Solasta vs Baldur's Gate 3

[subetai99]

So far, having played both games to 3rd level, near 4th, but still early on. I have to say that Solasta makes me want to play more. I like some things better with both games. Dialogue and character appearances are better in BG3. But game play, ease of play and how combat works, is much better with Solasta imo.

I realize that both are in their early game testing with fixes and advances. But, so far, I would have to give the edge to Solasta.

[Grumpy Old Dude]

I loved BG and BG II. Was tentative when BG 3 was announced, because in my experience, the 3rd iteration of a serial has almost always taken a dump. Master of Orion/ MOO II were great. MOO 3 was a disaster. Diablo and D2 were legendary. D3 blew chunks. And there have been countless others. Still BG 3 hit E.A. at 10:00 that day and by 10:10 I was DL'g it. 12:40 it was installed and I fired it up. About 2:00, I refunded it.

The game itself was fine and I'd probably have kept it and played it still, had they called it what it is; Divinity Original Sin in Forgotten Realms or D:OS 3. Whatever the game IS, what is NOT, is Baldurs Gate, anything.

Solasta, comes so close to giving me the 'feels' of a tabletop session of D&D, it is almost spooky. This one, is gonna be on my hit parade, for a very long time.

[subetai99]

Yeah, it doesn't have the feel of the BG series, at all. So far, I'm finding BG3 to be...tedious. One reviewer said he "loved" BG3, because he plays it in 20 min increments, multiple times throughout the week. To me, that's a problem, because I tend to only play it for 20-40 min increments, also. I find it very easy to turn the game off and frequently wanting to. But a game like BG3 should grab you and consume you! It should make you forget the passage of time, you sit down intending to play for two hours and next thing you know, it's 3am and you have to go to work in the morning! That's what you want in a game! Only...that's not BG3, by a long shot. It's a game that wanted to fully get the D&D experience, only it forgot the fun, somewhere along the line.

[DayChap]

The actual gameplay and combat is so much better in Solasta.

Baldurs Gate 3 does have the better graphics and cutscenes.

[Lodur of the Squids]

Both games fail at displaying Bright vs Dim vs Dark lighting in the visual display. Try roll20 with dynamic light enable to see how light works in 5th ed. (mostly - not perfect there either).

[masterdelvin1]

I'm okay with both. I do love Larian and their view on RPG though taking on such a name as Baldurs Gate I think they found out how pasionate we players are :)...heh Would have to agree with current statements that both games have their ups and downs and of course since both games are EA or Beta light as I call it :) there is plenty of room for change, direction and so on.

I won't take either game at their current state as a "Final" view of what they are trying to produce nor will I expect Solasta to compete with Larian to make the "same kind of game" as Larian is much larger and has a great deal more to spend on their product. That said, I am currently enjoying Solasta and for me, an old OLD gamer of days gone I have no idea what 5th edition is and Solasta has laid it out much nicer than BG3.

I wish the best for both and hope we players will give the feedback both need to produce a game we will enjoy, tell tails of and remember for years to come.

Have fun Gaming!

[NixAhmose]

Personally, while I do find BG3 to have more balancing issues, I find BG3 more fun to play. There's a lot less filler fights and the extra mobility, environmental effects, and shoving makes combat more active and chaotic.

Though keep in mind, my favorite spell in dnd 5e is catapult because of the catapult(oil/gunpowder-horn) + fire spell combo you can do with it, so I have bias towards creative combos.

[Something completely different]

Both are on the right path and I am happy we both games to play.

I disagree with anyone who comes with the BG 3 isn't BG. I spend a lot of time playing 1 and 2 when they were released and since that was 20 years ago I am not sure what some people were expecting of BG 3 20 years later.

Had BG 3 been like 1 and 2 people would have RIPPED BG 3 for the off key animations where attacks are made on the screen while no actual is made dicewise, for the inability to turn the camera so you couldn't even see all of the area because a house was in the way and for not seeing where the spell is going to land when casting aoe spells like fireballs.

But hey, people obviously only remembered the good parts of 1 and 2 and there was plenty of that. But that doesn't chance my opinion that the BG3 isn't BG crowd would have hated BG3 no matter how it turned out, had it been the same as the first 2 they'd have been upset no less.

[Twotricks]

Dont think BG3 will improve in any significant way.
What I think they will be improving ( at least very much hope so ) is interface, fixing some quests, maybe improving some mechanics, and ofcourse adding the rest of the game.

But the things that are annoying right now will not be repaired or changed, because changing them would basically mean remaking the whole game.

Its safe to say that both Solasta and BG3 will stay, generally what they are, and whatever you feel about them after playing now, will hold at release.

