Quick Look: Sea of Thieves

ok

It doesn't force you to have a 4th player on a galleon. choose "smaller crew" and you can do 3 with a galleon...

This looks like a tech demo

Appropriate.

Huh, so instead of getting Vinny for open world shenanigans or realizing 3 man ships and crews were a thing (oh, brad was the one playing this, nevermind) they just went with a random troll? That's either very brave or very dumb.

the giantbomb motto

I'm loving my time with this game, but I don't think I can stomach watching this.

*click* *clack* *click* *clack*

Yeah, I tapped out quickly. It's a fuck around and do what you want game, all they ever promised, and they can't get over that. Also the lack of understanding such basic things as a 3 man ship is ridiculous. It's not perfect but I've been playing it with friends every night this week and we're having a ton of fun.

I find it funny that Brad and Ben have plenty of experience playing DOTA2 and enjoy it:

No in game power progression from game to game. Only cosmetic progression. Same gameplay from match/game to game.

However, they are all hating this game.

Seems a shame, I have had a laugh playing this solo and in groups both random and in friend groups.

It seems to be a very divisive game indeed.

Being professional game reviewers or journalists may be the problem, in that they must have a great experience immediately. Not sure.

I wish this game was better it has so much potential.

@doncabesa: Yeah I don't know how they missed being able to play with just 3 people.

@embryo69: Comparing this game to DOTA 2 in any way might be a bit crazy.

If a restaurateur advertises a literal shit sandwich it's not wrong for people to point out that it might not taste good.

Even if Rare makes it abundantly clear that the game is mostly RPing as a pirate, I appreciate reviewers pointing out that "Seriously, there's nothing else here"

60 bucks...

I really want to love this game but as someone who can't stand PVP, it's unplayable. I'm hoping they'll reconsider eventually putting in a mode for some of us friendly PVE pirate-types who just like the fantasy and not so much the brutal PVP reality of this game.

I played for 2 hours, got spawn camped twice. Had people jump me whenever I tried turning in treasures (you can't defend yourself while carrying treasure) and usually if I went to explore an island my boat had been destroyed and/or taken over by the time I got back to it.

I'm not saying the game shouldn't have these things,
I just wish the game had an option for the more PVE-oriented players.
Even Dark Souls has an offline mode.

Nice pirate joke

This is a terrible comparison of two games that have no structure similarity.

DOTA is a match based competitive game and Sea of Thieves is an open world game.

DOTA doesn't need game to game progression because of its structure and in game progression. The amount of variety from match to match is damn near infinite because of the different builds (items, skill progression, talents), team composition, strategy. 140 characters along with the these factors absolutely doesn't mean "same gameplay from match/game to game." Progression from game to game doesn't have to exist because there's an immense amount of varied progression within each game.

None of this is to put Sea of Thieves down in any way but to defend the progression and variety of DOTA, and to show how silly it is to even compare experiences between these two games.

@whatshisface: Thank you

lol at how much Jeff hates every second of this game..

Rare never made any other claims about what this game would be to start, but this site is not about keeping up with actual game development. It's much more about following obscure indie titles and ignoring the vast majority of what's going on in AAA. Fine so be it, but being so angry/apoplectic because something was never meant to fit a vision of what you wanted is starting to wear thin. Seriously reconsidering my premium membership if this over-arching negativity is going to keep being the norm.

Apoplectic means disappointed, now?

How did Rare get this far into making this game but end before adding anything compelling to it? They could have done a lot with pirate mythology, heck there are 5 POTC movies they could have cribbed from, and yet this game is so devoid of creativity that it's painful to watch. So much wasted potential..

I love Jeff's negativity - I find it funny even when it is directed towards a game I hold near and dear. Go to YouTube if you want positivity, they have buckets of the stuff over there.

You're right though, this site definitely isn't about keeping up with actual game development.

Statements like these won't help you, my man.

Well I'm not looking for help, simply stating how I feel, my man.

I WAS MENDOZA!! Mendoza was I!

IMO, there had to be development troubles.

It seems so farfetched: a 60$ game, this bare bones, from a developer like Rare.

Granted Rare is a completely different thing now, but having so little content is puzzling.

Damn fine water though, damn fine

I wonder if this will stop people from asking if Rare will make a new game.

@doncabesa: Same. Having real good fun solo and part of a crew. Great to just hop in and fuck around. Rare have been very clear throughout development about what type of game this is, so it's their (GB) own fault they're disappointed with it thinking it would be some other type of game. Rare have also said this is just the beginning, and they're going to be adding lots of future (free) content and live events to keep the world interesting. Hats off to them for trying something new, even if it is very divisive. Looking forward to the future of this game; it can only improve from here.

Also, making any final judgment of the game after a few hours and hardly any PVP interaction (what the game is all about) is a little unfair. If they ever get to grips with the basic gameplay loop of sailing and maintaining your ship (it's really not that hard to figure out) then the PVP will come naturally.

No

@doncabesa: Didn't get that at all from Jeff. But shame on him for forming an honest opinion.

classic mendoza

It looks like it'd be fun to mess around for the first few hours but once you see everything why come back? Neat idea but pretty bare-bones. Like they said, I hope their expansion plans come down the pipe soon.

@pancakepatriarchate: It's the PVP interaction that's the draw here. With other ships sailing around and the emergent gameplay that comes from that, guarantees no session will be the same. I guess GB have just been unlucky in not coming across any other ships.

