Solasta - Next Stop, Full Release!
 

Redglyph spotted a new update for Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

More information.

Now that is good news. Real cool they are implementing Steam Workshop at launch. That could be a lot of new adventures to go on.

Only level 10, sigh :(
Still day1 buy.

I don't wanna compare both games but in BG 1 the experience points were capped at 89,000 XP, which may take the chars to level 7 max (thief/bard/druid may get to 8th level with such XP cap).
Tales of the Sword Coast caps experience points at 161,000 which may take most classes to level 8, while wizards may get to 9th level and, again, only thief/bard/druid classes may reach 10th level.

(Source: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Experience_Tables)

So, at first, level 10 max is not all that bad. I'd also prefer Solasta characters to reach 20th level, of course, but this "wet dream" can be frustrated due to budget issues and time constraining, since devs should make quests/challenges/locations more appropriate for higher level characters.

Thanks, Leo :)

I'm fine with a max level of 10. I've always enjoyed lower-level adventuring more in D&D.

Hopefully the game does well enough that they can develop a sequel with higher levels where we can continue with the same party.

Yeah, I'm not even expecting the game as a whole to be a home run. It's more that it's seemed a really solid project, well-run.

I suspect there will be a number of things we'd like to see, and hopefully it's enough of a success that they can build upon it.

Looking forward to the final release. A bit burnt on EA/Beta as I am doing 3 so decided to wait for final on this one.

Early buzz was that it's closer to what 5e should be than BG3, which had a more Divinity tinge. I picked it up, probably won't play til release tho.

Being low level for the first iteration sounds perfect for me. Perhaps we'll get meaty expansions to take us higher in levels, or in sequels. I've found the first to tenth level ranges to be usually the most fun.

Same.. level 10 seems like it should offer plenty of content and things to do for a game of this caliber. Congrats to the Devs for seeing such a complex task to a successful conclusion. I can't wait to play it!

Did they mention when?

Yes, but the effort needed for level increase in AD&D is an entirely different experience compared to level experience in later releases of D&D. It wouldn't surprise me if the level up rate were 50% faster now, so achieving 8th level in AD&D takes as much work as 12th level in modern D&D.

It is much closer to 5E regarding the ruleset, they have very few minor deviations and expose the action composition (action, bonus action, interaction, reaction) in a much clearer way on the UI. But it's SRD, not the full D&D 5E licence, so there is no WotC lore, nor some of the archetypes, feats, …

BG3 has nothing to do with Divinity. They use the Forgotten Realms lore and the D&D 5E mechanics, but they introduced some modifications. Nothing dramatic.

They were hoping to release it this summer, but they'll confirm that in a later announcement.

There're also quite a few mods on Nexusmod too, those are independent 3rd-party's that T.A. can't endorse but they're very promising :)

I think BG3 also caps at level 10-12 and it will be a pretty massive game, so it depends on how they handle it. I'm quite looking forward to Solasta's full release myself, and I wish when they made a post about the final release, they had actually given us a date. That felt a bit of a clickbaity announcement with information that was already available.

Im looking forward to low level adventuring, hopefully they also provide some suitable, lower profile plot, not another world-saving cliche.

Nothing like throwing a little red meat to your base.

Yeah, agreed. That's one of the reasons why I started my reply above by saying I didn't wanna compare both BG1 and Solasta. I know they use different rulesets. What I meant was: even being capped to level 10, we can have the same fun as we did back when we played BG1 :) (well, we = rest of you, since I started by playing BG2 and never played BG1 and its expansion).

Solasta of the Microscopically Fonted Tooltips and texts. I hope their electron-sized fonts will be visible on a 27" monitor.. :(

The programming job done on this one is awesome. They managed a Supermario-style gameplay at 1:39:00 with a small party. They give also a taste of "Assassin's Creed-style running on vertical surfaces" for the spiders.
Good combat sounds and nice particle effects. Definitely a Product of Love®! Worth the money.

It's a matter of personal preference.
I have never liked the level caps in EVERY CRPG i played with one, and were probably a hundred. I also never liked the lv20 cap in D&D various versions and used specific optional rulesets to extend it at least to 30, demigodom etc.
In a computer transposition this is even more felt because the level-up is one of the few gratification that a computer DM will give you.

The library is a crazy map :D

Hey, have you asked them about the fonts, or discussed it on their Discord? I think someone mentioned that in the live Q&A stream they did recently, they said they still had to frame all the UI texts and all that. If there's enough demand for the font size, they may consider it.

It's unlikely you'll feel the cap, it should correspond pretty well to where you get after all the quests. You shouldn't worry too much, let them release this first game, they'll be more comfortable to add levels, quests, classes, … later, or in a DLC / next game :)

Well color me surprised as that was a fast Early Access game. As most developers take a whole year, while others get stuck in limbo for 7+ years. Hopefully it's not a short game.

May I just say this: I'm glad to see the absolute love this project is receiving here, to date. Looks like more than a few of us are looking forward to what promises to be a stellar game for all to enjoy!!

