X4: Foundations/X Game Series - Mount & Blade, but IN FUCKING SPACE (and simultaneously better/shittier)

[LostInAdaptation]

It's not that good lore to begin with. So it's ok to not rub it in to a player's face. I like this approach.

Any news on a diplomacy update? I afraid it will be like terraforming - spend an ungodly amount of time to get some mild bonuses.

 

[Dammit Mandrake!]

Argon nebula
Argon constructor
Argon miner
Argon station
Argon freighter

 

[StacticShock]

It's not that good lore to begin with. So it's ok to not rub it in to a player's face. I like this approach.

not even good, it was retconned to hell and back because expanded universe book bullshit, play X2 and X3R and you'll see it goes against everything it's written in X4 vault, especially nvidium and the kha'ak, i jest about rebirth being a trauma point because it was when they ignored the economy part of the game while focusing too much on lore because moviegames console era, with parts of the team gone by X4 they didn't seem to bother with lore and made basically E-D Lite, relegating it to some shitty videoclip on the lower left corner of your screen, the problem is that ED already exists.

not to mention that videos about lore are scarce and they always forget about X:Tension in which explains elena kho's entire existence, most of her mentions are due to books instead of the game but then again first X's are really old, controls are a massive issue when playing older games because many people that come from X4 bitch and moan about the controls when they try to play X3 and X2.

Any news on a diplomacy update? I afraid it will be like terraforming - spend an ungodly amount of time to get some mild bonuses.

soon, they are focused on the feedback from 7.60.

Argon nebula
Argon constructor
Argon miner
Argon station
Argon freighter

argon is for peasants, teladi is where the real profits are.

 

[ZMOT]

i jest about rebirth being a trauma point because it was when they ignored the economy part of the game while focusing too much on lore because moviegames console era, with parts of the team gone by X4 they didn't seem to bother with lore and made basically E-D Lite, relegating it to some shitty videoclip on the lower left corner of your screen, the problem is that ED already exists.

more like trauma from doing spin-off titles because the user-base is fucking retarded. rebirth is fine, and if you look at all the red reviews from back then it's a) technical issues at launch (fucking newfags, it's an X game) and b) THIS ISN'T MY X4!!!11111.

the X learning curve is steep, there's absolutely nothing wrong doing an offshot with smaller scope and a much more accessible approach to entice more players. ignoring the main titles it's like complaining about freelancer "not being big enough". and if egosoft had done that in X4, the same retards would bitch and moan about "dumbing down" the game. they pissed and shat themselves anyway, but by now lot of them calls X4 "the best X game ever"

the curse of catering to a niche audience.

Any news on a diplomacy update? I afraid it will be like terraforming - spend an ungodly amount of time to get some mild bonuses.

7.60 had 2 months of beta, 8.00 probably a bit longer, so even if it shows up in fall don't expect a final release soon

 

[StacticShock]

rebirth is fine, and if you look at all the red reviews from back then it's a) technical issues at launch (fucking newfags, it's an X game) and b) THIS ISN'T MY X4!!!11111.

rebirth got rid of my beloved gates for those shitty railways, fuck you.
but seriously the retcons in X4 are truly beyond retarded and rebirth is more of a stepping stone for the engine that was X4 anyway, replaying it now because my potato can only hold up to it until intel releases the battlemage, i was going to mention on how some people complained you stay on the X shuttle for a entiriety of the game because lore reasons but eh, it's just too much of a specific complaint, while i liked the many cockpits of X3/X2 i'd also spend far more time in those games than i actually spend on rebirth playsession.

the same retards would bitch and moan about "dumbing down" the game. they pissed and shat themselves anyway, but by now lot of them calls X4 "the best X game ever"

the curse of catering to a niche audience.

not a niche, a hyperfocused minority within that niche which are the economy gaytards, people that enjoyed the storytelling pacing got fucked because of their incessant crying but i have good bets that egosoft losing team members was a part of the fucking too, they have history of handling storytelling with gameplay just fine if you play X2 and X3 as long as they can ignore these fucking waste of oxygen that incessantly bitch about shit once they start cooking X5, X's learning curve is the same as starsector which is you getting the fucking money to kit yourself up, thank fuck many people are opening themselves up for such games so i have some hopium for X5 but some doomiun because the fucking gaytards still bitching at egosoft and they haven't mentioned anything about new teams or whateverthefuck and i am not touching their discord in fears of being banned due to economyfags shitting and pissing thesmelves.

 

[ZMOT]

not a niche, a hyperfocused minority within that niche which are the economy gaytards, people that enjoyed the storytelling pacing got fucked because of their incessant crying but i have good bets that egosoft losing team members was a part of the fucking too, they have history of handling storytelling with gameplay just fine if you play X2 and X3

ironically rebirth had plenty of story. in a better timeline we'd get x4 and spinoffs which allows to go into greater detail, but the customer base can't handle that. just look at timelines - not talking about the actual lore, most of them don't even played it anyway but complained "it doesn't add more endgame!!!1"

my overall issue with retards like that is that they rather see a company go under than ever accept it does something "they don't like", especially accommodating each and everyone's headcanon. you can see it in most fanbases, but usually when it happens there are new customers coming in for income. in a series like X with a very specific type of players that is much harder to happen.
worse, they got what, 4 fucking games (if you count FL) for X3, but the second rebirth is not exactly like that they start to shit themselves in a hissy fit.

