So what do you people think of UFO: Extraterrestrials ?

I saw the game in a bargain bin at a local store yesterday.
It was for 14e, when a new game costs about 40-45e here.

Now that the game has matured a bit, there seems to be only
two patches made for it, but as I understand the game is in a quite
playable state… so what are your thoughts and opinions, should I go grab it?
I seem to recall there were quite a few people here who gave the game a decent try and even had some positivie things to say about it.
I don't give a flock about graphics/interface/ease-of-use/productionvalue etc and i loved "Terror from the deep", so UFO: Extraterrestrials might just be good for me?

BTW, does anyone know what the developers "Chaos Concept" are up to nowadays?

If you enjoyed the original X-Coms, I think you'll find UFO:ET to be well worth bargain bin prices. There wasn't really a need for official patches since the game was released in remarkably good shape (Chaos got hammered for various delays while they did a thorough bug stomp). There are a few differences that will take some getting used-to, but overall you'll be very comfortable. If you find the vanilla game not to your liking (which I doubt), there's a ton of user mods out there that allow you to tailor the game to your individual taste. I played vanilla and was perfectly content.

Originally Posted by Zakhary
I saw the game in a bargain bin at a local store yesterday.
It was for 14e, when a new game costs about 40-45e here.

I played it month ago and the game is vastly improved with the patch and mods. Its one of the best TBS games Ive played recently. Especially with the bman mod - the mod is very very good/great.

But there is a catch. You cant apply the must-have patches/mods to the EU version. You must have the US version from matrix games but its not sold outside North America. So you can either buy one from ebay.us, buy a digital d/l from matrix through a proxy or buy that 14€ paradox version and "loan" a key to get the second patch and mods.

Originally Posted by dteowner
If you enjoyed the original X-Coms, I think you'll find UFO:ET to be well worth bargain bin prices. There wasn't really a need for official patches since the game was released in remarkably good shape (Chaos got hammered for various delays while they did a thorough bug stomp).

Youre missing a lot if you didnt use the two patches and bman's ufo mods (thers like four total I think).

I consider official patches to still be "vanilla". I did grab those, although I still say they weren't necessary. As I remember, the Euro localized versions included the official patches right out of the box since they shipped a few weeks later. It's been a while, though, so perhaps my memory is a little off.

I thought about grabbing bman's mod, but I was enjoying the game as-is, and I generally don't like to use unofficial game mods.

Hi Bman,

I bought UFO ET two days ago. Hard to find in my part of the world it is.

This is a great mod you have there. Really brings back nice memories (And nightmares) of XCOM I really smiled when I saw the ufopedia entry for History of XCom

Bmans mod: (the features are too long to post here)
http://www.ufo-scene.com/plugins/for…topic.php?1576

You even get back the enemies from the first ufo if you wish!

Originally Posted by dteowner
I consider official patches to still be "vanilla". I did grab those. As I remember, the Euro localized versions included the official patches right out of the box since they shipped a few weeks later. It's been a while, though, so perhaps my memory is a little off.

Paradox version has the first patch available but not second. The paradox version released atleast here does not have both patches - it doesnt even have the first one. I dont know about localized versions - the one I have is vanilla english.

Originally Posted by dteowner
I thought about grabbing bman's mod, but I was enjoying the game as-is, and I generally don't like to use unofficial game mods.

You really should. The game is way better with bmands mod. But you need both patches to make it work. But if you allready finished the game I understand. Just know that the patch adds better AI to the game and makes it more challenging (like the original ufo) overall so it might be worth of replay one day.

I dug around my harddrive and took a better look at the patches. The first patch added hot keys, which made the gameplay much less cumbersome. While not necessary, I'll reverse my earlier statement and say the first official patch is highly recommended. The second one seems to be cleaning up minor issues. The Matrix Games site appears to be live still. The updater from the intro menu appears to be broken, but registering the game with Matrix gives you access to both patches.

Originally Posted by zakhal
But there is a catch. You cant apply the must-have patches/mods to the EU version. You must have the US version from matrix games but its not sold outside North America. So you can either buy one from ebay.us, buy a digital d/l from matrix through a proxy or buy that 14€ paradox version and "loan" a key to get the second patch and mods.

