Show and tell: Pirates!

[Vault Dweller]

Today is RPG Codex's <b><i>Show & Tell</i></b> day. It means that I can tell you about a cool non-RPG game and probably won't get fired for that. Although one can argue that Pirates! is more of an RPG then many other games unjustly claiming that title. Anyway, <a href=http://www.gamespy.com>GameSpy</a> posted a <a href=http://www.gamespy.com/previews/march04/piratespc>preview</a> of new and improved <a href=http://www.firaxis.com>Pirates!</a>. Check it out!

<blockquote>"Our goal is to put you, as the player, in a central role of what's going on," explains Meier, firing up the game in a conference room decorated (we're not kidding) with an enormous Jolly Roger flag. The game world is a "fully fleshed-out sandbox" where you'll have your own ship (or fleet of ships) and free reign to do as you please. There's a working economy, a shifting political climate, ports with their own allegiances, ships skittering back and forth on their own agenda ... and you, exploiting it all for your own gain.

Your pirate hero can't be killed. But, your career will only last so long, so you'll want to be careful. If you lose a battle, instead of being hung, you're captured and thrown into jail. If you can't break out, you have to serve out a couple of years, cutting your career that much shorter. As your pirate ages, you begin to slow down ... you won't be able to fight as fast as you used to, or sail as well. The game ends only when you decide to retire. (Afterwards, you're given a Civilization-style ranking based on your accomplishments.) "You can live out an entire career in a comfortable evening of play," Meier estimates. </blockquote>
Discuss!

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Sounds pretty good!

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

I don't know if I like the idea of the "can't be killed" thing so that it only rates your career. Makes it sound more like a Pirate Tycoon or something rather than a piraty sim type thing.

 

[EEVIAC]

It seems they're transplanting the original game into a 3D engine, without messing around with the gameplay that much. Yay!!!

I don't know if I like the idea of the "can't be killed" thing so that it only rates your career. Makes it sound more like a Pirate Tycoon or something rather than a piraty sim type thing.

I like the no-death idea. It means that if you lose a battle and get captured you can just play it as it is, without having to reload because your game is over. There could even be benefits to being captured. Being allowed to not only escape from prison, but raid a fort from the inside, taking out the guns while the rest of your fleet storms the town, would be awesome.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Depends how they implement it. I see death as a forced reload, other options, however, would give a player a chance to continue. If you lost a sea battle and died, you reload, plain and simple. If you lost a battle and got thrown in jail and that gives you an option to escape and basically opens up new possibilities, reputation perks, etc then it's cool.

 

[Voss]

The original worked like that didn't it?

I seem to remember recovering from greivous wounds, or imprisoned until an opportunity arose- in either case time passed, and your reputation suffered as people forgot about you.

I hope its better than other revamped Sid games...

Though bribing natives to attack towns sounds entertaining.

And I miss slowly picking apart a man o'war with a sloop. Good times.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Sid's games are teh win!

 

[DarkUnderlord]

It seems they're transplanting the original game into a 3D engine, without messing around with the gameplay that much. Yay!!!

That makes it sound like Civilization III.

 

[Otaku_Hanzo]

That makes it sound like Civilization III.

Ziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!1!

 

[Azael]

I don't know if I like the idea of the "can't be killed" thing so that it only rates your career. Makes it sound more like a Pirate Tycoon or something rather than a piraty sim type thing.

The original worked like that, and I'm glad that they're not changin it. If you got defeated in a duel, you were thrown in jail unless it was a mutiny, then you were marooned on a deserted island until you could catch a ride with rum smugglers, Jack Sparrow style. Same thing if your ship was sunk, one way or another. It's not supposed to be a bloody serious pirate sim, but a fun swashbuckling game just like the original. Damn, I haven't looked forward as much to a game since, well, never. Guess I'm opening myself up for disappointment, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

 

[Anonymous]

Alpha Centauri 2 also, PLZPLZPLZL

 

[Vault Dweller]

Now it's IGN's turn to talk about Pirates!

Though you won't be able to take on forts from the sea like you could in the previous game, this new version of Pirates! will still allow you to land your forces and march overland towards towns and fortresses. You'll be able to field two types of forces from your crew. Buccaneers will be equipped with rifles and serve as your ranged troops. General pirates equipped with swords will form the melee contingent of your army. The enemy will have both these types of troops as well as cavalry. Since the battles take place on the 3D land map, you'll be able to take advantage of high ground and concealment in the forest as you move towards the town. If there just aren't enough defenders at a town, you may find yourself in a duel with the fort commander.

Before launching your attack though, you might want to take advantage of the highly-suggestible Indians found in various settlements around the map. If you can sufficiently awe the natives, you can convince them to launch a war canoe against a nearby enemy. You'll likely have to protect the canoe as it rows toward its target but, if you can get them there in one piece, they can reduce a town's defenses enough to make it relatively easy for you to march in and take over.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

"Our goal is to put you, as the player, in a central role of what's going on,"

...Someone's been away from goals in gaming since Pacman.

 

[Voss]

Or they've been playing dungeon siege too much.

 

[EEVIAC]

Alpha Centauri 2 also, PLZPLZPLZL

I'd crawl over broken glass for a Covert Action 2.

 

[Azael]

Damn, no coastal bombardments, that's a bit of disappointment. Let's just hope that ground combat is a lot better than in the original, since that was easily its weakest point.

 

[Psilon]

Agreed. I generally (savor the irony) just blasted the living shit out of the forts from the sea. A few heavily-armed sloops and barques could outrun anything they couldn't level outright.

Shame you can't go completely rogue, though. It used to be quite a lot of fun to get every single nation gunning for you, loot everything, then find a pirate amnesty and sell everything off.

They seem to be making a big deal of the romance-the-governor's-daughter feature. Is wooing merchant offspring still in? Unless you took Wit & Charm as your special ability, it was usually a hell of a lot easier to dump 700 pounds of sugar on some sales clerk.

 

[HanoverF]

I love the picture of the town that looks saftey pinned onto the island, with the caption "A 3D graphics engine allows for a more immersive experience"

Morons, your bus is leaving.

In this day of dummbed down games, I can understand the get thrown in jail rather then executed, but I'd like a "realistic" mode option wherein 95% of pirating careers end in the first year, and more often to scurvy or contaminater food. I want to be a pirate so notorous they have no choice but to execute me.

When I think I pirates I think of buried treasure, sea battles, walking the plank, bottles of rum, raping and pillaging, not romances, what kinda Fabio bullshit is that?

I know there was marrying governor's daughters in the original, but those were hardly romances...

 

[DarkUnderlord]

I actually rather like CutThroats for my pirarty experience.

When the buggy piece of crap doesn't crash on me, that is.

 

[Elwro]

I In this day of dummbed down games, I can understand the get thrown in jail rather then executed, but I'd like a "realistic" mode option wherein 95% of pirating careers end in the first year,

I played the original Pirates with the "Swashbuckler" difficulty setting and it was exactly like that.