I still remember Alpha Centauri, I was dumbstruck at this "Civ in alien planet" - plus the fact that I almost always opted for the victory that would make me become one with the planet, well that was something. I enjoyed the atmosphere, the story (sci-fi dork here, although atm I read lots of Fantasy) and the whole pacing of the game (already nailed down from the Civ experience). But what I mostly liked was the story.



As per MOO2, I have to say that it was my first (and apart from ES, only) space 4X game - what I liked mostly was the fact that you could see the whole galaxy at once, not necessarily mapped and all that, but you didnt have to scroll in/out to zoom to a planet or to see the space routes or your fleet and what-not, everything was presented at once, the whole galaxy, everything, and that at resolutions infinitely worse than today's 1920 x 1080. Tbvfh this is one of the things I would love to see in ES, that is a 2D full-galaxy view.



Now, ES... it's good, I have to give it that. The interface is so up-to-date, it gets the gist of today's civilisation in terms of how information is presented to the user and all that, pop-up windows everywhere, everything clean and polished. Atm I am getting ridiculously defeated at newbie difficulties with 2 other AIs on small galaxies - and tbvfh this is something I quite dislike: if the PC is a newbie then how come it attacks me or how come it is more advanced than me in terms of colonisations and/or technologies? I 'll get the gist of the game, though, for that I am certain.

Darthlawsuit wrote:
You forgot the best 4X game ever made. The X-Series

I hate the X series with a vengeance. Its the epitome of everything that is wrong with flight and space sims these days. You obviously never played Frontier, Wing Commander, Privateer or X-Wing. And its got nothing to do with 4x games either.

It's inaccurate to compare the baby game (ES) which was just released to years polished games with a lot of expansions. Even MOO2 launching state was inferior to ES launching state. Looks like ES will have a bright future.

nats wrote:
I hate the X series with a vengeance. Its the epitome of everything that is wrong with flight and space sims these days. You obviously never played Frontier, Wing Commander, Privateer or X-Wing.

Personally I love the X-Series for a huge amount of reasons and I'm honestly surprised to see someone hate it so much. Though I also have to say the games you mentioned are somewhat but not completely in the genre of the X-Series, knowing these games at least somewhat I still don't share your opinion, but it's your opinion and that's fine.



Though I'm a little curious to understand why you hate the X-Series so much, care to explain some details, like which of the games you hate for which reasons?

I'm trying out Distant Worlds, downloading it now - but boy was it expensive with the 2 expansion packs! Sort of reminds me of the Escape Velocity series.



I am trying out Galactic Civs II also...



Endless Space needs work though the soundtrack is beautifully done and perfect so that gets 100%!

This game should not be put along side RTS games to ask whats better. I much prefer this type of TBS than to that of Civ 1,2,3,4,5 .... except for the lack of movies on special moments, Civ 5's movies are just glorious.

KNC wrote:
Personally I love the X-Series for a huge amount of reasons and I'm honestly surprised to see someone hate it so much. Though I also have to say the games you mentioned are somewhat but not completely in the genre of the X-Series, knowing these games at least somewhat I still don't share your opinion, but it's your opinion and that's fine.



Though I'm a little curious to understand why you hate the X-Series so much, care to explain some details, like which of the games you hate for which reasons?

I only played two of them X and X2 probably, and I thought they were incredibly dull. I played the same amount of each -0 enough to get used to the controls, try a few missions/trades and then went on a journey through a few systems trying to find something interesting to do. And that's when I usually ended the game and never went back. I don't like the way you cant land on the planets, the way all the systems are the same, the way you have to constantly go from one factory to another etc etc. It just want my kind of game ... yet I loved Frontier. But Frontier was majestic. I once spent a few hours landed on an ice world landing pad just admiring the view. You cant do that in X!

PerplexedUK wrote:
This game should not be put along side RTS games to ask whats better. I much prefer this type of TBS than to that of Civ 1,2,3,4,5 .... except for the lack of movies on special moments, Civ 5's movies are just glorious.

Adding some 3d diplomacy and event movies to ES might be a perfect task for the modding community!

nats wrote:
I only played two of them X and X2 probably, and I thought they were incredibly dull. I played the same amount of each -0 enough to get used to the controls, try a few missions/trades and then went on a journey through a few systems trying to find something interesting to do. And that's when I usually ended the game and never went back. I don't like the way you cant land on the planets, the way all the systems are the same, the way you have to constantly go from one factory to another etc etc. It just want my kind of game ... yet I loved Frontier. But Frontier was majestic. I once spent a few hours landed on an ice world landing pad just admiring the view. You cant do that in X!

I see your point, to be honest, I never really played the first X game myself (only some hours with friends), and I probably won't care to do so. I did play X2 but primarily for the story, it was a good and fun game but not exactly totally great, once I was done with the story I stopped playing rather soon. It all changed a lot with X3, everything got more depth and especially with X3:TC the combat became really good, though still not perfect. I know of no game where I could use such complex high-speed maneuvers, allowing me to use one heavy fighter to intercept and tear apart an entire terran Armada consisting of over 100 different fighters and some small capital ships.

