KickStarter Solasta Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Abu Antar]

I did that

Spoiler

Aksha fight after sweet talking my way out of a supposed encounter. My thief innocently checked one of her containers, but it did not go down well with her. The party got a few lucky die rolls, which helped immensely. I had my mage levitating and casting spells, while the other three characters where beating up on her. I played it a little bit risky. I left one of her minions alive, and made them shine, because Aksha is immune to that. I hadn't even rested properly before the fight. Luckily, the heroes emerged victorious.

 

[The_Mask]

You may want to place some details in spoilers there. Probably too late now, but the game's not even out yet.

 

[Mortmal]

4 days till the launch of the best low level D&D game for us non backers. Did anyone finished the game here? There is a large boss battle? I really wanna fight large creatures with all verticality on Solasta.

A few, one of them is a kickstarter stretch goal. But lets not spoil. It's not especially low d&d either, it has the scope of any classic campaign 1-10 like curse of strahd or tomb of annihilation.

 

[Lacrymas]

10th level is still baby-steps to him. The campaign must begin at level 20 and go even more bananas from there in order to qualify.

 

[Cryomancer]

10th level is still baby-steps to him. The campaign must begin at level 20 and go even more bananas from there in order to qualify.

Nope. As I've already said, lv 10 on 5E and lv 10 on 3E are two completely different things and I should't have advocated for higher level on Solasta. Not every RPG needs to allow high level gameplay. My favorite turn based D&D game, is Dark Sun : Wake of the Ravager and it is a lv 8~15 campaign(hence you are limited to 7th circle spells with the exception of meteor swarm which you can cast only with a scroll once during the entire campaign). We are already getting Pathfinder : Wrath of the Righteous and Knights of the Chalice 2, both games allows you to archive even lichdoom. Solasta and BG3 should be lower level games since 5E is rarely played above lv 10.

curse of strah

Strahd was 16th level necromancer on Domains of Dread(2E) and there was a lot of Necromancer Dark Lords more powerful than him. Meredoth, Vecna, Tsien Chiang, all much higher level than Strahd and has a lot of nasty powers that would put him far above lv 20 heroes. Not mentioning that necromancy spells on the realms of dread are incredible stronger and riskier to the caster, but since they are already fully corrupted into Dark Lords, they don't need to worry about getting attention from the dark powers. The level and CR of most things on 5E are lower than on 3E/2E. I an not criticizing 5E, just pointing out that levels and CR are completely different.

 

[Rinslin Merwind]

Solasta and BG3 should be lower level games since 5E is rarely played above lvl 10.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine that Solasta or BG3 would have relatively low level campagins, but the reasoning "cuz not many people playing above lvl 10" is wrong. Majority of people on Earth does not play D&D at all and with your logic therefore D&D CRPG shall be not made at all. I think if more player had more free time and patience (+dm who knows his/her shit and ready to spend shitload time to prepare challenges for high level party) - there would be more people who play past 10 level. Also, I hope that there would be no need to explain why appealing to majority sometimes can bring more harm than good, considering amount of decline it can bring.

Anyway, as I said, I am fine with solasta being 10lvl, just wanted to point out errors in reasoning.

 

[The_Mask]

Can I just say that I love the level-up sound this game has? It's just below The Witcher 1, so... like 2nd most favourite for me.

When I go for a long rest, it's usually after a long stretch of deeds I've done, so what it feels like should be a low moment, turns into an exciting one just because of that sound. Just 1 random tidbit I found exciting, and non-spoiler(ish).

 

[Lacrymas]

Solasta and BG3 should be lower level games since 5E is rarely played above lvl 10.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fine that Solasta or BG3 would have relatively low level campagins, but the reasoning "cuz not many people playing above lvl 10" is wrong.

No, he means that practically/realistically. Most pre-written modules end at around lvl 10, the highest they go is 15ish and that's rare. You have to homebrew your own campaign in order to play higher level content.

 

[Brickfrog]

Kind of curious about the environments the campaign will take place in. Do you visit cool places like other planes of existence? or should I be expecting more of a caves 'n sewers and ancient temples kind of experience?

