Pirates! Gold (MD, 1993)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-7 Challenge-7/7.5* Story-6
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7.5 Originality-9
Overall Score-7.5
*Adventurer
+
Pirate sim/Open world RPG gameplay (very complex for its time and creates a great sense of adventure)
17th century central american setting
Character creation (nationality (english, french, dutch or spanish; affects starting resources), surname, starting proficiency (fencing, navigation, gunnery, wit and charm or medicine; basically means the difficulty will be one setting lower for gameplay related to that skill?))
Time period and difficulty options (four levels (defaults to easiest) and six periods (1560, 1600, 1620, 1640, 1660 - default/"no, thanks" choice, 1680))
Hybrid gameplay with interesting mechanics (can capture colonies/towns for your nation, basic reputation (affects how easily you can sneak into a town and the final score) and allegiances, can control a fleet of up to 8 ships at once (increases crew and carry capacity), basic diplomacy, can take famous pirates and pirate hunters as hostages (it's better to ask hunters about the silver train/treasure fleet though), dueling (pick from three different swords before each one, high and low attacks, blocking, strong and normal attack, your performance affects the morale of your and the enemy's troops), sailing with wind effects, crew morale outside of battle (affected by: gold amount per member, food, how much plundering you do, digging for treasure/searching for a family member/walking/sailing (avoid if you can), ), attack towns from sea or land and attack ships (destroy or board them and duel the captain), work for governors (missions like letter deliveries or aiding in war on another nation), insert new governors, court governor's daughters, get married (either marrying or becoming friends with a governor's daughter makes them a spy for you - helps locate wealthy towns (spanish towns affected by the silver train or treasure fleet), achieve a better rank, search for treasure (can buy pieces of treasure maps - each piece gives additional (randomized) info to the previous one until you find the current treasure OR info on a new location meaning the same treasure can change location (I think) - same with family members?), sneak into enemy towns, visit taverns for certain random events, trade (ships, goods and sugar, cannons, food))
Save feature (4 slots (8 on NES), can only save in town)
Pretty nice animated cutscenes during encounters and events (small pics though)
Ship's log/quest log (shows who's at war with who, missions and potentially interesting findings) - a bit sparse on mission info though
Can hold down the button to move all squads/parties during land battles
Side quest (reunite your scattered and kidnapped family)
Pretty good writing for the time, towns/colonies grow and shrink and/or change on their own during the course of a game (wealth, population (below 600 means they lose their governor), soldiers; towns can change governor and nationality as well, lower status colonies buy and sell at lower prices), basic character building (can only increase rank which affects which wife you can take and your final score), can manually choose when to quit/retire or advance to the next difficulty level (the higher the difficulty level the more of the cut when dividing the plunder is given to you, can cancel retirement after picking it), can flee from a duel (not sure how it affects reputation and morale in this version - there's no in-game mention of a loss but) and ship+land combat (doesn't affect reputation but usually decreases gold rewards from repeated attempts at attacking a town since its inhabitants will hide some of it - I did also notice a slight difference in the wording of the ending after maybe escaping from a few more sea battles), scrolling while sailing on the overworld in this version, terrain effects in land battles (cover and movement speed), can hold one separate title per nation at once in a game (gives a higher final score), 9 ship types (different top speeds, optimal sailing angle(s), max cannons and crew, cargo space, reef avoidance level, time period in which it appears, maneuverability, gold value), multiple endings (minor story differences between each though),
Gold:
In-game world map with city info (won't help that much with most treasure hunting though)
Can slow down during sailing by pulling up the sails
Easier to avoid being pulled by the wind on Journeyman and above (avoid the clouds) and you can zig-zag to sail a bit faster overall
More detailed/varied/colorful but also more cartoony visuals
Easier to become friends with various nations in the beginning
Somewhat improved sword duels (a bit easier to read the sprites than on NES, blocking and moving back becomes more important as you age and/or raise the difficulty), more daughters than on NES? (it's at least easier to meet with them), new enemy troop types during land battles (cavalry and ships), higher carry capacity (over 255) and max score (not sure what the limit is but I managed to get 117/100 points to show during the ending), can't become drunk and lose your crew etc. from visiting a tavern over and over in this version, retains the "command a famous expedition" option, you don't end up with the crew on land right outside of a town after attacking it by sea and winning (you end up back in the ship instead - also happens after exiting a town), you can always see the mood of your crew via an icon while sailing here, above average samples (some voices added here and there which add to the immersion, pretty satisfying cannon blasts), added "take/buy all" option (press start), more detailed and varied sound design and soundtrack, the wind has more of an effect on journeyman/easy and above but it doesn't seem to get worse on Adventurer like it did in the NES game (sword fights become tougher here though and sea combat seems to become about as tough), the crew doesn't seem to become as hard to please on Adventurer as in the NES version (not even finding the Incan treasure makes an angry crew happy in that version), adds a side quest checklist in-game which makes it easier to keep track of what you've done so far,
+/-
Hunger mechanic
Carry capacity mechanic (max gold is always 655350?)
