Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Imperial Edition Bundle

So as someone who played baldurs gate and neverwinter nights this game is a true love letter to this games.Very good writing and there is so much depth here as well.Great variety of races and classes and a lot of freedom to roleplay.I started the game not on normal difficulty so i can’t tell how hard it is there but above you get wrecked xx times.The game has a very hard learning curve especially at the beginning but if you push through and level up your characters and learn the mechanics it’s getting way easier.But you can still get ambushed by enemies when you try to rest so even if you understand the mechanics it’s not a guarantee for survival so you will save and load a lot believe me.Don’t put your head into the sand and give keep going it’s worth it.You can also choose between real time and turn based and believe me turn based can save your butt in really gritty situations.A lot of choices a castle management system are also here so if you are a fan of rpgs i would give this game a shot because it’s something special

If what you like is tabletop RPGing, then this is right up your alley. It sticks so close mechanically to the PF / 3.5ed ruleset that as a longtime GM I know just what to expect. If you're a tabletop fan, then this digital module is going to be a good choice. Although the choices for character development purposes are intentionally constrained; not every playable race, feat, and skill are represented, but that's for good reason. The game would become an unbalanced mess! Also, in case you're wondering: YES custom portraits are possible - place them in a folder in your user appdata in Windows, look it up online, I'm not your dad.

I am basing this review on version 1.3.x. The 2.0 update dropped today, which is a pretty major update, so I will update the review once I've played through the game with it. Bugs: A lot better but a significant number still remain, especially in the late game. Depending on choices made in the game, there can be a final extra mini-chapter at the end, which I had to re-load a prior save twice and re-enter due to bugs that blocked progression (an exit portal failed to appear the first time, preventing all progress, and the game didn't "notice" I'd completed one of my tasks, and kept telling me to go do it the second time). I did encounter many minor bugs as well, with one potential party member simply not showing up in my playthrough. The 2.0 Changelog mentions a lot of the bugs I encountered as fixed, which is a good sign, but a lot of the custom portraits I've added to the game simply do not appear in the 2.0 character creation, so there are probably some new bugs to iron out as well. Gameplay: Pathfinder, with some simplification of skills. Combat is generally fun and varied, allowing for serious min/max players to stress test builds at higher difficulties and more casual or role-play focused builds room to breath at lower difficulties. "Normal" seems well balanced for experienced RPG players with minimal experience with Pathfinder. Early game can be a little rough, but ironing that out was one of the goals of the 2.0 update, so this may have been fixed. Writing: A mixed bag, but has some genuinely great quests (The Price of Curiosity / Inconsequent Debates stood out, and was genuinely hilarious) and the voice actors put in good performances in general with some outstanding voice work (Props to Amelia Tyler for an outstanding performance) My biggest complaint would be about pacing, with sometimes main quest events waiting on a certain dates, and there seeming little to do, and other times, multiple urgent quests hitting one after the other at other times.

Disappointing because the RPG side is nice (i am an old fan of AD&D) and so are the story and the setting but there are numerous things that just ruin everything for me. First, the frustrating kingdom management (you can turn it off but doing so you remove a big part of the game) : missions are raining, are only avaible for a limited time and skipping/not being able to do them for whatever reason can be detrimental for your kingdom. You have, at very best, only one advisor of each type and they can be on a mission for looong looong time ... while numerous missions are awaiting and have their clock ticking. If you are unlucky you simply have zero advisor available for a role for a long time, with your always ticking missions awaiting. Secondly, the timed quests (didn't find any option to remove the timers) ! God i hate being forced upon to do something not going at my pace ! You have auto lose/fail timed quests, you can't take your time to explore the map : 90 days for the first one or game over, same for the second, etc ... even some side quests have a timer ! Thirdly, the AI. Simply put it is dumb and worse, you can't tweak it (Baldur's Gate 1 back in 1998 allowed it) meaning your clerics with melee weapon will charge like barbarians (and get miced), your mages with ranged weapon will keep shooting without casting : you have no choice but to pause and micro manage all along each fight. Conclusion, i really want to like this game but i just can't keep playing it. Taking the setting and story writing of Pathfinder with the mechanic of Pillars of Eternity would make a tremendeous game.

TLDR: If this is your first CRPG, avoid, otherwise the price is so low you might as well give it a shot. In the beginning the enemies are to overtuned. In the middle the game fells rather nice, In the end the kingdom management stuff becomes a burden. The "twist" in the last dungeon should never be repeated in any interactive medium.