Sea of Thieves!

Okay, signed up for the Game Pass, downloading now. Not sure if we can play tonight, or have to wait for tomorrow? Guess I’m about to find out.

Also, saw @Wendelius and @divedivedive sent me friend requests. Approved and returned!

And thanks for the well-wishes @TheRockSal. It’s gonna be fun for a bit.

Edit: looks like I’m in. Here we go!

Friend requests send to Don Quixote, Wendelius, divedivedive

Can’t get past greybeard errors atm though. Seems like an early bedtime tonight.

Got the download going but didn’t wrap it up, I’ll see you guys online tomorrow hopefully.

I added the xbox names from above. My xbox name is the same as this forum plus xbox.

This game is officially fun.

I completed my first mission, a simple treasure hunt. I had tried and failed twice before, but this time I meant business. Clear skies, smooth seas, an island close by - the perfect combo.

I then took an easy delivery mission. I was very excited because I had seen chickens close by! I grabbed two and headed to the drop off island.

I spied another ship in the harbor. I dropped anchor on the opposite side and swam up to the docks. I saw someone shopping at a merchant. I crept up and blasted him in the back with a pistol! It takes two shots to kill someone, and he was better than I. After a fierce chase, with the occasional retreat to eat a banana, he hit me twice in a row and I died.

It was my first death. I won’t spoil it but you eventually find yourself back on your ship. And now there were two enemy pirates aboard!

I fell into a comfortable loop of getting one hit in, dying, appearing again, getting another hit in, dying, etc. I figured they would not respawn on my ship, so I was happy to wage a slow war of attrition.

I changed up my pattern, waited two minutes, then appeared again. This seemed to work. I blasted one off the edge of the ship - his friend was nowhere to be seen - and I dropped the sails, raised the anchors and sailed away!

But this was only a minor victory, I wanted complete domination. ;-) And I had not really fought before, so it was good practice.

The next phase of the fight was lamely launching cannon balls at the other ship. We were both in the smallest ship, I was solo and I think they were a pair, so it was tricky. We each landed a few shots. I knew my ship was damaged, so I sailed off, dropped anchor and repaired.

Either they were too scared to pursue, or they knew I had no skill at all, so I had to turn back and chase them. Cowards!

I closed the distance. They turned. We each fired a volley. They hit - I think I also hit them. We were close. Suddenly, two pirates jumped up my ladder from the sea and cut me down. They had closed the distance in order to board me - scallywags!

I knew I had met my match. But they were still on my ship. So the next time I appeared I did the unexpected - and pulled out my accordion.

They fired once then shrugged and decided to join in. We played and danced for a while. Then they got down to the business of sailing my ship. I played my instrument and slowly danced behind them, then I took out my cutlass and cut one of them down.

I managed to sail off and dropped anchor to survey the damage. As I was looking for more wood to patch the numerous cannonball holes, the ship started to list. I managed to jump off before it sank.

I figured that was a good sign and logged off. I will return soon and avenge my fine ship. :-)

Oh, and they stole those chickens I had worked so hard for, the bastards.

Yea can’t say my first impression was the best. First I don’t see that this is at all a single player game. Just operating the ship alone is frankly tedious. Doing a voyage was ok. Figuring out you need t9 be holding a coop to get a chicken was annoying but I got it. Then after eventually making my way to deliver I had some more repetition and a little gold. Didn’t really have a desire to do more.

I guess if you have a full 4 person crew it would be more fun, just hanging out and getting into fights and such(I don’t want to even think what trying to fight solo would be like).

As part of Gamepass it’s ok, but glad I didn’t drop $60 on it.

most of my time has been solo and I’m having a blast. solo keeps you busy, but I don’t think it’s nearly as hard as everyone seems to think it is. just bounce from task to task. I find it interesting a lot of the people who have trouble with it play FTL just fine and I found that one overwhelming without pausing ;)

I guess that comes from completing the most basic building block of gameplay in the game alone, with none of the multiplayer emergent gameplay, excitement of outwitting other pirates, …

I do think sharing the game with a crew makes it a lot more enjoyable, not simply because playing with friends always does, but because that’s where the sailing, storytelling, adventures and immersion abs feeling of being part of a crew really come alive.

