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**child of Thor** · June 16, 2004, 15:42

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wow! no one here has played this? ..........or it was that bad?

Well i haven't had a crash yet(or save game corruption), but i was reading about this, especially in relation to the xbox, and how to best avoid these game issues.

I've found a decent FAQ here at GameFaqs

And a couple of fansites i've found so far are:

https://www.piratehideout.com

Ellaybe Island forum its got info on most Pirate games, but also a good section on PotC

Pirates Ahoy for files for the PC version of the game - the home forum/site is also full of useful info

oh and a Map(that didnt come with the game!), that in the tradition of old maps isn't 100% accurate to the real(game)world. here at bethsoft

And if your russian is good - info on what looks like the real game that PotC was meant to be should be coming out towards the end of the year

here

A decent website with much historical info on all things Pirate here

Not so cool i've read about the worrying bugs in the xbox version, how it can corrupt ALL your save files!! but if you look around and in the FAQ thing above, it shows ways to minamise these problems - i'm going to get my self a memmory card just to be on the safe side.

This is an issue in itself about the Console/PC debate, at least the PC version can get patched - the xbox version has no on-line ability.

Back to the game:

I've started over and decided to spend more time in the begining on land - to see what that portion of the game is like.
Well its not as enchanting as the Sailing part, but I have been having fun running around with a couple of crewmen(Firstmate and a Boatswain) clearing the roads of bandits and thieves and trying to get as much experience as possible.
Combat is ok, its hard enough(and fatal enough) to overcome its fairly simple nature - think the origonal 'Pirates' game but in 3D.

I have to laugh a little at the marketing descision to basicaly put out the game SeaDogs II with only a few cosmetic changes to make it PotC, to tie in with the movie release.

The main problem being that the target market of 'casual console/pc users' that might have been interested in the movie(it has Johnny Depp in it right?), are going to find this rather hard core game a bit of a shock.

Which is good news for the rest of us that have been gasping for a decent pirate sim since, well the first Pirates by Sid.

In a way its a shame SeaDogs II didn't come out under its origonal intentions - its difficult to tell not having played the first SeaDogs to see what was changed for PotC.

**child of Thor** · June 17, 2004, 08:00

quote: (from Morrowind anyone thread)

'But PotC is keeping me away from Morrowind and Championship Manager on my xbox, its surprised me, in a good way'

by Space05us

"I rented that last week, it was pretty good. I didnt play the story line though, I just captured other ships and either added them to my armada or sold them to upgrade my personal vessel. Got boring after a few hours though. I should rent it again and stick with the story, no?"

Reply:

well i dont know - the game is pretty hard core. You can play it arcade style and fighty(use the Nvigation Map view to travel between Islands and attack everything) or you can role play it a bit(which is what im doing at the momment).

It makes my game alot slower - i've spent about 3 days in Oxbay at the begining of the game, just to recruit a decent batch of officers to man my ship.
I've got 6 decent guys that improve my skills alot, but it took a lot of fast travelling between the port and the tavern! I probably 'interviewd' about 20+ guys untill i had the ones with the right skills(Navigator, gunner, Firstmate, Boatswainx2, quartermaster), i've got one more space for later(on the xbox if you recruit more than 7 officers, some of your origonal ones dissapear!! the FAQ i linked too has good info on this).

I havent yet attacked at sea, i'm following the first bit of the story, so am playing it low key to fit in with my sneaky mission from the Govener. But the times i do get into ship combat i almost always either get sunk or run away(they are much bigger than me!).
I'm playing with the sailing option set to 'realistic' so i dont know if that might be why its being pretty tuff?

I think the dullness factor depends on where your coming from and what you like. As i mentioned i've sailed before(and loved it - there might be a bit of pirate in my blood(cornwall/wales)

), and i've just been really impressed by this aspect of the game.

And for me spending an hour in realtime sailing on the open sea in the game,with not much happening, IS fun for me! Might not be eveyones cup of tea i guess. This is the best looking and sounding game i've got on xbox, plus i just love the pirates theme

I'll follow the mission for a bit, but it doesnt start of very well and i dont trust any kind of Govener, so at some point i'll probably leave it and get revenge by becoming a fully fledged Pirate.

For know i'm interested in the story and will follow it a bit while trying to make a tidy profit with trading.

**DrSpike** · June 17, 2004, 08:04

Can we rename this thread to CoT's Pirate's of the Caribbean?

Sorry I ruined your soliloquy.

