Solasta - Early Access Release

The Early Access version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister has been released:

Early Access LAUNCH Trailer - Solasta: Crown of the Magister

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More information.

The Early Access version of Solasta includes Act 1 and a teensy bit of Act 2 – which should be more than 10h of content to go through.

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.

In Solasta, you take control of four heroes, each with unique skills that complement one another. Every hero expresses themselves in the adventure, making each action and dialog choice a dynamic part to the story. Players will create their heroes just as they would in a pen-and-paper game by choosing their race, class, personality and rolling for their stats.​

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.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
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.

There was party banter in the demo, and I thought it was done well. That's with the premade party though. Not sure how it's going to work in the full game with a player-made party.

Very interested by this game. But I think I will wait for the full release. Got too many games to play to, at the moment, anyhow.

Originally Posted by wolfgrimdark
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.

That's also my biggest negative about this game. If it changes I might be interested in playing. You might want to read the QA's as the developer has a strict vision.

Basically certain aspects aren't important to them. They focused on other areas.

Played about 40 minutes. Loved the character creator and found the mechanics of the ruleset, on-screen dicerolls and its explanation to be more understandable than BG3 (since they share similarities). Gameplaywise it's not really fair to compare it to Original Sin or BG, which I'm seeing a lot of people do. A modern take on Icewind Dale-ish style of gameplay I suppose.

Originally Posted by yemeth
A modern take on Icewind Dale-ish style of gameplay I suppose.

Good comparison but more The Temple of Elemental Evil in my opinion.

Originally Posted by yemeth
A modern take on Icewind Dale-ish style of gameplay I suppose.

Is it possible to to do the fights in "real time" ?

Just got home, got my backer key a few days ago. Going to download it and give it a go even though I’d like to continue my BG3 game. I’ll give this a few hours.

Originally Posted by vanedor
Is it possible to to do the fights in "real time" ?

Pretty sure its TB only.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Pretty sure its TB only.

It is.

Thanks for the heads up. This only leaves Realms Beyond as my sole remaining Kickstarter. Cleared out this and Knights of the Chalice II recently. Getting that old D&D itch scratched.

Originally Posted by yemeth
Played about 40 minutes. Loved the character creator and found the mechanics of the ruleset, on-screen dicerolls and its explanation to be more understandable than BG3 (since they share similarities). Gameplaywise it's not really fair to compare it to Original Sin or BG, which I'm seeing a lot of people do. A modern take on Icewind Dale-ish style of gameplay I suppose.

Please god don't let it be a slog fest like Icewind Dale. While I loved the atmosphere of IWD I could never get very far due to it being just combat after combat after combat as well as it was done.

Combat heavy in TB… Could be fun for a little while, but this combination risks getting boring quickly!
Otherwise it sounds really good, and I look forward to it!

It reminds me a bit of NWN or NWN 2. Except the turned-based mode and the fact some dungeons have a layered verticality to them that wasn't seen back then. But the city and the way it's a bit static with NPCs to meet, the clear and precise action mechanics in combat, the presentation of the characters and interactions between them, … is very reminiscent of those games. This comes with modern improvements of course.

One of the main differences is the whole party as central hero. From the look of it, it seems hard-limited to 4 permanent characters, no more, no fewer. With of course extra companions possibly joining sometimes.

It seems that there are banter and such between custom-created characters. I've only created one custom and taken 3 pre-made, and they do interact with one another. I'll have to see if there's anything missing which would relate to the character's background, I've only seen superficial banter which could apply to anyone.

After a few hours, I'm still impressed and I think it's very promising. There are only a very few minor gripes with the way some elements are presented (like the dialogs, and the big quest pointers that will surely be removed when difficulty settings are added), but they can't ruin the overall good impression one gets with this new CPRG.

I'm not yet in the thick of it to judge whether combat vs exploring vs story is dominant in the game. And it's probably too early in the release to tell, story-telling is something that can be completed and added later.

I play NWN 1&2 with mods still and this game feels nothing like them. Yemeth's correct above as I tried the demo finally. It's closer to Icewind Dale & Temple of Elemental Evil.

The whole vertical mechanic just puts a new spin on how you play. So that's a plus.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I play NWN 1&2 with mods still and this game feels nothing like them. Yemeth's correct above as I tried the demo finally. It's closer to Icewind Dale & Temple of Elemental Evil.

The whole vertical mechanic just puts a new spin on how you play. So that's a plus.

Ah, I haven't played that one, I'll take your word for it. But by lack of other games to compare to, I mean it's certainly more like an NWN 2 than a BG3 (to which it's heavily compared) or D:OS.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
Ah, I haven't played that one, I'll take your word for it. But by lack of other games to compare to, I mean it's certainly more like an NWN 2 than a BG3 (to which it's heavily compared) or D:OS.

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??

When you play this game, it is hard to compare it to others in the recent past. Some say Icewind Dale, others say Divinity Original Sin, some even say Baldur's Gate 3. This is its own game. It has its own deities, lore, and play style. To me this game is more closely aligned with the SSI gold box series from the 80s, in that you control an entire party. The banter between characters occurs whether you play with all pregen, a mix of pregens and custom, or all custom characters. The gameplay has a true feel of DnD 5th ed even if the setting isnt Faerun. In fact, they nail the tabletop experience better than BG3. If you are looking for a D:OS clone or a BG3 clone, this isn't it. The environment isnt truly interactive (sorry no exploding barrels). First off the developer is a lot smaller than Larian or Black Isle, so the game concentrated on their vision rather than fan service (though there still is plenty of that). Tactical Adventures also was constrained by what they could include. There is a document that Wizards of the Coast licenses for projects and I am guessing they went with the one they could afford at the time, which leaves some gaps in what they can and cannot use. The smaller developer also concentrated on the combat feel and they nailed it. The combat truly feels like I am playing DnD with my friends on a game table. It is my opinion that this game has truly nailed that DnD to computer hybrid. The only issue I have with the game is that multi-classing is not a thing. Select your archetype at level 3 which can give you some cross-skills but nothing compared to a multi-class character. Again, not fair to compare it to a game made by a larger studio. Tactical Adventures reminds me of a time where I played the SSI gold box games, but this time I am getting a place other than Faeurn or Krynn and a better tabletop translated experience. All that and with 7 hours played, I have yet to run into a game breaking bug or glitch. Simply well done!