Paranoid Jack

I ordered it from CD WoW myself. Never heard of them but their price was great and free 7 to 10 day shipping to the US I can't complain. I have yet to try the demo but I liked Aftermath & loved Aftershock (just never finished either). Hell, I'll play anything turn based/round based with any kind of squad or party based combat. The new look is a nice change also. Here's hoping they added even more variety to the levels. Aftershock was light-years ahead of Aftermath in that category. But even so after playing a few hundred missions on the dozens of levels they started to get old. Picked up Brigade E5 at a local GameStop at a reduced price and I'm semi or fairly happy with it. Can't wait to see the improvements they have made to Afterlight since it was a huge leap from Aftermath to Aftershock. This one should be far better. And some of the reviewers agree. Slaughter, I've been lurking about as usual. Too many games and too little time...

So how is it? I have the demo but haven't had a chance to get to it yet. I was on the verge of ordering a copy from GoGamer.Com but for some reason held off. Well... mainly my WoW BC addiction, that's why. I'm baffled that one site claims it is true successor to X-Com yet another gave it a 5 out of 10. Guess there is no accounting for taste. So what it be like Slaughter? You playing it? Anyone got a link for that lowest price? My credit card is on fire...

I agree with the repetitive part though not as much with the boring... one could argue that they go hand in hand. In Afterlight I hope to see a tighter well done campaign over-all. I enjoyed Aftershock it was just far to stretched out for no other reason than to add more play-time. I've always been in favor of a medium length game with greater polish than an extremely long game with repetition to the point of boredom. I'll pick his one up either way unless another title or two already have me tied up and playing too much.

You mean a new demo? There is an old rough as hell demo out from half a year or so back... Hoping the retail game is much more polished because it surely has potential to be good if not a great tactical game.

Yeah, I will but right now the memory of Night Watch is still too fresh in my head. Plus Company of Heroes is due out in a couple day and I am loving the new demo with skirmish mode. I favor the Allied Armor Company but I'm now trying to learn the Axis side and not really enjoying it as much. I'm sure at some point I will be itching for some turn-based game-play and bust it open. Who knows though if VD releases AoD soon that may hold me over for a long while. I hope at least.

As far as the demo versus the retail product... it is hard to explain but I played the demo and enjoyed it enough to think the retail release may have some potential. After six to twelve levels/maps played in the retail product I realized how shallow the game-play is. I haven't touched the game in months (it seems) so it is hard to go into specifics but here are a few things I remember. Tactics are at a minimum. So what you see in the demo is pretty much it. Yeah, you find items along the way and you can create items if you choose to be an enchanter but I never found anything that was helpful or exciting before giving up on the game. Over-scripting is a huge problem in the level design. No matter how you handle certain situations the out-come is rarely changed. Even if the map has two or three possible exits they all lead to the same thing. Again, I played roughly ten/twelve maps repeatedly trying different approaches when I didn't like certain out-comes... only to find due to scripting I had little or no choice. And usually my choices made no difference in how/when the next event was triggered or it's out-come. For example you can't get past certain encounters not even using the Twilight to sneak around. So you fight the three guys and you kill two and the third guy is nearing death... bamb, another triggered event. You can't kill them/him for some stupid reason. Why? Who knows? Because if he triggers the next map or if you choose one of the other two exits all three lead to the same scripted story-line. I guess I was expecting more options less story driven game-play. Limited abilities to choose from while developing your characters. Check the website and get the info there I won't list them since they are not fresh in my mind. Believe me I tried hard as I could to like this game but I felt like I was playing a very linear story-line with levels containing sometimes as many as four scripted events to move the story along. And at times the triggered scripts would conflict with what you just did or where you were on the map. That got old pretty quickly. Wish I could go into more detail but again I haven't touched it in a while. I mainly bought it hoping it would help fund the next Silent Storm. I bought Hammer & Sickle also. It sits unopened on my floor just three feet away... I won't buy another Nival game unless they start improving.

No thanks. I am still pissed off about Night Watch being such a dud.

I loved this game (a couple years ago) and can't believe that they haven't started a true sequel (and not another add-on or spin-off). If they could update the graphics while keeping the game-play (or even improving it slightly) with larger maps I would gladly give them some more of my cash. But after Night Watch and buying Hammer & Sickle just to help fund the next Silent Storm... well I have given up waiting for another game that is as good or better than S2 from Nival. Ah, hell... if I can hold on and remain hopeful that Fallout 3 will be better than Oblivion with guns I can hold out for Nival to do a proper TB game again.

I uninstalled and downloaded again and it works fine now but it seems the translation leaves a bit to be desired. edit: I have played thru the first mission and was fairly entertained but very frustrated on several occasions. Its a bit rough around the edges. The story-line dialogs that pop up during the cut-scenes seem to be poorly translated or poorly written. Which isn't bad... no worse than normal should I say. But want irritated me most was the poor path-finding. The enemy path-finding seems to be much better than the PCs party. At times they completely stop attempting to reach safety when hit by an enemy or they get hung up on each other. Or they don't attack or don't move when given orders to move to a new location. Though a bit rough I think the game has some charm if they can polish a bit more. I have yet to play the second mission due to run-time errors causing a lot of crashes to desktop. But what I got to play I liked. Wish the scripting wasn't so ridged though. I can't remember the Wizards name on the mound but I never even got to kill him he just blew up after I took out numerous guards by pulling them away in small groups and killing one or two at a time. I mainly focused on melee combat but even without going into the magic system I know I would not pay full price (above $40 US) for this game from the impression the demo made at least.