**child of Thor** · June 17, 2004, 08:12

hey i kinda got a reply from Space05us - so i'm not entirely all alone on this

oh and you

thats three people now - not bad

I'm amazed that more people haven't got stories on this game, I haven't been this hooked on a new game since, well my footy game on my evil console. And the experience keeps getting better for me(well untill the 'bad save' error crops up!). I'm going to try to find a way to simulate the smell of sea air(could be quite tricky in London?) and last night and this morning i found that if i leave my bedroom window open , when its windy the curtains make suitable flapping sounds which adds to the ingame effects

I'm not going crazy am i?

edit: thread title duely changed as requested.

**Nikolai** · June 17, 2004, 08:18

Originally posted by child of Thor
edit: thread title duely changed as requested.

You can't do that, only the mods.

And no, I haven't played the game, did I ruin something?

**child of Thor** · June 17, 2004, 08:24

Yeah i just changed it in my first post

And no nothing is ruined......unless you've somehow corrupted my saves on my xbox

I know there are alot of Pirates(microprose(saints)/Sid(godly)) fans on this forum, so i'm surprised people haven't gone on much about this game as its a really good pirate sim type affair. Still it has been fairly daunting to get into it - the manual is maybe the worst i've seen, as it leave out essential info to play the game well(like just how officers work etc(info is available in the various links i gave)).
And thats even worse than the one that came with CTP2!

EDIT: as a complete side issue the second game i got in the '2 for £30' was the excellent Midway compilation of acrade classics(again for xbox) - joust, spyhunter, rampage, gauntlet etc. Its not a bad attempt, but the console controller is way to inaccurate compared to a joystick.

**duke o' york** · June 17, 2004, 08:57

Which shop is doing 2 for £30 games?

**child of Thor** · June 17, 2004, 09:30

i got mine from here at HMV
But i think Game might have something simular?
And also Virgin
here

In the UK this is, not sure about worldwide?

**Adagio** · June 17, 2004, 11:16

Read my post about this in the Pirates 2 trailer thread

In short:

The sailing part is very boring, annoying, unrealistic
This goes for both the direct sailing and sailing on the 'map'
...and goes also for the attacking part
...and goes also to the sword-fighting part

**child of Thor** · June 17, 2004, 11:27

i'll go have a look - nice summery by the way

he he - nice new name too

from The New Pirate Trailer thread quote by ADG

Not much to come for there...
I've played the game, but it wasn't that much interesting for several reasons:

1) The fighting was always the same: Jump in, hit, jump out... you didn't really have any options...

2) When sailing between islands, you see a huge map of everything, and lots of ships (and I mean LOTS of ships)...

2a) The time goes fast (IIRC 1 sec = 1 day), so you don't have time to consider where to go, you just 'go'

2b) There's too many ships... and those ships just appears/dissapears randomly (in the middle of the ocean)

2c) On the map you often see 2 ships fighting each other... considering the fast time, 2 ships can battle for months

3) When fighting (ship vs ship) you can teleport: When sailing normally they have put in an option to quick-jump to other places on the island (teleport to harbor, other side of island, or whereever you want)... this can be used in a fight, where you teleport from one side of the enemy ship to another... thereby you can use all your cannons on the same ship

The bottom line: Too unrealistic to be fun...

Well i get the impression that the movie tie in hade something to do with the 'arcadey' angle that comes across at times. I just tend to play it slowly.

I only ever use that overhead Map screen to orientate myself from time to time(as i dont think i can sail by the stars in the game?).
When you leave a port it will sometimes put you in the map navigation mode.
What i do is exit to the sailing mode(A button on xbox - not sure what it is on PC) - then i sail using the compass and the map linked above to go in the direction i reckon i should. I speed up the time while in this sailing mode

Then every now and then to check where i'm at, i pop into the overview map screen(and usualy run into pirates!).
This slows the games pace down nicely and gives my imagination time to get into the beauty of the game world(It really is a great looking game).

So i would recomend just taking it slowly - my impression of the game is that i can choose to play it so it does become a much more realistic gaming experience.

The music and visuals, and all the attention to detail really brings the pirates thing to life for me - and i love the real time sailing around, its nearly just like real life sailing - it takes forever to get anywhere

although i agree that a more realistic sailing model would have been great(its far too easy to just sail from a to b, you dont really need to use the weather that much, but maybe in a square rigger it would handle differently?).

Also the only time i use 'fastmove' functions in games is when i really have too(like in setting up the officers at the begining in Oxbay). I find they spoil game flow

18/06/04 New Stuff:

OK another oh.....7hrs of playing time(as i said i'm currently addicted!) and i'm continueing the quest given by the English Govenor at Redmond.

went to load up my last save gave when i got home yesterday pm to find that in the load/save file screen my party of three officers had all changed into the graphic of the same character

Luckily it loaded up fine and all the correct and different officers returned to their correct graphic slot

Still i REALLY want to get that memmory card thing this weekend........

