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difficult and complex, but great

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As the title indicates, this game is complex and can be difficult. It is also, if those traits are interesting to you, incredibly addicting. This could be a bad thing :-)

I love Sid Meier's games: the Civilization series, Alpha Centauri, etc. Civ 2 and AC are my favorites due to the detail and control available. I mention these due to the traits of those games being similar to this one. The context, however, is starkly different. A little more background: I just bought this game a few days ago after a hankering for Avalon Hill's Blackbeard, which is a great board game. I went online to do some "research" on Pirate games, and read a few reviews of Port Royale, its sequel, and Pirates! by the aforemention Meier. What I read led me to Port Royale, and I found a copy and bought it. I've played games for years, and enjoy them, everything from RTS to FPS, and running the gamut from graphically boring to exquisite (Neverwinter Nights, for example).

To the game: The aspects that appeal most to me in any game are: a sense of adventure, open-ended potential, and a vibrant game world with a decent AI. I'd say that Port Royale has all of these in abundance. There are many paths to success... one can choose to be a lawless pirate and attack ships and sack towns, one can choose to create a booming trade business via shipping, one can build businesses in a number of towns to facilitate that, one can choose to build reputation with a nation and rise to the level of a governor, or one can choose to do all or a combination of any of these things. Replay value, in my opinion, is very high.

The sense of adventure is created partly by the large environment, and discovering new towns. It is helped if you ignore the map that comes with the game, which actually depicts every town's location, which can come in handy when you decide to take on missions at the behest of the various Governors. The rapidly shifting economy is also a repeated source of randomness and adventure, as commodities shift in value drastically through supply and demand.

The open-ended nature of the game is driven by the aforementioned various paths one can take, and the fact that you can choose to ignore missions until such a time as it becomes convenient. Missions are time-sensitive and difficult in many cases. Ships take damage in sea battles, and need be repaired and armed against future attacks, even if you are taking the path of the merchant, so it may be prudent to wait before taking on a mission.

The complexity comes mostly in learning the trade system and managing businesses. I thought I'd be bored with the trade aspect and choose to be a pirate or a buccaneer, but I actually find the trading system to be a blast. My first few runs saw my ships destroyed, and my businesses going into the red.

Life on the seas is managed by the control of one or more convoys, which are always represented graphically by one ship. You can grow your convoy in two ways (that I've discovered): one: by capturing ships on the seas, or two: by purchasing ships and adding them to your convoy. You can operate multiple convoys if you so choose, simply by buying or removing a captured ship from your existing convoy, and then hiring a captain. Controlling multiple convoys adds another level of complexity, but can be a lot of fun, and is a great way to build one's fortune.

The game offers automated trade controls as well... one involves setting buy and sell orders at businesses (storage facilites) in towns that can take advantage of the dynamic economy, and another involves setting up trade routes, which I have yet to do.

I recommend that anyone who finds the traits I mentioned compelling tries this game. If hack and slash and immediate gratification is more your speed (and I like that, too), stay away. You will be frustrated and annoyed.

Its a game about Commerce

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

To be honest, I had a hard time getting into this game. It seems to deal only with the Commercial Aspects of the Carribean during the 1700's. It might have more to it, but I got bored.

Another RSTS favorite of mine

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This is another favorite RSTS(Real Slow Time Strategy) game of mine. What I mean is setting the game time on the slowest possible setting and micro-managing. This is how I like to play a lot of games and the makers of Port Royale understand there are a lot of players like me. The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is because there is a Port Royale 2 that is better.

Great Game, but lots of bugs

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The creativity of this game is amazing. The trading, the sea battles, from the easy to hard, depending on your choice, makes for a very fun game. It can be hard to understand, however it does come with an online manual and map if you really get stuck. But, once you have it figured out, your on your way to many hours of fun. That is....until it crashes. Thats not so bad, simply because you can save often, and it does have an auto save option, (which im not so sure isnt what causes the crashes), however it crashes in German, meaning, if you speak and read only English, you have no idea what just happened, all you know is you were about to attack a pirate and bammo, you hear a sound, then nada. If you manage to get back out to your desktop, you will find two error messages waiting for you. One in German, the other spouting something about null containers. When I first purchased the game, I went to the Ascaron forums only to find my problem was not an isolated problem. Many Many MANY (get the picture?) others experienced the same thing. After a month or so, something funny happened. ALL of the complaints about this issue, had dissapeared when they suddenly decided to clean?? their forums. They made one patch, claiming to fix the known bugs, but it failed to even touch this particular bug. Then, nothing, everything was all about Port Royale 2, totally sweeping the problems with one under the rug. Their support never contacted me back after requesting help twice. So..would I reccomend? Yes. But, expect the inevitable crashes, and dont expect technical support.

FULL of adventure and it has Churchs!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: February 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The cool thing although something I did not focus on using much in the game was the Church's, which aid in different ways.

You know if you like to think and love strategy games at a nice price, then this is a groovy game....

