Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Review after 100%

[@phammond2392]

Just popping on here quickly to give a shout out to my daughter. She did some voice acting in this game. :) That is all. Carry on you gamers.

[@aloofguy184]

Who is her character? if you dont mind us asking?

[@trueduke2515]

linzi?

[@Nineteenfivepointfive]

Nice. Now get me a sandwich. At least then you do something.

[@rosalind1635]

@@Nineteenfivepointfive Thanks for your worthless contribution.

[@chiefinasmith]

@@Nineteenfivepointfiveincel

[@JohnnyTightIips]

Good news everyone, 2 years after Mortym brought out this review, the completion rate of this game is now 9.1%!

[@nwahally]

I loved the Kindom building. I hated the timers. There has not been a single time when I did not hate timers. They add nothing and often ruin everything.

[@baronsengir187]

Loved the timers. Made the world feel real.

[@F0r3v3rT0m0rr0w]

i Agree with you, i LOVED the Turn based mode ... i know it slowed down combat but i rather enjoy tactics games so it felt like tactics RPG with an incredibly deep (and abuse able which in a single player game is fun!) character creator. but oh man ... those timelimits .................................................. fuck those time limits. i tried to mod the time limits for the kingdom management off but they dont seem to work for me *sad face* i guess i had to many mods ? idk ... but man fuuuuck those timers ruined the entire game for me. i hope Wrath of the righteous doesn't have time limits. cause i think ill like that game a heck of a lot more.

[@flynnegankim9428]

Well, Timers, in my opinion, it’s good it makes world real and demanding to manage even rest/camping. And, it gives plenty of times for adventures, but, not enough to waste time.

[@Fallenangel_85]

The timers are part of the stakes, you can fail. Your decisions matter and have consequences. You can't just long rest spam like in BG3 totally making the game super easy.

[@F0r3v3rT0m0rr0w]

@@Fallenangel_85 Save states destroy that discussion entirely.

[@alabasterindigo]

I genuinely love the idea of reviewing titles after you 100%, so that alone got me to sub, but you are also very thorough and in-depth with the reviews I’ve seen so far, I love what you’re doing!!!

[@ataridc]

it's an interesting idea for sure, but I wonder if it could potentially have some adverse effect on your opinion. Most people DON'T play to 100% so they're going to have a very different experience, on top of that there could be parts of the game that make it substantially worse if you go for the 100%. It's a cool idea, if this guys brain is wired to do it it's definitely an interesting hook.

[@Harrison11106]

Another thing about alignments: it also affects your kingdom. A Lawful Good Kingdom will have a different set of buildings (& bonuses) then say a Chaotic Neutral one will. As an example, in one playthrough, where I'm a Paladin (LG kingdom) I can have a bulletin board which gives bonuses to kingdom related quests. Playing as a CN kingdom you don't have that Bulletin Board, but instead can have a (barony/state-run) Whorehouse, which gives different bonuses. In an LE kingdom, you have a Gallows in the court square, as opposed to the statue dedicated to my god in my LG kingdom. Those are small things, but added to the flavor & replay-ability on the barony/kingdom side. EDIT: As for the low completion rate, I MIGHT have something of an answer there. When the game originally came out, it was a buggy mess once you hit the 2nd chapter & tried going forward. It was borderline unplayable if not completely unplayable in some places. Hence people dropping it without finishing it & never going back to it for whatever reason. The game got a really LOW overall rating at the time due to the bugs (What CDPR is going through with Cyberpunk 2077, is what Owlcat went through). That the game got a "2nd chance" with the definitive edition is a miracle. Owlcat games so far seems to have learned their lesson, I'm on the BETA of Wrath of the Righteous, & so far no major bugs; that written, I'm only levels 4 & going on 5 in said BETA.

[@Peter-kh8go]

I have never played a game that was so determined to get in the way of you 'playing the game'.

[@windblownleaf6450]

I've only played for a bit (haven't gotten to kingdom management yet), so far the most annoying thing has been a lack of healing. Don't want to waste my potions and resting only restores a fraction of HP.

[@fcold9402]

@@windblownleaf6450 You can "rest until healed" (there is an option in the rest screen) but it eats up a lot of in game time if you don't have a cleric or someone with healing to heal before resting. The game will give you two clerics if you continue playing, but the start can be really rough if you didn't make the selections to get the first cleric at the mansion.

[@Peter-kh8go]

@@tAiLspo0n not sure what that has to do with my comment. Did you reply to the wrong person?

[@Lorddacenshadowind]

@@XBullitt16X I both agree and disagree lol, it gives more a sense of time urgency, you can't do everything and things can just fail. However I can also see that some people can get annoyed when they are playing a game and want to do the stuff in the game

[@note4note804]

I think people confuse "playing the game" with "succeeding", especially because most games only progress through success. It can feel weird to try something, fail, and move on like that was the point, but that's kinda the problem in translating tabletop rpg modules to video games. Most of those scenarios are 1 to 1 the books, and because you can just botch a roll or screw up a choice or just spend to long doing whatever you want, the game has to move on regardless.

[@Parkbankroman]

You are one of the most underrating youtuber I know. Thanks for your great work. I really enjoyed this review :D

[@gvs2228]

Love this game, amazing world, lore and characters. I didn't mind the Kingdom management stuff, I actually found it fun. The amount of detail and variety of choice and consequence in this game is amazing!

[@ThiLI0n]

I actually liked the kingdom management ... there are problems, but urgency gives the quests a more 'real' feeling

[@eroero830]

I lost half of my hair worrying about time management.

[@doctorlolchicken7478]

I’ve been wanting to play this game for a while. The whole timer part you mentioned really put me off. I am a player who likes exploring. I hate timers.

[@slipknotpurity00]

@@Crazmuss Then what is the point of having a timer at all that just adds stress to the player

[@slipknotpurity00]

@@Crazmuss I get enough stress

[@MrRecoilius]

This was an extremely useful review! I hope that the developers see this and can take your critical points and use them for the new sequel.

[@Jach93]

I love you took the time to review this, as I really enjoy this game. For me personally I liked the kingdom management and the timers, it really immersed me in the difficult decisions of running a kingdom but also helped me prioritize and categorize problems, which for me is cathartic. I’m really bad when it normally comes to choosing what quests to do in RPGs and tend to get frozen by what to start with, and something saying “the deadline for this quest is one week” and another saying “the deadline for this one is 3 months” really helped me make quicker decisions and made me feel more like a king juggling a lot of problems as best I can. I can see this being extremely frustrating when you are trying to 100% a game though.

[@Ryan_Winter]

The problem isn't the existence of "a timer", it's the convoluted stacking of world ending threats. You have to stop fey from the "first world" (all the blossoming stuff) and then an undead overlord, thereafter you have to prevent a barbarian invasion, only to go back to dealing with fey and undead. And all of this happens in the foreground of the actual problem, the curse you have to undo. It's ceaseless. You don't feel like a newly established ruler of a small territory in a far corner of Golarion's world map, you feel like Lucius Domitius Aurelianus, the man who restored the Roman Empire and provided it with another two centuries of dominance, by quenching a rebellion, stopping several invasions on differing fronts and recapturing thousands of square kilometers of territory for the Roman Empire. That's how this feels to me, like saving a three continents spanning empire and NOT like being a baron of largely unimportant place somewhere in the wilderness.

[@azarisLP]

​@@Ryan_Winter It does get hectic at times, but that's kind of the point of the plot. A malevolent force is specifically targeting you, so there's not always time to go off on endless side quests. Even then, there are gaps of hundreds of days in between to do nothing but kingdom upgrades. If you turn kingdom management on auto, the game has vast stretches of boredom.

[@Deviljho5]

You reviewed this two years ago and I am just now getting it! 😊 Your review is spot on!

