Actually better than the original in a couple of important aspects, namely soldier distinctiveness (classes and skills, especially with the randomized skills mutator) and battlescape map variety.
I like XCOM Files
Being knee fricking deep in Deep One corpses while you blast a ziggurat to pieces with high explosives is a fun experience.
It's also worse in that it vastly simplified the inventory systems and stat mechanics. All in all, I'd say it's a wash, I like both games and I couldn't say which one was objectively better, only that I prefer the OG games.
>It's also worse in that it vastly simplified the inventory systems and stat mechanics
Streamlining is not inherently worse. It widened weapon options, class abilities became a thing. The inventory added nothing of value, it was just a chore.
Not him but I find the 2 action points system frustrating as opposed of the freedom of the time units. Sure, an inexperienced player will play faster with Solomon's game but I see it more like a problem of interface than any other thing.
class abilities are the worst thing about nucom
every soldier is now a magical superhero that does backflips and wipes the entire map every turn
I tolerated it with xcom 2 but with CS and the new capeshit game it's obvious what the devs want xcom to become
I agree with clicking buttons with cooldowns being shit. I'm still fine with fantastic powers, but NuCom 1 left the core gameplay as cover, flanking, and shooting.
Someone post the "you fight like a woman" screenshoot. I almost cringed myself to death.
2 years ago
Anonymous
2 years ago
Anonymous
>Someone got paid to write this >Someone approved this
And I'm what Ganker would call a "commie leftist".
2 years ago
Anonymous
I'm so tired of the video game industry
2 years ago
Anonymous
The whole chimera squad can have such cool and intense dynamic and drama. However, it's just filled with cringey sparky and ironic dialogue most of the time. We can't have actual genuine and realistic discrimination and distrust between members that create internal conflicts within the team that get resolved as the game go on.
that's obviously double-edged, you can't do hidden movement jumpscare deaths like OG X-com did if you can't just throw another 20 rookies in the meatgrinder
BUMP
I don't know if I should buy it since the only XCOM related game I've played was Xenonauts and I had a blast with it
In case you're interested, over at /vg/ they have a new version of /xcg/ but that includes other tactical vidya called /&tg/.
[...]
I really want to see an ISIS assassination style video thing with Advent Troopers. The videos with the red circle over people getting shot and overedited to shit loool
>Your men have a memorial for their fallen comrades
That made me shiver, I had to quit because in the game your troops didn't felt disposable and I could not bear any losses.
>Play long war when the balance was janky as frick >Fun >Try to go back and play it again now that it's 'done' >Balance is every more janky and absolutely requires you to be utterly an expert at the game >Don't want to relearn everything >Uninstall
Long war 1 is a shit experience and was only marginally better than the base game until the expansion came out.
LW2 (and especially LWOTC) is much better.
I much prefer Xenonauts over the modern Xcom games because it is more true to the original. Although I just wish the art was better.
It sure as shit was not and they got heavy flak for falsely advertising it as such.
Play the X-com files if you really want a faithful expansion.
>capeshitCOM
i really thought that marvel game would be just nu com but capeshit, so instead of recruiting soldier you look for homies that can breath fire or something, man.
Enemy Unknown was a masterpiece. Why didn't they just expand on it with 2? Some of the additions in 2 were cool like the 3 factions you could get troops from but like, the mechs were 10/10 in EU but everything felt uninspired in 2.
Shut your fricking mounth you fricking homosexual
No one fricking cares about playing your clunky old ass game, I would play it if it didn't have those buttons that did an action, frick off >inb4. Zoomer
Don't care you obnoxious cuck
KYS you fricking piece of shit, and what the frick do you mean "those buttons that did an action". Are you an ESL as well as underage? Fricking piece of shit goddamn, go play a mobile game if you like 2012-COM so fricking much.
Cope, no one cares about your boomer shit game
I made this thread about newcom, go to /vr/ homosexual
2 years ago
Anonymous
Seethe moron, the fact that you even need to say "no one cares" means you're afraid of people talking about it.
And I'll post anywhere I goddamn please.
2 years ago
Anonymous
Make a thread and talk about it then, you Black person
I remember the first time I stunned a sectoid in UFO Defense and had a rookie drag the body back to the ship, I figured they would just stay unconscious. Until the sectoid woke up and stole a machine gun from the ship and started lighting up my dudes. Gotta love when shit like that happens.
that depends, if you like og long war and want more it's not a mod for you, it has been changed to the point it doesn't resemble long war at all
on the other hand if you hate og long war maybe you'll like it, treat it like something completely separate
Imagine XCOM but everything done wrong, half-assed or just plainly so stupid it will leave you wondering how the hell anyone thought of it as a good idea. With copious amount of author self-inserts (in a form of a whole faction), bugs STILL present after years of "fixes" and many other joys.
