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Sid Meier's Pirates! (Xbox)


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Not much noise about this game. It sounds awesome! I'm an Xbox guy, so I've played all the favorites like Halo, KOTOR, and Ninja Gaiden. But this game is a huge change of pace. A Strategy/Adventure/RPG. The GameSpot review of the PC version is stellar, and the IGN preview of the Xbox version is off the charts positive. Is anyone here interested in this game?

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/sidpirates/review.html

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Sure am Keith. I've been meaning to get around to picking up the PC version for quite some time but the Xbox version is also looking equally enticing. The release date is only about 2 or so weeks away (7/11) so we don't have long to wait for it thankfully. I might load up the Pirates of the Carribean game from Bethesda to hold me over in the interim (yeah I know, the land based stuff sucked, but I loved the ship battles).

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I played the original WAY back in the day, on my Amiga 500. Loved the hell out of it! So, yes...definitely looking forward to this one. Hopefully, I'll be done with San Andreas in a couple of weeks, so that I can pick this one up.

 

Haven't had a chance to read much about the differences between the pc version and the console version but, I hope they didn't "dumb it down" for the console. I hate that shit!

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  • 3 weeks later...

PlayerLuv picked it up this week and said it was the best Xbox game he'd picked up in a long time. I'm going to grab it this weekend if I can. You may recall me relating the story of how my addiction to the original got me kicked out of college for failing to go to class...we'll see how much I've matured since then. Gulp. :hmm

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This game is definitely worth the xbox purchase to play on the DLP in a comfortable chair. I played the original on an 8088 XT so it is nice to see what made that version great made it into this one. Well except the sun dial and the annoying trade wind noises. The game is smooth and refined on the xbox. No stutters or delays, it is an excellent port. I like the new features : improved land battle system, in game map functions, quest log, ship encounter system ... the list goes on. I had some issues with the manual not being clear with some core functions (saving for example) and being kind of thin but I guess that is the trend nowadays. The in game "pirate-opedia" is great and covers what the manual misses. The game is a time sink but it is a pick up and play whenever game. One does not suffer skill loss over time. I have posted a lot of Pirate hours with Sid M. products and this game will not be any different. If it is the last iteration of the series there is little to improve on. It is xbox live enabled and has a spot for downloadable content. I hope to see the game grow a little with live content but if not it is still superb.

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Got this in the mail & I've already clocked up far too many hours on it given my current work schedule. It's utterly captivating. If you dislike open-ended strategy-like games it may not be your cup of tea as it really doesn't hold your hand very much after the beginning, but it's real easy to learn. I'm sailing around in a top of the line ship I stole from one of the top ranked pirates - free upgrades for everything!

 

I've read they've simplified a few things, like the dancing & sailing eastwards, which works for me - the interface works perfectly fine for me on the Xbox and I can find all the information I want in-game thanks to a nice encyclopedia that acts like Civilization's.

 

All in all, really enjoying it so far. I think my wife's going to hate it because of the time it'll soak up.

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Yeah, I've been playing it pretty steadily for the last three nights as well. The first one was an infamous timesink and this one is certainly following in those footsteps but it's weird: some games are so captivating that you literally do not notice the passage of time while you are playing, but this is not like this. It's not like I start playing at 10:30 and I look up and it's 1:30 and I say to myself "How the hell?" But rather, there is always the lure of doing just one more quest...sinking one more treasure galleon...sacking one more city...searching for one more treasure...etc. All the while I am perfectly aware that I need to turn the game off and go to bed but the hours just tick away as I say "a little further, a little further" to myself.

 

A tip for anyone beginning the game, there are five difficulty levels and every time you stop to divide your plunder (which you need to do after every year or two to keep your crew happy) you have the option to go up to the next level. I would start at the second level (journeyman) to get used to the game and then move to the next level after your first plunder divide (to get a larger share of the loot when you divide the next time), but DON'T move up to the fourth level (rogue) until after you have married and gotten everything you want to get out of the governors' daughters. The reason is, at the rogue level you don't get the button prompts for the dancing mini-game, and as a result the difficulty of that mini-game skyrockets.

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there is always the lure of doing just one more quest...sinking one more treasure galleon...sacking one more city...searching for one more treasure...etc. All the while I am perfectly aware that I need to turn the game off and go to bed but the hours just tick away as I say "a little further, a little further" to myself.

 

Yup, that sounds familiar :)

 

A tip for anyone beginning the game, there are five difficulty levels and every time you stop to divide your plunder (which you need to do after every year or two to keep your crew happy) you have the option to go up to the next level. I would start at the second level (journeyman) to get used to the game and then move to the next level after your first plunder divide (to get a larger share of the loot when you divide the next time), but DON'T move up to the fourth level (rogue) until after you have married and gotten everything you want to get out of the governors' daughters. The reason is, at the rogue level you don't get the button prompts for the dancing mini-game, and as a result the difficulty of that mini-game skyrockets.

 

You'll get better at the dancing as you go along. I was absolutely terrible at it when I started but once I got the feel of it and learned the woman's gestures, it became much easier and I never needed the button prompts.

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