Hello all surprisingly `kind-hearted` pirates (I'm sure the friendliness disappears when you're out at sea, right ?). <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

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The fact is that I am so close to buying this game. I have about eight `PC-games` collecting dust in my shelves which
I'm planning to trade in for a new great game, and like I wrote; I'm 98% ready to buy this title.
To be honest, I've never played the original Pirates back in the old days. That has forced me to read and rely on as
many reviews of the game as I've been able to find. As I see it, there is one downside and one upside with never
having played the original Pirates.
Downside is that I don't have any prior experience with this exact type of game - so I can't really rely on any previous
gaming to decide wheather I should buy this game or not.
On the other hand, people having played the original Pirates probably had <b>some</b> of the cash they spent on this
title consumed by a mere `tune-up` in graphics and sound whilst <b>all</b> of <i>my</i> cash would go to a "completely new game".
After having read somewhere around 15 - 20 reviews (both english and swedish) of SM's Pirates !, the only negative
thing I've come across would be reviewers complaining about repetitiveness after having been stuck playing the game for
hours without stopping (but hey, games tend to get repetitive after a few days straight) - as well as a few complaints
that there wasn't enough changes from the original to justify the price (but again; that doesn't concern me who is still a
virgin when it comes to this title).
The thing is that I like games with some economy, games with the feeling of achievement as you play. Big favourites
for me in the past have been; Transport Tycoon, Sim City series, ThemePark, RC Tycoon, various RPG titles
(Morrowind, DungeonSiege, Diablo etc.), adventure games like the MonkeyIsland series, Simon the Sorcerer, Strategy-
games like StarCraft, C&C, Dune II... and I believe SM's Pirates to be a mix of a lot of these different genres. I like
games that holds a lot of options and possibilities without getting too deep into the mechanics of it all. Games you learn
quite fast, games you can go and play during commercials, games with fair graphics, a nice feeling/setting/mood (a la
MonkeyIsland)...
Other titles I've been deciding between are NFSU 2, The Battle for `Middle-Earth`, RCT3, Bloodlines... but somehow, SM's
Pirates sort of <i>feels</i> the right way to go. I will be trading in ~eight older games (+ some cash) for whatever title I choose
and once I leave the store, there's no turning back. I would have loved for a demo of Pirates to be available (since I'm no
fan of `d-loading` warezed games, only if it's just for a trial purpose).
Is there anyone here who bought SM's Pirates without having played the original - and if so, what did you think, has it been
worth the money ? I just need a final push here guys. I'm walking by the gamestore on thursday and I <b><i>will</i></b> go in there and
buy something ! But since games aren't fairly cheap these days, I want to be very sure of what I'm about to walk home with.
(Sorry for the long post - but on the other hand, I didn't force you to read it all through. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

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Thanks to anyone who share their thoughts !