BB5 First Impresions

I like all the elements that have been added to the geoscape. I know the ‘story’ hasn’t officially been added yet, but I feel like I’m actually playing the full game instead of a demo.

The music for the geoscape sets the mood quite well. Combat music, if it exists yet, not so much.

Story vignettes and decisions are a cool feature, can’t wait to see more of them.

I have some trouble keeping up with the mission tempo, mostly because of haven attacks. I know I need to clear nearby nests to reduce their frequency, but by prioritizing the actual defense missions I sometimes feel like I’m treading water. Troops get injured/fatigued from multiple defense missions, then they have to rest, then their rest is interrupted by another defense mission. I don’t have the depth to my roster yet to field multiple teams.

Aside from the difficulty of keeping a fresh-ish team, I feel like I’m spending a disproportionate amount of time in tactical battles vs. accomplishing things in the geoscape. This is hugely player preference, but each tactical battle is a significant time investment; and I’d like them to be a bit less routine.

The different weapons are kinda cool, but using anything I can’t produce ammo for is a recipe for eventually starting a mission empty by accident.

Weapon bash is a cool ability; I like that it damages the weapon.

I find myself using dash a lot now. If it is intended as a foundational ability, then this is as it should be. The ability to readjust to get an angle, then fire two shots is fantastic.

I’m confused by the flashing alien spawn points near the edge of the map, and whether this means enemies will keep appearing there, or occasionally, or what they mean.

PIstols didn’t seem very useful to me in earlier backer betas, but I find myself using them a decent amount now. Coup de grace on injured enemies, overwatch, or shooting worms.

I’ve found some missions with low threat are fairly difficult, and some with high are not too difficult; haven’t figured out what is driving this experience.

Triton’s mist arms are kind of annoying. The only early-game counters I’ve found are grenades and running up next to them, both of which are very risky. With the mist generators, I get that they are a purpose-built enemy, but the tritons continue to shoot and move after generating mist, making them arguably more dangerous.

I’m really enjoying seeing the game take shape, and the world you guys have created.

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According to this video (timestamp: 23:50):

We will spend most of the time in battles.

Those are just possible map entry points for aliens. If there is vast number of them waiting for deployment they will appear randomly there just to not clutter map with all aliens at the beginning.

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@Yokes When was this talk held?

To quote:

Want to learn more about the making of Phoenix Point? Check out this talk given by one of our co-founders at a game development conference in Shanghai earlier this month.

Published August 19th, 2019.

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It’s early days still, but I would personally prefer a much lower combat %. I can’t be asked with lots of pointless combat, especially against mist or stealth aliens. I just see it as a waste of time and quickly saps my will to live.

War of the Chosen has the perfect balance for me, between faction missions, build, research and combat.

Hopefully the difficulty settings will allow for a “less combat focused” campaign somehow.

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