Solasta - Early Access Release

I guess one of the interesting points with this release is that it represents 5E essentially from the ground up; whereas BG3 was made via heavily modifying a pre-existing game engine (DOS-2) and inserting the D&D mechanics from there. I think with that in mind, contrasts and comparisons are fairly inevitable. Hopefully it does well; I love building parties from the very beginning.

purpleblob said:

The face animations certainly reminding me of NWN2 (and that's not good) :/

I hope the game isn't too story-lite. While I enjoyed IWD1 its more of the fact I loved Infinity Engine.

How many pre-made characters are available in EA??

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Haha, indeed the dialogs showing those character up close brings a few years back. For a team of that magnitude, however, that's OK, they put the priorities elsewhere while not completely dropping the rest.

There are 6 pre-made characters: rogue, paladin, fighter, ranger, wizard and cleric (life), so one for each currently available class.

Character creation is well done and I made six characters. Wanted to try all six but can only bring four on the campaign. If you enjoy D&D 5E I think you will enjoy Solasta. It has Dash and disengage and all the actions from 5E.

My fighter died from a dire wolf in the tutorial because the damn beast rolled a 20. Not many games will kill you in the tutorial. I love that and punish me with critical hits.

Among many things, I respect the fact that they're very clear about what is and isn't within scope. Sadly that precludes editor tools for the time being, but I do hope they make a success of this, and develop community tools in the future. I could see this being a really great base for campaigns, and I think they'd be missing a trick not to pursue that possibility.

In a Shacknews interview recently, the developers said that rather than work on community tools, they are leaving openings for the community to build/mod off of. Something like that.

The more I read about this game, the more I like it.

zentr. said:

In a Shacknews interview recently, the developers said that rather than work on community tools, they are leaving openings for the community to build/mod off of. Something like that.

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Thanks, I found that part of the interview. As usual, they're being honest and realistic about it. Essentially, they haven't really built simple editing tools for themselves, and their workflow would be too complex for the community to make much use of. They're just focused on getting the game finished properly, and trying to expose as much as possible for modders to play with.

I do still think that investing in a more accessible toolset for the less-technical community could be a smart move for the future.

Sounds like it is well made and a cool game. At the same time not for me. I haven't played the in-person version of AD&D since middle and high school. I am not looking to recreate that feeling in any way in a computer game myself. I am also not a gamer who has ever focused on combat.

Icewind Dale was the least favorite of those style of games due to the endless combat and lack of real companions like BG had.

I also don't worry about how close to rules X and Y a game is as long as the game is fun to play (for me) and has what I like in a game. So will table this for now as I have plenty to keep me busy.

Glad others will enjoy it and appreciate all the comments outlining in more detail what the game is about.

Sounds like the game should be renamed Combatsa

I'll try it for sures.

The map travel is also original and quite cool

It can be automated, you can specify if the party travels fast, normal or slow (being the less risky, but that takes more resting). You can use this time to start crafting, too, though I haven't tried it yet. The journal is updating with facts that happen along the way, while you see the progress on a beautiful map. You can also interrupt the journey anytime to check things and for the crafting. Rests or the journey can be interrupted by encounters.

A little bit like Pathfinder, but not quite the same.

Nicely done!

wolfgrimdark said:

Anyone try it yet? I am curious how characters in the party interact with each other, if at all, since this game is taking a different approach to that.

From what I understand this isn't about the player character its about the player party. Meaning you don't have a player and followers. Its all about the party. So not sure what that means for interaction, as followers are a key enjoyment for me these days in games.

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As you create a character you'll pick a few personality traits for them; the available traits are influenced by their class, background, and alignment. For ex: a LG paladin with the "Aristocrat" background has a choice between "Egoism", "Lawfulness", "Authority", "Kindness" and "Altruism". They can each end up with 3 traits making up their personality and they'll also have either Formal or Casual (slang) speech style.

When playing the game and you have dialogue, you'll typically have a choice for each character that is influenced by their personality traits. So you're basically choosing who decides to speak for the party at a given moment. Some of the other party members might comment on what you said during dialogue. Sometimes the dialogue choice will involved a skill check w/ a dice roll for success like deception.

Basically if you want to have a wide range of things to say you'll want to make sure to create party members with different personality traits because it seems you can't make a "greedy" character give altruistic responses or vice versa.

