What do you think of the x series by egosoft?

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Randoman01

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Apr 19, 2013
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I was wondering if there was anyone else who is a fan of the egosoft games like the X series of games. Does anyone else like them? What do you think?
 

Zontar

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Feb 18, 2013
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Well, I personally love the X3 trilogy (Reunion is and likely always shall be my favourite game of all time). The lore is nice (if somewhat inconsistent), the gameplay is complicated but consistant, it has a strong pro-human stance (always love me some human supremacist sci-fi), and the graphics have always been ahead of the curb (Reunion still holds up today).

My only real problem with it is the abomination that is Rebirth which has in all likelihood killed the franchise.
 

Elfgore

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Dec 6, 2010
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The only contact I've had with the X series as they happen is Rebirth, which I haven't even played... and have heard nothing good about at all. From the terrible launch to terrible post-launch support being notable examples. I have heard good things about X-3 which I would like to try out, just haven't gotten around to yet. I hear it hasn't aged well though.
 

Zontar

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Feb 18, 2013
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Elfgore said:
The only contact I've had with the X series as they happen is Rebirth, which I haven't even played... and have heard nothing good about at all. From the terrible launch to terrible post-launch support being notable examples. I have heard good things about X-3 which I would like to try out, just haven't gotten around to yet. I hear it hasn't aged well though.
The controls, not so much, especially Reunion. But everything else has stood the test of time so far.
 

Winthrop

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Apr 7, 2010
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Its an okay series, but I have trouble getting into it. Largely because of the trading. I wanted a pilot/dogfight sim set in space and the demo made it seem more like that. I think its just not my cup of tea.
 

raeior

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Oct 18, 2013
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Played every single title from the series and loved them until they released Rebirth. I wouldn't necessarily say they have aged badly because the critique you could direct at them now is the same as it was when they were released. The controls are hard to learn, the games start extremely slow, the AI is HORRIBLE (transport crashing straight into your capital ship? well it's clearly your fault for not evading that transport you murderer!), there are long stretches were you are waiting for your transport to deliver something or your factory to produce enough stuff and the universe is generally to empty. There are long hauls were you are just flying to gate A, activate SINZA, jump, fly to gate B, activate SINZA, jump and so on. The graphics are still pretty good and the main reason why I like them is..there is nothing like the X titles. They are pretty much their own genre. No game offers you this degree of economic simulation alongside fighting and story. All this is compensated by the fun of planning and building a new complex and seeing the freighters run to and forth, capturing a new ship, winning a large battle, stuff like this. I must say though, I tend to have a book or something else lying nearby when playing to skip those "waiting for X to happen" moments. This and the horrbile fleet management would be my main critique points with the X series, although it's probably not possible to eliminate all of those waiting times.

I recently gave Rebirth a new chance since they have patched a lot of stuff but it still is barely playable. They managed to make the interface and controls even more convuluted (never thought that was possible), stuff like collision damage is disabled by default because the AI is completely braindead (it was always bad but still...), combat against bigger ships can still be won by flying into their landing bay and shooting from inside and many more things.

Zontar said:
My only real problem with it is the abomination that is Rebirth which has in all likelihood killed the franchise.
Agreed. They try to patch it but I'm currently thinking it won't be enough to save Egosoft or the X franchise. No idea how sales were but after this no one in their right mind will buy another game from them until it is proven to be superb. Since they fucked up Rebirth so badly it is also pretty questionable how much of it they could salvage for a new X title that would fare better. Also still no "We're sorry" or anything for the crap the Egosoft CEO has said after release. "The problems are only encountered by a vocal minority, game is perfect as it is, just as we imagined it would turn out!" If the rumours are true and they are in financial problems (pretty much the only reason I can imagine for releasing in this state) they probably won't be able to stem another game and crowdfunding after their recent behaviour would be no option either I guess.
 

Spiritofpower

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Loved the hell out of X3. So many things to do in that game, and that's before you start on mods. X-Rebirth, though...

Yeah, pretty much what Elfgore said.

Also, side note on the bad AI; part of the problem is likely that your SETA factor is too high. If you max your SETA and don't have a very specific type of computer, your framerate tanks and the game starts skimping on the AI to conserve system resources, which results in those horror stories of losing your brand new M7 when the AI crashes into something.

Normally, this wouldn't be too much of a problem because of 8-core 2GHz CPUs or whatever, but X3 doesn't support multi-core processors, so again, you need a very specific build to maximize performance.