Solasta: Crown of the Magister: Leaves EA 27 May

[Sly Boots]

How do you feel about the way they've implemented light mechanics? I have to say I got a bit fed up of having to use my wizard to micromanage a dancing lights cantrip to be able to hit anything without having disadvantage, and can't see any reason to play a race that doesn't have darkvision.

Maybe they could do something like increase the radius from torches etc, as they feel like they only work for a couple of tiles' radius currently.

[Wrathbone]

Yeah, I think they need to be more lenient with light, especially with it giving disadvantage on attacks. If darkness in an area is thematically relevant then fine, but it shouldn’t be all the time.

[Sly Boots]

Cool, sounds like they've taken feedback on board re the lighting system and are going to be implementing a few changes:

https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/ ... 4784758393

[Sly Boots]

Best patch note ever?

Belt of Dwarvenkind now has a chance to add a beard to characters who attune to it

[Sly Boots]

Unless I'm missing something obvious I can't see a date given, however the devs have said the next big update will see the game leave EA, so presumably that's not too far away:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 7675171625

[Wrathbone]

I did the new section with the wizard's tower a couple of months ago and that was pretty good. I'll be ready for a full replay by the time it leaves EA.

As shonky as the game is in places, I've a lot of respect for what they've achieved with a small team and the way they've gone about EA. They've provided regular content updates without being over-ambitious and it feels like it's paid off. And personally I think their implementation of D&D 5E combat is so good that it puts BG3 to shame.

[Sly Boots]

I haven't played it since my initial go through the EA content when it first released, so looking forward to playing the full thing. I still feeling like I'm edging towards BG3 myself, but I'm just glad there are two good, meaty RPGs coming out to get stuck into.

[Sly Boots]

Holy shit, this is leaving Early Access on May 27th! Why wasn't I told?!

For those curious but unwilling to shell out money-pounds for the Steam version, it's also going onto Game Pass the same day.

It's well worth a look for you D&Ders.

[DjchunKfunK]

Definitely going to give it a look now it is on GamePass.

[Wrathbone]

Out today. One interesting update is that in character creation, it now tells you which skills and languages aren’t used in the main campaign. Useful, certainly, but borderline strange that they point it out. I guess it makes sense if they can be used in DLC or custom dungeons.

Yeah, that’s the other thing - you can make your own dungeons now. I’ve not looked at the editor yet, but being able to import user dungeons is a great addition.

[Sly Boots]

Not sure if anyone else has played it since it launched (Wrath? Dj?), but have just finished the main campaign.

For me, it's ultimately a very positive experience and I'm glad I played it, and I'd certainly check out future DLC or player-created modules. With all that said, it's certainly a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Starting with the latter - my god this game has probably the ugliest character models I've ever seen in an RPG, akin to something like the first Mount & Blade. The face options, the hair options, whatever party you end up taking is going to look like those still left in the disco when the lights come up. Some of the animations are off-puttingly bad as well - each time an NPC approaches you in a cutscene for some reason they walk like Quasimodo with a fatal case of piles.

These ugly models are shown up even more by the environments, which pretty much all look really good! Not just pretty, but most are well-designed with lots of verticality and environmental puzzles to get around the place. With the action zoomed out from your squad of mutants, it's often a very nice looking game.

The bad then... the most egregious thing here is the script, which isn't just bad but often mystifying. Half the time everyone appears to be conversing in baffling non-sequitors, and on a few occasions I made use of the conversation log they thankfully included to try to make heads or tails of what had just been discussed. It's on a par with the first Witcher game, where you're not sure whether the dialogue was poorly translated or the writers worked in separate rooms and never spoke to each other during the entire production. Possibly both.

I wrote this following passage of dialogue down just to illustrate what I mean:

Character A: Interesting light, that. Very bright.
Character B: Wonder what it's about
Character C: How fascinating! A new wonder to behold!
Character B: Not so fast! There have been enough traps so far to... make me really nervous!
Character C: Today is Misaye's birthday!
Character D: Maraike's will be done!

Utterly baffling. The penultimate line is definitely my favourite of the whole exchange, though I didn't then and still don't have any idea what it means

The good... everything else! Honestly, I had a blast playing this from start to end, and after a while I stopped noticing the ugly faces and was bemused rather than annoyed by the dialogue. It's a faithful recreation of 5th edition D&D, the fights are tactical and you're given enough options to mix up your strategy. I far prefer the combat to something like Pillars, for instance. I guess the plot is kind of by-the-numbers, and its very linear if that's something that would put you off (it didn't me fwiw).

