Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Stray Thoughts

I'm back, as promised!  Did you miss me?

...You know, a little white lie every now and then to make someone feel better doesn't cost you anything.  Just saying.



My Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous rants have thus far been pretty spoiler-heavy, but I’m happy to say that today’s you can probably read regardless of familiarity with the game.  In fact, as a stand-in for a recommendation rant for the game, I wrote it as much for those unfamiliar with the game as those who are.



Hey, remember when I did a collection of mini-rants for Tales of Vesperia?  I was thinking I might do it again today for Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.  Except that whereas last time my stray thoughts were mostly evincing vices because Tales of Vesperia is vexing and vaguely vile, today’s viewpoints are applauding various virtues I vowed to voice my approval of while playing this very diverting videogame.  

Normally with a Kickstarter RPG, I’d just make a rant outright recommending and applauding it (if it’s good, of course; I certainly haven’t made such a rant for every Indie title I’ve helped crowdfund).  I did so for the first Pathfinder game, after all.  But therein lies much of the problem: while very much its own entity, a LOT of the virtues that give Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous its great quality and individual personality are ones I already enthused about in my rant recommending Pathfinder: Kingmaker.  Rather than make a whole new major rant for the successor and have to grasp at straws the whole time to re-describe many of the same characteristics that make it so good, we’re just gonna shine a spotlight on a few of the noteworthy bits and pieces of PWotR’s enjoyability, and cover the rest with the following blanket statement: The signature elements that made Pathfinder: Kingmaker great are by and large still present in Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous.

On with the thoughts!



- After Pathfinder: Kingmaker’s mistake in making the only romance option for a gay male protagonist one which would end in the death of another party member--a matter I criticized in what has turned out, for reasons I couldn’t possibly guess at, to be my most-read rant of all time--I greatly appreciate the fact that Owlcat Games were quite careful this time around to make sure that there’s an appropriate number and variety of romantic partners for players who want to play heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual protagonists of either gender.  Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous has 2 romanceable dudes for male protagonists, 2 dudes for female protagonists, 3 girls for guys, 3 girls for girls, and even 1 girl for players who are fucking psychopaths.  While things are still a little imbalanced in favor of players who want a female romantic partner, the fact is that Owlcat Games put in the work to ensure that each of the major sexualities has multiple viable romantic options to pursue, and I applaud them for recognizing where they went wrong in the previous game and striving to correct that misstep.  Good work, guys, and thanks.


- I was very pleased throughout the game with the dedication to involving the party members in conversations.  It’s not just the generous quality and quantity of the major characters’ dialogue as they pitch in with their own reactions and thoughts, either.  What also stood out to me as I played the game was that the writers were dedicated to making sure that even the less prominent companions of the party were included as individuals worthy of having a say.  Finnean the living weapon, for example, may only rarely have something to opine on, but it’s a pleasant reminder of him each time it does happen, and the fact that he’s valued enough as a member of the team to take part in conversations is laudable.  I mean, not every speaking spear and chatty chakram can is meant to be a Boyfriend Dungeon love interest, but still, minor talking weapon sidekicks are usually a speak-only-when-spoken-to deal.  Likewise, even though there’s every chance that he won’t ever be in the party, the writers made sure that Trever has stuff to say in reaction to the events and conversations that unfold before him, and even though it’s substantially less likely that they’ll both be in the party together, there’s a decent chunk of dialogue for Trever and Sosiel both interacting with one another in these circumstances, too.

And it’s just plain awesome that a TON of reactionary dialogue was put in for Aivu--considering that she’s a minor companion locked into only 1 route of the game, you wouldn’t think the writers would go to too many lengths for her involvement, but they actually just go all in.  Aivu is pretty much the most entertaining character in the game and I love her to pieces, so Owlcat Games making sure to involve her as much as--hell, sometimes more than--the rest of the main characters is an awesome blessing.  They even went as far as to create a few extra lines for her here and there that play if, at the end of 1 particular sidequest, you adopted the dragon messiah and she decided on the spot to be his big sister.  Just...very cool that no team member ever seems to be forgotten, taken for granted, or have less effort spent on their presence.


- Speaking of party conversations, how fun is it that when you set up camp on the date that you’ve set to be the protagonist’s birthday, your companions actually express birthday wishes to the Commander?  And they all can do it; even Grandpa Drill Sergeant Regill has genuinely positive sentiments to share on the special day, because Regill is secretly a goddamn bro.


- You know, when Baphomet shows up in the game, he has the bearing, the voice work, the profile art, just the general presence of a terrifying, arcane force of malevolence beyond the ken of we mortals, just as a demon lord should.  It’s honestly impressive that, after 4 chapters of being a demon-mashing superhero, the game could still manage to put just a bit of the fear of (anti) God in me with him.

...and then Nenio completely fucking dismantles this imposing lord of terrors and machinations with a single, innocent, hilariously demeaning scientific inquiry.  Just wrecks the man’s intimidation without even trying.  It’s glorious.  There are a lot of players who don’t like Nenio, and I don’t for the life of me get why.  She may mostly be a 1-joke pony, but that joke never seems to get old for me,* especially not when the sheer magnitude of its humor completely reverses the dynamic of personal power to make a godly villain the fool.


- It’s not all completely positive with this game, though.  They got a new tune for the character creation screen this time around.  And I mean, it’s fine enough...but if I’m gonna incarcerate myself for close to 2 fucking hours as I meticulously craft, re-craft, crash my computer, then re-re-craft a protagonist in this damn creation system because I’m a perfectionist madman, then I need something I LOVE to be playing the whole time, y’know?


