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

[Parabalus]

They added a lot of new items to the main campaign vendors, I wonder what else is new.

 

[lukaszek]

rogue can restealth for free as soon as lvl2. As such hitting targets with a bow is not a problem. When it occurs you can often still try your dagger. Honestly its only at 10+ when rogue starts getting behind. Before I consider it main dmg dealer.
Sneak atack alpha strike makes sure to disrupt caster concentration too.
Sure, having 4 melee characters sounds nice, but its hard to utilize them fully in many fights.

Ranger is superior, but in late levels. Marksman can disengage and even restealth now, although its late. If I were only to start fresh in dlc Id think again about not having a rogue, but as I plan to experience main campaign with less bugs, its optimal to have one. Also Im interested to push shadowcaster AC high. Mage armor appear to work with empress garb and bracers. Add shield and you can tank if dashing away is not an option. I do even consider grabbing shield feat...

 

[Nortar]

They start sucking as soon as other classes get another attack, so from level 5 on.

At level 5 sneak attack deals 3d6 damage, I'm pretty sure it's on par with anything martial classes can get ot of their extra attack.
One of the best rogue's abilities is the Cunning Action though.

 

[Spectacle]

Rogues fall behind in PoI because of all the OP magic weapons you find that really benefit characters with multiple attacks.

 

[Parabalus]

Rogues fall behind in PoI because of all the OP magic weapons you find that really benefit characters with multiple attacks.

Are there any decent monk gauntlets (+elemental damage)?

 

[Mortmal]

Rogues fall behind in PoI because of all the OP magic weapons you find that really benefit characters with multiple attacks.

Are there any decent monk gauntlets (+elemental damage)?

Not seen any legendary monk stuff, while when it comes to finesse weapons or simple weapons you get a ton.

They start sucking as soon as other classes get another attack, so from level 5 on.

At level 5 sneak attack deals 3d6 damage, I'm pretty sure it's on par with anything martial classes can get ot of their extra attack.
One of the best rogue's abilities is the Cunning Action though.

With the gear you are getting now, rogue is not worth it, the bonus damage you get on legendary gear (which in solasta is common) completely outclass the sneak bonus with multiple attacks. Equipment is far too good in solasta.Then again with the number of rests you get caster shine as you can spam as many high levels spells you want.
Anyway its so easy, you dont even have to optimize.

 

[Parabalus]

Not seen any legendary monk stuff, while when it comes to finesse weapons or simple weapons you get a ton.

Think I'm gonna dump the monk then, was already annoying in the main campaign.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Hmmm... not a fan of the game casually dropping two very good +3 weapons on you very early, just like that.
BTW does the additional weapon damage requires attunement? Or it's only for the side stuff?

 

[IDtenT]

Yeah, item balancing in a game like this is difficult as they still need to sell a product with all the legendary stuff in it.

If you don't like it then custom campaigns are more likely going to be your thing.

 

[Grunker]

I sunk 8.5 hours into this before the license expired and managed to complete it through the second dungeon. I was hoping I'd dislike it enough to skip it, but unfortunately I read Crispy's post about how to fix the camera to make it tolerable, and once that was done, it was fine enough as a time sink. The flying mage boss was all right. Not in too big of a hurry to resume it though, I'll wait for a future sale to pick it up.

You suck enough at RPGs that the game's main detracting factor - poor encounter design and low difficulty - shouldn't be a problem for you

 

[lukaszek]

I sunk 8.5 hours into this before the license expired and managed to complete it through the second dungeon. I was hoping I'd dislike it enough to skip it, but unfortunately I read Crispy's post about how to fix the camera to make it tolerable, and once that was done, it was fine enough as a time sink. The flying mage boss was all right. Not in too big of a hurry to resume it though, I'll wait for a future sale to pick it up.

did you realize that you can shoot mage down with and archer, ending fly spell concetration and causing massive dmg on fall?

Anyway you have almost experienced best that main campaign got to offer. Once you beat certain vampire its downhill, although it got its moments

 

[Roguey]

I sunk 8.5 hours into this before the license expired and managed to complete it through the second dungeon. I was hoping I'd dislike it enough to skip it, but unfortunately I read Crispy's post about how to fix the camera to make it tolerable, and once that was done, it was fine enough as a time sink. The flying mage boss was all right. Not in too big of a hurry to resume it though, I'll wait for a future sale to pick it up.

You suck enough at RPGs that the game's main detracting factor - poor encounter design and low difficulty - shouldn't be a problem for you

It's true I don't care too much about hardcore difficulty. I played on normal with no modifications and I went with the first stat rolls with the game's own optimization for the particular class I chose (standard core four). Since I had limited time I didn't want to waste too much of it messing around with menus.

