From a roleplaying and dialogue perspective, this game is ordinary. And by that I mean crap. It's not a patch on games like BG, PoE and DAO. Some of the dialogue is terrible, and uses modern slang which is anachronistic in a fantasy setting. Some of the voice acting is horrendous - I couldn't believe what I was hearing when Kressle first voices some lines, it's like Yasraena BG2 fanmod levels of awful. Be glad when it's text rather than voiced.
(Tartuccio voice acting is superb btw - that's the standard you would want, and it's notable that he doesn't really use any modern slang - no coincidence).
However...from a gameplay point of view...this game is amazing. Better than PoE1 for sure. Better than DAO. I hesitate to say better than BG, but it's up there. So give it time, get over the terrible writing and deficiency in mechanics explanation, just play it for a day or two, try out the classes, fight the monsters and I'm sure you'll grow to love it. The variety in tactics, the richness of the class systems, the synergies you can deploy, the interaction of abilities is all top notch.
I'm obsessed with this game right now, been playing every spare minute I have, and I love it. I'm trying to master solo no-reload on Challenging, and I am getting there. Every new run I get further, until I come across a new area (or worse, random encounter/rest ambush) that I get my butt handed to me on. I think it's the most difficult game I've come across to solo no-reload, but the challenge is welcome and I don't think it's unfair, it's just a very steep learning curve to work out what abilities/tactics you need for different monsters. But now that I've discovered the power of the Psychokineticist (a class which I kept looking at but had to give up, because it's so hard to understand from the descriptions how it works)...all will fall before me
I haven't given up yet, thanks all for these insights. But one thing I've reminded myself after these hours: an RPG (at least to me) is a story, NPCs, dialogue. Everything else comes afterwards. Mechanics and spells are not something that would make a game interesting for me in the first place. This has been a good reminder in the wake of all the praise I see around Pathfinder: Kingmaker. And I'm still not there to judge mechanics.
I really don't want to imply anything, but this means a lot while we wait for BGIII.
While Kressle stands out as horrendous, I can't think of a single other character that sounds that bad in the game. My best guess is that's a backer doing the VO with a home mic or something. DA:O had some cringeworthy VO at some points, like Morrigan "If it t'were it t'would be t'werriffic."
I actually loved some of the dialog with other characters, voiced or not. Linzi and Nok-Nok can be hilarious.
I don't really care if some words are anachronisms. I could go off all day about words being anachronisms in just about any game not set on modern day Earth. It's a fantasy world, that's different than our world. Who's to say everything isn't translated for us, since they wouldn't be speaking English on another world. Hell, they're progression is nothing like our world's, the Technic League has access to nanites in that setting. Add in the fact that a lot of it was probably written orginally in Russian, localizing it to every other language in period specific dialects is just not going to happen.
I really don't want to imply anything, but this means a lot while we wait for BGIII.
Eh, not really. It's more like the old Baldur's Gate vs. Icewind Dale arguement all over again. Different target audience, plain and simple.
And I think this argument is very much relevant. During the last few months, I've been reading a lot about RPGs, including RPGs from the "old-school" renaissance period. I see a lot of discussions and heated arguments about mechanics, abilities and spells.
Trying P:K is giving me a fresh thought that it's actually the story and character interaction which I value the most.
It's a fantasy world, that's different than our world. Who's to say everything isn't translated for us, since they wouldn't be speaking English on another world. Hell, they're progression is nothing like our world's, the Technic League has access to nanites in that setting.
Very true. It's rather common for new players to not know that Golarion isn't a medieval fantasy setting by a long shot. It got guns, spaceships, feral robots and even androids (which are also a playable race in Pathfinder) over at Numeria. It's also worth to note that the culture of those stranded aliens (space humans, really) from the planet Androffa mingled with those of Golarion. So, yeah, it's a more colourful place than Toril alright.
This might be blasphemous but I love Kingmaker's characters and overall story more than BG2. But I also think Glint Gardnersonson is the best character in any of BG games.
Trying P:K is giving me a fresh thought that it's actually the story and character interaction which I value the most.
Good for you. Be sure to do at least three different complete playthroughts of Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I'm expecting to see a indepth essay of your findings.
Seriously, Kingmaker is one of the few games out there where detailed replayability is a true selling point. No lazy three colored endings a' la Mass Effect here, I assure you.
