Did Egosoft miss what the fans wanted?

[DJC]

So far from what I have seen I think it is shaping up well. Not perfect mind you but there is still time to iron out the rough edges . The one BIG issue for me is ship steering. It does not look like they have gone back to the previous model (X3) in this area . This one thing may just be a game breaker for me, I truly hated the steering in XR. I hope there will at least be an option to allow, as I will call it, "classic steering". I am speaking as a mouse and keyboard user. I have no idea how it worked otherwise.

[RodentofDoom]

And that's how X Rebirth was born..... I assume you also love and approve Destiny 2 and Star Wars Battlefront 2 as well ?

Never played either of those franchises..

I take it you will not buy this new "X4" then and stick with Rebirth.

I'll probably buy it.
Yes, my opinion is a little extreme and apparently a little on the solitary side
but i think X3 was the worst version of the game ..

I've been playing the series since BTF launched and I judge all version in the series against it. I'm not saying X:R was without it's flaws ... But for me it was more X'ey than 3 was.

[Toramo]

And that's how X Rebirth was born..... I assume you also love and approve Destiny 2 and Star Wars Battlefront 2 as well ?

Never played either of those franchises..

I take it you will not buy this new "X4" then and stick with Rebirth.

I'll probably buy it.
Yes, my opinion is a little extreme and apparently a little on the solitary side
but i think X3 was the worst version of the game ..

I've been playing the series since BTF launched and I judge all version in the series against it. I'm not saying X:R was without it's flaws ... But for me it was more X'ey than 3 was.

Don't worry, fortunately, you are not the only one to like XR and not the only one hyped by X4.
Personnaly I do not like XR and I'm very suspicious about X4.

We're talking here about a game series which, from X to X3AP, continuously keep improving features and adding some step by step.
XR was a stop in this process since core features were removed or simplified.

Also in my opinion, ES never wanted to told it clearly, but XR was X4... They used communication to turn around this fact and they said it was an another type of game when they realized how different it was.

The proof is, X4 (from what we know until now), is built on XR skeleton, not on the older games one.

As said above, X series is half a space sim and half a management game. For me, it is more 20/80 % (80% of management). Since you'll spent 80% of your time to manage things on a run.

A 4x game is about massive trading, large armada, territory control etc... Exactly what wasn't XR.
And X4 do not look like this for now in my eyes, it looks like an XR with an improved interface thanks to the map, and some features that come back from the old game (multiship, ability to build your station where you want etc...)

So to answer the OP, I answered "Yes". Even if I think they didn't forgot what the fan wants (because it's pointless since you can't answer everyone), but they definitely forget the essence of what X, previous to XR, was.

But well, even if I'm worried about that, gamers on today ar not the same than yesterday. I can understand they want to adapt their games to this new 'market'.
Definitely, I wish the best to ES with this new game. Even if I think I'll not buy it.

[mib666007]

Coming from X3 : Terran Conflict, a game I randomly picked up back when Best Buy used to actually sell PC games, I fell in love with the series. I spent a bit of time on TC vanilla, albion prelude and then with mods like the amazing improved wars(and all those mods that existed). I never played the stories or cared about the plots. I have never played X1-2 or X3 Reunion, and I skipped X:R after reading about the game's plans and subsequent reviews on Steam.

All that said - For me it's going to have to be comparable to X3 : Albion Prelude with LU/Mayhem mods. That to me, right now, is the most definitive experience I've had and even now.

I feel like it will face the same struggles Sims 4 faced in comparison to Sims 3. Buying the new version sure had better graphics and some new features but we were losing so much content and polish that was already existing in our games.

The most important thing will be, the initial splash and getting positive reviews. The interface could really be something that alone could make this an instant buy for me if it kept the core of a very developed X3's experience/depth.

[Nikola515]

@RodentofDoom

Me neither but we wore not talking about playing them but rather dev development practices

@ All

Back on topic... X3 was far from perfect game but it had that charm of sandbox and freedom that some other titles didn't have. On the other hand X4 got some of X3 features and adding scale of XR. Traveling is improved (compared to X3 and XR) stations building is similar to XR as well as mining. We can now pilot all ships like in X3 and i just wish they could add manual turret targeting. We can now destroy stations and truly influence universe (I hope). But my buying point for this game will be AI. I don't want to see capital ships running around in circles like chicken without head (at least we can pilot them now).

[Kasabian]

Nothing has managed to interest me yet and all the released material looks like X Rebirth with a few bells and whistles added on.

It is still early days, but I seriously doubt they have a game that captures that old X3 spirit. I have not given up hope, but I am not optimistic that this game is aimed for old fans like me but rather the Rebirth crowd.

[Observe]

X4 is not so much missing what I want, as it is containing what I don't want:

1. I don't want local highways.

2. Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element. In X3, I developed almost a personal relationship with certain ships that I had a history with. It seems this RPG aspect will be removed, because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones.

What remains to be seen, is whether the negatives will outweigh the positives. Who knows, I might even like teleportation. I doubt I'll ever appreciate highways though.

[DJC]

X4 is not so much missing what I want, as it is containing what I don't want:

1. I don't want local highways.

2. Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element. In X3, I developed almost a personal relationship with certain ships that I had a history with. It seems this RPG aspect will be removed, because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones.

Please explain where you got this info from.

"Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element"

"because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones."

This just does not seam logical. If what you say here is true then this could be another game breaker for me.

