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

[Harthwain]

They've said it won't change, at least not its style.

They could change the icons a bit. They are a bit too minimalistic and without the captions I could easily mistake some of them for something else than they are supposed to be for. Use something like this instead:

Spoiler

 

[NJClaw]

I was popular during high school, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Well, I did have the hottest girlfriend, so it depends on what you are looking for, I guess.

Since we already unequivocably established elsewhere that you are a woman, this means you are also a lesbian. Fucking degenerate.

 

[NJClaw]

You must have forgotten that is an early build of the game. Have you gone senile?

Then hopefully it'll change before full release.

I also don't like the UI in general. Too sleek, somewhat reminds me of Endless Space's.

It reminded me a lot of Endless Legend, so I decided to apply my master hacker skills:

Solasta : Crown of the Magister is an upcoming original turn-based Computer RPG by Tactical Adventures, based on a deep tactical system.

The founder, Mathieu Girard, was co-founder of Amplitude Studios. For Tactical Adventures, he has gathered a team of experienced industry veterans, all with experience from major publishers or indie studios.

And:

Spoiler

 

[Cryomancer]

I'd rather have one that is both functional and immersive. That is, like BG1. Presentation (not graphical fidelity) is more important than what people give credit for.

BG1 UI was horrible when you need to cast a spell... They appear in a list, no way to put most usable spells on shortkeys, you need to memorize the icons otherwise, is passing the mouse after each icon and waiting few seconds to reveal the spell name.

 

[Elex]

You must have forgotten that is an early build of the game. Have you gone senile?

Then hopefully it'll change before full release.

I also don't like the UI in general. Too sleek, somewhat reminds me of Endless Space's.

It reminded me a lot of Endless Legend, so I decided to apply my master hacker skills:

Solasta : Crown of the Magister is an upcoming original turn-based Computer RPG by Tactical Adventures, based on a deep tactical system.

The founder, Mathieu Girard, was co-founder of Amplitude Studios. For Tactical Adventures, he has gathered a team of experienced industry veterans, all with experience from major publishers or indie studios.

And:

Spoiler

Yes it’s on purpose and they know from older games that’s work.

also apparently that guy is making half of the game instead of sleeping.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I wish it wasn't full voiced and that budget was used for something else.

non-SAG voice actors are cheap
like, fiverr-tier cheap

 

[Lacrymas]

I hated Endless Legend's UI too. There's nothing more immersion breaking than constantly looking at those UIs.

 

[Myzzrym]

Hey there folk!

Dropping by in this fine Monday morning. It's a beautiful day outside, birds are singing, flowers are blooming, and coronavirus is still out there so I guess we can't really enjoy any of that. So let's do a little round!

> Can you ignite flamables with fire spells
Yes

> Are you going to replace 3d portraits with drawings?
No, there are two main reasons for that:

1. Drawing 2D portraits for every character takes a lot of time, and implies that you're going to do the same for items and such as well (otherwise your art direction isn't really coherent anymore).
2. It means that some characters will definitely look different in their portrait and in the actual game (3D model), because you can't have a portrait ready for every single random NPC you're going to encounter.

This is not to say that we don't understand where your question comes from, I know a lot of RPG fans very much like the feel of 2D portraits. Considering we're only 15 in the company, we have to choose our battles - and this one is not one we're willing to take.

> No Paladin in demo?
No, the demo only has 4 classes: Rogue, Cleric, Wizard & Fighter. At launch, the game will also feature Paladin & Ranger, with Sorcerer coming soon after in a free DLC (so 7 classes announced in total for now).

> Monk?
Probably not

> Trying to challenge BG3?
Hahahahahahahahaha nope. We're not even 1/10th of their team's size, and I don't even want to imagine their budget. Nah, we're creating a Tactical RPG based on D&D 5e, and we've been at it for two years before BG3 was even announced. And we believe BG3 being here is even a good thing, since it reignited the interest in cRPGs of a much larger crowd than the traditional cRPG fans, so that means more people might find out about Solasta as well

> Game was too easy
Haven't heard that before, so many players complained about the Spider fight being impossible or even stupid. To be fair, not everyone is familiar with the ruleset, and RNG can screw you pretty hard (every character being one crit away from being downed). Funny thing is, the fight was much, MUCH harder when it was first designed (you were not supposed to be able to win, you could only run away) - but we've had some non-hardcore DnD players test it and reduced the difficulty (and even then people complained). Spiders' ranged attack used to immobilize you (webs), more would spawn every round, they would follow you by crawling below the floor as well (which was creepy as hell but bugged, so they ended up just chilling there trying to attack you through the floor but not being able to).

> UI looks horrible
Well, UI is always a question of taste. There's a reason so many of the top mods on Nexusmods are UI mods, some prefer functionality, others prefer looks, others prefer immersion... But we don't want anyone thinking they are being misled - the UI, even if currently temporary and being reworked, is intended to have that sort of look.

