Anyone else concerned about the lack of a main plot?

[Phinixa]

Well since they said there is a central plot everyone can play, I am less concerned. What me bugs however is the general lack of world building. X has never been like freelancer, SC or Elder Scrolls but I always miss the focus on exploration.
I'd absolutely love small mini-missions centered around hidden/lost stations, gates or anything. For example a few days ago I discovered a broken Jumpgate in Aguilars Belt in TC. There was nothing to it, it was just there. My brain was almost freaking out due to no information on anything. Yeah one could say "imagine your own story!" but thats total bs.

I mean what about a lost station hidden in an asteroid field. You can discover it, scan some modules and find out what the **** happened, then maybe Xenon attack, you fight them off, make a bit profit from dropped stuff, then some guy contacts you or if its too much, gimme a simply objective to drop the info on the local trade station. They could give you some money, goods or even the station itself(For balancing reasons its in very bad condition).

I miss that so much! It gives you a sense of that theres more out there, more to be discovered, a real X universe.


Yes I get it, a story writer costs money. Money that ES probably uses for better gameplay and bug fixing. But a man can dream.
They could actually put that in the communities hands, like they did with the BBS messages.
And yeah, modding actually allows us to do it ourselfes after release and you know what, I will try to mod in some story-side missions!

[Honved]

For example a few days ago I discovered a broken Jumpgate in Aguilars Belt in TC. There was nothing to it, it was just there. My brain was almost freaking out due to no information on anything. Yeah one could say "imagine your own story!" but thats total bs.

I know what you mean. I spotted that gate, and another one in Split territory, and thought to myself, "Those would link up the opposite ends of the map really nicely, there HAS to be a plot to repair them.", but there wasn't. I ended up adding a mod which allows you to rebuild those broken gates (and a couple others in Pirate space) and relink them. Even that won't help with the broken gates often found in UFJD sectors, which can't be fixed, salvaged for scrap, or used for anything else, because they disappear as soon as you leave. Forget going through all of that hassle for the Hub if you can tow a gate out of a UFJD sector to any sector you like, repair it, and link it to another gate. You can't change it at your leisure, but it does pretty much the same job, just not as well (one gate pair versus 3). Didn't happen.

Plots are nice, and a LOT nicer if you're not FORCED to do them. That's where some of the TES games shine, where there's a really involved and extensive plot, but you can ignore it and play the character any way you choose. Oblivion was the tough one, where you're given the story in the mandatory starting tutorial dungeon, and there's no way to get around the fact that the end of the world is imminent, and you're the only one who can save it. Morrowind had you as a "Chosen One", but several incidents pointed out that you were not the first to be chosen, and possibly not the last. You are not the prophecies hero, but might BECOME that prophesied hero. You could simply walk away at any time, and come back to it later (if you wished), and doing exactly that was even recommended at one point.

If too much content is locked behind the plots, they become all but mandatory. If there's not enough behind them or anything memorable about them, there's little point in ever repeating them, and the resources to create them might have been better employed in making a better sandbox.

[Vandragorax]

I believe that the different game starts which will be available are good enough instead of having one single linear storyline that everyone will play through in the same way.

They will contain a minimal back story, a certain set of starting 'parameters' and allow us to experience the game universe from a different perspective.

The beauty is in letting us tell our own stories. The issue with having a pre-planned story is that it forces the player to do certain things, and in a sandbox environment you don't want to artificially cut off people's choices just so that they don't break the story line missions.

[Axeface]

So, theres lots of different opinions on the matter.
As for a plots locking you out of content or progress they dont have to do that, and I agree that they shouldnt.

"Anyone else concerned about the lack of a main plot?"

And honestly, I think there would be more people concerned if there was a main plot that locked you into a starting character. People like the multi starts, and the non-main plots they can discover as they do their own thing.

They dont have to do that - and shoudlnt. The reason they have in X3R or XR is the voiced player character, I hate it in the context of sandbox games - voiced main character is the reason I still havent purchased Fallout 4, and probably never will.

So yeh. I would love to have a main plot in X4, but it shouldnt lock me into a character or block me from the games content or exploration.

[Sandalpocalypse]

judging by Toride i wouldnt worry too much about exploration content....

[Axeface]

judging by Toride i wouldnt worry too much about exploration content....

