Pathfinder: Kingmaker — Enhanced Plus Edition

Pathfinder: Kingmaker was my first game in this genre, and I ended up enjoying it far more than I expected. Building my own story, and later my own kingdom, was an amazing experience. I also really enjoyed developing relationships with my companions and gradually uncovering their personal stories. The fact that every choice can have a meaningful impact on the game made the experience even more engaging. When I became a baroness, it took me quite a while to find the right balance between taking care of my people and kingdom and going on adventures. What bothered me the most was the constant time pressure. I thought I would eventually get used to it, but it kept following me throughout the game, and I was often worried that I wouldn't have enough time to do everything. I usually prefer playing games at my own pace, so this aspect was a bit stressful for me. The game offers both classic turn-based combat and a real-time mode. I used the real-time mode most of the time because many of the regular encounters felt quite repetitive. I was glad to have the option to switch combat modes so I could speed through those fights instead of spending too much time on them. Sometimes I struggled with not knowing how to progress further in the story, or with unclear instructions on how to complete certain objectives. However, I actually liked that I was sometimes able to “fail” a quest and the game would simply continue anyway, just in a different way. Overall, this game was a fantastic introduction to the genre, and I’m really happy I got to go on this journey. I also really loved the ending, where the game shows what happens after the main story ends and how life in the world goes on afterward, shaped by the choices I made throughout the game and the way I influenced the world and the people around me.

Спасибо Совокотам за возможность купить игру в стиме, а дип П1D0PbI силверь пусть идут H4 XуN

Started out okay, and then just became more and more exhausting, until I accidentally got the early ending and it just completely soured the whole experience for me. There are a lot of 'in theory' immersive and fun mechanics when in practice are just terrible. The game's combat is horribly unbalanced especially for new players, yet you can only take a max of 6 companions without mods. It becomes an exhausting experience that I wanted an end, but never expected to get the early ending which just skips the entire last chapter abruptly. There are a bunch of alignment choices that don't make sense, how is killing the pirates of Pitax on sight a lawful evil act? Why for some reason can I not kill the drunk goblins in the goblin fort after they've terrorized my citizens? Also, although a minor part of the story, out of nowhere resurrection of your Act I villain just made me angry rather than intrigued, also some named villains being able to just dimension door away before they die is also pretty bs. TLDR: Exhausting experience, never touching this game again.

I'm writing this review to my future self who has forgotten how completely stupid the last two acts of this game are and is considering doing a re-play. Don't. Don't subject yourself to the hours of killing ghosts and wild hunt in the stupid maze. Don't subject yourself to the horrible game design that strips your powers for the last act. You don't want to deal with all the bugs along the way either. Just don't.

Overall I would not recommend this game to the general audience, only to CRPG enthusiasts who have to play them all. Kingmaker has some really good parts to it, but it also has some really bad, soulcrushing parts. I had to mod some of these to make it through. I genuinely liked the party members. They had interesting backgrounds and good arcs. Most had a couple routes you could steer them down and they all felt reasonable. Character creation was solid. The choices you make have a lasting impact. It was pretty to look at and great to listen to. It took 3 to 5 levels for characters to "come online," like it does in many rpgs, but once that happened, I really liked the combat. Before that, it was a little bit of a slog. The main story of the game, the DLC, and the character quests I very much enjoyed. They heavily telegraph a lot of the "twists" but the overall story makes sense and fits in the world. As for what I didn't like... Voice acting was rough. While combat itself was good, the encounter design was downright rude often. You could clear an entire map of level 3 mobs, then get to the last corner and find a level 10 monster that wipes your party. Why? Dunno, but it happened several times. Trying to advance quests was rough. Sometimes, you need to wait for a kingdom event to pop up, sometimes you need to backtrack to areas you explored hours ago because [i]now[/i] a certain spot will appear. I basically tried one or the other until I got the "60 days until game over" message and went to the wiki. While exploring, it can take literal in-game days to get somewhere, but after a few steps everyone gets tired, which is a debuff. You can try to get to the destination before resting, but you might also just get a random encounter that you have to fight while tired. I modded this out because it got annoying. Sometimes you need to rest on a map, not the world map, in order to get conversations that advance quests. Found that out by accident because I usually don't rest in dungeons. Speaking of dungeons, the last dungeon is what I imagine they make you play in hell. Nasty enemies, flipping between two maps, warps... Overall, this is one of those games where I kinda want to play it again to get different quest outcomes, to try different classes and party members, to try an evil run, etc. now that I know how things work. Then I remember the last dungeon, how some parts were a real slog, and I stop myself. It has heart, but it's a flawed outing. If that's your thing, go for it.

