Also note that Octavia is an Arcane Trickster with only one level of Rogue. Accomplished sneak attacker feat confirmed?
I'm finding the Updates frustrating. Don't get me wrong, I'm loving the frequency and the detail we are being presented with, but for me too much of it is an outlier to what I consider the actual game.
I see now from the AMA some of what I actually want to know - character skins, size, color ; that character models will be wearing their equipped items etc. the actual stuff I get to choose and implement in the game. This should have been presented from the start.
If I heave no idea about how I make my character and interact with the world then I have no interest in companions or music or ambient sounds, or that the devs are currently in 4 games of Kingmaker.
Basically I'm left with a stream of inconsequentia while waiting for the actual reveal of HOW I PLAY THE GAME.
I want an update with bite. Enough of the feels - we've had plenty of that - let's have something to chew on. Of course I'll say this as I'm biased - perhaps such an update, finally might get a lot of interest for shallow aesthete's like me. ;)
I'm sure folks might argue we have a lot of what I am asking for, but I disagree, else I wouldn't be asking for it.
I'm backing this, it looks great, I like Owlcat a lot and the direction generally pleases me.
Could it be that since the KS is not about financing the actual game but instead gathering money for extras as better kingdom rules, better companions, better music, etc. the updates focus on theses topics, instead of the actual gameplay?
That's one of the reasons I like video games, I can try to be Good and actually end up being Good. In Pathfinder and I make a character with a Good alignment? Not so much...I always ended up as Neutral or Chaotic good. I wonder how that'll change all these years later.Yeah, we'll see. Though even after all those years in the hobby, I still prefer to play the holy knight in shiny armor (even if it hides behind the masks of Strider or Gandalf the Grey - or Radovan). Once tried to play an evil character and it was a total fiasco.
Don't know why that is. Maybe because I mostly GM, so I already play evil characters most of the time.
Video games almost always make it easier to be good by sometimes literally
stating which dialogue options are good and which are bad.Bioware (which I still love) used to be really bad about this. Paragon/Renegade, Diplomatic/Aggressive, Light side/Dark side, etc. A good DM on the other hand should at least try to make the "right" option not so obvious, if only to force the players to think.
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Video games almost always make it easier to be good by sometimes literally stating which dialogue options are good and which are bad.
Bioware (which I still love) used to be really bad about this. Paragon/Renegade, Diplomatic/Aggressive, Light side/Dark side, etc. A good DM on the other hand should at least try to make the "right" option not so obvious, if only to force the players to think.
Totally agree! Though I do like the bits of dialogue that show what skill you would be using in order to accomplish it, i.e. diplomacy, bluff, intimidate.
I hate to be a "negative Nellie," but I check the Kickstarter amount every day and the rate at which it is going up has severely tapered off, by my own estimation. I'm not terribly worried about it being fully funded as there are 22 days left, but I don't see it reaching that camping stretch goal. I even went in and adjusted my own pledge to include the boxed game; I really want something I can take with me wherever I go, because I'm certain I'll be playing this game multiple times over the course of the rest of my life (making different choices every time). ;)
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We are in the traditional mid campaign slump. The middle of any crowdfunding campaign is the slowest. Early backers have already pledged, and people who site on the fence are waiting to see if it funds. It should start picking up again in the final week, especially the last two days. I'm not sure how many stretch goals it will reach, but it will most likely fund.
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Some quotes I missed from the AMA summary (because they hadn't been posted yet). I'll be summarizing and adding them into the main list when I update it, which will probably be tomorrow:
"You can switch AI on and off for each character separately, there will be various options for AI."
"The end game is consequent with the player decisions, and furthermore, even if your decisions were "bad," they were your decisions, and even evil has its day."
"We have very heated discussions about the Alignment system, as well as the alignment of individual choices. The general consensus, though, is that Alignment is descriptive, not prescriptive. Not "she's Evil, so she's killing people right and left", but "she has no regard for human life, and that makes her Evil". And, of course, people can make all kinds of choices -- but a person would need a good reason to do something opposed to their alignment without breaking their character. Going by your examples, a Good person could agree to do something atrocious if there is no other choice, but it would be painful for them and will become a heavy burden on their soul. An Evil person could show compassion for the sake of someone dear to them, and feel surprised by themself. On the Alignments continuum this would probably push them towards the Neutral alignment"
"We're digging deep into the source material to ensure that the player doesn't feel isolated in the Stolen lands. Even if you don't get a chance to visit other countries, it won't stop Embeth Woodsmen, Mivoni Aldori or some other neighbors (and not only neighbors) from visiting you :) It's our major goal to make it feel like a journey to the living, breathing world of Golarion, not just a trip into a generic-fantasy place with nothing around it."
