Rating: 
Summary: Simply Awesome
Review: P2 was a great, original idea to begin with (how many other 14th century Baltic Sea trading sims can you name?), and I love what they did with this one. Anyone who likes the thought of starting small and rising the ranks will love this game.The money model is tough enough to be challenging (and realistic), but not so much as to be impossible or unpredictable. At first you can't help but just make single trips to nearby towns and build houses to rent in order to make money, but soon you can build your own industries and run your own towns. I won't go into all the good parts of the game since others have done that well; I will just name a few drawbacks: - The game's interest tapers off as you get richer and richer, because you can never stop planning and making all the shipping runs that you did as a lowly shopkeeper (there is no turning it over to a middle manager), so you always have to be bogged down in the details as you move on to other things. - I still haven't sucessfully survived a land seige, even after maxing the number of my town and wall guards and building all the towers possible. Since there is no controlling how they fight (you aren't a military commander in this game), how do I protect my people? - The sea battles are awesome, but your opponent can easily evade you if he has a faster ship. If your ship is suped up with weapons to fight with, though, you probably aren't very fast. So it is hard to search and destroy with a heavy force. - Each town only has a few commodities that you can make economically. You can make some others, but the costs of production are high and you won't make a profit. Those are only minor problems after dozens of hours of gameplay, though, so don't let them hold you back. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Better Than Most Trading Simulators
Review: Patrician 2 is a trading simulation that takes place during the Hanseatic League's height in the 14th century. The Hanseatic League was an organization of northern European cities that pulled together for protection and to standarize certain aspects of trade that would improve an individual's ability to determine if he was getting a good deal or not. The league facilitated the easier flow of goods between cities. In Patrician 2 you start out as a lowly merchant and seek to rise to the rank of patrician by making lots of money and generally making yourself a well-liked fellow. You compete against many other merchants who are vying for the same rights and priviliges as yourself. Of course, Patrician 2, like most other trading simulators, is a game better played against onself than the other players. The reason why Patrician 2 is better than many other games in its genre is that there is no end to the ways that you can compete against yourself. Not only do you have the goal of just obtaining as much money as you can, you also have the added goals of gaining the people's good will and political power. You can become a town councilor, mayor, or even head of the entire Hanseatic League. There are of course obstacles you must overcome to obtain your goals. The most trying one being piracy. Pirates have a habit of popping up at the most inopportune time and plundering your ships of some very [costly] goods. There is also the problem you face of arming your sailors with swords and the fact that you have to meet with some very unsavory characters to do so. You often get caught and have to pay a fine for consorting with such folks. I have been playing Patrician 2 since Christmas and, so far, I haven't become bored with it. It's certainly not in the addictive category; but, it is a game that will provide you with a time warp every now and then where you wonder what happened to the last three hours.
Rating:
Summary: Better Than Most Trading Simulators
Review: Patrician 2 is a trading simulation that takes place during the Hanseatic League's height in the 14th century. The Hanseatic League was an organization of northern European cities that pulled together for protection and to standarize certain aspects of trade that would improve an individual's ability to determine if he was getting a good deal or not. The league facilitated the easier flow of goods between cities. In Patrician 2 you start out as a lowly merchant and seek to rise to the rank of patrician by making lots of money and generally making yourself a well-liked fellow. You compete against many other merchants who are vying for the same rights and priviliges as yourself. Of course, Patrician 2, like most other trading simulators, is a game better played against onself than the other players. The reason why Patrician 2 is better than many other games in its genre is that there is no end to the ways that you can compete against yourself. Not only do you have the goal of just obtaining as much money as you can, you also have the added goals of gaining the people's good will and political power. You can become a town councilor, mayor, or even head of the entire Hanseatic League. There are of course obstacles you must overcome to obtain your goals. The most trying one being piracy. Pirates have a habit of popping up at the most inopportune time and plundering your ships of some very [costly] goods. There is also the problem you face of arming your sailors with swords and the fact that you have to meet with some very unsavory characters to do so. You often get caught and have to pay a fine for consorting with such folks. I have been playing Patrician 2 since Christmas and, so far, I haven't become bored with it. It's certainly not in the addictive category; but, it is a game that will provide you with a time warp every now and then where you wonder what happened to the last three hours.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent work by Ascaron
Review: Patrician 2 is a unique game allows the player to try several avenues to attain different goals in the game. Wonderful graphics and intriguing gameplay make this game First on my list of Strategy Games of the last 5 years. Ascaron, the developers, Have come out with a new game called Patrician 3. It's the much anticipated game based on the same scenario but with new events, better graphics, more realistic natural and A.I. characteristics. The game is especially exciting as multiplayer. Patrician 3, now available in Europe, awaits an American publisher to ship in the States and Canada. I want this for X-Mas!
Rating:
Summary: a deep and thoughtful strategy game: BUY THIS!
Review: Patrician 2 is an excellent game. If you like a good PC strategy game, then you will be sucked into this one for untold numbers of hours. The buying and selling has a most addictive feel to it. I haven't had so much fun buying, producing, selling, and trying to make supply and demand work for me while beating out the competition since M.U.L.E.! Very open gameplay is the rule as well. The match objectives can be achieved by any number of possible actions.
