Why i think this game is a great tech demo, but poor game.

  • Hey,

    I don't mean to offend the developers for what they have done nor belittle the enjoyment that people obviously get from this game. But I just wanted to share my experience after playing for a week. This isn't objective, it's purely subjective.

    • Most notably I love the seafaring mechanics in SoT - amazing, I think controlling the boats and ships is great, and the changing seas and weather and seeing other ships is fantastic. Navigating to islands, that is all great. Sea battles are a bit too hectic but capture the excitement of the moment well.

    • Missions are OK, digging up chests is great and searching islands is good. But even after a week, sometimes I find searching islands for a book is a bit grueling. I haven't given much thought to what could be done to improve that experience. But mission complexity and variety is quickly running out.

    • Multiplayer is terrible. The battles are fine but unfortunately there is an incentive to kill everybody automatically. There is very little incentive to create an in game community or be friendly or impartial to people. I've had 1, maybe 2 people who didn't attack me on sight, about 1 boat on the water that didn't attack me. And people have come up to me and said stuff like 'bet you can't kill me' and then shot me - i just quit after that. It's just horrible for doing missions, especially the tall tales where I have to work at it for a couple of hours, and any encounter is putting progression at risk or if I'm off my boat, it's basically game over and I may as well quit the game.

    • Ship skin doesn't save - WHY? Why did you think we would want to reset it back to the basic skin every time we started a game. This just shows how little you've actually thought about game play and continuity in particular.

    • Skeletons - 1 ground based aggressive NPC type, well what can i say, pretty poor.

    • Fishing is pretty good, but so far I've found the rewards or sense of achievement pretty low. I'd rather fish in WOW.

    • Tall tales are just terrible IMO. The idea is great, and that they are a bit complicated. But without a save game and without some basic game play features, I've found the first tall tale a terrible experience - one that will probably lead me to stop playing the game completely. I have attempted the tall tale about 5 times now, tonight I played for 2 1/2 hours and got to the location where i place the crab totem, but drowned in the chamber. Respawned, my boat had obviously been sunk, because that's what the players are like in this game. Previously I sold my key because that's what I thought I had to do. And lost 2+ hours then too. Why didn't you include a restriction on selling quest items. Why didn't you include a save game? I can't fit this need to spend 3 hours doing a tall tale into my life. And then having to do that several times over working out stuff. Like the cave puzzle, where I just lost all my progress. Now i've spent about 10 hours on the first tall tale trying to work it out and I just couldn't be bothered anymroe. This is basic game design - include a save game - we are not all youtubers or full time gamers who can put 3 hours aside to do a quest in a single sitting - that's just ridiculous.

    If I could put the seafaring mechanics inside an MMO or RPG of some kind I think it would be so much fun. I rate SOT highly as a tech demo 5/5, but as an actual game I can't give it more than 3/5. And that's generous, because it's only been a week and I'm already thinking about quitting. If I do quit, I'll give it 2.5/5 as a game because it just doesn't have real staying power, and because of the ridiculous requirements to make progress, and because of the lack of any upgrades, and because of the lack of save game, the horrible MP experience with regard to people attacking all the time and auto sinking my boat when I'm trying to find something.

    The idea is great, but nope, I can't rate Sea of Thieves.

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  • @deadstack
    Hello Mr Deadstack, you have your opinion ,which is fine because it is still , in some places , a free world. But you judge the game after one week of playing.i also nowhere read that you play with one or more comrades on the Sea , so , and you may prove me wrong , you have been playing on a Solo Sloop. That's what i assume when i read your story...

    Now that being said , do you know that the Solo Sloop way of playing is the hardest way of playing?And with hard i really mean hard...

    Yes , many Pirates do think that only killing or sinking is the Soul , the Spine of this game...And they are pretty wrong...Killing and sinking Pirates is a part of the game not the main reason.

    Back in the days of the extremely missed Tavern Talks where Developers like Mr Chapman , Mr and Mrs Preston and Mr Neate ,to name a very few, repeadetly stated that this game was made to go on an adventure with your Friends , and if you didn't had Friends , then this game was made in order that you wouldn't be Friendless for long anymore...It would be good for the game if there was a way that this could be repeated ,including the big value sportmanship has...We have the ability to sink and kill people but we also have the abiltiy to do this over and over untill Pirates leave the game...That is not right , sinking and killing has to be done with a sportmanship feel, and if you can add some humour in it , it will make that Pirates will comeback to this game with a giggle o

    Treasure maps , Bounty letters from the Order of Souls or list of things or items that needed to be delivered in Ports asked by the Merchants ,where are reasons to send you to the Sea ...