Linzi is my favorite. She's perhaps one of the most adorable characters I've seen in a crpg. Nok-nok is surprisingly better than I expected (usually have a dim expectation for monstrous playable characters).
I rather like the story. It's not incredible - but it's pretty good. I'd say this game has a strong IWD vibe, and while IWD doesn't hold a candle to the story of the BG games, I still enjoy it for its own value.
There are a few things that bug me. Such as a decision I made early in a companion's quest absolutely decided how the whole arc was going to turn out (and I was just trying to role-play my Lawful Neural character).
Another issue I have is that the game is sufficiently challenging that optimal character party is kind of necessary. Since some roles are only occupied by one character, I felt like I practically HAD to bring them everywhere I went.
Also "Some" advisor issue that practically forces you to save someone or join a determined faction or you simply have no advisor available for that position for half of the game -.- ( I now people turn the kingdom management off or "efortless", but I do not. I actually enjoy that part of the game. Right now, and after some patches, the UI is ok and the bugs are mostly gone).
Another issue I have is that the game is sufficiently challenging that optimal character party is kind of necessary. Since some roles are only occupied by one character, I felt like I practically HAD to bring them everywhere I went.
Sometimes it is easier to build your character to fill that role from the start so you can have the party you want and read the banters you wish in this run. The game has good replayability value,so it is worth it. I know you can recruit an entire party like in IWD but they are mindless silent mercernaries.
I prefer to try builds in the dlc and rp with the companions in the OC, mixing personalities and alignments in the party.
You do not have class unique dialogues anyway. (And only a few references for dwarves and minor changes with paladins and clerics depending on your god, but nothing substantial). The alignment plays a major role. Race, class... not so much.
I did like that as a gnome, if you ask Jubilost to tell you about gnomes he’s like, “A gnome that doesn’t know their own history? What has the world come to these days!”
It was a minor things but I reminds me of people complaints about Pillars 1 with playing a priest of eothas and then asking who Eothas was.
Also "Some" advisor issue that practically forces you to save someone or join a determined faction or you simply have no advisor available for that position for half of the game -.-
The Owlcats actually "fixed" this in their Enhanced Edition update, albeit understandable begrudgingly so.
The Retinue Plays the King
The advisors… We still receive quite a lot of comments from you saying there aren’t enough advisors in the game. Our goal has always been to give our players a chance to make meaningful choices, choices that actually matter. Choosing an advisor was supposed to be one of those difficult, but ultimately entertaining parts of the game. You do your best to pick the ideal candidate for the role: someone who can get the job done, but also fits your style of leadership. However, this can be quite tricky, and at times even outright impossible – which is why sometimes you compromise and give the position to someone who’s not a good match for you as a person, but will greatly benefit the kingdom. This is a significant, meaningful choice, but sometimes it can be unpleasant and, as it turns out, even unacceptable to some players. Also, it is far too hard to play without any advisors on some of the key roles, especially when playing for the first time - this can easily cripple a kingdom. Therefore, by popular demand, we’ve decided to allow appointing mercenaries for government roles. They are not quite the same as your usual advisors, however. A mercenary is not as effective as other advisors: they have a lower base chance of successfully resolving an event. At the same time, a mercenary can use magical items to increase their stats (only your companions were able to do that before). They are not very talkative and they tend to select the most neutral option in each rank-up event if there is one.
Do you know that I actually have that patch?. The one with the crisis points and stuff. I am so accustomed to have to change adivisors, throwing banquets and being in unrest that I did not even know that they dumbed it down and now you have this options.
Well, If I did not need it I suppose there is no problem.
What I liked:
- that actual actions during the prologue mattered in the end. I was wondering if not taking the money from that chest would matter. Valerie and Linzi joined me because of my decisions and replies;
- that the prologue ended, because I was not happy with a few NPCs who joined me during it without any option to decline their offer. And people criticized the Neera encounter in Beregost till 2.5.
What I didn't like:
- combat felt very complex and unexplained. Even after me reading through the encyclopedia in the game, I still didn't understand what was going on. Especially the last battle in the tutorial - a lot happened there, happened quick, and it was very hard to grasp. PoE - even PoE which was accused of having a "messed combat" - explained things to me better during the first area and the first dungeon. I also feel there was no way to approach the battles differently, not just charging forward. No way to lure enemies one by one. No sneak kills.