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Video games almost always make it easier to be good by sometimes literally stating which dialogue options are good and which are bad.
Can't remember if PS:T did that but it wasn't what I meant anyway. It's more that I simply can't help myself to do the good thing even if I know that my druid character would never do that. Or, to use another analogy, in Star Wars online, even if I play a Sith with full intention of going the Dark Side route, if there's someone innocent to rescue, I'll probably do it even if it's totally against my PC's interest.
Video games almost always make it easier to be good by sometimes literally
stating which dialogue options are good and which are bad.
I would say video games tend to grant players who do good deeds with better rewards while taking less risks.
Good aligned quests will give more exp than evil acts. It's weird because evil seems to be a easier way to gain power, glory and wealth, but most of the time it would not be implemented in video game.
You cannot even rob the magical sword you just saw from the shopkeeper because players are often blocked by magical dimension shop space so murdering shop keepers grant you only a few useless trinkets.
Chief Technical Officer
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-The team consists of at least 4 programmers/6 artists and animators (and 20+ on outsource)/15 designers (system, UI, level, narrative), and 1 Chris Avellone (possibly more than one).
Those are just the tech, art, and design teams—they also have a QA team and a management team.
-Amiri is apparently the iconic for the image on Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens' business card.
Also the name of one of our cats.
The biggest problem is that we can't see many stetch goals, so nobody knows what we're driving towards.
I remember when I did the Kickstarter for Reaper's "Bones" minis, they had this huge graphic with frequently-revealed stretch goals, just constantly. There were lots of things to look at and look forward to. There were tons of reasons to upgrade your amount $$$.
In this one? We get campfires. Meh.
Reaper revealed stretch goals frequently because they blew through them at an astonishing rate. They basically HAD to reveal them so quickly just so the campaign had any further goal at all.
I'm pretty sure we would already see like 5 stretch goals if kingmaker would have reached the initial goal in a day or two.
Also note that the initial goal of Reaper was extremely low in comparison ("only" 30k) and creating a few more miniatures is way less efford than adding stuff to a videogame where everything needs to be designed, balanced, programmed, animated and checked for bugs and quality. That's why there was a new stretch goal every 20k or so on the Reaper Kickstarter but you hardly ever see less then 50k for stretch goals on videogames.
TL;DR - You really can't compare miniatures to a videogame.
@Rysky: Well, camp management and campfire dialogs can certainly be fun, but there's always the risk of it getting bogged down. There is, in fact, such a thing as too much dialog, even in a RPG. This gets only worse in a game without full voice acting (and I seriously doubt Kingmaker will be anyway near full voice acting). Would you have enjoyed Dragon Age as much if it wasn't for professionially delivered lines of spoken dialog (lamppost, anyone?)? The same goes for the minutiae of camp management.
Sure, there's always players that enjoy that kind of thing but many games go overboard with stuff like that. It can become a hassle very fast if not done correctly and in moderation. I think that's why many players aren't too excited about the whole camping thing, especially as the first big stretch goal.
@aboyd: I agree that seeing more stretch goals would be nice and might help the campaign (maybe even a great deal). Just expecting the pure numbers and frequency like with Reaper's campaign won't work.
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The mid campaign slump is super common and generally picks up near the end of the campaign as people scramble to get aboard last minute.
It may seem unusual compared to similar Kickstarters, but that's mostly because the ones everyone is comparing it to are the outlier phenomenal successes that happen to so few campaigns.
@Jurassic Pratt: I actually think the concern of many people show how much they care. They want the campaign to succeed and to reach many stretch goals so the game is as close as PnP as possible (especially in regards to the number of races and classes). This is even stronger here on the PnP forums.
@Rysky: As I said, there are always players who enjoy that kind of stuff, but I believe they are the minority. Otherwise comparatively "shallow" games like Skyrim (yeah, I said that) wouldn't be so extremely more successful than text-heavy and complex games.
Just to clear this up: Skyrim is not shallow as a whole. But no individual character (maaaaaybe except Paarthunax) or systems "feels" as deep and comlex as things in most isometric CRPGs. Other characters (like Durance in PoE or most companions of Planescape Torment) or systems (like Baldur's Gate II's Magic system) simply seem much much deeper than anyting Skyrim has to offer.
As you said quite well, Skyrim has many little things that as a whole make the game quite good, but none of those things individually require too much thought.
Also note that I'm not saying that "shallow" (as in "not as complex") is bad and "deep" (as in "more complex") is bad. They are just different, with the less complex games usually being much more successful.
