SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - What new pirate game are you most looking forward to?

Nell Quick · 05-01-07, 02:05 PM

The ideal pirate game seems to be as likely as Elite 4.

Sid Meier's Pirates! - great as long as you like cuddly happy piracy where no-one really gets hurt and everything has the air of a pantomime. And... dancing? What were they thinking? On the up side, Pirates! is the one I tend to play most often - it's a fairly open game, as long as you don't want to be an actual pirate. I always thought Sid Meier's Privateers! probably suited it better. But it's accessible, it has a great feel to it (both in terms of control and atmosphere), and it's professionally presented. But still, sneaking and dancing were bad ideas.

Cutthroats - the best of the existing pirate games in terms of depth. Cutthroats is only let down by the fact that it was buggy as hell and still suffers even now; it isn't too great graphically (although age is largely to account for that); and there are one or two slightly-more-than-cosmetic problems that I find actually cut down on the enjoyment: for example, the high mouse-sensitivity setting that can't be adjusted (as far as I can tell), the speed the game runs at in the Crow's Nest view, and the irritating crew videos that play every time you give an order or something happens and that cause the game to judder. On the up side, Cutthroats allows for pretty much any style of play, from trader through privateer to out-and-out pirate, and it's once again entirely freeform.

Tortuga: Terror on the High Seas - Ascaron's version of Pirates!, Tortuga suffers primarily from not working well with Windows XP. Aside from that, it's a little linear for my taste: you have to start in a certain time period from a certain nationality, and you have a specific goal to achieve before the game will allow you different choices. Although having said that, it's still fairly relaxed about how you achieve the goals.

Port Royale 1 & 2 - Another Ascaron title, the original Port Royale was the sister title to Tortuga above, but the player was a trader and the goal was to build up a fleet of ships, buy buildings, influence politics, and so on. Port Royale 2 is more of the same, but with more complexity and some refinement to existing features. The player can embark on a career in piracy, but it's difficult to operate as a true pirate and again, privateering is the only really viable option in that direction. Crews in Port Royale are paid by regular salary, as opposed to Tortuga's more conventional (for Caribbean pirate crews) system of sailing on account.

Tortuga: Two Treasures - Haven't played it, so I can't really comment, but every review I've seen indicates that it's a story-driven linear game. Personally I can't abide games that make you play them in a strict path - I really don't think there's any excuse for them these days, and they're generally just a short-sighted tactic by publishers who honestly seem to believe that we wouldn't buy new games at all if the older ones couldn't be 'completed'. On the other hand, I'm only judging Two Treasures on what I've read, so if someone wants to correct me by all means do.

Seadogs / Pirates of the Caribbean / Age of Pirates - These are graphically wonderful. Well, PotC certainly is - I can't say I've played AoP and it's that long since I saw Seadogs that I can't really remember. But they include a feature I've always marvelled doesn't appear more often: a 3D modelled ship, which you can sail yourself. At least, you can walk around on deck, and look around you at the rolling waves, and so on. The lighting is beautiful, the environments lovingly modelled, the ships detailed and reasonably convincing. What's missing is, unfortunately, a realistic map - instead of the Caribbean, you sail around a small clump of fictional islands. I find this takes away quite a lot from a game called '... of the Caribbean', but maybe that's just me. Combat is clunky, and feels a lot more like luck than judgement: without cheating, enemy ships - even traders - seem to far outclass and outgun the player. In this, as with all the above titles, there's very little opportunity to customise your character, although with Age of Pirates at least I understand that lady pirates are finally catered for.

Pirates of the Burning Sea - Again, I've never played it - it's not released - so I can't say whether it's a good game or not. But the basic concept seems to me to be essentially flawed. After all, the simple fact is that everyone wants to be Jack Sparrow, or an appropriate female equivalent. Don't they? Isn't that what pirate games are for? Even before we met Jack Sparrow, isn't it true that we all had the swaggering, swashbuckling and FUN pirate captain archetype in mind when we played the older titles? So create a massively multiplayer environment involving pirates and watch everyone trying to be the same person. I predict it's going to be like Star Wars Galaxies when they made Jedi a choice you could pick at the start instead of having to work towards it. There was no motivation for people to be anything else - after all, aren't the Jedi the epitome of cool? So what's the motivation going to be in PotBS for anyone to try to be anything other than their Inner Jack Sparrow?

So, the perfect pirate game:

Sea graphics from Silent Hunter 4 (fewer submarines, more galleons)
Play area is accurate Caribbean map, not fictional area (hell, while we're at it, why not throw in the whole world? Flight Sim can do it, after all, and there was plenty of piracy and nautical goings-on in other regions, too)
Sailing and combat model along lines of PotC but more simulator than arcade game - can sail between ports either on map screen or standing on the deck of your ship
Detailed character generation including name, appearance, clothing and background selection
Can customise ship with flags, sails, paintwork, ornaments, etc
Freeform, open-ended play with no set scenarios or time limits
Ability to create pirate hideouts, manage crew, bury and recover treasure, etc - also, can take crew ashore, set up camps, villages etc, hunt, ambush enemies...
Side missions and questlines available if wanted - missions detailed but randomly generated
Boarding action more detailed: equip your crew for the assault, then board, and play out RTS-style engagement (maybe pause to give orders; jump into an individual and fight in first-person at will)
Assault forts and towns, or sneak in, with similar RTS-style approach
Complex diplomacy with governors, who have individual personalities - some open to bribes, some fiercely opposed to pirates, etc.

I could go on, but I've just realised how long I've already been going. Sorry about that. Still, if anyone out there planning a new pirate game reads this, I think you could do worse than incorporate some of these ideas...

