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Pirates of the Caribbean Online (by Disney)...
Taram
Member CommonPosts: 1,700
Now, I'm hardly a fanboi by any means but this MMORPG is just as solid (in fact better than) several of the others 'on the list' over there:
<---
So why isn't it on the list? It's got a huge player base and appears to be growing (judging by the number of servers which just increased). It's graphics aren't cutting edge by any means but they're better than, again, some of those over there:
<---
It's a member of a very small group of MMORPG's in a relatively new genre:
Age of Sail. Only 3 that I know of thus far: Voyage Centuray, PotBS and of course PotCO.
IMO, of those three only PotCO seems to be really 'complete'.
Voiceovers, cut scenes, interesting story arcs, fluid AVCombat, No artificial instancing (at all), you can swim, you can jump, etc... but most of all, amazingly, it's fun. I got an email from disney about it because my kids have a toontown account so I figured 'what the heck, my daughter loves the movies so we'll give it a whirl, after all it's free'. Much to my surprise I was still playing it a couple hours later.
IMO it's one of the better kept secrets out there. I also like that you can be a member of a ship's CREW and fire the guns or steer the ship or you can just sail as a captain like in PotBS or Voyage Century. Very cool stuff. Since I first tried it out I got my daughter a free account to teach her the ropes with, and my 5 year old son wanted one too so he has one now. And we all went out on our ship together while they manned the cannon and I steered. Was actually quite fun.
Anyway, was surprised it doesn't have it's own forums here. Unlike both PotBS and Voyage Century it's already released, and has been for awhile.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
Comments
Well it's from Disney, I've never known Disney to produce any good MMO.
This also isn't an original game, it's based of the film. (You can say the same thing for LoTRO, I realise that)
As is their PoTC shop, cruise liner,soundtrack CD, theme park attraction, novel, mobile game ETC..you can go on for about 30 more franchises like that.
It looks like a quick money maker to me. And not a serious MMO. But neither does Pirates of the Burning Sea, that shouldn't be on the list either.
"looks like"
I've been playing MMORPG's since before the term was coined for them. I'd say I have a pretty good idea of what I like or don't like in an MMORPG.
So have you tried it? At all?
Like I said, it's a better MMORPG than many of the mmorpg's that have forums listed to the left. It may not have quite as much depth as some but it's certainly better than others. As for whether you consider it a serious MMORPG or not it'd be hard for you to say since you've already admitted you've not even tried it yet
As for it being a 'quick money maker' then why is it free? Yes, you get more features from it if you pay a sub but you can also play the thing free of charge if you like. I would also submit that ALL video games are designed to be 'quick money makers' or did you really think that those MMORPG Development studios were just in it for the laughs? As for it being modelled after a name brand?
WoW is (based on a popular single player game)
SWG is
DAOC is sort of
Hellgate is
LotrO is
Matrix is
WAR will be (based on a very popular video game)
DDO is based upon possibly the most popular RPG franchise in history
So should all of those be removed from the list to the left?
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
No I haven't, I'm not giving it the benefit of the doubt, I admit that.
It's free because it promotes the franchise. The MMO was made because it promotes the film and everything I named above. It's not made because Disney had a good heart.
The companies you listed above, do get their major income from games, unlike Disney. It doesn't mean it's a bad game, but I'd hate to have every company that has the $ to make an MMO listed on this site.
I don't want to see the next Coca-cola / Exxon and Nike MMO listed here next, because they all have a lot more $ to spend on an MMO than any of the companies on that list have. That doesn't mean they should get a fair shot at being listed.
Umm... Have you ever checked the "Dare to be different" pull down menu?
The game is listed on mmorpg.com and got its own forum section.. like about every other mmo and in some cases non mmo's.
Reason it's not on <--- that list?
Maybe so few people even checked out the game on here, that the "popularity" of it is lower than ww2ol?
I agree with Taram here. At first I didn't know what to expect as I have played many mmorpgs (swg, daoc, eve, eq2, wow, ao, tr, vg, lotro and many more I can't think of now) and the fact it was made by disney scared me a little. However, I was very impressed with the game. I loved the clicky swingy sword fighting and the fact there is no armor in game. I really enjoyed potco (I admit I am a fan of the movies tho). Great storyline to follow also
Oh I see, and Blizzard has a 'good heart' or SOE? Or EA? Or any one of the other dozen or so corporations that puts out an MMO? C'mon now... get real. And, actually, as a parent? I think Disney has been a much better influence on my kids lives than Blizzard. So your arguement falls flat there
.
