If you could turn back the clock...Would you have bought the game?

[aronlsearle]

How on earth is the combat dumbed down? I think this is the one area where x3 has made a quantam leap forward.

Imporovements.

1. Drift, no more combat on rails.
2. Faster weapons, hence less collisons.
3. Better missiles.
4. Cant Kills m1s in m5s.

Let me explain more fully.

piont 1-3 i agree with.
1.nice but dosnt make a huge difference to difficulty
2. yup that does make it easer, and the AI has not been improved to compensate for this
3. again better missles, hmmmm wonder how that dosnt make it easier if you have them, they are still as easy to aviod.
4. you cant kill m1s in m5s due to the weopons lack of power, your weopons cant punch through the shields, thats the only reason why.

also there are far less enemies, in fact the game itself fells alot more empty.

Erm, what would you like me to do about it? What exactly can I do about it? I can neither help the fact that they don't have a connection, nor help the fact that their game may crash etc. So should we forsake ALL discussion about anything simply due to those whom may not have connections?

I dont know why you are taking hes so post personnally, like he said i doubt you would be defending this game if you had no internet connection to download the patches.

And as to returning the game, have you actually ever tried that with a store with a non returns policy.

I had bought a program that siad XP compatible, it was not (short version). So i took it back with a letter from the actual company i bought it from with a letter saying it wont work with my XP system.
the shop said that i would have to take it up with the manufacter and not them as it is not faulty but is bugged and is not their problem.

Now this is the much shorter version as obviosly there was more to it, and those were not the words THEY used. But im telling you know the only reason i got my money back was becasue i refused to move out of their shop for 20 minutes untill they gave in.

not many people will do that.

(EDIT replaced i for they)

[scampy]

And what about people with no internet connection, oh well there buggered (i know people that still dont have it)

This is a very good point. I do believe that there should be a legal responsibility for distributers to send patches to all registered owners of their software so that people can request patches be posted out to them at zero cost if they wish.

I like that idea a lot. It puts a big onus on the developer to QA the thing properly first, because getting it wrong will cost a lot.

At the same time I have a lot of sympathy for people developing for PCs (because I do it myself). Trying to get something that will work 100% perfectly on all the hardware out there (half of it with rubbish drivers... ) is a nightmare. There's a line to be drawn though - I think games that have patches available the day they're launched have crossed that line.

[aronlsearle]

At the same time I have a lot of sympathy for people developing for PCs (because I do it myself). Trying to get something that will work 100% perfectly on all the hardware out there (half of it with rubbish drivers... ) is a nightmare. There's a line to be drawn though - I think games that have patches available the day they're launched have crossed that line.

I agree, bugs happen i can live with that.

But i wont tolerate it when they are AWARE of the bugs and still let the through.

You can say how they have timelimits budgets ect. But i as a consumer dont care, its ME thats paying 35 pounds for a buggy game.

[Tracer40]

Late to this. Bought X3 the other day for full price and I regret wasting my money I'm afraid to say.

It appears exactly the same as X2 but with fancier graphics. And I have to start from scratch for goodness sakes! I'm sure they said they'd allow us to take our X2 save games and load them into X3.

As others have said, I wanted to feel more immersion, a real new wow factor. They may have said "no landing on planets", but that has to be a minimum for X4.

there's some good programmers who have put a great effort into X3 and I don't blame them one bit. The people who manage them want shooting though.

Exactly my thoughts -yes it is X2 with DX9 iced all over it with a HUD tweak but runs like a bag of spanners on modern high/middle end systems that eat optimised games!
If this was a TRUE DX9 coded game it would be optimised for DX9 cards, the old engine is barfing it's pistons up trying to cope with it's new cloak.

X4 will have to be landings -as per my thoughts and scampy above. and a whole new engine.
The sales of X3 -or more likely the returns- are going to make or break this series. Gamers are a X2 sagt Bussi auf Bauch bunch, and contrary to what some here think, don't own MASSIVE powered rigs.

Did the devs ever think of doing a concensous to find out their buyers system specs?

Hey let's look at Half-Life 2 owners; it's a good rig needed to run but it runs very well on even an older 9800 Pro (my previous card) So look at the buyers specs *around the WHOLE world*:

128 Mb to 255 Mb 88,403 10.57 % 99.27 %
256 Mb to 511 Mb 345,398 41.31 % 88.70 %
512 Mb to 999 Mb 349,568 41.81 % 47.38 %

Intel CPU Speeds
2.3 Ghz to 2.69 Ghz 106,685 12.76 %
2.7 Ghz to 2.99 Ghz 104,789 12.53 %
3.0 Ghz to 3.29 Ghz 88,479 10.58 %
3.3 Ghz to 3.69 Ghz 26,178 3.13 %

AMD CPU Speeds
1.4 Ghz to 1.49 Ghz 13,558 1.62 %
1.5 Ghz to 1.69 Ghz 44,295 5.30 %
1.7 Ghz to 1.99 Ghz 106,355 12.72 %
2.0 Ghz to 2.29 Ghz 172,110 20.58 %
2.3 Ghz to 2.69 Ghz 24,714 2.96 %

Now comes the BIGGEST shock!!!
ATI Radeon 9600 Series 79,818 9.55 %
ATI Radeon 9800 Series 78,006 9.33 %
NVidia GeForce FX 5200 Series 66,756 7.98 %
NVidia GeForce4 MX Series 53,963 6.45 %
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 45,801 5.48 %
ATI Radeon 9200 Series 42,291 5.06 %
NVidia GeForce4 Series 40,443 4.84 %

Radeon 9600 largest owned card!!

