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A hundred years ago I wanted to post a walkthrough report, but anyway.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
When you've earned the respect of a Hellknight
To be honest, my experience with games of this genre has been extremely limited. Basically, I haven't tried anything except D:OS, D:OS2 and the previous game by the same devs, Kingmaker. And as interesting as Kingmaker was, I couldn't bring myself to grind it through to the end...
Pathfinder, I managed. And I think this happened partly because I understood the mechanics much better, worked on build-crafting using internet manuals (especially obsessing over the ГГ), and in the end could fight calmly and without inconvenience even on hard, easily crushing threats up to demigod level (in Kingmaker there were problems in some places even on "normal").
As for the DOS games, I think back then I didn't finish them precisely because character development there isn't interesting: you just buy spells from merchants and that's it. And overall, while the games had interesting things, there was too much of everything generic. But that's not what this is about now.
Despite a bunch of long breaks, I finished WOTR and I enjoyed it for the simple reason that it was a very good adventure. The game consisted of several (five) acts, and each of these acts played quite differently: our crusade began with an unlikely attempt to defend against a sudden invasion in one single city, Canbris, but as the plot developed, we were taken to various places around the Rift, and even to other material planes; besides the ability to control the ГГ and companions, we could lead entire armies under the command of loyal generals (hired for money) against the same filth. Meanwhile, so-called "mystic powers" somehow fall upon the ГГ, allowing us to fully roleplay. No, of course, in any case the hero's main task will be heroism and saving a previously hopeless struggle, but the flair can change drastically. I personally chose the classic image of an angel-hero, as it seems to be the most righteously pompous of all: true angels of Iomedae became our allies, and we would save friends even in seemingly hopeless situations, finally earning their eternal gratitude and loyalty. This is a great lawful-good option, moreover strong and balanced in build, as it possesses good offensive and defensive abilities, and even supportive ones too.
But you could also be a chaotic Azata, who is all peace-friendship-bubblegum-cookies,
, an Aeon capable of thwarting the enemies' plans by literally reversing all their negative influence on the world, a Trickster who jokes with everyone, or go full villain with paths like Lich... Maybe all these choices don't lead to a million different endings (although various endings were included here), but you can truly roleplay many interesting things, and it will affect the world around you, at least in terms of companions and other NPCs.
Besides this, however, I grew attached to the companions. Of course, as is traditional for RPGs, some of them are weirdos, but even their weirdness is kind of... Well you know, soulful; I understand that all these personalities weren't invented by the devs alone, but it turned out quite well in my opinion. I'll say a little about each of them.
Nenio -- weirdo number 1, the main one. I didn't like her at first, but the quests associated with her are pretty cool—you move various puzzles around and around, and in the end, there's an epic location with its own boss. And although the character is overall comedic, at some point I shed a sparse manly tear for her...
Amber -- weirdo number 2, comedic naivety. Perhaps the most surprising thing about her is that she's still alive, but you could say it happens through our efforts; after all, the Commander is no slouch and can fulfill the dreams of even such a strange girl...
Seelah -- a drunken paladin; I would say her quests are some of the weakest in the game plot-wise, but they actually suit her perfectly. You just simply and straightforwardly help some of her buddies, and it's fine.
Lann -- heh, made me smile ten times over. My female Commander romanced him, and in the process, this monk made me smile another ten times. His image is that of a simple, insecure guy from a village—with the caveat that the village was underground and ate rats.
Venduaag -- well, it's complicated with her if you take Lann in the group. Although she made me smile in her own way, a very distinctive image.
Camellia -- I don't know why they added her as a companion. I can't imagine a single Commander character, or almost any, who would get along with her. In this regard, she is the exception to the rule here.
Regill -- 10 dwarves out of 10. His level of correctness and subordination makes lawful characters from all worlds shudder.
Arueshalae -- seems like a typical story about reforming a former villainess, but I liked the implementation. Usually in such cases they love to pile on all sorts of nonsense, like villainous impulses or... Oh, plenty of things. Here we see a character who has basically already reformed, but her conscience still gnaws at her, just as there is an understanding that maybe she's still missing something? Very understandable soul-searching from the outside, and therefore you empathize.
Sosiel -- an ordinary cleric without a hidden depth who is looking for his brother because why not?
Greybor -- an ordinary mercenary assassin who simply and for no reason makes money at war because why not?