- rooms in the mansion had no hidden treasures. I usually like when I as a player have a feeling of discovery (in PoE - hidden treasure available with high Mechanics and being hidden; the D:OS games don't even highlight all the loot - you have to search for it). Here, we just had similar rooms with big chests which were very noticeable.
- not too many traps. Again, PoE, D:OS and BG taught me to constantly be hidden and search for traps. Here we got them only in one corridor.
- a statue puzzle. @BelgarathMTH often says he doesn't like puzzles in the games, and I have to conclude that if all puzzles looked like the one in the P:K prologue, I would have no objections towards that opinion. I'm spoiled by the D:OS puzzles where there are always clues on how to solve them - sometimes apparent, sometimes hidden, but there're clues. Here, it was just a random statue clicking, without any commentary from any NPC, without any letters or books.
- while the final sequence with dialogue and choices was interesting, I again have to question why NPCs - in this case, Amiri - support the main character so openly. Clint was knocked out during the final battle (I'm still wondering whether this should have been a gameover or not) - but she said he fought bravely. Linzi after the initial scene of the game told me she wanted to write a book about me - but why? What's so special about the main character?
- repeating the same music track during the whole tutorial. Not only the track is not the best, but in the end, the music became too repetitive. Again, I might be spoiled by other games, BG, DA:O, PoE, D:OS.
- the actual story. After we fought through the mansion, couldn't we have an option to decline going into another region (just a dialogue option, after which the NPC would explain that there's no choice, or something). What if the main character didn't want to compete with that Tartuccio fellow?
On the way to the trading post I decided to rest. It showed my main character failed to cook anything - does this matter, if so, how? The game again didn't explain anything to me. The ambush map with 3 animals didn't have any treasure at all. How does the game want me to understand I should explore and discover if the starting mansion and the first ambush map didn't provide anything interesting in terms of exploration.
I disagree that the combat is complex, the puzzle is optional and the statues doesn't move randomly, how other statues move are determined by what statue you "press", the question about traps, is because is the tutorial area and the are is under attack, the attackers had little time to prepare traps. Don't expect an easy mode on Vordakai's tomb for eg. This makes sense, deadly traps will appear only on mid game when invading places where the enemy had time to prepare traps.
About resting, resting isn't like BG. You need to camp, you can either hunt or use supplies(if you have on your inventory), and the game "checks" too see if you will be attacked or not. You also can put party members to watch in turns, but remember, time matters on PfK and certain decisions affects the time. But PfK allows you to do all types of cool stuff that even on previous games, you can't do. Examples?
Can someone name one RPG where i can make my charname incorporeal and raise an Azata/Axiomite army? Note that before my alignment shifted, as a evil, i could raise an soul eater army if i remember correctly.
Cooking and the rest of the camping mechanics can be confusing at the start. Maybe you already have guessed that skills influence the success of camping "rolls":
- Knowledge (Nature) helps with hunting game, saving your stash of rations for dungeons.
- Stealth is responsible for camouflaging the campsite, reducing the ambush rate of random encounters while sleeping
- Perception will see much use for any character keeping watch
- Knowledge (World) is the crucible factor of cooking. Being world traveled in Pathfinder also means that you've seen your fair share of cuisines.
Also of note is that each NPC has their favourite dish, which will give helpful buffs for the companion in question. You can find cooking recipes throughout the game world or just buy them from merchants.
As far as camping mechanics go, I found Jaethal's Undead Guardian camp ability to be the most handy: she conjures two skeletons in case the camp gets ambushed.
Apropos music: the game boasts of 60 soundtracks. Which is much in comparison to the titles you've listed. Give them a list when they pop up! On a related subject, the music of your Capital will change according to your alignment as well.
Again, I can only advice you to keep playing this gem. It is a long game, spanning over five in-game years. Double the length of the whole BG saga combined. And don't worry... you will find more than your share on traps and hidden objects.
You are really putting too much pressure in the tutorial of the game. The rest of the game is not like that. Does the game require more explanation of the mechanics? Yes. The other complains you have? Not really.
