Kingmaker - Review @NeverKnowsBest

NeverKnowsBest reviewed Pathfinder: Kingmaker and called it the most interesting RPG of the year.

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A review of pathfinder kingmaker. Who would win in a fight, 100 normal size spiders or one bear-treant? I hope to make a longer, more detailed video on this game in the future, but for now I hope some people may find this short review helpful.

More information.

Playing it for about 30 h now (still Act I, but tried a few different builds) and loving it! This is what I wanted PoE to be. It is much closer to BG then the newer isometric RPGs.

You get a billion of feats and skills and yes, it is hard to understand everything without prior knowledge. But you don't have to powergame this! Your chars don't have to be gods for this. You can role-play as you want. Although, any difficulty above "normal" is quite challenging and you are allowed less mistakes.

I play a lvl 4 rogue knife master atm and think about multi-classing it to alchemist vivisectionist next level. Or maybe a prestige class duelist. Oh the possibilities! Can't wait for my lawful good playthrough after I finish the current lawful evil one.

There are some bugs left, but Owlcat is quick with the patches, so this shouldn't be a problem for long.

Full recommendation for everybody missing a hardcore RPG with a very solid ruleset!

PS: The 69 % PC Gamer gave the game are a disgrace. The review is extremely short and it doesn't seem the reviewer played a lot or knew the setting/mechanics. They should at least have given it 70 % so it doesn't look that bad to the newcomers.

Seconded. It's my favorite isometric CRPG since the Baldur's Gate series. I love it. In Act II now I think and the Kingdom stuff is a lot of fun and keeps things interesting. Great game for CRPG fans! And considering they're using the Pathfinder ruleset we are guaranteed games with a solid ruleset and not a million patches tweaking the rules…

Originally Posted by TheRealFluent
guaranteed games with a solid ruleset and not a million patches tweaking the rules…

Yay!
That means halfway through my ultra difficult playthrough I don't have 1/2 my team nerfed! (Damn you POE Cipher nerf… damn you!!!)

I love the game a lot too, still in chapter 1 (despite going up to chapter 2 on a character) because I'm trying new characters and learning the rulesets (well, learning what is different from D&D 3.5e).

One thing I really love though, it how some quests, even side quests, have multiple possible way of doing them. Some depends on alignment, DC success/failure, etc but others are just doing different things.

Originally Posted by Wisdom
Yay!
That means halfway through my ultra difficult playthrough I don't have 1/2 my team nerfed! (Damn you POE Cipher nerf… damn you!!!)

Might still happen if some bugs are causing certain abilities/skills/feats to be more powerful than they should be based on the rules…

Originally Posted by azarhal
One thing I really love though, it how some quests, even side quests, have multiple possible way of doing them. Some depends on alignment, DC success/failure, etc but others are just doing different things.

Yep, this is a great feature. Things change in quests based on when you do them. So if you put off a quest for some reason, an aspect of it might have changed it completely, or have a different outcome. Or if you do one quest first another one might alter in some way. Time is important in the game, more important than any CRPG I can remember playing. Not only time but in which order or how you approach things. Choices & Consequences for days, man!

I'm in chapter 2.
Buggy, but awesome game.

I might like it better than PoE II.

I love this game. I love the fact that character building is both challenging and almost unlimited in variety. I think it is a very polished game and to me the closest thing to Baldurs Gate I have played. I really hope this is a success it is quite a captivating game. Plus I love the fact that we finally have a game that is not dumbed down or neutered because "people will just look up the best build" anyway philosophy so prevalant in today's games.

The game is full of bugs at the moment, but I'm *still* playing it and loving it because of the Pathfinder ruleset. When the developers have time to polish things the game will probably be my GOTY.

Not sure from the pervious comments, but does the game allow you to make your own party, or just a single character with NPCs?

Agreed, my favourite game since BG2 and NWN I think I'm 3/4 way through chapter 2 after playing 36 hours (got there faster than others since I played beta before).

As others have mentioned, character building aspect is fantastic, you can resolve quests in many ways (love the "story book telling" skill checks), and there seem to be some real consequences too. I started tackling troll invasion issue early via kingdom system, while my husband left it till late. This actually seem to made difference in how many trolls you face later on - I had far less, my husband was swamped by trolls (at least from our perspective) he had to lower the difficulty for that fight.

I heard there are issues with bugs, but so far I only experienced a couple of minor ones. Guess most of bugs happen in later chapters where it's not beta tested.

Can't wait to play more this weekend

Originally Posted by Darkbridger
Not sure from the pervious comments, but does the game allow you to make your own party, or just a single character with NPCs?

You can make full custom party after the tutorial but it costs you fair bit.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
You can make full custom party after the tutorial but it costs you fair bit.

Costs? Like in-game gold? Seriously?

Yes, game gold. Higher your level, higher the cost

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Yes, game gold. Higher your level, higher the cost

What is the reason behind this? Any ideas? Seems an odd design decision.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Yes, game gold. Higher your level, higher the cost

What does it cost right after the tutorial? Stupidity like this is why I still have to keep game editors installed.

And yeah, I still play these games once with NPCs… I never understand why developers want to punish/tax the "party of my own" choice.

I like the idea of paying for mercenaries with gold for the sake of realism, but it should be a weekly or monthly salary with a cost not to preclude making a custom party right from the start or close to it.

Originally Posted by Darkbridger
What does it cost right after the tutorial? Stupidity like this is why I still have to keep game editors installed.

And yeah, I still play these games once with NPCs… I never understand why developers want to punish/tax the "party of my own" choice.

Ok, let me clarify. You can't start the game with custom party, just your main character (PC) and companions with their own story/background.

When you finish tutorial, you will reach this place called Oleg's trading post and meet a character who provides you with mercenaries (custom NPCs) for certain amount of gold. It's not different to how things worked in PoE1. Higher your level, higher the cost presumably because the mercenary will be same level as your party (I never created custom characters so I don't know for sure).

Originally Posted by lostforever
What is the reason behind this? Any ideas? Seems an odd design decision.

You're hiring them from a mercenary guild called the Pathfinders. It's expensive, and the gold amount levels up each time you do, too, so it gets really pricey. They want you to play with their companions I guess. I made one Pathfinder merc but don't even use her now. Cost me 4500 gold at the time >;[

Originally Posted by TheRealFluent
You're hiring them from a mercenary guild called the Pathfinders. It's expensive, and the gold amount levels up each time you do, too, so it gets really pricey. They want you to play with their companions I guess. I made one Pathfinder merc but don't even use her now. Cost me 4500 gold at the time >;[

The price increase because the custom companions always start at your current level, which means it's always better to create them when you just leveled up.

Or make a few when you are level 1 before leveling to level 2 at Oleg's, they are very cheap then