Daeran -- takes everything from life, a bohemian. He was never in my party, I never listened to him during councils, I always drilled him; nevertheless, he told me that it's fun with me—well OK, the army will reform even those.
Woljif -- for everyone my ГГ is the Commander, but for him, she's a mafia boss 😎.
I really remembered all these personalities, and many with detailed stories, which I consider a good sign.
Of the downsides, perhaps it becomes more boring toward the end, as you're already grinding achievements and crusade stats, as well as skipping turns for the secret ending... That's the most noticeable part.
Second—imbalance. The imbalance is most evident in the crusade, where a mage-general can practically solo everyone from start to finish with own damage magic without an army. But not all troops are equally useful either, and buildings... For instance, sharpshooters with a bunch of built memorials shoot down all enemies in the first round like it's nothing. In short, the crusade turned out to be the weakest part; they wanted to make Heroes V, but it came out as it did. However, the idea itself is good, and from the point of view of effort spent—well, I didn't spend any effort on it, only got a bit tired of buying mercenaries.
A general problem with Pathfinder—to kill everyone well, you need to stack all buffs on yourself and then go kill everyone. Without a full stack of buffs, the task can become difficult, even unsolvable... With a full stack of buffs, the task becomes easy (though there was exactly one opponent in the game who broke this formula with a massive and automatic dispel without a check). And it's like, fine, but at some point you get a bit tired of managing these buffs... Cast this, then cast that. Though I think there's a mod for auto-casting everything necessary that is in your characters' spellbooks, but I didn't check.
And finally the last thing: bugs. It's very "sweet" when toward the end of the game you get an OP cool ability—for example, an angelic conversion of all weapon damage to holy—but suddenly it turns out that your Vital Strike damage is somehow 4 times less than it should be. However, even before that, this specific ability was constantly bugging, increasing not all damage by 4 times (as written), but however the left heel commanded.
It seems like the devs are constantly fixing something in their patches... But I never waited for the fix I needed, even though I played for at least a year.
I didn't touch the DLCs except Treasure Island; I just didn't want to anymore.
Overall, it was great. The plot, companions, general pomposity and memeness allowed me 100% to immerse myself in roleplaying exactly the leader I wanted; build-crafting was interesting (bloodrager primalist, for those wondering), and overall I'll remember this. Although I probably won't repeat it due to the wild amount of time required for the game... That's how it is.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
When you've earned the respect of a Hellknight
To be honest, my experience with games of this genre has been extremely limited. Basically, I haven't tried anything except D:OS, D:OS2 and the previous game by the same devs, Kingmaker. And as interesting as Kingmaker was, I couldn't bring myself to grind it through to the end...
Pathfinder, I managed. And I think this happened partly because I understood the mechanics much better, worked on build-crafting using internet manuals (especially obsessing over the ГГ), and in the end could fight calmly and without inconvenience even on hard, easily crushing threats up to demigod level (in Kingmaker there were problems in some places even on "normal").
As for the DOS games, I think back then I didn't finish them precisely because character development there isn't interesting: you just buy spells from merchants and that's it. And overall, while the games had interesting things, there was too much of everything generic. But that's not what this is about now.
Despite a bunch of long breaks, I finished WOTR and I enjoyed it for the simple reason that it was a very good adventure. The game consisted of several (five) acts, and each of these acts played quite differently: our crusade began with an unlikely attempt to defend against a sudden invasion in one single city, Canbris, but as the plot developed, we were taken to various places around the Rift, and even to other material planes; besides the ability to control the ГГ and companions, we could lead entire armies under the command of loyal generals (hired for money) against the same filth. Meanwhile, so-called "mystic powers" somehow fall upon the ГГ, allowing us to fully roleplay. No, of course, in any case the hero's main task will be heroism and saving a previously hopeless struggle, but the flair can change drastically. I personally chose the classic image of an angel-hero, as it seems to be the most righteously pompous of all: true angels of Iomedae became our allies, and we would save friends even in seemingly hopeless situations, finally earning their eternal gratitude and loyalty. This is a great lawful-good option, moreover strong and balanced in build, as it possesses good offensive and defensive abilities, and even supportive ones too.
But you could also be a chaotic Azata, who is all peace-friendship-bubblegum-cookies,
an azata party goes to work
when the boss told you that leather wouldn't be needed in war because it doesn't give damage resists
Besides this, however, I grew attached to the companions. Of course, as is traditional for RPGs, some of them are weirdos, but even their weirdness is kind of... Well you know, soulful; I understand that all these personalities weren't invented by the devs alone, but it turned out quite well in my opinion. I'll say a little about each of them.