 

[Ontopoly]

Well, there is a dragon at one point......

Do you get to kill it?

 

[Cryomancer]

Most pre-written modules end at around lvl 10, the highest they go is 15ish and that's rare.

Descend to Arvenus which is a module that literally ends in hell is lv 14 max. Vrock on 3E is CR 9. On 5E is CR 5. Succubus, was CR 8 and now CR 4. Lv 10 on 5E is probably is enough to take out 80% of the 5E monster manual.

Anyway, as I said, I am fine with solasta being 10lvl, just wanted to point out errors in reasoning.

Nice point. I just wanna to point out that when I created a thread asking about the favorite level range on CRPG adapted from D&D, most people preferred low and mid level. Only about 8% preferred high level. And this with amazing high level adventures like Mask of the Betrayer and Hordes of the Underdark. Some people even said that this two adventures are great despite the high level gameplay not because of it.

 

[Ontopoly]

But what are the reasons most campaigns end that early? Is it because it's hard to maintain a group that long? Is it because the game gets more and more complicated at that point and it's harder to manage all your spells/abilities/crunch the numbers? Because a video game would remove both of those problems. It seems that the best place to experience high level dnd campaigns is in a video game. Why would people in tabletop not experiencing that content have any impact on how a video game should be designed? You play it solo so you don't have to maintain a group and scheduling, and the computer keeps track of and calculates all the higher numbers and keeps track of the increased amount of enemies and larger battles. Getting a dnd campaign to high levels is a challenge but video games shouldn't reflect that, they should compensate for that. Let me experience everything I can't experience otherwise. There's all this dnd content I wouldn't be able to experience without the video games

 

[Lacrymas]

But what are the reasons most campaigns end that early?

It's because the system falls apart after lvl 10ish.

 

[Ontopoly]

But what are the reasons most campaigns end that early?

It's because the system falls apart after lvl 10ish.

I don't buy it. Maybe in 5th because I've never experienced high level there but other rule sets have perfectly fun high level content. I would be quicker to blame people who don't want to put in any effort or get overwhelmed to easily. High level content is perfectly playable in other rulesets.

 

[Lacrymas]

other rule sets have perfectly fun high level content.

Really? Have you played high level 3.5E or Pathfinder 1E tabletop? It's coconuts. Even Pathfinder: Kingmaker and NWN2 have terrible high level gameplay. 5E is a little bit more restrained, but still basically unplayable and a nightmare to DM. There is a very good reason there are no high level pre-written modules.

 

[Mortmal]

But what are the reasons most campaigns end that early? Is it because it's hard to maintain a group that long? Is it because the game gets more and more complicated at that point and it's harder to manage all your spells/abilities/crunch the numbers? Because a video game would remove both of those problems. It seems that the best place to experience high level dnd campaigns is in a video game. Why would people in tabletop not experiencing that content have any impact on how a video game should be designed? You play it solo so you don't have to maintain a group and scheduling, and the computer keeps track of and calculates all the higher numbers and keeps track of the increased amount of enemies and larger battles. Getting a dnd campaign to high levels is a challenge but video games shouldn't reflect that, they should compensate for that. Let me experience everything I can't experience otherwise. There's all this dnd content I wouldn't be able to experience without the video games

All of it... I finished a level 20 campaign after 1.5 year, everyone told me i was the only DM to succeed, it's also super hard to keep a reliable group that long .Then mechanically its not so good , past level 10 characters were quite overpowered, then you have to rethink the environments, you can fly teleport, planeshift, pass through wall, wish , the campaign get a to a bigger scope, political struggles etc..Those are ok on tabletop but doesnt fit very well in a CRPG , unless you go on a pure dungeon crawl. Balancing all that stuff requires experience too the 5E cr is botched.

 

[Brickfrog]

Crafting good encounters for high level parties is hard.

