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

[lukaszek]

fyi motherland paladin aoe blind is not as stated 1d4, but 1 turn always. It actually last 2 critter turns

 

[vazha]

So what's the Codex consensus on this game, gentlemen (and occasional liluras)? Worth the while?

If in a vacuum, its a 4/10, if you are considering current offerings its pretty good. Decent dungeon romp with some challenging encounters. It manages to pull off mid-magic setting rather well, with some escarcity in magic items and spells that dont outright dominate encounters for.the.most.part.

Making a party and developing it is inherently fun, and the turn based combat is more than passable. Despite the frankly embarrassing writing, and the ugly UI, those elements manage not to get in the way of the fun, which is the gameplay loop of going into different dungeons and beating them.

Id say its a pretty decent time and money investment. Better than your usual mediocre time waster.

If nothing else we already got barbarian class and a few modules, so even if you arent too convinced about the current state of the game, as a 5e game it should draw enough attention that it will definitely get better.

Thank you, that's the kind of comprehensive answer I was looking for. Another question, though: are there any improvements planned that I should better wait for or is it as good as its going to get atm? I understand that poor writing can probably not be helped.

 

[Cryomancer]

dorf chad

This doesn't exist. Is easier to find a virgin succubus than a chad manlet.

If there is any good in it,i will admit it.

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/1326718682412720129

 

[Anonona]

This doesn't exist.

Spoiler

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

It seems to me that he is criticizing DnD 5E, not BG3 specifically, at least in that link.

 

[lukaszek]

dunno why going tb with 5e. It seems way too simple. Attacks of opportunity are limited, cant increase their number(while im at it feats are a joke). Half of the enemies can disengage for free anyway.
Combat seem to be a drag and not really meaningful. Cant believe im suggesting rtwp

 

[Reinhardt]

This doesn't exist. Is easier to find a virgin succubus than a chad manlet.

Main reason dorfs don't do magic - mages are forced to wear dresses and dresses are GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Seriously - elf "male" in a dress. No wonder orkz treat them like wommynz.

 

[V_K]

The Codex's AoO fetish never ceases to amaze me. From the discussions here one could get the impression that it's the single most important RPG mechanic of all.

 

[Cryomancer]

This doesn't exist.

Spoiler

Even Sawyer criticized BG3...

It seems to me that he is criticizing DnD 5E, not BG3 specifically, at least in that link.

Looks like a angry drunk manlet talking shit. Nothing new. After the elf puts a arrow in mid of his head and the necromancer makes him his undead servant, he will probably gonna play victim and manlets often do IRL.

Main reason dorfs don't do magic - mages are forced to wear dresses and dresses are GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Seriously - elf "male" in a dress. No wonder orkz treat them like wommynz.

No. Is because they are drunk brainlets incapable of reading scrolls. And dress and robes are two different things. Is that hard to understand?

 

[Tacgnol]

And dress and robes are two different things. Is that hard to understand?

Sounds like something a pointy eared elf would say.

 

[Anonona]

Looks like a angry drunk manlet talking shit. Nothing new. After the elf puts a arrow in mid of his head and the necromancer makes him his undead servant, he will probably gonna play victim and manlets often do IRL.

Never forget, the battle of the Thousand Caves and the ruin of Doriath.

 

[lukaszek]

The Codex's AoO fetish never ceases to amaze me. From the discussions here one could get the impression that it's the single most important RPG mechanic of all.

its what makes positioning so important. Unlike dos2 you also dont have high ground bonuses

 

[Whisper]

The Codex's AoO fetish never ceases to amaze me. From the discussions here one could get the impression that it's the single most important RPG mechanic of all.

its what makes positioning so important. Unlike dos2 you also dont have high ground bonuses

Rogue subclass gets high ground bonus to damage.

 

[Asymptotics]

dunno why going tb with 5e. It seems way too simple. Attacks of opportunity are limited, cant increase their number(while im at it feats are a joke). Half of the enemies can disengage for free anyway.
Combat seem to be a drag and not really meaningful. Cant believe im suggesting rtwp

Because some developers have this retarded idea that "newer = better" and completely ignore the fact that 5E isn't even the best system for PnP (although PnP is way way more forgiving as the people playing it are free to change the ruleset to their liking).
On the other hand, 5E is so dumbed down that developers have an easier time translating it into a PC game.

There's also the fact that DnD 5E is by far the most popular edition (by current player count, Shit source). So naturally devs might get the idea that if it's the most popular PnP variant - it's automatically going to be the most popular computer game variant.

