Solasta Solasta II - Journey to the Lands of Neokos in the Unreal Engine - coming to Early Access - Demo Available

[mediocrepoet]

Some notable things from the recent vid but nothing huge:

-Campaign should be about 40 hours and much more replayable than S1 campaigns
-Still working on flight and spider walking on walls. They thought S1 had it right and are seeing how to manage it in Unreal yet
-Should be an option to make the AI more ruthless, which S1 had in the custom settings too. They like having the AI be capable of one-shotting the player via push and things like that
-Custom difficulty options for enemy parameters should return

Cool.

-There will be a magic mirror for respec

Gross. Good for casuals, I guess.

-Will likely be no returning characters from S1

What? They're not going to bring back fan favourites like ... uh. Huh.

 

[Nortar]

What? They're not going to bring back fan favourites like ... uh. Huh.

Vigdis!

 

[Larianshill]

What? They're not going to bring back fan favourites like ... uh. Huh.

I liked the racist elf princess.

 

[Artyoan]

I forgot one semi-important thing. They did say that spells like lightning bolt and some AoE spells should respect walls instead of going straight through them.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Roguey]

I turned off telemetry.

 

[Lacrymas]

Is it even possible to not save Jabori? Isn't he crucial for the final battle? As for the other statistics, you tend to choose the option with the best chances, so specifically these statistics are bordering on pointless. You have to experiment on purpose to click other things. And I turned telemetry off too.

 

[Larianshill]

Looks a lot like BG3's marketing

 

[Roguey]

Is it even possible to not save Jabori? Isn't he crucial for the final battle? As for the other statistics, you tend to choose the option with the best chances, so specifically these statistics are bordering on pointless. You have to experiment on purpose to click other things. And I turned telemetry off too.

2% of players just shut the game off before saving him?

 

[Lacrymas]

Is it even possible to not save Jabori? Isn't he crucial for the final battle? As for the other statistics, you tend to choose the option with the best chances, so specifically these statistics are bordering on pointless. You have to experiment on purpose to click other things. And I turned telemetry off too.

2% of players just shut the game off before saving him?

Why would that be a relevant statistic in this context, though? I thought this is about what players chose/did in-game.

 

[Grunker]

Someone watched BG3 socials but had no interesting variables to work with lol

 

[Roguey]

Why would that be a relevant statistic in this context, though? I thought this is about what players chose/did in-game.

Well meeting the mayor, either you explored that area you or you didn't. I'm sure that also counts people who started up the game and turned it off rather than only counting people who completed the entire game.

 

[Lacrymas]

Why would that be a relevant statistic in this context, though? I thought this is about what players chose/did in-game.

Well meeting the mayor, either you explored that area you or you didn't. I'm sure that also counts people who started up the game and turned it off rather than only counting people who completed the entire game.

Then what's the point of the Jabori statistic? You can realistically skip/miss the mayor if you are not into exploration and just absentmindedly follow the minimap markers.

 

[Infinitron]

Why would that be a relevant statistic in this context, though? I thought this is about what players chose/did in-game.

Well meeting the mayor, either you explored that area you or you didn't. I'm sure that also counts people who started up the game and turned it off rather than only counting people who completed the entire game.

Then what's the point of the Jabori statistic? You can realistically skip/miss the mayor if you are not into exploration and just absentmindedly follow the minimap markers.

They should have led with the "killed the Kobolds to do so" statistic.

 

[Lacrymas]

They should have led with the "killed the Kobolds to do so" statistic.

But if you can indeed not save Jabori and continue the game, that's much more interesting. I feel like we are missing context here.

 

[Larianshill]

Someone watched BG3 socials but had no interesting variables to work with lol

If they wanted to position their game as "We're just like BG3", one would think they'd bother to add some dramatic choices into the demo.

 

[Lacrymas]

And sex scenes!

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Roguey]

I found the alternate way, I just didn't bother going in because I didn't want to fight yet another group of crabs.

 

[Lacrymas]

I found the alternate way and used it ;d You get magical boots out of it iirc.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Lacrymas]

What's with this limited time accessibility bullshit? I know they aren't the only ones doing it, I'm asking in general. Are they trying to force FOMO or something?

 

[RPK]

What's with this limited time accessibility bullshit? I know they aren't the only ones doing it, I'm asking in general. Are they trying to force FOMO or something?

At some point, the demo will no longer represent the current state of the game. bug fixes, performance improvements, gameplay tweaks etc.

It's not always easy to keep a demo branch up to date with those sorts of things.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/rp...hat-not-every-rpg-needs-to-be-baldurs-gate-3/

A single D&D spell in Solasta 2's Steam Next Fest demo proved to me that not every RPG needs to be Baldur's Gate 3​

Clearly, the D&D crown belongs to Baldur's Gate 3, but Solasta has been quietly making a name for itself as one of Larian's larger competitors over the past few years. So when Solasta 2 showed up in Steam Next Fest, I figured it was finally time to find out what I'd been missing out on.

Initially, I was a little sceptical. I loaded into a campaign scenario with a party consisting of four pre-made characters: a halfling rogue with edgy makeup; a bearded dwarven paladin clad in plate armor; an elven sorcerer with slightly-less-edgy makeup; and a human fighter to round out the team. My party - a group of adoptive siblings - were visiting a friend in a remote but bustling coastal town, but for all the apparent trade and industry, the world was a little sterile. Most NPCs couldn't be interacted with, and while Solasta 2's world is very pretty, I felt a little railroaded through it.

