No really, it was an honest question. I'm installing software for another of my Christmas gifts (a 電子辞書), and i'm trying to remember what X looks like (posting here while watching the progress bars). Anything else i should know since i'll probably start it up for the first time after this is all installed?

Oh, ok. Well... its a slow game from what I remember. Open-World sandboxish. Usual theme is you start out in one single crappy craft for whatever reason and learn about the universe and its politics around you, get money by trading, headhunting or piracy and get better ships and equip. Sooner maybe some space factories to be a space tycoon if you like to (its the way for big money in X). The very first and AFAIK the last X only have one player space ship which upgrades; the others have multiple so you can in time have your personal carrier to command.

I don't have much experience with the X game myself but I have 40 hours in X rebirth and I recommend you approach that game with caution.

First, it is quite easy to get into. There are some mechanics that take getting used to but from my experience, I found the learning curve wasn't too steep.

However, it's quite obvious the game isn't finished and the main campaign is broken. The game doesn't always explain things clearly and I've encountered several bugs in the campaign, including a game breaking bug where I can no longer buy fusion reactors because the stations inventory is filled with other crap so they can no longer produce them.

Boarding and being able to walk around the stations is a good idea on paper but it's easily the worst parts of the game. You also have to be careful about stray shots hitting friendlies. I couldn't board a station because a few stay shots turned them hostile towards me.

It seems to me if you approach the game like you would Freelancer, you might have a better time with it. However, with the campaign currently broken and the only objectives in free play are the ones you set for yourself. This might be okay for some people but it isn't for me.

These are only a few of the problems. IMO X Rebirth could have been a great game and I still hope Egosoft can get it fixed. Like I said, it's easy to get started with and there is fun to be had in the game, but when the problems with the game start to wear on you, you may want to move on to a different game.

So how bad is your computer that you are worried about a game from 1999?! Any X game from before X:Rebirth uses a single core.

Dual core clocked at a max of 1.3GHz. The CPU is the bottle neck, the GPU is bad (it's on the same chip, but it's its own core), but the CPU is horridly slow.

.....IF it is modern it should be alright as a modern 1.3GHz must be 2½ times as fast per core than that minimum requirement of a 1GHz Pentium 4. ***** a fast Pentium 3 would probably be fine too as those do more work/clock than the P4.

EDIT: Seems it was not outside after all.
(But it cannot be too modern if the GPU resides outside the CPU. Still, should work just fine. Your computer is maybe from 2006-2008, I guess and was weak even when new.)

Depends on what you mean by modern. I've found that my server (running a P4) does manage certain tasks faster. However, it's way higher than 1GHz (i forget off hand).

CPU-Z output

EDIT: Maybe it'll like a tinyurl.

I remember playing X2 on an Athlon 2000+ and an Ati Radeon 8500. It was fine so you should be ok.

I'm actually quite disappointed by what games underestimate their system requirements here on gog, tbh. some overestimate, though. I'm gonna try installing X2 and giving it a shot since it sounds like it might be worth it. Do the X games have independent narratives like TES (i get the impression X is like privateer on steroids or The Elder Scrolls in space)? Also, is there any quick way to test how bad off i'm going to be before i get too deep into the game? I remember playing The Witcher (yes, the first) and finding certain parts to be bad, but the beginning not rough at all on my computer (what ever happened to in game benchmarks?).

Find a system packed with asteroids and with a huge battle going on and face the battle flying around at full speed. Check your RAM usage during this and know you will need more as you get further into the game. There are small mods that do lighten the burden on the CPU, like remove all small rocks, remove civilian traffic etc.

X1, X2 and Reunion more or less follow the same plotline (i.e. they've got a 'classic' but short main campaign, with optional sandbox universe on the side). TC and AP are more like self-contained sandbox economic management sims disguised as space sims, with some poorly designed mini-campaigns and plots tacked on.

And yes, Elder Scrolls in space sounds just about right. They've got the same sort of 'quantity over quality' and 'let the player work to find something fun to do' philosophy behind them. In that light, I guess you could say X2 is the Morrowind of the series and TC/AP more akin to Oblivion/Skyrim (< personal opinion, not fact).

Demos and benchmarks are here.

Um, retiring? News to me. Got a reference?

Well, maybe not "retiring", but starting to be phased out? After all, that's why Wayland exists. :B

I got myself a quad core laptop specifically to play Elite Dangerous. Although it's underpowered with a 960M, I can run most modern games no problem. I was worried I'd have to get an eight core full blown desktop with the most ludicrous stats around to play Star Citizen. But now I don't have to because since hearing about X4, I'm more looking forward to that instead.