Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

by Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

In my preview of Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS), I told readers that developer Flying Lab Software and publisher Sony Online Entertainment were bringing something new to the market. After weeks of sailing the high seas, I stand by that assessment. I think PotBS offers something very unique in a massively-multiplayer online game (MMOG), and gamers who love strategy over mindless button-mashing have a lot to be excited about with this game.

As you read this review, consider my preview required reading and understand that PotBS differs significantly from conventional MMOGs in one very important way: it requires some serious patience. The game play leads me to believe that PotBS subscribers will be more mature and/or older than the average gamer. And its fans will be people who prefer the concept of a realistic world to one filled with fantastical creatures and who enjoy strategic combat more than fast-paced action.

System Requirements

Despite low system requirements, Pirates of the Burning Sea provides high graphic detail.

PotBS has some modest system requirements, which is pretty impressive when you consider how much the game accomplishes graphically.

Recommended: Windows® XP/Vista, Core Duo 2.0 GHz or greater, 1 GB RAM, DirectX 9 Compatible video card: NVidia® GeForce™ 6600, ATI® X850, or equivalent with 256 MB of texture memory

Required: Windows® XP, Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or greater, 512MB RAM, DirectX 9 Compatible video card: NVidia® GeForce™ FX 5700, ATI® Radeon® 9600, or equivalent with 128 MB of texture memory

The low system requirements mean almost anybody with a computer can run this game. More importantly, it means gamers won't have to upgrade just to play the game. Consumers are sometimes leery of shelling out hard-earned cash to upgrade a computer to play a game unless they are just in love with the concept of it from the beginning. PotBS is not a demanding game, so it should enjoy some trial runs by gamers who were on the fence.

Subscription Plan
PotBS follows the trend of modern MMOGs. You'll need to spend $50 on the box or a digital download and $14.99/month to play. You can purchase 3-, 6-, and 12-month subscriptions to defray some of the subscription cost. At this time, it appears that PotBS is part of the Sony Station Access package and will launch from the Station Launcher.

Stability
After several weeks of playing PotBS, the best I can offer is mixed reviews on stability. As far as the client goes, my client never crashed once. The code seems solid. My home server of Antigua, however, dropped me back to server select screen more than I would have liked. My first day of playing after the Pre-Boarding party began on January 7, I dropped to the server select screen 3 or 4 times in 45 minutes. After that rush, though, I only dropped to server select about once every other playing session. That's more than what I'd like, and I still found it frustrating. I have full confidence that this will improve.

Game Play
Game play begins by selecting your server. The on-screen display will inform you about the population levels for each nation. Want a challenge? Be a Frenchman on a server with a very low population of French characters. Do you tend to mob mentality? Be a pirate on Blackbeard server. With your server chosen, it is time to select your nation and career. Please note, you can only play for one nation on each server. I chose Britain on Antigua, so I can never be a Spaniard there. Now it is time to customize your character!

Flying Lab Software knows it's important for gamers to feel unique in the virtual world. To that end, Pirates of the Burning Sea allows an impressive number of character customization options. Not only does each nation has its own spin on dress for each career, but players can fully customize everything from hats to scarves, from vests to jackets, and from boots to belts. With the ability to choose primary and highlight colors for most articles of clothing, it's very hard to make two characters look alike. Check out my character customization video for a peek at just how varied the looks are.

A man has to come in from the sea to visit the ladies sometime!

What happens next depends a bit on your career. My freetrader found himself on a boat being attacked by pirates. With the captain dying, he assumed command and rescued his vessel from a watery grave. From there, he began the slow task of building up his resources to make money in the burgeoning Caribbean. Naval officers will find themselves with errands to run for the monarchy. Privateers will need to hunt criminals and bring them to justice. And pirates...well, pirates are in it for the booty!

The tutorials cover swashbuckling, sailing, ship combat, career training, and the economy. They should get players through 6-7 levels without a whole lot of trouble. In general, the tutorials are well-done, with clear on-screen indicators. Still, there is a lot to learn, and I found myself baptized by fire in my first "real" ship battle and then again when I actually had to build something in the economy screen. I also had a significant problem with my tutorial--one that I felt was inexcusable for a game this late in production.

My dying captain ordered me to try to steer the ship to shore. The on-screen prompt told me to left-click on the ship's wheel. I found the wheel. I moused over it, and it glowed green. I clicked. I clicked. I pressed X, the default key for interaction. I clicked again. I talked to the captain. I ran the length of the ship and back and clicked again. I pressed X again. I talked to the captain again. I cursed a lot. As far as I could tell, I had to complete this part of the tutorial to actually be able to play the game.

Finally, I deleted the quest from my journal in sheer desperation. I figured I would just log it again, but the dying captain would not say anything new. Then I got a loading screen and I was suddenly sailing the vessel. I don't know for sure what broke that quest (but I suspect lag between the server and my computer) or what fixed it, but I consider it something that should have been fixed in beta.

It is important to remind you that combat is very different in PotBS. Melee combat, known as swashbuckling in the game, works on the principle of using initiative to score deadly hits while maintaining balance. Think of initiative as the magic points used in most conventional massively-multiplayer online games. But unlike magic points, initiative starts out at zero in battles and gamers must try to build it up to dispatch foes. Meanwhile, balance rates a fighter's chances of landing and avoiding blows. The more chances a player takes to score a hit, the lower his balance goes. The result is a chess-like system that adds elements of strategy to combat. You can view a video of swashbuckling action involving one of my low level characters to see it in action.

Players have access to different swashbuckling styles based on choice of nation and career, and the trainers allow for some good customization. One person might focus on abilities that increase balance while another might focus on abilities that drain initiative for major damage. I saw plenty of polite arguments about best skills and builds during my play time, and I have seen patch notes address over-powered and under-powered skills. It seems safe to say that we can expect the game to allow variance in play style and support multiple builds.

Meanwhile, ship combat is it's own strategic marathon. The marketing team bills it as exciting, but it can actually be pretty slow and methodical. It would be much better to advertise it as a battle of wits than an action-packed adventure because it is very fun for what it is. I just worry that expectations may not mesh with the reality.

A ship battle could involve maneuvering for the best position to fire bar shot to damage the mast and sails. With the enemy vessel crippled, a player could then use langridge shot to take out some of the crew on the deck before grappling. Once the grapple is successful, the boarding begins and a swashbuckling battle ensues. I've even pieced together a video of ship combat basics to get you started.

Unfortunately, ship battle is not at all glorious when an encounter of 3 pirate vessels twice your level attack your hapless British freetrader. In these situations, you are forced to flee to one of the eight escape points on the map. This can take a long time--a very long time. In fact, let me show you what I mean. I have a video of fleeing from ship combat. It takes me 1 minute 42 seconds to escape with the wind in my sails. It takes even longer with the wind against you. On average, I'd say ship encounters against a single even level opponent took anywhere from 5-10 minutes below level 10. The higher I leveled, the fights became more complicated. Adding in multiple ships only extended the time.