Your honest opinion?

[BlackRain]

I'm sorry, the UI is just so so bad. X3's UI is so superior in functionality AND it was easy to understand. Why change something that isn't broken?

The UI is not bad, you just don't know how to use it well. The UI is quite good once u get the hang of it.

[ArcherSam]

Personally, I am enjoying it a lot. I wasn't happy with some of the changes when I started, but now I am used to them I think they're all very good (UI wise).

The game is fun. A bit buggy, and I'm not sure if I like the sector map style they have now. Seems... inelegant. But overall, it's a worthy successor to X3... considering it's two days old. When the bugs are tidied up and maybe with some mods, it'll be fantastic!

[Huillam]

One of the goals of a good UI is to reduce to the minimum the amount of actions that require to use the mouse (because it's much slower and a good UI doesn't waste your time).
That's something that X3's UI despite all of its issues achieved perfectly. X4 on the contrary make it almost impossible to move away from the mouse and at the same time many of its defaults bindings require the use of both hands.

I'll take X3's UI over X4 without any hesitation: sure it was a pain to get used to it but it did the job and it did it almost perfectly.



As for my own feelings regarding the game, they are mixed:
Combat has been turned into a joke because the AI is unable to aim properly and even if that wasn't the case it's almost impossible to find anything to fight. And that include Xenons: I spent two hours earlier today mapping some of their sectors, I met half a dozen of transport ships and two fighters in total.
Despite those issues X4 has something that Rebirth never had and I'll probably keep playing it for a while even if I suspect that the next time I'll want to play an X game I'll go back to X3.

[Privata]

I love it.
Its what I wanted from X3 when Reunion first came out.

Dynamic factions that gain and lose sectors, NPCs building stations just as the player does, cockpits and docking.

The economic simulation so far feels better than XR, but I will admit that one of the things I miss from the old days of XBTF to X3 is when every station was just a singular entity for a singular purpose.
That being said the modular side of the new stations is epic and is nicer than complexes of stations IMO.

Rebirth was a Remake of sorts of Xbtf.
X4 is X4. in fact I think it makes a larger leap than X-T to X2 and X2 to X3

[Axeface]

My opinion after about 5 hours in the game, which is subject to change if I find more depth as I go forward, is that there isnt enough of X Rebirth in X4. Rebirth has so many good ideas in it, an example being the inexplicable absence of drones that move npcs and inventory around in X4? It seems that many of rebirths good ideas have fallen by the way-side with X4 attempting to distance itself, to its own detriment. Rebirth seems to have much more depth.
Performance also seems to be worse, yet in many ways rebirth looks and feels better? is this because there are more systems/ships taxing the cpu? (maybe? rebirths sytems seems a lot bigger and more in-depth than x4's).

It feels like a lot of effort was made for x4 to be 'not rebirth', and be 'X3' - when I see 90% of complaints about Rebirth as hyperbole, I think damage has been done to the game by that.

One example is the sectors. Ive been flying around 4 sectors since I started playing, and it feels like asteroid fields and stations randomely placed. Rebirths system design is just better, in my honest opinion. More thought was put into the systems and sectorsand they feel like real places, its much less generic/procedural than x4.
I dont know how many systems are in X4, has depth been sacrificed for numerically 'more' systems? FYI I have only explored about 4 systems so far, and ive seen many more in streams - I dont know how many systems there are, perhaps this opinion will change when I see the rest.

Overall, I like the game, but I am really missing a lot of Rebirths depth especially in regards to system design. Theres a lot I really like about the game and I think i'm going to spend a lot of time playing it - Im really excited to see how the dynamic universe works out, will I finally have a reason to build up a fleet? This was the main gripe I had with all previous games, if X4 solves this and gives me a reason to keep going - then it will probably grow into my favourite game of all time.

