Ik this is the nord comment but when or if you go to xcom 2, beware, from experience and watching the drifters runs, it can be somewhat more painful, however the drifter plays on wotc, so just be prepared for some more pain
@@goldeneyekiller101 hes decent, about the same level id say, hes got longer videos that i like, but he likes to go in depth with each video and like, disects the strategies he uses
@@idgaf9636 I understand. He's not terrible at the game but he's not the best I've seen either. About average. He tends to get frustrated quickly which seems to be his weakness. I love his content though, despite his tactical bumbles
"Cortana just needs to press all the buttons while Chief annihilates anything in his path." Thats... An impressively perfectly accurate description of the entirety of Halo's story.
The reason your soldier don't get hurt every time it gets hit is because there's a difference between mec armor and soldier's health. If it doesn't hit the thresholds of soldier's health, it doesn't injury Chief
It I remember correctly that's actually true for normal soldiers too but since they're damaged threshold is so much smaller usually one shot injures them.
oh, right, because a soldier might have e.g. 6hp, but the MEC suit adds another 6, so if they only take 5 damage in a mission, it's just taken from the MEC suit's pool? that makes sense. i wouldn't have thought it was that simple, but it's an elegant solution. it makes sense that a MEC soldier or someone in heavy armour would be able to withstand more damage _and_ that the damage they take be less severe than someone in a t-shirt.
Yeah, single MEC makes more sense than a full team, a full MEC team is OP, even if you include the singular non-violence guy to be the psi trooper, 5 fully upgraded MECS can mow anything down with extreme prejudice.
I had one game where all I did was punch every single thing that touched the ground and... That worked. XCOM 1 was not balanced around the mechs at all. It was barely balanced around the SHIVS tbh with only one enemy really having much of a chance against them(ethereals). That's why in XCOM 2 they didn't carry them over and focused more on the human soldiers since the point of XCOM is humanity against aliens, not machines helping humanity against aliens.
i mean i remember when i had that type of team and.... sectopods were easily destroyed with 2 shots or my favourite technique, fragging em until they were no more than fiery wrecks
Sniper-based MECs are incredibly good. The trick is to get Repair Servos and later Absorption Fields. You want to keep the hitpoints as low as possible (never upgrade the mech suit). The low base HP of the Sniper in combination with Absorption Field means you get 8/3 rounded down. So no attack can do more than 2 damage which is then repaired by Damage Control. You can face tank a Sektopod and be at full health next turn.
The way the health thing works is that your soldier as two health values : an "armor" value and a health value. When you take a hit, the armor is hit first. Only if you health goes below your armor value do you get injured. Because mech troopers have a lot of armor, they don't get injured as often
@@jimbothegymbro7086 well in 2 the armor reduced each attack's damage rather than acting as part of the healthbar and needed to be "separately" shredded to be removed, much different and more important to know (especially considering that enemies have it too) than 1's armor "damage threshold"
@@BrianatorFTW so in 1 it works similar to xenonauts then? in xenonauts it's a flat damage reduction from the armor but the armor loses durability at a fixed percentage per type also check out xenonauts if you like Xcom :)
@@jimbothegymbro7086 I will go with no; 1, referring to this game, xcom 1 (and by extension enemy within), the "armor" is the health added by armor equipment, and if the health isn't reduced below that (and thus into the health that the soldier has innately) then that technically means the soldier wasn't wounded, just his armor damaged which doesn't have a repair time for probably simplicity sake. this only has an effect on if and how long the soldier has to recover after the battle as opposed to 2 where damage is damage but they added a real damage reduction armor mechanic to the fights
What's funny is the mech option is actually closer to the real master chief, his battle suit making him 7ft tall and weigh roughly 1 ton. Both things you forget until you see him next to the very tiny and squishy seeming marines.
slightly under half a ton, and that's with armor, but yeah. All the guns in Halo CE were also originally designed as Spartan only ones, so similar to the huge MEC weaponry, which is why they are so high caliber, but then they didn't come up with new ones for the Marine NPCs so now they're normal ones. Spartans aren't quite Astartes, but they go in that direction
@@nerdyspinosaurid In Destiny 2 for the Anniversary event they added halo themed weapons, one of them was an exotic gun labeled as a side arm, a sort of rapid firing low damage pistol in the game; however the gun in question was based on a spartan gun (I believe the magnum) and is labeled in its description as essentially made for a giant. the massive lad uses special ammo instead of primary and hits like a truck. Edit: theres another one I forgot! the bxr battler is kinda normal sized so I didn't think much about any of the others but the also added an energy sword! the sword is split into 2 blades and is given a long handle apiece, making this 1 sword so massive it became a pair of 2 handed weapons.
But, we can all take heart knowing there's no way a half ton of Master Chief bouncing around a Pelican while crash landing on a Halo ring, will cause any injuries. The fact the rest of the marines were KIA was enemy fire. And black jack. And hookers.
Luckily for your sanity, it's known that you can beat Xcom 2 WOTC with a single soldier. Unfortunately, doing so basically requires you to spend hundreds of hours using covert ops to grind said soldier to hundreds of max health in order to facetank the final mission.
@@fernando47180 I wrote my comment before I read the actual rules in the video, I was banking on getting blocked by the psionic soldier requirement since as I recall, mechs can't by psychics. After the rules I would've probably said yes, honestly, this run didn't even seem too bad except for a couple of tough situations, might try it myself.
Haha literally came to the comments to see if anyone else had this happen. The whole "explaining the lore while you plow through enemies" gimmick was cool, but wow did that last room disappoint
@@skeetsmcgrew3282 discovered it myself after Backlogs got me to do my own shiv-primary run. full aggressing on the Leader turns what would otherwise be a decently intense encounter into a laugh track after the dual sectopods the room before.
