I set off solo, after the Maiden Voyage, and spent roughly about three hours just doing the first Hoarders quest.
My first obstacle came when I simply couldn't find the treasure map island for the life of me on the world map. The game got tired of this and named it for me, and then I realised the island I had been searching for was immediatey north.
So I set off, with the wind at my back. And then at my side. And then at my front. As basically a short journey due north turned into me doing several figures of eight en route. I didn't realise for a while I was oversteering the ship and leaving the wheel hard left or right when I was running downstairs to check the map. I had several encounters where I used a nearby rock to stop the ship. At one point I was almost on the verge of sinking.
I got to my treasure easily enough and dug it up. I had a crew mate join and then grabbed the wheel. My short return to the outpost turned into my vessel being commandeered and I immediately feared for my life. I've heard of hijackings at sea and I was being Captain Phillips'd. We sailed right past the outpost into the blue yonder, and all I could do was nervously eye my precious bounty and two treasure chests (my sole belongings in this strange world) and utter "No!" and "I'll deliver!" in the in-game chat.
My newfound crewmate/tormentor despite being a "Pirate Legend", also seemed to have developed the knack for using a rock to stop, and we crashed into a tiny island with one store on it. I used this opportunity to flee, grabbing my skull and one chest, and desperately pleading with the isolated storekeeper to take my booty (he didn't). In the meantime my crewmate had started sailing off, but upon hearing my pathetic cries ("No!", "I'll Deliver!") he also bailed. But this time no rocks were around to helpfully bring the ship to a halt, and we both saw it plough ahead into the distance and out of sight. He helpfully told me "The Ship Has Sunk", which to be quite frank, wasn't an accurate apportioning of blame.
My loot was on a rickety pier, on an island where it was unwanted by the local shop. I had to leave it there and jump in the sea, where a willing mermaid was offering to help me. Having already been burned and suffering from trust issues, I thought it might turn out to be a siren and I'd ended up buggered yet again.
Thankfully I didn't respawn that far away, and could remember where my loot was. I expected it to despawn once I got a new ship but lo and behold it was still waiting for me on the pier. By now I was getting anxious, so with my new found sailing skills (i.e. I could turn left and right when needed) I raced back to the Golden Outpost with treasure worth literally tens of pounds.
I got there in time, collected my booty and with doubloon signs in my eyes went out in search of a riddle, with another random crewmate in tow. But I've had too much grog so that's a tale for another night.
So yeah, I can see what Rare meant when they said they were looking at being very hands-off with the game and letting players create their own stories. I was messaging a group of friends with live updates of my voyage, and it's definitely a case of "and then this unexpected gooseberry fool happens" repeatedly and unexpectedly happening.
It was quite a brutal opening (I imagine more so before the tutorial was added) but crucially the unplanned chaos was always on the right side of inconvenient-but-fun rather than frustrating. The unpredictable violence or haphazard crewmates add to the pirate theme brilliant, and it's fitting that you're always teetering on the edge of failure or success, of riches or of losing it all at sea, of a violent or ignoble death. It feels like a player-led MMO, rather than developer or content-led.
I love Destiny but you're going through content and hoops created by Bungie. You're doing a carefully crafted raid, or blasting through strikes with a set rhythm. Here, a lot of what was happening was the result of a players actions - be it through my own mistakes and being a gooseberry fool pirate, or through someone else interfering maliciously or otherwise.
I can see some problems with this approach. The always-online, always-PVP will bother some (it doesn't bother me, I like the constant danger and fear of another ship on the horizon) and the horizontal, cosmetic-only progression has admirable, logical aims, but I wonder how long it'll keep my interest with the lack of powerful carrots dangling from sticks. In Destiny, cosmetics and how I look doesn't really interest me, but I go chasing powerful guns. Here, I wonder if different coloured clothes and guns will keep me interested. The lure of loot is enticing now, but I'm not sure I have an end goal for that loot yet. I know there are now story quests and the like, mind, so I'm not thinking short term, more I wonder what my long term drive will be.
And ultimately, it was really fun solo. But as I was messaging a few friends (interested in the game but either lacking the means to play it or hesitant to jump on board), I was wishing this calamity of errors, these first tentative, often-faltering footsteps into the world, were shared with a group of friends, mic'd up and on the same boat, rather than through my phone.
Still, the world seems a mix of the heinous and the helpful, so I do look forward to the random encounters.
