Pathfinder: Kingmaker
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Pangaea Apr 16, 2020
Gotta say I'm really impressed with this one so far, although I've barely just begun. Getting serious Baldur's Gate vibes from it. Maybe this actually is a worthy "spiritual successor"? There have been a few :D

It runs well for me with no bugs or sound issues and suchlike so far, so here's hoping it stays that way. I found an article that mentioned sound problems. But they must be gone now, because I'm getting voice acting, effects, music and all the usual stuff. Can't wait to really sink my teeth into this one, and hopefully get hooked on a game again. It's fun to get hooked and get 'lost' in a game world.

Have others played this recently? Good experience?


The sequel was actually funded on Kickstarter about a month ago. Wish I knew about that earlier, but too late now -- although there will probably be a slacker backer options eventually. 2 million USD raised. Impressive.
Alm888 May 4, 2020
Quoting: PangaeaThe sequel was actually funded on Kickstarter about a month ago. Wish I knew about that earlier, but too late now -- although there will probably be a slacker backer options eventually. 2 million USD raised. Impressive.
Don't be sad, you've probably just saved your money as the sequel won't be available for Linux.
QuoteCurrent platforms: PC Windows (Steam, GOG)
Pangaea May 4, 2020
Quoting: Alm888Don't be sad, you've probably just saved your money as the sequel won't be available for Linux.
QuoteCurrent platforms: PC Windows (Steam, GOG)
That fact means I most likely wouldn't have supported it anyway. However, they haven't entirely shut the doors on a Linux release. It is disappointing it wasn't part of their original plans or even part of a stretch goal, but they've said they may do it down the line, if there are free funds for it. That may just be PR speak for "No fucking way" ofc, but since the first game was released for Linux and works really well, we can at least hope.

Currently playing the first game now, and it's so much fun. I'm really impressed with it. Did a giant dungeon yesterday, which took hours upon hours IRL. Many different monsters, environments and encounter design, so it didn't feel repetitive despite having monsters everywhere. Think I'll be playing this a lot, also after I get through the game once.

Some of the items are on the powerful side, but I like that as well. Feels much better than the itemisation of Pillars of Eternity, where basically everything was a bit "meh". Money rains from the sky due to all the items one can pick up and sell (and merchants don't have limited money, which I like tbh, it's not fun to run around trying to sell stuff and nobody has money). But a great deal of that will find use by converting money into "Build Points" for the Kingdom management side of the game. It's fairly simplistic and can be frustrating when you get terrible rolls which fails "quests" (issues that advisors take care of), but overall I like it.

Don't see any obvious flaws with the game right now, and I'm up to level 12 of 20, so have seen a good deal of the game. Always a chance things fall apart at the end, but so far it has been a wonderful and surprisingly good experience. Had never heard about these guys before, and don't have any experience with Pathfinder.

Do wish there was an online character planner somewhere, though, as it's far from easy to level up your characters without making mistakes. By now I could do a better job because I understand the systems better, but being brand new, something like that might have helped -- being able to pretend level up and see requirements for feats you may want down the line, etc.

Let's just hope the sequel will be released natively for Linux too. Would be a crying shame to miss out on this game if it's anywhere as good as the first one.
Pangaea May 9, 2020
Oooh, this was a nice hit :)



A couple chapters left, but great fun so far.
Pangaea May 15, 2020
This was one angry son of a bitch, and a mighty tough fight.

Pangaea May 22, 2020
Do anybody know how to get mods working on Linux? Usually they are easy to install manually, but I can't get them to work, and all instructions just mention Unity Mod Manager (UMM), which works terribly when I try to run it.

Tried creating a "mods" folder in the game folder and moving it around a bit and starting the game, but the skip intro mod doesn't work after 6 failed such tries, nor the one for getting a vendor in the throne room.

Is UMM somehow required for this particular game? Programs like that is usually just an UI for enabling mods and stuff like that, not to get them running.

