Unlike a game like Darkstar One, this is not a mix of light space sim, light trading, and light everything else. The promise of intergalactic combat and trade are hard to pass up thus, I found myself giving an overly hard game that I liked for no good reason even more of my gaming hours. It’s tough enough to get a handle on what you know is coming. Still, the game’s huge systems and myriad options are all visible from the distance of the starting line, you don’t have to worry about the game surprising you. From the minute you enter the universe of X3, you’re bombarded with statistics, restrictions, threats, and more opportunities than I could ever complete in one playthrough. So, with a cursory knowledge of how flight works in these kinds of games, coupled with a brief in game flight tutorial, we’re off. The explanation of the various technicalities, ins and outs of X3 can’t be comprised in this small space, and especially not in the way they’ve been presented.
GAMES LIKE X3 TERRAN CONFLICT MANUAL
The extensive manual that comes with the game poses questions rather than answers them. It’s extremely complicated, and it does next to nothing to ease the rocky journey to understanding its quirks, joys, mistakes, and omissions. X3 is a space exploration game in the vein of Evochron Legends, Darkstar One, Privateer, and Elite. It’s with perplexity and joy then, that I’ve picked my way through X3: Terran Conflict. After all, once you figure out what you need to do, the only obstacle you face is your silly human fingers. The Ninja Gaiden’s of this world may give you a sense of accomplishment when you spend hours on one annoying boss, but your reward (other than this peculiar, fleeting sense of “accomplishment”) is hardly commensurate with the time and effort spent to attain it. Some games reach this unpleasant achievement by treating you to punishing, unrewarding gameplay. I like the fiddly bits in these games, but I draw the line when a game makes enjoyment a nigh-impossible goal. I’m willing to play shooters with way too many buttons, RTSs with ridiculous amounts of options and tasks to perform, and of course, RPGs with long, wandering stories, murky, deep leveling systems, and unclear directions. There comes a point however, a certain level of obtuseness and opaqueness in game design, where I just give up.
![games like x3 terran conflict games like x3 terran conflict](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/C-63kmiuwvI/maxresdefault.jpg)
The harder it is to succeed in a game, the more rewarding the experience, supposedly. On the contrary, many gamers enjoy switching back and forth between these different kinds of games, depending on their moods.Įven so, some games revel in their complexity, and for the right gamer, this complexity is absolutely worth it. This isn’t to say that a person who loves Peggle can’t also love Neverwinter Nights 2. Most people know what they want, and they filter their game consumption accordingly. It’s not just Nintendo and various designers telling us this: we understand that our experiences with games are often hampered by muddled instructions, overly complicated UIs, and jam-packed missions structures. It's the greatest space sim I've played to date bar none.There’s something to be said for complexity, especially when it comes to games - despite the fact that so many ways, simple or intuitive games are easier, more fun to play. What's also great is you can let AI fly the ships in your fleet or you can jump into any ship you own and fly it manually as long as both ships are docked together somewhere.
![games like x3 terran conflict games like x3 terran conflict](https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/235940/ss_8f83ffbfc4ce78168430451a788e11712260029b.1920x1080.jpg)
![games like x3 terran conflict games like x3 terran conflict](https://cdns.kinguin.net/cdn-cgi/image/w=1140,q=80,fit=scale-down,f=auto/media/category/5/-/5-1024_1111.jpg)
The last game I played I had a Carrier, 2 Battleships, over 60 fighters, a dozen or so smaller capital ships and a few tenders in my main fleet being funded by a fleet of about 100 or so commercial trader frieghters.īest advice I can give is start building a trade empire first and then use the revenue to build your military fleet.
![games like x3 terran conflict games like x3 terran conflict](https://media.moddb.com/cache/images/mods/1/34/33262/thumb_620x2000/lich.png)
It's a great game that can be majorly confusing at first but with time can be a blast. I watched some "Let's Play" videos on YouTube that got me started. It's a lot of fun once you climb over the initial learning curve which will hit you in the face like running into a brick wall if you don't do some research first. Unlike Eve's relitive motion flight model. Single player eve with a ton more sandboxiness and an even bigger learning curve.ĪND an actual twitch based flight model for every ship.