Piracy on the High Seas

In Piracy on the High Seas the player takes the role of three men who have to recover the Golden Chalice of Balance to restore piece to the world (Nordic scenario with a few fantasy elements like magic). However, they require information where to go and these are only available to rich people. So the majority of the game is spent with getting enough money by free-roaming the sea and setting up a trading organization. This part of the game offers no surprises: buying cheap at one place and shipping it to another place to sell it for a good price. Profits can be invested into upgrading the ship, hiring crew member and setting up trade routes with up to four other ships. These drive independently to the city in question, but the selling/buying process has to be performed manually.

The game also offers a variety of mini games, often started after a random encounter with a pirate ship: one-on-one sabre fights with pirates, sea fights against pirates or a huge octopus and gambling. The main storyline, after receiving the next bit of information, results in an isometric dungeon crawl with action-based combat. During the sabre fights one of the crew members has to risk his life - when no additional ones were hired, the main characters have to fight. And as one specific of them is required to go into the dungeon, his death can result in the inability to finish the main quest. Besides the mini games, the majority of the game is spend on the top-down sea map; shore leaves are completely menu based.