The X Series

[ls612]

Does anyone else here play the X games (the space sim by Egosoft)?

 

[FriendlyFire]

Yes and Iam excited about Xrebirth.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Have played them since X2, but got heavily involved with Reunion and AP and I am awaiting Rebirth with a mix of expectation and fear. I hope they havent simplified it too much to attract consolers. Complex menus, 1000 dfifferent ways of doing things and deep is that makes a X game what it is.

Also being able to pilot a single ship goes against the very esence of the game. I mean wasnt you main incentive for advancing through the game to get that huge capital ship you first saw patrolling sectors? I hope they havent sacrified all game sense for the eyecandy of seeing your ship interiors.

 

[coanda]

I've played X3 a fair amount and X3:TC briefly (for some reason, TC was massively massively laggy on my computer, although X3 ran without any noticeable slowdown even in very crowded regions with big firefights).

Fun game, although the progression can be a little tedious at times.

 

[ls612]

Fun game, although the progression can be a little tedious at times.

That is to a certain extent what I like about it, you gradually progress and in the process get to experience all of the things the game has to offer incrementally and get a sense of accomplishment. Getting your first Wheat Farm going is just as big a reward early on as purchasing your very own M1 is by the end.

 

[ls612]

Have played them since X2, but got heavily involved with Reunion and AP and I am awaiting Rebirth with a mix of expectation and fear. I hope they havent simplified it too much to attract consolers. Complex menus, 1000 dfifferent ways of doing things and deep is that makes a X game what it is.

Also being able to pilot a single ship goes against the very esence of the game. I mean wasnt you main incentive for advancing through the game to get that huge capital ship you first saw patrolling sectors? I hope they havent sacrified all game sense for the eyecandy of seeing your ship interiors.

Not being able to use multiple ships is a bummer, but I still expect that the feeling of progression up the galactic food chain will still be there in Rebirth (especially as you figure out how to turn back on the Gates).

 

[Rub'Rum]

I love X3. But, I simply don't have enough time to fully enjoy it. It seems I've played it a lot, yet didn't get to play with 95% of what's inside. And eventually I just drifted off. I have hopes that X:Rebirth will make progression more obvious, and perhaps faster, without killing the game for the hardcore players of the series. One way to do this would be to add even more things to do, while making each thing less tedious, maybe. I don't say this lightly, as I'm usually in the "oh god please don't streamline my favorite game, don't even use the word streamline" camp. One could simply turn to a different game for a faster progression I suppose, but X is really unique. It's one of these games that, in theory, should be one of my most favorite games of all times, but which never allowed me into its universe fully enough.

Also, I, for one, am glad that they went ahead and added "fluff" to the game like ship interiors. Look for when people are disappointed with the game and blame these atmospheric details for some of their disappointment.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I am also glad that they added interiors, but if the price is being unable to change ship along all the game then it is a price too big to pay.

 

[Adam7Eight]

Looking forward to Rebirth.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Well, after having played for some hours i have to say it is a total mess. Like i feared they have "consolised" it (being a game for PC only!), so instead of the old complex but straightforward menus where everything was implemented we have a completely chaotic interface made of a mix of menus, dialogs with NPCs and radial menus, and at the end you dont know if you cant do something because it is bugged or because you cant find the way to do it. I simply dont see how the management of complex trading routes, fleets and industrial complexes can be properly done with this sort of interface.

It is also bugged as hell (well, X3 was also buggy at first so it will be eventually patched) and graphically the NPC seems dolls, more proper for a 10 years old game than for today. The new highways you use to flight from a place to another is like a separated minigame, which i find rather dull. They also makes the space landscape uglier with hideous "smoking" lines everywhere and the space around you is too cluttered and noisy with loads of small ships and all sort of things flying around so it seems you are in the middle of tornado instead of space.

