The game should be subtitled: "The Shakespearean Tragedy That Will Keep You Up At Night"

This game is like an abused stepchild that nobody wants and everyone treats horribly. It's a shame to, since beneath the bloody, bruised, scarred surface, there's a gaming masterpiece hidden away!

Confused yet? Let me explain.

This game dates back to 2005 (ish) and was released in Asia at that time. It was successful enough there to warrant a NA/EU release several years later around 2010. This is still the same game engine, so short of some localization work, if the graphics look dated, there's a reason for it.

That part isn't the tragic tale though. This game was able to pride itself on it's behind the scenes mechanics; player economy, crafting, PvP, skills, trading and sailing are all well thought out in depth.

When this game was released, nations mattered. Each playable nation was as powerful and influential as the sum of its players. Ports would only open up after a nation had enough influence in the area... and the game world is HUGE. And this actually mattered to the player. Want to craft cannons? Hopefully your nation is in good relations with the port that sells iron!

Then, a couple years later, dungeons were introduced for those claiming there was nothing to do in terms of the "Adventure" skill set. Of course dungeons have rewards, and those came in the form of rare exotic goods that can be sold for huge profits and a lot of experience.

If you're wondering what dungeons and their loot (and money/exp bonuses) are doing in a game that's supposed to be about sailing, exploration and piracy, you're not alone.

Netmarble was the publisher at the time and when people started to complain about side-lining all other skills and activities for dungeon-running, the most profitable and least risky, their answer was to increase the number of gold for sale in the cash shop!?

Right about that same time, the CEO of Netmarble was arrested for some in-game currency selling scheme he and another employee were suspected of. At worst, it means the game's publisher had a CEO that was readily willing to find ways to profit off of the in-game currency, which was now reaching the ridiculous billion ducat (in-game-dollar) amount, surpassing anything the banks in the game were designed to handle. At best, it meant Netmarble was too preoccupied with the legal hassle to care about the game one way or another. So Uncharted Waters Online suffered either from active abuse or pure neglect.

OGPlanet then took it over a couple years down the road. I think the term, "Too little, too late" readily applies to the current state of the game and anything OGPlanet has done/intends to do.

This game was about the individual player finding ways to help their nation beat other nations in economic struggles, much like history shows occurred in the period the game portrays. THIS was the draw of this game; the active involvement of players in a part of global history. Due to abuses, exploits and neglect that went unchecked for years, this major feature of the game has gotten lost under the muck that's become the game's current state.

The final nail in this game's coffin comes at the ease of the solution to all of this, that OGPlanet will not budge on; starting a new server. Given the high-end money-sinks they plan to implement and the in-game profits they plan on managing better, a new server would be the breath of fresh air this game needs. They've made it very clear, however, that they don't plan on doing this.

Right now, if you're a new player, that 15,000 Ducat profit you made on a successful trade run will never amount to anything approachable to the 750,000 you can gain by spamming the starter level dungeon in half the time it took to make the one trade run.

This game is broken, period. After 4 years of it's NA lifespan, nothing worthwhile has ever been done to fix that. New players will come and go, few will actually stay; my friend's list is proof of that as it's filled with nothing but inactive players from years past.

Unless you hear of a new server starting, or a reset coming, avoid the heartache of playing this game. The drama this game has seen in its life will cause most dedicated gamers nightmares!

Update:

The problem, this game has in its current state (and I'll add this so people know this is still an updated review) is that the numbers don't add up.

You can enjoy this game for the first 30 or so levels of a skill, before you get an advanced skill such as shipbuilding or spice trading. The game's fun and everything seems well balanced. Advance past the "school" tutorial though and the game takes a drastic turn for the worst.

The more advanced, in-game methods for earning money still don't add up to the prices players sell their crafted items for. When you do a real time, 2 hour trade run to earn about 2-3 million ducats and find a simple accessory for your ship, that only adds 1 or 2 points above what the $50,000 ducat NPC equivalent costs, will run about 10 million ducats... the game is broken.

When player made items are STILL selling for the billion ducat range and the above-mentioned methods of in-game earning only net a couple million at a time, providing you don't get attacked by NPC and player pirates, catch fire, infested by rats, etc... the game is broken.