[NixAhmose]

Originally posted by Twotricks:

Dont think BG3 will improve in any significant way.
What I think they will be improving ( at least very much hope so ) is interface, fixing some quests, maybe improving some mechanics, and ofcourse adding the rest of the game.

But the things that are annoying right now will not be repaired or changed, because changing them would basically mean remaking the whole game.

Its safe to say that both Solasta and BG3 will stay, generally what they are, and whatever you feel about them after playing now, will hold at release.

I mean, if Larian is willing to completely change the initiative system and tense of the dialogue, I'm sure they'd be willing and able to decrease the amount of bombs goblins have, change the reaction system, and move disengage to being an action without needing to completely change the whole game.

[MoNKeZi]

I've played both Early Accesses twice though now and Solasta definitely has me hooked and wanting to play more. Baldurs Gate feels too cheesy for me but Solasta hits that old school table top vibe that I have been craving since 2003.

[Something completely different]

I hope Larian reworks the reactions somewhat and makes them easier to procure (like Solasta does so well), that's my biggest meh in BG 3 along with the enormous advantage height attacks provide to the point of almost having lost a battle already when you start in a bad position.

[Alien]

This is a pointless discussion.
BG3 is an AAA d&d5 game (and not a DOS spin off, don't trust people who say that because the graphics look similar) with a heavy focus on story telling. It's a blockbuster. Of course it's going to be polished quite a lot, of course it's going to be good. It's simply too big to fail.

Solasta is an indie game made by a very small team. It's closer to what most people do in their first D&D adventures, but it's also much more rigid when it comes to rules (including for rules nobody like because it's annoying to keep track of). It has a lot of clumsyness, like how each dungeon is basically a corridor ; how easy to puzzles are, etc. It's also quite ugly sometimes (just look at a dwarf speaking, it's like a potato with a face). Don't expect Solasta to change much, the team just doesn't have the workforce for that.

I like both games, and I wish we had more D&D games that stay true to the rules and try new stuff like BG3 and Solasta instead of flattering the nostaligia vibe like Pathfinder or PoE.

[subetai99]

Originally posted by Alien:

This is a pointless discussion.
BG3 is an AAA d&d5 game (and not a DOS spin off, don't trust people who say that because the graphics look similar) with a heavy focus on story telling. It's a blockbuster. Of course it's going to be polished quite a lot, of course it's going to be good. It's simply too big to fail.

Solasta is an indie game made by a very small team. It's closer to what most people do in their first D&D adventures, but it's also much more rigid when it comes to rules (including for rules nobody like because it's annoying to keep track of). It has a lot of clumsyness, like how each dungeon is basically a corridor ; how easy to puzzles are, etc. It's also quite ugly sometimes (just look at a dwarf speaking, it's like a potato with a face). Don't expect Solasta to change much, the team just doesn't have the workforce for that.

I like both games, and I wish we had more D&D games that stay true to the rules and try new stuff like BG3 and Solasta instead of flattering the nostaligia vibe like Pathfinder or PoE.

Solasta may be the smaller indie team, but so far...they have the superior product. We should know, from human history, there is no such thing as "too big to fail." Nor would it be the first time that "David slew Goliath." That happens quite frequently in a free market. People decide for themselves which game is better.

[NixAhmose]

Originally posted by subetai99:

Solasta may be the smaller indie team, but so far...they have the superior product. We should know, from human history, there is no such thing as "too big to fail." Nor would it be the first time that "David slew Goliath." That happens quite frequently in a free market. People decide for themselves which game is better.

Solasta only a superior product if all you care about dnd is dungeon crawling combat.
If you care more about story, characters, role-playing, puzzles, and creativity, BG3 has Solasta beat pretty easily.

[Silverquick]

Originally posted by Diedkid:

Solasta only a superior product if all you care about dnd is dungeon crawling combat.
If you care more about story, characters, role-playing, puzzles, and creativity, BG3 has Solasta beat pretty easily.

I found it completely the opposite,

I seriously dislike the BG3 Characters, and found them very shallow and superficial. I did like the overall story about the Mind Flayer parasites,, but to be honest I liked the story just as much in Solasta, the mystery of what happened, why are the Soracks active again, what happened during the Cataclysm, Why weren't there any Humans or Gods in the world prior to that? What dark force is stirring again?

Solasta keeps the mystery in its storyline, while BG3 kinda spills it all out there.

Puzzles and creativity is a push, I see just as much in Solasta as BG3, same with Roleplay. The individual characters, backgrounds, and attitudes change the responses in the conversations. And most of the conversation skills are actually used in Solasta to obtain information.

So I pretty much disagree with that, the only place BG3 actually beats Solasta is in Visuals and Production value. Not in actual gameplay. There Solasta has it beat in spades.

In case you were wondering... I've got about 100 hours in both games in terms of play time.