Others would also say bit of pozz and they would be correct.
I played nuCom first before trying to play the oldcom. I fricked up right out the gate playing oldcom.
During the battle I used up all the energy(or stamina?) for my soldiers in one turn somehow so none of them could move, and then the aliens sniped people from outside the field of view. I also had muscle memory issues over the controls.
I might come back to UFO Defense one day though.
If you look at it on surface level sure TFTD looks just like an asset flip but it's really its own game, it has improved upon original in almost every way. People primarily don't like it because it's much more difficult than original and requires more strategy than "equip every rookie with heavy plasma".
that's pretty much what it is
it has some autistically tiny fanpatch elements that change the game a lot for experts though, like being able to open doors without walking through and smoke needing a turn to expand
Also it was the first time the difficulty settings actually worked, in the original X-Com the first time you restored a save the game automatically reverted to easy mode
>Escaping facility >Advent everywhere >Last guy on overwatch holding the line gets btfo by a grenade >was my Sniper since the first mission
This series is really good for someone with autism such as myself who imagines a story within the story
Chimera Squad would've been a fine sequel if they put any effort into the strategy layer and made it its own thing as a SWAT team simulator instead of a poor man's EU. Fight me.
The combat is a good take on the nu-COM gameplay - breach mode is especially fun. The overworld management is simplistic and nonsensical, the writing is meh and there are maybe two great characters in total, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity. I'd say it's worth the five bucks it's going for right now, but definitely not the full price.
After starting with Enemy Within, I was disappointed that X-Com 2 no longer gave me the option to rip away my soldier's humanity to turn them into freaky, unnatural weapons.
That could have been a fun side plot to explore in Chimera Squad too. When you do modifications on your soldier in EW, it explicitly brings up the question of what kind of life they might lead after the war. Guess none of Enemy Within is canon, since I don't recall any mentions of Exalt either.
I really want to see an ISIS assassination style video thing with Advent Troopers. The videos with the red circle over people getting shot and overedited to shit loool
Like seriously, I dont think I even augmented two my troops with body mods until I captured an Ethereal. I cleaned house using normal dudes all the time. Is Normal EW really this easy?
Ok quick question for OXCE anons I'm making cyberpunk-themed mod.
What should I keep in mind when I make guns, armour or missions ? I know people hate X-files for erly grind, but it's made it for you ?
I'm honestly surprised why no openxcom mod stole any of the nucom approaches
either vanilla nucom, three tiers each one is direct upgrade
long war approach each tier is damage upgrade but also has something unique, like lasers had better aim, gauss better armor piercing etc.
or spectrum green approach where guns have rock/paper/scissor balance, one is good against energy shields, others at piercing armors etc.
piratez and xcom files just do a giant hurr durr of more weapons = better instead of having some sort of logical progression
>sectoid casts mind frickery on my ranger >ranger panics, runs right up to the sectoid, and domes it with a 12 damage crit >stops being panicked
I love my soldiers.
I also like Valkyria Chronicles, but it's not XCOM.
I'm not saying every turn based strategy games should be XCOM, far from it. I only want XCOM to be XCOM.
I don't think XCOM 2 is that good. XCOM EU isn't that spectacular either, but I prefer it. It's a shame there's no XCOM 3 where they could dial in the formula.
xcom is dogshit. FFT is better. XCOM maps and gameplay are so awefully designed you know how the entire match will go down from the moment u spawn. you have to actually be low iq to enjoy it.
You were obviously not supposed to lose a soldier very often in vanilla 2012 since they were very difficult to replace. Much more RPG-like. Recovering from a total party kill was a serious ordeal. The guy sacrificing himself to save the team/planet at the end was supposed to hit you because you got attached to your guys.
Xcom 1994 can kill your dudes left and right but you can easily beat the game bringing only rookies to the final mission since gear was vastly more important and things like blaster bombs just made a joke out of the RPG elements
So 2012 was basically an RPG where it was OK to lose a soldier to a boneheaded mistake every once in a while as homage to the original game and to raise tension.
you mainly use mouse, but it honestly isn't really all that clunky once you know what what does as the gameplay is rather simple
you just need to know what systems are there and what icons mean and you're good to go
hence recommending you watch a "begginner how to video" that shows you the ropes real quick and explains the world layer
Overwatch snipers are good.
