Think Microtransactions Are Bad? 2007's 'Tales of Pirates' Says Hi

Microtransactions. It is a common word among gamers now days. 

You buy your game, you jump into the online store, and instantly you notice things being sold for low dollar values, or in bundles for up to $100 or so. Typically these items give you some sort of boost in the game, or let you buy currency to unlock in game content, and it usually gives players an advantage (or locks them out of features many feel should be free). Then you have loot boxes which you'll drop real cash on in the hopes of getting something good out of. 

All of this is pretty standard in online based games, and it's what keeps most mobile games on the market alive. A lot of people hate them, and you often see complaints about how bad these can get. However, what if I told you that there are even worse games out there? Or the fact that this "trend" isn't actually something new?  

What if I told you one of my favorite games from the early 2000s was one of the worst culprits of all, and you'll rarely find one that is worse? 

Well, today I'm going to be talking about that game! It is one I spent many hours on during my high school years, and it was one of the first games I ever left to join a private server simply because of how bad it got. 

This is the story of Tales of Pirates.

What is Tales of Pirates:

Tales of Pirates was the US version of a game originally known as Pirate King's Online. It was hosted by Internet Gaming Gate (now I Got Games), and was advertised as a free to play Pirate based MMORPG. Me and some friends were able to get into the game's closed beta when it first came out, and at the time the concept of the "Item Mall" wasn't something we completely comprehended. We knew that once the game released a paid for feature would be implemented, but what it was and how it would work remained a mystery to us. So we went on playing our game and didn't think about what the future would hold.

The game itself was a classic styled top down 3D adventure game, where you used your mouse control your character's attacks and movements. Left clicking would send you running to that exact spot, but clicking and holding would activate a run mode where you could just drag the mouse around. Attacking was done by selecting enemies to target for auto attack, but skills were assigned to hot keys to pull off your "main" form of attacks. It was a very easy game to control, but it was heavily stat and character skill based. 

Different classes were available to use, and each one of them had strict build requirements if you wanted to be useful. For example the Crusader Class I used had a hidden stat that the game didn't really explain to you. By reaching specific speed stat levels (I believe they were a speed of 140 and 210 for the final) the main "Illusion Slash" skill would gain a massive power boost. This skill shot a shock wave out to kill enemies, and often resulted in a one hit kill -- depending on how good your build and equipment was. It became a sort of contest for all Crusaders as the goal was to be able to one hit kill not every enemy in the game, but other players as well. Of course if you didn't know about this system you wouldn't build your character correctly, and you would fail. The same applied to the many other classes of the game, so you really had to be careful, and focus on what mattered most if you wanted to be strong.

Putting that aside, the game was mainly fetch quests or target killing quests for it's "main story" content, but honestly that was at the back of most players minds. It was more of a game where you went out and farmed enemies for power, rather than a story focused one. Your goal was to become as strong as possible any way you could, and then eventually take those skills to either the PVP arena, or the MOBA styled Sacred War area. There were also special dungeons that only opened at specific times of the day where player killing was allowed, so if you weren't strong enough to survive, you would never be able to truly progress through them. Basically power was everything in Tales of Pirates, and it was the main focus of the game. As the game only had three main hub cities with some camps scattered throughout each major area, there wasn't much else to do. That is unless you went out to sea.

As it was a pirate game, sea travel and battle was a focus as well. There were challenging bosses to fight out at sea, sure, but the main use of it was to gain access to the mini challenge islands spread out across the world. These areas had crazy strong enemies to fight, and were often a big part of your path to becoming the strongest pirate of all. It was a pretty cool concept, but it didn't take too long to figure out that was all that was out there -- at least it shouldn't have taken that long. 

