Solasta Solasta II - coming to Early Access in 2025

[Jinn]

Gameplay-wise, everything is fine.

I have a feeling your opinion on this will change once you finish the campaign, at least a little bit. I was extremely positive about the game through the first half. The skeleton of great gameplay is there. They just needed better content to back it up.

Really the #1 wish I have for the sequel is to keep the editor. If the new and better engine means the editor won't be as powerful, then the sequel will be worse by default no matter what they improve.

Despite my doubts of Tactical Adventures being able to produce a truly great campaign, I'll 100% buy Solasta II if it comes with a campaign editor. Again, the foundation they laid down is great. When some passionate and skilled hands start working with that foundation, things begin to shine. Perfect examples of this right here.

Very much so hope my doubts are unfounded and we end up with an excellent main campaign in Solasta II though

 

[mediocrepoet]

I think it has been pointed out. A lot. For years.

Yeah, I know. That's why I was touching on elements that hadn't been discussed to death already. But your insistence that those presentation problems were my only concerns encouraged me to illustrate my bigger problems with the game, which those issues only exacerbated.

Other than that if you think they can't sufficiently challenge a 4 character party, I have no idea how you figure adding 2 characters will help.

Again, if Artyoan can do it, why can't they? The 6 party member versions of his modules are more challenging than the 4. Yes, they can do it. Hire better people if they need to. Hell, hire Artyoan.

Bestiary is fine, but whatever.

It was an ok start, but began to wear thin around the halfway point in the campaign. When a game's major strength is combat, yes, this is a big deal.

UI complaint was always dumb. It's serviceable and readable. What more do you want?

I want an immersive UI that doesn't look like I'm navigating a tablet UI. It's certainly functional, yes. It was a little awkward here and there though. I didn't care for his work in the Endless games, and it's even more out of place here. It's not a huge deal, which is why I put it at the bottom of the list, but it's something that could use improvement.

And there are a variety of games that offer more challenging combat and varying amounts of characters you control. You don't mention the things it does give you though by doing well, such as verticality, actually useful utility spells, implementation of full spell components including specific material components, etc.

When's the last time you had a game that implemented reagents?

 

[Myzzrym]

Looking much better, but I would trade better faces for properly painted 2D portraits. Myzzrym have you guys played Knights of the chalice 2? There's a ton of encounter design ideas you coud apply to S2.

I haven't

 

[covr]

You should. That UI and art direction is going to make you puke, but the combat, AI and encounter design... There is and there was nothing better in terms of turn-based D&D/OGL party combat.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2349486890

 

[mediocrepoet]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2349486890

Interesting stream, thanks for sharing.

 

[Orud]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2349486890

Great stream, Myzzrym, kinda sad you need to apologize for asking money for your product so often though. Lmao.

Anyway, can't wait for the demo!

 

[Blutwurstritter]

I've just finished the Palace of Ice. I hope the sequel brings some interface and quality of life improvements. The menu navigation and process of attunement, detection/identification of magic items, and spell selection, are wasting time and clicks. There are other small things that could use improvements. Like not seeing the details of a item recipe at shops. I mean, I'd like to know what I am going to craft before I buy the recipe. Right now you have to buy it, read it, then check it in the crafting menu, and then possibly reload if it is not what I thought it would be. I don't mind mystery recipes in general, which reveal their properties once crafted, but that should be reserved to salvaged recipes, and not to recipes that I can buy at a shop, which appear to be "standard" items.
The animation for picking up items and opening chests also takes too long, and there appears to be a small lag when you initiate dialogues. These things aren't large detractions but removing them would make the game feel more responsive and polished.

 

[Feyd Rautha]

 

[Artyoan]

Myzzrym on the dungeon maker:

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Myzzrym on the dungeon maker:

It's about equal to asking an 8ball at this stage. Unless they get a good indication of whether it's worth it.

 

[Artyoan]

Fourth update. Very nice pictures of potential faces/hairstyles in there, it seems.

https://www.solasta-game.com/news/189-dev-update-04-a-chat-with-our-art-director

Dev Update #04 - A Chat with our Art Director​

Hello there you fine folks!

I hope our previous article gave you some reassurance regarding our character models! Today we’re going to be having a little interview with Thierry Dunter, our Art Director, in order to better understand exactly what changed - and how - between Crown of the Magister and Solasta II to make such a difference. But as usual, before that….

