Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition

It didn't take me long to realize that this is an unapologetic Dungeons and Dragons game. I took my level 2 party 3 jumps away from the home base and discovered a troll. I thought to myself, "Hey, this will be fun." 6 one-shots later, and I realized that I could stumble my way into encounters I wasn't mentally prepared for, nor had the levels to even survive. Every single aspect of the game was trying to kill me in horrid ways, and I couldn't coast through "Normal" mode. There are new mechanics that are so much fun. For example, they've implemented a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book / narration style to navigate through various story points, combined with an authentic D&D skill system. I.E. You feel like there's an actual Dungeon Master staring you down when you say, "I want to follow them through the forest," and the DM replies, "Ok, give me a Nature Check." Combine this with a map system for navigating the environment, and you actually feel like you're playing the table top version. There are problems, however. There's very little handholding for new pathfinder players. I can foresee a lot of people getting very frustrated and refunding the game. There's no way the game tells you you might be outmatched. I.E. I had no idea that Troll was going to thoroughly stomp me into a fine paste. They could have had the narration say something like, "This place is dark and scary for you. It might be a good idea to return back when you are more powerful." There are bugs. I have had one CTD. And I keep getting loading screen hints to use commands with a {NULL] button binding. And the one that really pissed me off was that you're able to "hire" a custom character for a lot of money (early game) which was necessary for survival, but then that character (and the money) just disappeared after you got new story-characters. Over all, I recommend it! I do hope they polish it up, though.

At first I had issue with some aspect of the game with regards to encounters felt level designed which I don't mind in a shooter but can't stand in an RPG. Then I had issues with the over the top super scrubs. I am all for difficult encounters but WTF was with the super kobolds & mites? These are suppose to be the weakest monsters in the game and I was seeing them with god stats. I ran into a level 5 Bandit wizard/sorcerer with over 50 hit points that means this wizard rolled perfect 6s for all his hit dice AND had a con of at least 20. To top it off I got through the tough levels made it the kingdom stage and right off the bat I get a screw you even that caused my kingdom to implode every day. Which would have been fine but this fired when I picked some choice in kingdom screen that caused my kingdom to fast forward in time. Bad event fires but instead of letting me pause the fast forwarding and go deal with the problem and then resume when finished it, forced me to continue all the while each day I lost kingdom stats which killed my kingdom. Thing is not all choices on the kingdom screen causes you to fast forward in time and it isn't like there was an alert or anything I started it and poof the days just rolled by. other time I start something and nothing happens I can leave the kingdom screen do stuff and come back and see the result. Too many aspects of this game felt like a "Frak you" from the developers. I didn't get the feeling I was being taken on a journey of discovery with the devs, I felt more like I was in conflict with them and they were trying to piss me off. The game just isn't fun and it isn't difficulty I love BG which was notoriously hard but they did it in a way that didn't feel like it was the player vs them, and if you can into weak monsters they were weak not magically god like. I wouldn't recommend this as it was simply frustrating and UNFUN to play which is the worse thing for a game to be.

First off I must say that there have been a couple of patches which might be the reason why I have not found any game breaking bugs so far. Some smaller glitches still can be found, but I those do not really affect the enjoyment of this title. This CRPG obviously lines up with the big ones: Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale but also Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny. But it does what those titles did and just turns it to the max! ...and then it ads on top. Its the classic isometric style with a little bit of multi-choice story in between. Just like in most RPGs you create the main-character and then can meet plenty of interesting characters to travel with. And if you like (and can spare the gold) you can create new characters to hire as henchmen as well. So you get the emotional attachment to your main-character just as in other RPGs but you are not the chosen one (so far) which I find so much more enticing in an RPG. Since if you are the chosen one you have a predetermined path to follow, but if you are just the schmuck next door you can rise to challenge, or just take the opportunity to get ahead in your evil plans. It's total freedom, it's exactly what I want in an RPG. The last game that managed this was the original Neverwinter Nights with its many custom adventure modules. And Pathfinder: Kingmaker does so much more than NWN did. Small and big adventures to be had, bandits to be fought, a kingdom to be ruled, and settlements to be built. The imbalance so many people are complaining about are not a weakness, but a strength. Just come back later! Visually it is kind of a mix between the aforementioned Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny. A little bit less realistic and a bit more hand-drawn like. It's pretty unique and I really, really like it.

this could have been my game of the year. But its NOT. Too many bugs and waaaay to long load time makes this hard work instead of fun.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Divinity Original Sin 2 and Pillars of Eternity 2 often get compared because they're seen as the the three best and most refined iterations of CRPGs with a "big" publisher behind them. They play differently, with different mechanics and rulesets, art style and writing, lore and world, roleplay and companions... I've played all three and I can confidently say that this game, Kingmaker, is THE true return to roots since the Baldur's Gate 2 and Temple of Elemental evil days. That being said, this being a hardcore old school CRPG also brings in the few but critical flaws that also plagued the yester-decades games. This game is really hard, even on "normal" difficulty, has quest timers, little hand holding, difficulty spikes, really good and really bad spells and skills you'll respectively use. You could walk into what seems like a low level area only to find a monster NPC or in-game event that cranks up the difficulty ten-fold. This is frustrating because it means you'll be reloading a lot; meta-gaming until you find the easiest way to defeat (or avoid) them. Same with traps, you'll just reload until you've eventually disarmed them. The huge depth and complexity of the character creator goes over my head when I know there are just a few abilities I KNOW that'll get me through the game. Additionally, not all NPCs are fully voiced, as is the case with Divinity OS2 & Pillars 2. So, what does Kingmaker do right? Well, just about everything else! The story had me hooked from the start, the combat (you can switch between RTWP or turn-based on a whim) is fun, satisfying and the sound effects are meaty and punchy. Character creation is the deepest for a CRPG, loot is satisfying to obtain, dialogue choices, world building and reactivity are top tier. You'll see tons of it during the kingdom management; which is one of the best parts of this game! You get your own town to fully build. The game is hard to get into but the payoff is worth it.