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Solasta has adopted reaction in the most literal way possible, as close as it can be the the source. I don't know if it is the best way possible to do it (probably not), but it's still a hundred times better than what Larian did, which is pretty much ignoring the mechanic completely.

I made the comparison to a yu gi oh game that doesn't have trap cards or effect monsters and I think it's the best way to think about it. It removes too much of the game

I mean, I am in this camp as well. I think what Larian has done has gutted an important aspect of DnD5 combat. I would be very happy if Larian just used Solasta combat... and UI/ design (function wise) and control scheme.

But I get where they come from. But it's brings me back to a thought I had a long time ago - if you don't like Baldur's Gate/DnD that much, and think it systems are flawed and need to be corrected, why did you apply to make this game? Who is this game for? Divinity: Original Sin fans? Baldur's Gate fans? DnD fans? Then again, the game sits with many positive reviews, so I guess they know who they make it for.

And therein lies the problem, it would be almost impossible too create a game that satisfies all of those demographics (though there is some crossover with BG and B&D fans I assume).

Regardless, they have gone for the mass market appeal and apparently plenty of people are playing the game who have no experience of the previous games or even D&D. The cinematics and combat mechanics such as shove, barrelmancy etc are obviously very appealing, even seductive, at first...it remains to be seen whether the novelty will wear off.

OMG. Same old conversations for the last six months. Larian! Please DO something soon so we can talk about something new with this game! PLEASE!

Admittedly I would prefer more dice rolling and "clunk", as I feel that is a core part of D&D. BG1 and 2 also seemed to weight things a little more than I've seen in BG3, though I do appreciate the amount of rolling you do outside of combat. I feel adding more and more of that as they go would be perfect.

I enjoy DOS2 quite a lot, but I am not looking for a DOS2 reskinned in a D&D coat of paint. I'd like a proper BG game first and foremost. That is, for now, my only major concern with BG3 and how Larian is approaching development of it.

In the meantime, I may check out Solasta when I can afford it - though from what I've read just in this thread, BG3 seems to lean far more on the RP part of RPG than Solasta does. Can I presume Solasta is to BG3 what Icewind Dale was to BG1+2?

Solasta has character banter. Now, with side quests, it has even more D&D content. Its strongest element is its combat and it plays like TT D&D. It is a good game, fun, and full of adventure. I would say there is more character depth for Solasta than Icewindale.

That said, Solasta lacks in having pazzaz. It isn't as pretty as BG3 and as grand. To be expected but still true. Some of the dialogue feels a bit choppy and story could use some enhancing, but again, overall, good game.

No, you can't.

BG3 in it's current state is a beautifull modern game for casual/modern gamers that don't want to think too much or for players that want to play with friends. Deeper companion and story pathes but poor tactical/DnD combats, theme park map, classes all played the same,...

Solasta has deeper and consistent mechanics that works as a whole. It makes you live a journey accross it's world rather than throwing you "fun gameplay" on your face everytime for the sake of it. Despite the size of the project and the custom world, Solasta is far more like BG1/2 than BG3. The only things it lacks is freedom and a deeper story.

According to me BG3 has close to nothing from BG1/2 exept a bit of lore and names.
These games aren't the same at all even if they uses DnD.

I am about 16 hours in to Solasta right now (I re-bought it) and I admit it is a fun game, but comparing it to Baldur's gate 3 is ridiculous.

1) Solasta is purely a tactical game, that mostly sticks to the D&D ruleset. It works by heavily constraining your available actions, far more than an actual game of D&D would. It also heavy controls the combat situations you find yourself in by being 100% linear in execution. So you will face specific combats in a set order regardless of player choice.

BG3 on the other hand gives you a lot of leeway in regards to actions and how you approach any particular combat. You can talk your way out of things, scare the other side off, dominate them, or find other ways to ambush them or start the encounter. However surprise is a little broken rn in BG3 but I think its just bugged.

2) Solasta doesn't give all its objects specific health such as ladders, doors, chests, barrels, boxes, crates - where BG3 does. So the world is far less reactive to your actions. You also can't - for example throw a crate at someone, or make a blockade, or re-shape the battlefield really. You can knock items on the ceiling down on people though, which does small amounts of damage.

