I've been playing D&D since I was a teenager (pen and paper!), and loved CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Pillars of Eternity. Both games had something epic happening, whether you're the child of a dead god or unearthing other-worldly secrets, and there was always a sense of accomplishment when you completed a quest. Pathfinder: Kingmaker manages to leave that out of the the experience. Version 2.08 Enhanced Edition fixed a lot of things, but balance is not one of them. Prepare to die. A lot. For no good reason. Pros: 1. Plenty of options for builds, both for the player character and mercenaries 2. The graphics are very good 3. There are plenty of mods that make the game more manageable/fun Cons: 1. Enemies continuously roll incredible "to hit" dice while the player misses way too often 2. Random encounters that can wipe out your party in 3-4 hits 3. Area travel is tedious and slow 4. Feminist slant in both NPCs and game descriptions (always her, she, etc. - no masculine pronouns) 5. Combat is very sluggish 6. NPCs are boring, possibly Linzi being the exception because her voice acting is wonderful 7. Conversation actions that will change your alignment with no other choices to prevent it If you enjoyed building relationships with your NPCs in other games, you likely will be disappointed here. Remember how funny Minsc was in Baldur's Gate? Imoen was cute, Xzar was maniacal, and they all had important roles and backstories related to the plot. I wish I didn't need to say this, but the relationships here are just boring. As the player character, I don't feel important or central to the story, and the result is that there is no epic feel to the story to immerse you into the game. I played for over 60 hours before the game became so frustrating and boring (at the same time) that I stopped playing. The word "game" inherently implies that something is going to be fun, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker is not.