[Nikola515]

2. Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element.

I don't know about that.... With boost and seta we will be able to travel trough sectors pretty fast(we can get where we want pretty fast). This will depend also on how big is universe and how many gates we will need to travel. Only thing I'm worried is if universe is too big we wont be encouraged to explore without jumpdrive.

[X2-Illuminatus]

X4 is not so much missing what I want, as it is containing what I don't want:

1. I don't want local highways.

2. Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element. In X3, I developed almost a personal relationship with certain ships that I had a history with. It seems this RPG aspect will be removed, because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones.

Please explain where you got this info from.

"Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element"

"because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones."

This just does not seam logical. If what you say here is true then this could be another game breaker for me.

That the jumpdrive won't be part of X4 was mentioned in the 2nd livestream. As for the other things mentioned by Observe, I guess that's his own interpretation of how this missing feature impacts his own playing style. From the available information there's no reason to believe that you wouldn't be able to use a specific ship to travel between systems. It's probably rather the notion that even with boosters, travel drive and SETA this travel through the universe (from system to system) will cost time, and will no longer be nearly instantaneous, as it was in the X1 to X3 games.

[DJC]

X4 is not so much missing what I want, as it is containing what I don't want:

1. I don't want local highways.

2. Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element. In X3, I developed almost a personal relationship with certain ships that I had a history with. It seems this RPG aspect will be removed, because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones.

Please explain where you got this info from.

"Removing jumpdrives in favor of teleportation will remove the "favorite ship" element"

"because when traveling between systems, we will have to leave our ships behind and materialize into different ones."

This just does not seam logical. If what you say here is true then this could be another game breaker for me.

That the jumpdrive won't be part of X4 was mentioned in the 2nd livestream. As for the other things mentioned by Observe, I guess that's his own interpretation of how this missing feature impacts his own playing style. From the available information there's no reason to believe that you wouldn't be able to use a specific ship to travel between systems. It's probably rather the notion that even with boosters, travel drive and SETA this travel through the universe (from system to system) will cost time, and will no longer be nearly instantaneous, as it was in the X1 to X3 games.

The removal of jump drives does not bother me so much, it was the rest that bothered me. Thank you for that clarification. It makes a little more sense now.

[CorruptUser]

I think we will get enough from X4. It'll be X3 with only the better parts of XR, as far as I can tell. I actually like the idea of walking around stations, just not the implementation and the boring minigames that just amounted to the same reflex challenge over and over...

[Graaf]

It'll be X3 with only the better parts of XR

No. It will just be an improved Rebirth. Having more ships to pilot doesn't make it X3.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

Well the fact that it is not X3 makes me really happy!

I player 1000's of hours of X2 and several 1000's of hours of X3.

I don't play X3 anymore, I don't want to. I have had enough already.

So I am really happy that the guys at Egosoft are moving on and creating a new game with new possibilities. New gameplay, new features.

That's just want I want. Not some tired boring old rehash of a game.

[Observe]

From the available information there's no reason to believe that you wouldn't be able to use a specific ship to travel between systems.

Its been so long since I played Rebirth. I don't remember the details. As I recall, the universe mechanics don't allow 'manual' seamless travel between systems. Some form of 'magic' transport in the form of gates or jumpdrive is required. Since X4 is using the same basic game engine as Rebirth, I doubt that has changed. Teleportation is the worst possible solution imo, because you have to leave your 'favorite' ship behind.

[X2-Illuminatus]

From the available information there's no reason to believe that you wouldn't be able to use a specific ship to travel between systems.

Its been so long since I played Rebirth. I don't remember the details. As I recall, the universe mechanics don't allow 'manual' seamless travel between systems. Some form of 'magic' transport in the form of gates or jumpdrive is required. Since X4 is using the same basic game engine as Rebirth, I doubt that has changed. Teleportation is the worst possible solution imo, because you have to leave your 'favorite' ship behind.

To me you make it sound as if teleportation would be the only way of travelling between systems. Yet there are still jumpgates in X4! So why can you not fly your ship through a gate, as you have done in any X game to date?

[Observe]

To me you make it sound as if teleportation would be the only way of travelling between systems. Yet there are still jumpgates in X4! So why can you not fly your ship through a gate, as you have done in any X game to date?

Yes well, it may not be the end of the world after all. We will see.

[Santi]

It could be a bit tricky logistically, but you could always deploy several of your favourite ships among the Universe, so when you teleport, you always end up in your favourite ship.

At the end of the day you need one of your assets present in the place you want to teleport to. And more importantly teleporting range is still unknown.

[GCU Grey Area]

It could be a bit tricky logistically, but you could always deploy several of your favourite ships among the Universe, so when you teleport, you always end up in your favourite ship.

That's what I'm planning to do. Will be deploying them as elements of my station defence forces, possibly as freighter escorts too. That way, wherever problems arise, there will always by one of my favourite ships in close proximity to the incident. In theory should give me a faster response time than even an X3 type jumpdrive - in my experience problems rarely occurred in close proximity to a convenient jumpgate, more often than not I'd have half a sector to cross if I wanted to assist personally.

[Musicker]

someone said above something to the effect that the X3 graphics were crap... Not sure what expectations were there, but I still think they are amazing to this day. IMHO they were far ahead of their time when Reunion was created, and the rest of the X3 series were amazing as well.

I have somewhere north of 10,000 hours in the X3 series, so there must be something I like about it.