Solasta - Difficulty Settings

HiddenX · February 16, 2021

Learn more about the difficulty settings of Solasta: Crown of the Magister:

Cracking Open The Difficulty Settings

Hey there folks!

This week we'll be rolling Intelligence (Investigation) checks on the Difficulty Settings of Solasta. We briefly talked about them in a previous update, but it's time to get into the nitty gritty details - this way you'll know exactly your options at launch!

But before that, let's give a warm hello to our 3D Programmer's sleepy doggo, Newt.

Preset Difficulty Settings
As with most games nowadays, we will be offering you a few preset difficulty settings to choose from when you start a new adventure. Note that each of those preset can be manually adjusted at any time during your campaign (we'll be going into more details in the next section).

Iron Man has not yet been implemented, but we haven't forgotten about it!

Story Mode, as its name implies, allows players who are not familiar with RPGs to simply enjoy the story. In this mode, damage taken by your party will be severely reduced and you will receive bonuses on most of your dice rolls, as well as having your character automatically revive at the end of each fight. Some features are disabled, among which needing food to rest, having to roll concentration checks when hit and spellcasting being restrained by the spell components.

Explorer Mode offers a more difficult challenge already. While the party still retains some bonuses to their rolls and a slight damage reduction, monsters will mostly be operating at full capacity so don't lure yourself into thinking that it will be a walk in the park. For players who aren't so familiar with the tabletop ruleset, Explorer Mode might be a good starting place.

Authentic Mode is the game as we, the Tactical Adventures crew, play it. No modifiers, true RNG dice rolls that will make you curse the gods for making you miss 5 times in a row - only you, your characters, and the computer as a cold merciless DM.

If you feel like the game is going too easy on you, Scavenger is here to spice things up!

Scavenger Mode will go beyond, making monsters slighter tougher... but much more vicious! At that level of difficulty, monsters will start attacking unconscious characters to finish them off, try to shove characters off cliffs and use powerful moves more frequently (still within the ruleset limits though).

Cataclysm Mode is there for those who've played the game in and out and are looking for the ultimate challenge. Monsters at this stage are not only vicious, they are also incredibly beefed up - on top of which your party will receive 50% more damage from any source. Prepare to die...

[...]

Thanks Henriquejr!

More information.

henriquejr · February 16, 2021

Game has a lot of settings for us to tamper with! Good!

wolfgrimdark · February 17, 2021

Oh nice, was waiting to hear more about this before I got the game. Since they offer a nice variety pretty much a given I will pick it up when released now.

crpgnut · February 17, 2021

Who will be the first to say they only play cataclysm mode with a solo character and don't wear armor, weapons, or use spells? We always get one moron who claims something goofy like this. Like if they don't claim to play the game on the hardest settings it means they can't get it up or something

JDR13 · February 17, 2021

crpgnut said:
Who will be the first to say they only play cataclysm mode with a solo character and don't wear armor, weapons, or use spells? We always get one moron who claims something goofy like this. Like if they don't claim to play the game on the hardest settings it means they can't get it up or something

GothicGothicness will claim that mode could have been a little harder.

I don't think that makes him/her a moron though. You seem to be a little touchy about the difficulty thing for some reason seeing as how you've made similar comments in the past.

DR490N · February 17, 2021

I'm at the opposite : I like story/explorer mode to try weird/stupid solo builds

It's nice that plenty of games include these modes (which is not always the case. Looking at you Iron Tower Studio). My favorite is when there is a custom difficulty mode where I can tune the rules as much as I want.

"My game, my rules" (as stated by the WeMod app, which is great for games with not so many options).

Redglyph · February 17, 2021

Nice to have the full explanation of what they showed in January. I'll appreciate the Health & Rest options, carrying heavy food that may disappear during the travel isn't my cup of tea. Perhaps the dialog ones too, although turning it completely off is drastic so I'll probably keep it.

That's really a lot of options!

Feist · February 17, 2021

Bought this during steams "Lunar Sale".

I'll probably choose "Authentic Mode", which I assume will include such things as carrying food for camping, maybe treating wounds and/or disease with medicine over time and similar "survival aspects", which I feel adds a little to the atmosphere of the game.

JDR13 · February 17, 2021

Feist said:
I'll probably choose "Authentic Mode", which I assume will include such things as carrying food for camping, maybe treating wounds and/or disease with medicine over time and similar "survival aspects", which I feel adds a little to the atmosphere of the game.

Same here. Authentic Mode sounds like something akin to Core Rules in the IE games. It should be challenging but not unfair or overly frustrating.

Nereida · February 17, 2021

Cataclysm mode from day 1

Nereida · February 17, 2021

crpgnut said:
Who will be the first to say they only play cataclysm mode with a solo character and don't wear armor, weapons, or use spells? We always get one moron who claims something goofy like this. Like if they don't claim to play the game on the hardest settings it means they can't get it up or something

To me it's not a matter of "getting it up" (I don't even have anything to get up!), it's about challenge and sense of self-accomplishment. It's just like a runner likes pushing her limits every day to do better, and she doesn't do it to show off or think herself superior to people who walk or use cars, it's just a choice that makes her happy with herself and does not hurt anyone else in the process.

