There is a maximum of four ships for your fleet, which might not seem like many, but trust me: naval engagements are tough enough to coordinate without adding more.Īfter stopping by the shipyard, you can check into the local tavern, a place where you can pick up rumors for missions, hire crew for your ships, hire officers, rent a room (to heal or wait for day/night), and last, but not least, contact smugglers or diplomats.
At the shipyard you can buy ships, repair them, and change the captain of any ships you have in your fleet. There are also contraband items, which we will get into later. Every island has a list of export and import goods that affect prices. At the store you can buy ammunition and ship parts, as well as trade goods. He lags behind as the camera adjusts - so when you change it, it takes him a second to catch up to the new angle, which is disorienting.Īll ports have the same points of interest, though some lack shipyards and/or town halls. Besides that, Nathaniel runs at a snail's pace, never in a hurry. While you are certainly welcome to run around in either third- or first-person views, the towns are mostly filled with random NPCs and confusing corners. Unfortunately, PotC makes land-based navigation within cities a little less easy than it should be. You'll need to stop by the points of interest on the closest colony. Distribute the points you earn based on how you want to play the game.īefore you can go sailing, however, you'll need some goods, a ship, a crew, and some spending money. To that end, your character (and any officers you hire) will gain experience, raise levels, and have points to put into skills like luck, commerce, grappling, and so on, as well as special abilities like quick turnaround, long-range grappling, and the like. Trade, smuggle, plunder, escort, and then deal with the consequences. How you make your fortune (or die trying) is left to you.
There is no one to tell you how to make your fortune and no mission objectives beyond the ones you take on yourself. While there is a plot to the game, a grand adventure to be had, you are given the freedom to embark on it or otherwise ignore it entirely.
This sudden freedom can be jarring to players not acquainted with Bethesda's preferred style of gaming.
After a perfunctory tutorial on all of the aspects of the game, you are given a small bit of advice and then set free to roam the archipelago, a small assortment of Caribbean islands that have many European colonies. You are basically given the bare minimums to start the game - in this case, a saber, a pistol, and a sloop - and then let loose. Pirates of the Caribbean, like most Bethesda games, starts with an almost sadistic abandonment in a huge world.
"Avast ye," Disney quipped, "Do ye be wantin' some money? Say, lots and lots of money?" Of course, Bethesda likes money, so they replied, "What do we have to do?" Now Disney, being a shrewd bargainer, countered with, "All ye have to do is put our name on your game and tack on a cameo of our cool ghost ship from the movie." Bethesda likes easy money, so it said, "Wow! That's easy! We'll do it!" and signed the contract, after which Disney proclaimed in a scurvy fashion, "Oh, by the way, have the game out before the movie or we'll have you all walk the plank!" This scenario is the only possible explanation for the bug-ridden, hamstrung pirate adventure that is Pirates of the Caribbean.
Then Disney entered the picture and came calling carrying what must have been a large sack full of money. A little game called Sea Dogs II had spent a few years in development ever since the moderate success of the original.