Due to the many, MANY, hours of grinding the game required it actually took a long time to even progress to this point. It wasn't even until the Saturday series of special quests released that people were even able to reach the higher levels that were required to semi survive. These quests became open for only a few hours each weekend, and had you going on a massive delivery quest chain as it slowly leveled you to 60 (something that previously took months, if not possibly years). To do these quests you really had to prepare all the items ahead of time if you wanted to level up, but of course me and my friends were smart enough to do that. So we got to those higher levels, and then continued to grind as normal. But then the effects of the Item Mall began setting in. 

Pets, Apparel, and Gems:

When it released the main focus of the Item Mall was on "cosmetics." The first type of cosmetic item most people would come across was none other than the apparel system, which let you fuse equipment into special costumes. At first it seemed like this was only for looks, but the reality was that doing so gave you 100% of your equipment's stats. So you basically needed these, and your only choice was to either spend $10 or so on buying what you liked, or farming for in game cash to buy them off of other players. (I did the latter.) In a Crusader's case this was a bit more challenging considering they held two swords at once, so you had to gain apparel for each blade on top of your armor, boots, and gloves.

(You had to pay for hair also, but it didn't impact stats.)

The second set of "cosmetics" came in the form of the pets. These pets were mini fairies that followed behind you, and slowly increased in level the longer you had them out. The catch here was that pets lost one stamina point for every minute they were out, and they also gained an exp point for each stamina point lost. Once their exp bar filled up to max you were able to feed them a skill fruit to bring them to the next level. These skill fruits would give them a stat point in whatever the fruit specialized in, and whenever the pet was out your character would gain that stat as well. 

This meant pets ultimately became a piece of equipment, but it was also equipment that was on a time limit. 

Eventually you could also teach them skills, and these skills would at some point become required if you wanted to keep up with everyone else (one skill allowed me to basically stay invisible forever to hide from enemies and other players). The problem was pet food, the fruit required to level the pets, and the skill books, all were Item Mall exclusive items that cost real money to buy. So once again you either had to buy it yourself, or buy it from other players in game. 

(I personally got lucky and found a fully leveled up pet laying in the middle of nowhere. I don't know if a rich player dropped it to be nice or what happened, but I managed to snag it. I did wait around to see if someone else would show up to pick it back up, but they never did... So finder's keepers?)

These were all expenses you would quickly be faced with, and if you didn't keep up you didn't stand a chance. However it's really the gems that hurt free to play players the most.

Gems were something required to boost your equipment's stats. You fuse gems into your armor or weapons, and you gain extra stat points and abilities for said weapon. Each time you fuse you increase the gear's + value, with the ultimate goal of making your gear +15. 

Of course it wasn't as simple as just fusing 15 gems into your gear, as it required different levels of gems in order. In other words you needed a level 1 gem to reach +1, a level 2 gem to reach +2, a level 4 gem to reach +4, and level 9 gem to reach the cap of +9 (with one gem). You could not jump from +1 to +5 nor could you jump from +5 to +9. You had to go in order. Then for the final levels you needed a second gem. This one had to be leveled from +1 to +6, and should've been a lesser important gem than your main one. As for how you got these gems, well, yeah they were Item Mall exclusive, and once again you had to find a way to get them. These gems were more than a little stat boost, as they are what actually determined how far you could go into the game. 

And this is where it gets pricey.

3+3=4 and It Costs More:

The pricing of a useful gem was normally around the 189 point range (sometimes higher). This roughly translated to $10, but you had to spend at least $11 at the minimum. A refining gem required to fuse a gem into a piece of equipment was another 59 points, which was somewhere around the $3 to $4 range. (We'll just call it $3.) The way this worked is you take your level 1 gem, and your level 1 refining gem, then fuse the two into the equipment you want. Now that gear is a +1, and you already have a pretty nice advantage over everyone who was sitting at +0. This wasn't the end of it however, as now you had to keep going from if you wanted to keep up and stand a chance. 

So the next goal was to get a level 2 gem and a level 2 refining gem. Fuse two level 1s to make them into level 2s, and now you fuse the resulting gems into your gear. Now you're at +2. To get to level 3 we follow the same concept, two level 2 gems need to be fused together to create a level 3. So:

1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, Level 3 Gem complete, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3,Level 3 Refining Gem complete.

