Morton

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Aug 19, 2005
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A week ago I was about to access the Game section of the Tomshardware forumz (this section) when I accidentally noticed an ad banner with a picture of a sail ship on the right side of the site (--->). I usually ignore advertisements, but now and then click on some. I must say I am extremely happy that I did click on that one. The banner took me to a game's homepage where I looked at the screenshots and read FAQ. I became intrigued. For the past three years I've been waiting for MMORPG called "Pirates of the Burning Sea", but on the site of this newly discovered game previously completely unknown to me I saw screenshots which looked very similar to what I saw long time ago on screenshots from PotBS. Recalling hardware requirements for PotBS my first impression was that my Athlon XP 2400+/Radeon 9700 wouldn't be able to run the game smoothly, but then I read the Voyage Century FAQ and was surprised to learn that the minimum is PIII 500 mhz/Geforce 2 MX and recommended is PIV 2ghz/Geforce 4. However, the most surprising thing was when I read that this game is going to be free forever! Wahoo, a dream come true? I registered an account, downloaded and installed the game and started playing it. The game is so fresh that on the next day (January 4th) they launched a completely new server and I was able to start with everyone else in a virgin world. The game is in a beta test at the moment, but after the beta test ends the current characters will not be removed or harmed in any way and there won't be any obligatory fees.

Here are some of my favourite aspects of the game:

+ No fees even after beta-test ends. The game will stay free forever, but people can use real money to buy some bonus items.
+The game is of such high quality that it's very surprising that it's not one of those games for which you need to pay 10-15$ per month. There is even GM support and interesting events in the game. For me, Voyage Century has sent PotBS to Davey Jones's locker. :twisted:
+ Bonus items that can be bought for real money are not powerful. Players who decide to spend money on the game won't get too much of an advantage. It seems many bonus items are mainly to make your character look cool or to add a few new gameplay possibilities.
+ The third game world server (De Gamma) launched just 6 days ago (January 4), so there are no bored super powerful high level players yet who have trained their skills to maximum and know every single detail about the game. And there won't be need to start all over after the beta test ends because the character won't be wiped.
+ In this game you control a character when on the land or boarding an enemy ship in the traditional MMORPG fashion (craft items, grow plants, do quests, search for treasures or treasure map pieces needed before that, search for unknown insects/plants/animals/etc., hunt animals and monsters or fight sailors on a grappled and boarded ship etc.) and as a ship when at sea (trade goods between cities, attack ships, discover animals/plants/places/etc, discover and loot random floating ship wreckages, find fishing places). The greatest thing about the game is that these two different types of game-play are equally developed. In this respect, Voyage Century feels like two games combined in one. In most MMORPGs in which you control a character there are no ships or sailing is too simple to provide any diverse opportunities or real fun.
+ All of the loading times are very short. Map transitions last 5-10 seconds.

To be fair, there are some negative things too:

- If your resolution is set higher than 1024x768 in Windows and you won't change it to 1024x768, you will need to make a few manual changes in some files with Notepad to make the game run in full screen mode. Otherwise, the game will run in a nasty window mode. Actually, the game does suggest to change Windows resolution to the game's resolution and will run in full screen mode if you click 'Yes', but then you'll get 1024x768 in the game and in Windows when you exit the game. For unknown reason, there is no option in the game to set resolution automatically higher. This is quite a drawback in the age of LCD displays. Fortunately, some players have posted instructions on the game's forums which explain thoroughly what files to open and what changes to make (mainly just need to type in the numbers of your resolution instead of 1024 and 768, e.g., 1600 and 1200, in core.ini file).

- The game crashes too often when it transits player from character mode on the land to ship mode on the world map. Fortunately, running the game again and logging back in takes only 1 minute even on an old computer and you appear as a ship on the world map. I hope this problem will be fixed during the beta test because the game crashes very frequently when you concentrate on sailing between cities trading goods. On the other hand, this problem is not so significant for people who do not transition from land to sea too frequently.

Some Screenshots:

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- you can craft or buy iron and timber to upgrade your ship to a higher level when the ship has leveled up its structure, maneuverability or military levels; ships of different levels and types (lvl 1-9) all look different
- there are three types of ships in the game: Merchant, Warrior, Adventurer; you can have many ships but you can sail only one ship at a time
- you can also repaint your ship's sails and hull if you acquire necessary dyes and paints
- when your character's skills increase, your character and your ship can have more powerful equipment

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- in ship vs ship battles you can use cannons, rams and mines or you can use a grappling hook to board a ship and start a fight between your character and some of your NPC sailors vs captain of the enemy ship (player or NPC) and some of his/her NPC sailors.


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- in addition to close-combat weapons you can use short guns and muskets
- the game is set in the real world, but in some distant places you can encounter magical monsters like mummies or skeletons

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- you can discover many unknown insects, sea shells, plants, animals, architecture as you explore the world and you can authenticate them (publish your findings) to gain money and reputation, though sometimes you also need to find some kind of solid proof to substantiate your discovery


http://www.voyagecenturyonline.com/
 

Morton

Distinguished
Aug 19, 2005
404
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18,790
Yes, the text almost turned into a small review of the game.
By the way, a completely new server will be launched today or during this week! Everyone will be getting double exp for everything during the first 5-7 days.