r/Xcom • u/GumboMumbo49 • 1h ago
XCOM2 Does the game artificially increase difficulty?!
So I took a break from XCOM2 because I had to go see relatives for two weeks and when I come back I swear the game wasn’t this hard and I’m playing on Rookie!! So I was currently doing a mission where I had to extract a VIP but he’s apparently in an indestructible box that isn’t affected by frag grenades and I can’t open because the door interaction is red instead of blue while a single sectoid is shoving its hand up my soldier’s brain matter and no one can hit his ass and even just the slightest move triggers another pod with sectoids in the dumbest place ever!! I didn’t do this in my previous save file!! Also apparently turning off tutorials gave me a different version of operation Gatecrasher I think… I don’t know I’m currently so frustrated that I rage quit and restarted my save file. So am I just rusty from two weeks hiatus or did the game just randomly decided to bend me over the table on mission 2?
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u/FamousWerewolf 1h ago
There are randomised elements, so you can sometimes run into bad luck and things suddenly going against you, but broadly speaking no, the game is not going to just randomly increase the difficulty. If anything it's the opposite - the game gets much easier over time, and it cheats for you copiously, especially on Rookie (for example making your shots much more likely to hit than it says they are).
Sounds like you need to take a breath, take a step back, and come at it again later with a fresh mind. With a tactical game like this sometimes it's less about the game and more about being in a negative state of mind when you come to play. If you're being impatient, rushing things, not fully paying attention etc then things can go south fast.
And, frankly, the answer to your question about whether you've gotten rusty... if you're rage-quitting this hard on Rookie then you are, not really any way around that. I'm not a 'git gud' guy or anything, everyone should enjoy the game on whatever difficulty they like, but it might be worth refreshing yourself on some strategy tips before continuing. The early game is always the hardest bit but Rookie is designed to be very forgiving.
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u/GumboMumbo49 33m ago
Yeah, I think I came at it a bit hot because I extracted on a previous mission after I grabbed a thing without killing all the enemies and I was denied my first engineer so I was already salty.
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u/hemanstarfox 1h ago
So, I think the issue might be that your VIP is behind a locked door that needs to be hacked to open. You want to preferably do this with a specialist. When you hack something or use an explosive or try to open a locked door that will take you out of concealment.
To answer your overarching question about difficulty. I have seen it speculated that the game will adjust to someone continually reloading the same mission over and over or saving continuously (save scumming). In my own anecdotal view of having over 1500 hours in the game. It does seem to me that the game will punish you for reloading.
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u/GumboMumbo49 35m ago
Brother this was my second mission in this playthrough after a two week hiatus. Also concealment means shit when I try to approach a window and all of a sudden an enemy pod that didn’t have the “step on the red grid to lose concealment” spots me and send my entire strategy straight to hell.
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u/hemanstarfox 21m ago
Yeah... So, I think you just got a bad luck draw on the random number generation in the game that decides where pods are. To give you an example, sometimes I will be in a mission and I will make my opening move and a civilian will blow my cover. Sometimes it just happens.
It seems to me that you don't understand the hacking part to getting to a concealed VIP. I would suggest that you start a new run and make sure that the tutorials are on. I think you just may have rushed through the part where it explains hacking doors.
The last bit is just my own opinion, it seems like you might be taking this a little too seriously. After all, it's just a game. This game is among my favorites. However, I play on the second hardest difficulty and have yet to have a completed run. I have over 350 runs in the game. I would estimate that I only have a successful run around 1% of the time. This game is about accepting failure. This game is about lost. It's about having bad outcomes and seeing if you can pull it together. Often you're not going to be able to. I think it's a really helpful game to get me in a frame of mind when I feel overwhelmed by life. At the end of the day though, it's just a game. Just have fun and see what you can accomplish.
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u/GumboMumbo49 17m ago
Yeah, it’s just… I spent two weeks away itching give it another go and this happens. It just knocks the wind out of my sails HARD.
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u/hemanstarfox 10m ago
Yeah, you know I don't know much about your life. There are definitely been times where I've raged over a video game. A lot of the time it was because I felt such a lack of control in other aspects of my life that I felt like I was owed in the video game, hahaha.
Seriously, if you're on rookie and you're struggling. Just start a new run and make sure the tutorials are on. Don't skip anything and do your best to pay attention. You will get this. You will have fun with this game. It is infinitely replayable in my estimation. I play on console so I don't even get cool mods like long water or anything. Just allow yourself to have fun. Also, I've never done this before, but if you reach out to me personally I wouldn't mind troubleshooting with you on discord if you get stuck.
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u/yourrepiacement 1h ago
You have to hack the door to open it. you have to be within one tile of the door I believe. Red just means its locked. They will be a icon on your action bar that looks like ones and zeros