I had been talking with Ophelea a good bit as of late, and Pirates of the Burning Sea came up as a topic. I had written the game off after trying the open beta, figuring I wouldn't play it. However, after the raving about it (and my burning desire to be a pirate), I decided to pick it up last week. I didn't have much time to play until now, though. I have to say, my first impressions are very positive, with one thing really jumping out at me -- the atmosphere that this game creates. Naturally, I wanted to be a pirate. So I created one. At first, I didn't do much beyond beating up a few guys on my ship. Nothing major. When I docked, though, the fun definitely started.

The town I anchored my boat at? It felt like a pirate town! The NPCs looked like pirates, I saw pirates walking around the town, everything. Especially interesting was the tavern and the multiple pirates I saw carting off women to places unknown. Too many games nowadays take these small touches for granted. Jumping into PotBS, though, definitely felt like it should. And for that, I am grateful -- this game would lose a lot of its appeal if you didn't actually feel like the pirate you are. Now, though, I'm going to have to check out all of the other nations and see if they have similar touches as the initial pirate town does.