There's no out-flow of player money. There are plenty of ways to make it, but few ways to spend it that allow it to actually leave the game. The same money that flooded and crashed the game's economy is still floating around the game. There are no... or not nearly enough... in-game expenses to remove this. Ammo, crew, food, repairs, all cost a certain amount, but they don't cost millions to replace, only a few thousand.

This game literally had BILLIONAIRES coming out of the woodwork when they screwed the pooch with dungeons and EA goods. Since then, neither Netmarble nor OGPlanet have done anything to actively remove this extra money form the game. They've "nerfed" the source of the income, but the money still exists. With that money being in game, prices will still be FUBAR... as demonstrated in the player bazaars.

Although it's an open-world game, it's still an MMO. MMOs need goals and right now, this game destroyed those. A new player starting out will never, ever, in any realms of Hell, have any chance of ever being on the same playing field as the 5+ year vets who abused the system in the past. That right there, spells the death on an MMO. As I mentioned and others have confirmd, the early levels sees a large group of active players, but those numbers slow down as the levels get higher... once people realize the cards are stacked against them.

I'm saying this as a warning for anyone willing to try this game for the first time: you will not last. Don't let the first few days in-game fool you. You will never be able to compete with the players who took advantage of the broken system years ago.

Other than that, yes, the game has some incredible details. That's what drew me in and had me playing for 2 years initially. The days, ocean swells, storms, random events, skills, etc. all suck you in while you're doing something that would be boring in most other games. Catching a rare fish while sailing to South America, for instance. Being right outside of port and getting caught in a major storm. Having your ship suffer from plague, get infested with rats and cacth fire twice as you pass the Straits of Magellan is an experience you NEED to experience in this game. Other games just don't even comapre with this level of realism and authenticity.

The game had everything going for it, but its management ruined it all. It causes actual pain for me to think about this potentially great game... and it's tragic downfall. It's the game all MMOs should strive to be, but greed got in the way.

It's not a casual game, that's for sure. Doing anything takes awhile since sailing is serious business. That said, I love it! The graphics are terrible, the music is repetitive, the on-the-ground combat is probably the worst I've ever seen, and yet I keep double clicking that UWO icon on my desktop.

The community, for the most part, is better than any mmo I can remember. They're a mature bunch, most seem to be adults, because uwo really isnt a game for children. It takes patience and planning to get ahead.

ship to ship combat is simple but satisfying. The trading system is, again, simple but satisfying as well.

I rate the game 7/10, but in my heart it gets a 10 because I think I've found a new home ^^

If I were reviwing only the game, I would not hesitate to give it 4 stars. The large open world with countless ports to explore and trade at, the many types of ship to sail, and the deep storyline blending historical accuracy with fantasy is very well done. This is no surprise coming from KOEI who are well known for their deep simulations and stories.

The graphics, while dated, serve the game well and each port has a recognizable flavor to it. With many job titles across three archetypes (adventure, trade, and combat) and skill trees for all three, players have great flexibility in how to customize their characters to suit their own playstyle. Many games make this claim, UWO is one of the few to actually back it up with ample content for all career paths, and the game experience does not culminate in endless repetetive pvp. I would give four stars, not five, witholding one for some unclear writing and a cumbersome system for helping others with quests.

The playerbase in my experience has been mature, polite and helpful, and the premium content shop is not game breaking. This is not a pay to win game.

However, the inclusion of Nprotect GameGuard singlehandedly trumps any and all good points of the actual game (and there are many!) Gameguard advertises itself as an anti-cheat software, but installs itself as a rootkit. You are required to disable any antivirus software, because gameguard behaves exactly as a virus. This leaves you with no protection while playing an online game, and is unacceptable from a security and common sense view. Even if it worked as intended, this would be unacceptable, but looking over the complaints on the forum make it clear this software does far too much harm, and any claims of it doing any good ar eimpossible to prove. Is the game free of cheaters because of gameguard? Or is it free of cheaters because it is an old game with dated graphics and requires a reasonable intelligence and attention span to play? Finally, uninstalling the game will NOT remove gameguard, this requires manual removal, instructions can be found via google.

Pros:
Decent graphics, music and atmosphere.
Rich world, dialogue and flavor text, quests have actual storylines to them.
Actual content for all play styles, not merely a pvp funnel.
Long voyages actually feel like long voyages (This can be good or bad)
A freemium game that is NOT pay to win!