[@christophermzdenek]

Kingdom Management was the whole reason I grabbed a cheat mod. Nothing big just set the resolution of events to 1 day. Instantly made the game 100% more enjoyable.

[@ecgrey]

What mod did you use?

[@chillax319]

Yeah. What mod did you use? I'm thinking about buying the game.

[@christophermzdenek]

@@chillax319 on nexus, it's the giant cheat menu one, most likely first or second on the list under the game title. I just use it's one function. I can't recall the name.

[@chillax319]

@@christophermzdenek Sounds like "The Bag of Tricks" one I'm checking out right now ^^

[@christophermzdenek]

@@chillax319 that sounds exactly like it. Nearly 100% positive that the one. It has a lot of other things it can do. I mean A LOT of things, but the kingdom function was the important one for me.

[@jamesclawk852]

I just finished my first playthrough a couple days ago, after starting with WotR, and I appear to be in the minority with regards to both the kingdom management and the timers. The timers in particular I really appreciated since, in many games, I'll be informed of some urgent threat but instead of addressing it, I'll go around doing as much side content as I can find because I know that some of it will go away once I progress the main story. Here, because everything's on a timer, I can focus on the main story first and then I have a ton of time leftover to do side content. Narratively, I liked that a lot, and I was never really worried about running out of time, since the timers are so generous. As for the kingdom management, it's harder to explain. I think that maybe in a game where I'm constantly unsure of how anything works (I've never played the ttrpg) it's nice to be able to take a breather with something that is simple and easy to understand. In fact, many of the parts that I found the most irritating were the longer dungeon sections, where I'm locked in to doing combat after combat with no relief. I would actually say I liked this game better overall than WotR, though that may change, since WotR has a lot more replay value as far as I can tell.

[@crow__bar]

Really good review. I'm happy that someone went through the effort of reviewing this game so long after it's been released because most of the ones that do exist focus a lot on the bugs and the features that they think are missing (both valid points, but very much less so with the current state of the game) As for your issues with the game, I think I have to disagree slightly. Kingdom management can be boring to a lot of people, but I personally loved it. It actually made me feel like I am a ruler of the region and that I need to do ruler shit. It also served the story thanks to the time progression. Seeing the seasons change when adventuring, characters talking about other characters from 2 years ago, etc. It really makes you believe that the time shift is real, and not just a date in your journal changing with nothing else to show it. Also have to disagree on the timers. I 100% understand why they are frustrating to you and other players, but to me it was the only time in a game where I actually felt the urgency of the main quest. Just think about all the times in Skyrim, or the Witcher where you got told that "we need to deal with this fast or the world is going to end" only for you to then spend 20 hours doing fetch quests or playing cards. In Kingmaker, there's none of that. You need to learn to budget not only your money and other resources but your time as well. "Do I have time to do this side quest? Is the risk of failing a different quest high enough for this gamble?" It just really nicely loops back around to the story and making you feel like your character. Don't really know what you're doing, everyone needs your help and you're just hoping to get through this without everyone dying.

[@GoldenDaemonas]

Just putting this here for the yt algorithm

[@spartnmarcen5110]

Was thinking about picking this up but after hearing about the timers and the pain that the Kingdom management system (my main draw) is I'll wait. Love your review style.

[@raduscarlat535]

you can bypass the entire kingdom management with a setting if you don't like it

[@Mirekluk]

There are a lot of people that do like it. I personally am in chapter 3 and I do enjoy it. I can't make more money, but I do enjoy the storylines it gives you as well as making the Stolen Lands living region. As D&D player, I really appreciated this, as this is something I would love to do even in tabletop RPG

[@sd5919]

If you put kingdom management at effortless the timers aren't too bad. The trick is to build teleportation circles in each settlement. Adventuring is such a small timesink you'll end up with plenty of extra time.

[@MaxiCidron]

I am now playing Pillars of Eternity:Deadfire, almost buy this game blindly because it's on offert on steam and has some similiraties with PoE2, but thanks to your video im gonna get some extra information before buying it, thanks a lot. We all hate timers.

[@baronsengir187]

You are missing out

[@thanhdohuu9473]

I started playing the game after seeing your review. Right at the beginning of the game, when I got framed by Tartucio, with his ring, and tricks and my decision to loot the gold in Aldori's vault was reported and immediately led to consequences, when all characters meet back in the main hall, I was immediately impressed. . I felt that all the choices I made was impactful , meaningful and the characters are quite interesting. it's not every day that you got outsmarted by the villain. Moreover, most of the questions I naturally had was also adequately answered, like why didn't the Aldori simply go there and take the land by themselves, right then, I felt that the writing was very smart and thorough. Furthermore, I quickly realize that the journal was written by Linzi, a companion, and the story is being written as it happens, that way of story telling felt novel and innovative. However, the initial positive impressions went away quite fast. After the prologue, my actions don't seem to matter very much. Looting peasants'/ traders' houses, raiding tombs don't seem to have any consequences. Those actions aren't even counted towards alignment, and are seemingly ignored. Tartucio also appears a lot less cunning and doesn't seem like he has a plan for everything, like in the beginning, his story arc also ended rather abruptly. I also remember another area that was quite disappointing. Leading to Vordakai's tomb, there was a raven that keep asking for names, a behavior that puzzles me. Asking questions like who do you afraid to disappoint the most, which I answered Linzi. Right after answering that, I immediately remember a tooltip I read earlier, that soul eater do more dmg do whoever they know the name of, and I was shocked and thought, oh sh*et, I got tricked and now Linzi may die because of my mistake, that the boss was going to be a soul eater who will instantly one shot whoever he knows the name of. Welp, turned out, there was just a brief encounter with soul eaters right before the entrance to Vordakai, who were more of an annoyance than actual challenges, and there are simply soul eaters that attack the people whose name are given, and no one else can touch those, not much else. Another aspect that didn't get done well is the lack of changes in quest giver and merchant's responses to whatever title I have at the time. For example, an artesian quests, I was already a king at the time, accompanied by my general, grand diplomat, etc., asked to go to get a flower for this one dude from one of my village. I did the task course, but, I feel like I should have been doing much more important tasks. The game likely would have been better if there are quests that only available when you unlock a certain title, and NPC's response in lower tier quests also adjusted slightly, like they fear they're wasting your time, but have no one else to turn to, or something similar, so that you can feel the improvement that you made, as you're on your journey to become king. I also feel that the game missed out a lot by not having the option to chat with companion on trips. For example, when visited the academy in Pitax, I really wanted to talk to Linzi to ask her how she feel coming back to the academy. The responses and dialogue of companions during and after quests are also quite limited and lack luster. I loved the way that each of the NPC have a new, unique response to the current situation in other games, like after Vesemir's death in Witcher 3, each of the NPC attending the funeral have their own new, unique responses that make you want to check, it makes the events feel more real and immersive. Had Owlcat diverted some of their budget , make fewer chapters, but each of them with more details, the game probably would have been better. When Linzi was killed by Nyrissa, I didn't really feel much when that happen. It didn't quite have the emotional impact like when you punch the corpse collector in Witcher 3, during Priscilla's quest, or the romance scene near the end of Divinity Original Sin 2. Another aspect that I felt disappointing was probably the lack of political drama and conquests. When first started, I thought become kings, waging wars, invading, making alliances, betrayal etc. were going to be a large part of the game, and there were going to be huge playable battles. Welp, the game, however, had very little of that, to expand your kingdom, you only need to claim, a simple click and wait, not much else. The political plot point that started the game, has very little mentioned and development over the course of the game. It's like the opposite of GOT, the focus is on the wild walker while the political drama is briefly mentioned then completely ignored. The war of river kings have a bit of political drama, but its plots were rather stupid. Basically, you got invited to Pitax to hand over your crowd and region, or otherwise, get ambushed and killed. Such trap would never work in real life, considering no sane person would willingly walk into an obvious trap like that. Which was exactly what my main character did, willingly walking into an obvious trap, and I have no other options to do anything else, like launching a total war or something. What make that chapter even more moronic was that I was allowed to freely go around to convince everyone to turn against Iroveti, some of them are right in front of him in the main yard as well, while my access to Pitax was blocked, previously, during the Rushlight tournament. One would have thought that a group of individuals as important as my party would have been put on tight leash the moment I set foot on Pitax's soil. But no, I was allowed to go anywhere, for as long as I like, while Iroveti patiently waiting for his demise in the front gate. Iroveti went from a cunning king with silver tongue during the Rushlight tournament to a complete moron , within a span of a few quests. In all fairness, it's possible that Iroveti went insane during that time, but the insanity or changed behavior wasn't elaborated in details, which make this villain's story arc not particularly good. The turn based combat is quite fun, however it doesn't seem balanced, which is understandable, considering the game wasn't built with turn-based in mind. Specifically, effect that used to last 1 minute now last practically entire fight. Your buffs seems like they last forever, but so are enemy's debuffs. If you got hit by a negative status effect and just happen to lack/ run of out charges of the counter spells, you practically lose that members until the end of the fight. This made save scumming a must at later areas, and the monsters that causes tons of status effects while being immune to practically everything very annoying. Also, not sure if I build my casters wrong, but at later stages, casters seem quite useless, compared to physical attack dmg dealers. Each of my physical attack dealers was hitting 6-8 hits per turn, dealing 40-60 dmg a hit, crits/ sneak attacks for over 100 dmg fairly often, while my casters can only do a spell, aoe, dmg once of around 60-100, then run out of charges. I eventually shifted my team from a mixture of physical and caster to 4 physical dmg dealers and 2 mobile buffing/ crowd control bots. Another issue is the potential to miss out on contents, due to the game designs, I missed out on several quests due to failed perception checks and the game's timers. I didn't even know that the DLC, beneath the stolen lands is supposed to be done during the main campaign, rather than something that you can play after finishing the main story, like in other games. Being able to continue playing after the main quest, finish upgrading the kingdom, side quests and endless dungeon beneath the stolen lands with my fully geared and leveled party would have been so great. This is something I perhaps can do on my second playthrough, but I'm currently not that sure if the game deserve more time, considering that it's unlikely I'll make different choices , or using different companions in the second playthrough. That said, I actually have an enjoyable experience. The games certainly have its pros along all those cons. The overall story is interesting enough, the companions, despite lacking details, are likeable. The alignment system having noticeable impacts on the game is quite interesting.