The tutorial is the only point in the game ( besides companion quests) that "forces" you to have a companion. And you have them like ¿5 minutes?. I think they want you to meet them before you have to make a decision after. If you have to choose between them you have to know them before, right? You can even dismiss any companion forever if you want to, later in the game.
There are PLENTY of hidden doors and treasures in the game, parts of weapons and armor that someone can repair, collection items, etc. Also traps. A lot. In almost any ruin or underground you find. So get ready to power up your perception.
Amiri supports the character because he openly hates Tartuccio since the banquet at the very start of the game. And for metagaming reasons, she will come to you always to the outpost so I think they wanted to give her a reason to do so. "You fought well". But if you piss her off she will tell. She can also abandon her post as an advisor if you do so, on her own accord. She does not approve anything you do.
As Linzi told you in the first conversation with her, you are the only interesting character to be the MC of her story. You are the MC because you are less worse than the others. If you read it, Linzi's book is the "Questlog" of the game, so it is logical that she writes about you.
And I can tell you that Linzi is not a fangirl who approves anything you do. If you do something she does not like she will tell (albeit she cannot leave you or die because of plot reasons). Think Imoen.
Cooking gives you bonuses if you succeed the check. You will find several recipes with several different buffs that last until next rest ( +1 to saves, +1 to hit, etc).
You can skin the wolves to get pelts and sell them. So they actually have treasure. I found ilogical in other games that wolves or lions have treasure ( they ate gems and gold?).
The rest system are one of the selling points of the game, IMHO. I hope they make something like that in BG3.
Camping has its ups and downs. The weight of rations is insane, I say! And being a fan of Dungeon Meshi, I demand being able to hunt monsters for their meat in dungeons, dangit! xD
Nothing that the Bags of Tricks mod can't fix, luckily. :P
I'm a little shocked that you found the battle at the end of the tutorial complex. A lot of the enemies are occupied, and don't even attack. It's not that different than some of the fights during the tutorial of NWN. Default difficulty is higher in kingmaker, though.
The reason why you don't have an option to decline the quest to go to the next area is that is literally the reason your character is there. It'd be like starting NWN and telling Aribeth, nah I'm good, and the game ending there. Your character is supposed to have heeded a call to adventure from Jamandi. She's offered a reward of a barony for clearing the region of dangerous bandits. This is also why Linzi wants to write a book about you, she wants to write about the founding of the barony. If you piss her off during the tutorial...
she'll decide to write the book about Tartuccio, and join his party instead. There's still opportunities to get her back later, though.
You probably also need to look at your formation if your main's getting dropped when your party attacks. Put high AC/hit point characters like Val and Amiri in the front, and make sure they engage enemies before squishier party members move up. I generally also like to switch Amiri up to the two handed fighter archetype, since it gives her access to heavy armor.
I gotta agree, I love the rest system in the game. That does feel like PnP, assigning a watch order, someone putting up camo, somebody else cooking and hunting. There's also risk to resting, but if you camp on the overworld map, you're less likely to get attacked, but it can still happen.
I wouldn't say PK is twice the length of the NG trilogy. It is probably equal in length (although this is my first playtrhough. I'm sure I'd be shaving a few hours off on a second try).
I also disagree that the story is better - but it is solid. Keeps you intrigued.
There will be TONS of traps in the game. Probably too many, if I am being honest. There is an absolute ton of hidden items in the game, too. More than in any game I've played in the genre, including D:OS2 - which had a lot.
Combat is chaotic, and pretty complex. It's more of a feature than a bug through when you get used to it. The greatest strength of IWD (and SOD) were their setpieve battles. That's true here too. But they can be VERY hard. This is very much a game in which you will be expected to fail, and adapt your strategy when you try again.
Skills/feats/levels are more complicated than othe CRPG, but there is usually an easy answer. Keep investing skill points where the NPCs already have. Most will be effective with only their main class at each level up.
If you don't enjoy the game, then don't force yourself to play it, but I think the game gets better the further you go.
I wouldn't say PK is twice the length of the NG trilogy. It is probably equal in length (although this is my first playtrhough. I'm sure I'd be shaving a few hours off on a second try).
You have to differentiate between the amount of invested RL hours and the chronological in-game timeline. I spoke of the latter. In case of the BG Saga's journal entries it takes CHARNAME about two years (or was it two and a half years?) from leaving Candlekeep all the way to grasping godhood. In that sense Pathfinder: Kingmaker game timeline is indeed twice as long.