That whole thing with only needing to kill the leader is actually the reason why I never finished xcom. Y'see, when you kill the leader, all the other enemies die. If your special psi soldier happens to be mind controlled, they die too. If they die, you lose. You can see where this is going. Edit: they fixed this in enemy within though. It only happens in enemy unknown.
i heard that in the original X-Com, it's possible to win the final battle with ONE remote-controlled missile. just steer it to the leader, and you win.
An AI with limitless knowledge that can now control the world around her with mind powers. What could go wrong? *That is literally the plot of Halo 5.*
The Chief: "DO NOT RESIST; I'M IS HERE TO SAVE YOU" What everyone else hears: *gunfire and the sounds of explosions* Everyone Chief saves is going to have literally no hearing by the time they are done given the arsenal he packs.
fun fact:if you get just the right shot, you can lay mines in range to hit the uber overseer without spawning the fight in. Also, any form of explosion will immediately set off prox mines. do with this information what you will.
I really miss the MECs in XCOM 2. The sparks can barely hold a candle to them. Proximity mines are such a game changer. Sure, they are definitely overpowered. As seen in this video. But it's also so damn cool to have a raging killing machine rampaging through the map, matching even the strongest enemies in power
Your Xcom videos are some of my favorite comfort videos I can turn on literally whenever to relax and have a good laugh. So excited for another one. And really excited to see you take on Xcom 2!
Asked for it a few times before but once again, would *love* to see some Remnant from the Ashes challenges! Also super looking forward to whatever XCOM 2 content you have coming up eventually!!
That final room with the final fight is always my favourite moment of the game. I usually set up a maxed Sniper just outside the door to that room, open it and send someone just far enough in to grant Squadsight, and finish the final fight in a single bullet from the Sniper.
I was unsure on you going sniper, AND im not sure if how involved your assault was turned it into more than just a MEC run.. but ill shut my mouth and congratulate this all the same. well done!
If you’re a Fallout fan and want to see someone do what I mentioned above, check out Mitten Squad. He does some pretty ridiculous “can you” videos similar to Backlogs but on different games.
i dont know when youll make a Xcom 2 video, but when it is eventually made, i would love to see a sword/melee only run. They've made it quite viable, and if its too difficult you can bend the rules and bring Templars
Watching you play XCOM made me confident in trying XCOM 2 while it was on sale. As someone who really doesn't play turn based strategy, I was humbled FAST lol
After watching one of your recent videos I went on a binge playing the original xcom with mods. Then I thought "huh I wonder if this is on mobile." Only to find Xcom: Enemy Within is fully available for five dollars. I skipped coffee for one day, and now I can play my second favorite xcom game anytime. I love modern gaming lord almighty
Damn it, this makes me want to play a run with just a maxed out bio trooper and mech duo, thankfully I can just set dynamic war to like *10 and not spend months on it.
In case you care, when you're looking at the 'character sheet' and his HP is 6+8, the 8 is ablative MEC that can be lost without causing him to go into recovery and the 6 is his 'personal' HP that needs to be recovered if lost. If I'm remembering right.
Ive not played EW for a LONG tome but this episode has me pumped to try MECs, my last game wasnt long after it released and I preferred the Gene Modifications, but MECs look AMAZING!! If 1 MEC is like this, a squad or half of them should be glorious! Ill be quoting General Chang so often it will hurt!
It's always nice to see a new Backlogs video. But to be fair, this is only the second time I've seen a new one come out. 6k subscribers in less than two weeks. Nice.
In regards to the base defense mission and your MEC trooper not being armed, the MEC suit is a piece of armor/equipment, so if you unequipped your soldier at some point, he'd be spawned into combat with his basic gear, which is nothing for a MEC.
Master Chief and Cortana going up against an alien invasion, infiltrating the massive battleship of what's essentially the aliens' god, Chief killing the god and blowing up the ship and Cortana sacrificing herself to throw him out in the last minute... that's bascially Halo 4
From what I’ve heard about X-Com 2, challenge runs are going to be a bit harder. They apparently decided to punish players who want to employ any sort of caution by setting a strict turn limit for every mission that results in an automatic fail, so aggressive tactics are now the ONLY tactics.
Yeah, it kinda is a shame. Watched a GDC talk of one of the designers who actually was proud of this and tried to sell it as something positive and I was just like... what? You are proud tht you on purpose made a turn based tactical shooter that artificially nukes even the possibility of playing more tactical and less guns blazin? What's your next great idea, make the next Need for Speed game so that tuning has only negative effects on your car and no positives?
@@LucRio448 I am guessing that the idea behind timers on missions was to encourage players to be more effective with their actions instead of constantly overwatch creeping their way to victory. For example if a country has endless supply and manpower to resist and attack from an aggressor that does not have that, would you then be impressed that the defenders managed to win the battle? Now what if the reverse would have happened where the defenders have limited resources but still win? It would also reinforce the value of not going for a perfect run where no soliders die or no resources go to waste which could kill of any fun one could have with the game. That said I have only experice with xcom 2 wotc legendary difficulty and not xcom EW,so I coul be lacking some perspective in that regard.
@@danieli9333 Oh I think you are pretty spot on. In fact, I think I've seen a GDC talk of one of the Devs of multiple XCOM-games, and I avguely remember something similar being said plus something about (though i'm not 100% sure if it was in that talk or a different one) like... "given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of any game". Problem there is that you actively take away an established option that was 100% not mandatory at all, because you (as a Dev/Designer) assume you know better what's fun for the player than, well, the players themselves. Plottwist: I did not even get another XCOM title simply BECAUSE they took away the option to play the tactical turn based shooter in a very calculated way, aka they entirely not only invalidated my favourite way of playing EU/EW for future titles, they actively made it entirely impossible. If they made it more difficult, I'd still have tried it. In fact I think EW had a pretty good idea on how to do that, by putting a timer on MELD-containers. That way, playing super slow does get punished, but it is still very much POSSIBLE if you really want to, you are just losing out on some ressources, so you gotta decide which one is more important to you. I'd say the hostage missions in EU also did a good job, even though I hate those shittheads with their sting-legs, but that's not due to bad design, since they do not take an entire playstyle away from me 100% of the time by default but just make it more dangerous and less rewarding than a higher risk style, which is totally fine.
