Sid Meier's Pirates! Remake Hoists Mainbrace

Thanks to GameSpy for its first impressions of the PC remake, Sid Meier's Pirates!, an updating of the seminal Civilization designer's late '80s game of the same name. Meier notes: "We've learned quite a bit about gameplay... we learned how to build on a classic game without destroying it", and the preview reveals: "The game world is a 'fully fleshed-out sandbox' where you'll have your own ship (or fleet of ships) and free reign to do as you please." However, Meier also mentions: "There's a little more of a stronger story pull", since apparently, this Q4 2004-due title has, like other piratical titles, "an über-villain, a pirate captain responsible for killing your parents, forcing you to leave the old world, and scattering your family all over the Caribbean."

Pirates Gold

[robnauta]

Why not remake Pirates Gold ? It was a much better game.

Re:Pirates Gold

[Dehumanizer]

Actually, PG was exactly like the original, only with better graphics and sound. Oh, and accelarated time.

Re:Pirates Gold

[mgs1000]

Pirates! Plantinum?

I *loved* this game

[DrSkwid]

but my floppy disk went duff

oh yes, please be as good

Am I the only one...

[Dehumanizer]

... who thinks that this will be 99% like the first one, only with better graphics and such?

For every feature discussed in the article, I was like "yes, just like the original".

Yes, I loved it, but, after 17 years, I wanted more than a graphics update - I wanted something like a Daggerfal to an Arena. Not "Pirates Gold Plus".

Ah, but it'll have *dancing*. Nice. :)

Oh well, I'll buy it anyway, but they could have done *so* much more...

Pirates! Update

[Vexware]

Personally, I think you are perhaps omitting several thoughts in your statement. Sid Meier is saying that this is an 'update', so it's quite obvious that those who are expecting a complete overhaul beyond that of the graphics, for example of the gameplay and the other features, will be somewhat disappointed. If the developers changed the game so much that it didn't resemble the original in many ways, it wouldn't be just an update, but a new-generation sequel -- or maybe, to a certain extent, another game in the same genre. What i think Sid Meier wants this to be is a port of the original game to a modern format, using all the benefits of the latter, which are mainly the graphics overhaul and the power which can render the in-game world.

What you may be forgetting is that these new benefits will be like allowing the player to see the same game through a different eye. The in-game map will be immense and rendered with beauty thanks to the advances of recent technology. What's more, this new perspective must have allowed the developers to add or update some features which they could probably not have inserted before, because they did not have the technology to exploit for doing so. This is the kind of gameplay updates which the game will have done some good to the new version of the game, so the playing style doesn't change so much -- which stays in line with Sid Meier wanting this to be an 'update' of the original game.

As I have already said, I think that all this game is is an update, a port of the original game to a modern format, using all the benefits of this more recent hardware, to overhaul the graphics, features et al, but without forgetting what the gameplay is all about. As Sid Meier says it so well himself, they are "building upon a classic game without destroying it."

Re:Pirates! Update

[Dehumanizer]

I understand what you're saying, but I *thought* this was supposed to be a sequel, or at least a modern version, with new features. Instead, it's looking like the original version with a 3D engine... and dancing to woo governors' daughters.

Consider this: if this remake is just a techical update, then what's Sid Meier doing? (yes, I know he's not just a designer, he also codes, but bear with me) Do better graphics need a designer like Sid? As far as I know, he wasn't even involved in Pirates Gold.

I *prefer* to believe that this is an incomplete preview, and that the game will have many new things to try out, not mentioned in the article.

As I said, I'll pre-order the game, so they've already got me. :) But, like I also said, if Pirates was Arena, I wanted a Daggerfall, not an Arena Gold Plus...

Re:Pirates! Update

[DAldredge]

But you can be damn well sure they won't charge the 'update' price, no they will charge the 'brand new version with lots of new featurs' price.

Re:Am I the only one...

[MrScience]

Indeed, like Bungie [bungie.com].

Re:Am I the only one...

[mgs1000]

It's pretty funny that you brought up Bungie, since they basically made Marathon prettier and called it "Halo".

Re:Am I the only one...

[Gothic_Walrus]

After 17 years...the audience of gamers has completely changed. While there are still gamers that remember the original, there are also many more youger gamers who haven't played - or perhaps worse, haven't heard of - the original.

Heck, I'm 17 right now - I wasn't alive when the first game was released. I'd love to get this version of the game, namely because I've never played the original.

It's just like the Disney movies - if you rerelease the same content to a new generation, it'll still have the same effect it once did on the generation before...and bring in more money, to boot.

Re:Am I the only one...

[Juanvaldes]

...quit making me feel so old....and I'm only 23!

Arrrrr

[WormholeFiend]

the description sounds like the game will have a GTA feel to it...
-

Re:Arrrrr

[CaptMonkeyDLuffy]

Considering the original Pirates! had the open ended gaming, missions present if you decide to do them sort of style long before even the first GTA, I think it would be more appropriate to say that GTA has a Pirates! style feel to it...

