I feel a little conflicted with this game. Here I am, literally giving it a 4.5 but I don't feel like talking about what makes this game good. It's what it's missing here or straight up broken which frustrates me.
On one hand, a game that kept me entertained for 100+ hours is automatically a great game. Any piece of media that can get that kind of commitment out of me is special because I'm the kind of person who never sinks too many hours into one game. On the other hand, this game tries its best to keep you from having fun with its questionable design choices and how fucking broken it is as of the latest patch.
Instead of simply letting me go on an adventure with a lovable cast of characters in this cool world filled with interesting lore and do some of the most insane shit you can do in a CRPG like turning into a goddamn golden dragon that actually makes you feel powerful, I'm forced to play the awful Crusader Mode which is a poorly put together Might and Magic clone where you also make decisions about various issues happening around your periphery. That sounds cool on paper but when the outcome of these decisions ultimately, only really affect Crusader Mode, NOT the actual fun part of the game, like exploring and fighting etc.
The army battles in this mode require no strategy whatsoever and it's absolutely broken. A level 3 mage general can decimate a demon army while a level 6 knight general can do jack shit. Luckily, you can disable this mode entirely, the catch is, you'll miss a good portion of the side content and the game will make some decisions for you. Honestly, the less said about this mode the better, so if you value your sanity get the Combat Relief mod.
Another source of frustration is the lack of QoL and shitty interface. Why can't I stack items on my belt? why can't I open more than one window at once, turning comparing items into a chore? why is there no fast travel? why is the A.I. so retarded and you can't give even your companions basic commands like "fight defensively"? Just meaningless annoyances that makes me doubt they even play tested this thing, otherwise they would've realised how infuriating these mechanics (or lack thereof) are. And I'm not even gonna talk about the technical aspect, it's a whole new can of worms that isn't something new or shocking for anyone who has played Kingmaker.
This is a great game, but you should give it 6 months to get patched up, and then get the Combat Relief mod and enjoy one of the best CRPGs ever.
On one hand, a game that kept me entertained for 100+ hours is automatically a great game. Any piece of media that can get that kind of commitment out of me is special because I'm the kind of person who never sinks too many hours into one game. On the other hand, this game tries its best to keep you from having fun with its questionable design choices and how fucking broken it is as of the latest patch.
Instead of simply letting me go on an adventure with a lovable cast of characters in this cool world filled with interesting lore and do some of the most insane shit you can do in a CRPG like turning into a goddamn golden dragon that actually makes you feel powerful, I'm forced to play the awful Crusader Mode which is a poorly put together Might and Magic clone where you also make decisions about various issues happening around your periphery. That sounds cool on paper but when the outcome of these decisions ultimately, only really affect Crusader Mode, NOT the actual fun part of the game, like exploring and fighting etc.
The army battles in this mode require no strategy whatsoever and it's absolutely broken. A level 3 mage general can decimate a demon army while a level 6 knight general can do jack shit. Luckily, you can disable this mode entirely, the catch is, you'll miss a good portion of the side content and the game will make some decisions for you. Honestly, the less said about this mode the better, so if you value your sanity get the Combat Relief mod.
Another source of frustration is the lack of QoL and shitty interface. Why can't I stack items on my belt? why can't I open more than one window at once, turning comparing items into a chore? why is there no fast travel? why is the A.I. so retarded and you can't give even your companions basic commands like "fight defensively"? Just meaningless annoyances that makes me doubt they even play tested this thing, otherwise they would've realised how infuriating these mechanics (or lack thereof) are. And I'm not even gonna talk about the technical aspect, it's a whole new can of worms that isn't something new or shocking for anyone who has played Kingmaker.
This is a great game, but you should give it 6 months to get patched up, and then get the Combat Relief mod and enjoy one of the best CRPGs ever.
Owlcat has some sort of sadist obsession with creating the worst encounters you've come across in your life, because they know other parts of the game are so good that you'll simply grit your teeth and endure them. Seriously bro what the fuck were they thinking with some of these encounters. Also the puzzles suck because of the UI. I actually liked the crusade management stuff. The story is VERY peculiar in some places, but the mythic paths I chose made it wrap up pretty nicely at the end.
