X3 - Its Release state - Egosoft - And us, the consumers!

[stk]

well actually a Pc is a worthless piece of junk compared to
other systems.

but let's say you allow this kind neglectfullness in
software that manipulates the control surfaces on
a modern-day aircraft, no more steelwire-controlled backups.

it's bad enough that planes crash from loose connectors
or worn cables.

if your software has a major whoopsie,
your *ss is on the line with 300-400 dead hanging over your head.
not a thought to be contemplated easily.

it's really saddening that the avg john-doe-think-i'm-god-game-coder hasn't got
what i might call a "mission attitude", if you're in the biz for
the quick buck, you're the wrong guy in the wrong position.

not that this won't work, it just won't work in the long run...
ppl do remember...

[padreUK]

Ok that's it!!! Egosoft you should be ashamed, how dare you release this poorly coded rubbish to the paying public? Oh yes i see, because its nearly impossible to return PC software once the pack has been opened and by then you already have their hard earned money in your account.
If you bought a car that failed so often and performed so poorly despite the manufacturers claims you'd at least be able to take the wretched thing back!!!!!
Allow me the opportunity to rant, having bought every incarnation of this series from X beyond right up to X3 (more the fool me) i think i have at least paid for if not earned the right.
I purchased X beyond and suffered its many bugs and failings along with its poorly thought out interface but at least it was playable to some extent. Oh i know it had simple bugs such as item descriptions in some factories/stations cutting off half way through and the usual plot "freezing" type bug oh and the ever present "corrupt save game" bug that everyone finds sooooooooo amusing. In spite of these problems it had its charms and when i finally ran out of reason to play the game due to completion of the plot line and no real reason for expanding my corporate empire any further at least i didn't feel cheated.
So imagine my joy when X2 was released, as ever there i was money in hand on the day it came on sale. Purchase made, i happily skipped off home, excited that i would soon be playing the latest incarnation of a game that for all its faults looked and sounded like a complete leap forward in space sim gaming. I have no doubt that you can imagine the dismay and disapointment i felt when after playing X2 for some time the only differences i could see were prettier graphics and control of ships/factories outside your current system, Oh and a half hearted attempt at a plot line that lasted less time than a politicians integrity. There wasn't even any real expansion in the trading department just a bigger gun here or there how original. Ohhhhhhh what a worth while investment X2 was (This is called sarcasm) especially as all the old faults were still there (Oh yes corrupt save games still a big part of X2), had you learned nothing, did you even bother to listen to a single one of the complaints/suggestions put on to your forums/website? When X beyond had these bugs you could almost call it quirky but when the same failings and more are present in its sequel you think more along the lines of lazy programming or a genuine lack of imagination

So now we come to X3 and in its defence its really is very pretty and some of the effects ie weapon fire are really rather good, in fact in some of the ship designs and the paint work on pitate ships show actual thought and possibly a spark of imagination but that really is where it ends. Before we even get in to performance issues we'll start with the fact that just like in X2 in X3 the cut scenes are poorly sync'd jerky and look awful, ask yourselves is this really the best you were able to do? Next how about the fact that all the original bugs are still there, yes mission freezing, various bugs when entering/leaving a station such as autopilot being stuck on after leaving a station and not being able to remove it, missiles locked on to a target just fly in a straight line when launched (yes every type of missile), random crashes when exiting gates(still not fixed in 1.2.01),firing weapons,targeting enemies. Then there's the nice slow crash where the keyboard just stops working or the text on the screen corrupts and every key on the keyboard does exactly the same function and it wouldn't be the same without the corrupt save games now would it.

Performance, well i expect you've had more than enough enquiries about improving frame rate and to give patch 1.2.01 its due it did improve the frame rate a bit but the game is unplayable even at your "recommended" levels, any conflict or scene involving more than about 5 ships becomes a tedious and pointless slideshow of screenshots, do you really think this was ready to release? no niether do i and i'm getting more than a little but sick of testing your beta for you, i didn't pay a bit of software to test, i payed for a game. All you have provided is a lump of unstable software designed to test the limits of my patience.

I have tried overclocking cpu,memory and graphics card to get anything close to decent performance. i have run the game with my system at default settings. i have tried new drivers for my hardware and old drivers, i have updated the game to the latest possible patch and used the forums for advice and to turn off any programs which may eat in to resources i have even reinstalled windows and still it barely runs and when it does run its only a matter of time before it decides to either CTD or just lock up the entire system, wonderfull.

