What are you currently playing?

[El Grillo]

Have you tried Long War Rebalanced by Ucross? EW modding has come a long way since LW 1.0, and they’ve incorporated some great QoL changes, and last I checked the team is still actively developing. There have been some sweeping mechanical changes too, including to the air game, and I had a lot of fun with it on multiple campaigns.

[shallow_thought]

Have you tried Long War Rebalanced by Ucross? EW modding has come a long way since LW 1.0, and they’ve incorporated some great QoL changes, and last I checked the team is still actively developing. There have been some sweeping mechanical changes too, including to the air game, and I had a lot of fun with it on multiple campaigns.

Nope, but I when I resurface I will look it up. Does it have things like X-COM 2 style LoS preview? I noticed that there were a lot of QoL modmods for LW but couldn't face the need for extra patch tools to install them.

[El Grillo]

Yes, you get to preview LoS via mouse hover, you get sequential overwatch, the damage preview math handles damage reduction correctly, and you get to confirm free-aim actions like grenades and rockets, among other things.

[shallow_thought]

Yes, you get to preview LoS via mouse hover, you get sequential overwatch, the damage preview math handles damage reduction correctly, and you get to confirm free-aim actions like grenades and rockets, among other things.

Sounds cool - I'll have to give it a try, although I'd be surprised if save files are backwards compatible with Long War, so I'll probably have to finish this campaign first, so it will be a while.

[El Grillo]

Good luck commander. Now I'm tempted to start another campaign myself...

[naufragar]

Nope, but I when I resurface I will look it up. Does it have things like X-COM 2 style LoS preview? I noticed that there were a lot of QoL modmods for LW but couldn't face the need for extra patch tools to install them.

There's a Long War mod manager which makes XCOM EW mods pretty painless (of course that's all relative). I don't think I could go back to not having the Alien Sight range mod.

[yuris125]

I strongly prefer Long War Rebalance over the original Long War, in fact I can honestly say that I never finished a Long War campaign due to becoming bored of it before getting to the end

That said, it's been a long time since I played LWR, and the changes they added since then are massive. I know some people think that LWR takes things too far, and major changes to core game mechanics like overwatch mean that it's no longer XCOM but a different game (sounds similar to discussions about Rebalance the Realms, doesn't it?)

That said, it's not for every XCOM fan, but I think it's definitely a mod worth experimenting with if you want to play XCOM 1

[shallow_thought]

Nope, but I when I resurface I will look it up. Does it have things like X-COM 2 style LoS preview? I noticed that there were a lot of QoL modmods for LW but couldn't face the need for extra patch tools to install them.

There's a Long War mod manager which makes XCOM EW mods pretty painless (of course that's all relative). I don't think I could go back to not having the Alien Sight range mod.

Thanks, I've given this  try. The Alien Sight mod is working nicely for me, but not the Sightlines (show what you could see from that hex mod). I'll keep prodding.

That said, this is what drives some people (like Sullla IIRC) away from mods - it's never one thing, it's an entire ecosystem. Fall from Heaven is the same way.

[El Grillo]

Honestly LWR has gone through so many sweeping gameplay overhauls and revisions that when I play a campaign each year, it feels more like I’m playing a new entry in a franchise, and that’s mostly upside for me. I checked the change logs recently and they’ve added at least two brand new mechanics (psi storm and incursion strength) since I played a campaign earlier this year, so that’s something to look forward to for next time.

I usually stick with the same patch version for an entire campaign though, having class perks swapped mid-campaign is no good when I’ve decided how I want to spec my barracks.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

I'm playing Sakuna:  Of Rice and Ruin now.  It's a hybrid of a 2D platformer and a farming game.  To increase your combat stats in the platformer areas, you need to grow rice in exacting detail, from tilling the soil to threshing.  The platformer areas yield resources for farming.  Sakuna will probably be a "cult classic", since you have to appreciate both styles of gameplay in order to like it.  Rune Factory is the closest comparison I can make.  You have to get used to the controls in the platforming levels, especially if you've become accustomed to the graceful movement in Dead Cells.  Grappling with the "raiment" was tricky for me at first.


Thoughts on other games that were cheap on the Switch Eshop when I got them before Sakuna:


Steredenn Binary Stars:  A horizontal space shooter with procedurally generated levels works surprisingly well.  There are many weapons to try out, and several ships you can unlock.  I still haven't seen them all.  You only get one life similarly to a roguelike, but you are healed at the end of every level.  Bosses look too similar to each other, but you'll learn to recognize them based on their attacks.  (Steredenn is a "bullet hell" game rather than an old style shooter like Gate of Thunder.)  It's doesn't happen often, but there are some small unfair segments, such as shielded enemies shooting lasers in a way where you have to take a hit.


Neurovoider:  This came in the same bundle as Steredenn.  Neurovoider is a top-down 2 stick shooter where you play as a brain controlling one of three robots.  Throughout the levels you gain parts and weapons which you can use to upgrade your robot.  At the beginning, you also pick a special power, such as healing or slowing down time.  Level design is one of Neurovoider's weaknesses, since sometimes one of the reactors you have to destroy is right next to the start.  Other than the occasional gap in the floor, the areas are bland.  "Ghosts" of your dead characters can fight against you like in Nethack.  Neurovoider won't be a game that I'll come back to often, at least compared to Steredenn.  Difficulty settings allow more casual players to appreciate Neurovoider, though.



City of Brass:  Former Bioshock developers worked on this game, and you can see the influence.  Instead of fighting zombies in an underwater city, you'll be fighting them in Agrabah.  But you won't be shooting them.  Players have a whip that can knock down enemies, pull them into traps, grab loot from afar, and swing through the air.  The other weapon depends on your character, and the throwing spear was the best one I've used.  City of Brass is the hardest game I've mentioned so far.  Out of 10 levels, I've only reached about Level 2 or 3 on the "default" difficulty.  (There are a variety of blessings and curses you can take in the beginning.)  Although there are different potions and temporary upgrades for your character, each "run" feels the same since the procedural generation is clearly of the "couldn't afford a level designer" quality.  I only gave it a couple of hours before giving up.