Best X game?

[Ivar]

Curious about this series and would like feedback on what people consider to be the best iteration. Not trying to start any fan wars here, just trying to get some impressions and info. thanks!

[conrado.lacerda]

I've played X3 and X4, IMO both are good but X4 is better. If you're on a budget, I would recommend getting X3 first and seeing if you like it.

[Wraith]

X4 is the easiest to get into of the series I say

I do have a craving to go back into X3 every now and then with litcube mod

[Gregorovitch]

X4 is the pinnacle of the series. There are one or two things vets of X3 miss, such as ship variety and CLS, but these are overwhelmingly outweighed by the plethora of vast improvements in X4.

[EPIC VOID]

X4 is less "fake" economy wise, even though it's still not an actually simulated economy. If you don't care that this is not actually simulation, contrary to public belief, and if absurdly slow ships are ok with you, then go for X3. You will spend even more time on the map/menus in X4 than in X3. You simply have no clue what happens with your empire if you don't stare on the map.
If you do care about a more plausible universe and an ever so slightly speedier gameplay (X3 was almost meditative), go for X4.

[LeftPaw]

X beyond was the one I will always remember with a smile. It took over my life and was something special. This was all before they found the new graphics engine and introduced crazy spreadsheet menus and started making the game more complex. it just worked as well, you were so excited to find a new system or a new race. It was much more going into the unknown than the new X games.
But yeah, X beyond and then X Tensions will always be closest to my heart.

[DaBa]

If we just take base games without any mods, I think X4 takes it and it's not even that difficult of a choice. X3 is still fantastic, but it really needs mods to spread it's wings properly.

That being said, its a bit difficult to compare modded X3 to X4, because some of the best mods transform the game into something that's very different. For example, X3 with litcube and mods based on it is basically a pseudo strategy/empire management game with a side of space sim (think late game X4 but almost from the start). Mayhem does the same but to an even bigger extreme and makes X3 almost a completely different game and very hard to compare with X4 anymore. I guess the closes would be X-tended, but I personally think X4 has come far enough to surpass that one on the things that matter most to me, although it's close and I can definitely see how some people would think differently.

If you just want to play a game and don't want to worry about mods, definitely just grab X4 and go at it. It's also the easiest game to get into and learn how to play out of all X games. Still not "easy, just "easiest"

[Palladin888]

All of the X games are fun.

X4 is the easiest to play by far.

Station building in X3 is really tedious and will take at least 100 hours of practice to get good at it.

X Rebirth was also fun but you were locked into flying a single ship the whole time.

Being new to the series I would recomend X4.

[Kalisa]

x3 is allot less complicated in its simulations and mechanics usually, it runs amazingly well because of that, ships are actually allot slower in x3 as well but it relies heavily on seta so its not quite as bad.
In x3 there are no real hardpoints on ships, customization is much more limited, player cant actually own a sector, not that has too many mechanics right now, npcs spawn ships out of thin air so nothing really matters in terms of economy, no station customization, all shipyards are prefab designs you can link together with cables. crew managment is allot more simple, there are no blueprints you can buy, but you can reverse engineer ships eventually yourself.
Things i love about x3 though are actual mining stations and the ability to tractor to move them around or move them to new sectors for mining, allot less complexity means allot of things can function more smoothly at least.

In general though I muuch prefer x4 over x3, but i still go back to play x3 sometimes for the nostalga.
Also managing fleets in x3 was a nightmare compared to the map system here. There were also jump drives in x3, pay energy cells to jump between systems, pretty much a requirement with no travel drive for some of the bigger ships.

[Ivar]

Thanks for the feed back guys

[Sticky]

I played X-Series most of my life and for many many hours long before i ever joined Steam. X4 is the best version because its the latest version and runs absolutely wonderful when you learn the how too's and what not's. X4 is so advanced compared to the previous versions, interactions are much more realistic. And perhaps the best part is no loading going through the gates changing sectors. You can even look at a ship as if you were there from a different sector. X4 is just a far more evolved game from previous releases.

[Captiva]

Started with a boxed copy of X3- Terran Conflict many many years ago. Played X rebirth and now X4.

As far as modding goes... X3 was the best. the ship models were amazing with all sorts of star trek ships and such to choose from and it has all the core gameplay that makes X games what they are.

X rebirth was cool to look at but game play was not what I wanted.

However I prefer X4 as it is the best looking and most immersive one for me to play and has the features I want in an X game. Being able to stand on the deck of your ships and land and take off and all that is just awesome. I wish the universe was bigger and more exciting to explore, but otherwise seems good.