After about a total of 30 hrs or so played so far i've found a suitable reference point to try to put PotC in IMO its correct place.

It's like a cross between the following games:

Morrowind

- In that it also has an open ended aspect to the way you can play(even if the choice of what you can do is limited).
It also has RPG elements involving the character developement of your character and your officers(I'm slightly confused over how many you can have(8 max?))
It does it better than morrowind in that it actualy takes real effort and time to develope them and their skills increase at a slower rate - it will be a while before you are all uber powerfull.

KOTOR

- It only struck me last night that it remined me of this game. There are the same restrictions on where you can go in the game world on land(unlike in Morrowind for example), and it also looks incredible like KotoR does. Combat is super poor in comparison to KotoR, but KotoR it isn't - its PotC

Next to KotoR this is an equal in terms of graphics and sound, the enviormental effects are amazing. eg last night i left port as a light rain started to fall, it was evening and the sun was setting, as i looked away from the direction of the sun i was gobsmacked to see a rainbow forming, then i dont know if it was a trick of my eyes but as the rain contined in the evening sunshine it became a double rainbow, the second one above the other and much fainter - just like in real life! It was worth five minutes to look at.
Music is maybe some of the best in game i've heard and it changes for many different situations(from Tavern to open sea to combat etc).

Pirates(Microprose)

- well its about pirates

you own ships(up to four) and crew(and can develope your character + officers). You find treasure around, you have a simple combat engine(but it is very fatal - i die a lot, one missed timed block can be the end!). You can get sunk by storms - i trying to master 'running before the wind', but its tricky and my simple ship isnt very sea worthy(although you can improve your Navigator with an ability skill called 'storm rider' or some such to help out).
You have the presence of the usual suspects in the same world as you(England,Spain,France etc) - so all that old 'Pirates' fun can be had

Thats the good stuff - there is bad stuff too.

'finding' treasure around the place is ok, BUT its always in the same places. So when you leave an Island, next time your back you know where to go to supplement your cash.
The objects you find are randomly chosen.
taking items from the boxes in peoples houses has no penalty to it(doesn't seem to effect your reputation) and if someone is in the house they dont care when you 'borrow' their gold+diamond ring!
with my small crew(57) i've always got enough money, without having to capture ships.

As ADG mentioned the map navigation screen you use to sail between Islands(it looks like main display in 'Pirates') is paced all wrong - if you push up on the controller youe ship zips across the sea at a scary rate, making it very hard to navigate with accuracy and control.
My tip for this is try not to use it except for navigation reference - sail in the real time mode(3D section), you can speed this up a bit(x4 i think) and it only takes 30 or so mins to get between Islands.

Its a very relaxing way to travel and the graphics and music are excellent, it also provides 'downtime' from the hack and slash you get upto on land

Also i dont think you meet other ships in this mode, which is ok and lets you get on with things(like setting your course and going to make a sandwhich).
If you do want to meet/engage other ships then simply pop into the navigation map mode and you'll quite literaturely find it impossible not to bump into some(

).

And finaly for Space05us - i'm not sure this is a great game to rent(except to look at quickly), to really get into it you've got to take it slow and spend time on it.
I've put in 30hrs so far, which does include quite a few reloads, and have still to complete the second leg of the first quest. As i said before it rewards a patient player - and if you've got to get the game back to the store by x hour, then i'm sure it will be tempting to rush-play the game. Which as ADG can confirm is no fun at all

**child of Thor** · June 18, 2004, 09:15

Another new bit to carry on from the above 'new bit' (see above!)

I spent about 1hr 48 mins this morning on my first proper attempt at a sea battle. It was against just one ship which was one class higher up than mine(er it was bigger

) and could carry twice the crew and had 6 more cannons. I was slightly faster(about 2knots), a little more manouverble and had a range advantage with my culverns(he? had standard cannons).

So i should be telling you how i managed to capture the ship no?
Sadly i sank it instead

the only good thing about that was the 2000 exp points i got........

The battle was very edgey.

I was trying very hard to take out his sails and minamise damage to the hull(i hoped to sail it away), but this proved harder than i thought. So at the end it had a hull streangth of about 15% and sail damage of 40% - so i was doing something wrong(probably didn't help that i had got rid of my sail damaging shot in the first port(the FAQ said it was not worth keeping)).

When i felt brave and had used up half my cannon shot, i sailed closer to try to use my grape shot to reduce his crew numbers(his ship could have twice my total and i've read that in this game boarding action and the hand to hand is very tough?), so i was trying to play it cautious as i used to do in Pirates.