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-Amiri is apparently the iconic for the image on Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens' business card.Also the name of one of our cats.
One of Paizo's as a whole? or yours and Lisa's alone? Or one of yours as in an individual Paizo employee's cat? Is James Sutter's real name Amiri and you only just noticed that He was actually a cat in a human-sized Animatronic Grippli costume pretending to be a Human?
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Yeah, I think having more transparency about the stretch goals would help. For instance, one of the stretch goals is Mac/Linux compatibility. If that's an issue for you, you are unlikely to pledge if you don't think it will be hit.
I pledged anyway, but if the game won't work on my computer, I'll cancel on the last day.
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Yeah, I think having more transparency about the stretch goals would help. For instance, one of the stretch goals is Mac/Linux compatibility. If that's an issue for you, you are unlikely to pledge if you don't think it will be hit.
I pledged anyway, but if the game won't work on my computer, I'll cancel on the last day.
I mentioned this on the Kickstarter, but in case you missed it, you can play Unity Engine games just fine on Mac using Wine as a Windows Emulator. Unless your mac is 6 or 7 years old it shouldn't be an issue. It's somewhat annoying, but it won't prevent you from playing.
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Update By Chris Avellone Not much if any new info; but there's a picture of an adorable Owl(bear?) GMing.
Yurp, that's an incredibly non-exciting "Update". Paint dries.
Seems a lot of what I was hoping for in an Update came only a few hours later, so I'm pretty happy.
Definitely adding to the chorus of feeling: Stretch Goals create excitement! And: Exciting Stretch Goals create Excited Excitement!
I remember camping in Dragon Age was quite compelling, but I'm the kind of player who found the whole NWN/KOTOR
"have to stop and talk to Tuskface about why he has the feels for a figurine/carving of a lost baby sabre toothed moose lion pup" until Tuskface says "I'd rather not talk anymore about that right now" only to have Tuskface paw at my heartstrings (conveniently sewn on to my studded leather armor) to totes have to "talk about that plot thing we couldn't talk about earlier umm figurine! In the bad guys cabin! Let's go get it"
endlessly time consuming. If i wanted to interact with emotionally damaged, stressed out folk I'd just walk away from my computer and talk to the first actual human I met. I don't need four or five half finished interactions to find out THEY are beautiful - I can tell just by smiling at them. But to do that in the games I have to read their dialog, press 1, then read, then press 3, then read, then press 2...wait, 3's waaay more nuanced. Then...oh hang on. We have to reconvene when I've totes gone up a level.
Gaah. So TL;DR maybe something REALLY compelling as a stretch goal. New classes. Archetypes. I want to play an exciting character - not talk to one....that isn't that exciting....or that only has 10 classes to choose from.
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Gaah. So TL;DR maybe something REALLY compelling as a stretch goal. New classes. Archetypes. I want to play an exciting character - not talk to one....that isn't that exciting....or that only has 10 classes to choose from.
There are 13 classes in the base game (all core classes plus Inquisitor and Alchemist) and the next stretch goal after Camping is Magus. So hopefully that's compelling?
Magus is compelling, but it dwells on the other side of "realistic" camping, which, as many others have said, is not very compelling at all. Is "realistic" camping something I incorporate into my PbP and tabletop games? Yes, but it is not one of the "oooooh/aaaaahhh" factors I look for in a CRPG.
The one stretch goal announced at a time thing is really bugging me. I might drop some money if I knew multiplayer or oracles or something that interested me was ahead even if it was in like 300k.
They keep flip-flopping on whether multiplayer is completely out or is being considered as a late stretch goal. At this point I'm stuck checking until they announce the final goal.
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It would be a really, really terrible idea as a stretch goal. The amount of money they ask for as a stretch goal threshold would be nowhere near the amount required to implement multiplayer.
"Late stretch goal" probably means at like 2.5 million or something. There's almost no way that's gonna happen.
At this point, I'm not sure the campaign will reach even 1 million.
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A couple new Things we've learned!
As Always New Things we know are in Bold.
I'm not employed in any capacity by Paizo, or Owlcat Games, this is all stuff I've managed to gather myself and there may be errors. If there are, I try and correct them as soon as I can.
Regarding the Kickstarter:
-The game will be published in 2018 regardless whether the Kickstarter is successful or not.
-The Kickstarter is Live and can be found Here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/
-The kickstarter is an attempt to add "more companions, more depth to the companions, more dungeons and wilderness to explore, … and more new quests and content by famous Pathfinder authors and RPG authors." also more original music, and more voiceover. Basically it exists solely to fund extra cool stuff for the game.
