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Pathfinder: Kingmaker - new isometric CRPG w/ Chris Avellone/OwlCat/My.com

T

Tenrius

Member
EDIT: They went on Kickstarter! Looks like it's going well. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/posts/1907449

A Pathfinder CRPG made by a Russian studio with Chris Avellone responsible for narrative design (although the extent of his involvement is unclear).

Sounds pretty good, actually. Apparently the only screenshot available so far:

screenshot2017-05-17awyub1.png
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full details here: https://owlcatgames.com

Regarding the Russian studio – these guys are ex-Nival and actually have a very nice portfolio:

2c8511a868a5uy0.png


Evil Islands, Etherlords and Silent Storm in particular are fantastic games (if not that well-known outside Russia).
 
M

Mivey

Member
I know the Etherlords games actually. Mostly since they were freebies in some German PC gaming magazines. Not bad games, not that I finished any of them.
Interesting how Avallone has struck for himself after leaving Obsidian. He seems to dabble in everything a little.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
I'll wait and see the extent of Chris Avellone's contribution before I get too excited. I'm tired of seeing his name propped up as a selling feature only for him having a trivial role in the game's design.
 
A

aravuus

Member
Now I'm just imagining how cool a fantasy version of Silent Storm would be. Same fantastic destruction model and all.

Never heard of their other games, but I'll definitely keep an eye on this.
 
C

Corpekata

Banned
Avellone was teasing this the other day, even made some concept art his avatar, so hopefully it means he's decently involved.
 
B

benicillin

Banned
Llyranor said:
I'll wait and see the extent of Chris Avellone's contribution before I get too excited. I'm tired of seeing his name propped up as a selling feature only for him having a trivial role in the game's design.
Click to expand...

The number of projects that bank on his name has really lessened it's impact for me, honestly. When Pillars was a thing it was like oh man this is a big deal, but it feels like we have a whole lot of CRPG Kickstarters touting his involvement that weren't necessarily great.
 
L

Llyranor

Member
benicillin said:
The number of projects that bank on his name has really lessened it's impact for me, honestly. When Pillars was a thing it was like oh man this is a big deal, but it feels like we have a whole lot of CRPG Kickstarters touting his involvement that weren't necessarily great.
Click to expand...

He wrote 2 characters for Pillars who got rewritten, one char for Torment, and I'm not sure what for Wasteland 2 (one area?). I just miss him as a lead designer.
 
J

JustSomeone

Member
I'm starting to think Chris Avellon is just selling the rights to add his name to games he is not involved in. There is no way he can work on so many stuff simultaneously.

But screw that. Nival are great and the etherlords games were amazing.
 
T

Tenrius

Member
Muntu said:
Now I'm just imagining how cool a fantasy version of Silent Storm would be. Same fantastic destruction model and all.

Never heard of their other games, but I'll definitely keep an eye on this.
Click to expand...

I think Rage of Mages and Evil Islands are the closest points of reference here. Rage of Mages I and II are isometric CRPGS somewhat like Baldur's Gate (but more focused and with original ideas).

Evil Islands is actually Rage of Mages 3. It's a 3D isometric RPG that felt really groundbreaking at the time – the combat was very stealth-focused, your characters could sneak/crawl/run with varying levels of noise. You could also target different body parts with each strike. It was a very fun and unique game overall, especially at the time. The entire series is available on GOG, so it's easy to check it out. https://www.gog.com/game/evil_islands
 
L

LordGorchnik

Member
Nairume said:
Wasn't Obsidian supposed to be doing the Pathfinder RPGs?
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This. Didn't Obsidian send out that survey a while ago stating they were beginning development on a Pathfinder isometric RPG and wanted feedback on what experienced CRPG players would like to see?
 
A

Anno

Member
LordGorchnik said:
This. Didn't Obsidian send out that survey a while ago stating they were beginning development on a Pathfinder isometric RPG and wanted feedback on what experienced CRPG players would like to see?
Click to expand...

They have a Pathfinder game already out, I think it's just mobile only for now.
 
S

Sliver

Member
Didn't Avellone leave Obsidian because all they wanted him to do was write, and he wanted more responsibility? From what I've seen all he does for these games hes worked on as a guest is write...don't get it. Dude should have stayed at Obsidian.
 
J

JustSomeone

Member
Sliver said:
Didn't Avellone leave Obsidian because all they wanted him to do was write, and he wanted more responsibility? From what I've seen all he does for these games hes worked on as a guest is write...don't get it. Dude should have stayed at Obsidian.
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No one will publicly admit he left his job because he wanted more money.
 
K

Kalopsia

Neo Member
JustSomeone said:
I'm starting to think Chris Avellon is just selling the rights to add his name to games he is not involved in. There is no way he can work on so many stuff simultaneously.
Click to expand...

