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| Oh yeah, teamwork really makes it all come together, especially against tough foes |
Well it took the better part of my break, but I finished Pathfinder: Kingmaker, and oh boy, do I have things to say about it. As the name suggests, it’s an adaptation of the Pathfinder 1st edition tabletop roleplaying system, and while I’ve never played Pathfinder before it seems very much similar to the tabletop. The story is fantastic, the RPG systems are very well done, and you can change almost every detail of the difficulty to suit your needs or desires, what more could you ask for? Unfortunately, much like running Castle Strahd in a single session, Kingmaker starts off strong but nearing the end dissolves into a deathmarch-like slog to the finish (both in difficulty and pacing). I very much enjoyed it, but even I can’t ignore the multitude of issues plaguing the otherwise inventive, fun, and satisfying approach it took to adapting an adventure path.
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| Camping doesn't help you get to know your companions better, but it does greatly help with immersion by your companions talking amongst themselves. I don't think I came across a single repeated dialogue in my 70 hours. |
Kingmaker’s story is relatively generic at first glance, especially given the Pathfinder setting: build kingdom, protect from big bad. However, it’s in the finer details that Kingmaker’s plot and story is differentiated from other CRPG’s of the same vein. First off, the big bad group aren’t demons, or cultists/fanatics, or a secret organization—it’s faeries. Yeah, this probably seems like nothing interesting, but fey aren’t really like Disney fairies. Instead of being kind guardians they are fickle and immortal pranksters living a life with almost zero risk (due to reincarnation), hence leading most to act with manic disregard for others’ wellbeing in the pursuit of their own amusement. Sick. What’s also notable is the progression of the story, being (seemingly) episodic chapters of unrelated threats to your person that eventually coalesce into the ultimate plot of the antagonist. It’s no Agatha Christie novel, there’s no stupid gotcha moment that’s nigh impossible to guess. There’s ample clues throughout the story for people who are able to recall story details that there’s something more to these threats than meets the eye. The incorporation of player choices (in adventures, not management) are also quite exceptional. There’s a lot of choices to be made, and pretty much each and every one of these comes back at least once to influence future events in a non-contrived way. Spare an enemy, they might just come back and help you in the future, or they might come back better prepared It’s an approach to storytelling that I truly haven’t seen in a game before, and it made me feel like my choices really mattered and had an impact. It also helps the story feel like an actual epic campaign without diluting the story, which is something I like (ironic given how long the game feels). However, while your choices during adventures matter to future events, choices in how you run your kingdom do not seem to change anything narratively. I did everything I could to build a safe, orderly, and happy kingdom, and the game said that the people loved me. So why then are they rioting and stating that this kingdom "really blows" at the slightest gust of wind?! I thought they loved me? The companions and their quest lines are quite strong, with each comrade (save two really) having a different quest with differing emotional vectors and unique perspectives. What’s notable about these companions though is how their ending positions are arguably more realistic than other, more dramatic arcs I've seen. My personal favorite was Harrim, the gloomiest Dwarf to ever walk the earth (literally Eeyore as a dwarf). He’s truly a tragic figure, given into nihilism and cynicism after feeling abandoned by his god and actively looks forward to the end of the pain and spiritual humiliation that is his life. However, by the end of his quest he learns to appreciate the life and friends he knows and cherishes (even if he wouldn’t be upset if he died), now facing the unknown with stoicism and equanimity rather than spite and resignation. The only downside to the incorporation of companions into the story is how they factor into the finale. Basically, if you don’t complete a companion’s quest they die in the finale and the game treats that like a bad thing. I guess I’m the bad guy for letting a selfish and cruel murderer face justice for murdering innocents, yay. It works for some companions, but others it doesn’t really work. Also, unless you metagame or break alignment, there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll royally fuck up and fail at least a few quests. What’s notable is that these aren’t gameplay based (not acting fast enough, etc.), but story and approach-based. Because I decided to play a lawful-neutral character with good tendencies several quests were arguably harder, easier, or impossible based on how I interacted with people. Great stuff. The three story DLC each bring something to the main story, though "Varnhold’s Lot" and "Wildcards" are the only ones that contribute meaningfully to the story in my opinion. "Varnhold’s lot" is rather interesting, given that your character is a side character and in addition lets your choices throughout the DLC affect future events in the main game midway through. It’s nice, short, and easily digestible, though challenging at times. "Wildcards" is more investment-heavy, given that it adds two races and a new companion (so a game-long minor questline like every other companion). It does fit in quite well with the base game’s plot, which does raise the question as to why it’s not in the base game, but I guess we’ll never know the answer to that question (like the question of where the Aasimar companion is).
