Not sure what game to play!

[daifuco]

Hi. I have never played the X games deeply. Not that I didnt like them but I used to get distracted with other games (steam backlog "problem")
I played a few hours of Reunion. some X2 and some TC.

I bought X4 mostly to support the devs because I didnt have a proper system at the time.
I played a little bit but not a fan of space games on a noisy laptop lol.

The time has come! I have a nice desktop now with a decent 5700xt and a nice 27" screen.

Because my Internet is so crap I actually played X:BTF while X4 was downloading... and I loved it!

But I just tried the combat tutorial on X4 and It looks so nice!
The dilemma ... If I play X4 straight away I feel I am missing something.
If I play older games I might get fed up early and not playing X4 at all!!!

[Alan Phipps]

You know that you can play different games at different times though. I play X4 and then dip back into X3AP every now and then. They are so different that they don't seem to 'compete' as X games.

You don't need to play different X games in any particular order to pick up the lore. Background X game knowledge can help or just be comforting occasionally, but it can also confuse when same-named locations and assets are used in different ways in later games.

[jlehtone]

The UI improves, at least X3R -> X3TC -> X3AP. It gets more convenient, more options.
(Xbtf -> anything obviously adds to UI. X2 -> X3R was such a change that had to learn new shortcuts. As is anything -> X4.)

It is "easier" to play the "hard" first, than to start with "easy" and then jump into more spartan UI.

[Le Boron Chétif]

Having played, X2, X3, TC and AP, I would recommend X2 for the story (this is the one game that hooked me up in the series), and AP for the interface and playability. Those four X games run pretty much the same way, and the experience from one to another is not massively different (apart for X2 as it's older, but there's still much in common, including some of the soundtrack).

[EGO_Aut]

You have a good rig, so go with X4.
Other X games mentioned are too easy, X4 is more realistic ( ) and impressive.

[Honved]

I felt that X3:AP had a few interface improvements over X3:TC, and there were a few more ships, but the numerous "war sectors" really annoyed me, and basically seemed to just be in my way. Other than the plotlines and the few details mentioned, they're essentially the same game. If you do choose to start with AP, I would recommend downloading a mod to add the TC plots, which gives you most of the best of both. I still prefer TC over AP. Neither has an "intuitive" interface, but AP at least cleaned up a few of the more convoluted items. The sheer range of options and possibilities in the game makes learning the awkward interface worthwhile, but it's still not a good interface.

My PC's hardware had "issues" with Rebirth, rendering it nearly impossible to play. I quit after a couple of hours of getting practically nowhere, then tried again after a few changes that didn't help, rage-quitting after another wasted hour or so. I couldn't properly control either my ship or my character, either with the mouse or keyboard (crashing into things or running into a wall because my ship or character goes from 0 to half-speed or more with just a quick tap of the key, and spins around in circles with a small wiggle of the rodent). My real concern is that I'll have the same problems with X4, so I haven't tried it.

[Graaf]

The dilemma ... If I play X4 straight away I feel I am missing something.
If I play older games I might get fed up early and not playing X4 at all!!!

Play X2 first. And not just for the plot.
When you eventually do start playing X3, make sure to go into options and set the interface to use the "legacy" controls. X3's mouse control is shit IMHO (the reason of all the UI complaints). Disable it and delete the key-binding.
Do not play X4. Besides the name and the setting it has no relation to X/X2/X3. It's very disappointing.