KickStarter Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pre-DLC Thread [GO TO NEW THREAD]

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

Hello, what have we here?

the guy barely made it through the tutorial and is giving us his impressions.

 

[Sentinel]

btw, Fargo just confirmed that someone is working on Baldur's Gate 3

Will it be Beamdog? Only time will tell.

I'm now 80% convinced that Bester is right and Larian is working on Baldur's Gate 3 with Colin McComb as a writer. Since half of Torment's writing staff left for Larian, Fargo would be in a good position to have that info.

+ this tweet

A (sort of) Black Hound?

 

[toro]

Waiting for the patch to start another run.

Fuck it. I'm weak and I'm already at the Sycamore mines ...

The run is dead. Look at this shit: I select Great Cleave on Level up...

... but my character has no such Feat afterwards. It has 2 Cleave abilities instead of Cleave, Cleaving Finish and Great Cleave.

Maybe it's just a visual bug but I cannot play like this. It's driving me crazy.

On the other hand restarting the game made me realize that the difference between a mediocre build and a specialized build is significant. I'm playing on Challenging difficulty mode and I've done the first chapter in a couple of hours (much faster than before). I only had issues with the big centipede from the Old Sycamore mine and the wererats but I'm pretty sure they were put there for lolz.

Anyway, I will have to stop playing until a real patch is released because otherwise I will lose my will to play the game. The situation is pretty retarded: we have two definitely great games in Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Insomnia: The Ark and both of them are unplayable because of bugs.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/pathfinder-kingmaker

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review
A must-have for tabletop RPG purists, Pathfinder: Kingmaker might be too much for rookies

Pros

• Truly comprehensive adaptation of the Pathfinder pen and paper system
• Great writing and voice acting
• Novel Barony system

Cons

• Punishing difficulty
• Demands prior knowledge to understand its systems
• Bugs and a distinct lack of quality-of-life considerations slow game to a snail's pace
• Overwhelming for all the wrong reasons

Are you the kind of person that argues over the definitions of character alignments during a role-playing session? Do you have a remarkable amount of free time, and the discipline to devote it all to one life-consuming odyssey? Do you relish in playing Baldur’s Gate on the ‘Core Rules’ difficulty setting?

Welcome to Pathfinder: Kingmaker. Leave your shoes at the door, you’re in for a comfy stay. Developed by Owlcat Games, this is another title in the saturated dynasty of the Kickstarter-funded RPGs that have cropped up in droves as of late.

From Wasteland 2 to Pillars of Eternity, games of this style have been popping up and pleasing old-school computer RPG fans in varying degrees, and by now, there are multiple remasters, reimaginings and bold new explorations of the genre readily available to scratch whatever itch you’re feeling.

So, where does Kingmaker fit in the market? Well, Owlcat is in partnership with Paizo, the publishing house behind the popular tabletop system Pathfinder, which is a divisive spinoff of Dungeons & Dragons. Owlcat has done everything in its power to transport the incredibly popular physical experience of Pathfinder into the framework of a CRPG.

This overwhelming commitment to the source material is the means by which Kingmaker distances itself from its competitors, but is also the millstone that hangs around its neck. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is easily one of the most scarily comprehensive video games I’ve ever played. It is absolutely caked in systems from the first moment to the last.

For anyone with even a slightly indecisive streak in them, character customization in any modern RPG can be a daunting process. Kingmaker’s approach, in comparison, is almost impenetrable. It is the Fort Knox of character customizers.

Spoiler

In standard high-fantasy fashion, you pick your race and class, but there is an overwhelming amount to choose from, with numerous subclasses situated within each. I chose to play as a high-elf Barbarian called Bingo, but I decided to specialize as a ‘Mad Dog’ which invokes some druidic skills, affording me a war beast, a Smilodon (it’s a type of saber-toothed tiger, I had to look too – Ed) that I affectionately referred to as Garfield. If you don’t fancy that, you can be something as zany as a Bard Archaeologist!

