I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I've been a fan and consumer of Paizo products for years, and have been delighted at all the Pathfinder products thus far.
But for the first time, I feel like I've wasted my money.
When the Gazetteer came out, I bought it. Compared to other campaign setting books, I thought it was rather interesting but also underdeveloped, both in terms of the pantheon and the actual nations. However, I assumed that the actual full Campaign Setting book would fill in the spaces and weak spots.
It didn't.
There is hardly anything of real value besides the Cosmology section that is in the CS hardcover that isn't in the Gazetteer. One costs 14, and the other cost me 50+ dollars. Take a guess which was which.
If I hadn't bought the Gazetteer, I guess I wouldn't seem so cheated. Or maybe if I hadn't been holding Golarion to the same standard as Faerun, I wouldn't be so disappointed.
I was hoping for greater development of the nations -honestly, an average of 2-3 settlements or sites is not enough for each nation.
Moreover, the size of some of the lesser nations' settlements are very small. With many of the lesser nations having their largest settlements only have 5-10K populations, the cieling is being set pretty low, and doesn't leave much room for growth later -growth that is definitely needed.
The concepts behind the nations are good and interesting, but the development of the cities and locations within them are lacking. While this is certainly understanding to a point, the lack of development is beyond that.
Very sad... especially when I was hoping for so much more.
I hate to say it, but the smarter buy is the Gazeteer and then wait for the Great Beyond product to come out. You'll spend less and get more and not miss anything of signifance (including art!).
Sorry Paizo -I'm a big fan and devoted supporter, but you failed me on this one.
When you ask people to pay 50
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