• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


    Visit our website www.piratehorizons.com to quickly find download links for the newest versions of our New Horizons mods Beyond New Horizons and Maelstrom New Horizons!

Pirates! Information/Features All In One!

That can be something to worry about, or something to be happy about. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-zac999`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zac999)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Ya, the time needs to be expanded.   I really liked playing pirate from 7 to 1 in the morning when I was younger.   I so hope they will not make it a 5 hour game.  That would do a huge `dis-service` for the game and what it did to the industry.    :p:[/quote]

That´s about the time you need for one complete career in original pirates! Gold (with the medicine skill and without being wounded, you can stay active for just over ten years). Done it just last staurday night. I don´t know what´s the time rate there, but taking a look into the Ship´s Log, it seems to be about the same. What I´m wondering about is the number on 29 ship types. I´d really like to see what those are supposed to be, for in Pirates! Gold, there are only nine (and the Fast Galleon is replaced by the frigate from 1640, so effectively there are a maximum of eight active ship types), in Port Royale, there´s about a dozen ships.
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Muay`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Muay)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->"DOnt u think its sucks? 5 hour and the game is ending????
Why it couldnt be :1 year its 1 hour , and ofcourse pirate can die from disease or something.
Greetings <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/pirate2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p:" border="0" alt="pirate2.gif" />[/quote]

Indeed, if not customizable, a very poor design decision... I want to be able to play at my own pace. Besides, let's see... at that rate if you want to go from Barbados to Port Royal it will take 7 seconds, more or less (as 7 days was a normal time of travel between these two spots - going from E to W, remember). 7 seconds? We will hardly hve the time to take a look at the map, to explore our surroundings...
This rate of 1 second per day is really, really weird! (and I am not even considering that time passes at that rate while on port, of course!)
 
From a gamespy preview:

<i>"Once you move into combat, you'll select a flagship to fight from and zoom in closer where the ships move about and fire cannons at one another. This section is much like I remembered the original game, although it's faster and more `arcade-like`."</i>

<b>Faster</b> and more <b>arcade like</b>? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" /> Ouch!! The more I read between the lines about this game, the less attractive it seems... please, someone tell me the player can choose the speed of the sea battles (like in Port Royal, Port Royal 2, POTC, Cutthroats...to name but a few!)

I wonder if some very poor design decisions don't definitely spoil an otherwise classic game... I am seriously considering to cancel my preorder <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />
 
Hey George, had some more time to answer. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I understand your worries. It must have been a real dilemma for Firaxis though. The game has disappeared for almost 2 decades so there's almost no `sequel-hype`. The only sequel hype they could generate was that among the older gamers but that's a small group really.

So, what is a game developer to do? Go for a remake, please the small group that has played the game the first time around and is still interested in it? Or blow everyone away with a true sequel? Tough choice.

I think they decided to see if there's still a market for the game. More and more people are getting into the abandonware scene. Partly because it's free gaming, but also (I think) because people are missing something in todays games: simple, straightforward fun that you don't have to break your head over to understand or kill your arm/shoulder/neck for to be able to keep up with. It's just a theory of course, but I don't think I'm far off. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
I'm afraid I agree with ubik. I couln't be more enthusiastic about this game, but I'm really worried about this stress on `arcade-like` qualities... The graphics I could just take, but if the sea voyages will be without wind effect and the battles will be quicker (probably also without the wind), I'm starting to doubt...

I should have expected a bit more realism than the original (not too much, though), while keeping all that made the original a masterpiece...
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Wolfwood`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wolfwood)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I'm afraid I agree with ubik. I couln't be more enthusiastic about this game, but I'm really worried about this stress on `arcade-like` qualities... The graphics I could just take, but if the sea voyages will be without wind effect and the battles will be quicker (probably also without the wind), I'm starting to doubt...