It is challenging but enjoyable, you can be the Pirates, Buccaneers or just a Merchant making bucks!

GO for building things as soon as you can and build your fleet with the same ships till you are ready to afford the bigger ones. DON't forget to max the Convoy with people and put enough cannons & cannon balls on board to take on the Pirates (depending on your political leanings).Dont max the convoy out with ships as you can capture and sell ones that you win.

I enjoyed this. Plus you really get a feel of that period in time.

GS

Fun but probably not the game for everbody

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: May 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

As one other reviewer mentioned, if you are not into trading & spreadsheet management, then you will probably will not derive a great deal of enjoyment out of this game. Probably Ascaron's "Pirate Hunter" is more your cup of tea. I tend to play Port Royale while the more violence-prone 10-year-old in the house enjoys blasting ships to smithereens in Pirate Hunter.

Nonetheless, there is plenty to enjoy in Port Royale, if only you are patient. It takes a little time to build up reputation and resources, but once you get a steady source of income in place, the game is flexible enough to allow you to shift your attention to rampaging across the Carribean with your formidable fleets of battleships.

The game is flexible and open-ended enough to allow the player several options. One can simply to be an unassuming neutral trader, moving from port to port, quietly amassing a fortune while staying out of harm's way. One can also suck up to the governors of your respective nation, running mission after mission, currying the favor of the establishment. Doing this means that you tend become despised by the other nations, so sometimes it is a good idea to hedge your bets. One can take it even farther by getting a letter of marque, a form of legalized piracy, which allows you to loot and pillage the ships of whatever nation your letter of marque concerns. It is one step short of being an actual pirate --- just make sure you check the validity of your letter of marque, or you will find yourself on the wrong side of the law.

Finally, of course, you can throw respectability to the winds and cost your lot with the forces of lawlessness. This is easier said than done. If you find yourself an outcast from all nations, hunted by numerous military convoys, and short on cash and resources, your days may be numbered. Enjoy it while it lasts.

The game also has a loose story-line, which you can choose to follow or ignore. It gives you a chance to mix it up with some pirates if you want to, and reunite you with long-lost relatives. You can also get married, which affords your wife an opportunity to get kidnapped frequently by scurvy knaves, and affords you the opportunity to blast still more evil-doers out of the water.

For those who complain about the learning curve --- believe me, it is not nearly as difficult as Patrician II and Patrician III. Those who are familiar with those games will immediately recognize the economic model of Port Royale. I have heard some Patrician players comment that they play Port Royale when their brains need a rest from the extremely steep learning curve of the Patrician games. Learning curves are all relative.

This is not to say that Port Royale does not have some unique difficulties to it. Contrary to what one reviewer said, international affairs can have a devastating effect on your well-laid plans, depending on what nation you play. If you play as a Spanish player, the number of Spanish ports is so vast that you can ignore all other nations for the duration of the game without any impact. However, try playing France or Holland, both of which have far fewer ports. For example, you can be a French trader who has established good relations with Spain, to the point of even building up a thriving industry in a few Spanish towns, but then France & Spain go to war. It becomes impossible to maintain good relations with both nations, and eventually Spain will bar your ships from entering Spanish towns. If you depended on those towns' resources to keep your whole economic empire going, then you are seriously screwed, unless you can buy your way back into Spanish favor. The Dutch have it even worse than the French. Once again, it is all relative.

A few comments about the operation of the game: when I first began playing the game, it crashed constantly, and while Ascaron has provided a patch that has solved a lot of problems, the game continues to crash regularly. Save early, save often. The game does have a nice multi-tiered autosave that will give you a lot of loading options, but be prepared for a crash at any moment.

If you enjoy micromanagement, puncuated by occasional violence on the high seas, then you will find this to be an engrossing, addictive, time-burner of a game. If you are in need of a quick fix of violence and mayhem, you probably ought to look elsewhere.

Seems geared for economists, but strangely addicting

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: April 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Port Royale" is basically a trading/economic simulation with a pirate "game" attached. The trade, production, and consumption of various Carribean products is heavily detailed, but the fighting and sailing aspects of the game are presented in a more broad manner.

This game is big- a full scale map of the Caribbean Sea with 60 towns is the playing area. The ships of four nations (Spain, France, England, and Holland) ply the waters- trading from town to town or hunting down pirates (freebooting marauders) or buccaneers (captains licensed by a legit nation to attack the shipping of an enemy nation). Meanwhile, the player slowly builds up his reputation by either trading, completing a variety of missions, or fighting by chasing down pirates or becoming a buccaneer. The player starts with the ability to recruit one captain, but as reputation increases the player can recruit more captains. The more captains the player has the more convoys he can have out at sea on trade routes, doing missions, or hunting down enemies.

The biggest strength of Port Royale is that it is completely open-ended. You can achieve victory by a variety of ways. (Gaining enough reputation to be announced as a "governor" is the goal.) You can play as a peaceful trader or you can be as bloodthirsty and greedy as Blackbeard himself!

