KickStarter Solasta: Crown of the Magister Thread - now with Palace of Ice sequel DLC

[gurugeorge]

I don't see difficulty as such a big problem. This game has an extensive system to create your own difficulty. We will not get more sensible encounter design, but giving us better difficulty presets is a very simple move that goes a long way.

Also on Cataclysm the difficulty is not joke tier until you hit level 7 and gain Firewall and Conjure Minor Elementals (4 Wind Snakes). After that it falls behind Naheulbeuk and other competing tactical rpgs, but I'd say pre level 5 Cataclysm in Solasta is harder than Legendary Naheulbeuk.

The question is if even doing the absolute minimum for the hardcore players and crafting reasonable high difficulty presets which are not as grindy as Cataclysm makes sense for them now. This game has been a stellar success, somehow managing to capture a significant upwind from people too impatient to wait until BG3 is finished.
Sure would be nice to see, but this is no longer a niche product for hardcore enthusiasts. It may have started out as one, but it soared past that status in record speed.

You're not entirely wrong, but you get to level 5 by the end of the Dark Castle. That's not much content that's reasonably balanced. That's a handful of encounters. I don't think designing it for the difficulty of core 5E would make it exclusive to 'hardcore enthusiasts.' 5E's guidelines are explicitly geared towards pen and paper casuals. I get what you're saying that they probably will not redo the encounters. However, adapting D&D to CRPG format is like this pile of $100 bills blowing around on the sidewalk that a lot of developers have just ignored for a long time -- even a halfway well executed, halfway messed up effort like Solasta with no official license has done quite well.

IMO for any game like this you want to cater to hardcore players because word of mouth and organic reviews are the only thing that will generate sales. They aren't spending any money on advertising or PR, so word of mouth combined with organic search rank/automatic Steam recommendations are the only way that they can push more sales. Enthusiasm among core players drives sales to casuals unless you substitute marketing $$$. It's like this in literally every direct to consumer retail business and gaming is not special. Very happy core customers are salesmen who do it for free. If your core customers are not that happy they will not work for free for you and you will have to pay someone to hawk your product instead.

tl;dr version: just make TOEE with romances and booba and you will make a lot of money.

Is it too much to want it all - epic story, deep interesting characters, romances, booba, glorious graphics, art design like a Parkinson painting come to life, intricate C&C, detailed simulation and meticulous, hardcore gameplay?

 

[The_Mask]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tacticaladventures/solasta-crown-of-the-magister/posts/3242241

Sneaky Update - Sorcerer Update Access for Backers

Hey hey hey... Psst, you there!

Want to get access to the Sorcerer Update a bit earlier than everyone else? Well, you're in luck!

Anything I need to know?

• Please DO NOT post any screenshots, videos or talk about the content of this build before July 13th (the release of the Sorcerer Update), and do not share the access with other people.
• There are some known issues that will be fixed for the update, such as the Draconic Sorcerer Origin Spells not working properly and the Mana Painter & Child of the Rift unlocking powers at level 1 that require Sorcery Points (that you unlock at... level 2. Doh!)
• Those preview builds are only accessible on Steam as we don't have the manpower to build and prepare preview builds on all the platforms. Sorry folks!
• If you run into any problem, feel free to post them as a comment of this update!

Other than that... We'll have another update on the physical goods soon! I'm sure you're all eager to get your hands on the Sourcebook PDF, it shouldn't be too long now!

Myzzrym

 

[Mortmal]

I don't see difficulty as such a big problem. This game has an extensive system to create your own difficulty. We will not get more sensible encounter design, but giving us better difficulty presets is a very simple move that goes a long way.

Also on Cataclysm the difficulty is not joke tier until you hit level 7 and gain Firewall and Conjure Minor Elementals (4 Wind Snakes). After that it falls behind Naheulbeuk and other competing tactical rpgs, but I'd say pre level 5 Cataclysm in Solasta is harder than Legendary Naheulbeuk.

The question is if even doing the absolute minimum for the hardcore players and crafting reasonable high difficulty presets which are not as grindy as Cataclysm makes sense for them now. This game has been a stellar success, somehow managing to capture a significant upwind from people too impatient to wait until BG3 is finished.
Sure would be nice to see, but this is no longer a niche product for hardcore enthusiasts. It may have started out as one, but it soared past that status in record speed.