@@LucRio448 I would assume that as a dev/designer you are usually more in the know of knowing how players can have fun than one self when designing a game to be played Before Xcom as a concept was developed into a game I would have not assumed that it would have been something that I consider fun to play and buy. Its how the market in general works. As someone selling a service/product have to guess if and how much demand there is to be profitable. Same would go for devs/designers when designing the fun in games. There was a similar discussion that I remember for doom eternal on how its design was to prevent the player from optimizing the fun out of the game by ex using only one OP gun and strat for performance.
@@danieli9333 I would assume that a a player, I myself are usually more knowledgable about how I personally have fun with a game. There is a difference between not adding something to a game that wasn't there in the first place/in the previous installment of the game because you think it wouldn't be fun, and actively taking away an option completely that people who played the previous installment got used to being an OPTION. There already were people who enjoyed that style. In fact, if nobody was there who played it that way in the first place, there would not be a reason to take it away for the next game - after all, in that hypothetical scenario nobody used it anyways, and an option that nobody uses can't cause issues in terms of fun anyways. The only reason to even consider taking it away in the next installment would be to see people use it in the previous one - which would men, exactly, that some people liked to play it that way. Doom would be an entirely different problem though. What you described would mean at some point you get a gun, that is super OP, and every gun you get later just feels bad, so you feel like your "reward" for advancing in the game in fact is just a significantly worse weapon than what you already got - which obviously isn't good. That's like working at a company, then being promoted - and being told "hey, congrats, we gonna promote you from Junior XY to Senior XY and cut your pay in half", nobody would like that. Playing slower and more calculated in XCOM isn't a reward for advancing, and playing more reckless is neither, both are available from mission 1. And as indicated by (non challenge) LPs/Playthorughs on TH-cam, Twitch etc, there always were tons of people using a medium risk playstyle, a bunch using high risk style, and a bunch using low risk. It's not like everyone only played the super slow-slow style. Not to mention for a TACTICAL game in general, I'd like to play a calculated style and actually have that be one possible way to play it. Might as well add a 3 minute timer to chess and make it mandatory for everybody at all levels and all times even to 13 year olds playing for fun in their own living room at home. Again, I want it to be an OPTION. Balance the game around medium-high risk style, add stuff like those pesky human eating, egg laying aliens who basically punish slow playstyle, add stuff like MELD-containers rewarding higher risk playstyles... for all I care, add the common mission completion rating system, giving a rating from E to S or something, which takes time into consideration as one factor, handing you additional ressources for higher rating, or come up with something entirely different - but don't take away a playstyle entirely that was an option previously, by not making the game MORE DIFFICULT if I opt for that style, but making it literally IMPOSSIBLE to play that way
Found your channel just off of a random wim from recommendations, but boy am I glad I did. Love the commentary on your challenge runs, and I find myself cracking a smile at almost every joke. Keep up the awesome work
Fun fact: my first full playthrough of EW, I _never_ got a bomb mission. I also only got the whale mission like a week before the final mission was ready to go, so I had a jetpack sniper on overwatch with full plasma and gene mods. If we had given her a grenade she probably could have saved XCOM an airstrike and just done it herself. Not to mention the MEC-3, Majors "Chilong" and Annette, an Alloy SHIV, and a squaddie on assault for good measure.
I have a theory about a run that I'm not sure will work but I think it can. So in XCOM2 I BELIEVE you can deploy a soldier without promoting them. I remember doing this once when not promoting a leutienant. So the challenge run idea is. Can you beat XCOM2: with only rookies?
To answer your question about wound threshold : A soldier cannot be injured if the received damage is lower than what it's armor give him as far as HP goes. So if the armor give 4 HP, he can take 3 damage with 0 risk of injuries. 4 damage and I think he can be injured if unlucky. After that it's all aboard the monthly injuries train.
time to go grab pop corn cuz i have been looking forward to this playthrough as mecs are my fav unit in enemy within cant wait to see what u so with it
I actually got introduced to your channel through the XCOM one soldier challenge run, I loved all the challenge runs since then, but I still hoped you would play this game again. Thank you so much!!!
24:50 My first run that got to this room, I had a sniper back in the entrance corridor. Threw a scanner to see what was going on, then realized I'd blocked all my troops in behind him. Fun fact: the entrance has a clear line of sight to the uber ethereal, and with a double crit you can skip the whole battle.
My last playthrough of xcom I actually found out that the only one you need to kill in the end room was the high overseer. Set my sniper on overwatch and she obliterated him causing me to be really surprised that I didn't need to kill anything else. Kind of makes me wonder if you could race through the entire gauntlet without killing anything else.
The Chief wasn't the protagonist here, he was the tool to bring Cortana to her ultimate fate. She's the real MVP. Excellent video, thanks for uploading.
Hey, just a question, have you played through and finished XCOM 2 yet or will this be the first time? I think your subscribers would enjoy watching your time playing, as well as whatever runs you find after. Hope you have a good day
I just wanted to rewatch this because I enjoyed it, and had completely forgotten you start this video by saying "possibly last xcom before moving on to xcom 2" this was 10 months ago
This is surprisingly accurate to Master Chief Dude gets an Exo Suit that could rival the entire Alien Race, gets a Wif- i mean Ai that is good at strategies can control Machines (being the Aliens tech) The story plays out quite similar with all the Halo games combined, fights off against Invading Aliens base, invaded on there base, Finds the Main alien ship where the one leading the invasion, Cortana stays to blow it up while masterchief makes the escape.
