PlayLogic sent PA! a copy of the game, and having played it for the better part of Saturday and Sunday, I'm still a little undecided on the game - even being undecided the game is like crack and I still want to keep playing ... But that is because I'm a sucker for adventure games.
First off ... cannons exploding SUCKS! I mean, I'll deal with it, because its definitely adds a challenge to even an easy mode game, but Daaaaamn. There is nothing like taking your Lugger up against a Schooner and going to fire and BOOM! - watching debris fly from your ship and noticed you just blew out all the cannons on the side of your ship ... Crap ... Guess I'm gonna have to try to board them. (Note: Cannons exploding have a lot to do with you or your officer's skill in Cannons and what type of cannons you have. Iron cannons cut down on exploding cannons by 40%, but are very expensive in the beginning. I highly recommend getting them once you have a sturdy ship.)
The AI seems a little off to me. And by a little, I mean the following:
So I'm taking my Brig up against 2 pirate vessels ... A Schooner and a War Galleon. My Brig ONLY has about 117 crewman on it ... The War Galleon has a hell of a lot more, and I only had about 80 between soldiers (those who fight on deck) and sailors (those keeping the wooden bath tub afloat). I blew out my cannons .. AGAIN ... and figure since I had the wind to my advantage, I would come in close to board. So what does the Schooner do? RAMS me. What made it even worse is, it immediately went to boarding. So I fought my way through, killed the captain of the ship, but upon leaving, I am now an Insta-Sink because I just thrashed my vessel getting rammed. Quickly hitting enter three times to get through the quick menu allowed me to avoid loading from another save, but Gosh that sucks. ... And the War Galleon that was so fond of pounding me with it's cannons from afar? Ran away like a little girl!
In life's typical paradox, though the game is meant to be open ended, I feel slightly contrained. In POTC where I could inevitably fall off the stone retaining walls, or walk through the grass, or hell even swim in the water in certain areas, you cannot do really any of these things.
For those of you used to POTC, the controls are going to be a kick in the teeth. I can't tell you how many times I was clicking the left mouse to move forward. I haven't tried re-mapping the keys to anything comfortable yet. I think A,S,D would me more comfortable for the sword fighting moves, because that puts your pinky on the shift key (parry), and the thumb on the space (block). That's just me ...
I am beginning to think that trading is FUBAR. Grab items from a colony that exports and bring to a colony that imports. The price they would buy for was LESS than what the other colony (which had tons) sold for. Granted, this is without adding skill points to trading, having an officer to that, or adding a special skill. So who knows.
In dorking around, the best way I've found to make money up front was (playing English first time) do the missions, but check around town as well. The Governor will generally have a huge window in which to complete his mission, and there is usually SOMEONE needing to be taken somewhere, or a ship to be escorted. I would link together doing the Governor's mission, transporting one more or people to another island, and escorting a ship. That would quadruple my earnings while on the mission. In the beginning doing this with a lugger or schooner, you can fully man your ship and have your salary from the nation you served cover them, meaning everything along the way is yours. By the time I would finish with the Governor's mission, I could make 20,000 or more. I've been lucky the last several missions with the occasional pirate or French (now at war with England) taking me on, and receiving some nicer guns and swords at the end of the fight. Having nicer ones, I sell those off and make some moila there too.
I've just started moving into the actual plot, so I can't tell you much about the rest. After checking the INI's and seeing them all encrypted (Damn!) I'm a little worried that this once won't go as far as POTC did. But I'm an optimist I guess. Maybe another patch? Mission Editor? Something?