You're not entirely wrong, but you get to level 5 by the end of the Dark Castle. That's not much content that's reasonably balanced. That's a handful of encounters. I don't think designing it for the difficulty of core 5E would make it exclusive to 'hardcore enthusiasts.' 5E's guidelines are explicitly geared towards pen and paper casuals. I get what you're saying that they probably will not redo the encounters. However, adapting D&D to CRPG format is like this pile of $100 bills blowing around on the sidewalk that a lot of developers have just ignored for a long time -- even a halfway well executed, halfway messed up effort like Solasta with no official license has done quite well.

IMO for any game like this you want to cater to hardcore players because word of mouth and organic reviews are the only thing that will generate sales. They aren't spending any money on advertising or PR, so word of mouth combined with organic search rank/automatic Steam recommendations are the only way that they can push more sales. Enthusiasm among core players drives sales to casuals unless you substitute marketing $$$. It's like this in literally every direct to consumer retail business and gaming is not special. Very happy core customers are salesmen who do it for free. If your core customers are not that happy they will not work for free for you and you will have to pay someone to hawk your product instead.

tl;dr version: just make TOEE with romances and booba and you will make a lot of money.

Is it too much to want it all - epic story, deep interesting characters, romances, booba, glorious graphics, art design like a Parkinson painting come to life, intricate C&C, detailed simulation and meticulous, hardcore gameplay?

Of course not, if you pay for it . Right now its free on gamepass 1euro month trial or 31 euros on steam , 25 euro as backer. So it's nothing , nothing at all.

 

[Thac0]

deep interesting characters, romances, booba, glorious graphics, art design like a Parkinson painting come to life, intricate C&C, detailed simulation and meticulous, hardcore gameplay

Can I interest you in some JRPGs?

 

[gurugeorge]

deep interesting characters, romances, booba, glorious graphics, art design like a Parkinson painting come to life, intricate C&C, detailed simulation and meticulous, hardcore gameplay

Can I interest you in some JRPGs?

I actually had an image just there of you flashing open your raincoat with some JRPGs dangling on the inside

 

[The_Mask]

Not sure why that would be pirating, since many of us here backed the project including me. But okay.

 

[Infinitron]

Myzzrym I saw your reaction to my post. What's your opinion on posting backer-exclusive beta branch codes publicly on the Codex?

 

[Lacrymas]

They already had to go with 3D, because the verticality was highlighted as their main feature.

Verticality can be simulated in a 2D space, especially given how blocky Solasta is. It's not like we have never seen verticality being used in any 2D game ever.

 

[mediocrepoet]

The difficulty issue of the game is really unfortunate as there are several really good ideas in here. Hopefully a balance patch or even just future games will rectify that and preserve/refine the innovations.

 

[Myzzrym]

Myzzrym I saw your reaction to my post. What's your opinion on posting backer-exclusive beta branch codes publicly on the Codex?

Eeeeh well can't say I'm too happy about it since it's meant to not be shared outside backers - but it's not like we can do much about it. Like if you do end up sharing the code, at least do it privately and not somewhere open where anyone that does a google search can find it^^'

 

[NJClaw]

Myzzrym I saw your reaction to my post. What's your opinion on posting backer-exclusive beta branch codes publicly on the Codex?

Eeeeh well can't say I'm too happy about it since it's meant to not be shared outside backers - but it's not like we can do much about it. Like if you do end up sharing the code, at least do it privately and not somewhere open where anyone that does a google search can find it^^'

Can you share private ultra-secret insider info on how well the game is performing (in terms of sales/satisfaction) compared to what you expected before launch? Going by Steam reviews only, 6k reviews with a 90% rating doesn't look too shabby.

 

[Grunker]

When attuning to Belt of the Dwarvenkind, remember to read the item description

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tacticaladventures/solasta-crown-of-the-magister/posts/3245588

Sorcerer Update Patch Notes

Important Information!