I reached kingdom management part, I stared at it for 20 mins trying to understand what kind of game I am playing now and then lost will to continue.

Это говно. Сюжет говно на три страницы текста. Игра затянута благодаря тупорылым механикам перемещения по карте/управления королевством и ожидания знаковых событий. Квесты сопартийцев говно на три строчки диалога, сами сопартийцы абсолютно плоские, неживые, неинтересные. Это определенно самая говенная игра совокотов, абсолютная и тотальная халтура. Единственная игра за последние лет десять от которой я реально устал.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend it. It's just not a fun game. Or, if it is, I never reached far enough to enjoy it properly. The story is interesting, but the mechanics are difficult and opaque—if you're looking for any amount of handholding, you won't find it here. You get tossed in headfirst without so much of a "good luck". Fine. I've played difficult games before. Except here there was no real feeling of mastery, no moment the lights clicked on. It was just a slog. I would run into encounters I was wildly unprepared for and couldn't escape, choices that didn't make sense for the labeled alignment, bugs, and time wasters that made me wonder why I was even bothering. There was one point where I was sitting out of combat stuck in a trap. Nearly 10 minutes of real time. Nothing happening. Just sitting there waiting for my characters to pass a reflex save they would then immediately fail again and get stuck all over again. If I only had an hour to play before/after work or school, is this what I would want to be doing? No. By the time the trap faded from the environment, I quit and uninstalled. I bought the game on launch and have it multiple platforms. I've started and stopped multiple times. Every time I do, I remember why I've never gotten very far. I want to love this game but, sadly, can't.

Итак, ~500 часов своей жизни я потратил на данную игру. Последние ~80 часов я решил что хватит забрасывать, пройду до конца. И так и случилось — выбрал класс воина, человека и с самого начала приступил. Оценку для данной игры кроме как рекомендую/не рекомендую нельзя поставить по середине. С одной стороны если бы игра не понравилась, я бы дропнул на 2-ом часу прохождения. Но ведь 500 часов! За это время можно обучиться профессии, начать зарабатывать... Но судьба барона оказалась для меня важнее, привлекательнее. Все было хорошо до момента захвата варнхолда. Да, тут будут спойлеры. У игры явно отсутствует регулировка баланса, возможно плейтестов было не достаточно. Суть в том, что после того как мы получаем вархнолд - управление баронством, а именно проблемы\возможности теперь появляются со сложностью +30. Я по наивности решил «быстренько» зачистить данную главу, совсем не занимался управлением баронства. Из-за чего у меня было еще не открыты большинства управляющих, ну и соотвественно ранги у них были <5. Стало больно, очень. Пришлось вместо приключений тупо сидеть в крепости, пропускать дни и повышать эти самые ранги у управленцев. Откуда я мог узнать что чтобы открыть новую должность я должен оказать поддержку N-управленцу? Я и думаю, мне нужно изучить причину проклятье, у меня висит надпись — нет подходящей должности. И вот такие проблемы со всем управлением - ты не можешь сделать что-то, потому-что у тебя нет чего-то? Нет явно написанных инструкций - чтобы открыть должность мага, прокачай управленца религии до 2-х. Разочаровали последние 10-15 часов, когда нам ДАЮТ ~59 часов чтобы ты пошел во владения Нириссы и сразился с ней. У меня в журнале ещё куча квестов лежат, которые фиг знает когда выполнятся. А еще каждый день уменьшаются показатели из-за её атак. Этот приём, когда неизвестная напасть нападает, и ты толком ничего сделать не можешь, отнимаются твои показатели которые ты долго копил — жирный минус в геймдизайне. Для чего я всё улучшал, строил, свои сбережения переводил в казну... К боевой системе вопросов нет - я получил подобие D&D, я хотел как и 7-8 лет назад игру похожую на NWN2, я получил. Но опять же, вопрос в создании баланса. Я играл на нормальном уровне сложности. Попадаются враги, которые все равно ушатывают. Я уже и КБ поднял до 50 + оборонительный бой, всё равно попадают. +34-39 к попаданию, и все равно промахиваюсь. НА НОРМАЛЬНОМ УРОВНЕ СЛОЖНОСТИ. Как-будто разработчикам сказали - вот после варнхолдка игра становится скучной. Ну и они решили - а давайте поднимем на 50% сложность. Я всю финальную главу прошёл на легком, из-за усталости, просто хочу посмотреть на финал, дайте мне быстро скипнуть мусорные бои и посмотреть на свои решения по ходу игры. Впечатление смешанные, с одной стороны мои 462 часа говорят о том что я множество раз возвращался. Идея построить королевство, поиграть во что-то кроме BG3. Если бы не явные вентили баланса в сложную сторону... Ну и оптимизация финальной части... Я думаю тут и 40-я серия не вытянет. 20-30 ФПС, опять же на легкой просто тупо пробежал. В доме забытом времени я так и не нашел Джубилоста, священника гротуса... И их не было в финальных титрах... Они остались жить в замке, даже если Нирисса у меня в конце концов возлюбленная. Нафиг такую сложность и манипуляции. Хоть и поставил оценку рекомендую, но переигрывать уже после того как прошел финал не вижу смысла. Сравнивая с pillars of eternity, bg3, divinity os — pathfinder km для меня игра хуже poe, но лучше divinity os 2.