All that said, i have played for few hours only and while the first impression has been negative it seems to have potential, Everything seems more "finely" modeled than in previous X games. i mean while in X3 a ship is a big object now it is a complex thing with many parts, same for stations (which are huge) and everything else. Leaving apart the ugliness of the NPC graphics and some other details, everything else can be fixed. So it surely will become interesting after patching it and after some work by the community (i hope it can be modded so easily like previous X games). My main concern however is the interface more appropriate for a RPG game than for the complexities of a game of the X saga.

Bottom line is: it is not mature at all yet. Maybe in some months o even years and if it is supported by the community as previous X games were, we will eventually have an outstanding space game, or at least a good one, which it is not right now, IMO.

 

[ls612]

Well, after having played for some hours i have to say it is a total mess. Like i feared they have "consolised" it (being a game for PC only!), so instead of the old complex but straightforward menus where everything was implemented we have a completely chaotic interface made of a mix of menus, dialogs with NPCs and radial menus, and at the end you dont know if you cant do something because it is bugged or because you cant find the way to do it. I simply dont see how the management of complex trading routes, fleets and industrial complexes can be properly done with this sort of interface.

It is also bugged as hell (well, X3 was also buggy at first so it will be eventually patched) and graphically the NPC seems dolls, more proper for a 10 years old game than for today. The new highways you use to flight from a place to another is like a separated minigame, which i find rather dull. They also makes the space landscape uglier with hideous "smoking" lines everywhere and the space around you is too cluttered and noisy with loads of small ships and all sort of things flying around so it seems you are in the middle of tornado instead of space.

All that said, i have played for few hours only and while the first impression has been negative it seems to have potential, Everything seems more "finely" modeled than in previous X games. i mean while in X3 a ship is a big object now it is a complex thing with many parts, same for stations (which are huge) and everything else. Leaving apart the ugliness of the NPC graphics and some other details, everything else can be fixed. So it surely will become interesting after patching it and after some work by the community (i hope it can be modded so easily like previous X games). My main concern however is the interface more appropriate for a RPG game than for the complexities of a game of the X saga.

Bottom line is: it is not mature at all yet. Maybe in some months o even years and if it is supported by the community as previous X games were, we will eventually have an outstanding space game, or at least a good one, which it is not right now, IMO.

Rebirth's issues are nothing compared to what the launch of Reunion was like. That game was so broken at the start from all sorts of issues (especially issues that would ruin your saves, which really pissed people), yet it turned out to be fine after a month of patching. Rebirth did not have a smooth start, but I suspect that a year from now it will be seen as a worthy continuation of the series.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

The game being broken is the lesser of my concerns. True, it is not so broken as Reunion was at first and it will be patched, not doubt. My main concern is the UI. In X3AP i used to have 50 vessels trading around, a military fleet with all kind of ships, including battleships and frigtes, carriers with several fighters wings, M3 and M8 wings, industrial complexes producing a lot of products, to trade with and to equip my military vessels... so a whole empire with a very complex strcuture. I simply dont see how such thing can be achieved with the current UI, and in the case it can be done it would be a pain in the ass. Imagine having to speak to 50 ugly NPCs one for one and reading his nonsense before issuing the trading orders...

Maybe i am wrong since i have yet to learn a lot of things (i hope so) but it looks more as a space RPG than a X series game.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

As somebody at Egosoft forum posted:

Even if they fix all the bugs, crashes, performance issues, graphics, stations that all have the same interiors, all filled with the same grandmas..

Even if they make the walking around part optional, remove the stupid highways and add SETA back in..

Even if they let you have more than 1 type of weapon or ship..

It's still not a sandbox space sim.


That's the biggest gripe. In previous games, every ship was an individual with their own priorities and each individual ship affected the economy.

Now, all the ships are fake filler.
All the ships queued around stations are fake.

Before you enter a superhighway, there are no ships in it.
When you come out the end, no other ships come out.
Therefore all the ships that you slipstream behind are fake.


It's no longer a simulation or a sandbox.

It's not an X game.

 

[Rubin]

X3 is a great game.