Personal health and aging mechanics (health eventually decides if you can continue playing or not after dividing the plunder, can be injured up to 9 times before age 34 before the game forces you into retirement, can't continue your career after dividing the plunder if you are 34+ years old (your health will become poor at 34 regardless of injuries), only injuries affect the final score)
Can't pick starting age for your character
Can't specifically choose to recruit men at taverns (it's a random event)
Can't increase other proficiencies during the game
Duels can go on for a very long time if neither character gains the upper hand by hitting the other repeatedly (there doesn't seem to be a set HP stat)
Can't play as a non-European
Easier to sneak into a town from land than from sea
The evil nobles can travel around (if the one you were searching for does you can get info on his whereabouts at the tavern)
A ship's value always stays the same as long it's undamaged (same with repair value at each damage level though costs vary depending on the ship type), richer spanish towns are less likely to trade with you (spanish trade law), can't kidnap or kill governors, sun sight mechanic (used to determine your current coordinates but only the latitude can be measured (wait until the sun is at its highest then move the sun sight directly under the sun and move the sun sight's platform up until the sun just touches the platform) on difficulties above apprentice/easiest/default) - interesting feature but pretty much unnecessary if you use an external map, crew number affects cannon reloading rather than number of cannons (which only affects damage per shot), random ship encounters while at sea (can choose to sail away immediately), merchants magically replenish all their money at the beginning of each month (dividing the plunder tactic: as long as you do not board your ship an unhappy or angry crew can't desert you and take money with them), can be rewarded with land but it's only used for the final score, you can actually find the Incan treasure four times (save and reload before searching for a family member to get a better map piece from that member and then collect the treasure before finding the next family member), can't lose land or titles, can't fire crew members, can't destroy forts?, treasure is sometimes placed in the same spot twice during one game, increasing your crew size quickly makes your crew angry on medium difficulty,
Gold:
The wind changes direction more frequently than in the NES game
You get fewer recruits from won ship battles than on NES
Randomized starting point
Combat becomes a lot harder when you near 34 years of age (I played on Apprentice for a few years and then Journeyman until 33)
Your crew seems to become unhappy a little bit sooner (2 years?) but there's also a warning screen telling you that they're eager to divide the plunder here
Captured pirates and hunters are paid for one at a time in this version (means you have to move between different towns or be at sea for some time (a few days or a whole month?) and then return to the same town), cannons from smaller ships do much less damage than on NES (even to other small ships), some fortless towns, shops were divided into two here (one ship & cannons shop and one for the goods) and the town interface was changed - now shows your avatar and a bit more of the town but it makes town visits slower and your avatar doesn't look like it does in cutscenes, easier to get the max score without playing on Adventurer than on NES?, can now see the carry capacity effect of selling a ship immediately after selling it (but not before where it would've been useful!),
-
Can't leave one or more ships at a friendly town
Still can't buy ships at any town
No world map (not even in the manual) and the cities menu doesn't show coordinates (you do get some directions early on at least)
Trial & error (a governor who you've received a mission from still automatically fails you if you return without having completeted it, you only get to keep the highest listed ship in your fleet and some crew+food after dividing the plunder and continuing play by starting a new expedition (goods and sugar are lost and you lose a few months of time as well), kidnapped hunters have a chance of escaping every time you visit a colony, despite what the governor says you don't have to capture the colony for the governor's nation during a rescue mission, can't ask about the details of a governor's mission before accepting or declining, having attacked a town and won doesn't mean you can walk into that town from land or sail into it normally, if you attempt to sail into an enemy town your ship either sinks immediately or you lose some crew members from their attacks (at least you wash ashore instead of dying if all ships are lost)
you'll need a manual and preferably a guide as well to play it properly, confusing land battles)
