I came in with low expectations for my nominee but scoring 4 points is pretty good for a strategy game when paired against some of the all-time greats.
You all had awesome, passionate and informative presentations but we can only pick three.
My votes:
God of War 2018 (3 points)
The Chronicles of Riddick Escape From Butcher Bay (2 points)
What Remains of Edith Finch (1 point)
Thanks everyone and thanks to @Capnbobamous for managing another successful Hall of Greats.
@bruno_saurus I voted but I'm okay with scrapping it.
@ffff0 said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
Not for long. Next time I'm bringing a game you'll likely will not even consider voting for.
You're bringing Knack to the next Hall of Greats!
@jdincinerator I still have 9 lists. The last two GOTY elections had 16 voters so hopefully we can get that many again.
With just over a week remaining, here's a reminder to those who haven't voted yet:
@bam541, @Capnbobamous, @MXAGhost, @NeoCweeny, @E_Zed_Eh_Intern, @Axel, @Sheria, @Bigdude1, @Phbz, @Crepe, @Nimbat1003, @Tearju-Engi, @Scotty, @DemonPirate
October 6th is the last day to vote.
@capnbobamous said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
Question for @Shoulderguy
I know that XCOM has a pretty vibrant modding community. In fact many consider the Long War mod to be even better than the base game, with one of the developers of the main game saying "we're basically a 20-hour tutorial for the Long War, and that's okay."
What is your experience with modding in the game? Do you agree with those who say that in order to have the best experience, mods are a necessity? If so, is it a detriment to the game that you have to download third-party mods in order to have the best experience?
Regrettably I've never experienced any of the community made mods for XCOM Enemy Unknown. Most of my experience with the game was with the Xbox 360 version, which I don't believe had access to mods. That's unfortunate for console players, because it's always an added bonus when a game you love also has a great dedicated modding community.
My votes (never owned a GameCube so I included where I played each game):
@jdincinerator said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
@Shoulderguy regarding X-COM: Enemy Unknown
I suck at strategy games and I find many of them difficult to grasp and enjoy. How could you ease me into X-COM: Enemy Unknown without tuning out?
Do you think X-COM: Enemy Unknown is largely overlooked for a great game?
1.) I get that, I'm the same way but for fighting games. There are some strategy games like Total War that I'm hesitant to recommend to people who are new to the series. Though In my opinion, XCOM: Enemy Unknown is one of the friendliest to newcomers. I had never played an XCOM style game before this game and now I'm huge fan of them.
2.) I don't think it's overlooked. When it released in 2012 it won many GOTY awards from different media outlets and received much praise from fans. Since that time, XCOM-like games have become more common. We have Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope releasing next month, Marvel's Midnight Suns releasing in December and there are more games in development. That style of strategy game existed before XCOM: Enemy Unknown but it's recognized by most people as the game that boosted their popularity.
I haven't received any lists in a few days so just wanted to remind everyone to please vote if you can. The deadline is October 6th.
Currently have 9 participants so far.
@ffff0 said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
Question for @Shoulderguy about XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
Strategy games have an aspect that some players, especially newcomers, find very difficult to deal with – you may suddenly realize that you’ve lost the game several hours ago and to fix that mistake you’ll have to replay a good chunk of the game (and you’re lucky if you’ve saved in separate slot close enough). You spoke about accessibility of XCOM: Enemy Unknown – how does it deal with that problem?
That is a problem with some strategy games but I've played multiple playthroughs and never had any problems. You could reload a save if a battle doesn't go your way but even if you fail a mission, it's not the end of the game. You can make plenty of mistakes in XCOM Enemy Unknown and still overcome them. That's the big advantage it has over other strategy games.
What your saying is true with Ironman mode but that's for people who want more of a rogue-like experience, where each playthrough is an opportunity to see how far you can make it before having to start over. I enjoy Ironman mode but I completely get why it's not for everybody. I wouldn't recommend it for first time players.
@phbz said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
Question for @Shoulderguy about XCOM: Enemy Unknown
My main issue with this proposal is that it becomes difficult to justify its entry when you have the 1994's UFO: Enemy Unknown game and then XCOM 2 improving upon XCOM. I love LOVE XCOM but being a Hall of Greats why pick this title over the others. Or in other words, how will you sell it to me who played the original why this should be the one in. And why XCOM and not XCOM 2.
Unfortunately, I've never touched the 1994 game. I've heard good things about that game but looking at videos of it now, it's just not something I want to play. I did consider XCOM 2 for the Hall of Greats but I decided to go with XCOM Enemy Unknown because I believe it had a bigger impact on the strategy genre.
When XCOM Enemy Unknown released on PC and consoles in 2012, it was a huge success and brought in many new fans. The smart UI elements and great controller support on console allowed more people to experience the series. It won GOTY from 21 different media outlets including GameTrailers, and that's impressive for a strategy game. https://www.gameawards.net/2020/09/2012.html
@brannox said in The EZA Forum Hall of Greats (September 2022):
To @Shoulderguy regarding XCOM: Enemy Unknown:
1.) You briefly touch on it in your presentation, but there appears to be a lot of things you need to manage to stay on top of things, and while you explicitly state a couple times this is one of the most approachable strategy games out there, that doesn’t mean the genre in itself is simple, nor many of the systems can be ignored. So a two parter: A.) Can you please explain the gameplay differences in these systems (to use your listed examples: Battles, new research, launching satellites and Monitoring monthly council reports) and B.) How integral they are to success/failure?
2.) One of the most notorious things I’ve heard about XCOM (and I think you briefly vaguely reference it in the optional mode you discuss), is how you can have a high percentage chance of a hit at point-blank range and completely miss it due to RNG. How prevalent are these kinds of examples and further, how punishing/forgiving is the RNG overall?
1.) I didn't go deep into any of the systems in my presentation because the game gradually teaches you everything and it's not overwhelming. All of your tasks are in their own separate part of the base and you'll be prompted to go there when a decision needs to be made. Also, you're not on a time limit so you can carefully plan out everything. This was my first ever XCOM game and after a few hours you know exactly what to do to have success thanks to the games early tutorials.
2.) There is RNG but it's not surprise RNG. Before you take a shot at an enemy, you know what the percentage chance is to hit. It's your choice if you want to roll the dice on a low percentage shot or make a different action with your soldier. The enemies are also subject to the same RNG, so it all evens out in the end.
There are plenty of weapons and abilities that are not RNG based. One of those weapons, the rocket launcher, comes standard with every heavy class soldier and it does a set amount of AOE damage.