The X-Rebirth Thread

[VR] Shadowman

[VR] Shadowman
Interesting conversation. :)

I've had a look at X:R and to me, it looks very accomplished and capable game. Whether it suffers from the same issues that put me off X2 after a couple of hours remains to be seen. I kinda get the feeling you're still on rails but with more (and bigger) stops...

Regarding the cockpit, I don't mind it, but it does seem a bit odd. I'm not a fan of the left-oriented view; I understand there's a crew member sat next to you, with a right-oriented view, but that still doesn't sit right with me while watching it. A minor issue with the HUD elements constantly refreshing with scan lines - I find that distracting. But apart from that, it looks impressive.

As for the structure, some of you who don't like struts/structure may want to see what games you've listed as your favourites here. A quick Google search reveals most of them came with heavy cockpit views. :p

It does appear to be a little too colourful for me, also. It kinda messes with my head when it's busy, very colourful with lots of things going on. :S

As for Space Engine, it's absolutely mesmerizing...
 

STABB666

STABB666
X2 bad...

Associat0r said:
I saw you mention ED in this SC thread https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/584753/#Comment_584753



You're wrong that there is much overlap between ED and XR, in fact they are worlds apart.
ED will have multiplay and singleplay and a seamless realistically scaled galaxy with rotating and orbiting planets that are realistically sized and distanced apart with freeform interplanteary flight and multiple ships instead of just one main ship like XR.
The ED ship designs are also more utilitarian and believable and IMO prettier.
ED will also have seamless landing on planets in addition to walking around in the expansions.

XR is singleplay only and set in a tiny fantasy galaxy where distances are unrealistically close together and the placement of structures doesn't really make sense and nothing is seamless, with space highways and a focus on 1 main ship and empire building, nothing wrong with that, see my previous posts.

So no XR won't render ED obsolete even if ED was done with 1993 gfx

All 3 games SC, XR and ED are fundamentally too different that they can't obsolete each other even if they tried.
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I tend to agree with this. I bought X2 in high hopes and went back to FFE after a couple of weeks. Maybe I'm unable to accept change, but more likely I got bored with the 'gate' system.
 

Aewarin Jameson

Aewarin Jameson
Funny how devs think alike from different games ..

Link

Can't put the image in here as it's too large and not sure where to save it after resizing.

Familiar ?
 

Cathy

Cathy
Shadowman said:
I've had a look at X:R and to me, it looks very accomplished and capable game. Whether it suffers from the same issues that put me off X2 after a couple of hours remains to be seen. I kinda get the feeling you're still on rails but with more (and bigger) stops...
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I tried very hard to like X2. I persevered but X2 just didn't have the hook.

Regarding the cockpit, I don't mind it, but it does seem a bit odd. I'm not a fan of the left-oriented view; I understand there's a crew member sat next to you, with a right-oriented view, but that still doesn't sit right with me while watching it.
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I keep wanting to lean over to the right to look out.

As for the structure, some of you who don't like struts/structure may want to see what games you've listed as your favourites here. A quick Google search reveals most of them came with heavy cockpit views. :p
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There was bit of a learning curve and developers figured out that a toggle on/off delivered a rare result - pleasing everyone (at least in that department). So the Wing Commander and X-Wing series were immersive for both types of gamers. It's odd that something so simple has been forgotten.

It does appear to be a little too colourful for me, also. It kinda messes with my head when it's busy, very colourful with lots of things going on. :S
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I think they're going for cityscapes in space. Cityscapes are by nature eclectic and intricate. If that's their intention they're doing a good job - it looks like that's where much of their effort is going anyway.
 

Andrew Sayers

A
Mike Evans said:
What's with all the hate towards X Rebirth? Graphically this looks far better than what we have currently, the cockpit looks amazing and the interface elements and animation within it are also stunning.
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I wouldn't say I hate it, I just find it off-putting.

Some people have great visual awareness. Concepts like lighting and palette, shade and even complex stuff like cleanliness jump right into their minds the moment they see it in the world. I have good spatial awareness instead - I never notice what people are wearing when they walk past, but a distinctive rhythm to their walk will stick with me for ages. I think that gives me an unusual definition of beauty, and putting aside the visuals, the movement in that video is frankly quite ugly to my eye. The movement is unnaturally smooth, and the lack of bumps when movement stops (finish turning, slow to a halt) dents my immersion each time. Tweaking that even a tiny bit would make a world of difference to me.

Now I think about it, people with good visual awareness have all sorts of words to describe their concepts of beauty. I'm sure there must be a dictionary of similar words for spatial aesthetics, but I've been scrambling about for words in the thread I started, going with the likes of "uncanny" and "easing" because I don't know how else to describe the things I see in the world. Is there a resource I could use to pick up some better language? I don't want to rag on people's hard work, but if you want nicer words you'll have to give me some to choose from :)
 

Fromhell

Fromhell
I don´t like the shadows going over the cockpit, that is the first thing I´ll disable in the options.

Then I´ll look for other options to make it less colorful, there also seem to be some cell shading going on or contured edges.. not sure.. but this game might look better with some options turned [off]
 

X2Eliah

X2Eliah
"unnaturally smooth, and the lack of bumps when movement stops"

... But space movement IS smooth. Space is all about thrust vectoring and very gentle, sine-curve-acceleration changes that gradually lead into null motion.
And, frankly, "bumps" while floating in space? From where, pray tell? You seem to equate gravitic/frictionbased motion with "beautiful" motion...
 

