KickStarter Solasta: Crown of the Magister Thread - now with Palace of Ice sequel DLC

[Ebonsword]

I just picked up this game recently and put over 40 hours into it over 4 days. What a masterpiece! It's on track to be my favorite RPG of the past decade.

My most memorable moment so far is when I thought I was being clever and climbed my party to the top of a tower to rain missile attacks on a remorhaz offspring. The little bastard just burrowed to the top of the tower anyway and sent my entire party flying off to their deaths. :-(

 

[rojay]

The thing holding Solasta back for me was that it didn't run smoothly on the machine I use for gaming. I'm thinking about upgrading over the summer for the new Ice Palace expansion, if the party size increase mod works.

It ran poorly for me in the main campaigns on my laptop. Very smooth in the custom campaigns though. Once I got to the rainy, gloomy castle area it seemed to be choppy for quite a while. Rain effects seem to be particularly taxing.

My understanding is that they overhauled the mod during the Inner Strength update and won't need to do that again. They also seem to get a heads up as to changes from TA devs so the mod is switched over pretty quick for updates. I don't expect lengthy downtime on the mod.

I think the mod-maker who goes by Silverquick is also getting updates on the development of the mod tools. If that's true then get in there, Arty.

 

[Artyoan]

The thing holding Solasta back for me was that it didn't run smoothly on the machine I use for gaming. I'm thinking about upgrading over the summer for the new Ice Palace expansion, if the party size increase mod works.

It ran poorly for me in the main campaigns on my laptop. Very smooth in the custom campaigns though. Once I got to the rainy, gloomy castle area it seemed to be choppy for quite a while. Rain effects seem to be particularly taxing.

My understanding is that they overhauled the mod during the Inner Strength update and won't need to do that again. They also seem to get a heads up as to changes from TA devs so the mod is switched over pretty quick for updates. I don't expect lengthy downtime on the mod.

I think the mod-maker who goes by Silverquick is also getting updates on the development of the mod tools. If that's true then get in there, Arty.

He does beta testing for TA. He was the one who said a new campaign was coming down the line several months ago. I'd probably decline beta testing if asked tbh.

 

[mediocrepoet]

There are two 'ritual stones' in the starting forest area, both with a roll activator. Both have two potential battles each, depending on success/failure of the roll. I don't recall struggling at all with either the hag or minotaur and I'm pretty sure I got both of those. West side can have some dryads if the roll is failed, east side has a wight and some skeletons if failed. I'll probably finish morrows deep six man, publish that, and then do a run through of each with new parties, probably aiming for balanced parties but not using any of the more praised UB subclasses. Then I'll look to enemy parameter changes as I go. The elite minotaur is much harder if spawned at level 2 on the four man.

All of those encounters are meant to be potential level 2 stepping stones to level 3. The orcs in the cave are balanced for 3. The open nature of the zone led to some annoying aspects, but I prefer this over something very linear in the end. Like the spiders near that tree or the orcs/goblins in front of the cave were originally just active, but then could see the player across the rivers, resulting in highly annoying battles where melee can't reach each other.

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair. It does push you to actually use stuff you can ignore in most adventures (Solasta or otherwise) like dodging, knocking prone, setting up fields, etc. even in the early fights, so that's refreshing.

I also like that you can run into things where you're underlevelled and can possibly win, but it's not something you can take for granted and more likely you're just going to have a rough time unless you level up and find more resources first.

I have had a few combats lock up and hang, but I think that's either a Solasta engine bug or something to do with the Unfinished Business mod. Pretty sure I had it happen in the unmodded OC too, but it's been awhile.

 

[Artyoan]

There are two 'ritual stones' in the starting forest area, both with a roll activator. Both have two potential battles each, depending on success/failure of the roll. I don't recall struggling at all with either the hag or minotaur and I'm pretty sure I got both of those. West side can have some dryads if the roll is failed, east side has a wight and some skeletons if failed. I'll probably finish morrows deep six man, publish that, and then do a run through of each with new parties, probably aiming for balanced parties but not using any of the more praised UB subclasses. Then I'll look to enemy parameter changes as I go. The elite minotaur is much harder if spawned at level 2 on the four man.

All of those encounters are meant to be potential level 2 stepping stones to level 3. The orcs in the cave are balanced for 3. The open nature of the zone led to some annoying aspects, but I prefer this over something very linear in the end. Like the spiders near that tree or the orcs/goblins in front of the cave were originally just active, but then could see the player across the rivers, resulting in highly annoying battles where melee can't reach each other.

