Older games in the series still worth playing ?

[39battalion]

Okay I recently purchased the Legends expansion so I now have all three games in the DW series.

Does anybody still play the original Distant Worlds or Shakturi now that Legends is available ?

Or is Legends such an improvement that the first two games are no longer worth playing ?

Thanks

[Mowen]

The original DW has a poor interface. You should skip it.

You should play the first expansion (RotS) if you want to have the most stable version with all the functionalities working well. It is a good introduction to DW.

The second expansion Legends still needs one or two official patches. But it is already a must to play. There is a lot of new stuff.

[DasTactic]

Legends ftw!

[WoodMan]

If you own all three I'd say there is little point in playing the old versions, except perhaps for nostalgia.

However, if you do not own any Distant Worlds games at all, then yes, it certainly is worth buying and playing the old ones. Buying all three in one go as has been discussed endlessly around here is rather expensive. But the original, and the first expansion are both fantastic and unless you have actually played Legends then you won't be aware of what you are missing.

So if starting out, I could very much recommend perhaps DW, 3 months later buy RotS, 3 months later buy Legends. I had countless hours of fun in the old versions, even though I wouldn't go back to them now. The series has got better as it goes along.

Also, my game has been completely stable since the final patch for the original, don't worry, original DW, RotS and Legends are all in very stable states if you keep them patched.

[Data]

I agree with WoodMan but keep in mind that this is the point of view of people who already passed through all the patches and expansions since the game hit the market so we love them all. But considering what I do when I discover a new game that I like it seems that I always search for the most recent expansion / patch so that I don't miss on any new feature that could make my life easier....and 4x games do tend to have lots of micromanagement spots so having the newest version really does help with the experience.
All in all, it's up to you to consider all these points of view but no matter what you choose you will like it [;)]

[39battalion]

Thanks guys !

[adecoy95]

Shakturi is still good if you want a little less micro.

[jpwrunyan]

Overall I prefer the ship artwork for the original better than the legends artwork. Emphasis: overall as in on average.
Some of the legends ships are well done, others are cartoony(teekan freighters and bigger ships, ketaros). The original designs feel more thematically cohesive and I also think had a more unique feel. The legends artwork seems way more derivative at times (gizurean, shakturi designs).

[martok]

I purchased both expansion packs at once, so I can't compare them against each other. 
 
However, I would recommend that you at least go straight to Return of the Shakturi.  Not that I don't love the vanilla game, but as Mowen pointed out, its UI pretty poor.