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

[lukaszek]

so... killed spider queen, got an axe

Spoiler

why only option I have is to keep this axe? is it due to my chaotic neutral alignments?

Possibly, the available options are dependent on your PCs personality traits, which are related to alignment but not entirely determined by alignment. I had two options available at this juncture, and IIRC it was my greedy, egoistic rogue who urged the party to keep the axe. Perhaps if all your party members are greedy or egoistic, then they will act accordingly.

Pretty sure RPing greedy and egotistic is mandatory on the Kotex, at least from what I've seen.

yeah but in this case my party is not using 2handers. I feel that my greed is misguided

 

[V_K]

so... killed spider queen, got an axe

Spoiler

why only option I have is to keep this axe? is it due to my chaotic neutral alignments?

Possibly, the available options are dependent on your PCs personality traits, which are related to alignment but not entirely determined by alignment. I had two options available at this juncture, and IIRC it was my greedy, egoistic rogue who urged the party to keep the axe. Perhaps if all your party members are greedy or egoistic, then they will act accordingly.

Oh, so personalty traits aren't just cosmetic? That sounds like big incline to me.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

what about drinking potions when engaged with an enemy? Without punishing this action you either have to cut potions or have characters effectively multiplying their hp pool. Do you create a new mechanic for that? What about changing equipment when engaged?

If I'm not mistaken, all of those already eat up the main action as a general rule. So effectively enemies do get a free attack on you since you can't do anything major in the same round; no need for additional punishment. Personally, I find the pacing of combat to be better that way than overusing AoOs.

But if you punish drinking potion during engagement only with losing main action, you will end up with a pretty non dynamic combat situation. I attack, enemy drinks potion, rinse repeat. When potions ends, attacker wins. Losing main action makes counterattacking difficult. When using AoO the fight might end up right at the beginning, but if defender survives AoO, the defender has a chance to use main action to counterattack.

 

[lukaszek]

so... killed spider queen, got an axe

Spoiler

why only option I have is to keep this axe? is it due to my chaotic neutral alignments?

Possibly, the available options are dependent on your PCs personality traits, which are related to alignment but not entirely determined by alignment. I had two options available at this juncture, and IIRC it was my greedy, egoistic rogue who urged the party to keep the axe. Perhaps if all your party members are greedy or egoistic, then they will act accordingly.

Oh, so personalty traits aren't just cosmetic? That sounds like big incline to me.

yeah, i got cheated!

 

[NJClaw]

what about drinking potions when engaged with an enemy? Without punishing this action you either have to cut potions or have characters effectively multiplying their hp pool. Do you create a new mechanic for that? What about changing equipment when engaged?

If I'm not mistaken, all of those already eat up the main action as a general rule. So effectively enemies do get a free attack on you since you can't do anything major in the same round; no need for additional punishment. Personally, I find the pacing of combat to be better that way than overusing AoOs.

But if you punish drinking potion during engagement only with losing main action, you will end up with a pretty non dynamic combat situation. I attack, enemy drinks potion, rinse repeat. When potions ends, attacker wins. Losing main action makes counterattacking difficult. When using AoO the fight might end up right at the beginning, but if defender survives AoO, the defender has a chance to use main action to counterattack.

This is all theoric talk, though, because (a) drinking a potion was a standard action in 3.x, so you had to take the AoO AND waste your main action, (b) in both editions the healing you get from a potion doesn't justify wasting an action, so imagine losing an action AND taking an AoO that will probably deal more damage than the potion will ever heal, and (c) using potions is immoral and illegal. Potions are there to rot in your inventory, nothing more.

 

[Thac0]

Potions are there to rot in your inventory, nothing more.

Excuse me? Ramming potions down the throats of their unconscious allies is how adventurers court. Clearly the only socially acceptible use of a healing potion.

 

[V_K]

But if you punish drinking potion during engagement only with losing main action, you will end up with a pretty non dynamic combat situation. I attack, enemy drinks potion, rinse repeat. When potions ends, attacker wins.

Which should tell you that this is not a very good strategy and make you think of something more creative. Like casting invisibility first, for example.

 

[lukaszek]

so... killed spider queen, got an axe

Spoiler

why only option I have is to keep this axe? is it due to my chaotic neutral alignments?

Possibly, the available options are dependent on your PCs personality traits, which are related to alignment but not entirely determined by alignment. I had two options available at this juncture, and IIRC it was my greedy, egoistic rogue who urged the party to keep the axe. Perhaps if all your party members are greedy or egoistic, then they will act accordingly.

Oh, so personalty traits aren't just cosmetic? That sounds like big incline to me.

yeah, i got cheated!

just checked my tags, no one got greed!

formal;caution;cynism;casual
slang;cynism;caution;violence
slang;egoism;cynism;caution
caution;cynism;egoism;casual

also not everyone is egoistic

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

But if you punish drinking potion during engagement only with losing main action, you will end up with a pretty non dynamic combat situation. I attack, enemy drinks potion, rinse repeat. When potions ends, attacker wins.

Which should tell you that this is not a very good strategy and make you think of something more creative. Like casting invisibility first, for example.

