Has this game abandoned?

[EMDream]

I played Port Royal 3 for awhile until it became clear that it had been abandoned and the many bugs I was running into would never be addressed. So, has this game followed suit? I can see it has a mixed rating in reviews so something must be going on that people are not happy with. I love these types of games and would very much enjoy playing i'm sure; however, I'm not willing to sink another 40+ hours into something only to discover that the achievement I was working toward is broken or any number of possible game breaking bugs ruining my experience.

[EMDream]

The below linked discussion answers my question. I will not be buying this abandoned game.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1024650/discussions/0/4131557115917413742/

[((Satan Chosen))=((Endless War))]

The game is literally-finished and has a DLC-expansion, to give real clarity.

[EMDream]

Originally posted by ((Satan Chosen))=((Endless War)):

The game is literally-finished and has a DLC-expansion, to give real clarity.

747 people that gave it a negative review (almost half of total reviews) I think I'll believe those + the numerous YouTube reviews all saying the same thing Do Not Buy. I can't trust these developers after they let me down on port royal 3 which is a lot of the reason I do so much research into games nowadays before I buy. Also, just because a game is "finished" and has dlc doesn't mean that it's a good game worth a buy.

In particular, I trust the YouTube reviews that show me in video format what is wrong with the game and why they liked and disliked it. If you had fun, good for you. I can't tell if you've even played the game with your private profile. However, I don't think it's for me and I'd highly recommend people do their research before purchasing this or any video game.

[QTV]

going around claiming games have been abandoned because active development is over is silly. development costs money and these games are not live service where you pay a monthly subscription nor does it get fueled by microtransactions or yearly DLCs.

is this game perfect? no. does it work and is it playable, yes. I played a lot of Port Royale 3, yet now, despite not being overly fond of every change from PR3 to PR4 I am still playing this game. they don't do the same thing for me.

edit: if you are wondering why it says I haven't played much PR3 on Steam it is because I primarily played it on Playstation 3 back in the day. it was wonderful and quite cheesy.

[Top Marx]

Why would you assume Port Royale 4 is a live service game? A game that ships a finished product, launches a DLC, and supports the title for a year is not abandoned, it is complete. It's been four years, man.

[Dray Prescot]

My problem with PR IV was that labor costs to run Industries (Businesses) were a little high but I could do it successfully, but IN Particular the labor costs of Warships with full crews were way to too high.

My other complaint is that most Settlements/Cities do not have enough special tiles near the City Center to build special buildings on (they can ONLY be built on those tiles).

I played PR IV through the entire Beta period (May/June to Sept), and then for several months into the release version.

The other "problem" with PR IV was that many/most players seemed to want to play as Pirates in a game that was designed as production and shipping Trading game. The Production and Trading side of PR IV worked well enough. I enjoyed playing it as a merchant trader who also had a lot of production to make the goods that I was Trading to other Cities. I played the Spanish, English, and Dutch Companies until I had finished them, as well as part way into the French Company.

[QTV]

Originally posted by Dray Prescot:

My problem with PR IV was that labor costs to run Industries (Businesses) were a little high but I could do it successfully, but IN Particular the labor costs of Warships with full crews were way to too high.

My other complaint is that most Settlements/Cities do not have enough special tiles near the City Center to build special buildings on (they can ONLY be built on those tiles).

I played PR IV through the entire Beta period (May/June to Sept), and then for several months into the release version.

The other "problem" with PR IV was that many/most players seemed to want to play as Pirates in a game that was designed as production and shipping Trading game. The Production and Trading side of PR IV worked well enough. I enjoyed playing it as a merchant trader who also had a lot of production to make the goods that I was Trading to other Cities. I played the Spanish, English, and Dutch Companies until I had finished them, as well as part way into the French Company.

There are a lot of good points there.
I feel like a lot of things in the game is designed to slow the player down as much as possible.
I am not a huge fan of everything about the fame system.

A combination of these things meant I already lost a lot of my interest during early access. Was sad not more had changed when I eventually picked it up again.

