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The Next Great RPG

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 37 / 39
Date: July 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

From the creators of Morrowind comes Pirates. The game was originally Sea Dogs II, but Disney bought out the game. However, the game is still awesome with great graphics, good sound, and a lot of fun installed into it. The game is similar to Morrowind, and heavily encourages exploring. You can trade, or buy, or sell. You can choose the attitude and qualities that your character will have, and the entire game is very open-ended. The combat is great, with the sea battles being especially exciting! The game plays as if you were a pirate, and the game unravels like a tale about, well, pirates and what they do. Overall, this game is great for open-ended fun and will provide a great gaming experience for a fan of Disney's ride, the movie, or pirates!

Like Morrowind, if modded, it is BETTER!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 21
Date: March 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Okay, sure, PotC is a buggy game. Yes, DisneyBucks caused the release to be rushed. NO, Bethesda did not design this game, Akella, the Russian game developer who designed Sea Dogs did. This game was supposed to be Sea Dogs II and no one was more dismayed than Akella when they saw what they had to do to their beautiful work. They did what they could, but in the time alloted, they unfortunately could NOT perform miracles.

Enter the average gamer, aka MYSELF. The manual is terrible (no wonder some of you have trouble with swordfights or storms, you have no clue of what to do). The game is buggy. You don't know why your PC is crashing all the time. What do you do? Well I first looked on the web for a patch to fix the bugs. Nothing. :( THEN I found there were websites that hosted free mods - there were people writing modifications to PotC that made the game INCREDIBLE!!! Bugs were fixed! Unfinished and locked quests were unlocked and finished. New quests were added. You could play the game past the end of the main quest. There were new ship skins and new characters (play as Capt. Jack Sparrow!), new items, and EVEN NEW LOCATIONS!

Look up "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Build 12" in any search engine, and you'll find what I'm talking about. This game is OUTSTANDING when modded, and the people at the site you find will help you if you get stuck.

It's a darned good game. In its original state it is a strong base for excellent gameplay if the problems are eliminated. It's fun - has adventure - drama - intrigue - GORGEOUS art - and imaginative scripting. Those who disagree - do you play Morrowind unmodded? Isn't it better with the mods?

Yup, I thought so. Get PotC... Get the mods. Immerse yourself in a fantastic absorbing game that has me STILL playing it today. BUY THIS GAME!

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

Great game for Sea Dog fans

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: December 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I want to make clear that this is essentially Sea Dog's 2 and has little or nothing to do with the movie Priates of the Caribbean. However, if you want a down to earth, well rounded, ship/land based naval game set in the sixteenth century; POTC will deliver.

You begin the game as an unknown freebooter with a small ship. You follow the onscreen script as a sort of tutorial and learn how to move about on land, fight with a sword and pick up items. From there you disembark from your ship with the choice of doing pretty much whatever you want. You can choose to deliver cargo as a trader or fight for one of the five nationalities (six including Pirate), or anything else that can make you some "coin".

Much of the game play is similar to SD1 and the controls are almost identical. Contrary to what some may say, I found the controls to be rather simple and easy to learn although bothersome to change. Character relations with people grow throughout the game and your reputation will change based on the choices you make. For example, if you deside to play the game in a cut-throat fashion, killing all who step in your path and plundering every ship you see, you will begin to be feared and this will have an effect on those you talk to.

The learning curve is steep but add's an element of realism to the game. You need to use your judgement when traveling at first or risk being attacked by pirates. The graphics are astounding, showing every ripple in the water and every drop of rain. Sunsets are moody and filled with emotion, it is really something to see. Ships will now have a crew bustling around on deck although their animation is somewhat blocky and pre-mapped (it all looks the same after awhile).

The soundtrack is great for anyone whose a favorite of those long classical scores (i.e. Master and Commander) and will change with your environment. You can now get ambushed in the city and will have to defend yourself with sword, knife, pistol, or whatever else you happen to have. Items are abundant throughout the game. Some give you skills, others for combat but you can view them all in the (albeit clumsy) inventory menu.

Unfortunately the game has some downfalls. Character interaction sometimes seems a little rushed and the game has some issues with bugs. The Bethesda website devoted to POTC is a joke and hasn't been updated since the game shipped to stores and no official patch has been released to the public. This is where my 3/5 star rating comes from.

However now for the best part of POTC, the mods. A number of websites have posted mods for downloading, one in particular is called the "Build Mod". It incorporates an array of upgrades such as new ships, wearable clothing, 100's of new quests and characters to interact with, and the ability to change the character you play as (you can now be Johny Depp, Will Turner, or a ton of others). Ontop of this you can now berth ships at islands and feed your crew so they don't mutany. If only this mod had been released with the game, then it deserves a 5 star rating.

Bottomline: POTC is a great addition to the Sea Dog's line but falls short of being as good as it could've been. If only Bethesda could have released a good patch for the game or an expansion, fortunately the player created mods have solved most of the problems and actually added some elements. For fans of Sea Dogs, there is no other choice.

-Xantier M. Werner

PotC

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: June 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

First I have to say that all this talk about bugs isnt making any sense to me. Ive not encountered one yet. And, besides that, this is an extremely entertaining game.

This is the first RPG ive ever bought and played and I am very happy with my purchase. The beginning of the quest is slow, but it quickly picks up pace. Ive not actually finished the main story yet, but I have encountered several long and fun subquests along the way. You can become a hitman for a merchant or simply escort traders to their desination.

I have only one major complaint: It's way to difficult manuevering throughout the jungle areas of an island. There need to be more signs to mark the pathways.

