I have a love/hate relationship with this game.

The graphics are good, sailing has a relaxed realism to it, land and sea combat are generally good.

But you start the game having to complete 6 quests before you can buy your ship. The quests aren't always straightforward, and it's the only way to make the money required to buy your ship. If you complete all of them, you'll have 60,000 pesos, far more than enough to buy your ship, provision it, and hire a crew and navigator (necessary because you don't have the sailing skill to manage your starting ship). If you miss a quest or two, you might come up short of cash.

The various quests range from fairly simple to overly fiddly, and if you make some wrong decisions you can fail a quest or get paid a lot less. Expect to save and load often, but do not overwrite a save, always save in a new slot... otherwise the game can get unstable (according to the developers). You can add an explanation to the name of the save game, which is quite helpful, and you can delete older saves when they're no longer needed, but keep saves at strategic points "just in case".

You'll have to sail to another island, do a few quests there, then sail back to the original island before the "sandbox" version of the game is unlocked. Once it's unlocked, the game is a lot more fun. All the starting quests function as a sort of extended tutorial, so you really need to do them anyway.

There are guides and walkthroughs to help you with the quests, not only the initial ones but quests later in the game. These are essential reading. Some of these are better than others, so keep reading.

You may find yourself starting a new game a few times until you learn your way through. That's ok, the quests are a lot easier the second or third time through and figuring out the optimum path through the quests can be a lot of fun.

One major drawback is that there is no README file or manual with the English version of the game. I've written a guide that should provide all the information you need, so check it out, and I've posted more information on the forums, including my own walkthroughs of the initial quests.

Even with all the problems, I'm really enjoying the game. Even if I do use colorful language fairly often. :D

-------

Ok, time for an update.

I've finally finished the sandbox portion of the game. The timer on the saved game says I've got almost 160 hours at this point, with 530 hours total in Sea Dogs because I started a lot of games. This is the first time I've finished the sandbox.

It turns out the tutorial quests, before you get to the sandbox, are really necessary. You do a bit of everything that's in the rest of the game, and it prepares you for the sandbox. But it would be nice if these were spread out a bit more and you got your ship a lot earlier.

The sandbox is pure open play. You can do pretty much whatever you want. You have 3 game months to earn 1 million pesos. It gives you time to level up your character, build up your skills, find a good set of officers, and hopefully find a good ship or two. The sandbox is a lot of fun, and it's exactly what I was looking for in a pirate game.

The tutorial is one game, the sandbox is another, and now I'm starting the story quests, and there are 3, possibly with some branch paths as well. This will be 3 more games, and playing the story quest is different from playing the sandbox. You'll see what I mean when you get there.

By this time, I've "won" the sandbox and there's not much left to do there except start a new game. The balance is just about perfect.

I've been told that the story quests are very good, with lots of depth. I really didn't know what the game was about until I got to this point. Some of the forum posts about the story line quests made it sound like something I didn't really want to do, but I'm quite looking forward to this now. Getting to know the game makes a big difference.

I don't use colorful language any more, since I've learned to save the game at strategic spots. :)

I have a love/hate relationship with this game. The graphics are good, sailing has a relaxed realism to it, land and sea combat are generally good. But you start the game having to complete 6 quests before you can buy your ship. The quests aren't always straightforward, and it's the only way to make the money required to buy your ship. If you complete all of them, you'll have 60,000 pesos, far more than enough to buy your ship, provision it, and hire a crew and navigator (necessary because you don't have the sailing skill to manage your starting ship). If you miss a quest or two, you might come up short of cash. The various quests range from fairly simple to overly fiddly, and if you make some wrong decisions you can fail a quest or get paid a lot less. Expect to save and load often, but do not overwrite a save, always save in a new slot... otherwise the game can get unstable (according to the developers). You can add an explanation to the name of the save game, which is quite helpful, and you can delete older saves when they're no longer needed, but keep saves at strategic points "just in case". You'll have to sail to another island, do a few quests there, then sail back to the original island before the "sandbox" version of the game is unlocked. Once it's unlocked, the game is a lot more fun. All the starting quests function as a sort of extended tutorial, so you really need to do them anyway. There are guides and walkthroughs to help you with the quests, not only the initial ones but quests later in the game. These are essential reading. Some of these are better than others, so keep reading. You may find yourself starting a new game a few times until you learn your way through. That's ok, the quests are a lot easier the second or third time through and figuring out the optimum path through the quests can be a lot of fun. One major drawback is that there is no README file or manual with the English version of the game. I've written a guide that should provide all the information you need, so check it out, and I've posted more information on the forums, including my own walkthroughs of the initial quests. Even with all the problems, I'm really enjoying the game. Even if I do use colorful language fairly often. :D ------- Ok, time for an update. I've finally finished the sandbox portion of the game. The timer on the saved game says I've got almost 160 hours at this point, with 530 hours total in Sea Dogs because I started a lot of games. This is the first time I've finished the sandbox. It turns out the tutorial quests, before you get to the sandbox, are really necessary. You do a bit of everything that's in the rest of the game, and it prepares you for the sandbox. But it would be nice if these were spread out a bit more and you got your ship a lot earlier. The sandbox is pure open play. You can do pretty much whatever you want. You have 3 game months to earn 1 million pesos. It gives you time to level up your character, build up your skills, find a good set of officers, and hopefully find a good ship or two. The sandbox is a lot of fun, and it's exactly what I was looking for in a pirate game. The tutorial is one game, the sandbox is another, and now I'm starting the story quests, and there are 3, possibly with some branch paths as well. This will be 3 more games, and playing the story quest is different from playing the sandbox. You'll see what I mean when you get there. By this time, I've "won" the sandbox and there's not much left to do there except start a new game. The balance is just about perfect. I've been told that the story quests are very good, with lots of depth. I really didn't know what the game was about until I got to this point. Some of the forum posts about the story line quests made it sound like something I didn't really want to do, but I'm quite looking forward to this now. Getting to know the game makes a big difference. I don't use colorful language any more, since I've learned to save the game at strategic spots. :)