Getting to level 3 is grueling

[Toadman]

SO I played this game to about lvl 8 but my barony was in shambles because of marauding trolls that I could do nothing about. Apparently if this even goes unattended it's game over. NICE development idea. Way to waste 60-80 hours of my time.

So After a few months I came back, bought all the mods and said , sure start over because the bile was out of my throat.

Cruisin along at level 2, no great deal and about to journey out into the wilds from the first outpost and almost EVERY encounter is a wipe. I am playing a mage like before, and have the CRAPPY npc, sorcerer, barbarian and the terrible tower shield fighter.

I am 1,000 xp short of lvl 3 to get critical lvl 2 spells and enough hp to last in some tough encounters.

Everywhere I go it is wipe, wipe wipe, My characters are so poisoned and stat drained that I don't have the money to buy enough potions to restore them, I cant even heal because I guess resting does not heal anymore, if it ever did. My only healer is a terrible sorcerer with 3 cure lights. At this rate I will not even get my province before 3 months is up.

I am playing at a normal difficulty. AND EVERY battle goes like this,

Fighter and barbarian engage, barbarian get hit for at least half health every time. I frantically try to keep him up with my meager sorcerer. My mage at level 2 sucks as usual. My tower shield fighter cant hit crap, and my barbarian is sucking potions just to live.

I don't remember having this kind of trouble the first play through to level 8.

VERMIN are insanely impossible to hit even with flasks. I have given my toons so many orders to throw flasks and yet they still want to swipe at them, That's with the AI off.

CAN't keep the spider and stat venom off me. Can't afford 4-5 posions at 300gp each every time I encounter them.

I must say I am about to scrap this SO unbalanced game AGAIN! After DM'ing D&D for a great portion of my younger life if I put my players through this they would have abandoned my games many times.

Signed,

Super frustrated!

[Shadenuat]

Get Jhod, he sells Delay Poison scrolls.

[Winter Wolf]

Hopefully you didn't pay much for mods, they aren't supposed to charge for them. DLCs yes but mods no. Those are created by players and posted for free usually. As to difficulty try an easier setting? Or customize the difficulty until the game feels playable to you.

I agree that Pathfinder in general and this game in particular does not really compare with D&D. Totally different mechanics and without a smart and kind DM the mechanics are pretty punishing. However any game can descend into that if you are unprepared. CRPGs generally lack the aspect of a kind and smart DM so have to provide other means to compensate the player.

One thing I recommend if you are frustrated with some specific mechanic or aspect is to head somewhere for a time, do something else come back fresh and maybe with more items/levels/party members.

My default start is to make a character, get out of the tutorial area, help Oleg and then before gaining levels hire a couple of mercenary characters (at 500 gp@) to fill out the beginning party which starts out a bit weak.

Vs poisonous monsters Delay Poison a 2nd level spell is invaluable. So maybe wait until you have 3rd level characters before heading where you know there are spiders etc (the main campaign caverns and the alchemist side quest.)

Vs swarms in particular you can use Burning Hands to deal with them but the execution is rather primitive so you have to play with the UI until you get it to work the way you want. Also the acid spray cantrip does nicely against them (if slowly.)

Hope this advice helps.

[Toadman]

the guy at camp wants 2,000 gp for a merc

[Toadman]

Burning hands fries my pc's since the swarms sit right on top of them

[Shadenuat]

U can aim it so it doesn't. Just clipping them is enough. Or just forget about them, they're optional anyway even to the berry quest.

[Winter Wolf]

The cost of mercenaries (by the female elf pathfinder) is 500gp if you are first level. So do NOT level your main before talking to her. Get your mercenaries. THEN level up.

[jonnin]

what level are you playing on? This game is *tough* and it expects you to power-game, save scum, and use cheap tactics to win. It takes some time (or web research, or both) to get a feel for how to do that. Back off the difficulty for a bit or try the endless dungeon to test some builds and group strategy.

the 2000 vs 500 per merc is a case in point. You are expected to know better, either by doing it wrong or reading up online. And yea, I did the same thing first couple of tries.

[Flibbles]

Originally posted by jonnin:

the 2000 vs 500 per merc is a case in point. You are expected to know better, either by doing it wrong or reading up online. And yea, I did the same thing first couple of tries.

It's a sign of a bad game if you can't enjoy it without doing homework first.

[Winter Wolf]

Originally posted by Flibbles:

Originally posted by jonnin:

the 2000 vs 500 per merc is a case in point. You are expected to know better, either by doing it wrong or reading up online. And yea, I did the same thing first couple of tries.

It's a sign of a bad game if you can't enjoy it without doing homework first.