Following this, you pick your statistics, feats, abilities, spells and skills. This results in a fully featured and highly impressive character sheet. Unfortunately, one of Kingmakers core problems rears its head here. When picking individual abilities, unless you’re familiar with the intricacies of Pathfinder (I’m not), you probably don’t understand what most of your abilities are going to do.

At some point, you will have to cede and just go with what sounds cool. This extends to battle where certain enemies require a specific approach that isn’t obvious or the answer to your prayers is held up in the pre-ordained Pathfinder bible, a book you may not have read. Sadly, to my knowledge you can’t respec either, meaning build choices are final.

Early struggles with Spider Swarms are well documented among players already, and I was equally confused when none of my attacks were working and I couldn’t advance, hitting a hard wall very early in my playthrough. This was the rude awakening to the cruel world I had found myself in. Kingmaker is a game that you’re going to bounce off of hard if you don’t know what to expect. Luckily there is enough variety in your early party to get you through most scrapes with a bit of research, and it highly rewards careful planning and tactics.

Yet, I find that the battle system is at odds with itself. Not quite turn-based, combat occurs in real-time but encourages you to pause and carefully tinker with each characters abundance of abilities to outsmart your foes.

Personally, I found that in the early game I was just right clicking enemies and foregoing any tactics because pause-planning seemed an overwhelming waste of time. Though when the difficulty curve sucker punched me, I realized how important the spacebar is. It’s certainly a rewarding experience to topple a tough set of enemies with clever tactics, but it draws a thin line between endorphins and pure tedium.

You can customize the difficulty of the game, which is a wonderful and necessary addition. If you don’t like the normal experience you can just tweak settings until you create the game you want to play.

This felt like an unfortunate solution to let me play the rest of a game, for me, felt deeply unfair. For hardcore players, this could be the perfect tool to make Kingmaker as old school as possible.

With everything it has to offer, it’s a shame that it doesn’t match its systemic commitment with any visual flair. The options for aesthetic customization are limited and character models are lacklustre.

Even character portraits are re-used for NPC’s, which was a sad reminder of how disconnected I was from my character. Of course, the isometric viewpoint mitigates a lot of this, and it’s a passable game from afar, but don’t expect anything close to the gorgeous world of Divinity: Original Sin 2, which easily blows it out of the water.

I also found visual effects on spells and attacks to be disappointing. Whilst you can see all of the dice rolls and checksums occurring in real time in the bottom right corner, the visual aids for this aren’t up to much, so you don’t feel so powerful after all, and the speed of combat means all of your tactical choices vanish instantly without much gratifying feedback.

But Pathfinder: Kingmaker has not been made for gamers who are looking for graphical fidelity. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is for a very particular kind of person who wants a strict pen and paper experience on their PC.

It is so intricate that it often becomes annoying if you’re used to the modern RPG conventions. In one case, I picked some vegetation for a side quest only to find that they had soured by the time I handed the quest in. As well as an overall encumbrance for your shared stash, companions can suffer from encumbrance.

This naturally hinders your movement speed. To me, this seems highly unnecessary in a game that already moves at a snail’s pace, but if you’re looking for this kind of gritty pen and paper realism, you can soak it in and lavish in dropping each individual item that the game compels you to pick up.

Resting is a system that Owlcat has grafted from the tabletop to the screen and is one of the few cases where it feels better than its board game counterpart. Once I figured out how important rations were, it felt rewarding to assign certain companions to jobs like cooking or hunting to utilize their specialities and reap the rewards. I also really enjoyed the ‘formations’ menu which allowed me to arrange the layout of my companions like I would in the pause menu of a FIFA game. When I figured it out, crucial key presses like hitting H to hold or Backspace to select my entire crew were highly appreciated also.

Barony is the most novel inclusion in Pathfinder: Kingmaker. You can essentially rule your own kingdom within the world, which plays out like an extremely fleshed out version of Fable 3’s endgame or Dragon Age: Inquisition’s War Table, where you can assign characters to be envoys for certain discrepancies. It even invokes aspects of city building titles, and is a good bit of fun in a game of this setting, with NPCs referring to it outside of the dedicated screen. To be honest, it could be a highly successful game on its own if you stripped away everything else around it.

