Great to see OOTP 16 got its own article. An excellent game even for those who doesn't know much about baseball (great read: Moneyball [External Link]). As mentioned it has lots of depth (I mean lots of) but still friendly for new players if let AI handle most of the things in the beginning. Knowledge and skills comes with the experience.
Linux support is excellent and overall the development team seems to be super helpful. You can even make a Skype call to devs if you need some help :) [1]
This games offers hundreds of hours of gameplay so the price is totally worth of it.

[1] http://steamcommunity.com/app/333820/discussions/0/618456760271582530/#c618456760272401942 [External Link]

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Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeThey made their games (X:AP and X Rebirth) playable with gamepads but X Rebirth (maybe even X:TC and X:AP) is way too CPU intensive to be designed for console.

Yeah ... no, X:R was, at some point in its development, a cross platform title, way too much was built for gamepads instead of KB+M. Auto-rolling, circular menus, crappy KB mapping options, all signs that Egosoft was planning for this to be a gamepad focused release. As far as I know the drugs required to get a company high enough to think a PC only title would best be optimized for gamepads are only legal in Amsterdam.

Gamepad support doesn't make game a console game :). I dislike gamepads myself and I use them only on platformers which I play once in year. Support for gamepad in PC games is getting very common; Elite: Dangerous (console game), Star Citizen, Wasteland 2 (console game), Divinity: Original Sin, etc. I would like to see separate UIs for K+M and gamepads but that rarely happens.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeWell, the ships are way too slow to get anything useful done without SETA. Of course it can be done but would like to see someone actually playing X without SETA :)

Afterburners and jumpdrives. Only part of X3:TC that really needs SETA after you have those is waiting for big freighter to maneuver their fat asses into position.

Getting that far without SETA is an effort alone and after that it is quite mandatory unless you have lots of time. Anyway, I understand lots of gamers wants it back but I personally hope that we will not see it anymore in X games at least core part of game design.

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Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeTo me X series felt quite stagnant and not going forward anymore. The games are not easy for new players and I'm sure it shows in sales as well. In 90's times were a bit different because gamers had used to play games like that. Nowadays we have very simple games with tons of hand holding. "The Order: 1886" as one of extreme example.

Egosoft's core fan base is not made up of folks that like simple games, I know that the game was released to retail shelves, but the X brand isn't associated with simple games and X:R isn't particularly simple if only due to the inane UI, [Return]-1-5 to enable long range scan, then [Return]-1-1-1-1 to switch to station scan, because mapping cycling to [ and ] would have been so hard.

Yeah, unfortunately the UI is still quite bad. It has always been in X games. Well, once you get to usen them they are relatively quick and painless.
I wonder if there is enoughcore fans to keep Egosoft running despite it's not big company in any mean (~20 people). It wouldn't be huge surprise if ES tries to make X series accessible for wider amount of people.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeEgosoft is now re-implementing their rendering engine with OpenGL/(Vulkan in future?) which gives me hope that X series is not going to be publish for consoles. I hope X Rebirth and especially X games after that will get more complex and versatile - like Star Citizen. X series is CPU heavy which of course keeps it away from consoles as well.

That X:R was clearly designed for consoles doesn't precisely help its case.

They made their games (X:AP and X Rebirth) playable with gamepads but X Rebirth (maybe even X:TC and X:AP) is way too CPU intensive to be designed for console.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeI think SETA has always felt cheating and I'm not sure if it has been explained in lore very well. The older X games has been design around SETA and getting rid of that required some big changes to game mechanism too. I understand lots of players like SETA and would like to see coming back.

Time acceleration or jump cuts exist in almost all space and flight sims aside from the more hardcore and most arcady titles. X3 had stuff to do in the down time, you could set a course and then manage your fleet,

Well, the ships are way too slow to get anything useful done without SETA. Of course it can be done but would like to see someone actually playing X without SETA :)

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeOuch, mini games. I hope they are placeholders and will be replaced with some more complex (in good way) and deep mechanism.

I doubt it, it has been a year and a half already and if that's still a placeholder, like the first-person station sections, and the crafting section, etc. I feel bad for anyone that paid full price.

Ah, yes for X Rebirth too late but on later titles. It is good to have the support in engine. I hope they find some very good use for it later.

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Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeWhat do you think makes "X3" insanely deep compared to X Rebirth?

Also, they gave the universe an up, that my ship insists on trying to orient itself against, even in combat. I'm assuming that new players were getting twisted around, but that's a "baby's first space game" feature and I don't think anyone is picking up an X title without having some experience with space sims.

You should be able to switch it off in Settings.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqebut I trust Egosoft will add them eventually. X Rebirth feels to me like X:BtF - a release for a new engine and game mechanisms upcoming X games and based on.

It does kind of feel like they threw away a decade worth of improvements.

Btw. X3 is not dead: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=4502786#4502786 [External Link]

To me X series felt quite stagnant and not going forward anymore. The games are not easy for new players and I'm sure it shows in sales as well. In 90's times were a bit different because gamers had used to play games like that. Nowadays we have very simple games with tons of hand holding. "The Order: 1886" as one of extreme example.

Egosoft is now re-implementing their rendering engine with OpenGL/(Vulkan in future?) which gives me hope that X series is not going to be publish for consoles. I hope X Rebirth and especially X games after that will get more complex and versatile - like Star Citizen. X series is CPU heavy which of course keeps it away from consoles as well.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeI personally think it is a big improvement to old titles. They get rid of SETA which was broken by design and without mods X3 is very painful experience. Do you play X3 stock version which has no community mods integrated (by Egosoft) or added by you?

