HunchBluntley: Yes, that also has a ridiculous setting, given the gameplay.
I'm not saying that gameplay can't be great regardless, mind you -- just that these are odd choices of settings, considering the chosen gameplay. Might as well set such a game in a stereotypical U.S. "inner city" in the 1980s and have crackheads and street gang members be the operatives. =P
Breja: I'd disagree. It's a bit like saying that a spy story set during the American Revolution wouldn't make sense, just because people more commonly associate it with big pitched battles and spy stories are for the Cold War :P I mean, it's not like just because a game has a "pirate" settting it has to be about high octane action and big naval battles. Hell, arguably the most famous pirate story ever written, Treasure Island, is more about scheming and subterfuge than any of that. I can imagine it having perfect sense for a small group of characters, some last few members of a crew left for dead for example. Break a shipmate out of prison, steal a treasure map, kill the captain who marooned you on an island or the governer who hanged your brother... I don't see why that shouldn't be fitting for a bunch of scheming cutthroats who obviously can't win a straight up fight against overwhelming odds.
All that I grant you. Though the Western and Pirate genres (if you can even consider the latter as such) generally deal heavily in well-worn cliches and stereotypes, so the expectation is that a lot of the characters therein are not only cold-blooded, but hot-headed as well. But, yeah if the writing/characterization is decent enough, deviations from genre norms can always be justified.
I'd still go a different route. It is possible to set a story in the "Age of Sail" without necessarily focusing on (or even including
any!) pirates, just as it's possible to set one in the 19th century -- indeed, even in a "frontier" region of the U.S. -- without traveling the rutted path of "Wild West" tropes. There are
so many possible interesting settings! Your tossed-off idea about the American Revolution could probably be pretty cool in this genre, if done well (which would be pretty unlikely, honestly, given U.S vs. non-U.S. audience perspectives). So could that Cold War-focused game. So could a cyberpunk (or some other sci-fi) entry. And that's just some of the more "easily marketable" themes.
I'll admit, part of it is that I just don't get people's obsession with pirates specifically. Highwaymen/bandits/brigands of other types from the same general period of history don't seem to have huge amounts of interest (at least, not in the U.S.), but plop those same violent criminals on sailing ships, and they're
super cool. (◔_◔)
I'd better end this tangent here, as this is becoming a bit more of a digression than I had planned when I made the initial snarky reply. =P
shmerl: What happened to the Linux version? Not buying it obviously until it's here.
[
lowers voice and looks around shiftily] You're gonna buy it
covertly, huh?
