Solasta; Crown of the Magister - General Discussion and No-reload/Ironman Thread

[alice_ashpool]

True CRPG addict on holiday: I starting playing Solasta. Never finished main campaign. I'm sure this will go well.

Valkyrie Squad Go.

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

True CRPG addict on holiday: I starting playing Solasta. Never finished main campaign. I'm sure this will go well.

Valkyrie Squad Go.

Good luck, enjoy the Valkyrie holiday!

 

[alice_ashpool]

So for this attempt - as I have never completed this game before I am playing with Rolling Ability Stats. I hand-rolled some pretty fiery companions considering it is only "Authentic difficulty". On the other hand I do not know 5e/solasta's system all that well. And i'm going semi-blind into later stuff. Let us see.

Vivian, Hill Dwarf Battle Cleric - Sword and board
Mildred, Half-elf Paladin - Biggest sword you got.
Areelu, High elf Greenmage - It's a wizard
Alice, Sylvan Elf Life Cleric - I have a dream of a heavy armoured bow user. Ridiculous.

Baby's First Battle

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 1.

Valkyrie Squad successfully escaped Caer Lem and reached Level 3! Since we made it this far here's what we're working with so you can see my semi-OP team

"MC" Alice, Sylvan Elf Life Cleric
This is the only "non-standard" choice, since afaik ranger is a more traditional addition. However, I want to play at least one variant character. Does what a Cleric does and fires with a longbow. The "Ranged Healer" who will eventually go on to heavy Armor when I can afford it.

Spoiler

Vivian, Hill Dwarf Battle Cleric
Clerics are so fun I have 2. The death to Alice's life. Morningstar/Mace and shield for bashing things, along with a cleric's spellbook. The "Tank".

Spoiler

Mildred, Half-elf Paladin of Tiramar
So vanilla it hurts. Huge sword to smash. The "Damage".

Spoiler

Areelu, High elf Greenmage
With no ranger I need someone with Goodberry If I don't want to care about rations, hence Greenmage rather than Shock Arcanist. Lower damage more utility. + Identify and Enchantment stuff. The "I am useful am I not?"

Spoiler

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 2.

We have the crown! And Level 4!

Alice took the crown for herself. Heavy is the head and all that.

Onwards to Dark Keep. I don't think I have the crafting system in this game really understood, but it's so bare bones in information that it doesn't feel surprising!

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 3.

Fought the "infamous" 4 Berserkers and 4 Dire Wolves random encounter. Its jokes level difficult. It's one of those things that is really skewed in Solasta - the early level random encounters are far more dangerous than any storyline battle (visions of act 3 WotR ambushes). Fortunately I got the drop on them and Calm Emotions is an OP spell. Almost a wipe regardless (and this is only Authentic difficulty) - over 15 rounds of combat and paladin had to be Res'd using the Crown. But no risk no reward, a fat 650XP for each party member and 3/4 of the way to crucial level 5.

 

[Antimatter]

That's a great idea for a thread. I haven't played Solasta yet, but I have it in my library. I'm sure a thread like this will inspire people like me to actually give this game a go!

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Sounds a bit like meeting the random encounter ring of bandit archers on your way to the Friendly Arm Inn with a level 1 character in Baldur's Gate 1... or Tarnesh without metaknowledge.
Which is maybe why several "good old times" nostalgics seem to like Solasta.

I used to think it's realistic for an RPG to run into encounters you can't or can barely handle at low levels, but nowadays that I prefer playing without metaknowledge and with minimal reload (unless a game is so unfamiliar that the concept of not being able to experiment cripples the experience)

But I don't want to derail your thread with philosophy. Just one question:

If someone asked you what to play, Solasta or Pathfinder:Kingmaker, which one would you recommend?

 

[alice_ashpool]

SJust one question:

If someone asked you what to play, Solasta or Pathfinder:Kingmaker, which one would you recommend?

Depends, do you want:
1. Attempt at faithful recreation of 5e D&D turn based combat with a story that is on rails? approx 20h of gameplay.
2. Much looser interpretation of Mathfinder combat with a lot more reading and an epic decade spanning story. Also an older game. >100h of gameplay.

Also Solasta has multiplayer so if you want to do a 5e campaign via pc with someone else it is the one. My personal choice is Kingmaker, but the disclaimer is that it took me many attempts to "get into". In a fit of frustration when I first tried to play I once described it as the worst cRPG ever made!

 

[Urdnot_Wrex]

Depends, do you want:
1. Attempt at faithful recreation of 5e D&D turn based combat with a story that is on rails? approx 20h of gameplay.
2. Much looser interpretation of Mathfinder combat with a lot more reading and an epic decade spanning story. Also an older game. >100h of gameplay.