3) Solasta doesn't allow you to murder every single person you meet regardless of consequences. BG3 you can murder your way across all of ACT I with impunity.

4) Solasta doesn't have multiplayer, and won't ever. BG3 is built around robust multiplayer, will eventually have DM mode and a toolset.

5) The story in Solasta is pretty decent. The voice acting and animation is very basic but serviceable. The story is specific to Solasta and doesn't tie into the rest of the forgotten realms in any way. This is a condition of their specific license. I like the stock story though.

Versus BG3 where the story has its roots in about a million other stories. My heart goes out to the writers at BG3 who have to manage that behemoth and having so much pressure to make it worthy of the license and title. Objectively the story does have deep roots in Bg1 and 2 as it deals with the Dead Three. Period. Full stop.

6) Stealth and detection in Solasta is based on line of sight where you are eventually seen if you don't move away to cover. BG3 uses a sight system that involves you making saving throws if you are in line of sight. In this case BG3 is the more accurate to 5E rules system. Both are fine.

7) You can't pickpocket people in Solasta, or attack them if they are friendly. There is no stealing in general. I guess that stuff isn't in D&D /s

8) There are no romance options in Solasta. In Bg3 your entire crew are all former prostitutes that will nail anything with a heartbeat. So basically the same :p

9) In Solasta party members Banter but you can't explore specific backstories. You can't talk to them directly and ask them questions, there are no inter-party relationships. In BG3 the party members don't shut up about their weird emo problems and have an opinion about everything you do.

10) Solasta requires you to think about food, spell components, weight, and fatigue when traveling. Nothing about pooping though. Oh well I can dream.

11) Solasta uses a clock and day night cycles. Spells have real time durations. Bg3 has real time durations, but no clock. Spells with long directions just last until rest. Both are fine.

Solasta overall is a fun game for what it is. Probably the worst part of it isn't the game itself. Its the fan boi's with no social skills running their mouths on the BG3 forum. I'd explain what a "reaction formation" is to these people but I don't want them staring at me like a dog that's been shown a card trick. My apologies if that sounds too snarky but honestly if their intent was to get other people into this game they are approaching it from the worst possible angle. Bashing Bg3 on the BG3 forums is not just trashy and rude but also completely inaccurate and unnecessary. Especially given that Solasta is a finished game and BG3 still has at LEAST another year in EA.

BG3 is also an incredibly ambitious game that gets bombarded daily by an endless parade of lazy, mealy-mouthed gamers who just instantly crap on it with very little thought. "It doesn't have THIS SPECIFIC THING I WANTED?!!? Well then it's not Baldur's gate!!"

But for those out there that ARE well-adjusted humans who have not played this game. If you have time to kill and want a distraction its a decent one. The dev's clearly poured their little hearts into this and it is definitely challenging and interesting even on the default difficulty. You WILL have a learning curve.

One more thing...Don't expect the same class, race options that BG3 (even in early access) has - there is a lot of class homebrew there and same with a lot of the monsters. Also be prepared for a lot of stuff that flies and crawls on walls. Solasta took the idea of verticality to 11 - its pretty funny.

Mod's my apologies in advance if any of this was over the top.

Ignoring the strawmen that are tempting to set on fire, that's a... Pretty honest and accurate description. I specifically wasn't really trying to oversell the game, merely pointing out how BG3's current combat design leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to turn by turn tactical considerations due to outright missing mechanics. And the uproar over said missing mechanics is honestly only really that bad because a bunch of old interviews gave off the impression that the BG3 devs have either an unfavorable opinion of them or have deemed them unnecessary, when Solasta demonstrates that they're really anything but that. Not to mention that BG3 has retained a lot of the DOS2 identity in regards to the engine being used, which lacked anything similar to the aformentioned missing mechanics too.

If Larian actually said SOMETHING to indicate that they're going to consider changing course on reactions/ready actions or doubling down on it, half of these forums would probably shut up. Silence only promotes a deepening sense of anxiety and heightened expectations among the community, and I don't think there's any point in history where it has achieved the exact opposite.