The current cap is 8 and I didn't manage to reach it, though I could have spent more time wandering for random encounters which might have got me there, so I'd think reaching 10 might similarly be a challenge with little chance of getting much beyond it XP wise!! :)

I'm afraid RPGs aren't supposed to be pure skinner boxes. I'm sorry that you require level-ups as your only enjoyment factor and can't find gratification from all the other aspects.

Maybe you could mod in this sound effect: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s75tuBlZ61w to randomly chime every half an hour?

You totally misunderstood me and wasted 0,2c with this reply.

I've read and re-read your posts. Your only issue seems to be regarding level, in that it is capped at 10. You prefer high level adventures and you said levelling is one of only a few things you feel is a positive about an RPG.

When the reality is, it is not at all unusual for a cRPG to be designed with a specific set of levels in mind, just as p&p modules often have a specific set of levels in mind.

Sure, if there's too much content for the level cap then the game will start to feel 'over' before reaching the end of the game as you would be repeating the same things too much. And, sure, if there's grinding of respawns involved then no doubt some people will just hamster wheel themselves happily to level infinity.

But a complete and well designed hand-crafted module designed for characters levelled 1-10, that's, like, ideal. Normal. Expected. Not an issue.

If I've misunderstood and your point is somehow actually specific to an issue with the game, please feel free to enlighten me, but at this point it just looks like "people on the internet will find literally anything to bitch about" level bizarity.

As I see it, forums are there to share opinions. We could also share opinions on opinions but that may quickly get out of hand ;)

Telstar said it would be day 1 buy for him but he'd rather have more than level 10, then many commented on the level subject, and he explained a bit further why he preferred more. Personally I see no problem with that, fair discussion :)

Don't make it worse then…

I like the fact they don't want/try to do the whole level 1 to 20.

In level 1 to 20 games, you tend to level up too quickly. It feels a bit ridiculous and surreal.

More importantly, it's way easier to make interesting, coherent and challenging "worlds" without having to resort to cheap and artificial tricks such as having the level of the enemies grow according to the level of your characters. I think it's one of the reasons for why BG2 second chapter was so beloved.

Nod, I completely agree, Vanedor. It's hard to pack those entire twenty levels into one game, especially these days where some of the focus needs be on graphic quality, because of reasons. A little good nibble, solid and nourishing is better than a platter full of scraps. If the first game does well, the next iteration can give us the next step!

Plus you can always add more levels later as DLC, or extra content that feels meaningful, so it's a good idea to end the campaign in a point where continuing later with your beloved party makes sense. So many games that add a DLC when you are already a god and it's just steamrolling over content for the story alone, which is not always that entertaining.

The problem I see with using table top levels in a game is that a part of the fun on polaying games on PC is the leveling, you generally don't do as much in 2 hours of a table top game playing an adventure with friends.

I guess what I am saying is due to the amount you do in less time on a pc game that leveling is part of the fun I guess.

It would be interesting to compare the rate in the different games, and how extra levels translate in more abilities, spells and so on. But it's probably not easy.

Solasta offers 10 levels for roughly 40 hours of play, a party of 4 that is entirely controlled and leveled up by the player, and TBM combat.

The closest game for that comparison is Baldur's Gate 3, which should be roughly 100 hours, also for 10 levels (TBC, it may still change but not much). Also for a party of 4 entirely controlled by the player and TBM. That's at least a 1:2 ratio (because of the big map with traveling back & forth, lots of spoken dialogs).

Pathfinder: Kingmaker in TBM is about 200-250 hours, but to level 20, and party of 6 with more enemies. In RTwP it's half that duration, but either way that must feel quite longer (and I can vouch for that). Level progression is logarithmic though.

Neverwinter Nights' original campaign would get the player to about level 15 in roughly 60 hours average, RTwP, the player controls his/her own character only, so that must feel a bit longer comparatively, especially when the combat are quicker to end in that mode. But again, progression isn't linear.

In conclusion, Solasta shouldn't feel boring, it's pretty much on the low duration/level in comparison to other games. BG3 should feel much slower, and as limited with the levels. There are other advantages to make up for it, of course, the rate of XP isn't everything.

Not just here but a lot of D&D websites also. I visit many of them and people seem just as excited for Solasta as they are for BG3. One of the main reasons seems to be the implementation of 5e rules. I think this is how you do an EA release. Really got a lot of people talking about this game.

I haven't bought this yet….perhaps I should.

I'm really not a fan of the fifth edition rules, far from it actually, as I much prefer the second or third rule-set, yet I'm still hopeful that this will turn out well. If nothing else I applaud the effort and tenacity that's gone into this creation!

For anyone interested, message from Tactical Adventures on Discord:
EDIT: Feedback will be on Discord, or maybe Google forms if there is too much chat for them to handle.

Probably most won't participate, to avoid ruining the experience of the final game (which seems a wise strategy). At least it gives an indication of the progress :)