I remember almost 20 years ago when I saw this game as brand new. I bought because I played another fx interactive game: imperivm III and patrician III seemed like another rts game and was always so impatient to become a major and start building more walls and guards, never reached that point. But your analysis reminds me my experience with trading, now looking back I'm quite surprised that as a 12 year old boy I could manage to play several hours of this game and actually being immersed. The naval battles were actually interesting because all the customizations were so complex. I really sucked at the game back then and now that I see it on steam for about $4 I'd like to explore it again, for the nostalgia 😢
Also, a game mechanic worth mentioning is the point that the higher a price you fetch, the fewer people will buy. It is not actual supply and demand mechanics, but an illusion of it, but it does do a rather good job of it: If you sell the right goods at a lower price, more people looking for that particular commodity will move to town. Thereby increasing demand, since there are more of the kind of people that will buy that commodity. If you set the price too high, then people will not move to town, leaving you with a smaller market to sell to. So even though you gain a higher price for your goods, once you have the size for it, you may want to lower that price in order to sell bigger amounts, gaining an overall larger income. This also works to push out competition, since it cannot be done by a small-scale merchant. The consuming of that particular good is fixed, so if you sell at a lower price, then your competitors sell nothing, there by also mimicking monopoly tactics. So not only do you have to grow big, you also have to carefully revise your market strategy on the go. The math for this in the game engine might even be pretty straightforward, but in the scale of the whole game, this grows into a remarkably varied and challenging experience.
You are right, I started to notice this mechanic in my last playthrough (season 3 the 200k pop challenge). In my current playthrough I try and keep prices as low as possible. Awesome advice! Thank you again this has been a great help and validated what I was thinking. I am hoping to push the size of the cities even larger than last season. The game does scale in an interesting wayS. There is so much more I can learn from Patrician 3. Thanks again!
@@OldGamesOldGuy Thanks for your reply! I am ashamed to tell you, this was not my advice. I read it at the patrician game forum "patrizierforum", there is a lot of awesome observations of the game mechanics there. Cannot remember the author. And the mechanics become ever more intricate: Your "cash cow" is usually iron goods, because nobody will move out of town even if the price is high, and there is usually a high mark-up on that particular commodity (more than any other in the game). You can make lots and lots of money just selling iron goods. But that will not make you popular. The trick is to increase demand for iron goods by increasing city population in ways that also make you popular. You can even have little to no profit on a lot of commodities (such as fish and meat). And you will be popular for selling fish to the working class of town, while nobody seems to mind that you earn it all back on iron goods. Sorry for rambling on, your positive reply got me going :) This is a great game, and I am amazed the simple yet powerful mechanics have not been copied into more games. Can you recommend the Anno game series? The only really negative comment I have for the Patrician III game is the poor grasp of historical accuracy. Like, what region did historically produce the most of a given commodity? I did a custom "historical map" once, based on a lot of wikipedia articles about the historical background of the towns and regions in the game and it was great fun to play that way. The standard map just seems to have scattered the production values about randomly. It would have been such a little thing to do, to look up some geography and adjust the productions.
I Was waiting for this video, I'm not disappointed. I bought the game after watching few of your tutorials videos. After 30 hours I'm still not comprehending all the aspects of the game and I find myself searching within your videos for clues or asking directly you for help. I like the video review and I surely hope to see some more on your channel ( about the switch for example 😜) The editing is on point, you describe everything, pros and cons, the game has to offer in less than 20 minutes, while comparing it to the closest games and adding footage of said games too. I have a little criticism, I felt you were reading from your (well written) script and made you lose a bit of your usual self, I would have loved it even more if you were to give us your thoughts out of points instead of reading it completely out of the script (not sure it makes any sense). With that being said well done once again, thanks for the video and apologies for my long winded comment.
Thanks for the input. I totally agree, I do sound like I am reading and can improve on that. I will work on that in the next video. Thanks again for all the support!
Should either of you be returning to this great game at some point, if you google “I have translated Tippsamlung_2010 in english”, the top result should be a Patrizier forum post containing the most comprehensive pdf guide I think you’ll ever find for this game. Bout 200 pages that answers so many of the questions that naturally come up in the somewhat poorly documented games from this bygone era.
I have always been fascinated by these type of games but the complexity always daunted me. I mostly kept to its much more casual-friendly Anno series. I love the presentation.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Anno is a fantastic series. One of my favorites. The supply chains in Anno can get very complex late in a game. Anyways, thanks again.
