How ********/insane is it to attempt to complete Pathfinder Kingmaker for the first time on Ironman Normal?

[Consul]

These days whenever a game offers an ironman mode, I always start my playthroughs with it. I get much more enjoyment from playing it this way, so much that games I would otherwise find boring can hold a lasting appeal to me. I've never done it with a game like Pathfinder. I already had 3 attempts and I couldn't even get to level 3. First time I lost the game in the spider cove, after defeating one pack of monsters another one got pulled off screen for no reason, I panicked and tried to run away, which ended in disaster, should've used that time to heal up . Second time my entire party got killed by a will-o-wisp, which spawns after you camp over the night in a specific location. Granted, there were clues about the danger of that place, but I got so used to corpses laying around in games like this that I didn't pay attention to it at all, additionally my group failed a nature check that could have informed me of the danger. The third time happened with a talking wolf I attacked through a dialog choice, because of choosing to play a Lawful Good party, The encounter spawned like 5 additional wolfs, which eventually killed my tank Valerie and by that time it was already over. I almost won this fight and I'm sure that if I buffed before the fight I would have won it.

Despite this, I quite enjoy the game, the combat is acceptable, I like the character building, the forest environments and the book themed interface make me feel cozy. I've not played a game similar to the old Infinity engine games for a very long time so this feels a bit nostalgic to me. I'm too stubborn to play this game on a non-ironman mode so I'll probably keep trying for some time and if I fail, I'll probably return to it in a few months and try again. The problem is the length of the game, which takes around 150 hours to beat. Wiping towards the end would not be a fun experience, which would be a likely scenario considering I've never played this game. More likely though is me not ever getting there.

How idiotic is this whole undertaking?

[Emphyrio]

playing pissfondler is pretty ******** yeah

[Consul]

I assumed I would be getting answers like that considering people's opinion on rtwp, I also prefer turn based rpgs. That's why I've not touched rtwp games in years, but after playing a bit of Kingmaker it felt quite nostalgic to me. From what I've heard, Kingmaker is supposedly better than PoE and that's why I picked it over the latter when thinking of my return to rtwp rpgs.

[boot]

this is an impossible undertaking without knowing the game inside and out. You can't even run from combat encounters once initiated.

[J1M]

Most RPGs get easier as you become familiar with the systems and accumulate items. Seems like something like this would have you wanting a very sturdy main PC so you could replace any dead companions with hirelings.

[rusty_shackleford]

Owlcat pathfinder games are fake difficulty that's countered by using specific broken builds. All it does is inflate numbers, doesn't actually add abilities, improve enemy composition/positioning, AI, etc.,

So, it's probably a stupid idea to play ironman because you might choose a **** build.

[Oyster Sauce]

Get the bubblebuffs mod or don't bother playing.

[Emphyrio]

I assumed I would be getting answers like that considering people's opinion on rtwp, I also prefer turn based rpgs. That's why I've not touched rtwp games in years, but after playing a bit of Kingmaker it felt quite nostalgic to me. From what I've heard, Kingmaker is supposedly better than PoE and that's why I picked it over the latter when thinking of my return to rtwp rpgs.

it has a turn based mode that works fine. that's not the problem.

[rusty_shackleford]

I like rtwp when it's actually rtwp and not some frankenstein semi-turn-based-with-pause monster

[The_Mask]

The real problem is that there are Kingdom buffs that do not work. Flat out. Because of bugs. I would never endorse Iron Man *just* because of that. Other than that... you *may* be fine. Most combat sessions can be figured out if you're playing "Normal" without stress.

That being said, the advice given here that you should play the game through at least once before attempting Iron Man is very good advice.

[fulgrim456]

Play the owlcat games in turn-based mode. Also, dont bother with ironman.

[rusty_shackleford]

The reason to play them in turn-based mode is the rules are turn-based. But they're definitely not designed for it, the first one especially so.

[Consul]

this is an impossible undertaking without knowing the game inside and out. You can't even run from combat encounters once initiated.

That's what I was affraid of. The fact that you can't disengage from combat is the real problem here. But changing to a non-ironman playthrough would be like admitting defeat for me. I already chose a specific difficulty and I can't bring myself to lower it. This might be stupid, I know, but there is a mental blockade preventing me from playing it non-ironman. Maybe if I play a non-ironman run on the highest difficulty I would't think that I gave up. But dealing with enemies that have buffed health and take longer to deal with does not sound very thrilling to me. For now I will stick with ironman, read online which encounters in each act are the hardest and what to be wary of.

it has a turn based mode that works fine. that's not the problem.

I started playing with turn based for a few first fights, but got tired of spamming auto attacks and missing. It takes much longer to go through each encounter in tb so there's also that. I assumed that because the game was designed and created with rtwp in mind that I should probably play with it. Swwitch to tb for fights that appear challenging and doing rtwp when dealing with trash mobs seems like the way to go about it.

The real problem is that there are Kingdom buffs that do not work. Flat out. Because of bugs. I would never endorse Iron Man *just* because of that. Other than that... you *may* be fine. Most combat sessions can be figured out if you're playing "Normal" without stress.

That being said, the advice given here that you should play the game through at least once before attempting Iron Man is very good advice.

I can read a kingdom management guide to avoid that, this shouldn't be an issue. I assumed that playing this way on normal might be somewhat doable if playing carefully, but I don't think "most" is good enough in this case, considering that one defeat means starting from zero. I've read that the first few levels are really the hardest and later it is much easier until the end where the difficulty ramps up again. Even if I lose after playing for 100 hours, that would be acceptable. I would then return to the game after a year or so.

[Torus]

If you're not following a build guide it's a little bit insane, yeah. It does get easier with access to the right spells to the point where it felt that only laziness would kill me against 99% of the enemies. Last boss woke me up a bit, but can't really remember why. My builds were pretty lazy so who knows how you would do.

[Sweeper]

Owlcat pathfinder games are fake difficulty that's countered by using specific broken builds. All it does is inflate numbers, doesn't actually add abilities, improve enemy composition/positioning, AI, etc.,

But yeah, I wouldn't run it on ironman on my first playthrough if I were you, unless you're willing to metagame.

[Humbaba]

Owlcat pathfinder games are fake difficulty that's countered by using specific broken builds. All it does is inflate numbers, doesn't actually add abilities, improve enemy composition/positioning, AI, etc.,

So, it's probably a stupid idea to play ironman because you might choose a **** build.

Ahem...

Git.

And furthermore:

Gud.



-Humbaba

[Lich]

Not an argument.

[Humbaba]

Yeah it is.



-Humbaba

[agentorange]

Isn't this like an 80 hour game? I can't imagine playing something like that in ironman. It doesn't even seem like a game that's worth playing through once, let alone the amount of hours it would take to attempt a no death run.

[Consul]

I haven't burned out on the game yet, but that will proabbly happen eventually if I die too often. Today I found out that holding off with leveling up until you unlock a safezone let's you recruit mercs at level 1 for 500 gold each, which is much cheaper than doing so at level 2 where it costs 2000 gold. Two of my deaths out of three resulted from having too few people and this will at least remedy that issue. Not to mention being able to choose whatever class you want instead of relaying on prebuild companions. I'm gonna read more about character building, perhaps gonna create a Sword Saint tank as the MC and a Sylvan Sorcerer as one of the mercs. Now that I know of this early merc recruiting method I'm sure I'll last longer than before.

[The_Mask]

I would recommend a Druid, Defender of the True World. He gets innate defenses/abilities against Fey, and the animal companion can act as a tank, so you won't die.