- the actual story. After we fought through the mansion, couldn't we have an option to decline going into another region (just a dialogue option, after which the NPC would explain that there's no choice, or something).
“I don’t know who to trust, but instead of putting you both under house arrest while the rest of the those gathered here work together to hunt down the Stag Lord, I am going to let you both wander into a wilderness area that I have no authority over and hope I can find you later after I realize who was responsible for killing all my guards.”
I really don't want to imply anything, but this means a lot while we wait for BGIII.
It's funny. When I read your first post about Pf: K I really thought it read as if you were responding to people's concerns about BG3 being made by Larian, as if your main reason for picking up the game were that people said the prefer Kingmaker over D:OS.
- a lot of users on this forum and Reddit mentioned it became the most BG-ish of all "renaissance" RPGs for them
- in the wake of the BG3 announcement a substantial part of commenters say that Owlcat should have been chosen instead, so I'm curious to try myself and be able to judge myself
- a friend gifted this game on my birthday
- BelgarathMTH 's inspiring thread about minimal and no-reload, and this is how I prefer to play as well
- I've recently completed D:OS and finished PoE (finished to the stage I want to take a hiatus from PoE)
- P:K is an obvious choice to see what else current isometric RPGs have to offer, besides the games I have already tried
- P:K recently has got an EE
So of course my choice is not random. And of course I have my own favorite games. But I prefer to see everything myself and get to my own conclusions. This is why I'm trying P:K now.
About why the combat seemed difficult to understand for me: I've had to Google about it. So the confusing part for me was when I faced as a Valerie one melee enemy, this enemy got constant sneak attacks, staying just in front of my tank. Apparently, it's because sneak attacks in this game happen if 2 or more characters attack the same target, no matter where they stand, and it affects even missile attacks.
In PoE and DA:O, as well as IWD with 3e sneak attacks, you had to position your thief behind- or at least to the left or to the right of an enemy. It was called "flanked" for a reason.
Here, it doesn't make sense for me. An enemy is standing in front of a heavily armored warrior and gets sneak attacks.
I guess this mechanic greatly reduces a variety of tactics- you don't have to micromanage as an attacker, you don't have to search for "choke points".
I'm not sure how I feel about my rogue now. I planned to play him PoE-style, with positioning and combat movement for better flanking.
All I can add is that it, at the very least, shows how a videogame implements PnP rules but not without changing them substantially.
All I can add is that it, at the very least, shows how a videogame implements PnP rules but not without changing them substantially.
Well - PnP systems are changing on that front. It's sneak attack now and and not "backstab". I believe the 5e rule just requires you to be flanking an enemy to gain sneak attack on them - no requirement to be positioned behind them.
It's an evolution of the rogue to make them a class designed to do damage rather than pure skill-monkey.
You have to differentiate between the amount of invested RL hours and the chronological in-game timeline. I spoke of the latter. In case of the BG Saga's journal entries it takes CHARNAME about two years (or was it two and a half years?) from leaving Candlekeep all the way to grasping godhood. In that sense Pathfinder: Kingmaker game timeline is indeed twice as long.
Gotcha. I actually don't think I knew how long the BG arc was supposed to take. Also, I thought you were talking about the actual playtime because PK IS a long game. Something I appreciate about it.
Comments
(Tartuccio voice acting is superb btw - that's the standard you would want, and it's notable that he doesn't really use any modern slang - no coincidence).
However...from a gameplay point of view...this game is amazing. Better than PoE1 for sure. Better than DAO. I hesitate to say better than BG, but it's up there. So give it time, get over the terrible writing and deficiency in mechanics explanation, just play it for a day or two, try out the classes, fight the monsters and I'm sure you'll grow to love it. The variety in tactics, the richness of the class systems, the synergies you can deploy, the interaction of abilities is all top notch.
I'm obsessed with this game right now, been playing every spare minute I have, and I love it. I'm trying to master solo no-reload on Challenging, and I am getting there. Every new run I get further, until I come across a new area (or worse, random encounter/rest ambush) that I get my butt handed to me on. I think it's the most difficult game I've come across to solo no-reload, but the challenge is welcome and I don't think it's unfair, it's just a very steep learning curve to work out what abilities/tactics you need for different monsters. But now that I've discovered the power of the Psychokineticist (a class which I kept looking at but had to give up, because it's so hard to understand from the descriptions how it works)...all will fall before me
I really don't want to imply anything, but this means a lot while we wait for BGIII.
