Absolutely not. I think it's almost a requirement that you play XCOM:EU so you have a vague idea on how certain mechanics work, because 2 just wants to fuck your shit up at every other opportunity.
Yeah I'd read series vets saying the first proper mission in 2 is essentially a big fuck you to those who've never played XCom before, and I understand what they meant. When I did do it, I still don't know how tbh.
By first proper mission do you mean the one that's revealed on the map in the territory adjacent to your own? Cos I am 10 missions in and still haven't done it yet.
It doesn't communicate to you very well that it is as hard as it is.
Its one where there's a thing on the back of a trailer and you have to go and hack it in 8 turns and kill all enemies, of which there's like 8, including one of those mind control/resurrecting cunts who pop up, fuck you up then leg it.
The missions are all randomly generated though so I think that's just a regular mission, but there is a Black Site operation that is on your map from right at the start which is definitely one you have to build up to.
Sounds like it was just a random mission generated for you. They're generally quite doable, but ones that you need to hack tend to work better if you rolled a Specialist from the first mission cos they can hack remotely.
I had that as my first mission. Barrelled in, got fucked.
Tried it again and got Flawless. Corporal Jane Swordgal taking names all day long. She just died on the next mission though. 2 KIA and my dreadlocked sniper gravely wounded. I'll keep on trucking.
Still going strong after a few reloads due to glitches.
MVP is my sniper, nicknamed 'The Kid' by the game. She has 56 confirmed kills, nearly double that if anyone else, and a bunch of them are pistol kills. Lost 7 soldiers so far, RIP Devil Dog and Big Shot especially, you will be missed.
I started a non-iron Commander diff last night with self-imposed no reloads only restarts (bronze man) and must have restarted the first mission 5 times.
Just Normal, I'm not great at this. Some glitches still hanging around big style though, and plenty of engine quirks make ironman a no go for me, I don't have the memory to remember them along side the stress of the mission.
I had a wonderful glitch where a killed enemy glitched into the floor and the game proceeded to make a weird noise through the mission. Heightened the experience tbh.
Usually a reload fixes that stuff. Sadly it's to be expected, it's a hog of a game under the hood, still surprised they got it working on consoles at all.
I thought the main things had been fixed with patches now on console. Haven't played it since though. The framerate was piss poor at times when I was playing.
And yeah, glitches...
Been looking back through the thread and remembering how good this was. Some of the most incredible ups and downs in gaming. Genuinely nerve wracking and properly rewarding when it goes right.