Sea Dogs

aka: Hai Gou, Sea Dogs: An Epic Adventure at Sea, Sea Dogs: Piraci
Moby ID: 2794
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Description official descriptions

A combination of role-playing, action, strategy and simulation reminiscent of Pirates!, Sea Dogs puts you on the bridge of a score of 17th century naval vessels in dangerous waters.

You play Nicholas Sharp, a young English sailor who found himself enslaved by the Spanish when his ship was attacked. Recently free from his captivity, he has stolen a ship, has a token crew, and is out to earn his fortune, whether it be the route of pure revenge, honest trading, piracy, or a combination of all three. Walk through towns developing contacts and making business transactions, sail both calm and stormy waters, and exchange broadsides from everything from small fishing vessels to ships of the line. While there is a story line throughout the game, and multiple ways of ending it, you can merely just trade and fight to your hearts content if you wish.

A 3D engine that features various wind, wave, and weather conditions is the primary interface, as you navigate into harbors and engage enemies. Little nuances include patrolling sharks and circling seagulls, as well as visual damage to both hull and sails of each vessel. Walking about town is also done in 3-D and you'll have to remember what streets hold what stores if you wish to just make a quick stop.

Much of the gameplay is similar to that of Pirates!. However, a very strong role-playing element is involved and you'll find yourself having to build up your character's abilities before you can tackle the larger targets. Even survival can be difficult for the naive captain.

Spellings

  • Корсары: Проклятие Дальних Морей - Russian spelling
  • 海狗 - Simplified Chinese spelling
  • 海賊王 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

103 People (90 developers, 13 thanks) · View all

Designer (Дизайнер)
Producer (Продюссер)
Core Programming (Движок, логика игры и ИИ. Игровой дизайн.)
A.I. Graphic Engine (Графика и физика движка.)
A.I. and Interface (Интерфейс, ИИ и утилиты.)
Interface, Sound Engine (Звук, интерфейс и программа установки.)
Ship Physics and Animation, Engine-Based Movies (Физика кораблей и анимация на движке. Видеовставки.)
Town Scene, Characters (Город и движение персонажей.)
Combat Scenes and Boarding (Абордаж и ИИ. Система частиц.)
Sea Physics
Character Models and Animations (Модели персонажей и их анимация. Видеоролики.)
Town and Location Modeling (Моделирование персонажей, городов и помещений. Текстурирование. Видеоролики.)
Character Texturing, Movies (Моделинг, анимация и текстурирование персонажей. Видеоролики.)
Ship Models and Textures, Character Texturing (Текстурирование кораблей, персонажей и островов. Видеоролики.)
Island Modeling, Ship Modeling & Texture (Создание и текстурирование островов и помещений. Видеоролики.)
Ship Textures, Interface Display (Текстурирование кораблей и персонажей. Создание интерфейса.)
Interface (Создание интерфейса.)
2D Art (2D дизайн)
Scenario and Game Design (Сценарий, дизайн игры.)
Scenario, Game Design, and Subject Scripts (Сценарий, дизайн игры, квестовые скрипты.)
Sound Operators (Звукооператоры)
Voice Talents (Игру озвучивали)
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 23 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 30 ratings with 1 reviews)

Great gameplay, bad bugs

The Good
The freedom you have of making your own choices of who to sail for, which ports to plunder or what sub-plot you'd like to follow keeps you playing this game, and allows a good replay value to try different paths. The names and designs of the ships are fairly accurate with history, though there are a lot of ships in the game with Dutch names whereas there is no Dutch force you can sail for. You can capture and sell enemy ships, take their cargo and sink them, or just sink them.

The Bad
The game overall is really good, I love(d) playing it. The things that really stand out though, are the inane number of bugs, some fairly large ones they keep promising are fixed with every release of a patch, but don't seem to have changed at all. Always make sure you keep the "Autosave" option turned on, and use several slots for savegames as some bugs can make you lose quest items or other vital subjects.

The dialogue is poor. Your character has predefined opinions, and conversations are often limited because you only get one response to choose from. The quests are good and doable, but the dialogue around the quests can be a big turn-off. Lack of dialogue would have been better in some cases.

Another thing that bugs me a lot personally, is spelling mistakes. I can imagine misspelling a word as "consanguineous", but it would be nice if mistakes as "Tiime", and "see" where it should be "seen" or even "Yes, I did.ççççççÝÝÝÝÝÝÝÝççç" (as it literally appears on one of the islands), would have been picked up on. They are very abundant, you'll find several on each page of the manual, and every NPC in the game seems to be instructed to carry at least a few. You might not mind spelling mistakes at all, but to me they show lack of eye or care for detail, and comes over amateurish.

The Bottom Line
The game almost seems to be a mix between Elite Frontier and Corsairs Gold or Pirates Gold. You start off with a small boat, and are offered the chance to sail for England, France, Spain or as a swashbuckling pirate. By either completing quests or doing smart trading you can increase your capital to finance larger ships. Combat at sea or conquer ports to gain rank and ability to sail bigger boats. The quests and NPC interaction are reasonable at best, but the freedom of movement and the fair non-linearity (if you choose for it) keeps you tied in the game.

Windows · by Tom Scheper (3) · 2003

Trivia

Sea Dogs was not originally intended to be a full fledged pirate simulator. It originally was going to be a more traditional role-playing game with a nautical bent, including the use of magic. As it developed, Akella changed the direction to match the proverbial shift in the design winds. This is one of the reasons the game takes place in a fictional set of islands instead of the Carribean.

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Related Sites +

  • Cap'n Trinidad Jack's Seadogs Tavern
    A long term fan site, it includes information on both the game and actual pirates, legitimate samples of the soundtrack for the game, cheats, screenshots, and more.
  • UhNo's Homemade
    For those who have a problem getting started in this game, this fellow created a number of save games that include various levels of skills, crew, ships, and gold, yet starts you at the very start of the game.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 2794
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Ray Soderlund.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, JRK, Xoleras, Paulus18950, Plok.

Game added December 15, 2000. Last modified February 19, 2024.