    In this game you could have a plan and some plans lasted for the full five minutes ,but every made up plan needed to be changed as the events , NPC or Real Players would derail that plan in no time...

    Back in the day that persons like Mr Chapman explained the Vision behind Sea of Thieves was shared over multiple channels , many Pirates took the time to get to know " the enemy". i tell you a very small story , two years ago there was a real terror of the Sea called Mr Angry Eskimo, he had made a name for himself to simply battle and sink every ship he came across.

    Did that mean he had no Heart ? No, he prioritized sinking People because he was good at it but then ...he came across our crew and instead of sinking us , he protected our ship while we were cashing our chests in while being under fire by another enemy Pirate...Later he admitted he had fun in protecting us , and so he discovered a new way of playing...

    Nowadays , Mr Chapman and his Talented Team are hard at work into making New Tall Tales , new techniques and who knows what more...Therefore The Passionate Game explainer has no time to repeat himself for the thousendst time but his explaining voice is missed...

    Take a look at the Fortress of the Damned , some crews battle eachother for hours to gain the spoils of one fortress...One ...While communicating to eachother could have led to an Alliance that could last for not one but many Fortresses of the Damned...Just saying that killing every ship you see doesn't process the spoils one may expect , sometimes it's much profitable and much more fun to work together...

    SOT is a Tool...a Sandbox world with already finished Islands and settings but how your story develops in this world is determined by yourself, AI in the shape of skellies , storms , Megalodonodons , Krakens ,Skeleton ship's , Fortresses , Fleets and so on and on ...And most importantly ..The Other Human Pirates...They have a very great hand in the porridge and will determine how it will taste to you.

    Sure , many are only there for killing , but there are so many unique Pirates out there , from "Live and letLive " Pirates , to Cosplayers , Roleplayers and Goofballs...In one week time , you simply can't meet those...

    The Tall Tales is a different thing, you said you have drowned while trying to solve the first one...You have played it 5 Times and find seeking the journals pretty hard? Well, Sir , you need to read the Journals , they give you the name of the island where you need to find the next journal...The solution of the drowning puzzle is in the Mission Journal , it is really not that hard to solve ...

    There is no savegame...Nope, every Adventure is new ,and you do need to finish your Tall Tale or you lose your progress, that's why i only play them when i have time...A bit the same way asi play my storybased Adventure games , i don't play them for half an hour and walk away...Tall Tales take time but your senses do get rewarded by Great puzzles , riddles , Stories ,voiceactors and of course , superb Music...

    The shipcostumisation takes two minutes to go to the shipwright and change the look of your ship, that can't be a big deal ,would it?...

    One little tip of an old Pirate , try to play with others , more Pirates mean more eyes on the Horizon, be cautious and approach ships while communicating with voice or text , the way a ship rolls up to you cantell you a lot of how people will react on you...

    One last advice, have a rowboat on your ship and take that rowboat to the shore when you do Tall Tales , and remember where the Outposts are from where you land on that island...If an enemy ship would sink your ship , the chance is quite great that they haven't spotted or don't want to waste their time in destroying yer rowboat...You will have lost your ship but you can still bring your Tall Tale quest item to the one you need to bring it to...

    i would like to suggest that you try to find others to play with , because there is nothing wrong with Solo Sloop, if you take in account that it truely is a very hard way of Pirating, but once you have found Pirates where you " connect" with , then the Real Magic of Sea of Thieves will invade your spine , and it will never leave anymore...

    i hope i may have pointed that there is much and much more to find than just " Fetch and retrieve" missions ,because People...Well , Pirates you " connect " with are the Ones who bring the most Original ,fun and never Experienced before stories and adventures...

    i wish you Happy Sailing , Sir...Remember , play SOT when you have some time to kill, this isn't a game for half an hour...

