Currently playing it and one thing i would like to add which i found surprisingly well implemented, especially considering how sparce the story and dialogues are otherwise, are the peronality traits you assign the party members. My noble, pragmatic elf talks very different compared to my altruisic, good half-elf and my vulgar greedy dwarf. Just a really nice touch.
Yeah like everything in the game there's a really cool well-made underlying system and the unpolished incomplete top coat makes it look way worse. An eventual addition to the DM letting homebrew campaigns use this system so people can write less terrible dialogue will show how amazing the system is. You know, if we get that.
I like the characters banter here than in BG3, I just can't stand most of the characters there to the point where I'm considering to be a murder hobo lol
Except it doesn't work that well. I build a party of selfish pricks basically and they didn't act like that at all. My rogue's main characteristic was greed and he was the one who was saying not open a chest that was in the middle of a cave and was very clear trap. Instead it was my more cautious fighter who was all about wanting to open that chest. My evil cleric for some reason started to talk against slavery of all things. It seems that they didn't take into account someone wanting to play more evil party. Not that there were any moral choices.
I feel this game is the first step to something greater. Maybe down the road, we'll get something with more polish while improving the already solid gameplay. Here's hoping.
Agree. Combat is so fun but story, writing, character models...all pretty basic. Of course this has to do with budget, but perhaps that can increase in their next effort.
@@paulkruger5456 I think writing is subjective to the person. There is a lot of things out there that get praised and some people will still be like "it basic or mediocre" no matter what it is.
For somebody who's DnD game just imploded this game really scratches the itch of DnD 5e combat. Looking forward to seeing what expansions can be done with it.
@@Jinkypigs Yes, they added some feats and more functionality to the classes but it's still a work in progress. Give It a couple of weeks and I think it's going to be a must have.
@@TeslaRifle oh man i clicked on this comment to say the same thing! Get Sawyer on the job! The thing that hurts solasta the most is its Story. Sawyer is the man to fix that.
I’m imagining this tactical gameplay with the story of the ( old and once great) BioWare from Dragon Age:Origins era…. Depth, intrigue and great mechanics in a D&D style :)
solasta is the first crpg i've completed and had alot of fun. Struggled with things like kingmaker and dreadfire made no sense to me and combat is too complex but solasta took something I already knew changed a few things but kept it mostly the same, was great. would love to see it expanded with new story dlc and new races and classes.
Imo kingmaker is the best one but i agree, the ruleset took a while for me to learn completely and if they didn’t add the turn based mode i propably wouldn’t still understand it and would given up on it, played solasta for few hours seems fun and streamlined but the story aspect of the game seems to be pretty mediocre
@@pvt.prinny759 yeah will admit the story is pretty basic but I had fun with it. I think with me kingmakers' kingdom management is a big hurdle to overcome. like its a lot to suddenly process and is time-based which makes it difficult for me to focus on my characters and party while micromanaging a kingdom, events, and whatnot. I'm a little lost in how it all works and whatnot. With so last it feels much more streamlined and the HUD makes much more sense to me than kingmaker.
@@Honyi1 there is a setting to make it all automatic that lets you focus on the adventuring and you only need to worry about the critical main story events and other than those nothing will destroy your kingdom resulting in game over
Kingmaker combat and movement was really confusing so I dropped it, I couldn't understand why it couldn't be closer to functionality like do's pillar of eternity
Kingmaker was ok, I loved theorycrafting character builds, but it was and arguably still is, a buggy mess. I own it on both PC and console (it was on sale) and the console versions are absolutely terrible and were abandoned pretty quickly in terms of patches.
Just wanted to say I really love your reviews! Thanks for being so in-depth. I picked this one up as I don’t get to play 5e much anymore because of life and friends living far away and this game scratches the itch of missing 5e combat and mechanics.
I think you deserve a praise for acknowledging the UI. A lot of review bash it for some reason. Its simplicity is its strength, I don't get what irks some about it. It does exactly what its supposed to to without being intrusive. That being said I love this game. It feels like a d&d session and the combat is fantastic.
Heh, Makes me flash back to Tyrion’s rant about the Gods in GoT… won’t reprint here since it’s adult, but it’s a brilliant drunken rant along these lines. 🤣🥦🦖
Got this through game pass, and for some reason it really charmed me. I've bought it now to show support and so I can mod it as you can't mod gamepass games. Motherland paladin, battle cleric, shock wiz and a hunter ranger archer and we crushed the game.
This game have satisfied my D&D craving. The combat system very well done. I also like the character interactions, like when my Dwarven Fighter is done with my Elven Rogue's 12 year old comment about some stuff, "Stop it, please stop."
My favorite was when mid a serious conversation and expositioning my human warrior just said with his eyes wide open ”what?” It was straight up meme material
Nice review! Not sure if the reviewer missed this, but you can often directly target the vertical dimension by holding the shift key and scrolling, then the 3 dimensionality of the game is completely visible (I used this a lot when moving around my flying characters). Personally, I felt like the game’s weak points were the lack of polish and the bad inventory management, and to be honest, I felt like the story/characters were just passable. The thing that stuck out to me was how much effort the developers put into the beautiful maps (like the library with the floating objects), and how fun the combat in those places was. I feel like a game with Solasta’s combat with more focus on the exploration/combat (like Darkest Dungeon) might be a fun mix.