This game's pseudo difficulty is a chore to get through on top of its mediocre voice acting and writing (sometimes comedic in how bad it is). There's some great stuff within this game, parts I would say are addictive and rewarding, then a drawn-out slop to bad game design is tossed at you, halting any amount of fun to be had. The crazy part is I enjoy this game a lot, love it in fact, but it also really sucks. The scale of this game is amazing, and the Pathfinder system is satisfying once you understand it better (despite many of the redundancies in classes in this bloated game). The enemy scaling is god awful, the pacing is a massive drag, and it all builds up to a mid and uninspiring last act.
A really great cRPG... that is perhaps a bit too long and of course the last chapter is a hot mess.
I hope I'll get around to writing a proper review one day.
I hope I'll get around to writing a proper review one day.
Abandoned after 200h in, just couldn't be arsed to keep playing.
It's amazing how much depth this game's character develop system can have, and it's equally, if not more, amazing how TERRIBLE its encounter design can become later in the playthrough.
medio q me aburrio pero estuvo entrete para distraerme un ratito
pathfinder is a terrible rpg system and there's a reason people with brains play 5e instead of this garbage
Im so glad that camellia yells about how much she loves blood and violence during combat, i couldnt tell what her alignment was from the fact that it was hidden alone
The pinnicle of build whatever, play how you see fit. The Story is gribbing from start to finish. Companions are interesting and loveable in their own ways. Play how you want, build your story. Absolutely amazing game if you can sit down and play all one hundred and twenty hours of it.
DO NOT BUY THIS GAME ON SWITCH!!!! Or for consoles other than PC for that matter. It's been basically one year and this game is still a buggy mess with terrible graphics. Theyre focusing on their warhammer game rn but that shouldnt excuse for the state it currently is in when it's almost been a year and they've been making money off their DLCs. If youve played Kingmaker on Xbox like i have, then you know exactly what I mean and what's to be expected by Owlcat studio.
It's really a shame because the story and builds are awesome, but it's like the dev team want to make it hard for you to enjoy it.
If youre going to buy a game from Owlcat, please atleast do not buy at full price and atleast wait a couple of months to read the reviews/bug reports on discord or reddit after release.
It's really a shame because the story and builds are awesome, but it's like the dev team want to make it hard for you to enjoy it.
If youre going to buy a game from Owlcat, please atleast do not buy at full price and atleast wait a couple of months to read the reviews/bug reports on discord or reddit after release.
I found this to be a very tiring game to play. I'm invested into the game but every time I play it I can only play for 90 mins before hitting my limit for it, which made finishing it a very taunting task. So I decided to shelve it for a while, I do want to come back to it.
Great game for math wizards.
Jeu incroyable
Sun valinnoin on oikeest välii ja hitto et niit o paljon sanoisin et koska niit on nii paljo se on vähä ongelma mut se voi olla vaan mä.
Fantastic stuff.
The game is definitely getting better with every patch, and is already much better than kingmaker was initially. There are still some rough patches, though, and I don't think anything can fix the crusade mode, which is a good idea that lacks both consequence to the story and interesting gameplay outside of being a money dump.
The plot seems like your typical fantasy affair, and it is at it's core, but Mid Act 3 and on the game starts to bare its true scale, and it becomes engrossing to follow. The setting is a little overwritten still considering it's tabletop parentage, but mostly all what you need to know is kept within the confines of the worldwound and you, so it doesn't feel overindulgent.
The gameplay, if you're a fan of slower paced stuff, is rewarding to get the hang of, especially if you're someone who loves to pour over rpg mechanics and make builds for something. There is a rather large problem in that it can take a ton of time, every single encounter, to prepare every single buff you're going to want to do. It's a sad bit of busywork that plagues the game, again, because of its tabletop origins. I hope theres a solution to it, maybe in a patch in the future or (if there is going to be one) their next installment.
Either way, good stuff, one of my favorite CRPG's as of now.
