Hmm ...
Freelancer is a forgotten classic, im kind of hoping that M$ do a sequel someday... I would definately recommend getting a copy.
X3 is certainly complicated, almost to the extreme, and will put off most people tbh. I still play it occasionaly, but you do have to put some serious amount of hours into the game to get anything out of it.
Elite 2 is still the best though, even with all its bugs its a pretty good game. If only someone updated it with a better engine. You wont see Elite 4 much before the next decade I wouldnt have thought.