Things I really want to bring up :-
- Ships moving around in boost and highways move 'smoothly' in X4. This was one of my main complaints in rebirth... anything boosting or in a highway was 'glitchy', im glad to see this improved.
- Combat in regards to how weapons 'feel' in comparison to Rebirth. In X4 the weapons ive used feel quite bad in comparison to Rebirth, where all the weapons you could use felt great.
- Ambient comms - I love this feature, adds a lot of immersion.
- Travel drive - Great! (but what im finding while exploring with it... not so great).
- Much better npc models and animations, obvious improvements to humans. Paranid look awesome, teladi look improved (and that boron model... *swoon*).
- Voicing quality for most npcs ive met is on another level when compared to rebirth or previous games, very nice! (More variety would be great now).
- Station Interiors. Sorry but I think Rebirths station interiors are better. X4's are bigger, emptier and stranger... im not sure how this is an improvement.
- Some great AI improvements..... chasing a fleeing destroy target as they use highways and gates to get away makes them feel alive (I hope this behaviour is intended).
- Combat AI. In some cases it seems the same as rebirth (xenon) and in others much, much worse (kha'ak), I dont know how to feel about this yet.
- Music. The music is excellent, as is to be expected from Alexei, but it isnt implimented boldly enough... its more 'ambience' than 'score'. If you want an X3 vibe you need a 'score' for each system.
- Highway changes - I know they were changed because so many people effing hate them 'because rebirth', the new highways mechanically work great (because of the smoothness i mentioned earlier), and are different enough to fool people into realising that they are a good feature (you could have rebirths highways with the mechanical improvements in X4, and they would be equally as cool... but then they would be 'X Rebirths highways'.... I get why you made the changes).


Some things that REALLY worry me.
- In Rebirth ships wouldnt 'follow' you like a ship in X3 would. They would move to the same zone as you (that could be 100km away) and just wait. Im seeing this happen in X4 too... this needs to change. If I want a wingman or a wingfleet, I want a wingfleet. I want them to follow me closely to the best of their ability, not just get in the 'general vacinity' of me and stop to eat a sandwich.
- Recieving a comm message STILL sometimes locks you out of controls like it did in Rebirth... for the love of god this has to change.


My 2 cents... maybe in a week this wil lall change.

[Drakuel]

My experience comes from only this view..

Playing mouse/keyboard and 1050 TI video card.

1. Best X launch I have ever experienced, yes there are bugs, but most were small none were game breaking. Most I had were from autopilot mechanics wether that be mine initiated or AI..

2. Menu/UI upgrade took a little to get things, but i love the new system, also love you can adjust the UI in settings..

3. Love large sectors, long range scanning, local scanning nuggets, other exploration things added to reward exploring, like lock boxes or encrypted stations you need to fix and gain access to..

4. Love seemless transitions, even though stations and npcs are simple right now, it is a huge foundation to keep building on, love it.. Who ever made the docking mechanic did a great job as well, with the graphic assisted docking.

5. Graphics and sound great, and whoever created those asteroids, dam give them a bonus check, well done.

6. Combat AI needs work, too easy and AI at times just spin around without even firing at me, so easy to out manuever an obvious more manuevrable ship.. But it feels good far as flight and impact..

7. Missions, well ones Ive done so far I like I can actually finish without rinning out of time, please keep timers off and use bonus or reduction to pay for your reward/penalty much better.


I bought collectors edition after watchong beta steams, and it has already paid for itself...

[Tomonor]

There are lots of small bugs, but that was expected, since it's version 1.0

None of them are game breaking, though. The only one that pisses me off is the ingame encyclopedia's incomplete descriptions, since I love reading those (it basically taught me english in the X2 days).

I expect lots of quality of life changes in the near future.

[Dodo33]

I'm sorry, the UI is just so so bad. X3's UI is so superior in functionality AND it was easy to understand. Why change something that isn't broken?

The UI is not bad, you just don't know how to use it well. The UI is quite good once u get the hang of it.

Ahhh yes it is bad, it took me 15 min to understand how to issue orders, trade, create wings, behavior in x3. Here I am 20 hrs into the game and i'm still struggling with the new one.

So yes, it is bad, very... very bad and don't give me crap about "getting used to it" or "you're just bad" arguments because going from 15 min to 20 hrs is to big a discrepancy and from what I've been reading both here on the forums and on steam I'm not alone with this opinion.

[Pind]

I'm sorry, the UI is just so so bad. X3's UI is so superior in functionality AND it was easy to understand. Why change something that isn't broken?

