Too few choices at the beginning means that the initial grind will bore and skipping it is fatal
The game offers five starting scenarios with more that you can unlock later. The later ones promise to enrich the gaming experience but the first ones are annoying for a first comer like myself.
The five starting scenarios are as follows:
Humble Merchant - Which is great if you want to relax for a while and just slowly fly from station to station, hoping to make a profit.
Terran Defender - Thrown into the game with a subpar ship and a buggy campaign, this is probably the worst
Bankrupt Assassin - The most fun of all the starting scenarios but, also the most annoying, as groups of four or five ships will often show up to kill you. They can be beaten, of course, but you'll eventually make a mistake and die turning this scenario into something that forces you to dock to save quite often (or waste money on salvage insurance which, in retrospect, I should have done).
Argon Patriot - Probably the best starting scenario. Start off with a decent ship and everything open to you. Only problem I had with this one was the Paranid. If I decide to give the game another chance it will definitely be with this scenario
Custom game - Don't touch this.
There's a lot to like about X3, as I said, but with 4 out of 5 starts being an exercise in frustration for newcomers, it gets annoying. There are also bugs aplenty. The Terran Campaign for instance is very fragile, you must do things a certain way. LaserTowers stay hostile even after you hack the building they are defending. I had the game crash on two instances seemingly for no reason. Missiles damage ships nearby when blown up and have been made excessively easy to blow up meaning that if you fire a missile and there is a laser beam -anywhere- near you, you're taking damage.
The simple fact is that X3 does not try to make the player feel powerful. Which is exactly what some people want, I'm sure, but I rather not play a game where a single missile can destroy you.