Captain Soc-wash - Pirating ho!

That's the part Debs doesn't like, she thinks it's too blocky and isn't good enough. She's silly and always undersells her talent.

I got a hat too! I feel unworthy, all I did was post the tweet and help her recover as best as I could (when she made the bulk of the blanket, she had COVID). But hey!

That blanket is awesome.

Anyone doing the current mystery? I'm dabbling where I can and trying to add to the conversation, but the outside game elements are clearly engineered to the hardest of hardcore community and those who have access to software like Photoshop, desktop PCs where high definition images can be scrutinised, etc. It's a bit against the inclusivity that SoT always strives for, so it's a bit annoying. Never mind that I'm not smart enough to solve most of it, that's not the point…

I am enjoying it though. No point expecting to have a chance to win those prizes, but the in-game voyages the clues lead to are fun, since it still requires some mental agility. It's like a riddle quest, but across large areas of the sea and using your eyes to see stuff that isn't described in detail. It's nice. The code for the second quest was deciphered today, so we're setting off on that voyage shortly…

I was a bit annoyed with this second part, since the What3Words bit just seemed to require brute-forcing it, which isn't particularly clever. Then the actual clever bit which followed was deciphered while I was asleep.

Yeah, that's another thing: clearly, it's geared towards people for whom sleep isn't a thing. The code was uncovered at about 2.30am… I'm an old man, I need my snoozes.

I expect a lot less community cooperation in the final stage…

I expect a lot less community cooperation in the final stage…

It's going to be an absolute shitshow, which will be hilarious because it's only by working together that everyone's solving this stuff. I fully expect complaints and all manner of backstabbery as some fucker gets the win after someone else does all the work.

Going to guess that the first person to work it out isn't going to let on. I know I wouldn't.

Looks like there's finally a new perk on the Game Pass app for SoT and it's an Obsidian set including the sails! This and the hull are the only thing I need to complete the Obsidian set (which is now no longer available), so that's great. I was lucky enough to score the super-rare Capstan, so I guess I need a flex boat soon.

You need Ultimate for those, don't you? I'm only on basic PC Game Pass, and honestly I'm even considering dropping that; I just don't play enough to make it worth even the meagre time investment it takes to maintain via Microsoft Rewards…

I dunno… I've never had anything but Ultimate. Hmm.

Yeah, checked the app - Ultimate required. I've never been one for a coherent look in these things, anywway, mind. I don't think any two parts of my ship (or my pirate's outfit) are from the same set.

Kind of the same here, especially my pirate - I've picked parts I like rather than having them match, and now I look like an East India Trading Company arsehole scouring the seas for pirates to blast.

I can't resist a full Obsidian boat though. It's just too much of a flex.

No matter what else my pirate wears, I will never change my Locked-Up Gloves. I have the Gold Hoarder's jacket and the Pirate Lord's hat, and I think the belt and trousers are from past seasons but I forget which ones. Boots are the gold (Regal?) Sovereign ones.

Our brig, Lady Dwayne, runs with the collector's Kameo figurehead, Gilded Phoenix hull (a twitch drop, I think?), the rainbow Viva Pinata flare (from Amazon Prime a couple of years ago), and the beta Vanguard sails. The rest is just shop stuff that vaguely fits the colour scheme.

They added rings in the last season - they're basically gloves, but you can't tell because they look like rings. I'll never take them off. Also, the blue hat stays because it's a thing not a lot of folks have (again, total flex).

Boat-wise, I just mix and match to make something good. My main sloop, the Catalina Grog Mixer (because wine is a banned word for some reason!) has a mix of red, brown and gold things topped off with the sails you can only get from the SoT tabletop role-playing book. I have another called The Mystery Machine that's coloured like Scooby Doo's van. And then there's the John Sea Riley, but it doesn't get much use because it's a galleon and fuck using those unless I have to.

I liked the idea of the rings, but I just missed the manacles too much.

So I had a dabble on this on Cloud gaming last night, hadn't played since 2018 from the looks of it and so did the tutorial, as soon as the tutorial started I unlocked 8 achievements in a row before even pressing a button, all for presumably historic stuff. Was quite odd.

