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<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.net/images/stories/aop2-coas.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />I have been holding off on writing anything on the main page about Playlogic's latest failure to yet again release AOP2 in the US by a set date. I have spent the past week trying to dig up any information about why this game has been delayed yet again, and I have come up with absolutely nothing! There has been no word whatsoever from Playlogic or their new PR firm Reverb Inc. The game is available in Europe, and has been since May 8'th. From the little information that I was able to dig up, the next release date appears to be May 26'th ...but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you! I have also seen June 30'th! We have had many posts in our <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showforum=65" target="_blank">CoAS forums</a> about the game and how it plays. We will get a proper review up as soon as we can. In the meantime, one of our European members, Oldtimer, was kind enough to write up a quick review on his first impressions of the game.Â
<blockquote>Hi all, a little abt. the gameplay on Captain difficulty. Disclaimer: I`m an adventurer and like sailing around, trading, doing small missions. Have not consciously made any endeavour to progress MQ or such.
- the difficulty lvl is very high. Captain lvl is said to be normal, try that...
- music is horrid, immersion destroying frankly, at least after you`ve heard the very rousing soundtrack for the trailer on Playlogics site,
- low encounter rate too low, normal too high,
- the maritime knowledge quizes, supposed to give you useful items are extremly annoying for a non english speaker. Even if I know what is wanted in Swedish, I usually forgot it in English and it`s not my idea of relaxation to play a game with an open maritime dictionary at the side,
- the small side quests can be annoying, especially finding spy and sink pirates. Finding an unnamed pirate and sinking him means generally sinking ALL pirates in the vicinity. Nothing for a low lvl char...
Finding jewels for moneylenders seems to be bugged. The jewels seem not to spawn sometimes.
- the larger side quest seem to be very well done and need you to have your brain in gear, some seem to come from "RoSL" and it`s not a bad thing at all,
- starting new game with the same hero might provide different ships and starting locations, very good. Adds replay value.
- leveling system, really good and interesting(also imported from "RoSL", BTW). BUT, if you read the manual, you see that the game world is player centered. The game lvls with you, not you lvl up to the game(like Morrowind). This affects rewards and loot.
I don`t know how weighted this is yet, but this approach if taken to the extreme like in Oblivion makes the idea of leveling redundant. What`s the point of improving if irrespectively of lvl you do not get some easy fights now and then???
- officer system flawed, all ship classes need all types of officers to operate efficiently. Considering how expensive officers are it makes running a small ship efficiently very hard. And you start with a small ship. Multi specialists are available, very good, but their cost negates the advantages.
This because hero perks are individual, ship perks work only with appropriate officers. A captain should at least be able to be his own navigator and trader.
- artillery works awful, without a VERY good cannoneer, you will not hit a three-decker at point blank even once. With your own three-decker...
- melèe combat is very hard, but in a realistic way. Fighting against multiple opponents is terribly difficult, you need help and that is as it should be.
Anyway, the game is very playable thanks to/in spite of the above and knowing who made it I think that the deeper you delve into the main quest the better it gets. Here we have content, not only graphics, which are nice anyway.
Regards, Oldtimer</blockquote>Â
<blockquote>Hi all,
a little more on gameplay,
- reputation is very important, can be regarded as a "hidden" modifier and seems to be really affected by your actions as: refusing/failing governor missions, failing merchant missions(and you are furthermore penalised by relation with the merchants country turning hostile and that`s SERIOUS), choosing "wrong" conversation alternatives(yes, you can be a saint but if your tongue slips it ruins your rep, look at it as you have misled the populace as to your true intentions, quite good...), abandoning damsels in distress and probably everything else you do. Very good. And remember that the game tracks all this and saves for future use...
Some playing tips:
- if playing on Captain difficulty(suggested as "normal") the game is really challenging. I suggest starting as the Dutch hero char and low encounter rate. You have then only two wars(vs. England and pirates) to bother abt. Encounter rate you can adjust to your liking by joining fights(best for a looooong time) or attacking yourself.
Do not think you get an easy ride as a Dutchman, if you choose a merchant profile for him as you should, you will be very weak in combat for a long time.
- multiple skill officers seem to use one set of perks at a time, I believe. So if you have assigned a navigator with surgery skills to navigation, these skills seem dormant until he is reassigned as surgeon. Which means they are useless as you need nav perks during battles. So think carefully when hiring such officers.
Most needed officers are navigator and cannoneer, then maybe bosun. Without a GOOD cannoneer you may just as well forget abt. artillery duels, join fights and board weakened enemies outright. The good thing is that now all officers can double as fighters with a realistic survival chance.
- in order to conserve your crew in boarding, they must be fully armed, i e you must have enough weapons on board. I don`t know what enough is, unfortunately. A pack of weapons contains 10 units AFAIR, so I suppose you must have one unit/man. Without weapons your men will suffer horribly.
- avoid melèes when outnumbered. 2 against 3 might work, but not more until you have high health, potions, armour and high combat skills.
You can after a while dodge crushing strokes easily if there is space, they are not such a big problem as they seem first. Choose fighting ground with space for dodging and running around, otherwise retreat.
- leveling system is really good. Abilities influence your skills, so if you have power 3 and weapons 100, you will not be as good as someone with power 5 and weapons 100, AFAIU.
