IndiraLightfoot

The weight of the rations is indeed overkill. I'd say the writing is a bit comical, generic, and even cheesy, but I'm old enough to remember what vanilla BG1 felt when it came out. The writing is actually in that ballpark, at least if I compare the start and the NPCs/companions available early on. Most of it, I still find entertaining and fitting, and it certainly suffices. This game will only get better. And those of you with impressive self-discipline will have a CRPG gem in 6 months, mark my words.

I fear so, but personally, I couldn't be stopped playing this game, even if wild horses were dragging me in the opposite direction. Serious answer: That is a wise thing to do, generally.

MCA's work on P:KM, according to interview in RPGamer: "Chris Avellone: Alexander Mishulin is the Creative Director, Alexander Komzolov is the lead writer. I’m one of the writers reporting to the Alexanders, but I’m not the lead writer on the game, no, and there are many other writers on the project for sure. I worked with the Alexanders to do passes of the story to expand it from the pen and paper roots so people who had played the original adventure path would still have some new content. We worked out the underlying theme for the story as well. In addition, some elements of the pen and paper path were taken in new directions to make them more suited for evil playstyles, which was fun. I also worked with the designers on setting up the pen and paper quest arcs with the new companion quests across the game (the companions add a lot), and gave feedback on the companions as well. As for writing companions, I got the parameters of the “goblin rogue” (the companions weren’t named at the outset, and I did help with naming companions). From that, I was able to flesh out additional elements of his backstory, look, etc. and then I wrote Nok-Nok from start to finish. Nok-Nok’s one-paragraph character arc had already been approved by the license holder before I came on board (and same with some of the other story elements), but Alexander Komzolov and I agreed to change aspects about Nok-Nok afterwards even though his general arc remained the same (and some specific conclusions to his companion quest). I also did the style guide, the module (on 2nd draft now), helped coordinate some aspects of the editing team (we had two editors who worked on the English versions), helped with UI text, and writing and edits on about 150+ other characters. I didn’t work on the systems for the game, so a lot of the questions to follow that involve systems Alexander Mishulin will weigh in, as he was heading those up in addition to overseeing the rest of the product. I like working with Owlcat a lot, it’s been a good experience. I hope more Pathfinder games follow after Kingmaker. : )" So, MCA wrote one companion, Nok-Nok. I really like his Kaelyn the Dove in MoTB, so I'll definitely give this character a go later.

Heh, don't even go there. Playing any kind of D&D or Pathfinder with these alignments, well, they are always wonky and contrived, at best! Still fun(ny) overall, though. As for the rest: What I fear is that the "game's too hard" crowd will make the Owlcats rashly lower the difficulty too much, and that's why we can't have nice things. I just to have to quote this post from the Owlcat forums regarding the difficulty: "I'm a Pathfinder GM and I have been running this very adventure path (Kingmaker) for more than a year. We are currently in the 3rd book. The Owlcat game is very true to the original adventure path and to the Pathfinder rules. Is it difficult? Hell yes. Is it unbalanced? Sure it is. It is supposed to be that way. You don't gather your party to venture into the unknown and expect that all the foes that you meet to be the same level as you (or easy), do you? Why people that think the game is too difficult don't just change it to easy?" I prefer cautious over gung-ho.

I've only managed to squeeze in one more hour, but I still really love the game. And stuff that I read that so many others hate over at the Owlcat Forums are stuff that I'm so happy about: Like in PnP, the Owlcats have made monsters varied and often souped up. Normal goblins would have AC16, for instance, but here they often have Studded Leather, AC18, and there are even early ones with even better armor (AC 24!). Sure, that makes the game less predictable and even more frustrating at lower levels: "What the heck? I can't slaughter a few gobs?" I really hope that they don't lower the difficulty in Act 1, but it seems I'm in the minority. We'll see. Quest timers aren't very fun, I agree, and perhaps they can tone stuff like that down a bit.

https://www.marylandzoo.org/news-and-updates/2018/09/injured-turtle-at-the-maryland-zoo-fitted-with-customized-lego-wheelchair/ Who doesn't love when a beloved toy/computer games staple becomes something life-changing for something super-cute? A student manage to do a fully functional and quite well working wheelchair for a turtle! And after some google-foo, I actually learned that other turtles have gotten lego wheelchairs too, before. Wow!