[@Bluq16]

"which is understandable, considering the game wasn't built with turn-based in mind" There is such a big irony with this considering that they mostly just copy-pasted the Pathfinder rules to the game, if anything the game is designed to work turn-based, there was minimal adaptation from the rulebook to work realtime. Minute/level buffs in the normal tabletop RPG are meant to last the whole combat and possibly even more combats, normally there is a balance between buffs duration and effects, where you can have small buffs that lost a whole day to really strong ones that only last for one encounter(that balance being the hours/minutes/rounds per level duration). Regarding debuffs being crippling to characters, sadly that is also imported from the tabletop and normally that works both ways, enemys are equally as vulnerable to them, but it seems that a lot of encounters and bosses were tailored to have a ton of unreasonable immunitys. Regarding your issue with casters doing less damage, as you may guess that also comes from the tabletop, casters are OP as hell, but not at dealing damage, they normally can end encounters with one spell, the famous Save-or-lose or Save-or-die, it just seems some of those OP spells where not implemented into the game.

[@thadrine]

I loved the kingdom management once I got several bags of holding, could loot everything, then just dump tons of money into my kingdom.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I loved their solution to the bag of holding. In BG1 and 2 you had to put items in the bag but here it just boosts your carry weight.

[@Hurricaneria]

Side quests, especially ones that give major boons to your playthrough (ex. Companions), shouldn't be timed; or, if they were, you would lose out on some extra rewards like gold and stuff you could have sold or used for a short term advantage. But, what if we kept the timers of main quests and kingdom events that dealt continuous kingdom stat damage, but instead of, y'know, dealing that continuous kingdom stat damage, you got locked out of certain content until it was addressed? For the actual kingdom management feature (because some management events are story driven and must be done to progress), I would also add an optional skip time feature on top of locking content, similar to how assisting your council works. You wouldn't HAVE to skip time to see it done, in case you wanted to explore the map while waiting; however, whether you decided to skip time or not, other timers would still be ticking and possibly lock you out of some content until they were addressed as well. Basically, the only way for your kingdom to fail would be to not address the one off events that deal stat damages until the penalties pile up and crumble your kingdom.

[@TralimHobni]

savescuming simulator the game is both incredibly fun and incredibly frustrating, i hope wrath of the righteous actually lets you play it without constantly worrying about some background goings-on it needs: -better class identity -crafting -unlimited preception checks for hidden objects also, tabletop rules dont transition well in to the video games because it is impossible to balance, making things either too easy (neverwinter nights 2) or forcing you in to metagaming (kingmaker)

[@diepappnase111]

I my opinion (Though I didn't play the game and can't tell for sure) it might be a problem with Pathfinder itself, since their modules tend to be extremely unbalenced and hard. In top of that the hole System is extremely unbalanced.

[@TralimHobni]

true, in pathfinder things are measured in absolutes, everything is either too overtuned or compleatly worthless, there is never something in-between its just that a video game lacks flexibility compared to playing tabletop with a dm, kingmaker in particilaur obviously if you are just playing a tabletop, your barbarian with low strenght and high intelligence will be put in the situations that are solved by his intelligence, meanwhile, in a game, you just know that every class has primary and secondary stats, making the whole idea of your characters stats pointless, so if it isnt a barbarian with 20 STR and 18 CON, 13 AGI, its not a barbarian, it is trash kingmaker commits a lot of sins of shitty design, Morti barely scratched the top of it

[@vitaminc2161]

100% agree with the perception checks.... At least a toogle for search mode (with reduced speed), where unlimited preception checks is possible

[@TralimHobni]

@@vitaminc2161 round = 6 seconds 1 check every 6 seconds, improves roleplay and gameplay expirience by making your character actievly search than having 1 quick glance

[@BronnBlackwater]

The kingdom management was my favorite part of the game! I put it on Easy and scum saved a bit to avoid disasters. It's much better at allowing you to feel like a badass lord than say, dragon age: inquisition.

[@MortismalGaming]

😂 to each their own I guess!

[@gotoucanario8341]

@@jeremyalexander135 To me both suffer the same issue to some degree, why is the head of this organization/country doing silly errands for everyone, many of which would logically be assigned to your troops. Kingmaker does a pretty good job at giving you a kingdom to manage and not THAT many trivial tasks but there's still enough to break immersion if you are really looking into it. I'd say they do a comparable job all things considered, Pathfinder's is much more in depth and engaging, DAI feels a bit better, smoother around the edges but perhaps less engaging.

[@supernova9930]

To be fair, the inquisitor was a nobody and not meant to be a badass, really.

[@Aedrion-]

This exactly. In Kingmaker, you have to rule and you earn that chair. You have to manage the projects, juggle responsibilities, choose where to go, who to help or who not to help. You really feel like the ruler of a barony and later a kingdom. In Inquisition, you don't earn that chair. You don't earn jack shit.

[@williamnoble1537]

It's a shame you didn't enjoy the Kingdom Management. I wouldn't say it's my favorite part of the game, but I certainly enjoyed it across multiple playthroughs. It really gave me the chance to feel like there were goings-on in the kingdom beyond what I was directly seeing at the end of my character's sword. It is frustrating when your 90% success chance advisors get a few critical failures on their Problem cards in a row though... In regards to timers, I never felt they were punishing, even on my first blind playthrough when the game first came out. As long as someone pays attention and doesn't elect to ignore things that are advertised as important, I think it's unlikely that they'll run in to many walls. The main story quests are at least given the countdown in the quest log as to how many days are left before they fail. A great review though overall, and certainly to each's own. Liked and subscribed :) Hope you're looking forward to Wrath of the Righteous!

