A’vast ye land lubber! I’ve written in previous articles that my love of Pirates is as deep as the ocean. I even have a jolly Roger tattoo on my arm. I dealt in real “anti-privacy” when I worked for the Walt Disney company and I got that job because I was good at Internet piracy during the wild West of the 90s and early 2000s. I played assassin‘s Creed ‘Black Flag,’ but I wasn’t really overwhelmed by the sea battles, which to me, are the best part of pirate stories. Enter “Skull and Bones” a MMORPG by Ubisoft. S&B gives players the opportunity to create their very own captain to sail the Indian Ocean and take on merchants, privateers, and other pirates for riches and one step closer to building a pirate empire!
The main storyline involves the players captain assisting a pirate Lord, by the name of John Scurlock in the Port of Sainte Anne, fight against Royal suppression by government ships, rogue captains, other pirates and sailors. The Pirate adventure doesn’t stop there but takes the sailor across the Indian Ocean to the East Indies to establish trade routes and exploit small port towns and build the manufacturing of illegal wares for trade and sale.
Enemy sailors aren’t the only thing that a pirate has to worry about in skull and bones. There is a supernatural element to the game, the ghost of a Pirate wronged in life is taking out his revenge in the afterlife. He has summoned a variety of mythical Creatures to roam the seas and collect sailor souls. Players can call in on other pirates for help during these encounters because the creatures are powerful and usually way too much for one pirate to handle.
Players can create a unique look for their captains in Skull and Bones with lots of customization. Players can equip hats, eye patches or facemasks, shirts, belts, pants, boots, as well as tattoos. Players can customize the hair color and body shape of their captain and can change these details at any time by going to the costume shop located in major ports. Special costume items can be rewarded through quest lines, and by purchasing the smuggler Pass, which I will talk about a little bit later.
How many ships are there in Skull and Bones?
A pirate is only as good as their ship.
There are 10 different ships to choose from. Some of these ships, like the Snow, can be earned by completing story missions while others can be crafted by the local NPC shipwright in major ports for the cost of some supplies and silver.
Each ship has multiple weapons forward, aft, and starboard and port or the left and right to the nautically uninitiated. Some ships have an auxiliary weapon which sits in the middle of the ship and can shoot in any direction like a mortar or rocket launcher.
Ships can equip additional armor which add protection against different attacks, depending on the armor. Different armor can also protect against specific attacks like lightning strikes, fire, or being punctured.
Ships can also equip furniture which give additional boosts and stats to the player, like increased acceleration, decreased stamina, or faster projectile speed. Most ships have at least four while some others have five and more furniture lots can be added once the ship is upgraded. Ships can be upgraded 7 times. Each level grants additional stats and buffs.
Ships can be as unique as the captains that command them. The player can customize the ships sails, their color, the ships color and trimming. Captains can add a custom crows nest as well as a mast and figurehead, to strike more fear as the captain bears down on their target. A lot of these items can be earned by completing quests or by purchasing them in the smugglers pass.
What’s the combat like in Skull and Bones?
Combat is very similar to typical first-person shooters with the aiming and firing via a reticle. One thing to keep in mind is the movement of the targets. It takes a little practice to get good at hitting a target that’s bobbing up and down. Also, movement is a big part of naval combat. It can take a few seconds to get a ship up to full speed and can take a few seconds to slow and turn. All of these are factors to consider when in combat. When a captain defeats an enemy, they can loot their cargo for dropped items like repair and mending kits, weapons, armor, commodities that can be sold to NPC‘s for silver, as well as crafting items.
What are the quests like in Skull and Bones?
NPCs are an integral part of the player experience and quests in Skull and Bones. Different NPC‘s throughout the land sells different items that can be traded to other NPC’s for silver. These NPCs can also buy commodities that the captains are carrying. Most NPC’s have a limited number of items on them like repair and mending kits, so it is a good strategy to stock up whenever a player is running low on those items. When using food, mending, or repair kits the captain has to keep in mind that they all have a cool down timer, so knowing when to use an item is important.
Captain Scurlock, Admiral Rama, and William Blackwood are some of the major NPC’s that will give out the story quest missions. The two sisters Yanita and Houma Nara, handle the running of the black-market opium den and distillery businesses. These major NPC’s give quests as well as deeper story insight to the narrative. Players can also purchase unique weapons and blueprints from these characters.
The shipwright NPC helps the captain craft new ships as well as upgrade the base level of current ships up to level seven. Upgrading a ship can add additional stats to the hull, speed, or cargo weight as well as adding additional furniture slots.
The blacksmith NPC helps the captain craft new weapons and armor for their ship through recipes blueprints. They can also buy limited time weapons and armor. The blacksmith can also ascend weapons which improves their stats and gives a random attribute to the item. Once an item is ascended, it is bound to that character and cannot be traded to another player. players can also salvage unwanted items with the blacksmith to get back crafting materials that can be used later.
What is the Smuggler pass in Skull and Bones?
The Smuggler Pass in Skull and Bones is a limited time promotional event where players can earn additional cosmetic and game items to use by reaching different milestones. The smuggler pass is made up of 3 levels: quarter master, gunner master, ship master with 30 stages of unlocks in each. A Bonus award is given for reaching milestones while unlocking.
The player must purchase the smuggler pass for gold in order to be able to unlock all of the rewards given. If the player does not purchase the Smugglers pass, they will only get some of the rewards. The base Smugglers Pass is 1000 gold bars.
What is PVP like in Skull and Bones?
PVP is optional and takes part mostly in world events. Players have to enable PVP take part in open world combat. Open world PVP isn’t really the main focus of the game which is kind of refreshing because it allows the player to explore and run quests with little hindrance from toxic players. There are same events where PVP is enabled like a treasure hunt or hostile takeover where players fight it out to control a port. There isn’t much motivation or reward for taking part in PVP.
What are the in-game purchases like in Skull and Bones?
Gold is used to make in game purchases for exclusive cosmetic content. A person can spend $4.99 for 500 gold bars or $99.99 for 13,000 gold. Most high-end cosmetic items run for about 1500-2000 gold per with smugglers pass being 1000 gold for the base version.
Overall, I really do enjoy Skull and Bones. One of my most favorite features of the game is having your crew sing sea shanties as you sail through the ocean. The game has a lot of content and is very unpredictable when it comes to sailing the open waters. The intense experience of having a battle and then being Made aware that a rogue wave is coming right for you adds to the intensity and spontaneity that one can expect in having a naval battle in the 1700s. If you enjoy pirate lore or sailing naval combat games, then I highly recommend checking out Skull and Bones! See you on the high seas!
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