You sure about that? The patch 1 is available from the paradox website.
And the patch 2 available from the official UFO:ET website is for "all english versions"
with USA and UK flags right next to it. There's also french, spanish, polish and russian versions of the patch 2. Seems unlikely that the version sold here in finland would be the only one without patch 2 ?

I've been playing the Windows/DirectX version of XCOM2: Terror from the deep and I'm having a blast. It's still very much playable and I'm having tons of fun. It works nicely on a modern XP machine too without any emulators- which is very nice too. A wonderfull, wonderfull game.
I like the creepy underwater atmosphere and the Lovecraftian themes of the second game much more than the first one. The music and sounds are just as I remembered them - it has been years since I last played the game and they still manage to haunt me. One thing I can't figure out tho… Is how in the nine hells did I manage to play this thing back when I was 11 or something. This is an incredibly complex and brutally hard game.

Also,

Some people here (in finnish):
http://keskustelu.plaza.fi/muropaketti/bbs/t486485,125

seem to be saying that they have used the patch2 on a retail version.

Originally Posted by Zakhary
You sure about that? The patch 1 is available from the paradox website.
And the patch 2 available from the official UFO:ET website is for "all english versions"
with USA and UK flags right next to it. There's also french, spanish, polish and russian versions of the patch 2. Seems unlikely that the version sold here in finland would be the only one without patch 2 ?

The two patch2 I tried both asked a keycode that is missing from the paradox version.I also saw somone in the forums complain that his version cant be updated to the patch2 because it lacks the code. I didnt find patch2 from paradox site but now that I checked I found it from pelit.fi and it doesnt ask at the code! So nevermind about the hassle.

Originally Posted by dteowner
I dug around my harddrive and took a better look at the patches. The first patch added hot keys, which made the gameplay much less cumbersome. While not necessary, I'll reverse my earlier statement and say the first official patch is highly recommended. The second one seems to be cleaning up minor issues.

Patches are not the real deal - the mod is. They add way more than that and I havent seen a single bug yet so its a solid mod. The mods purpose afaik is to make the game more loyal to the original series and it succeeds in that very nicely.

sounds like I'm gonna have to go to that store and pickup UFO:ET for 14 euros.
When I'll start playing it, however, remains to be seen as I am currently in the middle of an extreme XCOM2 addiction.

I went and bought the game.

The english patch #2 from the official ufo et webiste does not ask for any password.
It's just an archive. A self extracting one.

Originally Posted by Zakhary
I went and bought the game.

The english patch #2 from the official ufo et webiste does not ask for any password.
It's just an archive. A self extracting one.

Dont forget to install the bmans mods! Files you need to d/l:

1.Bman's UFO Ease of Use Mod v4.04 Easy Install - Easy Install for people that are less technically inclined

2.Ease of Use Multimedia Pack v4.02+ - Optional download of graphics & sound used by the mod

3.Optimized True Night Mod EXE v4.00 - Optional download of a modified UFO_ET.exe which
allows you to play with the True Night Mod enabled without any performance penalties.

4.Enhanced Sprites v4.0 - Enhanced CAF soldier sprites

5.Loading Screens v4.0 - New loading and enemy turn background screens

The first two are most important mods imho. The mod install itself is very easy. Just unzip/run the files. Before starting the game though you might wanna go to the new setup menu and check all the new settings.

Sorry, I don't do mods/emulators/haks/cheats/exploits.

And btw, the game seems perfectly fine as it is now. I don't see any trouble at all with the interface, especially with the hotkeys and once you disable the auto-center thing it's pretty good actually.

Originally Posted by Zakhary
Sorry, I don't do mods/emulators/haks/cheats/exploits.

Sorry to hear that you both have such negative attitudes against mods? But if you dont like mods you could always think it as a "free update" because thats what it is and a good one at that!

I don't see any trouble at all with the interface, especially with the hotkeys and once you disable the auto-center thing it's pretty good actually.

