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Game News Pathfinder: Kingmaker Kickstarter Update #18: Camping Unlocked, Extra Story Chapter Stretch Goal

Infinitron

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Tags: Owlcat Games; Pathfinder: Kingmaker

The Pathfinder: Kingmaker Kickstarter campaign hit $550k today, unlocking the camping system stretch goal that was announced two weeks ago. For their next stretch goal, Owlcat are going straight to $700k. If they manage to raise that much, an additional chapter will be added to the game. It looks like it will involve a high level showdown with the fey queen who is the mastermind behind the events in the original Kingmaker module - or perhaps, the masterminds behind her. The new Kickstarter update has the details:

We are excited to unveil the expansion of the story of the Stolen Lands. While it's difficult to describe the story of these additional adventures without major spoilers, it is safe to tell you that this additional chapter will make it easier for you to get all the way up to level 20. Threats and encounters in this chapter will be challenging for even the most powerful heroes, so be prepared to face the deadliest, meanest and scariest foes.

One request, which has been made by our community time and time again was for a Mac release. So we are excited to unveil that the second part of this stretch goal is bringing the Pathfinder experience to Mac & Linux platforms.

As we were typing this update, a gust of wind rushed in, bringing several leaves and a mysterious letter addressed to you, Pathfinders. We are presenting it below, but be warned! For those of you not familiar with the Kingmaker Adventure Path, this message may contain major spoilers!

"My dear Pathfinder!

I am the true master to the Stolen Lands! Bow before me for I am the Guile of the fey people! For centuries I have sharpened the claws meant for a single strike at your unguarded back. I am the Hatred of the First World, for I can split the closest of friends. I am the Rebellion of the Stolen Lands, for no kingdom could chain me. What makes you think you could win where your betters had fallen like autumn leaves?

Bow your head down so your crown would fall and roll before my feet.

The webs of my scheming are impossible to comprehend for a mere mortal. Do you feel the breeze weaving in the grass? Do you hear a raven's caw from the leaf's shade? My agents are vigilant, watching you from the moment you set your foot in my lands. Oh, they are many, my puppets, my toys. The blind I've charmed, hunting for a single word leaving my lips. The fools, thinking they would be rewarded for their years of servitude. The dimwits, believing their choices and actions were their own. The rich and the poor, the generals and their soldiers, the webs of my agents envelop the Stolen Lands and reach out beyond them.

It is possible that some of the masks they wear are already known to you. I'd savor the expression your face will gain when the truth reveals itself. A moment of revelation before feeling a cold blade tearing into your flesh.

If by any chance the impossible would occur - if you somehow survive long enough to come to my parlor in the Thousand Voices... well... perhaps, you could be useful to me after all. Perhaps, we could open a new chapter to this story, together, you and I? Could you be the one to help me break the millennium-old curse reigning over me?

If the fate would take me during our encounter, so be it. But know, that I have powerful benefactors, who would take notice. Know that the disasters you've so valiantly fought before are a stroll compared to the misery your kingdom and your whole life would become should you anger them.

Enter the Stolen Lands if you dare, Pathfinder.
N."
Kingmaker's funding rate seems to have picked up a little since the game hit its base funding goal, so this goal seems within reach. It's a bit weird to have a major stretch goal that only players of the original pen-and-paper module will really understand, though.
 

PrettyDeadman

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Codex should reach out to all available news sources and tell them about this amazing game. The developers may be geniuses of game development but they are lacking in terms of PR.
 

Roguey

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There's a huge difference between what Demons Age is delivering and what inXile, HBS, and Obsidian delivered.
 

Mustawd

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There's a huge difference between what Demons Age is delivering and what inXile, HBS, and Obsidian delivered.

Besides HBS, scope creep, in terms of what could realistically be dleivered with their budget and timeframe, was present in both PoE and Torment to a big degree. That's what I was referring to.
 

deuxhero

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It's a bit weird to have a major stretch goal that only players of the original pen-and-paper module will really understand, though.

If they phrased it better it would have broader appeal. "The original adventure only covers level 1 to level 17. At $____ we will add new story content that takes the players from 17 to 20." is something most people would understand.
 

dragonul09

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I read on some russian forums that there's a big company(Mail.ru) behind this team and funding should not be a problem for them,this seems to be just some marketing skit to let people know about the game.

Search Owlcat Games and Mail.ru,some interesting things behind that giant and it appears that a lot of russians are skeptical about them,wonder why
 

Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
This is going to end up like Demons Age if they don't watch their scope. :M
Actually, their stretch goals have all been pretty underwhelming conservative so far:
1 extra class,
camping,
more "story"
This alone does not sound like feature creep.
 