Odd thing to get locked onto, but I can't believe that Chief is Swedish... My Norwegian dna screams, while my mind remains calm. That aside, this was XCOM with the lowest miss in combat that I've ever watched! :D
Wow, literally the plot of halo. The Cortana needing rescue, the base coming under attack and the bits at the end with Cortana sacrificing herself to save chief and earth is all 1:1
I played some of these with my sister when we where children It was fun taking turn trying to win. I never thought about the scenario hard enough to imagine a relationship between these two but it's nice, i like it
22:22 - "Queek snick-attack" makes me want to see a Total Warhammer challenge at some point. I thought there'd be a few comments about it, but I guess I'm the only one who noticed or the only one dumb enough to not know it was an intentional joke.
almost everything in this video, including the ending is just my take of Lemon, someone who hasnt played halo trying to explain the game. its accurate too, well done lemon
I love the Mario and Luigi Bowser's inside story music that game is my childhood and I got the remastered one in my current 3DS that I love playing it and I love how you play these older games they've all been my favorite nothing compares
Dude I can't WAIT for Xcom 2. Do you know what would be a very interesting idea? A modded run of Xcom 2 once you are done with the normal stuff with THE PLAYABLE ALIENS MOD. I hope you like the idea because I DO.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
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Ik this is the nord comment but when or if you go to xcom 2, beware, from experience and watching the drifters runs, it can be somewhat more painful, however the drifter plays on wotc, so just be prepared for some more pain
YOU MADE MASTER CHIEF XTRA THICC??!!?
@@idgaf9636 THe drifter is also...not very great at the game either.
@@goldeneyekiller101 hes decent, about the same level id say, hes got longer videos that i like, but he likes to go in depth with each video and like, disects the strategies he uses
@@idgaf9636 I understand. He's not terrible at the game but he's not the best I've seen either. About average. He tends to get frustrated quickly which seems to be his weakness. I love his content though, despite his tactical bumbles
"Cortana just needs to press all the buttons while Chief annihilates anything in his path."
Thats... An impressively perfectly accurate description of the entirety of Halo's story.
Chief's viewpoint: Cortana just does all the boring nerd stuff.
Cortana's viewpoint: Chief just fires the guns and runs around everywhere.
The ending wasnt that far off as well - Cortana sacrifices herself to save chief. Now we need her suprise comeback as a villian in xcom 2
@@PerfectAlibi1 Our Point of view : OHHHH OHHH OHHH OHHHHHH *HALO MENU THEME RUMBLES*
@@EmoChipmonkVOD 😂
@@MSTRCMDR codexs
The reason your soldier don't get hurt every time it gets hit is because there's a difference between mec armor and soldier's health. If it doesn't hit the thresholds of soldier's health, it doesn't injury Chief
It I remember correctly that's actually true for normal soldiers too but since they're damaged threshold is so much smaller usually one shot injures them.
True!
oh, right, because a soldier might have e.g. 6hp, but the MEC suit adds another 6, so if they only take 5 damage in a mission, it's just taken from the MEC suit's pool? that makes sense. i wouldn't have thought it was that simple, but it's an elegant solution. it makes sense that a MEC soldier or someone in heavy armour would be able to withstand more damage _and_ that the damage they take be less severe than someone in a t-shirt.
Yeah, I rediscover this every time I replay this game lol
it doesn't *injure* chief *. But yes, thanks for explaining the HP thing
Yeah, single MEC makes more sense than a full team, a full MEC team is OP, even if you include the singular non-violence guy to be the psi trooper, 5 fully upgraded MECS can mow anything down with extreme prejudice.
what if thats what we wanted to see though? just extreme prejudice revenge for old chief
I had one game where all I did was punch every single thing that touched the ground and... That worked. XCOM 1 was not balanced around the mechs at all. It was barely balanced around the SHIVS tbh with only one enemy really having much of a chance against them(ethereals). That's why in XCOM 2 they didn't carry them over and focused more on the human soldiers since the point of XCOM is humanity against aliens, not machines helping humanity against aliens.
i mean i remember when i had that type of team and.... sectopods were easily destroyed with 2 shots or my favourite technique, fragging em until they were no more than fiery wrecks
long war mecs are even more insane
Especially when you can create a MEC that takes 6 damage per attack AT Max, every other attack on that MEC that turn can do max 4 damage
Sniper-based MECs are incredibly good.
The trick is to get Repair Servos and later Absorption Fields. You want to keep the hitpoints as low as possible (never upgrade the mech suit).
The low base HP of the Sniper in combination with Absorption Field means you get 8/3 rounded down. So no attack can do more than 2 damage which is then repaired by Damage Control. You can face tank a Sektopod and be at full health next turn.
lol sounds like the 1 health healer trick in guild wars 2.
Well that doesn’t sound broken at all, and I’m definitely not going to fire up xcom today because of it
But if you never upgrade the MEC suit you never get grenade launcher or the land mines.
@@hylogibbon You don't need any of those when your MEC is functionally immortal.
As long as you don't get hit more than once per turn
The way the health thing works is that your soldier as two health values : an "armor" value and a health value. When you take a hit, the armor is hit first. Only if you health goes below your armor value do you get injured.
