I sunk a lot of hours into Port Royale 2 many years ago. I’m not sure how well it holds up today or on its sequels. I think 3 was well received and 4 poorly.
Its not quite a pirate game, but if you’re willing to expand your seach to include a nautical mystery game aboard a trading ship in 1807, than Return of the Obra Dinn is worth a look.
I’d like a spin-off. Less land stuff and more sea stuff. Instead of the ‘armada’ thing, how about being able to buy or capture larger ships for personal use? Or being able to directly control 2-3 ships? Or fight large scale coordinated naval battles?
That concept has so much more potential and I wish somebody would do more with it.
They’ve been trying with skull and bones but it’s both in development hell, been delayed multiple times and even changed play styles over the years. I’m not hopeful sadly.
And somehow Skull and Bones is coming out this month! Not getting it (cos its Ubisoft) but excited to see how the game will be taken in by the players, if at all…
I played AC:Oddyseey in 2021 and am currently playing through AC4:BF now for the first time. I’ve been wondering if the Ody ship mechanic was as great as I remember of if it was just a nostalgic feeling having it for the first time in the tail of Origins and throughout Odyssey. Sounds like it was actually great. Not-true-to-AC argument aside, Ody was an excellent game as someone who started on Unity.
I do recommend AC4: Black Flag as a pirate game. It does take a fair amount of somewhat normal AC gameplay (and Ubisoft side quest trinket distractions) to get enough upgrades to the ship to feel like a real pirate of the Caribbean and not just a poop deck swabber, but my ship is nearly maxed at ~75% story completion. I make sure my wanted level stays maxed so the pirate hunters chase me in level 60 men’o’war every time it loads me at sea. Two types of side cannons, forward chain cannons, rear fire barrel mines, long range mortars, front ram, and the option to board disabled ships for swashbuckler combat to gain different rewards. Plus a little tabletop smuggling across the Atlantic with turn-based sprite battles for a laughably insignificant amount of money compared to the work it takes to capture proficient ships.
I bought that same controller and it’s absolute garbage. It started developing multiple problems before I realized it was too late to use the warranty. The left bumper was inconsistent, the d-pad was wobbly (more give on one side than the other), and the right stick started drifting badly. Not to mention the basic, crappy software and connectivity issues. I tore it apart and tried every fix I could find but nothing helped. I wasted a lot of money for something that felt and looked really great, but was fucking awful otherwise.
Then I did a lot of research and found the Flydigi Vader 3 Pro. It has hall effect triggers and sticks, mechanical buttons, both C and Z buttons, triggers that could actually click, a gyro, a high poll rate, Nintendo Switch compatibility, and a lot more. It doesn’t feel as premium as the XBES2 controller did in my hands, but it seems just as durable and it’s less than half the cost. Don’t let the look fool you. I HIGHLY recommend it.
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