I never really had a problem with SETA, this new system of highways is probably better, but the highway travel sequences are a big annoyance as the autopilot is still pretty miserable about dealing with navigation in close proximity to other ships.

I think SETA has always felt cheating and I'm not sure if it has been explained in lore very well. The older X games has been design around SETA and getting rid of that required some big changes to game mechanism too. I understand lots of players like SETA and would like to see coming back.

Quoting: burzmaliI always used the community mod pack from Egosoft, and I would for X:R as well, but many of the more talented modders don't seem to be interested in X:R so improving the game via mods is progressing slowly.

It looks like the mod support is not quite there yet but getting better on every new release.

Quoting: burzmali

Quoting: edqeSpaceship interiors is a bit odd and feels like a placeholder for upcoming releases. It is good feature have in the engine and possible to mod out for now.

My favorite bit was when I made first contact with a civilization and the first thing I did was crawl through their air ducts and steal all their shit. Then I had a conversation with someone who hadn't heard a peep about the PMC about how the PMC's recent use of Xenon tech was a bad idea. Also, the flat line mini game sucks pretty bad.

Ouch, mini games. I hope they are placeholders and will be replaced with some more complex (in good way) and deep mechanism.

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Quoting: tuubiCrowd sourcing "investors" do not get the same rights as you'd get as a customer paying for a finished product after all. No guarantees for product quality or timely delivery.

This has been the spirit of Kickstarter and Early Access from day one. People who are not ready to lose their money should wait the final product.

DayZ developers: "We strongly advise you not to buy and play the game at this stage unless you clearly understand what Early Access means and are interested in participating in the ongoing development cycle."

Quoting: tuubiAnyway, Larian (and others) obviously failed to do the basic groundwork before making promises.

Unfortunately, that's what happened.

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Quoting: tuubiNo matter how small a market we are, there's no reason to turn the other cheek when companies take our money and fail to deliver in a reasonable time frame.

Sure and at least I'm totally sure it was their intention.

Quoting: tuubiUnreasonable delays like this are not acceptable, and Larian should be made well aware of this.

Yep, but what can they do but work hard to get problems fixed?

What do you suggest Linux users should do now instead of waiting?

I hope all these delays would make it clear to gamers that it is always a risk support Kickstarter and Early Access projects. Problems like this happens and then all you can do is wait. Raging doesn't make problems magically disappear.

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Quoting: Maelrane

Quoting: edqeSure, I guess they totally agree as well. They already admitted their mistake and they are paying price for their mistake.

Uhm, for those who already pledged / supported such devs during their kickstarter (like I did with 7daystodie for example), THEY are NOT paying ANY price. The only one paying is the naive customer (such as I) who supported them, believing in their statements.

Kickstarter campaigns are rarely enough to cover all expenses. It didn't cover Divinity: Original Sin, Elite: Dangerous or Wasteland 2 and all those developers had to use lots of their own money as well.

Larian is losing money and resources working on these Linux-related problems and making their "customers" to wait. To me it doesn't sound a situation Larian wants to be in and they are clearly working hard to get things fixed.

I supported D: OS too and of course waiting Linux version get ready. Am I angry and disappointed? No I'm not.

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Quoting: burzmali... but this time they traded the insane depth for repetitive highway trips, pointless station interiors and a bolted on crafting system.

What do you think makes "X3" insanely deep compared to X Rebirth?

What X Rebirth is still lacking is better fleet commands etc. but I trust Egosoft will add them eventually. X Rebirth feels to me like X:BtF - a release for a new engine and game mechanisms upcoming X games and based on.

Quoting: burzmaliI've only logged about 5 hours, and I picked it up for a song, so maybe it gets better, but it definitely isn't a significant improvement over prior titles.

I personally think it is a big improvement to old titles. They get rid of SETA which was broken by design and without mods X3 is very painful experience. Do you play X3 stock version which has no community mods integrated (by Egosoft) or added by you?

Spaceship interiors is a bit odd and feels like a placeholder for upcoming releases. It is good feature have in the engine and possible to mod out for now.

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Quoting: Glog78In my opinion they should had done the same like for example obsidian or inXile Entertainment -> developing and testing the product on all three platforms. So easy and yet so hard. But they failed on planning resources ... first the mac port which came later and instead doing it right there ... nope another round of wait for the linux guys.

As they said they made a bad mistake. inXile uses Unity3D while Larian is working on their own engine and that makes a big difference alone.

Quoting: Glog78Honestly puting us again on hold won't let me ever support them again.

I guess that's all they can do. Releasing an executable that segfaults on launch would be bad idea as well.

Quoting: Glog78Games like D: OS / Banner Saga with industry veterans which should know what they do, which should know how to check if hey can offer their game one a specific platform or not (and it's in both cases a none compatible middelware) made me step away from kickstarter.

Funding Kickstarter project or Early Access in Steam is always a risk and everyone should acknowledge that and keep it in mind before they put money on any project. I think KS and Early Access are easily the best things that has happened for PC gaming for a while - and very important in many ways:

View video on youtube.com

Linux is very new in gaming business and most likely tools, middleware and Linux knowledge are all in very baby step stage. We can be happy every single game that arrives for Linux - even if they come late.

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Quoting: Maelrane

Quoting: edqe

Quoting: MaelraneDon't get me wrong, I appreciate any efforts taking to supporting Linux and I know how in software-development something always goes wrong ...
...
If I pledge toward a certain level and it gets reached I assume (naive boy that I am) that you will deliver before the end of time.

I'm a bit confused. What do you suggest they should have done?

Choose a middleware that supports the platforms they are (kind of) obliged to support because of their Kickstarter campaign?

Sure, I guess they totally agree as well. They already admitted their mistake and they are paying price for their mistake.

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