WHY KINGMAKER IS WORTH IT It took me three tries to actually complete P:KM, and even though there were some bumps and hurdles along the way, the game is well worth playing if you enjoy sprawling, if not outright megalomaniac, isometric CRPGs. Its underlying systems are not for the faint of heart, although if you're familiar with the basics of D&D 3rd edition (or, even better, Pathfinder 1e itself), you'll quickly learn why stacking AC is good, why mages shouldn't wear armour, and other intricacies that comprise this sprawling behemoth of a game. If you're a systems enjoyer with a kink for advanced arithmetics, this should be right up your alley: I'm not sure there is a deeper CRPG on the market systems-wise (except for maybe its successor, Wrath of the Righteous). I played most of it (barring the endgame slog) on the penultimate difficulty and mostly had a great time interacting with the various soft and hard counters introduced by the designers. The story and companion writing tended to hover somewhere just above the average quality: don't expect a truly memorable fantasy tale (or a setting, since Golarion is a rather derivative kitchen-sink potpourri not unlike the Forgotten Realms), but I did enjoy the central conflict and the tragic antagonist in particular, played by the inimitable Amelia Tyler. You should easily expect 100+ hours of content, split between main story progression, exploration, and kingdom management, and the steady progression from puny level 1 to somewhere around level 20 (if you're a completionist) should keep you hooked despite the game's frequent blemishes, on which I'm going to expand below. WHY KINGMAKER IS FLAWED While your mileage may vary, these are some of the things you should keep in mind before playing P:KM: – Kingdom management is oddly unengaging for one of the game's central features. The subsystem of developing advisors and resolving text events deserves criticism somewhat less, but the actual city building is boring and quite inconsequential. I wouldn't go as far as to advise turning it off in the game's settings, but it's definitely a valid option if you find yourself struggling to enjoy this aspect of the game. – A lot of side content lacks cohesion: while it's fun to discover random points of interest populated by bandits and monsters at the early stages of the game, it gets quite repetitive by the end game, and P:KM offers very few, if any, truly interesting locations that aren't tied to the main quest. A similar system of exploration and discovery on the world map was used in Deadfire, but every non-critical dungeon there had its own little story attached to it and seemed alive in ways Kingmaker's areas aren't. – Chapter 6 is a terrible experience that made me lower the difficulty and actively struggle to enjoy the game's ending. The House at the End of Time manages to be both tiresome and brutally unforgiving, requiring your party to have specific protections and throwing waves of samey frustrating enemies at you. Unless you enjoy sadistic game design, there's every chance you decide to call it quits just before the finish line.