Hey, don't diss Male Elf Head 4 - that's my go-to knock-off Kylo Ren look!!


[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


Now in response to the OP, I think Solasta is a fun game, made with lots of heart and care. I think they did a great job on what they setout to do (a faithful 5E implementation) given their limitations, although some newbie mistakes in design ultimately lead to some major flaws that stop the game from being an instant classic.

I'm not going really talk about things that are heavily restrained by budget and licensing because that's pretty unfair to TA. Solasta graphics have issues, but these things really isn't the focus and scope of a game like that. What I'd like to focus on are design choices (which games of any budget should be able to implement on some level).

For the below notes, I've played the game twice since release - once at core difficulty with deadly AI, and then at Cataclysm difficulty with everything turned to the max. I have not had a chance to play the new Sorcerer class yet.


Good Design Choices in Solasta:

  • Fantastic looting system with a nice in-universe explanation
  • A great fast travel implementation that isn't immersion breaking (emulates sped-up walking)
  • The overworld travel gives the world a sense of scale and size and is very immersive. Also makes room for hypothetical high level travelling spells (i.e. Wind Walk)
  • Actions and Spell Casting UI flows very naturally and is very easy to understand
  • Very nice, in-depth implementation of the rules - all the core systems are accounted for. Love the implementation of little details like the cover system, ritual casting, the attunement system (properly integrated into short rests), etc. My only complaint is not having readied action leveled spells. Even if Larian is going to house rule certain things (which I'm okay with), missing entire systems - like Reaction / Readied Actions is a problem IMO.
  • The grid system, although a little ugly, works great from a tactical standpoint. We also know from games like Wasteland 3 that a grid system can be pretty.
  • Love the out-of-game character builder where you can test and play around with characters without needing to go into the game



Poor Design Choices in Solasta:

  • The inventory UI isn't great. The need to press "Alt" to expand for information is senseless. Their crafting menu is actually worst (e.g. tons of new players on Reddit had no idea they could see the attributes of craftable items)
  • Poor balancing of character power, magical items, and stacking effects - in particular AC. Without trying, you can have characters with 30 AC (before Shield Spell), leading to basically immortality (even on Cataclysm difficulty)
  • The game mechanic / challenge stops evolving about 50% in. After a certain undead boss in a castle, enemy variety and abilities completely stalls - you basically fight and do the same thing for the rest of the game combat wise. This becomes tedious when combined with character OPness
  • The combat finally completely breaks down in the Endgame due to changes in long rest design, and the above 2 points (Character OPness and redundant monster mechanics) - see spoiler for details

    Without spoiling too much, essentially the game tries to introduce challenge in the end by make resting locations very uncertain in the end areas. The problem with this is, because your characters are so OP already, and enemies tactics remain very limited (i.e. mostly target AC), you are incentivized to be extremely boring and conservative - just spam mostly auto attack and cantrips (and you'll win just fine). It's a bit better on a 2nd playthrough thanks to meta knowledge, but the easiness of the game pushes it towards tedium.
  • Given the limited budget, they really needed to apply the philosophy of "Less is More" to a few things. The story, in particular the end sequence, is pretty unremarkable. Wished they kept it simple and succinct. Similarly, the backtracking side-quests was bloat that did not contribute much IMO.

Overall, it's still a fantastic job for a first effort, and shows a ton of promise. I can't wait to see what TA does next.