Unfortunately, because there is so much more to think about, I eventually decided to automate it. Dealing with tax loopholes back home on top of everything else became almost a bit too absurd for my already overcooked brain.

Genre veteran Chris Avellone served as narrative designer on Kingmaker, and to his credit (and the team behind him) there are some excellent characters and situations that you stumble into.

There is unfortunately a lot of bogged down filler dialogue that really doesn’t need to exist, leading to a sea of conversations that don’t serve a purpose. There is a clever built-in system that highlights certain words that demand an explanation, but this is a testament to the overwhelming amount of Pathfinder lore baked into the narrative.

Illustrated story sequences also break up the monotony and offer welcome choose-your-own-adventure segments where you are posed with tough decisions. UI design is brilliant, with the amazing tabletop themed map screen punching me with nostalgia for previous D&D campaigns and inspiring a genuine sense of curiosity.

Unfortunately, this is let down by bugged upgrade screens that wouldn’t let me see the spells I was deliberating over. Pathing issues and bugged NPCs were also present at random intervals. There are definitely cracks in the veneer that will hopefully be ironed out by the developers in the coming weeks.

Verdict
By committing to the systems it draws its name from, Kingmaker creates a deeply comprehensive and satisfying CRPG that is also incredibly lonely and masochistic when it wants to be.

If you fancy playing a painstakingly crafted virtual game of Dungeons & Dragons with HAL 9000 as your GM (and don’t get me wrong there are many of you out there), then this game is for you.

If not, you may enjoy the great voice acting and novel Barony system, but you should stick to more palatable CRPG’s that don’t assume so much knowledge and offer more than a modicum of respect for your free time.

Score
3/5

https://www.bluemoongame.com/pathfinder-kingmaker-review/

Pathfinder: Kingmaker Review

It’s not often that a game receives a legendary status even before its official release, based solely on its early concept, storyline, and content offered by a limited beta, but that’s exactly what happened to Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It’s even rarer that after its publication a title satisfies all the wild expectations of CRPG fandom and completely earns that fame – but that is also true for this awesome CRPG title. Pathfinder: Kingmaker was universally announced as one of the frontrunners of flourishing CRPG renaissance, which was for the most part based on the fact that it involved legendary Chris Avellone in the role of the lead designer. The additional reason why Pathfinder: Kingmaker project enjoyed such a remarkable publicity from the get-go was that it was based on Pathfinder Adventure Path, a famous pen-and-paper RPG derived from the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Although Pathfinder: Kingmaker was developed under the baton of proven RPG master, much could’ve gone wrong in its execution. After all, a game which relies on so many diverse sources may easily end up as just another insipid replica, a superficial tribute lacking its own identity. Thankfully, that never happened to Pathfinder: Kingmaker and we got a best possible outcome of all – a game that’s obviously firmly rooted in the hallowed tradition of pen-and-paper RPGs and CRPG genre, but that also manages to look, play and feel completely modern. This is a game with an immersive storyline, believable characters, complex gameplay and visual identity based on games such as Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, but meticulously polished like the best antique silverware until it fully conformed to contemporary standards. Granted, you’ve probably already seen most components that comprise Pathfinder: Kingmaker. However, the game combines them masterfully, and it also includes a few fine points which provide it a truly distinctive feel.

We already wrote at length about Pathfinder: Kingmaker when we announced it, and all that we said there about its background, lore and game mechanics pretty much still stands. The game takes place in the world of Golarion and you’ll play as a band of adventurers thirsty of fame, recognition, and something to line their empty pockets. You’ve answered the call of a couple of illustrious individuals who tempted you with an offer no fortune hunter can refuse in his right mind. You are to travel to so-called Stolen Lands and bring to justice (i.e. kill) a bandit king who calls himself Stag Lord. Upon the completion of that deceptively trivial task, you’ll acquire a title of baron for yourself and become the titleholder of infamous Stolen Lands.