Say hello to Sakura, our Art Director’s adorable little furball!

Before we start, don't forget to wishlist Solasta II on Steam - it helps us a ton!

Getting to know our Art Director

Hello Thierry, can you give us some information about yourself?

Hello there everyone. I am Thierry Dunter, the Art Director of Tactical Adventures. I’ve been with the studio since the very start, and have worked in quite a range of different games before that - such as XIII, RUSE, the Ghost Recon and Steel Division franchises. In my spare time I enjoy painting, cooking and I’m quite into airsoft!


RUSE and Steel Division? That’s thematically quite a far cry from Solasta, isn’t it?

It is! However, as an Art Director it is a challenge that is very interesting to tackle - I believe growth as an Art Director comes from exploring new horizons and challenging your existing views and techniques. The high fantasy world of Solasta as you currently know it took a lot of experimentation and researches - we’ve shared some early concept art in our Solasta Sourcebook, but there are many more sketches lost on hard drive or even my iPad (got to keep my hands busy during those train rides).

When Thierry doodles fanart while watching Netflix, the results are not quite exactly the same as when most of us do…

And what a world it turned out to be! If you don’t mind me asking, players have noted that while the environment ended up quite striking in Crown of the Magister, our character faces were fairly rudimentary. What happened there?

A hard hitting question, but one that resulted in our character models taking a big step up in quality with Solasta II! Let’s start from the beginning: You have to remember that our team started very small developing Solasta I. I’m talking no more than TWO people doing research on faces during pre-production - as you can imagine, that did not give us a lot of time to experiment.


Pre-production? Could you explain a little more for those who may not know this term?

Of course. Pre-production is the period during which we do research, experiment and establish pipelines. So for example here: How do we make a character face, from drawing it in 2D to having it available in-game. What are all the little steps, and how long do they take to create? This is an important step because it allows our Producer to estimate how much time it would take to make 20, 40, 100 different faces - and more importantly, if we have the time to make that many different faces during Production (which follow pre-production)!


So if I understand correctly, you’re saying that we had to settle on a pipeline during pre-production?

Exactly. Once pre-production ends, we can’t go back and keep changing the pipeline - so we had to settle with what we had. As you saw in-game, the result was… not ideal. We had a very limited amount of polygons to play with due to how scenes were handled in Unity, and our limited budget and time meant we had to quickly move onwards to start production.

It is also important for artists to check in-game from time to time. Is that an old character model? Is the lighting off? Etc…

But that’s different with Solasta II, correct?

Absolutely, and there are many reasons for that! First is switching to Unreal Engine, which allowed us to basically multiply by 10 the number of polygons in our character faces. Second is our areas of focus - with Solasta II, making faces better was a goal from the start, so we started working on them earlier to make sure we’re satisfied with what we have before production


Would you say anything changed in our philosophy regarding character models?

Yes, in Solasta II as we’re able to add more details we want characters to be able to tell their story through their appearance. In a way, we’re keeping a realistic artstyle.. But also exaggerating a few traits a little more for visual storytelling. Something similar to characters you would describe on Tabletop - the Paladin stands tall and strong, their appearance noble and unblemished. The grizzled old veteran sports a cleanly shaven beard, a heavily scarred face eyeing you with a stern look.

We’re also leaning back into more classical medieval fantasy codes, with characters that are more visually appealing overall. You know, how characters in med-fan shows always have white teeth or look fairly fine after trekking in the woods for two weeks. That doesn’t mean everyone will look perfect, far from it - but that should reduce the amount of uncanny valley some Solasta I faces gave off.


Can you give us some juicy bits of info about the upcoming Character Creator?

Well we’re still very much working on it, but we do want to push customization a lot more than in Crown of the Magister. No promises, but we’re currently playing with sliders quite a bit and I’m sure you will be able to be much more creative this time when building up your party of adventurers!

Thank you Thierry! I’m very excited to see what happens next with the Character Models!

Thank you! Look forward to our Character Creator once it’s implemented!

 

[mediocrepoet]

Fourth update. Very nice pictures of potential faces/hairstyles in there, it seems.

https://www.solasta-game.com/news/189-dev-update-04-a-chat-with-our-art-director

Stfu, Fedora Master: The Community Update.

