So I picked up Pirates of the Burning Sea yesterday. I installed and played it for a few hours last night.

More after the jump.

• Patching took, around 3 hours. I have no idea how much data came down the pipe, or at what speed, but 3 hours was a bit excessive for a game that just came out. I blame Sony more than anything else.
• Avatar customization is neat. You can choose from a decent number of different faces, clothing, etc. At the moment you can also change your appearance at any time.
• The dialog for the missions are well done, and they did a real good job trying to transport you to the 1720's.
• Ship combat is FUN! Better than EVE in my opinion.
• That said, the swashbuckling needs work. It feels like an afterthought, especially compared to the ship combat. It's like being a cross between a warrior and a rogue, with cooldowns on all your abilities.
• I don't particularly like running around in town that much. The ambiance is great and all, but movement is a little restrictive (I can't jump off a ledge, or heck even jump). Ironically I get a little nauseated moving in town (but not in sea, go figure), could be something to do with the graphics setting.
• At the moment, it feels like a single player game. The world is devoid of any players. I think I saw 1 the entire time I was there. This is fine by me, I'm playing on a low-pop server, and I'm really behind the level curve.

All in all, I like the game, if just for the ship combat parts. I haven't touched anything on the economy or PVP (can't with the ship I'm in anyhow). I find myself rushing through the avatar sections (town and melee combat) just to get to the ship parts. This may be a side affect of my personality though, I do prefer abstract ship combat to melee stuff.

Well anyhow, I'm Kriss Pinguin, French, on the Bonny server.