Although I also have to say as a former mod myself - if you have to apologize to the mods ahead of time, you probably should rethink things.

Yeah. I feel like so many of the forum issues lately is from re-hashing the same things and people feeling like they are not being heard or responded to by Larian in a timely manner.

I'm still hoping for that community update they promised - soon?

To Blackheifer, that's an interesting comparison, but I feel like I do want to respond to some bits and pieces of it, even though the majority of what you're saying is legitimate...


I find this comment disingenuous. BG3 gives you a certain amount of leeway in how you approach its Equally Fixed and Equally Set combat pieces. Functionally if you're going to fight, however, both games give you a decent amount of choice in how you approach it. You can ambush and surprise encounters just as well in the other game (and their surprise actually works smoothly and predictably), and unlike in BG3 set piece combats don't have a habit of immediately throwing turn order and action economy out the window to spawn extra enemies and move all over the map and area to get into the positions they want to be - Larian's game does this in several places, and it's bad.


I also find this to be disingenuous as well. Larian's 'reactivity' is just their immersion breaking ridiculous barrel-tossing; this isn't a point in its favour. The other game isn't any better, of course - the only ways that you can interact with the world are the pre-set ones, such and moving convenient blocks and knocking down convenient columns, and yes, it's a bit bland... but I wouldn't call it fair to say that 'the world is far less reactive'


This is not a point in BG3's favour, at all. It would be, if there were actual realistic consequences for doing so, but there aren't, so it's just another layer of ridiculous that detracts from the game.


This is true, though it bears mentioning that the other game also has a toolset and a dungeon designer, and the intention is that people will share their maps, stories and campaigns with each other to experience, much like you can download other people's NWN2 modules and such.


this can't be used as a point for or against either game, since one was allowed to do this and the other was not; one was given the license, and the other only has access to SRD and Wizard's blessing to make a game with it. I'll admit happily that I think you're being charitable calling the voice acting basic but serviceable... It's quite amateur and cringe-worthy, to me... although, I've found myself enjoying the little interactions and smirking more often than I generally do with BG3's dialogue, despite the increased polish.


This is not correct. Stealth in the other game is not based solely on LoS at all; LoS is a major contributor, but it's also based on your detection aura, which is defined by your passive stealth and whether you have advantage or disadvantage, as well as your light condition; out of combat, this is used much in the same way a passive check would be silently checked by the DM, with the boon of a warning zone timer that lets you react and recover if you do something that will likely get you noticed. BG3 operates solely on visible line of sight cones, and you can be a t-rex wearing a one-man-band outfit and screeching at the top of your lungs, and never get detected as you stomp around, so long as you don't touch the sight cones. Stealth in BG3 is utterly irrelevant and functionally non-existent as a result.

In combat, the same applies for BG3, allowing you to 'hide' and avoid sight cones, and thus completely kill an encounter with no resistance from the enemy, who will simply stand around like logs and get killed. In the other game, in combat, if you are hidden from an enemy, and are attacking from somewhere where they would likely not see you anyway, you get a stealth roll, contested by the enemy's perception check, to try to remain hidden (a to-the-rules contested check). Otherwise, you're revealed as normal. Enemies that can't see any targets will search for them, beginning from where they last saw them.

BG3 loses by a long, long margin, in this comparison, both in execution, and in functional spirit.


Yep, this one is a big failing for the other game... but BG3's consequence free game-breaking endless larceny isn't much better.


This is fair marks; the other game isn't geared to do inter-character romance, since 'you' are the whole party, not a particular character, and that's sad, to me. I'm hoping BG3's relationship, sex and romance aspects are markedly improved fromtheri current direction, but what they are is still *present*, which is more than the other.


Again, this comes back to the deign difference, that sees you the player as not specifically being any character, but rather that you simply are the player, controlling the whole party - there's no 'you' in the party at all. It may be worth nothing, however, that there are specific side quests for each character's background, and though I've not seen them yet and can't comment, the implication is that they'll be a little side story or side quest that will explore the set-piece background that you picked for each character, at least a little.