[@MortismalGaming]

It's more the kingdom management combined with the timers specifically rather than each system individually, but glad you enjoyed it! Edit: I backed WotR on Kickstarter and plan on putting beta info out there which is why I'm knocking this out now

[@Raziel078]

I know I'm months late but the two things that drove me crazy about Kingdom management were 1. The amount of money it took and 2. Why did I need to be there to receive a gift from my artisans? For money I felt like I was always slightly behind where I needed to be to find the kingdoms projects and sidequests. I was selling everything that wasn't being actively used and still felt stretched to the limit on money. For the artisans. Just drop off your gift, tell me when you'll be back, and I'll try to be there for the next one. Also the randomness on their masterwork. The guy who is supposed to give you the amazing armor? One of my first artisans, got him working on his masterwork project early in the game and he never completed it. Did everything the guides said to do to speed up his delivering it but it just never happened. I think all told even though I got every artisan and did all quests associated with them, only two of them gave me their masterwork items over the years they were in the kingdom. Which was BS.

[@JohnDoe-dh6zy]

Can you double the time you get or disable the timers but still do kingdom management?

[@shigerufan1]

@@XBullitt16X Found out on the last chapter that Arcane is the stat that reduces the time spent in the kingdom, as it reduces the rank up duration and unlocks the fast-travel building for villages. But you need to get divine up to a certain level just to make arcane rankable in the first place, and nowhere in the game is it suggested that fast travel is possible until you unlock it.

[@houndofculann1793]

@@JohnDoe-dh6zy I know I'm really late but I'll just answer in case anyone else happens to read through here with the same question: Putting the Kingdom Management difficulty down to Effortless will allow you to use the whole mechanic but disable the possibility of failing the game if you manage your kingdom too poorly. I'm not sure if you can do anything about the timers besides modding, but that difficulty setting at least will allow you to practically do whatever you please with your kingdom without fear of failure.

[@ed-te1fp]

This was a brilliant game and enjoyed it a lot. But I agree, it does require a bit of planning and is very unforgiving on people who just want to jump into the game.

[@Dr.UldenWascht]

Thank you for a fantastic and informative review. I'm very glad to have found your channel through this review. Subbed. I've been waiting for some time to get into Pathfinder since I liked the premise of the story. The one thing however that repels me strongly, is the unnecessary time-limits. I may come around to enjoying the kingdom management part; and I may put in the time and do some extra-curricular reading and researching if need be, but the timers ... they just seem to contrived. I did a bit of reading on the PK discussion forums and the responses were mostly addressing the nonissues; like, "there is more than enough time to defeat the final boss!" or "you should rush immediately toward any quest that comes up." They seemed to have completely missed the point, unfortunately. So, as an old-timer, I did what any self-respecting casual would do and looked to the "modding scene". And as it turns out, there is a mod named "Kingdom Resolution" which among other things (basically) removes the timer from the game. But unfortunately the mod has been abandoned for more than year or so and no longer functions. So as far as I could find, there is no easy way to deal with this issue, for now at least. I guess I have to wait or look a bit more for a viable solution. Anyway, once again, great video.

[@marcelokurashima]

if you like to read, like i do, the kingdom manager can be fun. (not the timers though). but the deal breaker for me is the combat A.I. it feels like the original bg1 had better scripted encounters. i loved the pathfinder characters progressions

[@TKGames54]

So glad I've found your channel I love CRPGs and I've just binge watched at least 5 of your videos. Great job.

[@zennim125]

i don't really trust myself to find the fun in a game, i have the annoying habit of getting everything right on my first try, so i absolutely loved that the game hide checks that you fail and that some choices can screw your entire save out of some outcomes it forced me to deal with situations that were not ideal, put me in some tough spots where i had to shuffle all my advisors into different slots and just accept some bad outcomes for a change i actually loved that, the first time i also didn't knew there was a timer, so what i thought was a minor side event instead of a main story quest was ruining my kingdom i had to scramble up a solution asap because it was going to cause a fail state, and that desperation to do it was a memorable moment i wish we had more time before the last chapter and between the varnhold storyline and the next one, just so i actually could upgrade all my advisors, but that is it can't wait for the next one to come out

[@chrisb1531]

Yeah, I was struggling on my first attempted playthrough. The timers are definitely the worst aspect for me, but I was able to deal with those by just making every main quest my first priority for each chapter of the story. Once you finish that then you have a few months till you feel the pressure again. Once you adjust your playstyle this way it becomes more bearable, but it can still be a royal pain in the ass. I enjoyed *some* aspect of kingdom management, primarily conquering new territories, and the construction of towns and cities. Delegating tasks to your advisors was a drag though, especially when you don't have anyone to fill a specific role. I had to turn kingdom management down to effortless after I had spent probably 20 hours in a playthrough because my game was doomed due to the kingdom management, which I was loathe to do since I typically hate playing on "Easy" modes in games. But it's incredibly frustrating to lose all of that progress and have to start over due to some decision you made earlier that ends up screwing you over in the end. Overall, kingdom management needed a lot of revisions, as it is for the most part pure frustration. I am glad I finished it though, and got the good ending. The story and characters are quite strong, and the world is deep and immersive. Never thought I'd dread an invasion of the "Fae", but the game makes them a daunting foe with some interesting lore behind them. Oh, and you're a total madman for 100%ing this game. Props to you for doing that. I finished the main campaign and the Varnhold's Lot DLC and called it there. Might return to it again some day but I think 230 hours is quite enough for at least another year or two...

[@JarredPearman]

I have played the hell out of this game and enjoy it at hard level because unfair just isn't fun. I always play with full custom parties to be able to fully control the characters development. Because of this I tend to only use npcs for their quest chains snd for kindom advisory. This means I have higher control of the characters and get to actually really delve into the myriad of character options the game offers. Using the custom characters is fun But your characters level up slower because exp is divided among a larger party base and you don't get to experience the npc banter which is highly entertaining. Also using a full custom party practically requires buying your mercenaries at level 1 by using a hidden exploit where the cost is dramatically reduced. If buying mercenaries after level 1 you will end up spending a huge chunk of your available money to do so. Also on harder difficulties you may not be able to effectively use your underleveled hirelings until they passively level up to 3, 4, or 5. So on the one hand you get to play with unique fun builds snd on the other you miss out on a lot of the flavor of the npcs which are seriously limited in how you build them. In terms of kingdom management, I will admit to save-scumming through thr vast majority of it. I also abuse the save-reload options a lot for things like traps and fights that don't go as desired. In light of the poster mentioning the 7% who beat the game, I believe part of this may be due to the loss of exp and loot or other outcomes from not playing something just right. I think there is a way to get through the game with minimal save-scumming though its a much less certain and more painful route where you simply miss out on a lot. Certain spells and feats are practically required to pass certain things in the game, limiting your selection of other feats and spells. For instance it is highly suggested to have blind fight on all characters in the later game and good luck making it anywhere without delay poison. Good luck beating the game without a positive energy channeling cleric. There are other classes that can heal such as the Hospitaler Paladin, the Chirurgeon Alchemist, some bard archetypes, inquisitors, and even late game with the Empyrial Sorcerer, but they are all considerably weaker than the cleric in output and in tempo. Certain puzzles such as navigating the House at the End of Time are not obvious at all and may be a large part of what stops people from making it to the end, this includes the mirror puzzle and the fog pathways. Kingmaker has been one of my favorite gaves of all time though the learning curve can be steep, the options sometimes more limited than fun despite all of the customization available, and the path sometimes requiring unsavory moral choices if you actually want to have certain artisans.

