I am going to agree and disagree with you on some things Skybird. I have "played" about 15 hours so far.

I bought the game early on Steam and had preloaded. The game launched all of 3 minutes late. 3 minutes after launch Steam went from preloaded to downloading a ~450mb release pack. This, along with the preload, got the game ready to play. Basically, I was running within 10 minutes of the scheduled launch time.

It is worth noting that in the three minute delay of launch, a thread complaining about the "late launch" grew to nearly 7 pages....

Game launch and in I go. My first impression was not so good. Controls were horrible. I currently use a Logitech Extreme 3d pro. Most controls did not work out of the box, and what did was extremely sluggish. I probably spent an hour working on control configuration. Joystick control works well for me now, though CH and CFS users are having issues. It just took time to get it to work - something that should have been better documented. The sluggishness was actually part of the storyline and was resolved through the playthrough.

Next, I agree with Skybird on the visuals. You truly get a sense of scale in this game. You are no giant and the universe looks amazing.

Performance - well I have what most would consider a monster of a system. The game runs smooth under most circumstances, but there are times I get some hangs. Usually this centers around high traffic areas, which can be optimized with time. I don't believe it is using all cores however....

Speaking of - the game "requires" a x64 OS - but the EXE is a 32 bit app. NOT COOL! They need to build/release a 64 bit version of the exe. This alone would go far to fix performance issues. Egosoft gets a "Fail" on this.

Gameplay - For me, it plays just fine. The biggest thing is its just ... different. Being an old school X player, many things have changed. The "highway/superhighway" system is a bit hard to grasp in navigational terms. The different docking locations on city-stations is great, but the "walkabout" part does feel ... aged for lack of a better term. There is little to no challenge, the "talking" minigame just hurts (I have seen better in Leisure Suit Larry), and the process is overly repetitive. It is just too "dumbed down" to be immersive.

Next to last gripe - the UI. Sadly, this is probably the other big "Fail" in my mind for Egosoft. What used to be simple, is now convoluted. Its just too many keystrokes to get to anything. The lack of "previous", "next", and "closest" target shortcuts is just inexcusable. The inability to "lock" your target is also frustrating. Your cockpit has multiple "modes", which in theory is great - but it lacks a "combat" mode which makes combat in crowded areas really difficult. Information on other owned assets, like transport ships, is also hard to find and hard to manage.

Final gripe - the AI and mission scripting. Missions still have some bugs, and getting stuck in a storyline sucks. If you spot an enemy in a line of civvies and you attack, you would think that all the normal civilians would scatter - or at least react somehow. Nope, they chug along in their orderly flight lanes. Attack one of the civilians - and the rest ignore you as well. Then add in the occasional "cop" (complete with flashing lights and siren!) who is never to be found except right outside the bar dock - yet appears to have had one too many him/herself because all they do is move back and forth, siren blaring and lights blazing.

With all that said, it must be a pretty horrible game, huh?

Nope. Actually, its quite good. Like all of the X series, it has a learning curve that is more than just "follow da path to git bigger gunz". It has a depth. You are not Mr. Space Hero, ready to save the day. Your Mr. Joe Shmoe - and with the right breaks, the right skill and the right choices, you MIGHT just be Mr. Space Hero one day. The game does - at times - truly make you feel "small" in its universe.

Yes, its different. It is also good. It is not great. YET.

Egosoft released 2 hotfix/patches on day 1. More are coming. Egosoft/Deepsilver have always shown to have "Best in Class" product support over the long haul. There are problems, but they are already being addressed. Egosoft has acknowledged and verified that they intend to fix the UI, performance and other issues. X3 and its follow ups had the same teething issues. The came is called Rebirth - and with any birth there is some pain. But the reward is well worth it.

Its playable, deep, enjoyable, but sometimes frustrating. Its a simulation - meant to simulate real life in an alternate, future universe. Well, real life is frustrating at times. The good thing is, you can patch a simulation - and I see another Diamond in the Rough between the long term developer and mod community support.

