X2:The Threat - opinions needed

[Indie]

There was probably thread about this before everything became cyber-vapor.

So, how is X2:The Threath? From everything I've read it sounds like a game I should buy, but I'd like some opinions from people who have played it. Since you obviously have a good taste in games ;) your opinions hold a lot of weight.

How much freedom do you really have and how much of it is illusion?

[Parias]

My opinion (http://www.gameshark.com/pcgaming/articles/474592p1.html).

[sauron1]

Opinions are kinda polarized - a lot of folks loved it, lots of others couldn't get into it.

I couldn't get into it - just one of those things.

You should read Parias's review - it's good.

[Nightwatch]

Yes, Parias's review is good. Personally, I'm having fun just running around making money. I find the plot a largely annoying distraction so far, but its gotten a lot better since I figured out how to remotly run my freghter while I'm away, so I can still trade while I am running deep into alien territory to look at something.. despite me not really knowing what I'm looking for. (btw, the manual is a bit.. lean on details about how to do stuff. I'm still wondering what command software upgrades actually do) Luckilly there seems to be no penatly for ignoring it for a while. I'd recommend doing the first 2 or missions rather slowly. they do reap big rewards though, but trading while your doing them is better. And you will be spared the cutscenes (you'll see what I mean..)

I can see the game will get really pointless once I have my Boron Cruiser and loads of factories injecting cash into my account, but for now its kinda challanging and fun. I'd say limited replay value though.

I've gotten into one fight, but despite me upgraging my lasers to gamma they are still pathetic and I havent found any stronger shielding I can strap onto my scoutship. I'd say you need to have a lot of cash under your belt to start piracy, unless I'm missing something. Which kinda defeats the purpose really.. :)

[The Great Destroyer]

Yeah,everything becomes pointless after you get some money & a Hefty amount of factories going.I currently have about 47-9 factories at the moment with 4 corvettes for sector defense & an M1 Zeus w/ some fighters for defense within.Although it might have been hard it was sort of worth it seeing my first cap ship roll out even though it was quite a pretty penny @ 91 million.

[Nightwatch]

I think I'll set my as my goal to destroy Argon One in revenge for.. for.. well ok justt for style really :)

[Rurouni Storm]

Umm, I don't think Argon One CAN be destroyed.

[Parias]

Originally posted by Rurouni Storm
Umm, I don't think Argon One CAN be destroyed.

Sure it can - you just have to take a particularly roundabout way to do it. Just ensure that "there shall be" some "wings" for you to use, and you're set!

But, uh, other than that, you're quite correct.

[Rurouni Storm]

Hmm, time for some revenge I guess. I've already wiped out the Xenon (save one sector that they're blockaded in), time for the Argon.

[AR81]

I read the review. I don't have X2 but I have XBTF, the first game of the series.

I found that an intro generated with the graphics engine of the game doesn't look so cool.

The plot is too short and in a way disappointing at the very end.

Except for that, I enjoyed the game. If you are looking for action, that's not your game.

XBTF is more like Hardwar. You roam, trade, fire upon some ships and make your business to work.

[Parias]

Originally posted by AR81
I found that an intro generated with the graphics engine of the game doesn't look so cool.

Hostile Waters :)

A game-engine intro can be very nice and very appealing, but only if it's done right. X2 is hardly legendary for its cutscenes, as we all know. Plus, the viewer shouldn't be getting motion sickness from the randomly swinging camera and spontaneous and completely random cuts to different angles.

[Unheard Of]

Just started playing this today. Pretty graphics, but nothing feels right. I think it might be the flight model - it's a bit too crisp and precise.

The whole thing feels rather stilted - especially the cut scenes. I'm hoping the combat gets more fun later on, as so far it to is a bit dull.

At the minute I'm thinking that if they had the X2 economy and scope, with the I-War flight model and combat I'd be a very happy man.

[AR81]

Hmmm. Well, I played X Beyond the frontier and it was Ok. It worked fine.

I just complain about the lack of a decent ending. Plot was mostly an excuse.

At least when you played Hardwar I did'nt realize until later that it had a plot, so I thought it was just free roaming, trading, scavenging debris of destroyed ships, and dogfighting.

Thanks god I didn't play X2.:)

BTW, there is a patch underway for Hardwar.
http://hardwar.info/

[BeerSnorkel]

I think Parias's thread said it the bestest with the mostest.

Over the weekend I witnessed my Split (M6)Dragon in a 'luftberry circle' dogfight with a pirate 'truck'(SnRV??);) .
Neither one could hit the other one because the slow 'bullets' or 'laser blasts' always miss far behind the target ship.:haha:
X2 has become tedious.