[@marlonbrando1631]

While I understand and support many of your criticisms I think the time limits are overestimated. The game gives plenty of time for main and companions quests and leaves a lot of time to just travel around the Stolen Lands. I think the simple existence of a timer, no matter how generous, just stressed people out.

[@carl7018]

He also mentions that quests have to be completed in a certian order for you to have a good time. The hidden timers coupled with the fact that quests have an optimal order lol is what kills the game for me i lost my only councilor because I didn't do his quests in order and found out that you can save him if you do it a certian way. Its really not fun.

[@carl7018]

@@robertnomok9750 what if you don't want to be kind to tristian? The game gives you the option to not be kind, but you'll potentially never have a councilor and screw yourself literally out of the game since not having a councelor could end the barony if your other advisor can't keep up. Would've been good to know that it was a non option. The councelor position is really messed up. And also I'm not even talking about the choices on what to do with tristian. I'm taking about shit like what happnes after varnhold, everything went downhill from there. The barbarian mission interlocking with tristian was really not well done from a gameplay perspective, its unbelievably time sensitive and again could potentially screw you over for the rest of the game depending on what order you play the missions. I could write and essay about why its so bad. There is a reason why this game has an extremely low completion rate, relatively speaking.

[@carl7018]

@@robertnomok9750 eh you do two kingdom events and one month already passed lol And also just FYI, you're two alternative councilors are very easy to miss. How do you not acknowledge that? First one is missed at the beginning of the game if you didn't want to pick her, and not to mention she leaves later in the game. Second one belong in a cult and you could've easily killed her not knowing she can become a councilor. Only sensible character left is tristian and even HIS position is not grantees. Since he leave at one point as well, and guess you have no choice but to try and get him back. No other position in the kingdom has this much of an issue. Most of the time you are stuck with tristian and that is bad design. Not to mention Tristian is also a bad councilor lmao. I'm pretty sure those quests are time sensitive, considering that I've messed up the order and still kept both tristian and amiri on my second playthrough. And on my third I was finicky again where I had to really metagame everything to keep amiri and tristian.

[@carl7018]

@@robertnomok9750 I mean you know the events I was talking about. It was kind of implied that I was talking about events that require your own time. And how does it take 7 days? The events that require your own time always takes 14 days for me? Unless another bug or something or something I missed? I don't think you understood my original argument. The game has an optimal order to do things. It is optimal because you get to keep characters alive, resolve issues and not miss content if you wanted it, and not screw yourself out of enjoying the game. Not to mention even this is a lie since quests have hidden timers, so you don't even know what the optimal order is unless you look up what happnes. I've still never figured out which companion question takes precedent and when in that section of the game cause the whole thing is clunky. Again this game requires heavy metagaming. The biggest scam in the whole kingdom management is buildings. The buildings give static increases to stats that are like +2 or something ridiculously small, why build them when you can do a few problem/opportunity events and ypu probably now have +10 to you stats assuming you passed. Buildings are actually useless, other than the ones that help you resolve kingdom events.

[@carl7018]

@@robertnomok9750yeah if you don't build anything else you should at least build teportafion circles lmao. But unfortunately I didn't know how to get them untill my second playthrough of which i didn't actually finish. Cause amiri refuses join my party and I lost interest. I don't mind if characters die at the end of the game thats fine. If a character dies he should be easily replaceable with a meaningful replacement. You can spoil if you want cause I beat the game, and also I'm thinking you're talking about Jaethal? She killed triatian in my first game at the end lol I was playing lawful evil in that game. My friend told me if you make her good she dies later. I just don't like it when you build a team around a character and he/she dies in the middle of the game and now I have to rebuild another character with a class I'm not familiar with. Mercenaries are nice but expensive and not enough stat point buy to match regular characters. I don't think its a bad game I just also don't think its one of the best RPGs lol in my opinion its overhyped. WOTR seems to have improved alot of things but I'm just worried about combat since kingmaker combat was really lackluster which is a shame because you have so many cool classes and your fighting so often against the same shitty horde of enemies it get boring after awhile.

[@KaleidoscopeofBrilliance]

I admire your patience and willpower.

[@vladimirtchuiev2218]

What I didn't like about kingdom management is that it seems rather detached from your party's power, I know that there are artisans and kingdom bonuses but they seem somewhat inconsequential, but maybe I'm wrong because I'm in chapter 4 right now. Kingdom management is an exercise in putting out fires and save scumming, and it's rather annoying that its more like an additional ball to juggle rather than providing any actual power boost to your character.

[@lmadar3]

I wanted to try out all companions, so my first playthrough I clicked the "distribute XP across party members" or something like that. I started on normal, got to easy and the last fight was on story. Don't do this :) Also, because of the timer, you are better to have less spellcasters, because resting or adventuring is a mistake in this game. you need to plan ahead, find optimal routes in your existing kingdom, even let loot to rot where it is, since money is the only issue you don't have to care about - only time. God I hated this game when I first played.

[@travisdavidson2415]

I really enjoyed the kingdom management. What I didn't enjoy was the half-ass implemented kingdom building. It could have been so much better. Imagining walking through your capitol as the ruler who built it. I was pretty disappointed that I couldn't go check out the new buildings or work sites in progress. Nope. That giant castle that just completed, still the same throne room with an attached bedroom.

[@kabl00muk94]

After watching this review and reading the comments, (Great work as per isual btw 👏🏻) Im pleased to report... I thought ahead and pre-emptively lost all my hair in preperation for the day I would pick this up in the steam sale for £3.50! Also, early days yet! But so far this actually runs really well on Steam Deck (LCD256) in 2024 with 800p/40fps cap handheld or 900p/30fps cap docked, Medium/low mix 👍🏻

[@usedtobias]

useful review, but I'm gonna argue that calling something a 'review' and then going into what seem to be detailed plot spoilers for the early game is maybe not the best idea. I think I could've gotten a sense of the nature and quality of the narrative without knowing who betrays me, when, and why. mechanic review was strong, tho.

[@mitjakocjancic2205]

Great review, but I actially loved the kingdom management. I didn't expect to, but it was the part I ended up looking forward to the most. I found it to be near perfect, because every choice it gives you is so flavorful, a huge opportunity to express your character's personality, worldview, political standing.. But I agree that the fact everything is timed is super annoying. I never liked time limits, I prefer to relax and move at my own pace. Still, I used the RestLess mod which saves a lot of time by removong the annoying fatigue mechanic, so the timers aren't super strict and it's not hard to do all the quests if you do that. 100% recommend the game and highly recommend RestLess, as well as the turn-based mod. 10/10 game imo ❤

[@JohnnyTightIips]

I loved everything in PF Kingmaker *except* the timers. I don't like being punished when playing a game I paid for lesiurely.

[@Flizbap]

I actually like MOST of the kingdom management stuff. My only issue with the timers is that some aren't shown; just bloody show me which quests are timed and which are not.

[@Tyreonn]

Regarding the looking up stuff. You do roll for knowledge checks when dealing with mobs, which can reveal stats including weaknesses. The game does provide the meta information when you earn it through knowledge skills. For anyone who does not know. That is what the eye icon in the menu is for. It also shows this information in turn based mode when you mouse over a creature portrait in the turn order.

[@UToobUsername01]

Thank you. Where does a noob go to read up on the correct way to play this game properly?

[@brianjohnson4730]

I loved this game and even enjoyed the kingdom management but unfortunately I'm not one of the 7% that completed it. I did all the side content and went into the endgame both good at the game as a player and with a very powerful party. Unfortunately there is a glitch with the dungeon that separates you from your party where all of your inventory stays with your main character and you walk at an absolute crawl. As you get your characters back, it becomes less of an issue but as I got Tristan back the game glitched and I lost the healer I'd used for the entire game, forever. After the annoying inventory glitch, that was kind of the last straw. I loved this game to death but it abused me lol, great review tho!