I love the fact that most stuff you put on your belt bar are actually appearing on the belt of your character model, like potions and such. Oddly enough, Alchemist's Fire doesn't, for instance, at least not for me, but it's still a neat little feature. EDIT: I just discovered something that I really wished Deadfire had. P:KM comes with Cloud Saves, so now I can play the game on my laptop as well while on the move. Great!

Hotfix 1.01 has just been patched: The following major issues were fixed: Issue with saves loading on Linux and Mac builds. Resolution: fixed. Occasional exits to Main Menu while loading locations ("Error Message, Return to Title Screen"). Resolution: fixed. Other improvements\fixes: Quests Romances with two companions simultaneously may cause an issue (never-ending loading). Resolution: fixed.Areas Oleg's Trading Post: oil trap is not visible. Resolution: fixed.User Interfaces Party companions can't be selected by ALt+N. Resolution: fixed. The first game launch may take several minutes. Resolution: As a quick improvement added a warning about this issue on the initial loading screen. We will try to improve the first loading time in the upcoming hotfixes. It's difficult to distinguish newly revealed areas on Global Map. Resolution: add FX and question symbol for recently revealed locations. Issues with custom companion: the character model may be not visible in the Character UI. Resolution: fixed. "Crow" (kingdom "messenger") may break Global Map UI. Resolution: fixed. Specific combination of graphic options may break UI decals on several areas. Resolution: fixed. Classes Some tooltips with class descriptions have unclear wording. Resolution: improved.System Random crash on computers with specific time zone settings. Resolution: fixed. Issue with switching game window between several displays. Resolution: fixed. General game client stability improvements. Localization Several strings are missed in German localization. Resolution: fixed. Special Characters were not visible (French and Turkish system localization settings). Resolution: fixed. Several non-localized German strings. Resolution: fixed. We are watching the situation with the balancing issues and listening to your comments and suggestions. We will address these issues in the upcoming hotfixes (some fixes for specific encounters will be available in the next hotfix which we are going to release in a day)

Yeah I get it, but I just dont want to rest after each battle with 3 spiders or centipides I loade erlier save and just got to that location game forced me to to get rid of that effing dream. Stupid desing It's a bit like BG1 those first levels. Resting and a bit of save-scumming goes a long way.

That's not giving up. Chalk that up to learning - which is a very rewarding aspect of getting good at PnP-based CRPGs.

And another problem, when planning for dungeons, you buy those camping rations, and the darn things are very cumbersome. I made the mistake of buying 22 at one go, and my party was moving like in syrup, so I had to bite the bullet, and sell a few of them back to the vendor. Now, I'm just bringing the right amount for a dungeon (given that there's no hunting).

I'd say that it's like BG (prolly more encounters, perhaps like Temple of Elemental Evil?), but Act 2 and onwards, you have a pretty intricate kingdom building/maintenance/defence feature going, not exactly a city in Civilization, but more advanced than your castle in NWN2, for instance. Stuff you find on your explored maps may give your kingdom more visitors, more resources, tactical advantages, and so forth.

