A Rare Masterpiece

Richard Loveridge

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I want to say Thanks Rare. Last night was the best 4 hours of online Multiplayer gaming I've ever had. It was unbelievable.

There will be those that hate Sea of Thieves, its limited questing, the unguided experience and the lack of progression-based gameplay rewards. Others, though, will relish the freedom. This is role-playing in its purest form, offering just enough tools to help you forge your own destiny across the ocean.

There's little challenge in the balmy calm of a blue-skied day, of course, but as the winds change, and the ocean shifts from peaceful tranquility to crashing terror, as genuinely fearsome storms - or indeed other vessels - cross your path, that's when the Sea of Thieves comes into its own, and the simplistic framework of questing unfurls into the richly complex chaos of its emergent encounters.

These are the glorious adventures that arise through circumstance, pushed upon you by the whims of the ocean, the overarching quest structure, and the simple fact that everyone at sea is playing by their own personal piratical rules, riding the waves as honourable rogues, bloodthirsty warmongers, and everything in between.

In Sea of Thieves, there are no mandatory activities, only guiding systems - and at launch these predominantly consist of treasure hunting, item transportation, and PvE skeleton slaughtering. They're simple things, repetitive even, but they're delivered with a theatrical flair that captures the essence of piracy wonderfully.
As those wondrous waves rise and fall, slamming across your bow, tossing the horizon back and forth, as your loyal crew of fellow humans raise the sails and load the cannons, there's an incredible solidity to the experience - and I honestly can't remember the last time I felt so present in a game.

Thankyou so much Rare. It's right up there with DKC, Banjo Kazooie and Perfect Dark as one of the best games you've ever made
 

oscarbum

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I really enjoy aspects of the game. It's beautiful just to look at and it's got a fun sense of humor. I love just sailing around. But I STRONGLY take issue with games that actually encourage people to be jerks. Playing with strangers had been a terrible experience, so I've mostly tried to just solo stuff and have yet to complete a single voyage by myself, constantly getting killed by other players who just happen to always seem to find me. So, I either get killed and lose my loot and have to start all over or, the final straw for me, lose the chicken coop I was carrying when I was jumped from behind and not being able to get another one.

In a nutshell, unless you enjoy joining up with random players and immediately chucked in the brig and told to "f*** off" until you leave the crew or you go on your own and get bullied by every 4 man crew you come across, this game is not for solo players.

I get it. You're pirates. Pirates aren't supposed to be good people. But that's why this game isn't for me. I'd rather help people than engage in narcissistic and sociopathic behavior vicariously through your "pirate." I'm sure people love that feeling of being such a "big man" because you and your 3 friends killed someone who was running around alone just trying to catch a red-speckled chicken they'd been sailing from island to island to find for over an hour.

Shame too. I really enjoyed the beta and couldn't wait for the final game to come out. And if there was a way to just play it alone without running into bullies at every turn, I'd play it every single day. But without that, it's just not worth the frustration.
 

JohnnyBawesome

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I thought it was great to take to the seas with my daughters. We met a friendly pirate, braved a storm, finished a voyage, and then were destroyed by the Kraken (I pretty much was taking the Kraken on solo lol). It was really fun and great way to spend time with the kids.
 

Dwayne55

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Absolutely loving the game. I really want some new things to start being added though. I feel that I've experienced pretty much everything the game has to offer but my friends and I just love sailing about too much.
 

Lucas P

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I enjoy the game overall, but even though I haven't played enough to experience all the game has to offer, I can see how those with more playtime than me could get burned out due to a lack of content. The game feels like a "sandbox" genre of game, but without the ability to actually move the sand around.

It's also a troubling aspect of the game that it seems to encourage hyper aggressive PVP, without any tangible reward for choosing to abstain from it. What I mean is, the reward for attacking another ship and taking their loot, especially if you wait until just after they cleared a skull fort, is much higher than trying to work together. If your crew had an empty ship with no loot to lose, then there is no risk to the reward for attempting to sink another ship in an attempt to steal their booty - either you take them out and steal their treasure, or you fail and you don't end up with any less than you started.
 

Malasiah Russell

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I completely agree, Rare Ltd have shaped a real family bonding gaming experience. Not since the early days of Minecraft, has a game come along that I can play with the whole family and have hours upon hours of mindless fun.

It was also the game that was responsible for my wife and I investing in a couple more Xbox Ones, just so we can all play together. With 80 hours under our belts and no end in sight of us slowing down anytime soon, this weekend time hogger is our go to game after a long week at work and school.

I really hope Rare Ltd understand that they have a real gem on their hands and will continue to invest in exciting new content to keep the experience fresh. I see huge potential with Sea Of Thieves and really can't wait to see what the developers have planned to add next.

Happy sailing everybody
 

Guest_aotf

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I've already posted many times what I feel about the game on this site.

Most of my points are the same as those of many reviewers like angryjoe.

For most of the reviewers there are many things wrong with this game and one of the major problem is the lack of content. The incredible amount of grinding and what looks like randomly generated fetch quests that all looks the same. There are an handful of animals that you interact with. Shark, snake, chicken and pig. Just one real enemy type (that dumb skeleton). To get all achievements or become pirate legend you'll need to do an incredible amount of grinding. They hyped the kraken and becoming pirate legend, but that is also disappointed a lot of people. No voice acting, no story...

