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Discussion on: Interesting Video Game Mechanics

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kspeakman profile image
Kasey Speakman • Edited

I've been waiting for them to "finish" X4 via DLC. I might even buy the season pass and let it sit until it is all released. And even then I will probably catch it on sale (as I do for most all games). So it will be a while.

As someone who has tried to rewrite an existing app with a long dev history, I completely understand their predicament. They would have had a far easier time making a new/different game. But as it is, I'll just patiently wait until they finish.

Yeah, it is very unfortunate that X3 has such poor UX and new player experience, considering the gems that are hidden within. I ended up watching some youtube videos to get going, and also had to suspend taste in user interfaces. It turns out that the devs had instrumented the UI for power users. So there are shortcuts you can commit to memory to accomplish things quickly. Not unlike Starcraft shortcuts like B-C-C (to build a Terran command center I think). Except usually numbers like 2-1-1 (which tells a ship to undock and idle in space I think). Anyway, I think the crux of what makes X3 interesting is the scale of the journey you take from humble merchant flying a freighter to do manual trades up to dominant force in the galaxy with fleets of ships (including combat, logistics, and trade) and vast production capability (which actually impacts the game economy), setup to run mostly autonomously while you run plots or find Arans or whatever.

Ok, I went on a bit there. Sorry. :) Hopefully they will capture a similarly great formula in X4. fingers crossed

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deciduously profile image
Ben Lovy

Wow, very interesting.

from humble merchant flying a freighter to do manual trades up to dominant force in the galaxy with fleets of ships (including combat, logistics, and trade) and vast production capability

I mean... I'm sold, in theory. This sounds amazing. And if I learned how to drive Emacs, I'm sure I can learn how to drive X3. I think you've convinced me to give it another whirl.

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kspeakman profile image
Kasey Speakman

Let me know how it goes!