About to start a new character for second run, and would like some quality of life improvements (and more portraits) :)
Joetje May 27, 2020
Thanks for your writing down your experience playing Pathfinder, it made me interested. Luckily it's now on discount at gog, -50% for the explorer edition. Did you buy the DLC as well and if so are they worth it?

From what I read they are separate stories instead of opening up additional areas/features in the main game like some other RPGs. Not sure I'll play them once I've finished the main story as there are so many other full games still to play.
dvd May 28, 2020
Quoting: PangaeaThis was one angry son of a bitch, and a mighty tough fight.


Oh where was that monster? I missed that in my playthrough.

Quoting: PangaeaDo anybody know how to get mods working on Linux? Usually they are easy to install manually, but I can't get them to work, and all instructions just mention Unity Mod Manager (UMM), which works terribly when I try to run it.

Tried creating a "mods" folder in the game folder and moving it around a bit and starting the game, but the skip intro mod doesn't work after 6 failed such tries, nor the one for getting a vendor in the throne room.

Is UMM somehow required for this particular game? Programs like that is usually just an UI for enabling mods and stuff like that, not to get them running.

About to start a new character for second run, and would like some quality of life improvements (and more portraits) :)

Well for me non-portraits mods didnt work, although i haven't tried the UMM a lot. Portraits should work by copying the files into the correct folders.

Quoting: JoetjeThanks for your writing down your experience playing Pathfinder, it made me interested. Luckily it's now on discount at gog, -50% for the explorer edition. Did you buy the DLC as well and if so are they worth it?

From what I read they are separate stories instead of opening up additional areas/features in the main game like some other RPGs. Not sure I'll play them once I've finished the main story as there are so many other full games still to play.
Quoting: JoetjeThanks for your writing down your experience playing Pathfinder, it made me interested. Luckily it's now on discount at gog, -50% for the explorer edition. Did you buy the DLC as well and if so are they worth it?

From what I read they are separate stories instead of opening up additional areas/features in the main game like some other RPGs. Not sure I'll play them once I've finished the main story as there are so many other full games still to play.

I have not played all the DLCs yet, but:
Varnholds lot is a shorter story, supposed to explain the events leading up to the vanishing.
Beneath the stolen lands is kind of like the endless paths of caed nua in Pillars. You can enter during the main story playthrough or with a party made from scratch.
The wildcards adds a pair of companions, i enjoyed having them in my party.

I personally recommend getting at least the wild cards.

Last edited by dvd on 28 May 2020 at 10:52 am UTC
Pangaea May 28, 2020
Quoting: JoetjeThanks for your writing down your experience playing Pathfinder, it made me interested. Luckily it's now on discount at gog, -50% for the explorer edition. Did you buy the DLC as well and if so are they worth it?

From what I read they are separate stories instead of opening up additional areas/features in the main game like some other RPGs. Not sure I'll play them once I've finished the main story as there are so many other full games still to play.
Don't think the Varnhold's Lot DLC is included in the main game in the normal fashion, but Beneath the Stolen Lands is. I've not tried the former yet, but will in this playthrough. From what I understand, it's possible to start that DLC, and then import it into the main save. So once I get to the relevant chapter, I'll start the DLC and then import that back to my "proper" save. A bit awkward, but yeah. The "bottomless dungeon" kinda DLC is included in the main game, but is also standalone. From the main game it's a dungeon with 16 + 1 levels, with several unique bosses and some loot and lore. As a standalone it is apparently truly (practically) bottomless, as I've seen people saying they've come to level 150+. At that point enemies are crazy though, so probably not all that much fun. I think the levels kinda recycle, so you go through the same 16+1 again (which are randomly generated), but with tougher and tougher enemies.

I'd say they're worth it (assuming the Varnhold one isn't crap), but they're not as well included in the main game as is typically the case.

Quoting: dvd
Quoting: PangaeaThis was one angry son of a bitch, and a mighty tough fight.


