History YMMV / PathfinderKingmaker

* CreatorsPet: In an odd example of the "pet" being the creation of someone other than the developers, Darven, the pirate protagonist of the widely-loathed "Deal with the Devil" quest, was written by a Kickstarter backer [[MoneyDearBoy who paid $4,000 for the privilege]]. For those who haven't done the quest, [[spoiler:he is pretty unrepentantly evil (he even admits to having a "kill on sight" list), killing merchants and ruining livelihoods, yet the game tries to make him sympathetic despite there being no excuse for his actions. He tries to bribe you off at the end of the quest because he's terrified of anyone stronger than him, and killing him is considered a Lawful ''Evil'' action, not Good or even Neutral. What ''is'' Lawful Neutral, however, is working with him and killing a guard captain that wants him dead]]. And worst of all, despite being a sidequest this entire situation is ''not optional.'' Your normal options for ending a quest prematurely (such as arresting, banishing, or outright killing the quest giver) are either conspicuously absent or just don't work, and once started it starts spawning event cards that penalize you and cannot be solved by any of your advisors ''period''. Your only solution is to do the quest, which makes the events go away. In addition the rewards offered for completing it one way vastly outweigh the other rewards; [[spoiler:siding with Darven nets you up to 70,000 gold (plus whatever you can get selling off the weapons, armor, and other gear of the Hellknights), a new town on the map with merchants with very nice merchandise, and assistance from Darven in the finale. Siding against Darven gets you a useful but really expensive Kingdom project, [[ViolationOfCommonSense but only if you let Linxia's Hellknights freely assault your citizens]] [[GuideDangIt and pick the exact dialogue options that don't make pissed off at you]], [[UngratefulBastard otherwise you'll just get insults and a promise of Chelaxian invasion from her.]] Doesn't stop players from killing him out of spite.]]

* CatharsisFactor: Don’t like a character? Odds are there’s an option to kill them, no matter how relevant or important they may be. At worst, there’s generally an option to banish them.

* LesYay:

** Linzi also has a bit of chemistry with various female characters. Annamede Bellavara is most obvious example, but at one point Linzi also writes "I'm in love" in the journal when Amiri is about to face Armag, and she even calls Nyrissa "beautiful" in the final dungeon.

* ThatOneSidequest: The Kickstarter-backer-written "Deal with the Devil", for setting the backer's CreatorsPet devil-worshiping pirate against a gang of LawfulStupid and incredibly rude Hellknights, {{railroading}} you to side with the CreatorsPet because the rewards are so much better. It's telling that many playthroughs end up with the Baron(ess) wiping out ''both'' sides out of pure spite.

** The Lawful-Good alignment for Paladins is ''extremely'' strict. ToBeLawfulOrGood needs to be done in equal measure, otherwise they can fall by picking "Good" too many times since, unlike the tabletop version of the game, the AI keeps meticulous track of what options you've taken, while most GM's would show leniency. Thankfully, later on Owlcat decided to implement buyable-if-expensive Scrolls of Atonement so any alignment-restricted class that fell out of their alignment can get their powers back, and during the ''Wrath of the Righteous'' Kickstarter, the Owlcat leads admitted this wasn't handled especially well and that in ''Wrath'', a lot of morality options will be single-axis to prevent Paladins from having to be LawfulStupid to maintain their alignment without intervention (although the nature of the alignment chart in ''Wrath'' resulted in the problem recurring anyway).

** Certain conversation options are locked, requiring a specific alignment to select them. Worse, some of those alignment-locked conversations determine whether several important [=NPCs=], even potential advisors, live or die. Want to save [[spoiler: both Jhod and Kesten]] but aren't Lawful? Want to recruit [[spoiler: Vordakai]] but aren't Evil? You're screwed.

** Valerie has very sub-optimal stat allocation for a martial character. Despite being a Fighter, her Strength sits at 14, her Charisma (usually a dump stat for Fighters) at 15, and her Constitution at an unnecessarily high 19. While she would seem to be meant to act as a StoneWall [[note]]Her Constitution score and initial feat selection pretty much prepares her for Stalwart Defender[[/note]], the lack of [[DrawAggro aggro drawing]] mechanics in ''Pathfinder'' makes such a role unreliable. It's almost necessary to multi-class her into something else to make her usable, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation even though doing so may not fit her character]]. Adding to the annoyance her absolute best multiclassing option -- Kineticist/Kinetic Knight -- [[BribingYourWayToVictory is only available as paid DLC]].