Nenio -- weirdo number 1, the main one. I didn't like her at first, but the quests associated with her are pretty cool—you move various puzzles around and around, and in the end, there's an epic location with its own boss. And although the character is overall comedic, at some point I shed a sparse manly tear for her...
Amber -- weirdo number 2, comedic naivety. Perhaps the most surprising thing about her is that she's still alive, but you could say it happens through our efforts; after all, the Commander is no slouch and can fulfill the dreams of even such a strange girl...
Seelah -- a drunken paladin; I would say her quests are some of the weakest in the game plot-wise, but they actually suit her perfectly. You just simply and straightforwardly help some of her buddies, and it's fine.
Lann -- heh, made me smile ten times over. My female Commander romanced him, and in the process, this monk made me smile another ten times. His image is that of a simple, insecure guy from a village—with the caveat that the village was underground and ate rats.
Yes, yes, I roasted her well, don't worry
Venduaag -- well, it's complicated with her if you take Lann in the group. Although she made me smile in her own way, a very distinctive image.
Camellia -- I don't know why they added her as a companion. I can't imagine a single Commander character, or almost any, who would get along with her. In this regard, she is the exception to the rule here.
Regill -- 10 dwarves out of 10. His level of correctness and subordination makes lawful characters from all worlds shudder.
Arueshalae -- seems like a typical story about reforming a former villainess, but I liked the implementation. Usually in such cases they love to pile on all sorts of nonsense, like villainous impulses or... Oh, plenty of things. Here we see a character who has basically already reformed, but her conscience still gnaws at her, just as there is an understanding that maybe she's still missing something? Very understandable soul-searching from the outside, and therefore you empathize.
Sosiel -- an ordinary cleric without a hidden depth who is looking for his brother because why not?
Greybor -- an ordinary mercenary assassin who simply and for no reason makes money at war because why not?
Daeran -- takes everything from life, a bohemian. He was never in my party, I never listened to him during councils, I always drilled him; nevertheless, he told me that it's fun with me—well OK, the army will reform even those.
Woljif -- for everyone my ГГ is the Commander, but for him, she's a mafia boss 😎.
I really remembered all these personalities, and many with detailed stories, which I consider a good sign.
Of the downsides, perhaps it becomes more boring toward the end, as you're already grinding achievements and crusade stats, as well as skipping turns for the secret ending... That's the most noticeable part.
Second—imbalance. The imbalance is most evident in the crusade, where a mage-general can practically solo everyone from start to finish with own damage magic without an army. But not all troops are equally useful either, and buildings... For instance, sharpshooters with a bunch of built memorials shoot down all enemies in the first round like it's nothing. In short, the crusade turned out to be the weakest part; they wanted to make Heroes V, but it came out as it did. However, the idea itself is good, and from the point of view of effort spent—well, I didn't spend any effort on it, only got a bit tired of buying mercenaries.
A general problem with Pathfinder—to kill everyone well, you need to stack all buffs on yourself and then go kill everyone. Without a full stack of buffs, the task can become difficult, even unsolvable... With a full stack of buffs, the task becomes easy (though there was exactly one opponent in the game who broke this formula with a massive and automatic dispel without a check). And it's like, fine, but at some point you get a bit tired of managing these buffs... Cast this, then cast that. Though I think there's a mod for auto-casting everything necessary that is in your characters' spellbooks, but I didn't check.
And finally the last thing: bugs. It's very "sweet" when toward the end of the game you get an OP cool ability—for example, an angelic conversion of all weapon damage to holy—but suddenly it turns out that your Vital Strike damage is somehow 4 times less than it should be. However, even before that, this specific ability was constantly bugging, increasing not all damage by 4 times (as written), but however the left heel commanded.
Is that how it works?!
It seems like the devs are constantly fixing something in their patches... But I never waited for the fix I needed, even though I played for at least a year.
I didn't touch the DLCs except Treasure Island; I just didn't want to anymore.
Overall, it was great. The plot, companions, general pomposity and memeness allowed me 100% to immerse myself in roleplaying exactly the leader I wanted; build-crafting was interesting (bloodrager primalist, for those wondering), and overall I'll remember this. Although I probably won't repeat it due to the wild amount of time required for the game... That's how it is.