The guy made Planescape Torment and Fallout 2 at the same time. He's got good work ethic.
 
S

Sotha_Sil

Member
Llyranor said:
I'll wait and see the extent of Chris Avellone's contribution before I get too excited. I'm tired of seeing his name propped up as a selling feature only for him having a trivial role in the game's design.
Click to expand...

The name commands a lot of respect, for good reason. I suppose we can't blame these devs for blowing his involvement out of proportion.

In reality, I don't think he has had many major roles since going out on his own, and he seems to like it that way. He's given talks about management structure and I got the impression he was glad that was all behind him. Divinity:OS 2 and Prey seem to be his biggest works since going solo.
 
M

Mashing

Member
I played a Kingmaker campaign once. It was pretty fun. It has a lot of elements that would translate well to a CRPG (resource gathering, kingdom building/defense, diplomacy).
 
A

Archtreyz

Member
Anno said:
They have a Pathfinder game already out, I think it's just mobile only for now.
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The mobile game is Pathfinder Adventures, which isn't an RPG. It's based on the Pathfinder deck-building games, which are table-top RPG-lite card games. Obsidian's venture is supposed to be something else entirely. Or at least so I thought. The project being based on the deck building game was a surprise.
 
X

xrayregime

Member
We actually are playing the final session of Kingmaker next month and this could be amazing. Hopefully they go all out with the Kingdom Building. Our game took four years BOTH IRL and in-game.

I also had the feeling they were working with Obsidian on the CRPG but I guess that fell apart. The card game app is not bad at all, but not really an RPG.
 
A

Anno

Member
Archtreyz said:
The mobile game is Pathfinder Adventures, which isn't an RPG. It's based on the Pathfinder deck-building games, which are table-top RPG-lite card games. Obsidian's venture is supposed to be something else entirely. Or at least so I thought. The project being based on the deck building game was a surprise.
Click to expand...

bigdaddygamebot said:
I think it's just a digital version of their cardgame/boardgame.

It's not really in the same vein as this appears to be.
Click to expand...

I must've just missed any information they had out there about doing a more in depth RPG in the Pathfinder world.
 
B

Bluth54

Member
Looking forward to seeing more details on this, I'm always down for more isometric party based RPGs especially when Chris Avellone is working on it.
 
S

StMeph

Member
Kingmaker is a Pathfinder module, which means a significant part of the writing is already done for the "main quest" path and general worldbuilding. It's actually kind of surprising so few pre-written modules have been adapted for games thus far.
 
T

Temp_User

Member
Kingmaker was for the longest time my second favourite Pathfinder Adventure Path. Sandbox kingdom building for the win. I wish that they flesh out the big bad more in this computer version though.

Hopefully this project becomes a success so that they could work on more Pathfinder Adventure Paths. I need a CRPG version of Skull and Shackles and if the devs want to go big, they could fold Runelords, Crimson Throne, Shattered Star and other Varisian-based stories into one game . . . . the Thassilonian Adventures.
 
D

DeadPhoenix

Member
I gmed a kingmaker campaign so I'm excited to actually it. Hopefully they include as much material from later books as they can...

Some interesting info I saw on the Reddit by the devs:
- real time with pause is confirmed.(this is disappointing for me.)
- romances are in, but no confirmation if you can romance the iconic barbarian (top left lady in the first picture on thier site)
- the story is gonna be based on the AP, but the will be changes because it had some issues (apparently Avellone was the one pushing for this)
- that also want to keep as much from the PNP game as the they can but aren't afraid to change it for video game reasons.

Phone not great for typing and I should get back to work... So I'm done for now.
 
Lanrutcon

Lanrutcon

Member
DeadPhoenix said:
- real time with pause is confirmed.(this is disappointing for me.)
- romances are in, but no confirmation if you can romance the iconic barbarian (top left lady in the first picture on thier site)
Click to expand...

Well, I guess we know which audience they're targeting. Mistaaaaaaake.
 
U

Urthor

Member
Small bit of background to this, Obsidian did some market research surveying their forum awhile back about making a Pathfinder game at one point, but the Obsidian forums were very against them working on it and the survey results were negative. I imagine that fed into the decision not to go ahead with it.

I would be very, very surprised if it did not build off an Obsidian engine for the game, either Tyranny's awful combat engine or Pillars of Eternity's fairly good RTWP engine. Paradox and Obsidian are fairly closely aligned it'd make sense for both of them, and Paradox is looking for investment opportunities to branch out after making hella bank off Cities Skylines, Crusader King's 2 and their other tentpole blockbuster whose name I forgot.

Other than that, I hope it succeeds but let's say I wouldn't be holding my breath and pre-ordering it.
 
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