The UI is not bad, you just don't know how to use it well. The UI is quite good once u get the hang of it.

As an expert on the topic, I have to point out: this is pretty much the definition of a poor UI. I'm not saying it is the worst ever made, but it could certainly be improved dramatically.

My take: the game is way better than X:R. However, in terms of content, quality of life, artificial life, systems-- I don't think anyone can honestly say it is better than X3:AP with a couple mods. They introduced a couple things like manual docking and walking around in stations that seem to me like the opposite of what the X universe is all about (simulated systems and automation vs. tedious BS created by an irrational lack of phones and computer software in the space age).

That being said it does seem to be a good foundation for patches, expansions, and mostly modding in the future. So where we are now looks like a hefty engine update to the X3 experience that unfortunately also means a reset button on all the beautiful content from mods and expansions.

[Socratatus]

I`m very pleased with the game so far, though I see bugs that should be ironed out.

What I`d liek to see:

1. Improve the people figures. Men are too `hunched` up, let the arms be looser more relaxed. In fact all bodies need a little more work. Also, less ugly women. What is it with the artists always making ugly, sexless women? Also add more people.
2. Improve the voices. the speaker voices for the base is wrong. It should sound echoey, but it sounds like its right in your ears.
3. Add Track Ir.
4. Ability to custom make how your character looks.


Thayt`s about it, not much really. I`m sure I`ll think of more.

[mr.WHO]

I'm sorry, the UI is just so so bad. X3's UI is so superior in functionality AND it was easy to understand. Why change something that isn't broken?

Whaaaaaat? The whole reason for X4 was that GUI in X3 is a horror.
The X4 GUI is superior, but completely fresh, so if someone is used to X3 GUI will be a bit lost before familiarize with it.


I mean the entire con of X4 is that there are multiple new or new/old mechanics that have been changed combaring to X3 and XR, so you need to learn again how to play the game.
This is not the game fault! I'm sure in several weeks when everybody learn more and make some walkthrough, tutorials and mechanics explenation we will be fine!


E.g:
Lack of Xenon activity - they have been killed and are re-build in Xenon Shipyards and can't break through frontline defence.
Lack of pirates - X2 covert pirates are back, they no longer openly fly as red hostile. You need to scan/search for them among the crowd.
GUI obscuring the view - you have amy customization options to change/switch off.
Strange flight control - switch-off auto-roll and rebind several keys.

[RWolf]

I'm sorry, the UI is just so so bad. X3's UI is so superior in functionality AND it was easy to understand. Why change something that isn't broken?

Whaaaaaat? The whole reason for X4 was that GUI in X3 is a horror.

The X3 GUI was not a horror, in fact it did its job quite well. The job of the GUI was to convey information and aid the user in accomplishing what they need.
Some may claim it was not the best looking GUI, but it worked quite well. The more complex the game, the more information and functions the user will need to access. X3 TC/AP did that well! One bar on the left that aided in discoverability and their hotkeys, easy to access, easy to hide, and extremely informative.
Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQNPRgehF8w

[mr.WHO]

As I said, you used X3 GUI for too long and just wanted to have X3 like menu in X4.

X3 GUI is an abomination - whatever you wanted to do you had to go through 10-15 nested menus and there was not many mass command in vanilla.

In X4 I'm not even sure if I had to go 3-4 levels deep into nested menu to do something.
X3 is a clickfest/menufest.

[Tickwick]

Having so many fresh and new things I have to learn again is part of the experience for me, some might not enjoy it (and that's fine). I still remember having to modify scripts just to program a turret to do what I wanted back in X3, having to search menus in X4 is nothing compared to that. Even if the interface is improved, it still requires a learning curve, it doesn't serve you everything on a platter like most of the games today do. It's the kind of game that requires you to invest brain cells in it.

It's a solid sandbox, and with community and developer support, can turn into the best X game in the series down the line.

[Lost Captain]

I'm enjoying it so far.

I-7 4770k - GTX 780ti Everything on high with no slowdowns.No crashes and no bugs that I have noticed.

