Solasta: Crown of the Magister (D&D SRD 5.1 CRPG)

[Blackhawk]

And yet when games are developed for tabletop, they tend to end up getting a much more fleshed out world and a lot more non-spotlight canon that adds depth to CRPGs. But when it comes right down to it, the simple fact that they built this around a very popular tabletop rules system means that the development work is largely done. It just requires transcribing and fleshing out.

[Lorini]

And yet when games are developed for tabletop, they tend to end up getting a much more fleshed out world and a lot more non-spotlight canon that adds depth to CRPGs. But when it comes right down to it, the simple fact that they built this around a very popular tabletop rules system means that the development work is largely done. It just requires transcribing and fleshing out.

Not all of us have access to groups that play D&D. Like me. And honestly not much interest either, so time consuming.

[Blackhawk]

And yet when games are developed for tabletop, they tend to end up getting a much more fleshed out world and a lot more non-spotlight canon that adds depth to CRPGs. But when it comes right down to it, the simple fact that they built this around a very popular tabletop rules system means that the development work is largely done. It just requires transcribing and fleshing out.

Not all of us have access to groups that play D&D. Like me. And honestly not much interest either, so time consuming.

Including me. I just moved all of my RPG books to storage for just that reason. I wasn't advocating here, just stating that with it being a tabletop rules based system, "It's only a matter of time before it ends up being published for the tabletop." Which, from what I've seen, benefits both the tabletop and CRPG communities.

[Jaymann]

After this run through I will be trying out the level creator. If done right, user-created levels can often outshine the original.

[hepcat]

I'm looking forward to that too. I just hope they get added via Workshop so I can see ratings and reviews for them.

[Jag]

I'm looking forward to that too. I just hope they get added via Workshop so I can see ratings and reviews for them.

And you can try one direct from the Developer now!

https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/fil ... 2498554290

Another one that's getting some traction


Haven't tried either yet.

[hepcat]

Nice, thanks!

[Skinypupy]

I went ahead and resubbed to Gamepass today, since there were five games available there that were on my Steam Wishlist at full price...Solasta being the main one.

While I doubt it'll have much staying power (I generally play RPG's for the story, with combat being an afterthought), it certainly was fun recreating the characters from our current D&D campaign in video game form this afternoon. And although I was wildly unimpressed with the initial cutscenes*, the game looks fantastic in motion and the ruleset seems to be translating well.

*The animations were clunky, the lighting was really janky (one of my characters was in such dark shadow you couldn't see his face), and the subtitles often didn't match what was being said. I also didn't realize until after the fact that I had given two of my female characters the exact same voice preset. It was wildly distracting during dialog to hear the same voice speaking the lines of two different characters. I may actually have to reroll just to correct that.

[Skinypupy]

Is there a trick to enabling edge scrolling in this game? I have "Move Camera With Screen Borders" checked under gameplay, but it still won't scroll.

I have to manually click the center mouse button and drag or use WASD any time I want to move the camera. It's driving me insane.

[The Meal]

WASD scrolls the camera.

[Skinypupy]

Been through the first few battles, and I'm enjoying this much more than I expected to. A couple quick noob questions though:

1. If you cast the Light cantrip on something is there a way to uncast it? Turn it off?

2. The Scavenger lady in the first town said something about marking a map after a battle, then they would come by to pick up all the vendor trash loot and give a cut of the Gold. Is there a way to trigger that somehow? I didn't see one, so I'm carrying around a inventory full of junk.

[Jag]

Been through the first few battles, and I'm enjoying this much more than I expected to. A couple quick noob questions though:

1. If you cast the Light cantrip on something is there a way to uncast it? Turn it off?

2. The Scavenger lady in the first town said something about marking a map after a battle, then they would come by to pick up all the vendor trash loot and give a cut of the Gold. Is there a way to trigger that somehow? I didn't see one, so I'm carrying around a inventory full of junk.

1. Not sure, it may be timed, so a short rest should reset it. Also on your character bar just above the portrait is a little box to click to have light or not. I usually just switch to a torch since you can't do much else with that third equip slot.

2. You need to go back to a scavenger board like the one next to the scavenger lady. There are a few others scattered around, but they all do the same thing. You can collect your scavenge items from there. It will also show you how much time is remaining until you get paid. I think they sell well also. I removed most of the weight limitations, so i ended up carrying tons of crap anyway.

