User Reviews (1 - 11 of 21)

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Avoid this game!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 10
Date: August 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I played the demo of this game and loved it. I purchased the retail version, it is very buggy and usually doesn't work. I've tried getting help from Ascaron but they don't respond to my e-mails. Check out the forums at Ascaron.com. There are many others that are having the same problems and getting no help from tech support.

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!

Good Idea, Bad Programming

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: December 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The idea of the game is great, but there are conflicts within the programming that causes it to crash constantly, even with an updated computer. If you check the maker's site, they have many reports of the same problem. The Idea is great, the graphics are good, just wish the game would actually work. You have to download a patch to even attempt to get it to work. Check out ASCARONS FORUM on their web site--Would I buy it again? No. I would hesitate at buying any software from ASCARON.

If you like sim audit youýll love Port Royal

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: August 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I was hoping to do a little pirating, but instead found myself muddled in finances. When you can't get through the tutorial without confusion its not good.

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.

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.

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.

good concept

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Conceptually good game, but in practice you spend more time setting up industries to support your sailing adventures. Ascaron states you can choose path of Bucaneer or Trader, but the adventures do not pay enough to subsist solely on the high seas. Sea battles are entertaining, but you cannot control choice of ammunition or direction of your vessel at times. The most challenging problem is a reputation; it takes very little to damage it and a whole lot to boost it. The return in terms of price for goods and ships is almost not even worth caring. The price fluctuations are excellent and prevent cash cow trading.

Concept: 4/5 (whats not to like about pirates)
Graphics: 3/5 (no 3D battle scenes)
Entertainment: 3/5 (the map and cities are ALWAYS the same)
Speed: 1/5 slow to become interesting
Overall: 3/5

Partician II in the caribbean

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: July 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Well designed game and fun to play, but built on the same platform as Patrician II. Improvements to the trade screen makes micro-managing trade convoys easier and graphics are better. If you've played Patrician, it's going to look VERY similar.

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.

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