Liked and Subbed, my friend! I love that you 100% so that we really know what we're getting. This CRPG flew under my radar! and it's my favorite genre. after i finally beat the new Pathfinder.... i will get there, somehow, time be damned LOL.
The User Interface design is made by Tactical Adventures CEO Mathieu Girard. Turn out he also design the UI for the Endless game series. I always thought the UI in Solasta look familiar but after some research it turn out he work on the Endless game series.
For me, this falls into the category of Best Game You Never Heard Of. Given how many developers have tried, and mostly failed, to bring the tabletop experience to the video game, this is an amazing effort. Sure, it's more of an Icewind Dale than a Baldur's Gate, but I honestly don't mind that. If a developer is not going to go all in on the story then I would rather they don't create something that gets in the way of the gameplay.
That is not surprising. You got it the wrong way 'round. D&D from the 3rd edition onward has actually tried to bring the computer game experience to the table top. So it's no wonder someone can bring the computer game experience back to the computer game.
I'm currently playing this game and I'm enjoying it. The character models are kind of Claymation and the voice acting isn't the greatest but once I got past that the game is enjoyable to play. It's a very different experience than Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous or DOS2. So, while I'm waiting for Balder's Gate III to full release, Solasta Crown of the Magister is a fun game to play.
It reminds me most of a fantasy version of xcom, but I think the dialogue writers need a shoutout considering they use backgroounds a personality to voice characters they had no control over beyond that
My hope is that WotC let Tactical Adventures develop this platform more, letting them adapt Adventurers League stories into games (like how Pathfinder did with Kingmaker and the new one)... Or even let them build their own plot based on ACTUAL D&D lore. The mechanical side of this game is PERFECT, it's pure digital D&D. What's missing is the flavour, the lore. If not FR, give them Eberron to play on... Bring Keith Baker to write the plot and story and let Tactical Adventures provide the engine.
I said the same thing about the UI. I played through Solasta and Baldur's Gate III in the betas, and the full release of Solasta kept their fantastic UI. I actually like it quite a bit better than the UI in BG3, which unless you remembered to set all your presets correctly when you start, will overload your hotbar, have health appear in 5 places, and tie people together if they roll the same initiative. BG3 is beautiful and full of choices, but I think Solasta is a wonderfully pure combat experience. And... I'd also add that I really enjoyed Solasta's homebrew subclasses, like the Battle Cleric and the Oath of the Motherland. Battle Cleric was astoundingly powerful and flexible, while Oath of the Motherland finally gave me the Fireballs and Scorching Rays I've always wanted on a Paladin! The note about the game's maps being 3 dimensional is SUPER important. This game loved to play with height and range, and I'd recommend anyone playing this game to be prepared to think in terms of height during the battle, not just distance. Every character on my team needed some ranged options in many of the fights, and I think the game goes a lot smoother if you know that ahead of time.
I love this game because it works as a combat tutorial for 5e instead of trying to memorise the player guide (I'd still recommend keeping one on-hand tho). Hopefully with enough tuning and a bigger budget they can pull off something like Divinity the original sin 2 in terms of story and NPCs.
The UI is probably because the studio was formed by some ex-Amplitude devs, and very functional but also incredibly pretty UI was always kinda their thing.
You make good content and your very thorough and passionate of Crpg’s. I like watching your 100% reviews but one thing I wish you would do at the end after saying the things you didn’t like would be you giving an a official score 1-10 using decimals and even adding side notes of how the creators could make it better. But that’s my opinion regardless good stuff and continue your excellent detailed work. 👍🏾
Honestly, I wish he *wouldn’t*. Everybody gives different weight to different aspects of games. If he started to give scores, they’d be based on his weighting of the various aspects. I like that he just lays everything out and leaves us to decide what is more (or less) important to us.
So this feels like a modern Icewind Dale, which I really like. Like Icewind Dale, this is more about the battles, strategy and gameplay, and not too much on NPC interactions and story (or at least decent story).
Game of the year for me. Finally a game that doesn’t try to be open world for the sake of being open world (I’m looking at you Pathfinder WotR). Best implementation of D&D rules.
This does look fantastic, especially alongside the likely more popular Baldur's Gate 3. I'm more tempted by Solasta as a whole, though it's a shame there are only 6 classes. No 'Warlock 4 Life' :( Still, I'd love to give it a try sometime. Thanks for the informative video, Mortismal.
Excellent review, think you highlighted both the good aspects of the game and the all-too-obvious flaws objectively. The only comment that surprised me was the one made about the UI - personally I thought it was refreshing to see a nice, clean, usable interface that didn't simply copy the ubiquitous BG style (seems to be almost mandatory in CRPG games), consequently just looks dated and is awful and fiddly to use. YMMV of course.
Solasta did many things great. The vertical movement was the biggest surprise. You could literally spider climb in combat and use fly to get into locations you couldn't access far below you, or for dodging melee encounters as a caster. I wish other games took note of that. The lighting mechanic was perfectly implemented. In many cases I had to send dancing lights on enemies far so I can aim them with my bows. I wish enemies had more status effects though such as diseases, poisons and negatives levels. In kingmaker I had such enemies since level 2 for example. The areas were quite big as well which is nice. Yes it is very linear, but it doesn't have a billion areas in map where half of them are just 1 enemy fight like some other games. Ui is excellent as well.
