Sea Of Thieves (Review)

So for anyone that checked out my Top games of 2017, saw that I also put a small list of games I couldn't wait for in 2018, SoT was one of them. Now I won't go too far in depth with this game, as I want to talk more about what I'd like to see going forward, plus I'm pissed that I got killed and robbed as a one man show about 20 minutes ago by a group of 4, so I'm a bit salty right this second. So without further ado, let's get into this thing. So first off, I can't blindly say this is the game that's going to put Microsoft on the map still in this generation, and after nearly 5 years, it's kind of tiring to be honest. Now while I do love most about SoT, the reality is, it still stands that the main titles for Microsoft are GoW4, Minecraft, and Forza. That isn't enough. SoT is a great title to play with friends, especially 3-4 of them, but sometimes is a trainwreck when trying to solo stuff. This right here is probably my biggest complaint about the game. Nothing is more disheartening than getting griefed or picked on by 3 or 4 players taking your ship, calling you names, and repeatedly killing you. Now while I get that it's a pirate game, when all of your quests are fetch quests, and you get no reputation for getting stolen from, nothing is more infuriating than spending an hour in a game, that gives you absolutely nothing just because you and your friends have conflicting schedules. Trust me, I know, and have experienced it enough, that I turned off my Xbox immediately afterward. The lack of depth is almost harrowing. If this was a $30 game, I'd say it'd be worth it with free updates around the corner. For $20 I'd say it was totally worth it. But for the 3 different types of fetch quests, the 2 ships, 4 weapons, and the constant harassing, if you don't fork up $240 for teammates, you might as well say fuck it really. It's sad, because the game is so fucking beautiful. Nothing is greater than finding a sunken ship, or some treasure left behind by some poor soul, and cashing in on it. Nothing is greater than trying to pilot a ship in the harshest of winds during a storm. The art style, is amazing. But for all of this, it doesn't help out the fact that there is only one true boss fight, the Kracken, and a horde mode that spawns on random fortresses. Sharks are rare (hehe), and skeletons are a plenty, which sometimes makes the seas feel empty, and the lands a mess when you're trying to unbury some treasure you've been following. Now don't get me wrong, I love using treasure maps to find some buried treasure, and yes, feel like a true pirate, I don't want that to change, I just want something more to go with it. To have the game be as deep as it's most beautiful fucking oceans. The oceans are not only so beautiful, but they move and they rock you like you're really at sea. These mechanics are so sound, and you can tell that they focused the most on this, and in some ways, it pays off! It really does. Sometimes I love to boot up the game just to sail around, watching the sun come up, and than watching it go back down. To see the storms in the distance, to hear the sound of thunder in the background. However, once again, depth is a problem. There isn't anything worth chasing in this beautiful mess of a game. There isn't a direction, and while you could argue that YOU give the direction, the reality is, you don't, because there isn't anything worth chasing hard for. This isn't a Destiny, Diablo, or a The Division, there aren't pieces of loot you're trying to get, there aren't challenges you're trying to earn, there isn't anything you're trying to push for, except some different colored sails. That isn't enough, but I do have several solutions. It might seem like I hate this game, but really, I love it, but it needs to do more for us for me to be able to recommend it, yet. That's the key word, yet. This game can go into one of three directions as I sea (HEHE, I'm funny). One, go the Warframe route, not so much the free to play, but the open and honest communication that they have been on with so far, and done a Hell of a job with by the way. No, more so in that there will be constant updates, new little content added in fairly quickly, and than massive, nearly expansion level content added once a year or so. Maybe some straight forward M/T like in Warframe too, but I'd avoid that unless you guys go FTP. Second, you could be like No Man's Sky, a comparison that has been made of you guys since launch, and you guys could put out 2-3 medium sized updates that push the game into different, and more forward directions like NMS did most of last year to make it more into the game the community wanted. The third option, and it is an option even if I say STAY AWAY from this one, is take it the Destiny route. I don't think you guys have ever talked about this direction, but it is an avenue, even it's one to piss everyone off, to make paid expansions that add a solid amount of things to do, while also patching the game, and making the experience smoother as time goes on. Whatever way you go, might determine how people see this game 6 months from now, and whether or not I know I can recommend it to someone that isn't a direct friend of mine that I'd play with and help out. There is a lot that I love, but there is a lot I'd love to see added/changed. So the reason it took me a bit to get this up, is because I was checking off things I'd love to see happen hopefully sooner rather than later. While somethings I get wouldn't be able to happen right away, I can't see why others couldn't be added to help give the game that depth I was talking about. So here is my list of things I'd love to see in SoT.

- More ships. While yes, I have a huge issue with getting griefed now as a one man crew, the reality is if we had both bigger, and smaller ships, it would make either hiding from bigger crews, or having much bigger battles take place, a thing. To have something like literally a sail boat for one man crews just trying to get a couple of chests and be fast, to maybe a medium ship like a Corsair for the medium crews. Also, add more people to a crew. Once again, I get the harassment pov, and I think I have a fix for that, let me get there, but I could see up to 5 or 6 man crews if you broke it down like this... - Dingy/Sailboat 1 man crew

- Sloop 2-3 man crew

- Corsair 3-5 man crew

- Galleon 4-6 man crew It would add depth and make it so going to certain islands, or attacking certain ships can be ever so more of a chess match than it is now. Plus variety helps.