Okay, this mystery is getting stupid now. You can literally hear someone at Rare screaming FOR FUCK SAKE, SOLVE IT, LOOK, HERE every time they post a tweet trying to poke folks in the right direction. Guess the community isn't as smart as the devs thought they were.

That isn't to say I'm not enjoying the whole thing in an eatingpopcorn.gif way. But considering the first mystery wasn't solved properly after people data-mined the answers and this one is sitting unsolved after a week… well. Maybe try putting the effort into creating new actual in-game content, eh?

MONKEY ISLAND DAY.

And on my birthday too, what a lovely thing. Going to leave it a bit, since the update only went live a while ago and it'll probably be chock full of people making the servers die, but I'll definitely be playing by the end of tomorrow.

Well, that was fun.

Does it save if you leave midway through? I remember downloading the game to play the he Pirates of the Carribbean mission, leaving about an hour in and losing all my progress.

It does checkpoint at certain places - there are at least two in this Tall Tale, with a big banner on the screen to let you know when it's done it. We actually had to abandon and restart last night because one of the puzzles bugged out (I think two of us tried to do things simultaneously, and the game just didn't know which bit it was at).

It's very good, though. I only really have a passing familiarity with Monkey Island*, but my wife and her sister are both BIG fans, and spent the best part of two hours just geeking out about basically everything.

*I finished the first game, once, when the Special Edition came out. I also got maybe half an hour into the second late last year, before getting distracted by other things, but I keep meaning to go back to the series - I somehow ended up with all of them (even the Telltale "Tales from…" series) through either Epic Game Store or Amazon Prime giveaways.

We actually had to abandon and restart last night because one of the puzzles bugged out (I think two of us tried to do things simultaneously, and the game just didn't know which bit it was at).

We thought we'd broken it when we got to the part where you need to head to the mansion, because the guard wouldn't move so we climbed over the wall and bypassed him. Thing is, that's not how you do it and we couldn't enter the mansion OR return to the town through the gate he was blocking. Thankfully, you could just swim for it and get back, but I did worry for a bit…

Ha, yeah, I managed to hop over that, too, but fortunately my crewmates had just finished Spoiler - click to showassembling Murrayso I didn't have to wait too long.

We spent 30 minutes looking for his right arm. No clues where it was, no reason for it to be where it was, and Murray had previously talked about Guybrush stealing his arm (so we assumed it was in the mansion). Stupid game.

Ah; we stumbled on most of the stuff we needed before we needed it on account of my crewmates just running everywhere all the time.

The one thing we (well, my partner) did spot was that the memoir spots all had inkwells next to them, so they were easy to find. I was just walking up to everything, looking for the 'Take a seat' prompt.

I'm guessing no-one here bothered with the Skull & Bones closed beta this weekend. I watched someone playing it on stream yesterday and it looks like the most Ubisoft game that ever gamed… you can take from that what you like, depending on your mileage. A map covered in icons, waymarkers that show distance to a target, health bars and damage numbers, enemies that are veritable bullet sponges, crosshairs that you just put over a target to guarantee a hit, exploding boats (like, EVERY boat explodes despite being made of wood), 'Press F to disembark' and cut scenes (or just black transitions) when you get off your boat, etc etc. The boats steer like remote control bath toys, unless they're boss boats in which case they can go pretty much where they like and turn on a dime. It's just so… gamey.

Definitely not for me. Seeing some streamers who've tired of SoT saying this is amazing and the next big thing confuse me because it's so different - the genre is the only similarity. Fine if that's what they want, but I won't be partaking.

Didn't know there was a beta. Not overly fussed about this from what I've seen, though.

Seeing some streamers who've tired of SoT saying this is amazing and the next big thing confuse me because it's so different

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I wish that was the case. There's one guy specifically (won't name him) who's so overly critical of SoT for various reasons, but yet is singing the praises of this like mad. Then again, he just became a Hunt Showdown partner and that's such a dull of ditchwater FPS, so maybe his opinion isn't worth the effort.

