Owl cat certainly has a lot of faults. The pathfinder games each have their own weaknesses, but they also got a lot of things right. I just seized Drezen in Wrath of the Righteous and the only wizard companion I’ve come across turned out to be a literal furry for fucks sake.
The games are very slow and chuggy for what they are. I think they would run much much better with pre-rendered backgrounds and sprites. Saving also takes forever, and the ui is frustratingly slow. The technical problems seem to be endemic to rpgs made with unity, as the new wasteland games have the same issues.
To top it off, the art style in pathfinder just doesn’t do it for me. The tone is off. Everything has a cartoony look and feel. I felt the sequel particularly should have taken a page from baldurs gate, Diablo, etc. to make the demons seem truly terrifying to encounter. The world wound should be a literal hell on earth, with all the chaos that would bring. It just doesn’t convey the setting well. I wasn’t very familiar with pathfinder before these games and maybe this is the theme pathfinder is known for. Still, I’ve had a hard time even finding a portrait I’ve liked for these games.
I also feel like the combat system as a whole is significantly worse than baldurs gate. There’s serious bloat everywhere: too many classes, too many confusing feats that do the same shit, too many spells that also do basically the same shit. Baldurs gate was very lean in comparison. I do like the increased flexibility of being able to choose any class when leveling, and there are alot of cool classes and kits like the grenadier alchemist. But a lot of this stuff could have been simplified and trimmed down and it would make for a better game. It also has a lot of archaic things going on under the hood that don’t suit a RTWP game. You basically have to enter turn based to complete a lot of the difficult encounters, but then switch back so all the trash mobs don’t take forever. Definitely a game that is hard to pin down.
Now that I’ve shit on it for several paragraphs let me give credit where it’s due. For all of these faults, the game does a better job than any other recent game of capturing that Baldurs Gate feel. The formula still makes for fun rpg adventuring all these years later. Sure, the characters, writing, art style and music will never surpass the classics, but it’s still enjoyable on its own merits. I’m also loving the mythic paths. I even like the crusade system, simplistic as it is. Owlcat games’ are ambitious and experimental. Sure, the results have been hit and miss, but they do seem to be learning from mistakes.
I for one am very excited to see what they do with Rogue Trader. The concept really is a dream come true. The fact that it’s turn based only, and takes place in one of the most intriguing roleplaying scenarios ever gives me high hopes. If they can make it just a bit more focused than pathfinder, tone down the cringe and embrace the darkness of 40k, then we could be looking at a modern classic. Of course the prospect of this game being done by one of the rpg devs of the aughts is too good to exist, but this could be the next best thing.