But as we see from the "finished" product - it's just a boring game, which seems better than what it is just because there's nothing else good on the RPG gaming market lately. The build variety is shit (this will change as the devs introduce new classes, but the 5E limitations will always be there), itemization is as exiting as "OHH LOOK A +3 AXE, (yawn)" and the story is just there so the player isn't forced to aimlessly wander around dungeons.

 

[lukaszek]

Rogue subclass gets high ground bonus to damage.

i am aware and playing it even. Climbing helps to quickly disappear and reappear stealthed

Still its not as good as ranger one same dmg bonus against darkvision enemies. Especially since ranger gets to shoot twice.

Still my point stands - in dos2 elevation felt meaningful, here not rly. If anything you can get punished by being pushed if you stand high - something im always on the lookout for.

 

[Thac0]

Comparing the elevation system of BG3 to that of Solasta I deeply prefer Solasta. BG3 hands out advantage like candy, which completely breaks attacks which target AC over those that force saves. BG3 is made your bitch the second you unlock scorching ray for that reason. Also it makes features which naturally grant advantage, like Faerie Fire or Reckless Attack, borderline useless since advantage does not stack.

That said elevation is certainly close to useless in Solasta. I would have liked a middle ground of sorts, perhaps an elevation bonus to accuracy in height of +1/+2/+3 to hit for every 3 tiles you are above your enemy? That would be cancerous in tabletop, but in video games it would fit well since the computer does the math for you.
It certainly wouldn't be overpowered, as Solasta only gives garbage loot to ranged attackers, all light armors apart from the empress chain shirt are shit, bows are consistently worse than melee weapons when it comes to enchantments and there aren't even any enchanted crossbows.

 

[Tacgnol]

That said elevation is certainly close to useless in Solasta. I would have liked a middle ground of sorts, perhaps an elevation bonus to accuracy in height of +1/+2/+3 to hit for every 3 tiles you are above your enemy? That would be cancerous in tabletop, but in video games it would fit well since the computer does the math for you.

Pathfinder just gives you a flat +1 for having high ground over an opponent. Funnily enough it only applies to melee attacks.

 

[V_K]

The Codex's AoO fetish never ceases to amaze me. From the discussions here one could get the impression that it's the single most important RPG mechanic of all.

its what makes positioning so important. Unlike dos2 you also dont have high ground bonuses

You do get regular AoOs though, just not in response to every sneeze. And besides that, to make positioning meaningful, you get cover, disadvantage on ranged attacks (including some spells), rogue's sneak attack etc.

It certainly wouldn't be overpowered, as Solasta only gives garbage loot to ranged attackers, all light armors apart from the empress chain shirt are shit, bows are consistently worse than melee weapons when it comes to enchantments and there aren't even any enchanted crossbows.

I think the intended way to play a ranged character is to craft poison/acid arrows that give additional damage and debuffs. The only problem is that they require a very peculiar combination of proficiencies that none in my party had.

 

[Thac0]

I think the intended way to play a ranged character is to craft poison/acid arrows that give additional damage and debuffs. The only problem is that they require a very peculiar combination of proficiencies that none in my party had.

Would be another point to the short sightedness of the dev team. Literally every hard fight in the game has the enemies either immune or resistant to poison. Undead, Elementals, Soraks, Spiders are frequently the strong fights in this game. All of them take barely any damage from poison. Acid arrows are nice, but much rarer than poison arrows. I could craft them, but I never really had more than 50 shots of them. On Cataclysm you can go through 40 arrows in a single fight, some of the big setpiece battles can go into round 10 and you shoot 2 arrows per turn.

 

[Cryomancer]

battle of the Thousand Caves and the ruin of Doriath.

This on LoTR. Tolkien has a strong bias towards manlet races. Just like TSR has a bias towards humans.

(by current player count, Shit source). So naturally devs might get the idea that if it's the most popular PnP variant - it's automatically going to be the most popular computer game variant.

Yep. Almost 50% of campaigns is 5E and when we say campaigns, we are not only including D&D products. Think on Mage : The Ascension, call of the cthulhu, starfinder(...)

That would be cancerous in tabletop, but in video games it would fit well since the computer does the math for you.

I strongly disagree. Is a very simple math. A + B.

 

[Removal]

So what's the Codex consensus on this game, gentlemen (and occasional liluras)? Worth the while?

it's bretty ogay, not terrible but not great either
game seriously struggles with pacing and level gains, you'll hit max level well before game end. Some of the later combat scenarios really fail to change up how you play as well other than beefing up enemy health or giving them fire/poison/etc damage on top of their normal attack. Loot is uninspired, there's stuff you can craft but not a lot of unique items that I've found and the best stuff you'll just straight up buy from one of the factions. Quests are go to X location and murder Y group of enemies.

