In what state of the game do you think it is?

[alexthespaniard]

Regarding specific aspects, I've already expressed my opinion on diplomacy: it needs to be reworked to add more depth and dynamism.

As for missions, they should be tied to real-time events in the universe.

Piracy should be an entire world unto itself, just like mining.

There should also be the possibility of raiding stations and having ships designed for transporting personnel, as well as ships with different vision ranges.

I've already dedicated more than 1,000 hours to the game, and when I have around 10-15 stations and my fleets start to become extremely large, the game starts to get quite repetitive. I spend a lot of time clearing sectors and expanding my empire, which makes me lose interest a bit since my only limitation is myself. If I decide to attack earlier to balance things out, that's my choice. However, there's such an abundance of resources that I can stay in a corner of the map, building an ever-growing fleet without any empire reacting. The same happens with the final horde; the difficulty depends on when you choose to face it and how much you want to challenge yourself.

I understand that the developers, considering it's a game that requires many hours to build anything, are concerned that if the dynamics become too volatile or aggressive, players might lose interest. However, I slightly disagree because nowadays, there are platforms like YouTube and communities where you can find safe places to build, trade, and expand at your own pace. I believe a game where you have to be careful with your decisions and that isn’t easy is interesting and, on the other hand, creates a more united community.

On the other hand, even though I've lost a bit of motivation, spending 1,000 hours on a game speaks to how amazing and fantastic it is. Personally, what I enjoy the most is building my commercial empire and watching massive battles from the mothership, observing the internal life of the ships. It's incredible!

Thats why I think thats number 3 is not a perfect or fully complete game but is a easy game to love and a unique experience. And in many thinks is super deep.

[Hector0x]

I usually think more about the state of the X-series as a whole.

Take the dynamic economy for example. Arguably the prime highlight.
Back in X3 it was still separated from the ship and station construction. X Rebirth introduced resource consuming shipyards, but they still existed alongside ship spawning mechanics.
Now in X4 most ship spawns are gone and the ship construction is almost entirely economy based.

This wasn't possible before due to technical limitations. The basic formula was always the same. It just gets refined with every new title. Experiments are tested (most recently "Timelines") and some of them didn't work so they get scrapped again (minigames, XR's "smalltalk")

Overall the series should just get better and better, so i really don't care much about the state of X4.

[LameFox]

There's definitely a lot to improve, but I increasingly believe a lot of it will have to be in a new game.

[birdtable]

I voted Finished Game .. move on to the next big thing ..I want to live to experience X5, sharpen the pitchfork if needed... 6 yrs is long enough,,

[alexthespaniard]

I voted Finished Game .. move on to the next big thing ..I want to live to experience X5, sharpen the pitchfork if needed... 6 yrs is long enough,,

I still see the implementation of major changes as a long way off. I still think the base is good. And it has limitations, but not that many. I think Egosoft has a game base for 3/4 years before announcing X5.
That doesn't mean they shouldn't start working on it. I think we all agree that we don't want games with excellent graphics but empty. We want complete, detailed games, with good lore and good mechanics, above all fun ones that immerse you in a dynamic, changing world where you feel part of it.
Where at the beginning you have manual mechanics but at the same time fun and with time you can automate them and you can make more strategic decisions.
But you have the freedom to return to manual ones since they are fun. I think that generating activity in the "mother ship"/commander could be one way.
We are all tired of empty games. The one that offers you a fun and exciting experience will take the cake of space games. I think X4 touches many keys that no other game offers.

[birdtable]

3 to 4 more years working on X4 .... People have served less time for murder .... Start working on X5 .... Start !!! working !!! on X5 !!! ... the game should be 80% - 90% done by now..
@ alexthespaniard I do agree with your last sentence ,,, but the rest "where is the straight jacket, take him away boys" ....

[Alan Phipps]

Reading the OP's post about how quickly the game can appear to become repetitive and less fun reminds me why I am never in a hurry to leave the early and mid game behind in my various vanilla restarts with each of the new DLCs. Immersion, roleplaying and entertainment drive my gameplay experience rather than quick fortunes, business monopolies, or overpowering assets. I generally find that X4 (as it is now) provides all three of that former group, but that's just my opinion.

[alexthespaniard]

3 to 4 more years working on X4 .... People have served less time for murder .... Start working on X5 .... Start !!! working !!! on X5 !!! ... the game should be 80% - 90% done by now..
@ alexthespaniard I do agree with your last sentence ,,, but the rest "where is the straight jacket, take him away boys" ....

I think this game could use an increase in the number of ships per faction as well as the depth of the game. I think X4 has room for one or two DLCs perfectly.

I'd rather they take 3/4 years to ensure a finished product than give us a totally buggy and unfinished game. When I talk about these ideas I mean that. Obviously I want the best space game now, but rushing leads to wrong decisions, overpressure on the community, stress on the teams... In general bad decisions and a message I want to give is that I think the community values ​​a fun and well-made game more than a visual experience that overheats computers and provides little else.

And that they get inspired by strategy games like Bannelord, Star Sector, Factorio, Rome 2 TW (which after 4 years started to be a decent game), Paradox, Manolords, even Skyrim... That they learn as much as possible how to simplify concepts, controls, fun mechanics... that they look at their competition and without losing their essence, take their time to make the best game possible, and that takes time. I'm sure I haven't said anything that they aren't already doing.

[alexthespaniard]

Reading the OP's post about how quickly the game can appear to become repetitive and less fun reminds me why I am never in a hurry to leave the early and mid game behind in my various vanilla restarts with each of the new DLCs. Immersion, roleplaying and entertainment drive my gameplay experience rather than quick fortunes, business monopolies, or overpowering assets. I generally find that X4 (as it is now) provides all three of that former group, but that's just my opinion.

