If you could turn back the clock...Would you have bought the game?

[Tracer40]

I suppose i wouldn't, to be honest, half the features like the HUD would have made X2 superb! Therefore X3 was initialy to be an upgrade and i think it should have shipped as such.

I fortunately upgraded (built) my PC to what would be considered 'upper end' but not 'top end': Athlon64 3500, GeForce 7800GT ASUS A7N-E Ultra running Dual-Channel DDR400 Cas2 and Audigy 2ZS.
The performance is good but not blazing, that's regardless of AA/AF or shading detail being OFF or FULL on it makes about 5-10fps difference. Neither does running it in 1024x768 or 1600x1200. Which angers me as i can run high performance games with FULL detail AA/AF and high resolution; F.E.A.R,B&W2,Flight Simulator 2004 (terrain addons galore!) and Rome: Total War.
This obviously points out that X3 has not been optimised in any shape or form -apart from *after release* which is not fare to loyal supporters of the series....

I expected X3 to have a NEW galaxy and new animation cut-scenes,Complete new story, the ability to land on planets, walk about space stations -look out windows etc. In short; MORE immersion for a FULL product! Wouldn't you for full price?
The engine is looking old....putting in DX9 support and adding better models is old hat.
Look at Battle of Britain by Rowan, old game going on 10years, code bought by Shockwave to rework Battle of Britain 2. They add DX9 support, fantastic graphics on the planes,sea,clouds and explosions *BUT* same-old code underneath with the same crashing that the original BoB always had.....several patches later it still CTDs for folks.

Come on guys, X3 should have been a *cheap* addon -for HUD and minor story purposes only. X3 should have been a complete reworking from the ground up,with features as above that i mentioned.
Bringing in a MINIMUM 1024x768 res for a start kills a lot of folk with older rigs....how to alienate your customers...
How about companies like Bethesda? The Elder Scroll series Oblivion for eg supports just about anything out there -it's delayed to get it JUST right wise words...

[Chips]

I expected X3 to have a NEW galaxy and new animation cut-scenes,Complete new story, the ability to land on planets, walk about space stations -look out windows etc. In short; MORE immersion for a FULL product!

I expected it to have what they said it would, not what I made up. They have clearly stated from the start no planetary landings... can't moan about that!
You can moan about lack of BBS, mobile mining and the miriad of problems people complain about though!

Anyhew - I am glad I bought it - simply because I enjoyed X2, and I am enjoying x3. Not as much as I hoped, but I am still enjoying it none the less. I do feel disappointed by lacking items in X3, but I am willing to wait for the patches. Others aren't - that is fine and dandy, and some feel cheated by the lack of them, whatever floats your boat imo.

The only thing I find disappointing is the "I won't buy another Egosoft product ever"

I buy a product, regardless of past history - I buy the present item, on it's merits. I research into it's merits if I wish to purchase it or not, and that is the basis I buy from. X3 and RTW are the only games I have purchased from new, and I am happy with both of them.

IF the item is up to scratch (read reviews, read people's views, play demos, watch trailers), then I purchase it...(I bought RTW this way), X3 is the only one I have bought on release date though (so breaking my own general purchase option). The only lesson anyone should be learning is not to buy blind! I wouldn't buy a P.O.S Porsche just because of a logo or name, and I wouldn't not buy a Skoda if it was deemed to be the best car in the world. I wouldn't also then completely ignore any future products of theirs based upon the history - I would, of course, be more cautious.

I am enjoying X3, but I have learnt something... which is not to buy games on release day, something I should have stuck to. Doesn't mean I would discount buying an Egosoft game again, if X4 turned out in 2 years time with excellent reviews, and lots of happy customers describing decent gameplay - then I'd be out there and buying.

Others obviously won't actually learn anything, and will obviously be doomed to many more disappointments and weeks of ranting on other game forums about their products.

Such is life.

[Tracer40]

Sorry Chips, should have made myself clearer re; New Galaxy etc. This is called speaking outloud to the devs.I don't care what they said, there was no way it was worth full price and i expected a bit more... -if so (full price) why couldn't owners of X2 have been given a rebate?? AURAN do that to everyone that owns previous versions of it's Train simulation series: Trainz-and that's in the hundreds of thousands customer bracket .
Wrapping up X2 with a DX9 'coat' is essentialy what we have bought.
Those that *never* bought X2 are laughing here as they are the ones to profit...

[BRG]

I know theres plenty of Rant threads on the forum already here but i want an opportunity to have my own say...

