A Brief History of Piracy

oh there mes and have asked settle yourself down and I'll tell you A Tale of piracy and video games to be sure we're talking about the illegal kind of piracy immoral UNC trampling of the rights and property of others you know the one with the boats so let loose the main sails and shiver your Timbers as we embark on an adventure through the Golden Era of Naval exploitation or to put it another way yo ho ho and a barrel of [Music] fun it is mildly ironic that perhaps the first video game about Pirates opens with a message condemning the act of software piracy even as far back as 1978 it was an issue pirate Adventure was an early text based game released for 8bit home systems in which you're whisked off to a magical world of pirates and plunder Al crw by today standards Tech Adventures Mark the emergence of interactive fiction games with a focus on narrative and storytelling the fantasy world of pirates lends itself well to such Adventures a blend of escapism exploration and intrinsic Peril of course the world was obsessed with Star Wars during this time so Celestial themed shooter Mups like Space Invaders were dominant by the 1980s 1984's booty bucked the trend however with this pirate themed title proving an eight-bit hit becoming the first video game to shift a 100,000 copies in the UK you play a cabin boy who takes it upon himself to plunder his own Master ship navigating a sequence of screens with platforms and puzzles not to mention parrots and Pirates drawing straight from literature is Treasure Island from the same year a top- down ROM through Robert Stevenson's work such Tales travel and indeed Pirates are not an exclusive phenomenon to the West as Japanese arcades saw pirate ship hearu bring nautical action to the maze genre sailor momotaro is able to pick up and roll barrels on Deck with the object of the game being to defeat the pirate crew who roam the level the NES saw a sequel in higar maima or hell's Island great adventure of seven islands although the game was never released outside of Japan the expanded Adventure Mode saw the player explore the ocean in pursuit of Seven Keys held by rival pirate captains there was similar skull duggery in skull and crossbones from Atari an evil wizard makes off with your booty and over the course of the game it is your quest to restock your holds with filthy [Music] Luca a ribal romp in romantic interactive fiction is infocom's plundered Hearts which thrust you into the heroin shoes amongst a cast of Corsair and other assorted neru Wells it was an adventurous attempt to bring a popular genre of fiction to interactive form but it would be infocom's first and last attempt at doing so far more successful was the work of a certain sidm the aptly titled Pirates a change in direction from his earlier combat simulation games most impressive was the sheer scope encompassed everything you might expect in a pirates's career from Naval Combat to fencing politics and treasure hunting the game was simply too broad to do everything within a single playthrough its open-ended gameplay reflected the freedom you enjoy as a pirate with the whole of the Caribbean to explore at least as long as your good health holds out its breadth offered substantial replayability and as far as pirate strategy games are concerned it would be a while before anything could match it eight8 bit eggy mascot dizzy second outing stranded him on a Treasure Island with a sequence of inventory based puzzles needed to escape brutally hard unless you knew what you were doing as you only had one life and a single hit could kill adventure games such as dizzy represent the Pinnacle of 8bit graphic Adventures but by the '90s there was a new wave of more powerful 16 bit machines The Secret of Monkey Island was the first of a much loved franchise and is perhaps where most Minds wonder when called to think of a game about Pirates it did much to make the adventure genre more accessible with its pirating premise lavish Graphics humorous writing and perhaps most significantly an absence of player death previous games of the genre had a reputation for severely punishing mistakes wander too far off a cliff or spend too long in the dark and your game would come to an abrupt halt not so in Monkey Island say for one exception you could explore and interact with everything with no ill consequences encouraging experimentation within the compelling World The Game's tone was light-hearted throughout on Monkey Island sword fights are not resolved by violence but instead by wit insults are exchanged instead of blows and the pirate with the best comebacks would emerge the Victor its sequel Monkey Island 2 lechuck's Revenge didn't disappoint either with beautiful hand painted backdrops and an even more expansive piratical Adventure spanning three major islands the humor remained with a cast of colorful characters and an array of piratical activities from entering a spitting contest epic Treasure Hunter and gate crashing a MIG gr costume party a diverse land of seaf fairing zombie Pirates and Voodoo not to mention it's fair share of obtuse [Music] puzzles the jrpg equivalent to sidm Pirates uncharted waters puts the player in charge of a ship and gives them free reign to explore the world the second installment uncharted waters New Horizons was released a couple of years later this time giving you a choice of sailors each with a different career the game took advantage of the 16bit systems too with a more detailed world and an expansion of the RPG elements including ship-to ship combat and jewels with enemy captains Pirates are often used as go-to bad guys such as in the Disney TV to Goof Troop after all Buccaneers are a pretty inoffensive villain that proves a perfect fit for any island adventure the second in the popular Donkey Kong Country series Diddy's con Quest leans heavily on the pirate cliche 2 but it's a good fit for the colorful tone tropical fruit and quest for [Music] booty in the wake of sidm pirates popularity there were a slew of titles that tackled the strategy behind seafaring games like age of saale and high seas Trader gave you the freedom of the oceans with ship and crew management set against a historical backdrop 97 saw the release of a third entry in the Monkey Island Series in the curse of Monkey Island an audio visual upgrade on previous titles the game ran at a higher resolution and was the first in the series to feature voice acting and all way to AR in style from The Originals the game retains the same light-hearted charm overboard also known as Shipwreckers in North America took a slightly different approach to piracy with the top down Viewpoint of a tactical ship combat game but with the gameplay of an arcade shooter Captain claw was a PC exclusive platform game from monolith that featured an anthropomorphic feline pirate tackling K9 foes the so-called Cocker Spaniards true to theme in an era when the FPS was King it's odd to see such a 2d title on PC but with smooth action digitized speech and colorful Graphics it wasn't accomplished platformer some might say the late '90s was a golden era for PC gaming and no other platform supports strategy games quite as well corsairs from microids let you lead a Flo tiller of privateers and a letter of Mark gives charge to tackle enemy ports across the Caribbean earning gold for upgrades as you go Cutthroats Terror on the high seas granted a similar level of Freedom a recurring Trend in Pirate strategy with the player free to forge their own story as they pillaged the Spanish main meanwhile the enchanted Waters series lived on with a number of sequels released solely in the East for the PlayStation Saturn and PC known as the dauki jidai series which translates as age of Discovery within its native Market it attracted a great following eventually leading to an mm RPG in [Music] 2005 the New Millennium saw the release of the long awaited fourth installment of the Monkey Island series Escape From Monkey Island it took the leap to a fully threedimensional World leaving the 2D scum engine behind in favor of a 3D one first used by Grim Vango it's idiosyncratic controls and clunky interface strew some criticism the Simplicity of the classic pointand click interace face somewhat lost although it's not without charm it is generally regarded as the weakest of the franchise now not every pirate them game is set on the ocean with a touch of fantasy it's possible to have Pirates inhabit the sky while the focus in this video is the sea it's hard to ignore the nautical influence within the Skies of Arcadia the airships resemble conventional vessels with sails rigging and a crow's nest at top it's just just that they're born on clouds rather than waves the Jules Vern style World serves as a Charming base for the jrpg with typical turn-based combat and Random Encounters serving as the portions of gameplay between the narrative sea doogs is another RPG this time of the western ilk developed in Russia by Studio ARA realistic in Tone It places you in the boots of a privateer and gives you free reign to explore a fictional Caribbean archipelago the game was planned to have a sequel sea doogs 2 but eventually this was released as a Movie tie-in game for the Pirates of the Caribbean for the Xbox and PC in 2003 ARA were also responsible for age of sale 2 a more tactical ship combat simulator in which you command a formation of Warships against another with a focus on realism and the accurate portrayal of Naval Combat there are a host of ships from the era and a large number of historical scenarios to [Music] reenact 2002's The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker on the GameCube had a distinctly nautical theme with the Overworld comprising a chain of islands The Adventure Starts after the rescue of pirate Captain Tetra after which It's All Aboard a pirate ship on a quest to save Link's [Music] sister Westwood Studios tried their hand at pirate action the same year and with a female protagonist no less Pirates the Legend of black cats titular character is Katarina Deon on a quest for vengeance and in search of her mother's grave the first in the Port Royale series was released this year too with a similar approach to other pirate strategy games but with an increased focus on trade asset management and town building more partical Town construction was had in the 2003 sequel to Banana Republic s Tropico in Tropico 2 Pirate Cove in which you're given the keys to The Stockade on a pirate controlled Island your management skills are put to the test as you must balance keeping your captive workers terrified and productive and your pirate jumps happy and full of Grog puzzle Pirates is a free-to-play massively multiplayer game whose title adequately explains its contents plenty of puzzles amidst a partical theme allthough the games are simple players are rewarded with Pieces Of Eight for each task completed eventually ranking up and acquiring custom ization items for their Avatar and Abode 2004 saw for axis tackle a remake of sidm classic pirates with updated graphics and some added minii games over the original it