I had fun until the aliens started mind controlling my units then I dropped the game
The dlc options were strange.
Actually better than the original in a couple of important aspects, namely soldier distinctiveness (classes and skills, especially with the randomized skills mutator) and battlescape map variety.
I like XCOM Files
Being knee fricking deep in Deep One corpses while you blast a ziggurat to pieces with high explosives is a fun experience.
It's also worse in that it vastly simplified the inventory systems and stat mechanics. All in all, I'd say it's a wash, I like both games and I couldn't say which one was objectively better, only that I prefer the OG games.
>It's also worse in that it vastly simplified the inventory systems and stat mechanics
Streamlining is not inherently worse. It widened weapon options, class abilities became a thing. The inventory added nothing of value, it was just a chore.
Not him but I find the 2 action points system frustrating as opposed of the freedom of the time units. Sure, an inexperienced player will play faster with Solomon's game but I see it more like a problem of interface than any other thing.
class abilities are the worst thing about nucom
every soldier is now a magical superhero that does backflips and wipes the entire map every turn
I tolerated it with xcom 2 but with CS and the new capeshit game it's obvious what the devs want xcom to become
I agree with clicking buttons with cooldowns being shit. I'm still fine with fantastic powers, but NuCom 1 left the core gameplay as cover, flanking, and shooting.
The quip filled "witty" writing of Chimera Squad gave me the impression that the people working at Firaxis are failed Disney writers.
Someone post the "you fight like a woman" screenshoot. I almost cringed myself to death.
>Someone got paid to write this
>Someone approved this
And I'm what Ganker would call a "commie leftist".
I'm so tired of the video game industry
The whole chimera squad can have such cool and intense dynamic and drama. However, it's just filled with cringey sparky and ironic dialogue most of the time. We can't have actual genuine and realistic discrimination and distrust between members that create internal conflicts within the team that get resolved as the game go on.
I mean cringey and snarky
that's obviously double-edged, you can't do hidden movement jumpscare deaths like OG X-com did if you can't just throw another 20 rookies in the meatgrinder
HOW THE FRICK DID YOU MISS THAT COME ON
Thread content
- Talk about XCOM : 95%
- porn dump / politics : 5%
Perfect ratio
It's not an XCOM thread without snakebreasts, but a thread that is nothing but snakebreasts would be boring
thread without any snakebreasts would be boring too
XCOM filters out the normalgays, so their politics are mostly filtered as well. However coomers are still a part of the autistic sceptrum.
In case you're interested, over at /vg/ they have a new version of /xcg/ but that includes other tactical vidya called /&tg/.
Like this?
I was just about to post it lol
>/&tg/
>SWAT 4
>Commandos
>DEFCON
>XCOM
>Cruelty Squad
What's the point of a general that includes literally everything?
It's either that or death because of 100 gacha generals per hour
They're tactical games, people that play one kind tend to like other similar ones even if their presentation is different
Also this, the gacha threat is everlooming
I like nu-XCOM 2 WOTC and the og ufo defense better
tried Enemy within long war but dropped it,
i was then busy doing a vanilla enemy within for the first time but got bored
>- porn dump
lets make that a surprise crit baby
I will not lust for sneks and the Berserker Queen
I will procreate with a fellow human and have human children
>Berserker Queen
I know of sneks, but this is new for me. Elaborate.
just imagine the snu snu
Is long war for 2 worth playing yet
Beat the vanilla game ages ago but been itching for another play through
>Your men have a memorial for their fallen comrades
That made me shiver, I had to quit because in the game your troops didn't felt disposable and I could not bear any losses.
just save scum then
I tried but it didn't help, I'll spend days doing the same scenario and it quickly grew frustrating
holy shit you're bad
throwing rookies away are not a good strategy in nu xcom right?
No. To give you an idea of how it is, every nu-com soldier lost is worth roughly half a UFO skyranger of soldiers.
>making their sacrifices mean nothing
You scumbag. You cretin. You're worse then Advent.
BUMP
I don't know if I should buy it since the only XCOM related game I've played was Xenonauts and I had a blast with it
Its definitely worth playing. Remember to use overwatch
Try vanilla. Then, if you like it and want more - install long war
Botched reboot and 2 is among the most overrated games of the decade
they really nailed the mechs. That alone carries the game for me.
