CG's Pirates! article in brief

[Falconer]

Well, with a little help I managed to get my hands on the article that was published in this month's Computer Games about the new Pirates!

First let me congratulate CG for getting the scoop on this one. God knows many (including yours truly) have harrassed Jeff and friends to get them to give out some info or shots. I should also make clear that the article and the screenshots are NOT public domain and are owned by CG, therefore I unfortunately cannot just go and publish their stuff here.

I have been writing and rewriting this text several times but it is simply impossible for me to write an actual article without giving away so much that you wouldn't need to buy the magazine anymore, and that would be very unfair, so I'm going to have to get a little creative. First I'll give you my impressions from the screenshots, and then... well, a few quotes from the article should whet your appetite!

Screenshot impressions:

Of course, the first thing I did was look at the screenshots that came with the article. It's hard enough with most games to describe screenshots, and even more so with Pirates! The best I can come up with is that they do indeed have a somewhat 'cartoonish look'. Someone said "Disney-ish" but though understandable, it doesn't do the game justice. In any case, the shots are rich, detailed, colourful (but not overly so) and have a great ambiance.

Even with a non-realistic graphical approach, the game's engine produces some great effects. A lot of effort seems to have been put into the animation of characters, ships and environments. One image shows water flowing from fountains, shadows from characters, trees and objects dancing across walls and other parts of the scenery. Everything feels 'alive' for lack of a better word.

In fact, there is so much attention to detail that a game like Pirates of the Caribbean, for all its graphical splendour, seems bland. Of course, that game had to render a larger number of different areas than Pirates! From the article it seems that the original system of a set number of pre-determined hand-to-hand combat areas has been carried over from the original games.

This time around, you'll also see your shipmates fighting the enemy around you rather than just you and the enemy leader. It's hard to tell yet if that also means you'll see your crew taking the upper hand if you're winning, but lets hope so.

From the shots, I can also confirm that escorts *will* fight along your side (or theirs for that matter) in ship-to-ship battles. No longer do we have to select the most suitable ship for the action and hope it'll be enough. In one of the screenshots we see your ship fighting a Spanish galleon and, by your side, a third, allied French ship (a Frigate it seems) firing along happily as well.

... And that is about all I will say about the screenshots for now. Again, I don't want to take away from CG's great scoop.

Quotes:

Sid Meier and Jeff Briggs were showing their game to CG personally, so a lot of the quotes below actually come from them.

Several examples of what we'll be able to do in the game are given throughout the article. One I liked a lot was: "Over time, you can learn to manipulate the powershifts in the region." - "You might intercept the peace treaty, or make sure the declaration of war gets delivered."

Here Sid is showing off ship battles and the author describes some of the details:
"His next volley hits the mark; bits of wood fly from the ship, and several of its crew fall flailing into the ocean."

It's not just gold and goods that you can plunder this time around: "There are some special things that you can find in the game, like this Ruby Ring." he says. "That will be handy when we meet the governor's daughter."

The mechanics of this game are obviously a lot deeper than its predecessors. A great example of this is illustrated when Sid explains about attacking towns: "Now that I've attacked ships out of Santiago, they are sending out every convoy with an escort." He then explains how he attacks the city itself. Could this mean he has drawn most of the soldiers in town away from it by attacking a ship?

And more...

Besides the above, the article covers topics such as; sneaking out of prison, ballroom dancing with an interface similar to fencing, keeping the art of manuals alive, almost exposed breasts of tavern girls and more. So, if you happen to live within the publishing range of Computer Games, I do recommend that you pick up a copy and "read all about it". There's a lot more in the article than I dare to post here at this time.

... Oh, and perhaps it's good to mention how much I enjoyed reading comments on the original games by other guru's of gaming like Bill Roper, Chris Taylor and Bruce Shelley!

Source: http://www.cgonline.com (Computer Games)

[Captain_Creed]

Cartoonish graphics eh? hmm like Fable? Or more like Monkey Island? Or not at all like either?

I gotta get this magazine. I hope they ship it to retailers around where I live soon..

[Falconer]

Neither really. It's quite unique. It's really difficult to define, that's why I wrote that Disney-ish doesn't do it justice.

Many game developers today try to go for as realisticly accurate graphics as their engine can pump out OR go completely the opposite and end up with Leisure Suit Larry. Pirates! (to me at least) is somewhere in between. The quality of it all is great though, no complaints there whatsoever.

[Captain_Creed]

Nice

Thanks for your summary

[Hayreddin Barbarossa]

-
Well... The teaser was crying out loud for cartoonish graphics. I hope they don't go too cartoonish.
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_________________

Hayreddin Barbarossa, proud member of the LIB

[Moorkh]

Aaarghh! I do not live within publishing range of CGM ((

So far, not even an extensive web search turned up any scans of transcripts. Any idea when the screenshots will become publicly available?

[Falconer]

According to Jeff, we'll see online magazines publish their articles over the next week, maybe two.

I imagine some difficulties for all parties involved as (from the shots and pointers in the article) the game still features quite a few placeholder graphics. That probably means (maybe Jeff can confirm this) that the press isn't being given anything to fiddle with yet, just shots taken during visits or shots sent to them. It's harder to come up with something substantial if you haven't been playing the game you're writing about yourself (as I experienced with this one hehe).

[Moorkh]

Two more weeks of ignorant misery - oh, well, I guess I'm just going to distract myself a little while longer...

[Firaxis_Barry]

[El Diablo]

Barry,

I plundered faster...

I mentioned in the other thread, that I don't like the town's layout as presented in the screenies.

I don't think, that the caribbean towns had that "square-order", I think, they were built up "wilder" not so sorted. That would add more athmosphere, I suppose.
_________________
Don't consider a creation to beeing perfect, unless you sat on it from dusk till dawn

[Captain_Creed]

Fantastic Barry! This game looks really good, I was a bit concerned when "cartoonish" was mentioned, but it looks awesome! Keep up the great work!

[Moorkh]

While I'm still convinced that whatever Sid touches will turn to gold soon after, I feel a little disappointment, too, since, lacking any actual information, I couldn't help but to imagine the game going into a certain direction that I hoped it would go. Now, seeing glimpses of the actual concept, I must accept that Sid went a different way. I guess the game will still be great but I've got to come to terms that it will be a different sort of game that I had in my mind and that I had already grown fond of. Oh well...

Still, everything looks just neat, now, even if your role/chracter (male white noble goody-two-shoes freebooter) is predefined by the designers. Hoping to see/hear/read more soon!

Edit: I don't think those town layouts are anything like final. They very much look like placeholders to me.

*shivers suddenly*
A horrible thought just entered my head - might they possibly be considering a multi-platform release?
*shudder*

[Falconer]

Hmm, not sure what you mean Moorkh. What direction had you envisioned?

About multi-platform: Pirates! has been available on a multitude of platforms in the past and been very successful on every one of 'm. It wouldn't surprise me if they do but at least we don't get a shabby console port like we see so often these days. This time around, the consoles will get shabby PC ports.

[PiratesFan]

Honestly I don't care what console it is on. I am going to play it and play it and play it.

I am glad they are leaving the governors daughters in. That was fun for inoformational resaons and status reasons. Hopefully they add a luittle more importnace of the governors daughter you marry. Protecting that city might come more important? Hmmm.. Just will have to wait and see.

Great job on your Summary of the magazine article Falc... I am sure CG would be impressed that you kept true to their exclusive rights.

[Falconer]

Hehe, I think many feel that way about the game too PF.