I actually loved some of the dialog with other characters, voiced or not. Linzi and Nok-Nok can be hilarious.
I don't really care if some words are anachronisms. I could go off all day about words being anachronisms in just about any game not set on modern day Earth. It's a fantasy world, that's different than our world. Who's to say everything isn't translated for us, since they wouldn't be speaking English on another world. Hell, they're progression is nothing like our world's, the Technic League has access to nanites in that setting. Add in the fact that a lot of it was probably written orginally in Russian, localizing it to every other language in period specific dialects is just not going to happen.
And I think this argument is very much relevant. During the last few months, I've been reading a lot about RPGs, including RPGs from the "old-school" renaissance period. I see a lot of discussions and heated arguments about mechanics, abilities and spells.
Trying P:K is giving me a fresh thought that it's actually the story and character interaction which I value the most.
Seriously, Kingmaker is one of the few games out there where detailed replayability is a true selling point. No lazy three colored endings a' la Mass Effect here, I assure you.
A pity you get Nok-nok too far (for my taste) in the game. It is far worse for poor Tartuccio. A pity you cannot make a Tartucio NPC mod for P:K.
I rather like the story. It's not incredible - but it's pretty good. I'd say this game has a strong IWD vibe, and while IWD doesn't hold a candle to the story of the BG games, I still enjoy it for its own value.
There are a few things that bug me. Such as a decision I made early in a companion's quest absolutely decided how the whole arc was going to turn out (and I was just trying to role-play my Lawful Neural character).
Another issue I have is that the game is sufficiently challenging that optimal character party is kind of necessary. Since some roles are only occupied by one character, I felt like I practically HAD to bring them everywhere I went.
Sometimes it is easier to build your character to fill that role from the start so you can have the party you want and read the banters you wish in this run. The game has good replayability value,so it is worth it. I know you can recruit an entire party like in IWD but they are mindless silent mercernaries.
I prefer to try builds in the dlc and rp with the companions in the OC, mixing personalities and alignments in the party.
You do not have class unique dialogues anyway. (And only a few references for dwarves and minor changes with paladins and clerics depending on your god, but nothing substantial). The alignment plays a major role. Race, class... not so much.
It was a minor things but I reminds me of people complaints about Pillars 1 with playing a priest of eothas and then asking who Eothas was.
The Owlcats actually "fixed" this in their Enhanced Edition update, albeit understandable begrudgingly so.
Well, If I did not need it I suppose there is no problem.
What I liked:
- that actual actions during the prologue mattered in the end. I was wondering if not taking the money from that chest would matter. Valerie and Linzi joined me because of my decisions and replies;
- that the prologue ended, because I was not happy with a few NPCs who joined me during it without any option to decline their offer. And people criticized the Neera encounter in Beregost till 2.5.
What I didn't like:
- combat felt very complex and unexplained. Even after me reading through the encyclopedia in the game, I still didn't understand what was going on. Especially the last battle in the tutorial - a lot happened there, happened quick, and it was very hard to grasp. PoE - even PoE which was accused of having a "messed combat" - explained things to me better during the first area and the first dungeon. I also feel there was no way to approach the battles differently, not just charging forward. No way to lure enemies one by one. No sneak kills.
- rooms in the mansion had no hidden treasures. I usually like when I as a player have a feeling of discovery (in PoE - hidden treasure available with high Mechanics and being hidden; the D:OS games don't even highlight all the loot - you have to search for it). Here, we just had similar rooms with big chests which were very noticeable.
- not too many traps. Again, PoE, D:OS and BG taught me to constantly be hidden and search for traps. Here we got them only in one corridor.
- a statue puzzle. @BelgarathMTH often says he doesn't like puzzles in the games, and I have to conclude that if all puzzles looked like the one in the P:K prologue, I would have no objections towards that opinion. I'm spoiled by the D:OS puzzles where there are always clues on how to solve them - sometimes apparent, sometimes hidden, but there're clues. Here, it was just a random statue clicking, without any commentary from any NPC, without any letters or books.