> Other classes aside from the 7 announced?
Maybe in DLCs, but we haven't planned for it yet (we want to make sure we focus on launching a good game before making plans about DLCs)

> Voiced dialogues
This is actually one the game's pillar. Our Creative Director wanted to avoid the common "Walls of text to read" that's often associated to cRPGs, so if the dialogues weren't voiced it would defeat the purpose.

> Icons not easy to understand
We're reworking those, this was a problem we were aware of. Here are a few examples, much easier to understand imo.

 

[Pink Eye]

Myzzrym I do hope there is an optional difficulty setting where the player can make the game as hard as they want. Maybe throw in an iron man mode too, please. In any case, difficulty settings are always the best way to ensure both the hardcore players and causal players can enjoy the game.

 

[Cryomancer]

Maybe if the game is a success, the team can bring another class as a DLC like the kineticist who comes later on on pf:km and maybe someone can mod new classes into teh game. But modders will not be able to bring voice acting for example. Seeing a Paladin and a Warlock discussing during a cutscene with fully voice acting is something that is not easy for just a modder to do.

 

[Myzzrym]

Yes there will be difficulty settings. Iron man mode was reached during our Kickstarter (community goals) so we'll try to implement that as well, unless it breaks the game hard (but I don't see why it would).

 

[NJClaw]

Yes there will be difficulty settings. Iron man mode was reached during our Kickstarter (community goals) so we'll try to implement that as well, unless it breaks the game hard (but I don't see why it would).

Can you disclose any info on how you plan to implement difficulty settings?

Since the game uses 5E, I guess you won't simply adjust monsters' stats, it would be unbalanced to an almost unplayable level. Have you considered adding more monsters or something entirely different?

 

[Lacrymas]

I guess you won't simply adjust monsters' stats, it would be unbalanced to an almost unplayable level

Owlcat enters the chat begs to differ.

 

[fantadomat]

A shame then. Doesn't fit the art design at all.

Yeah,something paperly or artsy gothic would have been better.

 

[NJClaw]

I guess you won't simply adjust monsters' stats, it would be unbalanced to an almost unplayable level

Owlcat enters the chat begs to differ.

Well, 3.x is intrinsically based on stat bloat. Your attack bonus can go from +0 at level 1 to +100 at level 20.

With 5th your attack bonus goes from +5 at level 1 to +11 (+14 if you take into account magic items) at level 20 and that's it. You can work on monsters' stats, but you have to be far more careful than with 3.x.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

I'd rather have one that is both functional and immersive. That is, like BG1. Presentation (not graphical fidelity) is more important than what people give credit for.

BG1 UI was horrible when you need to cast a spell... They appear in a list, no way to put most usable spells on shortkeys, you need to memorize the icons otherwise, is passing the mouse after each icon and waiting few seconds to reveal the spell name.

You can press tab to make spell name appear instantaneously, but I agree the spell UI needs isn't the best.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

• Drawing 2D portraits for every character takes a lot of time, and implies that you're going to do the same for items and such as well (otherwise your art direction isn't really coherent anymore).

• It means that some characters will definitely look different in their portrait and in the actual game (3D model), because you can't have a portrait ready for every single random NPC you're going to encounter.

I understand your argument, you don't want your game to look cheap, although personally I think that ever with all drawback your mentioned present 3d portraits make game look more cheap than 2d ones would.

 

[Lacrymas]

The UI makes it look cheap.

 

[fantadomat]

The UI makes it look cheap.

It is not cheap,just doesn't mesh well with the setting.

 

[Myzzrym]

I understand your argument, you don't want your game to look cheap, although personally I think that ever with all drawback your mentioned present 3d portraits make game look more cheap than 2d ones would.

No that's not the reason, 2D icons don't make a game look cheap. It's just that it's time and money that's spent not doing something else, such as making the concept art of a location.

 

[The_Mask]

Our Pink Eye is literally the only person who likes monks in the entire world.

Hi. I also like to play monks.

 

[Bara]

> Other classes aside from the 7 announced?
Maybe in DLCs, but we haven't planned for it yet (we want to make sure we focus on launching a good game before making plans about DLCs)

Speaking of DLCs being a post launch focus how do you guys plan to end the adventure if I might ask?

I get if you dont want to answer as this borders on spoiler territory but It's my only concern remaining. I've had this worry about being hit with a hard cliffhanger since it's a level 1-10 adventure.

Any chance that the current plan is to have a solid ending for the adventure but leave enough hooks open for 11-20 to happen one day if the studio decides too?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I like the UI.

 

[Riddler]

I was popular during high school, it's not all it's cracked up to be. Well, I did have the hottest girlfriend, so it depends on what you are looking for, I guess.

People with girlfriends in highschool were losers, man. The real popular people were gaming.

 

[Lacrymas]

People with girlfriends in highschool were losers, man. The real popular people were gaming.

I did both ;p I became Codex material at around 17, though.