Because mech troopers have a lot of armor, they don't get injured as often
Always bugs me that they didn't make it as obvious as they did in Xcom 2 with the yellow health pips at least they fixed it eventually
@@jimbothegymbro7086 well in 2 the armor reduced each attack's damage rather than acting as part of the healthbar and needed to be "separately" shredded to be removed, much different and more important to know (especially considering that enemies have it too) than 1's armor "damage threshold"
@@BrianatorFTW so in 1 it works similar to xenonauts then? in xenonauts it's a flat damage reduction from the armor but the armor loses durability at a fixed percentage per type
also check out xenonauts if you like Xcom :)
@@jimbothegymbro7086 I will go with no; 1, referring to this game, xcom 1 (and by extension enemy within), the "armor" is the health added by armor equipment, and if the health isn't reduced below that (and thus into the health that the soldier has innately) then that technically means the soldier wasn't wounded, just his armor damaged which doesn't have a repair time for probably simplicity sake. this only has an effect on if and how long the soldier has to recover after the battle as opposed to 2 where damage is damage but they added a real damage reduction armor mechanic to the fights
@@BrianatorFTW Ah now I'm getting what your saying, neat
What's funny is the mech option is actually closer to the real master chief, his battle suit making him 7ft tall and weigh roughly 1 ton. Both things you forget until you see him next to the very tiny and squishy seeming marines.
slightly under half a ton, and that's with armor, but yeah. All the guns in Halo CE were also originally designed as Spartan only ones, so similar to the huge MEC weaponry, which is why they are so high caliber, but then they didn't come up with new ones for the Marine NPCs so now they're normal ones. Spartans aren't quite Astartes, but they go in that direction
@@nerdyspinosaurid In Destiny 2 for the Anniversary event they added halo themed weapons, one of them was an exotic gun labeled as a side arm, a sort of rapid firing low damage pistol in the game; however the gun in question was based on a spartan gun (I believe the magnum) and is labeled in its description as essentially made for a giant. the massive lad uses special ammo instead of primary and hits like a truck.
Edit: theres another one I forgot! the bxr battler is kinda normal sized so I didn't think much about any of the others but the also added an energy sword! the sword is split into 2 blades and is given a long handle apiece, making this 1 sword so massive it became a pair of 2 handed weapons.
Diet space marine (Space marines are bigger and heavier, thus making Chief and the other spartans like the Diet equivalent)
I think master chief is also mod by cypernetics
But, we can all take heart knowing there's no way a half ton of Master Chief bouncing around a Pelican while crash landing on a Halo ring, will cause any injuries. The fact the rest of the marines were KIA was enemy fire. And black jack. And hookers.
"Cortana just need to push all the buttons while Chief annihilates everything in his path"
Oh, so you HAVE played Halo?
Yeah, you watched him do it. This is Halo, right?
I had no idea there was a unique mech v mech melee attack, that’s awesome. Literally never seen that before
There is also a Unique animation for a Sectopod kill with MECs melee
Also a unique animation for Muton berserkers.
Yea I actually really miss those special animations because if I’m not mistaken the sparks in Xcom 2 don’t get any special melee animations
@@captainwolf9364
Indeed they don't. Boring.
@@captainwolf9364 yea, they traded that animation for more added feature in xcom 2
"We 've won but at what cost? "
Luckily for your sanity, it's known that you can beat Xcom 2 WOTC with a single soldier. Unfortunately, doing so basically requires you to spend hundreds of hours using covert ops to grind said soldier to hundreds of max health in order to facetank the final mission.
It's been a while, but does the last mission also force the "commander" along with?
@@OhNoTheFace you just don't use the commander
@@antoniovivas6807 I assumed :P
@@OhNoTheFace Quite a few missions require more than one soldier, namely covert ops ambushes, avenger defense, and the final mission.
Then hold a sacrifice in RNGeuse's name so the entire time the enemies play along and don't activate three pods at once
I'm absolutely stoked to see more Xcom from you!
My initial prediction: No.
False
"No" was my initial prediction too, before I was educated in the power plays that MECs can pull off.
The answer is still no because Cortana was there.
@@sirbill_greebi3811 technically, he did beat the game with a MEC, it simply wasn't with "only" one mec
@@fernando47180 I wrote my comment before I read the actual rules in the video, I was banking on getting blocked by the psionic soldier requirement since as I recall, mechs can't by psychics. After the rules I would've probably said yes, honestly, this run didn't even seem too bad except for a couple of tough situations, might try it myself.
I was also surprised to see the Victory Screen after one shotting the middle alien with my sniper. That was a realy anti-climatic ending.
Haha literally came to the comments to see if anyone else had this happen. The whole "explaining the lore while you plow through enemies" gimmick was cool, but wow did that last room disappoint
@@skeetsmcgrew3282 discovered it myself after Backlogs got me to do my own shiv-primary run. full aggressing on the Leader turns what would otherwise be a decently intense encounter into a laugh track after the dual sectopods the room before.
That whole thing with only needing to kill the leader is actually the reason why I never finished xcom. Y'see, when you kill the leader, all the other enemies die. If your special psi soldier happens to be mind controlled, they die too. If they die, you lose. You can see where this is going.
Edit: they fixed this in enemy within though. It only happens in enemy unknown.
i heard that in the original X-Com, it's possible to win the final battle with ONE remote-controlled missile.
just steer it to the leader, and you win.
Probably why the changed mind control in XC2 to where killing the controller doesn't kill the controlled
@@louiesatterwhite3885 It doesn't do that in 1 either. It's just the scripting for the final mission that's wonky in the original.
I’m not sure which version of enemy within you’re referring to but I just beat the game(iOS version)a few days ago by killing the leader in the middle
@@afrozombie. Yeah they fixed it in Enemy Within. It only happens in Enemy Unknown.
An AI with limitless knowledge that can now control the world around her with mind powers. What could go wrong?
*That is literally the plot of Halo 5.*
And Cortana saving the MC is the end of 4.
Came here to post that, Cortana becoming a demigod was a great potential plot.
@@captaincrazee3961 Saving him from an exploding alien ship that was coming for Earth wielding the powers of enslaved humans
Yeah but no one has played 5
Was coming to the comments to say the same. XCOM featuring Chief and Cortana is hilariously a strange mashup of Halo 4 and 5.
The Chief: "DO NOT RESIST; I'M IS HERE TO SAVE YOU"
What everyone else hears: *gunfire and the sounds of explosions*
Everyone Chief saves is going to have literally no hearing by the time they are done given the arsenal he packs.
fun fact:if you get just the right shot, you can lay mines in range to hit the uber overseer without spawning the fight in. Also, any form of explosion will immediately set off prox mines. do with this information what you will.