Some control/interface issues (can't see your current ship speed outside of battle, need the manual for ship stats and some aren't even shown there, a rescued governor's son won't show up on the Party Status menu, your crew will auto-disembark the ship if you move close to land, menus don't wrap around, duel controls are still kind of sluggish, still kind of slow sailing overall (seems the same as in the first Amiga game though you'll sometimes catch a wind and have pretty good speed for a while, no fast travel) and slow sea battles, slow movement on land and in land battles, usually can't turn your ship around quickly)
Very time consuming in general
Some cheap random events (evil noble locations are randomized and can end up far away and/or at a well defended colony - save before taking a mission to prevent this)
Pretty much impossible to complete some quests without scouring large parts of the map
A bit repetitive
Your father looks almost the same as your uncle and your sister almost the same as your mother
The wind still blows from the east too much (realistic but annoying), quest info is often outdated once you get to the relevant location due to sailing taking so long (need to get an informant close to the treasure fleet and silver train locations), can't capture a town without a mission to do so or if it's <600 pop? (end up back in the ship outside of town after attacking by sea and winning - the town seems to replenish some of its soldiers between battles here, attacking from land and draining the town of all defenses then dragging out the sword duel until there's just one guy doesn't seem to work either),
Gold:
Sometimes a town won't accept a captured pirate or hunter until a later visit
Sometimes odd or overly saturated color choices
The quest log is limited to 9 entries only (23 entries on NES which was also not enough, leads to having to take notes or screenshots) - 16 entries in the news screen when meeting friendly ships
There's a new random event when fleeing from sea battles which can cause one of your ships to be shot down anyway
Missing a few artwork stills/cutscenes seen in the original (getting the treasure fleet and silver train treasures, the unique full body portrait pics depending on your final rank are sadly missing)
Some screen transitions are a bit slower than on NES, save slots show year and name but not location nor money (see NES ver.), so-so FM menu sounds and music instrumentation, still can't choose to recruit only part of a new group of recruits, few gameplay additions (no new side quests or ship types, no new weapons, no new dialogue choices), can’t play peacefully because your crew gets pissed if you don’t loot
Bugs:
-Can't lose crew when choosing to march into town in this version either (can be abused at Panama by marching into town and recruiting (you'll get 200+ pirates) then attacking the town),
-? It is sometimes possible to receive a Letter of Marque from a nation you have never had contact with if you happen to fight against a nation they are at war with. This is likely a glitch.
-? Morale Glitch: If your captain manages to make it to 40 years of age, your crew will always be "Happy".
-? The notification that the Treasure Fleet is in Florida Channel serves no purpose in the NES version – and in some other versions. In some versions of the game it is possible to capture the Treasure Fleet in a random ship encounter in the area between the Bahamas and the East coast of Florida, at the appropriate time.
Comment:
Yarr! After a lot of experimenting and reading up on various mechanics I managed to get 100 points in these as an English buccaneer roaming around and pillaging the carribean in the 1660s (well, 117/100 in Gold, not sure how high that one actually goes to but king's advisor seems to be the highest rank). I wanted to add the AMI version to the list too but it kept crashing on me. This was an incredibly ambitious and creative game for 1987 which made a pretty good transition to the NES in 1991, with somewhat improved fencing and some added music, but slower sailing and uneven visual quality.
The Gold version for MD makes a pretty nice first impression with fitting voice samples in above average quality for that system, a more detailed and varied presentation (while the more cartoony style might be a turnoff for some I found it pretty charming) and even more music, albeit nowhere near the top tier of FM synth work for the system on a technical level. The best new addition though is the in-game world map which shows your current location and lets you check info on each city on the same screen. Having beaten it I am a little disappointed that the devs didn't do more to fix issues with the original, even adding a couple in the process - for example what used to be very quick menu-driven gameplay is slowed down a bit with a quest adventure style interface, and the already too small quest log is even shorter here. However, it is ultimately the best way to play Pirates! the old school way thanks to its better executed and balanced sailing and fencing mechanics, the meat and potatoes of the game.
