Pathfinder: Kingmaker

Pathfinder: Kingmaker

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Technik Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:01pm
Game review analysis
I noticed that there are many negative reviews from people, who played more than 100 hours. So I got interested exactly how many such people.

Fun fact, there are 29% of all negative reviews are from people who played more than 100 hours and average time for a player with negative review is 77 hours.

Question is, why are people playing so much if they don't like it?




--------------Pathfinder: Kingmaker review analysis--------------

4549 unique user reviews, 2948 positive, 1601 negative, 64.81% review score.

--------------Positive-------------
Number of players, that left positive review and played:
from 0 to 10 hours: 182, 6.17% of all positive reviews,
from 10 to 50 hours: 795, 26.97% of all positive reviews,
from 50 to 100 hours: 793, 26.9% of all positive reviews,
more than 100 hours: 1178, 39.96% of all positive reviews.

Total hours played by players with positive review: 298499
Average time in hours for plyers with positive review: 101.0
Player with id 76561197989892414 spend 787.1 hours in game and left positive review.
-----------------------------------

--------------Negative-------------
Number of players, that left negative review and played:
from 0 to 10 hours: 308, 19.24% of all negative reviews,
from 10 to 50 hours: 492, 30.73% of all negative reviews,
from 50 to 100 hours: 339, 21.17% of all negative reviews,
more than 100 hours: 462, 28.86% of all negative reviews.

Total hours played by players with negative review: 124477
Average time in hours for plyers with negative review: 77.0
Player with id 76561198065063923 spend 634.35 hours in game and left negative review.
-----------------------------------

--------------Top 5 words and number of it use in english and russian reviews-------------
bugs: 1724 | баги: 196
good: 1446 | багов: 144
difficulty: 1245 | сложности: 127
great: 987 | сложность: 97
kingdom: 966 | сюжет: 97
Last edited by Technik; Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:02pm
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Showing 1-15 of 73 comments
Babbles Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:04pm 
Yeah, we want to not resolve the game with a single D20 roll against bluff.
pascal.difolco Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:31pm 
Ppl loves it and play to death but then get p#ssed off by bugs and ragequit...
i just arrived at endgame today spent almost 300 hours on it but sometimes i was just afk and left it on and i literally want to rage quit

SPOILERS AHEAD BTW DON'T READ IT IF DONT WANT TO BE SPOILED

i couldnt finish amiri s last quest to find nilahk because it was bugged i circle around that location endlessly it just wouldnt reveal it and the game never revealed to me by it self and that quest ends up failing, at the end amiri left me for that very reason.

people in the last quest seems to be dying randomly, some of your companions just dies even if you did every quest for him or her,

linzi died in the garden because i spared a enemy , feels so bad saved an enemy let him leave he kills linzi in return thx game.

my jaetal randomly just killed tristan because of a illusion but some people reported their tristan fought with someone else

tok tok, jublus did every quest for them just dies literally no saving i find them, cut scene , rip

not only you loses character seemed randomly you also loses every gear you put on them


also i run the game with lietrally 5 dps and a bard, because bard can heal when you get bard level high enough, but without a prest with freedom of movement the game is unplayable people cant even get though story mode combat difficulty due to infinite paralizes. You build a team you like it works well everywhere until you reach the end, oh and i forgot to mention the priest in town doesnt sell scroll for freedom of movment otherwise i could just buy scrolls but no.

from the act 1 to the end i finished all the quest for linzi but i was never able to build a linzi's printshop there was literally no option for it.

Last edited by (✿ =‿‿=) ✪AI星辰☆; Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:51pm
Taddl Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:48pm 
Giving a negative review does not necessarily mean that you don't "like" the game.

Your top 5 words should already give you a good idea what the reason for the negative reviews is. Especially on steam it is "would you recommend this game" and I have to say I could not recommend this game in its current state. I enjoy the game enough so that I can live with the game stopping, quest stopping, and annoying bugs and problems, but I cannot guarantee that someone I recommend the game to also will be willing to overlook all the problems.

This game right now has the potential to be fantastic. But in its current state depending on what bugs trigger for you, your experience might vary between terrible and good.