I got this the other day on a really good sale plus all the dlc and am enjoying it so far. It does feel really faithful to 5e rules, much more so than Baldur's Gate 3, but it's not really complete yet. I like the crafting system as well, 5e is not known for good crafting. What hinders this game in my opinion is that they only had the SRD license so if you've played 5e, a lot of the subclasses are not gonna be there, or race variants, and just the character models are pretty hideous. But it's a fun game with a decent story, definitely will play through again with different classes (they just announced Bards are finally on the way in an upcoming DLC)
I am going to agree with Mortismal on his review. The combat is very technical and well done. Players not raised on D&D can def find it tedious and slow however. The gameplay after a few hours is very linear. The exploration value so far seems non-existent. The areas are nothing more than small runways leading to a combat area. Everything you need to discover is high-lighted. While the isometric view is great for a technical combat perspective it lacks any wonder and excitement when it comes to exploring. If you like technical combat, pick it up on sale and its a good buy.
I believe the devs will be adding Sorcerer and Dragonborn freely when they get it done, now that the game is released. I'm also wondering about potential new modules in the future, maybe that's something that'll be cooked in case the game does well.
Hey thanks for a nice balanced review. I really liked your style so have a sub :D I do see that this game has a Dungeon Builder so maybe, much like the original NWN we might get some stunning community content.
It's a perfectly decent game. It does what it says on the label and it does that exceedingly well. There has not been a single time I was annoyed by the game (apart from the hidden stats on the forced item where you can't really make a good decision), although loading times seem a bit excessive. But let that sink in for a bit. How often do we rage quit just don't feel like playing anymore - there's no such thing with Solasta. Not a lot of time wasting, no invisible mechanics that want you to grind or maximize stupid stuff, everything clear cut and to the point.
I am pretty sure that was a random mosque if not Haghia Sophia, the one at the opening scene. Seems like an interesting choice, we saw a lot of tree and forest centered elven cultures in many fantasy worlds but this is new.
Steam is selling the game and 4 DLCs for 42€ right now! Between community mods and the Dungeon Maker, I'm hoping this turns out to be a great long term buy.
It's got potential, but a lot of those fights early on in the first dungeon are annoying as heck. That one battle crossing the bridge with a million pillars and gaps you have to jump, then climb over, then jump again, had me tearing my hair out. It's great that they're implementing cover, line of sight, and lighting, but when more than half of your turns are spent moving to try and get a shot at the enemy, it's rather frustrating. I am looking forward to the scenarios, mods, and campaigns people make. I think this will be like the old Neverwinter Nights 1: a better creation engine than storyline/premade content.
Hi, interesting review. This game was not on my radar but your point about the UI drew my interest. One question: are you interested in playing and reviewing the classics? Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Neverwinter Nights since they got enhanced editions with achievements. I realize that especially the Baldur's Gate games would probably be prohibitively time-intensive but on the other hand you seem to be a really prolific CRPG gamer. Also, Enderal the Skyrim Mod would be very interesting to see your thoughts on
Thanks for another great review. Will be getting this game very soon (on GOG). Im fine with a story which is basic i mean this game is more like IWD than BG right?. The original NWN game story was pretty ordinary and look how that did...
Appreciate the review 😀. How would you say Solasta holds up to BG3 now that youve sunk your teeth into it? Was thinking about BG3 and then i saw Solasta was on gamepass. Wasnt sure whether to hold off on Solasta and play BG3 or vice versa. Thanks for all the reviews ✌
So I recently downloaded this from gamepass and....it's overwhelming lol. I've played both Divinity OS games and a lot of the first PoE. I am so hyped when I launch the game and am ready for character creation and I end up bailing 15 minutes in after looking through beginner party builds and other beginner videos. I gotta give it a real shot again but I'm worried I'll be 10 hours in and have to start over because I didn't create the right way. Anyways great video Mort ❤
Oh man, I wish I had noticed that you can toggle on travel pause at long rest. I had the wrong spells often as I had a city or dungeon set up rather than an overland set up.
I've been looking for any fire emblem game type on steam. You think solasta is a good option for someone who's looking for a Fire Emblem experience on PC?
Also will second. The UI is top notch better then i was expecting! I feel like it needs a little work with loot as I never got a primed longsword anywhere and cant buy one. But maybe mods can help with that later. Great review thank you so much!
I haven't finished the game yet, but I really enjoy it so far, it's been a while since I had a game I didn't want to put down, and stayed up too late playing. I will give a couple negatives, I really dislike how in these types of games, your spells only affect the enemy for 1 rd, 2 if you are super lucky, also the dialogue skill checks aren't performed by the most proficient character, it's just a random party member, which is a waste of that whole skill check system.
Can you change difficulty settings during play? I love all the options there, and I'd probably start easy but want to bump it up if/when things started feeling too easy.
Another solid review but wondering, as your reviews are based around the 100% of achievements for a title, why you dont talk about the list? Are they unique, some are difficult, etc. Also, in your review here i don't think you mentioned the level editor(still in beta) which i think will add endless content to try so many different classes and builds through small campaigns.
