How sandbox is this game?

[Sylfeyn]

I've heard that Kingmaker is one of the most sandbox-like adventure paths, so I'm wondering if this game will also focus a good deal on sandbox and open-ended gameplay or if it will basically boil down to main quests and sub quests with a few random encounters inbetween?

[kreivi]

If you think of games like Skyrim then no, this will not be as sandbox and open (in skyrim you can skip mainquest and pretty much do what ever you want to, level up as high as possible and then continue mainquest after making every single sidequest game have to offer and search every single place there is).

But on the other hand this is kind of "build your own kingdom" so you can choose what you do. Thing is, if you choose poorly and ignore people asking for help, events what clearly let you know "there are monsters coming, they burn your settlements and are heading for your capital" and you just decide to ignore them.. ..then yes, game will end and you will lose (and your kingdom will be in ruins).

You do have "free time" to just wonder around and do sidequests and explore wilderness (after all that is a way to find some of your companions even!) between big events (so called mainquest) what are happening around your kingdom and even outside from it. But there will not be a time when you are "duh, I am bored, I have nothing to do and I allready just skipped a year ahead just constantly sleeping and not a single event came and I do not know what to do in this game"

[Thor]

With other words there is no sandbox at all. its a story driven linear gameplay with time limits and time based scripted events and game ends after you finish main quest?

game looks really great but not sure its my cup of tea...

[kreivi]

Originally posted by Thor:

With other words there is no sandbox at all. its a story driven linear gameplay with time limits and time based scripted events and game ends after you finish main quest?

game looks really great but not sure its my cup of tea...

So if we look defination Sandbox:
"
A sandbox is a style of game in which minimal character limitations are placed on the gamer, allowing the gamer to roam and change a virtual world at will. In contrast to a progression-style game, a sandbox game emphasizes roaming and allows a gamer to select tasks. Instead of featuring segmented areas or numbered levels, a sandbox game usually occurs in a “world” to which the gamer has full access from start to finish.

A sandbox game is also known as an open-world or free-roaming game.
"
You are right, Kingmaker is not sandbox like Minecraft.

But if we look defination: Linear gameplay:
"
Linear gameplay is in stark contrast with the recently popular style known as open-ended gameplay, or sandbox gameplay. The plot is already pre-determined, and is communicated through regular cutscenes that usually occur before and after a level.
"
Game is not that either (like Call of Duty).

I would say that Pathfinder Kingmaker is open-ended RPG made in sandbox.

So you can literally choose where to go, what to explore but you have to consider what is happening around you. Literally this mean that you need time to time (like once a month) get back to your throne room and listen what is going on. If something big happen you need to choose what to do, do you send someone (else) there trying to solve the problem or do you go there for youself? After all you do have an kingdom to rule and take care for.

[Andersen]

i wonder how far possible travel, if maily in stolen lands or if can travel elsewhere also, i would assume its a border somewhere

[Thor]

Originally posted by OwlcatBK:

The game closely follows the adventure path. There's a certain amount of exploration and there are optional side-quests, certain things will change in the story depending on your choices and actions, but it's still fairly linear. You follow the story of the adventure path, the game is divided into chapters and when you complete it, it's done. There's no endless mode.

i found this :( no not my kind of game

@kreivi thx for your helpfull answers tho

[kreivi]

Originally posted by Andersen:

i wonder how far possible travel, if maily in stolen lands or if can travel elsewhere also, i would assume its a border somewhere

There are borders, size of an area of the game is ~35 000 square miles. Around size of portugal (or Indiana if you are from USA).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mej-7vdXuq4

[thainen]

It's not a sandbox like Skyrim, but not a railroad like Final Fantasy. Kingmaker's general story, in terms of chapters, goes as it did in the AP — first you establish a kingdom, then the troll menace comes, etc, etc, but within each chapter there's a ton of side content, and the game as a whole is big on non-linearity, with your decisions having both short-term and long-term outcomes.
For this kind of story structure, I like the metaphor from Lee Sheldon's "Character Development and Storytelling for Games" book -- a boa with several rabbits inside. The snake as a whole is linear, and there are choke points between the rabits, but within each rabbit there's a lot of freedom to explore and make decisions.