Can I recommend the game? Yes. But only if you are willing to undergo the teething problems. Otherwise, wait 2 or 3 months, then get it. It will be much more polished by then.

Ultimately, the best endorsement I could ever give a game is that, after playing it, I don't regret the purchase. I can say that about X:Rebirth.

For all of those who might go to the Steam forum for X:Rebirth and see all the complaints, keep in mind a couple of points.

About half of the posters (as of early this am when I decided to go check) that were complaining about bugs - did not own the game. Steam is the only legit way to own it - it has to be registered and played through that service. So either some people were complaining (and talking up star citizen) merely to do so - or many were voicing real concerns over pirated software.

Cracked software comes with lots of problems. So many of the complaints are suspect to start with.

Next, its about 100 - 200 people complaining that the game is "unplayable" because of everything from legit issues to "the women in the game are too ugly". There are usually between 12k and 13k users playing X at any one time. So less than 1% are really having issues, and many of them are having issues due to piracy and / or their own stupidity since X isn't "strip clubs in space".

Just trying to keep things in perspective.

I take it that you downloaded the game in full from Steam, then? The installation and the volume of missing files varies for all-download and DVD-versions. For DVD owners in Germany, the download of the needed content is 1.5+ GB, after installing from DVD, the progress bar showed just 65%, with the remaining 35 then coming from Steam, which took 1 and a half hour for me and my 3000-cable. They said that one day before release in an intervierw that it is indeed vital content not included on the DVD - that was just some hours after I got a mail saying that my parcel was in the mail now, else I weould have cancelled the preorder. They gave me no chance to do so.

Some of the sound problems with missing soundfiles seem to be non-present in the English version, but present for all foreign language versions, including German.

In the forum they said today that major tweaks of the menu system are considered due to massive complaints, but that this will take several weeks if not months to implement.

As I said, Haplo, I have high hopes that they fix the broken things and many bugs, and that then it can shine in all its beauty. I fully agree that there is huge potential. I tried to play again, but could not force myself to mess around with that terrible interface of theirs for longer than one hour - its killing my nerves. And as I assumed in my "first impression yesterday, the boarding of the station becomes repetitive very fast, too.

The publisher seems to have a better reputation than those who did Carrier Command last year, so for the next weeks I keep my hope alive. But their release policy is a slap in the face of customers, especially those who ordered the DVD. They messed it up INTENTIONALLY and KNOWINGLY when starting the DVD production although knowing that one third of needed content was missing. Such business policy is is unforgivable. The game was release in a premature, unfinished state.

Almost all of this can be repaired, if only they want to do it. There is hope that X Rebirth lives up to its full potential one day.

You can be glad that Egosoft have not burned again a fingerprint on the retail DVDs like they did with the first release of X3 :D

Well, that was an accident, I assume. That they burnt the new DVD with one third of the code missing, was intentional. At least the German versions. They announced one day before release that they will work until release day to finish the missing code. They knew. That's what is the difference between an accident, and a policy.

Anyhow: some holiday for the eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEbL1...U58YrYiDy4n4JM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thnJT...U58YrYiDy4n4JM

That's a reminder of what it could be, one day. And then it's all glory, hopefully.

It has been an uphill battle the last two days, but I fight myself back into liking XR more. :D

I quit on the official campaign, and this immediately gave some relief. Maybe this is the most important message to get put to potential customer: ignore the campaign. The campaign seems to be more seriously bugged, than the sandbox (=free) play, and its the free play you like more in these type of open world games anymore. Well, I certainly do.

With the related bugs gone, I had more willingness and time to focus on other aspects of the gameplay. These however are unfortunately badly documented, and so I had a lot of switching between gaming and forum search.

I discovered the versatility of drones in the game, which actually almost completely compensate for the fact that you fly only one ship - dogfighting with drones is fun, for example. Or spying, scouting, and more. I need to learn more about their options, however, and their automatic modes.