My GeForce 7800GT wasn't even in the whole list!!

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

X3 has the potential to turn into a massive financial disaster

[scampy]

Did the devs ever think of doing a concensous to find out their buyers system specs?

Hey let's look at Half-Life 2 owners; it's a good rig needed to run but it runs very well on even an older 9800 Pro (my previous card) So look at the buyers specs *around the WHOLE world*:

*snip*

Sadly there's been a few games released recently (FEAR for example) that I just can't even think of buying, my machine just isn't up to it.

But really, is an AMD 2800XP, 1 Gig RAM, 9800 Radeon Pro 256Mb that much of a slouch? It plays Farcry and Half-life 2 at 1600x1200 (admittedly not every graphics option on, but enough that they look pretty).

But I'm willing to give X3 the benefit of the doubt there, it does have a universe to run after all.

[pasty11]

3. again better missles, hmmmm wonder how that dosnt make it easier if you have them, they are still as easy to aviod.
4. you cant kill m1s in m5s due to the weopons lack of power, your weopons cant punch through the shields, thats the only reason why.

also there are far less enemies, in fact the game itself fells alot more empty.

3.Hmm, I find some missiles allmost immposible to aviod, unlike in x2. The seeker missiles fired by the Khack for example.

4. SO what if that is the reason, seems like a perfectly good reason. An M5s weapons are not powerfull to hurt the shields of an M1.

I have found many more enemies. In X2 I would see pirates in groups of 1-3. In my x3 game I have found 20+ pirates in sector at once. Try Teladi space. As for the Khack well they were absent before but recently have started turning up ALOT 2 or more clusters at a time.

Yea combat could be ALOT better and harder, that is how I would like it, but to suggest as you did that it is a step back from X2 is just plain wrong imho.

[xeon_1]

i would have bought it but just for the book with's is great but the game is basacly X2 with new grafix that messed up my hard drives

[aronlsearle]

3.Hmm, I find some missiles allmost immposible to aviod, unlike in x2. The seeker missiles fired by the Khack for example.

Well maybe im just good, but missles dont bother me.

4. SO what if that is the reason, seems like a perfectly good reason. An M5s weapons are not powerfull to hurt the shields of an M1.

Rather irrelevant though as the argument is that combat is easier, i cant kill them because of lack of power (which was always the case with m5s), they cant kill me because they suck at shooting.

I have found many more enemies. In X2 I would see pirates in groups of 1-3. In my x3 game I have found 20+ pirates in sector at once. Try Teladi space. As for the Khack well they were absent before but recently have started turning up ALOT 2 or more clusters at a time.

Ive not found that myself, but i am not disagreeing just saying my personal experiance.

Yea combat could be ALOT better and harder, that is how I would like it, but to suggest as you did that it is a step back from X2 is just plain wrong imho.

[/quote]

I really cant be bothered to write a 10 page essay going into the ins and outs, all i will say is in my personal experiance combat as a whole is easier and less of a challenge.

I mainly attruibute this to improvments to handling/weopons, making you more deadly. But the AI has not been improved much to compensate for this, hence its easier.

Maybe a step backwards is too harsh, but it certianly hasnt moved foward and fells like it has just stayed static (ish).

[Laroo]

Yes i would buy the game again , I take my hat off to egosoft for putting too market something thats is only just short of a masterpiece game in basically 1 year. I want to help egosoft as much as I can and the only way I can do this is by buying the game. I have no doubts that they will continue to work as hard as they already have been to provide us with some real fun patches.

This in my books gices me something too look forward too, and will allow me to enjoy the game for longer. At the moment the plot is on standby and im trying various other new things including building complexes I will continue with the plot when all has been patched I dont mind waiting, with so much other stuff to do.

[Chips]

I dont know why you are taking hes so post personnally, like he said i doubt you would be defending this game if you had no internet connection to download the patches.

And as to returning the game, have you actually ever tried that with a store with a non returns policy.

I had bought a program that siad XP compatible, it was not (short version). So i took it back with a letter from the actual company i bought it from with a letter saying it wont work with my XP system.
the shop said that i would have to take it up with the manufacter and not them as it is not faulty but is bugged and is not their problem.

