It's hilarious but Kalypso is just a synonym for "Mixed reviews"

[fcsaba]

They just can't publish anything better than that!

[GeeBee]

Buccanero lähetti viestin:

@Tanitha "That isn't time sensitive.."

Hmm...

I accept that many players like the sea battle arcade mini-game. This is not my thing. But I can live with it, if the rest would be ok, but it isn't.

A few sentences about the naval battles: It seems to me to be intended by the game author that the player is almost constantly at war with one or more nations. So a scissors-stone-paper-arcade game with unrealistic special features on limited hex fields might make sense, because, as you said, it's less time sensitive. On the other hand, an open area with a lot of freedom of movement in the game style of the predecessors with the currently existing graphics would not only be a feast for the eyes, but a real change to the otherwise rather dry events in the trade.

In PR1 the players fought 10 vs. 10, it was very difficult to act in the beginning, but with some practice it could be mastered. The whole thing came very close to reality.

In PR2 the difficulty was lowered by fighting only 1 ship against the enemy fleet at a time and by leaving the area you could lead a replacement ship into the field if you had taken too many hits. This was not quite as realistic, but made the game easier for many players - and a game should be fun after all.

PR3 offered a mix of the two predecessors, with 3 vs. 3, more realistic, but again a bit more complicated.

All games, however, required tactically clever action and control of the own ship, and of course this led to hardcore guys like me to push the envelope and board the rest with only 1 ship. But it was great fun. In all the predecessors wars were not the order of the day, often I had to wait (since I never played as a pirate) until finally a war broke out in which I could interfere to my advantage. This was really fun and kept the tension up. The rewards were great, the cost of LoM was affordable, often even free, ship repairs were affordable, and it was no problem to have trade convoys travel under armament without choking on the cost of the sailors. If I wanted to conquer a city, I had to manoeuvre my ships skillfully between the defence towers to take them out, or storm the city with a war gang, oh man, I'm going crazy...

Well, I understand that this is nothing for some players here. No problem, after all it should be playable on the console. But then at least the other parts of the game should be ok.

Your last paragraph might explain a number of issues with the game. I don't have an issue with consoles and understand why developers would want to release a game on as many platforms as possible but at the end of the day if you want to create a complex, multi-layered trading simulation then perhaps trying to support this on consoles results in a more simplified gaming experience?

[Buccanero]

@ GeeBee

At least that's what many people incl. my children have told me, I myself have little experience with consoles. But I think, just as Mario-Kart would be difficult to play on the PC without a steering wheel or a joystick, the implementation of complex simulations for consoles might require some sacrifices. Otherwise, I can't explain why a game is always made easier and with less depth. My impression is that consoles are rather preferred by the younger generation. Kids are often more impatient and want to reach their goal quickly. If I make this clientele to my market, I have to do justice to that. But I don't want to say the wrong thing and I don't want to offend anyone.

[TheCollector]

In regard to trade simulations it might be obvious ... you probably cannot handle several monitors with game and spreadsheets while playing on the console.

[GeeBee]

Buccanero lähetti viestin:

@ GeeBee

At least that's what many people incl. my children have told me, I myself have little experience with consoles. But I think, just as Mario-Kart would be difficult to play on the PC without a steering wheel or a joystick, the implementation of complex simulations for consoles might require some sacrifices. Otherwise, I can't explain why a game is always made easier and with less depth. My impression is that consoles are rather preferred by the younger generation. Kids are often more impatient and want to reach their goal quickly. If I make this clientele to my market, I have to do justice to that. But I don't want to say the wrong thing and I don't want to offend anyone.

I think you have articulated this very well. PC gaming and console gaming both have a place and many games work on both equally well but for some game types they are more suited to one platform or the other.

[Deschamps]

SimCity, Anno, ... and other great games had their specific releases for consoles (and obviously, nothing than could be compared in deep and complexity with their brothers for PC) for those who enjoy those platforms. So, why not the same with this one? Who knows. But I agree with @Buccanero, this iteration seems heavily capped to accomodate the game to the consoles market. The initial keyboard shortcuts (or its non-existence, better said) it's a clue.

[69Inanna69]

@Buccanero Yeah i got you.

By .. I like some aspects of PR4 combat because it isn't time sensitive..
I mean I'm busy now days and usually work ~80 hour weeks from home.
So its good being able to play for 1 minute, 10 mins, an hour, or all day..
I usually leave PR4 running on its own comp.. And play when I can..


As for ship combat.. My favourite was Puzzle Pirates, when it was in its peak (2003) / bit hard to do now days with almost empty servers..

But back then, your guild could blockade islands...
And then, after being successful you would own the island.

And on your big warships... You would need ..

10-15 people playing carpentry puzzles, to repair holes in your ship.
If they are completing a puzzle every 3 mins, not much gets repaired, compared to them completing 20 puzzles every 3 mins each..

10-15 people playing a bilge puzzle, pumping water out of your ship.

10-15 playing a puzzle which reloads your guns.

10-15 people on your sails, playing sails puzzles.. Providing movement points .. and if they don't do a good job, you cant move much.

Then every min or so, the turn goes... for you to move/shoot/etc.. based on the above.
And depending on how the 50 people manning the boat.. did.

And that one ship ^^^ takes about a month to build... with all the wood/sails/guns/ammo/etc, needing to be built by 1000's of puzzle completions, preferably by shops you own, built on your islands.. Etc.. So if you have 20 sunk in a blockade it hurts.

And since having that many people manning just one of the ships,, it needed help from random people, that you have to pay for their help. Around 1300 people (Per side) for the larger battles like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljQV_P0Ff9Q
And remember each of those ships is being manned by 20-50 people : )

Point being to have enough force/influence on the flag's for them to generate points for your side. I think they were 3 rounds 20 mins each.

Pretty hard core end game, for what seems like a game built for 8yo's.