The editor didn't have much to with the game itself, and I mentioned in the impressions video. Cool it exists though. As for the achievements individually most people have shown much of an interest in the specifics of each one really
Just finished the game. Given the emphasis I always put on story, I was surprised how much I liked it. Just skipped through all the dialogue, which is terrible. Couldn't get enough of the combat. You might want to check out The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk.
Is it true that this game has a game engine and launcher so that players can launch their own games using the engine and launch them to the community? Basically, so anyone can become DM. and launch their own modules?
Monte Cook once said something to the effect that a major part of systems like D&D and Pathfinder is gaining systems knowledge and building a very powerful character for combat. Those mechanics are part of tabletop publishing's business model to some degree because the companies want you to buy more books with more class customization options. So there are modules with almost no roleplaying in them. But I guess the term "RPG" is really squishy at this point because how a game turns out can really depend on whether the players are interested in roleplaying or not.
Hi Mortismal I was thinking of trying out this one but I was not sure how good they handled evil parties in this one. I like to play evil parties in CRPGs. Are evil characters handled well in this game? Also, out of the CRPGs you played, which ones do you think handled evil parties the best?
Wasteland 3, DOS2 & Pathfinder: WotR but even in those cases it's mostly just okay. Solasta's main campaign doesnt do well with an 'evil party' but the Lost Valley Campaign does it decently
Is this game going to be fully licenced by wizards of the coast for all the DnD features like class archetypes? I hope this game will be more successful than Baldur's Gate 3 because Larian and EA ruined the immersion breaking the rules for me by shoving a lvl 1 vampire spawn in my party which I can't replace with another rogue of different alignment and this further limits my freedom to build a good aligned party of adventurers.
Vastly different games, if you want 5e dnd go with solasta but its more about the tactical combat, and wotr is an incredibly large crpg using pathfinder 1e as a base.
I've bought Early Access of this game and in description it was said that fight in this game is more rewarding when your characters reach lvl 5 - 6. Is it true? I've played two hours EA and now I can't motivate self to try the complete game, lol Oh, and btw, what is the character level cap in Solasta?
I love and hate this game. Love the DnD implementation, the graphics, the tactical battles. I hate the scripted playing. I cant rest w/o finding a campspot? I can't travel here or there, bec I must follow this stupid woman around? I cant trade with so and so until I reach level 5, 7, or whatever. You start a battle with a Sorak and your npc allies are literally looking at the sky when the Sorak is 12 inches away from them?
I wish they spent 1h more texturing the character models. There are mobile games with more texture work on characters, namely skin and facial features that can be painted on, no need of complex 3d models.
I guess this game really isn't for me (despite enjoying most crpgs). Bugs made me quit the game, mostly tedious combat made hesitant to return to it, and now paid classes (druid, a class I love) and already a 50% off sale makes me regret even buying this game.
my man i play D&d and dm for a group and most champaigns are rail road and very little story as most times it is just beat enemy with big stick so in my opinion it does D&D justic
Currently playing it and one thing i would like to add which i found surprisingly well implemented, especially considering how sparce the story and dialogues are otherwise, are the peronality traits you assign the party members. My noble, pragmatic elf talks very different compared to my altruisic, good half-elf and my vulgar greedy dwarf. Just a really nice touch.
Yeah like everything in the game there's a really cool well-made underlying system and the unpolished incomplete top coat makes it look way worse.
An eventual addition to the DM letting homebrew campaigns use this system so people can write less terrible dialogue will show how amazing the system is. You know, if we get that.
@@MackJCM There is a DM system being worked on
I like the characters banter here than in BG3, I just can't stand most of the characters there to the point where I'm considering to be a murder hobo lol
Except it doesn't work that well. I build a party of selfish pricks basically and they didn't act like that at all. My rogue's main characteristic was greed and he was the one who was saying not open a chest that was in the middle of a cave and was very clear trap. Instead it was my more cautious fighter who was all about wanting to open that chest. My evil cleric for some reason started to talk against slavery of all things. It seems that they didn't take into account someone wanting to play more evil party. Not that there were any moral choices.
my party were a bunch of silly guys who made almost everything seem like a joke. which was perfect for me cuz thats how i play dnd with my friends
I feel this game is the first step to something greater. Maybe down the road, we'll get something with more polish while improving the already solid gameplay. Here's hoping.
Agree. Combat is so fun but story, writing, character models...all pretty basic. Of course this has to do with budget, but perhaps that can increase in their next effort.
It's called divinity original sins 1 and 2. Both are amazing. Just found this game on gamepass and seems pretty cool so far.
@@jordanrock3494 Divinity does not have amazing writing...
@@paulkruger5456 I think writing is subjective to the person. There is a lot of things out there that get praised and some people will still be like "it basic or mediocre" no matter what it is.
hello baldurs gate 3
For somebody who's DnD game just imploded this game really scratches the itch of DnD 5e combat. Looking forward to seeing what expansions can be done with it.
Have you checked the mods on the Nexus yet? The modders have added subclasses, race changes AND some small quests as well.
@@brothermutant7370 haven't tried these but sounds interesting
There is even a mod to go beyond level 10.
@@Jinkypigs Yes, they added some feats and more functionality to the classes but it's still a work in progress. Give It a couple of weeks and I think it's going to be a must have.
Hopefully this game sell pretty well so the devs can further the development on the story, like hiring a full blown RPG branching story maker.
