Which Sea Dog wins the Pirate Crufts?

[Leigh]

I'm ashamed to say that at the age of 35 I have only just recently, in the past few days, played Sid Meier's Pirates! for the very first time. It is incredibly fun.

I've been wanting a "Pirate Playpen" for a while, and in lieu of a modern title that is, well, good, I've been looking at some classics.

Which brings me to the Sea Dogs series. From first impression, the games look like Mount and Blade Warband with Pirates, which is fine by me, I've spent many hours in Warband and highly enjoy it. But which Sea Dog is Top Dog in your mind?

If you were to only buy one title, which would it be?

I'm not against Multiplayer games, but I far prefer to play them with my current small circle of friends, and most of the time they are either too busy or have no interest. I'm happy to remain with single player experiences, I've grown up on them, it is just so hard to find actual "games" in todays deluge of "services" that flood the market.

So, which Sea Dog wins Pirate Crufts?

[Darth Revan]

for me personally its sea dogs city of abandoned ships, the reason for this is the gentlemen of fortune mod available for that game, but it is not available at steam yet.

this one here is the latest one but its not made by the developers of the original sea dog games which is nothing more than a little side note and absolutely no reason to dont buy it. :)

you should wait for more answers because i have not that much experience with this sea dog game so i cant say that much about it.

sea dogs is not really like mount & blade if you ask me.

but what i can say is that there is a actuall warband with pirates here on steam, its called blood & gold caribbean! but the sea fights in the sea dog games are better than in blood & gold, in return the boarding fights and land combat in blood & gold is better then in the sea dog games because its the mount & blade combat with some aditions.

that should not mean that you should not buy a sea dog game, the sea dog games are awesome if you ask me but you really should wait for more answers because i am not the best one to give a answer on which you can base a descission on in this specific question. :)

[LHookins]

This game has a very good sandbox. Some people really like the story line, which has considerable depth and complexity, but I find it more difficult than I want in a game. I have 1800 hours playing sandbox mode.

An earlier version of this game, Pirates of the Caribbean, has the most mature mods and varied story lines. You can find everything you need on the Pirates Ahoy forum.

In between you can find City of Abandoned Ships. The base game is fairly good, and there are mods for those preferring them.

If I had to limit myself to only one, it would be Sea Dogs: To Each His Own. But I have played all three of the above.

Hook

[LHookins]

But which Sea Dog is Top Dog in your mind?

If you were to only buy one title, which would it be?

Y'know, this is an odd question. Why not just go for the latest, the one on whose forum you are posting?

Hook

[Leigh]

Originally posted by LHookins:

But which Sea Dog is Top Dog in your mind?

If you were to only buy one title, which would it be?

Y'know, this is an odd question. Why not just go for the latest, the one on whose forum you are posting?

Hook

It isn't really, I posted in the most recent one because it is the most recent one and most likely to get replies, which it has.

But, being the newest doesn't mean it is the best. So I am asking for opinions.

[LHookins]

Which other ones are there?

[LHookins]

Ah, ok. I see Caribbean Tales is available on Steam now. From 2006.

I doubt the first Sea Dogs was in the running at all. So if it is between TEHO and CT, I have no idea, as I haven't played CT. Try both. Try CT first, it's cheaper. Probably more accessible to play.

City of Abandoned Ships is available on GOG, or possibly for free from the right sources. Somewhat less than the $50 I paid for a new boxed copy a couple of years ago. I found the sandbox lacking compared to TEHO, and that was all I was interested it. But at the time, I could mod CoAS and couldn't mod TEHO until later. Existing CoAS mods were not to my taste.

Hook

[LHookins]

Originally posted by neededlotus5:

the first seadogs was my personal fav it was one of bethesdas first i believe(think fallout,elder scrolls series)this one doesnt even come close sadly

So you're saying that the OP should go with Sea Dogs 1 rather than Caribbean Tales?

