Never tried any of the games in this series, but wondering about them as they're all on sale on Impulse this week. It seems to be a more open ended Freelancer, but that's really all I can tell about it. Are they any good? If so, which one is worth getting? Skip straight to the final one, Terran Conflict, or is there a point to playing Reunion first (gameplay-wise, don't really care too much about the story here)?
It depends who you ask. I personally can't stand the (lack of) AI pathing but there are plenty of people who swear by it.
It only made me wish for another Freelancer
I found the controls for X-2 to be quite frustrating, basics seemed okay tho
There is a story line that crosses over from reunion to terran conflict, but the UI and controls in reunion are horrid. I would just wiki the reunion to catch up on story and then start at TC. The AI pathfinding is a bit stupid, but overall the game is pretty fantastic. It has a HUGE amount of mods available for it that gets rid of most of the pain. I have probably sunk 200+ hours in the reunion and most likely more into terran conflict.
Yes it is a good game...if you have patience. It's definitely not Freelancer though. And it definitely not everyone's cup of tea. There is a very large learning curve and it takes a while to build up the funds to get the good ships, etc. When starting out, it can take 10-20 Hrs of playing to get to the point where the game moves from working to fun.
The user interface has improved in X3: The Reunion and X3:TC.
Unless you want to go back and play the single player campaigns for the story, I'd just get X3:TC. IMO, the mission system is much better and more varied. The strength of the game is it's sandbox and building an economic empire plus the freedom to play the game the way you want. There's a lot of info on the Egosoft forums and websites.
Like I said, it's not everyone's idea of a good game but there is a very good game there if you have the patience to get there.
I tried jumping right into X3, and I didn't understand anything going on and the tutorial was utterly worthless and very little made any sense. It was some of the worst 2 hours of gaming in my life. It improved slightly as I played more, but I never lost the feeling that they assume you played the previous games.
Not only is there a steep learning curve, but there is also a steep "fun" curve.
It is a very cool game but takes crazy amounts of time to get anything done and has a nasty learning curve.
X3 is like a spare empire sim, more or less. You start as a new pilot in a dinky ship, and then you can do pretty much whatever you want. You can start a galaxy-wide trading empire, you can do missions, you can manufacture your own goods (and later, ships), you can even pirate. There are bigger and better ship types to fly, and several alien races to pick from, each with their own ship lineup with different stats.
In X3: Terran Conflict, there are also special non-purchaseable ships around the galaxy that you can capture. Obviously, the people currently occupying them won't be happy. The way capturing works is you have to bring the shields down, then launch your boarding party, and keep the shields low while they clear various sections of the ships. The speed, chance of success, and resulting hull damage from the capture depends on the skill level of your away team, and if the shields regenerate above a certain (low) amount while your crew are still cutting through the hull, they'll end up going all crispy-like.
There is a main "storyline" in the game and other mission arcs (such as the one that gives you the ability to build your own ships). Otherwise, it's a pure sandbox. You can do whatever you want to earn money, and spend it however you want. You can buy ships and create your own fleet (AI takes over your other ships and you can give them orders through command menus). You can buy a fleet of trading ships and set up automatic routes, or hire pilots to trade for you, they seek out better and better opportunities as the pilots level up. You can build your own stations to manufacture and sell, and pretty much everything can be automated.
You can also, eventually, buy/capture capital ships, and unlike most games, in X3 a Carrier capital is actually a carrier, they can house LOTS of normal-sized fighters (like the ones you start out flying). Of course, you have to own those, but that makes the carriers pretty scary.
With all the freedom come downsides, however:
1) The only tutorial you get is how to physically fly your ship. That's it. To figure out how to build stations, fit your ships, etc, you basically have to go look online.
2) There's nobody to play against. There's no "AI". The big empires are just completely automated and nothing really ever happens. They'll happily let pirates invade their system and blow up stations and not even try to save them unless some of their ships are close, at which case they'll just automatically engage and (most likely) die. This basically makes space feel empty except for you, because nothing really goes on that you don't get involved in.
3) The UI is.. not the best. Granted, it's a complex game, and the UI is much improved in Terran Conflict over the original X3, but it's still a bit messy. It will take you some time to figure out where everything is.
