Timelines first impressions and feedback

[Sentinel-Ghost]

My first impressions, I will likely be repeating what many others have already said..

1) Cringe inducing voice-overs. (which I know has never been Egosoft's strong-point but even so...)

2) A seemingly pointless Hub with nothing particularly interesting. I dislike being loaded in my quarters away from the missions area each time.

3) No ability to select the NEXT mission after completing a mission?

4) Limited replayabilty .. why an't we choose from a selection of different ships and load-outs?

5) Difficulty seems absurdly high. I am currently on the 2nd mission and ... ugh.
- This mission highlights all the problems I have with dog-fighting in X4 (something I've never been amazing at especially when facing terrible odds.)
- Boost attached to shields is something I've never liked.
- No easy way to evade the Xenon if they have you in their sights and have pummelled your shields to zero.
- WHY can't I repair my ship at the Auxiliary - this should be something you can use at any capital ship you dock at - an auto-repair service.
- Wing men are 1-2 and half stars in skill ...
- the mission has you facing INSANE odds particularly if your wingmen have derped themselves into a fiery grave.
- No checkpoints
- Still no easy way to have your ship escort another ship, you can match speed, (but it doesn't always enter travel drive and you tend to end up far behind...)

[Tamina]

2) The Hub is not pointless, there is a story told in the Hub about the Hub and there are some secrets to be discovered.
The Hub is also changing over the missions, not sure if you can miss some stuff when mindlessly hunting the missions.

5) Yes, I also suck at the 2nd mission (0* so far) but you can always choose to skip missions if you dont like it. An attempt is enough to progress.

However, if you have just reached the 2nd mission, isn't that a bit early to judge? (See your 2nd point)

Don't get me wrong, I haven't finished Timelines as well so far. I am just a bit skeptical how much that is worth.

[Sentinel-Ghost]

2) The Hub is not pointless, there is a story told in the Hub about the Hub and there are some secrets to be discovered.
The Hub is also changing over the missions, not sure if you can miss some stuff when mindlessly hunting the missions.

5) Yes, I also suck at the 2nd mission (0* so far) but you can always choose to skip missions if you dont like it. An attempt is enough to progress.

However, if you have just reached the 2nd mission, isn't that a bit early to judge? (See your 2nd point)

Don't get me wrong, I haven't finished Timelines as well so far. I am just a bit skeptical how much that is worth.

Your're right im probably comming across harsher than I intended. I'm currently on the 5th mission now.

[X_30002000]

Wait till you get to mission 4 - impossible to complete for new players and many veterans. I do not see any way to skip it to go next graph.

[Buck]

In 20 years of buying Egosoft products this is the worst
The Devs could post help on here but they won't

[X_30002000]

Requested refund. I do not see a point to pay for game that will not allow me to progress due to insane difficulty level. Everything is locked out except 3 initial missions in graph 1. Suggesting this to new players is completely ridiculous, they will not be able to pass just graph 1. Other graphs are no better. If this is for newbies, then all missions has to have guarantied pass, so everyone could do it. I do no care about stars - 0 is fine as long as the missions and story can progress. Even if it was not for newbies, you should not charge money and then lock out content, effectively refusing to provide gameplay and features you promised.
I agree, This is worst DLC Egosoft made, will not recommend to anyone in current state.

[Valere]

I see many complaints about difficulties while I managed to complete these missions with at least 3 stars after 3 attempts, or even first tries. Now with a couple attempt more I have 5 stars at all of these missions including this dreaded second mission and I even learned to play better at the game. Maybe it is because I have already acquired skills from the main game in the open universe. Or maybe it is because I am a god gamer who played many older games and this one is not that much difficult compared to others.

It seem to me there is a trend that people nowadays give up way too early in any games and that doesn't deter them to give opinions although they barely tried.

But yes, it is also true that compared to other popular games that are also very casual and modern, this timelines campaign can be hard in an old school way. These ADHD zoomer although awesome in the right context, are so unprepared for these type of games.

What is truly problematic though, is added difficulties induced by bugs or barely explained features that are often required to win (like the attack wing command for that dreaded second escort mission). It must be a challenge for the developers because you also can't take too much time to explain things since we're all trained to have short attention span, and short lives.

