Should I get X3 or X4?

[hotdoggo]

The price point is pretty significant. Wondering how these games hold up against each other.

The main factor for me is to be able to play a game with a dynamic economy where the market shifts because of different things that's happening in the universe. Maybe some other factions declare war against each other and there are shortages etc. Just as long as it's open and sandbox, not the same events triggering the same shortages every time you play.

Hope that makes sense!

[hotdoggo]

Originally posted by Humble:

No. You don't need TC, AP is standalone game, meaning AP had all TC and more than TC had, other than story. no miss out story, just look at website lore if you want, story isn't strong point, sandbox is.

This is where I'm confused. On the store page it says:
Downloadable Content
This content requires the base game X3: Terran Conflict on Steam in order to play.

[Humble]

Oh, I forgot, it's been long time, I guess you do need own it, but not had to install, similar Total War warhammer 1, 2 and 3. My mistake, I thought standalone, you don't need, but someone post said AP need all stuff from TC. Och for me. https://www.reddit.com/r/X3TC/comments/1tuow5/does_albion_prelude_actually_require_terran/

You could try install AP to see if it work without own TC, if not, then grab TC, I think both are on sale right now till March 20?

I had both AP and TC, Last time I can play AP without TC installed. So I'm not sure whatever AP is work without own the TC.

[hotdoggo]

Originally posted by Humble:

Oh, I forgot, it's been long time, I guess you do need own it, but not had to install, similar Total War warhammer 1, 2 and 3. My mistake, I thought standalone, you don't need, but someone post said AP need all stuff from TC. Och for me. https://www.reddit.com/r/X3TC/comments/1tuow5/does_albion_prelude_actually_require_terran/

You could try install AP to see if it work without own TC, if not, then grab TC, I think both are on sale right now till March 20?

I had both AP and TC, Last time I can play AP without TC installed. So I'm not sure whatever AP is work without own the TC.

I understand - thank you :)

[Natasha]

I guarantee you OP, whomever tell you x4 is better have never played Litcube for 4k hours like i have, most of them probably never got past the flight controls in x3 which requires a little more patience than x4.

Again, x4 basegame is the best they've ever made but without mods the only future is dlc.

There's never gonna be another total conversion game like x3, pretty much a guarantee with all the dlc, so play it while it still looks good, not vanilla though.

X4 has jumpgates all over so there's no strategy when it comes to location and system wars cause everyone can just jump to wherever they want, in x3 Mayhem though that's not possible.

[Oddible]

Originally posted by hotdoggo:

Never played an X game before, so I'll pick up 3 for now.

Just want to confirm, I should just play X3:AP, but to do so - I need to pick up X3:TC?

This is backwards logic. If you've never played an X game before get the current one, X4, because it has advanced considerably and is more accessible, better UI, better economy, better station building... it is much better at this point by v5.

X3:TC is the best storyline Egosoft ever did. If you buy X3:AP there is a mod to mod in the TC storyline. I still recommend X4 for you though.

[hotdoggo]

Originally posted by Oddible:

Originally posted by hotdoggo:

Never played an X game before, so I'll pick up 3 for now.

Just want to confirm, I should just play X3:AP, but to do so - I need to pick up X3:TC?

This is backwards logic. If you've never played an X game before get the current one, X4, because it has advanced considerably and is more accessible, better UI, better economy, better station building... it is much better at this point by v5.

X3:TC is the best storyline Egosoft ever did. If you buy X3:AP there is a mod to mod in the TC storyline. I still recommend X4 for you though.

The cost of X3 was the key factor.

[dcbobo]

Originally posted by hotdoggo:

The cost of X3 was the key factor.

That's fine, get your 100s or 1000s of hours in x3 then migrate to x4 in the future. While they are from the same universe and egosoft did a fair job of familiarity. I recommend stopping x3 for a month or two before switching to x4. The difference in learning a new UI with x4 can be a little shocker. Learning the UI is by far the must daunting task of either.

[Pathogenic]

Originally posted by Natasha:

I guarantee you OP, whomever tell you x4 is better have never played Litcube for 4k hours like i have, most of them probably never got past the flight controls in x3 which requires a little more patience than x4.

Again, x4 basegame is the best they've ever made but without mods the only future is dlc.

There's never gonna be another total conversion game like x3, pretty much a guarantee with all the dlc, so play it while it still looks good, not vanilla though.

X4 has jumpgates all over so there's no strategy when it comes to location and system wars cause everyone can just jump to wherever they want, in x3 Mayhem though that's not possible.

I played Litcube/Mayhem mods on X3 for hundreds/thousands of hours, and I am here to tell you, that while these X3 mods are great, X4 is the better game.

