Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the high life on high seas! Review

[kad3t]

Hey,

I've been thinking about it for a while but finally decided to give my 5 cents on this timeless classic. The first and best to this day pirate life simulator ever made.

[ Show youtube player ]

Let me know what you think! Also, did anyone else found this game to be the best port of all versions?

[dreadnought]

Originally Posted by kad3t

Hey,
The first and best to this day pirate life simulator ever made.

I will go a bit further than that: it's simply the best game ever made (with exception of some roguelikes, but they are in the world of their own).

As for the best version, there might be something to it. I used to firmly claim that the 8-bit C64 (and PC) original is the best, but recently played a lot of them to compare, and might just agree that Amiga version wins after all. It retains the precision of the originals without changing anything and adds decent gfx/sfx.

I will also preliminarly state that it's also better than Gold, (or anything else that came later on) but that's based on my old impressions...have to compare them again soon.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

I will go a bit further than that: it's simply the best game ever made (with exception of some roguelikes, but they are in the world of their own).

As for the best version, there might be something to it. I used to firmly claim that the 8-bit C64 (and PC) original is the best, but recently played a lot of them to compare, and might just agree that Amiga version wins after all. It retains the precision of the originals without changing anything and adds decent gfx/sfx.

I will also preliminarly state that it's also better than Gold, (or anything else that came later on) but that's based on my old impressions...have to compare them again soon.

I liked the addition of map in Gold but aside from that not much else. The walking sections among many other things made the game at least twice as long, not necessarily by adding content rather by slowing it down to a crawl.

And I still think that the newest version is just as good as Amiga's one.

Quite honestly, Pirates! is a concept that's difficult to botch, even Gold was good. Just not as good. Think of Port Royale games, they're more on a trade/business side of things but the underlying idea is similar and the influence of Pirates! is more than obvious there.

[dreadnought]

Eh, sorry, I like Ports Of Call, but that game is just a fraction of what Pirates has to offer.

In Pirates you literally live a life, and the amount of various things/goals which you can do and pursue, and which actually matter and affect this life, is staggering.

And the best thing is the way they structured it, with getting older, more injured, dividing the loot, etc, and the absolutely genius idea of having the "life ranking" at the end. This is what the whole game revolves around and how it's supposed to be played, with trying to make wise decisions along the way, but not cheating by saving/reloading. When I was a kid I didn't really fully grasp that and save scummed to oblivion, but now I enjoy doing "runs" like in true roguelikes.

[Mr Creosote]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

it's simply the best game ever made

Oh, yes! One my of favourites of all time for sure.

Interesting remark on the lack of an in-game map in the video. Obviously, I also had a pirated copy (it's called Pirates after all), but I never had an issue with this. I just played it so much that all the locations, all the distances were present in my mind

[TCD]

Pirates is a game that was open-world/sandbox before open-world/sandbox was a thing. I had a friend that played it like Hanse (trading), one that just hunted for other ships and I always tried to hunt down the Silver Train (very unsuccessfully I might add ). You could also try diplomacy or like you show in the video just exploration. Way ahead of its time for sure. Oh and another great video

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by dreadnought

Eh, sorry, I like Ports Of Call, but that game is just a fraction of what Pirates has to offer.

In Pirates you literally live a life, and the amount of various things/goals which you can do and pursue, and which actually matter and affect this life, is staggering.

And the best thing is the way they structured it, with getting older, more injured, dividing the loot, etc, and the absolutely genius idea of having the "life ranking" at the end. This is what the whole game revolves around and how it's supposed to be played, with trying to make wise decisions along the way, but not cheating by saving/reloading. When I was a kid I didn't really fully grasp that and save scummed to oblivion, but now I enjoy doing "runs" like in true roguelikes.

See, you're right. Because I thought Port Royale but somehow that information while travelling at a speed of thought ended up being filtered and spat out by my brain and then straight to my typing fingers as Ports of Call.

I obviously (or not obviously at all) meant Port Royale games.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

Oh, yes! One my of favourites of all time for sure.

Interesting remark on the lack of an in-game map in the video. Obviously, I also had a pirated copy (it's called Pirates after all), but I never had an issue with this. I just played it so much that all the locations, all the distances were present in my mind

I too used to know the locations by heart eventually. But now, 30-odd years later I don't and even then, before I did, I had to play it to death. Countless times. It's just an observation that it would've been more welcoming to newbie players if it did.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

Pirates is a game that was open-world/sandbox before open-world/sandbox was a thing. I had a friend that played it like Hanse (trading), one that just hunted for other ships and I always tried to hunt down the Silver Train (very unsuccessfully I might add ). You could also try diplomacy or like you show in the video just exploration. Way ahead of its time for sure. Oh and another great video

Thank you!

