I actually bought it, the UI/Controls/Graphics/Voice Acting/Script/Story are all pretty bad (excusable though as the reason people like it is the combat)

It felt more like a linear dungeon crawl than a big world you explore.

Open world map travel reminds me of the old gold box games from the 80s/90s where you see a map, select where you want to go, and possibly run into random encounters which brings you into combat. Random events like hunting and finding food happen, reminds me of organ trail in some regards. Overall those interfaces feel dated to me now.

As far as combat, it stayed very true to 5e, and yet, it felt lifeless to me. Feedback/information mechanism are sparse in combat, so knowing if I had advantage via flank/back attack was uncertain. I could look in the combat log but it didn't have the dice roll formulas in there to explain the hit/miss/dmg roll.

Camera controls are REALLY bad. I thought I had issues here, but I was dying on the inside trying to look around and make sure I clicked on the enemy that was hovering over my head and not a movement tile behind it that would cause an attack of opportunity.

A lot of people were really enthused by having d20s rolling over all the characters throughout combat, they even have an option to customize your d20s in game, but that is ancillary and just cosmetic to me so it has zero allure.

It does showcase how BG3 allows for a lot more actions per a turn versus the 5e rules.

There are arguments for and against pure 5e rules on a computer based game though. Because you could only do 1 or 2 things per a turn it was very bland (to me) but for others they feel this allows for a more chess like play where there is opportunity to counter each move the enemy makes and you can't snowball them with your own actions.

There is still the ability to push enemies off ledges and do drastic damage, there is still the ability to constantly run behind your target to maximize advantage rolls, there are some battles that permit environmental effects (you can push a block down on targets or probably other traps later on).

It really is subjective and while I kind am disappointed after purchasing it because I thought I would be introduced to a more hardcore and clean combat system, it just felt lifeless and boring in effect. Made me really appreciate BG3.

I refuse to return Solasta though, I want to go back and play it more and give it a second chance. Maybe I "just don't get it" yet.

Last edited by CMF; 23/10/20 05:44 PM.