 

[Fedora Master]

I might even buy the game if they don't end up shitting themselves along the way.

 

[Mortmal]

Fourth update. Very nice pictures of potential faces/hairstyles in there, it seems.

https://www.solasta-game.com/news/189-dev-update-04-a-chat-with-our-art-director

Dev Update #04 - A Chat with our Art Director​

Hello there you fine folks!

I hope our previous article gave you some reassurance regarding our character models! Today we’re going to be having a little interview with Thierry Dunter, our Art Director, in order to better understand exactly what changed - and how - between Crown of the Magister and Solasta II to make such a difference. But as usual, before that….

Say hello to Sakura, our Art Director’s adorable little furball!

Before we start, don't forget to wishlist Solasta II on Steam - it helps us a ton!

Getting to know our Art Director

Hello Thierry, can you give us some information about yourself?

Hello there everyone. I am Thierry Dunter, the Art Director of Tactical Adventures. I’ve been with the studio since the very start, and have worked in quite a range of different games before that - such as XIII, RUSE, the Ghost Recon and Steel Division franchises. In my spare time I enjoy painting, cooking and I’m quite into airsoft!


RUSE and Steel Division? That’s thematically quite a far cry from Solasta, isn’t it?

It is! However, as an Art Director it is a challenge that is very interesting to tackle - I believe growth as an Art Director comes from exploring new horizons and challenging your existing views and techniques. The high fantasy world of Solasta as you currently know it took a lot of experimentation and researches - we’ve shared some early concept art in our Solasta Sourcebook, but there are many more sketches lost on hard drive or even my iPad (got to keep my hands busy during those train rides).

When Thierry doodles fanart while watching Netflix, the results are not quite exactly the same as when most of us do…

And what a world it turned out to be! If you don’t mind me asking, players have noted that while the environment ended up quite striking in Crown of the Magister, our character faces were fairly rudimentary. What happened there?

A hard hitting question, but one that resulted in our character models taking a big step up in quality with Solasta II! Let’s start from the beginning: You have to remember that our team started very small developing Solasta I. I’m talking no more than TWO people doing research on faces during pre-production - as you can imagine, that did not give us a lot of time to experiment.


Pre-production? Could you explain a little more for those who may not know this term?

Of course. Pre-production is the period during which we do research, experiment and establish pipelines. So for example here: How do we make a character face, from drawing it in 2D to having it available in-game. What are all the little steps, and how long do they take to create? This is an important step because it allows our Producer to estimate how much time it would take to make 20, 40, 100 different faces - and more importantly, if we have the time to make that many different faces during Production (which follow pre-production)!


So if I understand correctly, you’re saying that we had to settle on a pipeline during pre-production?

Exactly. Once pre-production ends, we can’t go back and keep changing the pipeline - so we had to settle with what we had. As you saw in-game, the result was… not ideal. We had a very limited amount of polygons to play with due to how scenes were handled in Unity, and our limited budget and time meant we had to quickly move onwards to start production.

It is also important for artists to check in-game from time to time. Is that an old character model? Is the lighting off? Etc…

But that’s different with Solasta II, correct?

Absolutely, and there are many reasons for that! First is switching to Unreal Engine, which allowed us to basically multiply by 10 the number of polygons in our character faces. Second is our areas of focus - with Solasta II, making faces better was a goal from the start, so we started working on them earlier to make sure we’re satisfied with what we have before production


Would you say anything changed in our philosophy regarding character models?

Yes, in Solasta II as we’re able to add more details we want characters to be able to tell their story through their appearance. In a way, we’re keeping a realistic artstyle.. But also exaggerating a few traits a little more for visual storytelling. Something similar to characters you would describe on Tabletop - the Paladin stands tall and strong, their appearance noble and unblemished. The grizzled old veteran sports a cleanly shaven beard, a heavily scarred face eyeing you with a stern look.

We’re also leaning back into more classical medieval fantasy codes, with characters that are more visually appealing overall. You know, how characters in med-fan shows always have white teeth or look fairly fine after trekking in the woods for two weeks. That doesn’t mean everyone will look perfect, far from it - but that should reduce the amount of uncanny valley some Solasta I faces gave off.