* GoodBadBugs: At one point in the game, a picnic is organized for Ekundayo, and all of the Baron/ess' companions attend this picnic; This includes Kalikke and Kanerah, though this event was programmed before they were added to the game. The thing is, at this point in time only one of the sisters could be on the material plane at a time; The programmers seem to realize this and apparently intended for the player to be able to choose which sister would attend the picnic. Instead, there is no such choice and both of them are (technically) at the party, they're just standing in the exact same spot at the same time!

** The Summer and Autumn Golems you face at [[ThatOneLevel the House of the Edge of Time]]. Like all [[{{Golem}} Golems]], they hit really hard and [[NoSell are resistant to all kind of damage]] and immune to many [[StandardStatusEffects debilitating effects]]. They also have the nasty habit of hanging with the Wild Hunts mentioned above.

** The seventh level Druid spell 'Creeping Doom' summons several swarms of spiders. These spiders, due to being a swarm of Diminutive size, [[NoSell are immune to all physical damage]], StandardStatusEffects, and as allies can share in your buffs like Energy Resistance to remove their AchillesHeel. [[SituationalSword While some foreknowledge of what you'll face is necessary to use them]], the spider swarms can essentially tank close to 75% of the game's foes while inflicting DeathOfAThousandCuts on them.

** The House at the Edge of Time - filled to the brim with ''both'' Wild Hunt members and Ghostly Guards, as seen under DemonicSpiders. Not only that but it's full of GuideDangIt puzzles and has two identical copies that exist in different dimensions, and solving the puzzles requires hopping between them and fighting even ''more'' DemonicSpiders. It's full of mobs that love to dish out StandardStatusEffects that can't be prevented like Blindness, Confusion, and stat damage and will spam them so often that you ''will'' [[CriticalFailure eventually roll a one]] regardless of your stats, necessitating lots of resting, which turns the whole level into a massive test of patience. While the theme and story of the level are great, the mechanical aspects are widely despised.

** Linzi. She's annoying, and it's blatantly obvious that she's the real main character. She can't die [[spoiler: except at the end of the game, and when that happens, your character is basically ''forced'' to mourn her - there are no flippant dialogue options, the "worst" one is simply being silent.]]

** The encumbrance system. Unlike most other [=RPGs=] (including most of the D&D-based {{Spiritual Predecessor}}s) which track the weight and volume of carried gear [[TheLastStraw loosely]] if [[HyperspaceArsenal at all]], ''Kingmaker'' follows Pathfinder rules-as-written on carry weight and imposes penalties for overloading your inventory. It's very easy to collect only a handful of loot that over-encumbers your party, leading to some penalties that can be detrimental in combat or travel and, at overencumbrance, prevents you from leaving the area. Special mention goes to camping supplies, which -- while realistically heavy -- don't translate well to casual video gaming. This one is especially annoying because the original Adventure Path module pointedly gave the party horses to carry things after the first combat encounter to avoid this very problem (and the icon for moving around the map ''is still a horse''), and then when you actually get your barony, your capital has ''visible pack/riding horses and a stable for them on the area map''. But nope, you gotta schlep all that junk around yourself, including your camping supplies. And if an individual party member's equipment becomes too heavy for them to wear (most commonly due to a plate-wearing tower-shield user like Valerie getting Strength damage) then you can't leave the area until that character is under their new weight limit. Bags of Holding are available to alleviate this, though they are implemented by having a negative weight value rather than being an inventory-inside-your-inventory.

** The encumbrance system. Unlike most other [=RPGs=] (including most of the D&D-based {{Spiritual Predecessor}}s) which track the weight and volume of carried gear [[TheLastStraw loosely]] if [[HyperspaceArsenal at all]], ''Kingmaker'' follows Pathfinder rules-as-written on carry weight and imposes penalties for overloading your inventory. It's very easy to collect only a handful of loot that over-encumbers your party, leading to some penalties that can be detrimental in combat or travel and, at overencumbrance, prevents you from leaving the area. Special mention goes to camping supplies, which -- while realistically heavy -- don't translate well to casual video gaming. This one is especially annoying because the original Adventure Path module pointedly gave the party horses to carry things after the first combat encounter to avoid this very problem (and the icon for moving around the map ''is still a horse''), and then when you actually get your barony, your capital has ''visible pack/riding horses and a stable for them on the area map''. But nope, you gotta schlep all that junk around yourself, including your camping supplies. And if an individual party member's equipment becomes too heavy for them to wear (most commonly due to a plate-wearing tower-shield user like Valerie getting Strength damage) then you can't leave the area until that character is under their new weight limit.