[@Tyraeleon]

Awesome review. I agree with everything you said. I think the Kingdom Management was a little underwhelming, but really innovative and I would love to see something more in depth like that in the future.

[@luisb9862]

I stopped playing when I got to the kingdom building part. It cannot please everyone I guess

[@ninjakali5137]

You hit the nail on the head sir! I enjoyed the game and I wanted to keep playing. I thought the idea of managing your kingdom was so awesome and that alone sold me to the game. But I hate timed quests. It takes away the fun out of it and the constant back and forth I had to keep doing just so I don't fail a kingdom quest just took the fun out. Also on a much lighter note, I'm a 5e player, I'm familiar with it and I enjoy it, but it was hard to wrap my head around all the classes and insane amount of things in there. Character creation was still overwhelming to me because it felt like I had to study everything about pathfinder to figure things out. So many times I have to keep restarting a new game because a character I made didn't feel fun to play as I originally thought. I put it down and haven't touched it in a long time. Still, I support the developers as they made a fantastic game and they deserve the support to keep innovating, improving, and creating great games, unlike the AAA gaming industry.

[@Tulkash01]

The kingdom manager system is an integral part of PF:KM and personally I love it aside from researching curses (because it takes way too long which is a problem when you need High Priest/Magister for other stuff). Timers are not a problem at all unless you are the kind of player who enjoys rest spamming after every combat. Here’s a pro tip: try to always complete the main quest first. You’ll get the time you need to do everything else and manage your kingdom avoiding pressure (because the difficulty of kingdom events increases if you don’t remove the source of the problem... and it makes sense!). As for pre knowledge... you are right about the game not doing a great job of explaining how to build optimized characters but you can always use a preset build and the assistant improved s lot since release. I’m also rather puzzled from your claim of being “more of a D&D guy” because PF:KM is based on Pathfinder 1st edition which is runs on the 3rd Ed D&D rule system (it was called D&D 3.75). If you know D&D 3rd Ed you have very little problem understanding Pathfinder 1st Ed. Lastly a couple of corrections: it’s untrue that you are skrewed in kingdom management if you lose some NPCs as you can always appoint mercenaries. It is untrue alignment choices are limiting. Unless you chose an alignment and then constantly play against it nothing really happens. It is true however that some choices depend on your alignment (the most meaningful one being you having the authority to order an NPC to leave a certain quest) but that adds to replayability you can’t just get everything in one go. It’s also untrue that a lot of content is gated behind invisible perception checks. In the main campaign there’s none the only place where this is a real thing is in the beneath the stolen lands dungeon if you want to learn enough to fight the spawn AND the dragon together)

[@callmedavid9696]

About halfway through this. Expected to hate the kingdom management but i am actually enjoying it. Really hooked.

[@nacivelaz]

I just beat the game last week and the kingdom management is literally a nightmare. Save scumming is the only way to get through it and I toggled the kingdom difficulty between effortless and easy. A very very fun game but yeah also spent like 10+ just reading how to beat fights

[@hugo3627]

I restarted a couple times because of the magic noob trap. I dont understand how cantrips and damage spells are so terrible up to the mid game. Also half of the CC magic does not work on the enemies you need it for, it only works on enemies that Amiri can 1 shot.

[@finix7419]

I just enjoy watching these games from time to time but then hate how much they don't care about your time and just don't want to start playing them because they just end up waste up a ton of time like POE1&2 .I wish more of these games do what DA:origins did,brought back crpg and polished it in a playable for most people game in a really cool way

[@davidvega462]

I’ve played CRPG’s before. Dragon age origins is one of my fav games of all time. This game seems a bit different. I bought it on a steam sale a while back. I don’t think the mechanics will be too complicated for me, but you make them sound kind of…intimidating sometimes 😅 I’m sure they’re not. I just wanted to ask about the complexity of it. How is this game compared to DA Origins?

[@Waavlu]

This game has a large amount of info that will affect a person's enjoyment of it. There are something like 10 races, 15 classes with 4 different types per class, 30 or more feats and lots of weapon choices. So yes a lot more variation then DA: Origins but you can learn as you play and if you are alright with some failed runs I think you could get more enjoyment from the world and affect your choices make on the world. I enjoy the challenge though and realize some people don't. If you don't I hate to say but maybe steer clear.

[@nodnarb7101]

The perception roll is always displayed in the event log at the bottom right of the screen. Sure not as obvious as BG3 but it is there tho.

[@AndresFnt]

You touch on a point I was thinking about prior to clicking which is that difficulty is less about your skill/natural IQ and more about luck or researching how to win....I got in a bad habit of researching how to win when I 1st played Dark Souls 2 and got in a bad habit of reloading when something bad happened to me in Xcom....At the end of experiencing those games and more in these ways I found that I wasn't having fun and that playing was more of a chore of trying to complete unfinished games I didn't feel rewarded so much for winning.....Its much better to play and lose on a normal or easier difficulty based on our own instincts and makeup for bad things within the same load than to cheat/research to win IMO....That being said- I may try this game out but on Normal and I wont play to achieve a certain ending/result- I'll just use intuition and try my best to enjoy as-is....

[@adammusia9527]

As many other commenters, I love the timers, it's realistic, but still it gives you lots of time, it's normal that someone missing in the mountains will die if you don't go for him in a year or so xd or if you ignore your companion's quest, it's normal that he/she'll be pissed. Possibility to screw yourself is a good thing, consequences are a good thing. Oh, and I actually liked kingdom management, it wasn't great, but it was nice to do between quests + and all the audiences and rank up decisions make you feel more like a baron, it adds to immersion AND it has an effect on the end game. Also if you put it on auto, you actually miss out on some quest and story stuff, you'll also miss some additional gear that you can get via kingdom management, and I don't mean artisan stuff, if you don't like it - just put it on efortless + invincible kingdom, it won't cause you any problems, you'll just have to skip time in the throne room, take some options from time to time and still attend audiences and make rank up decisions that have actual consequences, which for me is the best part of kingdom management.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Got this one on xbone when it came out. A buggier mess I have never played. Played another game. After a couple months I tried again and with the really bad bugs fixed, I had fun. My only gripe is that there is never a point where the timer isn't ticking.

[@paulpantorilla6121]

Timer system broke my game. Can't even beat it now unless I restart 20 hours back or more.

[@MortismalGaming]

Oof

[@STCSk8ers]

I think if youre not going for a 100% the kingdom mgmt is pretty fun gave me a reason to go home without wandering aimlessly. Idk it immersed me

[@terand42]

If I dropped this game due to the Kingdom Management and hidden quest objectives should I give Wrath of the Righteous a chance or nah?

[@MortismalGaming]

So far it seems to be addressing those issues

[@redelephantsdotnl]

That 7% also has to do with the state of the game when it first came out. It was riddled with bugs, and there was something in the final act that would break the game, don't remember quite what it was. Probably because I am not *in* that 7%, I never beat the game either. Still, I actually *do* enjoy the Kingdom Management of it all, even though I too have had to restart entirely a handful of times due to some unseen timer somewhere. Not that that timer wasn't there, because I failed to see it. Still. Managing time, resources, planning routes and so on was this games' selling point for me. A major gripe I have with this game is the loading screens that become longer and longer the more you play. The game remembers loot on every map, and as such the save state becomes increasingly large, unstable and the load times become longer and longer. Wouldn't be much trouble on newer hardware, perhaps.

[@ArutaretiI]

I've beaten this twice. The first time I failed half of the quests because of the timers, and I got my kingdom destroyed, so I had to turn that part of the game off. Second time, once I actually started to pay attention to the kingdom and prioritized finishing quests before exploring everything, I found out that there is plenty of time to explore before the main quest progresses in each chapter and it was much less painful.

[@cruzearnold2664]

Have you made a Pathfinder system/knowledge video for newcomers?