The special mech animations with the kinetic strike is always so cool also congrats for completely a run now do pistol only run in xcom 2
entirely possible cause gunslinger sharpshooters are legit good
@@crazako well, with questionable damage against armored enemies.
@@KujiArgisia I think you may be forgetting about AP Ammo, and, if in wotc, Shredder could roll on a Sharpshooter.
@@crazako I didn't forget them. But then you lose the benefits of other ammo they could have.
...and does shredder work on their pistols?
@@KujiArgisia nope I just googled it
I really miss the MECs in XCOM 2. The sparks can barely hold a candle to them. Proximity mines are such a game changer. Sure, they are definitely overpowered. As seen in this video. But it's also so damn cool to have a raging killing machine rampaging through the map, matching even the strongest enemies in power
Your Xcom videos are some of my favorite comfort videos I can turn on literally whenever to relax and have a good laugh. So excited for another one. And really excited to see you take on Xcom 2!
Asked for it a few times before but once again, would *love* to see some Remnant from the Ashes challenges! Also super looking forward to whatever XCOM 2 content you have coming up eventually!!
That final room with the final fight is always my favourite moment of the game. I usually set up a maxed Sniper just outside the door to that room, open it and send someone just far enough in to grant Squadsight, and finish the final fight in a single bullet from the Sniper.
At least MECs show up for base defense so there’s a chance before the video is over this run succeeded. 🙂
You're one of the more entertaining channels on this site, thanks for the great commentary and vids lad
I was unsure on you going sniper, AND im not sure if how involved your assault was turned it into more than just a MEC run.. but ill shut my mouth and congratulate this all the same. well done!
God I love the cinematic melee kills from the MECs.
That was both hilarious and exciting.
I have never finished XCom EW so seeing the end in such a lighthearted context was a treat.
I still say you should do XCOM with minimal alien casualties (Zap em)
The "hearts and minds campaign "
Eww, that would be like playing Fallout completely crippled, starving, and dehydrated. Absolute misery.
And chrysalids…omg the pain. 😂
If you’re a Fallout fan and want to see someone do what I mentioned above, check out Mitten Squad. He does some pretty ridiculous “can you” videos similar to Backlogs but on different games.
When you try to be an alien pacifist .
@@JohnDoe-dr9ff A man of culture I see...
i dont know when youll make a Xcom 2 video, but when it is eventually made, i would love to see a sword/melee only run. They've made it quite viable, and if its too difficult you can bend the rules and bring Templars
i think the reason mecs gain less xp is to incentivize turning your strong soldiers into mechs rather than rookies considering rank carries over
Watching you play XCOM made me confident in trying XCOM 2 while it was on sale. As someone who really doesn't play turn based strategy, I was humbled FAST lol
XCOM2 isn't a very good tbs either. It's basically all the bad parts of this game but cranked up.
After watching one of your recent videos I went on a binge playing the original xcom with mods. Then I thought "huh I wonder if this is on mobile." Only to find Xcom: Enemy Within is fully available for five dollars.
I skipped coffee for one day, and now I can play my second favorite xcom game anytime. I love modern gaming lord almighty
''I had a mec soldier as backup but came without his armor'', you had the perfect opportunity to make a Sergeant Arch Dornan joke... AND YOU BLEW IT!
Damn it, this makes me want to play a run with just a maxed out bio trooper and mech duo, thankfully I can just set dynamic war to like *10 and not spend months on it.
In case you care, when you're looking at the 'character sheet' and his HP is 6+8, the 8 is ablative MEC that can be lost without causing him to go into recovery and the 6 is his 'personal' HP that needs to be recovered if lost. If I'm remembering right.
Ive not played EW for a LONG tome but this episode has me pumped to try MECs, my last game wasnt long after it released and I preferred the Gene Modifications, but MECs look AMAZING!! If 1 MEC is like this, a squad or half of them should be glorious! Ill be quoting General Chang so often it will hurt!
I don't know if you see my words.
Thank you. You made my spend time on watching youtube worth every single second.
It's always nice to see a new Backlogs video.
But to be fair, this is only the second time I've seen a new one come out.
6k subscribers in less than two weeks. Nice.
In regards to the base defense mission and your MEC trooper not being armed, the MEC suit is a piece of armor/equipment, so if you unequipped your soldier at some point, he'd be spawned into combat with his basic gear, which is nothing for a MEC.
The first time I got to the end of the game, my top sniper killed the Uber-Ethereal in one turn and I was just as surprised when the game ended.
I really appreciate the effort you put into things like ads and explanations of your runs. It’s the little things that set you apart as a creator.
Master Chief and Cortana going up against an alien invasion, infiltrating the massive battleship of what's essentially the aliens' god, Chief killing the god and blowing up the ship and Cortana sacrificing herself to throw him out in the last minute... that's bascially Halo 4
I'm actually kinda surprised Lemon hasn't played Halo considering that game's a gold mine for challenge run content.
2 years and skill no xcom2
Thank you for encouraging me to do dumb and difficult challenge runs. I'm running through darksouls 3 crossbow only because of you and I'm loving it
From what I’ve heard about X-Com 2, challenge runs are going to be a bit harder.
They apparently decided to punish players who want to employ any sort of caution by setting a strict turn limit for every mission that results in an automatic fail, so aggressive tactics are now the ONLY tactics.
Yeah, it kinda is a shame. Watched a GDC talk of one of the designers who actually was proud of this and tried to sell it as something positive and I was just like... what? You are proud tht you on purpose made a turn based tactical shooter that artificially nukes even the possibility of playing more tactical and less guns blazin? What's your next great idea, make the next Need for Speed game so that tuning has only negative effects on your car and no positives?
@@LucRio448 I am guessing that the idea behind timers on missions was to encourage players to be more effective with their actions instead of constantly overwatch creeping their way to victory.
