Anyone remember X-COM: Terror from the Deep?

[Trekkin]

With the new X-COM on the horizon, I decided to go back through my old games,which meant playing TFTD.

Days later, I'm still no closer to even getting close to beating it, I've taken to giggling inanely about it at odd hours, and it generally feels just like it used to. So does anyone else remember this little gem? Perhaps even fondly?

[Gnoman]

Despite the bugs, it had wonderful atmosphere, and the insane difficulty was simply fun. Only thing that I really disliked was the bughunt at the end of every mission (looking for the last 'toid or deep one in a corner).

[Cespenar]

Only thing that I really disliked was the bughunt at the end of every mission (looking for the last 'toid or deep one in a corner).

Even better when you get bored and inattentive while doing the bughunt and it jumps you, taking out a couple agents.

[The Succubus]

Indeed I do. I think I still have the PSOne version of the game, which is worth a considerable slice these days.

[Gnoman]

Even better when you get bored and inattentive while doing the bughunt and it jumps you, taking out a couple agents.

Or it has a heavy sonic and just blasts everyone coming into the passenger cabin. Cruise ships were the hardest dry missions.

[tensai_oni]

I remember Terror from the Deep, but I would lie if I said I remember it fondly.

It has a really great, oppressive atmosphere. It shows that space is one thing, but humans still fear the murky unexplored depths of the ocean most. Enemies take inspiration from Cthulhu mythos but are different enough so it's not just a ripoff, and it works great too.

Also, the tech tree is less straightforward and you can't simply research everything you need in the first few months like in the first X-Com game. And you get drills.

Unfortunately this is where the good stuff ends. The bad: the developers tried to make this game harder. But they failed, it is not harder, just more tedious. That some weapons do not work above water is a nice gimmick, but it just gets tiring after a while. Gauss weaponry is so underpowered that it's a good move to skip it altogether and focus on researching sonic as soon as you get it, while in the original game lasers are usable up to and including the last mission. Lobstermen are not hard opponents due to their stupidity and lack of accuracy, it's just that killing them takes FOREVER unless you have Molecular Control or drills. And Molecular Control is as broken as Psionics in the first game - you get it, kiss any difficulty good-bye.

Oh, and also there is no such thing as a strong enemy MC race anymore. Tasoths are far less dangerous than Ethereals. And last but not the least - the final mission is a joke and exercise in tedium, even worse than the rest of the game.

I did not even start on the bugs. You do not want to research anything without a guide that makes sure you do not mess up on the order. And that's on a patched game - before it was even worse.

Overall, Terror from the Deep feels untested and rushed, which is pretty much what it is. The atmosphere is still awesome and makes it worthwhile to play the game at least once, but I can't recommend doing it more than that. Instead, it's better to just replay the original Enemy Unknown or Apocalypse.

[Trixie]

Days later, I'm still no closer to even getting close to beating it, I've taken to giggling inanely about it at odd hours, and it generally feels just like it used to. So does anyone else remember this little gem? Perhaps even fondly?

I honestly think it had best graphics in the entire X-Com series. But, I might be biased, after all, that's the game that introduced me to it.

I think I ran into some research bug, and couldn't research anything anymore but I held until last nation betrayed me, with 8 full bases. And that's with little to no saving, I regularly lost 8-10 agents per mission (I hated the fact you couldn't repair armour from killed agents and only issued it to ranked agents). I think I was fifteen then :smallbiggrin:

[Grif]

I honestly think it had best graphics in the entire X-Com series. But, I might be biased, after all, that's the game that introduced me to it.

Ye can't be serious. :smalltongue:

I rather like Apocalypse's semi-retro futuristic art style. It lent the game a campy charm.

[Trixie]

Eh, I liked Cthulhu-esque bitart? http://i.imgur.com/N2nfK.jpg

Seriously, images of Manta/Hammerhead from Ufopedia are to this day one of my most favorite images of SciFi starship/submarines, and all these azure/gold and blue/deep red combinations were at the time original and pretty.

Enemy Unknown had nice, cartoony graphics, but IMHO, TFTD was ten times better in this regard. Just compare Sectoid with Aquatoid - TFTD had scary images in Ufopedia. Even autopsy images suggested untold horrors in that game.

Edit: now that I think about it, there was one thing silly in TFTD alien entry descriptions. For some reason, it looked like the game expected us to research live aliens first, because all the 'secrets' described in hard to get live alien card were explained in easy autopsy entry...