You mean because its amazing right? I've also noticed that judging by the X4 map sectors seem to be flat, whereas in X rebirth places like Omicron Lyrae have a lot of up and down - its amazing and i'de hate to lose that. It looks like they might have taken a bit of a simplified approach to sectors in X4. I hope I'm wrong because the system design in Rebirth is some of egosofts best work, imho.

[reanor]

I like when the games have some guidance. Most of the X games had a campaign and it did a good job to bring you up to speed, explaining/showing what the new version had to offer. Main plot or campaign are needed IMHO, especially for people who don't want to play through previous versions to learn things. Considering that X games are quite a niche games, majority of us here already played and know most of the things that X games to offer and are familiar with all the mechanics. So if the Blue Silver and Egosoft don't consider trying to attract a lot of new players, then I guess we may no need a 'campaign' so to speak. The main plot, which we will be getting, from what I understand, will not have any CGI movies, but may possibly have some scripted scenes, which is a pure speculation. It could be just a regular boring long mission from the same NPCs with multiple steps. Nobody gives us any info so close to release... Bleh. I want some more specific info, comparing to the one we got 1.5 years ago. The were many unknowns in those answers...

[csaba]

I like when the games have some guidance. Most of the X games had a campaign and it did a good job to bring you up to speed, explaining/showing what the new version had to offer. Main plot or campaign are needed IMHO, especially for people who don't want to play through previous versions to learn things.

It looks like you will start the game with this mission:



They will probably give some basic background for your character at start and say somewhere in there why he/she is looking for a new home. From that point on you can choose to follow the mission or drop it. It's a bit more subtle than Yisha screaming into your face but it's there. X2 and X3 started with a few lines as well and a plot didn't really start until you went to the given location.

[anyawow]

I typically play these X games for hundreds of hours. I have never completed any main plot. Nuff said.

[tomchk]

judging by Toride i wouldnt worry too much about exploration content....

You mean because its amazing right? I've also noticed that judging by the X4 map sectors seem to be flat, whereas in X rebirth places like Omicron Lyrae have a lot of up and down - its amazing and i'de hate to lose that. It looks like they might have taken a bit of a simplified approach to sectors in X4. I hope I'm wrong because the system design in Rebirth is some of egosofts best work, imho.

I strongly agree that the "up and down"/non-flat system design of XR was amazing and some of their best work. In fact, I would call it some of the most impressive design I have seen in any game ever. I really hope they have something like that in X4. The beauty of it (and the original slow-arrival to De Vries, etc.) left me in awe.

[Sahvion]

I don't play these games for the plot, I play them to see what I can build, what I can destroy, what I can break

[Veeshan]

Im definitely concerned that this plot will be insufficient compared to Rebirth. I really love that Freelancer/Han Solo solo feel.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

I don't recall Han Solo going around saying "Show me your wares, please" lol. I felt it was more like a person thrown into a situation where they were in over their head, and made the best of it. This is the perfect analogy for the player at the start of a new game in the X series. Everyone else is bigger than you, stronger than you, richer than you. You take opportunities, risks, and turn things to your advantage. You become a superpower of one "person," strong enough to challenge any of the races.

I never considered the plots to be "main plots," as they aren't mandatory, like a usual game's campain is to progress. You could start a new game in Terran Conflict, go build stations, amass wealth and rep, and then run the entire Terran questline in an M6 or M7, and just wreck everything.

The X series has always been about emergent gameplay. It's your story, and your choice if you want to get involved in the questline at any time, or not. You can always make your own story as well, do an RP series. Have your own fun. You have the freedom to.

[Protector AR]

Two reasons I always played the main plot:

1. To get the feel of the game and factions.
2. For the credits and free ships.

It also always felt more like a tutorial of sorts but less annoying like most games.
I for one hope there is one in X4 Foundations.

[ZombiePotatoSalad]

1. Go to https://lofigames.com/
2. Click Download
3. Select your preferred download file.

This is a demo for a game called Kenshi, a game with a world over 700 square kilometers in size, dozens of factions, and absolutely no plot or quests whatsoever. It's $20 USD on Steam, and I have just over 600 hours played... and that's considered small. Some people have more than twice that played. It allows editing and mod-making through an included tool called the Forgotten Construction Set. Want to command an army of giant crabs? Go for it. Want to make your Rusty Iron Stick kill everyone in one hit? You can do it. Want to make the Holy Nation (ultra-religious Knight Templars who hate robots) wear pink armor? Nothing is stopping you. Best of all, if you buy the full game, you progress from the demo ( where your skills are capped at 10) carries over.