That was, however, a concern I was happy to gloss over, because Solasta isn't simply trying to be another D&D RPG. Instead, I knew that its unique selling point was supposed to be its devotion to recreating the tabletop game's combat as accurately as possible. So, obviously, I went looking for a fight.

It wasn't long before I found it. A group of feisty, territorial crabs weren't too happy when I interrupted their feast of drowned Kobold, but thankfully they didn't put up too much of a fight. Even in that initial skirmish, however, I could see that Solasta 2 was trying to emulate D&D's rules extremely accurately.

(Image credit: Tactical Adventure)

One of my carcinized foes had burrowed up from the sand behind a rock, which meant that my Sorcerer was of little use thanks to a D&D rule that gives enhanced protection to units behind partial cover. With only a sliver of claw unprotected, I had to rely on my rogue to get up-close if I wanted to deal damage. That flanking maneuver meant the halfling had an uninhibited chance to hit, but since Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't adapt the cover rule at all, even this early fight offered a steep learning curve.



A few minutes later - having Short Rested the 'proper' way by using each characters' individual hit die - I was in another fight, this time against that unfortunate Kobold's friends. This time, it was entirely my own fault - I'd snuck around to retrieve an item to let me avoid combat, and picked the corresponding dialogue options to placate my foes (no dice rolls to fail here). Wanting to test Solasta 2 on its own merits, however, I picked a fight anyway, freeing the Kobolds' prisoner in front of their very eyes.


Outnumbered and still nursing a few crab-shaped wounds, this fight could have gone pretty badly. The Kobolds were no great threat on their own, but in numbers like these they might have presented a problem for my low-level party. They might have, but for Solasta's interpretation of one of my favorite low-level D&D spells. Shatter is available for all of D&D's dedicated spellcasting classes from level 3, and for how early you unlock it, its 3d8 Thunder damage is pretty potent. So when a couple of low-HP Kobolds clustered together at the start of the fight, I wasted no time in lining up a Shatter.

(Image credit: Tactical Adventures)

In Baldur's Gate 3, I would have hit my two opponents with its circular spell indicator and probably moved on. But as I went to aim Shatter in Solasta 2, rather than the 2D shape I was expecting to cast, I was met with a big, blue sphere - Shatter's actual D&D description confirms that it casts in a ten-foot orb, even if Larian's recreation is a little flatter. That sphere meant that I could position the spell in exactly the right place to hit a third enemy, this one standing on the floor beneath the ledge that his allies were on. All three Kobolds failed their Constitution save, and all three were blasted apart by my Thunder damage, turning the fight immediately in my favor, even after some of their surviving brethren tried to use that annoying 'fighting from cover' trick on me again.

It was one simple detail, attached to a simple spell against enemies that I probably would have beaten with little issue anyway, but it was enough to sell me on Solasta 2. It seems to have very little of the narrative and world-building depth of Baldur's Gate 3, but it knows that, and perhaps what impresses me most about it is the fact that it's not really afraid of that. This is a D&D Tactics RPG from a team focused on bringing tabletop combat to life rather than competing in the dedicated CRPG space that Larian has come to dominate. If you're chasing the highs of Baldur's Gate 3's story, you probably won't find it here, but if you're the kind of player who's been busy crafting the perfect Paladin build since 2023, Solasta is a genuine contender.

https://gcr.quest/steam-next-fest-demo-reviews/#solasta-ii

// Solasta II​

This was another demo I really enjoyed. I didn’t finish it because I kind of screwed myself over for what I think was likely the final battle. I tried a second time by reloading a previous save, and no dice (pun intended).

I don’t really need to go into the story for this one because it was a self-contained story with a premade party, as the point of the demo is to give you an idea of the mechanics and spirit of the game. It very much does that.

PROS:

• This felt so much like playing DnD and I loved it. I loved doing the skill checks, I loved seeing my dice rolls for attacks when in combat, I loved picking the spells and attacks I’m so familiar with. I thought it was really cool when I took a long rest and was given the chance to attune to an item (I didn’t have anything to attune to, so I couldn’t do it). I just really loved how DnD this game felt, and I can’t wait to see what the full game has in store.
• There were consequences for your actions! I took a long rest and just before I hit okay, the game warned me some fishermen I was supposed to find were still missing, and they were running out of time. I was going to go find them, but my party was low on health and spell slots. Plus, I wanted to see what would happen anyway. The fishermen died. In the game log they all took damage, went prone (fell down) and died. I liked that your actions and inactions mattered.
• I played this using a controller and I loved how they did the menus. Instead of using a radial menu, all my spells and other actions were in a menu above what I had just picked. You can see an example of this in the 4th image above. I really liked how it was done in Solasta II–it was great to see all my spells in one menu.
• The world looked fantastic. I was unsure how I felt about the style of the game before, but the demo sold me.
• I liked that if you wanted to dash, you had to hold the A button so you couldn’t mistakenly use your action on a dash (unless you were playing a rogue).

CONS:

• The lip sync seemed a bit weird at times, but I don’t know if that just has to do with it being a demo.
• I experienced a couple bugs, but nothing game breaking.

Will I Play When It Releases?

You bet I will. I ended up buying the first one, too. That’s how much I loved this game.

 

[Mortmal]

And sex scenes!

That is something I am 100% sure won't be in the game, nor any frontal nudity, because it's more than likely available on Game Pass, and they only allow mainstream, watered-down products with absolutely nothing that could possibly offend an 8-year-old American kid or their parents.