Looks pretty, I must say...here's to wishing it will be more of a follow up to TC/AP then Rebirth was. I tried Rebirth a couple of times, but just couldn't get into it. X4

Great, it releases in 2019 if i'm not mistaken so i guess i'm looking forward to play it in 2022 when it's remotely playable.

I spent a thousand hours playing X2 and X3. Definitely looking forward to this but I'm worried about the sudden release date and doesn't look like they have released a lot of info or videos about it.

I played XR through, but...Kinda regret not spending that time on some other game.

The X series has *always* had a severe problem with character depiction: their animations are woeful, and their voice acting is both dreadful and extremely limited - 100s of interactable NPCs, all sharing a scant handful of dialogue lines, spoken by 4-6 people, and those sound like they were read by company employees ambushed by a someone with a mic and a card saying "Read this for me". In X2 and XR the 1st person camera view waved around like a drunkard; and in XR frequently managed to make your viewpoint feel like it was about a metre taller than your character.

Their graphics, story, writing, and simulation aspects otoh are all top shelf.

I came in at X2. That game did not have a learning curve - it was a cliff face, and the only climbing gear they gave you was a half-dozen pitons and a hemp rope. It was playable after 2 years of community modding and Egosoft reworks.
X3 was a vast improvement in almost every regard, but dumbed down - homogenised into blandness, so that every item felt like every other item. XR... Well, let's just pretend that was all a bad dream.

X4 *looks* nice. I just hope it lives up to its potential - rather than the history of its predecessors.

This is kind of how it is for me too, but for X3. I played a lot of X3 this year after dropping it twice due to its hump. I sunk a bunch of hours into it but honestly I'm pretty ambivalent about how much time it took. It's turned into this kind of malaise. I really feel like the game will suck up more time than it's worth.

edit: that's not to say it sucks. I still think it's a pretty good game, but it's not as good as you hear from some people, and I don't think it's completely ok to have a game that will disappear that much time into chore-like busywork to progress.

is X2 a good way to start? I'm intrigued by this game series since a few years ago but I've never tried them.

Facebook has a consistent stream of dev updates, interactive social media and rapid messenger replies. This trailer looks "Worse" then whats been shown on Facebook so I'm very confused about all of this...

And thats coming from a fan since the threat, did they pull a Witcher 3? X3: Terran War pack would be a great place to start... it has the most modern flight controls. If you want to though the best IMO is X3: Reunion which comes before Terran War. Flght controls are completely unique and something you'll either love or hate. But for a new comer The Terran War Pack would be the best first step.

X2 has my heart but I'm also old enough to remember how to silence a dial-up modem so i didnt wake up my mom at 12am ;)

Stateside we have PCGamer they had demo disks that were just downloaded installers from Fileplanet... thats awesome to hear, no matter where we come from we're all gamers at heart and went through the same stuff <3

I have the series in more than one version.
I never spent 100s or 1000s of hours that others have.
For me it was always the type of games that I will get to play when "I have the time".
Silly of course as I have played many other games over the years.
From the little I have played each of them my favorite remains the first one.
For me it was always the one with the most WOW factor.
Very sci-fi noir etc.
If they release X4 on GOG, I will get it sooner or later unless it's utter crap.

I admit I'm quite curious about X4 and how it will turn out to be, but I'm not sure I like the direction it's going in. The focus Egosoft seem to have on developing the first person "station walking simulator" part is not exactly an aspect of the game I'd have wanted them to spend so much of their time on.

Ah well, even if it won't be that great in the end, we still have X3:TC & X3:AP.

NPCs with dead faces speaking in monotone saying the same thing over and over is not what I want either.

Hopefully they improved on the RTS controls.

Yeah, I feel the same way...TC/AP are quite the time wasters as they are (not that I am complaining, I found station building, exploring, boarding attempts, ect., all very entertaining and relaxing...a very nice escape. Station docking is fine, when I can do everything I need to do from the cockpit of my ship. I really have no desire to be walking around in stations, meeting and engaging with NPC's, and what-not, especially if the game demands it. Station visiting, and walking around in Rebirth was one of the big turn offs for me. If X4 is going to follow in that tradition; and while it may be too early to tell right now, it certainly looks like that may be the case. As you mentioned, I still enjoy firing up TC now and then, and revisiting some of my old haunts, and check up on management, to make sure my empire is still running relatively smoothly during my hiatus ;).

Yeah, I have a hard time thinking someone spend hours modelling that ship, and not once thought: "Hey, this kinda looks like a cock and balls".