The mod is not just really about the interface. It adds extra content to the game, new enemies (old ones from the first ufo), better AI, makes its more challenging, fixes bugs, adds graphics and sound and ton of options. You can even do the soldier hiring yourself and make your soldiers die like in the original ufo - in the stock game they never die and you cant do the hiring yourself.

Few comments about the mod:

The game loses its luster quickly without the mods. I'd advise you not to waste your time on the unmodded game.

I would reccomend the mods, maybe a future patch will address some of the bugs and issues and broken features…but the player made mods make this worth a whirl.

The mods rock, include so many new features. bugfixes and updates its almost to many to list.

Some
Track kills
Soilders can die
right click to open doors
crashed ufos show damage
cerma control
hotkeys
many bugfixes
UI improvements
ect
http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t…ad.php?t=35924

Article about the ufo mods:

A UFO: ET Makeover

This core group of followers quickly discovered that UFO:ET was user modifiable and mods for the game were released within days of the game being released. Many of the mods were designed to introduce elements from the original XCOM that were missing in UFO:ET.

For example, UFO:ET released with no ability to hire and fire soldiers as needed. Instead they were parceled out to you one a month. Modders quickly changed the game to allow you to not only hire as many soldiers as you needed but to select which soldiers you wanted from a pool of 100 candidates. Other modders added line of sight indicators missing from the game to help determine more effective shots. Still more modified the game to have the games built in day night cycles have a greater effect on tactical combat just like the original XCOM did. One modder added hot keys for common movements which was later incorporated in an official patch released by Chaos Concept, the studio that released the game.

Over time the modders produced hundreds of mods and multiple versions of the same mods as they refined and tweaked the game. I no longer play the game as released and I have no desire to go back to that. I play with a super-mod collection called BMANS Ease of Use Patch. It includes all of the game mods that I really wanted to see in the original release as well as quite a few I had never thought of packaged into one easy to install add-on. This mod re-introduces classic aliens. It modifies the UFOpedia entries to explain the presence of these aliens and creates new technologies and strategies that are required to combat them. Almost every modification can be enabled or disabled or configured using menus that are modded right into the UFO:ET game making using the mods a breeze.

It’s an amazing feat of combining old with new and making new jump through different hoops to completely change the game experience. I find the increased complexities and challenges of playing to be a much more satisfying experience than the un-modified game was.

Modifying a released game is probably sticky ground to be on. We’ve seen games re-rated because of user created mods and the recent threat of Manhunt 2 being re-rated for the same reason. Fortunately, most companies tend to turn a blind eye to the user mod communities. I think that is wise since it becomes free advertising for the product – but I can see how an overzealous company may want to restrict user modding in an effort to protect their IP.

In the case of UFO:ET the user mods have taken a good game and significantly improved it. If you bypassed this game on its initial release it might be time to reconsider your decision.

http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/200…trials-do.html

Originally Posted by zakhal
Sorry to hear that you both have such negative attitudes against mods? But if you dont like mods you could always think it as a "free update" because thats what it is and a good one at that!

I'm not sure why I got my "anti-mod" attitude. I've never had a bad experience with the user mods I have used (I grabbed quite a few for Morrowind, although that game was intended to be user-modded). It might be a combination of laziness and irrational fear. I say "irrational" because even if a mod completely trashed my game, it wouldn't be that big a deal to delete and reinstall.

Originally Posted by dteowner
It might be a combination of laziness and irrational fear. I say "irrational" because even if a mod completely trashed my game, it wouldn't be that big a deal to delete and reinstall.

It takes a long time to install ufo:ext and even I did a backup before installing the mods (just somthing Ive learned by the years) but I didnt have any problems. After unzipping/installing the mods everything worked all okay.

Still playing terror from the deep. I originally started it as more of a fun nostalgic experience, a trip down the memory lane or something. But it got me hooked and drawn in right from the start. Can't believe that the game is still this good after all those years. And I still cant understand how I managed those alien colony attacks as a 10-year-old.

A truly fantastic game… pretty much a masterpiece. I'm so happpy I found this WinXp compatible version of the game.

I played terror from the deep to the looong last battle - got killed without a save and never played it again. I always considered xcom apocalypse a good enough sequel.