Enemy Unknown is good
Enemy Within is fantastic
2 is bad
War of the Chosen is steaming dog shit
I like Long War.
>Play long war when the balance was janky as frick
>Fun
>Try to go back and play it again now that it's 'done'
>Balance is every more janky and absolutely requires you to be utterly an expert at the game
>Don't want to relearn everything
>Uninstall
Long war 1 is a shit experience and was only marginally better than the base game until the expansion came out.
LW2 (and especially LWOTC) is much better.
It sure as shit was not and they got heavy flak for falsely advertising it as such.
Play the X-com files if you really want a faithful expansion.
Why do the devs insist on putting in little colored rectangles instead of just displaying enemy health with an easily readable number?
numbers are too confusing for consoletards, I wish I was kidding
The bars were kino (i always mod xcom 2 for more readable numbers)
>Jitka Fialová
Kek. That is the most 40something chubby single mother name available in Czech Republic.
I much prefer Xenonauts over the modern Xcom games because it is more true to the original. Although I just wish the art was better.
I'm convinced this game was made to troll XCOM veterans.
Xenonauts 2 never fricking ever
NEVER
FRICKING
EVER
Just started my attempt to beat XCOM2 on legendary ironman today. I've already done it on commander so this'll be the final challenge.
Until I start getting into modded modes
Will we get XCOM 3 after capeshitCOM?
>capeshitCOM
i really thought that marvel game would be just nu com but capeshit, so instead of recruiting soldier you look for homies that can breath fire or something, man.
That would be too fun, NO you have to play as the EPIC superheroes you saw on the big screen
>x-men xcom where you play as xavier and recruit more troops by scouting for mutants and rescuing them
Ever play Freedom Force?
No
I like the sneks
I think they're cool and cute and sexy
Enemy Unknown was a masterpiece. Why didn't they just expand on it with 2? Some of the additions in 2 were cool like the 3 factions you could get troops from but like, the mechs were 10/10 in EU but everything felt uninspired in 2.
sleepin on the job
how can XCOM move on after Chimera Squad
chimera squad was like a nail in the coffin of xcom franchise, making it impossible to make sequels
and openxcom makes any remake completely worthless
Why did they do this?
CANON
Cant they just retcon that shit and make tftd
how
"it was all le dream" won't exactly work
They already retconned you winning enemy unknown
how most companies do it
by just pretending it doesn't exist at all
The ending of xcom 2 is perfect sequel bait for tftd anyway
>impossible to move on
only if you lack creativity.
There was nothing fundamentally wrong with CS, its still a fun game, i hope it gets a sequel properly tweaked
>Character dies
>Mission failed
I mean, I like Fire Emblem too, but it's not XCOM.
Also, the writing is awful in general.
UFO defense is better than the remakes.
BUMP
STAY ALIVE PLEASE
Is it just me or early game in XCOM2 is insanely more difficult than in EU/EW on the same difficulty? A single snake can turn a mission to shit.
its pretty hard unless you beeline towards armor and get some leeway for frickups. honestly the game got easier the farther you got.
the sneks arent even that bad but for me its officers and holy shit the instakill stun lancers
XCOM is dead because Firaxis is stupid enough to do mobile Disney capeshit.
But it's the game that Jake Solomon REALLY wanted to do!
Don't care that much, had a blast with Mechanicus and Chaos Gate and now I'm playing Battlesector and it's fun too.
40k Chads we can't stop winning
Mechanicus had top tier sound design.
God I hate snakeBlack folk, ruined XCOM threads forever
I don't see you contributing
no
>capeshitCOM?
ffs why did this have to be real
Counterpoint: Yes, you homosexual.
Shut your fricking mounth you fricking homosexual
No one fricking cares about playing your clunky old ass game, I would play it if it didn't have those buttons that did an action, frick off
>inb4. Zoomer
Don't care you obnoxious cuck
KYS you fricking piece of shit, and what the frick do you mean "those buttons that did an action". Are you an ESL as well as underage? Fricking piece of shit goddamn, go play a mobile game if you like 2012-COM so fricking much.
Cope, no one cares about your boomer shit game
I made this thread about newcom, go to /vr/ homosexual
Seethe moron, the fact that you even need to say "no one cares" means you're afraid of people talking about it.
And I'll post anywhere I goddamn please.