  • @deadstack i know george probably already said some of what ill say but he wrote so much and after trying to read all of your post im just too exhausted honestly haha MY PROBLEM not anything bad on you two! so with that disclaimer id add this as my two cents.

    1. i agree about wanting more enemies than just skellies but i dont think you can just dismiss that there are grass skellys that heal in water, gold skellies you need to wet then kill or blow up, shade skellies who are a bother at nite cause they are invulnerable and even the odd skelly lord with special moves. also cant just discount snakes i mean come on they are tough! not to mention all the sea things megs, karen, skelly ships, sharks. cant just dismiss them in a game thats 80% sea haha. BUT id still like to see some land enemies or even sky enemies.

    2. if you havent even beaten the first tall tale dont judge them. they are awesome and pretty much are what you seem to want after calling the trading company missions boring.. which the are for the most part haha.

    if you had said this post when the game launched id agreed, but this game is baller man! give it a real go. also play with others. find someone on the forum. they can teach you a lot and help you with pesky pirates or confusing missions. plus thats half the fun messing around with friends.

    1. I like that you gave your opinions tho keep it up. they can only learn and grow from such details from players.
  • @deadstack your feedback points do not really point to the current issues. Your main issue seemed to be tall tale 1 which 8 year olds do without a problem. Actual issues in game are sword-gun combat, instability at times, and I am sure something else, lol. The game overall is super solid even if someone doesn't like it.

  • You've picked up on a lot of the "it doesn't work" arguments.
    Here are some of the Pros:

    1. it creates the atmosphere of "you're never alone"
    2. it forces you to be on constant watch
    3. you should never just sail around without constantly checking the horizon for sails.
      a. Just put "checking for sails" at the beginning of every task that you perform.
      b. If the task lasts longer than 2-3 steps....throw in another "Checking for sails" just for giggles.

    Multiplayer is what it is.
    Take it or leave it; multiplayer in this game is the PRIMARY mechanic. Everything else boils down to activity that serves player to player interaction.
    Whether that interaction devolve to combat or ascend in cooperation is the best way to describe this game.

    In order to have the right state of mind going into each session...another pirate summed it up really well when they said,

    "I treat the other pirates in the game like NPCs. They can be good NPCs or bad NPCs. Hopefully, they'll be good NPCs and they'll let me team up with them or go about my way. If they're bad NPCs, I'll find out shortly, try to destroy them and take their goodies if I survive."
    (forgive me for not remembering their names and probably misquoting them quite a bit 🙃)
    This will help give you the perspective that it's just for fun and those other players aren't necessarily out to destroy me and my fun.

    Also, the best advice I've heard and learned is to simply remember:

    1. treasure is limitless - there's more and more e'rday.
    2. sink it, destroy it, blow it up, crash a brand new one...you will always get another boat!!!
    3. you have unlimited lives - experiment with all the different ways to die....there are achievements for each and flames to go with them!!
    4. none of YOUR wealth can be taken....only cargo can be stolen and that's technically NOT YOURS...you're just temporarily holding it!!!

    @Clumsy-George broke it down perfectly, in oh so many ways, but I'd like to highlight the 'time wasted' point.
    ~Try not to think you're going to wrap this game up in just a week or so and feel that no time was ever wasted.
    ~~You're setting yourself up for disappointment!!!
    ~The experience is SO MUCH BETTER with a good crew...even just 1 more on a sloop makes a world of difference.
    ~You can't try to cram a tall tale into an hour....solo.
    ~~having another crew member speeds up Tall Tales dramatically cuz you can drop one off at an island to perform one task while the other heads for another part to perform the other.

    There is so much to do and so many ways to do it. Yes, most everything boils down to a fetch quest...but, once you see this for what it is, you can start to PLAY the game in whatever way you'd like.

    1. Experiment
    2. role play
    3. have fun
    4. give treasure away
    5. throw treasure into the shroud
    6. try making as many alliances as you can
    7. try sneaking onto random ships
    8. try only doing washed up bottle voyages
    9. try cannoning your self onto a skelly ship and hiding in its crow's nest.

    In the year+ that this game has been afloat, it has changed in so many ways. The DEV Team is top notch and doing an amazing job at, not just making a game, but listening to the player base....ALL of the player base.