Now, even a casual player of CRPG games (if there is such a thing, of course) can suppose what kind of experience awaits him with Pathfinder: Kingmaker. If you expect an attention-grabbing storyline which starts in one direction and eventually somersaults in entirely other, forcing you to play a guessing game to the very end, you’ll be right. Intricate game mechanics with a bunch of classes, difficult combats, and interesting companions? Right again. However, Pathfinder: Kingmaker also hides several elements which aren’t so common. The first is so-called Illustrated Book Episodes, which developers introduced as a nifty way to represent some of the key events in the game. They basically function on the same principle as traditional Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks: you’ll read a description of the event, and then you’ll get to choose your own path. What makes it considerably more complicated under the surface is that many of the outcomes will depend on the attributes and skill checks of your chosen hero. The other aspect comes into a play when you finally get to govern your hard-won barony. And while some RPGs allow you to build and develop your own castle (remember Neverwinter Nights 2 and Crossroads Keep?), the scope of your duties her will be much greater. Interestingly enough, the shape and look of your barony won’t depend only on your immediate decisions, but also on your alignment (or that of your companions) and other choices you’ve made in the course of the game, without knowing that they’ll prove relevant later on.

And precisely that’s a beauty of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. On one side, this is a slow-paced indulgence made for true connoisseurs of CRPGs which will transport them to the glory days of their favorite genre. On other, Pathfinder: Kingmaker approaches a kingdom building sim game, introducing a new and completely unexpected layer. Both aspects require patience and considerable foresight if you intend to be successful on your journey towards nobility and title. Combined together, they make Pathfinder: Kingmaker one of the most interesting and unique creations of CRPG renaissance.

8.3 EPIC

 

[Neanderthal]

Shout-out from the master himself:

Fuck me Gaider has nerve to complain about others writing, after all squeeing, retarded, adolescent shit hes spewed out.

And pot called kettle black he did.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Waiting for the patch to start another run.

Fuck it. I'm weak and I'm already at the Sycamore mines ...

The run is dead. Look at this shit: I select Great Cleave on Level up...

... but my character has no such Feat afterwards. It has 2 Cleave abilities instead of Cleave, Cleaving Finish and Great Cleave.

Maybe it's just a visual bug but I cannot play like this. It's driving me crazy.

On the other hand restarting the game made me realize that the difference between a mediocre build and a specialized build is significant. I'm playing on Challenging difficulty mode and I've done the first chapter in a couple of hours (much faster than before). I only had issues with the big centipede from the Old Sycamore mine and the wererats but I'm pretty sure they were put there for lolz.

Anyway, I will have to stop playing until a real patch is released because otherwise I will lose my will to play the game. The situation is pretty retarded: we have two definitely great games in Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Insomnia: The Ark and both of them are unplayable because of bugs.

You're gonna have to show me where you got that portrait from, dawg.

 

[Sentinel]

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/pathfinder-kingmaker

https://www.bluemoongame.com/pathfinder-kingmaker-review/

How are they reviewing the game when it's impossible to finish it atm? And giving it those scores...

 

[L'Montes]

Shout-out from the master himself:

Well, on that point at least, he agrees with a lot of the codex. Most of us have complained about it.

 

[toro]

Waiting for the patch to start another run.

Fuck it. I'm weak and I'm already at the Sycamore mines ...

The run is dead. Look at this shit: I select Great Cleave on Level up...

... but my character has no such Feat afterwards. It has 2 Cleave abilities instead of Cleave, Cleaving Finish and Great Cleave.

Maybe it's just a visual bug but I cannot play like this. It's driving me crazy.

On the other hand restarting the game made me realize that the difference between a mediocre build and a specialized build is significant. I'm playing on Challenging difficulty mode and I've done the first chapter in a couple of hours (much faster than before). I only had issues with the big centipede from the Old Sycamore mine and the wererats but I'm pretty sure they were put there for lolz.

Anyway, I will have to stop playing until a real patch is released because otherwise I will lose my will to play the game. The situation is pretty retarded: we have two definitely great games in Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Insomnia: The Ark and both of them are unplayable because of bugs.