@@OldGamesOldGuy Always good to support good honest things like your channel, you dont have to thank me friend. I would like to suggest a game for you even tho i'm not sure you would like it, its underrail, one of the only good fallout successors out there. Your playstyle and comments in your playthroughs are very chill and that makes your work top content for me and other people.
@@adrieltheoak Thank you! I picked up Underail a few months ago but have not played it yet. Looks really good and if it a spiritual successor to the old Fallout, I will probably like it. I should install it and give it a go. Thanks again for the comments and the support it really means a lot.
I remember playing it as a kid. I didn't know how to trade properly so I would just turn into pirate, attack cities and sell all the goods in Luebeck :D
Thank you for this review. I find myself agreeing with you on all accounts. Some few sea battles are enjoyable if there is an incentive to win, but most of them are just annoyances. But I do think the mechanics for it are rather good, reminiscent of Pirates! I saw a presentation of Patrician IV and quite immediately thought that it was not for me, The actionised sea battles and especially the rather clumsy game mechanics of ramping up prices into the impossible whenever a player is capable of taking over a town, that seemed more like a setback while the core game remained the same. Or do you have other views on no. IV?
Thanks for watching! I really appreciate it. Agreed the mechanics are good but I think games like anno do it way better. However the trading in P3 is unmatched. My dream game you take combat form Anno 1800, improve the graphics. but leave everything in P2 just as it is. I own Patrician 4 but have only played maybe an hour and never went into a sea battle. It reminded me more of Port Royal series than Patrician. I like Port Royal but it is nowhere near what Patrician 3 is. One day I will give it a proper playthrough. Thanks again!
Thank you very much for your video. I ended up letting this game pass by when it was released. I started playing and what a wonderful game. Your video is a very good review. Subscribed and following you. 😁
Great review of the game! Got into this video because of that I thought of testing Patrician 4 instead of going back to old trusty P3. I think it will be P3 again and a return of a unnecessary bought game on steam...
I picked up a physical copy of this game back in late 2002 for $0.99 at a closing EB Games, and have been playing it ever since. Best $0.99 purchase of my life, I just keep coming back to it. Really appreciate your review, I feel the game is pretty underrated and actually holds up pretty well for its age. Your least favorite part is my favorite part, playing as a pirate is so satisfying. Buy a crayer, join the guild and steal anything you want, then turn around and sell the goods and the ship you stole! Love this game, great job on the review.
Looks like an interesting game. Going to try it someday now, but first going to play some Port Royale 2 that I just bought after watching your video about it.
I always loved these games, with the optimal buy/sell points for many goods still being ingrained in my head many years since I played last. What Port Royale did well was letting a new player understand the trade mechanic b giving a lot of detail so a better sequel would have given this option as a game start mechanic (i.e. Tracked Trade Info: High / Medium / Low / Off, with the duration of maintained info changing) The problem I had with Port Royale was the extreme easyness of the late game due to many automated convoy routes, though saying that Patrician 3 made it too tedious to form a convoy via the finding a captain route, so the perfect game is somewhere in the middle.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it. That's an interesting idea. PR2 is far to easy because of the automated trade routes. I wish the captains were not skilled at trading when first hired. Without you helping them, they would loose money until they leveled up a bit. Then it would give players incentive to build trade routes. Right now in PR2 just click go and the captain will always turn a profit. P3 is a little to rough on new players and take time to figure out what works. Maybe have an option to turn on the hints like later PR games. Thanks again!
An excellent game, and really it's not that complicated. Compared to monster games like Distant Worlds or Gary grigsby games it's pretty accessible. Not any more complicated than a game like Sim City 3000.The music is good too it really helps you immerse you into the medieval atmosphere
@@OldGamesOldGuy I didn't mean to imply that Distant Words and Gary Grigsby are trading games. I just meant that they're very complex computer games. Distant Worlds is a sci fi empire builder with a bit of trading though .
I like this review. Just started a new game. Some of the features you mention in port royal is embedded in patrician 4. Yes, I would like to add some features of patrician 4 in patrician 3. I actually like naval battles and always do them manually. This is is because I have spent a lot of time to master it. Using hotkeys, using wind direction to my favour and using a ship as decoy while I use another ship to attack it. The thing I do not like is the prince. The only way you can actually avoid a siege is the town you are lord mayor in yourself... The siege scares off your workers and may crumble your empire big time.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. There is benefits to fighting the pirates manually. Get a lot of free ships for example. You are right about the prince he has caused me problems. Thanks again for the advice.