-Mass combat is a late kickstarter stretch goal since it requires a lot of assets.
-To make up for Mass Combat's absence the PCs get to do cool stuff like infiltrate behind enemy lines. Making alliances is expected to give you different army options if they are able to implement mass combat.
- Rest is the first planned Kickstarter stretch Goal. During rest periods, players will be able to send companions out to hunt, thus reducing the need to buy rations, and will be able to set traps and alarms. They'll also be able to assign companions to guard against random attack.
-Both OS X and Linux Releases are Kickstarter stretch Goals.
-Additional Classes and Races from other sourcebooks will be revealed in the Kickstarter and in the form of stretch goals.
-The Initial goal of the Kickstarter is to make the Kingdom system more awesome. See Kingdom section for more details.
-Archetypes are a stretch Goal.
-New Locations are a Stretch goal.
-An epic Dungeon is a stretch goal.
-A Goblin Companion (who is not an Alchemist) is a Stretch Goal.
-Custom companions (like in pillars of Eternity) may be a stretch goal if there's interest in it from backers. They are currently in discussions about it.
-Camping is the first stretch Goal. This is a comprehensive system for getting to know characters and being attacked in your underwear while sleeping. Realms of Arkania was specifically referenced as an influence. It is detailed in this update.
-Chris Avellone will I'll be writing a module for the Kickstarter in tandem with Paizo.
Regarding the Base Game:
-The game is Single Player only. Multiplayer and DM tools are being looked at as late game stretch Goals.
-The base game (un-kickstarted) is both mostly complete and includes all 6 AP Modules. The whole story is there with details being Fleshed out by Chris Avellone.
-A capstone is planned possibly taking characters to level 20. We do not know if this is a kickstarter plan, or a base game plan.
-You can build and develop a kingdom of our own, this is in the base game. The Kickstarter will make this better. From people who played the Demo, There are already some cool kingdom events.
-The game will include diplomats from neighbors, including Brevoy and Irrisen (and possibly Mendev?). If you make alliances, that could unlock different buildings for your kingdom. There will be allies available for every alignment.
-The game is run on an engine developed using the Unity engine. It is Isometric in look and feel.
-There will be plenty of side-quests.
-You will be able to be evil, but it will be a cruel and cunning "smart evil" such as talking two enemies into killing each other, rather than just asking for more money as a quest reward. The Creative Director once suggested how much easier it would be to rule a kingdom of undead, than living, breathing citizens; because living citizens have all sorts of complaints about life, and hunger, and os on. The undead just obey. And are (usually) quiet. Except the zombies. Also, the design policy is not to have being Evil cut you off from content to punish them, but to balance content across all alignments.
-The base game includes a forty hour main storyline, and forty to eighty to forty hours of fun side content.
-There will be a lot of new content unique to this version of the Stolen Lands -- just like it would be in any DM's version.
-The game "will have a certain degree of linearity: just like in the table-top game, some challenges will arise, and it would be up to you how you'll tackle them. You can't avoid being the baron(ess), then the king/queen, since it's the premise of the game. However, you'll be free to explore the Stolen Lands, find lots of events unrelated to the main course of events, and choose how to act there. So, you're guaranteed to meet the persons you can see on the covers of the Adventure Path books, but you'll meet them inside a large sandbox."
-Game spans Levels 1 - 20.
-All 21 Core Deities are in. Groetus is in and players will be able to worhip him. Arshea is not in.
-The Physical version of teh Game will be DRM-free. The digital version will have a choice of distribution platforms.
-"We're planning to carry the adventure to places the Adventure Path doesn't go (but it's a natural extension), so veteran players have something new to experience." This likely means the First World.
-"Even enemies you would normally regard as beasts and threats could find a home in your kingdom and provide new opportunities for your kingdom's growth."
-The game is a blend of Narrative and Combat, and neither one trumps the other.
-There are some pretty long dungeons in the game, and you will have to fight for your survival there. You can complete one level of the dungeon in approximately 1 hour.
-You can fail or ignore quests and they'll have big repercussions (not always negative). There are absolutely moral dilemma quests, which become more complicated once your companions weigh in and suddenly you have two moral dilemma layers to deal with.
-Foreshadowing will definitely be added for "The Big Bad." So states Chris Avellone. It will be threaded into each chapter.
-They have also taken pains to forshadow Jhod in module 1's arc.
-The end game is consequent with the player decisions, and furthermore, even if your decisions were "bad," they were your decisions, and even evil has its day.