Get Josh Sawyer on the team
@@TeslaRifle oh man i clicked on this comment to say the same thing! Get Sawyer on the job!
The thing that hurts solasta the most is its Story. Sawyer is the man to fix that.
I’m imagining this tactical gameplay with the story of the ( old and once great) BioWare from Dragon Age:Origins era…. Depth, intrigue and great mechanics in a D&D style :)
solasta is the first crpg i've completed and had alot of fun. Struggled with things like kingmaker and dreadfire made no sense to me and combat is too complex but solasta took something I already knew changed a few things but kept it mostly the same, was great. would love to see it expanded with new story dlc and new races and classes.
Imo kingmaker is the best one but i agree, the ruleset took a while for me to learn completely and if they didn’t add the turn based mode i propably wouldn’t still understand it and would given up on it, played solasta for few hours seems fun and streamlined but the story aspect of the game seems to be pretty mediocre
@@pvt.prinny759 yeah will admit the story is pretty basic but I had fun with it. I think with me kingmakers' kingdom management is a big hurdle to overcome. like its a lot to suddenly process and is time-based which makes it difficult for me to focus on my characters and party while micromanaging a kingdom, events, and whatnot. I'm a little lost in how it all works and whatnot. With so last it feels much more streamlined and the HUD makes much more sense to me than kingmaker.
@@Honyi1 there is a setting to make it all automatic that lets you focus on the adventuring and you only need to worry about the critical main story events and other than those nothing will destroy your kingdom resulting in game over
Kingmaker combat and movement was really confusing so I dropped it, I couldn't understand why it couldn't be closer to functionality like do's pillar of eternity
Kingmaker was ok, I loved theorycrafting character builds, but it was and arguably still is, a buggy mess.
I own it on both PC and console (it was on sale) and the console versions are absolutely terrible and were abandoned pretty quickly in terms of patches.
Just wanted to say I really love your reviews! Thanks for being so in-depth. I picked this one up as I don’t get to play 5e much anymore because of life and friends living far away and this game scratches the itch of missing 5e combat and mechanics.
I think you deserve a praise for acknowledging the UI. A lot of review bash it for some reason. Its simplicity is its strength, I don't get what irks some about it. It does exactly what its supposed to to without being intrusive.
That being said I love this game. It feels like a d&d session and the combat is fantastic.
If i had a nickel for every game that had an ancient civilization, a rift, a cataclysm and an area called badlands....
Why are there never any "Goodlands" to go tame, that's what I wanna know.
@@brothermutant7370 Lol
Heh, Makes me flash back to Tyrion’s rant about the Gods in GoT… won’t reprint here since it’s adult, but it’s a brilliant drunken rant along these lines. 🤣🥦🦖
Ya looks like just a another generic game, pass for me.
Minecraft?
I love this game! I was a player that was strictly 3.5 and playing this game has led me to understand the mechanics and the validity of 5th edition.
Got this through game pass, and for some reason it really charmed me. I've bought it now to show support and so I can mod it as you can't mod gamepass games.
Motherland paladin, battle cleric, shock wiz and a hunter ranger archer and we crushed the game.
This game have satisfied my D&D craving. The combat system very well done. I also like the character interactions, like when my Dwarven Fighter is done with my Elven Rogue's 12 year old comment about some stuff, "Stop it, please stop."
My favorite was when mid a serious conversation and expositioning my human warrior just said with his eyes wide open ”what?” It was straight up meme material
These reviews are really helpful. Thanks!
Nice review! Not sure if the reviewer missed this, but you can often directly target the vertical dimension by holding the shift key and scrolling, then the 3 dimensionality of the game is completely visible (I used this a lot when moving around my flying characters).
Personally, I felt like the game’s weak points were the lack of polish and the bad inventory management, and to be honest, I felt like the story/characters were just passable. The thing that stuck out to me was how much effort the developers put into the beautiful maps (like the library with the floating objects), and how fun the combat in those places was. I feel like a game with Solasta’s combat with more focus on the exploration/combat (like Darkest Dungeon) might be a fun mix.
This game just dropped on ps5!
Just finished this game. If you like D&D this game is a MUST. I just hope they keep adding classes, races and lvl20!
I enjoyed the game and felt it did a great job of teaching D&D combat. I would have liked more places to travel to. Hopefully, there will be some DLC.
I see this game is on sale for 60% off. Looks like something worth investing in. Especially as it explains itself well. That is a plus!
Liked and Subbed, my friend! I love that you 100% so that we really know what we're getting. This CRPG flew under my radar! and it's my favorite genre. after i finally beat the new Pathfinder.... i will get there, somehow, time be damned LOL.
The User Interface design is made by Tactical Adventures CEO Mathieu Girard. Turn out he also design the UI for the Endless game series. I always thought the UI in Solasta look familiar but after some research it turn out he work on the Endless game series.
For me, this falls into the category of Best Game You Never Heard Of. Given how many developers have tried, and mostly failed, to bring the tabletop experience to the video game, this is an amazing effort. Sure, it's more of an Icewind Dale than a Baldur's Gate, but I honestly don't mind that. If a developer is not going to go all in on the story then I would rather they don't create something that gets in the way of the gameplay.
That is not surprising. You got it the wrong way 'round. D&D from the 3rd edition onward has actually tried to bring the computer game experience to the table top. So it's no wonder someone can bring the computer game experience back to the computer game.
