Pre-release review of the upcoming "Treasure Islands"-DLC
Due to a mistake, I was one of the fortunate ones to receive the pre-release keys for the Treasure Island DLC. It came from a friend, who claims it came from a friend of his, and even then from their friend.
Well, where to start?
First of, I'm happy to receive new content to one of the best indie-pirate games I have ever played, so I would be able to invest even more hours in it. I see that a lot of work was put into the new islands, even going as far as bringing us new animations, two new, beautiful music tracks and a “new” enemy in form of a giant crab. I also really like the support fire from your ship, if you are battling larger groups, the crabs or just think “No thanks, I don't want to fight now”, so you blast them away in one volley. The variety of the quests also make sure that it won't get boring so fast.
And if it's getting too hot for you, you can just run back to your ship and leave, getting another shot at it. Excellent!
Cool are also the (temporary) bonuses provided by those magic stones.
But the best is definitely the enchanted gear, which will improve your ship even further! I'll refer to it as “glasscannon gear”, because you will lose it if you sink or die on land. That might be seem a harsh punishment at first, but given the potentially gamebreaking power, it's a necessary drawback. Also, considering the shortness of the levels, you can gather loads of them in a short amount of time.
While it doesn't offer much content (But hey, it's only 5 dollars), it will still add many hours of playtime thanks to the randomized loot. You will play a lot to gather all the items you need to build your magic ship of dreams!
Okay, now for the rest. You know, the stuff I'm not that thrilled about or actually dislike. I'll also make some suggestions to them.
Note that the criticism will always be longer than the positives. This doesn't mean that the DLC is bad (It's very far from that) at all.
-The Galleon. I'm not a trader and the firepower, combined with the long reloading times, seems to be a bad joke for a ship this size (even the Bark is better armed without additional gear), so I have no use for it. It's hold is also nothing to get excited about: only 200 more than the Queen, which seems a bit low for a merchant ship. Yes, it's a bit more mobile, but that's it. It's literally worse everywhere else than the Queen, and you pay 90.000 piastres? For a vessel, that isn't suited for combat at all and has a barely larger hold, limiting its use for trading only? And lets not forget that it has less slots for gear and artifacts. Oh, and a fully outfitted Queen is just as fast as a Galleon, meaning that it can't even escape the slowest ship in the game.
Suggestions: Increase the hold to 2.500, make it a bit faster and give it the same number of slots like the Queen. While it shouldn't turn into a warship, it should be powerful enough to make at least frigates think twice before assaulting. Or simply reduce the price, for example down to 60.000.
-The temporary bonuses. While a nice idea, the short time isn't really worth the effort to get them. They last a complete trip through a map from A to B (without stops at harbours or fights), are randomized and highly situational.
Suggestions: Double or triple the time. Alternatively maybe a system like “+10% cannon accuracy for 20 broadsides”. Third option: Instead of these bonuses, implement additional magic gear which you can apply to the cannons, sails, etc. Like enchanted mermaid tears.
-The quest designs. Some are very easy and short (Valley of death: Just run to the goal and never stop), while others are rather difficult (Pirate's hideout: Only two allies against a whole group) and/or rather long (Ignite the ways with exploding barrels, which you have to shove with your body. Why can't you use your ship for that?). No problem: If it wasn't for the randomized loot, which doesn't seem to consider how hard and long the quests are. It's perfectly possible to receive enchanted highend-gear in one of those shorter and easier islands, while you can basically get rubbish from the harder ones.
Suggestions: Tie the loot drops to the quests, for example different chances for different peaces of gear to appear or more or less goods.
-Speaking of loot, the distribution. I'm probably just unlucky, but I get showered with enchanted fortified wood and bombards. While I have now enough for replacements, I really would like to see other magic items.
Are the chances for all items really equal?
-Bugs. I couldn't complete one of those abandoned town-islands despite having all three keys, as it never told me to go to the treasury. But it was only once, so just a minor annoyance.
-Pay to win. The improved magic gear is basically locked behind a paywall, which puts non-buyers at a disadvantage. One or two magic items won't make much of a difference in battles, but an entirely enchanted ship should be able to smash everything in PvP.
In sum I can say that for only 5 dollars, you will get a worthy DLC (despite needing some tweaks) which gifts you with many additional hours and a stronger ship then ever! Chances are that this might also reduce the “Early Game Hell” new players have to face.