Cons:
Unable to walk around your ship
Installs rootkit on your computer.
Customer support has been all but abandoned.

Bottom line: If it ever removes the rootkit, its absolutely worth playing. Until then, avoid like the plague.

I have a lot to say but keep in mind it's from the perspective of a solo PVE player that has seen far from everything. I'll get right down to what I like and don't like.

Pros:

- The three classes (adventurer, soldier, trader) are distinct, with their own unique abilities. Further, the subclasses (jobs) that you can choose from promote skills, which encourages finding your niche and working on it. This makes for a good sense of progression, character uniqueness and a broad selection of playstyles. For combat there is naval and land, ranged and melee; and adventurers have a range of playstyles, from collecting data around the world, to hunting down shipwrecks, and going on long voyages to make discoveries. Apart from freeform gameplay, there are also semi-randomised quests.

- The world is vast and there's a lot to see. You won't see all the content for hundreds of hours of gameplay. It's not derivative, either - it's awesome when you unlock a new part of the world to explore.

- So many different ways to play. There's something for everyone. Adventuring is about long voyages, discoveries and treasure-hunting; maritime and land battles have some options and depth to them; trading is for more patient money-hoarding players with good knowledge of the trade lanes and goods, as well as inventory management.

- Plenty of depth in the gameplay, you're always learning more tricks of the trade such as which consumables you're going to need to combat events at sea, or you can pick up skills to do that, or even set an aide to do it for you if they have the appropriate skills. You have many options in character-building and higher levels open up more possibilities.

Cons:

- The grind. Yeah, getting to the ''endgame'' (top-of-the-line ship and most advanced class) will take many, many hours. Although in this case, it's more about the journey than the destination. This isn't the type of game where you have to be endgame to get access to the worthwhile content.

- The tutorials take hours. Seriously, you're looking at 10+ hours to get through all the schools. You don't have to, and you can go your own way at any time and come back later. Still, they are worth doing for the rewards despite the backtracking and awkward dialogue.

- Documentation is poor. A lot of things in the game are not self-explanatory, and you won't find written help ingame. I've played for dozens of hours and I still couldn't tell you all the differences between Recog, Search and Observe skills. The good news is, it's not necessary to know every game mechanic. You pick whatever playstyle you want and you learn as you go. Also, the ingame community is very friendly and helpful.

- Pay2Win elements. I'm not all that qualified to explain this since I don't play competitively, but there is at least one item that gives you an advantage over other players in the open seas (which are pvp zones): 30% speed boosters. That's huge, and I suspect it can be used to allow even the most sluggish pirate to hunt down even the speedist newb player. Sounds like a doozy. Thankfully, you can chart a course that takes you far from the major sealanes and the coast, for a good chance of avoing player pirates. Still, items like that are disconcerting. Also, buying a monthly subscription (about 15 dollars. Or Euros... hm...) gives you a fat paycheck in ingame currency. I don't know whether to put this under pay2win or not, but I guess if you're seeking pvp, yeah it would allow the subscribed player to get expensive gear sooner.

So in my experience, UWO is great if you're after a PVE experience with a Renaissance maritime flavor. I know you don't get many options for that rubric, but it's good. I can't vouch for the pvp however, and you should be prepared for a long (if not steep) learning curve.

After about a week or so playing this game, here are my impressions.

Let's get this out of the way first: past masters, Netmarble, ruined this game by introducing a flawed dungeon system which sank the economy...many people have mentioned this in other reviews. Happily, new masters, OGPlanet have fixed this, and have presided over the renaissence of this game, including it's launch on Steam, which has seen a resurgence in player numbers, with many new folk (such as myself) joining the game of late. Problems relating to dungeons are gone and everything is a lot more balanced and fair.

Right, on to the actual gameplay: one word - DEEP. This is an extremely detailed, almost dense game. Think EVE on the sea if you want an analogy. It's slower-paced and more thoughtful than your average "kill 10 boars, then kill 20 bats" type of MMORPG. There are 3 main skill tree branches under classes for Adventuring, Trading and Maritime (soldier) You can have skills from each. You are not restricted to only trading if you choose merchant at character creation, for example.

The Trading aspect is deep and complex, incorporating an excellent crafting system where you can make products from raw materials; make sausages, ham and leather from pigs, tailor your own clothes, design and build your own ship etc.