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair. It does push you to actually use stuff you can ignore in most adventures (Solasta or otherwise) like dodging, knocking prone, setting up fields, etc. even in the early fights, so that's refreshing.

I also like that you can run into things where you're underlevelled and can possibly win, but it's not something you can take for granted and more likely you're just going to have a rough time unless you level up and find more resources first.

I have had a few combats lock up and hang, but I think that's either a Solasta engine bug or something to do with the Unfinished Business mod. Pretty sure I had it happen in the unmodded OC too, but it's been awhile.

When damage is dealt to a moving enemy, like one running through spike growth or sometimes when you reaction hit one of them and force a stop, it can hang for several seconds. Every now and then it will keep hanging like that even when no movement is involved. Base game issue. Not sure why but its been pretty consistent about having those issues since I've been playing it last year.

The minotaur can cause a full hang by infinitely running in place on a charge. I usually quicksave before a minotaur gets to move for that reason. Any minotaur can do it. Really hoping they address that one because its highly annoying and very random.

 

[Mortmal]

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair.

With the right optimized team , a mostly ranged team, heavy on casters , of course you can enjoy the module.
But most important is training and psychological preparation, to be in the right state of mind when trying it :

 

[Reinhardt]

so any mod to replace portraits?

 

[Alienman]

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair.

With the right optimized team , a mostly ranged team, heavy on casters , of course you can enjoy the module.
But most important is training and psychological preparation, to be in the right state of mind when trying it :

I like that there is machine designed to crack human nuts.

 

[Artyoan]

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair.

With the right optimized team , a mostly ranged team, heavy on casters , of course you can enjoy the module.
But most important is training and psychological preparation, to be in the right state of mind when trying it :

I like that there is machine designed to crack human nuts.

You're welcome.

 

[Mortmal]

I haven't gotten very far in your module, but it's a good time. Not easy, but not overly unfair.

With the right optimized team , a mostly ranged team, heavy on casters , of course you can enjoy the module.
But most important is training and psychological preparation, to be in the right state of mind when trying it :

I like that there is machine designed to crack human nuts.

You're welcome.

By the way how many hundreds of hours you spent on this ? One of your module seems already the same size of the official campaign or almost.
Those modules should deserve more attention from the codexers, this is quasi professional work.
Very different from other modules who are most often just copying ancient d&d modules without much inspiration

 

[Artyoan]

By the way how many hundreds of hours you spent on this ? One of your module seems already the same size of the official campaign or almost.
Those modules should deserve more attention from the codexers, this is quasi professional work.

If Steam's hours played is correct then I'd say it was roughly 220 hours to make The Forsaken Isle from scratch to publish. That includes testing. I've spent more time playing/testing and patching it after that. Morrows Deep was probably 250 hours. It took me about 70 hours to complete both the main campaigns, I doubt I've spent more than 50 hours playing other people's campaigns. So across the three I've released, thats 935 hours dicking around in the DM and playing what I made (and kept).

Edit: Which I don't think is that excessive considering each campaign is 35-45 hours worth at a decent pace of play. Way longer if trying the harder difficulty settings.

 

[NJClaw]

Artyoan, on Steam it says the module is supposed to end at level 13, but the current level cap is 12. Is it an oversight or am I supposed to unlock the cap via Unfinished Business?

I'm at the witch's hut and I have only good things to say about what you did. Sometimes I find myself thinking "well, I'm getting a bit tired", but then I realize I've been playing for 5 hours straight without even blinking once. This is hands down the best custom module I've played and the only one with encounters that can compete with Dragonstone Saga (with the nonnegligible difference that that was a short dungeon, while yours is a 30 hours campaign). I noticed EricWisdom (the guy who made Dragonstone Saga) left this comment on the 4-man version:

For players: Artyoan's campaigns are the complete package; aesthetics, story, and righteous tactical battles.
For designers: Artyoan's campaigns (Forsaken Isle and Morrow's Deep, thus far) are exceptional templates for how to do just about anything with the vanilla DM, at this time.

Astonishingly polished, extremely enjoyable playing experiences, the both of them.

And I couldn't agree more.

 

[Artyoan]

Artyoan, on Steam it says the module is supposed to end at level 13, but the current level cap is 12. Is it an oversight or am I supposed to unlock the cap via Unfinished Business?