[@MortismalGaming]

Yeah I made an entire new players guide thats like 2 hours long

[@cruzearnold2664]

I’ll have a look, thanks. I’ve watched every check out, first impressions and 100% videos since you started them.

[@JohnDoe-dh6zy]

This is one of the best video game reviews I've read- very well done indeed. I'm super glad I watched this because I can start over and incorporate your feedback. I'll start it over and load on perception bonuses. I chose straight neutral but I may have to rethink that based on what I'm hearing. I'm thinking chaotic neutral. I'm so glad you spent a good amount if time talking about kingdom management because I'll do everything to disable it completely. Unlocking achievements is a nothing burger. The only real value it might add is giving you an idea of how much of the game you've seen and how much you might have missed missed. But you could look that up online, and I looked at them maybe 1x in POE1/POE2. One place I disagree slightly is having to assign your attribute points up front. If you have experience with other RPG's, you can kind of maneuver your way through that somewhat versus having no idea. That said, I never would have guessed the perception part so I think you proved your own point. Cheers!

[@azsolus7845]

Will you do a optimal playthrough guide ? Just started this game and it’s overwhelming

[@MortismalGaming]

I'd consider it, though I know a few written guides on it exist already. Optimal means different things to different people, especially depending on what you're trying to achieve, that's my only hang up on it

[@forger42]

I did actually like the kingdom management, but I'm not a fan of the timers. But without the timers, you would probably need some other kind of pressure to replace it (no idea what that would be though). In fact, I would have loved the kingdom building to be an even bigger part of the game. I am usually enjoying that, and then I get annoyed that some stuff happens that I need to handle personally. I mean, don't I have a kingdom full of guards and wizards and adventurers? Can't they handle it? :P But that's the timers that get in the way again I suppose. I do get why some people won't like this game, but I ran this Adventure Path as a DM for my group, so I absolutely loved it :)

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I think I found a solid middle ground for timers. Have a timer for the important stuff and once you finished the important thing, the timer stops until you choose to advance. That way you can clean up the side stuff and allow your kingdom to recover but you still have the pressure from chapter to chapter.

[@bakuiel1901]

I liked your video though I do disagree with some of your opinions, I loved the Kingdom Building, took some getting used to but I did love it in the end. The game is a bit stressful but I managed to do all the companion quests and only failed one and due to choice not due to time. Mind you I am a Pathfinder player and knew a bit about the adventure path. Still you had valid points, I just love this game its my favorite crpg now. Also one thing they added a while back now is that while you can end up without a adviser for certain positions now you can hire a mercenary and they can fill any of those positions, I thought this a nice touch. Either way though while I may not agree, its just my opinion, you do great videos, I enjoy them. Keep it up and thanks.

[@harktischris]

I didn't end up liking Pathfinder, but what I will give it credit to (as a former D&D guy) is that in the process of trying to decipher character creation (which is an absolute nightmare for a Pathfinder noob *especially* if like me you wrongly assumed it's just nothing more than re-branded 3.5e D&D when in fact that are some fairly major differences), I really got into Pathfinder the TTRPG system and now I'm really into Pathfinder 2e. So there's that.

[@diegofernandez8981]

I got the game in the recent summer sale and managed just over 100hours and something athat helped the kingdom management side significantly is an option hidden in the menus that says your kingdom will not fail because of a problem. But ive realized it doesn't include other issues to decrease stability such as low BP. Also, i found the game because i was doing research to try to run the actual AP for friends and i found it to be insanely true to life with how the general main story goes, but not necessarily the characters of course.

[@sldjflaskjfdalksjfla]

Is there a perfect route thru the game? Are ther savegames for the archivments anywhere? I really love this game but i never ever get it to 100% -___-

[@strangeattractor4940]

Really enjoyed the game itself. But on PS4 it crashed every 20 minutes, it got to frustrating to finish.

[@leroyp2212]

I'm having the same problem on xbox. Love the game but gets annoying having to replay the same part 3 times in row

[@CalebRogers808]

I haven't beaten this game yet, mostly due to the fact that I keep restarting it. I'm on chapter 5 rn

[@AlexBabz_]

Same! 😭

[@shawngillogly6873]

Chronic restart syndrome is still a thing for me with this game. 1700 hrs into it. I have finished it, more than once. But there's more to see. And I consider that a good thing.

[@HexVisualNovelPlaythroughs]

i started plaing bout two weeks ago but my compaions don't use all there action bar skills is there a way

[@aaronreynolds1504]

I hated the kingdom management only because of the timers. Its a freaking RPG, I want to explore things, not be roped into doing tedious and boring management all the time.

[@aaronreynolds1504]

I'm one of those who hasn't finished the game. The Kingdom management just made it not fun.

[@theunhappygamer1744]

I enjoyed the Kingdom Management. It was simple. I noticed a lot of players felt they had to do absolutely every single timed card that came up and if they missed even one they would get frustrated. But the truth is for most of those event cards you aren't going to get much out of them even if you complete them, nor will you lose much if you fail them .To fail the entire game you would have to lose a massive amount of those event cards, its balanced so that you aren't really supposed to complete every one with success. .

[@AeonQuasar]

I agree with this review 100%. I wanted to enjoy the game and I usually love kingdom managment in games like this. (I loved the Neverwinter Nights 2 OC only because of that.) But there was so much I did not know or how to deal with. So many objectives, so little time, so much hidden information. I was determind to just finish the game and not worry too much about whats good or bad ending, but I finally gave up and uninstalled the game when I was trying to do the main quest and was far far into a different region, when some quest I forgot came up. A plague bird nest or something similar had spawned and made a havoc on my empire. I found out it was right above my city. So I had to walk all the way back to deal with a minor inconveniance that could have been just delt by other people. Serious, I can't be everywhere. And the walking back takes forever, as you have to rest so many times on your way. Every day I got a minus 1- for loyalty (unrest) just to walk the entire map back to deal with some stupid birds. Not to say that other quest that I had was in the area I already were in. So the timer from them would also run out if I did go back. I wanted so much to like this game, but the timer, the walking and the empire chaos was just too much for me to handle. I'm still willing to give Pathfinder 2 a new chance. But they got to get this right this time.

[@sergeydubovyk9268]

Great review! But I actually enjoyed the "timed mode" because it leads you to prioritize: quests, companions, items, etc. Basically, it throws in that table top feeling of "no, your lvl 9 char can't be everywhere! hell, even you archmage can't solve all the problems". As for the required knowledge -- yes, that's true, you need quite a bit. For me it ended up with me trying out Pathfinder 2 bc I loved the game and was quite bored with D&D :)

[@cheche1301]

I really like this game alot. Played about 200 hours on it, still havent finished it. I agreed with the reviewer. Kingdom management really hinders the game

[@cheche1301]

Which character did you finish the game with? thinking of starting the game again and just disabling the kindgom management

[@williamparker7584]

Good evening! Quick question. I have wanted to purchass this game since day one for my xbox one, but i held off because of the numerous bugs and glitches i have read about. As of today, Oct 2022, have the bugs and glitches been patched up and fixed? If so, i will definately buy it. Been waiting for the developers to patch everything up before making a purchase. Have you experienced any glitches on your 100% play through? Thanks for your time. Enjoy your day!

[@MortismalGaming]

It's known to be rough on consoles. PC isnt that bad really, occasional bug

[@Tasarran]

I just got it recently, and I love the open-world aspects of it, but I also hate the open-world aspects of it... I was moving my level 3 party around, and got into a random combat. It was revealed to be a Fire Elemental... A very hard fight at this level, but I sighed and resolved to keep a stiff upper lip. Moved to fight, and what was revealed by my first move? A BULETTE. Third level party vs a Fire Elemental and a Bulette = load saved game

[@Eledan13]

You mention baldurs gate three in this review, but i thought it wasnt released for a couple years after this review. That being said i dont remember the mechanic you mention in BG3 but was there like a 2 year beta or something going on or did you mean BG2

[@MortismalGaming]

This is pretty old, I do not remember what you're talking about, I think BG3 hit early access initially a couple months before this review though.

