A game so good that it actually makes people complain.

Be aware : spoilers lie ahead, and insults possibly. If you’re fragile to either do not read this. Also english is not my mother language so forgive my mistakes.

When Pillars of Eternity – Deadfire was released I created only a quick post on Facebook. Since then i regret i never wrote anything about how disappointing the game was. So now i decided to correct that mistake and write a review for Kingmaker.

This time though the review will be in entirely different light as I am more than satisfied with this game. Even though it surely has a lot of problems.

The game is, as the name suggests, is based on Pathfinder, modified Dungeons and Dragons 3,5 edition. This has of course a huge impact n the game especially when it comes to character creation and development. I personally haven’t (yet) played in Pathfinder pen and paper system, but I have a good understanding of DnD 3,5 both from dungeon master and player perspective. That is why the game was, well ‘ familiar’ to me as I created my character.

Even though I knew the system, and mechanics the character development was a bit to much. You could argue that this huge variety of options for levelling up gives to the freedom to alter your hero exactly as you want. But for me simpler system with less options would kept me more focused on the character and its development. There was so many options you could easily lost track of how you want to polish your character.

Besides when you enter the Kingdom stage your team grows to 8 or more characters (if you wish to keep them all, and I recommend you do). And let’s be honest no one wants to spend a lot of time leveling up your characters when your in the middle of a quest you’re actually drawn to. It’s just annoying at some times. Also this was reflected in items collection. As you would level your character – warrior – for instance, the variety of weapons was to large – and when leveling up you would always have to remember to choose feats that are referring to certain kind of weapon. It simply takes to much time.

Now as I read different reviews people were largely complaining that if you never heard of DnD mechanics, you would get lost in the game as tutorials, because they are not accurate. Well obviously I can’t refer to that but I can easily imagine that this would be true.

I also read (and heard) that there where a loads of complaints on difficulty levels. Apparently some encounters – even the random ones where not balanced properly. That is a legitimate concern to some extent but when you look at this from narrator point of view you may argue that you don’t always can enter a fight you can win. Sometimes it’s easier to just use invisibility potion and do not engage in a fight. Personally I don’t really agree with that complaint as the difficulty level adjustment is easy to modify and if you really want to win every fight you will surely find a suitable option there.

Another popular opinion is that this game isn’t for everyone, especially when it comes to mechanics and the amount of reading you’ll go through in this game. As for the first I can agree that if you do not know DnD and you have to rely only on tutorials this game may be more difficult to understand. But when it comes to the reading part I  totally disagree. I mean you have bought and downloaded the game – and I assume you know that what you’ve bought was an classic rpg (reading is always in the package with that). Also if you do not like to read you’re just unschooled turd – that is at least what Jubilost Narthropple would say 🙂

What makes this game so different, and so much better than PoE is the script, narrative – the story in general. Kingsmaker delivered something that PoE failed to accomplish. A beautiful haunting story I was drawn to. Now when I begun first chapter of the game I didn’t think story had that much to offer. I changed my mind after the first arc when my kingdom has formed and my hero defended it for the first time. At this point you get sucked into the game so bad, that you know you have to finish it – just to know what will happen. And you also join “I’m leaving my job” club.

The main plot of the story revolves around your hero being appointed difficult task of governing new young barony. Of course since the start you’ll get your main boss slowly introduced to you – giving you time for speculations. The thing is that game doesn’t explain everything at first. You make all your decisions based on your alignment, and your choice without the clue how will they resolve. That is how the story keeps you surprised and after some time emotionally invested in your kingdom and your party.  And in this century when every story detail is landed out for us on a silver plate I would say that this is the value beyond comparison. The main plot has a lot of content and takes a lot of time to finish. Pillars of Eternity Deadfire main quest could be finished within 6-8 hours, so as i mentioned there is no way of comparing it in this aspect.

Perfect example of this story writing is Season of the Bloom quest. The quest starts with notification of immerse number of magical creatures appearing in your lands. You organize a hunt to deal with this problem and during this even you find out that it’s actually some weird illness that causes people to turn into monsters. You finally get to what caused it – and who is behind it. But before that your subjects start emigrating and rioting. At every stage of this quest you’re surprised and drown deeper into the problem. Which makes solving it great.

Each character has its own interesting story that is somehow connected to your kingdom. Side characters are very different from one another so you don’t have to worry about having a team of random boring NPCs. Though I must admit I would liked them to talk more during the game. Scripts and dialogs were brilliantly written so you end up on either liking or disliking your characters – romance is also  available. And I really do mean brilliantly – it is extremely rare to make me laugh during the game. That also applies to NPC’s.

Also it is very difficult for writers to balance comedy, romance, adventure, horror etc. – and this game does that perfectly. So much so in fact that I wouldn’t mind reading a book written by the author of the scripts. Every side quest is interesting and has something to offer, not only the experience points…

Kingdom management beats PoE at every possible field. Actually it’s what I expected from Deadfire before it was released – just to get this crappy ship instead. Graphics is beautiful and detailed. Also I loved how every season is different in this game. It gives you unique reality experience of time flows in the game. Truly amazing feature.

There are of course issues with it though. Main concerns are the bugs that at this point should not exist. Also there is the problem that most of the games have – creating some side quests (two in this case), that wouldn’t allow you to finish your game according to our alignment. But this again is common for RPGs. In my opinion this game truly is a jewel worth every reloaded save and every hour spent on it.

Now for PS, or more accurately ‘message in the bottle’ thing.

Just in case a game developer would read this. Please translate the game, please fix the bugs, and for god’s sake : Please Make Another Kingmaker!!