I wasn't aware of how many crew he had left but figured after half my ammo was gone he'd be in bad shape......wrong.

As i came closer he turned to port and i foolishly allowed my self to come out of his blind spot - BANG!

My hull was damaged by 1/4(!) and fires sprang up around my ship. Luckily only a handfull of crew had died.

I realised that up close he would sink me in a couple of salvo's.
So i couldn't get in range to use my grape shot - so i wasn't happy about trying boarding action.

After about an hour and a half (real time) of combat i knew i wasnt going to be able to come up close enough to board without huge risk. So i sat out of range of his guns and sent him to Davy Jones's locker.

My sole reward for nearly two hours patient battle was a few tonnes of tabacco i managed to pull from the wreck where his ship sunk

at a cost of 22% of my hull rating, some minor sail damage, a few dead crew and the depletion of 300 cannon shot! damnit!

Maybe i should stick to trading?

**Adagio** · June 18, 2004, 09:32

As ADG mentioned the map navigation screen you use to sail between Islands(it looks like main display in 'Pirates') is paced all wrong - if you push up on the controller youe ship zips across the sea at a scary rate, making it very hard to navigate with accuracy and control.
My tip for this is try not to use it except for navigation reference - sail in the real time mode(3D section), you can speed this up a bit(x4 i think) and it only takes 30 or so mins to get between Islands.

I didn't know it was possible to actually sail in 3D mode from island to island... I didn't have the patience to try it... ok, I did try it, but after a few minutes I didn't really want to wait much more... 30 minutes to get from one island to another is way too long...
...and it's not much fun sailing like this if you don't have any possibilities to run into other ships (unless you go to the big map)...

All the ships that sail around should have a specific destination instead of just sailing around... after having seen many ships doing a close to 180 turn, I got tired of looking at their inability to know where they're heading...

And as you said: It's almost impossible to stear right, when sailing on the big map... sometimes it even takes days just to get out of the bay

**child of Thor** · June 18, 2004, 10:10

I didn't know it was possible to actually sail in 3D mode from island to island... I didn't have the patience to try it... ok, I did try it, but after a few minutes I didn't really want to wait much more... 30 minutes to get from one island to another is way too long...
...and it's not much fun sailing like this if you don't have any possibilities to run into other ships (unless you go to the big map)...

All the ships that sail around should have a specific destination instead of just sailing around... after having seen many ships doing a close to 180 turn, I got tired of looking at their inability to know where they're heading...

And as you said: It's almost impossible to stear right, when sailing on the big map... sometimes it even takes days just to get out of the bay

days? ah yes with the over head map thing and the wobly controls. I sail out of port in real time it takes along time to get anywhere - like in real life

(drools at the prospect of sailing in the real time mode around the whole game

). I can be very very patient, and this style of play just seems to suit me perfectly.

I remember the first real sailing trip i had when i was about 18. It was to sail my dads boat(a small 27ft classic wood type thing) from its port of origin about 100 miles along the coast of devon to its mooring closer to home.
We had storm force winds(hit gale force 8 at one point!) for maybe half the trip, lost the life dinghy of the back, broke the the topsail mast(it was about 4 feet of wood that kept the small top sail in place), waves were about 20 feet(when you were in the bottom of the wave) - it rocked!(as in rock'n'role - although it did rock left and right and forward and backwards a lot as well

)

And it took about 18 hrs.......to go that 100 miles that in a car would have taken 1.5 hrs or so.

This game brings back memmories of that and melds it with pirate fun

(but might not be for everyone....only hard core wannabe pirates need enrole)

Edit: I have a hunch that the speeded up elements came into play much later in the games development(maybe when disney had a look at it and saw this very realistic(slow) sailing simulation with rpg elements, and thought how can we make this appeal to movie goers with attention spans of 45mins? - lets put in short cuts and speed up the navigation section?)

oh Adagio, how do you do the 'teleport' thing? - i wont use it i promise, just interested in the exploit

**Adagio** · June 18, 2004, 10:39

I'm not sure if I remember correctly, it's been a long time since I last had the game installed, but here's what I remember:

When sailing (in 3D mode) you have those options at the bottom of the screen (Where you select what cannonballs to use, etc), there's also a 'button' that looks like a 'stearing wheel for ships'*. If you press it, you see options for all places you can get to (of those places that's nearby). It can send you to the harbor, or the other side of the island... and in war you can get to the other side of enemy ships in a second (The other ships don't move)

* Don't have any idea what those things are called... don't know anything about ships, and not much about pirates either...

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Pirates of The Caribean(Sea Dogs2)

Pirates of The Caribean(Sea Dogs2)

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