    They don't just cater to one type of player and are dedicated to keeping the experience one that a true pirate would savor.....even a NOBLE PIRATE like me!!
    Hang in there buccaneer!! It's a salty sea out there but that's what makes the fish so tasty!!

  • @deadstack

    Ship skin doesn't save - WHY? Why did you think we would want to reset it back to the basic skin every time we started a game. This just shows how little you've actually thought about game play and continuity in particular.

    Because every person in your crew can equip skins for your ship, so who's skin to they prioritize? This is a multiplayer game, and it seems to me you've been playing exclusively solo, otherwise you would've known this already.

    This game allows you to play solo, but that doesn't mean it was intended or balanced for solo players, this is simply a fact of reality you have to come to terms with... Rare wants you to play with friends.

    Naturally, any impression you have on the game as a solo player is therefore rendered irrelevant and redundant... You may have to get a crew of friends together, and enjoy the game together with them...

    But without a save game and without some basic game play features, I've found the first tall tale a terrible experience - one that will probably lead me to stop playing the game completely.

    Again, the Tall Tales is an infinitely better experience when you're playing with friends or at the very least other people who are cooperative crewmates.

    The first TT is literally designed to introduce you to the concept, it's basically a toturial... If a toturial is enough to make you quit the game.

    I'm afraid to inform you, if you quit that easily, there isn't a whole lot Rare can do to prevent you from quitting, as quitters have a tendency of quitting for any reason whatsoever, especially unreasonable reasons. :P

    I have attempted the tall tale about 5 times now, tonight I played for 2 1/2 hours and got to the location where i place the crab totem, but drowned in the chamber.

    When i did that the first time, me and my crew almost drowned too, luckily i managed to figure the puzzle out right before we died.

    Such a close call, and this hectic and thrilling experience made me LOVE the rest of the Tales so much more, it was awesome. I love the TT's, i hope they get even better. :D

    Respawned, my boat had obviously been sunk, because that's what the players are like in this game.

    I bet you wish you had some crewmates to make it easier and more enjoyable for you, eh? :P

    Why didn't you include a restriction on selling quest items.

    ??? None of what you just said made any sense, if you can sell it, then you are meant to sell it... You can't sell random keys from the TT if its needed to progress in the story, what are you talking about? ._.

    What i'm saying is that there IS a restriction on selling quest items. Unless they changed something recently, which i highly doubt... Though i could be wrong.

    Why didn't you include a save game?

    because it's a sanbox online multiplayer shared world game? Your progress is automatically saved on your character, if and when you progress, and not a moment sooner. :o

    I can't fit this need to spend 3 hours doing a tall tale into my life.

    Your first time doing a tall tale will take around 3 hours, yes... Any subsequent runs will only take you around an hour, plus/minus 30 minutes... You can sometimes skip certain parts of the tale, making them much faster.

    As long as you know the steps of course.

    Like the cave puzzle, where I just lost all my progress.

    Don't fail then... This is a game, if you lose, you get punished... So don't lose.

    This is basic game design - include a save game - we are not all youtubers or full time gamers who can put 3 hours aside to do a quest in a single sitting - that's just ridiculous.

    I think you'll find that a 3 hour gameplay session is perfectly balanced according to the average player... If you play 5-12 hours, then you have too much free-time... If you can only play 1 hour, you have absurdly LITTLE time, lol.

    I have too much free time, but i can't handle more than 3 hour session on Sea of Thieves, and i have the Gold-Curse reward from doing the Tall Tales 5 times and reading all the books... I'm doing just fine. :P

    It's not that hard, you need to understand, from the perspective of the community, you are complaining about a game being too hard, when most of us consider the game to be too easy.

    I think maybe you should dedicate some more time into understanding the game rather than judging your mistakes with it as a solo player.

    You're a newbie, you made some mistakes, learn from them, and you will find more enjoyment from the game. ;)

    If I could put the seafaring mechanics inside an MMO or RPG of some kind I think it would be so much fun.

    There are several MMO's with seafaring mechanics very similar to Sea of Thieves. Here is a list i will generously provide:

    ArcheAge Unchained
    ArcheAge Ship Battle Video

    Black Desert Online remastered
    Black Desert Online ship Battle video

    Atlas
    Atlas Ship Battle video

    I'm sure there are others too, but there's three for you to choose from, have fun, buddy!