Re:Arrrrr

[WormholeFiend]

true true but we did not know for sure what the game remake would be like... the one thing that worries me a bit is when the article mentions how the new Pirates feels episodic. GTA3 and Vice City certainly had some progression from point A to B with the core missions, but you could continue to play with it after you'd done all the missions. For Pirates it looks like when you reach the end of the line, you're old and ready to retire.

Re:Arrrrr

[Babbster]

If they didn't include aging in the game, it wouldn't be Pirates! anymore. One of the coolest features of the original was that, despite the open nature of the game, you were still battling time. The more you were wounded, the longer you took to get something done...These things gave the game a sense of time, and it needed that badly in order to enhance the challenge. In fact, you could argue that it was entire crux of the game. The goal was to retire as wealthy and happy as possible - wealthy defined [obviously] by one's booty and happy defined by good marriage and liberation of the family. I can't say how many times I ended up penniless because I pushed a crew too far and for too long...Awesome. :)

Re:Arrrrr

[nelsonal]

I recall many a game spent swearing at my little seadogs who would mutiny all the time after I spent a bit too long on the spanish main and had to sail against the winds back to Jamaica. Did anyone else get a british or french town up to Wealthy just from all the looting done? Or wipe out the dutch? Game was just too much fun. I think my best retirement was king's advisor or governer.

For appropriateness...

[Gunsmithy]

...I think I'll pirate this. ;)

What? Board the game shop

[SmallFurryCreature]

What? Board the game shop, slaughter the crew and make the shopowner walk the plank?

Intresting idea but unless you live in venice how are you going to get your ship up the highstreet?

Hoist the electic window and shiver me sheet metal does not quite have the same ring.

Or just take a Java OSS solution

[managementboy]

a Pirates game in OSS: http://huntforgold.sf.net Taking shape, needing developers... plays as good as Pirates! Gold

Another pirates look-a-like:

[Dreetje]

can be found at worldofpirates, [worldofpirates.de] which actually is a MMOPG (massive multiplayer online pirate game ;). It's still in beta, but I played it for a while and it did really have the feel of pirates except the world was a lot bigger and your character was alot slower, but it's promising nevertheless as the missions could be alot more dynamic then any singleplayer game can be.

Graphics

[Schemat1c]

Hopefully the graphics of the governor's daughters will be much better. For some reason they just didn't look all that pretty on my C64.

Re:Graphics

[Dehumanizer]

I remember that a couple of them actually looked good on the Amiga and PC CGA versions. Pirates Gold was kind of a disappointment in this regard, though.

Re:Graphics

[managementboy]

check out
http://frigate.free.fr/screenshots1.html

for some old screens of Pirates on all Architectures

Re:Graphics

[Dehumanizer]

Thanks! But the URL is wrong. To everyone else, please remove the "1" at the end of "screenshots".

Re:Graphics

[Dehumanizer]

Oh, and none of the screenshots has a governor's daughter. :(

Sometimes lo-res is a feature...

[CarrionBird]

Yeah but there's always that one that you really didn't want to see in Hi-res.... Yeah, just sit there and give me the info babe....

I strongly dislike

[SLot]

games that only play for a certain time period - ie - you have 500 turns to do as much as you can. Let me play for as long as I want, or at least give me the option to do so.

I would have much rather seen Cutthroats, Terror on the High Seas from Eidos get an update.

Oh well, since it's piratical, I'll probably get it anyways, but I already have a feeling I'm not going to like it. :/

Re:I strongly dislike

[Angst Badger]

Let me play for as long as I want, or at least give me the option to do so.

Right. I want to keep prowling the Caribbean in my eight-gun sloop even after iron-clad steam-powered destroyers show up. Aaarrrrgh, matey! It's the dread Cap'n Anachronism!

Re:I strongly dislike

[SLot]

Heheh. I can see your point, but I was referring more to 'ignore the year, let me play until I get sick of playing'. But really - if I could capture an iron-clad steam-powered destroyer with the fleet I'd likely have built up by that time, I'd keep on playing *with* the i-c s-p destroyer in my fleet.

Ueber Villain?

[Prien715]

That's not really much of a change from the original game. Originally, the main character's family was scattered throughout the carribean and you had to rescue them. The only real change here is that a "why" has been answered more clearly.

As far as time limit, there needs to be one. Just as the Civ series couldn't go on forever (no new technology changes gameplay fundamentally and for the worse), Pirates has to end too after a certain ammount of time. Or else, your character will be forced to become a video pirate. Arr..?

Re:Ueber Villain?

[Dehumanizer]

Maybe the speed could be settable. In the preview, they talk about the possibility of having an entire career in 2 hours... but what if we want a game to last weeks? They should have that option...

Re:Ueber Villain?

[SuiteSisterMary]

And there was nothing more fun then rescuing the first relative, digging up the treasure, finding the 2nd relative, digging up YET ANOTHER inca treasure, and so on....

Re:Ueber Villain?

[SLot]

As far as time limit, there needs to be one. Just as the Civ series couldn't go on forever (no new technology changes gameplay fundamentally and for the worse), Pirates has to end too after a certain ammount of time. Or else, your character will be forced to become a video pirate. Arr..?

Not necessarily:
Pirates [iccwbo.org] are alive and committing acts of piracy on the high seas even today.