05-01-07, 02:05 PM	#4
Nell Quick Watch Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 30 Downloads: 6 Uploads: 0	The ideal pirate game seems to be as likely as Elite 4. Sid Meier's Pirates! - great as long as you like cuddly happy piracy where no-one really gets hurt and everything has the air of a pantomime. And... dancing? What were they thinking? On the up side, Pirates! is the one I tend to play most often - it's a fairly open game, as long as you don't want to be an actual pirate. I always thought Sid Meier's Privateers! probably suited it better. But it's accessible, it has a great feel to it (both in terms of control and atmosphere), and it's professionally presented. But still, sneaking and dancing were bad ideas. Cutthroats - the best of the existing pirate games in terms of depth. Cutthroats is only let down by the fact that it was buggy as hell and still suffers even now; it isn't too great graphically (although age is largely to account for that); and there are one or two slightly-more-than-cosmetic problems that I find actually cut down on the enjoyment: for example, the high mouse-sensitivity setting that can't be adjusted (as far as I can tell), the speed the game runs at in the Crow's Nest view, and the irritating crew videos that play every time you give an order or something happens and that cause the game to judder. On the up side, Cutthroats allows for pretty much any style of play, from trader through privateer to out-and-out pirate, and it's once again entirely freeform. Tortuga: Terror on the High Seas - Ascaron's version of Pirates!, Tortuga suffers primarily from not working well with Windows XP. Aside from that, it's a little linear for my taste: you have to start in a certain time period from a certain nationality, and you have a specific goal to achieve before the game will allow you different choices. Although having said that, it's still fairly relaxed about how you achieve the goals. Port Royale 1 & 2 - Another Ascaron title, the original Port Royale was the sister title to Tortuga above, but the player was a trader and the goal was to build up a fleet of ships, buy buildings, influence politics, and so on. Port Royale 2 is more of the same, but with more complexity and some refinement to existing features. The player can embark on a career in piracy, but it's difficult to operate as a true pirate and again, privateering is the only really viable option in that direction. Crews in Port Royale are paid by regular salary, as opposed to Tortuga's more conventional (for Caribbean pirate crews) system of sailing on account. Tortuga: Two Treasures - Haven't played it, so I can't really comment, but every review I've seen indicates that it's a story-driven linear game. Personally I can't abide games that make you play them in a strict path - I really don't think there's any excuse for them these days, and they're generally just a short-sighted tactic by publishers who honestly seem to believe that we wouldn't buy new games at all if the older ones couldn't be 'completed'. On the other hand, I'm only judging Two Treasures on what I've read, so if someone wants to correct me by all means do. Seadogs / Pirates of the Caribbean / Age of Pirates - These are graphically wonderful. Well, PotC certainly is - I can't say I've played AoP and it's that long since I saw Seadogs that I can't really remember. But they include a feature I've always marvelled doesn't appear more often: a 3D modelled ship, which you can sail yourself. At least, you can walk around on deck, and look around you at the rolling waves, and so on. The lighting is beautiful, the environments lovingly modelled, the ships detailed and reasonably convincing. What's missing is, unfortunately, a realistic map - instead of the Caribbean, you sail around a small clump of fictional islands. I find this takes away quite a lot from a game called '... of the Caribbean', but maybe that's just me. Combat is clunky, and feels a lot more like luck than judgement: without cheating, enemy ships - even traders - seem to far outclass and outgun the player. In this, as with all the above titles, there's very little opportunity to customise your character, although with Age of Pirates at least I understand that lady pirates are finally catered for. Pirates of the Burning Sea - Again, I've never played it - it's not released - so I can't say whether it's a good game or not. But the basic concept seems to me to be essentially flawed. After all, the simple fact is that everyone wants to be Jack Sparrow, or an appropriate female equivalent. Don't they? Isn't that what pirate games are for? Even before we met Jack Sparrow, isn't it true that we all had the swaggering, swashbuckling and FUN pirate captain archetype in mind when we played the older titles? So create a massively multiplayer environment involving pirates and watch everyone trying to be the same person. I predict it's going to be like Star Wars Galaxies when they made Jedi a choice you could pick at the start instead of having to work towards it. There was no motivation for people to be anything else - after all, aren't the Jedi the epitome of cool? So what's the motivation going to be in PotBS for anyone to try to be anything other than their Inner Jack Sparrow? So, the perfect pirate game: Sea graphics from Silent Hunter 4 (fewer submarines, more galleons) Play area is accurate Caribbean map, not fictional area (hell, while we're at it, why not throw in the whole world? Flight Sim can do it, after all, and there was plenty of piracy and nautical goings-on in other regions, too) Sailing and combat model along lines of PotC but more simulator than arcade game - can sail between ports either on map screen or standing on the deck of your ship Detailed character generation including name, appearance, clothing and background selection Can customise ship with flags, sails, paintwork, ornaments, etc Freeform, open-ended play with no set scenarios or time limits Ability to create pirate hideouts, manage crew, bury and recover treasure, etc - also, can take crew ashore, set up camps, villages etc, hunt, ambush enemies... Side missions and questlines available if wanted - missions detailed but randomly generated Boarding action more detailed: equip your crew for the assault, then board, and play out RTS-style engagement (maybe pause to give orders; jump into an individual and fight in first-person at will) Assault forts and towns, or sneak in, with similar RTS-style approach Complex diplomacy with governors, who have individual personalities - some open to bribes, some fiercely opposed to pirates, etc. I could go on, but I've just realised how long I've already been going. Sorry about that. Still, if anyone out there planning a new pirate game reads this, I think you could do worse than incorporate some of these ideas...