[@Eledan13]

​​@@MortismalGamingfirst off, super impressed that you responded to my comment on a three year old video. Thanks! Second the mechanic I think you mentioned was a dice rolling above your head in BG3 for secret passages and such. Which on second thought does sort of exist in BG3.

[@Jrockk999]

I was thinking of giving this game a shot because I have been enjoying the Wrath of the Righteous so much. But between people on the official and plenty of reviews I'm not so sure.

[@MortismalGaming]

It's good, but it can be very frustrating at times

[@nokronis]

I found that Real Time was great for most of the game, but for big boss fights I would use Turn Based.

[@redfoxx0930]

1st off I enjoyed the review thank you for taking the time but I will admit I have different views on most of your conclusions. I disagree with your assessment that every player needs to turn the kingdom management off at game start, as you said it is an integral part of the “kingmaker” role playing theme to manage the issues in your country, doing it really adds to immersion in some respects if you take the time to learn how to manage it right, but yes the developers could have done a better job instructing people on the optimal way to tackle it so I agree if someone finds that it is to frustrating as they progress then yes at that point I would lower the difficulty/turn it off. As for the time limits while I do agree they can be stressful, they are 1. Usually generous enough 2. Add a sense of urgency that most games like this are lacking...” Oh there’s a troll uprising in your kingdom you should probably handle that, nah no Im gonna just explore around the world and rank up my advisors for months = negative effects. This is logical from a role play perspective, forcing you to balance what you want to do as an rpg character and what you need to do while role playing a King, i.e. part of the. Challenge. And to your last point about this game having a HUGE knowledge gap in terms of learning it’s systems & best way to fight enemies etc. on this one we are in total agreement! This game even more so than DoS2 or POE2 because it is built on that deep expansive tabletop system. I like you had to excessively research the Internet to learn it’s in’s and out’s but funny enough I became engrossed in that very system in my quest to master it. Because of this I wonder if it is not this knowledge hurdle itself that is part of the core crpg experience setting them apart from normal or action rpgs feeding that community/fan base’s desire for more challenging complex role playing experiences? Overall after having played all the latest big 3 new gen crpg’s (DoS2 POE2 @ Pathfinder) I believe Pathfinder to be the best of the bunch for companion characters , story progression fun combat/gameplay and deep core system. Caveat to DoS2 which I think is the more polished product in that gameplay category. Looking forward to more of your reviews in the future 💪🏾

[@SpaceVENTING]

So can you mop up the side quests of each act without a timer when you complete the main story of each act or does it automatically shove you into the next act

[@MortismalGaming]

You have a set amount of time before the next act automatically begins

[@nikae09]

I am new to this game, but I only enjoy playing these kind of games with one character only. Is it possible, is it fun to play solo? I would play on normal difficulty. Also, can You please recommend a class for solo play? I love melee the most, even with shield is fun for me. Thanks! :)

[@MrEtheric]

Played the game at its buggy best at release, and coming back now after wrath. Interested to your opinion on the game. Interesting you hated the kingdom management so much. It was one of my favorite things. I played the game when it first came out, and had to quite restart a few times to get it right, taking the river freedoms at economy rank 6 makes it so much easier. The timers I also did not find that punitive. You have to go solve the problems straight away when they come up, so you get periods of semi calm, a crisis where you have to adventure then calm again. The hilltop timer is pretty clear in terms of letting you know how long you have once you solve the current chapter before the next one comes out. The key part really is having camping supplies so you rest for 9 hours not for days each time. I would have fairly easily got all kingdom stats to 10 at the end of the game, except bugs (the levelup quest/event can go wrong sometimes) The lack of advisors is a problem, particularly if people leave due to story events is definitely a problem. Mercenaries can be used for the positions, but get a -4 penalty. Not sure when that was added, it was not an option at release. One of the reasons the game has such a low completion % I think is the fact that the game was not actually possible to complete at release. The last chapter was a horrible buggy mess for months after the game came out, and quite hard as I understand it. I have 200 hours in the game, but have never finished the last chapter, partially as there would be a mandatory change to my part composition due to story events that I did not feel like dealing with at the time.

[@Gorakil]

So did you ilike kingdom management or not?

[@petenice6667]

timers...thats a deal breaker.....Ill stick to dos 2.....thanks

[@sergiomessias3691]

I was planning on playing this one after the wrath of the righteous, but changed my mind. I will watch your story video instead and play something else 🎉 thanks

[@Sleeper-Work]

I noticed while playing pathfinder and pillars 2 the loading time of pillars and the constant need for resting in pathfinder balance eachother out so there's about equal amounts of wasted time in both

[@FlamingGnats]

You said there was an optimal way to play, what is it? Did you follow a guide?

[@MortismalGaming]

No just an observation, I imagine one probably exists though

[@SinSorrowEU]

Nice review. =) As you are going 100% I totally understand the frustration on achis/trophyes or what ever they are called. Imo I want an option to newer see any achies/trophyes in any game. As sell/use/do anything with them only break immersion when they pop in-screen. (Playstation is horrid with this)

[@kozmnavt5158]

Does the difficulty options help with the timers? This game looks interesting to me but I hate timers in video games and I feel id end up turning the difficulty down just to get past certain parts to meet the timer limit.

[@MortismalGaming]

It helps in that you don't have to rest and pass time as much etc but that's about it

[@vegecs]

I would love to watch a 100% let's play. You should record and post your lets plays, I couldn't find a completionist LP of Pathfinder Kingmaker

[@NerevarineKing]

I actually enjoyed the kingdom management, although I only did it on normal mode. In other CRPGs, the stronghold management has little depth and basically doesn't matter (Pillars of Eternity/BG2).

[@diegohenrique257]

Hello! Is this review is valid for the console version called "Definitive Edition" or there is a substancial difference between versions?

[@MortismalGaming]

I wouldnt buy this on console honestly

[@OtomoTenzi]

@@MortismalGaming Because of all the BUGS?

[@PlatinumBro]

Such a detailed review! Anyone have any idea about how hard the platinum trophy is for PS4?

[@-Plot-]

Kingdom management wasn’t that bad. Would have been easier if they actually implemented the calendar since knowing the months is really important to the timer aspect. There is literally a hotkey for it that the devs just didn’t implement. Now I have played pathfinder 1st edition for around two years and therefore it was easier to get into the gam. I thought combat was very fun but pretty easy even on harder difficulties. Like crowd control spells were too op because enemy AI can’t avoid them. Character creation was my favorite part and gives you a ton of options but the optimal choices are pretty clear to veterans of the pathfinder system. Some of the dungeons were really well done, like some of the best I’ve played in games. One major problem I had was the ending, specifically the debuff that makes you roll 1s (basically % chance to roll 1 increased). I found that to be an extremely unfun and lazy mechanic to make the ending more “difficult”. It does not make the combat harder, it makes it much more grindy. I also thought that enemy selection was limited, basically reskins over and over. Considering this is pathfinder and the tabletop rpg has probably 1000 monsters in it, kingmaker was underwhelming in this aspect. And that folds into the grindy spect of the game, which it becomes once you fight the same monsters for the 20th time.

[@richardjecooke8036]

Thanks for this. Got it for free on Epic but if quests have timers I'll skip it. Good to know.

[@thegenxgamerguy6562]

Do you think I will enjoy this after WotR or will I find it "shallow" in comparison (no mythic paths, etc...)? This whole "everything is timed" puts me off, though... hm... I hate being stressed by a game.

[@MortismalGaming]

I wouldn't call it shallow, the timers aren't fun though

[@thegenxgamerguy6562]

@@MortismalGaming Is there a mod to remove the timers?