I haven't played enough to give a firm review, just my initial thoughts of it. I definitely find it enticing to play, and so far haven't experience any errors (minus one that relates more to Windows that anything) - Looking forward to trying to capture a town soon. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="<_<" border="0" alt="dry.gif" />
First off ... cannons exploding SUCKS! I mean, I'll deal with it, because its definitely adds a challenge to even an easy mode game, but Daaaaamn. There is nothing like taking your Lugger up against a Schooner and going to fire and BOOM! - watching debris fly from your ship and noticed you just blew out all the cannons on the side of your ship ... Crap ... Guess I'm gonna have to try to board them. (Note: Cannons exploding have a lot to do with you or your officer's skill in Cannons and what type of cannons you have. Iron cannons cut down on exploding cannons by 40%, but are very expensive in the beginning. I highly recommend getting them once you have a sturdy ship.)
The AI seems a little off to me. And by a little, I mean the following:
So I'm taking my Brig up against 2 pirate vessels ... A Schooner and a War Galleon. My Brig ONLY has about 117 crewman on it ... The War Galleon has a hell of a lot more, and I only had about 80 between soldiers (those who fight on deck) and sailors (those keeping the wooden bath tub afloat). I blew out my cannons .. AGAIN ... and figure since I had the wind to my advantage, I would come in close to board. So what does the Schooner do? RAMS me. What made it even worse is, it immediately went to boarding. So I fought my way through, killed the captain of the ship, but upon leaving, I am now an Insta-Sink because I just thrashed my vessel getting rammed. Quickly hitting enter three times to get through the quick menu allowed me to avoid loading from another save, but Gosh that sucks. ... And the War Galleon that was so fond of pounding me with it's cannons from afar? Ran away like a little girl!
In life's typical paradox, though the game is meant to be open ended, I feel slightly contrained. In POTC where I could inevitably fall off the stone retaining walls, or walk through the grass, or hell even swim in the water in certain areas, you cannot do really any of these things.
For those of you used to POTC, the controls are going to be a kick in the teeth. I can't tell you how many times I was clicking the left mouse to move forward. I haven't tried re-mapping the keys to anything comfortable yet. I think A,S,D would me more comfortable for the sword fighting moves, because that puts your pinky on the shift key (parry), and the thumb on the space (block). That's just me ...
I am beginning to think that trading is FUBAR. Grab items from a colony that exports and bring to a colony that imports. The price they would buy for was LESS than what the other colony (which had tons) sold for. Granted, this is without adding skill points to trading, having an officer to that, or adding a special skill. So who knows.
In dorking around, the best way I've found to make money up front was (playing English first time) do the missions, but check around town as well. The Governor will generally have a huge window in which to complete his mission, and there is usually SOMEONE needing to be taken somewhere, or a ship to be escorted. I would link together doing the Governor's mission, transporting one more or people to another island, and escorting a ship. That would quadruple my earnings while on the mission. In the beginning doing this with a lugger or schooner, you can fully man your ship and have your salary from the nation you served cover them, meaning everything along the way is yours. By the time I would finish with the Governor's mission, I could make 20,000 or more. I've been lucky the last several missions with the occasional pirate or French (now at war with England) taking me on, and receiving some nicer guns and swords at the end of the fight. Having nicer ones, I sell those off and make some moila there too.
I've just started moving into the actual plot, so I can't tell you much about the rest. After checking the INI's and seeing them all encrypted (Damn!) I'm a little worried that this once won't go as far as POTC did. But I'm an optimist I guess. Maybe another patch? Mission Editor? Something?
I haven't played enough to give a firm review, just my initial thoughts of it. I definitely find it enticing to play, and so far haven't experience any errors (minus one that relates more to Windows that anything) - Looking forward to trying to capture a town soon. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="<_<" border="0" alt="dry.gif" />
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:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> look'n forwrd hear'n more,That'd be European verson ye be play'n ? still 'aven't heard anyting on a US release yet,ur am I missin sumth'n <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" /> De reports o' stability problems all seemed tew begin after de German release on Aug 31st, which btw be version 1.41, just like de latest Russian patch version. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":huh" border="0" alt="huh.gif" /> Most o' dese irate folks be siting thar consumers rights, having bought their copies, so thar prolly be mo' tew dis issue den PL be a sayin', Fred Bob be speculatin'! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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