You're gonna have to show me where you got that portrait from, dawg.

No. It's mine

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2xt73w89c6iy58e/Monolith-Portraits.zip?dl=1

Check Discussions on Steam.

 

[BEvers]

How are they reviewing the game when it's impossible to finish it atm? And giving it those scores...

I don't blame them, most review sites are struggling to stay alive and can't spend more than a few hours on any given game. It's only the combination of two unfinishable games back to back (BT4 and Kingmaker) that's really highlighted how widespread the practice has become.

 

[toro]

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/pathfinder-kingmaker

I chose to play as a high-elf Barbarian called Bingo, but I decided to specialize as a ‘Mad Dog’ which invokes some druidic skills, affording me a war beast, a Smilodon (it’s a type of saber-toothed tiger, I had to look too – Ed) that I affectionately referred to as Garfield. If you don’t fancy that, you can be something as zany as a Bard Archaeologist!

This guy is special.

 

[glass blackbird]

https://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/pathfinder-kingmaker

I chose to play as a high-elf Barbarian called Bingo, but I decided to specialize as a ‘Mad Dog’ which invokes some druidic skills, affording me a war beast, a Smilodon (it’s a type of saber-toothed tiger, I had to look too – Ed) that I affectionately referred to as Garfield. If you don’t fancy that, you can be something as zany as a Bard Archaeologist!

This guy is special.

Wow, so zany...

 

[111111111]

I'm actually so dumb. I just realized how to Prebuff before fight and now the game is actually so easy with cleric crusader.

 

[L'Montes]

How are they reviewing the game when it's impossible to finish it atm? And giving it those scores...

There's only a handful of sites that expect their reviewers to "finish" games they play, iirc.

I have to admit I'm a bit curious if you could cheat engine your way to the end of the game, and what questlines would actually be not-broken by the time you got there.

It's unclear to me right now if I need to completely restart my characters now since I started several patches ago if I want to benefit from "fixes", or if I'll need to be doing that anyway after the next major patch.

 

[Xeon]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

 

[glass blackbird]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

I don't think the were-rats can be missed. They're not connected to a quest afaik so you can do it whenever

 

[Roguey]

What are some examples of these embarrassing pick-up lines Gaider's referring to?

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Check Discussions on Steam.

You have performed a Chaotic Evil action.

 

[Turjan]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

I'm pretty sure those traps Linzi failed to disarm were meant as a warning sign to come back later.

 

[fantadomat]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

I managed it around 4-5 level,the left melee rat was really hard to kill,he have really high AC.

 

[toro]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

I don't think the were-rats can be missed. They're not connected to a quest afaik so you can do it whenever

They can be skipped. Quests are not disappearing when you reach higher levels or chapters (with one exception but that's mid-game).

I could not beat them at lvl 4 but I completely destroyed them at lvl 7.

 

[toro]

Do people do the Wererats fight during Chapter 1 or postpone it to Chapter 2 if its possible? Or will that make it missable?

I couldn't do that fight, its the only thing I didn't do in chapter 1 I think so would like to know if its doable or do people just do it later better.

I'm pretty sure those traps Linzi failed to disarm were meant as a warning sign to come back later.

You can disarm them with Linzi at lvl4 but the thing is: the wererats have really high AC and their sneak attacks are devastating (at least on Challenging).

However the quest is not important for the story therefore it can be safely skipped.

 

[glass blackbird]

I should have said, they're not connected to a timed quest. Some stuff does change if you ignore it, but the rats are just always there.

 

[toro]

Check Discussions on Steam.

You have performed a Chaotic Evil action.

If you check the Global Gameplay Stats on Steam you can see that there is no achievement after chapter 4.

Which means we have 2 options:

(1) The achievements are broken after chapter 4

(2) The game is really unplayable after chapter 4 (although Shadenuat is probably in chapter 6 by now)

 

[Israfael]

Fix'd

But wait, it, naturally, should be the mighty Predaking