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[General Article] Pirate 101: Combat, Ships, and Companions
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
In the second in our series of "Review in Progress" articles, we take a look at Pirate 101 and several key features of the game. In this week's installment, we take a second look at combat, ship-to-ship battle, companions and questing. See what you think before adding your thoughts in the comments.
Combat, for instance, is something that grows on you and you learn to be very strategic about the way and the how of attack. Not only do you have to consider which enemy your character will attack but also which enemies your (up to three) companions will attack AND what skills they will utilize when so doing. Really, strategy lovers would groove on this aspect. There’s a lot of depth to the combat system and it’s definitely something that an adult would find compellingly fun.
Read more of Suzie Ford's Pirate 101: Combat, Ships, Companions, OH MY!.
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Comments
And the best part of all? Its not a "WoW clone". Heres a game that really does things differently and its a MMO, for that sake alone I suggest some of the disgruntled posters around here give it a try.
The review is pretty good, just a add-on for our reviewers. 11/08/2012 KI implimented its update to help speed along combat. As far as I have seen its only the combat part of the update so far. You can find and read the update here http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/816/view/forums/thread/368810/Update-coming-soon-Should-make-someone-happy.html
Combat is a bit faster now. I am glad Pirate101 implimented this update.
The Bull Samoorai is my favorite companion so far. Nothing better than watching a enemy attack your sam. Only to watch your Samoorai first strike and follow it up with back to back relentless attacks. Then watching what was once a full health enemy attacking you, die a horrible death :-D
So far in 2012 Pirate101 is by far my favorite MMO out.
"while circling an enemy", you don't have to circle anything. It's super simple. Target a ship, fly up to it, plant your anchor and just hit 1,2,3,4 as the skill timers recycle. No player skill involved
Steer the ship with the w,s,a,d keys when sailing and leave the mouse be, again super simple.
You gain no benefit trying to flank or zig zagging in ship combat.
As for companions, you only get to choose 1 to enter battle with you. The rest is randomly picked regardless of what order you put them in. I can tell you first hand you have as big of a chance to get the last guy on the list as the second choice so whatever strategy the game supposedly have is out the window when it comes to that. The best strategy is just doing a lot of damage so pick a companion as your first choice that fits that profile. My personal favorite is Ken Po. With relentless and riposte+heal makes him one of the best companions
Strategy difficulty is pretty much on par with Wizard101
I was nudged into trying Pirate 101 by the first article in this series. Honestly I didn't expect more than a few nights of distraction and then an uninstall.
I've got to say that, surprisingly, I've enjoyed my week or so of playing enough to shell out the $10 for a month's sub. The combat is different, and reminds me in a good way of old single-player RPGs. The naval combat is simplistic, yes, but unlike every other sailing game I've played, you can BOARD the suckers and finish them off in the standard grid combat. The benefit to boarding is increased chance for drops and coins, including quest items.
Leveling is quite slow (1-10 in about a week of evenings) but honestly until I hit level 10 I didn't even notice. The beginning of the game gives you enough goodies quickly enough that the number of your level means a lot less.
There are things that I would definitely like a change to. For instance, in combat, if another player goes AFK, you're forced to just wait for the 30 or so seconds for the timer to run out each turn. For. The. Entire. Battle. If inactive combatants were removed from battle after 3 rounds, that would really help.
All in all, it's a good little game and I expect to at least use the rest of my 30 day membership. Thanks to Suzie for the article!
Good review.
1. Seems like a Kiddie game however it is a bit more complex than you see at first glance.
2. Ship combat is simple yet fun.
3. Questing is simple, nothing new
4. Story and voice acting is hilarious at times! Honestly this game has great writers, I have never laughed in a game so much. Parodies of many many movies!
5. Social aspect is pretty good, if you want to play with a friend just play to have fun!
6. This is a new take on MMOs so I am impressed because no one has made a turn based mmo like this where there is strategy and thinking involved!
Overall, a friend who thought I was crazy to play this game tried it and now he is enjoying it!
I play this game because I simply REALLY enjoy the gameplay overall! A lot of games I see many points to get frustrated on howver, this game, I just have a lot of fun.
Summary: This is a must try game for any mmo gamer out there who longs for the game to challenge or even make him have to think about his next move.
Great game! Lets see another come out for adults, medival theme please!!!
Turn based strategy MMO FTW!