[Jaymann]

Been through the first few battles, and I'm enjoying this much more than I expected to. A couple quick noob questions though:

1. If you cast the Light cantrip on something is there a way to uncast it? Turn it off?

2. The Scavenger lady in the first town said something about marking a map after a battle, then they would come by to pick up all the vendor trash loot and give a cut of the Gold. Is there a way to trigger that somehow? I didn't see one, so I'm carrying around a inventory full of junk.

1. Not sure, it may be timed, so a short rest should reset it. Also on your character bar just above the portrait is a little box to click to have light or not. I usually just switch to a torch since you can't do much else with that third equip slot.

2. You need to go back to a scavenger board like the one next to the scavenger lady. There are a few others scattered around, but they all do the same thing. You can collect your scavenge items from there. It will also show you how much time is remaining until you get paid. I think they sell well also. I removed most of the weight limitations, so i ended up carrying tons of crap anyway.

I don't carry anything unless it is a magical item. And even on those, there is an option with the scavenger board to pick up an item instead of selling it.

On crafting: Read every recipe book and save every primed weapon. Once you have the components it's super easy, barely an inconvenience.

[The Meal]

Finished this tonight. It's the rare game that I didn't burn out on before the end. However, the last couple of hours were not the most satisfying story-wise. I'm guessing I either zoned out for some important exposition or something got cut and the writers didn't adjust.

That said, there are some beautiful sets in this game, and they did a masterful job of creating new tactical situations for your players to navigate. Fortunately difficulty can be changed on the fly as the game does get noticeably easier after you've hit level 5 or so. I did some side quests (but not all) and figure I'd probably have gained one more level beyond the level 10 cap, were that coded into the game.

There are warts here, but not in the sense that really bothers me and what I'm after for playing games. The tactical gui is strong (other than my previous gripe about z-level adjustments, though that wasn't ever significantly necessary throughout my gameplay). If the community ends up lauding certain level designers, I can see playing through fan-generated scenarios at some point down the road.

This is a strong one, and caught me unawares. It got its hooks into me as EA much stronger than the next Baldurs Gate offering has. Thanks OO for making me aware of this very enjoyable game.

[Jolor]

But did you ever remap the rotate camera keys to Q and E?

[The Meal]

I just did in BG3! (Which forced me to give up the 'E'quipment key, but that's easily navigated to from the 'I'nventory screen, which is how I got to similar functions in S:CotM, so no muscle memory remapping for me.)

[Jolor]

Finished this a couple of nights ago and enjoyed the ride very much. I felt a little overpowered for the final few battles. A combination of better gear and finely honed tactics or just under-powered end bosses?

Any recommendations for workshop campaigns? I do plan on giving Tomb of Heroes a go. Just wondering if there are any gems out there yet.

[Jolor]

Tomb of Heroes was pretty good. A short adventure where you take your heroes...through a ... tomb. I was Level 3 after the last fight so technically finished as L2. Will look at the store to see what else looks interesting.

[Jolor]

Sorcerer class (free) drops July 13.

As promised during our Kickstarter, the Sorcerer is coming for free next week to Solasta - with three archetypes to choose from! Sorcerers are powerful spellcasters with the innate ability to cast magic using their Charisma attribute. While they do not know as many spells as a Wizard would, they more than make up for that with their ability to twist their spells thanks to their Metamagic feature. The three available subclasses are:
Draconic Sorcerer: Draconic Sorcerers’ powerful magic comes from their bloodline, which they claim can be traced back to powerful dragons of ancient times.
Mana Painter: Mana Painters were born out of the mana starvation that followed the Cataclysm, with some individuals suddenly gaining the innate ability to drain magic and use it as their own.
Child of the Rift: When the opening of the Rift forced a new magic brought by the gods of Tirmar into Solasta, those most deeply affected by it were named the Children of the Rift.

[Hyena]

Kinda hope they eventually release either a warlock or monk class, as well.

[Zenn7]

Kinda hope they eventually release either a warlock or monk class, as well.

Druid please.

And multi-classing! I want my Rogue (assassin)/Ranger (hunter)

[Hyena]

Kinda hope they eventually release either a warlock or monk class, as well.

Druid please.

And multi-classing! I want my Rogue (assassin)/Ranger (hunter)

I think I'm gonna get my druid fix through BG3.

[Genghis]

Is there a way to bring a character from the main campaign into the user created campaigns? Or do you always have to start at level 1?