I had forgotten that was even still coming out. I did get the Switch Collection pack thing for Black Flag and Rogue at the start of the month and then have actually forgotten about it, leaving it in my inside coat for about 3 weeks untill Monday. Oddly I was prompted about it as my little one put the Muppets Treasure island on!

I'm excited about Safer Seas today. Finally, I can finish my fishing commendations in peace.

I gave the Skull & Bones closed beta a go today. I lasted two hours (of the permitted six) before I closed and deleted it. Absolutely not for me.

It's such a… well, a game. A Ubisoft game at that. All menus and cutscenes and places packed with tonnes of detail where you can actually do very little. Maps covered in icons, floating compass markers showing you the way, UI everywhere and people with massive names floating over their heads that block your view from miles away. Press Y to loot something out of the water without being near it, only for it to appear in another menu and make a gauge go up on your boat's overall weight. Sails that turn themselves. Waffling NPCs who ultimately just want you to go to location X and collect a certain amount of a certain item. Harvesting mini games that involve pressing a button when a line is in a green area. Combat that just involves putting a crosshair (!) over a target and pressing a button. Boats that manoeuvre like cars in water and enemy boats with massive health bars that goes down while the boat itself looks fine until it explodes (everything explodes, even when it's made of wood). Constant chat box intrusions that take up a quarter of the screen and endless group invites from strangers. It's so pretty (well, mostly, but it's still got that glossy sheen of oil slick on everything that screams GRAPHICS and all the characters look like mannequins with awful lip syncing) and yet so massively lifeless.

I'm sure it'll do well and I'm sure it'll be for someone, but I hate it so I'm out.

PS5, April 30th.

Yay, I can pressgang my inlaws at last!

Sea thieves, mainly aniki and Ninchilla: are you in guilds? We have a guild, but progress is soooo slow because we're only two people (we're at lv18). If you want in so we can all work together towards progress, just shout.

Me, Sarah, and her sister have a guild; creeping along at level 12 or so.

I haven't even managed ot save up enough gold to captain a sloop, so I am currently guild-less.

We're hoping to be able to recruit a couple more inlaws and friends once the game lands on PS5, but anyone is welcome!

My son has already told me he's not interested. So that's good.

How did the Safer Seas update pan out in the end? The little I played of Sea of Thieves I really enjoyed, but it was just a case of following my more experienced mates around as they charged about doing whatever it was they were doing. I'd quite like the opportunity to play at my own pace a bit, if it's actually a decent single-player experience.

Yeah, it's good - that's how I play with the kid, so we don't have to worry about other players starting anything. There's reduced rewards, but if you're just wanting to chill out and explore it's grand.

Safer Seas is really good if you want to experience all of the core game without the faff of people being… well, people. You don't get to be Reapers (of course, it's the PvP faction) or Athena (the post-game crew) but there's still absolutely shit loads to do, from all the story content which will take a while to complete, company quests, world events, general exploring and everything else. Best of all, you also now don't even need an online subscription to play that… you do have to be connected online, because of progress tracking, but you don't need XBG or PS+ now. So that's nice.

Always happy to jump on a boat if you fancy some company!

Ah (arrr), that sounds good. I think I just need a couple of hours working the game out at my own pace before jumping into multiplayer, especially with you seasoned sea dogs. If it's got story content that can be tackled solo then I can find my sea legs with that and then maybe jump in to the multiplayer side of things later on (I assume it's all the same character?)

It all carries over, yeah. And when I say I'm happy to play, we're talking all on the same ship. Sloops are doable solo, but work slightly better with two (there's still a lot to do on a boat!).

If you're looking for story, stick to the Tall Tales first - leave the Pirates of the Carriage and Monkey Island stuff until later.

If anyone is an Insider (and has a PS5, which I think might be more rare in these parts?), you can get the PS5 build now.

I sailed the Burning Blade the other day. What a shitshow that boat's going to be for small crews.

I've not been on Insiders in ages - for some reason my Steam version keeps throwing Lavenderbeard errors at me. Hoping the PS5 version lets me in.

I've just passed week 102 of Insiders Rewards, so I have all of the Silver Blade equipment and ship livery - time to move onto the Sapphire Blade set, which I don't like nearly as much.