Large -scale addition Xcom 2: War of the Chosen comes out in a matter of weeks. To brighten up (unbearable) expectation, we called the producer of the game Gryffin Funk and asked him several questions about the “elected”, a new system of relations and general principles for developing additions.
The story of a long enmity
– I'll start in the forehead. In addition, we will be faced with the “elected” over and over again, the same Advent Champions. You are not afraid that these meetings will turn into routine?
Gryffin : Of course, we thought about it while these characters were being developed. In principle, we already had a similar headache when we balanced the “rulers”; The players had certain problems with them.
Therefore, it was necessary to figure out how to make sure that every meeting with the elect was interesting and entertaining, so that the players wanted to meet them again. So that they, seeing one of these opponents in the mission, thought: “Wait for. This is my chance to get even!"Such a kind of enmity.
As a result, it turned out not a boring repetition of the same, but something, on the contrary, is very alive: Advent champions will directly contact the player, mock him, referring to his tactical and strategic decisions.
In addition, in the interval between fights, the chosen ones may well get a new level. Their new opportunities will turn into new tactical difficulties for the player. Surely you will have to, to one degree or another, revise the strategy that you used last time.
Well, of course, there will be breaks in your meetings. With other elected ones you will also have to fight! So we will not bore the player with constant meetings with the same enemy. True, it is necessary to remember that you can win the final victory over the chosen – then, of course, you will more often see the other two.
All players at the first passage in any case will collide at least with the killer when they go according to the plot. And then your special history of relations will be formed. Such that you are looking forward to the next meeting, when you may finally be able to defeat the chosen once and for all.
– And in essence: whether a lot is changing from a meeting to the meeting? Is it possible that the chosen one will change in a radical way?
Gryffin : Much depends on the decisions made on the strategic map. You will see what the chosen ones are doing now, what they work on, what are their plans and tactics. Sometimes training will include training, work on some abilities and capabilities will include. The player will have a chance to interfere with the chosen ones – or at least slow down these processes.
It didn't work out? Well, in the next battle it may turn out that now the elected person does not receive damage in close combat at all. It will be necessary to think carefully how this affects your plans. For example, you see that the hero of Advent has a chance to meet you in the next mission. Given that now you can’t fight closely with him, what kind of people you will take in the detachment? You will have to prepare for the meeting – although the elected may ultimately not appear in this mission.
Interestingly, the chosen ones will not act together. Each of them wants to be the sole lord of the earth. Any of them has their own fortress, their own reserve of knowledge about XCOM and their relationship with the player. Well, it seems that not only people do not know how to act for the benefit of a common cause.
The time of superhumans
– In the game, as we know, there will be other factions that are also fighting against the aliens. Having earned their trust, we will be able to recruit their representatives – a kind. However, in the XCOM, the most important part of the game is the very process of turning unheard of newcomers into a detachment of elite soldiers (even if the final result sometimes comes out … not very). And here you are once – and special warriors on a saucer with a blue bucket. What will you say about it?
Gryffin : Here, in principle, the same. Yes, the starting weapons of such fighters are abruptly than that of ordinary recruits, and they look different. However, you can adjust their appearance, change names and other. Well, they will have to develop them too.
That really allocates these champions is another pumping system. They are characterized not by the usual line of skills, where you simply choose between options on the left and right, but a whole tree. With each new level, the soldiers receive glasses that can be invested in the abilities and talents in different parts of this tree (some, of course, will be closed until certain conditions – I am sure that you know how it all works).
How you decide to spend these glasses and determine how this or that fighter will ultimately come out. In other words, you are still free to “educate” the champion “for yourself”, under your style of play. Say, you like reapers and stunts with mines – please, you can develop in this direction. Want to get advantages when attacking shadows? You can put glasses there.
At the same time, during the game you will earn points that can be spent not only on the development of individual fractional characters, but also on the purchase of skills for ordinary soldiers. Such “common” glasses can be equally divided between fighters of different fractions or, if you want, put them in a single superman. The second approach, of course, has its own risk: you can’t send the same member of the team to each battle-because of the new fatigue system.
In War of the Chosen, will play a much more serious role than before. If the same member of the resistance is involved in several missions in a row, he loses its will (becomes more vulnerable to psionic attacks, it panics easier, and so on). If you continue to send a tired soldier into battle, he may have bad character traits. For example, he will become “aggressive”: instead of entering Overwatch mode, he will immediately attack opponents. From such dirty stoves, they are treated in a hospital, one of the new locations on the basis.