But there are design problems. The player is seemingly playing in a vacuum with little interaction with AI opponents. Although, set during an exciting historical period- the 16th-17th century struggle for the New World between rival European powers- the player is not really effected by the political scene. The player chooses a nation, but he can sit on the sidelines of any wars that occur. Thus, if the player's nation is at war with Holland and the player chooses not to attack Dutch shipping then the Dutch will leave the player's shipping alone. Yet even if the player decides to engage in war the AI will only attack the player's armed convoys. The game lets the player's unarmed ships flee from every attack without harm. For example, I had a convoy of six trade flutes often packed with expensive goods, but since those ships were unarmed they were never in danger of being captured or sunk. (What would a real pirate have given to be able to take such a tempting prize?) Also, while the player can attack and loot towns, the AI cannot and thus the player has no worry that his production facilities will be damaged. The result is a game without much of a competitive environment.

Normally, the uncompetitive and unhistorical nature of this game would be a killer for me. Yet, strangely I've been addicted to playing it. It has been very stable on my system and its sheer size and open-ended style have kept me playing into the wee hours. It is fun to set up a trade route- picking the order of towns to be visited, setting the max price for buying and the min price for selling, watching the convoy sail from town to town, the cargo hold filling and unfilling, and the money coming in. It's also fun to complete a variety of missions. Overall, I enjoy Port Royale, but its the kind of game that I see so many ways it could have been better. While playing I wonder why couldn't the sailing and fighting aspects be more realisic? I'm not asking for a naval warfare simulation, but something akin to the Broderbund classic Ancient Art of War at Sea would have worked great! (It's amazing that a game more than 15 yrs older than Port Royale still had a more detailed fighting model.) Also, why aren't storms and hurricanes a real factor? It's the Caribbean! It would have also been nice if wars effected the player with or without his consent, that towns vital to the player could be attacked, and that sending unarmed merchantmen into pirate infested waters means danger!

Why 3 stars? Port Royale is a nicely polished economic simulation with an addictive open-ended playing system. If I was truly into economic based games then I would have bumped up the score, but as a person looking for more of a strategy/military/political game I just don't think it will last too long on my harddrive. I've enjoyed what is there, but I think it's probably not enough to truly hold my interest for the reasons I've mentioned.

Do you like detail?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: March 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Having just read James Clavelle's Tai-Pan, I was ready for a sword and sail trading game. That's when I found Port Royale. In this game by Ascaron, you are handed a ship docked in your starting yown, a good amount of starting gold, and the entire Caribbean (16-17th century) as your playground.

There are so many options here. You can play any way you want. Open your own businesses. Hunt pirates. Trade between towns. Run missions for a governor. There are too many to list.

Unfortunately, gameplay comes back to trade. and in typical German fashion, the trading model is so detailed that it is nearly impossible to grasp without a detailed tutorial - which this game does not have. Additionally, the prices of items continually changes as the dynamic economic model changes. The creation of dynamic trade routes is so complicated, it even forced the line in the manual stating that it is easier than you may believe.

So how did I rate this game? The game was so well planned, with so much attention to detail and atmosphere, it deserves a 5. However, there are some crash bugs, and the game does nowhere near enough to provide an access to the economic model. It is a shame, because there is so much done right here: A dynamic caribbean, where every action you take affects the region whether on a small scale (Your trading of goods will effect their price fluctuations.) or on larger scale (Defeating famous pirates, sinking an enemy nations ships as a bucanner, attacking the Spanish treasure fleet, etc.)

Should you buy this game? Yes, if you are patient, love this setting, and are willing to invest a lot, and I mean a LOT, of time thoroughly learning the game's awkward interface, complicated trading and economic system, and trade route and business strategies. You should not buy this game is you do not have the time or the patience, are lukewarm to this genre of games, and want immediate gratification from your purchase.

In conclusion, this game has been called in other reviews as a game with a Mount Everest of a learning curve. If you are up to the challenge, even the frustrated gamer such as myself can see this game will reap huge bounties of entertainment for those willing to put the time into it. As for myself, there are just too many good games out there to ignore all of them to study Port Royale.

Bottom Line: If you really need a pirate gtame, wait for Sid Meier's Pirates, coming soon. Or play the simpler (but not less fun) Pirate Hunter, also by Ascaron.

Good Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 21, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you have any interest whatsoever in pirates or maritime history this game will intertain you. I am a Avalon Hill "Blackbeard" veteran, and I like what I saw in Port Royale. Although these two games are largely dissimilar, Port Royale caused me to make the switch.

Game Didn't Work For Me Either

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I purchased this game back in July of 2003 and haven't been able to get past the "loading" phase before it freezes my computer. The Ascaron website is of no help except to see that many others have also had this problem. As other reviewers here have said, the Company doesn't seem to care much about this. Apparently, the ability of function is hit or miss with this game. Stay away!

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