Yikes.
That’s a shame. I loved he story but there are definitely some rough edges that could/should have been smoothed over wrt cinematic presentation imho. In that vein, it felt inconsistent as it has really high highs but also amateurish lows here and there. Some of those edges include stuff like the super awkward Jack vs Ocean Crawler fight on the front of the ship in TT #1 and repeated use of sailing into the sunset in multiple TT’s as their cinematic ending beat. TT #2 had some of the most incredible highs of the whole story arc wrt storytelling and immersion, but it was hindered by the bugs that halted their enjoyment anytime other crews were present. Other highs were the tie ins to SoT lore and existing characters which were used AMAZINGLY well.
The bugs in Chapter 2 was unimaginably bad at launch. Not just due to how broken it was to play, but how damn obvious it was that it didn’t get meaningfully tested at all (as a SoT Insider tester myself, I’ll confirm it was never tested at all with us). There are simple, obvious solns for side stepping the central issue in that TT causing the bugs too, which makes it even more frustrating as a fan of the game and Rare’s design. Tbf, they aren’t the ones who made that TT (outsourced) but they still signed off on it.
I agree with your criticisms wrt some of the new locales seemingly inviting exploration but not delivering. All islands and Outposts in the base game have this issue too. Yes, there are some small things to find but their world design is so good that it being mostly window dressing leaves players with an itch we can’t scratch. At least in the base game they leverage that world design in the rhyming riddle voyages for Gold Hoarder missions that have you looking at the surroundings, and they are used in other TT’s in the base game too. Shame they aren’t leaned into at all in Pirate’s Life though.
I think all things considered it is a good add on but I’m not sure how I’d feel about it had I played this first before the rest of the game. Some of the best moments are involving characters from the base SoT game and the Shores of Gold TT’s so those would miss the mark if players are new to the game for sure. I’m not sure how much of a criticism that is to me though, as the same can be said wrt the PotC universe I suppose. Both aspects are fan service experiences. It just sucks that ppl, even those who like the new PotC stuff, might not dig it enough to check out the Shores of God stuff or base game content.
To anyone who has somehow not tried the base game’s TT’s btw, as @Sikamikanico noted, it genuinely has some gaming’s most incredible moments (a bunch of them, imho) sprinkled all over the 9 voyages. If ya felt the gameplay wasn’t that interesting in Pirate’s Life, give the Shores of Gold voyages a go and I bet you’d be much more impressed.
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4.8mil ppl played SoT in June. Not bad since the update launched with just a week left in the month. 
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Really impressive stuff. They’ve added 5 million more players since March.
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Tomorrow it’s Sea of Thieves’ 4th anniversary. Time flies man.
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Happy Anniversary Sea of Thieves!
Ahoy me hearties! Climb aboard me olde ship and take a gander at only the best looking waters ye ever set your own eyes upon!
How’s about a little pirate history?
So. Port Royal. Everyone knows it as the city full of pirates. “Wickedest city on Earth” it’s also known as. Well, what happened to it? Can you still go there? Well you can, but there’s just one requirement it asks from you.
Imagine it’s a fine morning. You’re minding your own business doing whatever pirate things you do on pirate mornings. When suddenly you feel the ground begin to shake under you. On June 7th, 1962, Port Royal was hit by three huge earthquakes, and right afterwards it caused a tsumani to hit the town, devastating the whole city and all that lived in it. The soil that the buildings were sitting under was so soft that some of them even sank into the ground. As for the cementary, some of the bodies had literally “risen from their grave”, joining the newly dead that had just perished. One of them being Captain Henry Morgans himself.
Two thirds of the city had been submerged in water and dirt, and thousands of people lost their lives in the end. When news of the incident had gotten out to the masses, most people didn’t care. They were pirates for crying out loud! The world would be better off without them!
So going back to the question “Can you still go there?” You can. But it requires putting on a scuba suit, and taking a dive into the deep blue.
… I’ve been in a bit of a pirate mood lately and I just read about this, this morning and I wasn’t aware of SoT’s anniversary so I thought “why don’t I share” lol. They say you could still find some trinkets down there if you dig around but something I wanted to say in closing though. A lot of us think pirates are cool, myself included. And maybe it doesn’t need to be said but pirates were cruel, mean people. Im sure there were some that were like Robin Hood but for the most part they would take whatever they wanted from you, and if you didn’t cooperate then it might’ve meant death. Some of the more wealthy ones like Captain Morgan even owned slaves (though there were some crews that was said to treat PoC fairly).
Thanks for reading my little… Blog post thing lol. And dont forget to remember the pirate code when you’re on the Sea of Thieves!
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This is cool. And very well done.
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That’s really cool ! Well done, indeed !