Solasta Solasta II - Journey to the Lands of Neokos in the Unreal Engine - coming to Early Access - Demo available

[Lagole Gon]

Played the demo. I'm kind of worried.


Vertical levels are gone? It was one of the selling points.
And what's up with all that snazzy cinematic presentation? Nobody plays Solasta for this crap.
The entrance of the generic evil witch will never be as exciting, as the first time you see a Sorak priest using Flight.

There was still a fair bit of climbing and jumping in it.

Okay, maybe I'm overreacting.
It feels less "blocky" so I just assume it might mean less verticality.

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think verticality added much in the original and iirc the devs have said switching to Unreal meant they'll have to sacrifice some things, so I'm putting two and two together and I'm gonna say that verticality in the sense of spider climb is out. Maybe flying/levitating is still in, I don't see why they wouldn't be.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I don't think verticality added much in the original

Are all your opinions retarded or just the ones you share in D&D adjacent RPG threads?

 

[Harthwain]

I don't think verticality added much in the original

Bro, it is probably the most revolutionary feature of the last decade (maybe two). It may not have been utilized as much as it could (and should) have been, but that's not the same thing as "not adding much".

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think verticality added much in the original

Bro, it is probably the most revolutionary feature of the last decade (maybe two). It may not have been utilized as much as it could (and should) have been, but that's not the same thing as "not adding much".

It just forced me to equip ranged weapons on all the characters that lacked ranged options in their second slots (something I typically do anyway), I never had to think about it past that. I guess people are seeing stuff I'm not.

 

[Tavernking]

Watched my wife play the demo. Looks pretty cool altogether but I'm still not sure it's a day 1 purchase. You'll face 3 or 4 fights in the demo, depending on your approach. The final fight was the most impressive CRPG fight I've witnessed in recent memory both graphically and mechanically, worth playing the demo for that alone. Total demo length was about an hour.

 

[Harthwain]

It just forced me to equip ranged weapons on all the characters that lacked ranged options in their second slots (something I typically do anyway), I never had to think about it past that. I guess people are seeing stuff I'm not.

Verticality is a novel way to simulate the battlefield and it's actually astonishing that this kind of gameplay wasn't part of 3D party-based games long before Solasta. You had Half-Life 2 playing heavily into being a 3D game, but 99% of cRPGs didn't bother with implementing the physicality of combat before then (outside of some odd games, like Dark Messiah of Might & Magic employing physics of objects).

 

[NJClaw]

Monsters: actually *FLY* after 40 years of RPGs
Lacrymas: meh, where's the build diversity of NWN?

 

[Lagole Gon]

Without verticality Solasta will become poor man's BG3.

I suppose the last adventage over BG3 it has, is the inoffensive generic placeholder writing. Which is much better than the inventively awful byzantine mess BG3 had (But that can be be mitigated with a strategic use of alcohol).

 

[Gandalf]

When I think of Solasta, I think of verticallity. How many other cRPGs are cool like this?

 

[damager]

Alright I got myself the demo too now. Let's give it a spin

 

[Mortmal]

When I think of Solasta, I think of verticallity. How many other cRPGs are cool like this?

Verticality is super rare in RPGs. There were hybrids like X-COM, Jagged Alliance, and Silent Storm, but true vertical combat in RPGs was almost nonexistent. Temple of Elemental Evil had some elevation, but it’s hardly comparable to Solasta and Baldur’s Gate 3.

But that’s not the only rare thing Solasta does. Its light and darkness system is also extremely uncommon. Before that, the last real examples were Shadowlands and Shadowlordsfrom 1992 and 1993, where light sources truly mattered. After that, you had to wait for Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2, Solasta, and Baldur’s Gate 3 to see that verticality mechanic return and only solasta was using light and dark again.

That’s what I really love about Solasta. It is one of the rare games alongside and before Baldur’s Gate 3 that pushes RPG mechanics forward while improving on the classics.

 

[Lacrymas]

The light and dark thing was circumvented by not playing humans, no? Most other races have Darkvision.

 

[Harthwain]

The light and dark thing was circumvented by not playing humans, no? Most other races have Darkvision.

You're so obsessed with utility that you're missing the point of the feature itself.

 

[Artyoan]

Some enemies are put at disadvantage by light sources. Which was great. I'll have to check the demo as I don't recall an icon showing the light/dark state on each enemy but I'm sure it will be a combat factor. Just the added visual light element when descending into a dark dungeon is unique anyway.

Other than questions about flight and spider climbing, all the systems seem to have made a return. The cover system is better. Dark environments might actually be quite a bit darker, which I'd like to see what that looks like in combat.

The Solasta 2 discord feedback has been more negative than I thought it would be. The presentation is closer to BG3 and that seems to have rubbed some people the wrong way. I'm surprised at how many don't like the movement changes and lots of bitching about the grid, which seems functionally the same to me. The writing is still what it was, so plenty of jokes and a lack of sincerity, which I was expecting so it isn't bothering me either. TA seems to want a goofy tabletop feel to character dialogue.

The combat UI has more buried menus but also a favorites system for easy access to desired spells. If they expand on the favorites system beyond just three options, I have far less issue with this. The general improvements in character movement in combat makes up for it anyway. Feels quite a bit faster once you get used to the layout.

I'll replay the demo in a week or two. Still seems like they mostly preserved what I liked while vastly improving the side stuff. It's a combat oriented game and should remain so.

 

[Lacrymas]

The light and dark thing was circumvented by not playing humans, no? Most other races have Darkvision.

You're so obsessed with utility that you're missing the point of the feature itself.

What is the point of the feature?

 

[Harthwain]

What is the point of the feature?

To be an important part of gameplay. For example, instead of ignoring races that don't have Darkvision you can make up for that by being creative in other ways (spells, items, etc.). That's what RPGs are all about: creative problem solving.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Monsters: actually *FLY* after 40 years of RPGs
Lacrymas: meh, where's the build diversity of NWN?

Also Lacrymas: There is only one optimal route and that is to cast haste on everything then cast fireball.

 

[lukaszek]

what you guyz are sharing is troubling. In solasta1 my party was all about securing high grounds, dropping people down and shooting fliers down. Take that away and you are left with... meh game

 

[mediocrepoet]

Monsters: actually *FLY* after 40 years of RPGs
Lacrymas: meh, where's the build diversity of NWN?

Also Lacrymas: There is only one optimal route and that is to cast haste on everything then cast fireball.

 

[Roguey]

All right I finished the demo.

Inventory UI is worse. :\ At the very least don't make me click one at a time to scroll through characters' inventories, show all the individuals at once and let me click on the one I want. This feels very much like a multiplatform console title, whereas Crown was a PC game later ported to consoles. Siiiiiiiiiiigh.

I hope the option to travel by clicking a spot on the map comes back.

I found the readability of enemies on the battlefield more confusing than what I remember of the first, room for improvement there.

Encounter design: crabs crabs crabs, boss encounter. I did like the boss encounter. Contrary to Lacrymas's claims, the terrain in Crown of the Magister did a lot to make its encounters memorable; the design in the free mini-campaigns was lackluster by comparison. 2 is unfortunately more like the latter. Though like I said, the final encounter was pretty neat, there were a few spots where I got to have a height advantage with ranged weapons.

The final cutscene was funny, you had the dwarf guy's voice coming out of the human woman's and the human's lines coming from the dwarf. One Job.

It was okay, but pretty much what I expected, better-looking Solasta with less thanks to the engine switch and multiplatform development.