Awesome in-depth review. I've been wondering if this has ever been surpassed as a trading simulation, and just came across your video. It's interesting to see that expert players seem to agree, even though nobody seems to talk about this game anymore.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it. Trading games are such a small niche. But I love the genre. Played may trading games but P3 is the best. Well worth the few bucks it costs now. A hidden gem. Thanks again for the comment!
@@OldGamesOldGuy Yeah I never got these elder quests done though - some of them are really tough. But I guess I'll have to watch a couple of your videos and try again :D Can you recommend something similar except PR? I tried Merchant of the Skies but it was a huge disappointment.
@@Psimon I really like Pharaoh, it more a city builder but trading is part of it. As far as trading games, you mentioned PR, there is also Anno but its more about supply chains. Offworld Trading Company but it goes by really fast. Games are short. Grand Ages: Medieval is like PR but over land trading not sea. The X series has some interesting trading but more a space sim really. Is hard because nothing scratches the trading itch like P3.
I remember almost 20 years ago when I saw this game as brand new. I bought because I played another fx interactive game: imperivm III and patrician III seemed like another rts game and was always so impatient to become a major and start building more walls and guards, never reached that point. But your analysis reminds me my experience with trading, now looking back I'm quite surprised that as a 12 year old boy I could manage to play several hours of this game and actually being immersed. The naval battles were actually interesting because all the customizations were so complex. I really sucked at the game back then and now that I see it on steam for about $4 I'd like to explore it again, for the nostalgia 😢
Also, a game mechanic worth mentioning is the point that the higher a price you fetch, the fewer people will buy. It is not actual supply and demand mechanics, but an illusion of it, but it does do a rather good job of it: If you sell the right goods at a lower price, more people looking for that particular commodity will move to town. Thereby increasing demand, since there are more of the kind of people that will buy that commodity. If you set the price too high, then people will not move to town, leaving you with a smaller market to sell to. So even though you gain a higher price for your goods, once you have the size for it, you may want to lower that price in order to sell bigger amounts, gaining an overall larger income. This also works to push out competition, since it cannot be done by a small-scale merchant. The consuming of that particular good is fixed, so if you sell at a lower price, then your competitors sell nothing, there by also mimicking monopoly tactics. So not only do you have to grow big, you also have to carefully revise your market strategy on the go.
The math for this in the game engine might even be pretty straightforward, but in the scale of the whole game, this grows into a remarkably varied and challenging experience.
You are right, I started to notice this mechanic in my last playthrough (season 3 the 200k pop challenge). In my current playthrough I try and keep prices as low as possible. Awesome advice! Thank you again this has been a great help and validated what I was thinking. I am hoping to push the size of the cities even larger than last season. The game does scale in an interesting wayS. There is so much more I can learn from Patrician 3. Thanks again!
@@OldGamesOldGuy Thanks for your reply! I am ashamed to tell you, this was not my advice. I read it at the patrician game forum "patrizierforum", there is a lot of awesome observations of the game mechanics there. Cannot remember the author.
And the mechanics become ever more intricate: Your "cash cow" is usually iron goods, because nobody will move out of town even if the price is high, and there is usually a high mark-up on that particular commodity (more than any other in the game). You can make lots and lots of money just selling iron goods. But that will not make you popular. The trick is to increase demand for iron goods by increasing city population in ways that also make you popular. You can even have little to no profit on a lot of commodities (such as fish and meat). And you will be popular for selling fish to the working class of town, while nobody seems to mind that you earn it all back on iron goods.
Sorry for rambling on, your positive reply got me going :)
This is a great game, and I am amazed the simple yet powerful mechanics have not been copied into more games.
Can you recommend the Anno game series?
The only really negative comment I have for the Patrician III game is the poor grasp of historical accuracy. Like, what region did historically produce the most of a given commodity? I did a custom "historical map" once, based on a lot of wikipedia articles about the historical background of the towns and regions in the game and it was great fun to play that way. The standard map just seems to have scattered the production values about randomly. It would have been such a little thing to do, to look up some geography and adjust the productions.