X Rebirth, however, has got me very confused. Hopefully Egosoft just released a very unfinished game. I'm almost speechless. I also fail to see the justification of mini-games in an X space sim, e.g. click fast to get a discount at a vendor. It makes no sense at all

But X Rebirth looks great. X3 looks great in theory, but when playing you are either looking at your in-game spreadsheet/map, or looking out into space seeing only tiny dots within a tactical HUD; oh, and building a big complex or participating in a huge battle slows even the best rigs to a crawl.

I am very happy that Egosoft decided on a reboot of the series, but after 40+ hours in the game I'm also alarmingly worried.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

The game is gorgeous while you are at space, but it is totally a different game from previous X games. It should not include the "X" in the tittle anymore. It lacks any deep and complexity. You cant do anything you used to do in X3. They sacrificed anything that made X3AP a great, rich, complex and interesting game so we can walk around stations interiors which are all the same, speaking nonsense with octogenarians mannequins and pinching stuff from red boxes as some sort of intergalactic kleptomaniac. It is so tedious, childish and stupid that i, as a old X3 fan, find it even insulting.

The rumor (which is more than a rumor looking at the game) is that Egosoft tried to make the game for consoles, but for some reason they failed at it. So had to port it to PC. So what we have here is a failed console game ported to PC. That would explain the horrible interface and the shallowness. The more irritating thing is to see as Egosoft lied to his fanbase to get preorders. This is nothing but other Simcity 5. All i can do is to recommend not to buy it!

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Absolutely. X3 is fantastic. Last year i broke my leg and had to rest for two months. Fortunately X3AP saved me and time passed in an eyeblink while building a huge militar and economical empire starting with a tiny ship.

Have in mind however that it is not a game to be taken lightly. Even once you learn the basics (which is not small deal) you will continue learning new things forever. The more if you start installing mods and such. So i recommend you to play vanilla X3TC first, then X3AP and then adding mods. If you want a quick simple space fighting game to play some minutes and then left then avoid X3, but if you like long complex protracted games that can develop along weeks or monts then X3 is for you. It can be a bit overwhelming at first since hardly you will find any heavier and denser game but once you get it, the possibilities are unlimited.

 

[FriendlyFire]

So, is X3 worth getting? I saw it's on Steam with all expansions for 40 dollars

Just get X3TC when it is on sale for $5

After you sink in hundreds of hours into it, there no real incentive to play the other games in the collection. Unless you want to start with X Beyond the Frontier and then play though the entire series. I have played them all except X3AP, they all offer similar sandbox space experience.

The boarding, pathfinding and AI kinda broke after a while when you have huge space fleets.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Should I get X3TC and the expansion? I don't wanna start from the beginning and I want one with decent graphics and good game play.

Short answer: Yes
X3AP: dose have the easiest, most beginner friendly and generous single player campaign which sets you up for the sandbox mode.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Is AP a DLC that adds more stuff, or is it a separate game within a game? And hopefully my last question, is flying easy? I've never be good at flying on a computer, should I get a controller instead?

Stand alone expansions, you do not have to own the X3 Reunion game and you are only really missing out on the single player campaign, sandbox mode is where 99% of the game content is anyways.

Flying as in combat is easy with mouse and keyboard, the AI auto pilot, AI controlled ships and AI path finding are limited. The initial steep hurdle is learning the controls and menus. By that time you should be hooked enough to learn the insane steep intricacies of economy, buildings, managing tradeships, massed fleet combat and capitol ship management.

You will have plenty more questions as a beginner.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

X3AP is the most complete. The "standard" right now is X3AP plus the "Bonus Pack", an addon with some very useful mods. However i recommended you to start with X3TC because in X3AP there are some shortcuts to earn money easily (stock market) in order to advance quicker throught the game and get some big ships for playing the main plot. However the way of extracting all the juice of this game is to go slowly and earn each buck, that way you will even feel somewhat proud while looking at your Tyr battleship docked at your own shipyard, all earned with your hard work.

"Flying" if you can call it that way, consists in moving the mouse, using the wheel for speed. You dont need any joystick or gamepad at all.