The Adventuring aspect is all about exploration and discovery, incorporating a complete world map where undiscovered cities are added as you discover them. Hunt for treasure in dungeons and ruins, dig up artifacts, indentify new species of animal. There's too many things to list here.

The Maritime aspect is where it falls down a bit in my opinion. It's basically the same as other naval or pirate MMOs such as Voyage Century Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea. It's fun, sure, but it's not really my bag. That being said there's a large amount of options and customization as far as cannon, type of shot, melee battle tactics and items and land battle combat to get to grips with.

The biggest downsides are the games somewhat dated visuals, serviceable, but nothing too fancy. (on the plus side, this means the game runs on potato-power PCs with no problem) and the tutorial system, which is very long compared to most run-of-the-mill MMORPGs these days. However, I reccommend doing the tutorial quests instead of skipping them, as you will get free ships and gear from completing them, as well as a good amount of money and skills by the time you graduate from the advanced level course in each of the 3 class courses.

Last thing to mention is the community. This is easily the friendliest online community I have experienced in a long time. The School chat channel is full of helpful and friendly people ready to answer your questions. This is a blessing, as the game is extremely complex.

Overall this is a fun and original game which offers a breath of fresh air from all those "cookie cutter" MMORPGs. It's deep and complicated, but rewarding for those who stick with it past the over-long tutorial.

This is one of my favorite MMOs. It's different from almost any other MMO, with just a bit of similarity to Eve Online. Basically, this is a game where you sail around the world in a period between the 15th and 17th century. You can choose to take on a Battle Role, a Merchant Role, an Adventurer role, or some combination of those three. Where 95% of MMOs have only a Battle Role, this game has Merchant mechanics that are more than just a crafting job. You can actually buy low and sell high while traveling from port to port selling your wares to NPCs or other Players for a nice profit either way. The adventure role is all about following clues, maps, lost shipwrecks, and making discoveries while living off the land with usually very few battles unless you are exploring ancient ruins.

*The fact that Merchant and Adventurer are fully enjoyable roles, with barely any battle required is what really makes this game special. There are few other MMORPGs where battle grinding isn't your only option.
* The graphics are a bit dated, as the original game was published in 2005, but this just means you can play it on almost any computer, while doing several other things if you play in a Window rather than Full-screen mode.
* Runs fine on Windows 10. For this Steam version, you don't even have to login after the first time - just press Play. Although I do need to run Steam as an Administrator for some reason, most likely due to the Xtrap anti-cheat software.
* On the downside, you have to listen to whiney little pirates who complain that they can't steal more than just your money and cargo. I don't understand why people want to be rewarded for making their fellow player miserable. Go rob a bank, and tell them how thankful they should be that you're there to make their day more exciting, and tell me how it goes. Some people choose to use their battle skills for piracy, which is okay once in awhile. Too much of anything is too much, even pirates.
*The game is very complex, and you'll spend your first week or two just doing the tutorials at the "School". Luckily you can leave and come back to School later if you need a break. After you finish the school, there are still a ton of things to learn.

I have played this game for 16 months now, over 40 hours a week. Yes i do a lot of not-grinding while chatting with my company or other friends, but I still havent hit the level cap in any of the 3 classes. This is not your average " i got to the end of the game in a week, now you want me to stay and do the same things over and over again? " kind of game.

Bored sailing back and forth to asia to make huge profits trading? Change ships and hunt some pirates. Or use maps and quest along the way to find some of the more than 2400 different discoveries in the game. There are so many different things to do in this game, you will constantly find yourself saying "I've been playing for HOW long ?" .

If a world of possiblilities on the open sea is what you are looking for, you just found it.

I've been a huge fan of Koei's games since way back in the SNES / Super Famicom days. Though I haven't played this one through steam, I have logged over 1k hours on and off over the last few years.

