It sounds like there was some networking shit early on that plagued early adopters, but Windrose - part of a genre we attempt to name in the strip - is something I'd already played a bit during one of Steam's various "Fests." These fests are getting more and more baroque, more obscure, and a fest for fests ("Fest Fest") cannot be far behind.
Even before Early Access, it already felt like a videogame in its larval demo form. I never wondered what it wanted me to do for a second and I had a good time learning how it wanted me to navigate what has become by now a fairly well-trodden genre. Trodden enough for me to bounce off them pretty fast, because they often have enough MMO derived busywork to cause a klaxon to sound somewhere in my brain. Except it looked too good. And the combat was hard. Too hard? I dunno. They let you dodge and block, and if you don't dodge and block, you will be taught very quickly even by lowly jungle birds that they are the main character.
The only reason I stopped playing was to wait for the game to become a Real Boy, and because even though I was having fun solo - quite a feat in that genre, at least for me - obviously if you are playing a pirate game you have to have hearties and shit! It's gotta be a crew situation. I saw a little sea shanty part in the UI, but it was greyed out. I don't know how they work in game at all. But I've invented a completely made up way for them to work, and that's what I think about when I'm going to sleep.
(CW)TB out.