I mean this is just trollery. There are certainly some bad things about Pk. Heck there are bad things about Pathfinder and 3.5 d&d. But to throw out the game because of the bathwater.. that seems precipitous.

[Flibbles]

Not meaning to troll. It's just a sign of a bad game. There are many aspects to Pk which are quite well done, but I don't think a player should be expected to have wikis and forums open in another window while they play if they don't want a play-through of frustration.

[Dixon Sider]

Your mad that ignoring the MSQ is a game over? Here I am thinking it sucks when a game allows me to ignore the MSQ. I always took a lack of quest timers as a sign of a bad game

I wonder how I beat this game without looking anything up on unfair my first time ever playing it, despite having never heard of Pathfinder until this game came out. Where should I go to find games that have quest time limits this if this one is bad? Am I too good for video games? :(

[jonnin]

There are some bad problems. I like the game, but jubilost is just bad (exact place at exact time making exact skill checks or can't ever fill one govt position) and the DLC infinite dungeon (have to find hidden stuff or lose) and the balance problems. Its not trolling to point out flaws.
Neither is it a 'bad game'. People like it. People liked it enough to buy the DLCs. Its a decent game with some problems that could be fixed.

rigging the game so you level up right before meeting the merc NPC is a bit of trolling the players. Knowing to not click that level up button or have to start over the first time is not a good customer experience.

[Flibbles]

Originally posted by Dixon Sider:

Am I too good for video games? :(

You may actually be too good for video games. That's both an accomplishment and a curse.

I'm a pathfinder veteran, and I'm pretty sure my kingdom would have gone up in smoke (costing 60+ hours) on my first playthrough if I hadn't read up on several of the kingdom management pitfalls.

[Dixon Sider]

Originally posted by Flibbles:

You may actually be too good for video games. That's both an accomplishment and a curse.

I'm a pathfinder veteran, and I'm pretty sure my kingdom would have gone up in smoke (costing 60+ hours) on my first playthrough if I hadn't read up on several of the kingdom management pitfalls.

This was probably the first game that challenged me outside of MMO grinds. Where even those are only challenging because I have to pray and pray that my teammates are listening to my callouts and not making mistakes. I made mistakes too, but MMOs are mostly me teaching people how to do endgame content. Its difficult and fun, but I want to play challenging games where I am not held back by others.

I dislike the thought of games becoming easier because its very difficult for me to play a game until its finished now a days because I end up 1-shotting every encounter. If a game is too easy for me then I lose interest and end up staring at my steam game list for hours trying to justify loading the game. There should be games made for people like me please. :(

Also kingdom management can be set to never fail in the settings without giving up future non KM related achievements in that playthrough. So no, you would not have lost a playthrough

[chong.ong]

Originally posted by Toadman:

SO I played this game to about lvl 8 but my barony was in shambles because of marauding trolls that I could do nothing about. Apparently if this even goes unattended it's game over. NICE development idea. Way to waste 60-80 hours of my time.

So After a few months I came back, bought all the mods and said , sure start over because the bile was out of my throat.

Cruisin along at level 2, no great deal and about to journey out into the wilds from the first outpost and almost EVERY encounter is a wipe. I am playing a mage like before, and have the CRAPPY npc, sorcerer, barbarian and the terrible tower shield fighter.

I am 1,000 xp short of lvl 3 to get critical lvl 2 spells and enough hp to last in some tough encounters.

Everywhere I go it is wipe, wipe wipe, My characters are so poisoned and stat drained that I don't have the money to buy enough potions to restore them, I cant even heal because I guess resting does not heal anymore, if it ever did. My only healer is a terrible sorcerer with 3 cure lights. At this rate I will not even get my province before 3 months is up.

In my opinion, although Pathfinder: Kingmaker has strong points, it is a relatively terrible game for new players. The game is essentially about knowing & abusing mechanics rather than role playing.

A great example is building a "tank" involves taking eg: crane wing & 13 int (combat expertise). A character design that abuses game mechanics will far out-perform a character based upon role-playing.

As for the game strategy, perhaps start afresh and try the following strategy that abuses mechanics:

1) At the very start of the game, don't level up to Level 2 (as the game suggests). Instead, defeat the bandits, sell items and hire 3 x mercenaries.

2) Consider your main character + 3 x mercenaries + Ekundayo + one other from (Octavia, Valerie or Harrim etc) as the ''long term'' party. That means all your other companions can be multi-classed to abuse the early game Animal Companions. (ie: Ignore the ''typical role-playing progression'' and multi-class something like druid). The Smilidon, Wolf, Dog and Leopard are all great choices for animals.

3) So that means early on in the game, you could have 4-6 animal companions running around and the early game isn't difficult at all. Eg: Buff animals with mage armor, barkskin, cat's grace, blur etc.