Can you give us some juicy bits of info about the upcoming Character Creator?

Well we’re still very much working on it, but we do want to push customization a lot more than in Crown of the Magister. No promises, but we’re currently playing with sliders quite a bit and I’m sure you will be able to be much more creative this time when building up your party of adventurers!

Thank you Thierry! I’m very excited to see what happens next with the Character Models!

Thank you! Look forward to our Character Creator once it’s implemented!

It's all very good-looking, and it makes sense to prioritize updates about this rather than gameplay mechanisms, but I hope the improvements in Solasta 2 won't be strictly focused on cosmetics.

 

[Lacrymas]

Too bad Solasta 2 is still stuck with D&D 5E.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Too bad Solasta 2 is still stuck with D&D 5E.

3E Solasta would be pretty cool. Totally different beast though, re: complexity.

 

[Lacrymas]

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but yeah, 3 or 3.5E would've been better. 5E doesn't seem to work well in a computer game, especially if you are aiming for challenging combat.

 

[Mortmal]

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but yeah, 3 or 3.5E would've been better. 5E doesn't seem to work well in a computer game, especially if you are aiming for challenging combat.

I’m pretty sure you’ve never used it. 5E works perfectly well, and you can make it as challenging as you want. 3.5, with all its supplements, is liked because of the outrageous builds you can create to steamroll everything. But steamrolling everything isn’t much fun either.
The choice of ruleset is obvious—it’s the most popular one. If you’re looking to find a group online, all you’ll likely find is 5E. It’s only when you have a permanent group that you can explore other alternatives nowadays. Good luck to most people trying to get invited into those!

 

[Lacrymas]

I didn't think I'd ever say this, but yeah, 3 or 3.5E would've been better. 5E doesn't seem to work well in a computer game, especially if you are aiming for challenging combat.

I’m pretty sure you’ve never used it. 5E works perfectly well, and you can make it as challenging as you want.

It can be, but it's not made for it and it's not satisfying.

 

[Lagole Gon]

Too bad Solasta 2 is still stuck with D&D 5E.

D&D 5E is perfectly alright-ish.
But I would homebrew the shit out of some rules.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Too bad Solasta 2 is still stuck with D&D 5E.

D&D 5E is perfectly alright-ish.
But I would homebrew the shit out of some rules.

I think the main thing that bugs me is that it's nearly impossible to die unless enemies start attacking downed characters or shove you into bottomless pits. You can enable both of those in Solasta's difficulty options, but imo the base ruleset for 5E is insanely lenient when it comes to death, especially considering the game's roots.

Well that and the concentration rules discussed earlier.

 

[Lacrymas]

The biggest problems with 5E are extreme RNG swings and the limited tactical options characters have (concentration exacerbates this problem even more), especially lower level characters. If you start peppering the game with challenging encounters, you'll soon find out that only a few classes/builds are actually viable in the sense you don't depend on RNG too much with them and that even then you'll still default to a few reliable tactics (mostly spamming AoEs). Healing is weak, utility spells are weak, if you aren't actively damaging the opponent on your turn you are losing, so actions like shove are not on the table. The other side of the coin is subclasses which are so freakishly overpowered that you'll have to start designing encounters around them and the others would feel even weaker.

I think the main thing that bugs me is that it's nearly impossible to die unless enemies start attacking downed characters or shove you into bottomless pits.

This is only the case with a lenient DM. If there is no DM (like in a computer game), it's very, very easy for the enemies to focus fire a single character and down him, even kill him, in a turn without you being able to do anything.

 

[mediocrepoet]

I think the main thing that bugs me is that it's nearly impossible to die unless enemies start attacking downed characters or shove you into bottomless pits.

This is only the case with a lenient DM. If there is no DM (like in a computer game), it's very, very easy for the enemies to focus fire a single character and down him, even kill him, in a turn without you being able to do anything.

Or, if you play Solasta without enabling the options for killer AI, you're basically immortal. Given that this is a Solasta thread...

 

[Lacrymas]

Or, if you play Solasta without enabling the options for killer AI, you're basically immortal. Given that this is a Solasta thread...

Solasta suffers from you not being able to bring the corpses of your killed allies for resurrection, unlike in the IE games f.e. There was still the problem of enemies killing the PC, though, which also ended the game.