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Title: Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Pangaea 16 Apr 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](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous) 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 4 May 2020
Quoting: PangaeaThe sequel was actually funded on [Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous) 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](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous/description).
Current platforms: PC Windows (Steam, GOG)
Pangaea 4 May 2020
Quoting: Alm888Don't be sad, you've probably just saved your money as the sequel [won't be available for Linux](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-wrath-of-the-righteous/description).
Current 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 9 May 2020
Oooh, this was a nice hit :)

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

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Pangaea 22 May 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 27 May 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](https://www.gog.com/game/pathfinder_kingmaker_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.
Pangaea 28 May 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](https://www.gog.com/game/pathfinder_kingmaker_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: Guest
Quoting: PangaeaThis was one angry son of a bitch, and a mighty tough fight.

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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](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 28 May 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)
Joetje 29 May 2020
Quoting: PangaeaAnyway, 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).
I followed your advice as it indeed is of similar price and it's nice to have a complete edition, otherwise I always feel something is missing!

Thanks also for the link with instructions to update mono to the latest version, UnityModManager works fine (had to install mono-complete) and have played around with a few mods ([Custom Map Markers](https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/131) and [Turn-Based Combat](https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/109) - not sure I'll keep using his one).

Only played it for a short while but I'm pretty sure I'll be spending all weekend playing it.
Pangaea 29 May 2020
Quoting: GuestWell 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?)
It was mentioned somewhere, probably by Liam, that it could be related to extensions that protect users from facebook tracking and stuff like that. But I thought it got fixed. I'm running some extensions like that, and the GOL like button shows up on my end. And I'm using facebook container as well (though it probably doesn't do much given all the other stuff I have running, and with blacklisting facebook and google sites in NoScript).

The game does run up quite hefty RAM usage on my end too, at least in long sessions. At some point it may actually lead to slight graphical artifacts, so then I restart it. Haven't noticed this impact save/load times, but it's possible I suppose.

Unfortunately this is often a downside with Unity games. I hope they can improve the situation, but for the most part I think it's an engine limitation. There are ways to mitigate it from what I understand, and it takes a great deal of knowledge about how Unity works, but it's doable. Games like RimWorld is written in Unity as well, but runs really smoothly. Probably harder to do all that much about it in more graphics-heavy games like Pillars of Eternity and Pathfinder: Kingmaker. But I do hope this will be improved further in the sequel.
Pangaea 29 May 2020
Quoting: JoetjeI followed your advice as it indeed is of similar price and it's nice to have a complete edition, otherwise I always feel something is missing!

Thanks also for the link with instructions to update mono to the latest version, UnityModManager works fine (had to install mono-complete) and have played around with a few mods ([Custom Map Markers](https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/131) and [Turn-Based Combat](https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/109) - not sure I'll keep using his one).

Only played it for a short while but I'm pretty sure I'll be spending all weekend playing it.
Great to hear. Think you'll have a blast with it, if you like RPGs like this. I'm loving it at least (despite some negatives as well), and genuinely find it's the best cRPG to have been released since Baldur's Gate.

I use the map markers mod too, though I've not put down much yet. Also had to use the Visual Adjustments mod to change the voice set of my main character. Erroneously selected Aggressive while listening to music during character creation, and ended up hating it. Oddly enough there wasn't a way to change this in-game, but this mod can do it (plus a million other things, but I've not looked into that). Prefer RTWP combat myself, but it's good there is a mod for the TB crowd as well. And turn-based mode will be part of the sequel Wrath of the Righteous. They say we can change between them on the fly.

Maybe this is a well-known mod, but there is also the extra portraits from [Heroes of the Stolen Lands](https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/5). Tons of stuff in there so it took a while to look through, but I like more options like this. The base game should have had more portraits tbh. Most of them seem to just be portraits from characters already in the game (like Maegar Varn and Tartuccio). This one doesn't need Unity Mod Manager either, so that's nice.
Pangaea 3 Jun 2020
Quoting: GuestThanks. In my experience it has nothing to do with how resource intensive the games are, since the same happens to me in Realpolitiks too, and that game isn't very heavy on resource by itself.
Yeah, think it has mostly with how Unity is dealing with these things. Perhaps it's related to the plethora of bundle files Unity games have, instead of more direct access.

(Or maybe this is a good thing, I don't know the technical side). However, a typical complaint for many Unity games is long loading times. 5-10 seconds isn't a whole ton, but it does get frustrating staring at those screens every few minutes.