Regards, Oldtimer </blockquote>Â
You can find a lot more information on the forum <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showforum=65" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/game-news/age-of-pirates-2-caribbean-tales/362-age-of-pirates-2-city-of-abandondoned-ships.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
<blockquote>Hi all, a little abt. the gameplay on Captain difficulty. Disclaimer: I`m an adventurer and like sailing around, trading, doing small missions. Have not consciously made any endeavour to progress MQ or such.
- the difficulty lvl is very high. Captain lvl is said to be normal, try that...
- music is horrid, immersion destroying frankly, at least after you`ve heard the very rousing soundtrack for the trailer on Playlogics site,
- low encounter rate too low, normal too high,
- the maritime knowledge quizes, supposed to give you useful items are extremly annoying for a non english speaker. Even if I know what is wanted in Swedish, I usually forgot it in English and it`s not my idea of relaxation to play a game with an open maritime dictionary at the side,
- the small side quests can be annoying, especially finding spy and sink pirates. Finding an unnamed pirate and sinking him means generally sinking ALL pirates in the vicinity. Nothing for a low lvl char...
Finding jewels for moneylenders seems to be bugged. The jewels seem not to spawn sometimes.
- the larger side quest seem to be very well done and need you to have your brain in gear, some seem to come from "RoSL" and it`s not a bad thing at all,
- starting new game with the same hero might provide different ships and starting locations, very good. Adds replay value.
- leveling system, really good and interesting(also imported from "RoSL", BTW). BUT, if you read the manual, you see that the game world is player centered. The game lvls with you, not you lvl up to the game(like Morrowind). This affects rewards and loot.
I don`t know how weighted this is yet, but this approach if taken to the extreme like in Oblivion makes the idea of leveling redundant. What`s the point of improving if irrespectively of lvl you do not get some easy fights now and then???
- officer system flawed, all ship classes need all types of officers to operate efficiently. Considering how expensive officers are it makes running a small ship efficiently very hard. And you start with a small ship. Multi specialists are available, very good, but their cost negates the advantages.
This because hero perks are individual, ship perks work only with appropriate officers. A captain should at least be able to be his own navigator and trader.
- artillery works awful, without a VERY good cannoneer, you will not hit a three-decker at point blank even once. With your own three-decker...
- melèe combat is very hard, but in a realistic way. Fighting against multiple opponents is terribly difficult, you need help and that is as it should be.
Anyway, the game is very playable thanks to/in spite of the above and knowing who made it I think that the deeper you delve into the main quest the better it gets. Here we have content, not only graphics, which are nice anyway.
Regards, Oldtimer</blockquote>Â
<blockquote>Hi all,
a little more on gameplay,
- reputation is very important, can be regarded as a "hidden" modifier and seems to be really affected by your actions as: refusing/failing governor missions, failing merchant missions(and you are furthermore penalised by relation with the merchants country turning hostile and that`s SERIOUS), choosing "wrong" conversation alternatives(yes, you can be a saint but if your tongue slips it ruins your rep, look at it as you have misled the populace as to your true intentions, quite good...), abandoning damsels in distress and probably everything else you do. Very good. And remember that the game tracks all this and saves for future use...
Some playing tips:
- if playing on Captain difficulty(suggested as "normal") the game is really challenging. I suggest starting as the Dutch hero char and low encounter rate. You have then only two wars(vs. England and pirates) to bother abt. Encounter rate you can adjust to your liking by joining fights(best for a looooong time) or attacking yourself.
Do not think you get an easy ride as a Dutchman, if you choose a merchant profile for him as you should, you will be very weak in combat for a long time.
- multiple skill officers seem to use one set of perks at a time, I believe. So if you have assigned a navigator with surgery skills to navigation, these skills seem dormant until he is reassigned as surgeon. Which means they are useless as you need nav perks during battles. So think carefully when hiring such officers.
Most needed officers are navigator and cannoneer, then maybe bosun. Without a GOOD cannoneer you may just as well forget abt. artillery duels, join fights and board weakened enemies outright. The good thing is that now all officers can double as fighters with a realistic survival chance.
- in order to conserve your crew in boarding, they must be fully armed, i e you must have enough weapons on board. I don`t know what enough is, unfortunately. A pack of weapons contains 10 units AFAIR, so I suppose you must have one unit/man. Without weapons your men will suffer horribly.
- avoid melèes when outnumbered. 2 against 3 might work, but not more until you have high health, potions, armour and high combat skills.
You can after a while dodge crushing strokes easily if there is space, they are not such a big problem as they seem first. Choose fighting ground with space for dodging and running around, otherwise retreat.
- leveling system is really good. Abilities influence your skills, so if you have power 3 and weapons 100, you will not be as good as someone with power 5 and weapons 100, AFAIU.
Regards, Oldtimer </blockquote>Â
You can find a lot more information on the forum <a href="http://forum.piratesahoy.net//index.php?showforum=65" target="_blank">HERE</a>
<a href="http://piratesahoy.net/game-news/age-of-pirates-2-caribbean-tales/362-age-of-pirates-2-city-of-abandondoned-ships.html" target="_blank">View the full article</a>