I should have expected a bit more realism than the original (not too much, though), while keeping all that made the original a masterpiece...[/quote]

Yes... Even if its not my style, I can stand the childish graphics (they seem to me quite similar to Walt Disney movies), a slong as the gameplay is balanced and deep enough. As for more realism... I really just ask for the same level as before, and not for a watered down version easily ported to the XBox and their teenager following...
Concerning the wind, it was really nice to account for it, specially at higher levels of difficulty in the original Pirates!. Of course the wind MUST play a not so small part in ship to ship combat (dare I say it is together with the type of ships involved the main factor in deciding who will win a battle?).

If you go to SM Pirates! main page, and click on the small movie on the righ, you will see how everything moves at turbo speed... it looks so childish... My only hope is the fact everything there was put on a turbo mode to show more of the game using less bandwith for the movie...

On a side note (and I must add maybe unfair towards Sid Meyer Pirates! as I obviously didn't play the game), I think PC game developers continue to equate the PC game market with just a bunch of acne full immature teenagers who either just love gory bloodfests, or, to have a low enough ESRB rating are computerized versions of bland Disney movies with too much flash but too few content...
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-ubik`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ubik)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

On a side note (and I must add maybe unfair towards Sid Meyer Pirates! as I obviously didn't play the game), I think PC game developers continue to equate the PC game market with just a bunch of acne full immature teenagers who either just love gory bloodfests, or, to have a low enough ESRB rating are computerized versions of bland Disney movies with too much flash but too few content...[/quote]

Well, i think that what you described is nothing new. The PC market gets more and more into mainstream and so are the games. I know its sad but i dont think there is a way back. Game developers want to reach all levels of players. So they try to make the games more easy.
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-SirDrago`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SirDrago)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

Well, i think that what you described is nothing new. The PC market gets more and more into mainstream and so are the games. I know its sad but i dont think there is a way back. Game developers want to reach all levels of players. So they try to make the games more easy.[/quote]


It really depends on who is developing and more important distributing the games. Usually the larger the companies involved, the better the graphics, menus and cutscenes, but worse is the gameplay and less the depth.

I would not go as far as saying it is becoming hopeless, because an healthy number of small independent developers are developing very, very good games. What changed from 15 years ago was the ratio of good games versus all the others. Right now the proportion is far smaller but if you know where to look at you continue to find real gems.

Enjoying or not their games, Paradox, Ascaron, Egosoft, Stardock, Destroyer studios or Malfador, to name a few, are really creative in their approach to game design and development.

But I don't want to hijack this thread! Let's continue to talk about Sid Meyers Pirates!, its strongpoints and possible problems.

As for me, it is clear if the game forces the player to worry about the seconds passing by while navigating, or the battles play like an arcade game, it is a failure.

Another thing that annoys me slightly is the inability the player have to simply die... In a pirate game, you cannot drown! You cannot be mortally wounded (even without the gore) by an evil governor! You cannot even be captured and condemend to death for piracy by your enemies... it seems more and more like "Pirates!" went visiting Disney World...
And yes, I read before Sid Meyer is totally anti violence but I can recall from the top of my head some excellent games developed by Sid Meyer himself who had lots of dead people around... Covert Action, F15 Strike Eagle 2, F19 Stealth Fighter, Red Storm Rising, Gettisburg, Antietam... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-ubik`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ubik)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

Another thing that annoys me slightly is the inability the player have to simply die...  In a pirate game, you cannot drown! You cannot be mortally wounded (even without the gore) by an evil governor! You cannot even be captured and condemend to death for piracy by your enemies... it seems more and more like "Pirates!" went visiting Disney World...
[/quote]

Well in the original game you couldnt die. I dont think thats a big deal.
The wind annoys me more. I would like that the wind has an impact on the game. I mean i just dont want to travel to a city and then to another.
Why not even putting some hurricanes in the game? would be cool if you suddenly are stuck in one <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
 
@Sirdrago

I fully agree with you regarding the wind.
To be honest, I cannot recall if we could die in Pirates! but not being a major "issue" for me, the risk of death would add another possibility in the game (well... the final one, I guess! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":rolleyes:" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" /> ).
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Falconer`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Falconer)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Hey George, had some more time to answer. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

I understand your worries. It must have been a real dilemma for Firaxis though. The game has disappeared for almost 2 decades so there's almost no `sequel-hype`. The only sequel hype they could generate was that among the older gamers but that's a small group really.  