[Ferzen]

I played Sea Dogs, Sea Dogs 2 Pirates of the Caribbean, Sea Dogs 3, Sea Dogs CoAS and Sea Dogs: TEHO. Sea Dogs TEHO is best of all.

[maxx99]

Each pirate game to date has it's own charms and merits. But currently I'd wager Sea Dogs TEHO, COAS/GOF mod, Gentlemen of Fortune ERAS (the reef) and POTC New Horizons (piratesahoy) are neck and neck front runners. Now if only the various people can work together and combine all of these we'd have the pirate/age of sail game we have all been looking for.

[Mighty Pirate™]

Originally posted by neededlotus5:

the first seadogs was my personal fav it was one of bethesdas first i believe(think fallout,elder scrolls series)this one doesnt even come close sadly

Sea Dogs 1 were still Akella game, Bethesda was just publisher. But yeah it is a very good game, especially for the time. Had a lot of fun back in a day. Newest ones are actually making good job making it quite obsolete, if you do not suffer from nostalgia.
I higly recomend City of Abandoned Ships.

[Death]

Originally posted by LHookins:

This game has a very good sandbox. Some people really like the story line, which has considerable depth and complexity, but I find it more difficult than I want in a game. I have 1800 hours playing sandbox mode.

An earlier version of this game, Pirates of the Caribbean, has the most mature mods and varied story lines. You can find everything you need on the Pirates Ahoy forum.

In between you can find City of Abandoned Ships. The base game is fairly good, and there are mods for those preferring them.

If I had to limit myself to only one, it would be Sea Dogs: To Each His Own. But I have played all three of the above.

Hook

Pretty much this except I recommend PotC or CoAS over this one for a first time player just for the aforementioned extreme difficulty of this one. I do recommend playing them all if given the chance though.

[LHookins]

I recommend PotC or CoAS over this one for a first time player just for the aforementioned extreme difficulty of this one.

I agree completely. If you're going for the story, and I suspect most people are, then CoAS is going to be the easier game. If you're like me and ignore the story, then TEHO has the much better sandbox. Of course, anyone demanding a different starting character won't be playing the story anyway, and there's no requirement to play the story in TEHO.

I started the TEHO story once and decided it wasn't a game I wanted to play. Someone who has played the stories in both might post a comparison.

Eventually TEHO is supposed to have two additional starting characters, each with their own story. Don't be in a hurry. It might take a while. :)

Hook

[The_Black_Knight]

TEHO is not really any more difficult than COAS, EXCEPT the developer time constraints they seemed to want to enforce on specific quests, which in some cases can be outright cruel. COAS had some maddening moments as well that were equal both in complexity and cryptic nature though.

TEHO has better stories overall in terms of length and characters.
COAS has better ability to "do what you want" early and not be so time constrainted for the quests (outside of the whole Peter Blood intro choice).
AoP: CT was just a weak game overall, and rehash of the previous earlier games with a few more features.
PoTC (Conversion) has the most diversity and open world, the Disney original release was very mediocre.
SD has the most freedom of action, but limited in terms of overall story and has modern compatibility issues.

Most old Akella "Sea Dogs" prefer COAS or TEHO.
Pure open world, people stick with PoTC (conversion).

If I ranked them, I would still edge towards COAS (with GOF Eras) then TEHO, as I thought the whole crafting system in TEHO was somewhat tacked on as an afterthought to meet modern gamer expectations. However, it ends up being a forced requirement to understand if you want to the complete the entire game.

I personally have keyboard mashing moments of trying to either find Chad Capper's key and swim in the hurricane during COAS, among a few other like Ascold's "deal with the devil", or "La Bella Isabella" chasing. I don't think anybody really like trying to track down all those Aztec tablets either. The first time you arrive at the City of Abandoned Ships brings back memories as well. TEHO builds on the lore at this location, but the surprises are less intense and mysteries less deep.

[LHookins]

Thanks, Black Knight. Exactly what I was hoping for.

Hook