Pathfinder: Kingmaker

If you need something to play, then sure, get it, but don’t overpay for it.  On the top 10 list of modern “CRPG” for Mac Steam games this apparently makes the list, but its ok.  The characters are quite cheesy and I am not a fan of racing against a clock.

Yup, again on a MacBook Air M1, 2020.  It seems this winter I was hanging around the house on this thing.  After POE2, I guess I decided to keep going.  This thing does not support top notch graphics, so keep that in mind.  I have to run this game on low in order to get the thing to chug along.

With that aside, the look and feel is very nice.  It does have a cartoon like quality, something about the greens.  The trees and the bushes and the way the nature hits.  It’s cool though, I dig it.  I jives with the cheese of Linzi, our resident loudmouth Bard.

The map interaction leaves something to be desired, but I guess I understand what they were going for.  Maybe this belongs in the “gameplay” section, but the graphics of the map navigation were boring.

I don’t think this is quite the game I needed at the time.  I am playing this right after the mediocre ending of POE2.  The game plays very much the same way, and if you know anything about Paizo and Forgotten Realms history, the last gen of Pathfinder is very similar to D&D 5e, so it makes sense these two play like each other.

Another similarity is how the skill checks play into how a story book form factor is being read to you as a player, and you decide how you want to engage with a particular scenario.  One particular difference is that Kingmaker is encouraging alignment choices and highlighting your development along the way.

Particular to this game, it took me a bit to understand that I needed to focus on “Stolen Lands” and the timer, and that the game might continue after that, so maybe I don’t focus on all the side quests.  I am not sure yet as I am writing this.

I was recently reading an article about a list of things that Dungeon Masters should do to improve the gameplay and quality of life for their players during a D&D campaign.  The one that jumped out at me was doing a Session Zero, but specifically, setting the scene and gathering them and initiating the begging of the quest.  I agree.  This is what Kingmaker does as soon as you finish creating your character; it sets you in the court of Jamandi Aldori, who ends up giving you your initial quest.

The intro and title screen music don’t necessarily stick out in my mind, maybe I have not played long enough.

The chatter during camp outs is funny.

I chose Mad Man character voice

Playing this game on my MacBook M1, 2020, as mentioned during the graphics section, I cannot accurately talk about performance, but on low settings it worked just fine for me.  On Ultra it did not.  I guess that’s not a perfect score.

I want to replay this, definitely with a different class, and most definitely with a different play style.  Kill everything and be rude to everyone.  I am not ready to replay it right now, but I know because the graphics are intentionally dated, and the gameplay is intentionally dated, the game will be playable in another five years.

Not bad, play again, for sure, not now, but later.