I played Baldur's Gate and enjoyed it; however, when I played Pillars of Eternity, I was disappointed. I did not like the level cap, and the game seemed rather flat and not very exciting at all.

During the Christmas Sale at Gog, I noticed Pathfinder Kingmaker, and it seemed to be a mix of the two games. Money was tight, so I did not purchase it yet, but during the next sale, I might be able to.

For those that have played all three, or at least POE and PK, can you let me know if Pathfinder is worth it? Looking through the forum, they seem to have many patches as well, so not sure if the game is totally fixed or not.

Thanks all.

Here is my take, and I own all the games in all those sets, though not played poe2 and not got far into pathfinder.
I had exactly the same feeling as you on poe, could not put my finger on it, but both times I played it I was bored.
Pathfinder seems to have a lot of components to it. It is very much party based, something I don’t like. Graphically it is good, and will remind you of bg. It has kingdom management. It has also been mentioned several times that it has time limits on certain things which could be a deal breaker.
As I say, I haven’t got round to poe2 yet. I would say own them all if you can, wait until a big sale if you want them cheaper.
Also, there are a lot of others out there if you need some fillers, just take a peek at the dragon sale on now, DA origins for £4, that’s a cracker!

BG, PoE.

PoE: The game gives you more if you "buy in" the lore. Investing time in reading the Strategy Guide, the Guidebook (Collector's Book) and the Almanac (a nice read) pays off, if you like that kind of stuff.

Pathfinder Kingmaker: Still have not played it. They say that the time limit is very generous.

The level cap really killed PoE2 for me, especially in the expansions. You go through all these tough fights, you finish the quests, and the game gives you NOTHING, even the new gear you find isn't as good as fully upgraded stuff you get in the base game.

Oh and before someone says "Oh but it's an RPG it's all about the journey!" Fuck you, an RPG is about progression and being rewarded for your efforts by making your character/s more powerful.

Haven't played PoE2 yet, but usually Obsidian games have a level cap because they want you to leave a lot of content for future playthroughs. If you're a completionist going around doing everything I guess it starts to feel unrewarding, but I don't think the games are designed around that. Obsidian love their faction play with choice and consequences.

Anyway, I haven't played Pathfinder either but RPG Codex and RPG Watch both seem to love it, while PoE response was more mixed, so I'd give it a shot. I liked PoE a lot but the story/world were definitely pretty generic, which made it feel slow and boring at times.

I like Pathfinder Kingmaker more than Pillars. Pathfinder is based on D&D 3.5 edition (Baldur's gate is like D&D 2.5) so it will be more familiar to you as it is basically a D&D game.

I thought Pillars got boring, especially the equipment as you just get minor power increases of what you already have. I also hated the ending plot twist at the end.

Granted I am only 15 hours into pathfinder, but it is a more traditional experience. Plus you can go up to level 20 and there are a tons of classes to min/max with.

I would also recommend playing Planescape Torment too if you have not already. The combat is bad, even compared to other games of the time, but the writing and story has really held up and it is one of the best stories in RPG history (and I just beat it a year ago and I have been playing RPGs for about 30 years.)

Have you tried Tides of Numenerea? (I haven't)

Anyway, it is great to see new western RPG in the vein of BG still coming out, and not simply aping the old formula, but also trying out new things (as the BG family of games did).

Yes, I still need to beat it. It is very text heavy and I think most of the combat can be avoided. It had a planescape feel to it as you are discovering who you are. It seemed worth playing the little I tried it.

This sounds good. Thanks for sharing.

If you enjoyed Baldur's Gate, you will enjoy Pathfinder Kingmaker. In terms of bugs and stability, as of the latest version it seems fine. I did a full playthrough from start to finish in November/December 2019 and I don't recall having any issues at all.

I thought Pillars of Eternity 2 is good as well, I've finished it twice + DLC once. But it has the same core issues as the first game, it's a bit boring and a completionist will level cap way before the end.

Thanks to all for the replies. I will start saving up now, or hope a sale comes in soon.

Still haven't played PoEII, but I hope I'll like it. And from I've seen, Pathfinder seems pretty cool too, so I'll get it at some point.

The DLCs are well done, but I don't think you need any of them to have a great experience with the base game.

If I had to pick one, i'd say "The Wildcards" since it adds a class and companion.