Kingmaker - Released

This sounds great! Will there be dlc that alter the main game or get inserted into it? I postponed finishing poe2 for the dlc since replaying is unlikely. Would do the same here.

Another thing. So freaking tired of "balance". When did gaming change to decide that every pos broken class you could cobble together be able to complete the game on hardmode? If you make bad choices, you made bad choices. Here is your partipation ribbon.

I've also seen people complain about a game being hard while they are playing on an extremely high difficulty setting and it baffles me. At the same time, I've also played games that were way too difficult on the hard setting and way too easy on the normal setting. So depending on the game, sometimes lowering the difficulty is not a solution.

I personally like to play on the closest to the "core" rules in a game like this. Did the same for BG, IWD and the like. I want the ruleset and encounters as the developers designed, even if it is kinda hard at times. It gets easier and then some encounters are still rough, where you have to buff up well, so I like it. It's a lot like BG in that way. And people forget that quicksaving every 10 steps in BG was a thing, too. I don't mind. I'm tired of perfect balance where everything is homogenized, leveled to your character and there's no soul in the game or semblance of originality or uniqueness. Call me old-school in that regard. I want obstacles, thinking of how to build my character, thinking of strategies to employ and more. Kingmaker delivers that in a huge way, best in that regard since Baldur's IMO.

This is a really good game.
Imaginative and interesting world, real lore in the background, a truly pen and paper experience.
It really beats in every aspect all the boring pretentious bad imitations of the classic RPGs we have the last years.

fadedc said:

I've also seen people complain about a game being hard while they are playing on an extremely high difficulty setting and it baffles me. At the same time, I've also played games that were way too difficult on the hard setting and way too easy on the normal setting. So depending on the game, sometimes lowering the difficulty is not a solution.

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In this game, you can make your own custom difficulty. Enemy with weaker stats or stronger stats, enemy damage multiplication (from 20% to 300%), reduce enemy amount of critical, how negative effects are handled, etc.

The "story mode", "easy", "normal", "challenging", "hard", "unfair" difficulty are just presets.

Heads up. The patch today broke hiring mercenaries. I'm not sure what else got broken, but hirelings are a thing of the past for now. That means I'll mothball this most likely. Let it sit for a couple weeks and try again.

I still haven't had to chance to fire it up although I will catch up soon since I've already played through chapter 1 like 5 times and I have long weekend ahead of me.

Shame about bugs, this game is really excellent but bugs can really irritate people

I've had a couple crashes but nothing major. No lost progress or anything. Guess I'm lucky once again. Seems to be a trend with me not having bugs in my RPGs. My computer is clean I guess.

See if you can hire a mercenary and report back. Save first!

azarhal said:

In this game, you can make your own custom difficulty. Enemy with weaker stats or stronger stats, enemy damage multiplication (from 20% to 300%), reduce enemy amount of critical, how negative effects are handled, etc.

The "story mode", "easy", "normal", "challenging", "hard", "unfair" difficulty are just presets.

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The custom difficulty is an interesting idea, but I'd need to be really experienced with the game to have any idea how to set it. In most games by the time I become really experienced, I'm ready to try something different.

Overall I'm enjoying it. It's so true to Pathfinder that it's got some weird 'features'.

Character hit point increases at level up are always random.

It tracks party encumbrance, including rations for overland travel.

No retraining, so if you want a wizard with light armor and Dodge (+3 AC via feats) you cannot get Dodge at 1st then swap it out for light armor proficiency and armored casting at 3rd and add dodge back in at 5th (+1/+2/+3 logical progression) you could only buy light armor and either not use it or put up with 10% spell failure chance for 2 full levels.

The more I play Pathfinder, the more I appreciate 13th Age

Really appreciated a cool tracking my enemy sequence that ended with them impersonating a kobold shaman.

Wisdom said:

Another thing. So freaking tired of "balance". When did gaming change to decide that every pos broken class you could cobble together be able to complete the game on hardmode? If you make bad choices, you made bad choices. Here is your partipation ribbon.

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Wrong product then. Streamers knowledge of pathfinder ruleset ranges from ignorant to well versed. The latter do not outperform the former. They perform marginally better. Broken character builds can survive easily as players are ready to pay the price of save reload.

Capt. Huggy Face said:

People are losing their perspective, in general. Egocentrism, it seems to me, is running rampant.

I was reading some of the Steam forums for Kingmaker last night. One of them was about this difficulty question. The guy was playing on "hard" and having trouble. So, naturally, people suggested he turn down the difficulty. His response: No. He went on to explain how he always plays on hard and is not some pansy noob who plays on "normal." He simply refused to accept the idea, even when presented to him multiple times, that difficulty levels vary in effectiveness and what they actually do between different games. Each game's difficulty slider differs a bit from the next.

Nope, this guy wasn't hearing it. He should play on hard as he always has, and the developer should patch the game to meet his personal expectations that are attached to a single word, "hard," that was based solely on his preconceptions, with an outright refusal to examine reality, even when it's pointed out by others many times.

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Pointless to separate this player from other players: the crowd on this site is the same. They differ on tastes, not behaviour.

Generally, this is the behaviour that killed RTwP products: players could not take it it requires a few skills to play RTwP. It had to be their way or no other way.
The result is known: dull products that do not play RTwP.

That reminded, PF is still another beast as it is very strongly luck based. That is hitting the one arm bandit until the jackpot stuff, through save reload.

Players' inputs are brought to minimal importance. Actually, time after time, players keep repeating the same pattern for a fight until it triggers.

At least PoE2 came with a proper solution: some sort of automation of inputs as players'inputs do not matter. PF does not.

This type of product could do with a heavy level of automation: register a sequence for a fight, repeat it until it works.

After watching streamers, prefight buffs, sequence of inputs (all placed when pausing and not modified by circumstances) reload, repeat the pattern until success.

A player's presence is barely needed behind the KB.
Definitively a product for streamers as it allows them to run their show.

All this stuff could be automated, the first sequence is registered, on failure, reload, then repeat for six to ten minutes it takes to hit the jackpot.

Streamers do not care, this emptiness gives them space to chit chat and relate to their viewers. Involving gameplay is not a streamer's needs. It is a gamer's needs.

gabrielarantest said:

There is a game called Pillars of Eternity that everything is perfectly balanced (and dull).

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PF fights are dull. Extremelly dull. They are luck based and require no knowledge. And they cant be escaped through automation.
At least, PoE2 offered an automation mode to get through moments players' presence behind the KB is not required.

So CHien is Silver Coin's alt here. Or is it other way around

Archangel said:

So CHien is Silver Coin's alt here. Or is it other way around

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No way, I've seen SC concede points in several discussions. Chien is never wrong, he only delivers the absolute truth.

Arkadia7 said:

For example, there is a 90 day in game time limit for the 1st segment. I'd prefer if that was taken out entirely, as I tend to be a very slow player and like to take my time exploring games.

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The time limit is mandatory as it is one way to cap the unlimited access to refreshing a party (even though devs included random events to spoil the rest stage)

The time limit does not work though as this kind of design requires extensive playtesting.

Only saw one streamer bothered with resources management as he forgot to bring rations and could not rest.

All the others bathed in resources, had no preparations to make, no restrictions to follow.

Destroyed the sense of adventuring, feels like the party is always in a town.

TomRon said:

No way, I've seen SC concede points in several discussions. Chien is never wrong, he only delivers the absolute truth.

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People are wrong when they are wrong. Basic humility.

ChienAboyeur said:

People are wrong when they are wrong. Basic humility.

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Yep, in that you are absolutely right. I've just never seen you practice any.