That’s when the game really becomes something else for me.

when you break it down it’s similar to playing Call of Duty if all the enemies were stationary targets. It is the same core gameplay (you just shoot stuff) but it’s lacking so much of what makes the game fun. Sure diggin up a treasure, grabbing chickens or slashing a skeleton might get boring, but having to go around or through other players to do it will be different every time. Still won’t be for everyone though.

Totally agree with that.

But I can’t wait to jump back in.

I was waiting on the early reviews to decide whether or not to buy. It looks like there’s nothing in the game that wasn’t in the betas, and I’ve done all that to the point of boredom already.

you fought the kraken and obtained legendary status?! wow.

of course if the basic gameplay loop is boring to you, the game isn’t for you.

I still have to fight the new skeleton types (gold, plant, ghost, …), complete skeleton bounties for the Order of Souls, conquer a skeleton fort, charm snakes, go legendary, see a Kraken and run away, find the lore books across the world and have many adventures with friends.

Even the basic gameplay loop should provide entertainment across that framework for quite a while, IMO.

45min of waiting/errors and finally got to play for an hour before bed.

Half the random galleon crew seemed completely new. Still managed to finish a few journeys.

Can’t wait to get back to it later.

Sea of Thieves Win10+XboxOne $53.99 USD digital code (10% off with code) Promo code: EMCPSRP32 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832397818

I played an hour last night using the New Zealand early access trick.

I enjoyed my time, and PvP annoyances, as they occasionally do, turned into emergent thrilling moments. I am quite concerned about the grindiness and depth of content in the game. However, if I can get 1 or 2 other QT3 folks in the crew, on voice, I’d imagine it could be a chill way to explore and get into shenanigans.

My gameplay anecdote: I collected two starting treasure chests for the Gold faction. Sailed back to port. Docked a bit off shore, and as I jumped in the water, saw a dude on foot casing the beach. I immediately thought, ah shit, he’s gonna gank my treasure. Sure enough, he did! Shot me dead as I approached the shore. I thought I’d respawn on a new ship, w/ no loot, but instead, I re-spawned on my own ship, still off shore w/ the 2nd chest still there. I grabbed it and took a more circuitous route on to land and legged it to the guild to get my gold coins! Outside the shop… there was my attacker having finished trading in my 1st chest. The scalliwag! He shot me again! Luckily you keep your coins, and after a minute, I re-spawned again on my ship. He was now on board! After much hopping around, I managed to skewer the lout. Then, I saw his ship docked on the next beach over. I sailed over, w/ loaded cannons and managed to sink his ship!

All in all, I lost one chest,. but cashed in the other and managed to extract revenge. A good time. Afterwards, I collected two pirate skulls for the shadow guild (whatever it’s called) without any trouble. Hopefully, I’ll have time to crew up w/ some others tonight and later this week!

Remember you respawn on your ship until it gets sunk.

Blunderbus should one shot people (used to at least) if close enough.

Always check for ships before landing. Though folks might still be hiding after scuttling their ship.

Best to shoot first and ask questions later, or head to a different port if you got good treasure.

Thanks! Mostly obvious stuff, but good tips for newbies (like me) :)

I did have a sour experience after killing a guy and taking his chest. He respawned and ambushed me on my ship (fair game and good revenge) but then he waited and when I respawned I was one shot from behind with a blunderbuss. He did this twice before I just left game and rejoined to go somewhere else. Pretty annoying and doesn’t really get him anything. Just keep in mind you can always just leave, also you can scuttle your own ship if you live long enough to click it.

Alright, I’ll give this a whirl. I’m buying it more because of what I hope it will be than what I’m convinced it is right now, but here’s to being pleasantly surprised.

Gamertag is Schmidt, if you see me online, feel free to send a message.