Games
It occurred to me that I never really put forth my thoughts on Pathfinder: Kingmaker. I suppose this is because my playing of it petered out getting into the endgame and I never picked it back up, so I haven't completed it even if I have uninstalled it.
As an isometric Baldur's Gate-style RPG, it's perfectly fine. The Pathfinder rules have plenty of build potential. In addition to the typical combat encounters, there are traps and some skill-based situations. There are a few minor puzzles here and there. And we have a story that involves faeries and powerful curses.
What sets it apart is the layer of kingdom building/management. Your character comes to be in charge of a settlement in a sort of no man's land between other nation-states and you get to build things up, tame additional areas, and manage relations with neighbors. The decision-making paths aren't massive, but you get some customization. For example, you get to choose where to build a town within a new territory from three locations or so. That choice doesn't make a great deal of difference, but may slightly alter what you can build in that town and where a rest stop is on your travels.
So there is a length mid-game where you're juggling party-based exploration of new areas/dealing with story-focused incidents and issuing orders (which generally can't be done from out in the field) to further your growing nation. Travel times become very important as you weigh them against time nation actions take to avoid discontent or build up a new structure.
I found myself feeling serious rushed trying to work out that balance for a while - not the best feeling, yet kind of engrossing.
As the game neared the end, though, my interest waned. I think this was largely due to a sense that, as things were coming to a conclusion, the kingdom aspect stopped being relevant. As I recall, story elements put a timer on things and pursuing that takes you away from the nation-level play. That feeling was disappointing and settling into a combat-y dungeon-crawl itself wasn't interesting enough to hold my interest.
Overall, I probably got my money's worth, but wish it had been a bit more cohesive all the way through.
I started playing Outer Wilds (not Worlds) recently. I was wanting an exploration-type game and it seemed to fit the bill while being discounted. The premise is an interesting mix of having a short timer and all the time in the world at once.
You're an early space explorer in a small solar system (some of the planets have expansive areas to explore, but even so are tiny compare to "real" worlds). Seems simple enough - go up into space and look around somewhere. Follow previous explorers or set out somewhere new. No pressure!
Then the sun goes supernova and you're reset in your first time loop thanks to some alien tech, at which point the real situation sets in. As the only one who seems to remember each 22-minute loop, you have to try to figure out what's going on and maybe prevent it. There are hints scattered about the system. Any time you die (whether by nova or anything else), you wake up to start another loop. The log of what you have discovered remains and builds up, but that's it.
The Groundhog Day premise is interesting and means, theoretically, there's a way to fix everything in 22 minutes. I'm guessing I'm about 75% through the game, though, and I have only the vaguest idea of the source of the problem - certainly no idea how to "fix" it.
It's an interesting take on exploration and I think I'm enjoying it in spite some often-floaty physics and other occasional annoyances.
As an isometric Baldur's Gate-style RPG, it's perfectly fine. The Pathfinder rules have plenty of build potential. In addition to the typical combat encounters, there are traps and some skill-based situations. There are a few minor puzzles here and there. And we have a story that involves faeries and powerful curses.
What sets it apart is the layer of kingdom building/management. Your character comes to be in charge of a settlement in a sort of no man's land between other nation-states and you get to build things up, tame additional areas, and manage relations with neighbors. The decision-making paths aren't massive, but you get some customization. For example, you get to choose where to build a town within a new territory from three locations or so. That choice doesn't make a great deal of difference, but may slightly alter what you can build in that town and where a rest stop is on your travels.
So there is a length mid-game where you're juggling party-based exploration of new areas/dealing with story-focused incidents and issuing orders (which generally can't be done from out in the field) to further your growing nation. Travel times become very important as you weigh them against time nation actions take to avoid discontent or build up a new structure.
I found myself feeling serious rushed trying to work out that balance for a while - not the best feeling, yet kind of engrossing.
As the game neared the end, though, my interest waned. I think this was largely due to a sense that, as things were coming to a conclusion, the kingdom aspect stopped being relevant. As I recall, story elements put a timer on things and pursuing that takes you away from the nation-level play. That feeling was disappointing and settling into a combat-y dungeon-crawl itself wasn't interesting enough to hold my interest.
Overall, I probably got my money's worth, but wish it had been a bit more cohesive all the way through.
I started playing Outer Wilds (not Worlds) recently. I was wanting an exploration-type game and it seemed to fit the bill while being discounted. The premise is an interesting mix of having a short timer and all the time in the world at once.
You're an early space explorer in a small solar system (some of the planets have expansive areas to explore, but even so are tiny compare to "real" worlds). Seems simple enough - go up into space and look around somewhere. Follow previous explorers or set out somewhere new. No pressure!
Then the sun goes supernova and you're reset in your first time loop thanks to some alien tech, at which point the real situation sets in. As the only one who seems to remember each 22-minute loop, you have to try to figure out what's going on and maybe prevent it. There are hints scattered about the system. Any time you die (whether by nova or anything else), you wake up to start another loop. The log of what you have discovered remains and builds up, but that's it.
The Groundhog Day premise is interesting and means, theoretically, there's a way to fix everything in 22 minutes. I'm guessing I'm about 75% through the game, though, and I have only the vaguest idea of the source of the problem - certainly no idea how to "fix" it.
It's an interesting take on exploration and I think I'm enjoying it in spite some often-floaty physics and other occasional annoyances.
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