PrettyDeadman

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People who are excited when they hear that a dungeon floor will take you one hour to complete in RtwP are retarded

Whether dungeon floor will take 10 minutes to complete or 1 hour to complete, the games look absolutely amazing.
A spitting image of QUALITY RPG.
 

Quantomas

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People who are excited when they hear that a dungeon floor will take you one hour to complete in RtwP are retarded
Mishulin confirmed exactly this in the AMA. While big is good, it really depends on whether the game delivers old-school dungeon crawling. One of my big issues with PoE is that the game never delivered on the promise their very first artwork suggested (didn't play the last two acts and the White Marsh though, so there is a shrivel of hope left). Adventuring worth having with an outstanding party against all odds!
wallpaper001-2048x1536.jpg
 

Quantomas

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Ok, this logic was probably shortened too much. :cool:

From the AMA:
Do you plan deep, extensive dungeon hauls? Possibly where you are cut off from retreating and have to go repeatedly from one place to the next to emerge alive and victorious?

Alexander Mishulin
said:
  1. Yes, we will have pretty long dungeons in the game, and you will have to fight for your survival there.
  2. You can complete one level of the dungeon in approximately 1 hour, so, in my opinion, they are pretty big.
Of course this alone doesn't make a game good. Ideally you want a game's systems to empower you, to enhance your experience, and if possible the systems should become transparent, blending into the background so that you hardly notice these.

Baldur's Gate got this right. It felt like you were embarking on an adventure, a journey to a goal you will discover on your own terms, never feeling constrained by the game's systems. Pillars of Eternity is different. First, the story has you boxed in right from the moment your camp is attacked. Initially, it's just forcing you to move along, but very soon you are cast into a role and burdened with the responsibility to follow the leads you are given. Some people may like it, a lot of players liked NWN2 MotB, but it's not my thing. The story is good but I like to explore freely, without a meter running. But maybe it's not only a question how the story is impressed onto you, but how well the game's systems support you. And that's the other thing with PoE. Its combat systems are essentially too intricate, but these intricacies hardly matter to tip the battle in your favour. Worse they get in your way. Usually if there was a tough battle, the most decisive factor tended to be how good the strongest enemies dealt with the pathfinding and targeting. That said the combat feels at times like you have to navigate the intricate systems instead of feeling empowered by them.

If you look at the Pathfinder: Kingmaker video on IGN, you discover that the flow of combat has an entire different feeling than PoE. It has the ease and more spacious feel of BG. The turns are more pronounced, the actions more clear. Watch the battles with the trolls and kobolds.

But my hope is that this spirit does not only pertain to the combat mechanics, but the game as a whole, that the story does not constrain you but rather provides you with the feeling of growth and empowerment. Having big dungeons that challenge you is a good sign that the game will deliver the free air of adventuring with a party done right. Only time will tell.
 

Quantomas

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Watch the battles with the trolls and kobolds.

This is really all you needed to say. Nothing will cure your nostalgia itch except for an endless deciduous forest filled with trolls and kobolds.
Not bad. But it would truly need mysteries, secret locations, druids, cults and a story to it.

What I really would like is entering a dungeon and then the entrance collapes behind you LotR-style. And then you go about to discover what your party is capable of! :cool: No backtracking like the mega-dungeon under Caed Nua.
 

taxalot

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Besides and even with Chris Avellonne, is there even a reason to be interested in this ? Whatever I have read of the Pathfinder world seemed bland at best, a mish mash of just about every trope from different game worlds you can think isn't interesting if there is no real talent behind it.
 

PrettyDeadman

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Besides and even with Chris Avellonne, is there even a reason to be interested in this ? Whatever I have read of the Pathfinder world seemed bland at best, a mish mash of just about every trope from different game worlds you can think isn't interesting if there is no real talent behind it.
If you play the game for the lore/backstory - pathfinder:kingmaker might not be the best game for you. If you play the game for gameplay & story & character - this game seems to nail all of that.
 

J_C

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Besides and even with Chris Avellonne, is there even a reason to be interested in this ? Whatever I have read of the Pathfinder world seemed bland at best, a mish mash of just about every trope from different game worlds you can think isn't interesting if there is no real talent behind it.
I think this can be true about the Forgotten Realms as well, yet we got some good games in that universe. You can make a good story in a generic world, but one can fuck up even the most interesting of worlds.
 
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Stories are driven by emotion, drama, and action (most movies), or by more romantic themes like Lord of the Rings or epic themes like the Iliad. You can tell a good story even from the most generic setting if the characters' emotional conflicts are interesting.

A story lacking in this sort of pathos sucks no matter how compelling the setting is.

I'm looking at youuuuuuuuuuuuu T:TON.
 

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