[Jaymann]

Is there a way to bring a character from the main campaign into the user created campaigns? Or do you always have to start at level 1?

From what I can tell you always have to start at level 1. I suppose a user could create a level where you immediately get enough exp to level if that were their intent.

[Blackhawk]

Or just a single bunny that gives tens of thousands of XP on a kill.

[Jolor]

The Character screen has a level up button so you can start a L1-3 campaign as a L3 party, if you wish. You do, though, still start with basic equipment. There is a mod whose sole level is chests of equipment for you to equip your party with, it looks like, anything in the base game. Leaving by one of the exits gives you the ability to update your characters. I did not get this option with the base campaign so they're back to L1 and no loot.
Guessing there's still some functionality to come but I haven't looked at the boards or anything.

[Jolor]

Dungeon Maker
Added 2 campaigns made by Tactical Adventures (Dun Cuin & Caer Falcarn) to the Dungeon Maker folder for new players & modders.

For those more interested in studio campaigns than sorting through fan campaigns. Tempted to play as a company of thieves (4 rogues) but not sure it it's feasible.

[Jolor]

Just taking advantage of quicksaving in the middle of a battle and adjusting/customizing difficulty on-the-fly. Helps with some of creator content that's not quite balanced.

[The Meal]

A pretty nice list of mods and maps from pcgamer. No first-hand experience with any of these (yet).

[stimpy]

Finished this over the weekend.
Good ride, but if you arent familiar with D&D rules, they kind of leave you hanging in alot of circumstances.
Item and spell descriptions fall woefully short.
And when you go to a merchant, they have tabs for different item categories, yet there is no such thing in your own inventory.
There are a few more quibbles, but by the end of the game I felt like I had figured out alot of the nuances thru trial and error.
May go back in for another run if I find a user campaign that grabs my attention.

[Zenn7]

This is on sale on Steam this weekend for $25.99 (having been given a Steam GC after the last time it was on sale, was just waiting for it to go on sale again, nice of them to make it an even better sale for me ).

[Skinypupy]

This is on sale on Steam this weekend for $25.99 (having been given a Steam GC after the last time it was on sale, was just waiting for it to go on sale again, nice of them to make it an even better sale for me ).

Its on Gamepass, where I think you can still get three months for $1/month. Good way to give it a try, along with everything else in there.

[Zenn7]

Very much enjoying the game so far (not that I'm that far into it).

Question though -

Spoiler:

What's up with all the stuff needing fly (hoping levitate will be sufficient for some of it). Like the chests in the library in the first work campo place you go to after you discover what's happened to the garrison on your first real quest.

And helping my wizard's former teacher, needing to fly up to that tower entrance and lower a rope. (Optional quest)

Has convinced me when I get to L4, getting levitate (since I did not get it at L3) and fly/flight (whatever it's called) at L5!

[Genghis]

Very much enjoying the game so far (not that I'm that far into it).

Question though -

Spoiler:

What's up with all the stuff needing fly (hoping levitate will be sufficient for some of it). Like the chests in the library in the first work campo place you go to after you discover what's happened to the garrison on your first real quest.

And helping my wizard's former teacher, needing to fly up to that tower entrance and lower a rope. (Optional quest)

Has convinced me when I get to L4, getting levitate (since I did not get it at L3) and fly/flight (whatever it's called) at L5!

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, levitate doesn't seem to do much. It doesn't allow horizontal movement so will not grant you access to places. You need to have flight or wall crawling abilities to get to some locations. A high enough jump skill can get you in some locations.

[Zenn7]

Very much enjoying the game so far (not that I'm that far into it).

Question though -

Spoiler:

What's up with all the stuff needing fly (hoping levitate will be sufficient for some of it). Like the chests in the library in the first work campo place you go to after you discover what's happened to the garrison on your first real quest.

And helping my wizard's former teacher, needing to fly up to that tower entrance and lower a rope. (Optional quest)

Has convinced me when I get to L4, getting levitate (since I did not get it at L3) and fly/flight (whatever it's called) at L5!

Spoiler:

Unfortunately, levitate doesn't seem to do much. It doesn't allow horizontal movement so will not grant you access to places. You need to have flight or wall crawling abilities to get to some locations. A high enough jump skill can get you in some locations.

Spoiler:

Guessed and confirmed elsewhere on the net, levitate combined with misty step, though misty step alone got a few things.

