As a low tier backer, without ability to raise my pledge, I didn’t yet have a chance to try PP myself. However, I am somewhat confused as to what purpose the two aiming system have to fulfill - one over the shoulder “Firaxis’ XCOM” style and the second one free-aiming first person view one.
The problem is: the second one is clearly superior allowing for more optimal shots and a better presentation of chances to hit. This could be balanced by making the 2nd aiming take more acton points, or restrict it in some other way.
I have been playing Valkyria Chronicles recently and it uses aiming system similar to PP (focusing here purely on aiming - not movement). Why not have just one aiming system, instead of developing two? Immediately provide manual aiming and focus on making it smooth and quick to use. Allow to switch between targets with a press of a key.
“Quick Aim” is currently following center of mass of the target, while manual aim will continue to shoot toward the aimed direction regardless of enemy movement (afaik, still not possible to upgrade my pledge 'cos reasons).
It might be changed for release, but this could be an actual decision, if there is mutation/skill/etc. which makes it possible for enemies (and possibly your own soldiers) to duck/move/whatever while taking fire, thus making it potentially a better choice (aside from time-saving QoL, which can be done with the manual-aiming-interface too like you said, it “just” needs more polish).
I use auto aim for quick killing enemies which are not well armoured. Manual aim is useful if you want to hit particular body part of some nasty enemy which has too much armour, but aiming in this manner is time consuming (real time) for the player. I vote for both systems to be present.
The reason I brought up Valkyria as a direct inspirations is because:
it already has auto-aim system - press a button and camera automatically centres on the next/previous enemy. Not finetuned for headshot but pretty much the functionality of PP’s auto-aim.
it’s fine tuned so adjusting the aim is quick and easy.
Clearly Phoenix Point’s manual aim has a long way to go before it’s ready to ship. I just feel that game would be better off providing functionality of both aim views within one, instead of unnecessarily splitting into two UIs.
I think I noticed about the Valkyria Chronicles aiming system is that most of the enemies are the same basic shape–human targets. However, in PP we have crabbies, sirens, and particularly mindfraggers, which are very small. For mindfraggers there’s no real point in aiming for specific parts, you’re better off just selecting them and firing. So the UI is there because different strategies work for different enemies–against crabmen you want to be able to aim at parts precisely, but for other things you might as well just fire and forget. :o
other than that, there’s also the fact most of the environment is destructible. You could easily use free aim to blow the ground out from under someone, or collapse something on them.
If I understand it right, the “automatic aim” has just as much chance to destroy environment as manual aim, right? The former simply centers on the enemy while the latter allows for fine tuning reticle placement or aim it somewhere were there is no enemy at all.
Yes. And you would like to have free aiming as default style. But in that game you linked (which is really not my style to be true) does it count what cover is between shooter and target? I really don’t like free aiming with 3rd person perspective. And changing camera from isometric view to first person perspective view would take too long with each shot.
I see. Not quite. My arguement isn’t to scrap autoaim, but rather that one aiming system could easily handle both jobs making aiming quicker and easier.
While VC aim system has functionality of PP free-aim system, it also has autoaim. On keyboard pressing “Q” or “E” will automatically center on “previous/next target”. Sorry for poor quality but here is a video of it I captured using a tablet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DIE8LJqZ_8&feature=youtu.be
The only benefit of PP autoaim is quick of use. However, actual spread, enemy visibility and chances to hit are better judged when using manual aim, not to mention an ability to adjust your aim. Why not create on system, which will allow to quickly aquire targets (aiming at the centre of mass as it is now), provide a clear UI indication of spread and allow for immediate and easy way of adjusting the aim if needed?
To be truth, I don’t know. Maybe swithing to FPP instantly would be good decision. Probably auto aim mode is there for the game to be more cinematic. Or maybe switching targets in auto-aim mode is more intuitive than in FPP, where you would loose orientation when changing from one enemy to the other especially with sniper rifle or other weapons when enemies are really close.
Maybe there will be option to set it as default aiming mode and skipping auto-aim. I would like that.
I know this is an old thread, but there is actually only one system. By default, the reticle sits in the middle of the first eligible target. If you don’t want to aim, you can just leave it there, but it’s not “the second system”, you just did not move the reticle. It’s technically equivalent of moving it by 0 units, but let’s not go too technical.
There is actually a very slight difference in the two firing methods. If you do not manually aim, the crosshair locks onto the target even if it moves. When using manual aim, your aim is at a fixed point in space and won’t change if the target moves.
