Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

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Sly Boots
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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Sly Boots » Thu Nov 17, 2022 4:04 pm

It's very much portrayed as a positive here, but I think this may well have killed any remaining enthusiasm I had for this one:
There's a clever turn-based tactics game here (which you can read more about in our previous Midnight Suns hands-on (opens in new tab)), where you command your squad of heroes by throwing down cards drawn from their unique decks, but so far I've spent a lot more time hanging out with my new friends than fighting supervillains, demons and fascists. Midnight Suns is obsessed with the social lives of superheroes, and by putting friendship and camaraderie at the centre of everything, it ends up feeling a lot more like Fire Emblem—particularly the excellent Three Houses—instead of XCOM. 
https://www.pcgamer.com/marvels-midnigh ... than-xcom/

If I buy a turn-based tactics game, it's because I want to play a turn-based tactics game, not a dating sim -_-

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Snowy » Thu Nov 17, 2022 4:26 pm

That sounds fucking awful. Everything about it.
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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Animalmother » Thu Nov 17, 2022 6:26 pm

It's a real shame to see someone's enthusiasm for a game evaporate as more details of it are revealed. Wait for a sale maybe.

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by DjchunKfunK » Tue Nov 22, 2022 9:50 am

I'd be very into all that stuff if it was in a different setting, the Marvel one doesn't do anything for me and seems incongruous with some of the stuff you will be doing. If this was XCOM but with the relationship stuff I would be very much onboard, I think having that kind of stuff effect how well people fight is really neat.

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Nov 30, 2022 2:59 pm

It's reviewing very well from what I've seen, but both reviews I've read have made the point that it's 50% strategy game and 50% social sim (and both reviews portrayed it as a positive). Which actively puts me off.

Oh well, guess the wait continues for XCOM 3...

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Nov 30, 2022 3:18 pm

I'm in a similar boat. I love XCOM 2, I love Marvel stuff and am intrigued by the idea of a superhero social sim. But I don't want them evenly split in the same game.

To quote Ron Swanson, don't half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing.

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Nov 30, 2022 8:37 pm

Oh damn...
After such thrilling, repetitive social activities such as chilling poolside and playing video games with every member of the team, I can safely say I hate all of these characters. Peter Parker is the worst of the bunch, easily getting the dunce award for the most hopeless man-child featured in any medium. It is disappointing and perhaps even borderline offensive to see these heroes depicted as such awkward, unlikeable, and emotionally immature brats. If you thought the wince-worthy banter in Gotham Knights was tough, Midnight Suns takes the cake for the worst superhero dialogue in an interactive medium in years.

There are far too many systems crammed into the social side game, all serving to bottleneck progression and further slow the game down. The social activities, such as afternoon book club (as thrilling as it sounds), much be persevered through in order to unlock valuable card upgrades. Upgrading cards by combining duplicates requires large amounts of currency which comes in three types and is sparingly rewarded in most combat scenarios, forcing players to grind generic combat scenarios in order to produce viable decks for the tough story missions. There are also systems borrowed from XCOM that don’t make much sense, such as a research tree where everything takes one combat mission to develop and usually just unlocks ‘item cards’ which have a single use and may offer an extra move or card redraw in combat.
I was actually wavering over the £35 deal on cdkeys because I love Xcom so damn much you guys... but this is sounding like deep-sale territory for me personally.

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Wrathbone » Thu Dec 01, 2022 7:15 am

It sounds like someone made a sensible pitch for XCOM with superheroes, then someone else who thinks they’re Joss Whedon came and ruined it.

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Re: Midnight Suns - Marvel meets XCOM, out March 2022

Post by Sly Boots » Fri Dec 02, 2022 7:33 am

Tried watching a LP, but quickly gave up as it was honestly just boring to watch. I've followed this YTer's Xcom campaigns so I don't think it's a problem with them or the genre. Maybe it plays better than it does as passive entertainment, but I'm not paying that much to find out...

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