@Chilloutman: Just you wait! There are negative energy levels. Soon, you'll be drained of levels too in that very same way. IMHO, you should never allow that to happen. If you see your stats or levels dissipate like that, load an earlier save, since you're either doing something you shouldn't or pushing the envelope a bit too far for now. Similarly with combat: In a game like this, you cannot just throw caution to the wind and bumrush the baddies. You'll just die horribly (which, by the way, you actually can do in Deadfire, even at PotD-difficulty, lasso your party and just order them to attack en masse, that is. Is that good game design? Not so sure.) At times, there are swarms of tiny enemies, so if you don't adapt, using AoE stuff, you'll get drained of stats and just die, no matter how strong/good your characters are, since you were dealing with the encounter in a suboptimal way or even the wrong way. And obviously, P:KM includes a few classical cases, where you need to kill monsters like trolls and werewolves, using special weapons and damage types. Alright, I've hidden these screenies behind spoilers: One example of my mid level 2 party backing away, simply because, no, you don't take on something like that at lvl 2: And I mentioned that it took me like 5 hours until I found my first magical weapon. Well, two screenies of this too (still a lvl 2 party here): And yet another example of neat alignment reactivity

Unless these patches to gooey perfection water down P:KM to goo. Sometimes, there's nothing like playing a game at the start - almost like an involuntarily director's cut available only for a couple of days. Diablo 3 of all games was actually interesting, although extremely annoying, at Torment difficulty Act2 and onwards, but that difficulty soon became landfill, never to return.

That sort of indicates that the game isn't very well designed, though. There is difference between high skill sealing, or high difficulty, and game not explaining its mechanics or having balance issues. If it is a fairly faithful table-top adaptation than it is an uphill battle (don't know the system, and didn't try the game myself - just guessing). Just like with D&D those don't translate elegantly into a digital setting. From the comments it seems much more like a "game problem", rather than "player problem". It's like all of the above! To the joy of a few and to the detriment of others. Josh circumscribed so many D&D PnP-like issues and problems, especially when he designed Deadfire. Gratz to that! But in so doing, he made a game where you can have five super-balanced party members with super-balanced skills and everything, and if you use your AI settings, well there isn't much variety or urgency left. Well, sometimes - I exaggerate - but with 5 guys in your party, you'll mow down the opposition without even clicking, and you don't have to know the system very well in order to do so. Here, we have the opposite. A pretty faithful PnP conversion, where timing, choices of skills, spells and attacks used matter and you need adapt to each and every situation (This is where the skill ceiling becomes so important, and learning it, well, mileage may vary), and simple random outcomes of die rolls during combat (those in themselves, aren't skill-based, just based on pure chance) will be a matter of life and death during our starting levels, even the tutorial. Is it good digital game design? Perhaps not, but is it Pathfinder? Definitely. These first levels are a bit like the good old Fighting Fantasy books. Oops! I took the wrong door. I died. I'll start over, or rather, I'll flip back a few pages and try another door. So, save-scumming, absolutely legit, especially if you're new to this kind of game. Just keep reloading, my friend, since you're gonna die, a lot.

Your wish is my command! Here are my settings currently: The list of options is long. It continues here:

I feel you. I have loads of work coming up this weekend, so I'll have to settle for just a few hours more of P:KM, when I just wanna binge.

One important advice, even to experienced Pathinder/D&D players: Check a lot of pause game during combat boxes under your settings. Unlike Deadfire, this is a game where you have to micromanage to survive. Your orders matter heaps! Also, your choice of spells and abilities used at specific points in time during an encounter will be decisive. Sometimes, you should skip buffing the party, because there is no time. There are arrows raining down on you. Move and kill now, buff later, and other cool situs like those. To put it bluntly, P:KM is certainly not a game to mess around. Taking it a bit more seriously will pay dividends.

Great point there, LittleRose! I wouldn't hesitate to lower my difficulty if I get stuck or if it all becomes a chore. And yeah, no leaderboards here. This is a SP experience. I just guesstimated what kind of challenge I would find fun this first time around with a Pathfinder CRPG, which I knew very well would be very much akin to D&D 3.5.