I'm at the witch's hut and I have only good things to say about what you did. Sometimes I find myself thinking "well, I'm getting a bit tired", but then I realize I've been playing for 5 hours straight without even blinking once. This is hands down the best custom module I've played and the only one with encounters that can compete with Dragonstone Saga (with the nonnegligible difference that that was a short dungeon, while yours is a 30 hours campaign). I noticed EricWisdom (the guy who made Dragonstone Saga) left this comment on the 4-man version:

For players: Artyoan's campaigns are the complete package; aesthetics, story, and righteous tactical battles.
For designers: Artyoan's campaigns (Forsaken Isle and Morrow's Deep, thus far) are exceptional templates for how to do just about anything with the vanilla DM, at this time.

Astonishingly polished, extremely enjoyable playing experiences, the both of them.

And I couldn't agree more.

You can uncap it if you want but no need to. None of the battles are designed for being above 12, just the option is there if you want to. If you're at the Witch Hut you're very close to being done, only one more quest sequence after that. Glad you're enjoying it, I came away liking the six man version more than the four but I expect it to be played quite a bit less, which is fine. It's been fun to make, gradually seeing something come together as it did was great. Only had a brief bit of burnout on it but since I was only doing it about 3 or so hours a day, it was easy enough to just keep going.

Funny that you mention EricWisdom because he is the exact guy I alluded to earlier in this thread who is going through Forsaken Isle 6-man with just four characters. Last I heard he was in the jungle area, getting ready for the spider fight. Brought his A-team. He's loved it too for the fact that its a better version of cataclysm difficulty without having the arbitrary stat oddities involved in that difficulty setting.

 

[NJClaw]

I finally finished the 6-man version of Forsaken Isle and can now confirm that:

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

Truly a great experience, much better than the main campaign in many regards. I can count on the fingers of one hand the encounters that didn't pose an actual challenge, and they all take place when you're already at level 12 (the chunk of fights that goes from the witch hut to the final boss is a bit underwhelming, considering what you had to face just a little earlier). I limited myself to a long rest after every 3-4 encounters (except for when the situation explicitly expects you to immediately rest after a fight) and, even if it's definitely possible to rest even less, I feel like that's the sweet spot for me.

I played with a balanced party (judgment paladin, commander fighter, survival monk, battle cleric, balance druid, court wizard), without using content from the UB mod, and one of the greatest pleasure I had was to actually feel the impact of my character's features and abilities, something that's sorely missing in the official campaign, where you can clear almost every encounter by just auto-attacking and spamming cantrips. The monk's stunning fist has been the single most important attack in my entire arsenal, since being able to put multiple enemies out of the fight for an entire round basically at-will is unreasonably strong when everything hits you for 1/4 of your HP. But the druid's gift of life is what allowed me to complete the campaign without ever having to reload, so it's hard to say which one's my favorite.

The module has many great fights, but for me the absolute highlights were the final boss, the whole optional section in the abandoned fortress' basement, and an encounter with the orcs in the caverns where, following a lone straggler after a very tough fight, I triggered the next encounter with another huge pack of enemies. After that, I surely never followed any escaping enemy ever again.

Funny that you mention EricWisdom because he is the exact guy I alluded to earlier in this thread who is going through Forsaken Isle 6-man with just four characters.

I think most of the module would be doable with 4 characters if you're willing to expend all your resources every single fight, but I wouldn't set foot in the aforementioned basement and I think the final boss would require some very specific planning. I might try it later down the road, but playing with 6 characters has been so fun that it has probably ruined any future 4-man playthrough of any module for me.

 

[Artyoan]

I finally finished the 6-man version of Forsaken Isle and can now confirm that:

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

Truly a great experience, much better than the main campaign in many regards. I can count on the fingers of one hand the encounters that didn't pose an actual challenge, and they all take place when you're already at level 12 (the chunk of fights that goes from the witch hut to the final boss is a bit underwhelming, considering what you had to face just a little earlier). I limited myself to a long rest after every 3-4 encounters (except for when the situation explicitly expects you to immediately rest after a fight) and, even if it's definitely possible to rest even less, I feel like that's the sweet spot for me.

I played with a balanced party (judgment paladin, commander fighter, survival monk, battle cleric, balance druid, court wizard), without using content from the UB mod, and one of the greatest pleasure I had was to actually feel the impact of my character's features and abilities, something that's sorely missing in the official campaign, where you can clear almost every encounter by just auto-attacking and spamming cantrips. The monk's stunning fist has been the single most important attack in my entire arsenal, since being able to put multiple enemies out of the fight for an entire round basically at-will is unreasonably strong when everything hits you for 1/4 of your HP. But the druid's gift of life is what allowed me to complete the campaign without ever having to reload, so it's hard to say which one's my favorite.