This is a game with absolutely no plot, the story is literally what you make it. This is a fine example that a main plot is not always required to make a game great. I don't care if X4 has a main plot, or even any plots at all. It's the freedom I love. Pick a direction and go. Just like in the X series, you can start with some capital and good loadout, or you can be a bog-standard scrublord supreme, and work your way to the top.

[Axeface]

Yeh I get that some people dont care, and I get that games can be good without plots for some people (I guarantee I will not like that game you linked). But X just isnt X for me without purpose.
People are just different. If you dont care about plots you can safely ignore them, if you do care and they dont exist, well you are out of luck.
We will see if they manage to get some story across to the player using the miniplots, gamestarts and procedural missions.

[Nort The Fragrent]

The plot's have no appeal for me, I tried some of the tasks in the early games, and got persistently annihilated. So found it futile.
I like exploring, building stations and accumulating lots of ships to fly.
I sell my guns and play a non-hostile game, for the most part I have been left alone.
Lets hope X4 is the same, don't fire a shot and you are free to roam around and enjoy the scenery.

[Tomonor]

I always liked the plot of the X games, because they not only tell stories, but reward players with assets while also holding your hand until you get to the end with a big climax. Or at least, that's Egosoft was aiming for with the stories.

Where they fall short is usually where Egosoft don't shine - rather bad voice acting, incoherent plot here and there, reused characters and assets, unpolished quality, cheesiness. The stories also take back from the sandbox nature of the games, removimg access from certain assets and making other assets indestructable.

But again, where these stories do shine is the artificially simulated life (something that X games aren't supposed to do). They add such atmosphere to the games that you would really expect later on (eg Landing on Sandwell in X2, Kha'ak invasion in X2, meeting people with attitude in Reunion, etc).

If Egosoft somehow managed to work out and integrate these plot-esque level of atmosphere into regular missions, that would open up a whole new meaning to the X games.

That's why I said earlier that GTA V's Strangers and Freaks mission system would work out in X games - random optional encounters that tells small stories in this vast universe.

[pref]

Yeh I get that some people dont care, and I get that games can be good without plots for some people (I guarantee I will not like that game you linked). But X just isnt X for me without purpose.
People are just different. If you dont care about plots you can safely ignore them, if you do care and they dont exist, well you are out of luck.
We will see if they manage to get some story across to the player using the miniplots, gamestarts and procedural missions.

A detailed flexible sandbox can give much better goals then a plot imo, which is usually little more then an interactive movie experience anyway with perhaps a couple of forks and minor consequences (usually just different voice lines from some NPCs).
As i saw there will be several plots and different gamestarts that hint on a storyline that is much less limiting towards the sandbox experience, but can be enough to give you story and involvement with the game world if done well.

Looking back having my own goals and finding a way to achieve them gave a much more lasting impression then most game plots i have ever experienced.
Like chasing that terrain ship deep in enemy territory to board it with that precious jump beacon in its cargo bay, just to speed up trade for another factory complex i had.
Which required a proper boarding team, a satellite network in hostile terran space and the ability to defend it, a couple other capital ships to get rid of unwanted attention, maybe specific weapons to lower ship defenses, my own factories to arm my ships and to supply the sats for my net.
Probably would have never done that if an NPC was screaming in my face all along that this is your purpose, this is the game you gotta play - and do it quick or else crabpeople will destroy the whole universe.
Its good to have plots on the side, they give me a feeling that there is still lots to do in the game, and make the game activities more varied.
But if there is a single main plot that usually means the game is over in a couple 10 hours, after which not much else is left to do since all the game world had to be designed around that single campaign and there is no actual game left to play once its over. Then i often wonder what a great game that could have been if they spent all those resources needed for gfx, animation, voices, writing, coding, testing and what else to make an actual game and not a movie with some limited choices.

[preludelinux]

Not at all, the sandbox just on its own will be 1000 hours game time. Modding hopefully adds the ability for user made story / quests / mission though.