Make a thread and talk about it then, you Black person
heard you talking shit like I wouldn't find out
>Name each troop member after friends or family
>give the coolest guy your name
>your guy dies first in battle
Every time
>tfw you frick up and don't manage to kill the Sectopod before it gets a turn
It triggered me so hard that the sectopod hit chances are so low. You could be point blanc and have 40% chance to hit the sectopod.
I remember the first time I stunned a sectoid in UFO Defense and had a rookie drag the body back to the ship, I figured they would just stay unconscious. Until the sectoid woke up and stole a machine gun from the ship and started lighting up my dudes. Gotta love when shit like that happens.
Long War of the Chosen is amazing. Play it NOW!
long war rebalance any good?
that depends, if you like og long war and want more it's not a mod for you, it has been changed to the point it doesn't resemble long war at all
on the other hand if you hate og long war maybe you'll like it, treat it like something completely separate
i didn't like og long war so i suppose it's worth a shot
Just play troubleshooter
I'm still weary about picking it up
I've seen Xenonauts, what about that?
>I've seen Xenonauts, what about that?
one one hand it's a faithful recreation of original
on the other hand it's bland boring and uninspiring
XCOM 3 better have fighters and UFO interception make a come back, it made sense for it to be absent in XCOM 2 but for 3 they won't have an excuse.
Xenonaut and Phoenix Point have that.
>Phoenix Point
Never mention that pile of shit again.
Redpill me on Phoenix Point.
Imagine XCOM but everything done wrong, half-assed or just plainly so stupid it will leave you wondering how the hell anyone thought of it as a good idea. With copious amount of author self-inserts (in a form of a whole faction), bugs STILL present after years of "fixes" and many other joys.
Others would also say bit of pozz and they would be correct.
imagine if you took worst parts of oldcom and nucom blended them together and the shit that came out was named phoenix point
I played nuCom first before trying to play the oldcom. I fricked up right out the gate playing oldcom.
During the battle I used up all the energy(or stamina?) for my soldiers in one turn somehow so none of them could move, and then the aliens sniped people from outside the field of view. I also had muscle memory issues over the controls.
I might come back to UFO Defense one day though.
The next Xcom will be another reboot.
What's the deal with terror of the deep?
It looks like xcom recycled in an underwater environment.
If you look at it on surface level sure TFTD looks just like an asset flip but it's really its own game, it has improved upon original in almost every way. People primarily don't like it because it's much more difficult than original and requires more strategy than "equip every rookie with heavy plasma".
Yes but it is also a lot more unbalanced. Lobstermen are fricked up.
Submarine battles are always good.
that's pretty much what it is
it has some autistically tiny fanpatch elements that change the game a lot for experts though, like being able to open doors without walking through and smoke needing a turn to expand
Also it was the first time the difficulty settings actually worked, in the original X-Com the first time you restored a save the game automatically reverted to easy mode
>Escaping facility
>Advent everywhere
>Last guy on overwatch holding the line gets btfo by a grenade
>was my Sniper since the first mission
This series is really good for someone with autism such as myself who imagines a story within the story
You're my type of player.
You did play the Central's Archive DLC right?
Yes and they were not fun. Xcom really is soulless without the macrogame
>enemy unknown
SOVL
>xcom 2
soulless
Chimera Squad would've been a fine sequel if they put any effort into the strategy layer and made it its own thing as a SWAT team simulator instead of a poor man's EU. Fight me.
is chimera squad worth playing? played trough enemy unknown and 2 with all dlc again recently, never thought chimera squad looked that great though
The combat is a good take on the nu-COM gameplay - breach mode is especially fun. The overworld management is simplistic and nonsensical, the writing is meh and there are maybe two great characters in total, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity. I'd say it's worth the five bucks it's going for right now, but definitely not the full price.
Get it on sale, it's worth a single playthrough.
>mfw WotC
what the frick is this shit I wanted more Enemy WIthin
I liked armor and shredding armor.
After starting with Enemy Within, I was disappointed that X-Com 2 no longer gave me the option to rip away my soldier's humanity to turn them into freaky, unnatural weapons.
That could have been a fun side plot to explore in Chimera Squad too. When you do modifications on your soldier in EW, it explicitly brings up the question of what kind of life they might lead after the war. Guess none of Enemy Within is canon, since I don't recall any mentions of Exalt either.
