Gundato: Chances are, this will be another Interceptor. But maybe we'll get lucky, and we'll get another Fallout 3 (including all the hardcore fans eating their hats and acknowledging that it is different, but fun). I am still not willing to come down on either side for this one.
cw8: Maybe Fallout 3 is not the best of examples to use for this. Not every hardcore fan of Fallout likes Fallout 3. Some still think it's hogshit.
Which actually makes it the perfect example. By and large, it has been accepted (even by NMA). Maybe it isn't viewed as the best in the series (it is to Fallout as "... With a Vengeance" was to Die Hard :p), maybe it is even the worst. But the majority of fans (it would seem) at least acknowledge it as being in the series.
But there will always be the people who hate it just because it is different. People who will look for every single opportunity to not like something, and then feel vindicated when they realize that it isn't perfect.
It is foolish to think everyone who liked X-COM will like this. it is even more foolish to think it will be widely considered the best in the series (well, actually, it probably will. But only because most of the people will have never played the originals...). But there is still hope that it won't suck.
Aliasalpha: Turn based strategy just needs a fresh look and some design minded people to revitalise it. The problem with them (and/or the average gamer) is that they look and play slow as hell. Add a timed turn (not a stupidly low limit but just enough to give you a bit of pressure) and make the game move like gears of war with rapid dynamic motion sprinting to cover, providing suppression fire and the like and you'd have a game that both camps could play.
I've just had a good idea for a different take on the TBS, any programmers & artists want to help me out?
I fully agree, it does need to be revamped a lot. Personally, I feel that Silent Storm got it best, but that there is still room.
You might want to look into that Warhammer 40k Squad Command (Combat/) game that came out for the DS and PSP. Is actually VERY fun, and provides a modernized approach.
But, the problem is still that people will get angry that ANYTHING is changed. And we would just be having the argument "XCOM is going to suck because it was dumbed down for consoles" instead of "XCOM is going to suck because it is an FPS that was dumbed down for consoles" :p
But hopefully Stardock's next project after Elemental will be a turn-based tactical game. They might be grossly incompetent at making distribution platforms, but they make fun games :p. I doubt it will be as popular as we would like, but it should still be polished.