This game at it's core really is a good adaptation of the Uncharted Waters series into an MMO. The original version, launched in Japan in 2005 as a subscription based game, looks like it's close to what I would consider an ideal MMO for a simulation junkie. And that is what makes the version published here in the west such a bitter disapointment. The after market cash shop they tacked on cheapens every aspect of the game. It turns what was designed to be a repetitive but rewarding experience into an all out slog, a slog that spending 50 USD per month barely mitigates. Many systems have been nerfed or slowed down from the original design in order to coerce players into whipping out a credit card to speed them back up. The game is set up to have an incredibly robust player economy where all the best ships and items are crafted by players. Top tier items in this version come only from the cash shop. Powerful ships better than anything a player can make come only from their lottery box. Certain recipes are cut from the crafting proffesions entirely so the items they make can be sold for cash. Most of these items are tradable in game, but the fact that players can not make them on their own ruins most of the charm and intent of the design.

It is possible to get somewhere that resembles "end game" without forking over a fortune, but to do so would involve putting yourself through thousands of hours of doing nothing in game but grinding resources. During this time you'll be repeatedly zoomed passed at sea and destroyed in combat by newer players that shelled out a couple hundred bucks for their ships. Ships were supposed to be a part of character progression, they have level requirements to sail. Even the highest end cash shop ships have level requirements so low that they can be reached in a couple weeks of play.

I can't reccomend this game but there is a lot here to like. Insanely complex systems, trading, dungeon running, exploration, naval combat, a combination of skill based and level based advancement, layers and layers of systems you'll still be discovering and figuring out hundreds of hours after you start. If you've got a high tolerance for repetition you can get to "competitive" levels of gear and ships and money without taking out a second mortgage on yoru house, but you'll likely never make it to a true end game on completely equal terms with those that spend thousands. The in game markets are all dominated by players juggling in game money and cash. The high end naval battles are dominated by players who spend hundreds of dollars on their character development and ships. If you started from scratch and only ran one account it would take years to begin approaching established players like that, and that's assuming you know the game and can play efficiently. Still, if you really need a hobby and have a big chunk of disposable income and / or a few thousand hours to spare this game might be worth checking out. If you're like me the more you learn about it the more disappointed you'll be, but there is some fun to be had. Particularly if you don't mind multiboxing 3+ accounts and have a core group of friends that did the same, you could accomplish a lot in this game and have a blast.

If Koei stopped liscensing this thing out to 3rd rate lottery box companies and gave us the option to play the subscription model I'd be there in a heartbeat. I'd also start from scratch if Koei ever puts out a first - party international free server with a more balanced approach to the cash shop and what they sell in it

I've got a real love / hate relationship with this thing. I'm not sure if there's any real solutions for all the problems caused by the tweaking of the game around the cash shop, and making the game require a subscription would totally annihilate the already tiny player base.

While the review paints a picture of the game being completely "pay 2 win" free players and small time spenders can get a decent game out of it, especially power gamers that run multiple accounts and exploit every mechanic and design flaw that they can. It's frustrating because 1/3rd of the game or more is designed as an economics / trading simulation and that gameplay is mostly circumvented by players generating their money from selling things out of the cash shop. The upshot is that most of the stuff in the cash shop is available for in game currency if you can find a seller at least. I think the whole "lottery box" model is a terrible pyschologically manipulative business as well, hooks gambling addicts like no other.

Anyway just ranting now, I'm leaving the review as thumbs down but as I mentioned there is still a decent game here and if you love the age of sail, pirates, plunder, exploration, discovery, and in game economies it's worth taking for a spin, assuming you're ready for an epic grind. I'd suggest that if you spend money at all you wait until you really understand the game, I watched power hungry new players getting ripped off every day in the trade channels. The learning curve is too high to get any value out of early game cash purchases, and when you do start to understand the game you'll realize the value of most of the digital junk they sell is very low.

I would have to say that I quite enjoy this game. Its Eve Online meets the high seas without the spreadsheet BS.

[GRAPHICS] -The game graphics are itself dated but considering it was released a long time a go and only became available to Americans/Europeans somewhat more recently ( a few years ago). The character and city graphics are gawdy but are acceptable as you will be on the high seas and the ship details/water is where its at.

[SOUND/MUSIC] - The music isn't half bad and can be quite refreshing at first. It will change as you enter different territories/cities. It will become annoying after awhile if your constantly in one city or nation due to it being your home/ doing school quests. The ship sounds, (disaster, bell, etc) on the sea are a real nice touch as you travel.

[ENGINE] - This game is reaaaally easy to run as its an older engine. So anything can pretty much run it.