Still the planets only being static balls in space is indeed one of the biggest downsides to the series. The community always demanded planets to be actual planets but the engine didn't even allow for it to be modded into the game.

The upcoming title X Rebirth does seem to have a few interesting places like that though and it looks like planets will be part of the game, or at least it will be possible with mods And the graphics are really something as well, I will likely buy a new graphics card for that game, can't wait for it to be released.

If you only judge by X and X2 I understand you pretty well, I might've liked them but they have too much bad points to be considered really great. If you really want to hate the X-Series you might try to play X3 (or the expansions TC or AP), if you still hate that game then you will indeed hate the whole franchise.

KNC wrote:
The upcoming title X Rebirth does seem to have a few interesting places like that though and it looks like planets will be part of the game, or at least it will be possible with mods And the graphics are really something as well, I will likely buy a new graphics card for that game, can't wait for it to be released.

If you only judge by X and X2 I understand you pretty well, I might've liked them but they have too much bad points to be considered really great. If you really want to hate the X-Series you might try to play X3 (or the expansions TC or AP), if you still hate that game then you will indeed hate the whole franchise.

Yeah but they removed the cockpits after that which IMO made a bad game even worse.

nats wrote:
Yeah but they removed the cockpits after that which IMO made a bad game even worse.

Totally forgot about that, but yes that's a point many hated. Personally I have mixed feelings about that. On one side I love the free screen which makes a lot of things easier, and well on the other side I hate the same things about missing cocpits everyone else hates.

I suppose because the community didn't tkae the missing cockpits lightly X Rebirth is going to have cockpits again, or without mods rather one cockpit. Being only able to fly one ship surely isn't going to be too cool either, I hope the upgrades can make up for that.

PerplexedUK wrote:
...'Imperium Gallactica 2' due to the same starmap (stars with no planets etc.. http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/110095-imperium-galactica-ii-alliances-windows-screenshot-the-starmap.jpg ) and simulated/auto battles. Its just a shame this does not have the epic movies that 'Imperium galactica 2' has

http://code.google.com/p/open-ig/wiki/Game_Notes

Enjoy

I am fairly positive that anyone who didnt choose moo2 has never played it, or is too young to appreciate it.



I like endless space, its fairly good, has a ton of potential.



But unfortunately I am still waiting for master of orion 2 with new graphics. That game got everything right. Including the interface. Dont know what something is? Just right click it.



In fact, Can endless spaces' graphics just be ported directly to moo2? Id buy pay a full 60 dollar price tag for that and Im sure alot of others will too. Theres another game comming out soon too called legends of pegasus, it looks semi promising with full realtime space combat. I'll of course have to see what it can do before I buy, but im glad I have Endless space, even if it does seem to be missing that umph that makes it memorable like moo2.

Yea, I really liked MOO2 - best turned-based game ever! I, for some reason, can't get into Galactic Civ 2 - don't know why. Endless Space is really fun, and probably the next best turn based game I played, but the endless fleets spam has put me off! Devs better hurry as Legends of Pegasus is right round the corner!!!



Also, I played all the X games - they are really epic but can be an acquired taste.

xyphyx wrote:
I am fairly positive that anyone who didnt choose moo2 has never played it, or is too young to appreciate it.



I like endless space, its fairly good, has a ton of potential.



But unfortunately I am still waiting for master of orion 2 with new graphics. That game got everything right. Including the interface. Dont know what something is? Just right click it.



In fact, Can endless spaces' graphics just be ported directly to moo2? Id buy pay a full 60 dollar price tag for that and Im sure alot of others will too. Theres another game comming out soon too called legends of pegasus, it looks semi promising with full realtime space combat. I'll of course have to see what it can do before I buy, but im glad I have Endless space, even if it does seem to be missing that umph that makes it memorable like moo2.

ES has the potential to dethrone Moo2, but it's not quite there yet. I'm witholding judgment. Give it another year of love and polish, though, and it could get there.

You forgot about Distant Worlds in the poll. So far it's on the top of my space 4x.

I voted for several:



ES because it is awesome, but I also voted for Sword of the Stars, MOO, and STARS!.



MOO was really the game that started it all, so it has to be on most people's yes list as the grand father of the genre. I did STARS! because it was the first 4x game I ever played and I still play it sometimes. Then SOTS because I like the way the game plays, I am more of a turn based strategy fan when it comes to 4x's because I have a very long playing style. In real time 4x games like Sins tactics are not really the point, you could have a tactically superior fleet but if the enemy out expands you, you are toast. Turn based keeps that from happening to some extent. You can still get creamed if you are out expanded however you get to take your time to make your decisions about how you want to proceed.

Geowil wrote:


ES because it is awesome, but I also voted for Sword of the Stars, MOO, and STARS!.

YES! Come on you Stars! you can do it yet.... Or maybe not. But it was a great game.

Sins of a Solar Empire, for me.



But Endless Space is awesome as well, great game and easily recommendable. I guess my vote would go for ES if it only had the Advent voice-acting on its units! I got so used to their responses from playing SoaSE, I miss their voices! XD

Followed some peeps recommendation on playing Distant Worlds and its an insta-crash on load! What a joke, I hate troubleshooting these things. You'd think a game this old would be pristine!