From the point of the player: sure. But from the point of AI? It would be optimal to have AI coming up with creative solutions, but the reality is that AI isn't that smart. It does look like it will take years to have a truly intelligent AI.

This is all theoric talk,

Yes it is

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Denim Destroyer]

Whatever they do next there better be a dedicated QOL control position.

 

[Elex]

so this mean that the game is doing well.
or they try to emulate larian.

 

[Saravan]

I might be misreading it but sounds like a new adventure campaign within the same game? DLC or something.

 

[jackofshadows]

Finally was able to return and to finish my run. By God, I'm bored to tears to be honest. Not that encounter design is shit, it just due to my party composition and max difficulty I couldn't come up with any other valid tactic than summons/maybe fighter are absorbing damage, the rest are blasting. And this is for like the good last third if not more of the game. Again and again. Funnily enough, in the final battle all what could have gone wrong went fucking wrong and I still was able to overcome that

Spoiler

I really was going to smash reload when it was almost over, not that I was about to lost them all but it wasn't look pretty

Overall, I would have said it's an ok game, not shit IF it wouldn't so damn bare-bones. Itemisation is currently broken basically, subclasses should be tuned more somehow, spells as well (conjure minor elementals is b-u-s-t-e-d for example). Re-use of locations for side quests is ridiculous. Mass cut-scene teleports are annoying as hell I might add. So, just mediocre (base module/current state wise). Still, an easy reccomendation to any genre-enthusiast for you-know-what reason.

 

[RPK]

I might be misreading it but sounds like a new adventure campaign within the same game? DLC or something.

that's the impression I got. that or a new campaign altogether. they do have that "select campaign" button or whatever it is on the main menu.

 

[Larianshill]

Public Beta Branch 1.0.22
Note: These changes are only available on the Public Beta branch for now.

Spoiler

• Removed outdated crafting recipe for scroll of Mirror Image that doesn't work
  
• Made sure a certain Sorak can now be targeted while hanging on the wall
  
• Fixed some AoE spells looking very strange when cast next to walls
  
• Fixed one specific beard being misplaced on dwarven faces
  
• Fixed an issue when two cutscenes were trying to trigger at the same time
  
• Fixed a couple of crashes that could occur during specific encounters
  
• Fixed an issue which could cause the quest journal to break when the player would go back and forth between too many quests at once without completing any of them.
  
• Attempting a hotfix to "being stuck when starting a new campaign". Users affected by the issue should now see a variation of the Intro Movie, though without sound.
  
• Fixed a save corruption issue if a character equipped an Orc Shortbow, Orc Javelin or Ogre Javelin. Saves that were corrupted in this manner should now properly load.
  
• Fixed an issue when loading an Early Access save where a certain cutscene with Merton... did not have Merton in it. Making it very awkward.
  
• Improved a few cutscenes when talking to Merton
  
• Fixed an instance where the Lowlife and Sellsword cutscenes would trigger at the same time
  
• Fixed a rare save corruption issue which could happen when the player saved while a scroll was being scribed
  
• Fixed a sequence break in Dark Castle where players who managed to go through a tree in a certain place could end up getting their main quest stuck.
  If your main quest is stuck in Dark Castle, you will need to load a save prior to entering Dark Castle / right after entering the Dark Castle location from the World Map
  
  
• Fixed a rare sequence break in Dark Castle that could happen if players used Misty Step while trying to solve the Maze puzzle.
  
• Fixed a rare issue in Caer Lem where the main quest would not progress after defeating Soraks in combat
  
• Guardian of Faith can now be cast (although it is lacking some VFX for now)
  
• Fixed an instance in the Evocation Main Quest where the door would not open when meeting with Brok in front of the Throne Room to face Arrok.
  
• Fixed some items being deleted by reordering the inventory while trying to sell things at a shop
  
• Banishment should now correctly permanently banish extraplanar creatures when the banished target is the last remaining enemy in the fight.
  
• Ending a fight with a creature controlled by Dominate Person will automatically kill it, instead of having it follow you everywhere (and unfortunately breaking the game in the process)
  
• Fixed an exploit wherein selecting a sub-class during level up, then cancelling the level up process, then using the level up to select another sub-class would grant you the features of both sub-classes
  
• Fixed the issue where shooting a bow with a Dwarf would cause massive delays every time
  
• Fixed a rare instance in Cradle of Fire where none of the characters would have a dialog choice when trying to give back the axe to Radulf, effectively blocking the game
  
• Fixed a rare instance in one Council cutscene where none of the characters would have a dialog choice, effecitvely blocking the game
  
• Remove outdated Scroll of Mirror Image from the game
  
• Fixed Poison Vial acting like a Healing Potion
  
• Finally added Primed Longsword to the Arcaneum Shop
  
• Calm Emotion now only affects humanoids like it should
  
• Fixed a sequence break where obtaining the bones in Aer Elai before entering a fight would block progress on the main quest.
  If you are affected by this issue, you need to load a save from before you looted the bones

 

[Thac0]

it just due to my party composition and max difficulty I couldn't come up with any other valid tactic than summons/maybe fighter are absorbing damage,

I told you keeping the +3 to saves enabled will lead to this. I had a much better time deep late, I abused the wind sneks aswell, but also large amounts of control spells.
Area denial was also pretty big on my run, my most casted spells late might just be Wall of Fire and Spiritual Guardians. Chopping down through encounters where the enemy team has multiple thousands of hp spread through them is only fun if you damage them all multiple times a turn.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Oh, so personalty traits aren't just cosmetic? That sounds like big incline to me.