4) You should definitely be prepared to spend a good deal of time reading all sorts of guides and tutorials online.
I'll echo the comment above, if you're going to get one, go straight to X3: TC. It has basically everything X3 has plus better UI/mission system/more ships and a new start (Terran).
And that's just to get started. I've played X, X-2 X-3 terrain conflict over a 11yr period. If you want real life simulation as a adventurer with hundreds maybe thousands of options to do and be in a huge universe, this is it. But as stated above for starters and after you'll be reading as much as you may play. You can't learn it in a few weeks. I would get so far in the game (4-5 months at a time) and kinda burn out on it. If you don't play it often enough, it's hard to pick it up and continue because there's so much to remember. But it will suck the hours out of your life
X3 is a fantastic game. My advice is buy the bundle, Reunion and Teran Conflict. You'll spend hours in it.
If one can get past the horrible learning curve and abominably long time before ones starts doing anything actually productive.
Yeah, I had trouble with this. I also aspired to have a HUGE ship but there was only really one or two availible. I kinda just didn't like the coldness and disconnectedness I felt from the gameworld.
this is the most complicated sandbox space game ive ever played, but i love it, there are a crapload of mods that add to the fun factor as well, and as others said, it will take a long time a decent effort to learn it, but its very rewarding
X3:TC has a lot of limitation, but the freedom to build and do anything is pretty cool. It takes a long time to learn how to do things and you have to spend time researching forums to get good info on how to play. I wish they would have spent more time on the AI to give a more alive feel for it. Overall, it is a tough game, but can be fun. Enjoy.
It's fun until several weeks into it you come to the realization that no game should require so many goddamned keys.
The X series can be a lot of fun, if you like space sims that not only let you fly a ship, but in essence, build your own empire. It does take a lot to get used to though, and there is the occasional bug, especially in TC when it comes to the missions. I would recommend TC however, because the space ship controls actually allow for mouse powered combat.
The one I've played the most was X2, and let me tell you, few things can compare with that feeling of scouting out a Xenon infested sector, running into their fleet, and calling in your own armada. The games play a lot a like, but with each new one they've added more gameplay. Although, I can't seem to remember any bulletin board missions or lottery in TC.
Honestly, the concept of X3 has potential but the game suffers greatly from bad path finding, ridiculously slow gameplay, a convoluted UI, poor performance and a lack of atmosphere (there are no cockpits, it doesn't feel like you're flying a ship really).
*based on time playing Terran Conflict
X3 has a lot to offer as far as sandbox world, including possibility of massive ships, massive fleets, building your own factories, bases, "real" economy, etc... Unfortunately, given such a large scope, it is very hard to perfect everything, and to me the game feels too dry. There is something that irks me about the way the ships move as well.. not sure exactly what, but the space combat always left me feeling disappointed. The game didnt have enough immersion for me, so I would get bored of it pretty quick.
I enjoyed Independance War 2: Edge of Chaos a lot more than X3, even though the game is older. The newtonian physics model made combat a lot more enjoyable (what the heck is max speed doing in space?! It should be max acceleration), and the plot was pretty amazing, giving the game a much higher degree of immersion.
What would I give for a combo of the two, where I could have IW2 engine for combat and space travel, but add in the complexity, fleet management and economy of X3. Unfortunately you can't have it all. So my final verdict: If you like complexity, options, and massive sand box, go for X3. If you like more in-depth space combat, immersion, plot, and a game that feels more alive, I would strongly suggest IW2:EOC.
RMSe17
Please please don't get IW2. I bought my copy and it was a BIG mistake. The game was full of bugs : it tend to crash to desktop when I tried to use the jumpholes, half the time. On top of that, the campaign reached a point in chapter #2 from where the main plot would not advance any further (official HP confirmed that bug). I.e. I had blown 30 bucks for a game which wasn't even playable to the end!
I thought, well, let's check out the WWW if there's a patch. There was one. I downloaded it (@ 33.6k dialup back then). I installed it. Guess what...
It didn't even enter space flight any more! The "Load" progress bar advanced to 75%, then crashed to desktop. The supposedly "patched" game was 100% useless!
