Rating: Summary: Tough! Takes a bit practice at first but worth it! Review: A great game! While most strategy gamers wont appreciate it at first and find it a bit complicating, it is still a great game in the end. Well worth the practice! I love the fact that I can take on many roles in this game. A merchant, a buisness man, a producer of goods, a pirate, a courier, a politician or many of the above mentioned or all of them! Great game!
Rating: Summary: A Thought Provoking Gem Review: A trading simulation about the Hanseatic League probably generates a number of yaws among most gamers. However, this game elicits the same "just one more turn" feeling that I had when playing the various Civilzation games, Imperialism 2 and Europa Universalis I & II. You are a trader in the North/Baltic Sea are in the 14th century. Your overall objective can be to become the Alderman of the Hanseatic League, but you can choose another objective. Since this is an open ended game, you can become a pirate and be a plague upon the other traders. You can play it straight and supply your hometown with all needed goods (20 in all), and build a happy and prosperous town. You can become Lord Mayor of your town, and are then responsible for it's defense from not only pirates, but from the local lord. You can try to build up your hometowns population to the maximum possible, and then move to a new town and try to maximize it's population. You can become the League's monopolist for wine, iron goods, cloth or any number of goods. This is why I like this game so much; the different ways you can play or combine the different aspects. They are many other features such as exploring the New World well before Columbus, dealing with informers and thiefs, bribing officials, paying fines if you decide on a not so honorable path in life, building not only ships, but businesses. There is so much depth here. You can play Patrician 2 via the internet, and there are contest game(s) available at web sites. These web sites also have actives forums which contain valuable information. I salute Strategy First for bringing this game to the U.S. market. There is a sequel called, what else, Patrician 3. I look forward to Strategy First or some other publisher bringing this game to the U.S.
Rating: Summary: A Thought Provoking Gem Review: A trading simulation about the Hanseatic League probably generates a number of yaws among most gamers. However, this game elicits the same "just one more turn" feeling that I had when playing the various Civilzation games, Imperialism 2 and Europa Universalis I & II. You are a trader in the North/Baltic Sea are in the 14th century. Your overall objective can be to become the Alderman of the Hanseatic League, but you can choose another objective. Since this is an open ended game, you can become a pirate and be a plague upon the other traders. You can play it straight and supply your hometown with all needed goods (20 in all), and build a happy and prosperous town. You can become Lord Mayor of your town, and are then responsible for it's defense from not only pirates, but from the local lord. You can try to build up your hometowns population to the maximum possible, and then move to a new town and try to maximize it's population. You can become the League's monopolist for wine, iron goods, cloth or any number of goods. This is why I like this game so much; the different ways you can play or combine the different aspects. They are many other features such as exploring the New World well before Columbus, dealing with informers and thiefs, bribing officials, paying fines if you decide on a not so honorable path in life, building not only ships, but businesses. There is so much depth here. You can play Patrician 2 via the internet, and there are contest game(s) available at web sites. These web sites also have actives forums which contain valuable information. I salute Strategy First for bringing this game to the U.S. market. There is a sequel called, what else, Patrician 3. I look forward to Strategy First or some other publisher bringing this game to the U.S.
Rating: Summary: A must have!! Review: After several years being a video gamer finally I've found this incredibly addictive game. Patrician II definitively isn't like other action games that last just the weekend. Long term playing without boring, trade and fight for power and glory. Excellent graphics and music score; what a simulation!! I'm waiting for the next releases from ASCARON SOFTWARE: Patrician III and Port Royale, also based in the old trading ages and piracy. Hunt or be hunted...
Rating: Summary: Hanseatic League Trading Simulation Review: Complex markets, realistic trading, town development, personal advancement, etc., this game has it all. Patrician II incorporates an interesting time period where growth in trade and city development was pinnacle for Northern Europe. Running your own business in a medieval situation gives a new found respect for the hardships these entrepreneurial souls endured while carving out their markets. Patrician II has excellent graphics; it sets a feel to the game that makes it very enjoyable. The game-play is fantastic; there are tons of options to adjust to your speed or difficulty level. The multiplayer works flawlessly and the game appears to have been tested quite efficiently. No patches were necessary, and bugs and crashing are non existent. Strategy First is definitely making a name for itself for delivering stable working games, with impeccable historical accuracy and interesting environments and time periods very few game manufacturers explore.
Rating: Summary: Split down the middle...no end in sight Review: Great starting and lots of fun up until you have so many ships and need to set up auto-trading... wow! what a pain in the [rear]!!! It took me over a half hour of repetitive manual entries to set up only ONE ship for auto-trading. Multiply that by 20 or 30 trading ships... OR you could do each one manually from port to port while you try to explore out into the atlantic and into the medeterainan for unknown ports. Then I never did reach the end of the game... I had offices in every town, millions of gold, a hundred pirates working for me, hundreds of trading ships and fleets. Was elected to the highest office. Where is the end? I never found it.
Rating: Summary: Patrician II - CD Rom Review: Hello Out There: If you have a job and work for a living this game is not for you. It has many qualities-realistic scenes, authentic schemes,interesting intrigues, many fun things-but you will spend the rest of your life catching on to any undergoing themes which could facilitate and make your playing the game, fun. For some it can be a "highly" challenging game. I'm not sure who they are. The game is intricately thought out and without a doubt, a jewel, if you can learn to memorize pages of information and critiquing before attempting the game. Have fun!
Rating: Summary: Be Advised... Review: I love the game and I generally agree with the positive reviews of Patrician II. HOWEVER, please be advised: This is not a game that you just pop into your CD drive for a casual 20-30 minutes of play. It requires a lot of micromanagement, patience, and frankly, can be quite sloooow for quite a long time. We fanatics tend to forget that not everyone is inclined to spend hours on what may feel more like a history lesson on a relatively (for most people) obscure trading league in order to become a successful merchant. You've been warned.
Rating: Summary: Oh what a joy! Review: Let me just say, this is one of the best games I have ever played! I have played them all (simulations that is) and this one allows multi-players to use the same machine and play on a turn-based setting. It is overwhelmingly enjoyable, addictive, and FUN! A friend and I have been playing together on the same machine for some time now. Although you lose some features with the turn-based option, it is still well worth it. Most developers cannot understand the importance of a multi-player option within a game. This one is a must have for all PC game lovers.
Rating: Summary: Better then the first, enjoyible to a point Review: Many years ago, I ran across the first installment and said, this idea was good, but something was missing. Well, they must have heard me over in Germany. The reminds me in many ways of Pirates, (Yes, I am old enough to remember that game). Sailing the North and Baltic Seas in order to gain a high rank among the trading towns of the north. The graphics are fairly good and the detail is ok, the manual has a few words they forgot to translate from German. You can marry and ship and hunt pirates, or be one yourself. You have your choice of 8 cities to start from. The micromanagement is the only real distractor from this game. When one gets many ships, it becomes very hard to manage the ships and if you are mayor of a town, the stress level increases. But if you are like and remember the good old days of Pirates!, this game is for you. It is worth the money!!!!
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