I suspect I will get it at some point if nothing else is on my radar but I am far more excited about WotR and BG3 final releases coming out. Those two games are a blast to play in all areas and have very nice visuals and mechanics, great story, and really satisfy my gaming itch.
I am glad Solasta is doing well - if they sell a lot then maybe the next game will be a bit richer in features and visuals. Plus more variety is good - gives more options for people to find a game they really enjoy.
Indeed. I do enjoy Solasta,
a lot. For me it came out of the left field. The first time I heard of it was on release day. Checked it out because I could (XBox Gamepass was still active this month). Got intrigued by the character creation, researched the 5E rules, started playing, and now I get the "just one more area" feeling late at night.
Comparing it to Pathfinder: Kingmaker or maybe D:OS 2, which were the last party based RPGs I played - Well, I'm not sure they
can be compared, really. They are different beasts.
Solasta feels a lot like a Blobber, at least that's the vibe I'm getting. Full custom party, dungeon-romping, relatively linear in terms of progression, fairly "authentic", every so slightly dreadful atmosphere. Of course, it can't really be compared to Blobbers either, because of it's focus on tactical gameplay as well as character and story presentation. But still.
I love the unique way the story is told, through
my characters. I get to see them interact as a group of adventurers, in full view, all the time. They each have different, fitting voices. Sure, objectively speaking it's not an AAA presentation, but it doesn't need to be. For what it is, it's just fine.
Last, but not least, the pretty faithful D&D rules implementation. This is another strength in this case. I have actually never played P&P - nor did I every play a CRPG that adhered to the original rules to this degree. Seeing it in action, including how the different pieces go together, I can say that it does work even in a video game and I'm having fun with it. It seems as if Solasta was made with this in mind from the get-go, which makes it, as a game, a unique Dungeons & Dragons experience.
Take resting for instance. In Baldur's Gate 1/2 having to rest to recharge wizard spells always felt like a clutch to me. That was probably because the game itself was paced and played differently, with RTwP and all. In Solasta, it feels natural. Baldur's Gate 3 has some fundamental rule changes for now, from what I've seen, which is a pity, because in their essence the rules themselves are there for a reason. Change one thing and all the other pieces don't fit that well anymore. On the other hand, Larian have a different gameplay focus, for various
other reasons, so some homebrew rules are undoubtedly necessary to make the whole experience coherent. Looking forward to how it all plays out.
D&D rules aren't perfect all the time either, so there's that. Off the top of my head, Clerics can normally only wear medium armor in 5E; Life Clerics are allowed to wear Heavy Armor. Thematically that makes no sense to me, I'd have thought heavy armor would fit more with a combat oriented Cleric. I would have preferred the other direction, like the Ecclesitheurge from Pathfinder who wear neither shield nor armor. Anyway, this was done apparently because during playtesting it was found that Life Clerics died too often. Fair enough. Still I don't like the theme, which is why I ultimately switched my Cleric from Life to Sun. That, and the fact that I like armor diversity in my party.
Well, seems like I digressed a bit.
In summary, yeah, different strokes for different moods.