It was really fun playing around with the fly spell, and giving two of my characters gear with permanent spider-climb abilities, so they'd be scuttling across walls half the time. Also, hilariously, after giving my pretty elf-lady cleric a particular belt, after the next time we rested she grew a rather splendid, luxuriant beard. I've read some people being annoyed at this mechanic, but honestly it amused me endlessly through the rest of the campaign - especially the aspect that it was never mentioned by anyone in-game.

Oh, and also, the poochie-style ending TBF plenty of triple-A studios have bodged their endings.

So, yes, a hearty recommend with a couple of caveats, and YMMV depending on how much you think those would bother you. But if you can look past the ugly characters and nonsensical dialogue, there's plenty here for RPG fans to enjoy. For my money it's not the BG3-beater some were hoping for, but hopefully it can be judged on its own merits.

[Wrathbone]

I also finished it the other day, having very much enjoyed it! Your assessment of it is spot on - what's good is really good, but the bad stuff is laughably bad. It never spoiled the overall experience for me, which I think is because the game is so strongly focused around combat, and combat is where the game really shines. It's odd, because I tend to like RPGs for their stories and the choices you can make to shape your character over the course of a game. In a way this is much more like fantasy XCOM than a typical RPG.

Some other assorted thoughts:

- The crafting is kind of fun, though my inventory was permanently full of crap I was never going to use.

- Lighting rules in combat are still a bit militant. As a DM I try to ignore lighting unless it's specifically relevant to what's going on, because it's just a needless faff. You can assume characters generally make sure they can see what's going on, in the same way that you can assume they don't have disadvantage imposed because they forgot to go for a wee before battle. There was one section near the end with a maze engulfed in darkness, and that was a good example of where strict light rules made sense. I hope there are mods to improve it for the rest of the game.

- I liked that things open up a tad in the final third, where you can start doing side quests. Most of them are just "go here, kill things, collect item", but it gives the illusion of some freedom. If they make a sequel (and I really hope they do), I'd like it to be much more open from the start.

- Some movement spells like fly, jump and levitate didn't always work as expected. I always saved before using them because it wasn't always clear whether you'd be allowed to fly over a chasm or whether the mechanics of the engine wouldn't allow it in case the spell ended while hovering over somewhere you can't stand. Could use some improvement.

- I want more classes! More, I say! I'm hoping they can release some as DLC, although it may be that they're restricted by the terms of the OGL rules which they're using. I've heard that WotC / Hasbro are very protective and strict when it comes to third-party products using the D&D open licence. You stick to what they permit you to use or they cast level 9 Legalism.*


On the whole I think it's a great effort from a tiny studio. Definite room for improvement in many areas if they make a sequel, but none of the problems substantially detract from what is otherwise a fun, engaging experience.


* I've just checked the OGL and all the basic classes and races are included, so DLC for them seems plausible!

[Sly Boots]

I believe, from reading the forums, that there are plans to introduce sorceror and barbarian classes at some point post-release, as a free update.

I'd replay it at that point, probably, as I could then have a full party of classes I didn't play the first time round.

As for the lighting... I intentionally made a party of elves, dwarves and half-elves, who all have darkvision. As a result, I never needed to micromanage the light levels during combat (with the odd exception, like that dark maze you mention, which was quite fun).

It was quite a shock when at another point you auto-recruit a human NPC, who ended up having disadvantage due to dim light on pretty much every combat roll

It's a bit like the ammo issue. It was never a problem, other than the fact my archer-ranger's inventory was permanently full of basic ammunition I hoarded 'just in case' (as I tend to do in these games). I would say most DMs would never force their ranged characters to keep a running tally of the ammo they carry (or if they do I'm forever grateful you don't, Wrath ), and in this day and age it feels a bit archaic to have to do so. I'd rather if you have a bow, sling, whatever equipped it's just assumed you have the basic ammo whenever you need it, and only have to gather or craft special ammo to switch to for harder encounters.

[Wrathbone]

I would say most DMs would never force their ranged characters to keep a running tally of the ammo they carry (or if they do I'm forever grateful you don't, Wrath ), and in this day and age it feels a bit archaic to have to do so.

There are definitely DMs who demand strict ammo tracking, which feels like micromanagement to the point of it being a fetish. I guess running out of arrows at a crucial moment in a fight could be exciting, but it's more likely that it would just be frustrating. In Solasta it happened once to my rogue, who then couldn't get close enough to the enemy to use his daggers because he'd taken a lofty ranged position, so he wasted a turn.

[DjchunKfunK]

I want to get round to this eventually but haven't had the chance yet, keep buying interesting indy games instead.