Actually Disney has numerous games that it's published. Even numerous MMORPG's... just to name a few:
Club Penguin (my daughter loves it)
Toontown Online (Both my daughter and son love it)
Pirates of the Carribean Online
God knows how many single player titles, I know we have 20 or 30 Disney games knocking around the house.
But it's ok for SONY, Electronic Arts, VIVENDI UNIVERSAL and other companies? Amiright?
Mmm lets see
Sony makes most of their income from games? You might want to go check a economic report on the company then. Because you are flat out wrong.
Lucas Arts makes most of their income from games? Again wrong.
The Tolkien Foundation (who backed LotrO and authorized it) makes most of their income from GAMES? Get real. LotrO is a drop in the bucket compared to the movies, books and other LotR paraphanalia throughout the years.
VIVENDI (who owns blizzard) make most of their income from games? Seriously, get a grip on reality here.
Your arguements are flawed so you come up with more flawed arguements? Lets get real here. You evidently don't like Disney for some reason, which is cool. But saying that PotCO is somehow less worthy to be on the MMORPG list because it's based on a movie is silly. Get a decent arguement for why it's any less of an MMORPG than any other MMORPG on the list or just shut it. It's ok to have an opinion but when it's not pertinent to the discussion it's best to just keep it to yourself.
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
Mm that's possible and a valid answer and one I honestly haven't thought of. I am not a huge fan of the new site layout so haven't messed with the pulldown menus much. I do, however, find it interesting which games seem to make it onto the 'main' list and which ones are relegated to anonymity behind the pulldown. Advertizing dollars appear to work wonders eh?
"A ship-of-war is the best ambassador." - Oliver Cromwell
Shrug, it's a fairly straightforward argument. You have to draw the line somewhere.
If you start promoting and listing every 'semi-decent' MMO here where a company throws a random budget at it, then you're sort of discrediting your players and the industry.
Like I said, Disney / Coca-Cola and any global company has a budget that is infinantly bigger than most MMO companies have.
They ALL have the potential to hire people from the industry and make a decent MMO. That is no reason to credit them. The fact that this game is merely there to promote the film, says enough for me.
I would hate to go into a direction where MMO's are commercials for other franchises, I doubt that's good for the industry.
Anyway, that's my opinion, you're welcome to yours, and I get your argument too.
Seems like someone ( and his kids ^^) enjoyed this Disney MMO.Thats good to hear
And I always am a sucker for positive stories like this
I wont be playing it since I am a little too "hardcore" to play a casual game like this ..or..well it feels like that
but I do appreciate the effort made by the company and its great for lovers of the movie
MMORPG.com has info on the game. And it is in the Game Quicklist. Info, Links, screenies etc are all provided. It just doesnt have a Link at the "released Games" menu to our left. I believe you need to have a certain level of activity on the boards themselves to get put there.
Torrential
Torrential: DAOC (Pendragon)
Awned: World of Warcraft (Lothar)
Torren: Warhammer Online (Praag)
It wouldn't surprise me if some old burn outs from SOE are working for Disney on these MMOs of theres, which would probably explain why they're relatively decent for the subpar graphics (being that they're left alone to actually code the game out for once, and have well defined market demographic to reach for...). All in all, I expect Disney to expand in this front, but no one will notice it until it's like knocking on the front door as it were.
-- Brede
Actually you are mistaken regarding LOTRO. It is based off of the books, not the movies. And if that is damnable offence, then AOC must be added to the list as well.
You seem quick to dismiss a game you haven't actually played.
We like WoW clones with thematic twists. Anything not WoW/EQ based is subpar in quality
*sarcasm off*
Disclaimer: Sarcasm might not translate well over internet medium such as message boards.
All the nay saying about this game really amazes me. For the price, the game is highly entertaining. Though it is based on a popular (and overdone) franchise, it tackles a game genre in a very entertaining fashion. The leveling process, combat mechanics (melee, ranged, ship-based) are all fun, and relatively well thought out. The game isn't dry or boring either, nor is the amount of content and character expansion so overwhelming as to border on tedious. That's pretty hard to accomplish. Though the graphics are sub par, let's be fair we are up to our knees in good looking games with awful gameplay, or poorly done conceptual design. Allow how fun the game is be the deciding factor, not whether or not it is on the cutting edge of graphics.