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| "Varnhold's Lot" is a breath of fresh air, allowing you to make a new character at fifth level that ties into the main story. |
Kingmaker plays primarily like other real-time CRPG’s and for the most part it’s pretty comparable to other titles like Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, except with the Pathfinder ruleset instead of the AD&D 2e one. There’s a lot of customizability to making your character through the twenty levels you’ll talk and chop your way through, so you can really make your own character the way you want even if it’s probably not a great idea for newcomers (it’s not explained fully and there definitely should have been a tool to create builds). Furthering the ease of customizability angle of Kingmaker’s character creation is the ease of multi-classing (just choose a class to put a level into at level-up, can’t get simpler than that), incorporation of alignment, and “teamwork feats”. Alignment (lawful to chaotic and good to evil) in addition to skill checks gives access to unique dialogue choices (both active and hidden checks) and ways of approaching situations, like it’s actually an important part of your character and their story. As you make more choices, you could find your alignment shift and even change multiple times over the course of your playthrough, which is something I love. Teamwork feats are perks (like +1 armor or damage, etc.) that only activate when two or more party members have them. They’re incredible in most situations (especially shield walls with three of my guys), though it can easily mold your approach to combat to your detriment. Speaking of which, combat in Kingmaker is ruthless and only increases as the story progresses. There’s a strange horseshoe of difficulty in Kingmaker’s combat, with cool fights where your party massacres the enemy (and costly spells/abilities are thus unnecessary) on one end, and no-win scenarios where little you could do would change the outcome on the other (most of the last act’s fights are solidly here, and I played on normal). The game really throws the book at you in terms of the most fun-ruining foes to face by the game’s end (gaze attacks, level and ability drain), so preparation is the key word, though in practice this only does so much to negate crippling debuffs. Honestly there’s zero shame on playing on easy or story difficulty for the last two or three chapters, normal works fine and is fair for the earlier ones. The game’s biggest pitfalls however are in its length and the management of the kingdom. Starting with the latter, kingdom management at the beginning is pretty satisfying and immersive, with RNG but still a feeling of fairness (just because someone’s the right fit doesn’t mean the plan will work after all). However, as the game progresses the odds literally turn against you and out of nowhere you’ll encounter problems that you’re given next to no chance to solve (2% chance of success with my best guy, 5% with a boost). If you fail these you will have points and stats of your kingdom drained and people are unhappy. This isn’t fun or challenging, this is soul-crushing. Eventually I had enough and turned off kingdom management in the difficulty options (which are also incredibly customizable to their credit). Onto length, this game is long, and I mean long. It took me about sixty plus hours to complete the main game and "Varnhold’s Lot" and I think "Wildcards"(that one just ended at some point and I don’t know if it was bugged or not). Quests themselves start out quite strong with well-done hints and pointers, but by the end of the game seems to give up and say “screw it, they’ll figure it out”. Starting the game you almost always know exactly where to go (and if you don’t you at least know where to start), it’s only a question of your own readiness. By the end of the game however it is very rare that you’ll be given concrete direction of any kind, having essentially to wander until you discover the place or stumble on the solution through dumb luck. At around the same time the game also seems to decide that directions are for chumps so locational clues/directions are restricted to dialogue, and not written in your journal for some reason. The worst however is the final dungeon, which sees you searching for three keys where two are held by bosses and the third is hidden by a puzzle. This puzzle is ridiculously difficult and kills all sense of pacing, like it should be a secret ending (you are given a single clue: “something about the mists in the basement”). Yet, this is required to complete the game. The fuck? I spent an hour on this before consulting a guide, and this was all just so I could fight the BBEG? Come on man, time and place, we don’t have time to lose!
