I have been doing lots of reading on what people consider the "best" adventure path, and through my reading the common statement is like this
X Adventure Path was great but Book 3/4 was pretty slow
Now that is to be expected as Ap are huge but what are the most well executed Books 3 or 4 in any AP?
Of the few that I've run or played through, I have to say book three of Shattered Star, The Asylum Stone, was great. The best I've run might be Ironfang Invasion book three, Assault on Longshadow should be considered a classic adventure.
I'm currently playing book three of Return of the Runelords. So far, it is my favorite book in the adventure path.
Strange Aeons and War for the Crown both come to mind.
Strange Aeons book 3 is easily the best book in the entire AP and probably one of the best books Paizo has put out period. The only place I would fault it is that the plot hook is pretty easy to miss. Book 4 is solid, although it is a bit of a "your princess is in another castle" run-around and
For War for the Crown, book 4 is actually a major climax and depending on your group may be more satisfying than the one in book 6. The lull in War for the Crown actually happens in book 5, which is weird filler.
Book 3 of Wrath of the righteous would have been an amazing book if you are into open ended sandboxes with a calculating villain to throw at the PCs...Except that Mythic Rules (Well specifically a party with a Mythic Wizard and Cleric) completely fall apart right as the party hits level 9.
Mummy's Mask books 3 & 4 make a really good adventure that feels like it's one book. My players couldn't tell when book 3 ended and book 4 began.
(For the record, Mummy's Mask is very much an AP in 3 parts that takes place over 6 books.)
Books 3 and 4 of RotRL would work well together.
I agree that sans mythic, RotW books 3 and 4 would be a fun pairing.
Books 3 and 4 of Giantslayer would actually be an interesting combination, and you wouldn't get as burnt out on fighting giants.
I wasn't a huge fan of Strange Aeons book 4 (it's the weakest of the AP in my opinion) and while Book 3 is very solid, I wouldn't go nearly so far as to call it the best book published by Paizo.
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Of the ones I have played book 3 of Strange Aeons is probably the best. Book 4 is the most traditional-feeling of the AP, which makes it a bit of a come-down.
Jade Regent 3 and 4 are good if you dump the caravan rules (we’ve just started book 5 so I am not sure if it gets even better), A lot of it is dungeon crawls, but the terrain makes the fights interesting (lots of 3-dimensional tactical thinking needed). I can see they might feel a bit like filler if you were trying to race through the AP and finish the plot.
Think we can all agree the best 5th book has to be Reign of Winter. Because hot damn.
In my humble opinion, yes.
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I wasn't a huge fan of Strange Aeons book 4
Book 4 is the most traditional-feeling of the AP, which makes it a bit of a come-down.
I think the issue with book 4 is that it's literally in the shadow of an incredible chapter. In and of itself it's fine, as good as books 5 and 6.
I think the biggest issue with book 4 is that in principle it's a free-form horror investigation but it was implemented as a railroad. This creates a problem because the PC's have enough information at the outset of this adventure to deduce any of the three cities as possible avenues of investigation. Since the cities are meant to be tackled in a specific order this means that the moment the PC's skip any section of the AP they will have no reason to return to it. A clever party could potentially skip almost the entire book.