Question: In the video they talk a lot about crafting and how everything in the game is crafted by players. You can be an armorer and craft really great shields. You can be a weaponsmith and craft really great two-handed swords. You can make really great helmets. Armor, weapon, armor, weapon, weapon, armor... everything they mentioned about crafting was either a weapon or a piece of armor. Can I build (or buy) an inn and be an innkeeper? I don't go out and fight monsters, I just run an inn and rent rooms to travelers and serve beer and make a really smashing spiced lamb and potatoes. Can I do that in this game? Can I run an inn and craft beer and a really smashing lamb and potatoes dish or do I have to make swords and shields?

View this comment - View article - View full comments

A nice thing about The Talos Principle is that it's non-linear (until the very end), so if you get stuck on a puzzle you can go do other stuff for a while and maybe when you come back to it later your brain can clear the hurdle it couldn't get past, or maybe you'll do something in a different puzzle that will help you clear the hurdle in the puzzle you got stuck on. This is in contrast to linear games like Portal, where if you get stuck you're stuck in that spot until you clear that mental hurdle.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

The old LGP ports of X2 and X3:Reunion don't work any more, they were based on what are now out of date libraries and since LGP disappeared off the map they were never fixed. Egosoft themselves re-ported X3: Reunion, as well as ported Terran Conflict and Albion Prelude, to make them work on modern systems.

As far as X: Rebirth having horrible reviews, that's because the game was utterly broken upon release, plus it put off the vast majority of Egosoft's long time loyal fans.

The game worked with a controller and that's pretty much it. Flightstick control was completely broken (that's totally unacceptable in a flight/space sim), you had to go through layers of menus to do anything, the game crashed constantly, and it ran like dog**** on pretty much any hardware. Now, since then Egosoft, to their credit, have released a plethora of patches, as well as free additions. Flightsticks now work, keyboard shortcuts work so you don't have to go through layers of menus, combat targeting actually works, and the performance is decent.

However, the game still remains a hollow, dumbed down shell of what X used to be. For some people that might actually be a blessing, as the earlier X games have a fairly steep learning curve and their complexity can be a turn off to some, so the more casual, dumbed down nature of X: Rebirth might appeal to some. As a long time fan of the series and a lover of the depth and complexity of the earlier games, X: Rebirth tore my heart out of my chest, stepped on it, lit it on fire, then scooped up the ashes and flushed them down the toilet. It felt like the worst betrayal.

What I'm saying is: If you're down for something simpler and more... streamlined, then X:Rebirth might be to your liking. If you want depth and complexity, but at the cost of a steep learning curve, then get X3: Terran Conflict (and maybe Albion Prelude too [Albion Prelude requires Terran Conflict])

View this comment - View article - View full comments

If you like puzzle games then you should definitely play it, Liam. I consider The Talos Principle to be the best puzzle game since Portal, it's fantastic. Also, it's beautiful and runs great on Linux.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Segata SanshiroVery nice to see! I added the game to my wishlist now and will pick it up when I have less of a backlog of games to play :)

Have you played any of the previous X games? If you haven't then you might actually wind up liking this. If you have then quite likely you will HATE THIS GAME WITH THE PASSION OF A THOUSAND FIERY SUNS. Everything that people (like myself) loved about X2: The Threat or any of the X3 games is either gone or seriously dumbed down. This game was very obviously built with consoles in mind. On the plus side, it controls great with a XBOX controller.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Great response. Too bad the game was such a bitter disappointment.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Don't let "free to play" turn you off

It didn't. "Early Access" and "Survival Game" did, though. Heaven knows early access survival games are in such short supply.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

I'm really getting sick of the pixel art trend. I will admit that this particular pixel art looks pretty good, though.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Nice. I'll most likely scoop it up once it's fully release. I could use a new loot em up (I prefer to call these types of games loot em ups, as I feel they bear more resemblance to a beat em up than they do to a cRPG), I've pretty much played as much Torchlight 2 as I can play for a while.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Freakin' awesome! I was immediately extremely interested in this game when I first heard about it, long before the Kickstarter campaign. I was then bummed when it looked like they would not do Linux during the Kickstarter, but now I can happily pledge. I just hope they don't pull a Larian on us.

View this comment - View article - View full comments