70
Patrician IV is most certainly the best game in the series. It triumphs with a vast array of options, better audio and visuals and atmosphere. I have no doubt that the game will turn out to be a success - fans of the series can buy it without hestation but everyone else should think twice.
70
Clearly isn't the game for everyone. [Feb 2011, p.68]
62
A game dedicated to pure strategy fans. There's a lack of options and multiplayer modes though, and some more polish could've done good to the whole experience.
9
Al final lo que mas valoro en vidoejuegos es las horas que le he echado y lo que me entretiene. Y es cierto que al Patrician III le he echado bastantes mas horas, pero seria injusto votar con menos a este Patrician IV. Yo lo recomiendo a la gente que le gustan este tipo de juegos porque desde luego proporciona horas de vicio! Gracias y ojalá trabajaran en un Patrician V
3
Looks decent, but I didn't get past the first 10 minutes due to the abysmal interface design. Lacks help or tutorials. Unless you're into having to study the UI before being able to do anything, stay away!
6
i bought this game for $7.50 on steam sale and have played it for 16 hrs. I did not play pat3 before this so cant really compare. I will say the first 10 hrs or so are fun. Mainly it revolves around buy low sail to another port and sell high. Learning where market inefficiencies are (too much wine in loc A and too little in loc B) can be quite fun and rewarding. Unfortunately, sea combat is entirely forgettable. Once pirates started showing up in any numbers, the game became really unfun. Any flash game on the interwebs is more tactical than sea combat in this game. If you have 1 ship you can literrallly sail circles around any number of enemy ships and shoot them to pieces. It just takes a while. And after you do it once, there is no reason to do it again. AND auto resolving suffers from the "pure math" problems of the rest of the game where biggest ships with more guns always beat littler ships with less guns. What this means is there is exactly 1 way to optimize things and 1 way to do combat and now i am stuck washing, rinsing and repeating.
Patrician IV: Conquest by Trade
Released On:
Sep 17, 2010
Metascore
Mixed or Average
66
User score
Mixed or Average
6.4
My Score
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All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
28% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
61% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
11% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
84
The once great German subgenre of business simulations is brought back to old glory with Patrician 4. This game delivers the same enthralling and challenging experience as its predecessors and tops them with up-to-date graphics and modern-day-improvements such as a drag-and-drop-interface. Patrician 4 has a few design flaws and the campaign is far too easy. But the dynamic trade system, the manifold possibilities of commerce and politics and the detailed depiction of medieval business make for an entertaining game that stands as the best pure business simulation to date.
Jan 3, 2011
76
For a niche title, it's a nice entry and it builds upon the franchise, so if you're really interested check it out. Otherwise, don't expect to be overly thrilled with the gameplay, even if you like the sounds of seagulls.
User score
Mixed or Average
37% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
39% Mixed
15 Ratings
15 Ratings
24% Negative
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
Dec 23, 2016
9
Al final lo que mas valoro en vidoejuegos es las horas que le he echado y lo que me entretiene. Y es cierto que al Patrician III le he echado bastantes mas horas, pero seria injusto votar con menos a este Patrician IV. Yo lo recomiendo a la gente que le gustan este tipo de juegos porque desde luego proporciona horas de vicio! Gracias y ojalá trabajaran en un Patrician V
Nov 25, 2011
8
Patrician IV is a great game in terms of a market simulator. You start out with a ship and slowly build your trade empire. Developing cities as you establish more trade with each. The real challenge comes when trying to control the entire region with the ever grown terror of pirates. Overall if you need an economics challenge then you'll get some few days of game play out of this title, if that's not what you're into avoid it.
70
As of means of conquest by trade, Patrician IV is a good solid example that will offer merchant gamers something to chew on. If however you like a bit more turbulence as you lift yourself up and forge a seafaring empire then you'll likely find yourself distracted as it can get boring once you realise your convoy captains practically run everything for you, and coin is in abundance.
67
Though not a great game on its own, Patrician IV has all of the things that make good trading games interesting and challenging.
60
A wave of tedium nearly sinks this medieval trading game.
Jan 2, 2011
40
Unless you're willing to try each and every one of the strategy games that are released, I really don't see why I should recommend this game to you. With average graphics at best, no real gameplay value, and a boredom generating ability that strikes pretty soon into the game, Patrician IV doesn't stand a chance next to its competition. Sure, on paper the idea was praiseworthy and its developers seem to have had some good intentions, but it clearly lacks ambition. Too bad.
May 22, 2011
7
The UI design isn't very good and the game gets repetitive, but that means I played it long enough to discover the flaws. If you like empire-building games, this will work for you.
Apr 20, 2011
7
I fine this game to be a lot of fun, once you find out how to play it. The biggest problem with this game is the lack of a tutorial; However, if you mash the buttons and find out what does what, and read off of the patrician IV forums you will learn how the game works. I know that is a lot of extra work there but you can have a lot of fun playing this game as well.
Oct 9, 2013
6
i bought this game for $7.50 on steam sale and have played it for 16 hrs. I did not play pat3 before this so cant really compare. I will say the first 10 hrs or so are fun. Mainly it revolves around buy low sail to another port and sell high. Learning where market inefficiencies are (too much wine in loc A and too little in loc B) can be quite fun and rewarding. Unfortunately, sea combat is entirely forgettable. Once pirates started showing up in any numbers, the game became really unfun. Any flash game on the interwebs is more tactical than sea combat in this game. If you have 1 ship you can literrallly sail circles around any number of enemy ships and shoot them to pieces. It just takes a while. And after you do it once, there is no reason to do it again. AND auto resolving suffers from the "pure math" problems of the rest of the game where biggest ships with more guns always beat littler ships with less guns. What this means is there is exactly 1 way to optimize things and 1 way to do combat and now i am stuck washing, rinsing and repeating.
Mar 8, 2012
4
I spent countless hours playing Patrician 3 and still do on occasion. Sadly Patrician 4 is nothing I expected it to be. Much like all nowadays' sequels it is dumbed down a notch and the UI is worse. It would have been better to remake Patrician 3 with widescreen support and added features. I especially dislike how automatic trading is done in this game.
May 27, 2011
4
The game has some wonderful graphics, but ends up plagued with gameplay trouble. The fact that a large map of the north of Europe tends to be the screen you are on a majority of the time means that much of the impressive detail is lost. The gameplay itself often forcing you to click through different screens to accomplish simple selections, making what could be a simple and enjoyable game much more taxing to play. The main gameplay mechanic of trading goods to earn a profit (with the option of making them) sounds interesting in concept, but quickly becomes a continual grind. The overcomplicated development of "trade routes" to have ships automatically trade is rife with problems and only serves to have the game play itself (with the actual player only creating the occasional ship or claiming the occasional port). This game is probably best for those who are looking for an easy spreadsheet-style game.
SummaryIn Patrician IV , the player takes on the role of a young merchant in the area of the Baltic and North Sea during the late Middle Age, the zenith of the Hanseatic League and its naval trading empire. Starting from meagre beginnings as a small stall trader, players must use every skill at their disposal to rise through the merchant ra... Read More