Finally my rant is almost spent (for the moment at least) but last i have to complain about the interface. The interface in X2 was bad enough, it was far from intuative and seemed to leap around all over the place with little logic behind it but X3 is worse! what were you thinking? Did you think "I know we'll create a new type of interface which will take control of the deeper functions of the game and bury them in such a fashion that it takes three weeks to navigate around the simple tasks of ship and factory management"? well if you did well done you have sucseeded in one thing at least.


To be honest Egosoft you should have quit while you were ahead,
please, next time just quit.

Athlon 3200xp O/c to 2.4Ghz
1 GB PC3200 O/c to 434MHz
ATI X800 Pro 256mb O/c to 540Mhz core 550Mhz Mem
160GB 8mb SATA 7200rpm HD
Creative S/B Audigy 5.1
Win X/P S/P2

[DarkSmoke]

maybe you should change your graphic settings on the card, so it doesn't put detail before performance.

[CBJ]

Moved to the main forum because I couldn't find the Tech Support questions in amongst all that. Feel free to re-post in Tech Support if there are specific issues that you'd like help with.

[James_2k]

cry me a (dare i? hmm yes) river!

[Dgn Master]

Egosoft are the game creaters and as such have no control over deadlines, please post your rant to either enlight's or deepsilver's website.

edited for grammer.

[padreUK]

all graphics card settings are alredy set for max performance but thanks anyway.

[mrbadger]

If you ask me there is a distinct lack of rubber ducks floating about in the X universe, and my bicycle doesn't work, no matter how hard I peddle.

Not only that, but I just lost a hundred grand in blackjack, when the dealer got 21 on his first hand

For these issues alone X3 should be banned, gosh darnit

[ericbab]

he has a point about the random errors, if i load the same saved game more than 3 times in a row, it just quits the game.

but other than that game runs relativly fast, on lowest gafics, which are still pretty, but autopoliet is still crap, sometimes they fly around for hours waiting to dock at a perfact angle.

[Tartarus]

cry me a (dare i? hmm yes) river!

Amen.

Bitching over this stuff doesn't help people!

As I detailed to a similar poster earlier, you will only get proper respect and recognition if you present your suggestions/GENTLE criticism in a civilized, appropriate, detailed, and intelligent manner, not by screaming it in the general forums of the very company that made the game.

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate, leads to suffering... that is the path of the Dark Side."

Do not be angry... my game hasn't been playing for about 2 weeks after playing fine for one... the problem still hasn't been fixed, and I'm not ranting and raving over it, neither do I feel any emnity towards any person(s) for my lack of good fortune.

If 1.3 does not deliver, then I believe you would have reasonable justification for screaming your face off... until then, be patient, young Padawan.

[shasla5]

Like most of these posts, it is mostly correct, but tarnished by a clinically insane poster.

[LV]

Like most of these posts, it is mostly correct, but tarnished by a clinically insane poster.

May i use that quote in the future?

I didn't bother to read the actual catalyst for this retort, i didn't need to.... nice

[P i r a t e]

Like most of these posts, it is mostly correct, but tarnished by a clinically insane poster.

and Egosoft and Friends created them..

PIRATE = former member of the eye pluckers association.

[Trips]

Egosoft are the game creaters and as such have no control over deadlines, please post your rant to either enlight's or deepsilver's website.

edited for grammer.

That is a comment made often on this forum, and on the surface sounds fine, if your blindly looking for scapegoats, without engaging the old grey matter. But, and I could be a million miles from something (which you may think) relevant here but,
1. When the deadline was decided was egosoft told.
2. If they where, someone at egosoft had to agree to it.
3. More importantly, they decided to undertake a certain level of development, and testing, knowing what the deadline was.
4. Was failing to meet that deadline The publishers fault or Egosofts (rhetorical question).
5. As an experienced (never mind the size) software house are they guilty of overestimating their abilities, or just not really caring as people will wait for the patches – LIKE WHAT HAPPENED WITH X2.

You see, blaming the publishers without acknowledging Egosoft’s part in the state of the programmes release is, just a teenie weenie bit naive.




God luv ya.