Once these are made, you could fuse the level 3s into your +2 gear, and now you're at level +3. 

See where I'm going with this? We actually have to do this all the way to +9 to start. 

A level 4 gem would look something like this:
1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, Level 4 Gem complete, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, Level 4 Refining Gem complete.

Fuse that into your +3 gear, and now you're at +4. Ready for +5?

1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, Level 5 Gem complete, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, Level 5 Refining Gem complete.

 We're not done yet. Now onto +6.

1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, Level 6 Gem complete.

Repeat this process for the Level 6 Refining Gem.

Onto level 7 now! Keep in mind that a single gem costs roughly $10, and that a Refining Gem is an additional $3.

1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 6+6=7.

Repeat this process for Level 7 Refining Gem.

Ready for 8?

1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 6+6=7,1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 1+1 = 2, 1+1 = 2, 2+2 = 3, 3+3 = 4, 4+4 = 5, 5+5 = 6, 6+6=7, 7+7=8.

And again, repeat for Level 8 Refining Gem.

Then we move onto Level 9, the final level. Double what you see above, and once again add them together.

Although, this doesn't complete our gem fusing process. For a single weapon, we actually have to do this again to +6 for the second gem, but I really don't think I need to repeat all of that yet again. Every single 1 you see is a gem you must buy. So if you count both sets (the Gem and Refining Gem), every 1 is roughly $13. That's 511 Gems (and 511 Refining Gems), which totals roughly $6,643 just to reach +9. To create a level 6 gem as well to finish off our +15, it takes another 63 gems, for an additional cost of $819. So the final total to get a piece of equipment to +15 is $7,462, and that is assuming everything goes okay.

Sadly, after about level 4 of fusing gems together, your fusion has a very high chance of FAILING. If your fusion fails, you lose it all. This means you can spend $3,328 on making a level 9 gem, and have it fail the moment you fuse the two level 8s together. And there is no getting that money back.

And we are still not done.

Using a Crusader as an example again. A Crusader has two weapons, armor, gloves, and boots. Each of these need to be brought to +15. That means you need to spend at least $37,310 to fully deck out your character, and that's not counting the few thousand you might spend on your pet and buying apparel to fuse your equipment into.

As crazy as this may sound, people actually did this.

There were many players running around in all +15 gear, with fully leveled up pets, and the best armor sets in the game from the paid market. These players completely destroyed you and made it impossible to venture into the player killing allowed dungeons and islands, which blocked your own progress and prevented you from partaking in nearly any event.

I switched over to a private server as soon as they started going up, and never went back.

And that's Tales of Pirates for you! It for sure is one of the worst cases of microtransactions you will ever see; not to mention this game was out in 2007.

I honestly did like the game, and had a lot of fun playing it, but it just wasn't worth it. Now days the original servers have been shut down, and new developers have uploaded their own takes on the game, but even then it's hard to recommend it. It's an old outdated game, and often you'll see this same Item Mall system being implemented to keep the servers running. They tend to be nowhere near as bad as the official releases, but that doesn't mean they are cheap. It's such a shame that things ended up they way they did with such a promising little game for it's time.

Thankfully in today's world microtransactions typically are not anywhere near this scale. Sure, you can dump $30 into a loot box and end up getting worthless items or characters, but at least you have a chance and can use in game currency. Even then, failing to get the character or item you want doesn't usually stop you from playing the game, as these items tend to be "wants" and not actual "needs" to keep on going. In Tales of Pirates' case however, it was something forced on you if you wanted to continue, and there was no shortcut.

You either stuck it out and bought everything you needed, or you gave up. These were your only options, and those who didn't pay were better off just quitting.

Those who are interested in playing the game today can find private servers, however the official PC version did in fact close in 2016. 

It truly was a fun game, but it was ruined by greed; something that still happens to this day.