The Gamers Arms

It's great that this has gone on Game Pass because it should get more attention from people who wouldn't risk money on it, which is fair enough. It won't be for everyone.

Oh it's on Gamepass? I hadn't noticed. I may give it a try.

Raid wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 16, 2021 11:00 am

Oh it's on Gamepass? I hadn't noticed. I may give it a try.

Ditto. Not played D&D since I was a young 'un (Warhammer FRP and Call of Cthulhu displaced it but not played them in decades either), but this sounds like a fun janky experience. Nonsense dialogue in RPGs for me is more appealing than the usual exposition overload of substandard fantasy tropes!

There is no shortage of nonsense dialogue. Your boots will be filled.

Wrathbone wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 16, 2021 1:09 pm

There is no shortage of nonsense dialogue. Your boots will be filled.

A couple of PSAs for first-time players:

- shortly after the tutorial area you're given the opportunity to curry favour with four different factions, unlocking different items to buy from each for each level of friendliness you attain with them. The means for doing so is quite limited (you won't be able to reach the highest level of alliance with more than one of them, maybe two in a pinch), so it's worth checking out what they offer before doing so. Two of the aforementioned merchants I ended up not buying anything from, and one of the ones I really needed to buy stuff from, I realised too late and wasn't able to buy his highest-tier goods. One of the merchants sells good enchanted gear, some of which is very useful, but my personal recommendation would be to also concentrate on the guy in the pub who offers you the base 'primed' weapons you'll need to enchant your own - which are by far the best weapons in the game.

- linked to this, I discovered really late on that a merchant appears in one of the areas you've cleared after you've been there, who sells all the schematics you need to craft those weapons. It's the same area you find the eponymous crown.

While a few of both the above do drop from combat or can be found in chests, it's a rare occurence. I spent the first half of the game using a basic longbow on my ranger, tearing my hair out I couldn't upgrade him, until I discovered the above. It isn't highlighted in the game at all, I should add.

Prostate-specific Antigen?

Snowy wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 16, 2021 9:28 pm

Prostate-specific Antigen?

Certainly. Can also be public service announcement, mind.

My tip is that if you have any humans or halflings in your party (who don’t have darkvision), make sure at least one of your spellcasters has access to the Shine and Sparkle cantrips. As mentioned before, the game is quite strict on lighting rules in combat, which means enemies that are in darkness are harder to hit. Shine lets you illuminate an enemy and Sparkle lets you light up to three torches in the environment (there are usually a few in any given area). Also, paladins have a Sacred Weapon ability which is very useful as it not only makes your bog-standard weapon more powerful for a while but also makes it emit light.

Sparkle is also a great option because it only takes a bonus action to cast, which means your spellcaster can use their main action to cast a regular spell and also cast Sparkle on their turn, so you’re not wasting anything that turn.

They've released a campaign DLC called The Lost Valley - considering it's supposed to be nearly as big as the original main campaign, and takes a party from level 1 to 12, the £11 asking price feels like good value:



I've started it (level 5 currently) and am enjoying it - I'd have no hesitation recommending it to anyone who enjoyed the base game (which is conceivably just me and Wrath here )

I didn't buy the barbarian/druid class DLC though, for £7-odd quid didn't feel like getting two classes I generally avoid in RPGs anyway.

Also, I downloaded a custom campaign called Ruins of Ilthismar, which was incredibly well done, near enough professional level, which is well worth checking out for those looking to spend a bit more time in a faithful 5e setting.

Played the original and thought it was the best Baldurs Gate type game I'd played for ages. The controls just seemed to work so well.
The voice acting was kinda sweet. It didn't match the characters at all but it was read well.

I’ve picked up both DLCs (barbarians are so much more fun than fighters!) but I’m saving it for when I’m on holiday next week.

One hopefully non-spoilery hint I'll give for the DLC is that in character creation, when it flags certain languages as being "flavour-only, not present in campaign" or words to that effect, it isn't talking about the DLC -_-

Try to ensure you have a decent spread of languages spoken among your party, or else have someone capable of casting a comprehend-languages type spell...

Finished the DLC. Overall very good and came in at around 30 hours all told, so quite chunky for the price.

My main issues are those that came from the main campaign, the dialogue and cutscenes are still not good. They mostly get the job done however, but there are definitely instances where a bit more narrative clout would be welcome.

For example, right at the end you're given multiple ways to complete your quest and escape the valley. Rather than through combat, my chosen path was by persuading the main antagonist to do something he was vehemently opposed to doing. I used an ability to boost my persuasion score to give myself a greater chance of not fudging it, and was successful. However, all this was delivered by my character basically saying: (in best Mrs Doyle voice) "Ah, go on." And that was it.

Like I said, it's nothing players won't already have experienced in the main campaign, but as it's still the case I'll still grumble. But at it's core it's a tactical combat game, and it's there it excels.

There was also a few bugs - nothing major, the most amusing was when a cutscene kicked in as my cleric was climbing down a ladder, and until I eventually reloaded he was thereafter stuck in his climbing animation. Less amusing was a bug where after a couple of screens of epilogue telling me how my choices affected the world, it went to a black screen that never resolved to anything, and happened even after exiting, reloading and trying a second time, so I've no idea how the whole thing actually ends. I'll keep my save though and hopefully see it one day when it's fixed.

On another note, the guy who made the custom module I enjoyed, a player named Silverquick, has just released his latest one, a full recreation of the Temple of Elemental Evil, which I shall play next after a short break playing something else.

Sly Boots wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 18, 2022 3:36 pm

On another note, the guy who made the custom module I enjoyed, a player named Silverquick, has just released his latest one, a full recreation of the Temple of Elemental Evil, which I shall play next after a short break playing something else.

Excellent, I'll have a gander at that. ToEE is a great fit for Solasta because it's mostly one huge dungeon crawl, which as you say is where the game really shines.