– And yet … Is it fair to say that the usual recruit will never be as good as a fractional fighter, even if they have the same amount of experience?
Gryffin : Probably yes.
-It sounds quite sad-for recruits.
Gryffin: (laughs) They actually now also have the opportunity to reach some new level. We thought a lot about how to find a balance here. So that the fractional heroes are strong so that they can make impressive things … Yes, at least Templar. With the help of the Ionic Storm ability, he calls for lightning from the sky. Or here is his bolt, striking enemies with chain lightning. The heroes are impressive. They are really very strong – if you use them correctly, of course.
But at the same time, we wanted ordinary fighters to not go into the background, and therefore do two things. First, there will be few fractional heroes. Yes, finding a couple more such a warrior is quite real, but this is a rarity: ordinary soldiers will have time to get more than one rank during this time. Secondly, as I started to tell, we introduced a new mechanics for the training hall. Here you can spend a certain number of points from the total pool to teach ordinary infantrymen XCOM unusual things. Abilities to which they would not have access under ordinary conditions. In other words, this will allow you to "educate" even more powerful fighters.
For example, it will be possible to teach characters in the skills of other classes. Or take the right and left skill in the usual ruler at the same time! And we will earn special common glasses using tactical tricks on the battlefield. For example, when the enemy enters the flank – or when killing opponents from a higher position.
Friends and lovers
– A little earlier you talked about the relationship tied between the player and the champions of aliens. As far as we know, certain personal ties will be built in the game and between our own soldiers. You can tell you more about this?
Gryffin : The essence is simple. You can send XCOM members at the mission. If they survive, they will begin to form a certain relationship. The speed with which this will occur depends on their compatibility level. Even if two soldiers do not get along very much, they still have a chance to get to the stream-the main thing is that they fought for a long time for their shoulders to shoulder. Then at the end of the mission, when all the survivors return to the base, you will have the opportunity to establish a connection between these fighters. You will still see a small scene where, say, they clink glasses or train together in a dash.
In addition, this will give them certain bonuses. If the connection is strong enough, the infantryman can, for example, “free” attack the goal at which his comrade shoots. Or transfer one of his actions to the partner. In a word, such connections open a number of interesting opportunities for soldiers.
It is curious that this mechanics will allow players to create their own stories will enrich them with the plot. That is, on the one hand, we have a global storyline. On the other hand, the player will experience the development of relations with the elect and observe how certain connections are formed inside the XCOM army. It can turn out very interesting. And by the way: you can interpret this connection as you want, we are very consciously describing this relationship with the most common words.
There is another important point. Say, you took on the task of two “connected” soldiers … and one of them was killed. In this case, the second fighter will be furious and begin to destroy everything around. A couple of rounds, because of bitterness, the loss will be released into the enemy cling for a clip, without listening to your orders. Then, after some time, he will come to his senses, return to the base, and everything is new: he will have a chance to form contact with another character. Yes, they will be able to cope with depression.
-Somehow everything is in one direction. And fights or disputes between colleagues will? Or relationships will only improve over time?
Gryffin : (laughs) no, you cannot quarrel within our system. These soldiers hardened their friendship or love in the flame of the battle.
Almost XCOM 3
– in the Western publications The idea that there is so much content in the new addition that it could well be xcom 3. Why is it still an addition, not a new part?
Gryffin : Here is the same as with ENEMY WITHIN. Such an approach is to increase, develop those systems that are already in the game. In fact, we take existing mechanics and think how to take them to a new level.
We worked on War of the Chosen – we were looking for how to enrich https://voodoo-wins-casino.co.uk/ the experience of players. And found many options! I kiss the new mechanic in tactics and strategies (moreover, all new chips – at least the connection between the fighters, at least the confrontation of the chosen ones – is somehow binded by both of these levels). Also the length of the game has increased markedly (laughs). Now these are an average of forty missions, while earlier we fit into thirty.
In a word, there really are a lot of new things. And then another interesting and complex process has already gone. We began to think how to balance it all, to collect into a single mechanism. However, during the development, it became clear that all these innovations are remarkably falling on the foundation laid down in XCOM 2.
In fact, it somehow turned out that the addition of a relatively large-scale. We could break it into several parts. But, as I said, we built War of the Chosen based on the XCOM 2 world, around the experience of the second part. We wanted to use this foundation. In addition, in the end, we had a simple goal: to create a really outstanding serious addition that could captivate our players with the head.
The game is released on August 29 on all the main platforms.