The module has many great fights, but for me the absolute highlights were the final boss, the whole optional section in the abandoned fortress' basement, and an encounter with the orcs in the caverns where, following a lone straggler after a very tough fight, I triggered the next encounter with another huge pack of enemies. After that, I surely never followed any escaping enemy ever again.

Funny that you mention EricWisdom because he is the exact guy I alluded to earlier in this thread who is going through Forsaken Isle 6-man with just four characters.

I think most of the module would be doable with 4 characters if you're willing to expend all your resources every single fight, but I wouldn't set foot in the aforementioned basement and I think the final boss would require some very specific planning. I might try it later down the road, but playing with 6 characters has been so fun that it has probably ruined any future 4-man playthrough of any module for me.

Thanks man, thats high praise. A lot of the fights in the ending sequence (aside from the final battle) I don't recall struggling much with, so that confirms its an area to touch up. Likely stat increases to the Sorr-Akkath tshar and shikkath, a few other additional enemies maybe. I know some of the min-max crowd is going to loath having to self impose resting rules but I find it surprisingly easy to do in Solasta. And the game favors it, because a tough battle with limited resources makes for memorable experiences.

The basement area was added after the original was published, as an optional area intended for high levels. I hadn't used the Remorhaz and wanted to. I also would probably skip that if I only had 4.

I think playing with 6 just feels better in every way. Gonna be hard to go back to 4 for the Palace of Ice. Maybe at some point TA will allow for 6 officially but only in custom campaigns. Then xbox players can use it and I can just recommend UB but not require it. I'll still make any new campaign be four and not balanced around UB. But I'm likely going to immediately adapt any of them for 6, regardless of how many subscribe to the 6-man versions. If they made 6 allowed officially, I'd possibly stop making 4 man campaigns.

 

[rojay]

I think playing with 6 just feels better in every way. Gonna be hard to go back to 4 for the Palace of Ice. Maybe at some point TA will allow for 6 officially but only in custom campaigns. Then xbox players can use it and I can just recommend UB but not require it. I'll still make any new campaign be four and not balanced around UB. But I'm likely going to immediately adapt any of them for 6, regardless of how many subscribe to the 6-man versions. If they made 6 allowed officially, I'd possibly stop making 4 man campaigns.

I haven't tried that mod, but mainly because I didn't see a lot of custom adventures for 6 characters. I liked the 4-man version, so I suspect I'll like the 6-man even more. Let's hope TA sees what people like you are doing and allows 6 characters officially.

If they do, and they don't want to rebalance their campaigns for it, could a scrub like me use 6 characters on the highest setting and still essentially play on "normal" difficulty or is there more involved to balancing for 6?

 

[Artyoan]

I think playing with 6 just feels better in every way. Gonna be hard to go back to 4 for the Palace of Ice. Maybe at some point TA will allow for 6 officially but only in custom campaigns. Then xbox players can use it and I can just recommend UB but not require it. I'll still make any new campaign be four and not balanced around UB. But I'm likely going to immediately adapt any of them for 6, regardless of how many subscribe to the 6-man versions. If they made 6 allowed officially, I'd possibly stop making 4 man campaigns.

I haven't tried that mod, but mainly because I didn't see a lot of custom adventures for 6 characters. I liked the 4-man version, so I suspect I'll like the 6-man even more. Let's hope TA sees what people like you are doing and allows 6 characters officially.

If they do, and they don't want to rebalance their campaigns for it, could a scrub like me use 6 characters on the highest setting and still essentially play on "normal" difficulty or is there more involved to balancing for 6?

Of those that tried to play the 4 man (official or custom) content with 6, they've said it wasn't that great. Sort of a square peg into a round hole style of gameplay. I found adding 2 to 4 more enemies per encounter and also raising health/armor were necessary to account for six man synergy. Without adding more enemies it's likely going to feel too easy even with bloated cataclysm stats. And some arenas needed prop changes to accommodate having a lot more space being utilized. It might be passable in the end but you might also need to fish around for manual custom difficulty settings, and even then it won't be ideal.

 

[Grunker]

I finally finished the 6-man version of Forsaken Isle and can now confirm that:

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

Truly a great experience, much better than the main campaign in many regards. I can count on the fingers of one hand the encounters that didn't pose an actual challenge, and they all take place when you're already at level 12 (the chunk of fights that goes from the witch hut to the final boss is a bit underwhelming, considering what you had to face just a little earlier). I limited myself to a long rest after every 3-4 encounters (except for when the situation explicitly expects you to immediately rest after a fight) and, even if it's definitely possible to rest even less, I feel like that's the sweet spot for me.

