I've got about three quarters of the way through sunrider 4 and I'm done. I enjoyed the other games in the sunrider series, but this one is garbage in comparison. I could rant for paragraphs about how bad this game is, but I've wasted too much time on it already.
The timelines missions themselves are good for the most part, but some I found exasperating, annoying and obtuse. I laughed when I met the 'mission director' - I never expected to meet the guy who cost me so much time in the past when I tried making mods for x3. What timelines does though more than anything for me is highlight X4's basic problems. Targetting being for me the worst problem that X4 has; if it worked as it did in the likes of X3 I'd be happy, but in X4 targettnig is jittery - skipping to useless targets - and often unhelpful when it refuses to target what I want. Then there is the problem of being forced to use weapons and ships I don't enjoy. I don't think timelines is very new player friendly either - a lot of the timelines missions are quite advanced. The story for timelines is as janky as previous x games, but I enjoyed it nontheless - it reminded me of a dead is dead playthrough I did on the egosoft forums many years ago. Some lore buffs I think will enjoy this DLC as there is some exansion of the x lore. So timelines is a mixed bag - for some there won't be enough added to the sandbox to make this DLC worth it.
I want to like Thronebreaker because the story is truely great, but it has some absolutely awful gameplay design. Consequences are only consequences because there is only one save file, and my experience with the game suggests to me that this was done to try add some replayablilty to Thronebreaker's campaign. If you are familiar with CCGs like Hearthstone and you are anything like me you would expect this game to be similar. Thronebreaker is simlar to Hearthstone, however Thronebreaker mixes things up by changing cards you are familiar with every now and again to something totally different and afer a while this becomes annoying. If you are interested in this game I urge you to look at gameplay videos of the Rivia Castle battle - cheap cheesy boss mechanics that require the player to use cheap cheesy tactics to compete. If I would have watched video of this battle before buying the game I'm not sure i would have still bought this game.... I passed my last round and went and made a sandwich and a drink came back to the game and the boss was still playing cards - so tedious and boring imo.
My first experience and impressions of X2: The Threat were not good. I found learning the ropes difficult initially and got lost in the sandbox almost instantly although combat was easy enough to get to grips with; I had to find the right upgrades to fully understand what works and what doesn't. However after browsing the Egosoft forums I 'got it' and what appeared complex and frustrating became rather simple. I ended up cheating a load of cash in my first game so I could mess around with factories and expensive capital ships without consequence. I only stopped my second X2 game after nearly 18 ingame days when my friend gave me his old computer which could run the X3 games. Two things to remember if you buy the game. The more you fight and raise your combat rank, the more risk you'll face from tougher enemies and more reward you'll get if you are successful. The more you trade and raise your trade rank the more you will earn from none cambat missions. This is true for all the X games In many ways X2: the threat is better than it's sequels despite it's age. Combat is faster paced and X2 is more immersive than it's sequels. I personally find the sandbox better looking in X2 as well. All the X games can be modded so you can change anything you don't like too. For me at least X2 is neither better or worse than it's sequels - it's different enough to warrant a playthrough as long as you have the free time. NB. I never played through the plot or used a mouse while playing at all.