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7.5 Originality-9
Overall Score-7.5
*Adventurer
+
Pirate sim/Open world RPG gameplay (very complex for its time and creates a great sense of adventure)
17th century central american setting
Character creation (nationality (english, french, dutch or spanish; affects starting resources), surname, starting proficiency (fencing, navigation, gunnery, wit and charm or medicine; basically means the difficulty will be one setting lower for gameplay related to that skill?))
Time period and difficulty options (four levels (defaults to easiest) and six periods (1560, 1600, 1620, 1640, 1660 - default/"no, thanks" choice, 1680))
Hybrid gameplay with interesting mechanics (can capture colonies/towns for your nation, basic reputation (affects how easily you can sneak into a town and the final score) and allegiances, can control a fleet of up to 8 ships at once (increases crew and carry capacity), basic diplomacy, can take famous pirates and pirate hunters as hostages (it's better to ask hunters about the silver train/treasure fleet though), dueling (pick from three different swords before each one, high and low attacks, blocking, strong and normal attack, your performance affects the morale of your and the enemy's troops), sailing with wind effects, crew morale outside of battle (affected by: gold amount per member, food, how much plundering you do, digging for treasure/searching for a family member/walking/sailing (avoid if you can), ), attack towns from sea or land and attack ships (destroy or board them and duel the captain), work for governors (missions like letter deliveries or aiding in war on another nation), insert new governors, court governor's daughters, get married (either marrying or becoming friends with a governor's daughter makes them a spy for you - helps locate wealthy towns (spanish towns affected by the silver train or treasure fleet), achieve a better rank, search for treasure (can buy pieces of treasure maps - each piece gives additional (randomized) info to the previous one until you find the current treasure OR info on a new location meaning the same treasure can change location (I think) - same with family members?), sneak into enemy towns, visit taverns for certain random events, trade (ships, goods and sugar, cannons, food))
Save feature (4 slots (8 on NES), can only save in town)
Pretty nice animated cutscenes during encounters and events (small pics though)
Ship's log/quest log (shows who's at war with who, missions and potentially interesting findings) - a bit sparse on mission info though
Can hold down the button to move all squads/parties during land battles
Side quest (reunite your scattered and kidnapped family)
Pretty good writing for the time, towns/colonies grow and shrink and/or change on their own during the course of a game (wealth, population (below 600 means they lose their governor), soldiers; towns can change governor and nationality as well, lower status colonies buy and sell at lower prices), basic character building (can only increase rank which affects which wife you can take and your final score), can manually choose when to quit/retire or advance to the next difficulty level (the higher the difficulty level the more of the cut when dividing the plunder is given to you, can cancel retirement after picking it), can flee from a duel (not sure how it affects reputation and morale in this version - there's no in-game mention of a loss but) and ship+land combat (doesn't affect reputation but usually decreases gold rewards from repeated attempts at attacking a town since its inhabitants will hide some of it - I did also notice a slight difference in the wording of the ending after maybe escaping from a few more sea battles), scrolling while sailing on the overworld in this version, terrain effects in land battles (cover and movement speed), can hold one separate title per nation at once in a game (gives a higher final score), 9 ship types (different top speeds, optimal sailing angle(s), max cannons and crew, cargo space, reef avoidance level, time period in which it appears, maneuverability, gold value), multiple endings (minor story differences between each though),
Gold:
In-game world map with city info (won't help that much with most treasure hunting though)
Can slow down during sailing by pulling up the sails
Easier to avoid being pulled by the wind on Journeyman and above (avoid the clouds) and you can zig-zag to sail a bit faster overall
More detailed/varied/colorful but also more cartoony visuals
Easier to become friends with various nations in the beginning
Somewhat improved sword duels (a bit easier to read the sprites than on NES, blocking and moving back becomes more important as you age and/or raise the difficulty), more daughters than on NES? (it's at least easier to meet with them), new enemy troop types during land battles (cavalry and ships), higher carry capacity (over 255) and max score (not sure what the limit is but I managed to get 117/100 points to show during the ending), can't become drunk and lose your crew etc. from visiting a tavern over and over in this version, retains the "command a famous expedition" option, you don't end up with the crew on land right outside of a town after attacking it by sea and winning (you end up back in the ship instead - also happens after exiting a town), you can always see the mood of your crew via an icon while sailing here, above average samples (some voices added here and there which add to the immersion, pretty satisfying cannon blasts), added "take/buy all" option (press start), more detailed and varied sound design and soundtrack, the wind has more of an effect on journeyman/easy and above but it doesn't seem to get worse on Adventurer like it did in the NES game (sword fights become tougher here though and sea combat seems to become about as tough), the crew doesn't seem to become as hard to please on Adventurer as in the NES version (not even finding the Incan treasure makes an angry crew happy in that version), adds a side quest checklist in-game which makes it easier to keep track of what you've done so far,
+/-
Hunger mechanic
Carry capacity mechanic (max gold is always 655350?)
