In addition to quests that you might find by talking to strangers in taverns, random encounters on the sea map can also keep you busy. As you sail in real-time between the numerous islands owned by the game's six factions--the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, and pirates--ships may appear in close proximity with your own. But the best-looking part of the game is when you drop into the 3D ship combat view. The water effects look quite good and the ships are generally rendered in incredible detail, with animated crew climbing the rigging and sails that blow in the wind and show the damage they might take from stormy weather. The game is generally quite free-form, but includes 20 side quests and plenty of main story-based quests that will eventually have you deal with a huge legendary ship full of undead pirates.