alice_ashpool
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Solasta Ironman Reflection
The final stuff was pretty tricky - but obviously possible blind, I thought the final dungeon was clearly unfinished and the final fight was fine - a multi-part and tension filled battle, but some clear bugs with the dragons who liked to sit on top of each other. A decent multi-part fight but but everything leading up to it was a strangely empty series of platforming. The the last 3rd of the game prior to the final dungeon was clearly unfinished - bits actually felt like an early access demo - bordering on alpha tier for bits. Just completely devoid - slapped together. Conversely the plot urgency and pacing really picked up and felt better structured in the final hour or so of the game.
I often see people write "no trash mobs in turn based" - In Solasta there were many uninteresting fights and with the slowness of turn based and the high enemy health pools th further you get into the game everything becomes either a multi turn snooze fest hammering away at health bars, or an unleash hell conflagration as you blast away with everything you got because there is a rest point you can go back to. For most fights not involving Legendary Bosses I would Alt-tab away from the game while the enemies were doing their turns because you knew they wouldn't do anything interesting: Only so many times you can watch a swinging animation.
Things like "the Arena" (4 increasingly difficult fights in a row) and the final dungeon were the most interesting because they were built around not being able to rest.
As far as tactics go, Spirit guardians is overpowered because it stacks when it shouldn't. 4 clerics turtling under up-cast Spirit Guardians could probably wipe the game on Cataclysm no problem. As expected Life Clerics are weak - but by dint of being clerics they are strong - having two clerics allowed me to react to my mistakes effectively. Other mentions to Mind Twist which is super powerful and Summon Elemental which summons a huge pool of HP for enemies to hammer away at. Perhaps it was the difficulty I was on but enemies seemed to strangely prioritise summons. Paladins are ridiculously strong able to dish out serious damage and the Greenmage was fine - its a wizard it does everything.
Overall one of the few games I have seen that you can probably pull off a full "blind ironman" - although you have to know the rules first and not make a party of warriors or similar.
Overall "review": game is fine but needs a lot of work in the second half to finish the incomplete dungeons, and to clean up the crafting system, inventory system and general management stuff which is like cooking in someone else's kitchen. I wouldn't put it on a pedestal because it "does 5e right". But not to put the game down -its a fun challenge which begins to grate as you go further in. I look forward to paying their Lost Valley DLC when it goes on sale.
The final stuff was pretty tricky - but obviously possible blind, I thought the final dungeon was clearly unfinished and the final fight was fine - a multi-part and tension filled battle, but some clear bugs with the dragons who liked to sit on top of each other. A decent multi-part fight but but everything leading up to it was a strangely empty series of platforming. The the last 3rd of the game prior to the final dungeon was clearly unfinished - bits actually felt like an early access demo - bordering on alpha tier for bits. Just completely devoid - slapped together. Conversely the plot urgency and pacing really picked up and felt better structured in the final hour or so of the game.
I often see people write "no trash mobs in turn based" - In Solasta there were many uninteresting fights and with the slowness of turn based and the high enemy health pools th further you get into the game everything becomes either a multi turn snooze fest hammering away at health bars, or an unleash hell conflagration as you blast away with everything you got because there is a rest point you can go back to. For most fights not involving Legendary Bosses I would Alt-tab away from the game while the enemies were doing their turns because you knew they wouldn't do anything interesting: Only so many times you can watch a swinging animation.
Things like "the Arena" (4 increasingly difficult fights in a row) and the final dungeon were the most interesting because they were built around not being able to rest.
As far as tactics go, Spirit guardians is overpowered because it stacks when it shouldn't. 4 clerics turtling under up-cast Spirit Guardians could probably wipe the game on Cataclysm no problem. As expected Life Clerics are weak - but by dint of being clerics they are strong - having two clerics allowed me to react to my mistakes effectively. Other mentions to Mind Twist which is super powerful and Summon Elemental which summons a huge pool of HP for enemies to hammer away at. Perhaps it was the difficulty I was on but enemies seemed to strangely prioritise summons. Paladins are ridiculously strong able to dish out serious damage and the Greenmage was fine - its a wizard it does everything.
Overall one of the few games I have seen that you can probably pull off a full "blind ironman" - although you have to know the rules first and not make a party of warriors or similar.
Overall "review": game is fine but needs a lot of work in the second half to finish the incomplete dungeons, and to clean up the crafting system, inventory system and general management stuff which is like cooking in someone else's kitchen. I wouldn't put it on a pedestal because it "does 5e right". But not to put the game down -its a fun challenge which begins to grate as you go further in. I look forward to paying their Lost Valley DLC when it goes on sale.
