Gaming Update

Unfortunately Pathfinder: Kingmaker is on hold for the time being. I don't know what the cause was, whether it was a patch or the GOG Galaxy client, but my saved game was erased. I do have a couple of autosaves from the very beginning of the game, but I lost almost two hours of gameplay. Out of frustration and fear of losing more time, I'll just wait a bit because there are a couple of other games right now that have my attention.

Of course I'm talking about Diablo 3. Season 15 started almost two weeks ago and I've been having a blast. For the most part. I have been primarily playing a Whirlwind barbarian this season because I enjoy the playstyle. One great thing this season is I've pushed to a higher Greater Rift difficulty than I've done in the past. That has also caused me some frustration because a WW barb is fun, but starts to lack damage and survivability in the higher rifts. I have tried a Hammer of the Ancients, or HOTA, build which is pretty dang strong and is almost as equally fun to play. The HOTA build I've been using lacks the movement speed of the WW barb, but in general my barbarian no matter the build is lacking in toughness. I've max leveled a Monk and Demon Hunter, with Monk being the least fun thus far. I am tempted to do a Necromancer because I absolutely loved leveling one last season.

The other game I'll be playing is Wildstar. So Wildstar is closing down and going offline at the end of November. I was never interested in Wildstar when it released, I did try it a few hours when it switched to a f2p model but didn't care much for it at the time. I actually installed Wildstar a few weeks before the news broke that it will be closing down because I've been on a MMO kick lately. I've been installing random f2p MMO's just to see if they are any good. For me, Wildstar became enjoyable when I found the mouse lock option which turns the game more into an action MMO like Tera or Black Desert Online. My goal with Wildstar is to level at least one character to max level before the game shuts down. With the XP bonus event running till the end of the game I expect that I'll get to level 50 rather easily. My thoughts on Wildstar right now? It's a fun game with a bit of a learning curve.

That's the updates for today, I don't really see me playing much else for the foreseeable future, but you never know.

Pathfinder: Kingmaker 1 Hour Initial Impression

When it comes to Pathfinder, I am a novice. I know nothing about the world, the ruleset, nothing other than it's a fairly popular pen and paper rpg. When I saw the videos for Pathfinder: Kingmaker, it instantly reminded me of the older Baldur's Gate games or more recently the Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny games by Obsidian.

I am a big fan of computer rpg video games, and I have a special fondness for the isometric style made popular with the original Baldur's Gate. So naturally I was very intrigued by Pathfinder. So much so that I decided to take the plunge and purchase the game.

So what are my thoughts after just over an hour of playtime? Well I'm glad you asked. I like it so far. Pathfinder: Kingmaker is just familiar enough in look and feel of past isometric rpg games that fans of the past Pillar's or BG games should find enjoyment with Pathfinder.

The ruleset for the Pathfinder pen and paper which Kingmaker is based off of is very reminiscent of Dungeons & Dragons. For those like me that have never played the Pathfinder game but have played anything based on the D&D rules, I think, will be comfortable with Kingmaker which should keep the learning curve to a minimum. I remember the first time I played the first Neverwinter Nights and absolutely hating the game because it had feats and abilities, this stuff that wasn't in the first Baldur's Gate. That honestly ruined that game for me for the longest time. These days that kind of stuff is very common in rpg's so when I went back to play Neverwinter again I had a great time.

So what is bad about Pathfinder: Kingmaker? I'm still in the tutorial, but I would say that there is nothing bad about the game thus far, but there are some things I wish were different. Recent crpg's have spoiled me with some of their quality of life options. Things like movement speed toggle between slow, normal and fast, or a show interactive object toggle. A few things I don't like is the shared inventory weight, really just inventory weight in general as it slows character movement which is already slow to begin with. I also am not a fan of character movement during combat, your front line fighters take an awfully long time to walk up to the enemy.

One area I do need to spend more time learning about is spellcasting. According to the tutorial, spells that are cast cannot be used again until the spellcaster has rested. It's a mechanic found in the older infinity engine games, Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale, something I've not been a fan of ever. I created a fighter for simplicity sake to learn the game, but very early on you will get a bard, sorcerer and cleric in your party, all of which can cast spells.

So far I am enjoying Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I have purchased very few PC games this year, but I love isometric crpg's so I was actually excited for this game because I know nothing about the Pathfinder IP and I thought this would be a great introduction to that world. I hope to share more thoughts about Kingmaker as I make my way through the game.