I am also approaching the point where I can buy my first additional ship. They have split trading into two classes now: small-item related trading which you do personally in the style you know from Elite-kind of games, and industrial mass transports, which you just organize, but do not fly yourself with your ship, you need your own fleet of trading ships for that. That actually is a clever feature. You do the desktop job only, but while the transaction goes on,. you can spend your own ship'S time doing something different, or watch your freighter getting loaded and unloaded from the cockpit of your own ship, if you are close by.

I also want to find out if I can buy me a second combat ship, having it escorting me. Or a whole squadron. Drones can be comm anded via communicated commands, orders can be given to your freighters. Why not ordering your other ships to follow you into a battle? Would be cool, with drones it seems to be possible.

I read that there is the option to not buy stations, but actually build them, piece by piece. You need to organize the needed money and resources in time. You seem to be able to watch it at scene.

The menu structure I still do not like, and I often have fired missiles by mistake when just wanting to do a scan, and some more mishaps of this kind. The way you interact with individuals on stations is time-consuming and repetitive, counteracting in a way the new trading scheme with industrial mass goods as outlined above.

Far fewer bugs in free play. That is the important message to get.

The game has had a very rough start, and they made some bad mistakes on the release procedure. The title already has so bad ratings that I currently cannot see it fully recovering from that first blow, it gets massacred everywhere. Well, their bad, they could have avoided that. However, they claim it is the top number one seller at Steam currently. They will need to fight hard to gain back terrain they mindlessly lost in just the first few hours o the release. The game needs time to get into it, yes, but it seems to be worth it. One needs to tame it, so to speak, but I find it increasingly rewarding. They promised patches and changes, and support going beyond just one or two hotfixes.

Don't let this title down too easily, guys. Plenty of detail and complexity under the hood and behind the superficial shine. The future looks bright!

P.S. Some bugs are confirmed to be linked to French and German releases only, especially sound-related bugs. It is also confirmed they are on these, and the others as well.

Just read a German forum posting that listed many examples of "bugs" in free play - that are no bugs at all - just features that are extremely badly documented, or not documented at all, and on which the game does not give the kind of feedback that would be vitally needed. That is the impression that I have recently gotten myself, too. Too little documentation, too little communication feedback from the game on certain intricate details.

Nothing that could not be changed. Maybe even changed by modders, who knows - in case the developer fails here.

Come on really? It's Egosoft. They'll fix it.
They're one of 3 development houses I have 100% confidence in. The other 2 are Paradox and Introversion.

I'm new to the Xverse. Egosoft has no meaning for me, I admit.

I can report that over the course of this day I really started to enjoy the game, for the reasons mentioned earlier. I stay away from actions that currently are in doubt of being buggy, maybe - the forum discusses some things controversially (taking over other ships, for example, nobody seem to know with certainty whether the problems come from incorrect handling, or bugs: but everybody is convinced of his opinion, of course :D ).

I focus on improving the Skunk's equipment instead, and mapping the sectors. Big business can wait.

It seems it was good to wait and see how the game would be received. It seems it's pretty bug-ridden. :doh:

It looked nice in the trailers. But with the experience of beeing fooled by TW:Rome 2's videos before release, I decided not to be fooled again. :shifty:


The game seems interesting though, but it's overpriced in it's current state, at least on Steam. Retail version is cheaper it seems. :hmm2:

There are technical problems. First fact is: not all that is reported as "bug" is "bug" indeed. Fact also is, they are working on them, several patches already have been out. Fact finally is the bugs are more present in the campaign. I do play the freestyle game only. And face much less bugs there. Others confirm this. The campaign, on the other hand, almost made me quit. Almost...:) Thank god I mad up my mind, and I did not regret it.

Another fact is that after frequently reading the forums at Steam and Egosoft, I find that many people a.) just parrot the hating that swapped over the boards at the start, and b.) many people report as bugs what they have not understood in functionality, and do not know how to run correctly. The bug thus is lacking knowledge and experience (I initially fell a bit to that very early, too, the game makes it easy to walk into this trap since it does not give enough documentation on its features, and not always the kind of feedback that in the action would be appreciated). Both things now spread, living a life by themselves, it seems. That is not to say there are no technical bugs. There are, but much less than one get get an impression when reading the forum, I'd say.

