Solasta Solasta II - coming to Early Access in 2025

[Serus]

KOTC1 is one of the greatest RPGs ever and it only has three available classes for a party of four. KOTC2, despite expanding on both of those aspects felt unsatisfying in comparison.
Dark Sun SL is also an adventure for four characters and a top tier classic.
Party size is irrelevant, what makes or breaks an rpg is having great adventure modules.

The main issue with KotC that many people had, myself included, was lack of choices when it comes to classes. Also, less replayability because of it.
KotC 1 vs 2 is just your opinion. The 2nd, feel or no feel - had more complex combat encounters - even if as a whole was in some ways worse. Party size is very relevant, objectively.

 

[Mortmal]

"Should we build on top of what we already made or start from scratch for our sequel?"

"Let's start from scratch."

It seems so far they are switching to a new engine, a risky move. We already have fewer features than Solasta 1, and instead of addressing its flaws, they appear to be aiming for a better look to compete with Baldur's Gate 3, despite not having the budget. Another Icarus story? Let's hope they don’t burn their wings. But no doubt Myzzrim will return here to clarify things.

 

[Myzzrym]

"Should we build on top of what we already made or start from scratch for our sequel?"

"Let's start from scratch."

It seems so far they are switching to a new engine, a risky move. We already have fewer features than Solasta 1, and instead of addressing its flaws, they appear to be aiming for a better look to compete with Baldur's Gate 3, despite not having the budget. Another Icarus story? Let's hope they don’t burn their wings. But no doubt Myzzrim will return here to clarify things.

Oh don't worry I'm still here. Will probably drop by early next week to answer some of the questions I see here when I'm at the office. I'm not going anywhere. Y'all can continue criticizing our choices, your turf your rules I don't mind.

 

[Mortmal]

"Should we build on top of what we already made or start from scratch for our sequel?"

"Let's start from scratch."

It seems so far they are switching to a new engine, a risky move. We already have fewer features than Solasta 1, and instead of addressing its flaws, they appear to be aiming for a better look to compete with Baldur's Gate 3, despite not having the budget. Another Icarus story? Let's hope they don’t burn their wings. But no doubt Myzzrim will return here to clarify things.

Oh don't worry I'm still here. Will probably drop by early next week to answer some of the questions I see here when I'm at the office. I'm not going anywhere. Y'all can continue criticizing our choices, your turf your rules I don't mind.

Of course, we will, and it’s for your best. However, I think you could at least tell us a bit more and elaborate on how you plan to tackle the encounter design in this new game.

 

[Fedora Master]

Clearly what the game lacked was Penis/Vagina customization. That's what made BG3 and Cyberpunk successful. Also bear sorak sex.

Look at this! Fucking shameful!

 

[MerchantKing]

SOLASTA SOLASTA SOLASTA SOLASTA SOLASTA SOLASTA

---

When was the last time you saw a dev team of that size consisting of sane looking people? Dayum.

BTW, this guy is playable as a halfling in their first game.

 

[aloeh]

Unity nuked their reputation with that attempt to change the monetization. It's understandable the engine's change.

 

[duskvile]

How long will last early access?

 

[Lacrymas]

When's the demo?

 

[Orud]

The switch to Unreal puts a lot of question marks on the whole thing. That was my biggest takeaway from the twitch dev Q&A. From subclasses, to modding capabilities, to verticality, to the dungeon maker, they don't seem sure of what they can actually accomplish or carry over. That's a whole lot of risk for a small company. Hope the pros outweigh the cons in the end.

Have people forgotten what shenanigans Unity decided to pull about a year ago, including "oh all this shit also applies retroactively"?

I know they've stated that the switch to Unreal was due to other reasons... but Unity setting itself up as a hostile and unstable entity, is a perfectly understandable reason to make the switch.

 

[Artyoan]

The switch to Unreal puts a lot of question marks on the whole thing. That was my biggest takeaway from the twitch dev Q&A. From subclasses, to modding capabilities, to verticality, to the dungeon maker, they don't seem sure of what they can actually accomplish or carry over. That's a whole lot of risk for a small company. Hope the pros outweigh the cons in the end.

Have people forgotten what shenanigans Unity decided to pull about a year ago, including "oh all this shit also applies retroactively"?

I know they've stated that the switch to Unreal was due to other reasons... but Unity setting itself up as a hostile and unstable entity is a perfectly understandable reason to make the switch.

I did not forget. TA is also not lying when they say the switch was for other reasons. They had already decided to switch before Unity attempted to swindle everyone. There is a French Dev Conference video that was uploaded prior to the Unity nonsense where the TA CEO was already discussing their Unreal prototype for recreating Solasta in the new engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eUpT7hgaZM&t

My questions for Myzzrym:

1. In the twitch dev thing, the TA CEO compared the switch to Unreal as gearing up a new rocket ship that would do what Unity could not. But he was light on specifics as to what those capabilities are. So I wouldn't mind a more detailed explanation on what the potential advantages are for moving to Unreal.
2. Are the lighting, verticality, and cover systems still being implemented? How might they have changed, if they are?
3. At what point in development might you be able to state whether a dungeon maker is feasible or not? Before or after release?
4. Will reach weapons be available?
5. Will the environment now block directional spells like cone of cold and dragon's breath going through walls in Solasta 1?

