Phantom Doctrine - Cold War XCom 2

[Newcastle]

Just an update. I put this game down. While i really enjoyed the tactical elements and growing your team, what did me in was the "file solving" element. Basically it forced you to read a bunch of files, highlight key words, then match those keywords together. While "fun" the first 5-10 times, the amount of time I was wasting on solving those was growing, and growing and growing, where I'd have to spend about 5-10 minutes solving each of those in order to progress further. And sometimes all it did was provide another agent to recruit who I had no use for. If that gets automated, then i'll consider coming back. They really grew tiresome and tedious.

[jztemple2]

I gave up on the game for several reasons. One was what you mentioned. Another was the structure in some missions. I had one mandatory mission that challenged me to carefully weave my way through a facility to get a key, and then to go to another part of the facility to retrieve an object unlocked with the key. The moment I unlocked it, it was revealed to be a trap, the alarms went off and my two undercover agents, armed only with pistols, were exposed. A half dozen heavily armed guards immediately converged on them and both were killed. And one of them was my avatar, which brought an end to my career playthrough. I was given an option to replay the mission, but even forewarned about the trap it meant that at least one agent would have to be sacrificed if I entered in disguise. If I bought in all four of my agents I'd have to be fighting the whole time through the facility, not to mentioned the waves of reinforcements. I wasn't enjoying the game that much to deal with all that again.

[stimpy]

I'm still hanging in there, but what's getting to me is all of the endless popups on the map and having to keep rotating agents to fly and deal with them.

Still not bothered by the actual missions.

[Lassr]

I keep thinking about playing this after buying it. But I keep waiting for all the patches. I don't want to start a game and hate it, only to have it patched and more playable later, but have no interest in playing it again.

[coopasonic]

As I was looking for something to play this weekend, I finally removed this from my wish list. Between the videos I have watched and the stuff you guys are saying here. It just doesn't sound like it is worth it. There are enough turn based tactical games coming that I'm sure I'll live, but it's kind of sad. I was pretty excited for this one...

[Yojimbo]

I'm glad that I read to page 3 before buying.

Word puzzles and rigged, "no-win" scenarios are too much like my actual life to enjoy in a game. Thank you all for taking the lead on this.

[Scoop20906]

Yeah wow. Impressions made a difference this time. Thanks OO.

[Buatha]

Well, damn.

JZ is down. I guess I will hope for fixes and mods.

[jztemple2]

Well, damn.

JZ is down. I guess I will hope for fixes and mods.

I'm also hoping for changes, but there are several big games coming out so I'm not concerned if changes don't come soon.

[jztemple2]

And over the past few months some fixes have been added. Here's the latest: Phantom Doctrine Patch 1.0.9 Goes Live!

Phantom Doctrine Patch 1.0.9

Greetings, Agents!

This time we're back with some additional content to spice up tactical side missions and provide you with some more insight on various mechanics and features in Phantom Doctrine. Also, we fixed some of the issues kindly reported by you, for which we're very grateful. You may review all of the changes below. Thank you very much for your ongoing support and now we're getting back to work, as more is in store. :steamhappy:

Improvements & added content

New variations of side missions throughout the entire campaign. They were added to the random pool of the following mission types:
Ambush
Conspiracy Cell
Enemy Recon
Informer Assassination
An in-game encyclopedia, full of information and hints regarding all aspects of gameplay in Phantom Doctrine. It’s available from the main menu as well as from the pause menu during strategic and tactical play

Bugfixes:

Fixed: endless black screen during the first launch of the game
The interface can no longer be locked by bringing up the pause menu at the exact moment a panel on the world map opens
The “ASSIGN” tooltip will no longer appear in all free slots at the same time on the Loadout screen after entering a secret cheat code on the gamepad
Fixed: buttons on the Loadout screen are no longer assigned to both the support powers list and to unassigning agents / unequipping gear
Suppressors have been slightly adjusted for a better fit on some weapons
An enemy agent with the “Cabal Sleeper Agent” influence perk will correctly join the player’s team when combat is triggered in the first turn
Enemy agents correctly appear on the POI screen from a tactical mission which ends in failure
Minor text fixes

This might motivate me to start a new game, this time from the KGB side.

[coopasonic]

As I was looking for something to play this weekend, I finally removed this from my wish list. Between the videos I have watched and the stuff you guys are saying here. It just doesn't sound like it is worth it. There are enough turn based tactical games coming that I'm sure I'll live, but it's kind of sad. I was pretty excited for this one...

As a result of my recent thread asking for suggestions, I came back to this one and this time I might even finish it. Given the mysterious nature of the story I have no idea how far in I am. I am playing on easy as is suggested for first time players. It's probably too easy, I rarely end up in combat and when I do, if I am close enough, the ability to do a takedown on anyone is kind of overpowered. Regardless I am having fun with it. The mission that killed it for jzt before was no trouble at all, possibly because easy, but also because I bring the whole crew in, take out the cameras and barriers and take down anyone that looks like they could be problematic before things get hot.

I kind of like the analytics bit. It's simple but satisfying. You can assign an agent to do it for you, but it's a waste of resources as it is so quick and easy to do it yourself.

[gbasden]

As I was looking for something to play this weekend, I finally removed this from my wish list. Between the videos I have watched and the stuff you guys are saying here. It just doesn't sound like it is worth it. There are enough turn based tactical games coming that I'm sure I'll live, but it's kind of sad. I was pretty excited for this one...

As a result of my recent thread asking for suggestions, I came back to this one and this time I might even finish it. Given the mysterious nature of the story I have no idea how far in I am. I am playing on easy as is suggested for first time players. It's probably too easy, I rarely end up in combat and when I do, if I am close enough, the ability to do a takedown on anyone is kind of overpowered. Regardless I am having fun with it. The mission that killed it for jzt before was no trouble at all, possibly because easy, but also because I bring the whole crew in, take out the cameras and barriers and take down anyone that looks like they could be problematic before things get hot.

I kind of like the analytics bit. It's simple but satisfying. You can assign an agent to do it for you, but it's a waste of resources as it is so quick and easy to do it yourself.

Is the story line interesting enough to recommend it for that?

[coopasonic]

I can't track the story really at all. It appears to be a lot of nonsense to me. I think if you pay more attention it might be more interesting, but it definitely hasn't caught my attention.