[rubyismycat]

it depends on who you are if you like eye and ear candy a lot buy x4 if however you like bug free extremely deep games that simulate another universe really well and offer you almost infinate replayability then buy x3

[rubyismycat]

Originally posted by Pathogenic:

Originally posted by Natasha:

I guarantee you OP, whomever tell you x4 is better have never played Litcube for 4k hours like i have, most of them probably never got past the flight controls in x3 which requires a little more patience than x4.

Again, x4 basegame is the best they've ever made but without mods the only future is dlc.

There's never gonna be another total conversion game like x3, pretty much a guarantee with all the dlc, so play it while it still looks good, not vanilla though.

X4 has jumpgates all over so there's no strategy when it comes to location and system wars cause everyone can just jump to wherever they want, in x3 Mayhem though that's not possible.

I played Litcube/Mayhem mods on X3 for hundreds/thousands of hours, and I am here to tell you, that while these X3 mods are great, X4 is the better game.

IN YOUR OPINION that statement is not universal fact so far i find x4 to be beautiful but boring epic but shallow and incredibly buggy glitchy and harbouring probably the worst ui in human history

[Dreamer]

X4 is prettier, has better plots (quest chains), and is a lot of fun to play, even with its AI problems. X3AP+Litcube is a superior strategy game, with excellent AI, fleet management, economy, but dated graphics (that I personally still like), and some basic plots. Litcube has two OP enemy empires that X4 doesn't have, a rival corp that evolves in time, and a massive enemy fleet that aims to destroy the galaxy, and only you can stop it.

[jclosed]

Well - I can say I am a "veteran" concerning the X series. I started to play these games in 1999 with X - beyond The Frontier after playing a demo from a magazine. Since then I have played every version that has came out. So I can give a decent (albeit personal) opinion.

While I love the X3 series, and have sunken countless hours in it, I have to admit I am having more fun now with X4. It's not that the X3 series are bad or something, because they absolutely are not. It's only that I feel X4 is a progression from X3. Yeah - There are still things that where better in X3, but really not that many to be honest. And X4 does things you could only dream of in X3.

At the end I have both games (and all older games too), but I am only playing X4 these days. I do not hate X3 or think it's inferior or something. There are great mods for that game and I had a great time with it. But after starting X4 I simply do not feel the need to go back to X3. On top of that - Development (core wise - I am not talking about mods) for X3 has been halted, while X4 is in active development and has been drastically improved since launch. I have no reason to believe that will change any time soon, so I expect the game continue to be improved and expanded for the foreseeable future.

So what can I advise taken my personal standpoint in consideration? If you can afford both game, just give them both serious try. Be prepared to loose lots of time in that process.
However - If you only can afford one single game, I should go for X4.

[Oddible]

Originally posted by rubyismycat:

it depends on who you are if you like eye and ear candy a lot buy x4 if however you like bug free extremely deep games that simulate another universe really well and offer you almost infinate replayability then buy x3

Except this is factually completely wrong. One of the key features of X4 is that the economy is actually a full simulation now unlike X3 which had a fake economy. Every single buy / sell order in X4 is the result of a specific demand caused by the warring between the factions and the Xenon / Kha'ak and replacing the losses they incur. X3 produced fake buy orders to keep the economy going. The simulation in X4 is not only an actual simulation, it is profoundly better and the impact the player can make is direct and actual, you're never pushing back on the fake orders.

[Doctor Tiki]

Originally posted by Oddible:

Originally posted by rubyismycat:

it depends on who you are if you like eye and ear candy a lot buy x4 if however you like bug free extremely deep games that simulate another universe really well and offer you almost infinate replayability then buy x3

Except this is factually completely wrong. One of the key features of X4 is that the economy is actually a full simulation now unlike X3 which had a fake economy. Every single buy / sell order in X4 is the result of a specific demand caused by the warring between the factions and the Xenon / Kha'ak and replacing the losses they incur. X3 produced fake buy orders to keep the economy going. The simulation in X4 is not only an actual simulation, it is profoundly better and the impact the player can make is direct and actual, you're never pushing back on the fake orders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GcgS79_TR0

[Humble]

X4 is not better than X3, it's almost different game from each other, yet it's similar but gameplay rule are little different, major different is that X3 that had jumpdrive, no matter how fast or slow ship, slow ship had chance to flee or get out of combat zone or race to station by trading by best prices vs other a.i so it's gave balance and fair to be slow ship that speed don't matter, it's what you love ship even slow ship but X4 don't had that,

in X4, the speed is king, gave you control whatever flee or where to fight when you faster than enemies, since because there is no jumpdrive in X4 so faster ship is way better than slow ship because slow ship had no chance to control battle, Station, trader, mining making income are different,

so it's no way X4 is better than X3, both game are good in own way, but do not one better than one since both had different gameplay rules, X3 is forced on slower income pace, bigger ship with max shield is hard to kill for smaller ship while it's not apply to X4.

So it's both game is not same due those reason and more. So no, X4 is not better than X3, but both are good game and had own different rule even it's similar base design of gameplay.