Setting:
-The game is set in Golarion in the Stolen Lands, And the First World.
-You will be able to talk to companions from as far as Absalom and even Thuvia about their homelands.
-You will meet ambassadors from neighboring countries. And you can form alliances with them. There are 9 Ambassadors currently (one for each alignment) and they include the Witches of Irrisen.
-There are events from other Kingdoms so you get to see the "Spectrum of Golarion."
-You will encounter several iconics as an NPCs, and Amiri as a companion.
-The game will use Ambient sound.
-There are rabbits and birds out in the wild, and they are planning to put some animals in settlements too.
-Music and sounds are discussed in this update.
-If you like Maps, this is your update.
-Exploration is discussed in this Update.
Character Creation:
-The Game includes all the races and Classes from the Core Rulebook. It also includes Alchemist and Inquisitor. The Rogue is from Pathfinder Unchained, the Barbarian unchained but can choose between normal and Unchained Rage, the Monk is as yet undecided.
-There are no plans for Occult class characters right now.
-Arcane Trickster is in the game already, other Prestige classes are planned as well. Dragon Disciple seems likely. As does Aldori Swordlord.
-There are already more than 15 spells to choose from for each of the three first spell levels, with more to come. There will be over 300 spells total by the time the game is launched.
-Bardic masterpieces are in.
-There are around 10 Animal Companions in the base game.
-There are around 10 Familiars in the base game. No word either way on Red Pandas. I remain hopeful. Avellone is petitioning Owlcat to allow Owlcat familiars.
-There will be more than 300 feats.
-There will be NO Grippli, not even as a stretch goal, due to licensing issues since Grippli are WotC IP. While the information was delivered tongue in cheek, there will be no Deep One Hybrids either.
-Since there is no mounted combat, Cavaliers seem vanishingly unlikely. Similarly, Paladin Mount bonds.
-There are pregenerated builds and recommendations for all the choices and options.
-The current plan for Character Creation is point buy. The Devs have stated that they may also consider rolling characters as an optional alternative.
-Stats will be point buy by default, with an option for rolled stats due to backer demand.
-Magus is the second Stretch Goal.
-You can become a fallen Paladin.
-They want to add Aldori Swordlords.
-Multiclassing is in the game.
-Item creation feats, crafting, and Profession skills are not in the game. There will be talking skills (e.g. diplomacy, intimidate, bluff, etc), knowledge skills (e.g. Geography, History, local, nobility, etc), and movement skills (e.g. climb, swim, acrobatics, etc). The actual Skills have not been confirmed yet beyond Perception. At least one video shows a "Thievery" skill.
-You will be able to select portrait for your character, these will all be Paizo approved. the ability to use custom portraits is still in discussion.
-You will be able to select face, hair style, skin tone, hair color (and gnomes will definitely have crazy colors available for them). Owlcat is also trying to add different body types, is am not promising it right now.
-You can select a deity your character will worship. Divine classes will have to select specific deity. Paladin codes will be referenced to, but not strictly mechanically upheld.
-Because there is no mounted combat, Paladins have different versions of divine bonds, most common of them being a weapon bond.
-There will be favored class bonuses, including racial options, but probably not all of them.
-Character creation design is not finalized, but Owlcat plans to include character background in some form in it.
Multiplayer and Modding:
-Base game is Single Player only.
-While DM Tools and Multiplayer were floated as possible stretch goals early on, the Devs want to focus on making a good Single Player game first and foremost and so they don't want to promise that they will be available.
-Modding is a separate issue that they are not focused on at this time.
-There are no plans for a DM client option. This is something to examine for Future Games.
Regarding Companions:
-There are either 10 or 11 Companions in the Base Game.
-Companion characters are a mix of New characters, iconic Pathfinder characters, and characters already existing in the AP.
-Amiri, the Iconic Barbarian, is a companion with a lot of backstory and events happening around her throughout the game. Amiri is the only Iconic Companion.
-Jubilost Narthropple is a companion. He a cantankerous gnome, is kind of a jerk, and you can fail to recruit him if you screw up your attempt to help him out with his wagon. He's also a character from the original AP. He is an alchemist now
-Valerie is a blonde haired Human Woman from Brevoy. She is also a Fighter who Worships Gorum, and a failed Paladin of Shelyn.
-A halfling that looks suspiciously like Lem is a companion.
-A bard is a companion. He decides to join you because he wants to record your story. This companion has not been seen yet and may or may not be the halfling.
-Octavia is a female Half-Elf wizard/rogue/arcane trickster.
-There is a Blonde male who looks like an Elven inquisitor of Sarenrae.