Andrew Sayers

A
X2Eliah said:
"unnaturally smooth, and the lack of bumps when movement stops"

... But space movement IS smooth. Space is all about thrust vectoring and very gentle, sine-curve-acceleration changes that gradually lead into null motion.
And, frankly, "bumps" while floating in space? From where, pray tell?
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From parts of the ship not quite moving in harmony. From your seat sliding a millimetre as it comes to a halt, from the rattle of an engine built by Joe's discount spaceships, from the last percent of momentum not cancelled out as you accelerate and decelerate.

Having said that...

You seem to equate gravitic/frictionbased motion with "beautiful" motion...
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... this is quite true. Despite my rationalisations above, this is the movement equivalent of frogs saying ribbit or horse-hooves that sound like coconuts. I'm not saying these things are more realistic, just that I've grown so accustomed to these ubiquitous imperfections in the real world that their total absence makes me think "gamey", not "spacey".
 

PacalB

PacalB
STABB666 said:
I tend to agree with this. I bought X2 in high hopes and went back to FFE after a couple of weeks. Maybe I'm unable to accept change, but more likely I got bored with the 'gate' system.
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From what I've read on the EGOSOFT forums, in XR this time, no more gates. :cool: Like you, I didn't really get on with the whole gate system thing, but unlike some I did push past it do see what the game had. It was a crazy complex game hidden underneath if you nudged that bit deeper. My guess it XR is going to be the more of the same just with a hell of a lot more detail, scale and depth. A big plus side also, it is "Oike" free! No multiplayer! You can be the captain, the hero without 'oike' intervention to spoil it. :p

EGOSOFT said:

A Changed Universe

The X universe was always defined by gates. Gates that were (almost?) the only technology that allowed its inhabitants to bridge interstellar distances.

The gates were built by a very advanced ancient civilisation a long long time ago. They were later used by the different populations that developed in the X universe and they relied on them for trading and for their everyday life.

A while after the events told in X3:Terran Conflict however, the gates suddenly ceased to work. Why? That's still unknown. This shutdown however had dramatic political and economical consequences. Millions of people were isolated far away from their former home and many systems suddenly lacked the supplies of food or other resources they needed for everyday life.

At the start of X Rebirth, these events are again a thing of the past, but they have formed a changed and new universe.
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Andrew Sayers said:
I'm not saying these things are more realistic, just that I've grown so accustomed to these ubiquitous imperfections in the real world that their total absence makes me think "gamey", not "spacey".
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Yet couldn't that be said about 'any' space game that doesn't push the strict newtonian simulation with hard point light sources as its base, its "gamey", not "spacey" (E: D included?). Its apples and oranges but don't make it sound like XR is in some way lacking because it doesn't suit your personal tastes. If you browse the EGOSOFT forums, you'll find there hundreds, thousands even that are in absolute awe with what they are seeing in these XR videos. The crowd there (like us here for E: D) are biting at the bit for November the 15th and its release. The game looks great, it looks like a mix between Borderlands (graphically in metal form) and Chris Foss's art work. That's pretty damn cool if you ask me. :D
 

Alien

Alien
PacalB said:
From what I've read on the EGOSOFT forums, in XR this time, no more gates.
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So what's this then?

X%20Rebirth%20Trailer%20Gate.jpg
 

Tinman

Tinman
Alien said:
So what's this then?

X%20Rebirth%20Trailer%20Gate.jpg
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One of the highway systems they have been talking about I guess. We can always hope that it now is possible to fly through these highways to different areas without loading screens. It would still be "on rails", but certainly a huge improvement for the series. :smilie: He did mention in one of the videos that they where going to talk more about the highways in a later video. We'll just have to wait and see...
 

PacalB

PacalB
Alien said:
So what's this then?

X%20Rebirth%20Trailer%20Gate.jpg
Click to expand...

Tell you the truth, I'm a little confused myself. I'll have to look into deeper when I get home. A bit of mixed messaging going on.

Hyperspace Lanes: Rebirth has "highways", which function similar to the trade lanes in Freelancer, allowing you to get between close locations in a system, while Jump Gates are used to get between systems.
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:S
 

stephen_usher

stephen_usher
I've watched the referenced video and the follow-up detail video on YouTube. http://youtu.be/NEbL1p5vZpw

The detail outside is stunning, as is the complexity of the environment.

The only issues I have with that game are:

  1. There's too much "up". Note how the ships all tend to be orientated so that the cockpits are "up" relative to the structures.
  2. Space is full of treacle. The ships seem to be flying through treacle as they're SO painfully slow. This is an issue with X3:Terran Conflict too.
  3. Space seems to be atmospheric. You will notice that the particle models for the gas/smoke/flames coming from the structures are based upon atmospheric ones and seem to have nice turbulence... Something you'd never get in space.
No.2 really annoyed me when playing, to the point where I got bored. When you increased the speed of time the NPC AIs couldn't keep up and their ships started to spiral as they flew.
 

Fromhell

Fromhell
why, why did they mess everything up with this ridiculous cartoony black outlines and overuse of SSAO, this is just way too much. Blergh. :mad:

7lvuq6.jpg

83lu4c.jpg

11yyuqx.jpg

If this look can´t be turned off I´ll pass
 
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