The game is definitely getting better with every patch, and is already much better than kingmaker was initially. There are still some rough patches, though, and I don't think anything can fix the crusade mode, which is a good idea that lacks both consequence to the story and interesting gameplay outside of being a money dump.
The plot seems like your typical fantasy affair, and it is at it's core, but Mid Act 3 and on the game starts to bare its true scale, and it becomes engrossing to follow. The setting is a little overwritten still considering it's tabletop parentage, but mostly all what you need to know is kept within the confines of the worldwound and you, so it doesn't feel overindulgent.
The gameplay, if you're a fan of slower paced stuff, is rewarding to get the hang of, especially if you're someone who loves to pour over rpg mechanics and make builds for something. There is a rather large problem in that it can take a ton of time, every single encounter, to prepare every single buff you're going to want to do. It's a sad bit of busywork that plagues the game, again, because of its tabletop origins. I hope theres a solution to it, maybe in a patch in the future or (if there is going to be one) their next installment.
Either way, good stuff, one of my favorite CRPG's as of now.
This game is a chore. I could stomach spending 2-3 minutes buffing up for some encounters but I checked out pretty hard once you're introduced to the Crusade system, which at best is just a half baked rip of Heroes of Might & Magic.
This game is truly a masterpiece, it shocks me how overlooked/underrated it is!
The story is great and the characters are sublime, Pathfinder 1E is an amazing system, even if it's a little complex to understand, and the game gives you so many dialogues and possibilities to solve things and forge your story.
Veeery insane game!
The story is great and the characters are sublime, Pathfinder 1E is an amazing system, even if it's a little complex to understand, and the game gives you so many dialogues and possibilities to solve things and forge your story.
Veeery insane game!
WotR is everything Kingmaker wishes it was, and a little bit more. it is not perfect by any means, many of the storylines (main quests, side quests and companion quests alike) fall flat and the mythic paths are very unbalanced in terms of content and narrative. that said, it was consistently engaging and the crusade management rocks soooo hard in comparison to the Kingmaker kingdom management system. art and graphics are beautiful and the 360 camera has been integrated fantastically, allowing for amazing map designs with depth and interaction on another level. the story is pretty standard stuff, but the mythic path system gives it great flair and replayability, though I found it hard to deviate from my first one (azata main 4life <3), which still remains my favorite. all in all a great game!
I realized about 30 hours in i didn't care about literally anything that was going on and the gameplay wasn't carrying anything so i dropped it
I still refuse to learn min maxing in pathfinder
Not a massive of the taditional CRPG genre, but this really does it for me. The party interactions, the roleplaying opportunities, the interconnecting systems; I'm about 45 hours in (restarted twice) and only gotten to the start of the third act (of five, and I think the first two are on the shorter sides). There's also some excellent voice acting, making what would be a usually quite generic band of companions ooze personality. The writing does fall short of fantastic sometimes, and at times it feels a little clunky, but I think that's to be quite expected with this many interlocking systems. My main caveat has to be that you are going to be worse at this game than you think - the harder modes are meant for people who are intimatley familiar with Pathfinder. The ability to personalise it really helps in this regard.
On one hand I really, really want to love this game. It has a lot going for it and I could see myself coming back to this game from time to time for multiple playthroughs. On the other hand, fuuuuuuuuuuuck the pacing gets so bad in certain sections.
i like everything about this game except for the army war campaign. doesn't feel great to play unless you happen to pick one of the only good generals. other than that the characters are all interesting and the multitude of classes offer so many play styles. you can really create any character you can think of here. the music is really well done and the combat feels strong with the option to do real time or turn based.
Crusade mode was so ass it removed a whole star from this game fuck that shit mang. Otherwise phenomenal and makes me wanna play the ttrpg
Looks and sound
WOTR builds up on its last game with better lighting, much better environment textures, the ability to freely rotate the camera and better character textures. The character textures are still overall fairly weak but a step up. The game's visuals are carried by that lighting which is leverged for some amazing effects.
The sound effects are good though there wasn't much noticeable in that regard. The voice acting for the companions and notable characters is well done though I wish we had a bit more variety in what the companions would yell during combat.