[NarcissusG]

As I detailed to a similar poster earlier, you will only get proper respect and recognition if you present your suggestions/GENTLE criticism in a civilized, appropriate, detailed, and intelligent manner, not by screaming it in the general forums of the very company that made the game.

Do not be angry... my game hasn't been playing for about 2 weeks after playing fine for one... the problem still hasn't been fixed, and I'm not ranting and raving over it, neither do I feel any emnity towards any person(s) for my lack of good fortune.

If 1.3 does not deliver, then I believe you would have reasonable justification for screaming your face off... until then, be patient, young Padawan.

I've been mature in my posts. I have also been patient. Why? Because I can't return this game and since I did (and do) want it ... I'm trying to wait for a patch that will make the game what it was supposed to be when I removed it from it's box.

Yet saying that people should wait for the 1.3 patch before getting upset is absurd. They should have been upset the instant they glanced in their manual or installed the game. That is what people should do when they purchase a thing and they don't receive it; get upset.

They shouldn't act like frustrated and mad little children, though. There is no reason for that. There is a reason for expressing your opinion on the state of the game when it was released. I made the mistake of staying quiet as I'm sure countless others did also when X2 was released.

Obviously, EgoSoft hasn't learned from their mistakes. Why? Because they didn't hear about it enough on the forums or in their wallet. I tell everyone that I know to avoid this game like the plague until the patches come out that are able to create the game that should have been in the box. Stay away, I tell them ... and no remorse about it.

People praise the moderators, the site admins, and the EgoSoft employees while blaming everything on either the publisher or on any number of other vapid and inspid targets.

I give a little respect to the original poster of this thread, but only for the loyalty they have to a company that continues to treat them in such a way. Did the publisher do the things that the original poster assumes? Who knows? Frankly, who really cares. The publisher was EgoSoft's choice. The publisher is not the one that has to worry about having a bad image to most consumers. Very few people will pick up an interesting game and then put it back on the shelf and say, "Not with Enlight publishing it!"

The fault in all of this is due solely on EgoSoft and if anyone disagrees then they aren't giving this an open-minded view. Even the original poster stated numerous times that EgoSoft made this choice or that choice. Those choices are how we ended up where we are now. Yet they aren't to blame? Huh?

Wake up and smell the facts people. Seriously. The reason that companies continue to do these things is because we as the consumer allow them to. If EgoSoft had tried to sell X3 and their sales were horrid because of the way they released X2 ... do you think X4 would be buggy? No ... because EgoSoft would go out of business.

If one or two major game titles were avoided because of the way the company had treated it's customer base in the past ... do you think this trend would continue? Sure, EgoSoft made everything allll right with X2, huh? They fixed it and then even gave us bonus stuff! Wowzers and gee willikers! How long did it take them to get X2 to the state it was supposed to be when they sold it? And how long has it already taken them to do the same with X3?

The game should be finished and polished when it is sold. Period. No debating, no arguing, no confusion. I purchased a game. I want that game to actually be in the box. Not an hour after I get it home. Not a week after I get it home. Not months after I get it home.

Attitudes like the ones most expressed in this thread is the reason why this trend is here and the reason why this trend is getting worse. Seriously ... name one thing that was perfect in this game when you brought it home.

Forget that ... name one single person that even has a perfect game now? You can't. Noone ... noone at all, has a correct manual. Noone ... noone at all, has a complete game. And you people are defending the company!

:sigh:

Maybe I'm just getting old. Out with the old and in with the new. Real games are the ones that the developers stand behind. The sad fact is, in this day and age the few games that are like that are indie games. Want to see this in action? Look up some active indie games and you will see what I mean.

Narcissus

[Toowizard]

ahem.

don't complain about a person's "grammer"

...if you can't spell "grammar."

[General Dave]

Is this planet of the long posts?

At least some profound and well thought out discussions are going on instead of

'oim roight' no your not 'yes i am'

good on you sir.

[Deleted User]

To all the angry people - YOU JUST DON"T GET IT, DO YOU?

You paid your money for a full price new release, and now your a "volunteer" beta tester.

Don't buy new release software.

Normally, companies pay for beta testers, but now, they have found a way to make money out of it. Pretty simple eh? Only the early adopters who MUST have the game suffer. Hold off a purchase and the companies profits will dictate a better product. IT WILL...and time will tell.

[Lt.JoeBob]

BUMP!

[esd]

BUMP!

Bumping gets threads locked. Don't do it again.