  • @deadstack
    At first, the game might seem repetitive, but it gets better over time.

    The real charm of this game is how interacting with other players makes stories. For example, last may(after the first major update) I was on a duo sloop and we'd joined up with a soloer. We let him on our ship, and he immediately climbed up our crows nest and kamikazeed our gpbs. Me and my crewmate laughed very hard at that.

    I do agree that tall tales should have checkpoints, but I think that nothing else(expept for bug fixes) is necessary for this game. Of course I still appreciate good updates, so make some suggestions to improve the game, or reply to some current ones!

  • @deadstack You don't get it yet, just keep playing.

    You do highlight that the new user experience needs a bit more handholding though. You're really supposed to start playing this game with friends, so that you can learn together, or as part of a more experienced crew so that you can learn the ropes under the wing of a more experienced player. Starting out solo is a lot to take on for a landlubber.

    Try LFG or Discord and have someone teach you how to handle all of the 'problems' you mentioned. Then come back and tell us if you still think it's a tech demo.

  • A fair list of complaints. I don't agree with you on everything, but I have to admit that most of your points are certainly valid arguments worthy of discussion.

    SoT is a good game that could be a great game. Let's hope for the best and also hope that Rare reads these forums.

  • im starting to feel like regions are drastically different, most of the players in my region seem to be friendly, majority of the time they are friendly, even the pvpers become friendly, i litterally had some peeps steal an athena from me only to join me and help me farm more forts?(for the sake of my reputation i feel it necesary to say that this was one of the only times i was playing with others on a brig who told me to let them have the athena, if i wanted to sink them i could have, my team just took the opportunity to start new forts, cause we didnt really care about gold/rep because what does it even do for ya) and no they did not help us farm more in order to betray us, we actually farmed like 3 after the first one, and all went good, even added them as friends. and this kinda thing isnt completely crazy, have had people come attack me, only for it to end in reason with us teaming up. sure sometimes it doesnt work out and i end up sinking them but hey i feel like most of the time people are chill, or maybe i find it so easy to sink most of these people that i dont take note of the experience??? idk.

  • @deadstack

    U said: Ship skin doesn't save - WHY? Why did you think we would want to reset it back to the basic skin every time we started a game. This just shows how little you've actually thought about game play and continuity in particular.

    Question: My crew consists of 3 members. We all load in from our previous game and had our skins saved. Which ship skin will be loaded?

  • @DeadStack lol this guy said tall tales are terrible. that blows my mind, they seem super fun and interesting to me. ohhh as im reading im realising its because you arent good at solving the puzzles??? you can google them, they have guides on each one. i never used the guides for the puzzles cause i found those easy, i would use them for the location of the actual starting point and if i got stuck wich wasnt often, i think sometimes i got stuck on what island i was supposed to go to next. for watever reason with the first tale, i got the scarab totem 5 times in a row and not once did i have to google where that one went, cause i already knew of the scarab on crooks hollow for watever reason, i guess the tall tales are for more experienced players. also the only other one of those kinds i got was the cresent isle moon one, and that was pretty easy to figure out cause its a moon and cresent isle is the only moon looking isle, at least i think thats where that totem goes, thats what i remember anyways, and then figuring it was in a cave was also easy cause i mean where else would it go. but yea i would say the tall tales are for experienced players, or you can just google it, and holey moley 2+ hours, i litterally farmed 3 today in just 1 and a half hours, of the first tale anyways, cause i have 2 accounts i only just finished doing it 5 times on my main account today.

    there isnt a restriction on selling quest items, because the game is a pirate game, and it would suck for players to be able to steal something and not sell it, also i dont know why you would sell a key, no offence but i would have thought it be common sence that a key is used to open something. also the tale itself should guide you, like im sure the tale would have spoke of a chest that that key would open. idk maybe im crazy, i havent done all the tall tales in a while.

    also does dying in the cave puzzle make you restart???? i have never died in one but i figured you could just respawn and restart???? actually, i did die in one, the gold shores one, cause it has special traps, it wasnt as much a puzzle as it was a survival test imo.

    also reasons for not having a save game, its an online game, im not sure what online pvp games allow you to save your stuff like that, idk probs alot do but not in sea of thieves, for one, if you get in battle you could just save your ship, then log off or watever and not worry about battle, and sure some games have a timer but, idk it doesnt feel right to me in a game about pirates. maybe they could do like a tall tale book chapter save where that chapter of the book saves, but most of the tales are really quick although i guess you say you spent 10 hours wich is insane to me, you should really use google my guy lol.