Rating:
Summary: From a Hard Core Strategy Gamer
Review: Patrician II is by far the best strategy game I've ever played and I've been playing for many years! There's much more to this game than meets the eye, as I've discovered over the last nine months that I've owned the game. Trade is just the tip of the iceberg. The gamer can put himself in the shoes of Andrew Carnegie by building up the Iron Goods industry or Richard Arkwright by building Weaving Mills. (I prefer both!) You can expand your trade empire by becoming a renowned explorer of the Mediterranean and even beat Columbus to America! And then there's the Dark Side, Piracy! You can steal ships and cargo from your AI opponent, sink them to the bottom of the sea and even take your wrath out on the AI Pirates. You can venture into the arena of politics and become Fleet Master of the Hanse. You can become the next Jakob Fugger or Nathan Rothschild by loaning out money to other AI traders. There are many, many aspects to this long play strategy game. I've had two different games that have both lasted over a month! For those of you who enjoy "Empire Building" games, I highly recommend this one. There's nothing else out there like it, I promise you! (Robber Baron)
Rating:
Summary: A thinking ,not a shooting Game.
Review: Quite a change from the point and shoot,"market to kids", attitude in Game design.This requires Memory,Skill and Luck.
Rating:
Summary: Addictive!
Review: The player begins as a small trader in one of the cities of the Hanseatic League and tries to build up a trade empire. The starting point is up to you: choose comfortable trading from a home town centrally located and rich in resources or try to make a fortune based in a town that is remote, under-supplied and surrounded by pirate-infested waters. There are 20 different goods to trade with. The market operates according to supply and demand and you will have to find out where to buy cheaply and sell dearly. So if you sell fifty barrels of wine the last will bring you a good deal less money than the first, always provided you get to that city in the first place before your competitors flood the market with cheap plonk! No town produces all goods the people need, so at first you'll have to travel quite a lot to buy whatever your town requires. Later on, as the population figures are rising, you will have to establish trading posts in other cities and produce goods yourself to ensure a steady supply. In addition you can open up trade routes to the Mediterranean Sea or even to the New World. It's anachronistic but immensely rewarding when the 'discovery' video comes up and your fame and popularity ratings go up steeply. Only a happy, impressed and well-fed population will elect you mayor and perhaps even Head of the Hanseatic League. The trade setup is well balanced between realism and playability. It's almost impossible to get rich quick as you cannot confine yourself to trading in luxury goods. The poor are the majority of the population and you need to provide low-profit food staples like grain, beer and fish for them, as well as things like furs, wine and cloth for the rich. The game remains interesting once you do have a lot of money and property because then you will also have plenty of expenses (taxes, wages etc) and the task of running your huge empire in the face of threats like disease, fire, sieges, blockades or pirates. Your ships will suffer from wear and tear on journeys and your sailors might start a mutiny if they don't get regular leave. Many routine tasks can be automatized but the overall strategy and any adjustments are your own decision. The real beauty of the game is that within the parameters you have a lot of choice: for instance, it's a given that you will need more and more ships as your business expands. However, it's up to you how you get them: if you are a respectable trader you will have them built in your home town's dockyard. This creates employment, wealth and happiness among the people. If you are a more daring character you will invest in a fast ship, an able captain and a couple of cannons to capture pirate ships and incorporate them into your own fleet. This will boost your reputation as a person not to mess with. And if you happen to be a thoroughly bad egg you will use said armed ship to rob your competitors's ships and goods. This is probably the most lucrative option, but if you're caught you will have to pay a large fine and also write off election for office as well as any prospects of a rich marriage for the foreseeable future. Random events, entertaining sub-plots and 'just-for-fun' details make this a game that keeps you interested for hours on end. The music deserves a mention, too: very pleasant and atmospheric. There are a couple of campaigns, I myself prefer the open-ended game, though. Having played the original German version for over a year I understand from other players (I haven't got there yet ;) ) that the logistical limits for feeding, clothing and housing the entire Hanseatic League all on your own are reached at a population count of about 680.000. This should be enough for anybody's aspirations! This is not a game for instant results and you might have to do a couple of trial runs to find the strategy that suits you best. After that you can have almost endless fun with a superb and challenging game.
Rating: 
Summary: Split down the middle...no end in sight
Review: This is one of the most mentally challenging games I have played, the best trading sim I have yet come across. It is about as far from the shoot-em-ups that seem to dominate the market these days. The money and recognition doesn't just come flowing in after a couple of hours; you need to do some real planning and have some good management skills if you want your trading empire to be a success. Get ready to watch the hours fly by, once you get the hang of the game. The historical detail and graphics are extremely nice. Aesthetically, this game is a real treat to look at. If you enjoy history, and you need a game that requires some brain power rather than a quick trigger finger, then this game should be considered, at least until Patrician III is finally released into the American market.
Rating:
Summary: Totally addictive and engrossing
Review: This is one of the most mentally challenging games I have played, the best trading sim I have yet come across. It is about as far from the shoot-em-ups that seem to dominate the market these days. The money and recognition doesn't just come flowing in after a couple of hours; you need to do some real planning and have some good management skills if you want your trading empire to be a success. Get ready to watch the hours fly by, once you get the hang of the game. The historical detail and graphics are extremely nice. Aesthetically, this game is a real treat to look at. If you enjoy history, and you need a game that requires some brain power rather than a quick trigger finger, then this game should be considered, at least until Patrician III is finally released into the American market.
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