RPGWatch Feature - Solasta Early Access Preview

Redglyph played the Early Access version of Solasta: Crown of the Magister and penned down some words about what he experienced.

Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a turn-based tactical RPG based on the SRD 5.1 ruleset, developed by Tactical Adventures. This will be the first title released by this new French studio of about 10 passionate and experienced game developers. It is issued from a Kickstarter campaign, which successfully concluded in October 2019 with a budget of 243,855EUR (against an 180,000EUR goal).

They released a first demo in September 2019 for the Kickstarter campaign; it was updated a few times and was already quite impressive for such an early work. The Early Access started on 20 October 2020, and received a significant update end of December. It offers about 14 hours of content, so less than half the final release according to their estimation; this will of course vary depending on how you play.

More information.

Another game on my wishlist - thanks Redglyph!

Yup, also features highly on my desired-to-play-soonish list, thanks for the update!

This may be the only game I've ever actually played during EA and even now it's in great shape. I am really looking forward to the final product.

I certainly like it and can't wait for the full game.

So before I read the preview it wont just be fanboy gushing will it @Redglyph?

Just kidding I actually had minimal interest in this game at one point in time, but a few of your past posts made me rethink my opinion. Still think I rather play BG3 though.

Anyway just imagine if this studio was larger and had a bigger budget.

Thanks for the in-depth preview @Redglyph!

Just wondering - I noticed spell book in the inventory. Do you need magic book to cast spells? Does it work a bit like Pillar's grimoire (i.e. it allow you to cast spells within the magic book on top of what you memorised?)

Edit: I love the mage outfit in this game!

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Just wondering - I noticed spell book in the inventory. Do you need magic book to cast spells? Does it work a bit like Pillar's grimoire (i.e. it allow you to cast spells within the magic book on top of what you memorised?)

No, there's nothing like that that I'm aware of unless it was added since the last time I played. It seems like they stuck pretty close to the 5th Edition rules as far as magic is concerned.

Originally Posted by JDR13
No, there's nothing like that that I'm aware of unless it was added since the last time I played. It seems like they stuck pretty close to the 5th Edition rules as far as magic is concerned.

Huh ok. I was referring to this screenshot:



I wonder what it's for then?

Edit: Image won't load - just put in link there

That's just her standard Mage spellbook.

Thanks for the in-depth preview!

Now I must just resist playing it until it's released… So looking forwards playing it!

Already bought it this Xmas, can't wait for it to be completed.

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Thanks for the in-depth preview @Redglyph!

Just wondering - I noticed spell book in the inventory. Do you need magic book to cast spells? Does it work a bit like Pillar's grimoire (i.e. it allow you to cast spells within the magic book on top of what you memorised?)

Edit: I love the mage outfit in this game!

Good questions! In short, yes, you need it very much, and you can cast the new spells but you need a long rest to select & prepare the spells as usual

The spellbook contains the spells you add when levelling up, and if you lose the spellbook you can't use them anymore. You keep the cantrip though, and the spells you have prepared until they are spent.

If another wizard gives your their spellbook, you instantly know the new spells: you see them in the spell list, except the cantrips of course. But you can't copy the spells in your own spellbook (bug/missing feature?), for example before giving back the spellbook to its owner.

In previous versions of D&D you had to copy them by passing an INT(Spellcraft) check first, not anymore in the 5th edition, which is weird. But that explains they're immediately available.

You can also transcribe scrolls to your spellbook. Or the other way round, which is another way to transmit spells.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
Good questions! In short, yes, you need it very much, and you can cast the new spells but you need a long rest to select & prepare the spells as usual

The spellbook contains the spells you add when levelling up, and if you lose the spellbook you can't use them anymore. You keep the cantrip though, and the spells you have prepared until they are spent.

If another wizard gives your their spellbook, you instantly know the new spells: you see them in the spell list, except the cantrips of course. But you can't copy the spells in your own spellbook (bug/missing feature?), for example before giving back the spellbook to its owner.

In previous versions of D&D you had to copy them by passing an INT(Spellcraft) check first, not anymore in the 5th edition, which is weird. But that explains they're immediately available.

You can also transcribe scrolls to your spellbook. Or the other way round, which is another way to transmit spells.

Interesting. I never played TT so didn't know you actually need spell book in inventory (and can swap the book between casters!) Thanks for the explanation

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
So before I read the preview it wont just be fanboy gushing will it @Redglyph?

Just kidding I actually had minimal interest in this game at one point in time, but a few of your past posts made me rethink my opinion. Still think I rather play BG3 though.

Anyway just imagine if this studio was larger and had a bigger budget.

Well, to be honest, the first time I gave my opinion after their first release, I think I saw more in the story than what there actually was in the game itself. After taking a step back and replaying it, I have to admit the dialogs are conversation-oriented, not much descriptive. D:OS2 narrator is not there, if you will.

But overall it's really very good! And the story still has time to grow, I just hope they put more effort in narration than pure conversation and action, and perhaps deeper conversations, but this may well be how they want the game to feel. We'll see

Originally Posted by purpleblob
Interesting. I never played TT so didn't know you actually need spell book in inventory (and can swap the book between casters!) Thanks for the explanation

It was a surprise to me too, then I saw in the D&D Player's Handbook that wizards normally had an actual spellbook as part of their equipment. Nice touch.

I just did a quick test and a few things seem broken, though. So we'll see in which direction they go with that.

Sounds really nice! I have had this game on my wishlist for a while now but your preview has motivated me to move it up to the "top 10 most wanted". Thanks!

I'm hoping that this game is a hit and Wizards of the Coast gives them full rights to D&D 5e for their next game.

Nice preview.

Thanks for reading it!
I tend to be on the "long" side in posts, I realize this preview isn't an exception to the rule

Originally Posted by Hastar
I'm hoping that this game is a hit and Wizards of the Coast gives them full rights to D&D 5e for their next game.

That'd be awesome for them! Not sure those rights are "given" though.

On the one hand, it's good to have an original setting, now and then. Not sure having access to the D&D lore would have saved them any time in the current context anyway. But on the other hand, if they had such access for their next game and if they're more comfortable resource-wise, they would have to dig a little bit into it but could come up with something more fleshed out, using a lot of references to existing texts.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
That'd be awesome for them! Not sure those rights are "given" though.

On the one hand, it's good to have an original setting, now and then. Not sure having access to the D&D lore would have saved them any time in the current context anyway. But on the other hand, if they had such access for their next game and if they're more comfortable resource-wise, they would have to dig a little bit into it but could come up with something more fleshed out, using a lot of references to existing texts.

Yeah, it's certainly pretty expensive… and while I like the familiarity and the depth of the Forgotten Realms, not having it is not a deal breaker for me and having this in a custom world can be different and quite interesting.