The soundtrack is very good with a staggering variety that works well for such a long game. I do think that the first game has a better soundtrack but that was from the legend Inon Zur so its hard to measure up against that. I have found myself listening to some of the tracks outside of the game too
Combat
The gameplay is why I enjoyed this game a lot. It offering an insane level of variety and freedom in how you can build your character and your companions. There are 25 classes and each class has 3-5 subclasses. You are free to multiclass into as many classes as you'd like as long as you meet the requirements for it. On top of all that there is a mythic path which adds another layer of variety to builds. You can also multiclass your companions into as many classes as you'd like. If this sounds a bit too much don't worry. You are free to not multi-class at all. Contrary to what some players will tell you, single-class builds are perfectly viable on the standard difficulties which is what I recommend playing on anyways
Of course not everything is equal. There are some classes and subclasses you want to avoid like Assassin which is next to useless in this campaign.
The game throws a variety of enemies with different types of strengths and weakness and different situations at you to keep you on your toes.
I do think the game veers somewhat into the unfair territory with some of the encounters even on the lower difficulties but most of them end up being learning experiences in some way.
Story and Worldbuilding
I don't have much to say here. There's lore. It exists. I don't particularly care for it. It does its job sometimes but this is a game I'm playing mostly for the combat.
I did like some of the companion questlines and the party banter that occurs when resting. Its also fascinating to see how much freedom you're given not jsut in the gameplay but in the story as well with a very wide variety of choices which have can have effects much later down the line.
WOTR builds up on its last game with better lighting, much better environment textures, the ability to freely rotate the camera and better character textures. The character textures are still overall fairly weak but a step up. The game's visuals are carried by that lighting which is leverged for some amazing effects.
The sound effects are good though there wasn't much noticeable in that regard. The voice acting for the companions and notable characters is well done though I wish we had a bit more variety in what the companions would yell during combat.
The soundtrack is very good with a staggering variety that works well for such a long game. I do think that the first game has a better soundtrack but that was from the legend Inon Zur so its hard to measure up against that. I have found myself listening to some of the tracks outside of the game too
Combat
The gameplay is why I enjoyed this game a lot. It offering an insane level of variety and freedom in how you can build your character and your companions. There are 25 classes and each class has 3-5 subclasses. You are free to multiclass into as many classes as you'd like as long as you meet the requirements for it. On top of all that there is a mythic path which adds another layer of variety to builds. You can also multiclass your companions into as many classes as you'd like. If this sounds a bit too much don't worry. You are free to not multi-class at all. Contrary to what some players will tell you, single-class builds are perfectly viable on the standard difficulties which is what I recommend playing on anyways
Of course not everything is equal. There are some classes and subclasses you want to avoid like Assassin which is next to useless in this campaign.
The game throws a variety of enemies with different types of strengths and weakness and different situations at you to keep you on your toes.
I do think the game veers somewhat into the unfair territory with some of the encounters even on the lower difficulties but most of them end up being learning experiences in some way.
Story and Worldbuilding
I don't have much to say here. There's lore. It exists. I don't particularly care for it. It does its job sometimes but this is a game I'm playing mostly for the combat.
I did like some of the companion questlines and the party banter that occurs when resting. Its also fascinating to see how much freedom you're given not jsut in the gameplay but in the story as well with a very wide variety of choices which have can have effects much later down the line.
• Art Book
Daeran exists so 5/5
This was really fun for a little while, and I probably will go back to it but I got softlocked because my healer got petrified, bit sad
One of my favorite games ever but its has a lot of issues. Mainly with bugs and optimization but nothing so major as to make it unplayable. I love how there are way too many options for builds, it makes each playthrough truly feel different. The writing is also really good, specifically for the mythic paths. I have mainly played Lich, Aeon, and Swarm That Walks and each one really got my brain moving. Evil routes so well written and multi faceted it has ruined other crpg's for me. I give it the biggest recommend if you like crpgs and want a good evil playthrough. Lich in particular is very nice.