You can say of course there are bugs because it is a complex game, you can say that they are an indie studio so of course there are bugs. But that still does not change the fact that the game is extremely buggy right now.
Marneus Nov 8, 2018 @ 12:06am 
@ (✿☯‿ ☯✿) ✪小星辰☆
Yeah, the mandatory spells are quite annoying, and I remember devs saying "If you want you can build a team of 6 wizards !"... As if...
Anyway, Linzi printing house is in her own house in fact, it's not a kingdom building, so it's not a bug :)

I'm more amazed by the fact that OP could take the time to deliver us all these infos... Did you used a software ? Anyway, yeah i can totally understand the reviews... I have more than 300 hrs of play on this game but still wasn't able to finish it even once due to crippling bugs and stuff like that. But on the other hand, the game is so deep, so complex, so engaging, i can't help but play it again and again... Starting new games, trying builds, exploring alignments...
Brian Sirith Nov 8, 2018 @ 12:13am 
Actually its not about "not liking" something. Its about recommending it or not. I do think this is one of the best games Ive ever player but...

I gave it a negative review (since removed) after 170 hours cause I hated the wild hunt and the absolutely loathed the ending. And I'm not even going into bugs, loadscreens, random difficulty spikes, bad pacing etc. those I put up with. But would I tell someone else to buy it?
Last edited by Brian Sirith; Nov 8, 2018 @ 1:07am
Darkpaw Nov 8, 2018 @ 12:19am 
100 hours is hardly much at all especially since almost half your time will be spent in load screens starting with chapter 2.

I'm at 400+ hours and I just want to finish the game. It is pretty damn long game but I'm close to the end now, just need 3rd key to final portal in the House at the End of Time. Also, I replayed from start to Act 2 three times to test builds. That IMHO is the fun of the game before the craptastic kingdom managment comes in. Also if you play on Hard which I have been doing, then it is going to take much longer than playing on Story mode. And I like to test drive custom mercs on occasion which soaks up time.

I gave it a thumbs down because of (1) kingdom management and (2) load screens suck most of the fun out of the game. The core of the game is absolutely fantastic. Figuring out the best builds for your MC and companions is really fun and challenging. The dungeons are very extensive and well designed. Fights are fun and it takes a while to figure things out like the best feats, spell selection(oh I love you OP sirocco!), metamagiking spells, buffs to help you hit, defensive buffs, etc. The game gets a lot easier once you get a grasp of it all.

If they had focused on the core game I would easily give this game a thumbs up despite the bugs.
Brian Sirith Nov 8, 2018 @ 12:24am 
...

Linzi always dies no matter what you do. The story is that way :)

Back to topic :)
Wintermist Nov 8, 2018 @ 12:26am 
I gave it a thumbs up, and I looked past the bugs it has. They will no doubt get fixed, as they most often tend to get. If I was to vote this game down, I'd do a disservice to those who are like me and really love games like this, and that's really sad given how few there are of them.
OnlyOffensive Nov 8, 2018 @ 1:19am 
Originally posted by Technik:


Question is, why are people playing so much if they don't like it?


There is a difference between not liking and finding out bugs that ruin your 100+ hours playthrough.

Considering that vast majority of gamebreaking bugs begins from chapter 6, you can add 2+2 and figure why majority of negative rewievs are 100+ hours.

Thats not to say there arent any bugs before, especially not critical, there are like dozens of them, starting with glitching "cutscenes" ( This game handilng any events that progress from dialogues into action very poorly for some reason ) and basically 80% items with descriptions not working.
Last edited by OnlyOffensive; Nov 8, 2018 @ 1:21am
Quacksalber Nov 8, 2018 @ 1:56am 
I'm getting a bit bored of people suggesting if you spent a lot of time on something you are forced not only to like it, but to recommend it to others. Where does this logic come from? People don't stay in the same relationship or job forever or keep doing and liking the same things eternally; people also get addicted to things.

Anyway, I spent a lot of time on the game because I preordered it and geneuinely wanted to like it. Also, I do actually like it, but in the end I decided that negatives outweigh the positives for me at this point, and that the time I invested trying to play the game may have ruined it for me forever.

I got deep into the game twice and both times had to stop playing because bugs prevented me from continuing. I also spent a LOT of my playtime offtab because I tend to get bored by loading screens/slow movement and then stay offtab distracted, or because I was reporting bugs/trying to figure something out the game refrained from explaining. I also leave all my games running all day while I do other things, but that's besides the point. Going to hazard a guess that anyone who's clocked up a hefty number of hours has either been offtab metagaming and/or restarting.

My favourite thing in games like this is the storyline and companions, which are genuinely good in this game in my opinion (if I disregard that there was apparently no native English speaker available to proof read the content), but even there, I was expecting more as the companions don't interact much beyond their initial optional dialogue. They get crowded out by the stress of doing other stuff in x time and their quests end up feeling like a pain in the rear because they force you to slowmo trek to the other side of the map instead of reloading the kingdom management for the gazillionth time. They also feel like whiny idiots when they throw hissy fits b/c you didn't drop everything instantly to hold their hand with their personal problem when the damn kingdom is in decline and you obviously don't have the time for it.