• Added Russian & Brazilian Portuguese localization
• Please make sure to remove / deactivate all your mods! Large updates will often conflict with existing mods, so mods may very well break the game if you don't deactivate them - leading to frequent crashes and / or other issues.
• This also means loading a save of a run where you had mods enabled will probably break.
• If you run into a bug, a list of known issues is available at the bottom of the Patch Notes

Class & Gameplay

• Added Ironman Mode to the difficulty setting. Ironman Mode can only be selected when you start a new campaign, and can't be turned off - you only get a single save file, and it gets deleted on a game over!
• Added the Sorcerer Class to the Character Creator (Draconic Bloodline, Mana Painter, Child of the Rift)
• Sorcerers have access to additional facial customizations, currently unavailable for other classes (but we're looking into it for the future!)
• Rangers can now replace one known spell when they level up
• Fixed Rangers sometimes not getting the correct favored enemy / terrain they selected at level 6
• Fixed Champion Fighter's 2nd fighting style overwriting the 1st at level 10
• Fixed Rogue missing their ASI at level 10
• Fixed not being able to level up as a wizard if you already knew all the spells available
• Fixed Fighters not being able to dash twice with Action Surge
• Fixed Paladins starting with javelins equipped instead of their longsword
• Fixed dwarves getting slowed by wearing heavy armor when their strength is below requirement
• Fixed Creed of Arun sharing the same text with Ambidextrous

Spoiler

Spells & Magic

• Spells can now be upcasted even if they don't scale. This option only appears when you're out of spell slots for that specific spell level
• Added Dominate Beast Spell (level 4)
• High CR Soraks can no longer be affected by Calm Emotion
• Fixed Aid not being dispelled when traveling on the World Map
• Fixed Aid sometimes making you lose health (wut?)
• Fixed Heroism Spell not displaying the correct values in the tooltip
• Fixed Heroism not working as it should
• Fixed Pass without Trace granting +20 instead of +10 on Stealth Checks, effectively rendering all enemies blind outside combat
• Detect Magic now keeps detecting magic as long as you concentrate on the spell. As opposed to, you know, only working when cast and then sit there pretending to be important, eating your concentration and sleeping on your couch.
• Fixed Bane not working as it should
• Fixed Slow granting a bonus to dex saving throws instead of a penalty… yeaaaaa…...
• Fixed Grease & Protection from Energy scaling with higher level spellslots since they are not supposed to

Items & Equipment

• Disabled auto-equip! Your party will no longer sneakily equip this random unidentified magical item lying on the ground. Most wise!
• Fixed an issue where the party chest would become unusable. Simply leave and re-enter Caer Cyflen to fix it.
• Fixed Tome of Understanding not being usable
• Fixed Potions using your concentration, that's not how it's supposed to work!
• Fixed an exploit where you could drop attuned items in chests while keeping the magic item's bonus… you sly dogs… Magic items now lose attunement when dropped in a container
• Fixed Staff of Metis not recharging at dawn
• Staff of Metis is now blue like it was originally intended to be, and now has a teensy bit of VFX as well!
• Fixed Primed Chain Shirt not being available in the Arcaneum Shop
• Fixed being able to drink Spider Venom as if it were a health potion. Weirdos.
• Fixed spells with multiple options (Eyebite, Fire Wall…) not working correctly when cast using scrolls or magic items
• Opening readable items should now correctly focus on the beginning instead of the end of the text. Because that's how you're supposed to read letters
• Fixed the Book of All Things' tooltip
• Fixed Encumbrance sometimes being wonky when splitting stack of items
• Fixed some scrolls not having the right icons
• Fixed being able to scribe a scroll and use magic items while being on a shop screen, which is fairly rude to the merchant (and also caused quite a few issues)
• Fixed Greataxe of Sharpness dealing 1d8 extra lightning damage
• Fixed some magic weapons giving double the bonus they were supposed to give
• Fixed Cog of Cohh again. Wishing him a pleasant trip to Eorzea!