I noted that that the first encounters aren't particularly imaginative (here are a bunch of wolves, here are a bunch of goblins, here are a bunch of bats, here are a bunch of lizard men, here are a bunch of spiders) and they seem to rely on the terrain to do the heavy lifting. I died once fighting the flying guy because he killed my cleric and the game gave me an automatic game over because I had no one else capable of reviving, got him on the second though.

did you realize that you can shoot mage down with and archer, ending fly spell concetration and causing massive dmg on fall?

I tried shooting him with arrows and crossbows and kept missing. My cleric's spiritual sword knocked him down.

 

[Reinhardt]

the game's main detracting factor

is and pronouns.

 

[Cryomancer]

Solasta has 4 great problems :

1. Faces
2. 5e ruleset
3. Pronouns
4. Slow flashy animations

Faces are oblivion tier. 5e ruleset is the second worse ruleset losing only to 4e. Pronouns makes zero sense in a world where people can reincarnate into another species with a mid level druid spell. And slow flashy animations, even a firebolt is too flashy.

 

[Lacrymas]

None of these are big problems. The big problems are terrible encounter design and bad content.

 

[Reinhardt]

None of these are big problems. The big problems are terrible encounter design and bad content.

well, first things you encounter are and pronouns, so yes - encounter design is terrible.

 

[Roguey]

The pronoun issue is like the story of the two monks and the woman. I rolled my eyes at character creation and thought nothing of it again and the game hasn't put any they/thems or transgendered in my path. "Why are you still carrying her?"

 

[Infinitron]

Games with tons of filler combat are terrible. If all of Solasta's battles were like its random world map encounters, that'd be terrible. This game's encounter design can be fairly labelled "unremarkable" or "doesn't reach its full potential". I don't know why some people go all the way to "terrible" when we've seen so much worse.

 

[J1M]

They start sucking as soon as other classes get another attack, so from level 5 on.

At level 5 sneak attack deals 3d6 damage, I'm pretty sure it's on par with anything martial classes can get ot of their extra attack.
One of the best rogue's abilities is the Cunning Action though.

Depends what you consider on-par. Sure, 1d8 + 1 + 3d6 is about the same as 4d6 + 2. But is another +5 damage from ability modifier being applied again on par (16 vs 21 damage)? What about if feats are involved and now those melee dice get rerolled on 1 & 2 (16 vs 23.6)?

What bothers me more is that a scroll is better at a Rogue's primary job. A scroll doesn't fail to unlock a door and a wizard can easily cover the job with a spell slot.

 

[NJClaw]

None of these are big problems. The big problems are terrible encounter design and bad content.

It makes you wonder why they won't add to the game tools to create custom campaigns with more interesting encounters.

 

[Cryomancer]

scroll doesn't fail to unlock a door and a wizard can easily cover the job with a spell slot.

This is a thing which IMO DDO did much better than any D&D game. Knock in the game rolls to unlock and some locks mainly in "reaper" difficulty, are impossible to open for a caster, even if you roll 20. Casters can also dispel magical traps but they are still too limited to only the easiest traps. The best anti trap class in the game are rogues. Same with spells to detect doors. Rogues are much better on it than a caster with true seeing.

The big problems are terrible encounter design

Disagreed. Look how many trash encounters there are in BG1/2. But since it "solves" quickly, they aren't a problem.

I just wish that this game had a option to speed up animations. Like PFKM has for turn based mode.

 

[Roguey]

I just wish that this game had a option to speed up animations. Like PFKM has for turn based mode.

It does? Hold down the space bar.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Games with tons of filler combat are terrible. If all of Solasta's battles were like its random world map encounters, that'd be terrible. This game's encounter design can be fairly labelled "unremarkable" or "doesn't reach its full potential". I don't know why some people go all the way to "terrible" when we've seen so much worse.

I think it feels more galling here that the easy encounters ruin or at least tarnish what is otherwise a really mechanically solid game.

The workshop adventures seem to have some really solid entries though so still a worthwhile investment.

 

[Reinhardt]

The best anti trap class in the game are rogues.

2 rogue/18 whatever is pretty much enough, if you don't rush 30+ quests at level 20 for dem reaper exp. that's how i play every inquisitive life. zero problems with traps after accumulating some basic +skill gear.

 

[Lacrymas]

Games with tons of filler combat are terrible. If all of Solasta's battles were like its random world map encounters, that'd be terrible. This game's encounter design can be fairly labelled "unremarkable" or "doesn't reach its full potential". I don't know why some people go all the way to "terrible" when we've seen so much worse.

The hand-placed encounters are basically in the same league as the world map encounters. It's the same battles over and over again, it gets ridiculous in the dark castle. I'm honestly shocked how they managed to botch this so badly.