Patrician, The
After you make a handsome amount of money, you must try to get elected mayor in your home city. This requires that you "buy" favor from townspeople, by donating money to the poor, funding a new church, throwing parties, etc. If you become a mayor, then you will be admitted into the Hanseatic League meeting that is held every four years, and you can finally get elected Alderman if the other members, i.e. mayors of other cities, are impressed with you. This means that you have to be well liked in as many cities as possible to get elected. This is not easy, since city councils will not be happy of your arbitrage operations (i.e. selling expensive goods in their city while buying cheap-- thus making the city lose money). You must also remember to keep an eye on your own city, as local politicians won't give up even after you have been elected mayor. If your electorate throws you off the mayor's post, it won't matter how well liked you are in the rest of Europe.
What makes The Patrician stand out as one of the best historical sims ever made is the attention to detail and the huge variety of gameplay options. For instance, getting married is an important part of the game, as you can get a great dowry if you choose the right wife (or husband, if you play as a woman). Also, you may need to defend your city from hostile attacks, and send out huge fleets to chase pirates. On the other hand, you may also choose to enlist the pirates' help, by giving them a well-armed ship to raise hell in your opponents' waters. But if you choose to hire the pirates, or do anything else that is illegal such as bribing city officials, you run the risk that someone will find out about it and decide to blackmail you.
By all accounts, The Patrician is an outstanding game. The game offers an epic scope and seemingly endless array of options and choices. In addition to the features I mentioned, there are optional action sequences, plagues, spice fleets, and calamities like fires that add to the excitement. If you love The Merchant Prince, you will definitely like The Patrician as well. The good news is that the sequel, The Patrician II has been released by Ascaron in June, 2001, and is enjoying a lot of great reviews from European magazines. With Infogrames flexing their publishing muscle, North American gamers should keep a close look on this one once it hits the US shores in late 2001.
Average Rating: | 8.53 [179 votes] |
Genre: | Strategy |
Designer: | Bernd Ludewig & Thomas Schlötel |
Developer: | Ascaron |
Publisher: | Ascaron |
Year: | 1993 |
Software Copyright: | Ascaron |
Theme: | Historical, Business |
Multiplayer: | Turn-based hotseat |
Related Links: | |
More Info: | Mobygames | The Web |
System Requirements: | DOS |
If you like this game, try: | Machiavelli The Prince, Ports of Call, High Seas Trader |
Thanks to... | |
Technical Notes: | Fully cracked version-- thanks to Mok :) |
Screenshots © The Good Old Days