Haha yeah but there is good reason for it! Last year I had massive computer hardware malfunction and haven't been able to replace it, so what I'm currently able to do is to play after work, produce an hour of video during the night and then publish it in the morning before leaving home. Any more than an hour and the video editing program will start having a fit, and to free up hard drive space I'm unable to record much more than an hour at a time anyway! So at the moment it's a bit of a weird cut, but once next video is published then it should be more of a seamless transition.
"Real game and not the Open XCOM mod" - OpenXcom IS the real game. OpenXcom is a clone of the original code, with no substitutive changes other than fixing any bugs from the original, and allowing the game to be played on modern resolutions. ANY other changes to the game, gameplay or settings are just that, settings. None of them are hard coded into the game.
I see what you're saying and I'm not making a value judgment about it in any way. I've actually begun wanting to play around with it for the really cool mods that are out there. However, it's not XCOM, it's OpenXCOM, it's just a different thing. All the fixes, quality of life changes and improvements, by definition, make it no longer XCOM in my view. The way I see it, you play OpenXCOM *because* it changes things from the actual game, be it customized loadouts, smoke grenade fixes or the ability to open doors or whatever it may be. I'm going to have a lot of fun experimenting with that, but none of those things are in XCOM. Here I just want to show the actual original game in all its glory and with all its flaws, because to me, the flaws are just as much a part of XCOM as the great parts.
It felt magical though, once it actually started running, right? In 94 I got a game called Dominus, but it just *would not run* because of some EMS or XMS allocation requirement. Took almost 2 years to find someone who knew how to do it, but oh man was it a great feeling finally playing that game!
@@tolo84 I've only seen screens of it back then and was so stocked, unfornunately I've never had the chance to play it. I'm actually discovering it with your videos loo
To be honest, I'm at a bit of a loss when it comes to setting up dosbox. I tried the old GOG version with speeding up the cycles, but it seems to just put the normal parts in hyperspeed but keep the slow parts unchanged. Perhaps we can call it a retro feel? :P
It's a bit of a chicken-and-the-egg situation I've created for myself. Initially the idea was to speed up the early game by ignoring casualties entirely and rehiring until reaching the mid- to late game, where stats start to really matter. Since most of my soldiers will have really low health, low armor, low accuracy and low... well, everything, I thought it'd be an interesting idea to just chuck 'nades and fire explosives to negate the fact that my guys couldn't hit a house from the inside. Then later on, I can just hire a hundred people and pick out a crew with great stats and equip it straight away. Now I'm in a bit of a pickle though because the base is so full of bombs and other throwables, and if your guys have bombs in their inventory then the AI can equip, arm and throw them. It's working out for two reasons, namely the tight closed spaces make for great alien bombing efficacy, and it doesn't matter if half the base is blown away on a mission because it doesn't carry over to the overworld map.
You know, I've listened to it a dozen times and can't make it out either! :D "Your park is..." a-buildin'? Ability? A building? A bidding? Perhaps it's meant to be ambigious? Turns out my park is a b...*VRRRRRROOOOOM*
It's been a fun, frustrating and informative ride, but finally we've reached the end of the line. As all good things must come to a close, so do we now shut the doors to Theme Park and move on to greener pastures. This started as a return to childhood with the goal of seeing if there even was an ending, and now we can finally and decisively see for ourselves! Bugs, oddities and game breaks abound, there's enough finnicky game mechanics here to talk about for hours, but that'll be a story for another time. If you kept up with the game over the year, thanks for watching! I hope you enjoyed it! If you're new or just seeing if/how the game ends, I'm happy you're here and to present to you what you're looking for!
If you manage to save it during the orc ambush when it's first encountered in the vampire campaign, I believe it'll eventually follow you all the way here
I agree, it's a very niche type of thing the way I do it now. It would be cool to complement a full longplay with some spot-check videos. Personally I love the idea of making shorter videos with specific subjects in mind but honestly, it's a matter of not having the time, software and hardware to properly produce a themed video on a specific game topic. For Theme Park for instance, I'd love to make like a 14 minute commentary on the way to play it successfully, like a walkthrough type deal of how to beat a map. It'd also be cool to make a video on the bugs, what breaks the game, how they show up and what you need to do to avoid them. Maybe a comparative video on this and other Theme games weighed against the Tycoon and Sim series, that'd be pretty awesome. If I ever manage to build a computer that can render a video in less than 4+ hours, or when I run out of the current "to play" list, you'll most likely see some more mainstream-focused content showing up here :) It could be fun doing a video review series of these games for instance, and that'd garner a lot more attention for sure!