Also, back to the genre. How many fun pirate games are actually out there? You can count them on your fingers, even if you had several bad firework related injuries. It's an untapped area of gaming really, and the possibilities are vast. Hopefully they have a good development team to maintain and update, because I really like the look of where this game is going.
~Capt. Morgan
Now, bring me that horizon.
I agree with the op and several of the posters in this thread.
Previously I dismissed the game for various reasons primarily considering my erroneous assumptions about its target audience and how it would appeal to that demographic but I realized that was a mistake after experiencing the trial.
I could list all the features and how good the game play is but its so much easier just to try the free trial from the website after 30 min’s you can experience it for yourself.
The only reason that I did not almost immediately pay for the first month of unlimited was the very poor performance on the two computers I tried it on.
I do have reservations about the long term playability and end game but I am not concerned by that as much as I would be normally when considering to start playing a MMO because the game play and features really are that fun and refreshing from the beginning in my opinion.
I have also played voyage century and POTBS and although they all have strengths and weaknesses out of the 3 games I immediately got the most enjoyment and had access to the most features and fulfilling game play from POTCO.
This game is crazy fun and addictive.. It is quick and light hearted, yet has the depth (Blackjack and poker anyone?) to truly become one of the greats.. I just do not understand how these so called "hardcore: gamers can frown at this game BUT somehow say that playing WoW is a much more "hardcore" experience?
Since when did WoW become such a mature and hardcore game??
PotCO attracts the SAME demographics as WoW, and to be honest if you think of wow to be "hardcore" then there is def. a chance for you to find this game hardcore as well..
But i'm not going to lie, I was not really thinking of trying it since it was of course a disney game, BUT if any of you have seen the PotC movies will realize that is pulled the Lion King theory in where it is a mix of mature comedy and slapstick humour that both kids and adults can enjoy together..
So I guess what I am saying is, being "hardcore" is not a good reason to doubt this game. I think everyone who enjoyed the movies owe it to themselves to try this game and see if they like it or not..
bottom line: when a non-original mmo is made mainly just to promote a franchise that is already being promoted through dozens of other mediums it defaces a market that is already losing it's creative identity.
Have I tried the game? No, and I won't, ever.
Does the game have good qualities? Perhaps, though the chances are they are surface flair designed to be interesting to those that don't have a creative bone in their body.
This is a promotional mmo playing off the fame of a trilogy of movies that average out to be decent (the ending of the third really just botched the whole deal). It also is another mark in the category of 'casual/relaxed' mmo's, a genre in the market that is actually huge enough already. If people enjoy, more power to them I guess. Although the more popular this game gets the more and more mundane mmo's are going to become because developers are going to realize that 'hey, lotr and potco did pretty well, let's make another run of the mill mmo that feeds off the fame of a movie and dumbasses will buy it'
I also must agree with the OP the game does have alot of great feature and so what if its based off of the movies, the game offers alot even though the graphics do run on the toontown engine I believe the work. I do feel they got alot of great things going in this game only things I do dislike are the graphics, the size of the world (i'm just lvl 11 right now but from what I see its no very large and is centered just around port royale area and tortuge is out of place also. The towns aren't very impressive, way to small and plain. and I will say it lack of other nations I know that the movies never showed spain or france but they where in the caribbean and we'll having them there would make me happier; however the game does what it was meant to do create a world in which players can explore and follow a story similar to the movies I do wish they ships could be explored more and weren't more detailed but I take the good with the bad. In my honest opinion I wish they would combine PotBS and PotCO that would make we'll a damn good game in my eyes but that'll never happened PotBS has the detailed in-depth ship combat with a loose story, larger world, and graphics . PotCO has better melee combat/boarding combat, easy to follow story , lore back round, good cut scences (note some of my favorite moments in FFXI are the cut scences), and other players on board your ship. As for me I currently have a PotCO account that I feel is very reasonably priced 5 bucks the first month than 10 bucks the rest only bad thing atm you have to call the CSR to cancel, I also want to give PotBS a real shot. An just as a side note I've played a vast majority of MMO's mainly major titles and for the hell of it I will list it: EQ, DAoC, SWG, FFXI, EQ2, CoH/CoV, WoW,VG,PotBS,PotCO,Matrix online(so sad), AO, AC2, SB, LotRO....and probably some other free titles I just forgot, So i have a good idea of mmo's but im also not a harsh critic or fanboi of anything besides EQ in its glory day.