- I like how smooth an advancement the Crusade minigame is of the Kingdom Management mechanics of Pathfinder: Kingmaker.  I mean...I can’t deny that I think I had a little more fun in PK with it, but the way the developer manages to adapt the originally sedentary system of kingdom-building into a system for advancing and managing a tactical military campaign is pretty impressive.  And although I greatly enjoyed running the Fifth Crusade, I nonetheless give kudos, as I did for the previous game, to the developer for the fact that there’s an option to skip the whole thing if you just don’t like this minigame.  Good Shelyn in Nirvana, do I EVER wish more RPGs afforded their players this courtesy.

...Although I do have to acknowledge that achieving the secret, True Ending of the game DOES require you to engage a little bit with the Crusade system, in order to research a couple of projects over the game’s course and attain certain necessary knowledge.  So it’s not quite as optional and hands-free as PK’s Kingdom Management was.  Still, it’s a very small amount of necessary involvement, and once you’ve done that research I assume you can just turn the Crusade system off again, so I still give full credit to Owlcat Games for being considerate.


- Can I just say that it’s very neat and refreshing, during an exchange within Sosiel’s character quest, to hear Regill actually give the side of Good real, genuine respect?  I mean, the man is a Lawful Evil soldier through and through from minute 1 of meeting him, and he makes no secret about disapproving of, even usually scorning, the impulses and instincts of those aligned with Good.  Yet instead of arrogantly viewing the side of Good as unworthy opposition, Regill will rebuke Sosiel, when the distraught latter expresses frustration and fear that he perceives Good seems not to be strong enough to overcome Evil without becoming Evil, thusly: “Don’t bring your metaphysics into this.  Stop blaming your own incompetence on cosmic forces.  The side of good isn’t weak, it’s you.”  I mean, yeah, he’s being harsh to poor Sosiel, but I still can’t help but be struck by a hell of a respect for an advocate of Evil who’s rational enough to recognize that the side of Good is, indeed, not weak at all--and who refuses to betray this valuable rationality just for the sake of trying to taunt and falsely confirm the doubts of a servant of Good on the matter.


- Thank you, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, for giving players on the Trickster path the option to get intimate with a real, actual poop monster.  This was just what my favorite genre was missing.


- I appreciate that Wrath of the Righteous generally lets itself be its own epic and only lightly references Pathfinder: Kingmaker.**  Nonetheless, I can’t deny that I was grinning pretty hard during the little cameo sidequest wherein PK’s Jubilost shows up to meet the Commander face to face and get a handle on who she/he is.  Juby was 1 of my favorite characters in the previous game, and the revelation that he’s secretly the Doctor Who of Pathfinder had me fanboying it up.


- While on the subject of homages to previous games, it’s neat how PWotR gives homage to many of the elements from previous isometric Dungeons and Dragons titles.  Arushalae was no doubt inspired to some degree by Planescape: Torment’s Fall-from-Grace, and Wenduag’s romance with the protagonist gives some definite Baldur’s Gate 2 Viconia vibes to me.  Then you’ve got Crynukh, who brings back fond memories of Neverwinter Nights 1’s Deekin, and of course, it seems fairly obvious that the paladin Irabeth is an homage to NN1’s Aribeth.  Irabeth even seems like she’s meant to be a case of PWotR’s theme of ascending beyond one’s natural limitations in this regard--Irabeth manages (in most playthroughs) to avoid losing her beloved and falling to the path of evil, overcoming the destiny that her semi-namesake implies will be her own.  That’s probably just me overthinking the matter, though.  Again.

But at any rate, through these and several more likely homages, we’re shown that just as Pathfinder is the successor to the heart and spirit of Dungeons and Dragons, so too does Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous wish to be the successor to the heart and spirit of the classic D+D games of the past.  Cool!


- While one’s alignment and choices made a difference very often to the events of Pathfinder: Kingmaker, it’s extremely impressive just how far that can go in Wrath of the Righteous.  As you’d expect, quests, endings, and the fates of various characters and communities hinge on how a player goes about progressing through the game, but the story as a whole can often look very different depending on what Mythic path you’ve chosen.  There’s enough variation between some of the paths that Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous can almost feel like a different game.  As someone who was, many years ago, a bit disappointed at the fact that the variations between Paragon and Renegade in the events of Mass Effect 1 and 2 did not radically change the succeeding sequence of events in ME2 and 3, I appreciate it when an RPG really goes the distance with this idea and constructs substantially different narratives depending on how its player’s choices diverge key points.  You don’t come across games that do this very often (and in fairness, it’s not hard to see why not, as it basically involves writing and coding almost multiple whole games), but I think it’s fair to add Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous to the the likes of The Witcher 2 and Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume on this matter.


- I fucking love Aivu.  If you only play Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous once, play it as an Azata.  It’s fun and thematically solid all the way through, but most importantly, Aivu.

BE FOREVER, AIVU!



These stray thoughts rants are kind of fun, and easier than my typical huge-honkin’-blocks-of-text-type rants.  And best of all, they can be critical OR congratulatory!  Although I’m fairly certain I know which way they’re going to trend towards if I continue them.  I’m already formulating 1 for Shin Megami Tensei 5, so rest assured, we’re gonna be back to Predominantly Grumpy Arpy soon enough.  In the meantime, though, Wrath of the Righteous is pretty great, and I recommend it as heartily as I did its predecessor Kingmaker.  Peace out, Pathfinders!












* And really, she DOES have some unexpected depth as a character if you can stick it out through her character quest.  It’s actually quite cool.


** Granted, the Storyteller is a pretty significant character in both games, but I’d actually argue that his far greater relevance to PWotR retroactively makes him a character of THIS game that Kingmaker just happened to also use.