Kingmaker - Owlcat goes Indie

Well Gothic 3 and VTM needed 6 decades of unofficial patches to be really great…

Anyway, I've waited till 2 DLC get released before playing so didn't notice any critical bug after all the patches that were released in the meantime. The third random generator DLC I wasn't interested in so more waiting was pointless on my side.

The game was great gameplay wise, but unstable and bug ridden at release.
I had to rollback to Savegames from a previous chapter in the game twice, because i had encountered bugs at Chapter 3 and 5 that blocked any further progression in the main storyline, competly blocking me off the main quest after the third time it happened in late Chapter 5.
I had restarted the game 7 month after my first try and was finally able to finish the Storyline, without any of the old bugs.

What i totally didn't like about Kingmaker was the Kingdom Building System paired with the sometimes too short delays between chapters and events. You were constantly rushing through you Kingdom, trying to micro every encounter to minimize Unrest in your Kingdom. It soon became tedious for me.

Hope things will work out for them and that they'll have enough resources to really get a good release for their next game.

Originally Posted by Mordegar
What i totally didn't like about Kingmaker was the Kingdom Building System paired with the sometimes too short delays between chapters and events. You were constantly rushing through you Kingdom, trying to micro every encounter to minimize Unrest in your Kingdom. It soon became tedious for me.

You can always set the kingdom difficulty to effortless/easy. With enhanced edition, Owlcats also introduced crisis point which lowerd DC to succeed in kingdom projects - you now earn crisis point everytime you rank up the kingdom.

Personally, I enjoyed the kingdom management quite a lot, especially in my replays - it was a lot easier to handle since I knew what to expect and artisan rewards (which are tied to kingdom ranks) are really great.

Originally Posted by Mordegar
The game was great gameplay wise, but unstable and bug ridden at release.
I had to rollback to Savegames from a previous chapter in the game twice, because i had encountered bugs at Chapter 3 and 5 that blocked any further progression in the main storyline, competly blocking me off the main quest after the third time it happened in late Chapter 5.
I had restarted the game 7 month after my first try and was finally able to finish the Storyline, without any of the old bugs.

They've done a pretty amazing job of fixing everything since then though, apparently. I started my first full play-through a few weeks ago, now I'm ~200 hours in and I've really only noticed 2 bugs worth mentioning the whole way:

1. Game was locking up a lot on me in Exclusive Fullscreen mode. Switched to Borderless Fullscreen, problem solved.

2. Part of Valerie's companion quest was presented to me out-of-order for some reason, but it didn't break anything.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
You can always set the kingdom difficulty to effortless/easy. With enhanced edition, Owlcats also introduced crisis point which lowerd DC to succeed in kingdom projects - you now earn crisis point everytime you rank up the kingdom.

Personally, I enjoyed the kingdom management quite a lot, especially in my replays - it was a lot easier to handle since I knew what to expect and artisan rewards (which are tied to kingdom ranks) are really great.

I played it on normal Kingdom difficulty when the game was just released and got stuck in too much unrest after Chapter 4, early Chapter 5. Because of the constant dc23+ Skillchecks after Chapter 2, my dice rolls were failing too much, considered that i already had advisors with +5 to+8 at that point already, i had a lot of bad luck involved in it too.
To be honest, i didn't expect the game to be so harsh about random numbers in my first playthrough and i tried playing it as a regular Party based RPG, which was a big mistake back then.

Originally Posted by Stingray
2. Part of Valerie's companion quest was presented to me out-of-order for some reason, but it didn't break anything.

Spoiler

Already removed her scar at the temple, but then much later, after a camp, she tells me she just bought a potion to remove the scar

??? Never seen that dialogue. In all my runs:

Originally Posted by purpleblob
??? Never seen that dialogue. In all my runs:

Spoiler

Valerie's scar disappears at the temple and we all conclude it was Shelryn who gave her scar then removee it later - Valerie didn't have to remove it herself using a potion

I reported it through the in-game bug report, maybe it'll get fixed if they're still fixing Kingmaker stuff.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Why RIP? MY.com remains their investor. Also, I'm ready to support them if they go crowdfunding route again and I'm sure there are many others like me.

Yes! Count me in!
However, I am somewhat worried about what that separation means in terms of the studio being able to develop more PF games…

Originally Posted by Telstar
KM2 will not need such work since the bases are ironed out and could be playable from day one.

I am not a game developer, but I agree with you on that. I think that they already have a solid base for a new game.
I would just like to point out that if they release a new PF game, that would probably not be named King Maker 2. I would guess something like Pathfinder 2: Rise of the Runelords?

Originally Posted by gabrielarantest
I would just like to point out that if they release a new PF game, that would probably not be named King Maker 2. I would guess something like Pathfinder 2: Rise of the Runelords?

Yep.

Kingmaker and Rise of the Runelords are so called Adventure Paths for the Pathfinder P&P game. There are a lot more.

Wow, this thread gets into crazy RPGCodex territory

We don't like this game, because we actually like this game…
What?! Don't understand? Then f*ck you, we are the hardcore and we have the right to get critical!

Or something similar.

/amused

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Yep.

Kingmaker and Rise of the Runelords are so called Adventure Paths for the Pathfinder P&P game. There are a lot more.

Correct. In fact, I guessed the Rise of Runelords because I think that if owlcat really decides to develop a PF2 game, maybe they will implement the new PF2 ruleset, and I think that the rise of runelords is one of the few adventure paths that have been released for PF2.

Considering I benched this game about a year ago now, I really need to get back and complete it. Maybe this will be the next game up after I finish my current jaunt through the world of Xeen.

Originally Posted by gabrielarantest
Correct. In fact, I guessed the Rise of Runelords because I think that if owlcat really decides to develop a PF2 game, maybe they will implement the new PF2 ruleset, and I think that the rise of runelords is one of the few adventure paths that have been released for PF2.

From what I saw on Discord, Owlcat will use PF 1e ruleset for their next game as well, not 2e.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
From what I saw on Discord, Owlcat will use PF 1e ruleset for their next game as well, not 2e.

Good to know. I'm currently playing Pathfinder 1e P&P and I wouldn't like to have to dive into another ruleset yet.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
From what I saw on Discord, Owlcat will use PF 1e ruleset for their next game as well, not 2e.

Good to know. Thanks

But is a new game confirmed?

Originally Posted by Morrandir
Good to know. I'm currently playing Pathfinder 1e P&P and I wouldn't like to have to dive into another ruleset yet.

I did play a one-shot adventure playtest of PF2. It is not much to judge but seems a good system too.

Originally Posted by gabrielarantest
Good to know. Thanks

But is a new game confirmed?

I heard the announcement will come this year