All the nay saying about this game really amazes me. For the price, the game is highly entertaining. Though it is based on a popular (and overdone) franchise, it tackles a game genre in a very entertaining fashion. The leveling process, combat mechanics (melee, ranged, ship-based) are all fun, and relatively well thought out. The game isn't dry or boring either, nor is the amount of content and character expansion so overwhelming as to border on tedious. That's pretty hard to accomplish. Though the graphics are sub par, let's be fair we are up to our knees in good looking games with awful gameplay, or poorly done conceptual design. Allow how fun the game is be the deciding factor, not whether or not it is on the cutting edge of graphics.
Also, back to the genre. How many fun pirate games are actually out there? You can count them on your fingers, even if you had several bad firework related injuries. It's an untapped area of gaming really, and the possibilities are vast. Hopefully they have a good development team to maintain and update, because I really like the look of where this game is going.
~Capt. Morgan
Now, bring me that horizon.
Quoted for Truth. Word for Word. And props to Taram, too.
As far as how many Pirate games are out there? Not many. Sadly. Very very sadly. And every single one of them that has been released, I have had problems with. Speaking in terms of games loaded and played personally, single player. Even then there are issues.
What to do, where to go... All felt extremely limited and backwards moving from the enormously mapped NES game Uncharted Waters. A game that incorporated the entire world for its sailing area. Wow. Now, some 20 years later we're limited to the Caribbean... not just PotC, but almost ALL pirate games are limited to a few islands.
The genre could do much better. And for the sentence up there, "For the price, the game is highly entertaining." Yes. Yes.
I'm having loads of fun with it. If they'd just find something else to do with that chat censor... drives me crazy in the heat of ship combat!!!
I spent $5 on the initial 1-month of play, and I won't spend any more. The game is fun at first, but it gets boring. Honestly, it isn't exciting to play for more than a few weeks initially. It's based on Toon Town, and the game mechanics aren't that great, with many bugs. I'm done with the game, and if you're considering getting it, try the 7-day trial first. It's fun at first, but then just gets boring and repetitive.
And Steed, I never use that crap... you do know that you can use open chat? The "SpeedChat Plus" is utter bullshit. Change the + to a - next to the chat box. Or something like that. I'm playing a game, not typing a term paper.. spellcheck within a chat system is fine with me, but not when you can't say it if you've misspelled something, or said something not in their database.
Playing: BF2142
Waiting For: Jumpgate: Evolution
Played: UO, DAoC, MCO, EQ, AO, TSO, Shadowbane, Planetside, SWG, FFXI, CoH, L2, EQ2, WoW, MxO, EVE, AoC
Played 6mo+: UO, EVE
They need to expand their weapon system and their leveling system. Your "skills" only go up to 25, which in any case, is pretty low... The "level" of the character (Notority) goes up to 40... Expand both of these? Add a new weapon? ( New weapon would be a rifle like the Navy does in game LoL )
They're planning to release a buttload of stuff this summer! Eeven a new story quest...so maybe a new weapon...that'd be cool.
It would be cool, but still, they need to at least make the max out levs more than 25... If they did I would have no problem becoming a member, but I could max out those skills in 6 months or so (Maybe not But you never know) and then all there is left to do is kill enemies and blow up ships ( I would do the main quest) So that is my take on the game for now...
2 things. Vivendi makes most of its money from games YES. WoW brings in thousands of dollars a day and most ends up in Vivendi's pocket to spend on their next big business deal (which they are very very good at)
WAR is not based off a video game it is based off the single most popular tabletop miniature game ever.
you forgot to put AoC on that list. for those that don't know its based off a series of books by Robert. E. Howard and numerous fan authors.
i am interested to hear how Hellgate is based off another IP. i have never come across anything (side from the odd roleplaying game and book) that is concrete enough to say they copied that.
as for the quick money maker system. Pirates of the Carribean online has a pay to play section. it gets an inspiration from Runescapes free to play unless u want endgame stuff. it is obvious that it is a quick money maker but one that they would keep for as long as the IP is popular. it is however one of the most polished and well made quick money makers i have ever seen.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads