Skull and Bones | Fully Ramblomatic

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This week on Fully Ramblomatic, Yahtzee reviewed Skull and Bones.
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[@SecondWindGroup]

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[@SilverShion]

I can assure you that I know more about Naruto than you do.

[@minias1444]

I can assure you that i have been chastised for not knowing enough about naruto.

[@patrickmalone566]

Thanks, I zoned out during the last two sentences.

[@Dac_vak]

I love the amount of disdain in Yahtzees voice during the sponsored ad lol

[@E1craZ4life]

No Yahtzee Tries this week?

[@09philj]

Ubisoft really made a pirate game with zero swashbuckling.

[@burningsnow9870]

Should've named it to Dull & Bare Bones

[@grasthube]

except the one to the player's wallets by Ubisoft

[@colester167]

They made a AAAA game. Lol

[@GeorgeDroyd1998]

@@GrandMasterSimp it is strictly ship combat. If you played the game or even seen it you’d know that.

[@Rhyusfox]

Ubisoft managed to make something inferior to Sid Meyer's Pirates, for crying out loud.

[@GameAnGrog]

Ubisoft 2013 - "People seem to like Black Flag. We should make a pirate game to capitalize on that." Ubisoft 2024 - "Finally done! We dumbed down the naval combat, removed the swashbuckling, removed the story, made the world feel empty, added resource grinding, and reduced all land based interaction to a shop/quest dispensing hub. It's AAAAmazing right?"

[@metazoxan2]

Ubisoft 2024 - "What do you mean Sea of Thieves already did it? We're a AAAA studio so we're automatically better right? .... hello?"

[@blackfiredragonthe13th43]

Also strip out the swimming and any ability for the character to get wet.

[@GameAnGrog]

​@@metazoxan2 Also Ubisoft 2024 - "And what do you mean no one likes it? We gave them nicer looking water and a cash shop! What more could they possibly want?"

[@Llortnerof]

"No."

[@Algernon1979]

That's a lot of stuff to remove, no wonder it took'em 10 years

[@Godzeller3143]

It is wild that Ubisoft made this game, but 100x better, 10 years ago by accident.

[@MasoTrumoi]

Different team. Please for the love of any gods, stop saying "how did [entire company] make this?!" They didn't. Creatives working for them at the time did. The Black Flag team kept making other games, Skull and Bones was helmed by a completely different team and probably got lacerated and cannibalized over the course of the 10 year development.

[@jameswilson8907]

All they had to do was expand that game, that's it. And they somehow just spent 10 years removing stuff from it. Even the movement system of assassin's creed would've worked fine for hand to hand combat on ships and not felt out of place.

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

​@@MasoTrumoi That's true, but you would think that two teams working for the same megaconglomerate could maybe swap notes or something.

[@Godzeller3143]

@@MasoTrumoi I think it’s more the direction that I’m taking about. Black flag was meant to be an assassins creed game but became one of the best pirate games. Skull and bones was meant to be the best pirate game but was crap. Also, Ubisoft cutting in and lacerating the team, as you described, is their responsibility, so I’m not sure why I’m not allowed to hold them at fault.

[@BlaizeTheDragon]

​@@MasoTrumoi But Ubisoft owns it. They own that game. Different developers, sure, but those ideas worked and Ubisoft owns it all. Nobody is gonna sue or tell them off for building on from a franchise that belongs to them. The game only got made at all BECAUSE of black flag. You would think that someone would have said "here's what the guys that worked on black flag did. Do something like this but expand on the ideas"

[@TheFrantic5]

When Windwaker has more ship interaction on a ship the size of an army cot.

[@shawbag11]

Oh theres a level in sly 3 has more ship interaction and that wasnt even the main part of that game more of a minigame that takes place in 1 world for a few levels. and in that u could still walk around your ship, board other ships and there was a few missions where u had to follow a map with clues to find the treasure. its insane how a ps2 game from over 20 years ago feels more piratey than this so called quadruple A game

[@Hysteria98]

@@matthewmuir8884 Because there literally isn't any. It's a practically dead genre, seafaring. The world must get one game every 3 years, minimum.

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

windward is a better pirate game. there you can even team up with others

[@mikeyjnz]

When the pirate battle mini game section from monkey Island 3 has more thematic and in depth sailing mechanics, AAAND some form of swordfighting after boarding.

[@Gothicc_Angel]

I think Cold Take summed it up fine with their title, "10 years, For this?"

[@calebmarmon1310]

I guess they’ve become the Siskel and Ebert of Second Wind.

[@hockeater]

@@SimuLordI'd watch the shit out of it. Peanut butter and jelly. Not to mention that it would slot in rather simply. Frost likes to moderate his argument by bringing in the other opinion a lot. Yahtzee would fit right into the framework.

[@scdolence]

@@SimuLord SOMEONE needs to tell them to do this, becuase I'd up my Patreon just for that.

[@loke5052]

@@SimuLordbrilliant idea

[@Sotanaht01]

I think they were to soft on it though. Games that do nothing good, are bad.

[@DetectiveNyx]

ubisoft, your threat of "get used to not owning your games" would be a lot scarier if your games were worth owning.

[@thehittite6982]

It gets easier every year to not own any Ubisoft games.

[@memeweirdguyn.0019]

Once again Yahtzee has to grab the axe from the closet and have a civilized conversation with Ubisoft

[@mr_rockgamer17]

As Theodore Roosevelt once said, "Speak softly and carry a big stick."

[@peterclarke7006]

​@@mr_rockgamer17but as the british say: "speak sarcastically, and shiv the bastard until they say sorry and promise to do better."

[@javkiller]

@@peterclarke7006 Ah, the glasgowian discourse!

[@deangordon2215]

@@javkiller as much as I love the word "Glasgowian," a person from Glasgow is "Glaswegian." Hence the slang term Weegie - however you want to spell it.

[@molassesman4066]

@@deangordon2215 their weegie boards????

[@Puffleman24]

My absolute favourite thing about Black Flag was the fact that you could dive off your own ship in the middle of a close battle, climb aboard the enemy's ship, strategically cripple different parts and then swing back to your own, soaking wet and triumphantly watch their ship crumble. In this game, you cannot: - Climb their ship - Leave your ship - Leave the steering wheel - Target specific parts of their ship - Swing anywhere - Watch their ship fall apart - Get wet I think it's time Yahtzee had another chat with the folks over at Ubisoft, get the bear spray and the crowbar.

[@MrPinksnoopy]

I am sure you meant Ubisoft, though all these AAA devs these days are synonymous with each other for being soulless money extractors.

[@Puffleman24]

@MrPinksnoopy I did, thank you! But you're absolutely right, these giant developers would love nothing more than to put out the most minimalist game possible if it meant a return on profits.

[@Square1production]

You couldn't leave the wheel during naval combat in Black Flag. That said, there was nothing stopping you from leaving the wheel before engaging in combat, swimming over to another ship, killing everyone on board and capturing it with your own ship without resistance. It's just usually slower to do it that way.

[@madspet9106]

@@Puffleman24It's also important to specify that you're probably mainly talking about the ones making the decisions. I wouldn't doubt for a second that the Skull and Bones team is/was full of creative and maybe even highly talented individuals, who were stifled by the money-minds that pushed them to make the bland mess we ended up with.

[@oscaranderson5719]

⁠​⁠@@madspet9106questionable/downright stupid decisions made by a veteran studio are always the fault of the idiots with zero knowledge or experience. it’s depressing how often producers butt in where they’ve got no business, and it’s not limited to video games.

[@Hookokokkokoko]

That ad read for a VPN at the end of the video contained more fun and engaging pirate activities than the rest of the gaaaame combined.

[@sharinganmoon]

sir, you made me watch the ad. And I am glad I did.

[@smilingfreaks]

'Yahtzee, please, you need to do some ad reads.' 'I refuse. It undermines my artistic integrity, it denigrates my voice and values. And what am I without those? A mere slinger of caustic jibes and puerile mockery. I cannot debase myself in such a fashion.' 'I'll let you talk about traumatising children.' '... I'm listening.'

[@vonriel1822]

TomSka is a true artist when it comes to ad reads. Look up his video 'Dear Surfshark, Please Fire Me' for what I mean. I couldn't be happier with Second Wind's ad reads, though. At the end, so it doesn't interrupt the video's flow, and while I'm sure it's been a happy accident, they always have a tongue-in-cheek relevance to the video I just watched. Like when they bash a game and then show a read for Last Epoch, or review a pirate game then segue into a vpn ad.

[@WeirdoGeek]

After looking the movie up, I can't help but feel bad for Yahtzee and his family. Jesus Christ, what a downer.

[@Gaussian_Bell]

The ad being as entertaining as the review sent me to the comments, I was not disappointed

[@TheJovian16]

Finally, Yahtzee made an obscure reference to British pop culture that I understood and it only took me 15 years of living in the UK to make this achievement.

[@tsukiumika5807]

I am sorry for your loss

[@The_Jovian]

Hey same username

[@Bruhx10]

The books were wild, in one book the demon headmaster builds a giant theme park complex to hypnotise people into buying into a pop culture icon he's manufacturing called "Harvey porker"

[@TheJovian16]

@@The_JovianGoddamn it where's my "Spider-Men pointing" meme!?

[@fleetingimmersion]

To be fair I think he referenced, and explained, The Demon Headmaster in a previous video. Even I, as an American, understood it this time.

[@thedudewhoeatspianos]

It's been 20 years and no pirate game has ever rivaled Sid Meier's Pirates! (2004). This review has made me want to revisit that.

[@Silent_Depths]

That and Sea Dogs 2 even with all the jank it was packed with under a false name of Pirates of the Caribbean. Fortunately it's still being modded and just recently a new entirely modded version called Caribbean Legend Sandbox came out for free, which is apparently still nautical miles better than Skull and Bones. :D Edit: Also a shout out to early access Corsair's Legacy, which I forgot to mention earlier.

[@Peksisarvinen]

Now that you brought it up, I might have to go replay Sid Meier's Pirates again. It's still just so good.

[@robertlinke2666]

yeah pirates! was awesome. have your own complete fleet, have a crew to keep happy, have ships to plunder and upgrades and men to take from it, so it isn't just all money. use the money you did get to but further upgrades to battle bbeg. as well as dancing with pretty daughters of governors, being a ranked noblemen, as well as ranked notorious pirate, find the treaures of the other pirates, kill the other pirates for their stuff, etc.

[@peterberg3446]

Which itself is a remake of Sid Meier's Pirates! for the C64 from 1987...just to give an idea of how far back we REALLY have to go.

[@thewarmwind6171]

If Sid Meier's Pirates! and Sea of Thieves had a baby, it would be the perfect pirate game. Black Flag obviously took a lot of inspiration from Pirates! but then took away a lot of the flexibility for no reason. Like, why did I have to stick with the Jackdaw? It was made all the worse by that one mission where you have to use another ship, which was an English frigate. It was like they were taunting you. "We could let you Captain other ships... but we're not going to." Still, both Pirates! and Black Flag have been objectively obliterated when it comes to the feeling of sailing around by Sea of Thieves.

[@dhyanamtalukdar6111]

"Absolute Aggravated Anal Acne" is the best definition of AAAA that this game spawned.

[@kadosho02]

Laughed and snorted. So good 😂

[@blackgem12]

He channeled the AVGN for that one.

[@Xorthis]

Just to clarify the stamina thing, it is hard work trimming a ship's sails. You have to hold giant ropes tight against the pressure of the wind, but on actual ships they have tie-offs so you don't have to hold the rigging and get tired. It seems in this world, where eating any kind of food instantly has the effect of a nap and 10 starbucks, they decided to scrap tie-offs.

[@BalthusHomewood]

Fair. Have you played Sea of Thieves?

[@Xorthis]

@@BalthusHomewood Of course, totally different game. And as was said in the video, how the hell could Ubi completely ignore S&B as it had already shown them things that work...

[@NEEDbacon]

Counterpoint, that'd be like having Duke Nukem file for his taxes. Does that add to the gameplay? No, and we shouldn't be made to do so.

[@Xorthis]

​@@NEEDbacon I get what you mean, but I disagree. Filing for taxes add nothing to the game and is just an annoyance, stamina has a very real gameplay effect in S&B. It's a shared resource that allows you to sail faster, and more importantly, brace (which protects from damage in a battle). Resource management is always a part of games, health, ammo, money, mana, stamina (dark souls?). The stamina presents you with the skill of managing it through use of food, ship selection and loadout, and deciding when to spend it on bracing or on going fast, adding another aspect to the gameplay to make it more engaging. The way they implemented it, with food refilling stamina, makes no sense though. The fact you can't just have infinite stamina when out of combat is also a questionable choice, since it forces you to spend 5 minutes every few days harvesting fruit to make the stamina food just so you can sail from A to B faster.

[@Pratalax]

"yes, i do get off on making references most people won't get" I feel validated. Thank you, Yahtz

[@phuzz00]

The Demon Headmaster scared the shit out of me as a kid. Then later when he became Home Secretary.

[@adrienaline4894]

Most people won't get? Who does he think his target audience is?

[@SirSicCrusader]

The Demon Headmaster was always so unrealistic, cause he was just like my headmaster at school, only slightly less evil.

[@aynonymos]

Also his whole plan was to win a quiz show, he should have started his career in entertainment instead of education.

[@TheEdge91]

@@aynonymos I was too young and scared to watch the Demon Headmaster. Was that really what he was about. Also my school's deputy head and boss of discipline looked like the splitting image of him and it was unnerving.

[@KeithFraser82]

@@TheEdge91 At one point, *the Home Secretary* looked like the spitting image of the Demon Headmaster.

[@ToaArcan]

@@TheEdge91 Basically he has the ability to hypnotise people through prolonged eye contact and he wants to use this ability for vaguely-defined megalomania. There's this school-centric quiz show where the winning team gets to make a big speech to the cameras after victory and he intends to use that time to mass-brainwash everyone watching the show. He's eventually defeated because he's, like, allergic to chaos and the show is one of those 90s Nickelodeon-type things where people get slimed and stuff or something. In one of the sequels he does this plan again but this time he makes a gross-out animated show about a pig that has laced-in subliminal screens of him in a creepy pig mask holding up signs with instructions on them. This time he fails because after successfully mind-controlling like half the population of England into being fanboys for this pig show, he randomly decides to change it to be about a gorilla that stages a hostile takeover of the show but words his instructions so poorly that the pig-loving public form a hate-mob and attack him while he's wearing the gorilla mask. It's very definitely a book series for kids.

[@KingOfElectricNinjas]

@@ToaArcan Put that way it's kinda funny to imagine a diabolical supervillain with powerful mind control who's such a stick in the mud and a doofus that he keeps getting foiled mostly by children figuring out how to set off the last step of his self-sabotage.

[@guguy00]

My favourite bit was that screenshot of the ingame ad for the premium bullshit edition 'upgrade'. The pitch ended with, I shit you not, "Long live piracy!" It sure does, Ubisoft. It sure does.

[@NEEDbacon]

Except who'd even WANT to pirate this slop?

[@guguy00]

@@NEEDbaconMe. That's who. I want to see what my government's subsidies indirectly wrought upon the world

[@_Mutt_]

@@guguy00 LOL

[@kalashnikovdevil]

@@guguy00 This comment is AAAA, you should apply to the French government for subsidies to develop more like it.

[@guguy00]

@@kalashnikovdevil Senator, I'm Singaporean

[@Tristyn2000]

I feel like it''s worth noting that this isn't just a step down from Assassin's Creed Black Flag. This is a step down from Side Meier's Pirates from all the way back in 2004

[@brainflash1]

A step down from "Pirates: Captain's Quest"

[@matthewmchugh6662]

I loved Sid Meier's pirates

[@Tristyn2000]

@@matthewmchugh6662 me too! But it's not AAAA and neither is skull and bones

[@natecook06]

Sid Meier’s Pirates is still the game I play when I’m in a pirate-y mood. It could be improved in a myriad of ways but in two decades nobody has matched the core gameplay.

[@chrisjones5949]

It's a step down from King of Seas, which is a top-down pirate game where you actually DO use drop-down menus when you dock in ports and don't have a visible player character, yet it still has more depth than this mess.

[@zioniczenko]

Forget Sea of Thieves - Sid Meier's Pirates got this all right 20 years ago! And the original had 2D graphics, but it was essentially the same game, and that came out 35 years ago!

[@ClipperHorizon]

And it was a sailing game where the wind actually mattered!

[@RepellentJeff]

_(Starts video)_ Oh! Hang on! _(Pauses video)_ _(Grabs popcorn)_

[@Grayvorn]

My thoughts exactly.

[@SolaScientia]

I was grinning the whole time. I knew he'd rip it to shreds. I lost it at "just play Sea of fucking Thieves".

[@velvetinedrapes4359]

(poops in your popcorn before you grab it)

[@Largecow_Moobeast]

Making the player sign the “act good like pirates did” contract tbh perfectly sums up ubisofts disconnect with gamers and or normal humans who buy things.

[@LordSusaga]

That is the most Yahtzee sponsor segment ever and I am here for it

[@ruggedlemmings9163]

0:37 This is the point that's the most mind-blowing to me about this giant pile of crap. As Yahtzee said: all they had to do was take Black Flag, cut out the Assassins and Templars, and there's your game. Amazing how ol' Yves "I still have yet to take any accountability for enabling all the actual rapists working for me" Guillemot had the gall to call this game AAAA when the only reason it actually released was because if they cancelled it the government of Singapore would sue the company into oblivion.

[@Zejgar]

Black Flag is a go-to example of how to do it, but also, Sea Dogs and Sea Dogs 2/Pirates of the Caribbean came out over 20 years ago and did the pirate game thing incredibly well as well. No excuse.

[@LadyDoomsinger]

Heck, even Pillars of Eternity 2 did the pirate concept better, and that was a CRPG with you just sailing around on the world map to move between islands and occasionally being attacked or attacking other ships through a text-based UI.

[@GeorgeDroyd1998]

How to do what? It’s a 10+ year old game. This plays way better. If you didn’t play it you don’t deserve an opinion

[@s7robin105]

@@GeorgeDroyd1998It had third person combat, ship boarding/defense, diving for sunken treasure and searching ship wrecks, exploration, side activities, a story, and cool outfits and weapon combos.

[@fish5645]

@@GeorgeDroyd1998 Your logic has you look at a plate of steaming fresh shit and not be allowed to acknowledge it as shit until you bite into at least most of it before announcing it did in fact come from a dogs ass 5 minutes beforehand. Common sense sadly is not so common these days it seems, be better.

[@molassesman4066]

No it looks worse and plays worse than black flag ​@homelander2243

[@manavsridharan3811]

The only line that registered for me in the ad read is "you zoned out during the previous sentence". Love Yahtz

[@Morboxx]

I can't believe I'm saying this but you should give the ad read another listen! Its premise is hilarious! Do look up the movie, it is a very good one! 😅🤣

[@hiddenbutdeadly]

Demon headmaster scared the f*** out of me when I was young..thank you for reminding me of that terror...

[@landotucker]

I remember the books being pretty good. I don't think I watched much of the tv show though

[@branimirstoilov8640]

I remember watching the show when I was like seven... Boy was I not ready for it! XD

[@VonBlade]

Only topped by Noseybonk

[@BlinkyFizz]

It was a book we had to read in school. Lol I went to a small countryside school, so our teacher at the time was also our principal / headmaster. Given that was 20 years ago and I still remember it, clearly it left an impression on me. Lol

[@TheLethargicWeirdo985]

I vaguely remember reading that book, didn't know there was a show until now

[@aturchomicz821]

Well that ad reading absolutley killed me, just like "Doug Walker reviews the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" 😩

[@RazTheOtter]

They call it a AAAA game because that's the sound you make once you realize you dropped $100 for the collectors edition.

[@howlrichard1028]

That "island of less bos" pun is definitely the smartest one I've ever seen.

[@Kiljaedenas]

Oh god, the end ad about Nord VPN and the reaction of the kids to the movie...christ you had me in stitches!!!

[@austinowings4904]

The "Epic Swordfights while drenched in pitiless spray" bit just gave me my first uncontrollable belly laugh in like 10 years. So thank you for that.

[@dazelandpointcom4170]

Same! And I don't even speak English that well.

[@NatjoOfficial]

The stupidest thing is Ubisoft literally had everything they had to make the perfect Pirate game: - Take everything from Blackflag and introduce new possible weapons to use as secondary’s like the mortar and such with different ship types with different pros and cons. - for boarding the enemy ship literally use For honor’s system of player combat, it’s already designed for multiplayer. - For the boarding victory, use Assassin’s creed Odyssey’s battle system, first faction to have its numbers lowered to 50 or less% surrenders with the loss of a player, commander or tougher opponent costing more

[@Taurusus]

Oh dang, good call on the _For Honor_ combat system. Maybe with a dash of the dynamic rig-climbing rope-swinging excitement that AssCreed allows for to keep it feeling like your buckles can remain sufficiently swashed.

[@NEEDbacon]

They just had to take black flag, Sid Mire's Pirates and go "Now kithhh" tadah, best pirate game ever made, not a game that doesn't even deserve a pirate.

[@BWintJack]

I love how Ramblomatic and Cold Take complement each other: Both had their own perspective on Skull and Bones, so both shows are well worth watching, even about the same game.

[@AubriGryphon]

You know what would be great? A whole-ass sailing simulation. I mean, I'm not asking to adjust every line, but like, Valheim has a pretty-darn-good sailing system that takes wind direction into account and actually makes you realize why sailors hated being on the windward side of an island (which is called the lee side, because it's to the lee of the ship, and GODDAMMIT YOU NAUTICAL-- *ahem* sorry.) What I'd love is a game that makes you care about how your ship is rigged -- square rigged vs gaff vs schooner, etc. with each having advantages and disadvantages in terms of speed, handling, how close to the wind you can sail, how much a beam-on wind will make you heel over, and so on. You could look at another ship and say, "Aha, they're square rigged! We'll have an advantage if we drive them windward!" Steering to put another ship in your lee to kill their wind, altering your rigging by extending and retracting various sails while being careful not to put too much strain on your masts, pushing it into the danger zone to catch a fleeing target or escape pursuit... I think that would be the ideal version of a game like this. Not "your sail is functionally a motor, just point where you want to go lol".

[@oracledantex]

Dear Yahtzee, I must say I feel like your Second Wind content is aptly named. I feel like it has new life and new energy. I hope you enjoy making it as much as I do watching it! Thanks man.

[@thantus9315]

Yahtzee doing a sponsored ad himself. Was not expecting this, but it was even better than I could’ve hoped for

[@Uniscorn123]

"Here's a list of things you can do with your ship in Skull & Bones: Sail it and don't sail it.* This harkens back to one of Yahtzee's most under rated lines: "You can play as a pirate or not a pirate and you choose the second option by turning the game off and having a little sleep."

[@alexkaplan6581]

"So please, gather around this barrel, and let's take it out on some mother fucking fish."

[@VascovanZeller]

This felt like a 2010s vintage ZP, I enjoyed every minute.

[@serenity8839]

Man can you imagine a world were we had this game with just tons of mythical creatures and mythical pirates to fight ghosts, krakens, leviathans the size of a a 747 just... The dream.

[@pelsen93]

Thats just Sea of Thieves

[@potatoguy7929]

@@pelsen93sea of thieves is a pvp game for the most part.

[@hpol]

​@@potatoguy7929 Not really, you can if you want, and you can easily avoid others if you just watch the horizon.... But now for the less brave pirates there is an option called 'Safer Seas' without PvP

[@quint3ssent1a]

Just play Pillars of Eternity 2. There is a bit less sailing, but a lot more combat, a REAL boarding action (where your squishy wizard usually goes pop in first 15 nanoseconds of a fight because wizard magical forcefields can't stop a musket ball) and in general more funny pirate things (you can hire crew, including mascots for your ship, etc.)

[@kabobawsome]

@@potatoguy7929 Sea of Thieves is absolutely PvE first, PvP second. PvP isn't even the fastest way to make money, because players (especially players flying under an emissary flag which is what matters) are too few and far between to be consistent.

[@CJBooks4]

"Yes I do get off on making references most people won't get"😆Well here's another quote for the Zero Punctuation - I mean Fully Ramblomatic book

[@blusterkong4556]

Considering the dev conditions, im not suprised it turned out like this. Hope this was worth keeping your Singaporean tax credits, ubisoft

[@Brasswatchman]

Dev conditions?

[@dummyduckling666]

Hmm... "Strange you feel so sleepy, so early in the day" love love love the obscure references 😁 xx

[@altalena9139]

"In case you zoned out during the previous sentence" that was exactly when I zoned out and started scrolling the comments

[@JhericFury]

In my experience, there has been exactly two good pirate games: Sid Meyers pirates and black flag. Just do that with better graphics and a new mechanic or two and everyone will love it

[@Oxtocoatl13]

Obligatory mention of the pirate minigame in Sly 3. They even had multiplayer fights for that.

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

As far as I know, the ONLY game out there that actually puts the *actual* sailing aspect, in Sailing Ships, is a little indie game called *WINDBOUND* It is a sort of LoZ: Windwaker meets survival crafting simulator, with 5 increasingly harder levels of randomly generated archipelagos. The actual crafting and survival is kinda dull and the combat is horribly broken and hilariously difficult from its clunkiness and endlessly respawning enemies. But! Your little boat WILL catch the sea wind with its sails, and, depending on where it's blowing, it will either be "smooth sailing" or very grueling, as you are literally at its mercy. And you know what...? *It feels amazing* As you move up the levels of archipelagos, the sea gets rougher, the winds get stronger, there are increased chances of storms spawning, and you get more reefs to obstruct your path, as well as dangerous fauna. The integrity of your boat and your skill as a sailor are tested. Do you raise the sails and let the seas push you? Tenaciously maintaining the direction you wish to head to? Or do you lower them and catch the strongest winds possible, riding them out, even if off course? Sidenote 1: I wish Nintendo would purchase this indie company for the sole reason of using their systems and ideas for a Windwaker sequel/remake Sidenote 2: Windbound is like a 6/10 game at best, but it's wholesome and deserving of at least buying it on sale.

[@bauul.]

Sea of Thieves has a semi-decent stab at the wind mechanics. You need to raise and lower, and angle your sails correctly (manually, up to three sails per ship) and sailing into the wind is a death-trap (unless you're the smallest ship, which is quicker into the wind than the heavier ones). Tacking is generally quicker than sailing straight into the wind, and you have to manage the currents and storms too. Of course it's also an action focused FPSed, so there are a lot of simplifications (e.g. the penalty for simply having your sails straight forward regardless of the wind is artificially lowered for the smallest ship, to aid solo-players), but it's not too bad considering.

[@travisbarnes7847]

I also feel like Raft does a pretty good job with that, albeit with some of the same issues you just mentioned (broken and annoying combat, endlessly respawning enemies), because until you can build engines you're just at the wind's mercy, and every bit of flotsam you dredge from the ocean to desperately extend your reach feels like a win, and makes protecting it from the circling shark feel all the more crucial. Getting lucky enough to pull in the resources for a rudimentary temporary anchor just in time to access your first spit of land and start gathering respectable amounts of supplies feels amazing.

[@BalthorYT]

From what I remember, Sailwind also focuses on semi-realistic wind and sailing mechanics. It's a game where you mostly sail around doing delivery runs or merchant work, so the sea itself is the only 'adversary' and how it was implemented seemed fairly grounded and decently realized.

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

​@@BalthorYT Oh wow, I didn't know about this game. It looks like a proper sailing sim at a first glance, and that's awesome. Windbound is likely nowhere near as complex and streamlines a lot of actions from irl sailing. I will look up this game for sure, thank you my friend :D

[@BalthorYT]

@@KRIMZONMEKANISM I'm glad I helped you discover something you might like :)

[@TinMan445]

“The wind changes every 10 seconds like a long term Ubisoft project”😂 Concise, witty, ads at the end. Subbed!

[@coolerdude42]

I think you perfectly illustrated one of my biggest problems with live-service/f2p mobile games. In a well designed single player game, the game loop and the in-built resource/economy system would perfectly build each other. Fights provide adequate rewards to make me stronger for the next fight, crescendo-ing into a climax. For f2p/live-service games, they stretch the resource needed to progress and usually have no discernable end-game, thus no real climax. This then portends a huge dissatisfaction in progression, pace, and payoff, culminating in "this is such a waste of my time" conclusion.

[@AmourMatthysen]

There is a old game called Tides of war made in 1998 that will show you how far backwards we have gone in terms of Sailing Pirate games. It had a open world map, upgradeable ship, simplified ship boarding, you could even trade with other ships, different types ammunition a campaign were you could play as the pirates and two other factions and so much more. Nothing has even come close to it and I don't know why.

[@yourethatmantis5178]

Now I’m not from any Latin American country, but from what I’ve heard from people who are. If you went up to the toughest kids in the cafeteria, in your Latin American public school, boasting about your knowledge of Naruto and Dragon Ball. There’s a good chance they’d accept you instantly.

[@falleithani5411]

He did immediately qualify it with 'you don't actually know know much about it'.

[@Caninemuffin766]

Bruh the gag about plopping down and bragging about Naruto knowledge has me actually rolling. I just laughed so hard in the middle of my work LOL

[@DanGamingFan2406]

They already succeeded in making a great pirate game 10 years ago, had a rival (Sea of Theives) showing them how it's done, and this still turned out a bare, boring mess. I mean, how do you made a pirate game with no swashbuckling whatsoever?

[@watershipup7101]

I know right.

[@genjis5155]

Some companies just want to watch themselves burn.

[@velvetinedrapes4359]

The absolute cherry on top of all of this is it started out as DLC for Black Flag. Wayyyyy back at the beginning of the project

[@InfiniteDarkMass]

It takes a team of specially talented people.

[@NEEDbacon]

And there were even games older then black flag to help with Sid Mire's Pirates series.

[@superjew837]

I appreciate that a Yahtzee ad read is as entertaining as I hoped it would be

[@rayanderson5797]

I'd say I'm surprised that a big game dev could fuck up this hard but 1) I'm not. And 2) It's Ubisoft.

[@Brasswatchman]

Ten to one it wasn't even the fault of the actual devs. Just a lack of vision and/or competence from management.

[@every116]

Ubisoft was more concerned about not having to give their executive's private island to Singapore instead of making sure the game actually was fun.

[@askthepizzaguy]

Excellent ad read, excellent location in the video for the ad read. It did not delay or interrupt me getting to hear yahtzee, and I was delighted to hear him do the ad read with his usual style. Thanks Nord for sponsoring this content and allowing a less corporatey and stuffy advertisement. It fits with this content nicely.

[@bulbus7062]

I would argue Black Flag’s spinoff- Freedoms Cry is an even better take on the Pirate video game. You get to do all of the above, plus liberate slave ships, which why don’t we get to do more of that in video games!

[@tlegeorge]

i haven't thought about The Demon Headmaster in about a decade, thank you for reminding me of the nightmares i used to have after watching it

[@Rubberman202]

I'm totally envious of Yahtzee's pirate-wear, he reminds me of Mr. Smee from Peter Pan.

[@RUSTYTEETH8194]

i remeber the demon headmaster comic in the phoenix, scared the shit outta me

[@Oscar97o]

The good thing about this game is that it probably pushed Microsoft to release Sea of Thieves on Playstation to compete with it.

[@TheTweedler]

The game "Salt" on Steam is single-A and is a ton a fun. Lacking ship depth with no sea combat but nails that Windwaker sailing from island to island exploration feel. Would recommend!

[@hanabira_mitsu]

hoping for a semi-ramblomatic about that "first aaaa game" thing

[@tailgrowth]

One of the few times I've actually not skipped through a sponsorship plug. Love how it's delivered in the same style as the reviews.

[@alexanderwizardjar9540]

Now THIS is what i call a quadruple-A review

[@sasukesarutobi3862]

Dear Yves Guillemot: it doesn't count as quadruple-A just because you got all of the players to shout *_AAAA_* in frustrated disappointment

[@JonaaBLKWL]

The best thing to come out of Skull and Bones for me is that it made me want to play Black Flag for the first time (it will be my first entry into Assassin’s Creed). And thankfully, it’s on the Wii U, my console of choice.

[@ShaOryDow]

Black Flag, high recommend, it has this weird ass out of game experience which... I think wasn't needed, but damn did I love the game.

[@loke5052]

beware that the first hour of black flag is pretty boring

[@JonaaBLKWL]

@@loke5052 thank you for the heads up! I’ll try and muddle through if the rest of the game is worth it

[@OptimusSledge]

@@loke5052 Plus quite a bit of stuff in the rest of the game. And the games industry hadn't realised that tailing missions weren't fun yet. Oh, and Ubisoft thought doing stealth missions in a pirate ship were a good idea.

[@ZILtoid1991]

The term "AAA" was borrowed from finance, where it meant "safe bet for investment and/or for loan". The more A-s don't mean bigger scope, it should mean "safer investment". And yes, there's the issue of current AAA games not making their investment back, since they're too expensive to make, thus they need to sell millions of copies + DLCs.

[@Sonicfalcon16]

0:30 that joke works because they did make 2 open world naruto games and yeah he's right

[@joppek77]

Leave it to the corporate overlords at Ubisoft to take what should be a straight forward sprint across the finish line, a clear map of instructions to get to the finish line, a trail of footsteps to the finish line that they could follow, and still cock it up! Amazing.