I'm currently playing this game and I'm enjoying it. The character models are kind of Claymation and the voice acting isn't the greatest but once I got past that the game is enjoyable to play. It's a very different experience than Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous or DOS2. So, while I'm waiting for Balder's Gate III to full release, Solasta Crown of the Magister is a fun game to play.
It reminds me most of a fantasy version of xcom, but I think the dialogue writers need a shoutout considering they use backgroounds a personality to voice characters they had no control over beyond that
My hope is that WotC let Tactical Adventures develop this platform more, letting them adapt Adventurers League stories into games (like how Pathfinder did with Kingmaker and the new one)... Or even let them build their own plot based on ACTUAL D&D lore. The mechanical side of this game is PERFECT, it's pure digital D&D. What's missing is the flavour, the lore. If not FR, give them Eberron to play on... Bring Keith Baker to write the plot and story and let Tactical Adventures provide the engine.
one thing i would add is i never felt bored with the enemies it felt like enough variety. I never ended up killing x enemy for an entire day of gaming
Solasta is now free on Xbox Gamepass. I know that it came out later for consoles but it is an enjoyable game.
I thoroughly am loving this game. I am new to crpgs and this is the easiest to understand.
I said the same thing about the UI. I played through Solasta and Baldur's Gate III in the betas, and the full release of Solasta kept their fantastic UI. I actually like it quite a bit better than the UI in BG3, which unless you remembered to set all your presets correctly when you start, will overload your hotbar, have health appear in 5 places, and tie people together if they roll the same initiative. BG3 is beautiful and full of choices, but I think Solasta is a wonderfully pure combat experience.
And... I'd also add that I really enjoyed Solasta's homebrew subclasses, like the Battle Cleric and the Oath of the Motherland. Battle Cleric was astoundingly powerful and flexible, while Oath of the Motherland finally gave me the Fireballs and Scorching Rays I've always wanted on a Paladin!
The note about the game's maps being 3 dimensional is SUPER important. This game loved to play with height and range, and I'd recommend anyone playing this game to be prepared to think in terms of height during the battle, not just distance. Every character on my team needed some ranged options in many of the fights, and I think the game goes a lot smoother if you know that ahead of time.
Bought this a few weeks ago after passing up on the EA. Looks like an awesome game!
I love this game because it works as a combat tutorial for 5e instead of trying to memorise the player guide (I'd still recommend keeping one on-hand tho). Hopefully with enough tuning and a bigger budget they can pull off something like Divinity the original sin 2 in terms of story and NPCs.
dark alliance should have been this game.
The UI is probably because the studio was formed by some ex-Amplitude devs, and very functional but also incredibly pretty UI was always kinda their thing.
You make good content and your very thorough and passionate of Crpg’s. I like watching your 100% reviews but one thing I wish you would do at the end after saying the things you didn’t like would be you giving an a official score 1-10 using decimals and even adding side notes of how the creators could make it better. But that’s my opinion regardless good stuff and continue your excellent detailed work. 👍🏾
Honestly, I wish he *wouldn’t*. Everybody gives different weight to different aspects of games. If he started to give scores, they’d be based on his weighting of the various aspects. I like that he just lays everything out and leaves us to decide what is more (or less) important to us.
@@JosieJOK I could agree with that. I’m just more numerical and like seeing things of my personal entertainment get quantified lol
So this feels like a modern Icewind Dale, which I really like. Like Icewind Dale, this is more about the battles, strategy and gameplay, and not too much on NPC interactions and story (or at least decent story).
Game of the year for me. Finally a game that doesn’t try to be open world for the sake of being open world (I’m looking at you Pathfinder WotR). Best implementation of D&D rules.
This does look fantastic, especially alongside the likely more popular Baldur's Gate 3. I'm more tempted by Solasta as a whole, though it's a shame there are only 6 classes. No 'Warlock 4 Life' :(
Still, I'd love to give it a try sometime. Thanks for the informative video, Mortismal.
Excellent review, think you highlighted both the good aspects of the game and the all-too-obvious flaws objectively. The only comment that surprised me was the one made about the UI - personally I thought it was refreshing to see a nice, clean, usable interface that didn't simply copy the ubiquitous BG style (seems to be almost mandatory in CRPG games), consequently just looks dated and is awful and fiddly to use. YMMV of course.
Great review, man.
playing this game rn. thx for the video. game is amazing
Good review… just bought this game :)
First time coming to your Chanel, great video. This is on Xbox game pass so will be giving it a go
Thank you for saying this. almost spend $40 on the game! much easier to give it a try with gamepass
I am half way through and really enjoying it .
Solasta did many things great. The vertical movement was the biggest surprise. You could literally spider climb in combat and use fly to get into locations you couldn't access far below you, or for dodging melee encounters as a caster. I wish other games took note of that.
The lighting mechanic was perfectly implemented. In many cases I had to send dancing lights on enemies far so I can aim them with my bows.
I wish enemies had more status effects though such as diseases, poisons and negatives levels. In kingmaker I had such enemies since level 2 for example.
The areas were quite big as well which is nice. Yes it is very linear, but it doesn't have a billion areas in map where half of them are just 1 enemy fight like some other games. Ui is excellent as well.
