Great releases!! I have never played any X game so far but I'm sure I'll enjoy them. Looking at the screenshots, they all look tasty (especially the later ones) and it's a very good thing to read that their difficulty is on the harder side too. The -75% discount is great, can't miss the chance to buy them now! :)

Holy Spaceweed! Instant buy! Even though I already own it on Steam, Boxed Copy, etc. etc. etc. :D

Thanks GOG!

Wrote my review, post it here for would be newcomers :)

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Trade, Fight, Build, Think The very keywords used to describe the game series. And true enough, you do much of the above and much more. Newcomers might wrongfully compare the games to Freelancer or Privateer but there's lots more to it.

In the X games, you start off small, with just one small insignificant ship. And through trading, exploration, combat and building up factories, you will eventually own yourself a large trading empire complete with a whole battlefleet with any ships of your choosing. There's a main plot in the games for you to follow. Along with the main plot are several side factions each with their own plots. Ultimately, the games are sandboxes so you're free to do whatever you want. There's a huge universe to explore, divided into sectors which are owned by the various factions in the game both friend and foe.

The beauty about the X games is the fact you can buy/capture and fly almost ANY ship in the game. Each faction has their own ships, weapons and equipment, all unique to the faction. From the lowliest M5 Scout ship to the M3 Fighters, M6 Corvette ships to the mighty M2 Destroyers and M1 Carriers. And unlike most other space sandboxes, you don't just own 1 or several ships and are done. In X, you can own hundreds of ships which you are free to form your own battlefleet. Having such a fleet requires work however, you can trade your way up, discover good trade routes as you go along. Do side missions for folks to earn the extra buck. Eventually, you'll be inclined to build up an automated trade network consisting of your own factory chains and trade transports. You'll even get your own sector and HQ which can reverse engineer and build ships in X3TC. Certain sectors have secrets so it rewards exploration.

In my endgames, I typically bring a fleet of destroyers and carriers with a complement of fighters. Launch all fighters into battle from the carriers and personally dogfight in my preferred Corvette ship or Interceptor. What's yours? ;)
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Thank you very much. This sounds awesome, exactly what I was looking for at the moment :)
Would you recommend playing them in order as a total beginner?

I started with X2 which, imo, has the best main plot and the meaty tutorial which launched me into the rest of the games. X3 onwards doesn't really have a tutorial.

Yes, X2 have a full set of tutorials that explain every aspect of the game. X3 series only have a basic how to fly tutorial.

Yes. Jumping right into X3 can be quite overwhelming. The first game has kind of a storyline which teaches you some of the basics. X2 expands the gameplay a lot, but thanks to the first game you still know what to do at the start (plus the first part of the story is kind of a tutorial). In X3 you're left on your own. It's you, your ship and the huge universe. The storyline gives you access to some cheap (compared to buying them), big ships, but leaves you on your own otherwise. You'll learn things with time, but it's definitely easier if you know X2.

Another pro for the first two games: They're fun!

Same.

This release dropped my jaw, just like Bethesda's old games earlier this year. After reading how Egosoft swears by Scream I never thought to see these here.

I only have X3:Reunion myself but remember reading somewhere on Egosoft's forum someone suggesting only playing the first two games for the story if at all and enjoy sandbox play on the later games according to tastes.

X:Rebirth is the latest game in the series and I hear it suffers heavily from 'consolitis' :-( so no biggie it did not come here.

Now I wish I had a credit card for shopping or that my gaming pc would do something more than just beeeeep when I try turning it on :-/

What about a joystick? Is it a must have or just a facultative help?

I wouldn't attempt it without one - that said, I do vaguely remember a 3rd person view and some mouse controls that were better than I would have expected for a flight sim. It was actually a surprise that the mouse was so decent at target and movement functions.

*edit* Come to think of it, the 1st person cockpit mouse and keyboard were pretty good too - again take this with a grain of salt but I think you'd be okay.

That said, there are a lot of functions in the game - unless you're good at using the controller and tapping out keystrokes, I'd go mouse and keyboard over controller.

Very nice. :)

I shall buy with the knowledge that it will be added to my backlog, but that because they are DRM-free, I will be able to play them years from now when I get to them. ;)

I guess I overthought the Enigmatic Hint. :P

Very nice, i've been interested in playing these since I heard about them in recent years.

I'd recommend a joystick, but they're playable without one too. And even if you have a joystick, you'll use mouse and keyboard 90% of the time.