[GAMEPLAY] - This is where this game shines!, You can choose to either be a trader, Adventurer, or Maritime ( <-- pirate basically ). You can trade goods for profit from one region to another, invest in towns to get your hands on unique goods, Find shipwrecks and bring them to the surface for a chance at getting very good loot to keep or sell. You can choose to be maritime, to either support your nation in wars, or ambush other players across the high seas to steal there cargo. While doing all this, you have to deal with giving your crew food/water, dealing with fatigue levels, etc. The dynamics of those 3 classes really flourish once you have joined an active company or bought yourself a home to store goods. The game becomes soo much better after you push through the schools ( which do provide some useful info for beginners)

4/5 - The game itself can be quite addicting once your past all of the school quests. Some of the school quests are crap, others provide some basic/useful information to keeping you or your crew alive while on the seas. Each school provides money/ships/port permits once completing everything. The gameplay becomes the core reason players who have endured the tutorial keep playing, so I suggest giving it a thorough try. I give it a 4/5 simply for the graphics being a bit dated ( which cant be helped), and some of the tutorial quests being bland and a bit pointless.

Yep I would recommend.

****short version and important warning at bottom****

I read a bunch of reviews on this game before I downloaded it and never felt quite so compelled to write a review for a game as this one. I'm gonna try and keep this brief, at the time of writing I have a mere 2 hours into this, so I'm no grand commadore of the Uncharted Waters. I can tell you a few things though, This game is no "Diamond in the rough" it's more like a "Black Opal in the rough" (Black opal being much more rare and precious comparatively speaking.)

It is a beautiful smathering of wonderful gameplay dynamics, this game combines a bunch of elements that normally one would find overly annoying, difficult to learn and painstakingly problematic in implementation. The reality is at first glance it only appears overwhelming. Once your boat hits the water and you sail away from Port everything falls into place with wonderful simplicity.

The game play seems to be really well thought out and there are still a bunch of really great active players, that are not only helpfull but mature, funny and provide a "living world dynamic" to the game that I don't think I've seen quite anywhere else other then maybe Rift (with out the bots.) This game has all the componets that I wish many other pirate (naval) games I've played could have incorporated in such smooth form.

That being said... It's not perfect. While I'm understanding of what the limits of technology can provide; ten, twently years ago, I also like to take into consideration that for a new player to download it today, your time could be just as easily spent playing any of the new games that are out now. Additonally, you need to understand the game is dated. Its customer support exists, but is otherwise dead. The game has been launched to different countries over the course of, at the time of writing, 10 years. Its first realease in Korea/Japan 2005, NA/ Europe 2010 and SEA 2011. While the opening is valuable, it is REALLY slow. The graphics are dated and its controls are awkward and clumsy. Generally, a game that just seams unpolished/unfinished, at least by today's standards. On the plus side it is free! and it's not pay to win!

What to take away:

If your looking for a great game to sink some time into that has a decent story, great mechanics, involved community, and a pirate theme that won't bite deep into your pocket book, this is for you. Just be prepared for an unenthusiastic entrance, a lackluster finish and an interface that is just simply to me, moronic.


*Short Version*

Pros'
-Excellent dynamic and game play elements.
-Large expansive world that requires exploration.
-A community that is just plain unwilling to die.
-Did I mention an ecredibly well designed game play concept and theme
-Free play game that isn't pay to win
-Pirate (naval) themed!
-Solid Storyline- I don't want to quote the wiki here but they do a great job at explaining, I'll simply say (STNG meets pirates>? maybe that's fair?

Cons'
-Dated Graphics
-Awkward controls
-???? explained later under warning
-Glitchy command interface*

(*glitchy may not be the right term, but just not feng shui... Clashy maybe?)

*WARNING*

I've read a lot of complaints saying this game disables your virus protection in favor of it's own security measures. According to them, it is to prevent the possibility of cheating. I don't believe this to be the case, any longer. I've never had any prompts that suggest my AVG is being disabled, or anything of the sort. That being said, I run a dual boot system with seperate hard drives; I use one HD for gaming so if anything happens to it I don't worry, maybe cry about lost progress, but most games I play back up character data and progress on their server. So, it's really just my personal customization to worry about, should anything be lost at that point. It should be noted, I've never taken the time to see if my virus protection is being disabled on the back side.

Happy Gaming, I hope this helps!