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

[Alienman]

Some thoughts after collecting the third gem.

I still find the game charming, but combat wise it has some issues when it comes to difficulty. I'm playing on core rules, with added AI so they are allowed to push, kill downed players etc. I'm considering increasing the damage maybe, but I'm not sure, it would only mean that my mage will be one-shotted instead of two/three-shotted. My paladin and cleric seems almost invincible and I doubt that would change much. And increasing HP is out of the question. Some enemies already feel a bit bloaty. But it's also the fact that I enjoy playing games on equal terms, especially in a game like this when the rules are everything.

But yeah, the challenge have certainly gone down in the latest encounters. I don't feel much danger, except for my squishy but I got so many scrolls and stuff now so if he goes down it wouldn't be a real problem anyway.

Money don't seem to be an issue either, which is always a disappointment in games like these. I like the struggle of finding coin, but I'm already rich now and I have nothing real to buy because as mentioned above the difficulty don't really require it. I do like the scarcity of loot though, since you actually have to use the weapons you find for a while instead of switching it out after every encounter. At the same time, I'm getting a shit ton of stuff I can craft, especially now after the latest play-session. From two-handers to maces and armors, so it might change now after I put my mage to work on those blueprints.

I do prefer the leveling system of 3.5 to 5. There isn't much to pick from when you level up, feels a bit like WoW (of all games) when they re-designed their talent system and everyone just picked the same because it was the best. Not saying it is that bad here of course, but there isn't that many options when you level up. I really like the experimentation in Pathfinder for an example.

Oh well, back to it

 

[jackofshadows]

The one thing that concerns me about fractions is that the UI suggests there should be ways to lose reputation with a given faction, yet I've never seen that happen.

The second one would be that allied factions could send some aid in battle but unless it's implemented like in god damn TOW it wasn't implemented at all. Seems that the devs were planning far more for the factions than they were able to deliver.

 

[Whisper]

another minor ish complain: environment damage doesn't really do anything especially after you hit level 3 or 4. except for lighting. i think it can be fixed by giving status effects if you drop a stalactite on enemies, like prone, or bleeding or whatever instead of just flat damage. i don't think i have used the environment after caer cyflam sorak fights. dropping a stone on your enemy last i check deal like 12 damage on direwolf In the orc storyline. my cantrip does more than that + hindered status effect.

You can target 1 of magic missiles to drop it. 12 is more dmg than from 1 magic missile

 

[Thac0]

scholar quest: there is a tower to be reached and its quite a trouble for my no caster party and levitation potions cost way too much. Is there something amazing to be found and tons of xp or can I wait it out until I come back from necrodancer castle? I should be able to afford

There is some cool stuff up there, crafting mats, one low level magical item (for me an armor), just some general gold and goodies. Also a fight. But you can definitly postbone it if you have no misty step, I am not even sure if levitate is enough to get up there.
You get another quest later to go there anyway, you can probably do both at once.

 

[V_K]

I am not even sure if levitate is enough to get up there.

It's not, I tried it.

You get another quest later to go there anyway, you can probably do both at once.

I'm not sure you can get that quest before finishing the academic quest.

 

[lukaszek]

I am not even sure if levitate is enough to get up there.

It's not, I tried it.

You get another quest later to go there anyway, you can probably do both at once.

I'm not sure you can get that quest before finishing the academic quest.

actually, when i say levitate i mean fly

EDIT: i see what you mean now, boots from merchant cast levitate, not fly. Whydo they cost so much then?

 

[lukaszek]

there are some locations that are taxing my rig. I made it to monastery and cant bear it. Any settings you can recommend?

 

[V_K]

Turn shadows off.

 

[HoboForEternity]

The +3 axe from orc questline is great. Theoretically, axe of sharpness has the potential to do more damage with the 1D8 lightning, but when i used it, +3 axe give better hit roll.

The axe gave +6 modifier somehow (dunno if it's a bug, but when you hover over the roll result, there are 2 +3 modifiers so it add up to +6.) On top of bless, proficiency at level 9, my standard roll has +18 modifier, which is more than 95% of enemies in game have AC. The only time i really miss is after i roll a 1.

I end up taking it (arrok is easy anyway with fire shield) ans give my sharpness axe to my paladin. With smite + branding smite + 1d8 lightning she can deal easy 30 damage/ attack plus the 2 handed feat she can deal 60 to 80 damage / turn.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Standing up from being prone does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Who thought this was a good idea? This is just insane.

 

[NJClaw]

Standing up from being prone does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Who thought this was a good idea? This is just insane.

In its simplification crusade, 5E reduced attacks of opportunity to the bare minimum: only moving out of someone's reach causes one.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

lowlife quest: that +2 longsword seem quite juicy at this stage of the game. Quest rewards seem very meh, any reason not to hold onto it a bit more?