Back in the day you would read a ****** manual before even launching the game you bought. There's no time for that anymore, we've got a lot more bills to pay.

[Reprisal]

It seem to me there is a trend that people nowadays give up way too early in any games and that doesn't deter them to give opinions although they barely tried.

But yes, it is also true that compared to other popular games that are also very casual and modern, this timelines campaign can be hard in an old school way. These ADHD zoomer although awesome in the right context, are so unprepared for these type of games.

You can't blame ADHD Zoomers for everything. Ultimately I didn't find Timelines very enjoyable so I didn't want to repeat missions over and over. If it was fun it would be a very different story. I would guess that anyone registering on the Egosoft forums is not a Zoomer, demographically we're going to be older here. You can try to use this opportunity to feel superior to everyone else, but I 5-starred quite a few missions on the first try, and still wasn't having fun.

I can appreciate what they were going for, however the non-historical missions could be disabled from affecting progression and it would be vastly more enjoyable.

[Valere]

You can't blame ADHD Zoomers for everything.[...] but I 5-starred quite a few missions on the first try, and still wasn't having fun.

I can appreciate what they were going for, however the non-historical missions could be disabled from affecting progression and it would be vastly more enjoyable.

I am not blaming anyone. I just used "Zoomers" as an exemple. The trend seem to affect people of all ages for different reasons.
For you also have "Space Dads" as another example. You see plenty of those in the game Star Citizen.
Because Space dads get destroyed in those challenging multiplayer games and complain about it thereafter. Due to ever growing real life responsibilities they do not take the time to properly learn a game or simply train just for enjoyment in a competitive multiplayer game. And now the entire flight model of that game is being reworked because it was apparently too hard to handle. But at what cost? It was ambitious before...
Anyway let's not speak too much about demographic or it will become irrelevant. There's nuances.

For you, one could assume you do not think that Timelines is fun (despite being good at the game obviously), because you prefer experiencing a good well directed story more than the actual gameplay. Understandable.
What is "fun" to you ? Fun is a meaningless word if you do not say what it is. My fun is obviously not like yours. I like the stories and creating stories. I also find it fun when I am able to improve at the game. This timelines campaign give opportunities to do just that, with varied "challenging" scenarios, different battles with set rules. I can appreciate that. But yes it could be better for sure but how?

Maybe it need more features. Even more novelty. For the same price point we require more, better quality product. I hope those devs are not overworked.
Well lucky for me I guess, I still appreciate the DLC for what it is. Despite having a huge backlog of arguably better games craving for my attention. It's a tough market.

You tell the developers. I hope they are reading these threads around the subject.

Here my real feedback :
- Get rid of the damn gamebreaking bugs! (They must be working on it, let's give them a month).

- We could really use a command or something to tell your own ship to fly in formation with another ship during those missions featuring escorts (Like in the game Freelancer, nobody played it?). Not just "copy target's speed", a form of autopilot if you will. Like when you get dragged along when flying near XL ships in your fighter. Better cohesion with your own wingmate, as a wingman. It would be both cinematic and useful. Playing Timelines make me want to have such a feature (Why only Freelancer do this...).

Still no easy way to have your ship escort another ship, you can match speed, (but it doesn't always enter travel drive and you tend to end up far behind...)

- In the same vein, some greater quality of life could still be added for activities like the last big mining mission with the big mining fleet. The game tell you to order small mining ships to transfer its full cargo into the big mining ship to keep it working, but it is unclear on how to do it and it seem you cannot automate it (it's finicky you have both "transfer wares to" and "Trade with" orders).
Having to pause the game all the time to repeat the same orders manually is not fun! Why having a mining ship with a hangar for 40 small ships if it can only use drones properly? Let me reach those high scores!!