So, what is a game developer to do? Go for a remake, please the small group that has played the game the first time around and is still interested in it? Or blow everyone away with a true sequel? Tough choice.

I think they decided to see if there's still a market for the game. More and more people are getting into the abandonware scene. Partly because it's free gaming, but also (I think) because people are missing something in todays games: simple, straightforward fun that you don't have to break your head over to understand or kill your arm/shoulder/neck for to be able to keep up with. It's just a theory of course, but I don't think I'm far off. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />[/quote]


Something bland, simple, straightforward, with flashy graphics and nice music? The problem is that most of the times the design becomes so asseptic that the game becomes trash. Then you have the marketing gurus to sell an otherwise crappy game.

This being said, I honestly hope this game lives to all the hype created around it, even if some design options, as far as the general knowledge go, are really pointing in a most despairing direction (misundertandings aside, of course, as we are all talking about something we don't know for sure)...

But the rate the time passes when navigating in the Caribbean, the short duration of a career, the arcade style of naval combats and to a lesser extent the cartoonish graphics don't bid well to this game's overall quality as a worthy "Pirates!" sucessor.

I would love if Jeff from Atari could clarify some of our doubts here...
 
You have learned to like the graphics just cause you wanna like them.

but honestly they are a little dissapointment. HJust as the graphics in sims 2 and Roller Coaster Tyccon 3.

It seems like there are only money to have top quality graphics in FPS games or Myst.
 
Well, I actually DO like the graphics... becuase I "really" like them, not becuase I "wanna" like them. I don't want graphics like Myst or Call of Duty.

Besides, those game have to have a more immersive 3D world rendered for the player, simply because that is the point of the game. This game (and the original) never pretended to be that way.

As long as this game is true to the original, I'll be happy. I don't want major game concepts to be altered just to please "today's" gamer. I don't want my Pirate to die. I don't want to be able to have an unlimited career. And I don't want to have to read a manual about sailing to be able to conduct a naval battle. The original game was not a simulation. I don't want this one to be. I play other games for simulations (in fact, I pretty much ONLY play simulation type games). But the original was not that way.

For those of you who don't know the original, I hope once you play this game, you'll "get it". If you don't like it after you play it, then maybe this type of game is not for you and you might not have liked the original one to begin with.

The original had a perfect blend of fun, strategy, RPG and replay value. It was like several smaller games in one. It was a groundbreaking concept and there had never been anything like it before (save perhaps Seven Cities of Gold by Dan Bunten). It's still regarded by many to be one of the best games ever made. I don't want the formula to be messed with all in the name of appealing to a more sophisticated audience.

End rant.
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-DJ1`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DJ1)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->You have learned to like the graphics just cause you wanna like them.

but honestly they are a little dissapointment. HJust as the graphics in sims 2 and Roller Coaster Tyccon 3.

It seems like there are only money to have top quality graphics in FPS games or Myst.[/quote]

