Oh I hate Kingmaker! I've played it on an off. It's Pathfinder which kinda has ended up going the way of "D&D for people who like tracking fiddly modifiers". But also a bunch of the mechanics they implemented are awful, and if you read the Kingmaker module it has commentary like "do not run this game this way, that would be stupid and frustrating". But damn did Owlcat decide to do it.

I'm pretty good at optimization in 3rd derived editions of D&D so the first time I played it I never really had a challenge, and yet it was still frustrating to play.

@Hypolite Petovan

@silverwizard What amuses me is that it runs the role-playing game engine like clockwork that I can see and it isn’t fun. Encounters past the first few ones aren’t calibrated to your team so it’s either easy dispatch or team wipe, and I’m playing on Normal mode with “Easier enemies”.

The wide variance in chances to hit then damage means two or three enemies can knock one character they focus down before my 6 characters are able to stop them. Is it realistic? Maybe? Is it fun? Absolutely not.

@Hypolite Petovan and since they use raw init, people are more likely to get first turns if they're higher level! And they're more likely to aborb hits without harm! You can't focus fire someone down because harder enemies aborb more hits!

They cooooould have kept teleport and fly, but the mishap/off target rules probably wound them in knots, but also, it would make all their carefully made overland travel mechanics pointless, and they're the whole gimmick (and the thing the module said to not do)! It would have elegantly solved the problem to just give you a https://roll20.net/compendium/pathfinder/Phantom%20Chariot#content or something! But no! Maximum jank ahead!

@silverwizard With my Level 5 party we had absolutely no chance against the Level 7 Worgs, so I quick load, again.

Another one from today:

Game: I'm called "Pathfinder", you explore paths in an untamed land
Me: Pretty cool, what's over there?
Game: Surprise hydras!

@Hypolite Petovan It would be so simple to have like, I dunno, a skill in Knowledge, and then maybe that knowledge would set your existing knowledge of monsters and you could grow that as you fight things, if you want this mechanic!

or what if! you didn't get to know things until you fought them *and* had the knowledge skill!

it's fine though, the wiki will tell it all to you

@silverwizard Game: Party management is a big part of the game!
Me: Good, I made a non-combatant who heals and sometimes buffs their party.
Game: Cool, for this quest your character needs to be alone and fight tough monsters!
Me: ...

Game: Level Up! You get this cool new power!
Me: Neat!
Game: You can only use it once per rest.
Me: Uhhh...
Game: Also you're on a timer.
Me: Whyyy?

I swear this game is falling for all the possible unfun tropes. It's well-produced, which is a big part why I'm sticking with it, but man!

@silverwizard Game: Ambush in dwarven ruins! Kobold archers are on top of stairs.
Me: Very well, my ranged characters will try to shoot them.
Game: As ordered, they rush up the stairs.
Me: Wat?

I finally threw in the towel. Too many Quick Load, a non-existent balance, even successes aren't satisfactory because dice are involved, ugh all around.

@Hypolite Petovan like all games, I just cheated until I could view the story without being worried about bad mechanics. but yeeeeeeah.

It's always weird when people call Owlcat the best game company