I am probably a bit too late, but around of the end game (during of main quest) princess gave to my party various "trinkets" and among them was +2 longsword. But it was before heading in last location and I don't know odds to obtain one if rewards random though.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Standing up from being prone does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Who thought this was a good idea? This is just insane.

In its simplification crusade, 5E reduced attacks of opportunity to the bare minimum: only moving out of someone's reach causes one.

5E, the more you learn about it, the more you hate it.

 

[Lacrymas]

I find it interesting that 5E came out 7 years ago but people on an RPG forum still don't know anything about it, lol.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I find it interesting that 5E came out 7 years ago but people on an cRPG forum learn about only after a first cRPG came out, lol.

Fixed that for you.

 

[Thac0]

Very close to finishing Solasta now I feel, just dinged for level 10 and beaten the Ego maze, entered that weird ruin where you probably fight the dragon that almost filtered Strange Fellow.

This whole area was good, much much better than the volcano. Combat was frequently challenging, I played the arena without even short resting and it was great fun. Loot is pretty good all things around, if I get a return trip to town after this I can even get a few final upgrades. The gimmicks here gave enough distraction for it to not feel like a slog, going from exploding plants to lava pillars to dark geometric corridors to an ego maze was a bit of setting whiplash, but it was a nice way to keep me engaged for the final hours. The only thing that was a bit lackluster was the floating cube bossfight, I entangled that cube and my fighter melted the 300hp without much trouble.

The two side quests before the area were nice aswell, the roman looking ruins in the forest where you get the storm gem, and the temple of the fire snails where you get the OP ring of protection +2.

Difficulty had some weird spikes. The fight against the first batch of acid spiders was really hard, harder than anything else in the area and harder than the entire volcano. Those things have 200 Hp on my difficulty, multiattack 3 melee, multiattack 2 range, a damage type you can't do much against, can even hit my 25 AC tank fairly well with their +12 to hit or so, and a full round of three attacks can drop my 70ish at that point hp fighter. Also they paralyse for god knows what reason. That said I won on my first try because their AI is broken. Cast Insect Plague on them, and they can no longer attack you in ranged due to lack of vision. But they are hardcoded to not leave their trees I believe, I couldn't even shove them off there. So they just stood and kept being stuck to their trees helplessly while a swarm of insects ate them. Weird fight.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I find it interesting that 5E came out 7 years ago but people on an RPG forum still don't know anything about it, lol.

5E is a millennials only edition, that's why.

 

[Saravan]

Finished the game, and sorry to say but

Spoiler

that final combat encounter was the most anti-climatic shit ever.

 

[lukaszek]

lowlife quest: that +2 longsword seem quite juicy at this stage of the game. Quest rewards seem very meh, any reason not to hold onto it a bit more?

I am probably a bit too late, but around of the end game (during of main quest) princess gave to my party various "trinkets" and among them was +2 longsword. But it was before heading in last location and I don't know odds to obtain one if rewards random though.

problem is npc placement and that she interrupts party nearby... i turned sword in while using map navigation and decided that its too much hassle

 

[Ontopoly]

Turn shadows off.

Shadows really do take a lot of resources. I have a bad setup and have to pretty much turn them off every time I play a recently released game. I don't even like shadows, anyways. When's the last time anyone was walking around and even noticed their shadow? It's just an unnecessary veneer-feature

 

[Acrux]

I'm back at Caer Cyflen with the crown. My party is level 4, halfway to 5, and it seems like the game is just getting started. Am I further along than I thought? Is there a way to slow down progression - other than not doing side quests? I've only done two.

 

[Thac0]

I'm back at Caer Cyflen with the crown. My party is level 4, halfway to 5, and it seems like the game is just getting started. Am I further along than I thought? Is there a way to slow down progression - other than not doing side quests? I've only done two.

The leveling curve is just weird. You start at 2 after you learn the controls, and after the introductory dungeon is over you are already level 3.
Overall the game probably has a good 40 hours of juice into it, I will probably finish it with 50 due to many reloads in the early and midgame through high difficulty and an overall leisurely pace.
But if you really want to get less xp you can turn off random encounters on the worldmap, those give a decent chunk of extra xp.

 

[lycanwarrior]

I do prefer the leveling system of 3.5 to 5. There isn't much to pick from when you level up, feels a bit like WoW (of all games) when they re-designed their talent system and everyone just picked the same because it was the best. Not saying it is that bad here of course, but there isn't that many options when you level up. I really like the experimentation in Pathfinder for an example.

Oh well, back to it

Easily the biggest weakness of adopting 5e ruleset to the CRPG genre. Lack of crunchiness and feats.

 

[lukaszek]

i enjoy going after vampires with torches. Feels like im missing a pitchfork though

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I find it interesting that 5E came out 7 years ago but people on an RPG forum still don't know anything about it, lol.

Suggesting that prestigious Codexers should spend their precious time learning about post-TSR pseudo-D&D.