  • Choose to be happy, and more often than not, you will be.

  • @sweltering-nick "You can't sell random keys from the TT if its needed to progress in the story, what are you talking about?" - yes you can, i took it to the stranger because i thought that was what i had to do, and there was no option so i took it to the gold collector, he bought it and it came up as something other than what it was.

  • So i got the shroudbreaker (key) tonight, but of course my boat was destroyed when i got out. I had to leave the key and talk to the merman to get a new ship. And I was halfway back to the island to pick up the key and the message came that the map was changing. When i got back the shroudbreaker key was gone. So this is the 6th time I've tried the quest and unable to complete it for whatever reason. grrr.

    But I get it, this game isn't designed for single players, nor is it designed it seems for players who need to stash items to fetch a new boat.

  • @deadstack You summarized it exactly with the last 2 points. Solo can be very profitable if you are good but if you have 4 good solo players on a galleon you will be even better once they get used to galleon. Its better to play with friends, especially at first (I learned on solo brig, lol I was bad) but once you get the hang of it you can go solo.

  • do you know what a massive multiplayer online game is? you cant put save files in the game, that not how it works. and your supposed to fight other players, sink their boat and take their loot, its called sea of thieves not sea of care bears. And with skeletons you forgot that there are 6 classes of skeletons (keg,flintlock,captain,claw,sword,blunderbuss) and 4 different types of skeletons making a total of 24 different AI not including tall tale bosses and the FoTd. if you find the game not fun, its because your playing without people. the game is back alley way trash if your not playing with a friend. find some peers and randoms and play with them.

  • @deadstack
    If it helps, I can partially agree with you on most points.
    Missions are okay. I'd really prefer the wheel be more clear to the average player what missions came from where and if they're related to the voyage that was put down. The current event is an excellent example as the quest that the Ashen pirates drop don't make it clear as to being related to the quest.

    Multiplayer - I wouldn't say it's terrible but it could be worked on. I agree that currently there is little reason to befriend others. You can easily avoid others if you know what you're doing though. A lot of that comes to experience in the game.
    Tall tale progression needs to be adjusted. Checkpoints or something that can't be lost if your ship is lost. I'm open to the idea of the tall tale quest item not being able to be picked up and having it float indefinitely until either the player leaves or the quest is dropped. People would still grief on occasion but most would grow bored knowing that it would never be able to be touched.

    Ship skins should save. I agree with you there. The person who creates the lobby should have their skin default applied to the boat upon entry. Can still customize it but having a preset that is tied to the account would be nice.

    Skeletons are the only npc on the ground. They've made different versions but I agree that a change could be nice. Rare is trying to keep a pirate theme going and you don't have a lot of other 'monsters' available in the pool while keeping that theme. I'd enjoy the idea of having mermaids that attack you though. Maybe even temporarily turn you into stone like medusa for a period of time. Could add to the lore to the mermaids on them turning on each other.

    Fishing has a few requirements for getting rare fish. I firmly believe there should be a chance of catching a kraken or something else that you have to fend off. At least if using a specific bait.
    Here is a guide for fishing. alt text

    As I was saying before, I would be fine with a checkpoint system for Tall Tales. They can take a long time without a guide and that is a large investment especially if you have a ship grief you. A lot of the people demanding PVE servers would probably relax if they didn't lose progress on tall tales.

    Sea of Thieves offers a unique environment that is really enjoyable once you familiarize yourself more with the game. It can be rough at the beginning due to others but that is part of the game. Don't take it seriously and try to have fun.

  • @deadstack said in Why i think this game is a great tech demo, but poor game.:

    @sweltering-nick "You can't sell random keys from the TT if its needed to progress in the story, what are you talking about?" - yes you can, i took it to the stranger because i thought that was what i had to do, and there was no option so i took it to the gold collector, he bought it and it came up as something other than what it was.

    Lol, have you considered the possibility that the key in question was, in fact, not a TT item, then? :P

    That you were supposed to sell it to begin with? xD

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