I Was waiting for this video, I'm not disappointed. I bought the game after watching few of your tutorials videos. After 30 hours I'm still not comprehending all the aspects of the game and I find myself searching within your videos for clues or asking directly you for help. I like the video review and I surely hope to see some more on your channel ( about the switch for example 😜) The editing is on point, you describe everything, pros and cons, the game has to offer in less than 20 minutes, while comparing it to the closest games and adding footage of said games too. I have a little criticism, I felt you were reading from your (well written) script and made you lose a bit of your usual self, I would have loved it even more if you were to give us your thoughts out of points instead of reading it completely out of the script (not sure it makes any sense). With that being said well done once again, thanks for the video and apologies for my long winded comment.
Thanks for the input. I totally agree, I do sound like I am reading and can improve on that. I will work on that in the next video. Thanks again for all the support!
Should either of you be returning to this great game at some point, if you google “I have translated Tippsamlung_2010 in english”, the top result should be a Patrizier forum post containing the most comprehensive pdf guide I think you’ll ever find for this game. Bout 200 pages that answers so many of the questions that naturally come up in the somewhat poorly documented games from this bygone era.
😀 You can tell there's a lot of hard work that went into creating this review. Keep up the great work !!
Thank you so much! Really appreciate it!
I have always been fascinated by these type of games but the complexity always daunted me. I mostly kept to its much more casual-friendly Anno series. I love the presentation.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. Anno is a fantastic series. One of my favorites. The supply chains in Anno can get very complex late in a game. Anyways, thanks again.
One of the best youtube channels out there and deserving of more views, i hope people keep finding this. Great work!
Thank you so much! You made my day. Thanks again for watching and support, I really appreciate it.
@@OldGamesOldGuy Always good to support good honest things like your channel, you dont have to thank me friend. I would like to suggest a game for you even tho i'm not sure you would like it, its underrail, one of the only good fallout successors out there. Your playstyle and comments in your playthroughs are very chill and that makes your work top content for me and other people.
@@adrieltheoak Thank you! I picked up Underail a few months ago but have not played it yet. Looks really good and if it a spiritual successor to the old Fallout, I will probably like it. I should install it and give it a go. Thanks again for the comments and the support it really means a lot.
I remember playing it as a kid. I didn't know how to trade properly so I would just turn into pirate, attack cities and sell all the goods in Luebeck :D
Thanks for the review. This game is so nostalgic. I played it way back in 2005 but never finished it.
Thank you for watching. Really appreciate it.
What do you mean with "never finished it"? Is there an end to the game ?
Very thorough. I'm going to check it out!
Thanks for watching. Well worth a look. It is awesome.
Thank you for this review. I find myself agreeing with you on all accounts. Some few sea battles are enjoyable if there is an incentive to win, but most of them are just annoyances. But I do think the mechanics for it are rather good, reminiscent of Pirates!
I saw a presentation of Patrician IV and quite immediately thought that it was not for me, The actionised sea battles and especially the rather clumsy game mechanics of ramping up prices into the impossible whenever a player is capable of taking over a town, that seemed more like a setback while the core game remained the same. Or do you have other views on no. IV?
Thanks for watching! I really appreciate it. Agreed the mechanics are good but I think games like anno do it way better. However the trading in P3 is unmatched. My dream game you take combat form Anno 1800, improve the graphics. but leave everything in P2 just as it is.
I own Patrician 4 but have only played maybe an hour and never went into a sea battle. It reminded me more of Port Royal series than Patrician. I like Port Royal but it is nowhere near what Patrician 3 is. One day I will give it a proper playthrough. Thanks again!
Thank you very much for your video. I ended up letting this game pass by when it was released. I started playing and what a wonderful game. Your video is a very good review. Subscribed and following you. 😁
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.
I am also wondering why I never tried the Patrician games? Maybe Caesar games were so hot back then and got most of the attention?
Great review of the game!
Got into this video because of that I thought of testing Patrician 4 instead of going back to old trusty P3. I think it will be P3 again and a return of a unnecessary bought game on steam...
Thanks for watching. Ya I tried P4 and it's not the same. I still own it and might give it another try but P3 is still the best.
I picked up a physical copy of this game back in late 2002 for $0.99 at a closing EB Games, and have been playing it ever since. Best $0.99 purchase of my life, I just keep coming back to it. Really appreciate your review, I feel the game is pretty underrated and actually holds up pretty well for its age. Your least favorite part is my favorite part, playing as a pirate is so satisfying. Buy a crayer, join the guild and steal anything you want, then turn around and sell the goods and the ship you stole! Love this game, great job on the review.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it. It is an awesome game. So many ways to play. I should try being a pirate. It does sound fun.
Looks like an interesting game. Going to try it someday now, but first going to play some Port Royale 2 that I just bought after watching your video about it.
