Then there's the issue of play-balancing. Well, it's not really an issue--it's more that there wasn't any, at least that I can tell. Your character starts off inconceivably weak. Any ship-to-ship encounter you have on the high seas will end in your very swift death. Be ready to reload five or ten times to complete a single journey between islands. You can do fine in swordplay, but even this is a problem, because it's a gameplay flaw, not a result of attributes or your own skill.