I do not understand the bitterness, but I hope that post helped you pluck it out, whatever it is. :heart:

SirJames · February 17, 2021

crpgnut said:
Who will be the first to say they only play cataclysm mode with a solo character and don't wear armor, weapons, or use spells? We always get one moron who claims something goofy like this. Like if they don't claim to play the game on the hardest settings it means they can't get it up or something

Yeah, look. Some people play on hardest, some people struggle with the stealth tutorial. It doesn't matter. Everyone is allowed to enjoy the game as they please.

fatknacker50 · February 17, 2021

Nereida said:
To me it's not a matter of "getting it up" (I don't even have anything to get up!), it's about challenge and sense of self-accomplishment. It's just like a runner likes pushing her limits every day to do better, and she doesn't do it to show off or think herself superior to people who walk or use cars, it's just a choice that makes her happy with herself and does not hurt anyone else in the process.

I do not understand the bitterness, but I hope that post helped you pluck it out, whatever it is.

For the use of so many pronouns

crpgnut · February 17, 2021

As my little winky shows, I'm making fun. There! I admitted to having a little winky :biggrin:

P.S. I am actually supporting Solasta by purchasing the EA version. Only EA supporter's posts mean anything in this thread, lol.

P.P.S. 'nut plays a role of a grumpy gamer. His posts are meant to "rile" the unwashed masses. Thank you for replying. My fake job is done

Couchpotato · February 17, 2021

crpgnut said:
P.P.S. 'nut plays a role of a grumpy gamer. His posts are meant to "rile" the unwashed masses. Thank you for replying. My fake job is done

Yep that's why I love your posts. From a fellow grumpy poster who does the same.:lol:

Carnifex · February 17, 2021

Perhaps I'm in a minority, but I much prefer when games had a single difficulty setting. We all played the same version, so the comparisons and discussions about the game were always equal. Now, if the higher settings actually made the combat tougher, not just with inflated hit points or harsh penalties to the player, but perhaps the game would fight harder with no quarter, something that actually made it....more difficult.

With all that said, this is a game I'm looking foward to.

crpgnut · February 17, 2021

It's decent overall. I'm not a big fan of the "verticality" they brag about. To be honest, this is just a reason to make you take longer to complete a map. You'll walk to the ne corner and move a stone, crawl in the opening, climb a wall and walk a ledge to another pillar/stone/wall/etc. The map is small overall but it takes a long time to complete each because of a ton of backtracking; all within the same small map.

AD&D combat is there in full though. Tons of race/class options and all classes with have a choice of variants as you play. For instance, a Hill Dwarf Paladin is different than a Half Elf Paladin. The latter is actually a better choice in many cases, due to charisma buffs. However, the Hill Dwarf makes a better tank due to better HP. From there you can choose different Oaths which grant even more differences to the base class. All of that stuff makes the game very replayable.

I've probably played every race and class combo through the first dungeon at least, to get a taste of which I'd like best. These playstyle choices replace the standard multiclass options which do not exist.

One thing that is mildly cool is that different factions have merchants that sell the better items. You will no be able to buy a wand of magic missiles from an average trader. You will need to curry favor with the "lootmeister" faction if you want that item. Of course, you can find magic items too, though they are very rare. This is not a monty haul campaign at all.

I gave it a mild thumbs down on my review, but I could change that depending on how the later dungeons go. If they stay tiny in size but complex in traveling, the thumbs down will stay. If they get bigger with more complex fights instead of traversal, then I may change it. I'm on the bubble with it.

GothicGothicness · February 17, 2021

JDR13 said:
GothicGothicness will claim that mode could have been a little harder.

I don't think that makes him/her a moron though. You seem to be a little touchy about the difficulty thing for some reason seeing as how you've made similar comments in the past.

Not for D&D based combat.. I am far from an expert at that.....

Pineapple Ferguson · February 17, 2021

Carnifex said:
Perhaps I'm in a minority, but I much prefer when games had a single difficulty setting. We all played the same version, so the comparisons and discussions about the game were always equal. Now, if the higher settings actually made the combat tougher, not just with inflated hit points or harsh penalties to the player, but perhaps the game would fight harder with no quarter, something that actually made it….more difficult.

With all that said, this is a game I'm looking foward to.

I disagree.. I mean, first, does it matter if you beat the game on its hardest default settings while someone else struggled? For me, it's about having a good time with the game, and when devs include these types of user-controlled settings, it's only a good thing.

Example: I *do* want the AI to be as brutal as possible without cheating and I want the game to adhere core rules as much as possible, but I might want to tweak the encumbrance rules a bit because it may not be fun for me (although with being able to hire scavengers to go clean up your mess, I may not even bother with that.)

Now imagine that the only way to ease the encumbrance restrictions was if that setting was only available when playing on Story mode, but that setting also disabled critical hits against your party, gave you +10 to all your rolls, and monsters never used their strongest abilities. That would absolutely ruin the experience for me too.

So yeah, giving the players the control to tailor the settings to their needs is the right thing to do. It's no different than having a DM who understands that having fun is the most important thing, because even though the dice came up that a trap went off, did max damage, and vaporized someone's favorite character, it may not be the right thing to do.

purpleblob · February 17, 2021

I like having choices in difficulty. I can choose to play the game in storymode if I want to rush through the game to experience the story or challenge myself with tough combat if I want.

Unfortunately, this still doesn't seem to stop some people complaining how the game is too hard/easy. Ah well.

Solasta - Difficulty Settings

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