Thanks! I would recommend the game more though if it wasn't so tough to get running properly, but that problem could honestly be a skill issue on my part when it comes to setting up a virtual machine :) With the proper real hardware, this is absolutely worth a try because it's a truly positive experience.
With a little patience and effort, it's one of the most rewarding retro gaming experiences ever! A lot of more modern developers have tried replicating this game without fully realizing what it is. It's not just a tactical turnbased strategy, you don't really play it to beat the final boss and get the credits, even though the gameplay itself is really fun and rewarding too. It's a sci fi horror-comedy first, and the greatness of it is playing for its developing narrative. The thematics are unbeatable, especially with the context that this game is built on! 90's Conspiracy theories, X-Files and 50's-80's science fiction films. It just hits those notes perfectly!
I haven't yet, but I've been recommended a really interesting-looking one called Piratez that I'll try out after this run. There's also a Warhammer 40k one that looks really good. If you know more just let me know, cause I'm sure there are tons I'm missing!
I heard Piratez gets a bit naughty xD I'll have to try it and the 40k mod sometime I played xcom xfiles a few years ago which was fun. It adds prequel content where you start with only a couple of agents investigating strange happenings, before progressing to the main ufo defence game. Solaz has been streaming a mod for tftd called The Terrifying World of Silence which looks pretty fun too.
the assault rifles are just as garbage as I remembered. Rocket launchers clear gardens, fields, remove building walls and clear areas. I used to have the assault rifle troops carry extra rockets. There was a bug as well: Kill an enemy, then carry as much load as you can on that unit to build up extra strength and stamina as a kill would grant extra experience. A kill per unit and then body building and max cardio while the rest of the team hunts, since there was no limit to strength.
Oh, EA. I would know those sound effects anywhere. For those that aren't familiar the various clicks and boops and beeps are exactly the same across various strategy games of the era. For example, go listen to the GUI sound effects from the game Syndicate and compare to this.
Cool. A friend of classic games. XCom from 1994 is a real gem. So much so that there is an active modder community for it. The biggest and most popular mod is called XCom Piratez. It expands the 12 MB game to 700 MB. Set 800 years after the main game. The humans have lost. The aliens have chewed through the earth and spat it out again. You start the game with 5 guinea pigs who have escaped from a laboratory and stumble across an old XCom base (only much later do you find out that this was no coincidence). The refugees hide there and the player gets to know this new world with them. Initial research consists of visiting neighbouring villages. Getting on well with them. Making contacts. Rummaging through junkyards and building primitive weapons (for example flintlock pistols). There are over 1,000 explorations. Factions of all kinds. In addition to humans, you can also include aliens, robots, mutants and much more in your team. Vehicles range from cars, helicopters, biplanes and fighter jets to ultra-modern spaceships. Worth a look.
Don't you agree it's one of the best experiences there are? I've been looking for some mods actually to try after this playthrough is done. The one I had in mind was initially mod.io/g/openxcom/m/40k but I'll have to look out for the one you mentioned as well. Thanks!
@@tolo84 Well, then we helped each other. I actually didn't know the 40k mod yet. Thanks for the info. After two years (real years) I'm slowly reaching the endgame with Piratez. At least I thought so. There was a new update a few weeks ago and lots of new content. When I'm done with that I'll have a look at the 40k mod. By the way, I've been playing the main game up and down on the Amiga since 1994. And later every now and then on the PC. I found the autocannon and the big cannon with explosive ammunition the most effective at the beginning. You don't have to hit the aliens directly. A shot at their feet in close proximity is enough for a kill (you don't have to have a target to shoot, then the soldier shoots at the ground where you're aiming). I completely ditched the normal rifles. In the end, there was still enough left to collect and research.
@@tolo84 By the way. Out of curiosity. how can you post something with a youtube external link? If I post something that doesn't have a youtube link my posts are always deleted. Even if it's a youtube link, there's a good chance that the post will be deleted after a minute.
@@sarahnachtrose Not entirely sure why, it might be my posts can't be automatically removed on my own videos. If you up for trying, go ahead and link the mod and I'll have a look if there's anything popping up on my end!
It's a good idea to get in the habit of loading each guy up with two electro flares and day or night you exit the ship and toss them as far as you can. Even if you pass by one you've thrown in the battlescape, pick it up and toss it again. It'll increase your strength and accuracy much faster.
