RPGWatch Forums - Kingmaker - Chris Avellone Interview

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Quote:

Originally Posted by daveyd (Post 1061531164)

There's tons of missed attacks in BG, especially if you play with less than optimal fighters (e.g, those without maxed out strength or ranged attacks without max dex) This is actually the main reason why I've never even finished BG2. At a certain point I got tired of watching my fighters hack away at well armored opponents or having to engage in cheesy tactics like run off to a corner and wait for an enemy wizard's buff's and protection spells to wear off.

The assumption that an RPG with turn-based combat has to be slow & tedious is ridiculous. Yes, TB combat will tend to take slightly longer than RTwP with all things being equal. But there's lots of ways you can prevent it from dragging on. For one thing, have fewer hordes of weaker enemies that you have to spend time hacking through. You can reduce having enemies that are HP sponges as well. Have quick attack animations. Don't put lots of enemies very far from the player's party (or at least don't force TB combat mode to be initiated until you get closer or someone is attacked from a distance. Make combat less frequent overall. etc.

I know a lot of BG fans / fans of RTwP in general will praise the system for how it makes trash encounters relatively quick / tolerable. You know what else makes them tolerable? Not having them. "But I want to grind!" OK, have some type of arena where you can do to fight and gain XP. There's no reason an RPG has to constantly throw mooks at you. Repeatedly slaughtering goblins, kobolds, and gibberlings all the time isn't fun. Encountering smaller numbers of more powerful enemies is more fun anyway, IMO.

Not really to me. I enjoyed hacking and slashing hordes of kobolds and gibberlings, or those gnolls at the base. It's fun, it's more action-oriented and faster paced and you still have total control over the battlefield. RTWP is my favorite combat system. I enjoy turn-based when done well but not every game needs to be turn-based to be good. BG has too much open exploration to then slow it down with turn-based combat. Exploring the maps alone takes time. Avernum/Spiderweb Software did it well, but it's not BG.

Nope, still nothing there.

I find it odd that so many companies struggle to sort out the keys. I understand that sending out hundreds of thousands of emails at once is problematic (email servers en-route freak out thinking it's mass spam, and start rejecting it), and professional mass-mailing companies work around this by staggering the deliveries, meaning people get their keys at different times. So, I can understand that having a hub that people log into to retrieve their keys is a better solution. But why this can't be done in a timely way to ensure backers feel well-treated, I don't understand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carnifex (Post 1061531215)

Nope, still nothing there.

The only info Owlcats can match to link the pledge is the email address you use on KS, so you might want to double check you used the right one and it worked. Going by the official forum: the Baron icon on your forum post indicates that you transfered your pledge correctly (as stated on the "Backer portal is now live!" e-mail:
"You will receive your forum badge automatically."

It's the same email address. At this point I'm just hoping to hear something from the support people that I email earlier.

Will be interested in seeing impressions and hopefully a review of this game here. I prefer turn-based combat, and even with Baldur's Gate you could configure the settings such that the game was almost turn based if you wanted it that way, and that's how I played it.

While I am not going to defend the quality of all Golarion material, I do think Paizo built their world that way intentionally. It was probably an attempt to broaden the appeal of the game across game and setting types. It allowed them to create a wider variety of adventure stories than what you would get from a Middle Earth or Game of Thrones game. The folks I gamed with found that variety kept the game from getting boring, but yes, it does become a little theme-parkish. I also think there are some very well done things to be found in Golarion if you can weed through the predictable and generic.

Looks decent enough i think, but would never do myself the disservice of buying it at release. Heard from a beta tester that he had found and reported 50 bugs, just 2 of them were fixed in the latest build he had. Will wait for patches + sale (1+ year or so) ;)

Well, I would certainly suggest never sponsoring a kick starter from these folks ever again. The process of obtaining your key seems completely broken, and I've not heard anything from their support team since I first submitted a request nearly twenty four hours ago.

@Darkbridger I plan to review this game :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carnifex (Post 1061531299)

Strange, I just logged in and clicked "get your digital download" and immediately got to choose Steam or GoG and instantly got a key.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomRon (Post 1061531307)

Strange, I just logged in and clicked "get your digital download" and immediately got to choose Steam or GoG and instantly got a key.

I suspect many of us were expecting an email. I know I was. That is the problem when you get spoon fed too much these days. Get used to others taking the responsibility of notifying you about things instead of doing it yourself.

I take blame for my own annoyance as that was the case. I was waiting for an email. Then because I signed up so long ago I forgot where I had done it all. Had to find my username and password. Then find out which site (went to the forums and KS only to eventually find the pre-order page I needed) to go to.

Finally got logged in and found my content, after some more searching. Once there I saw the "get your digital download" button and installed the key to Steam. I was hoping for some directions (not how to add to steam, found those, but got getting to the key in the first place) …which there probably are some place but I didn't stumble across them. Possibly because I started my google searching with "missing key" types of things which led me on a bit of a goose chase.

Regardless it wasn't as easy as some other games made it IMO but then I suspect I am spoiled. So all good now.

I got a mail saying my key was waiting in the backer portal as well. (Project update #60). That mail also contained instructions how to get the key from the portal although I didn't read that part until now…I got to excited to read the entire thing. ;)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomRon (Post 1061531316)

Ah see I never got any email from them and I know they have my correct email address as I checked it under my account name.

So there is a problem then as some folks are clearly not getting the email. You are one of the lucky ones … or we are the unlucky ones … either way :)

EDIT: Well unless it was buried in some general news letter then I would have easily missed it as I don't tend to read the newsletters. I would have been looking for an explicit release day email with all the details on activating.

It was just a regular KS update mail with subject Project Update #60: Pathfinder: Kingmaker by Owlcat Games. That's a generic subject they can't change.
And for an important mail (like on release day announcing where to find the key) I would in owlcats place rely on the reliable KS update feature as well instead of sending 18,351 mails with some home-brewed system on my own servers. ;)

So imho they did everything right.

Yup I got the email yesterday saying a key was waiting for me. I logged in, picked my choice, but then it wouldn't complete the process. I gave up and went to bed, then tried again this morning and now that option isn't even there, it simply says I have no downloads. And judging from the comments on the project, I'm not alone in having a problem with the game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomRon (Post 1061531316)

Just to follow up. This morning when I got up and checked email I got a specific email to me with instructions - just came a bit after the launch. Too impatient :)

Strange. Why do they treat backers differently?

That is a very good question, and I have no idea as to what the answer may be. Personally, I would try my best to satisfy someone's issue that paid for the game well in advance of the release, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. From what I can read on the kick starter comments, it seems that many people are having issues with receiving their respective keys.