[Genghis]

I liked the game, but one thing I think they need to change is how useless most of the spells are. Even the damage spells on mages, i turned most of them into magic missiles. I used flaming orb a few times, fireball a decent amount, and flame wall a ton. If anything they need to tone down flame wall because it can solo most fights. Cleric the spiritual guardian (the aoe damage aura) spell is great. The rest are kind of garbage. I spent most of my spell slots as charges for skills or boosting low level spells. One of the big issues is the AoEs are so clunky to use. It often difficult to hit more than 2 enemies without nuking your own party. At that point its often better to use a single target spell that does more damage.

[Zenn7]

I liked the game, but one thing I think they need to change is how useless most of the spells are. Even the damage spells on mages, i turned most of them into magic missiles. I used flaming orb a few times, fireball a decent amount, and flame wall a ton. If anything they need to tone down flame wall because it can solo most fights. Cleric the spiritual guardian (the aoe damage aura) spell is great. The rest are kind of garbage. I spent most of my spell slots as charges for skills or boosting low level spells. One of the big issues is the AoEs are so clunky to use. It often difficult to hit more than 2 enemies without nuking your own party. At that point its often better to use a single target spell that does more damage.

Just curious, but have you played D&D 5th ed (tabletop, not computer games)?

AOE is not any different than tabletop D&D (unless you have a nice DM) other than they don't offer the evoker wizard specialist (they can sculpt aoe spells (evocation only I think) to ignore some people (very limited number that does increase with levels).

Magic Missile is buffed vs tabletop. Tabletop is only 3 missiles, not 4.

On the whole, spells feel like tabletop so far (just hit 5th recently, got to try out maybe 1 fireball so far). Many of them are situational, and you have to desire to do things like CC or debuff rather than just straight damage to find many spells useful (my first desire is damage, but over many games (pnp and crpgs), I've learned that's not always the best choice).

[Genghis]

Just curious, but have you played D&D 5th ed (tabletop, not computer games)?

AOE is not any different than tabletop D&D (unless you have a nice DM) other than they don't offer the evoker wizard specialist (they can sculpt aoe spells (evocation only I think) to ignore some people (very limited number that does increase with levels).

Magic Missile is buffed vs tabletop. Tabletop is only 3 missiles, not 4.

On the whole, spells feel like tabletop so far (just hit 5th recently, got to try out maybe 1 fireball so far). Many of them are situational, and you have to desire to do things like CC or debuff rather than just straight damage to find many spells useful (my first desire is damage, but over many games (pnp and crpgs), I've learned that's not always the best choice).

Last pen and paper D&D I did was 3rd, 3.5ish. It was years ago. The issue with debuffing in Solasta is it tends to work better against your party than for your party. The only real debuffs that I found to work is vs vampires. Everything else seemed to just ignore debuffs put on it because the random number generator in the game seemed wonky. I tended to roll 3 or 4 1s per combat cycle and the AI mobs tended to roll at least that many or more 19s and 20s. The -1 to hit debuffs are rather useless when the RNG tends to roll outliers most rolls. And since your typically outnumber most fights the AI gets more rolls than you do. Honestly it reminded me of playing X-Com where the 97% to hit actually meant 97% to miss in practice. I gave up on the hold monster/person spells because the AI always saved.

[Hamlet3145]

Picked this up recently to play while waiting for Wrath of the Righteous to receive more patches. So far, I dig it! It's been a trip trying to adjust to 5e rules though. I finally had to sit down and read an in-depth "This is What Has Changed from 3.5" article and things are making a lot more sense now. And it's good that I'm getting used to 5e before BG3.

[Hyena]

Finally found a group of guys to play D&D with on paper (or in this case, Roll20 and D&D Beyond), so in order to refresh my limited knowledge on 5e, I started this up again. Man, I don't know how or why I ever put it down to begin with. I'm really enjoying it. I've gotten three gems for the crown so far, but I'm enjoying the level up process, the character generator to look at various builds and how they would advance as their levels go up, etc. running an all-sylvan elf team of an Ranger (Archer), Paladin, Rogue (Shadow Caster), and Wizard. I kill things so fast that I really haven't needed a healer, and when I do I just use the Paladin. Having four characters that can all use longbows really whittles down the HP of the bad guys before they can get to me.

It has helped me get a feel for the Ranger I'm going to play in my live campaign, too.

Now I'm just waiting for BG3 to go live and I'll have my fantasy RPG fix for a while.