And there's also random comments and banter during exploration, but of course you won't have any control over that (beyond picking their traits during creation, perhaps).

Some impressions from reddit here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/rpg_gamers/comments/jerau6/tactical_rpg_solasta_crown_of_the_magister/

Found this one to be a good short summary:

-Roleplaying is rather light
-Writing is so-so, can’t put my finger on it but it feels off
-I hope they’ll improve models a lot or stop showing close-ups while talking. I don’t care much for graphics, but the models look very bad when zoomed in
-Combat is pretty cool and can be unforgiving
-Amazing interface, much better than BG3/PF:KM
-Great tutorial and explanations of what is what
-Jumping looks so much better than the anime-style of it in BG3
-More D&D feeling than BG3

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I haven't played EA (but played demo) and I disagree with interface look/being amazing but I guess that's all personal preferences.

This is sounding great... I have DL'd this game, but 3 kids, and a FT job, has precluded me playing it yet!

I love the idea of giving the characters personalities in their voices!! Something I have been asking for multiple times in threads.... Wizardry 8 hooked me on that lol!

I do wonder if 5E ruleset can limit what can be done in a computer game... I will see how it goes. I am not 100% sold on 5E yet... advantage and disadvantage is almost too simple of computer games IMO... but I will see I guess.

graphics is gravy if the game is good... You don't need it, but it is nice!

I do hope they do well with sales! These guys are heading in the right direction for sure! Also I too would hope for modding tools to be made at some point. DLC's would also be very welcome!

I have played a few hours so far. The game is good. The more I play the more I like it. The implementation of D&D5 ruleset is really good. The combat is good, but the animations are somewhat slow to my liking. However, this game has 2 problems IMO:

- It is too linear. They could fix that by implementing (more) side quests and more freedom in map exploration. But the devs already said that this is not the focus of the game, they visioned a game more tactical, like XCOM, and that is where their focus lie.

- The visuals. Particularly the character models and the UI. The environment is pretty neat though. But oh boy, the faces and hair models in this game need a serious rework. They are so ugly and weird. Head and hands are a little bit too big for my liking. And the UI is a weird greyish that doesn't match the content of the game.

Other than that the game is good!

gabrielarantest said:

I have played a few hours so far. The game is good. The more I play the more I like it. The implementation of D&D5 ruleset is really good. The combat is good, but the animations are somewhat slow to my liking. However, this game has 2 problems IMO:

- It is too linear. They could fix that by implementing (more) side quests and more freedom in map exploration. But the devs already said that this is not the focus of the game, they visioned a game more tactical, like XCOM, and that is where their focus lie.

- The visuals. Particularly the character models and the UI. The environment is pretty neat though. But oh boy, the faces and hair models in this game need a serious rework. They are so ugly and weird. Head and hands are a little bit too big for my liking. And the UI is a weird greyish that doesn't match the content of the game.

Other than that the game is good!

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I don't care much about the visual, they could bring back infinity engine models and I wouldn't mind. But the linear part worries me a little more. This is the sort of things that make me stop playing games such as the Banner Saga.

I've seen the Solasta Steam reviews that say it's better than BG3, as troubling as that is, but I don't really believe it. I'm waiting for BG3 Enhanced Edition before I jump in as I've played all the Larian games, I've played DOS in beta and regretted it and I know Larian and what they do and when I should play, so I can't really give any comparison between the two.

However, while I usually avoid Early Access games, I was just a little too curious to find out a bit more about these developers so I went in early to check it out.

What I discovered is there's really not very much there.

The combat system works very well, the GUI is clean and accessible. It's a great 5E setup. However, the combat encounters are surprisingly few and all very easy. I did have my fighter pushed off an edge to his death at one point but I never had to reload.

The game is very linear and I think it could be better with some optional hard paths and out of depth encounters. But based off a "dream" high-level encounter, where you control a 150HP paladin fighting off small and large of the same monster, I'd guess there are very few exciting encounters to look forward to when the glimpse of whats coming is pretty much the same monster rescaled into a big version.

I think a lot of players will actually enjoy the easy encounters. But if you're the type of player who always plays on hard then you will walk though this early access offering.