Hrm

[SuiteSisterMary]

But will it have a huge honkin manual, which is more historical primer than anything else, in the classic Microprose style?

Re:Hrm

[Dehumanizer]

Doubt it. :(

The Civ 3 manual is one of the most disappointing I've seen: big, but almost everything is about the game interface. Nothing about history, or about the civs. No designer notes.

I blame Infogrames / Atari for that. Gettysburg and Alpha Centauri (published by EA, instead) had much better manuals (although nothing comes close to the the old Microprose ones).

Re:Hrm

[Chess_the_cat]

Haha. I still read my old Darklands manual just for fun.

Re:Hrm

[nelsonal]

I think i learned more about 17th century politics and trading from that manual than I did from all my school up to college. Oh and Covert Action is looking pretty precient now, too.

Hardware specs?

[Angst Badger]

Any word yet on the hardware requirements? While I certainly don't expect it to run on a 1 MHz 6502 like the original, it would be nice if it doesn't cost $49.95 plus $1k in system upgrades.

Easter Eggs?

[jazman_777]

Do you have to break the CD copy protection scheme to win?

Still got the disk & stuff

[CarrionBird]

I doubt it still plays though. You conldn't easly make copies of the disk, it wasn't a DOS game.

You actually booted off the game disk, how's that for gettting close to the metal.

Pretty good GUI for that era too. In all its 16-color TGA glory.

Used to rush in with an inferior force and win by swordfightng. Fewer guys to split the loot with that way.

Good times... good times...

Re:Still got the disk & stuff

[Dehumanizer]

You can play several versions on emulators. I recommend the Amiga version, with excellent Bach music, and great graphics. I've also heard that the Genesis version is very good, but I've never played it.

Re:Still got the disk & stuff

[ArchAngelQ]

Played the Genesis version, I can deffinately say it was good. Pirates: Gold! is great, in that it's a Sid Meyer game that translates well to console controls. One of my favorite games before I got a computer, and, well, tried Civ =)

copy protection?

[WormholeFiend]

With the game, IIRC wasnt there a printed map of the Carribean?

It was very useful at first for navigating your ship around... but I remember playing the game so much back then that I had memorized the whole thing.

Re:copy protection?

[Babbster]

There was indeed. And in the inexact style of the time (before GPS perfection). It made the first several games even more challenging, trying to figure out how the map matched up with the game all around the game's area. One (me) hopes that if they don't include a map with the game, they will at least include a "fog of war" present until you've actually been someplace.

Music

[moonbender]

The original Pirates: Gold! had some of the best music I've ever heard in a computer game. I still have the old DOS executable with the General Midi update, although it doesn't work very well in Windows. There were pieces by Bach and Mozart played when meeting the governor as well as folk tunes ("What shall we do...") played in the bar, but there were also brilliant tunes composed by the developer including the title theme and the best of them all, the tune played when your career was over.

In fact, they could just re-use the original music, maybe played by live musicians instead of my sound cards ominous on-board ones.

Rein vs. Reign

[spood]

The phrase should be 'free rein', not 'free reign to do as you please'. Although reign makes almost-sense (as in 'free to rule'), rein is the proper usage (as in 'control of the reins to direct the horse freely').

Color me skeptical

[Telastyn]

I loved Civilization and Railroad Tycoon as much as the next guy [actually probably more than the next guy...], but Sid Meier hasn't made a great game in 15 years. He's had his name on things, and helped out; but I always got the impression he was playing golf in a hat made of money rather than doing actual game design.

Re:Color me skeptical

[Dehumanizer]

Gettysburg and Simgolf are mostly his games.

Civ 2, Alpha Centauri and Civ 3 aren't.

Loved Gettysburg... didn't play Simgolf yet.

Re:Color me skeptical

[Maserati]

Try the SimGolf demo, it's a lot more fun than you'd think. He put in a nice balance between building the course and playing tournaments on it.

Why does this stink of Monkey Island?

[mnmn]

Because the whole Monkey Island/ Treasure Island / Peter Pan themeset has been very attractive and marketable. You make a pirate game, movie, cartoon and follow the basic template even if the story is crappy and it'll sell.

I've many caribbean friends, with caribbean accents, and they dont seem they lived such interesting lives back home...

And I wanted go for a $600 vacation to the caribbean, and take a sword with me.

Re:Pirates of the Carribean

[Babbster]

That's because it was originally called Sea Dogs 2 and Bethesda renamed it Pirates of the Caribbean (changing things only cosmetically) in a deal with Disney. So, Disney didn't have to contract with someone to build a game from scratch (a game was inevitable given the movie's popularity) and the game was released in a timely fashion (bugs and all), and Bethesda probably sold twice as many games as they would have without the tie-in.

Arrrrrh!!!!

[darkpurpleblob]

Personally, I'm waiting for Bungie's Pimps at Sea [bungie.com]:

Lace up your platform shoes and pick up your diamond-studded whoop-ass cane - here comes a rival pimp bent on hijacking your hoes! Welcome to the world of Pimps At Sea, where you can hoist the jolliest of rogers and set sail for a different kind of booty.