Solasta: Crown of the Magister: Leaves EA 27 May

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Solasta: Crown of the Magister: Leaves EA 27 May

Post by Wrathbone » Tue Oct 20, 2020 7:58 pm

This is available on early access today, and I've taken the plunge since it's another RPG using licensed D&D 5E rules.

First impressions after two hours are fantastic. It's a very different take to BG3 as your party is created from scratch rather than meeting predefined companions. What's interesting is that your party dialogue (all voiced) appears to be somewhat dynamic based on the personality traits you select for them, so while the writing is a bit uneven and hammy, it does feel like a classic adventuring group. The tutorial is great, as you get a brief mini-mission for each individual party member to show what happened on their way to the tavern.

The combat is where Solasta really shines. If my concerns with BG3 were over Larian's implementation of the 5E rules, my response to this is the complete opposite. They've nailed it. Everything I'd expect to be there is present and working intuitively (with the exception of sneak attack, which I've not quite figured out yet), and the grid-based system which properly implements cover gives it a feel of D&D meets X-COM. I hope Larian are taking notes because for me this proves that trusting the rules and not messing with them too much pays off.

It's a tad rough around the edges and the focus seems to be more on capturing the feel of a D&D game than telling a well-crafted story, but this is far better than I'd hoped. Frankly I'm more excited about Solasta than BG3 right now.

EDIT - Worth mentioning that not all races and classes are available yet, and I'm not sure if or when more will be implemented. Currently the avaialable classes are fighter, paladin, cleric, ranger, rogue and wizard, and the races are human, elf, half-elf, dwarf and halfling (with all but human and half-elf having two variants).

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:48 pm

I've heard this mentioned on the BG3 forums but didn't really know anything about it until I read your OP.

Sounds like it could be right up my alley, might check it out.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Tue Oct 20, 2020 8:53 pm

Bought. The WB seal of approval is about all I need for RPGs! :)

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:02 am

:)

I think you'll like it. It doesn't have the polish of BG3 but it absolutely has heart.

And painful exposition. But in an endearing way. :lol:

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:00 am

*Launches game*

*Spends over an hour in the character creator*

:lol:

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:14 am

Yep, I think spent the best part of an hour creating my party! Really enjoyed that, though. Hopefully there will be more cosmetic options in the full release.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:22 am

Wrathbone wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:14 am
Yep, I think spent the best part of an hour creating my party! Really enjoyed that, though. Hopefully there will be more cosmetic options in the full release.
Yeah, the face options for a female dwarf in particular were, well... let's just say I now know why they mainly live underground. In the dark.

Still, the adventures of Uggo the sellsword will go down in legend, I'm sure :lol:

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Oct 21, 2020 10:31 am

That caused a fountain of coffee to go over my keyboard. :lol:

My lot are fairly boring in looks, but my paladin does sound perpetually half-cut.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:20 pm

Have you got a rogue in your party?

I can't work out how to get mine to hide during combat to get sneak attack, is there a trick to it I'm not seeing?

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by arqueturus » Wed Oct 21, 2020 3:26 pm

This looks rather interesting. It does look a tad rough in the trailers - how does it come accross in the EA release? Performant enough for older systems?

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Wrathbone » Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:03 pm

I’m running it on a 2070 so I can’t say with any certainty how it would run on an old machine, but it uses the Unity engine which is generally pretty good on older hardware. It’s certainly not a looker, without being outright ugly. I’ve seen some people saying the UI is bland - I find it nicely functional, though.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by arqueturus » Thu Oct 22, 2020 12:18 pm

Wrathbone wrote:
Wed Oct 21, 2020 4:03 pm
I’m running it on a 2070 so I can’t say with any certainty how it would run on an old machine, but it uses the Unity engine which is generally pretty good on older hardware. It’s certainly not a looker, without being outright ugly. I’ve seen some people saying the UI is bland - I find it nicely functional, though.

Cheers, I did wonder if it was Unity - your mileage really varies with that on older systems. I might just hold off a wee bit but it definitely ticks all the D&D boxes I'm interested in.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by elgaucho » Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:54 pm

I truly wish i had the time to get into RPGs and actually finish one i start.... makes me totally jealous, but glad you guys are enjoying it.

I'll add it to my wishlist like all the others!
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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Sly Boots » Fri Oct 23, 2020 1:23 pm

Finished the EA, was slightly galled to discover it ended right at the end of a big dungeon, where I'd been filling my pockets with all sorts of valuable loot to sell at the town when I got back :lol:

Headline news is I liked it, I wished it could have continued for longer, so that's a good sign. It's about as close to a tabletop experience as I think you'll likely get currently, so definitely does scratch that itch.

What I would say is that it definitely feels like an indie game - that's not to diss it, I play and enjoy plenty of indie games - but it is noticeable how much poorer it looks in comparison to other modern RPGs from bigger studios... in fact, the character models look like something from the original Mount & Blade, which is kinda eesh. The environments, however, look good. The dialogue also verges from the weirdly awkward to poor.

Also, it felt a bit strange just how empty and devoid of life the town was, hopefully that's something they work on in EA.

However, I did really like how a) you approach conversations as a group and each party member has an option to say something broadly in line with the personality you selected for them in creation and b) how checks during conversation are automatically performed by the most proficient character, and when different characters have different proficiencies (say persuasion, or intimidation), again you're given a choice of what to go for. These are both better than how BG3 does it, when conversations are one-to-one and checks performed by whichever character you initiated dialogue with.

Minor point - in the very first conversation I was horrified to discover that the one of the female dwarf voice options is the same as one of the human male voice options, so my grizzled dwarf fighter had the same voice as my foppish paladin, which irritated me constantly throughout my playthrough :lol:

Combat works well. I'm still bemused that I never could learn to hide as a rogue, so from ranged I could only sneak attack if combat initiated while I was hidden (and then only the first shot would be a sneak attack), or if targeting an enemy who was in melee range with another party character. On the whole it felt very much like pen-and-paper combat.

On the whole I think I still prefer BG3 because of the much higher production values and polish, story and dialogue, but I'm one the side of the fence that doesn't mind if it's a blend of both D&D and Divinity OS.

I'll definitely return to this though.

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Re: Solasta: Crown of the Magister

Post by Wrathbone » Sun Nov 01, 2020 10:17 am

I've also just finished the EA. For all its foibles, it's a great game with a tonne of potential. I've talked about the stuff I really like, but there's certainly room for improvement.

The dialogue and story is about as hammy as is possible, with every fantasy adventuring trope going, and I don't actually mind that. They seem to be going for the classic D&D feel (with modern rules, implemented sublimely), and the result is unambitious pulp high adventure that's just enough to drive the game forwards. It's got a kind of 80s cartoon flavour. The only time it really falls over is when a line is delivered with the completely wrong emphasis or tone, which I'd guess is due to zero voice direction. I imagine the voice actors were just thrust lines scribbled on a napkin with no context and they did the best they could. Considering the entire team consists of 17 people, I can forgive stuff like that.

The game is so far very linear, which isn't inherently a bad thing but does feel a bit limiting when you're shown a world map. I kept wanting to veer off the path and explore. Whether that's something that will come in the full game is unclear, and if it's ultimately a linear series of quests then it should still be good. I hope it opens up a bit, though.

Whatever the end result of Solasta is, I'm excited for it. With any luck they'll do well enough to make a sequel with enough money resources to truly show what they can do. Honestly, if they had Larian's team size and bank account and they'd been given the BG3 licence, I think we'd have seen something extraordinary.

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