I see that the Pathfinder: Kingmaker crpg is available to buy and download from today. There are 4 different editions for sale the cheapest of which is the Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Explorer Edition.
TR
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Does it have a tool set?
Nope.
FP!
I really want this to be a good game. The reviews are not filling me with confidence though. I am in wait and see mode right now.
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And didnāt they announced it will have?
Q: Will there be DM-Tools / an editor?
A: There are currently no plans to implement DM-Tools or an editor.
Source: https://owlcatgames.com/faq
Unless itās a game Iāve never heard of I tend to ignore reviews. I tend to just wait a year or two until both the price and the bugs have achieved an acceptable level. As I have a Paizo account Iāve known about the pathfinder game from its first announcement.
The only exception to this in recent years has been NwN EEā¦
TR
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I ignore industry reviews but player reviews I read to see what they like or dislike. Sometimes a specific reason a reviewer hated something is a reason for me to want it, and sometimes what a reviewer views as a plus is a deal breaker for me.
In this case, my main concern is it seems their method of simulating difficulty in the game is to massively boost enemy stats rather than just have higher level or more numerous enemies. kobolds with massively inflated ACs and a 42 strength would be a funny gag once, but not a great thing to run into all over a game. At least not if lacking some story-based reason for this to be the case.
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Itās a very good game. Proper dnd experience you wonāt find anywhere else (not including the games we know so far like NWN of course). It is pretty hardcore, too hardcore for some people unfortunately. For me itās something Iāve waited for a long time.
The thing is itās so buggy i canāt recommend it to get it now. It should stay at developing stage for a few more months and then it would be alright, but noā¦
The game is huge and rewarding and definitely closest to Baldurs Gate spirit than any other recent āold schoolā rpg, just at this stage is to buggy to fully enjoy it.
Heh. I am imagining a non pen and paper player discovering the joy of playing a level one arcane caster via this game and having a fit. No small task surviving as one in Pen and paper.
Okay, I may buy now but hold off actually playing for a while or just wait a bit before purchase. I do kinda want to buy as a show of support but then again, there is something to be said for rewarding the actual fixing of bugginess.
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Iāve never played pathfinder in PnP so donāt know how it should be like but on normal difficulty is just right, it feels like playing on hard with other games. Many enemies to skip and save for later. The resting system is a drag imo. At long shot becomes little boring and time consuming, but then again some people may like it. And the time limit main quest is a bit scary, i hope i can get it done on time 
And yeah, itās better to wait until it gets patched up. Iām thinking to put it away for a while myself.
The font right now is horribly small, it hurts to read. And the writing is golden here alright 
I had some money so I went with the impulsive purchase, and boy did I regret it.
First of all, Linux version released with a critical bug that made it unplayable, then it was hotfixed and it still plays like shit compared to Windows version. (loading times were at least 50% longer)
Now, moving on Windows version (at least that runs a bit faster, although loading times are still cumbersome), with their recent hotfixes they managed to break the spell list during level up selection, you had to GUESS where the spall was and mouse over invisibile spots to wait for tooltip to tell which spell you were actually selecting.
They hotfixed it too, however there are still several interface issues, for example I got two Amiris on my Barony, I also had another bug where Ekuyando could get two animal companions, another bug where you have to reload if you select Erastil as deity as Sacred Hunt Master because all deity selection disappears, and several tooltip bugs where the tooltip of an ability would appear over another and so on. The UI is totally messed up in this game, the more you play, the sooner you start to realize it.
As for gameplay, much of this is frustrating by design, the ātime attackā, on the very first quest of the game, will start piling up pressure on you, and, combined with the fact that gear is pathetic in those levels, classes are not flashed out yet, youāre pretty much in the hands of RNG gods, so you have two choices. You save scum like a mad man or you tone down the difficulty to such levels where all you have to do is point and click and everything dies, and enemies hit like kitten. No middle ground.
Your party is pretty much fixed to those 6 characters, you can change the order in which you get them by some replies early on (if youāre good or evil, lawful or chaotic), but youāll get the others back soon after. Mercenaries are way overpriced, thereās simply no money to employ one in the first act.
Ah, did I mention thereās an additional reward (a +2 dueling sword), if you do that quest in less than 30 days? Thatās right, a hidden timer with a quest with a timer.
Things get a little better by the time you have finished the Troll Fortress, you are higher level, thereās good gear to be found, you have more time to explore, you find more characters so you have more flexibility in party composition and so on. Normal difficulty actually starts sounding resonable without save scumming by then.
The Kingdom management is a total bust in my book. RNG dependant for success of events, can you believe it? Just go Auto and spare yourself this torture of returning to the barony every couple of days to check if thereās a new event or not. There is no way to manage the kingdom from outside (unless youāre very close to the barony on map, and you canāt do the audience events anyway), and there is no form of teleport to go back to the barony right away. Those two things would be the bare minimum to make this aspect of the game, even remotely enjoyable. (and removing the RNG too)
Another big problem with kingdom managament is that it increases exponentially the amount of times you will see the loading screenā¦ yes, going to kingdom management triggers a loading screen as if you entered a whole new zone, it just becomes way too boring after a short while.
I recommend staying away until this is on sale with 50% discount AND they have fixed the technical issues at the very least.