-There is a Half-Orc who definitely looks like a Magus (or maybe he's the bard)?
- There is what looks like either a Taldan or Ulfen Human male Fighter.
-Ekundayo, is a Thuvian Ranger from Absolom.
-There is a Goblin Companion. This Goblin is sadly, not an Alchemist. The Goblin Companion is a Stretch Goal.
-Harrim is a Dwarven Cleric of Groetus. He has a Mohawk looking hairdo.
-There will be companion Romance, but it isn't the only relationship option. This Includes LGBTQ+ romance options. This kicks in as quickly as Module 1.
-Companions can disagree with you, leave you, and even turn on you if they don't like you. They do NOT need to be in your party for this to happen. Companions are living people and don't stop existing just because you leave them home.
-The story can change considerably depending on your party composition.
-Each companion has an expandable novel style bio that expands as you learn more about them and progress in the game.
-You can take 5 Companions with you in a party at one time.
-You can level up your companions based on your own preferences, even changing their classes if you wish, there is however a suggested path, and you can have them auto-level if you wish instead.
-You will also be able to choose from several AI behaviours for your party members, allowing them to use spells and abilities or spend resources on their own. You can switch AI on and off for each character separately, there will be various options for AI.
-Each companion will have one or several levels in a predetermined class when you meet them. You can level them any way you wish from there on out, but their "starting class" is preset.
-Chris Avellone really wants to write Amiri and Jubilost. But negotiations as to who gets to do what are still ongoing.
-Companions definitely have an opinion, will act on that opinion, and will act strongly on that opinion (leaving the party is only one possible ending for companions you butt heads with). Mentions have been made of Companions turning on you as well.
-There are some companions that simply are impossible to influence with your charms, only your actions.
-Some of the companions come from as far as Absalom and even Thuvia and you will be able to talk to them about those lands.
-Companions' stories carry through (heroic and tragic, though both are not set in stone for each character) throughout the game to the very end.
-Companions have their own choices of deities. (Presumably these are pre-selected for them).
Mechanics:
-Combat format is Real Time with Pause. There's going to be an option for auto-pausing combat at the beginning of each "turn", essentially making it quasi-turn-based. "Turns" last approximately three seconds.
-The character sheet is mostly the same, with the same ability scores and skills (though they lumped together some less-used skills to avoid ranks waste). Crafting Skills and profession skills are not in the game.
-Combat includes: initiative, attacks of opportunity, sneak attacks, Trip, Power Attack (as a toggle), Fighting Defensively, Spontaneous casting of heal spells, and Channeling positive energy.
-Feats include many books beyond core, and include Elemental Spell Focus, and Evocation Spell Focus.
-Perception is a Skill in this game and allows you to spot Loot.
-The game currently includes a comprehensive Alignment meter which plays a significant role in the game. There are a lot of choices that shift your alignment towards one of the nine possible, and your current alignment sometimes affects the way NPC react to you. Avellone likened it to how alignment was implemented in Planescape Torment. The Alignment system is meant to be descriptive, not prescriptive.
-There is No Crafting, instead there's a Royal Artisans system that will make magic items (and even Artifacts) for you.
-You can either auto-select the best party member for a skill check, or manually select who you want to attempt it.
-Difficulty levels are: Core Rules (similar to tabletop Pathfinder but real time, not turn based), adapted rules (less deadly for less experienced, crits deadliness reduced), story mode (really simple combat), Iron man (tougher monsters, just one save that overwrites itself so accept your mistakes), and custom (for example, core rules with reduced crits).
-The level up screen will suggest options to you sort of like Amazon's "If you liked X you might also like Y."
-Wings will be in the system, and they will do something cool "we instead may, for example, give a sorcerer an ability to create strong winds and push the enemies away with a flap of his wings or will allow him to reposition himself on the battlefield by flying up and landing elsewhere."
-The AI can help you control the characters in battle.
-There will be no Flying in Combat or Mounted Combat.
-This update can tell you About Mechanics and Character creation.
-Regarding Flanking and Reach: "Exact positioning is far less predictable in the game without a grid and therefore we have to make it less important. For that we will have simplified rules for everything that works with positioning on the field. For example, reach weapons will have greater range and no penalties in melee, but will not give the wielder an attack of opportunity when the target moves from 10' to 5' squares. And we are still testing several approaches to flanking."
-"There will be no grappling for characters, for monsters with special abilities based on grappling rules for it will be greatly simplified."
-No Leadership feat. You're already running a kingdom and your party are your cohorts.
