The mission generator should take allegiances into account so you’re not stuck with a mission you can’t complete. For example, if you are Spanish and are given a delivery quest to England, but England and Spain are at war, expect to be attacked the moment you set foot on English soil. One frustrating facet of the quests is that your country’s alliances are not taken into account. The safest way to make some petty cash is to check towns for missions. Expect to be outmanned and outgunned on the high seas. Unfortunately, the early levels are the hardest levels in the game. Once you get your sea legs, you’ll want to start looking for income. These levels increase independently of each other, and you improve your specific skills the more you use them. Ship level-ups allow you to use skill points to improve things like navigation, gunnery, defense, medical and trade.
When a character levels up, he earns a point that can be applied to skills like swordplay, personal defense and pistol skills. Your character can also level up in two ways – himself and his ship. The game favors characters with specific skill sets, and well rounded characters will find themselves below average in all fields, while still requiring the assistance of officers. While it’s more realistic, those who like making well rounded characters will be disappointed. This will leave your character relying on ship officers to handle the other skills he himself is not proficient in. The PIRATES system allows you to make a very specialized character that will excel at specific skills. When you start the game, you assign points to these different attributes. PIRATES, the new character development system, stands for Power – Insight- Reaction – Authority – Talent – Endurance – Success. Unfortunately, the differences between the actual classes are relatively minor besides starting equipment and character stats in the new PIRATES role-playing system. After starting the game, you choose one of the four factions as your Empire (or try and go it alone), and one of three player classes - Corsair, Merchant or Adventurer. The four major European powers of the era, Spain, England, France and the Netherlands are at each other’s throats over territory and resources. New technology has improved the graphics, sound and game play, but my very first thought was, “Hey, that’s the Sea Dogs music!” I hope you like more of the same because mechanically, very little has changed between Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales and Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships.Īs with the previous games, the sea flows freely with ships, gold and blood. Set in the golden age of piracy in the Caribbean, Age of Pirates 2 allows the player to take control of one of three heroic adventurers as they try to make a name for themselves on the Raging Main.įor those who have played one of Akella’s previous pirate titles, the similarities are immediately apparent. It’s time to set sail for glory, riches and adventure … again, in Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships from the Akella / Playlogic team.