Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition

Back in 1998 we learned what would happen if a video game company one-for-one converted a pen and paper ruleset into a video game. That game was Baldur’s Gate. In many ways the game was great but this was in spite of the ruleset and not because of it. Owlcat has done the same thing with the same results: a confused mess. DnD and Pathfinder rules exist in a vacuum; unless you are coming from that enclosed space it’s all unintuitive. This is compounded by the fact the game is balanced as if it is a pen and paper session with a DM. In a tabletop session an NPC gives me a quest to kill a basilisk. My character doesn’t know anything about basilisks and I spend a few hours wandering around town to try to find someone who knows anything about the creatures and their weaknesses. In that same quest in Kingmaker the NPC wouldn’t tell me anything he knows basilisks himself, I can’t ask around town to get more information, and then I have a fight against a creature made within that vacuum at a disadvantage because I didn’t meta and look up the rules. Then there are the bugs. I’m sure everyone knows the reddit meme Patchfinder Bugmaker by now. This game has earned that meme and then some. To the point that any time something starts to go wrong there’s I debate with myself as to whether it’s a bug or another case of lack of communication. This game released awhile ago and the state it’s in is unacceptable. The Wild Cards DLC they just released? It re-broke things that were fixed. Every time they try to fix the game something else breaks even worse (it’s like a programmer’s worst nightmare). That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a good game underneath all of the frustration (I wouldn’t get this upset if I wasn’t invested) but I highly advise anyone looking at this title right now (December 30, 2018) to wait a year for patches before buying and even then you’ll probably want to heavily mod it.

I would just like to point out one thing to start with, a lot of the score for this game is a result of low reviews at launch. Since then until today about 90% of issues have been resolved, including the pesky long loading times. It used to take me 5 minutes to load a certain room, now it takes me 20 or so seconds. The vast majority of bugs are gone and there's no more game breaking bugs, the only ones left are very minor. The issues are the only thing that held this game down, so it's totally worth returning to the game or buying it now if you're new. Because with those things gone, this is a fantastic RPG. Interesting characters even though a couple makes you want to punch their face in, least you care. The soundtrack is superb, the story is enticing and arguably the most important thing, the gameplay is innovational. and incredibly rich of choice. In a way that makes it fun but also makes you think harder as to what to choose. Especially if you play on some of the highest difficulties as enemies can get quite ferocious.

Initially didn't bought it due to mixed reviews and waited for a sale. Started playing now and boy this game is great. It's realtime with pause (RTWP) which means really crisp fights like back in BG1/2. Have been waiting for a good RTWP game with so many boring turn-based games around where fighting a bunch of rats takes 10 minutes. Story is great so far. Roleplaying system is great. Difficulty is good and invites you to experiment. Only downside for me is the art style. It is a bit too clean and saturated and everything looks a bit like plastic toys and not like a gritty dirty fantasy world.

While the game is pretty good, the developer does not support it. So if the game does not work properly on your system, you are on your own and will basically spend money on the product that does not work. It is quite strange how it is called enchanced edition, but basic functionality is still so buggy it is almost unplayable. I cannot switch characters with keyboard keys, every switch causes the game to freeze for several seconds. This game is a party rpg, and switching characters is something you do constantly. I struggled like that for a while and then other bug appeared, not game-breaking like the first one, but still annoying)- all player dialogue options in the game are enumerated, like in most rpg's, and they moved form 1,2,3... to 2,3,4... Overall lack of polish is very noticeable. Why can't you confirm dialogues (I mean when the game asks you to confirm or cancel an action) with the enter key? Why can't you switch between characters with keyboard shortcuts in the inventory screen? Why when you drag and drop an item in a different inventory slot, if you didn't drop it precisely in a cell, you have to repeat the whole operation again. All this little things are annoying, and if you are unlucky like myself and even basic functionality does not work, you will just waste your money. I sent a letter to the developers regarding all the bugs, attached savegames and logs and did not receive any help.

Frustrating, ambitions, hardcore and.....a waste of your time unfortunately. I wanted to like this game, and hell, I really did enjoy what it offered in terms of party-management and challenging fights, but it's been seriously kept down by the rest of the tedium. Lets start with my first and foremost issue with this game: Loading time. At first it doesn't seem like a big deal, but then later down the line you will notice that at certain points of this game you will spend more time on loading screans than on playing this game. Moving world map, and your party got tired? Welp time to waste time, and I know that you can skip the dialogue, but even if you do that, that still eats your time. Got a quest in your capital? Good luck, leaving throne room to go into mainhub city grants you the longest loading time in the game - at later acts I spent 30-60sec per loading screan... Like come on Owlcat, I just want to play the game, not stare at those damn loading screams over and over. Related to the first issue, and more of an infamous one at this point because everyone else have written the same: Kingdom management sucks. It really does. Not only is a waste of your time, but it's also tedious as hell. Granted you do have an option of skipping it altogether, when I did that, I missed some important story-related tidbits so keep that in mind. If you wish to see the story, you kinda have to play this bullshit game. And not to say that I do not enjoy these kinds of games, in fact I actually do - but only when it's done well. And the issue here is that kingdom management is an unfinished mess that loses it's appeal rather quickly. Other issues include: Horrible companion writing - save for a few decent ones like Jubi and Nok-Nok, issues with balance (game is hard early, then gets super easy later), poor itemisation (want to play with javelins? Tough luck almost none in this game), some companions are forced upon you (I want freedom in that regard). I did like the books tho.