- while the final sequence with dialogue and choices was interesting, I again have to question why NPCs - in this case, Amiri - support the main character so openly. Clint was knocked out during the final battle (I'm still wondering whether this should have been a gameover or not) - but she said he fought bravely. Linzi after the initial scene of the game told me she wanted to write a book about me - but why? What's so special about the main character?
- repeating the same music track during the whole tutorial. Not only the track is not the best, but in the end, the music became too repetitive. Again, I might be spoiled by other games, BG, DA:O, PoE, D:OS.
- the actual story. After we fought through the mansion, couldn't we have an option to decline going into another region (just a dialogue option, after which the NPC would explain that there's no choice, or something). What if the main character didn't want to compete with that Tartuccio fellow?
On the way to the trading post I decided to rest. It showed my main character failed to cook anything - does this matter, if so, how? The game again didn't explain anything to me. The ambush map with 3 animals didn't have any treasure at all. How does the game want me to understand I should explore and discover if the starting mansion and the first ambush map didn't provide anything interesting in terms of exploration.
About resting, resting isn't like BG. You need to camp, you can either hunt or use supplies(if you have on your inventory), and the game "checks" too see if you will be attacked or not. You also can put party members to watch in turns, but remember, time matters on PfK and certain decisions affects the time. But PfK allows you to do all types of cool stuff that even on previous games, you can't do. Examples?
Can someone name one RPG where i can make my charname incorporeal and raise an Azata/Axiomite army? Note that before my alignment shifted, as a evil, i could raise an soul eater army if i remember correctly.
Cooking and the rest of the camping mechanics can be confusing at the start. Maybe you already have guessed that skills influence the success of camping "rolls":
- Knowledge (Nature) helps with hunting game, saving your stash of rations for dungeons.
- Stealth is responsible for camouflaging the campsite, reducing the ambush rate of random encounters while sleeping
- Perception will see much use for any character keeping watch
- Knowledge (World) is the crucible factor of cooking. Being world traveled in Pathfinder also means that you've seen your fair share of cuisines.
Also of note is that each NPC has their favourite dish, which will give helpful buffs for the companion in question. You can find cooking recipes throughout the game world or just buy them from merchants.
As far as camping mechanics go, I found Jaethal's Undead Guardian camp ability to be the most handy: she conjures two skeletons in case the camp gets ambushed.
Apropos music: the game boasts of 60 soundtracks. Which is much in comparison to the titles you've listed. Give them a list when they pop up! On a related subject, the music of your Capital will change according to your alignment as well.
Again, I can only advice you to keep playing this gem. It is a long game, spanning over five in-game years. Double the length of the whole BG saga combined. And don't worry... you will find more than your share on traps and hidden objects.
The tutorial is the only point in the game ( besides companion quests) that "forces" you to have a companion. And you have them like ¿5 minutes?. I think they want you to meet them before you have to make a decision after. If you have to choose between them you have to know them before, right? You can even dismiss any companion forever if you want to, later in the game.
There are PLENTY of hidden doors and treasures in the game, parts of weapons and armor that someone can repair, collection items, etc. Also traps. A lot. In almost any ruin or underground you find. So get ready to power up your perception.
Amiri supports the character because he openly hates Tartuccio since the banquet at the very start of the game. And for metagaming reasons, she will come to you always to the outpost so I think they wanted to give her a reason to do so. "You fought well". But if you piss her off she will tell. She can also abandon her post as an advisor if you do so, on her own accord. She does not approve anything you do.
As Linzi told you in the first conversation with her, you are the only interesting character to be the MC of her story. You are the MC because you are less worse than the others. If you read it, Linzi's book is the "Questlog" of the game, so it is logical that she writes about you.
And I can tell you that Linzi is not a fangirl who approves anything you do. If you do something she does not like she will tell (albeit she cannot leave you or die because of plot reasons). Think Imoen.
Cooking gives you bonuses if you succeed the check. You will find several recipes with several different buffs that last until next rest ( +1 to saves, +1 to hit, etc).
You can skin the wolves to get pelts and sell them. So they actually have treasure. I found ilogical in other games that wolves or lions have treasure ( they ate gems and gold?).
The rest system are one of the selling points of the game, IMHO. I hope they make something like that in BG3.