I'm pretty sure an Exalt bandana is a cosmetic option so there's that at least
BUMP
I still want my terrorism simulator. Praise XCOM
INSHALLAH
I really want to see an ISIS assassination style video thing with Advent Troopers. The videos with the red circle over people getting shot and overedited to shit loool
>played EU before
>decide to recently play EW
>reach final mission before I could even train two MECs
Why is this game so easy
Like seriously, I dont think I even augmented two my troops with body mods until I captured an Ethereal. I cleaned house using normal dudes all the time. Is Normal EW really this easy?
we need emergency evac now dammit now
>*breathing heavily*
>*tosses frag grenade into car next to self*
Ok quick question for OXCE anons I'm making cyberpunk-themed mod.
What should I keep in mind when I make guns, armour or missions ? I know people hate X-files for erly grind, but it's made it for you ?
I'm honestly surprised why no openxcom mod stole any of the nucom approaches
either vanilla nucom, three tiers each one is direct upgrade
long war approach each tier is damage upgrade but also has something unique, like lasers had better aim, gauss better armor piercing etc.
or spectrum green approach where guns have rock/paper/scissor balance, one is good against energy shields, others at piercing armors etc.
piratez and xcom files just do a giant hurr durr of more weapons = better instead of having some sort of logical progression
3 when?
>sectoid casts mind frickery on my ranger
>ranger panics, runs right up to the sectoid, and domes it with a 12 damage crit
>stops being panicked
I love my soldiers.
if you fricks are comparing fire emblem to xcom
you might as well play Valkyria chronicles
Who said i didn't.
But it's not the same, really
I also like Valkyria Chronicles, but it's not XCOM.
I'm not saying every turn based strategy games should be XCOM, far from it. I only want XCOM to be XCOM.
reminder xcom died because jake solomon really REALLY liked comic books
I don't think XCOM 2 is that good. XCOM EU isn't that spectacular either, but I prefer it. It's a shame there's no XCOM 3 where they could dial in the formula.
Is that Xcom Marvel game going to be shit?
I don't have a crystal ball.
why not
It has a 95% chance to be good.
Enemy unknown was a better game overall and same goes for apocalypse. I played and like the newer two xcom games but they simply don't hold a candle.
I want to experience sexual tension with a Viper
The XCOM series was never good so nothing of value was lost when Firaxis moved to Marvel card games
The people that say they missed a 99% shot are bulshitting, at least the vast majority of them are. The game is actually pretty consistent.
>99%
There is no 99%.
I have never modded X2WOTC, what are some good non-overhaul mods for a replay?
does this link work?
it's all the workshop shit i subscribed to
mostly aesthetic customization
don't waste my time mods speeding up gameplay
clearer menu stuff
easy "unequip everything" button prompts
be sure to use the alternative mod launcher as they check for duplicate or conflicting file issues and generally are more predictable
durr
https://steamcommunity.com/id/Tedi47/myworkshopfiles/?appid=268500&browsefilter=mysubscriptions
xcom is dogshit. FFT is better. XCOM maps and gameplay are so awefully designed you know how the entire match will go down from the moment u spawn. you have to actually be low iq to enjoy it.
>xcom is dogshit. FFT is better.
you must have 2 digit IQ to genuinely believe it
This game felt like it couldn't decide whether your soldiers are supposed to be disposable or not.
You were obviously not supposed to lose a soldier very often in vanilla 2012 since they were very difficult to replace. Much more RPG-like. Recovering from a total party kill was a serious ordeal. The guy sacrificing himself to save the team/planet at the end was supposed to hit you because you got attached to your guys.
Xcom 1994 can kill your dudes left and right but you can easily beat the game bringing only rookies to the final mission since gear was vastly more important and things like blaster bombs just made a joke out of the RPG elements
So 2012 was basically an RPG where it was OK to lose a soldier to a boneheaded mistake every once in a while as homage to the original game and to raise tension.
Should I pick XCOM?
I'm in the mood to smash my keyboard
No; play the original X-Com or openxcom
XCOM is a textbook example of a modern AAAA bastardization of a beloved classic.
can I make it less clunky?
you mainly use mouse, but it honestly isn't really all that clunky once you know what what does as the gameplay is rather simple
you just need to know what systems are there and what icons mean and you're good to go
hence recommending you watch a "begginner how to video" that shows you the ropes real quick and explains the world layer
watch a bunch of tutorials and download openxcom to play the original
it's the most "i like the way this sucks" game and your rookies getting owned constantly is basically guaranteed