[AR81]

Darn, an underperforming game...:eek:

I never thought Egosoft could do that....:(

[Zamboni]

X2 sucks! (at this point I forgot the reason why give me a minute to think)

*one minute later*

Oh yeah! The tutorials suck! It kept saying "press the <insert function> key now" without telling me exactly which key I should press... Can't they learn from classics like the X-Wing series? Or (to quote Parias) the excellent FreeSpace series? Now that's good tutorial.

I kept looking through the command list for each and every function... at the end I just gave up...

I tried to start a new game, and after a long and pointless cutscene I arrive at a space dock, only to find my ship constantly banging against the back wall because there is no throttle dead zone... The physics model is terrible (unlike IWar). What a terrible game! I'm never touching it again...

[sauron1]

Originally posted by Unheard Of
At the minute I'm thinking that if they had the X2 economy and scope, with the I-War flight model and combat I'd be a very happy man.

What he said ^ :)

[Nightwatch]

After playing with it for a few days I've come to a conclusion, and that is that if you fail to make money your doing something wrong.

The whole economy of the universe is bearly functioning. Factories are in a near constant state of resource starvation (hense great prices), and any that build up any kind of resource are mobbed by frieghters fighting for a crust. Frieghters seem to run back and forth 3/4 empty (I cant test it as I cant be bothered getting a freightscanner, might do that toinght.)

Your interventions are what are needed to get the thing running. If you feed mines with energy, ore will start pouring out which will energise other factories. If you go away, the whole thing grinds to a halt again.

In other words the universe is a big hole waiting for you to fill it, and the universes economy will then flow through your bank balance. If you fail to make money in this situation you are really doing something wrong.

(Which explains why I wasnt making money for a while. But that MIGHT have something to do with my freighters getting blown up. Que reload and this time NOT skimp on the speed and shielding..)

[Cougaris]

Indeed, the economy is fundamentally flawed. You don't have to have some super complex web of economic theory (centered on the players input) to have a decent trade system. I still find Frontier: Elite's trading system pretty good, and would be significantly improved if it had X2's diminishing returns on a product sold at a single location. X2 is very much The Economist in space.

The lack of interaction with the environment really pulls the game down aswell. Everything is AI driven (where's the crew? People you talk to are all the same, etc.). You can knock Freelancer all you want but the background chatter, while sometimes strange, did add alot to the game. Stations and planets in Freelancer were also more human and could be related to (yes, yes, the conversations were quite amusing, but at least they tried something innovative, to mixd results) Ditto for the exploration of systems. In X2, exploration consists of orienting your nose to a compass direction and engaging seta until you reach a gate. Every system after a while seems the same, with different backgrounds. The game universe is functional but, IMO, spartan.

If Freelancer had been expanded upon properly, and not made a glorified campaign game, I would be in heaven. As it stands, the title still rests with Frontier: Elite.

And EoC.

Of course. :D

[AR81]

Right now I am playing Hardwar. An old game but a good one, similar to Elite.

You may info about Hardwar here (http://hardwar.info/)

[The Great Destroyer]

Originally posted by BeerSnorkel
Over the weekend I witnessed my Split (M6)Dragon in a 'luftberry circle' dogfight with a pirate 'truck'(SnRV??);) .
Neither one could hit the other one because the slow 'bullets' or 'laser blasts' always miss far behind the target ship.:haha:
X2 has become tedious. Same thing here although it was with my Nova against a Bayamon at the time made me sort of dizzy because of the constant circles,got tired of it & just activated the turrets of my close by Zeus carrier & it went splat like one of those space flies on your shields.:haha:


I think this was what Freelancer was trying to avoid the most when it came to combat with there mouse-driven system.

[ShaggyMoose]

I feel the need to post, that despite its flaws, X2 is a massive undertaking, and is still a lot of fun. Sure, it has problems, but they are massively outweighed by a lot of stuff that was done right.

If they would just enable the mouse in the map screens, the interface would be almost perfect. A couple of extra screens to track your fleet (eg. ships doing nothing, ships statuses etc.) would also be nice, but it is still perfectly playable in its current state.

As for filling the "economic hole", I am guessing this was mostly deliberate. Hell, I know I wouldn't have any fun if I had to fight tooth and nail with the AI traders for every cent. I mostly leave the AI to manage my economy while I fly around and make trouble... Doing it this way also encourages "chaining", meaning you have to diversify your factories and not just own SPPs.

The flight model definately needs work, but unfortunately this is one of the least likely aspects to be changed. At least they have fleet and capital ship engagements. Big plus.:D

[Nightwatch]

Oh I quite agree with you that it needed to be done, but i'm just reminding myself that I'm no brilliant buisnessman by making a million in the game, thats all :)