[@InMaTeofDeath]

Ubisoft has been on my blacklist since Watchdogs, they never fail to let their customers down.

[@extragoogleaccount6061]

They are going to create 30 focus groups to see how they can get off your blacklist

[@InMaTeofDeath]

@@extragoogleaccount6061That would require them to completely change the culture of the company as well as changing a lot of how they design their games. It would be like telling Disney to stop making the modern stuff and go back to 2D animated movies even if it is the right move they'll never do it.

[@roadjcat]

Yeah if it's an Ubisoft open world, I'm avoiding it like the plague

[@Morboxx]

Watch dogs two and three were pretty good. Not life changing or genre defining, but good games overall.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

Black Flag was pretty badass I remember those sea battles being actually challenging and it was fun to explore random islands and look for treasure.

[@johnyesjustjohn]

1:29 Whoa! Someone else on Earth has read The Demon Headmaster!

[@Exospray]

Better yet know about the TV show

[@Aiden-fb1wf]

I've read it too

[@i_just_got_here]

That last joke in the credits is how we truly know Yahtzee is a dad

[@Filidecht]

I feel that Demon Headmaster reference was very on the Queen's Nose.

[@Stoic_grimace]

Look who went to Grange Hill over here

[@Zombiewithabowtie]

Bernard's Watch out for this guy, they knows what they're on about.

[@ryanjohnson7354]

All these comments are sending me Round The Twist.

[@Redrally]

@@ryanjohnson7354 Time to take his kids to the Children's Ward

[@ithakai]

Woof!

[@AntiVectorTV]

It's such a Yahtzee thing to do to immediately opt for the dark overcoat, then hurriedly swap wardrobes once he realizes everyone else is doing it.

[@TheRealElThang]

The Miles O'Brian visual gag made me snort out coffee, thank you

[@witchdoctorwill1796]

Thank you for having the outro music not cut-off when the sponsor started.

[@Marquis-wz2hi]

“Who are we? The Demon Headmaster?” Bless you Yahtzee what a blast from the past 😭😭

[@bofh139]

Even watched it but still love that you dropped a reference for The Demon Headmaster.

[@MandleRoss]

I can't believe I'm sharing this video with friends for the NordVPN ad. One of the funniest things I've seen in ages.

[@EinFelsbrocken]

"Logical opposite of a fishing minigame" is fantastic. On point 😁

[@imtoddhowardandimadeskyrim6553]

'yes i do get off on making references most people wont get' amen

[@falldownpit]

"Low hanging fruit, sir?" "*sigh* Fine." "Please enjoy." "I won't."

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

I'm just here to say that I appreciate the Demon Headmaster reference.

[@Alucard-A-La-Carte]

"Especially when it turns out you don't know all that much about Naruto..." was the perfect turn for that joke.

[@GobrinSansOtherAccount]

Any other channel could go on about Nord VPN and I ignore it or stop watching the Vid Yahtzee mentions it and I honestly consider buying it and watch the whole add segment.. his got us all well trained 😅

[@IIIOldSchooLIII]

2:37 What a wild thing to say, lmao

[@Altobrun]

Ubisoft had Black flag, Sea of Thieves, and Sid Meyers Pirates as three golden examples of how to make a good pirate game and ignored all of them.

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

Ironically, this is one pirate game that I think most people won't even bother pirating.

[@ian_987]

Glad to see that a significant number of people remember the Demon Headmaster. At the time a friend's dad looked uncannily like him, which we all found hilarious.

[@MitchCyan]

This is one of those videos that’s more anticipated than the game.

[@Wherethehellarewegoing]

Never have I returned to a video just to watch the Ad at the end, but Yahtzee f***ing nailed it!!

[@invisiblewater790]

I feel like the only reason the game wasn't canceled was the possibility that Singapore's government would have taken Ubisoft's kneecaps as collateral.

[@egornashilov5449]

the fact that Yahtzee could make cheap-ass Code Geass reference at 1:30, but went all in with an obscure 90s British scifi show is why I'll never get tired of ZP/RF.

[@thomrade]

thanks for the demon headmaster reference, that's something I had mentally blocked from my mind and now the horror of those swirly eyes has come back to haunt me.

[@braddrcrushalot3785]

That is by far the most honest Nord VPN KZbin ad spot I've ever heard.

[@rocknorris9508]

Congratulations on the best NordVPN sponsorship plug I’ve seen in a while.

[@gligar45]

I love the final nail in the coffin of 'just play sea of thieves', further cementing this game as having no real reason to exist.

[@danieldavid3945]

Glad yatzee is still acing his game, however it will take some time to get accustomed to the new intro and art (which are awesome)

[@leevpotts]

"Who are we, the demon headmaster?" 😂 Brilliant nostalgia hit, cheers Yatz