Let's Play X-COM Enforcer Mission 20

Aaaaand embarrassingly I somehow managed to publish post 21 and video 20 yesterday without noticing that this was out of order. Really, past me?

Moving on...

I have mixed feelings about this mission's gimmick. On the one hand, enemy spawners really are a bit too vulnerable normally. On the other hand, having to wait a while, fending off attackers until a door opens and if you miss your window it's back to waiting? Not great design in a game otherwise so strong on fast gameplay.

This mission pretty blatantly shows off that the big quadrupeds can launch you insane distances if they hit you. Most melee enemies can launch you, actually, though the force varies: Mutons don't launch you as far as the big quadrupeds, but they launch you farther than regular Reapers do. Most of the time this, uh, actually reduces a melee enemy's threat level since it means they can't wail on you continuously, and unfortunately melee enemies aren't tuned appropriately: they tend to do damage appropriate for constantly flailing, not for intermittent hits.

I tried and failed to exploit it to get height when I couldn't initially find the path up to one of the Bonus letters, but that's not a futile endeavor, and indeed can be used to reach stuff you don't have the Jump upgrades for. This isn't really necessary, at least not on the default difficulty level, but I'm sure a speedrunner would find uses for it.

I actually didn't know prior to recording this video there was stuff at the top of the falling Bonus game's arena. It's sort of pointless -you can stand at the edges for complete safety- but there ya go, it's a thing.

See you next mission.