I caved and got WotC. I like it a lot. After two failed starts, I am now doing ok on my Commander Ironman campaign.
I do have the avatar clock ticking away, so it is now time to do a facility mission, whether I like it or not.
This may become an issue if I can't contact more regions soon as the only two ways to reduce avatar progress at the moment for me is through the blacksite and this one facility.
All in all, I really enjoy the Chosen and faction mechanics. I think it adds a bit more variety to the game, and the faction soldiers are actually pretty fun to play.
At the moment, this is making the game more fun and I already had tons of fun from it.
I think there are some things they could have done better, but the additions are really good already.
I also enjoy the breakthroughs/inspired research models. I tend to have a lot more choices to make outside of battle, which is cool.
Anyone else playing ?
Yeah, I'm playing it - but I'm not as impressed.
Essentially, I'm already starting to tire of it - and I don't know if I'll finish this playthrough.
It's combat fatigue - which is not uncommon for me.
I've taken down two of the Chosen so far. I'm playing on the next hardest difficulty - but with the longer Avatar project option - as I absolutely hate having to rush when I'm playing turn-based games.
As for the Chosen themselves, I think they're more annoying than interesting. The battle you have to go through to kill them is pretty ridiculous - and has required quite some save scumming on my part.
I enjoy the core gameplay a lot - but I feel like I'm constantly in a situation where I can't play with my favorite soldiers - and the game throws endless fights at you, including those awful 3 soldier rescue missions.
I completed the vanilla version upon release - and I have to say I don't think the expansion has changed the game enough for me to make it feel fresh.
In fact, I find myself having Deja Vu with this playthrough more often than not.
I still think the campaign layer is the weakest aspect of these games - and I very much miss the strategic aspect of designing my own bases from the original X-Com. I think they went in the wrong direction by making it into a streamlined boardgame with little mini-events - rather than a proper strategy game.
Also, every time I have a plan for doing something - I get interrupted by another fight I can't really say no to.
That would be ok if I enjoyed fighting constantly - which I don't. I mean, I enjoy the fights with a good squad when I'm fighting for something I want - or a goal I can look forward to completing.
But too many fights are really just about fighting for the sake of fighting - and they take too long for me to enjoy them, even if I do like the combat system.
Which is making me feel like I'm not really playing according to my own design - but rather just responding to what the game asks me to do.
I guess I'm just not THAT big a fan of the new X-Coms - though I did complete them both.