** The encumbrance system. Unlike most other [=RPGs=] which [[HyperspaceArsenal track the weight of carried gear loosely if at all]], ''Kingmaker'' follows Pathfinder rules-as-written and imposes penalties for overloading your inventory. It's very easy to collect only a handful of loot that over-encumbers your party, leading to some penalties that can be detrimental in combat or travel and, at overencumbrance, prevents you from leaving the area. Special mention goes to camping supplies, which -- while realistically heavy -- don't translate well to casual video gaming. This one is especially annoying because the original Adventure Path module pointedly gave the party horses to carry things after the first combat encounter to avoid this very problem (and the icon for moving around the map ''is still a horse''), and then when you actually get your barony, your capital has ''visible pack/riding horses and a stable for them on the area map''. But nope, you gotta schlep all that junk around yourself, including your camping supplies. And if an individual party member's equipment becomes too heavy for them to wear (most commonly due to a plate-wearing tower-shield user like Valerie getting Strength damage) then you can't leave the area until that character is under their new weight limit.

** The games' encounter balance and EarlyGameHell has been considered frustrating to some players, especially those who are new to the Pathfinder ruleset or isometric cRPGs like Baldur's Gate in general. The game does have adjustable difficulty, but even on Normal mode you can experience a few sudden Total Party Kills. Even someone experienced with the system won't have much luck; comparing the stats of any given enemy to its stats in the original adventure reveals the game's version to be ''farcically'' overpowered. Enemies that average 5-10 damage in tabletop deal 20-30 here, even on Normal.

** The encumbrance system. It's very easy to collect only a handful of loot that over-encumbers your party, leading to some penalties that can be detrimental in combat or travel and, at overencumbrance, prevents you from leaving the area. Special mention goes to camping supplies, which -- while realistically heavy -- don't translate well to casual video gaming. This one is especially annoying because the original Adventure Path module pointedly gave the party horses to carry things after the first combat encounter to avoid this very problem (and the icon for moving around the map ''is still a horse''), and then when you actually get your barony, your capital has ''visible pack/riding horses and a stable for them on the area map''. But nope, you gotta schlep all that junk around yourself, including your camping supplies. And if an individual party member's equipment becomes too heavy for them to wear (most commonly due to a plate-wearing tower-shield user like Valerie getting Strength damage) then you can't leave the area until that character is under their new weight limit.

** Tristian. While his romance is generally considered the deepest and best-written out of any of them and he's an ''amazing'' councilor he is also considered one of the worst party members due to being an Ecclesitheurge. This means he can't use armor or shields, giving him the same pitiful defense as your mages while having none of the damage-mitigating abilities that mages get like Mirror Image, Blur, Displacement or even native Mage Armor. While he is the best healer in the game bar none and gets some great story powers later on, he is also the most likely party member to ''need'' healing due to his fragility. He does, however, make for an amazing Mystic Theurge when combined with the Empyreal Sorcerer archetype (as both casting now run off his gargantuan Wisdom score)... [[MagikarpPower Provided you're willing to back-bench him while he catches up in levels]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: The ManBehindTheMan for most of the perils in the Stolen Lands, [[spoiler: Nyrissa, the helpful Guardian of the Forest you meet in the first act. While she's a ManipulativeBastard ''now'', she was originally a ChaoticGood being who loved her friends and wanted to make a kingdom for them]]. It was only after [[spoiler: the Lantern King ''took out her heart'' and banished her from The First World, demanding that she destroy a ''thousand'' kingdoms [[RedemptionQuest as apology]] for [[DisproportionateRetribution the one she'd "stolen"]]]] that she became the amoral monster we encounter now.

** The Lawful-Good alignment for Paladins is ''extremely'' strict. ToBeLawfulOrGood needs to be done in equal measure, otherwise they can fall by picking "Good" too many times since, unlike the tabletop version of the game, the AI keeps meticulous track of what options you've taken, while most GM's would show leniency. Thankfully, later on Owlcat decided to implement buyable-if-expensive Scrolls of Atonement so any alignment-restricted class that fell out of their alignment can get their powers back, and during the ''Wrath of the Righteous'' Kickstarter, the Owlcat leads admitted this wasn't handled especially well and that in ''Wrath'', a lot of morality options will be single-axis to prevent Paladins from having to be LawfulStupid to maintain their alignment without intervention.

* TheScrappy: Darven is by far the most hated character in the game, owing to his status as a OfficialFanSubmittedContent character. He suffers from being a DesignatedHero because the game tries to make him seem right despite being a liar and a pirate, going against him is treated as the morally wrong thing to do despite by all accounts it being the exact opposite, and the character is so nonsensical in how he is written that he feels out of place in the games story, ranging from having unique powers and abilities, to how he is in a pact with a powerful Devil. The fact he is written and meant to be taken seriously hurts too, since if he was intentionally unlikable, nobody would really care. Instead his character reeks of SelfInsertFic, which considering he only was made because MoneyDearBoy reasons, left many to hate his character.

