Should I Try? Your Opinions Please, Good and Bad.

Majestico

So I found myself in GAME a while back, and there was a special offer whereby you got two £15 games for £25.  My first choice was Dreamfall Collector's Edition.  It came with the first game The Longest Journey, and I love point and click adventures, and had heard that this was a classic.  So I was pleased with this purchase.

Next, I picked up PotBS and was about to buy it, when one of the assistants (a guy who I know plays MMO's a lot) told me I was making a big mistake.  Now, I normally do not go by what these guys say, as most of the time, they are talking out of their arse, but like I said, I knew this guy had a pretty good taste in games.  (Although he is a huge Guild Wars fan - which although I think is a good game, not as great as he keeps making out).  I had also heard many reports, mainly on the Pub forum, that this was a stinker of a game.

I've played many SOE games, and although I am a big fan of EQ2, I know that they do offer some poor games.  Matrix Online really stung me, and I did not want a repeat of that.  So I put the box back, and bought Half-life 2 (seeing as I am probably the only guy left in the world who has not played it!).  Turned out that for some reason, my computer would not run HL2.  Kept getting blue screen erors when I press start to play, which causes my whole system to shut-down, and I have to boot-up again, which is infuriating.  Incidentally, this has since started to happen with EQ2, Fable, Dungeon Runners (which I never even got to try), as well as others.  I don't know why this is happening, because those games used to run just fine.

Anyway, sorry to go off topic.

So, here I am today, and I have noticed that there is now a free trial of PotBS.  Now I have a short attention span, as it seems as though almost every other day I am downloading some game or another.  I just love seeing new games, and trying them out.  Exploring new worlds, etc.  As I type, I am currently running two subscriptions, for Lotro (my favourite MMO of the moment), and WoW.  I have recently cancelled EQ2, and FFXI (although I bought FFXI in a sale the other day, brand new with 3 expansion packs for one pound! But it won't install, because the old one I keep trying to uninstall, won't!  I have even tried several specialist software packages for uninstalling programs, but it still won't uninstall! So I cannot play it again).  On top of this, I am also currently trying out Saga of Ryzom (still just at training camp, but seems quite original), and also the free trial of Tabula Rasa (which I strongly urge you to try, as so far I think it is brilliant!  It has fps gameplay, instead of just your usual button pressing combat.  Makes it much more fun in fghts.)  I have also just finished downloading Dreamlords, and Cronous (which so far looks like just a normal asian grinder).  And I am also trying Shot Online (a golf MMO, believe it or not!) and Project Torque (which is a racing MMO!!!)  so far I have yet to make a judgement on these unusual types of MMO's.

Thankfully I am currently off work sick, or I would in no way be able to try all of these (plus all the games on Gametap which I have still to try!)

The thing is though, that ever since I had a commodore 64 (most of you prob won't even remember that), and then on the Amiga CD32 (which was the world's first high powered console, which sadly they never used the extra power, merely ported Amiga games onto it, apart from one great game called Liberation, which was like the forerunner of the MMO) - I played a game called Pirates.  I believe it has since been re-made, into Sid Mier's Pirates, or something like that.  The original game was great.  There was nothing else like that back then.  Therefore, I have always wanted to see a good pirate-type game in the MMO genre.  I mean, it has so many possibilites.

For my sins, I did try Disney's one.  It was meant to be free2play, but you cannot really play it properly unless you subscribe, and it is not near good enough for subscription.  Basically just ripping off the parents of kids who loved the films, and who pester their parents to let them play it.

That leads me back to this game.  I have heard that there have been massive improvements, and updates.  If this is true or not, I cannot say.  I have heard that people complain about the pvp element, and that they are getting their ships stolen from higher level players.  I know that pvp can be unfair a lot of the time, but isn't that the point of a pirate based game?  You should be expecting to get robbed!

Actually, I hope that this game is tough when it comes to pvp, and that you can get your possessions and boats stolen.  I missed out on UO, and EQ back when there were true penalties in games.  I am one of those people who would love to play a perma-death game, and so if this game is strict with pvp, then I will like it more.

Sorry for the long post, I kept getting side-lined so that I could explain to you my preferences so that you can make a judgement call on whether I would like the game or not.

So should I download the free trial?  SOE games are notorious for the length of their game downloads, I spent 24 hours downloading Vanguard only for it not to work!  (I presume it was due to my lack of system specs).

Also, what is the game like?  How does the pvp work, and how tough is it?  Can you tell me as much details as possible please?  The good parts of the game, as well as the bad.  Reasons why you think it is a good game, and also reasons for why you think it is a bad game.   Specific experiences you have had in the game as well.

I know it is a lot.  I could just download the thing, and make up my own mind, but I really do not have the time to waste if this game is really bad. 

I will be very appreciative of anyone who spends their time to answer my questions.  Thanks in advance, and I look forward to reading you folks' opinions.

 

majoch

   You have 1 EU server ( Roberts), 3 US servers, and a AUS/Pacific server to choose from.  I know nothing about the Aussie server, of the 4 remaining servers Antigua has or did have the highest population with the rest having a not so healthy population which in part was caused by an exodus of players from 3 of the 4 US/EU servers to Antigua.

   SOE did not make PoTBS and "supposedly" have no influence in games development or direction, I believe their role was/is marketing, and one or 2 other ancillary functions.  Whatever their role is it also includes PoTBS being one of their Station Pass games. 

   With the low populations the whole RvR thing is skewed, most of the servers do not have a sustainable French or Spanish contingent which in turn defeats the whole notion of balanced nation vs nation battles.  Now if they consolidated it down to just Pirate and British factions you may have something.

   I still think it's worth a try since you were thinking of downloading the trial.  14 free days, download and start patch before bed and make your own opinion.  I've tried it on and off three times and enjoyed it for a brief stint each time but always ended up cancelling due to the limited size of the world relative to travel times, lack of real exploration, mission grinding the same 4 or 5 map templates to name a few.  You will still find some friendly and helpful people playing though.  What I think is the games shortcomings may not affect you the same way. 

grimboj

My policy: Try anything that's 3D and free. Unless you're on pay as you go internet or have a 1.5gb hard drive then it's gotta be worth it.