 

[AdolfSatan]

KOTC1 is one of the greatest RPGs ever and it only has three available classes for a party of four. KOTC2, despite expanding on both of those aspects felt unsatisfying in comparison.
Dark Sun SL is also an adventure for four characters and a top tier classic.
Party size is irrelevant, what makes or breaks an rpg is having great adventure modules.

The main issue with KotC that many people had, myself included, was lack of choices when it comes to classes. Also, less replayability because of it.
KotC 1 vs 2 is just your opinion. The 2nd, feel or no feel - had more complex combat encounters - even if as a whole was in some ways worse. Party size is very relevant, objectively.

I think you’re missing my point. I’m not saying more choices or a better engine (and indeed, KOTC2 is fantastic in that aspect) are bad, any of those would have made KOTC1 even better than it already is. I’m arguing that those aspects pale when the real meat and potatoes of an RPG is having a great campaign, and in that aspect KOTC1 is indisputably better than 2.

 

[Grunker]

If this doesn’t have verticality and all that stuff I’m wondering what the point is. Those gimmicks were about the only reason to play Solasta

 

[Larianshill]

Clearly what the game lacked was Penis/Vagina customization. That's what made BG3 and Cyberpunk successful. Also bear sorak sex.

Look at this! Fucking shameful!
View attachment 58729

Oh my God, I can't believe they didn't make porn of... That drunk ranger guy... Or... Other iconic Solasta characters.

The racist elf from the past was kind of fun, actually, I seriously liked her and wished she'd stay around more. She was one of the characters allowed to have a personality.

 

[TumblingTorin]

I wonder how the change in engine will effect modding? Unity is pretty easy to mod, but I'm not familiar with the modding scene for Unreal games. Is the team going to release more advanced tools for other stuff besides for dungeons/campaigns? (Assuming they are still adding a dungeon maker again.)

 

[Mortmal]

If this doesn’t have verticality and all that stuff I’m wondering what the point is. Those gimmicks were about the only reason to play Solasta

Verticality seems to be in. If you look at the Steam screenshots, the layout looks almost identical. What's more concerning is the absence of an editor, which significantly extended the game's longevity.

 

[Artyoan]

If this doesn’t have verticality and all that stuff I’m wondering what the point is. Those gimmicks were about the only reason to play Solasta

Verticality seems to be in. If you look at the Steam screenshots, the layout looks almost identical. What's more concerning is the absence of an editor, which significantly extended the game's longevity.

There is some verticality but early in the twitch video they seemed to imply that some vertical elements, especially things like the fly spell, were unknown as to how they would function due to the camera angle being closer and possibly the engine. Basically, it wasn't clear that the vertical element of combat in Solasta 1 was going to cleanly translate to the next game.

Edit: I'm not trying to be a downer about everything Solasta 2. There is plenty of optimism to be had from the press release and some explanations in the twitch recap. Just that some things I loved about Solasta 1 are unclear as to how they will be, or even if they will be, in Solasta 2.

 

[Highgrade]

Too bad this doesn't have a demo yet

 

[rojay]

You raise good questions.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

IE classics

 

[Lacrymas]

Maybe they identified that verticality in the first one was kinda pointless since you could just equip everyone with ranged weapons and forget verticality even exists. Same with lighting and darkvision.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Maybe they identified that verticality in the first one was kinda pointless since you could just equip everyone with ranged weapons and forget verticality even exists. Same with lighting and darkvision.

Verticality added a variety of things like knocking people off of ledges, incapacitating a climber so they fall off the side of a wall, dispelling fliers, etc.

If what you got out of it is, "Hey, I can use a bow, so it's just the same as being on a 2D grid" I don't know what to say to you.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

If what you got out of it is, "Hey, I can use a bow, so it's just the same as being on a 2D grid" I don't know what to say to you.

Wait till you get to the part where he goes "all other buffs are useless when you can caste Haste"

 

[Harthwain]

Maybe they identified that verticality in the first one was kinda pointless since you could just equip everyone with ranged weapons and forget verticality even exists. Same with lighting and darkvision.

Verticality added a variety of things like knocking people off of ledges, incapacitating a climber so they fall off the side of a wall, dispelling fliers, etc.

If what you got out of it is, "Hey, I can use a bow, so it's just the same as being on a 2D grid" I don't know what to say to you.

Indeed. Verticality is exactly the kind of thing that adds to the 3D gameplay we should want more of, not think of it as "kinda pointless". I may not have been swept away by Solasta, but it had some good ideas.

 

[whocares]

Aren't we a bit premature with the doomposting here? All they've said is "we have new unfamiliar tools and are currently not sure how we'll implement things" not "we're dumbing things down because UE." I never played Endless Space 2 - did they dumb it down compared to 1 much?

And besides, as much as I hate UE's bloated file sizes and system requirements, I'll take it over the piece of shit that is Unity any day. At least UE doesn't turn your machine into a supernova while running games that look like 1999 would be ashamed of them, doesn't load saves for 5 minutes, and doesn't have suttters whenever you open any menu. Anything is better than Unity.