Normally that's the thing I always try to do, but for this I'm aiming for a different approach. Instead of going out of my way to keep everyone alive, this time I'm going to go *heavily* into explosives. No need for high accuracy when you blow away half the map! It'll also change things up because, as you mentioned, I usually never play night missions otherwise.
@@tolo84 Other thing I recommend is to research lasers and get laser rifles ASAP. I pretty much use them the whole game, as well as have my manufacturing continuously make more for money each month.
@@francischambless5919 Oh yeah that's right, lasers! Later on if you start running into space issues in the transport then not having to bring ammo frees up a bunch of slots for other equipment, and being able to fire infinitely is great for accuracy training! This time around though it feels like I'm getting a ton of stuff anyway, so depending on how much money is lost on replacing soldiers there might not be a need to keep a high production of laser rifles going for reselling purposes.
@@tolo84 forgot about that too, so yeah, you can improve your accuracy because firing laser guns isn't as time consuming and leaving snap fire time minimum after each of your guys moves ensures they get response time and accuracy boosts if an alien wanders into their line of fire. Often I set one or more guys up to always have most time units remaining so if I accidentally miss my shots when I'm pushing someone in the rear can do an aimed shot or at worst auto fire/toss a grenade. Just gotta play with strategies. This is still by far one of the best games ever.
Even today it's a really cool experience, albeit with flaws for sure! There are a bunch of little quirks you *need* to know, or they'll drive you mad with frustration. Also, the level of complexity of missions is all over the place! So you might sit for an hour with a really tough one and then blast through 2-3 missions and feel invincible, only to run into a brick wall again :D But the cyberpunk aesthetic is unparalleled in my opinion, and the weapons are so damn cool!
Thanks! Gonna have to wait until after 8 at least, but already the itch to start another run and try the evil route has begun to set in! Was not prepared for 7 to live up to the high expectations set by 6, so that was a really pleasant surprise.
@@tolo84 I had the same experience. MM6 + MM7 are, at least in my opinion, the best ones. And if you feel bored, there's the entire HOMM3-world to explore. :)
After beating this, I'll be making a short interlude with another game before returning to the Might & Magic series and game 8 & 9. It's been fantastic experience, but playing all four games back-to-back would probably end up being a year long project and there's a couple of other games I've been looking forward to beat!
Обе игры стоят внимания. Ты тоже можешь насладиться как Skyrim, так и этой игрой! Бетесда просто должна сделать так, чтобы торговцы оскорбляли тебя, если ты ничего не покупаешь :D
@@tolo84 в Скайриме можно просто диалоги нецензурные добавить торговцам с помощью редактора🤣 кстати, для меня это станет отличным поводом снова начать изучать редактор и ещё начать переводить моды для игры🙂 Скайрим так и не прошел полностью 🤣
Thanks! Got to say I wasn't really prepared for a huge blob of... everything nasty, so panicked and got stuck there. Might be a better idea to keep moving, dodging spells and clumping the monsters up more
If you've played Heroes of Might & Magic 3, this game makes a whole lot more sense and it's pretty damn cool how they've kept and built upon the story of the world over two different game series. It really adds to the general feeling of epicness.
Somehow I have trouble trusting the guy who sparked civil war, usurped the crown, sold his brother out to literal devils and tried to again usurp a crown through striking a deal with necromancers and the same literal devils as last time!
@@tolo84 hehe :) You're too beholden to preconceived notions of treachery, necromancy and attempted regicide. Maybe a second playthrough, this time on the "Dark Side" will bring out the truth? These Erathian do-gooders...brrrrrr
Sierra made such fun games for the early PC generation. Thanks for letting us enjoy it vicariously! *edit* If this is as complete and RPG as it already looks like it is, then holy moly Sierra really outdid themselves with this one. If you like classic PC games, my personal favorite is Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness. The whole QFG series is charming, especially since you can carry your character over between games (unlocking a secret!), but IV is narrated by none other than John Rhys-Davies! The Transylvania fantasy landscape is intoxicating; I'd love to see a modern remaster of the whole series, but 4 especially.
Oh yeah, Quest for Glory 4 is a personal favourite as well! I got a playthrough of 1 done already and will eventually get to 2-4 as well, but I think this and Betrayal at Antara will be played first. Used to own Antara in like 99, but my computer at the time was too old to run it properly so I never got anywhere. Not a direct sequel to this game but it's like a spiritual successor, so I thought it fitting to try and beat this first!