BTW, I-WAR #1 was better than I-WAR 2: Edge of Chaos. It did have its own share of bugs (a lot of crashing at jumpholes too) but only at certain missions. Compared to it, the Sequel IW2:EOC felt already a bit "mainstreamlined."
Just my experience w/IW2, for what it's worth. Might save you a lot of trouble and a couple of bucks.
BeastCruiser: Odd.. my two friends and I never had any of the problems you mentioned. For me the game ran fine from start to end, took a while to finish, but was great all the way through. The only time I had it crash was after installation of some of the more advanced and complex mods which added a lot of extra functions to the game, but stock game with latest patches ran fine.
X3 makes my computer very hot. Those stunning graphics come at a cost.
To make any sense of x3 TC you need to haunt the forums and read a lot more guides and miscellaneous threads than is reasonable. Sins is crystal clear by comparison.
I just bought X3:Gold. I like it so far...as far as I can play it. I get random crashes to black. I can alt-tab and shut it down ok, but it is annoying.
I can't find much useful info out there to fix it.
Any leads?
Okay so I bought X3 Gold awhile back and have had some good game time in it. I'll give an overview of my opinion of the game.
Things I like:
The fantastic graphics and environment. It really feels like a space game. You need some processing power and a good graphics card to run it on max settings but it's worth it.
Excellent 3D space simulation. Up/down, left/right, and forwards/backwards it's all there.
The sound. I like the background music and variety. The computer voice is good too.
The mission/ main plot. In X3 Terran Conflict this is proving excellent.
The learning curve is greatly improved in X3TC (Terran Conflict).
Things I don't like:
You do need to work the forums to gain knowledge. This is especially true for X3 Reunion.
Using cheats is necessary for many players including me. I wouldn't do as well and would die way too often without them. Fortunately, they are easily available and since it is single player doesn't cheat anyone really.
Auto pilot will frequently auto crash you into stations, other ships, asteroids(lol). Save often. There are cheats that eliminate this annoyance in the game.
Overall I love the game and love the improvements they've made with it. It has a strong following and I expect more great things to come from them.
X3 is really hard to approach if you don't like to read pages and pages of internet tutorial !!!
Graphics are awesome, possibilities are almost endless ! Ships design is more than awesome ! All the options you get from the UI are most impressive and really cool but hard to understand at first ! You'll get lost in them ! And definitely the music is a must, really relaxing ! And you can build bases and your own fleet ! Loads of fun if you understand ! You can get out of your ship and go catch other ships in your little suit... It's really cool and allows you to eject yourself if your ship is going to be destroyed !!!!
Gameplay is hard to take in your hand, the ship pretty much fly as if it was attached to a broomstick ! Don't expect the superb freelancer controls !
Also, between each galaxy, you have loading time / screen... Compared to freelancer where you a smooth transition between each galaxies, it gets really annoying !
No landing on planets ! It's even impossible to approach a planet because they're way too big and way too far ! So don't even think about it !
Cinematics are really pityful ! Quality is poor, animation is horrible and character design is most ugly ! For a game of that graphic quality, I was expecting more in cinematics ! Just forget the story mode !
You need to read, read, read, read, read !!!!! And read again ! To understand the game and all it's mecanism ! I'm not kidding ! Even to understand how to fight with your ship you have to read tutorials !!!!
My final word : a superb game ! really awesome but too complicated, too complicated, too complicated and....
TOO DAMN COMPLICATED !!!!!
Let's hope their next game will be more opened to general public instead of hardcore pro gamer of the X series ! I read plenty of good reviews which are true, but those poeple knew how to play the X series ! It discourraged me more than a one time to play X3 because of it's difficulty to understand ! I was thinking at first : oooh, it cannot be that complicated !!! And when I saw it for myself... well... It was even worse that I could have ever imagined !
Play Eve for two weeks on a trial account and then multiply the difficulty and depth of it by 3x and that's about the learning curve of X3.
for a sandbox game that is supposedly about freedom, i think it's pretty lame not being able to simply point your ship at a planet and just go there, rather than having to use gates to jump from one predefined situation to another.
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