All optional, which is neat. A big plus for the other game is that it lets you decide exactly how much minutia and book-keeping you want to do... Maybe it's a good thing there's no romance, or else I'd want to keep a track of my character's personal dates...


I admit, time passage in exploration is a bit too quick for my liking, in the other game - ten minutes for something like fly flits by way too quickly to actually do exploration in dungeons with. One of the few things you can't optionally change, unfortunately. I actually do favour the video game transition of "anything 10 minutes or more becomes 'until rest'" that BG3 did; I think that's a good for-videogames compromise.

Much of the rest of your comment was just aggressive and needlessly provocative... and it seems like you're aware of that as well; I tend to vet myself heavily when posting, and often re-daft my posts a few times to reduce my tone and soften my language, because attacking other people like that just doesn't do anyone any service, least of all yourself and your arguments.

I'd be a bit offended if you were lumping folks like myself, who have been vocal on the forums with their feedback in as 'lazy' or showing 'very little thought'; those of us who have put in a lot of time and effort are anything but, and we do so because we desperately want to love BG3... and it's the people like us, who do work hard to present and provide legitimate, well measured commentary and feedback, who are the ones you're most likely to end up having proper conversations with in the first place, so please try to lay off the disparaging rhetoric.

Which is a huuuge plus.

Early Access is for feedback. Not liking it doesn’t give you a right to use such expressions.

Then you start a comparison

Anyway I'm glad you re-bought it, your analysis is more interresting and argumented.

Despite a few mistakes (see Niara's answer) and personnal preferences, it's pretty fair.

About pickpocketting it looks like they removed the feature. I was possible during the EA but it's not anymore. Probably because it wasn't enough develloped.

I am presenting a general garment. If you claim its cut to your fit then that's on you. I would invite you to consider that there is a difference between "feedback" and "hyperbolic negativity". There is a difference between "this game is also interesting" and "your game sucks play this instead".

In both cases my problem is with the latter.

I want people to try Solasta, I do. I don't think it helps when you have certain bad actors that start the conversation with a negative comparison to Bg3, on the Larian forum.

For example: I love The Expanse and I don't care for Star Wars but I wouldn't walk up to a bunch of Star Wars fanboys and tell them "Star Wars sux because its not science, bombs in space, how stupid. You should watch the Expanse instead". 1) because they will end up hating the Expanse and never check it out and 2) I don't want to get rolled by an obese asthmatic dressed as a Wookie. :P

I totally get them removing pickpocking. Especially if it would have impended them releasing a finished product or accept having a broken mechanic. Thankfully now that it is released it is selling so maybe down the road.

I failed to see any such distinction in:
Also if this game fails in delivering the core experience that is associated with the title I deem it pretty valid to voice such concern.

Yes, I would be wary of categorizing Solasta as a Role-playing game, at least to what I personally would expect to get from a role-playing game. Icewind Dale is best comparison I can think of - custom party, linear adveture, very dungeon and combat heavy. It is nicely paced, and I find story, VO and characters are bad-mediocare but in a charming and indearing kind of way. With a bit more budget and development it could become a really neat IP. What they did works, in my opinion (I wouldn't want Solasta2 to become full fledged RPG for example) but pretty much every aspect of it would benefit of a cash injection.

I found it rather amusing; and actually quite informative, I feel I know much more about Solasta from that one post than all the other references I've seen to date.

Why is it okay for him to be passive-aggressive and snarky?

Everyone who replied to him had to toe the line, while he got to post things like

"Its the fan boi's with no social skills running their mouths on the BG3 forum."

"BG3 is also an incredibly ambitious game that gets bombarded daily by an endless parade of lazy, mealy-mouthed gamers who just instantly crap on it with very little thought. "

Everyone is victim of passion overtaking rationale and temper every now and then, and often people respond to challenge it as seen by the responses above. As Saito pointed out...



Along with Niara's counter arguments and other replies toning things down, with Blackfeiffer's clarification of their stance and opinions, there's no need for moderation. It's when people can't come back down from their temper, or move on, where moderation becomes necessary. Most of their post history is fine. We don't punish people for one mishap.

Repeated behavior and continuing to derail topics on the other hand, will result in action.