-There IS permanent companion death, but not on all difficulties. It depends on your play mode: (story) companions get back up, (normal) companions get up but are at death's door and will die permanently if hit again, and (hardcore) they're dead. Resurrection and Raise Dead are part of the experience, though. There will be more difficulty levels than those 3, and you will be able to choose from a lot of options to customize difficulty for yourself.
-Following evil deities will have consequences in the relationships with other countries and NPCs.
-There is some randomization of loot from ordinary creatures, such as the amount of gold and other minor items they carry, but boss loot will be fixed.
-All item slots which exist in the tabletop will be represented in Kingmaker.
-There are 5 Belt Slots for Consumable items like potions.
-You will have 4 weapon sets available to swap between. Non-selected (but still equipped) Weapon sets will show up on your character model. and you will be able to draw them both in combat and on the inventory screen with an accompanying animation.
-Exploration is not a standalone system. Random encounters will happen on the map, as will skill checks and the discovery of new areas, you can run from random encounters as well.
-Explanation of Characters, Animation and Inventory
The Kingdom:
-There are playable companions as well as NPCs you can assign to kingdom roles (from Ultimate Campaign), with enough choices for 2-3 options for each role.
-Advisers will give advice based on their personality. this may not be the best advice. You will have to interpret it.
-Expanding The Kingdom is the initial goal of the Kickstarter.
-You can add more than 14 regions to your kingdom.
-There are 300 Kingdom Events and 100 Kingdom Projects.
-You can ally with outside Factions, there are 9 allies currently, one for each alignment. these include the Witches of Irrisen. They'll be walking around the streets of your capitol.
-The Kickstarter aims to:
--Make the Kingdom's appearance reflect your alignment and choices.
--Let you recruit royal artisans to your kingdom that make you cool stuff (including Artifacts). The Creative Director Alexander Mishulin also mentioned a "Royal Cook (Cooking Royal Artisan)" But that may have been a joke.
--Add more responsiveness to your choices (for example saving a troll family could let you unlock a Troll Bridge building and a Legendary club they make for you, and how you solve problems would unlock different rewards for them).
--Add randomized Kingdom events that make your kingdom different in every playthrough.
-This Update can tell you more about your kingdom.
-Kingdom Roles will be similar to Ultimate campaign, but with fewer roles for less redundancy. There is no Heir, and Ruler has been modified so you don't need high Charisma. Also your player character gets the role of king no matter what. Leaders will be tied to certain stats and there will be positions that are based on Charisma (Like Grand Diplomat)
-Your state is a barony at first with some of the roles absent, but they will become available as your state upgades to a kingdom.
-"It's not really Kingdom management without the political drama, really, and Owlcat realized that from the get-go with the design." Chris Avellone says. He also says "It's pretty Game of Thrones. I don't say that lightly."
-Your vassals will have an opinion about you, and if they are unhappy - different events could happen, including their opposition to you.
-Owlcat is not really holding back on evil/seediness in the Kingdom. You can build Brothels. Building Brothels doesn't make your kingdom evil.
-The Stolen Lands is divided into 14 regions (number of regions may be subject to change). Most of them will have settlements of some kind, including those in AP, like Varnhold.
-There will be buildings that require certain alignment and alliance with one of the ambassadors. Some will be tied to the certain resolutions of the story encounters and kingdom events.
-You will have to make decisions involving your neighboring countries, which will all have consequences.
-Expect to see Embeth Woodsmen, Mivoni Aldori or some other neighbors (and not only neighbors) visiting you.
-As your Kingdom grows regions in your kingdom become better defended and advisers point out new areas on the map within your kingdom's boundaries. Also you will move faster as roads in your Kingdom improve.
Miscellaneous Stuff:
-Owlcat is in close contact with Paizo in developing this. They're also running 4 simultaneous Kingmaker campaigns.
-Character sheet screens are super detailed.
-Tooltips exist which provide Golarion and Pathfinder-based lore.
-Initial languages for Localization are: English, German, French, and Russian. More may be available as Stretch goals based on popular demand.
-Digital Release is planned for GOG and Steam.
-No matter what Race you play you can choose your Gender and Skin tone.
-The premium digital version includes some backer-only in-game items (a special cloak, a helmet and a ring, as well as one unique and quirky spell). The regular digital edition comes with a cloak.
-Chris Avellone has expresed desire for Owlkittens to be in the game. I continue to hold out hope for a cool Owlkitten pet.
-There will be an option for the colorblind, and all spoken text will be available in written form (wither in interactions or in logs) for the hearing impaired.
-Beta is scheduled for the first quarter of 2018.
-The alpha is planned for fall this year (2017).