For example if a country has endless supply and manpower to resist and attack from an aggressor that does not have that, would you then be impressed that the defenders managed to win the battle? Now what if the reverse would have happened where the defenders have limited resources but still win?
It would also reinforce the value of not going for a perfect run where no soliders die or no resources go to waste which could kill of any fun one could have with the game.
That said I have only experice with xcom 2 wotc legendary difficulty and not xcom EW,so I coul be lacking some perspective in that regard.
@@danieli9333 Oh I think you are pretty spot on. In fact, I think I've seen a GDC talk of one of the Devs of multiple XCOM-games, and I avguely remember something similar being said plus something about (though i'm not 100% sure if it was in that talk or a different one) like... "given the opportunity, players will optimise the fun out of any game".
Problem there is that you actively take away an established option that was 100% not mandatory at all, because you (as a Dev/Designer) assume you know better what's fun for the player than, well, the players themselves. Plottwist: I did not even get another XCOM title simply BECAUSE they took away the option to play the tactical turn based shooter in a very calculated way, aka they entirely not only invalidated my favourite way of playing EU/EW for future titles, they actively made it entirely impossible. If they made it more difficult, I'd still have tried it. In fact I think EW had a pretty good idea on how to do that, by putting a timer on MELD-containers. That way, playing super slow does get punished, but it is still very much POSSIBLE if you really want to, you are just losing out on some ressources, so you gotta decide which one is more important to you. I'd say the hostage missions in EU also did a good job, even though I hate those shittheads with their sting-legs, but that's not due to bad design, since they do not take an entire playstyle away from me 100% of the time by default but just make it more dangerous and less rewarding than a higher risk style, which is totally fine.
@@LucRio448
I would assume that as a dev/designer you are usually more in the know of knowing how players can have fun than one self when designing a game to be played
Before Xcom as a concept was developed into a game I would have not assumed that it would have been something that I consider fun to play and buy.
Its how the market in general works. As someone selling a service/product have to guess if and how much demand there is to be profitable. Same would go for devs/designers when designing the fun in games.
There was a similar discussion that I remember for doom eternal on how its design was to prevent the player from optimizing the fun out of the game by ex using only one OP gun and strat for performance.
@@danieli9333 I would assume that a a player, I myself are usually more knowledgable about how I personally have fun with a game.
There is a difference between not adding something to a game that wasn't there in the first place/in the previous installment of the game because you think it wouldn't be fun, and actively taking away an option completely that people who played the previous installment got used to being an OPTION. There already were people who enjoyed that style. In fact, if nobody was there who played it that way in the first place, there would not be a reason to take it away for the next game - after all, in that hypothetical scenario nobody used it anyways, and an option that nobody uses can't cause issues in terms of fun anyways. The only reason to even consider taking it away in the next installment would be to see people use it in the previous one - which would men, exactly, that some people liked to play it that way.
Doom would be an entirely different problem though. What you described would mean at some point you get a gun, that is super OP, and every gun you get later just feels bad, so you feel like your "reward" for advancing in the game in fact is just a significantly worse weapon than what you already got - which obviously isn't good. That's like working at a company, then being promoted - and being told "hey, congrats, we gonna promote you from Junior XY to Senior XY and cut your pay in half", nobody would like that.
Playing slower and more calculated in XCOM isn't a reward for advancing, and playing more reckless is neither, both are available from mission 1. And as indicated by (non challenge) LPs/Playthorughs on TH-cam, Twitch etc, there always were tons of people using a medium risk playstyle, a bunch using high risk style, and a bunch using low risk. It's not like everyone only played the super slow-slow style.
Not to mention for a TACTICAL game in general, I'd like to play a calculated style and actually have that be one possible way to play it. Might as well add a 3 minute timer to chess and make it mandatory for everybody at all levels and all times even to 13 year olds playing for fun in their own living room at home.
Again, I want it to be an OPTION. Balance the game around medium-high risk style, add stuff like those pesky human eating, egg laying aliens who basically punish slow playstyle, add stuff like MELD-containers rewarding higher risk playstyles... for all I care, add the common mission completion rating system, giving a rating from E to S or something, which takes time into consideration as one factor, handing you additional ressources for higher rating, or come up with something entirely different - but don't take away a playstyle entirely that was an option previously, by not making the game MORE DIFFICULT if I opt for that style, but making it literally IMPOSSIBLE to play that way
I love your videos for sure! This one was very fun to watch!
"...how do you keep getting into my house?"
I don’t think he’s gotten around to 2
Found your channel just off of a random wim from recommendations, but boy am I glad I did. Love the commentary on your challenge runs, and I find myself cracking a smile at almost every joke. Keep up the awesome work
Fun fact: my first full playthrough of EW, I _never_ got a bomb mission. I also only got the whale mission like a week before the final mission was ready to go, so I had a jetpack sniper on overwatch with full plasma and gene mods. If we had given her a grenade she probably could have saved XCOM an airstrike and just done it herself. Not to mention the MEC-3, Majors "Chilong" and Annette, an Alloy SHIV, and a squaddie on assault for good measure.
When are we getting Xcom 2??!?
This is probably the 6th time I’ve read MEC as medic …
Yes I clicked the video 5 times prior will watch the 6th
Man, I appreciate so much that you include a list of the music in the description.
I have a theory about a run that I'm not sure will work but I think it can. So in XCOM2 I BELIEVE you can deploy a soldier without promoting them. I remember doing this once when not promoting a leutienant. So the challenge run idea is. Can you beat XCOM2: with only rookies?
No you cant
I love XCOM 1 and also XCOM 2 and your videos, i hope for some "Can you beat Xcom 2" to.
Maybe one day he'll get to Xcom 2
Lemon is the only person that can make me watch a sponsored segment.