The first part of the game is pretty fun and probably peaks during fighting the vampires earlier on, especially when you're not able to straight up nuke bosses in the first round like you will later on.

 

[lukaszek]

I think the intended way to play a ranged character is to craft poison/acid arrows that give additional damage and debuffs. The only problem is that they require a very peculiar combination of proficiencies that none in my party had.

Would be another point to the short sightedness of the dev team. Literally every hard fight in the game has the enemies either immune or resistant to poison. Undead, Elementals, Soraks, Spiders are frequently the strong fights in this game. All of them take barely any damage from poison. Acid arrows are nice, but much rarer than poison arrows. I could craft them, but I never really had more than 50 shots of them. On Cataclysm you can go through 40 arrows in a single fight, some of the big setpiece battles can go into round 10 and you shoot 2 arrows per turn.

i do craft arrows but rarely use them, usually if there is some big boss. as mentioned in such scenarios its never poison ones(i crafted plenty at this point).

Thing is... with so many extra dmgs game favors number of attacks. My rogue feels quite weak with single attack per round. Even if I could attack more(like twf), you can only sneak dmg once...
Or maybe problem is that i compare to shadow ranger that is murder machine

btw mountaineer switch places renders enemy prone, which allows whole party to have advantage. Not what I understood from skill description. Also got only 3 uses per rest. With wall climbing this one is quite fun, also never dies even under boss assault. At least so far

 

[Strange Fellow]

I think the intended way to play a ranged character is to craft poison/acid arrows that give additional damage and debuffs. The only problem is that they require a very peculiar combination of proficiencies that none in my party had.

Would be another point to the short sightedness of the dev team. Literally every hard fight in the game has the enemies either immune or resistant to poison. Undead, Elementals, Soraks, Spiders are frequently the strong fights in this game. All of them take barely any damage from poison. Acid arrows are nice, but much rarer than poison arrows. I could craft them, but I never really had more than 50 shots of them. On Cataclysm you can go through 40 arrows in a single fight, some of the big setpiece battles can go into round 10 and you shoot 2 arrows per turn.

Poisoned ammunitions aren't good for the damage, but the afflictions they cause, namely poison (different from poison damage, gives disadvantage on everything) and paralysis. I have crafted and used a lot of those and found them very handy, enough so that it's occasionally been worth it to forego significantly more damaging melee attacks in favour of pulling out the bow. Then again, with a pure ranged character against difficulty-buffed HP I can imagine you'd run out quickly even if you're scrounging for ingredients.

 

[Thonius]

dunno why going tb with 5e. It seems way too simple. Attacks of opportunity are limited, cant increase their number(while im at it feats are a joke). Half of the enemies can disengage for free anyway.
Combat seem to be a drag and not really meaningful. Cant believe im suggesting rtwp

Because some developers have this retarded idea that "newer = better" and completely ignore the fact that 5E isn't even the best system for PnP (although PnP is way way more forgiving as the people playing it are free to change the ruleset to their liking).
On the other hand, 5E is so dumbed down that developers have an easier time translating it into a PC game.

There's also the fact that DnD 5E is by far the most popular edition (by current player count, Shit source). So naturally devs might get the idea that if it's the most popular PnP variant - it's automatically going to be the most popular computer game variant.

But as we see from the "finished" product - it's just a boring game, which seems better than what it is just because there's nothing else good on the RPG gaming market lately. The build variety is shit (this will change as the devs introduce new classes, but the 5E limitations will always be there), itemization is as exiting as "OHH LOOK A +3 AXE, (yawn)" and the story is just there so the player isn't forced to aimlessly wander around dungeons.

DnD5 is poor choice for PC game. Like have you seen level up screens on games with DnD5? UGH like 0 choices. Where's my build porn?

 

[Anonona]

This on LoTR. Tolkien has a strong bias towards manlet races. Just like TSR has a bias towards humans.

I mean, he is practically the creator of the modern interpretation of elves and dwarves that almost all of fantasy is inspired by. If the creator favored the manlet races, there was probably a good reason for it.

 

[V_K]

you'll hit max level well before game end.

I finished the game being level 9, having done roughly half of the side quests. I did have an Oblivion cleric though, which meant I could bypass 2/3 of random encounters on the world map. They probably need their XP rewards heavily rebalanced.

DnD5 is poor choice for PC game. Like have you seen level up screens on games with DnD5? UGH like 0 choices. Where's my build porn?

Looks like someone hasn't played anything before 3e.