I'm using a K+M mouse at the moment,not my preferred control method,and it's serviceable.It just doesn't feel as good as Elite dangerous with the
same input method.The ships in Elite feel a little meatier and more satisfying to fly.Hopefully this will improve when I get my HOTAS .

The only criticism I have at the moment is the ship design.It's already been mentioned,but they don't look as good as Albion P.
Too boxy and too samey.I really miss the large industrial look of the Teladi ships in particular.

There is a steep learning curve,but I slogged my way through Dwarf Fortress and Crusader Kings 2 so this should be a breeze

I'm only about ten hours in but it looks very promising.

[MegaJohnny]

It's all great for me so far. My main gripe at the moment would be the pace of the combat. I'm only in a fighter right now shooting other fighters, but it seems to take ages to whittle down their hull and shield. Boosting makes it a lot more exciting but I think the booster should use up a different energy bar, so ships can still boost when their shields are empty.

But I'm not sure if I'm using the same UI as the other posters? It's fantastic for me. Visual representation of your ships' orders, queueing up and removing orders from the middle of the queue(!!), everything I've needed so far has been in a right click context menu or on the behaviour tab of a ship's info menu. There is no way, no way at all this was designed for consoles.

[bl3ek]

The X3 GUI was a horror show!

Don't resist change, the X4 interface - whilst certainly not perfect - is miles ahead.

Trading and directing your ships are two major improvements. Not to mention you are looking at everything, all the time, you just have to zoom. X3 on the other hand was sector by sector and a real bind, just horrible to use.

Anyway, my positive review if anyone wants a list of good/bad - https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/765 ... ded/392160

[Studders]

I have been really enjoying the game and it's going to be epic after a few patches. The whole enemies not attacking and broken AI behaviour has made me want to stop playing for the time being.

[SwordBreakerX]

Thanks every one for the feedback I appreciate it. It´s maybe a good idea I can´t buy it then so when I finally can get it in a year or 2 everything will be patched and updated. But I was thinking about ship designs maybe they should just used the ships from X3 albion and just made them look more updated texture wise to fit x4.

reason im kinda sad I can´t play it is well I loved X3 but I played it way to much and I wanted a new sci-fi game sure I got Elit dangerous but to be honest Elit is nice but I kinda hate it that you don´t have a ship class diversity like X series has. Sure you have small medium and large in Elit but like where is the Battleships or the Freighters or the carriers for players to fly.

[spankahontis]

I'm having tons of fun and I really really like the Long Range Scanning mechanic. I think it's the best addition to the series. I also really really like the fast travel mode on the ship, combined with much bigger sectors.

However, they said they focused A LOT on the interface during past interviews. To me it's still incredibly clunky and unintuitive.

Have any of you actually tried assigning a manager to a station? You have to go to another station, walk up to a random person, hire them as crew for your current ship, then fly to your actual station, dock, open up the map, select "information" about your current ship, click through 4 crew sub-menus just to call your recruit on comms(LOL), tell them to work somewhere else, back on the map right-click on your station, select "manager" and click confirm.

Then hope it works because there's a chance that nothing happens, he will never leave your ship and you will not be able to have a manager.

I have to agree, I am not liking the UI, it is WAY to complex that even X:Rebirth did better in this regard.
Too many drop down menus, buttons and fiddly things you have to do in order to get things done and commands issued.
The Tutorial is nice but it doesn't explain well enough how to understand the controls.
I particularly got confused with Trading when I could afford my first Medium Freighter, I bought a Mercury.
Learning how to filter items on the drop down and to switch trades to a ship on your property list had me pulling my hair out.


I'll figure it out eventually, but still.. I'm having a blast, regardless.

E.g:
Lack of Xenon activity - they have been killed and are re-build in Xenon Shipyards and can't break through frontline defence.
Lack of pirates - X2 covert pirates are back, they no longer openly fly as red hostile. You need to scan/search for them among the crowd.
GUI obscuring the view - you have amy customization options to change/switch off.
Strange flight control - switch-off auto-roll and rebind several keys.

You're serious?? The moment I bought cargo in my new Mercury I was being harassed by pirates every station I Travel Mode to.