That was (well, is really) the beauty of Pirates! Not only it gave you multiple options to play it, but you could also bend it, for the lack of a better word, to your will and have fun in it the way you liked it. Not the way it was designed to be enjoyed.

[Mr Creosote]

Most of the time, I actually would just sail the east-west axis on the nothern part of South America anyway. Repeatedly pillage all the Spanish cities there, regardless of war/peace or other events

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by Mr Creosote

Most of the time, I actually would just sail the east-west axis on the nothern part of South America anyway. Repeatedly pillage all the Spanish cities there, regardless of war/peace or other events

And that's what I'm talking about... Freedom of choice!

[jbenam]

I have recently finally played both Pirates and Pirates Gold for the first time.

I am a big fan of pirating/trading simulators (played a lot of Sea Dogs) so I had high hopes for Pirates and... it just felt lacking.

The entire interface is very clunky. I know I should be looking at it through the "period glasses", but the combat just requires you to mash a button and pray, while the navigation map is very slow and frustrating to use. The rest is okay but the repetitive combat and sailing part kills it for me. Really wanted to like it though

Pirates Gold improves some parts of it, though. IIRC the combat and sailing parts are slightly better but the "city map" just slows down the action for no real benefit.

Will probably give it another spin down the road, maybe I was just hasty in my judgement.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by jbenam

but the combat just requires you to mash a button and pray, while the navigation map is very slow and frustrating to use.

I think the video review shows very well that the combat wasn't 'mash and pray', but that you could really make a difference in those action sequences (also the starting fencing one). The timing and angle that you shoot make all the difference.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by jbenam

I have recently finally played both Pirates and Pirates Gold for the first time.

I am a big fan of pirating/trading simulators (played a lot of Sea Dogs) so I had high hopes for Pirates and... it just felt lacking.

The entire interface is very clunky. I know I should be looking at it through the "period glasses", but the combat just requires you to mash a button and pray, while the navigation map is very slow and frustrating to use. The rest is okay but the repetitive combat and sailing part kills it for me. Really wanted to like it though

Pirates Gold improves some parts of it, though. IIRC the combat and sailing parts are slightly better but the "city map" just slows down the action for no real benefit.

Will probably give it another spin down the road, maybe I was just hasty in my judgement.

Well, it's a game that started it all - well, not all maybe - but the games about pirate's life. Even one of the Assassin's Creed games was heavily influenced by it. Check the Port Royale, as it may be something you'll like. Many of the themes are similar there.

Pirates! is great and is historical piece. But as with most other games in existence, it does not have to be liked by everyone. And that's cool too, so don't worry about it.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

I think the video review shows very well that the combat wasn't 'mash and pray', but that you could really make a difference in those action sequences (also the starting fencing one). The timing and angle that you shoot make all the difference.

True but picking fencing gave you a huge advantage. To the point of only ever really worrying when fighting against more formidable forces.

Oh, I should've really mentioned it in the video, shouldn't I? That the force you take with you into combat influences morale and morale is basis for deciding who won.

[TCD]

Originally Posted by kad3t

Oh, I should've really mentioned it in the video, shouldn't I? That the force you take with you into combat influences morale and morale is basis for deciding who won.

I guess so, but let people go to the tavern for a drink just to find out how crucial it is to success

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by TCD

I guess so, but let people go to the tavern for a drink just to find out how crucial it is to success

Oh my days, if you'd seen the footage for the video before I cut it to pieces. For starters it was three files hours long each and also every time I was in port I was going to tavern like 3-4 times each. Just to exhaust all possibilities in each one.

[aeberbach]

The originals were good but nothing was as good as the iPad version that came out early on, and disappeared from the store about 5 years ago. I think it had issues with iOS 9? Anyway it was the best. I played many different Pirates! ports but iPad was king. It was so good even the dancing minigame wasn't horrible.

[kad3t]

Originally Posted by aeberbach

The originals were good but nothing was as good as the iPad version that came out early on, and disappeared from the store about 5 years ago. I think it had issues with iOS 9? Anyway it was the best. I played many different Pirates! ports but iPad was king. It was so good even the dancing minigame wasn't horrible.

I'm gonna have to look for some footage of it.

And to be quite honest, I didn't mind the dance mini-game too much. I considered it just to be an addition and since it wasn't as annoying as what Pirates! Gold did to original I actually liked the Steam/Console version a lot.

[cloverskull]

Y'know, Pirates is one that I never played back in the day but discovered fairly recently. Suffice it to say I think this game is excellent, and has a ton of replayability. It's a ton of fun. I only wish I'd discovered it in my youth.