I played with a balanced party (judgment paladin, commander fighter, survival monk, battle cleric, balance druid, court wizard), without using content from the UB mod, and one of the greatest pleasure I had was to actually feel the impact of my character's features and abilities, something that's sorely missing in the official campaign, where you can clear almost every encounter by just auto-attacking and spamming cantrips. The monk's stunning fist has been the single most important attack in my entire arsenal, since being able to put multiple enemies out of the fight for an entire round basically at-will is unreasonably strong when everything hits you for 1/4 of your HP. But the druid's gift of life is what allowed me to complete the campaign without ever having to reload, so it's hard to say which one's my favorite.

The module has many great fights, but for me the absolute highlights were the final boss, the whole optional section in the abandoned fortress' basement, and an encounter with the orcs in the caverns where, following a lone straggler after a very tough fight, I triggered the next encounter with another huge pack of enemies. After that, I surely never followed any escaping enemy ever again.

Funny that you mention EricWisdom because he is the exact guy I alluded to earlier in this thread who is going through Forsaken Isle 6-man with just four characters.

I think most of the module would be doable with 4 characters if you're willing to expend all your resources every single fight, but I wouldn't set foot in the aforementioned basement and I think the final boss would require some very specific planning. I might try it later down the road, but playing with 6 characters has been so fun that it has probably ruined any future 4-man playthrough of any module for me.

You’re making this sound awfully promising

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I finally finished the 6-man version of Forsaken Isle and can now confirm that:

If you like the beginning of the campaign you'll almost certainly like the rest. It's pretty consistent I think.

Truly a great experience, much better than the main campaign in many regards. I can count on the fingers of one hand the encounters that didn't pose an actual challenge, and they all take place when you're already at level 12 (the chunk of fights that goes from the witch hut to the final boss is a bit underwhelming, considering what you had to face just a little earlier). I limited myself to a long rest after every 3-4 encounters (except for when the situation explicitly expects you to immediately rest after a fight) and, even if it's definitely possible to rest even less, I feel like that's the sweet spot for me.

I played with a balanced party (judgment paladin, commander fighter, survival monk, battle cleric, balance druid, court wizard), without using content from the UB mod, and one of the greatest pleasure I had was to actually feel the impact of my character's features and abilities, something that's sorely missing in the official campaign, where you can clear almost every encounter by just auto-attacking and spamming cantrips. The monk's stunning fist has been the single most important attack in my entire arsenal, since being able to put multiple enemies out of the fight for an entire round basically at-will is unreasonably strong when everything hits you for 1/4 of your HP. But the druid's gift of life is what allowed me to complete the campaign without ever having to reload, so it's hard to say which one's my favorite.

The module has many great fights, but for me the absolute highlights were the final boss, the whole optional section in the abandoned fortress' basement, and an encounter with the orcs in the caverns where, following a lone straggler after a very tough fight, I triggered the next encounter with another huge pack of enemies. After that, I surely never followed any escaping enemy ever again.

Funny that you mention EricWisdom because he is the exact guy I alluded to earlier in this thread who is going through Forsaken Isle 6-man with just four characters.

I think most of the module would be doable with 4 characters if you're willing to expend all your resources every single fight, but I wouldn't set foot in the aforementioned basement and I think the final boss would require some very specific planning. I might try it later down the road, but playing with 6 characters has been so fun that it has probably ruined any future 4-man playthrough of any module for me.

You’re making this sound awfully promising

Don't play it. They put Cloud's sword in the mod.

 

[Cryomancer]

Any chance that the new DLC will gonna include an underwater level? I remember this levels in Eye of the Beholder 3. Anti magical field underwater was terrifying.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Anti magical field underwater was terrifying

t. CON and STR dump score.

 

[NJClaw]

You’re making this sound awfully promising

I think anyone who appreciated Solasta's systems but found the content boring should give it a try. At the very least, if you don't enjoy it, you'll know any future custom adventure won't do anything for you and you can just forget about it. Lacrymas I'm talking about you.

But keep in mind that:
- I'm talking exclusively about combat. While they're slowly trying to add options, the dungeon maker still isn't suited for anything else. The background plot of the module is serviceable, but there just aren't the tools to build something worth playing "for the story".
- While there are encounters where verticality sort of matters (unreachable enemies, towers used as vantage points), the dungeon maker tools are still very "stiff", so don't expect the same freedom in building the areas as in the main campaign.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

something worth playing "for the story".

Them's called books

 

[Lacrymas]

something worth playing "for the story".

Them's called books

What's the gameplay like?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

something worth playing "for the story".

Them's called books

What's the gameplay like?

A real pageturner