I got this the other day on a really good sale plus all the dlc and am enjoying it so far. It does feel really faithful to 5e rules, much more so than Baldur's Gate 3, but it's not really complete yet. I like the crafting system as well, 5e is not known for good crafting. What hinders this game in my opinion is that they only had the SRD license so if you've played 5e, a lot of the subclasses are not gonna be there, or race variants, and just the character models are pretty hideous. But it's a fun game with a decent story, definitely will play through again with different classes (they just announced Bards are finally on the way in an upcoming DLC)
I am going to agree with Mortismal on his review.
The combat is very technical and well done. Players not raised on D&D can def find it tedious and slow however. The gameplay after a few hours is very linear. The exploration value so far seems non-existent. The areas are nothing more than small runways leading to a combat area. Everything you need to discover is high-lighted. While the isometric view is great for a technical combat perspective it lacks any wonder and excitement when it comes to exploring. If you like technical combat, pick it up on sale and its a good buy.
Good review it just released on xbox game pass so i assume a big bump in views coming, its hard to find reviews where they have completed the game.
I believe the devs will be adding Sorcerer and Dragonborn freely when they get it done, now that the game is released.
I'm also wondering about potential new modules in the future, maybe that's something that'll be cooked in case the game does well.
Hey thanks for a nice balanced review. I really liked your style so have a sub :D I do see that this game has a Dungeon Builder so maybe, much like the original NWN we might get some stunning community content.
It's a perfectly decent game. It does what it says on the label and it does that exceedingly well. There has not been a single time I was annoyed by the game (apart from the hidden stats on the forced item where you can't really make a good decision), although loading times seem a bit excessive. But let that sink in for a bit. How often do we rage quit just don't feel like playing anymore - there's no such thing with Solasta. Not a lot of time wasting, no invisible mechanics that want you to grind or maximize stupid stuff, everything clear cut and to the point.
I am pretty sure that was a random mosque if not Haghia Sophia, the one at the opening scene. Seems like an interesting choice, we saw a lot of tree and forest centered elven cultures in many fantasy worlds but this is new.
Just subscribed. Great review.
Steam is selling the game and 4 DLCs for 42€ right now!
Between community mods and the Dungeon Maker, I'm hoping this turns out to be a great long term buy.
It's got potential, but a lot of those fights early on in the first dungeon are annoying as heck. That one battle crossing the bridge with a million pillars and gaps you have to jump, then climb over, then jump again, had me tearing my hair out. It's great that they're implementing cover, line of sight, and lighting, but when more than half of your turns are spent moving to try and get a shot at the enemy, it's rather frustrating.
I am looking forward to the scenarios, mods, and campaigns people make. I think this will be like the old Neverwinter Nights 1: a better creation engine than storyline/premade content.
Hi, interesting review. This game was not on my radar but your point about the UI drew my interest. One question: are you interested in playing and reviewing the classics? Icewind Dale, Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Neverwinter Nights since they got enhanced editions with achievements. I realize that especially the Baldur's Gate games would probably be prohibitively time-intensive but on the other hand you seem to be a really prolific CRPG gamer. Also, Enderal the Skyrim Mod would be very interesting to see your thoughts on
I'll get to them eventually more than likely
Thanks for another great review. Will be getting this game very soon (on GOG). Im fine with a story which is basic i mean this game is more like IWD than BG right?. The original NWN game story was pretty ordinary and look how that did...
Cool review man
Appreciate the review 😀. How would you say Solasta holds up to BG3 now that youve sunk your teeth into it? Was thinking about BG3 and then i saw Solasta was on gamepass. Wasnt sure whether to hold off on Solasta and play BG3 or vice versa. Thanks for all the reviews ✌
Solasta is more about RAW 5e combat, BG3 is more about roleplaying
Appreciate the reply. Looking forward to playing BG3 here soon. Have fun and thanks for the great content ❤
Didnt even know it was out and bought it immediatley
Thank you for the very honest and excellent review.
Awesome video thank you
So I recently downloaded this from gamepass and....it's overwhelming lol. I've played both Divinity OS games and a lot of the first PoE. I am so hyped when I launch the game and am ready for character creation and I end up bailing 15 minutes in after looking through beginner party builds and other beginner videos. I gotta give it a real shot again but I'm worried I'll be 10 hours in and have to start over because I didn't create the right way. Anyways great video Mort ❤
Oh man, I wish I had noticed that you can toggle on travel pause at long rest. I had the wrong spells often as I had a city or dungeon set up rather than an overland set up.
Combat is pretty good. The story is flat but the character building and combat makes it fun.
I've been looking for any fire emblem game type on steam. You think solasta is a good option for someone who's looking for a Fire Emblem experience on PC?
Also will second. The UI is top notch better then i was expecting! I feel like it needs a little work with loot as I never got a primed longsword anywhere and cant buy one. But maybe mods can help with that later. Great review thank you so much!
I had plenty of primed longswords but never found a primed longbow, at least not yet.
Have you ever covered all the DLC they put out?
I covered all of them yeah
@@MortismalGaming I need to go find those and watch. Such a great dev
I am ten hours in and I love it
I haven't finished the game yet, but I really enjoy it so far, it's been a while since I had a
game I didn't want to put down, and stayed up too late playing. I will give a couple negatives,
I really dislike how in these types of games, your spells only affect the enemy for 1 rd, 2 if you
are super lucky, also the dialogue skill checks aren't performed by the most proficient character,
it's just a random party member, which is a waste of that whole skill check system.