MENDOZAAAAAAAA

To those who love GB and also happen to be really enjoying Sea of Thieves -- I feel your pain.

This quick look has me a little bummed about one thing that's started to stick out to me about the site. Many of the more formal games coverage sites tend to be set up to where they have a handful of folks on staff that they know they can count on to cover specific genres. And this is the hole I'm noticing in GB -- they have no one that seems to really be on board for covering open-world survival kinda stuff. I'm not inherently disappointed in this (I can look elsewhere and find plenty on these types of titles) but when someone on Giant Bomb DOES decide to do something around these game (think the ARK video from GB-East or the recent Rust vid Ben did, or this video in particular) it feels like the staff just doesn't have anything good to say. Even Brad, while he tries to find the things worthy of praise in this game, kind of finds himself being overwhelmed by the negativity that I think Jeff jumps to so quickly with games that just aren't his shit. I love Jeff and have a TON of respect for him and his opinions, BUT I've had to accept that with most games he talks about, our opinions will vary greatly. He's an old school head that loves things like fighting games and brawlers. He likes direction and goals, numbers that he can watch increase, etc. That's not what these games are doing, and it's ok not to like them -- as long as you understand that SOMEONE does.

I love seeing GB cover games like this that are totally my shit but it feels like there's no one on staff that gets these types of games in order to know what to look for as "the good stuff". Personally, it doesn't affect my love for the site or want to continue my support but it feels like a hole in their coverage because its a portion of the industry that get frowned upon as early access jank shit or games with poor design. Some of these games have a ton to offer despite there lacking of typical video-game-ass-video-game tropes.

QUICK NOTE TO THOSE ENJOYING THIS GAME THAT WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING POSITIVE - Go listen to the most recent Idle Thumbs podcast. Nick Breckon has a solid segment where he pretty well summed up the enjoyable things about this game and how the lack of direction didn't matter in lieu of just having a fun sandbox to fart around in. It was nice to hear someone whose thoughts lined up so well with mine on this title.

--JEEZ SORRY BOUT THAT TEXT WALL, guys.--

It's weird to see how many people learn what a game is from developer statements. I don't seek out development information for any of the games I buy.

As a No Man's Sky fan, this looks like how other people see No Man's Sky.

Such a disappointing game and I felt the same sentiments as the gang after playing for 1 hour. Went to an island, tried to find some chickens, fought some skeletons, sailed around some more. That's the game. Seen it and all the potential variety within the first hour.

I'd understand if it had a deeper combat system to make for some crazy PvP scenarios, but instead everyone is stuck with the same basic melee combat and bog standard shooting mechanics, the only thing interesting there is the ship combat and repairing the boat, even that got tedious after a few minutes of patching up holes and the managing the ship was just busy work.

Just a complete waste of potential and sad to see coming from Rare. Where's the fleshed out island exploration? Some cool platforming, rope swinging, trap dodging and puzzle solving to get to the treasure?

@embryo69: The variation of playing different characters and experiencing new patches with rebalanced/newly-added content makes a game like Dota have way more longevity than anything I've seen out of Sea of Thieves, or played in my hours with the Beta for that matter. It's really disingenuous to say that the gameplay is the same between matches.

@mrguffman: For sure; Brad's story about turning off all the lanterns and sailing behind some rocks to avoid a ship full of people who might take his stuff sounds like this game at its best. Watching the QL though I can't help but feel like the other stuff you do in the game could be more fleshed out. The handful of quest types and what you're actually being asked to do seem kinda dull and a bit repetitive before long regardless of fun pirate hijinks.

Who knows, maybe it'll become something I'm into later once more stuff goes into it.

@doncabesa: What does any of that have to do with Jeff's complaints? This game is $60, and every play session feels remarkable similar and without greater purpose. My first 2 hours were remarkably fun as I discovered a handful of emergent moments, and every time I've watched or played it since felt like a hollow recreation of that first time. That has nothing to do with indie vs. AAA design intent.

Laughed pretty hard at the silent “No” from Mendoza as he sat in the brig of a sinking ship at the very end. That and him stealing the ship at the beginning only to have the gang spawn into it being completely underwater were hilarious.

Mendoza was the best part of the quick look.

@jwat: There are riddle quests later on (as shown at E3), most apparently after lv20. The quantity and quality of those I thought would make or break the game. Shame they come so late (and apparently always tells you the island to go to, that's disappointing).

Ship combat is the "deep mechanic" here -- with waves, wind, weather all factoring into the controls. And the 2 different sized boats control differently. The difference between skill levels when attacking or running away from other players is very obvious. Also parking a ship sideways to blast skeletons on islands with ship canons is a totally viable strategy.

But yes, otherwise you are right. The variety is disappointing, and if they have anything saved up for "legendary rank", they would have been much better off putting them in front, as Jeff was saying last time.

Meanwhile I've been enjoying my time playing this game all day everyday since launch day.

@embryo69: exactly what I felt about this. meanwhile people are finding some underwater cave indicating rare will have more to come. On a game without progression system to gate people out of the content(which is pretty much every other MMOs where they hated before), talking about they only have one chance to get it right is just laughable. Also, all you need is just 1-3 friends who want to tagging along which is basically all you need for a player base. This game is easy to grasp but hard to master but every time you get your skill to a level to make you life easier, it is a really satisfying feeling.

first bug now mendoza. will bens reign of terror ever end

3rd (4th?) video's the charm, right? Right?

apoplectic, lol

Also, I always laugh when a non-GB person shows up in a QL or stream and fucks shit up.