It’s one of those weird weeks where everyone else seems to be playing and blogging about a game that I have yet to touch (Diablo III), and it makes me feel like there’s this party that I’ve been avoiding. It’s probably for the best right now, as Blizzard’s super-smart move to make a single-player game always online has resulted in a clusterbomb of errors and unplayability. It’s not THEIR fault, mind you; it’s probably something your own sins coming back to haunt you.
I’m not in any rush to get D3 (maybe today once my check clears), as I’ve got loads on my plate: SWTOR leveling, a new LOTRO patch to explore, Planescape: Torment, tons of projects, etc. But one newly announced upcoming MMO’s captured my attention, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why it’s not getting more buzz on the blogosphere. I’m talking about KingsIsle’s Pirate101, the companion MMO to their hit Wizard101.
When you think about it, pirates have not really succeeded in MMOs. Oh, sure, practically every game’s got a famous pirate NPC or a pirate section or a pirate faction or a pirate costume, but that’s mostly just for geek flavor. When it comes to full-blown piratey MMOs, the results are much worse. Probably the most famous is Pirates of the Burning Sea followed… perhaps… by Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean, but those are niche titles at best — and the remaining games are smaller than those. You’d think that one of the grand points on the holy geek star (Pirates/Ninjas/Cyborgs/Zombies/Firefly) would be a shoo-in for a huge MMO with a built-in audience of fans, but it has yet to happen.
Could Pirate101 tap into this largely unexplored territory? Considering just how big Wizard101 got even while being a primarily kid-centric game that wasn’t based on any established IP, I’d put good odds on KingsIsle knowing what they’re doing. I got really excited when I heard the announcement, because it makes sense. It’s a more cartoony take on pirates, it looks to embrace all the fun piratey themes that made games like the Secret of Monkey Island so enjoyable, and it’s going to build off of the lessons learned from Wizard101.
Massively posted a nice interview with KingsIsle about Pirate101 yesterday, and it’s very much worth a read. Probably the most interesting element to me (other than having the ships being flying ships) is that KingsIsle is replacing the card combat of Wizard101 with a companion/board game system this time around. You collect pirate companions instead of cards and then deploy them in combat against foes.
It’s also notable that Pirate101 is taking place in the same game universe as Wizard101, so there’s some potential for crossovers and continuity. Pirate101 is supposed to come out this year, and I’m definitely going to be checking it out when it does. Could this be the first pirate MMO to hit the big time? If nothing else, it’s going to be huge with kids who love swashbucklers just as much as wizards.
Puzzle Pirates is still one of the best MMOs out there, as far as I’m concerned. It’s not a DIKU styled one, though, so it often gets lost in the MMO conversation.
I’m looking forward to Pirate 101. I’ll probably write more about it when I can make the time to play it. Still, W101 is really good, and I’m hoping King’s Isle has another hit on their hands.
Not exactly related to the article but I would say don’t feel bad about waiting on Diablo 3. It is good but it isn’t so mindblowingly amazing that you have to over pay for it now.
Tesh – Good call, I keep forgetting Puzzle Pirates all over the place.
Mrs Bhagpuss and I had a lot of fun in Wizard101 until it got too grindy (at higher levels it’s one of the grindiest MMOs I have ever played) and we’re looking forward to Pirate101. There isn’t really much to say about it yet, though.
And not only am I not playing D3, I have no plans on playing it, probably ever. I never played D1 or D2, after all. But you’re right about it feeling like there’s a party going on that we chose not to go to.
I have to say I really do like the way that King’s Isles uniquely blends the card & MMO game into something different and fun. Really looking forward to learning more about it in the near future.
As for D3, It’s never been on my game radar.
Now we just have to figure how to stop them tweeting about it
I played W101 for a while and enjoyed it, so I hopped over to the Pirate 101 website but apparently Google has it red flagged for me.
My lad is nearly 6 now and although he’s used to watching me play LOTRO (or lately, GW2) I’ve never felt altogether comfortable with him doing so. I think, after following you link to Pirates101, I’ll seriously look into started the game so he can play in a more age appropriate world with me. Cheers Syp