It's funny, the rest system is the thing I like the least in the game! I hope they do not make something like this in BG3
Nothing that the Bags of Tricks mod can't fix, luckily. :P
The reason why you don't have an option to decline the quest to go to the next area is that is literally the reason your character is there. It'd be like starting NWN and telling Aribeth, nah I'm good, and the game ending there. Your character is supposed to have heeded a call to adventure from Jamandi. She's offered a reward of a barony for clearing the region of dangerous bandits. This is also why Linzi wants to write a book about you, she wants to write about the founding of the barony. If you piss her off during the tutorial...
You probably also need to look at your formation if your main's getting dropped when your party attacks. Put high AC/hit point characters like Val and Amiri in the front, and make sure they engage enemies before squishier party members move up. I generally also like to switch Amiri up to the two handed fighter archetype, since it gives her access to heavy armor.
I gotta agree, I love the rest system in the game. That does feel like PnP, assigning a watch order, someone putting up camo, somebody else cooking and hunting. There's also risk to resting, but if you camp on the overworld map, you're less likely to get attacked, but it can still happen.
I wouldn't say PK is twice the length of the NG trilogy. It is probably equal in length (although this is my first playtrhough. I'm sure I'd be shaving a few hours off on a second try).
I also disagree that the story is better - but it is solid. Keeps you intrigued.
There will be TONS of traps in the game. Probably too many, if I am being honest. There is an absolute ton of hidden items in the game, too. More than in any game I've played in the genre, including D:OS2 - which had a lot.
Combat is chaotic, and pretty complex. It's more of a feature than a bug through when you get used to it. The greatest strength of IWD (and SOD) were their setpieve battles. That's true here too. But they can be VERY hard. This is very much a game in which you will be expected to fail, and adapt your strategy when you try again.
Skills/feats/levels are more complicated than othe CRPG, but there is usually an easy answer. Keep investing skill points where the NPCs already have. Most will be effective with only their main class at each level up.
If you don't enjoy the game, then don't force yourself to play it, but I think the game gets better the further you go.
“I don’t know who to trust, but instead of putting you both under house arrest while the rest of the those gathered here work together to hunt down the Stag Lord, I am going to let you both wander into a wilderness area that I have no authority over and hope I can find you later after I realize who was responsible for killing all my guards.”
It's funny. When I read your first post about Pf: K I really thought it read as if you were responding to people's concerns about BG3 being made by Larian, as if your main reason for picking up the game were that people said the prefer Kingmaker over D:OS.
And then this line appears.
- a lot of users on this forum and Reddit mentioned it became the most BG-ish of all "renaissance" RPGs for them
- in the wake of the BG3 announcement a substantial part of commenters say that Owlcat should have been chosen instead, so I'm curious to try myself and be able to judge myself
- a friend gifted this game on my birthday
- BelgarathMTH 's inspiring thread about minimal and no-reload, and this is how I prefer to play as well
- I've recently completed D:OS and finished PoE (finished to the stage I want to take a hiatus from PoE)
- P:K is an obvious choice to see what else current isometric RPGs have to offer, besides the games I have already tried
- P:K recently has got an EE
So of course my choice is not random. And of course I have my own favorite games. But I prefer to see everything myself and get to my own conclusions. This is why I'm trying P:K now.
In PoE and DA:O, as well as IWD with 3e sneak attacks, you had to position your thief behind- or at least to the left or to the right of an enemy. It was called "flanked" for a reason.
Here, it doesn't make sense for me. An enemy is standing in front of a heavily armored warrior and gets sneak attacks.
I guess this mechanic greatly reduces a variety of tactics- you don't have to micromanage as an attacker, you don't have to search for "choke points".
I'm not sure how I feel about my rogue now. I planned to play him PoE-style, with positioning and combat movement for better flanking.
All I can add is that it, at the very least, shows how a videogame implements PnP rules but not without changing them substantially.
Well - PnP systems are changing on that front. It's sneak attack now and and not "backstab". I believe the 5e rule just requires you to be flanking an enemy to gain sneak attack on them - no requirement to be positioned behind them.
It's an evolution of the rogue to make them a class designed to do damage rather than pure skill-monkey.
Gotcha. I actually don't think I knew how long the BG arc was supposed to take. Also, I thought you were talking about the actual playtime because PK IS a long game. Something I appreciate about it.