Egosoft made some questionable design decisions, however, that complicate the handling, and that adds to people finding it difficult to learn how to do something - and then calling the lacking result a "bug". Let's face it: the documentation is lousy. I had so many questions that I needed to search for in the forums that I had to interrupt gameplay quite often. But mostly, I found answers. Some issues however indeed are bugs, it seems.

But I must admit: the game is much better than it's ruined reputation, and it is much less bug-ridden than many aggressive voices indicate. The early experience of one's own expectations not being met, currently has the momentum.

By what it offers in potential, it is brilliant.

That's why I keep on saying: do not scratch this one off your lists too early. Give it a recheck in some time, really. I play it all day and night long since release now. If it were really that much broken like the opinions in forums seem to indicate, not only wouldn't I have been motivated to do so, but I also should have been unable to do so. But here I am, playing. Can't be that bad at all, then.

Egosoft acted stupidly, yes, and rushed it. Some design decisions are questionable. Interface ergonomics leave to be desired. But the game is much, really very much better than what the forums make you believe, or the Amazon feedback (Germany, England, US, they all give it 1-1.5 stars). That is undeserved, and more a media phenomenon with kind of an unstoppable self-dynamic now. And many kiddies howl to the moon while not knowing what they are talking about. Then there are those fools who complain about pushing everything to maximum settings, in an object-saturated environment like this DX9-game offers, and then complaining about getting low frames. That made me laughing already two weeks ago, when Assetto Corsa was released.

I hope Egosoft lives through this time, and stick with it afterward. Criticism is one thing - but the kind of attacks I have seen in recent days, is very different.

I have explored in a fast trip all systems, sectors and zones now. The universe is huge, and beautiful.:)

Grrrr... I thought I could escape fate, but after 16 hours ingame time that "serious error" described in the forums has struck me as well. Savegames do not load, only older ones. Then 1.15 was released, and suddenly the saves in question loaded again. But only to produce the same problem with some minutes delay, now in midgame, or when saving again.

Before that, in those 16 hours I had one system freeze and one CTD. No lags, low frames, or any of the technical issues others have reported.

5 patches in 5 business days.

That is what Egosoft has always been. Releases are known to be historically buggy - but they definitely always support their games. X3TC was patched for at least 3 years.

Egosoft will get this game right - but it will take time. It will take longer than usual because of some bad design decisions, but rest assured the game WILL be fixed.

Skybird is right when he said ignore the webhate. Be patient, then buy when the game is in a finished state.

It should be noted that - to egosoft's credit - that the engine is hugely mod-able. There are already a good number of mods and there are many more coming!

Go Modders!

Ignore the web-hate... Seems that's applicable to every release nowadays. Makes me wonder what's deteriorating; quality of release or intelligence.

The only doubt I have is the economic basis, Haplo. German magazines reported that the company (they are German) fell silent completely some months ago, and did not give any testing copies, instead the project manager visited them and showed prepared movies only, never any live ingame action. From a journalists' POV, they say, that always is a very suspicious signal that something is wrong and that a project is in trouble. Having investigated this a bit, I found that the German magazines really really tried to like the game, but nevertheless, with great regret, have shreddered it. And this from print magazines which usually are very friendly to the software sellers.

There must be a reason why Egosoft released it the way they did, and one must take it for certain that the developer knew perfectly well that his baby was ill. There are two reasons only that makes sense to explain why they released it the way they did.

First: they wanted to scramble early for the christmas season. Which was a bit too early, obviously.

The second possible reason: money - and that they are running low on it, desperately needing to make some cash now. And if the studio is economically ill, then you cannot rely on past experiences with their support anymore, for if they cannot live anymore, then they cannot live anymore, that simple.

This is the great unknown variable here. I hope it is just a ghost from the shadows of my mind.

For the time being I can report that continuing gameplay from an older savegame was successful. It was only the mentioned savegames being porked.

Difficult time this project currently has to live through.