I purchased X-BTF a long time ago and really enjoyed it. I purchased X2 and was over the moon (IMO the best yet) but having bought X3 i am left with a bitter feeling towars the game.

Primarily you would expect a sequel to have enhanced graphics and gameplay and whilst the screen shots look great on X3 the bits that were left out that X2 had amaze me.

For example on X2 when i shot my lazer the turret moved in some sort of recoil countering action a great fine detail - This is not in X3..

Cockpit views were awesome in X2 buying a new ship meant so much more when you were looking at the inside of it now every ship (handling and speed aside) feels the same.

24 hrs into the game and my plot has died so i either restart or carry on without it. Absolutely no support on my sidewinder Force Feedback joystick, random crashes which seem to have settled down lately (i turned off SMART monitoring of drives).

Most importantly the universe feels dead, i seldom see a pirate and the khaak are wimps when they come out to play. My starting ship (buster) was by far better than most of the other ships i tried (NOVA definitely) and easily handles a Khaak cluster.

I am in no rush for 1.3 as long as when it comes out it includes alot of the left out material and fixes all of the many problems. I dont tend to buy games but did with this one based on its predecessers a decision i currently regret and would not do again.

[Misinformed]

Im pretty content with playing the game now since the 1.201 patch with the promise of a proper content patch appearing soon(tm). Install it, play it, and then if you dont like it, think about those that played an unpatched retail vesion on the 28th and consider yourself one of the lucky ones.

[bobwoodx]

Game is great after patch 1.2 and beyond. (before the patches - yikes)

Glad I upgraded hardware etc and tweaked and went through the learning curve.

Read the posts to get a feel of the possible gaming experience - such as the post about "I hate the Kh'aak" and the post about "inferiority complex"
and the post about sectors power circle being wiped out by attackers.

This game is definately worth the investment in time, money, and perseverence.

AND with mods, patches can only get better and better.

Currently a fleet of 4 ships, mostly freebies, 90 000 credits and want to play 24/7 but can't!

[Stu Austin]

I would still buy the game, no matter what. Its a great game. A few bugs here and there, but thats what patches are for.

[Khardur]

absolutely I'd buy it again, only i'd make sure to get faster shipping!

that said - I have to say some people were constantly asking about / getting hyped up over things that were made clear never would be in the game. *cough*planetary landings*cough*

It's a great game, the combat is *100%* improved, the sectors are beautiful - the economy has been reworked, new ship models, much better animations (i.e. firing and hitting objects with your lasers doesn't slow down the game...) more trading options (i.e. higher end goods actually make high-end money!) - etc etc.

Anyone who thinks they just "slapped a DX9 shell" onto x2 and called it X3 isnt' giving it a fair shake.

-my .02

[RaGodofTehSun]

If i could go back then...yes...i would buy it again...i love this game

[ThirdChild]

I am very glad that bought the game. It has provided hours of entertainment. The only problem I have is the lack of a cockpit in the ships. I really liked that about X2.

[bladeuk]

I wouldnt take it back if they were offering twice the money to buy off me!

(that obviously doesnt include if they were still selling it at orginal price, that way id make millions by buying then selling hundreds )

[martianrobot]

Well, I bought it without checking reviews, paid full price £34.99 too, but had to take it back to the shop because StarForce ruined it for me - I eventually got it installed (it took about a day!) but 9 times out of 10 it wouldn't start becuase of the machine-destroying copy protection. I won't look at it again until they bring out an official no-dvd patch like they have for X2, which is nice.

What I did see of it looked pretty, but ultimately I didnt like the menus, the control system and the complete absence of cockpit. What were they thinking?

It meant I had another go with X2, which I had hardly touched beyond the tutorials as my machine was seriously lacking at the time of original purchase, but now I have a nice shiny X800 XT PE, which is nice.

However, controversially, I think I really do prefer X-BTF and X-tension over them both. OK, graphically they don't compare but the essential game elements are the same and there isn't the stability or bug issues. Plus, they run like a dream on my fairly low spec laptop, which is nice.

So no, I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have issues with StarFarce.

[Chips]

Well, I bought it without checking reviews, paid full price £34.99 too, but had to take it back to the shop because StarForce ruined it for me - I eventually got it installed (it took about a day!) but 9 times out of 10 it wouldn't start becuase of the machine-destroying copy protection. I won't look at it again until they bring out an official no-dvd patch like they have for X2, which is nice.

So no, I wouldn't recommend it, especially if you have issues with StarFarce.

