Binding: CD-ROM Brand: Encore EAN: 0705381283010 ESRB Age Rating: Everyone 10+ Format: CD-ROM Label: Encore Software Manufacturer: Encore Software Model: 705381283010 Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Encore Software Release Date: October 14, 2003 Sales Rank: 9050 Studio: Encore Software
Features:
The 3rd installment of the classic real-time city-building simulation
Destroy hidden pirate lairs, build new towns and establish new trade routes
Astutely trade the surplus from one region to those in need
Product Description: Patrician III is a real-time trading simulation featuring elements of construction and the historical background of maritime trade in Northern Europe during the 1300's. Will you succeed in your career, starting as a small trader and rising to an influential Patrician? Will your fame help you rise to governor, or leader of the Hanse?
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Sequel Galore
Yet another sequel to the original and original part 2....nothing much new in the game really....updated graphics some items newer but really its not a very new invention...
Is it good? Yeah. Its ok...Would be great if they could do more...more in depth stuff....but overall its ok.
I am defintely looking forward to a new generation of these games that will leave the sequel junkies in the dirt....just need to find a company willing to use some fresh new ideas rather than hashing up old games and updating them to repackage them as "Newly Created"
Rating: - Excellent empire builder
I actually bought Patrician 3 about a year after I looked it up on the internet. As a fan of strategy games I suppose I was looking for something new to add to my collection. I found it largely by accident while surfing Amazon, did a bit of research on the internet about it. Just reading about it though didn't really inspire me to buy it. The screenshots didn't look impressive; the graphics looked too similar to the endless slew of mediocre isometric strategy games of the late 1990s, and the subject....build a trade empire in late 14th century Northern Europe. Uh, didn't exactly sound riveting.
But about a year later I decided to get it anyway out of curiosity amid a large games buying spree. First impresssions were promising, it had a colourful paper map of Northern Europe included and the manual was attractively presented. Gameplay itself was a bit slow at start....buy some beer at London, sell to Cologne, buy wine at Cologne, sell to London...hey, I made a small profit! It became addictive. I used to play a game called space trading game Elite in the late 1980s, Patrician 3 started to awake those dormant feelings of satisfaction in seeing your profits increase.
Later I began to appreciate the attractive and atmospheric way the game was presented. The soundtrack is excellent (albeit probably more Rennaisance than late medieval soundtrack) and the graphics have touches here and there to invoke a 14th century atmosphere.
But this is more than simply a trading game. Piracy is a large part of the gameplay, whether equipping your ships to ward off attacks of pirates, joining or forming your own convoys, or even deciding on a clandestine career as a pirate yourself. As you increase in wealth, you'll find many more options are available to you- getting involved in politics, diplomacy and intrigue are all available once your trading empire expands. "Side missions" such as hunting pirates, treasure maps and smuggling are also available at points.
I honestly find it difficult to find fault with this game, except perhaps that once you have a large empire it can get quite difficult to keep track of everything! It can be hard to remember that you've told your brewery to stockpile in the warehouse Bremen, while you've forgotten that you're still selling meat in Edinburgh when you should be stockpiling for the upcoming festival. It is possible to automanage to an extent by hiring AI controlled employees, but nevertheless you sometimes feel that you're juggling too many plates. But that is all part of a good management game.
If you enjoy management/ empire building games of the Ceasar 3 variety then this is a title I can recommend with no hesitation, although it's probably more biased towards trading than city building. One of the most pleasant gaming surprises I've had in years.
Rating: - Hard to find better!
Maybe not the best graphics ever, but certainly smart and realistic. May keep you interested up to the rest of you life.
For no doubts I'd recommend this RTS game for any age, along with another game from same vendor (Ascaron) - "Port Royale 2" (this one has really beautiful graphics, but require relatively powerful videocard to show all effects).
These 2 games are really outstanding comparing to all other RTS games I've tested.
Cannot say more. Just excellent...
Rating: - Empire Building at its Best
Of course, the empire is one financial in nature but the results are the same. I started with Patrician II then went to Patrician III.
The Patrician World is circa 1400 and you start out as a poor trader with little wealth. You begin trading and work to build a business Empire Spanning the 20 towns the game starts with and ending up building two more.
I like the trade, the accumulation of wealth. Once you get going you are able to build your own businesses which enable you to make more of a profit.
There's a couple things that make this superior over P-II and that is:
1. You get to save your trade routes. For those of us who like to replay the game, you still have your money making routes from the game before.
2. Auto repair. Captains will automatically put into dock and repair your convoys. And let me tell you, when you are several game years into the game and you have dozens of various convoys, this feature is invaluabe.
3. Pirate hideouts. YOu get to find and desroy pirate hideouts and capturing ships to add to your fleet.
There are several more but those are the best.
This game takes an unbelievable amount of time, you can't just sit down and be done in an hour, day or week. This sucker takes months to finish. In fact, you probably could play indefinitely.
You can turn pirate. My favorite ploy is to capture every other ship in the world and make them mine. Of course if you are caught there are hefty fines you must pay, but bribery in the right places will take care of most of it.
Ship battles, trade, pirates, storms, and lots of gold make this a great game.
Rating: - Strange Topic, Fun Game
Who knew that being a member of the Hanseatic League would make for a fun game? Anyone who figured out that zoning can be fun (SimCity), or pretending to have a real life can be fun (The Sims) knows that the topic can be unusual if the gameplay is there. In fact, games that aren't clones of other games are a welcome sight. Patrician 3 is a fun game on a topic few would expect to see in a game.
This is a trading sim. You start in Luebeck in 1345, with one ship, and build an empire. You buy more ships, set up trade routes, build manufacturing facilities, and try to keep the people of your hometown supplied with all of their wants and needs. Patrician 3 is probably most like Machiavelli: the Prince (AKA Merchant Prince).
The graphics are fine, once you recognize that their purpose is to present information. There's a map of the North Sea, and a map for each town. The battle graphics are serviceable, but don't look for 3-D like Pirates of the Carribean, there is an overhead map with icons.
Gameplay is what Patrician 3 offers. As one reviewer said, this is an oddly compelling game. If you like the genre, this is a "one-more-turn" experience on the order of Civ 3, though Patrician 3 does not have the replayability that Civ does. You can shuffle what cities are good at, and there is a campaign game, but each successive Patrician 3 game tends to be too similar to be playing it week after week. Nonetheless, you'll have plenty of fun before you tire of it, and you'll come back to it months later unlike so many other games.
Beware, however, that Patrician 3 is not supported on many laptops. I installed and ran the game fine, but when I tried to play again I could not initialize the graphics. Ascaron is very clear that they do not support laptops because of the limited graphics "cards" these typically have.
There are not too many changes from Partician 2, but this is a fine game for any new player who likes trade-and-build games, and any Patrician 2 fan who doesn't need a major overhaul to justify upgrading.
- Sequel Galore
- Excellent empire builder
