Sid Meier's Pirates! is a fantastic game. The open-ended gameplay alone makes it worth trying out. Everything is well excecuted and highly polished. This is one of the best games I've seen.
I've spent about 15 hours playing. I rented the XBox version with my gamepass so I have played without a map or manual. I have used the Brig of War mostly but will try the Ship of the Line. I am at 3/5 difficulty and rely on sword combat so the royal sloop doesn't pack enough crew for my comfort. I may try it again as my skills improve.
Avoiding stumbles while dancing seems extremely easy. Maybe I'm overlooking something or maybe it's just easier on XBox than PC. Am I imagining it or can you throw in extra flourishes like spins or half spins during some of the moves? It doesn't count against you if you don't do them but a ring of tiny hearts develops if you do. If you have to fill that circle to marry, then I see how difficult that would be.
My focus so far has been on earning rank and riches. Conquering cities and donating them makes the process smooth and easy. I never could find an option to park my boat and walk anywhere in the XBox version but it's easy enough to make a nation angry.
My main frustration has been looking for buried treasure or relatives after you complete a map. Over and over I make landfall in the area indicated but I get the "your search found nothing" popup. I've only found what I was looking for 3 times in spite of many attempts. I wish you could get out of the boat and walk around a bit.
If anyone has questions as I did you may find this helpful.
http://db.gamefaqs.com/computer/dosw...sm_pirates.txt