Personal health and aging mechanics (health eventually decides if you can continue playing or not after dividing the plunder, can be injured up to 9 times before age 34 before the game forces you into retirement, can't continue your career after dividing the plunder if you are 34+ years old (your health will become poor at 34 regardless of injuries), only injuries affect the final score)
Can't pick starting age for your character
Can't specifically choose to recruit men at taverns (it's a random event)
Can't increase other proficiencies during the game
Duels can go on for a very long time if neither character gains the upper hand by hitting the other repeatedly (there doesn't seem to be a set HP stat)
Can't play as a non-European
Easier to sneak into a town from land than from sea
The evil nobles can travel around (if the one you were searching for does you can get info on his whereabouts at the tavern)
A ship's value always stays the same as long it's undamaged (same with repair value at each damage level though costs vary depending on the ship type), richer spanish towns are less likely to trade with you (spanish trade law), can't kidnap or kill governors, sun sight mechanic (used to determine your current coordinates but only the latitude can be measured (wait until the sun is at its highest then move the sun sight directly under the sun and move the sun sight's platform up until the sun just touches the platform) on difficulties above apprentice/easiest/default) - interesting feature but pretty much unnecessary if you use an external map, crew number affects cannon reloading rather than number of cannons (which only affects damage per shot), random ship encounters while at sea (can choose to sail away immediately), merchants magically replenish all their money at the beginning of each month (dividing the plunder tactic: as long as you do not board your ship an unhappy or angry crew can't desert you and take money with them), can be rewarded with land but it's only used for the final score, you can actually find the Incan treasure four times (save and reload before searching for a family member to get a better map piece from that member and then collect the treasure before finding the next family member), can't lose land or titles, can't fire crew members, can't destroy forts?, treasure is sometimes placed in the same spot twice during one game, increasing your crew size quickly makes your crew angry on medium difficulty,
Gold:
The wind changes direction more frequently than in the NES game
You get fewer recruits from won ship battles than on NES
Randomized starting point
Combat becomes a lot harder when you near 34 years of age (I played on Apprentice for a few years and then Journeyman until 33)
Your crew seems to become unhappy a little bit sooner (2 years?) but there's also a warning screen telling you that they're eager to divide the plunder here
Captured pirates and hunters are paid for one at a time in this version (means you have to move between different towns or be at sea for some time (a few days or a whole month?) and then return to the same town), cannons from smaller ships do much less damage than on NES (even to other small ships), some fortless towns, shops were divided into two here (one ship & cannons shop and one for the goods) and the town interface was changed - now shows your avatar and a bit more of the town but it makes town visits slower and your avatar doesn't look like it does in cutscenes, easier to get the max score without playing on Adventurer than on NES?, can now see the carry capacity effect of selling a ship immediately after selling it (but not before where it would've been useful!),
-
Can't leave one or more ships at a friendly town
Still can't buy ships at any town
No world map (not even in the manual) and the cities menu doesn't show coordinates (you do get some directions early on at least)
Trial & error (a governor who you've received a mission from still automatically fails you if you return without having completeted it, you only get to keep the highest listed ship in your fleet and some crew+food after dividing the plunder and continuing play by starting a new expedition (goods and sugar are lost and you lose a few months of time as well), kidnapped hunters have a chance of escaping every time you visit a colony, despite what the governor says you don't have to capture the colony for the governor's nation during a rescue mission, can't ask about the details of a governor's mission before accepting or declining, having attacked a town and won doesn't mean you can walk into that town from land or sail into it normally, if you attempt to sail into an enemy town your ship either sinks immediately or you lose some crew members from their attacks (at least you wash ashore instead of dying if all ships are lost)
you'll need a manual and preferably a guide as well to play it properly, confusing land battles)