Quests & Story

• Fixed being able to interact with the gem under the dragon if you had enough stealth in the Conjuration Main Quest, blocking progression as it teleported you before getting crucial information. If you had that bug, you must load a save before the event specified here to unblock yourself.
• Fixed Brok not being where Brok should be when party brings Axe to Brok. Brok apologizes, Brok got distracted.
• Brok and Kebra will no longer follow you if you leave the volcano right after freeing Brok
• The rotating bridge in the caves of Caer Lem now resets each time you enter the caves to avoid blocking a portion of the level. Who resets it? Uuuuhhhh I guess Soraks?
• Fixed a rare issue where Master Dackin would decide to take some vacations, and thus prevent the party from playing the Academic Background Quest
• Fixed Master Dackin being in two places at once after you complete the Academic Background Quest. It's simple. We kill the doppelganger.
• Fixed being unable to complete the Lowlife Background Quest if you cast Knock on the chest. Magic is cheating!
• Fixed Nel becoming very confused in the Lowlife Background Quest if your entire party attempted to open the chest repeatedly.
• Reworked a couple of cutscenes, notably fixing a couple of camera shots that used to show you walls instead of your party (it's art, you wouldn't understand it)
• Fixed some quest markers not pointing to the right place (damn NPCs are so unclear with their directions)
• Fixed the Legendary Quest completing before the end of the fight. Don't count your chickens before they hatch, folks.
• Maddy can no longer raise your faction points above 14 when you greet her, no matter how polite you are
• You can now leave the Legendary Quest location instead of being forced to finish it once you arrive to the temple
• Fixed a bug where a party member could get stuck after a cutscene in the Lawkeeper Background Quest
• Fixed a quest item sometimes not being interactable in the Goblin Culture side quest
• Fixed the Spider Queen sometimes appearing as both dead and alive after loading a save (Schrodinger's Spider, much scarier than his cat)
• Fixed a very rare bug where your crown could disappear if the wearer was over encumbered at a very specific moment in the game

Monsters & Combat

• Fixed Bonus Action spells incorrectly using a Main Action when cast to start a fight (often seen with Hunter's Mark)
• Fixed an issue with Minotaurs being stuck in their charge animation sometimes
• Fixed death fall animation on elementals
• A dying character will no longer roll -1 on their death saving throw when receiving damage. Negative values on a D20 are not a thing (yet)
• Fixed a couple of combat animations that were looking weird
• Fixed a rare freeze when multiple groups of creatures would try to start combat at the same time. Everyone, get in here!
• Fixed a rare bug where you could break the game by killing the last enemy in a fight with Spiritual Weapon or Flaming Sphere right before a cutscene triggers
• Fixed one poor Fire Elemental being stuck in a particular fight in Lava Forest
• Fixed some monsters not correctly looping their idle animation in the bestiary

Exploration & Misc.

• Characters with very low Constitution modifier will no longer lose HP when doing a short rest (minimum healing is still 0 though, as per RAW)
• Fixed not being to fly over small gaps in some locations such as inside the Tirmarian Tower (Caer Lem). If you find other places where this happens, send us a screenshot and tell us where that is!
• Fixed a potential crash when entering / leaving / re-entering Earcorn location
• Party members would sometime say the same thing at the same time when clicking an interactable item while exploring. This should now be fixed.
• Relaxed camera restrictions in planar mode when mouse pointer is above non traversable terrain (like death pits or outside playable area)
• Fixed a rare bug where the Victory text would stay in the middle of the screen after combat. Because it's a little hard to play like that.
• Added Environmental VFX in many locations
• Added missing audio in a couple of places
• Fixed large squares showing up when targeting Lava Bulbs
• Fixed some lighting issues in a couple of locations
• Fixed a couple of clipping issues with hair & armor
• Fixed some doors not being openable even though they were highlighted when pressing ALT
• Fixed some doors appearing as locked on the blueprint map even after being opened

Dungeon Maker

• Added 2 campaigns made by Tactical Adventures (Dun Cuin & Caer Falcarn) to the Dungeon Maker folder for new players & modders. Note that if you delete them, they are also available in the Steam Workshop if you want to re-download them at a later date.
• Added the Sewer Environment to the Dungeon Maker
• Added the Woodland Environment to the Dungeon Maker
• Added the Catacomb Environment to the Dungeon Maker
• Added several new visual mood options to in the Dungeon Maker
• Added the Brimstone Viper (M), the Windsnake (M) and the Earth Elemental (L) in Dungeon Maker monster spawners
• Added a ton of magic weapons & armors in the dungeon maker item list (chest)
• Traps in the Dungeon Maker should now have VFX
• Zealots now correctly appear in the Large Monster Spawner instead of the Medium Monster Spawner in the Dungeon Maker
• Fixed name filter not working correctly in the Dungeon Maker chests & monster spawners
• Fixed an issue that would corrupt characters when exported at the end of a Dungeon Maker map when they would be attuned to magic items or have an active magical effect on a worn item (like Light)
• Fixed being unable to upload a Dungeon Maker Map if you already uploaded it and deleted it from the Steam Workshop previously
• Added Mod.io support for non-Steam versions of Solasta

And for those who didn't get to see it yet, check out our Dungeon Maker Trailer! More features to come