** Linzi. She's annoying, and it's blatantly obvious that she's the real main character. She can't die [[spoiler: except at the end of the game, and when that happens, your character is basically ''forced'' to mourn her - there are no flippant response options, the "worst" one is simply being silent.]]

* CreatorsPet: In an odd example of the "pet" being the creation of someone other than the developers, Darven, the pirate protagonist of the widely-loathed "Deal with the Devil" quest, was written by a Kickstarter backer [[MoneyDearBoy who paid $4,000 for the privilege]]. For those who haven't done the quest, [[spoiler:he is pretty unrepentantly evil (he even admits to having a "kill on sight" list), killing merchants and ruining livelihoods, yet the game tries to make him sympathetic despite there being no excuse for his actions. He tries to bribe you off at the end of the quest because he's terrified of anyone stronger than him, and killing him is considered a Lawful ''Evil'' action, not Good or even Neutral. What ''is'' Lawful Neutral, however, is working with him and killing a guard captain that wants him dead]]. And worst of all, despite being a sidequest this entire situation is ''not optional.'' Your normal options for ending a quest prematurely (such as arresting, banishing, or outright killing the quest giver) are either conspicuously absent or just don't work, and once started it starts spawning event cards that penalize you and cannot be solved by any of your advisors ''period''. Your only solution is to do the quest, which makes the events go away. In addition the rewards offered for completing it one way vastly outweigh the other rewards; [[spoiler:siding with Darven nets you up to 70,000 gold (plus whatever you can get selling off the weapons, armor, and other gear of the Hellknights), a new town on the map with merchants with very nice merchandise, and assistance from Darven in the finale. Siding against Darven gets you nothing but the loot from the final fight and either a compliment or a sneering insult from the Hellknight Captain. Doesn't stop players from killing him out of spite.]]

** Downplayed, but animal companions. An animal companion is essentially a seventh party member in a game balanced for six and makes certain aspects of the game much easier. In the earlier stages of the game they make excellent fighters and have a good deal of durability if you cast a few spells to protect them. The dog is especially popular due to its enormous Strength bonus once it grows bigger, which means it can hit respectably often and respectively hard plus it gets a free Trip attempt every time it lands a blow, keeping it relevant in combat longer. Or the smilodon, which has ''5 attacks'', while in [=PnP=] it only has 3! In the later game they're not so effective in combat, but they have a lot of health and ''can't be killed permanently'' which makes them great for soaking up extremely threatening attacks. They also add to your party's carry space as if they were a party member, which lets your 'pack dog' continue to be useful even after their combat performance drops off.

* ScrappyMechanic: A few game mechanics have been cited as frustrating to players:

** Gaining the masterpieces from your Artisans is nothing, but one huge GuideDangIt. They have to be recruited early, their personal quests solved and your kingdom must reach the highest mark on multiple stats. Adding to this is [[TimedMission the time limit]]. Do their requirements too late and you wont have enough time to receive their masterpieces during later chapters.

** Gaining the masterpieces from your Artisans is nothing, but one huge GuideDangIt. They have to be recruited early, their personal quests solved and your kingdom must reach the highest mark on multiple stats. The real problem comes with [[TimedMission the time limit]]. Do their requirements too late and you wont have enough time to receive their masterpieces during later chapters.

** The Summer and Autumn Golems you face at [[ThatOneLevel the House of the End of Time]]. Like all [[{{Golem}} Golems]], they hit really hard and [[NoSell are resistant to all kind of damage]] and immune to many [[StandardStatusEffects debilitating effects]]. They also have the nasty habit of hanging with the Wild Hunts mentioned above.

** The House at the End of Time - filled to the brim with ''both'' Wild Hunt members and Ghostly Guards, as seen under DemonicSpiders. Not only that but it's full of GuideDangIt puzzles and has two identical copies that exist in different dimensions, and solving the puzzles requires hopping between them and fighting even ''more'' DemonicSpiders. It's full of mobs that love to dish out StandardStatusEffects that can't be prevented like Blindness, Confusion, and stat damage and will spam them so often that you ''will'' [[CriticalFailure eventually roll a one]] regardless of your stats, necessitating lots of resting, which turns the whole level into a massive test of patience. While the theme and story of the level are great, the mechanical aspects are widely despised.

** The Summer and Autumn Golems you face at [[ThatOneLevel the House of the Edge of Time]]. Like all [[{{Golem}} Golems]], they hit really hard and [[NoSell are resistant to all kind of damage]] and immune to many [[StandardStatusEffects debilitating effects]]. They also have the nasty habit of hanging with the Wild Hunts mentioned above.