, I love this game. I'll admit it has faults - you do get terror missions, which is the only time you see civillians. Who consist of two models only, apprently, and seem unable to run away in terror, no matter how many aliens are chasing them down the street. (instead, they walk. slowly, calmy, and frequently right towards the hordes baying for their blood. The game throwing away 2/3 of my newly manufactured heavy laser ammo because each soldier fired one shot from each clip was also ...frustrating.

 

But the flavor of the game is there. Alien ships and bases are full of mysterious machines and weird scenery, I can blow my way through walls instead of walking to the door, and there is always something new to research. And you will lose more than one soldier to the shot in the back, as something slithers out a darkened room.

 

(The research is a big plus for me - in the orginal X-Com, once you had the heavy plasma and third level armor, that was it. In this game, I had heavy plasma's, brand spanking new armor only just researched and manufactured, and I was killing aliens with ease. I also had a brand new marque of interceptor built, armed with new shields, cannons and missiles, capable of eating three of my old interceptors for lunch. I thought it was pretty much game over at that point. Then a new, BIG UFO appeared, blew up my new interceptors in half a dozen shots, captured one of my bases and then landed. I attacked it with my tooled up soldiers, only to find the aliens had new combat robots, new guns and new personal armor. Wiped out 2/3 of my squad and left the last three nearly dead before I brought the last one down, but boy did it feel good. I've since learnt that the new UFO is only in the middle ranks of the alien hierarchy, and the aliens crewing it are still only foot soldiers. And the shiny new guns that wiped me out are likely to be obsolete by the time I can get them deployed to my soldiers, or finish trying to come up with better armor to counter them. There's some 120-odd items to research. Lovely..

 

The graphics don't really bother me - in fact, I like them. the only ones that look really spritey are your soldiers themselves - aliens, tanks, ships and landscape all look tasty, and layouts make sense. The visual style of the game is distinctive enough that it can feel interesting, and the levels feel differant from each other.

 

For the biggest faults, esp. for the X-COM purist, the game can be modded easily enough, bringing in everything from gaining exp. simply for participating in a mission, to soldiers dying and being hired - and to get rid of the problem with ammo clips I mentioned earlier. The UFOpedia text is a little unwieldy, but given the game was developed by an entirely non-English, small-size team, that is understandable. Bottom line, if you liked X-COM, you'll find a lot to like here. It even has the snakemen. complete with giant rodent teeth. Enjoy.

[daredevil]

I have to admit, I love this game...

 

But the flavor of the game is there. Alien ships and bases are full of mysterious machines and weird scenery, I can blow my way through walls instead of walking to the door, and there is always something new to research...

 

I thought it was pretty much game over at that point. Then a new, BIG UFO appeared, blew up my new interceptors in half a dozen shots, captured one of my bases and then landed.

 

Bottom line, if you liked X-COM, you'll find a lot to like here. It even has the snakemen. complete with giant rodent teeth. Enjoy.

 

Now that's the glowing endorsement I needed before buying this game. I hope that nzgunner gives it another chance, because it sounds like there's a lot to like in this game.

[That Guy]

So for so good, sense I have given up trying to get the orginal X-Com working on my computer. I was delighted to come acrossed a knock-off X-Com. I have no problems, so far except for half my soldiers are in the freaking hospital!! Stupid larva guys. I'm gald to see that they improved the shooting, because in the old version I would accidentally fire into thin air, all the time. I like the experince and yes, I do miss the kill counter.

Over all, I'd give UFO-ET an 7 out of 10, X-Com is a solid 9 out of 10.

[Azrael Strife]

So for so good, sense I have given up trying to get the orginal X-Com working on my computer. I was delighted to come acrossed a knock-off X-Com. I have no problems, so far except for half my soldiers are in the freaking hospital!! Stupid larva guys. I'm gald to see that they improved the shooting, because in the old version I would accidentally fire into thin air, all the time. I like the experince and yes, I do miss the kill counter.

Over all, I'd give UFO-ET an 7 out of 10, X-Com is a solid 9 out of 10.

Did you patch the game? I was under the impression it added a kill counter.

[illegal youth]

I was under the impression it added a kill counter.

 

i don't think the patch did that. bman's ease of use mod does, though.

[stevie331]

I've just got the game and am about 1/2 hour into playing it. I actually really like it-it feels familiar!!

I noticed on some other posts about there being difficulty lrvrl settings but I didn't see any on the start up menu.

On

 

I've just got the game and am really enjoying it. Being similar to X-Com I know where all the buttons etc are but with minor differences!! I saw somewhere that there was a difficulty setting but have'nt come across this?

Also on p10 of manual the graphic of Geosscape left hand side bottom symbol (6) has terror written below it-is this gonna be a terror site?

I don't think (so far) that the aliens have been better than my men-they seem to be just as lousy shooting and missing as my men. Also they can be equipped with first aid packs so maybe they can be treated on field. As I say i've only started game and haven't come across the issues others have posted about (yet).

Also hopefully if others see the interest in game maybe more X-Com type games will be developed and put on sale.

Rgds Steve

[Dix]

You can access the difficulty settings after you install B-Man's Ease of use mod - for the mod, and installation instructions, check the forums on the official site. Terror missions will come, and don't worry, the aliens will get more deadly. Esp. with the mod, but even without it they'll be eating squaddies for lunch.

[Aralez]

I bought the game yesterday and i fully agree with the reviews of Dix and Stevie331, it's really a must for all Xcom fans. As Dix said it has its faults, but nothing that would keep you from playing. And all those mods-> Wow! The only thing i miss is a real save-game-editor and an easy-to-use editor for everything else. Otoh the files semm to be rather easy tedit without those as well...