Known Issues

• Opening your inventory via the spell "Identify", then opening another tab (spells, skills...) and then coming back to inventory will prevent clicking on the items to identify (but why would you do that?). Simply cancel the spell and cast it again if that happens to you.
• Hector, the pre-made Sorcerer, somehow knows Guiding Bolt twice (one for each hand). Unfortunately since Guiding Bolt is outside of regular Sorcerers' jurisdiction, you won't be able to unlearn it either. We'll be fixing that soon, but know that if you do decide to start an adventure with this version of Hector, he'll have two Guiding Bolts until the end (as we can't change the spell list of characters that are already in an adventure). Still, you can love him nonetheless.
• We uh... we broke the spell Protection from Energy. Just don't use it, it's not going to do anything when cast. Sorry, we'll be working on fixing it asap.
• We have noted an issue that can happen while in combat - some attack buttons may sometimes disappear at random during combat. When that happens, you may become unable to load save files (it will give you "data corruption" error), but re-starting the game will fix that (your saves aren't actually corrupted, the message is just wrong). We are already working on a fix that should be available in the upcoming days.

Sneak Peek...

The Sourcebook PDF is coming up... soon

Article by Tactical Myzzrym

 

[Grunker]

Is there a known bug with Magic Missile? My MMs literally one-shot everything - what happens is each missile will first deal the appropriate force damage (1d4+1), then it will deal 5 necrotic damage until the target is dead. So one MM = 1d4+1 force damage plus infinite necrotic damage in increments of 5 :S

 

[Thac0]

Aaand we have the confirmation that Greataxe of Sharpness was not supposed to have the +1d10 thunder. Also the +6 axe got fixed. With how absurdly good one handed magical weapons and shields are in this game, and with how long it takes to get a primed greatsword, two handed weapons are now pretty shit. Unless you are running 3-4 martials I wouldn't use them. Althought the 1d4+STR bonus action attack feat is still pretty cute.

 

[Galdred]

Is there a known bug with Magic Missile? My MMs literally one-shot everything - what happens is each missile will first deal the appropriate force damage (1d4+1), then it will deal 5 necrotic damage until the target is dead. So one MM = 1d4+1 force damage plus infinite necrotic damage in increments of 5 :S

How so? Mine only do the advertised damages (1D4+1 per missile), is it because you used the arcane boost or whatever buff before casting? Or did you find a way to improve your overall force damage?
Regarding the difficulty, some of the hardest fights I had were random traveling encounters where my party was attacked asleep, and the second one (in cataclysm mode). I think Cataclysm is fine early on, but the set encounters become easier and easier as time goes indeed.

 

[Grunker]

Is there a known bug with Magic Missile? My MMs literally one-shot everything - what happens is each missile will first deal the appropriate force damage (1d4+1), then it will deal 5 necrotic damage until the target is dead. So one MM = 1d4+1 force damage plus infinite necrotic damage in increments of 5 :S

How so?

I'm thinking it must be a bug, like I said. Here is an example:

 

[Lacrymas]

Obviously bugged. If not - too overpowered.

 

[Grunker]

Bestow Curse could do something similar (and the interaction is overpowered, yes), but 1) I haven't cast it and 2) it would output 1d8 damage for each missile, not multiples of 5 for each:

https://solastacrownofthemagister.wiki.fextralife.com/Bestow+Curse

 

[Parabalus]

I had a similar bug, but with Ice Storm, it one shot the dragon.

 

[Grunker]

The many people who YES!-emoted my "is this game bugfree and polished"-post need to be beheaded.

 

[NJClaw]

The many people who YES!-emoted my "is this game bugfree and polished"-post need to be beheaded.

These bugs probably were introduced by one of the latest updates. I went through the entire game three times and I didn't encounter a single bug (apart from the unusable tome of understanding and the notable frame drops in the area with the waterfall).

 

[Lacrymas]

Bestow Curse could do something similar (and the interaction is overpowered, yes), but 1) I haven't cast it and 2) it would output 1d8 damage for each missile, not multiples of 5 for each:

https://solastacrownofthemagister.wiki.fextralife.com/Bestow+Curse

Should Bestow Curse react like this to MMs, though? I certainly wouldn't allow it, only 1 missile should trigger the extra damage.

 

[Grunker]

Haven't updated to sorcerer's update yet, I was playing as it came out.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Can someone explain me, why elementals can be affected by necrotic damage at all? Isn't they are basically immortal personification of water/fire/earth/winds and whatever?