Or it should have been this way. But the premise of the entire film is how Davy Jones and his magical ship are key to controlling the seas. "Whoever controls the heart of Davy Jones controls the sea."
Personally I imagined that Kraken might've had something to do with that.
Plus his ability to ignore the wind and pop up wherever he wants.
Still, it's a pity we don't get to see the Endeavour (or Dauntless) in action. It's a little like the Executor starship from Empire Strikes Back, which is the size of Manhattan but is only seen crashing after a single pilot rams his plane into the bridge.
True, actually.
Seeing the
Executor actually DO something would've been quite the sight indeed!
Incidentally, in the game the Black Pearl is made to be "invincible", when this clearly doesn't seem to be the case in the films even during the curse. It isn't made of some tough magical wood. The Interceptor alone managed to put a few holes into the hull. Same as with the Dutchman, which took damage from the Pearl's salvos in AWE. Dutchman gets a buff in the mod, which I understand due to to the stock game's buff on the Pearl and this being the logical equivalent.
If I recall, the
Pearl was set as invincible already in the original game.
Probably for the simple reason that she
needs to survive your first encounter at Falaise de Fleur / Martinique.
I think the Dutchman in the mod was meant to be as well, but instead just got nuts HP.
Which
@Grey Roger has been happily making use of by winning the unwinnable fight with it anyway.
Is there really no way I can create a ship duel with a choice opponent in the modded game right from the start?
With some quest code, sure you could.
If you set the ships you want at specific custom locators around an island, you could probably even fully control their positions.
Plus the weather conditions too, of course.
Let me help out. Stop trying to apply logic to the PotC franchise. Ships travel at the speed of plot. Cursed, or otherwise magical, ships are made of the toughest handwavium. It's almost as tough as unobtanium, but with requisite bits flying about dramatically when hit. And if you think the Pearl or Dutchman aren't made of magical wood, then the respective crews aren't made of magical meat, are they?
Hehe; you're definitely rrrrrright on the money there!
They're very much films and not simulations.
What counts more than anything is "Rule of Cool".
Also...
"Handwavium" wins!
Suspension of disbelief is the key. It's the stock and trade of writers. Always has been, always will be. Suspension of disbelief allows us to accept the fantastical. Told in the right way, mermaids are real (though they're still singing sharks in evening gowns and I want nothing to do with them), ghost ships with ghost crews exist, the Fountain of Youth can make us young again or even deliver us from death, etcetera, etcetera. For the most part, the PotC franchise hits these marks, delivering enjoyable escapist storytelling. And escapist storytelling rarely bears up under close scrutiny. Just relax and enjoy the ride.
Truth be told, while watching, I'm perfectly happy to suspend my disbelief with those films.
They're well-made enough that most lapses don't really bother me.
Doesn't stop me from being entertained when thinking about more real-life implications.
Especially since for the mod here we did try to walk an oddly fine line between "magic exists" and "it's not completely nuts".
That said, I do wonder what stories might be conjured up when there would be serious consideration for realities, even when magic also exists.
Sometimes real life limitations can make for
more interesting storytelling.
Or just plain comedy value:
Reality Ensues - TV Tropes
Sometimes I fantasize about a historical seafaring franchise that mixes true history, mostly true physics and true legends.
One that could genuinely be imagined as an alternate history to our own; because for the most part, it's actually set in the real world.
I think the main thing that tends to annoy me in film is the ignoring of
travel times.
Especially bad in PotC where they seem to jump all over Planet Earth in what feels like half a heartbeat.
Writing stories that actually incorporate distances properly, I think, would help SO much in making them feel more real.
Since we've been using Star Wars as an example anyway, I like how the books of Timothy Zahn handle it.
Right from the start, he's often put bits in there about travel times; from hours, to even days or
weeks.
I never realized it so much before, but once I read those bits, I found I
really appreciated it.
Helps such a ton to make a full galaxy feel more...
galaxy-sized.
Likewise, the modern Star Trek films went really ALL-out in throwing all that out the window.
You can just beam from one end of the solar system to the other while going at warp speeds.
I'm reminded also of the making of "Jaws".
Original intention was to show the shark ALL the time.
But due to technical difficulties, most of the times they couldn't make it work.
End result: they had to be far more creative and the movie ended up all the more scary for it!
Similarly, I'm always impressed watching old-school films; and knowing the things you see were REALLY done FOR REAL!
Even such a new one as Cutthroat Island, there's really exceptionally little trickery in there!
And that final ship explosion was FULL-SCALE!
I wonder if that has ever been done before or since.