Now this is the much shorter version as obviosly there was more to it, and those were not the words THEY used. But im telling you know the only reason i got my money back was becasue i refused to move out of their shop for 20 minutes untill they gave in.

Yeah, sorry about that post - i was starting to run late for a lecture and didn't proof read - just submitted. Kinda wandered round and round - and usually would have been edited down to something more concise

As for their policies - I have had that with Game over Eve online. Sadly I caved in without putting up enough fight and knowing enough of my rights at the time.
Apparently all store "returns policies" are basically rubbish - they can cliam what they like, but it cannot take precidence over your consumer rights - which still stand above whatever the individual "policies" that the stores have.

Of course, the simple chance of anyone arguing strongly enough, or threatening with action (and following up on it, as idle threats may be ignored completely) is slim - so they get away with it.

[Xaffax]

If you want to pay full price for what is essentialy an unfinnished beta. Then buy it and keep it.

[Kong]

Of course I would buy it again. I play Xx since XBtF, and will continue to do so as long as Egosoft keeps up the excellent support. Every X has been a step forward. Nuffsaid.

[Hoops71]

To answer the original question 'NO'. This game is seriously flawed IMO and needs some serious patching.

[Jaagiis]

And a big YES.....

[Swanny]

To original poster:
Yessir, I definitely would have bought it again
But I do hope Egosoft will fix it up, and add more content and depth to it.

//Swanny

[Nightsorrow]

Hi, I love X3, I loved X2, the idea is great, game comes across fantastically, a perfect way for me to waste freetime while g/f is watching Tv.

But why was I sold a game thats not ready?

It freezes constantly, you can be doing anything ,and it will jsut freeze, its not my comp as I have a few and tried it on all of them, also many other people have mentioned it.

I have spent hours on it, but cant do it anymore, I am now going to take it back to the store, and probably never buy from Egosoft again, lets face it, in any other part of life you dont keep buying a product from a company that cant provide what you paid/asked for.

If it gets fixed, then I will buy it again happily, but it will take some convincing, sorry to whinge, but I am probably typing what alot of dissapointed people are thinking.

Good luck with it.

[DJSoulJammer]

I have played few days X3 and question my self what i really like in it .

Yes indeed Graphics are Totally Amazing and view is Awesome ,man take my breath away just to fly around ,really amazing job , But game
Combat -> Damn ships are to small and move damn fast ,targeting is really bad ,good idea is realistic move of ships .
Game economy => That's a little more problem than was in X2 but i know they will fix it in future updates .
Interface => didn't like it at all and commands also
Ships design are some i already so and again they are to small M3 M4 M5 ships so even are great you have to come to 40 m to see them well
Stations and Fabs are way to Huge comparing to Small very small ships
asteroids are my holly god to Huge .
Partials flying in the space are probably way to disable just didn't figure out how and they are sooo annoying ,didn't like that at all .

Bottom line is i am not sorry i pay for game ,not at all ,just didn't like the game ,absolutely not ,not concept not combat not economy .way to much different from X2 i really love it and will play more now and more like sanse i know now how X3 look like .

What i really hoping for, is just one more thing from Egosoft and that's they have to make it X2 expansion pack ,you know what , i don't care even if there is not more changes in it ,just little more missions and wars and some maybe expanded plot .For Cockpits i have already script so there is no need to change on that point , maybe if is possible to some new ships will be nice and maybe some new kind of fabs all other in my opinion is very good in X2 ,more and far better for me than X3 .

I can not avoid again to say that graphics are damn AWSOME in X3 ,amazing , just amazing

Please realist this Expansion pack for X2 , please please !!!!

Sorry to be selfish but thats what i think ,we all are diferent in taste .

[Tolwyn]

You... you bought a software title with a bug??

I'm amazed.



A friend that recommended this series to me is playing X3, and he is very sensative to problems with games. Funnily enough, he hasn't mentioned a single lock up.

You sure it couldn't possibly be your PC?

Latest nVIDIA/ATI drivers? What card?
What soundcard? What drivers?
If integrated, what MB? What is the latest Platform drivers of your MB?
What version of DirectX?
Is your PC overclocked?
Using RivaTuner to overclock your video card?

Maybe a bit more information and maybe some of us could help?

[Al]

There will be no further patches, expansions or anything else for X2 provided by Egosoft. They've moved on and all effort will be going into patching X3 to be the great game it almost is.

Al

[HadleysHope]

The ONLY time the game has frozen on my pc is if I alt-tab out of it, they it just stops working all together.

The rest of the time it runs as sweet as, no issues what so ever.

First thing I would suggest you do is update your sound and video drivers to whatever is the latest, also make sure you have the very latest version of DirectX.

My pc is 100% spyware / tracking cookie and virus free, so maybe thats a place to start. Get youself a copy of Ad-Aware

I am running a P4 3Ghz (800Mhz FSB) 1Gb ram, ATI 9800 pro (128Mb), latest ATI drivers.