 

[Lacrymas]

Never mind the combat, the roleplaying becomes dumb and pointless. What do your character's backstory/motivation/personality matter when your party are on their way to killing their 4th god? And yeah, like I said, you have to create your own campaign if you want to go to level 20 in the first place. Not that there aren't other ones you can use, like Zeitgeist, but I haven't come across a good one. I tried playing a Zeitgeist campaign and a friend of mine finished one, but I found it very sloppily written, with a bizarre structure even from the beginning, and a story that goes bananas in the end with the party fighting ginormous kraken-gods while flying around and angels doing rituals or some shit.

 

[Ontopoly]

other rule sets have perfectly fun high level content.

Really? Have you played high level 3.5E or Pathfinder 1E tabletop? It's coconuts. Even Pathfinder: Kingmaker and NWN2 have terrible high level gameplay. 5E is a little bit more restrained, but still basically unplayable and a nightmare to DM.

I want to talk specifically about video games here because they have different limitations than tabletop. I disagree with kingmaker and NWN2 having terrible high level gameplay since I enjoyed them, although I would blame most of any problems NWN2 has with the engine. I've been playing plenty of high level nwn1 campaigns and they feel great, and I enjoyed kingmaker all the way to the end, and all it's complaints seem to be about the final dungeon layout itself and not the combat system at end level. BG2 was pretty high level, Throne of bhaal epic levels were fine although the campaign itself wasn't as good, icewind dale1/2 I think I got to around level 18 and those were great. NWN1 had plenty of high level content and this is where I would have experienced the most high level gameplay, NWN2 expansion, Pathfinder Kingmaker, etc. I enjoyed all these games and I think they're all great games and not just despite the combat or endgame. I don't think pathfinder kingmaker or the NWN2 expansion had terrible high level gameplay at all.

 

[Brickfrog]

I know it's basically impossible but it would be cool to see a crpg with a Wish spell that somehow feels like Wish

 

[Lacrymas]

I'm not sure many people would agree PF:KM has good high level combat/gameplay.

 

[The_Mask]

I know it's basically impossible but it would be cool to see a crpg with a Wish spell that somehow feels like Wish

This is very hard to do, simply because Wish is basically 1-step away from altering reality half the time, and clearly altering reality the other half.

I'm not sure many people would agree PF:KM has good high level combat/gameplay.

Hilariously enough, the Codex-funded quest might be one of the better high level encounters there, simply because of the buffs the monsters have. Other than that? Very few and very brief.

 

[V_K]

Finished it. The Steam counter says 47 hours. Although I'm going back for one side quest that I was locked out of having started the final chapter, so I think it'll get to 50 hours. I think at least main quest-wise, there's about the same amount of content post EA as there is in the EA portion, but there are many more side quests. Impressions later not to break the embargo - but to give you a hint, I rarely play any game beyond the first 15-20 hours.
One thing I noticed is that leveling seems to come at a very regular pace. Like, it takes about the same amount of hours to get from level 2 to level 3 as it takes to get from level 8 to level 9. Is this a 5e thing or a Solasta thing? Because I'm used to DnD leveling being fast for the first couple of levels, then slowing down to a crawl, so it felt very fast to me - but then I never actually reached level 10.

 

[Brickfrog]

I know it's basically impossible but it would be cool to see a crpg with a Wish spell that somehow feels like Wish

This is very hard to do, simply because Wish is basically 1-step away from altering reality half the time, and clearly altering reality the other half.

I'm not sure many people would agree PF:KM has good high level combat/gameplay.

Hilariously enough, the Codex-funded quest might be one of the better high level encounters there, simply because of the buffs the monsters have. Other than that? Very few and very brief.

I know, I can't even begin to think about how such a thing could be implemented without ripping it's soul out. A man can dream though...

I think it's also an example of why high level parties don't really translate perfectly into video games.

 

[V_K]

Well, there is a dragon at one point......

Do you get to kill it?

I meant it as a joke but it turns out the joke doesn't quite work.

Spoiler

When I posted that, the only dragon I fought was imaginary and died to a single hit. Thus the joke. But then you do get to fight a proper dragon - still not a real one though. So I'm not sure you can say that you kill either since they don't really exist. But you do get to defeat them.