- After playing the big fleet battle in "Rise against the machines" While it can be appreciated to have missions that show what an ambitious fight is and force you into it, knowing you probably wouldn't dare to replicate that fight in the open universe without being tempted to save scum.
It also highlight the fact that to turn every odds in your favor, to loose as fewest ships as possible, you'll have to do a lot of tedious - carpal tunnel inducing - micromanagement like : selecting your ships one by one to make them drop mines and laser towers, while experimenting with precise weapons groups and rules of engagement for each weapons/turrets... Good luck, you'll have to do it for a hundred ships and pause every 10 seconds.
Playing timelines make me want to have the possibility to tell multiple ships at once to do a thing like "EVERYONE DROP MINES" or "EVERYONE SET TURRET TO AIM AT EVERYTHING". That is frustrating because you cannot do that like in a RTS game (Homeworld anyone?). So you live with the fact that you'll loose ships because you don't really have enough control over certain things (just like real life?). And this super ambitious game is telling me there is still room for so many improvements in that regard. Unless this is all already working as intended?
Maybe for a futur sequel?

Qualities of life are a godsend and should be more heavily advertized in marketing, look at Sin of Solar empires 2. I want to buy it just because it innovated with QoL.

I should do my own thread, this is no longer a first impression, and first impressions sucks

[Tamina]

I wonder what was the most difficult mission?
For me it was Graph 1 Mission 2. The only mission I got 0 stars in, even after multiple attempts.
All the other missions I put in my lowest effort and got it in the first try.

Oh they want me to go in a dogfight with Khaak? Nah. How about you do that while I stay docked here mostly.

To me it felt like I am grinding content for the Sanbox. I can see myself having a lot of fun with the missions and chasing leaderboards when I am not so invested in my Sandbox anymore.

[Abbat76]

I completed this DLC. Now I can leave my review with a clear conscience.

This DLC is the worst thing that ever happened to this game. The impression that remains is the irritation accumulated during the process.

Absolutely everything causes irritation:
-the DLS itself, in which the foreword looks boring and unclear
- description of missions. extremely inarticulate, doesn’t say anything and confuses the player who already doesn’t understand anything (I play the X series literally with X-beyond, but I still had great difficulty guessing some events from the previous parts. But most of the missions are not meaningful to me than they were not connected and remained just some random missions without meaning.
- mission completion system. Come on! Everyone loves X4 for its freedom. And you offered a hardcore corridor walkthrough, and even forced players to go through some missions again because Mitsuno, for some reason, bit off her tongue! Where, I wonder, would she go from the isolated station? What nonsense that remained unexplained like everything else in this DLC!
- rewards for DLC. Well, they just don't exist.
1) Three sectors have opened, one of which is xenon and is of no interest to the player (just another central xenon sector. What's the difference...).
2) Three completely useless racing cars have been added. They are not even suitable for mapping because they cannot fly on a cruise, they have neither a hold nor weapons. I couldn't think of any mission for them other than mapping completely safe sectors, and I still lost two.
3) A faction has been added. Seriously? You can't even trade with her! What is this decorative fraction intended for? Completely useless, using existing Commonwealth ships and their station modules. How so? They were LOCKED behind the gates! For 900 years they could not develop anything of their own, they just copied someone else’s?
4) Sapporo. This ship isn't worth the hassle of getting it out of the ass they shoved it into. When it can be obtained without suffering, it is no longer needed. The only beautiful thing about it is the aesthetic pleasure and the feeling that you received it. Like a collector of old junk.
5) Odachi is one of two useful ships with a good design.
6) Experimental shuttle. the second useful ship with a good design.

This is where my review ends. I'll go on to get this Sapporo from the central Xenon sectors. Somehow it needs to overcome another half-sector, through constant attacks of small xenons, which in seconds deprive it of its engines.

P.S. You say, “What about the xenon H?” And what happened to him? he sits in the xenon sector and will get to you in the same way without weapons. And in order to arm him, you will have to hunt his brother and loot him in a timely manner. And if you're lucky, you'll be able to research his weapons. But he is weak and unattractive.

[chew-ie]

3) No ability to select the NEXT mission after completing a mission?

4) Limited replayabilty .. why an't we choose from a selection of different ships and load-outs?

Those two were also my first impression after a few missions. Especially 4) would be very interesting.

I hope Egosoft follows up on those ideas when expanding the Timelines idea - I very much enjoyed playing it. Currently back in the sandbox but I definately replay the main story missions. Especially the Trantor mission