was a fresh cat of paint for a classic formula similarly refreshed was Port Royale with its sequel much in the same vein as the first slightly improved presentation and as strong a focus on a micromanaged economy as [Music] ever XBox exclusive title gallion designed by the original creator of Lara Croft endured a torturous 7 years in development before finally emerging to lukewarm reviews movie tie-in games are an inevitability where large franchises are concerned and with the second and third of the Pirates of the Caribbean series emerging in 2006 and 2007 there were a Spate of games released across Gen 6 gen 7 and the handhelds Pirates of the Caribbean at World's End was one such game thoroughly average action adventure game featuring a familiar cast there was also an MMO RPG released the same year Pirates of the Caribbean online although it has since closed in Zack and Wei quest for barbar Ro's treasure you see the hopeful pirate Zach and His monky companion Wii on a quest for long lost treasure the game takes heavy inspiration from earlier pointand click adventures with the wio put to good use in solving puzzles the game reviewed well across the board but sadly lackluster sales scuppered the chances of any sequels Age of Booty hit the Xbox Live arcade in 2008 a competitive resource Gathering strategy multiplayer game in which you plunder ports and Tackle your opponent ships from the Age of Booty to the Quest for booty in the second title of the Ratchet and Clank Future series the nuts and bots of this action platformer see the starring Duo go toe-to-toe with space pirates pirates of the burning sea is one of a few pirate MMO RPGs with four factions to choose from and a range of career paths in lie of traditional classes it runs the full pirate gamut from swashbuckling PvP with a variety of sword fighting styles to Naval trading and tactical combat age of pirates 2 city of abandoned ships was released in 2009 and is the fourth of the Corsair series as it's known in its native market and a sequel to the earlier Sea Dogs as with the prior titles it's an open-ended pirate RPG in which you can Wander from port to port conducting a nautical career under your chosen Banner although the Monkey Island series had long been dormant by this point Telltale Games picked up the license in 2009 in order to produce an episodic Adventure certainly the better of the two 3D interpretations of Gish Telltale might be one a few developers able to successfully employ the episodic formula and Tales of Monkey Island at least proved the potential for the series return Monkey Island is held dear by many people and there have been many adventure games which borrow from the series trademark humor one such title was Jolly Rover in the traditional 2D point and click vein the game tells the tale of salty pirate dogs and the struggles of the main protagonist a daxon named gaas James Rover and when he got there the covero was the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film screened in 2011 and this time a Lego game accompanied it it sticks to the usual formula with a host of characters from the films and drop in Dropout Cooperative puzzles to complete in a quest for studs the third entry in the Port Royale series Pirates and Merchants came to the Gen 7 consoles and PC in 2012 open-ended in approach the key Focus was in trading but more in Savory paths such as buccaneering are always viable too I'm being rude I haven't even Borderlands 2 had an entire DLC devoted to Captain Scarlet and her Pirates Booty although it comes with a distinctly Borderland style approach a splend Risen 2 dark Waters is a western RPG that blends traditional fantasy with pirate Adventure in which the eye patch wearing protagonist is called upon to defeat a mighty kren by means of a magic weapon there was a departure in theme from the first risen which was more for land lovers and in a similar fashion things took a nautical turn in Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag built on the nautical combat in three and expanded the game into a fully-fledged exploration of the golden age of piracy the open world formula of Assassin's Creed was a good fit for the life of a pirate it's almost a shame there wasn't a p focus on the piratical exploits there's something oddly comforting about Captain in a ship with the wind at your back the waves on your bow and colorful sea shanties from your cre before you it's a pirates life for [Music] me and thus we pull into a familiar Port our Voyage of Discovery through interactive Pirate Adventures has come to a close of all potential thematic settings the Golden Age of piracy is amongst the most Charming a romantic age of the new world with conflict of Plenty and booty for all perhaps that's why it's a natural fear for video games the freedom of the ocean and the discovery of a new world all caught between fearsome Pirates and Naval forces and the promise of more filthy Luca than you could ever hope to plunder as ever this video is not intended to be an exhaustive list and while I've done my research there are always a few titles that slip through the cracks or are simply impossible to record but I'm sure you'll let me know what you think are the most egregious emissions in the comments in any case thank you very much for watching and until next time farewell

Channel: Ahoy

Views: 810,152

Keywords: xboxahoy, pirates, piracy, video games, Video Game (Industry), History, Documentary, Games

Id: -EoQX7227Z4

Length: 18min 40sec (1120 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 18 2014