Personally I think the graphics are well made, even if their style leaves much to be desired. Too cartoonish for my taste. And for those who say the old Pirates was a "lighthearted" aproach on piracy (such is the spin given by the company), I remember the graphics were not cartoonish at all...
But I can live with the graphics IF the game performs. For me (and judging by a large number of posts in this and other threads, including a poll, for the majority of us) its clear we don't want a watered down version of Pirates! where we control a sort of wooden jet ski firing silly broadsides at other vessels of the same type. We don't want to be pressed to count the seconds as we navigate in the caribbean in turbo speed (after all, navigating induces precisely the opposite feeling, to all who had the pleasure of experiencing it). We want to be able to plan ambushes, to come with strategies, to have the time to look at our ships surrounding, exploiting the winds, planning the actions, and then entering a naval combat part where what counts is not reflexes, but strategy and of couse, some luck thrown in!
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Cap`'n Toast+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cap'n Toast)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
As long as this game is true to the original, I'll be happy.  I don't want major game concepts to be altered just to please "today's" gamer.  I don't want my Pirate to die.  I don't want to be able to have an unlimited career.  And I don't want to have to read a manual about sailing to be able to conduct a naval battle.  The original game was not a simulation.  I don't want this one to be.  I play other games for simulations (in fact, I pretty much ONLY play simulation type games).  But the original was not that way.  


End rant.[/quote]

I agree with everything you said (short of enjoying the graphics... I tolerate them).
My point is the fact given the way the ships go around, it looks silly and <b>very, very different from the original Pirates!</b> Do you remember how long it would take to circunavigate Hispaniola on the original? I guess in the movies I saw it will be done 20 times faster... and the battles, where a ship will turn around in half a second? <b>Is this close to the old Pirates!? No it is not...</b>
That's what keep my worried, the differences in basic design, not the bells
and whistles of graphics, death or sound...

And the majority of us are complaining because we played the original! Look, in the original you never need to read a book on navigation. But the game was NOT arcade at all. If you see the movies presented, you can see everything is going around so fast its like a reflex contest. And that is far, far different from the original Pirates!

Now, I would be perfectly happy if Jeff came here and simply said: "look, the speed of the game in the navigation and battle parts are the same as in the original".

See? We both want the same thing. The problem is in an important aspect (naval combat and navigating are probably the most important aspects of a Pirate game, are they not?) the game is clear different from its famed predcessor...


Please Jeff, be so good as to clarify these doubts...
 
I agree with pretty much what everyone else has said, while im not discounting the game will be fun im quite certain it will be but i think the my games stretching days is gone <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

Regarding the graphics, i find them ok and they have grown on me but i still cannot get over my initial dissapointment of not being able to be in a "morrowind" like immersive world. I really honestly thought thats the way they would go
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-Keith`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Keith)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I agree with pretty much what everyone else has said, while im not discounting the game will be fun im quite certain it will be but i think the my games stretching days is gone  :(  

Regarding the graphics,  i find them ok and they have grown on me but i still cannot get over my initial dissapointment of not being able to be in a "morrowind" like immersive world.  I really honestly thought thats the way they would go[/quote]

I think the graphics are fine. At first i didn`t like them so much but now i actually do like them.
But i really would like to know if the wind has an effect or not. I mean it would be just too unrealistic if the clouds are there but no wind.
 
<!--`QuoteBegin-SirDrago`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SirDrago)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--`QuoteBegin-Keith`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Keith)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I agree with pretty much what everyone else has said, while im not discounting the game will be fun im quite certain it will be but i think the my games stretching days is gone  :(  

Regarding the graphics,  i find them ok and they have grown on me but i still cannot get over my initial dissapointment of not being able to be in a "morrowind" like immersive world.  I really honestly thought thats the way they would go[/quote]

I think the graphics are fine. At first i didn`t like them so much but now i actually do like them.
But i really would like to know if the wind has an effect or not. I mean it would be just too unrealistic if the clouds are there but no wind.[/quote]


I do hope the wind as the same effect as in the original Pirates!... Why would they take it out? It was a funny element in the navigation part of the game...
 
Here, Jeff from Atari posted that today on Cutlass Isle

<a href="http://www.cutlassisle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=345" target="_blank">http://www.cutlassisle.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=345</a>

It doesn`t look very good. I mean jumping to a port is like the realism killer.... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/urgh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":urgh" border="0" alt="urgh.gif" />
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top