Omg your voice is so deep in this video 🤣
Can you change difficulty settings during play?
I love all the options there, and I'd probably start easy but want to bump it up if/when things started feeling too easy.
Another solid review but wondering, as your reviews are based around the 100% of achievements for a title, why you dont talk about the list? Are they unique, some are difficult, etc.
Also, in your review here i don't think you mentioned the level editor(still in beta) which i think will add endless content to try so many different classes and builds through small campaigns.
The editor didn't have much to with the game itself, and I mentioned in the impressions video. Cool it exists though. As for the achievements individually most people have shown much of an interest in the specifics of each one really
Just finished the game. Given the emphasis I always put on story, I was surprised how much I liked it. Just skipped through all the dialogue, which is terrible. Couldn't get enough of the combat. You might want to check out The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk.
Would love to play it, but it crashes on my PC constantly.
I wish they could have gotten all of the other subclasses
Interesting but without a good plot and choices I can't say i'm very interested.
Is it true that this game has a game engine and launcher so that players can launch their own games using the engine and launch them to the community? Basically, so anyone can become DM. and launch their own modules?
Very interesting....
I just finished Solasta and thoroughly enjoyed it.
How do you finish games so fast for reviews?! Many of these games take +50 hours to complete. You should play DAO at hard level at first try.
I think this took me like 55 hours
Glad you did a good review and this is not for me but for people interested looks like it’s good for them
What about the loot system? Are there a lot of weapons and armors? Ty
This game so badly needs to be a 6 member party. VERY lacking with only 4 characters.
The combat feels fantastic. The rest.. Eeeehhhh
Monte Cook once said something to the effect that a major part of systems like D&D and Pathfinder is gaining systems knowledge and building a very powerful character for combat. Those mechanics are part of tabletop publishing's business model to some degree because the companies want you to buy more books with more class customization options. So there are modules with almost no roleplaying in them. But I guess the term "RPG" is really squishy at this point because how a game turns out can really depend on whether the players are interested in roleplaying or not.
I passed BG3 when I found out Larian Studios decided to homebrew a lot of the rules rather than stick as close to RAW.
I'm not a huge CRPG gamer but I loved the Divinity Original sin games (1+2) will this be something I'll enjoy or is it completely different?
It's a take on DnD 5e so its pretty different
Hi Mortismal
I was thinking of trying out this one but I was not sure how good they handled evil parties in this one. I like to play evil parties in CRPGs. Are evil characters handled well in this game? Also, out of the CRPGs you played, which ones do you think handled evil parties the best?
Wasteland 3, DOS2 & Pathfinder: WotR but even in those cases it's mostly just okay. Solasta's main campaign doesnt do well with an 'evil party' but the Lost Valley Campaign does it decently
@@MortismalGaming tyvm 💚
So it is basically an enhanced TOEE with almost the same pros and cons.
That and it didn't need a years of modding.
Is this game going to be fully licenced by wizards of the coast for all the DnD features like class archetypes? I hope this game will be more successful than Baldur's Gate 3 because Larian and EA ruined the immersion breaking the rules for me by shoving a lvl 1 vampire spawn in my party which I can't replace with another rogue of different alignment and this further limits my freedom to build a good aligned party of adventurers.
Have you gone back and played three DLC released for this?
Yeah I reviewed them as well
trying to decide between Solasta and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, which would you rec?
Vastly different games, if you want 5e dnd go with solasta but its more about the tactical combat, and wotr is an incredibly large crpg using pathfinder 1e as a base.
@@MortismalGaming fair, ill prob give pathfinder a shot then, i love being immersed. thanks a lot love your channel.
I've bought Early Access of this game and in description it was said that fight in this game is more rewarding when your characters reach lvl 5 - 6. Is it true? I've played two hours EA and now I can't motivate self to try the complete game, lol Oh, and btw, what is the character level cap in Solasta?
nice
I love and hate this game. Love the DnD implementation, the graphics, the tactical battles. I hate the scripted playing. I cant rest w/o finding a campspot? I can't travel here or there, bec I must follow this stupid woman around? I cant trade with so and so until I reach level 5, 7, or whatever. You start a battle with a Sorak and your npc allies are literally looking at the sky when the Sorak is 12 inches away from them?
Interesting
Would you say this review is still relevent 1 year later?
Yeah, theres more classes and another campaign available via dlc now though
I hope they maker monje and sleep doping better games. a good part of the problems are budget related
Question : Are the classes and backgrounds diverse enough to offer good replayability with this game or you really can only play it once?
Twice through will show you everything, there's too many backgrounds to see all of them
I wish they spent 1h more texturing the character models. There are mobile games with more texture work on characters, namely skin and facial features that can be painted on, no need of complex 3d models.
I guess this game really isn't for me (despite enjoying most crpgs). Bugs made me quit the game, mostly tedious combat made hesitant to return to it, and now paid classes (druid, a class I love) and already a 50% off sale makes me regret even buying this game.
my man i play D&d and dm for a group and most champaigns are rail road and very little story as most times it is just beat enemy with big stick so in my opinion it does D&D justic