Besides that complaint, there really isnt much else. Overall, I believe that if you have a decent computer you probably wont encounter these bugs that others are finding unberable. The prive on this game is very cheap right now as well, only $20 for a 45 hour quest and many other subquests and freelance play.

Be sure your PC has the min specs - this is picky software!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: August 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Be careful when buying this product - it states that it runs on many Window's platforms, but actually works on very few. The video and sound card requirements are pretty hefty. I made the mistake of buying this software only to find out I can't run it, and my laptop is less than a year old. Plus, the trouble shooting information is minimal on both the software and the official website. I ended up having to contact technical support. It looks like a great game if you can run it.....

A great rpg

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: August 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game, by no means, is for newbies. IF you think your a real rpg gamer then this is teh game for you. It will take work for you too build up your forces and your ship, but after that things are smooth sailing. SUre teh combat isn't the best but it's the rpg physics and exploration that count, you will never run out of open water or islands..... never. The game also has a deep stat and skill system which both lend themselves to brilliance.

The graphics are the best point of the game, too much greatness to be had. Better than it's counterpart morrowind in that department this game gives you a wet dream every time you look upon it.

Simply put, this game needs to be bought, it's great roleplaying and great fun. Don't let reviews fool you, this game is exceptionally good.

Beware of Bootleg copy put out by a UK company called UBI Soft Exclusive

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: July 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I have played Pirates of the Caribbean on Xbox, and I really enjoyed the game. But as you advanced to higher levels of play, the Xbox would lock up. So I was wanting to but the Bethesda's Pirates of the Caribbean PC version. Its is the same game. I recently purchase this NEW game from a 3rd party in Amazon.com. When I got the game, I was surprised by the cover, it had a different company name, of UBI Soft Exclusive in big letters along the botton of the packaging. The name is make to look like it matches a well known software company, yet in fact, its not the same company. Upon opening, and seeing the black and white labeling on the disk themselfs, that is identical, to the Bethesda game disks, except they are only in the colors of Black and White, where the original in in colors, I suspected I had been sold a Boot-leg game. As it turned out, it was a bad copy too. I am disapoited that the seller with a 100% rating, would sell a Boot-leged game. Beware of sellers.

One of the worst.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 12
Date: August 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

As an extremely avid gamer, I normally say I have no problem throwing [money] away on a new game, even if it only holds my interest for a few weeks. With Pirates of the Caribbean, I definately did throw away [money] though, and I wish I could get it back.

I bought Pirates of The Caribbean after being addicted to Morrowind, another Bethesda game for months and months, expecting to see the same breathtaking graphics and flexibility of gameplay. While the graphics aren't bad, they are a little less than I expected, with things starting to look the same after you've visited a few islands. Some areas appear to just not be finished, with large green spots, bare of rocks or foliage or anything.

The gameplay is what really upset me. While your first sea battle is a blast, and your first few sword and pistol duels are pretty fun, after having to load an old game a dozen or so times because almost every opponent on the sea can quite easily destroy you, and getting stuck in a storm can easily be an end-game, it gets old.

The story line is so linear, you have none of the flexibility of Morrowind, or other recent RPG's.

The first day was horrible, with poor documentation and a high learning curve.
The second and third day were awesome, exploring the new opportunities of sea battle and new areas of the Caribbean.
The rest of that week, and all of this week, I've been frustrated and disappointed.
Pirates of the Caribbean is now sitting in a box in the hall.

Prepare to be Boarded.. Or is that bored?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: July 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game seems to have a lot of great points, but also a lot of bad points.

The graphics are well done.. Characters and ships look nice, the storm effects are beautiful.. Land textures are well detailed and don't get boring. I remember seeing an ad that claimed sea-battles featured "Spectacular Explosions".. If a cannonball smashing a ship's hull resulting in a red and orange ball of "fire" to be displayed are spectacular, then the graphics are flawless!

The sound seems to be a problem for me. Any time spent in the "port" section of a city, or half the time while in a sea battle, the sound is garbled and slows down. The game runs at normal speed, but the sound (speech mostly) is slowed down dramatically. Contacting technical support proved to be pointless, so it's something I have to deal with. When the sound isn't garbled or slowing down, it's still not all that great. Every NPC says one thing in greeting when you speak with them, and most of the time it's nothing useful or even enjoyable.

Gameplay? This is probably where the game shines.. There are numerous quests in each city, or you can sail the seas, stealing pirate ships and selling them for profit. Battles and boarding are entertaining, and it can be fun to try and keep your worthless officers alive long enough to get past the enemy crew.

Now one big problem I have is the rushed feeling the game has. The text dialogue is full of spelling errors and spacing errors.. As well as apparently buggy quest scripts. Twice I had to deliver goods, I got it to the person I had to deliver to, and the script to turn it in never appeared. A couple of re-loads later and it worked fine. Also in one place I got someone to join my party, which opened a quest script, and when he died during boarding it never closed.. So now there's an open quest I can never complete.

After a couple of patches this game will definately have potential. I don't think it'll ever match Morrowind, but it's definately going to be good.

If you're looking forward to getting this game, I'd definately suggest waiting until it's been out for a couple months, and the bugs are ironed out. It will be MUCH more enjoyable at that point.

Game by itself is buggy, but there are some great mods!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Like many other people have said before me, this game (by itself) is very buggy. You will have to deal with lost save files, abrubt crashes and other issues if you play this game as-is out of the package.

But there is HOPE! There have been some great 'mods' released on several forums that not only correct the bugs but also add new characters (like the Johnny Depp movie character), new missions, and new weapons. Check out the Pirates Ahoy site for more info.

By itself this game is maybe two stars. With the easily installed mods...it's a 5 star game!

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