Clearly you've never watched Internet Historian
Or Internet Comment Etiquette for that matter.
@@KFP_Prophet Came here to say this. Nordman could sell water to an ocean...plus a free month!
TWA: Sad but teribley writem noices of adbise
Huhu, nice challenge as always I really like the Xcom challenges. That upload made my BIrthday alot better :D keep up the nice work
Furi ost. Instant masterpiece
Having played Xcom 2 WOTC recently, I'm really excited to start seeing those videos on the channel!
I love these Xcom videos so much
To answer your question about wound threshold : A soldier cannot be injured if the received damage is lower than what it's armor give him as far as HP goes. So if the armor give 4 HP, he can take 3 damage with 0 risk of injuries. 4 damage and I think he can be injured if unlucky. After that it's all aboard the monthly injuries train.
time to go grab pop corn cuz i have been looking forward to this playthrough as mecs are my fav unit in enemy within cant wait to see what u so with it
“Chief what do you think you’re doing?”
“Sir, genociding the entire species”
I actually got introduced to your channel through the XCOM one soldier challenge run, I loved all the challenge runs since then, but I still hoped you would play this game again.
Thank you so much!!!
24:50 My first run that got to this room, I had a sniper back in the entrance corridor. Threw a scanner to see what was going on, then realized I'd blocked all my troops in behind him. Fun fact: the entrance has a clear line of sight to the uber ethereal, and with a double crit you can skip the whole battle.
Mec + SHIV = good time
It's time to move on to XCOM 2-Lemon from a year ago, you poor misguided soul but soon you shall make good on that promise
Finally,more xcom content ! Just discovered this channel recently.
the adventures of the Very Big Huge Large Man, and also Cortana, who's there mostly for moral support
My last playthrough of xcom I actually found out that the only one you need to kill in the end room was the high overseer. Set my sniper on overwatch and she obliterated him causing me to be really surprised that I didn't need to kill anything else. Kind of makes me wonder if you could race through the entire gauntlet without killing anything else.
slight bias by your xcom videos are your absolute faves so ty for this blessing
Xcom but only using 1 of each class! Perma death and no replacements
The Chief wasn't the protagonist here, he was the tool to bring Cortana to her ultimate fate. She's the real MVP.
Excellent video, thanks for uploading.
"mvp" lol, yeah she took those tentacle monsters hentai'ing her face like a champ 😂
Hey, just a question, have you played through and finished XCOM 2 yet or will this be the first time? I think your subscribers would enjoy watching your time playing, as well as whatever runs you find after. Hope you have a good day
Just found your videos and I've been just binge-watching all your content in the past few days. Excellent stuff, keep the good stuff coming!
It is like that episode from Halo Legends, or Halo Wars 2, where Sgt. Johnson used the same armor from the episode
I just wanted to rewatch this because I enjoyed it, and had completely forgotten you start this video by saying "possibly last xcom before moving on to xcom 2" this was 10 months ago
The fact that I can see this as an alternate universe Halo storyline is testament to your creative genius.
This is surprisingly accurate to Master Chief
Dude gets an Exo Suit that could rival the entire Alien Race, gets a Wif- i mean Ai that is good at strategies can control Machines (being the Aliens tech)
The story plays out quite similar with all the Halo games combined, fights off against Invading Aliens base, invaded on there base, Finds the Main alien ship where the one leading the invasion, Cortana stays to blow it up while masterchief makes the escape.
This is entirely impressive gameplay footage of 'Halo Master Chief Collection'
That was one hell of a run. Good Job Soldier!
Odd thing to get locked onto, but I can't believe that Chief is Swedish... My Norwegian dna screams, while my mind remains calm. That aside, this was XCOM with the lowest miss in combat that I've ever watched! :D
Wow, literally the plot of halo. The Cortana needing rescue, the base coming under attack and the bits at the end with Cortana sacrificing herself to save chief and earth is all 1:1
YOU PROMISED XCOM 2 AND WE HAVE NEVER SEEN A VIDEO. BRING BACK THE XCOM!!! LOVE IT!
I played some of these with my sister when we where children
It was fun taking turn trying to win.
I never thought about the scenario hard enough to imagine a relationship between these two but it's nice, i like it
The Chief...is Swedish.
*Muppets Intensifies*
Looking for this comment as it is immediately what I thought too.
This is a better story than the actual Halo TV series
Bro the sectopod getting stuck under that balcony thing in the end happened to me too! Makes the fight so much easier lol.
Beautiful. This is all I ever wanted out of an XCOM:EW challenge run.
This narration is great. Wanted to watch just a few minutes but couldn’t stop until the end. Nice job with the W!
Looking forward to your XCOM 2 runs, _AND_ the potential for some Halo playthroughs! Always nice to see people get into a setting I grew up with.
22:22 - "Queek snick-attack" makes me want to see a Total Warhammer challenge at some point.
I thought there'd be a few comments about it, but I guess I'm the only one who noticed or the only one dumb enough to not know it was an intentional joke.
One or two I'm really enjoying these XCOM challenges. Thank you.
Are you sure you’ve never played halo? You’ve like nailed the relationship and dynamic of chief and Cortanna.
That last room strat reminds me of the classic "Counting with Beaglerush."
and one really important thing about kinetic strike- it increases your movement distance
almost everything in this video, including the ending is just my take of Lemon, someone who hasnt played halo trying to explain the game. its accurate too, well done lemon
18:10 "You are out of uniform soldier!!! WHERE IS YOUR POWER ARMOR?!!!!!"
I love the Mario and Luigi Bowser's inside story music that game is my childhood and I got the remastered one in my current 3DS that I love playing it and I love how you play these older games they've all been my favorite nothing compares
Dude I can't WAIT for Xcom 2. Do you know what would be a very interesting idea? A modded run of Xcom 2 once you are done with the normal stuff with THE PLAYABLE ALIENS MOD. I hope you like the idea because I DO.