If you enjoy PR2 and want a game more focused on trading, Patrician 3 is the best there is. Thanks for watching. I really appreciate it.
I always loved these games, with the optimal buy/sell points for many goods still being ingrained in my head many years since I played last. What Port Royale did well was letting a new player understand the trade mechanic b giving a lot of detail so a better sequel would have given this option as a game start mechanic (i.e. Tracked Trade Info: High / Medium / Low / Off, with the duration of maintained info changing)
The problem I had with Port Royale was the extreme easyness of the late game due to many automated convoy routes, though saying that Patrician 3 made it too tedious to form a convoy via the finding a captain route, so the perfect game is somewhere in the middle.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it. That's an interesting idea. PR2 is far to easy because of the automated trade routes. I wish the captains were not skilled at trading when first hired. Without you helping them, they would loose money until they leveled up a bit. Then it would give players incentive to build trade routes. Right now in PR2 just click go and the captain will always turn a profit. P3 is a little to rough on new players and take time to figure out what works. Maybe have an option to turn on the hints like later PR games. Thanks again!
Well done! Played this a few years ago, and missed the whole point.
Thanks for watching!
An excellent game, and really it's not that complicated. Compared to monster games like Distant Worlds or Gary grigsby games it's pretty accessible. Not any more complicated than a game like Sim City 3000.The music is good too it really helps you immerse you into the medieval atmosphere
Thanks for watching. I will have to take a look at those games. Sounds interesting. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.
@@OldGamesOldGuy I didn't mean to imply that Distant Words and Gary Grigsby are trading games. I just meant that they're very complex computer games. Distant Worlds is a sci fi empire builder with a bit of trading though .
I've been waiting 20 years for someone to make a better sailing ship trading game.... and I'm still waiting; patrician 3 is the best.
I agree P3 is the best in the genre. Thanks for watching, really appreciate it.
I like this review.
Just started a new game.
Some of the features you mention in port royal is embedded in patrician 4.
Yes, I would like to add some features of patrician 4 in patrician 3.
I actually like naval battles and always do them manually.
This is is because I have spent a lot of time to master it.
Using hotkeys, using wind direction to my favour and using a ship as decoy while I use another ship to attack it.
The thing I do not like is the prince.
The only way you can actually avoid a siege is the town you are lord mayor in yourself...
The siege scares off your workers and may crumble your empire big time.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. There is benefits to fighting the pirates manually. Get a lot of free ships for example. You are right about the prince he has caused me problems. Thanks again for the advice.
This is a really cool game played it for a very long time. Now I want to play the feeling of nostalgia again.
Thanks for watching, I really appreciate it. This game is still the best trading sim out there. Well worth a playthrough.
Awesome in-depth review. I've been wondering if this has ever been surpassed as a trading simulation, and just came across your video. It's interesting to see that expert players seem to agree, even though nobody seems to talk about this game anymore.
Thanks for watching, really appreciate it. Trading games are such a small niche. But I love the genre. Played may trading games but P3 is the best. Well worth the few bucks it costs now. A hidden gem. Thanks again for the comment!
@@OldGamesOldGuy Yeah I never got these elder quests done though - some of them are really tough. But I guess I'll have to watch a couple of your videos and try again :D Can you recommend something similar except PR? I tried Merchant of the Skies but it was a huge disappointment.
@@Psimon I really like Pharaoh, it more a city builder but trading is part of it. As far as trading games, you mentioned PR, there is also Anno but its more about supply chains. Offworld Trading Company but it goes by really fast. Games are short. Grand Ages: Medieval is like PR but over land trading not sea. The X series has some interesting trading but more a space sim really. Is hard because nothing scratches the trading itch like P3.
@@OldGamesOldGuy Yeah, Pharaoh is a gem too, and it just got a remake. I remember trading being fun in these impression games too
you should try the FULL HD version of Patrician 3... playing it in full screen with high resolution and textures makes it a lot more enjoyable
Thanks for watching. I have looked at that mod. You are right, I should give it a try. Thanks for the support.
Glad I found you.
Thanks for watching! Really appreciate it!
BEST game ! I miss old games like that :(
thats funny, my favourite part of the game was always piracy and the ship combat.
Thanks for watching. This is what makes a good game great. Many play styles can enjoy it.
Nice review! New subscriber to your channel here :)
Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!
Brilliant game
Thanks for watching. Best trading game around.
very similar to the second game
Thanks for watching!