The game could also use another pass on gameplay design and balance, when I think that I spent on this the same amount of money I spent on Divinity Original Sin 2 (Definitive Edition), I canāt help but facepalm.
The difference is quality/price ratio is overwhelming, I almost feel robbed when I think about it.
Speaking of which, they always claim they want to make these game so āfaithfulā to PnP material and then they go and miss the most importat aspect of it, combat is turn based, (and no, autopause is not the same) AND has movement and ranges based on tiles/hexes. d20 rulesets are already not well balanced by default, if you take away those aspects out of it, balance goes out of the window.
On top of it add the lack of modding, editor and multiplayer and you have recipe for an underpar product, this seems even behind Baldurās Gate 2, on certain aspects (let alone the Neverwinter Nights games).
P.S. Enjoy weapon proficiency restricted to one weapon type (Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Bastard Sword).
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@up
You canāt deal with the time limit for some quest? Or the random (not entirely random, the level of your advisor + dice roll) result of some events scares you? (So basically what you are saying is the game is too hard for you, which is what the most negative reviews on steam are about, the game being too hard. ) You hate your companions because they have weapon proficiency (related to their character and their background stories)? And at the same time you praise that totally overrated DOS2, a-rpg for casuals, game with broken mechanics at so many levels (if anyone is interested; the review on rpg codex give that game justice) and utterly blant story. Dude, you have picked up wrong game.
Personally i like every bit of it. Ruling your kingdom is so addictive. It gets frustrating when something turns out negatively, but it is related to the dice roll so if you reload the game you may have positive outcome. Besides, level of writing, liveliness of companions, everything holds together perfectly. It seems the game is just not for everybody, thatās for sure.
Worth the 40 bucks or not, it depends on the person i guess, but technically the game is early access. Like with pillars of eternity, where the patches were coming out for more than a year, this game will be at the stage of patching for some time.
Canāt deal with the time limit? How do you think I found out there was an additional reward by finishing it in less than 1/3 of the time required? Itās not a problem of difficulty, itās a problem of design. And this is stupid design. Why give an incentive to rush ahead in a game where there is a lot to explore? Who thought this would be a good idea?
Donāt do a ridiculous reductio ad hominem, please (āthe game is too hard for youā, what a load of nonsense, you can tone enemies down to walking kittens any time in the game, x0,2 damage, much easier enemies, makes the game an auto win where all you have to do is point and click).
Or as if saving and reload and waiting for the RNG to hand you the victory is hard (if you ever decide to go with difficulties of normal or higher). Itās tme consuming, now thatās for certain.
Like every goddamn loading screen to manage the kingdom when you go from city, to throne room, to management screens, audiences back and forth. The game certainly goes out of its way to show you a loading screen.
DoS 2 is heaps and bounds above this game, the design, the content, the gameplay, the features all of it is superior, it has editor and modding support that allows you to change what you donāt like about the game, whereas Pathfinder Kingmaker has no such support. I just brought it in, because there was a time when the price was the same, which is hilarious, all things considering. (now DoS 2 should be slightly more expensive because the 10% sale ended)
Iām gonna drop this here, Iāve said my piece and my advice stays the same: stay away from this game until they fix the bugs and it goes on sale for half the price, in its current state itās not worth it.
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Wish I could get far enough to see if itās hard. The steam Linux version wonāt even start for me. Iām hoping some day to get more than a changed mouse cursor ā¦
Laptop with 8Gig and an Nvida Card (one generation old)
Version 2.02 Explorer Edition from GOG
Simply a very fine game. Not deserving of ābest ever accoladesā nor "buggy unbalanced messā. Well worth a CRPG fans time and investment for any reasonable sum of money.
Played a Two Handed Weapon Specialist Ranger for 7 levels to get the āhang of itā with Kingdom Management on easy; the Ranger was burning through it with no reloads. Now concurrently playing Elven pure Wizard (6) and Asimar Paladin (5) on Normal. The Wizard is hard the first few levels due to a lack of concentrated hard hitting meat shields. The Paladin is perhaps slighttly overpowered even on normal but a reload or three was necessary todate.
Any CRPG or PnP experienced player will not find it unbalanced as of 202. Simply because you can not walk up to a Troll and smash it to death as a level 2 party without planning preparation and tactics is a good thing. Same with spider swarms. Listening - reading - preparing for a mission are actually important.
- Strong Plot based on well written PnP
- Fairly Linear at the beginning to level 5 but afterwards lots of choice
- Consequences: 1 arrow can kill you - NPCs react to you differently based on choices
- RolePlay: True potential for a Lawful Evil PC Protagonist - first game in years not especially Paladin-ic centric.
- High replay-ability - different builds and alignments get subtly different plots at least up through early Kingdom Management
- Quirky sub optimized or sub-optimal Party NPCs - its good ! Minsc and Jahere were sub optimal in case most of you have forgotten. They were only āperfectā by TofBahl after you had invested in them. I suspect the same will be true here (pending)
- Will be Loved by those who love ānon Epic power gamesā but a sweeping plot
I experience no bugs at all and load times no worse or better than NWN2 on my rig.
New content seeming to come so finally a serial game like the old PnP model ? 4 or so new adventures in different settings each year for a reasonable digital cost ? Much like buying a new Module at the local hobby store in 1980 ?
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