So did you actually ask Star-force for help like CBJ suggested?
Obviously it doesn't actually matter one jot as you don't have the game anymore, usually they help getting things working for people though - or provide methods to ensure it works instead.

[martianrobot]

So did you actually ask Star-force for help like CBJ suggested?
Obviously it doesn't actually matter one jot as you don't have the game anymore, usually they help getting things working for people though - or provide methods to ensure it works instead.

Yes, but my forum posting disappeared after a few days of no response, and their strangely worded responses to other peoples postings about X3 didn't really help. Their forums now seem to only show the last few days of content - I guess like egosoft they have a lot of tech support traffic and need to restrict the bandwidth.

I was very annoyed at the time after spending a day trying to get it installed, and waiting up to 10 minutes for StarForce to tell me I had the wrong disc inserted each time I started the game, so it went back to the store. Like I said I might give it another go if egosoft provide a work around, but in the meantime am happily playing X-tension on my laptop.

[Chips]

Yes, but my forum posting disappeared after a few days of no response, and their strangely worded responses to other peoples postings about X3 didn't really help. Their forums now seem to only show the last few days of content - I guess like egosoft they have a lot of tech support traffic and need to restrict the bandwidth.

I was very annoyed at the time after spending a day trying to get it installed, and waiting up to 10 minutes for StarForce to tell me I had the wrong disc inserted each time I started the game, so it went back to the store. Like I said I might give it another go if egosoft provide a work around, but in the meantime am happily playing X-tension on my laptop.

Furry chuff, just wondering if they had been able to help was all - as someone else was suffering the same issue as yourself I believe...

[razorhead]

i could pull back the clock 80 times, and i would have bought this game everytime

[SteveMill]

No. It's now reached the point where it won't load any of my save games. i've done everything I can to tune my system to make X3 happy. I have no problems with any other program. X3 is just screwed and you're screwed once the CTD's start happening.

I've wasted dozens of hours and upwards of £700 upgrading my system for X3. I've been a fan of the series since the inception but this debacle has finished me. Tech support is non-existent. And no - my system is not at fault, it's been upgraded, serviced and tuned incessantly - only x2 and universal combat have ever caused similar problems.

Tha amount of bugs and problems with x3 is truly staggering. Nothing I do, no matter how many reinstalls, system checks, technician servicing of windows - the lot. New mobo, new processor - nothing.

Congratulations to all involved. You can now be spoken of in the same breath as Derek Smart.

From now on I buy the X series from the bargain bucket once whatever half-finished piece of code punters have had foisted upon them is finished and working.

[Chips]

I've wasted dozens of hours and upwards of £700 upgrading my system for X3.

I understand that you were told you must spend that money in order to make the game work then? As in it was a requirement for the game to work that you must spend the £700 on the hardware they recommended you purchase?

[SteveMill]

I've wasted dozens of hours and upwards of £700 upgrading my system for X3.

I understand that you were told you must spend that money in order to make the game work then? As in it was a requirement for the game to work that you must spend the £700 on the hardware they recommended you purchase?

to get it to work, it was. New processor and mobo to support it cos the framereates were too low on my already above spec gear. New gfx card in anticipation.

Installation and servicing costs so yes, once I'd bought the game that's what I spent trying to first, get it to perform and then to get it stable.

when it works it now runs fine. It just no longer works.

[Goffik]

If I could turn back the clock, I would not have bought this game. If my local games store allowed the return of PC games, I would take it back. Like others here, X3 was an automatic buy for me after playing X2 for many months. However, I was pretty disappointed after a few hours of play.

A feeling of dread came over me when I saw the Starforce protection appear, as its caused problems with other games in the past. Not this time, thankfully. I also haven't had any CTDs (touch wood), and have not noticed any major bugs during play. However, while its clear that various parts of the game have been enhanced, I dont feel that they justify a brand new full priced game. Maybe theres a lot more going on "behind the scenes" that I cant see, but the whole game just feels like X2 to me... with a few additions/changes. On top of that, the un-patched retail version is broken, and a load of features are missing.

Its all very well and good releasing patches to fix the bugs and add content, but thats just not good enough in my opinion. I'm ok because I have a decent broadband connection and have no problem downloading 80mb files. However, there are still many people out there on dial-up that would have little or no chance, as well as those that have no internet access at all. Why should they suffer with sub-standard, un-finished products? Why should anyone? You wouldn't accept it with any other product, so why is it acceptable when it comes to computer games?

In short, this game should not have been released in its current state, and had I known what it was like I would not have bought it. Next time I'll wait a few weeks after release, and check the games forums for user opinions before I buy.