X series vets w/ 1000+ hours - is game constant or restarts?

[jacozilla]

What I mean by question in title is that I'm completely new to X series and just started X4 today.

But I've done some reading while waiting for launch patches and I see plenty of ppl say they played X-whatever for 1k, 2k hours, etc. Which is great to hear. I like games I can stick with.

My question though is whether the X series is like Civ 5 or like Elite Dangerous? And I don't mean in terms of any similarity of game play. I mean style.

I have over 2k hours in Civ 5, and 1.4k hours ED....but in Civ 5 that gameplay is made up of many, many restarts (obviously), whereas in ED it's been 1 continuous total play of the same save.

Is X4 or X series in general one where you just play and develop your massive universe empire over time? Or you sort of 'win' the game and you start over again?

[Mr.Elendig]

both, depends on what you prefer.

[Arigon2001]

If you are new to the X series I would strongly recommend and even encourage you to hold off on X4 for now and go directly to X3 Albien Prelude. Based on what you are asking / looking for I believe you will gain a great deal of insight and fun with X3 AP. It is polished, you can get a ton of great mods that only add even more value to it and it will give the devs (and modders) time to make X4 an actual fully playable and enjoyable game that we can spend thousands of hours in. It's night and day compared to the pinnacle of awesomeness that spews from X3 AP.

[jacozilla]

I'll definitely give X3 TC and AP a try.

But I like starting with games that I think has some reasonable chance of being a long lived and played game. Kinda my thing. X4 I knew nothing about other than some quick review research so I knew to wait a bit (given last Rebirth experience).

But after I saw the 1.30 patch notes come out, seemed like lot of early issues addressed. So I'm now on hour 1 (still in tutorials)

Hopefully X4 is something I can put as many hours into as some of my old favorites.

[RWolf]

I'll definitely give X3 TC and AP a try.
But I like starting with games that I think has some reasonable chance of being a long lived and played game.

Which is why people recommend playing X3. I mean at some point you will want to start over because the journey to the top is the best part, but with all the wars you can make happen the game technically is never ending. You can easily sink well over 2000k hours into the X3 line up alone. X4 is not ready for primetime, and to be honest the developers tried to appeal to the "immediate gratification" casual crowd as well. Its not nearly as good as X3, and a lot of content/variety is simply missing.

[Reprisal]

I thought Civ 5 was probably the worst civilization game and barely put any time into it.

Elite Dangerous just seemed like a lighter version of X to me. I'd rather just play X.

I'm completed addicted to X4, I love it. It has it's bugs and issues right now, but it's an X game through and through.

[Falcrack]

I thought Civ 5 was probably the worst civilization game and barely put any time into it.

Elite Dangerous just seemed like a lighter version of X to me. I'd rather just play X.

I'm completed addicted to X4, I love it. It has it's bugs and issues right now, but it's an X game through and through.

I've got 1461 hours in Civ 5. If you barely put any time into it, you won't appreciate it.

Same with X games.

[Reprisal]

I've got 1461 hours in Civ 5. If you barely put any time into it, you won't appreciate it.

Same with X games.

I won't appreciate it at all. I've played all of the civilisation games and that was a step backwards. The only good change was the hex system.

[Shadow1980]

I've got 1461 hours in Civ 5. If you barely put any time into it, you won't appreciate it.

Same with X games.

I won't appreciate it at all. I've played all of the civilisation games and that was a step backwards. The only good change was the hex system.

From a vet with every single achievement in Civ V, (so I played it a fair bit) it's one of the best Civ experiences if you actually give it a chance. However, this only applies when you add the expansions.

I've played every single Civ and spin off and you're simply not doing the game any justice. Civ VI is actually very good too, but is still lacking a few features that are incoming with the upcoming expansion.

Anyway as you said yourself you barely player and as such you cannot make any kind of valid judgment. X4 is the same. It's an improvement at its core but it hasn't got the features or polish of X3 yet. I cannot see how one would play it beyond 50 hours and not get a little bored. It's lacking long term goals, variety and polish at many levels. That doesn't make it a bad game, it just makes it an unfinished one.

[Reprisal]

From a vet with every single achievement in Civ V, (so I played it a fair bit) it's one of the best Civ experiences if you actually give it a chance. However, this only applies when you add the expansions.

I've played every single Civ and spin off and you're simply not doing the game any justice. Civ VI is actually very good too, but is still lacking a few features that are incoming with the upcoming expansion.

Anyway as you said yourself you barely player and as such you cannot make any kind of valid judgment. X4 is the same. It's an improvement at its core but it hasn't got the features or polish of X3 yet. I cannot see how one would play it beyond 50 hours and not get a little bored. It's lacking long term goals, variety and polish at many levels. That doesn't make it a bad game, it just makes it an unfinished one.

I just checked my library, I actually did like Civ 5. It was Civ 6 I didn't like.

I'm at over 100 hours in X4 and still enjoying myself immensely.

[BigBANGtheory]

Few restarts is probably the answer somewhere in the order of 5 or 6 imho.

What tends to trigger a restart in X series is:

1. After your first run at the game you obviously figure out better ways to do stuff you stop and want another go at it

2. Trying new start conditions or taking a very different approach - probably akin to Civ5

3. Conversion mods and expansions (which are infrequent)

[bl3ek]

If you are new to the X series I would strongly recommend and even encourage you to hold off on X4 for now and go directly to X3 Albien Prelude. Based on what you are asking / looking for I believe you will gain a great deal of insight and fun with X3 AP. It is polished, you can get a ton of great mods that only add even more value to it and it will give the devs (and modders) time to make X4 an actual fully playable and enjoyable game that we can spend thousands of hours in. It's night and day compared to the pinnacle of awesomeness that spews from X3 AP.

Just be very, very mindful the interface is old and hard work.

I thoroughly enjoyed X3 but the UI is dire and slowly crushes your enjoyment.

X4 UI, while not perfect, feels more intuitive and modern. Both still expect too many clicks of you.

Before diving in I'd watch some videos of X3 and pay close attention to the UI, because that's the Achilles heal.