Just Loving X4

[Playbahnosh]

Smoothest launch, really? I don’t think X2 and all 3 X3 games were this broken at launch.

Um, X3 and TC for example were literally unplayable at launch (and don't even get me started on XR). The game simply wouldn't even start for most people, and even if it did, there was definitely no fun to be had, tons of game-breaking bugs that either broke saves and/or made it crash left and right. Plot missions were completely unplayable for months after release, not to mention the performance, which made the game look like a power point presentation on even the best rigs. All previous titles were horrible messes at start.

Like I said, X4 had the smoothest launch, not a perfect one by any means. That's mostly due to the fact there's barely anything to be broken, because X4 is also the one with the least amount of content of all X games. I guess EGO went with the mentality "it can't be broken if it's not there". Probably the reason why X4 has no story, no plot missions, half the races/factions, most of the ships and sectors and tons of mechanics and features are missing, unimplemented or grossly reduced. It has a fraction of the content and depth previous X games had. Even what is in there is barely working, but it is working...for the most part. In the 80 or so hours of X4 I played so far, I had ONE CTD and the game is running remarkably well on my PC for an X game, no real framerate issues, no broken textures/glitches and even the physics engine is okay...ish. The best part: no loading times! You have no idea how huge of a deal this is. I actually got giddy when I saw gates and accelerators were instant, as opposed to having to stare at a loading screen for minutes. What little content the game has so far, it's dealing with it quite well.

Sure, there were/are giant bugs and broken stuff, but most of those are related to in-game mechanics and balance issues, which are fixable, and that's a very important fact. I'd rather have a buggy/glitchy game that is later patched up, than one which is fundamentally broken, like XR was. No amount of patching can fix bad design choices and screwed core gameplay. This is exactly why I'm actually kinda glad that X4 is so barren for now, because it's an opportunity to make it better, to build on these Foundations, so to speak. It will take time, yes, years even. But this is still the best of all the horrible ways this launch could've gone, and this is why I'm still very hopeful for the future of this game and the X-Universe as a whole.

[kylania]

The apparent inability for my crew to gain experience and the complete inability to consistently purchase trained crew is really making the game difficult to enjoy now that auto-trading is locked behind a skill wall which is impossible to get over.

[sh1pman]

The apparent inability for my crew to gain experience and the complete inability to consistently purchase trained crew is really making the game difficult to enjoy now that auto-trading is locked behind a skill wall which is impossible to get over.

Don’t worry, you’re not missing much. Auto-traders right now buy 10 energy cells and fly to the other corner of the galaxy to sell them. In an L ship. Just queue good manual trades.

Um, X3 and TC for example were literally unplayable at launch (and don't even get me started on XR). The game simply wouldn't even start for most people, and even if it did, there was definitely no fun to be had, tons of game-breaking bugs that either broke saves and/or made it crash left and right. Plot missions were completely unplayable for months after release, not to mention the performance, which made the game look like a power point presentation on even the best rigs. All previous titles were horrible messes at start.

Like I said, X4 had the smoothest launch, not a perfect one by any means. That's mostly due to the fact there's barely anything to be broken, because X4 is also the one with the least amount of content of all X games. I guess EGO went with the mentality "it can't be broken if it's not there". Probably the reason why X4 has no story, no plot missions, half the races/factions, most of the ships and sectors and tons of mechanics and features are missing, unimplemented or grossly reduced. It has a fraction of the content and depth previous X games had. Even what is in there is barely working, but it is working...for the most part. In the 80 or so hours of X4 I played so far, I had ONE CTD and the game is running remarkably well on my PC for an X game, no real framerate issues, no broken textures/glitches and even the physics engine is okay...ish. The best part: no loading times! You have no idea how huge of a deal this is. I actually got giddy when I saw gates and accelerators were instant, as opposed to having to stare at a loading screen for minutes. What little content the game has so far, it's dealing with it quite well.

Sure, there were/are giant bugs and broken stuff, but most of those are related to in-game mechanics and balance issues, which are fixable, and that's a very important fact. I'd rather have a buggy/glitchy game that is later patched up, than one which is fundamentally broken, like XR was. No amount of patching can fix bad design choices and screwed core gameplay. This is exactly why I'm actually kinda glad that X4 is so barren for now, because it's an opportunity to make it better, to build on these Foundations, so to speak. It will take time, yes, years even. But this is still the best of all the horrible ways this launch could've gone, and this is why I'm still very hopeful for the future of this game and the X-Universe as a whole.

Yeah, hopefully, we’ll get X4: This and X4: That with as much content as previous games had.

I said I didn’t think X2 and X3 were this broken because the versions I got when I bought the discs were pretty good, I was able to complete the game and experience most of their mechanics. In case of X2, back then I didn’t even have an internet connection good enough to download patches.