I can't say how much staff changes affected the later game, but it's no secret vidya development is a shit job with shit pay, and egosoft still needs to be able to compete. don't get me wrong, there is plenty of things I disagree with egosoft, but trying to keep the business running isn't one of them. even if they fuck up I give them some slack, because they're still indie and I rather not see them go under or worse sell out to keep the lights on.

rebirth got rid of my beloved gates for those shitty railways, fuck you.

the gates are still there, just connected via a fastlane for MUH CONVIENCE (and to make it easier for ADHD players). there's probably a mod to remove them if you want.
even if it makes sense lore-wise they annoyed me a bit at first too, but by now I got used to it. they also had some fun with it, the loop in x4 is kinda boring in comparison. but ymmv.

rebirth got some post-launch support which fixed a lot of stuff and added DLC, but with all that happened they rather moved on to x4. speaking of DLC, you might wanna decide when to enable it. due to the linear nature imo it makes either things too easy too soon or doesn't add much afterwards. being dlc it's not really integrated the way it should be in a game with a fixed beginning and end, but that just a personal gripe.

in the end I really enjoyed rebirth, sure it's not x3/x4 but what it does it does really well, to the point you still won't get the same experience in x4.

speaking of mods, some imo essential ones and some "see how much it annoys you"

Sucellus IHC Fix

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=604470011

Titurel Engine Fix

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=249312552

Improved Log

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1390391214

navpath fix

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1441345157

Move Murky Skies Distillery (you might not want/need it yet, but if you do you know)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1566789014

Engineer Fix (works fine without, it's just a little annoyance really)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2489191965

Inventory Crafts Items Marked

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=438499023

debatable/convenience:
TAF!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=262382979

show skills

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=265986059

there's also one or two for npc experience and seminars (still an issue in x4, and funny enough worse since you don't get list of npcs like in rebirth), iirc it's not that much of an issue with rebirth but adds more tedium moving them around to train them better etc.

 

[StacticShock]

speaking of mods, some imo essential ones and some "see how much it annoys you"

eh i always played vanilla for a good amount of years, other than that i am recently looking for QoL mods in X3 and X2, BTF and Tension simply can't.

just look at timelines - not talking about the actual lore, most of them don't even played it anyway but complained "it doesn't add more endgame!!!1"

funny because i saw some people bitching on plebbit about terrans being OP again once they announced the timelines expansion, on the forums they seem to be mostly focused on support and modding support rather than debating anything, i guess the main crybabies were moved to groomcord.

I can't say how much staff changes affected the later game, but it's no secret vidya development is a shit job with shit pay, and egosoft still needs to be able to compete. don't get me wrong, there is plenty of things I disagree with egosoft, but trying to keep the business running isn't one of them. even if they fuck up I give them some slack, because they're still indie and I rather not see them go under or worse sell out to keep the lights on.

from what i read they didn't lose team members to cut costs, it was more a case of being poached, it's why the X3 and rebirth look so different because some part of the art team got hired by a big studio, it's also a source of jokes in the X4 steam discussions as to why stations look like fucking shit because the new guy is learning as he goes, i have been considering buying the collectors edition for the regular products as a way to support them, X series kind of scratch my itch of what i wanted for toddfield to be minus the jeets and evochron series is some multiplayer focused bullshit that hasn't got the hint that elite dangerous exist.

 

[ZMOT]

from what i read they didn't lose team members to cut costs, it was more a case of being poached, it's why the X3 and rebirth look so different because some part of the art team got hired by a big studio

same difference really, they don't have the money to compete with the big studios (which still pay like shit all things considered), so the talent leaves. getting more players (= more money) would help with that.

eh i always played vanilla for a good amount of years, other than that i am recently looking for QoL mods in X3 and X2, BTF and Tension simply can't.

same, that's why the mods are mostly fixes and changes to questionable design decisions (like trade agents only being available a limited amount of time).

 

[StacticShock]

same, that's why the mods are mostly fixes and changes to questionable design decisions (like trade agents only being available a limited amount of time).

weellll...
(the 2 items i didn't highlight are teh dlc's)
even then it still doesn't fix some bugs and retarded console peasantry direction, i had that fucking annoying bug where your controls are locked post docking and you have to save and reload to fix, don't even get me started on the fov giving me fucking migraines because it's too low, being unable to recall trojans on their own, the fucking temperamental SETA shutting off for anything or the radar disruptions not letting you access the menu and making you lose a arawn because you could not give the order to leave combat in time, trying to give the order to the arawn was useless too because it was a story-related transmission and you can't skip those.

also when i checked the X4 steam for any discounts for a friend of mine i got a fucking economyfag streaming his flowcharts, fucking hell, shame egosoft can't afford to do X again and has to latch on the two space flowchart sims rather than being X.

also also bonus bug pictures, finally finished the game and the expansions playing exactly like TC and AP is par for the course which is no quest/worldbuilding and only walls of text, at least with AI voice acting i can hope egosoft can finally tone down on the wall of texts for the DLC missions but everything aside from flowcharting in X4 has been horribly damaged because of the economyfags incessant crying.

and to be honest i kind of liked it because it feels like a retarded console remaster of the old X in the same vein as Deus Ex Human Revolution being worse than Deus Ex but still good in it's own strengths, sure the ship cockpit bullshit is a complaint but that is a telltale sign of a retard that has never touched X:BtF, even the plasma being OP as fuck and quick to overheat is a funny touch, it's the only gun that can damage the Xenon M0 effectively without turning you into a sitting duck.

although novadrones are fucking bae and astrobees are the best side hoes ever, shame about the bug where you launch a nova too close and get movement stuck until you need to find a way to launch another nova and return to cockpit un order to unstuck the controls but that's on egosoft for ditching the game because of economyfags, sure you can mod in dumb fire novas but i like doing the COD predator killstreak on any plasma jet turret, fucking shits.

i will look at the XR ship pack mod and i may be willing to give effort to port whatever isn't xenon/kha'ak to X4 that isn't on the pack, it'll give me the ropes on modding other ships into it effectively, fractured space has some cool looking ships that would look aight on X4.