And that brings me to the main things I hate in the game: too many timers in too many places, which in combination with bugs and lack of a decent journal force metagaming/repeating content, opaque and tedious kingdom management, being forced to rest when you don't want to and being forced not to rest when you do want to (not to mention being forced to [spend 27 hrs trying to] hunt/use rations when you have 500 kilos of food in your inventory), and every crap taking forever because the game's main strategy is time management and you are thus compelled to manage time to an extreme degree. I bought an rpg not an online course in administration inspired by Kafka, or a White Rabbit Survival Simulator. Presidents or CEO's of multinational companies can leave off interviewing potential personal assistants and just force applicants to play this game: whoever finishes first with the kingdom in shipshape gets the job. The plethora of bugs and the ability to circumvent them as well as the lack of information will serve to test candidates further.

I did initially give the game a good review but changed it after I realised I was basically an unpaid beta tester and because many people don't read reviews per se and just use the general consensus as a guideline. Lots of people buying a game they cannot finish or think is something other than what it is will cause it to end up getting even worse reviews in the long term. Lastly, the bug reporting system is extremely unsatisfying as you feel like you are talking to yourself and have no idea if anyone is actually bothering to read your reports. If you are reporting a lot of them, that's pretty off-putting. Many of the bugs I reported have not been fixed according to the patch notes.

Long story short, I think people should be made aware of what's expecting them if they endeavour to play the game at this time. It's unfinished and I don't believe people should be encouraged to buy unifinished products without being informed of the fact.
Last edited by Quacksalber; Nov 8, 2018 @ 2:02am
Kreuz Nov 8, 2018 @ 2:52am 
the thing is... the paying customer was treated as a tester. so in the end i need metaknowledge and to edit my savefiles as in order to progress (now not as bad as at launch, but not nearly good enough). a tester gets a look behind the game, the mechanics, the design in order to be of use, which is the exact opposite of what you wanna do when you want to immerse yourself in a RPG as a Gamer.
it burns you out, sucks all the "magic" out of the game and leaves you wondering how good that game would be if you didnt have to ruin the experience that way.

because the core of the game is brilliant, that's why people push through all the above mentioned issues. but so many things take away from the experience.

so because most initial customers wanted to make the best out of a buggy experience and their purchase they invested that time (100h+) and did all of the above but it left them with a sour taste in their mouths. they push through because it was like 35-40 h into the game that the first problems started to rear their ugly heads. at that point they were immersed, they wanted to have fun while playing further because the game promised greatness, but the problems kept piling on.

nuisances like seemingly needles load screens (kingdom management) immersion breaking bugs (colour reset on model change due to multiclass) and sooner or later REALLY gamebreaking bugs, despite all your efforts and time invested...

knowing how much of the games problems are solved by bug fixing and proper polish, why wonder that the game is not recommended (YET, in most cases) by many people who are frustrated that they experienced it in that state? they had some fun but along the way it became tedious, it became frustrating, it became work.

but out of love and respect for the Pathfinder IP, good CRpgs in general and what this game can be in particular, we kept reporting bugs, we kept "playing".

but just because I'm deranged that way doesnt mean that I, in all good consciousness, can recommend this experience to others (Yet. haven't written a review, mind you)
Last edited by Kreuz; Nov 8, 2018 @ 2:54am
Sild Nov 8, 2018 @ 3:05am 
So would you rather listen/read a review written by someone that actually played the game or someone that only barely scratched the surface? Damned if you do, damned if you don't

Steam gives the players the option to either recommend or not the game at the moment of writing it which is different from whether they like/liked/will like if.. that is usually detailed in the review.
EvilDonut Nov 8, 2018 @ 3:25am 
I played, like, 400+ hours as of yet.

And if i was to make a review, it would be a negative one. But that doesn't mean i do not like the game. I simply don't like the state it was released in and, perhaps, the way it was developed.

The game itself, if it was stable, would probably be one of the best CRPGS ever made, and my review could not be anything than positive.

But not at the moment. I have very high hopes for this beta patch.
Yaldabaoth Nov 8, 2018 @ 3:31am 
Why do people stop taking drugs only after it has ruined their lives? Truly puzzling.
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Date Posted: Nov 7, 2018 @ 11:01pm
Posts: 73