-Owlcat is working on a "smart AI," which will keep you on your toes especially against enemy spellcasters. This probably does not mean a learning, evolving AI.
-Inon Zur, composer for Icewind Dale II, Baldur's Gate II, Fallout 3 & 4, Escaflone, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and Power Rangers: Turbo is composing the music.
-Character models will depict the items they are wearing. Owlcat is planning to make color schemes available, but that is not set in stone.
-The team consists of at least 4 programmers/6 artists and animators (and 20+ on outsource)/15 designers (system, UI, level, narrative), and 1 Chris Avellone (possibly more than one). Those are just the tech, art, and design teams—they also have a QA team and a management team.
-Amiri is apparently the iconic for the image on Paizo CEO Lisa Stevens' business card. She is also one of their cats.
-There are currently no plans for DLC.
-Expect a lot of influence from the four campaigns of Kingmaker they are running.
-They love magic items and want to make them more interesting
-Everything you equip including consumables and weapons you are not currently wielding, shows up on your character.
-Update by Chris Avellone on narrative design.
System Requirements:
Minimal system requirements
Video: Intel HD Graphics 3000
CPU: Intel Celeron 1037U @ 1.80GHz
RAM: 4 Gb
OS: Win 7
Resolution: 1366 x 768
Recommended system requirements
Video: ATI Radeon HD 5770/GeForce GTX 960M
CPU: Intel Core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
RAM: 8 Gb
OS: Win 7
Resolution: 1920 x 1080
There won't be level scaling. you can run into enemies in an area you're not prepared for, run away, level up and come back and crush them.
Also they're trying to implement wielding 1 handed weapons in 2 hands.
Wow! That is awesome. Where was that announcement made? At my own tabletop games this is something I've always struggled with. I want to create a world where level one characters can run into a CR 20 dragon, or a CR 10 NPC wizard, and know that they should either kowtow or skedaddle. A "realistic" Golarion would absolutely be like that. Yet, even as I do that, I'm always very careful about dropping overt and obvious hints about the fact that the monster or person the PCs are interacting with is well beyond their "power level" to contend with. In which case the "realism" of that non-scaling world seems to disappear. I'll be very interested to see how the game designers handle that dynamic.
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Wow! That is awesome. Where was that announcement made? At my own tabletop games this is something I've always struggled with. I want to create a world where level one characters can run into a CR 20 dragon, or a CR 10 NPC wizard, and know that they should either kowtow or skedaddle. A "realistic" Golarion would absolutely be like that. Yet, even as I do that, I'm always very careful about dropping overt and obvious hints about the fact that the monster or person the PCs are interacting with is well beyond their "power level" to contend with. In which case the "realism" of that non-scaling world seems to disappear. I'll be very interested to see how the game designers handle that dynamic.
The places I have been checking for the information on my lists are: News Articles, Dev comments on Reddit (there are three confirmed Devs using Reddit), Vic Wertz popping into this thread to tell us about his cat, and the Kickstarter itself (specifically the comments section).
This comes from the Comments section of the Kickstarter from their community manager who posts under the nom de plume "Berserkerkitten".
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wow! That is awesome. Where was that announcement made? At my own tabletop games this is something I've always struggled with. I want to create a world where level one characters can run into a CR 20 dragon, or a CR 10 NPC wizard, and know that they should either kowtow or skedaddle. A "realistic" Golarion would absolutely be like that. Yet, even as I do that, I'm always very careful about dropping overt and obvious hints about the fact that the monster or person the PCs are interacting with is well beyond their "power level" to contend with. In which case the "realism" of that non-scaling world seems to disappear. I'll be very interested to see how the game designers handle that dynamic.There won't be level scaling. you can run into enemies in an area you're not prepared for, run away, level up and come back and crush them.
Also they're trying to implement wielding 1 handed weapons in 2 hands.
Logic for this is built into the Kingmaker adventure path - the exploration of the River Kingdoms happens in phases, so the party is generally poking around an area that is roughly within their level range. So if the party sticks to their current charter, it's possible they'll encounter enemies that pose a serious threat, but they shouldn't stumble across enemies who are wildly overpowered compared to the party. One of the big questions, then, in the Kingmaker game is going to be whether the wilderness "unlocks" in phases (as the party's charter expands), or if the entirety of the game's map is available to explore from the start.
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aaand they hit their funding goal! Woot!
The next goal looks to be something chapter or something charter ;)
I'm happy. Now if we can get Magus, Witch and maybe Oracle, I'll be pretty stoked. *doubts we'll get ALL the classes that are out now..*