I’ve been thinking a real-time fantasy RPG could be super interesting. Like there’s a huge battle that takes place on, say, day 3 or something, and if you’re not there on that day then you just miss it.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is entirely real time (as in, like you suggest, events are on a schedule and you can’t do them all in one run). I can’t speak for the sequel as I haven’t played it.
I personally found the mechanic infuriating (modded a workaround), but you may like it if you like crpgs.
You just made me realize why I stopped playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It would have events that said something like “come to this mountain top for the portal to open” and I’d end up missing it and being beyond frustrated. My brain has been programmed by years of video games to try to complete everything and not accept that some paths are closed off. It’s also a reason I couldn’t get into Disco Elysium. I felt like I had to try every dialogue option available, which isn’t how those types of games are meant to be played.
I blame early Sierra and Lucas Arts adventure games.
I share your exact experience. I had the same frustration with Disco Elysium too, though I enjoyed the writing so much I ended up playing through regardless lol
Yeah it’s Return to Monkey Island, by the original creator of the first two. It plays very similar to the original.
Also, Sea of Thieves just came out with a Monkey Island crossover a few days ago. I haven’t checked it out yet, but the trailer looks pretty cool: https://youtu.be/wB3iaRke20U?si=DJPxZ9RgloT8h_L6
Wrath of the righteous has less time constraints but definitely has some in there still. (People were not happy with how tight some of those were in kingmaker cuz they wanted to explore everything.)
First large battle happens after a few days and you’re basically dragged there the night before if you weren’t there. There are things you could have explored before that change things etc.
The best ending requires you to finish on an exact date.
Anyways this is to say definitely play WotR it is an amazing game. Much better than kingmaker.
Thanks for the WotR review, I’ll definitely give it a try now. I was genuinely afraid to try it because of how time-focused Kingmaker was lol
Oddly enough I think the concept still holds water, but perhaps for action rpgs? The strategic aspect of crpgs just didn’t mesh with timed events for me I guess
I think it would work if designed better. (Which WotR is.) Kingmaker tried but it was also basically expected you do pretty much everything in order to be able to keep up. If you’re going to put in time constraints it’s gotta have A: choices that matter and lock people out of things and B: a much more relaxed XP curve so people don’t feel forced into doing ALL OF IT.
WotR had a section where each thing you looted lead to more soldiers being killed, which is a great example. Most of the game isn’t that urgent at all, but does lock you into choices that actually affect the entire story which is cool.
I’ve been thinking a real-time fantasy RPG could be super interesting. Like there’s a huge battle that takes place on, say, day 3 or something, and if you’re not there on that day then you just miss it.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker is entirely real time (as in, like you suggest, events are on a schedule and you can’t do them all in one run). I can’t speak for the sequel as I haven’t played it.
I personally found the mechanic infuriating (modded a workaround), but you may like it if you like crpgs.
You just made me realize why I stopped playing Pathfinder: Kingmaker. It would have events that said something like “come to this mountain top for the portal to open” and I’d end up missing it and being beyond frustrated. My brain has been programmed by years of video games to try to complete everything and not accept that some paths are closed off. It’s also a reason I couldn’t get into Disco Elysium. I felt like I had to try every dialogue option available, which isn’t how those types of games are meant to be played.
I blame early Sierra and Lucas Arts adventure games.
I share your exact experience. I had the same frustration with Disco Elysium too, though I enjoyed the writing so much I ended up playing through regardless lol
Yes! Freakin’ Secret of Monkey Island…
The new Monkey Island is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t already!
There’s a new one?! Welp between this and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, I guess I’ll be busy for a while.
Thanks for the heads up!
Yeah it’s Return to Monkey Island, by the original creator of the first two. It plays very similar to the original.
Also, Sea of Thieves just came out with a Monkey Island crossover a few days ago. I haven’t checked it out yet, but the trailer looks pretty cool: https://youtu.be/wB3iaRke20U?si=DJPxZ9RgloT8h_L6
Wrath of the righteous has less time constraints but definitely has some in there still. (People were not happy with how tight some of those were in kingmaker cuz they wanted to explore everything.)
First large battle happens after a few days and you’re basically dragged there the night before if you weren’t there. There are things you could have explored before that change things etc.
The best ending requires you to finish on an exact date.
Anyways this is to say definitely play WotR it is an amazing game. Much better than kingmaker.
Thanks for the WotR review, I’ll definitely give it a try now. I was genuinely afraid to try it because of how time-focused Kingmaker was lol
Oddly enough I think the concept still holds water, but perhaps for action rpgs? The strategic aspect of crpgs just didn’t mesh with timed events for me I guess
I think it would work if designed better. (Which WotR is.) Kingmaker tried but it was also basically expected you do pretty much everything in order to be able to keep up. If you’re going to put in time constraints it’s gotta have A: choices that matter and lock people out of things and B: a much more relaxed XP curve so people don’t feel forced into doing ALL OF IT.
WotR had a section where each thing you looted lead to more soldiers being killed, which is a great example. Most of the game isn’t that urgent at all, but does lock you into choices that actually affect the entire story which is cool.