I've recently finished Far Cry 5 and it's amazing to see the difference between the two.
MS/Rare release what looks like an unfinished game. To think that they actually asked the same amount of money as Far cry 5 is crazy for me. If you want to be called a AAA game and if you want to ask full AAA price you better have VERY high standards.
They should not get away with it. As a consumer and a gamer, I don't think studios and major company should be rewarded when they make mistake. What's even worse is that they'll have microtransactions added later on...

The people defend the game usually have the same argument. Subjective arguments.
1) Beautiful water (Personally, yes I think the water looks great)
2) It's FUN

The funny thing is that most of the people still defending it now are either people who are just starting to play the game or are "fans" of MS/XB.
If we are regular on these forums we know who Richard Loveridge is and what he is all about. Around the forums I visit, I usually see the same people defending the game. The same people who defend whatever MS/XB does...
The agenda of these company "fans" is the same. It is to hype the game because it happens to be a game by MS/XB. I don't know if their hope is to promote and hype the game so it becomes successful but for me what is really needed here is criticism. They need to be told what is wrong and what needs improvement. They need to be given suggestions and ideas about what needs to be added. I really think this has potential and what it needs right now is a whole bunch of content updates.

Constant praise and calling this one of the best multiplayer game of all time IS NOT HELPING. And that's the problem with people who are fans of companies. How can things improve if people just keep ignoring and downplaying problems with the game? Companies should LEARN from the mistake they make. Maybe not release an unfinished game at full price next time, or maybe just use early access next time...
What is funny is that some of these people will even attack people for criticising the game. I've seen a clown say something like "It's not the game's fault if you have boring friends", even though I clearly said I didn't play with my friends. LOL

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway I'll post my experience of playing the game (I posted this few weeks back):
A huge empty lifeless world. I was expecting a LOT more.
- Huge empty world filled with water and small islands
- No story
- No dialogues, voice over (ridiculous for a so-called AAA game)
- Very little attention to details
- Average to poor graphics (imo) even though the water looks great the rest looks bad
- No real goal
- No character customization at the start even though the game is based on "looks" and cosmetic items
- No splitscreen (poor for a game that is about social experience)
- Awkward combat
- Generic repetitive quest that felt tedious
- Game based on cosmetic items and the game will soon have microtransactions that will sell this
- Full price game with free2play economics
- Seems like the game depends on friends goofing around
- I hardly found anyone. (Maybe 6-7 ships in 10 hours of play)

+ Water is great looking
+ Game relies a lot on goofing and spending time with friends, so it can be fun for few hours.

I think the problem with this game is there isn't really any goal. The quest feels like Ubisoft-like generated side fetch quests. You are asked to go from point A to point B, get a chest, go back to point A, sell the chest for gold, use the gold to buy cosmetic stuff. You do that 5-6 times to get some 1000 gold so you can buy a hat or a coat.
Even the trading company quests are just mindless jobs where you go from one point get animals like chickens and go to point B, to get the same stuff.

I think they depend a lot on player's friends to keep each other entertain by playing pretend pirates.
Even the achievements sound like crazy grinding sessions. 1,000 Banana Crates delivered on time, 1,000 Gunpowder Kegs delivered on time, 1,000 Shipwrecked Chests sold, 1,000 Captain's Chests sold, 150,000 gold earned for each of the trading companies, 1000 Skeleton Captains defeated, 1,000 Villainous Skulls sold

For me, the novelty wears off very quickly.
 

BravosBad

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Apr 11, 2018
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Sea of Thieves is entertainment!
I've had plenty of good experiences on both full crews of randoms, as well as, single sailing. I can sail alone for hours. Collecting loot and completing a plethora of voyages. All without confrontation from other ships. Don't get me wrong, I've encountered those pirates who are just always malicious. However, I've also found myself being a malicious pirate in times of gameplay. It depends on what kind of mood you're in; how much loot you have to lose; what's to gain; etc. It's sea of "thieves". Not all pirates are honest and polite.

On the note of my thoughts on what could help the game be more...some features could improve. Add AI ships. The ship could be customizable too. Closing doors. Maybe lock them. Making an enemy have to pick it. Painting the sails your own. Adjusting where to place your goods barrels. Same for the Avatar. Allow the ability to build your Avatar instead or random generation.
As for the brig...it would be beneficial and fun to allow players to lock enemy players inside it when they're caught trying to steal treasure off the boat. Maybe make their crew come fight for them.
Add words to the shanties.

All I can currently think of. Keep up the great work. It's an excellent game I'll continue to sail, drink grog, and pirate long from now.
 

fdruid

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Aug 8, 2013
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This is a masterpiece, clearly. It's so disruptive that people don't understand it and criticize it. It puts interaction and emergent gameplay to the forefront, which is refreshing after decades of the same "grinding to level up" mechanic of multiplayer games.

it's a joy to play, even alone. A very carefully crafted experience, technically but also in terms of gameplay. Each little element in there to make people interact and have fun.
 

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