[An4ximandros]

Whelp, I can't even try this, no XP compatibility and I have too many things that don't like Win-6 or Vis7a.

I'll just have to go with those "Indie" spiritual sequels. Kill some aliens for me!

[NGTM-1R]

I'll toss out an opinion in approximately 50 minutes or so.

[SpardaSon21]

So, I was on the fence, but after my sniper had a close call with a floater and then a frag grenade immediately after, a thin man getting shredded by LMG fire, and then the last enemy getting vaporized by a shotgun fired directly into its torso, I'll probably buy this game.

[General Battuta]

It's already starting to make me angry that we'll have a whole generation of gamers thinking that this six man sponge armored health barred single skyranger script thing is XCOM. IRRATIONALLY ANGRY

I had really high hopes but I am going to need to start adjusting them to something more sane.

[Polpolion]

I'll play it when my internet starts working properly. Honestly what GB has been saying makes perfect sense judging by the gameplay videos I've seen, not really all that surprising. I'm hoping that mods will give people their original x-com fix so I'm not too too worried about things being dramatically different from the original.

Lingering question: how is the ai?

[General Battuta]

It's worth pointing out that this is a deeply ****ty demo that permits only the worst sort of tactical combat and allows no meaningful decisions. So maybe the game will open up awesomely.

[SpardaSon21]

Well, it turns out that after a look at my finances I cannot afford XCOM at this time, so I shall not be purchasing it.

[NGTM-1R]

Saying it doesn't feel like X-COM is a little disingenuous, as the turn sequence is more or less the same though it plays through at a much higher speed. (I'm pretty cool with that, the original could at times be excruciatingly slow.) Tactics are different, primarily as a result of changes to line of sight mechanics that result from the new cover system. Cover is no longer as be-all end-all because you can still get shot at in it, which makes the game surprisingly less(!) forgiving than X-COM. Your soldiers (and the aliens) aren't as derpy about shooting to compensate for their lower likelihood of surviving. I'll have to play more to figure out if the tradeoff balances.

In general I'm happy with what I see so far, considering the small scope of the demo. Didn't figure out the capture methods in the mission, it suggested there were some, but my only option was apparently shotgunning the Thin Man in the face from one square.

[NGTM-1R]

Demo is apparently locked on easy, this can be changed.

[Fury]

Never really played XCOM games before, but I very much liked the demo.

[General Battuta]

RPS has a piece up sort of apologizing by proxy for the demo:

this demo is, quite frankly, a stinker that’s far too superficial and does a poor job of representing the obsessed, tense experience of the wider game

Reassured me a little.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/09/25/some-things-you-should-know-about-the-xcom-demo/#more-125588

[Ravenholme]

Yeah, I'm not going to rage over what is quite clearly the tutorial section to introduce the generation that missed the first XCOM to the basic ideas of turn-based control and combat. I can see the potential there, the demo being locked on Easy was... obvious, I believe, and you can see the potential for it to open up into greater arenas, even if you hadn't realised that already from the videos the devs had shown us.

[Vidmaster]

I loved this thing, why are you all hating it? Read the previews, the Demo is just a tutorial taste.

[TrashMan]

Not impressed.

Not bad, but I prefer the old X-Com honestly.
I like managing TU's. I like keeping track of ammo. I like not having super-specilized soldiers.

[Kobrar44]

Have you seen this yet?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ3B7XPpPmI
I don't think I'll buy this game, but I most certainly will watch ALL teh gameplays 

[headdie]

Total Biscuit did a fairly balanced overview of the demo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H1XjZL5yk4&feature=plcp

[NGTM-1R]

I like keeping track of ammo.

I take it the existence of a reload button on your troopers' options bar in the demo was completely lost on you.

[Scotty]

I like keeping track of ammo.

Amusingly, this is exactly why I used laser weapons for the entire game.  I hated keeping track of ammo.

[headdie]

what trash means is that there is no seperate ammo items in the game, each weapon has reloads but you have no way to change the ammo level the soldier takes int othe battle, you just shoot, reload when needed and thats all there is to ammo managment

[NGTM-1R]

what trash means is that there is no seperate ammo items in the game, each weapon has reloads but you have no way to change the ammo level the soldier takes int othe battle, you just shoot, reload when needed and thats all there is to ammo managment

That's really no different from how anybody competent would have tried to run in the original games, though. You'd equip with enough ammo to run the mission without running out, unless you had a total inability to do that (rocket launchers), plus a grenade or two. If you were doing something else it would be because you were inexperienced, which will probably last but a single mission, or because you were really dumb, for which there is no cure.

Abstracting out my having to issue five rifle clips to each guy on Hard isn't a grand and important loss. It really makes no difference to how you play the game if you're remotely competent. And ammo is still in for your whizbangs like grenades and rocket launchers so you still have to make careful decisions about what to use those on and keep track of who's still got a grenade or a rocket on them. (In fact this game is actually more intolerant of freely spending them since you'll have only maybe four grenades and a rocket per mission.)