One of the loading screens says something to the effect of: Take care of problems ASAP, and only then focus on opportunities, during your kingdom management. Thanks to you, I now know it won't be as clear-cut as that. Thank you for the heads-up! People are weird. Why do they pick higher difficulty levels, one's even called "Unfair", and then freak out when it's too hard? And even weirder: They even take the time to lower their praise in Steam reviews to the level of bland "mixed". If you don't have enough knowledge about D&D 3.5 and/or Pathfinder, a game like this will take weeks to come to grips with, surely. The system is huge!

After a few hours, it's safe to say that plenty of encounters in the game have enemy range attackers in the back, and even worse , which means that your party is very vulnerable during the first 3-4 levels. Heh, lvl 2: two arrows and bolts hitting one of your characters is usually enough to take it out. So, you have to plan accordingly. Up your armor and other shielding effects by all means available. There are defensive modes/stances available for some chars, use them. Pick range AoE spells that can stop ranged attackers quickly. I gave Linzi Sleep. It's not as powerful as in BG1, but it certainly helps. I've also found something that lets her cast Color Spray 3 times per encounter, and that makes the enemies prone and blinded. Then, you just kill them off. Color Spray is one of the very first spells I recall, playing D&D way back when. My 2nd character ever was a gnome illusionist, and this very spell saved us during early levels several times.

Sure, the game is rough around the edges here and there, but in so many ways, P:KM reminds me of a very good and ambitious mod. And I mean this in a good way. It's like a dream mod made by experienced gamers who love Pathfinder and PnP, and they want others to share their enjoyment via the challenges they've devised and the story and kingdom building they provide. Seen in this light, of course this game would be hard - even its tutorial is at least somewhat demanding. And never forget that unless you go down the route of PoE and especially Deadfire, the starting levels will be extra tough due to low HPs, the damage ranges and the random nature of dice rolled (that's the very purpose of them being dice, hehe). I feel like the Owlcats get PnP roleplaying, and they haven't really cared that much about adopting everything to a computer game flow, and for the most part, this scratches some of us "grognards" in the right places. I get the same feel playing this game as when I cranked up the difficulty on BG1 a long time ago, and was then taken aback by the sheer joy of playing it with a barrel of a gun pointing to my head. Before I said "sadist", I probably should've said "masochistic".

@ShadySands: Level 4 already? Alright, I must be a slowpoke. After 3 more hours, my party is still like mid level 2, and that after half a dozen random encounters and like 4 event maps (although not completely explored for reasons soon explained). Okay, I opted for a challenging difficulty, not the highest one, but still, I definitely got what I bargained for with a vengeance. I've had random encounters that make the hardest enemies in Deadfire feel like a walk in the park at PotD. With a party that didn't even have 3,000XP, I actually went into a swamp and encountered a huge man-eating troll. The only fire we had was one everlasting torch. So, wise from years of D&D experience, I simply backed off, and it wouldn't be the first time. My party has backtracked trembling 5 times and counting. I must be a CRPG sadist or something, but I absolutely love this weird randomness in difficulty (prolly because it's not very random to me - in most cases, I can tell if my newly formed lvl2 party stand a chance or not, and act accordingly. For instance, the best enemy they've downed was a skeletal champion, and he had pretty rewarding items too. If I didn't have Harrim and his anti-undead kit, I would have backed up and snuck away in fear, but nope - I took a calculated risk and it paid off. I even landed my first magical weapon this way, after like 6 hours. This slooooow levelling suites me like a glove. And the survival of my party hanging by a thread, well to me, that helps me immensely in my roleplaying, it immerses me, yeah? I for one am extremely grateful that a difficult game like this, especially when it's a CRPG with a ruleset I adore, has been launched in the year of 2018. Thanks Owlcats!

Please, see this topic: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/104002-pathfinder-kingmaker-is-bigger-then-deadfire/ And I don't think there is a walk toggle, but you can set the walking pace very easily, just encumber the shared stash just as much as you are satisfied with the walking pace of your party, and voilà!

Hehe! I can see that happening to me, since I'm so happy about all the character choices, but I know very little about the stuff that is specific for Pathfinder.