Games - X3: Terran Conflict

Today I am going to talk about my favourite game / series of games of all time. The latest in the X Universe series of games is X3: Terran Conflict. I could go on about these games forever so I am going to try and keep this a brief as I can.

When ever I try and classify the genre of the X Universe games I usually describe them as 'first person roll playing, action, empire building space sim' or a space trading combat sim. X3: TC is a single player only game that bases its game play over 4 distinct areas of Trade, Fight, Build, and Think. The game is set in a Universe that consists of hundreds of sectors that are connected by Jump Gates in the far future.

Trade - Trading does not just mean 'buy X here and sell Y here' like other games. Sure trading will start out that way but once your account grows with credits you will find yourself creating and managing entire trading empires and actually affecting the economy of the entire universe.

Check out the Trade trailer:


Fight - There are many starting options for the game where you can begin as any chosen race in multiple situations. Most game starts will plant you in a little scout ship or a medium fighter class ship to begin with. Each race has multiple ships of all classes making hundreds of ships available from little scouts, transporters, trading ships, frigates, bombers, and many more up to destroyers and carriers which are over a thousand times the size of some of the smaller ships. You can grow from owning one little scout ship to one day controlling entire fleets of destroyers. You can align yourself or make enemies of any of the races, even become a notorious pirate and make the lawless pirate sectors your home.

Check out the Fight trailer:


Build - It may be a little while before you start building your first space station, but when you do the feeling of achievement is amazing. Then before long you will raise the funds to build another and another until you are not only building stations but entire interconnected complexes containing many joined stations. Before long entire sectors, maybe even entire areas of the universe will be under the control of your trading empire.

Check out the Build trailer:


Think - There are many story line missions that you can play through if you choose, but you are at no time forced to do so. You can leave the missions at any time and then come back to them later. Another great thing about X3:TC is, although it is based after the events of the previous X games, you do not have to play them first because you are no longer the main character (Julian Brennan) from the previous games. There are also unlimited small missions and jobs to complete to make extra credits from transporting passengers to defending stations from attacks to even building stations for other corporations.

Check out the Think trailer:


The one major criticism that is given to this game is that the learning curve is immense. Most people give up on the game early on because it really throws you in the deep end with no tutorial or training. If you can get past the first few hours of game play you will really start to get into it.

The one major acclaim I have for this game is the games community. It has one of the biggest modding communities, right up there with the Elder Scrolls modding community. The best fan made content and mods are often included into later updates of the game. The forums are massive and I have literally never had to post there because I have always been able to find the answers to any question I have had about the game. Egosoft even has released an update for the game the removes the Tages DRM security so you don't have to have the disk in the drive to play. I don't know of any other company that gives the option to turn off their game security for its community.

TLDR: X3: Terran Conflict is an awesome game and you should play it.

Here is another trailer for no other reason than the fact that it is one cool fucking trailer:

These things I do...

I have a lot of things I do that always make me wonder if other people do these things too. So I decided I will start going through some of these things one by one here, and the first one that comes to mind is this:

I always bring my Nintendo DS with me to work (and yes, I am at work right now) and every time I go to the toilet I slip my DS into my pocket and spend about 10-15 minutes on the toilet playing games on my DS.

I am currently playing my way through Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and I would have to say that it is my favourite game on the DS thus far. FF Tactics A2 is the sequel to what was my favourite game on the Gameboy Advance Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. It is a turn based strategy rpg, but what really makes it stand alone from other Final Fantasy games is that the story takes a back seat to the action (more action, less story) which I like.

Having a look at my saved game reveals I have been playing FF Tactics A2 for nearly 100 hours in total which is far more than any other hand held game I have ever played, even the Pokimans. Don't worry, not all those hours were played on the work toilet.

So thats one of 'those things I do' that I consider maybe a little wierd on my part. I will follow this up with other wierd 'things I do' in further posts.

Just Finished Mafia II

I just finished playing Mafia II on PC and I would have to say it was a pretty damn good game. Although it is classed as an 'open world' game the story drives you through a very linear path through the entire game and although some missions may have different endings the results and story remain the same either way.

The other thing to take into account is that Mafia II is a pretty short game but that is ideal for people like me who don't have much time for playing games or like to get through and play as many games as possible. Many people have criticised the length of the game but in my opinion it was just long enough.

The story is fantastic, the voice acting is amazingly believable, and the entire city of Empire Bay is visually stunning and really immersive. I recommend this game for people who want a game with an epic story squeezed into a relatively short play time.