After 1000 hours I guess it's a compliment that the game gets repetitive

[rudi_pioneer]

Reading the OP's post about how quickly the game can appear to become repetitive and less fun reminds me why I am never in a hurry to leave the early and mid game behind in my various vanilla restarts with each of the new DLCs. Immersion, roleplaying and entertainment drive my gameplay experience rather than quick fortunes, business monopolies, or overpowering assets. I generally find that X4 (as it is now) provides all three of that former group, but that's just my opinion.

Totally, this is where X4 excels.

I'd love to see more QoL tools that help here.

[Sutopia]

The game has yet to progress the main plot line in any meaningful way (last addition is boron connected); venture is still in beta

This I believe the game is still in its early stages and need a lot of developments.

[Codejnki]

X4 has hit its stride. The game is in a state where I've put 2800 hours in and still have many different play styles to try out. When Egosoft named it "Foundations," I think they were spot on. During those first few years, they built the foundation. Now that foundation is strong, and I'm excited to see what they continue to build on top of it.

[Nanook]

The game has yet to progress the main plot line in any meaningful way (last addition is boron connected)

What "main plot line"? There really isn't one. Each faction has a stand-alone plot line, except for the Teladi, and all have been completed.

venture is still in beta

Which has nothing to do with the main game, and something a lot of players don't even care about.

This I believe the game is still in its early stages and need a lot of developments.

Really? Are you still back on the original version 1.x? Otherwise, I really don't understand that comment.

[alexthespaniard]

X4 has hit its stride. The game is in a state where I've put 2800 hours in and still have many different play styles to try out. When Egosoft named it "Foundations," I think they were spot on. During those first few years, they built the foundation. Now that foundation is strong, and I'm excited to see what they continue to build on top of it.

I completely agree. The game has a solid foundation; it's fun, and it just needs some improvements in mechanics, simplification of concepts, and more variety. Expanding on ships, lore, and adding small details over time would enhance it even further.

[adeine]

I voted option 2 which feels a little charitable, but it's definitely not very early in terms of where we are in the game's life cycle.

I do think it is playable (and certainly enjoyable), but there are so many unfinished and/or rough edges when it comes to fundamental features that it kind of does feel like an alpha build sometimes. Six years on and we are still looking at missing encyclopaedia entries and placeholder stats, not having working collision code, having to wrangle the various quirks and/or basic functionality breaking with updates. Some gameplay elements are still incredibly bare-bones or not fully implemented (such as the cover mechanic not being available to the player, boarding, ventures, lack of late-game content, most of the spacelegs aspects), etc. etc.

That being said; considering we can't even have the Terran accelerator models because they can't be patched into saves due to engine limitations, that new ships are apparently fundamentally incompatible with vanilla ships pre KE, and devs having to support all potential DLC combinations (a dependency nightmare which means they can never be fully integrated with each other) I think the best thing for X4 would be for devs to take their time with a standalone expansion that can consolidate the content and address the deeper issues.

[Sutopia]

The game has yet to progress the main plot line in any meaningful way (last addition is boron connected)

What "main plot line"? There really isn't one. Each faction has a stand-alone plot line, except for the Teladi, and all have been completed.

venture is still in beta

Which has nothing to do with the main game, and something a lot of players don't even care about.

This I believe the game is still in its early stages and need a lot of developments.

Really? Are you still back on the original version 1.x? Otherwise, I really don't understand that comment.

Paranid prime is missing, nothing significant happens after reconnecting sectors.

Confirmation bias may be in play here. According to Xtra Poll there are 40%+ players still playing vanilla which I believe the only reason is waiting on venture implementation. Modded games can never find a common ground due to their mix and match nature people are unable to be on the same page other than a few QoL mods; venture is the opportunity to make a community happen especially the software has been extremely valiant on “modified” check.

I started playing at 7.0 but it feels like a 0.70 game.

[G315t]

I still wait for the day when we are allowed to finish building the PHQ. I don't want to live on a construction site.

[BitByte]

When thinking the hours people have played X4 compare it to other games - how many of them can reach near the same amount of playtime?
Personally I can say very few of them.

So Egosoft have done many things correct with X4 (and obviously with older X games) as them keep players.
Yes game still have issues and implementing new game engine(s) with 6.00 caused some additional challenges. But I would say huge amount of improvements have been made since game was released and when I started play it (version 3.10).
Everything what devs bring to X4 they can test and see how it's taken by players, get feedback and how it may need improve for using it next X game.

I remember how my friend was excited when he saw first teasers and trailers from X4 before it was launched. 1 big thing for him was able to was around and personally enter to the ships. Things what he wasn't able to do in previous games. I'm convinced that without his promotions from this game I wouldn't have bothered to buy it in first place.

[Alan Phipps]

@ Sutopia: " .. 40%+ players still playing vanilla which I believe the only reason is waiting on venture implementation"

That's not the only (or any) reason at all in my case. I play vanilla because I like to play against a standard defined by the game devs' intentions and not against a patchwork that may or may not all fit well together. Further I would never know how well mods will survive game updates. Sure there are QoL things and the odd idiosyncrasy/buglet that I would still like to see resolved in the game, but they will eventually be delivered (where well reported and justified) or I will find ways to work around them in vanilla. I have no interest at all in Ventures or online/PvP play.

[jlehtone]

I have no interest at all in Ventures or online/PvP play.

+1
I play vanilla, because I choose to do so. Not because there would be any need.



Overall, the wording on the poll options seems a bit biased. Maybe it isn't, but on casual reading I did get that impression.