Patrician III: Rise of the Hanse

[Dragonlady]

Has anyone seen or played this game? My son picked it up for $10. Supposed to be (according to the description on the box) a Medieval trading empire. You go from trader to Patrician.

Just wondering whether it is even worth putting on my laptop to play.

[ridcully]

i can not tell for part 3 - but part 2 was quite a blast to play. it even had multiplayer and was quite fun to deal with those nasty pirates tag team style. i installed it a year ago again in wine on linux and it played well. if you like games like anno, atrain, transport tycoon, ... you will like this one too. like any other games from ascaron: be sure to patch it (if your bargain bin version is not already uptodate) - they are usually bugridden.

[Dragonlady]

Thanks for the info. I don't usually play this kind of game. In the early days of home computers I did..sort of. I'm too old to remember stuff on these new fangled machines and have to make prints outs of instructions and maps so I don't get stuck in complicated games. I'd rather play turn-based that are easier to remember keyboard moves and stuff after playing for a little while.

[Evnissyen]

Was this the one where you're a landowner in a town and need to make an impression, so the computer keeps requesting that you throw a party to make yourself popular, even though you haven't much money, so you announce a party but you forget to order beer and you forget all about the party... and then party-day rolls around and a few people show up but are understandably highly miffed that there's no beer, therefore soon the whole town is abuzz with talk of just what sort of a jerk you are and so you become less popular... and then the computer suggests that it's probably high time you threw a party?

If so... I also remember that the demo only let me play for an hour (those time-limit demos drive me crazy! Ostensibly the game developers who employ this sort of demo seem to believe that this is the best way to get people interested in their game... but it's simply not enough time. I'm of the opinion that producers like Basilisk and Spiderweb and so forth have it exactly right: Give the person a demo that affords them plenty of time to wander around and kill things and get addicted to it, and if they stay with it then the gamer will buy your game. If they don't stay with it, well, they were never going to find it interesting enough to spend money on it, anyhow.

I can't think of a single game that employed a 1 hour or 2 hour time limit which I ended up buying. Nor can I think of any game whose demo I started playing and thought "hell, I'm gonna buy this!" but then 4 hours into it thought "No, I guess I've lost interest."

In Patrician 3's case... I don't remember exactly what the problem was, but it wouldn't let me launch a ship because it kept telling me I didn't have a crew. I employed some sailors, set it up with some guns, I don't think the game let me find a captain or choose one, maybe that was the problem... and I ran out of money and couldn't get any more. What a nuisance.

Unfortunately I can't go back into the game and give it another try because I've exhausted their time limit. What a way to get people to buy your product, eh?

[Dragonlady]

Was this the one where you're a landowner in a town and need to make an impression, so the computer keeps requesting that you throw a party to make yourself popular, even though you haven't much money, so you announce a party but you forget to order beer and you forget all about the party... and then party-day rolls around and a few people show up but are understandably highly miffed that there's no beer, therefore soon the whole town is abuzz with talk of just what sort of a jerk you are and so you become less popular... and then the computer suggests that it's probably high time you threw a party?

If so... I also remember that the demo only let me play for an hour (those time-limit demos drive me crazy! Ostensibly the game developers who employ this sort of demo seem to believe that this is the best way to get people interested in their game... but it's simply not enough time. I'm of the opinion that producers like Basilisk and Spiderweb and so forth have it exactly right: Give the person a demo that affords them plenty of time to wander around and kill things and get addicted to it, and if they stay with it then the gamer will buy your game. If they don't stay with it, well, they were never going to find it interesting enough to spend money on it, anyhow.

I can't think of a single game that employed a 1 hour or 2 hour time limit which I ended up buying. Nor can I think of any game whose demo I started playing and thought "hell, I'm gonna buy this!" but then 4 hours into it thought "No, I guess I've lost interest."

In Patrician 3's case... I don't remember exactly what the problem was, but it wouldn't let me launch a ship because it kept telling me I didn't have a crew. I employed some sailors, set it up with some guns, I don't think the game let me find a captain or choose one, maybe that was the problem... and I ran out of money and couldn't get any more. What a nuisance.

Unfortunately I can't go back into the game and give it another try because I've exhausted their time limit. What a way to get people to buy your product, eh?

I hate those game company's who do that. It usually takes me an hour just to figure out what to do! I haven't yet bought anything from a store when that was done.

I haven't gotte Patrician loaded up yet, my 37 year old son is borrowing it. So, I'm working/playing on my G4 Mac. I'll let ya know what happens when I do get the game going and play for a while.

[Evnissyen]

Yeah, exactly: It's called acclimation, for chrissake. And the player shouldn't feel pressed for time to explore all the options and opportunities that a game has to offer.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to your review.