What is unique about this game is the reliance on light sources to avoid disadvantage rolls, which isn't really fully realised, and a somewhat missed opportunity for puzzles with the interactive blocks and beams that can only be pushed one way. In Dark Souls, you would sometimes kick down a tree as a shortcut back the way you came and opening shortcuts felt satisfying. But in Solasta I feel like there's really no point forcing the player to kick down a beam every few steps to fill in the linear path forward. Considering there's only 2 or 3 encounters per map, I would prefer to spend more of my time fighting than watching movement animations that cannot be avoided.

In town, you'll find most of the shops have required reputation to buy their items that can be raised by deciding who gets the relic. But, at this time, it's mostly just +1 junk and not very exciting.

There's also an interesting Scavenger NPC who is supposed to automatically sell all the left over trash loot from the maps, but the feature is still work in progress and doesn't work.

There is a lot of talking in the game. Those who like a storyline are well enough catered for and it's easy enough to make a party that can speak all the languages and make all the dice checks so you'll never miss anything. There's so little content that it does make sense to let the player see it all, but there won't be anything missed to discover on a second playthough.

Also of note is the traveling is kinda cool with little flavour events like saying the party sings a song or finds some tasty mushrooms, gaining extra rations.

The graphics vary from very nice in the maps, though requiring a lot of manual camera rotation, to pretty average in the conversations where the faces close up are not great and often reused.

Overall, I think there's a strong foundation there in which to build a solid game. But there is a lot of work left to be done. It's clearly a small team with a small budget, and I don't see much genius to their design like I do with other small developers such as Human Head Games with Grimrock and Druidstone. But, again, others might find HHG to be too puzzley or so tactical it becomes a puzzle and really enjoy never feeling overwhelmed in Solasta. So, I think Solasta is a decent game with a lot of potential and even more work to be done to realise it.

PS.
In case anyone was wondering, my party is a fairly generic one with a

Dwarf fighter, 2handed weapons, Champion spec.
Human Cleric, background that allows Martial weapons, Life domain.
Human Mage, background that allows Medium armor, Combat spec.
Halfling Thief

I used the old dice roll method and got a couple of 18s so they're pretty strong.

SirJames said:

Overall, I think there's a strong foundation there in which to build a solid game. But there is a lot of work left to be done. It's clearly a small team with a small budget, and I don't see much genius to their design like I do with other small developers such as Human Head Games with Grimrock and Druidstone.

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(By the way I laughed at your Kevin avatar pic!!)

Agree!
I bought this and paid a little extra on top to support them. I think they are doing good things, but more support would see good results I suspect!

I am enjoying it so far, but as you said, the linearity of the game is a concern. Still, with more time and work, that may be liberated in the future. I note that there is room on starting a game for more campaigns!! Says a lot about their intentions!

I do wonder if you can get through the game using abnormal class groupings, such as a team of 3 wizards and a cleric, or 3 fighters and a ranger... Do you NEED a cleric or Rogue to complete it? Anyone been far enough into the game to know for sure?

Stahl33 said:

(By the way I laughed at your Kevin avatar pic!!)

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Nice one! You'd have to be Aussie to see how funny it is.

Stahl33 said:

Agree!
I bought this and paid a little extra on top to support them. I think they are doing good things, but more support would see good results I suspect!

I am enjoying it so far, but as you said, the linearity of the game is a concern. Still, with more time and work, that may be liberated in the future. I note that there is room on starting a game for more campaigns!! Says a lot about their intentions!

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Yeah, I'd say their hearts are in the right place. I'd much rather have an honest little supporter DLC that doesn't rob other players of content than most other money making schemes.

Stahl33 said:

I do wonder if you can get through the game using abnormal class groupings, such as a team of 3 wizards and a cleric, or 3 fighters and a ranger… Do you NEED a cleric or Rogue to complete it? Anyone been far enough into the game to know for sure?

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I dont think you NEED them. I've certainly used a lot of healing spells. The thief abilities not so much. The occasional locked chest, a couple of traps. Probably the most useful was lockpicking a hut when I hadn't packed enough rations for a long journey and didn't have enough left to do a long rest. But the thief is an excellent combatant who, at the moment, has the best AC by 1 and can move long distances for a sneak attack and then Disengage and run away again without taking an attack of opportunity. The fighter does land some huge crits, but with most the enemy hitpoints being so low a lot of that damage is wasted. I forget how often you can use the fighter self healing but I think the Action Surge was once per long rest so I've mostly been ignoring the fighters powers making the thief seem a bit better.