Also Solasta has multiplayer so if you want to do a 5e campaign via pc with someone else it is the one. My personal choice is Kingmaker, but the disclaimer is that it took me many attempts to "get into". In a fit of frustration when I first tried to play I once described it as the worst cRPG ever made!

Thanks for the quick summary of differences!

Also, was "Mathfinder" intentional?

 

[alice_ashpool]

Also, was "Mathfinder" intentional?

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 4.

Level 6 is ours! We managed to talk out way out of the hard fights in Dark Keep and the second gem for the crown is now slotted. I'm feeling pleasantly over-confident doing some side-missions and clearing up some chests which required "fly" to reach.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 5.

Here is update 5. Currently in Coparann and we're approaching the furthest I have been in game - still only level 6. Had a difficult fight with some goblins of all things, apart from that all has been OK. Ambushes have settled down somewhat - less risky at this level with so many spell options. Finally able to craft some decent stuff that is not just Poisons and Poison Arrows: A big +1 Radiant Greatsword (Lightbringer)

Useful Cleric spells
Bless - concentration but extra to hit goes a long way in the early game
Shield of Faith - +2AC is great on the paladin and melee cleric if they need it.
Aid - No concentration, upcast for even more bonus HP
Hold Person - Upcast for 2 people held. Great for paralysing enemies to make things easier
Calm Emotions - needs concentration but an underrated large AoE "nuke". Makes enemies do nothing unless attacked. Saved my bacon twice and generally very useful.
Daylight - Big ball of light very useful against many enemies who shun light.
Spirit Guardians - OP

Useful Wizard Spells
Utility Spells: Shield, Jump, Fly, Misty Step, Knock, Pass Without Trace all have their place
Shatter- Budget fireball
Conjure Animals - they have lots of HP and you get a choice if 1, 2 or 4 - each summons a different type. Very very useful.
All the regular stuff.

Putting Daylight, Spirit Guardians, Spiritual Weapon, Hold Person and Summon Animals to good use in the usually optimal "Turtle strategy":

Spoiler

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 6.

We are Level 8. We have 3 Gems. I am well beyond the furthest I have played so it's a true "Blind Ironman" now. Exciting. The hardest blind fight so far was a side quest fight against a double vampire duo: Razan and apprentice. Magical Darkness is a real pain to deal with. But we prevailed.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 7.

We are level 9. We have lots of spells. We have now 4 gems having gained the Evocation Gem for Arok. Had another near miss, apparently I was "supposed" to stealth before going through an area-warp door which led to the dungeon boss. I did not, rolled bad for initiative and got fire-spelled to hell blundering into a room with a Legendary fire shaman boss, 2 fire elementals and 2 fire ospreys. Half health gone, almost lost my two squishy "game over if they die" npcs. Anyway, Alice the life cleric proved her worth and we muddled through with some Healing Bombs, Mind Twist, Spirit Guardians and then Hold Person on Arok.

I am starting to tire of the Solasta formula, a series of dull gauntlets and repeating the same 5e routine every time. Turn based makes it all that much more painful, multiple times I have found myself looking for the "switch to RTWP" button when victory is assured but it would otherwise be about 10 actions to actually get there. If I fail this I won't be leaping to start a new Solasta Ironman.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 8.

We got level 10 through a few random encounters then cleared the "Temple of the Lost God". Nothing difficult. Usually Number of actions > Big Enemy - we just paralysed the boss and smacked it a few times with up cast Inflict Wounds for 50 odd damage per hit. I've got a good feeling seeping in.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Tell me you ran out of time/money in your development phase and skimped on the end game without telling me you ran out of time/money in your development phase and skimped on the end game:

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 9. Penultimate Update?!

So we made it to level 12. Max level, which is apparently 2 levels higher than the game shipped with. Developers bow to the "more levels nao" crowd. That does make the Ironman easier - more HP buffer and level 6 spells (from level 11). That's cool. We killed a Green Dragon for the Gem of Conjuration which was a genuinely tough fight because it had some nice AoE wing buffet and Acid Breath attacks which did high damage. Nothing A Paladin couldn't Smite down with Lightbringer though. Some enemies with Radiant resistance/immunity would be baller (perhaps I speak too soon!). That dungeon felt actually dangerous (good) - and long (neutral) but still had too many rest points (meh). An "expert mode" where many of the rest points are stripped out would be cool.

 

[alice_ashpool]

Ironman Attempt 1. Update 10. Victory.

Spoiler

 

[Antimatter]

That was rather quick (6 days)! Congrats! Only 0.1% of players have that achievement, that's very cool!