- Which gets me to my next point, to help fight griefing in the long run, why not look at something like GTAV's system. Hear me out, tweak it, of course, but make something so that when you're a crew of 1 guy, you can put up a white flag to make it so people can't steal your ship, or kill you over and over again, and in return, they can't do the same to you. While a pirate flag can signify to someone that that ship means business and to stay away. Other flags can represent moderators or the such. It would give more customization, but also help those that are sailing by themselves.

- Add more boss fights! I tweeted out to Rare about a week ago, but you have the Kracken right? What if you could also fight other large creatures? Some as big, bigger, and some even smaller than the Kracken? I've come up so far with a Jaws like battle, and a Moby Dick style battle. Both would need the crew to work together to defeat the likes of, and I feel both can be rather fun.

- Different sea life? There are fish, and sharks, and the Kracken. But what about other sharks? Like a Hammerhead? Or turtles? Maybe Whales, and than you could add Whaling which feeds into the Moby Dick boss?

- Whirlpools in the storms would be cool too, not so much having one "follow" the storm all the time, but that they kind of appear from time to time in the middle of a storm could make fighting or running from someone else that much more tactical. Like Han using the asteroid field in TESB. - Speaking of which, what about fishing in your downtime? Or card games in the bar? - AI Pirates and Lawmen would be great too. Skeletons of long lost pirates are great, but giving us variety in what we fight, makes the world of difference. Plus Pirates and Lawmen both serve another purpose, the ability to set up consequences for one's actions. Lawmen can be summoned when someone kills another player or steals from them, and the only way to get them off you is to pay a bribe back at one of the "home" islands. The pirates can be a hitman group one can commission if they are killed more than once by a particular player. Both of these things also give us other types of characters to hunt for in our Souls group, rather than it just be skeletons.

- Reworking of the Trade Merchants quests. Finding the likes of Tea, Sugar, and other Spices is one thing, but capturing pigs and chickens is another. It doesn't feel pirate enough, which one of my best friends flat out said after we completed the one mission we did, and I couldn't agree more. I feel there are some opportunities at improvement, but I'll admit, I'm a bit of a loss right this second.

- Trophies for your boat? If you kill the Kracken, add a piece of it like a bear trophy next to the desk in the Captains quarters. Maybe if you kill a particularly bad Captain, take his hat as a Trophy for your desk? - Which once again, leads me to another idea, specialized loot. I know you guys said you didn't want damage bonuses, in the idea of fairness. I get that actually. But what if you gave us things to forge for like Shark skin coats/gloves/hats/etc? Or Kracken skin stuff? Things that will make us want to grind against certain things to get badass pirate loot (Or steal it, whatever). Loot that gives bonuses like you'll get to move faster, you take less damage if you're drunk, or you just simply get more gold for one of your 3 merchants would be a bit of an incentive to want to get some of these items. Bonuses can be given with multiple pieces of clothing.

- CLANS!

- The ability to bury your loot! I feel this could help a bit when people are harassing, as if you see a ship coming your way, bury your loot, make a map, and if you die, you know right where to come back to to make sure someone doesn't steal what you worked for. Also, it's extremely pirate to do just this.

- Last but not least, pets. Monkey's, Parrots, etc. could be really cool to have, and giving them perks like being able to find more gold on your quests, or finding you extra banana's would give them immediate depth too if you mix and match the perks they could have. Would also not make you feel so alone too I suppose. So that's all I got for now, but please, let me know anywhere you guys if you think there should be something I forgot! Or if you think one of my ideas is a bit too crazy! So let's get to the final verdict, which for me is... 5/10 I feel I'm being really nice to it, but at the same time, I've had a lot of fun with this game. Like I said earlier, I do get frustrated with this game playing it lone wolf, but really, it's the lack of much to do other than fuck around with your friends, that if your friends aren't there, you start to feel sad. However, I think this game can, not so much be saved, but more evolved over time. If it's given the love, and Rare really does listen to it's most hardcore fans, than it could become something like NMS or even the Division that saw an evolution that many were happy with over a year later. The mechanics are there, the visuals, the clinging of the swords, the sunrises, and the crashing of the waves against that creaky wooden haul are all amazing, and there is some real love in this game already, it just needs a bit more, and it could become something so much more. I love this game, but I want it to be even better, and that's why I have to be a bit more harsh here, out of love. So if any of you already own the game, hit me up, but if you don't, I'd say hold off just a bit til there is a sale, or until more is added in to get that value. That's hard for me to say as someone who does love this game, and as I'll still be out there setting sail with my brother and best friend. So hopefully I'll see you all out there on the sea too someday, til than I'll talk to you guys later. Hopefully soon, as I'm backlogged on so much shit, it ain't funny.