This is conjecture on my part, but since lukaszek wasn't offered the option of handing over the axe as promised, it would seem that the availability of options must be connected either to personality traits or to alignment.

yeah, i got cheated!

just checked my tags, no one got greed!

formal;caution;cynism;casual
slang;cynism;caution;violence
slang;egoism;cynism;caution
caution;cynism;egoism;casual

also not everyone is egoistic

Your entire party is missing the altruism and kindness personality traits, and for that matter the authority and lawfulness traits, so it could be the option of returning the axe is tied to one or more of these traits. Similarly, perhaps a party entirely lacking certain other traits (egoism?) would not have the option of keeping the axe. Or the available options could be tied to alignment instead.

 

[LESS T_T]

I might be misreading it but sounds like a new adventure campaign within the same game? DLC or something.

Press release implies it's entirely a new game, "its first game, a new tactical RPG set in the same universe"

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/pres...S_NEW_VIDEOGAME_DEVELOPMENT_STUDIO_TALYON.php

TACTICAL ADVENTURES ANNOUNCES NEW VIDEOGAME DEVELOPMENT STUDIO TALYON

PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 10, 2021 – French Independent videogame developer Tactical Adventures is proud to announce studio expansion through the creation of a new subsidiary development team, Talyon, a new studio based in Lyon, France.

Lead by Julien Millet, Talyon’s first project is to build a team of developers for its first game, a new tactical RPG set in the same universe as Tactical Adventures first game, Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

With over 19 years of experience in the videogame industry with renowned studios (Quantic Dream, Eugen Systems, Wizardbox…), Julien Millet fully masters the production process thanks to his artistic, creative, and technical skills.

Julien joined forces with the talented and passionate team at Tactical Adventures in 2019 to help develop its first tactical RPG Solasta: Crown of the Magister, where he actively contributed to the game development, specifically working on narrative and level design aspects.

The Talyon team currently consists of two additional developers who also worked on Solasta: Crown of the Magister, and are actively recruiting more passionate and talented staff to join their studio based in Lyon, France.

“A beautiful journey lies ahead of us,” said Julien Millet. “This new studio will take the Solasta universe to uncharted territories that we are eager to develop.”

“It has been almost two years since we started working with Julien and his team, and their contribution to the development of Solasta has been crucial,” said Mathieu Girard, Founder, CEO and Creative Director of Tactical Adventures. “It’s a privilege to be able to create this new studio with them, and to keep expanding the Solasta universe together!”

Solasta: Crown of the Magister released Steam version 1.0 on May 27 and has seen positive user reviews on all platforms the game is sold on including, Steam, GOG, Gamesplanet, Humble Store and the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass for PC catalogue.

Tactical Adventures wishes to expand upon the Solasta universe creating a rich and unforgettable tactical RPG with the new project that Talyon is developing. Talyon will benefit from the technical innovations that helped define the genre and success of Solasta: Crown of the Magister.

# # #

ABOUT TACTICAL ADVENTURES:
Tactical Adventures is a videogame development studio, created in 2018 by Mathieu Girard, who previously co-founded Amplitude Studios (acquired by Sega in 2016). Located in the heart of Paris, Tactical Adventures is a self-published studio, aiming to create immersive & tactical videogames within the RPG genre. One of the key strengths of the studio’s philosophy revolves around the recruitment of experienced team members, organized into agile teams, whose development process & decisions will be made in collaboration with their community.

And what will Paris studio do next? A D&D game? Or sci-fi one?

 

[HoboForEternity]

Level 10-20 campaign pls

 

[jungl]

They need to ditch full voice acting it is cancer and limits creativity. You never going to get epic stories with over 100 characters like the suikoden games with full voice acting.

 

[lukaszek]

Level 10-20 campaign pls

dunno... once you reach lvl 5 its downhill

 

[Parabalus]

How biased against melee is the game?

First map makes it seem pretty bad, with the flying and wall-climbing enemies.

Guessing it gets better with haste and fly.

 

[Lacrymas]

How biased against melee is the game?

First map makes it seem pretty bad, with the flying and wall-climbing enemies.

Guessing it gets better with haste and fly.

Just equip ranged weapons in your second weapon set on everything and it's fine.

 

[Tacgnol]

How biased against melee is the game?

First map makes it seem pretty bad, with the flying and wall-climbing enemies.

Guessing it gets better with haste and fly.

It actually seems to get better as you get further, the vast majority of mid game encounters I've seen so far have been mostly grounded with the occasional enemy up high.

Having a dedicated ranged character is definitely a good choice though. Also make sure your wizard can cast fly on your melee(s) for when it's needed.

Edit: Should also point out fly is really fucking useful for exploration in this game as well, so another reason to make sure you take it on wizard.