I get a runtime error and a crash to desktop when trying to open this demo, anyone else?

Most of those CONs don't sounds so bad. Steep learning curve - can be over-come. Dated graphics - are only a problem if you are trying to sell an Action RPG to the masses. Bad localization with frequent translation errors - is typical. So it appear this one may be worth checking out when it finally makes its English release in the UK or NA... sometime next year.

If you were to judge by the lack of response to this thread you would think nobody is interested in this game. Yet I have high hopes for it. It looks good from what I have seen on this and other sites. And since I never bought or really enjoyed most of the previous games I have an open mind about this newest version. Like playing Fallout Tactics before actually playing Fallout (have yet to try Fallout 2) I was able to enjoy Tactics for what it is... a tactical game. Anyway I hope a demo will give me a better understanding of what the retail version has to offer.

I agree. She is unconscious on the ground with her arm, leg, or weapon sticking up. Most definitely not a bike thingy. Looks damned good. I like the new cartoon-ish look. The previous two games had more dreary atmospheres and that tends to get old after a hundred hours or so of game-play. When you compare the advances they made between Aftermath and Aftershock I have very high hopes for Afterlight. Even though I never finished Aftermath and I have yet to complete Aftershock I am ready for the next one. Can't wait to get a demo on my hard drive. Think I will revisit Aftershock and advance farther into it in hopes of reaching the ending before Afterlight arrives.

I want a demo... and I want it NOW! No, really... this thing is due out at anytime right? Is a demo planned? I would have to assume it is.

I have been messing around with demo for a while but have yet to figure out the remote detonation item. How do you detonate mines from a distance? So this demo is outdated and not a true representation of the retail product?

Did you install that Greatful Dead/Phish Mod? That might be where all the tie-die is coming into play. I heard that mod also has a pacifist trooper who can sneak behind enemy lines and spark up some ganja before handing out flowers. Not sure how well that tactic would work since I prefer to shoot everyone until they die from lead poisoning. If you want the weapons the escorted human has just render them unconscious and take them before you heal them. A down and dirty way to get some nice things early in the game.

Most of us here would agree with you 100%, "it is well worth it". I rather enjoyed the difficulty you face in the early part of the game. Having just a few Laser Rifles and limit ammo. And then later recovering convention small arms from mutants and/or cultists with limited ammo. With no avenue to manufacture ammo it can get very nerve racking. ***Possible Spoiler, Though You Most Likely Have Read About This Already*** Not sure how far into the game I am, I took a few weeks off. I am currently waiting for the "ship" to be manufactured. So that I can attack the Wargots ship. For the most part I have thoroughly enjoyed Aftershock. It far surpasses Aftermath in so many ways. And at this point the main irritant has been the crashes to desktop... which I sent off dozen of reports to Micr$oft via Windows XP. Hopefully M$ sends those reports on to ALTAR. Either way they did an awesome job on this sequel. I hope then improve the formula even more with Afterlight. Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year to all, even if you don't celebrate it.

You need a Library or School to give you the required Knowledge Level before being able to build a College.

I have had buildings in the process of being constructed freeze like that. I had to demolish it and start again. So try to move it off your list and back onto it. You won't loose the existing time already invested. At least it didn't when I moved it. Be sure also that you have not lost a base crucial to that research. I had a few similar freezes during research.

Here is the fix for the missed mission trigger. Good luck. http://forum.ufo-aftermath.com/index.php?a...st=0#entry21451 Edit: This FIX works I have used it. And it isn't too difficult to do. Just follow the directions given by the kind soul who figured it out. Though I would recommend only rolling back the numbers a few thousand each at most. Not halving them. Otherwise you'll be waiting between one to two days (game-time) to get the triggers. So basically this returns Wargot Ship Probe & Cultist-Wargot Collaboration to unfinished research. My recommendation is to subtract a few thousand from Collaboration and half that for Probe. Then when returning to your saved game (in-game) don't forget to add them back to the research ques. Put them at the top of your list of course. :mad: You'll get the failed Ship Probe cut scene and then the Collaboration will trigger the mission to attack a Cultist base to find the info needed to continue the plot-line. So above all be sure the Cultists have a base. Remember wiping them off the map automatically gives them three provinces. And one or two are bases. Good luck and have fun. Thanks again to those who took the time to post this info and toy with the saved game file so that we could continue reclaiming Earth for the good of all mankind.

You can make it all Colleges by first placing the School, then building two Colleges which will support the Knowledge Level requirements for each other. Demolish the School and build a third College.

The removed the pipe and it disappeared... only to reappear later (in the game) as if from thin air. Magic?

Sweet, thanks!

May the Gods bless you! One quick question though. I am running it from my game directory and the DOS window opens and closes in the blink of an eye. It doesn't remain open for me to specify a file. Is that suppose to happen? Edit: Appears the first one I downloaded has no ReadMe with the proper instruction. I got the second one from the Files section, thank you both.

Well, I can confirm the patch screws up the character skill levels. My two best Commandos were Heroic & Super Heroic in Speed. Now both are listed as Poor. But they can still run like juiced up track stars.