Oh where was that monster? I missed that in my playthrough.

Well for me non-portraits mods didnt work, although i haven't tried the UMM a lot. Portraits should work by copying the files into the correct folders.
That monster is at the bottom of the Beneath the Stolen Lands DLC. You need some lore pieces to unlock it, otherwise the last portal is locked. It is tied to some lore (from main game too), and is a rather nasty piece of work

As for mods, I actually got them working. Unity Mod Manager is unfortunately required, because the game isn't well set up for mods, which means they must be "injected" into the game. But once I updated the mono library it all worked splendidly. See here: https://www.mono-project.com/download/stable/#download-lin-ubuntu

I am now using a few mods. One for putting a merchant in the throne room for easier access when selling loot. Recently installed a mod called "Cleaner" which can remove various loot you don't pick, to reduce save sizes and thus loading times (or so they say). There is little point to pick up various armor that weighs 50 lbs and such and is worth next to nothing. Time and encumbrance matters in time game.
Pangaea May 28, 2020
I really liked the game, such a breath of fresh air, which is why I'm replaying it back-to-back. But I also have to offer a slight warning in that the late game is a lot more frustrating than the first 80-90% of the game. Tons of really hard enemies over and over again, with an ability that spams you with blinding 'spells', which means it's practically impossible to save them all. That is why you may see people recommend Blind Fight on just about all characters towards the end game, especially on melees. It counteracts that particular ability from these enemies. There is an element of pixel hunting too, but I shan't say more about that. Overall I don't think that last 1-2 chapters were well-made from a dungeon design perspective. But the story is good throughout, and really focused. I liked that.

Playing again now, I'm also seeing some things playing out differently. The game kinda steers you in a good-ish direction, but there are plenty of evil options as well. I'd say they are definitely more well-made than in many other games, but the evil options also tend to be in the "stupid evil" category. I don't know to what extent it would lock you out of content or quests, but I imagine some companions would not particularly fancy it... Will probably try an evil playthrough next, but while playing I definitely feel drawn towards good choices because it makes most sense story-wise, and because I personally like to do good tbh. Or so I like to tell myself :P

It is a difficult game. I'd recommend to play on Normal or at most Challenging in your first save. Especially the early game can be very brutal. I tried it on Hard, and it was simply too tricky. One-shots all over the place, which led to incessant reloads. It wasn't fun. Maybe doable with super min-maxed builds (there sure are enough of those about), but I like to build characters that are more sensible, without 6 different classes or something.

The difficulty curve is definitely a good thing in my view, but it can be hard in the beginning - even on Normal. Probably easy to mess up character builds too, but I'd say staying single class is perfectly fine.

I didn't have problems with the kingdom management side (maybe it's much better now than it was early after release), but I've seen some complaints about it. Focus on solving "problems" ahead of "opportunities" and it should be fine.

One of the things the game doesn't explain well is that once you are able to upgrade regions, you can only pick one of these upgrades. They are mutually exclusive. It's like a specialisation of the region. Each region can have two or three possible upgrades, depending on what you do in the actual game, but only one can be chosen per region.

Anyway, excellent game, so I think you'll have fun diving into it if you decide to buy it. I'd probably recommend getting the Imperial edition as the price is roughly the same as the game + DLCs, and you get some nice extras (including FLAC of the soundtracks, despite the GOG game page saying otherwise).

(GOG is a bit weird with this, but there are a few free DLCs you can pick up as well, that for some reason isn't included in the Imperial edition. Small stuff, but it's nice to get them)
dvd May 29, 2020
Well this game uses mono, which has an annoying bug at least on my system: the more i reload the longer it takes (on some games it actually gets to be a memory leak), so it's best to kill the game and restart when your pc/laptop gets really hot/loud or takes too long to load your save game.

(ps. anyone know why the like button might disappear?)

Last edited by dvd on 29 May 2020 at 11:30 am UTC
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