The Future of POTCO Looks alot Brighter

[Eliza Creststeel]

Just want to add something about the Kid's Game debate.

I think it was Disney's intention to market this to older kids. They had Toontown at the time and Club Penquin was coming into being. Both were aimed at young kids.

Pirates was a marketable product to pre-teens because of the movies. PG-13 or NOT, companies aim those films at a young male audience.

Obviously, since its inception the game has attracted but MORE IMPORTANTLY managed to keep youth and adult players. Young kids don't seem to get into the world as much or stick the object-driven quests. And older players liked a game that wasn't that complex or demanding (not a lot of button-mashing).

Problem, I think - is that they had been marketing to that young crowd, while they need to gear up elements that will satisfy older players.

[MacIronhawk]

At no point in the game do I ever remember (correct me if I'm wrong) "seeing" an NPC DRINK rum. They seem to buy it and collect it and send us on errands for it but does anyone every really mention that it is for drinking?

I wasn't refering to anything rum related during quests. I was talking about the NPCs in the pubs that wave their mugs around and "pretend" to sip out of it.

OK. I never said it was shortened BECAUSE it's a kid's game. I never even thought that to be honest... I DO think it has gotten easier though.

To be honest, I don't even know how it's gotten easier. I did some of the Pearl Quest yesterday and the enemies I fought are practically the same levels as before. Shorter, yes, easier, no.

Easier would be taking away some of the higher level enemies you need to defeat in the Pearl Quest. So far I haven't noticed that. Less enemies yes, but not the levels.

The quest is a lot less time consuming now, which will make leveling up enemies once I'm done even more time consuming. It's not hard to click the mouse a few times to defeat an enemy. Now if the combat was more diverse, say cutlass locks where you need to click faster to get out of it so that the enemy won't do more damage to you, then it could be considered hard.

[ex8404]

Originally Posted by Eliza Creststeel

Obviously, since its inception the game has attracted but MORE IMPORTANTLY managed to keep youth and adult players. Young kids don't seem to get into the world as much or stick the object-driven quests. And older players liked a game that wasn't that complex or demanding (not a lot of button-mashing).

Problem, I think - is that they had been marketing to that young crowd, while they need to gear up elements that will satisfy older players.

I agree and I thought that it was what I was saying all along. But no where near as concisely as you. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

Can you imagine the delicate balancing act they have created here? Marketed to younger viewers on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, given an E-10 rating and easy (accessible?) gameplay elements still tell me that this was meant to be a kid's game.

But then older players including parents and even grandparents start to play and like what they see. Now the developers have to attend to the needs and safety of the pre-teens while keeping the older (paying) adults entertained enough to keep the money rolling in.

In my opinion, they have done this VERY well until just recently. Things got stale over the summer... But what I have seen on test intrigues me and has my interest level up. My test pirate is way too low to explore much but I have two lvl 40s waiting for the changes.

Originally Posted by MacIronhawk

To be honest, I don't even know how it's gotten easier. I did some of the Pearl Quest yesterday and the enemies I fought are practically the same levels as before. Shorter, yes, easier, no.

Shorter is easier, isn't it? For example, I just did the grenades quest on test. Haven't done it in quite a while. It took me half the time and I did it solo. Couldn't do it solo the first time.

[Basil Dreadflint]

Originally Posted by ex8404

For example, I just did the grenades quest on test. Haven't done it in quite a while. It took me half the time and I did it solo. Couldn't do it solo the first time.

I always did the nades quest solo, and found just this week that it is HARDER on open than it has ever been in the past. My fifth time through it, and I needed a healer to finish.

I have one on Test at level 18, Gonna go try to get to 20 so I can try the nades quest solo to verify your remarks.

[ex8404]

Originally Posted by Basil Dreadflint

I always did the nades quest solo, and found just this week that it is HARDER on open than it has ever been in the past. My fifth time through it, and I needed a healer to finish.

I have one on Test at level 18, Gonna go try to get to 20 so I can try the nades quest solo to verify your remarks.

OK. Let me know what you think. It might just have seemed easier due to the experience I have gained over the last year and a half.

My son said it was because they have lowered the aggression level of the enemies to the point where random battles just don't happen. The only battles I had to fight were triggered by searching crates and barrels in KH. No fights were triggered in Fort Dundee. Just seemed to make it easier.

Another thing I noticed is that I was recently sent to sail against the EITC. I needed four different things and I needed 5 of each of them. That used to take up to 15 ships sunk because certain ships only dropped one item or two... This time I got all the Items in 5 ships. Every ship dropped four items.