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| So it's come to this: an Adamantite Golem versus a Stone Golem in a bout of fisticuffs. Everyone except Valarie is down, truly, this is edge-of-your seat action ladies and gents. |
Kingmaker is not to be found lacking in the artistic/audio department, and it’s here where I have very little negative things to say. There are quite a few drastically distinct tile sets, so no matter what point you’re at in the game, you’ll always be seeing something new or just for the second time. The third story DLC, "Tenebrous Depths" has the best examples of this and while it starts rather unimaginatively, after a few floors the stupid looking stone-with-an-elemental-effect tile gives way to more visually-appealing and creative styles, like a dungeon with glowing spring water and lily pads for the floor. There’s a definite shared vision between the art style of the game and the UI (including portraits) that helps everything feel unified. The same goes with the voice acting (not as common as I’d like, especially since it’s really good), which syncs perfectly with each character’s portrait, meaning that they sound like they look like without veering into stereotype. Linzi is a halfling bard, and she looks like a child, so she has a child-like voice (while still sounding like an actual adult). There are two exceptions to this, and they are Tristan and King Irovetti. The former, despite looking like an otherwise somewhat normal acolyte, talks in the most airy and light way (which is pretty bizarre for much of the game), while the latter sounds like a gameshow host despite his portrait depicting him akin to Conan the Barbarian. It’s important not to confuse here my dislike for how a few characters sound for a dislike for how they talk, which I by no means have. Each voiced character gives off a great amount of personality through their commentary, especially their camping and combat dialogues which have a nice mix of camp and humor to them. Kingmaker definitely is tricky at times, but it’s always entertaining to hear the reactions and mutterings of my party members. Harrim has (to my count) at least four variations of “Oh? Sorry, was lost in thought…” alone, and Nok-Nok’s manic rambling frequently had me pausing combat to process what he even said. Loading screens and journal entries are interesting to me from a stylistic perspective, given that they were written by Linzi as she writes your story. This leads to every development having some form of running commentary in the margins that gives some insight into how Linzi feels and reacts to things. The only consistent issue I had was with the game was its performance in several crowded areas. This reared its head far more as the story progressed, though I’m sure that it is due to how many crowded areas are in the latter parts of the game. The music at times can be generic, though it’s a charming kind of generic, full of whimsy and heart. “The Skylark” is probably my favorite track (plays at the end of companion questlines) even if it sounds like something ripped from a Hallmark movie. There’s also an interesting use of music to signal important or recurring characters that you meet along your journey, which is again something I haven’t really seen on a large scale before.
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| Another thing that Kingmaker's story does right is how it goes to great lengths (both subtly and unsubtly) to include your companions in the story, and it actually works a lot better than I would have thought. |
In the end, completing Kingmaker didn't feel like a test of my strategy or critical-thinking skill, it was purely a test of willpower and commitment, and it really shouldn’t be. It’s even more of a shame, especially given that it’s not a terrible game, I very much enjoyed the majority of it and the stories it tells are ones I haven’t yet seen before, but it’s so damn frustrating and long. It’s not hyperbole when I say that only about 6.6% of players who own this game have completed the story at least once, goddamn. I’d say it’s worth playing, more for the unique story and adherence to tabletop rules than anything else, but here I’d say that it’s better to cut losses after a certain point. With some tightening, balance, and better explanation of the systems it would probably be my favorite CRPG system, but as of right now all I can do is hope that the upcoming War of the Righteous will improve on Kingmaker's successes and shortcomings.
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| "The Tenebrious Depths" is a dungeon crawl with glowing enemies (for some reason). Not really my thing, but it does give an easy option to easily jump into some quick (or long) action when you start a new game. |
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