[jonnin]

I am not aware of any major bugs. Not sure about achievements, as I don't care about those. PR 4 is good because of replay: the randomized goals on free maps can make each game you start require very different strategies and approaches. It also does random production better than previous versions, which also helps replay as the best cities are different each time.

What most people who didn't like 4 hated was the new combat systems and the fame tree. I don't mind these changes, but they do matter, so you should examine how those 2 things work and see what you think for yourself. The fame tree isn't a big deal: a few months of running goods to the capital for the treasure fleet collection and you will be set on the perks you NEED and can round out the rest later over time. If that doesn't do it for you, one of the captains starts with 5 points and that is a good bit of head start. Combat, if you don't like the new approach, can't be ignored. I like the ship to ship combat changes but the siege of towns is awful. This compares to the older ones where ship to ship was a slog and sieges were easier and faster. /shrug on all that.

calling it abandoned isn't fair: its finished. I even bet that if a game breaking bug is found, they would patch it.

[Primigenia]

Port royale 3 is far more complete, fun and better looking in my opinion. go for that one instead of 4

[E]

I tried this game for a while (was a big fan of PR2 and Patrician 3), then I saw how ahistorical cities were (French and English owning Florida and Cuba? What?) and gave up because how atrociously silly and unimmersive it felt.

...All because they wanted to 'balance' the game by making everyone equal, instead of Spanish owning 80% of everything and slowly losing it to English, French, Dutch etc. Such an obnoxious design lol.

Had they fixed that part before they finished development?

[jonnin]

Originally posted by E:

I tried this game for a while (was a big fan of PR2 and Patrician 3), then I saw how ahistorical cities were (French and English owning Florida and Cuba? What?) and gave up because how atrociously silly and unimmersive it felt.

...All because they wanted to 'balance' the game by making everyone equal, instead of Spanish owning 80% of everything and slowly losing it to English, French, Dutch etc. Such an obnoxious design lol.

Had they fixed that part before they finished development?

Yes and no. The historical part, no, its not correct in multiple ways including cities appearing and vanishing or who controlled them.

But gameplay wise, yes, I feel its fine. You can choose for your country to own a small or huge chunk of cities, and when doing so can iterate through some 5 or 6 groupings. In some of those spain does own half cities, and in others, you can arrange for the other countries to dominate or whatever you feel is a good challenge. If you pick the hardest settings and the smallest country layouts, you can have that with a giant Spanish mainland (or as spain, the biggest layouts) and a tough game (if not being big spain) ahead of you.

I don't think you can get 80% owned by spain, but being as big as all 3 other sides combined is enough of a challenge. If it were adjusted too much farther they would quickly defeat the others one by one (the AI is pretty aggressive when it gets that far ahead), which also was not historical -- they never got 100% dominance.

here is a 50-50 distribution, 30 cities for spain, and 30 for the other 3 countries total, if I counted it right.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3303072940

[IroquoisLeague]

Originally posted by Primigenia:

Port royale 3 is far more complete, fun and better looking in my opinion. go for that one instead of 4

I agree

[Fiago]

Originally posted by EMDream:

I played Port Royal 3 for awhile until it became clear that it had been abandoned and the many bugs I was running into would never be addressed. So, has this game followed suit? I can see it has a mixed rating in reviews so something must be going on that people are not happy with. I love these types of games and would very much enjoy playing i'm sure; however, I'm not willing to sink another 40+ hours into something only to discover that the achievement I was working toward is broken or any number of possible game breaking bugs ruining my experience.

dont know if its still relevant but you can try the game on steam, as most games, for up to 2 hours....if you dont like it you can refund it and get the full price back, just have less then 120 min in game.....worked everytime i refunded a game on steam so far for me at least

[redgreen999]

Most negative reviews are because people didn't like the combat because they were expected it to be like Sid Miers. Its a trade sim.

[ronmamita]

PR4 feels abandoned.
The more I played the less enjoyment & more frustration.
This game need modding and it could be FUN!