Pleasantly surprised by Sea of Thieves?

These days I don't really play betas anymore, I just wait for the full release, but since I pre-ordered this game already, I saw the Closed Beta just pop up in my ready to Install list, figured I would try it just to see.

Wow, the game is a lot of fun. I was lucky enough to be with 3 people who knew what they were doing and explained things to me as we went along. I was surprised by the variety in the gameplay & all the attention to detail.....it all feels and works quite well. From dropping anchor, to emptying water from the lower decks, lighting all the lanterns at night....lots of cool little touches.

The game looks very nice on the X, especially the water, and it supports HDR too. The water looks real and the sound design is superb, you can hear all the creaking from the boat structure, the wind during the storm. I feel like the core of the game is very solid, and really all it needs is more polish and meat around the bones, lots of missions and content, has the potential to be really good. Now I'm really stoked for release. Curious if others have had their expectations surpassed after playing it. If you already pre-ordered, you may want to try it just for kicks.

@Alucard_Prime: Yeah I've only ever participated in one Beta, and swore I would never again.

As for SoT I can't see myself getting it unless it has some sort of SP, because I would never have to time I need to play with a crew of 4 on a consistent basis.

@i_p_daily: there is a solo player mode with a smaller boat, but you are online I believe, so you can get attacked by other crews/boats. It says this mode is for advanced players, haven't tried it yet.

I may have to do a little more research closer to the games release.

Good news, I may do the Game Pass thingy soon and SoT is one reason why and I'm pumped to give it a whirl.

Right, mechanically, aesthetically it's great. Content is what worries me.

We can only hope they are holding back and the full game will have plenty of content.

@SecretPolice: I read if you are registered in the SOT insider program and played the Alpha, you should have access to the beta, just an fyi as I remember you saying you played it before. Glad I tried the beta, really looking forward to it now

@i_p_daily: Yeah same here.

It's just such a shame there's no SP campaign... it looks like such a cool world that would've been amazing as kind of an AC: Black Flag type game. Real shame.

There is also Skull & Bones but that too looks like a MP game.

@hrt_rulz01: Hopefully they can add a single player campaign with a story later with DLC expansion, it might happen if there is enough demand and if the game is successful.

I would like that as well, I enjoy the solo campaigns in their other 1st party games, so hopefully they could do the same here if this becomes one of their big 1st party titles.

@i_p_daily: I rolled solo the first time and its doable but managing ship and map is tough, much easier with a crew of 2 or 4.

The solo ship is pretty quick so you can out-pace the 4 man crew ship.

I've seen plenty of the game through twitch, and it doesn't seem all that interesting to me.

Its not a game I would buy but I hope you guys are enjoying the beta

@BigBadBully:

Coolness, going solo is likely the first thing I'll try so it's good to know the small ship has speed on it's side. Run Forrest, run. lol

@SecretPolice: Yes, and when your good at sailing you can sneak in via blind spots on 4 man crew ships. Also, a tactic i saw when playing with my 4 man crew. Leave someone on ur ship. My whole crew was looking for chests on an island, was returning a chest and solo guy sailed up and was stealing our chests from a previous hunt.

Just the annoying part of going solo is leaving the wheel, checkin the map to make sure ur on point and setting the sails. And some of the chests you get, well you'll have some fun with some specific chests to deal with.

@SecretPolice: Saw this in my Twitter feed just now, servers are currently at max capacity due to "unprecedented demand" :

Due to unprecedented demand to get into the #SeaOfThieves Closed Beta our servers are currently full. If you're try… https://t.co/aNMbSLPATX

Sea of Thieves looks cool.,might give it a go if there are enough online support. Until then I will wait a while,also got a large backlog of X1 games to play,so I am in no rush.

It just seems impossible with just one player, how would you steer, shoot, fix the ship, fight off people jumping onboard etc all at the same time? It just seems like an exercise in frustration playing as a crew of one :(

@Alucard_Prime:

That's the great news my friend especially for what the haters in SW just knows is a sales flop. lol

Also, the Gamepass thing was brilliant timing for SoT, me thinks it will really surprise many who wouldn't have ever tried it with out GP.

@i_p_daily: Yeah, you dont want to fight other larger crews and avoid ship combat if ur going solo. Playing a bit more, i found there is a musical cue when you steer that'll set you on a straight course, so you can leave the wheel and do other things.

However going solo, you can do sneaky stuff. See a 4 man ship docked at an island. Sneak up , board the ship, see if they have any chests to steal (most likely the crew is all on the island searching for a treasure). If you have a gun powder barrel, sneak in take it to the hull of their ship n blow it up(or better they have one already on their ship).

You can have a lot of fun whether solo or with a crew.

I have been on the fence about this game since I have first heard of it, but I have only heard good things from the beta and Inside Program.

Saweeetness... I'm really liking the sound of trying the small ship all alone on the big blue. . :D

Found this video, some nice relaxing scenes, love the night stuff that start around 2:00. Graphics and sound design in this game are very cool I found(edit: some footage could be from the PC version too)

@Alucard_Prime:

Lovely... I'm a boater in real life and spend a lot of time by, in and on the water. I thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of that. Good stuff.

SoT alone makes me buying GamePass a steal. :D