As part of working with wikis I have extracted assets from many a Unity game, and it's such a clusterfuck at times. Perhaps that kind of compression is required, but I can't help but thinking it is part of the loading time issue as well. The memory side looks tricky too, with big helper articles like this to guide people: [https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/memory-management-in-unity](https://learn.unity.com/tutorial/memory-management-in-unity)

I have recently started on the Varnhold's Lot DLC btw. Pretty hard, but good fun so far. Wish it was better integrated into the main campaign, as it's basically a totally separate module (but we can import a main campaign save, and then import the DLC thing back again, from what I understand). The DLC itself seems good, however, although I'm far from having completed it yet.
Pangaea 6 Jun 2020
Completed Varnhold's Lot DLC. Thought it was really well-done, and the dungeon in it had more versatility than the late game, which I liked. More fun that way. The dungeon is pretty huge over several floors, and is less annoying to move around and battle in than the "House". As usual I tried to rest as little as possible, so it was sticky to explore and get into rough combat when my spellcasters were out of spells (even healing spells), and we only slept 3 times. You can pick up a decent amount of resting supplies, though, so shouldn't be a problem to rest a whole ton there if it's needed (provided you bring 20-ish supplies to start with).

I strongly recommend to set up your own party. Your own character is kind of a hanger-on to Varn and his mage, but they won't always be around. You simply cannot afford to "carry" the three not-so-good characters that are already set up (and they have no interaction anyway, like the 'proper' companions). So create your own lot, and try to cover as many bases as needed, especially trickery for traps and locks, and a healer. Would also say it's required that at least one of your people are able to tank reasonably well. I happened to go with this crew, which worked out quite well:

  • Main: Fighter with two-hander (could tank decently as well, especially when I found an item that gave him the Shield spell a couple times a day)

  • Cleric (Ecclesitheurge): Picked up Selective channels so I can heal my party mid-combat without fear of healing enemies as well. Got the animal domain, which meant she could get a pet, which helps in combat. The leopard died quite regularly, but still helped out

  • Bard (Thundercaller): Bards are really strong in the game, and I wanted to try out Thundercaller. Bards also get some good spells, where especially Good Hope is great.

  • Magus (Sword Saint): Apparently this is a really strong class, and can get both great defense (AC) and offense. It's what they call a "gish", an arcane caster that's also a fighter. Spells were mostly about self-buffs, but at high levels he could probably get some proper damage spells too. For the most part I stuck Shield + Mirror Image on him and went to town


Two things I really like about this game is the implementation of bards and clerics. Usually bards are a bit crap because they can either sing OR fight, but here they can do both simultaneously. That greatly improves their use. Really good for party buffs and some crowd control (CC). Clerics are like all clerics really, mainly about healing the party. But what is nice here is that you can convert spells to healing spells without slotting the healing spell in the book. So in a pinch you can convert a level 1 spell like Remove Fear to Cure Light Wounds, which increases their versatility. I still put in a high amount of healing spells because I need them anyway, but in a place like this and when I try to restrict resting, it's really nice to convert them at will. This also helps when resting, because the cleric will then use all available spells to heal the party, including converting unspent spells.

Well then... time to continue with the main story and see how whatever I did in the DLC will impact things. I've heard you are able to buy some of the items found in the DLC, and some of those were pretty sweet, and presumably some of the decisions will be reflected as well. We shall see :)

Last edited by Pangaea on 6 Jun 2020 at 2:24 am UTC
Shmerl 26 Jul 2020
Started playing the game. It's pretty good. Some questions I got:

* Do you use the party AI or keep it off?
* How do you queue several actions for one character when the game is paused?

The combat is still somewhat confusing.
Shmerl 26 Jul 2020
Also, I'm trying to use spells, but sometimes that action doesn't do anything.
Schattenspiegel 26 Jul 2020
Quoting: ShmerlStarted playing the game. It's pretty good. Some questions I got:

* Do you use the party AI or keep it off?
* How do you queue several actions for one character when the game is paused?

The combat is still somewhat confusing.
Probably better to keep the AI off to prevent your casters wasting your spells.
I am also not aware of a queue function in this game. They do have the definite edition which includes turn-based mode planed for august 18th, though.
Shmerl 26 Jul 2020
I think it was more about the spell taking some time to cast, I need to pay closer attention to that timer indicator.

Those spider swarms are vicious even when using alchemical fire. Several of my chars got permanent STR reduction. I had to rest in the outpost for a few days and buy several restoration potions to help Amiri who got hit the hardest.
Pangaea 11 Dec 2020
Quoting: ShmerlI think it was more about the spell taking some time to cast, I need to pay closer attention to that timer indicator.

Those spider swarms are vicious even when using alchemical fire. Several of my chars got permanent STR reduction. I had to rest in the outpost for a few days and buy several restoration potions to help Amiri who got hit the hardest.
Sounds familiar allright :D

Did you keep playing it? Also, did you meet some, err, tough rats? :whistle:

I found it to be an awesome game, but the one thing I didn't like was the ending area. I'm sure those who have rounded the game know what I mean. It's a common criticism.

Not kept tabs on the follow-up game for a while, but I sincerely hope it will be released natively for Linux. Then it's a sure buy.
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