Some control/interface issues (can't see your current ship speed outside of battle, need the manual for ship stats and some aren't even shown there, a rescued governor's son won't show up on the Party Status menu, your crew will auto-disembark the ship if you move close to land, menus don't wrap around, duel controls are still kind of sluggish, still kind of slow sailing overall (seems the same as in the first Amiga game though you'll sometimes catch a wind and have pretty good speed for a while, no fast travel) and slow sea battles, slow movement on land and in land battles, usually can't turn your ship around quickly)
Very time consuming in general
Some cheap random events (evil noble locations are randomized and can end up far away and/or at a well defended colony - save before taking a mission to prevent this)
Pretty much impossible to complete some quests without scouring large parts of the map
A bit repetitive
Your father looks almost the same as your uncle and your sister almost the same as your mother
The wind still blows from the east too much (realistic but annoying), quest info is often outdated once you get to the relevant location due to sailing taking so long (need to get an informant close to the treasure fleet and silver train locations), can't capture a town without a mission to do so or if it's <600 pop? (end up back in the ship outside of town after attacking by sea and winning - the town seems to replenish some of its soldiers between battles here, attacking from land and draining the town of all defenses then dragging out the sword duel until there's just one guy doesn't seem to work either),
Gold:
Sometimes a town won't accept a captured pirate or hunter until a later visit
Sometimes odd or overly saturated color choices
The quest log is limited to 9 entries only (23 entries on NES which was also not enough, leads to having to take notes or screenshots) - 16 entries in the news screen when meeting friendly ships
There's a new random event when fleeing from sea battles which can cause one of your ships to be shot down anyway
Missing a few artwork stills/cutscenes seen in the original (getting the treasure fleet and silver train treasures, the unique full body portrait pics depending on your final rank are sadly missing)
Some screen transitions are a bit slower than on NES, save slots show year and name but not location nor money (see NES ver.), so-so FM menu sounds and music instrumentation, still can't choose to recruit only part of a new group of recruits, few gameplay additions (no new side quests or ship types, no new weapons, no new dialogue choices), can’t play peacefully because your crew gets pissed if you don’t loot
Bugs:
-Can't lose crew when choosing to march into town in this version either (can be abused at Panama by marching into town and recruiting (you'll get 200+ pirates) then attacking the town),
-? It is sometimes possible to receive a Letter of Marque from a nation you have never had contact with if you happen to fight against a nation they are at war with. This is likely a glitch.
-? Morale Glitch: If your captain manages to make it to 40 years of age, your crew will always be "Happy".
-? The notification that the Treasure Fleet is in Florida Channel serves no purpose in the NES version – and in some other versions. In some versions of the game it is possible to capture the Treasure Fleet in a random ship encounter in the area between the Bahamas and the East coast of Florida, at the appropriate time.
Comment:
Yarr! After a lot of experimenting and reading up on various mechanics I managed to get 100 points in these as an English buccaneer roaming around and pillaging the carribean in the 1660s (well, 117/100 in Gold, not sure how high that one actually goes to but king's advisor seems to be the highest rank). I wanted to add the AMI version to the list too but it kept crashing on me. This was an incredibly ambitious and creative game for 1987 which made a pretty good transition to the NES in 1991, with somewhat improved fencing and some added music, but slower sailing and uneven visual quality.
The Gold version for MD makes a pretty nice first impression with fitting voice samples in above average quality for that system, a more detailed and varied presentation (while the more cartoony style might be a turnoff for some I found it pretty charming) and even more music, albeit nowhere near the top tier of FM synth work for the system on a technical level. The best new addition though is the in-game world map which shows your current location and lets you check info on each city on the same screen. Having beaten it I am a little disappointed that the devs didn't do more to fix issues with the original, even adding a couple in the process - for example what used to be very quick menu-driven gameplay is slowed down a bit with a quest adventure style interface, and the already too small quest log is even shorter here. However, it is ultimately the best way to play Pirates! the old school way thanks to its better executed and balanced sailing and fencing mechanics, the meat and potatoes of the game.