Great D&D Simulator/Engine, but the story telling, dialogue, and things that will create excitement need a lot of work

[Michi]

Character creation (mechanics wise), and the combat is great. Really nice.

I assume the character customization will improve - more heads, hairs, beards, voices, will expand ... ?

The cut scenes, dialogue, story telling are what is clearly really lacking.

The opening trailer that sets the stage for the world is a not exciting.

Just watching that first bar scene / conversation that provides a frame for the mechanics tutorial almost sent me screaming into the night, and the whole conversation around the swearing in ceremony, was boring.

Beyond that, the facial and body animations are very amateur. I think you would be better off with static pictures and text unless there are plans to make an order of magnitude improvement.

[GeneralGonzo]

Nah, it don´t need! You know why? Because it´s a small team which even needed KS to realize this gem of a RPG !
They put all their effort in the DnD system and the best combat system I saw a long time !
So no resources for the rest like a AAA title would have.
So I´m very satisfied with the story, dialogues and similar things, since it´s made with love....

This game is really a gem!

[Silverquick]

Honestly this has been a top notch D&D game.

The people who talked about it were right, this thing is good enough to not only to be as good as Baldur's Gate 3... but beat it out.

The only thing holding it back is the work on the models. The Monsters are ok, but the character models need some work, and they need to work on the Armor a little. When I compared this Scale Mail to BG3s it was really bad.

Literally its the ONLY thing holding the game back is the character models. Even the voice overs aren't that bad though could use more variety. Could use a little bit better timing and the lines sometimes step on each other, but the cutscenes themselves really aren't any more cringworthy that BG3 at times.


This thing doesn't have the level of exploration of BG3... but its really close, and the combat is so much better and more balanced in Solasta. (Yeah theres still some cheeze in places, but not the amount I saw there).

Storywise I have to say Solasta comes out slightly ahead.

Seriously... Solasta is the real deal, the only thing holding it back from the Big Time... are those things.


Obviously the graffics need to be improved on metal objects as they currently don't look like Metal... but that can be fixed... models can be fixed (bodies are a little disproportionate, ostritch legs with football player shoulders).

But the actual gameplay and story... is just as good, if not better than BG3.

[Seldak]

It's the railroading that really irks me. Leaving only one choice in the wolf tutorial for example is just frustrating.
Also, there seems to be no other way than let someone in the party pick up the crown, even though you know it's probably a powerful artifact you know absolutely nothing about.
As a choice for stupid characters I would be fine with it but there is no other way to approach this.
You cannot check for magic and identify first. You cannot even cast identify on it after one of your characters puts it on it's head, though you can confirm that it is in fact a magical item.

Giving the player no option on how to approach situations outside of combat, which I think is great, really limits the potential of the game.

[Sambombe]

People need to understand that game development are costly, hard and full of uncertainities. Buts is already evident here that we have comitted people, just with low resources. I sense the same vibe that happened with Witcher. If you see the 1st game, it has subpar graphics but faithful to the spirit of the caracter. Here i sense the same, subpar graphics but with the spirit of tabletop and classic dnd. Maybe, if its sucessfull and sell well, they could increase their scope and capacity?

[GeneralGonzo]

I would even go further and say: it´s a gem for CRPG fans, which love turn-based combat based on a board game rule set !
I really have never seen combat so good, intuitive and near to the ruleset since the good old gold box series !

Just love it !

[gurugeorge]

It's a wee bit stiff, true, but the more you get into the game, you kind of get used to it, and actually the way your characters' personalities (as you've set them) interact with each other and with NPCs starts to get quite enjoyable.

As others are saying, with a small team you have to expect some compromises, and beautification is usually one of the lesser priorities. The biggest priority for the devs now is to "fill out" the game. It's got all the right basis and systems, they just need to add more detail - side-quests, story, etc. And hopefully that's just what they're going to do.

[brassi77]

Can you give examples of what scenes from games you thought were exciting? And why? Was it wild and zany characters? Finding out the MC was super special and the only one who can save the world from impending doom?

I don't like those things. I really like Solasta though.

[katzenkrimis]

Originally posted by Silverquick:

The people who talked about it were right, this thing is good enough to not only to be as good as Baldur's Gate 3... but beat it out.

Yeah, it's pretty good.

I'd much rather purchase this when it's finished than Divinity Original Sin III. I'm sick of Larian's copy-paste games. Same formula every time.

Taking into consideration that only about 10-50 people work on this game it's easy to play it and forgive anything that you might deem inferior to other games like it, because anything that they do well, they do really well.

[BW022]

This is a gem and shows what BG3 could have been if they stuck to the 5e rules and didn't go over-the-top with their environmental effects and left-overs from the DOS engines. BG3 for some reason has a ton of scaling issues. For me, Solasta felt more like a D&D game, was more balanced, and the rules are playing out much easier.

The character creator, UI, selecting/moving of characters, separation of actions (actions vs. bonus), camera, squares showing in combat, reactions, rest cycles, choice of encounters, etc. all make it feel much more like a D&D game and (IMO) a better experience.

The dialog, or all its flaws, is quick, smooth, and sounds like a conversation. It's childish in some aspects, but it does give a kind of nostalgic feel. I wouldn't spend a huge amount of time on it, but one thing which could be added is a DM narration. Add a few options for knowledge, perception, and other checks and then give a DM voice/text which gives some history, background, something the character notices, etc. This is a good way to introduce the setting, characters, etc. and add depth -- even if they don't go anywhere.

The story is pretty light. That's ok. It gets the story moving. The opening story telling was a brilliant way to do a tutorial without hitting people over the head. Fun, simplified, etc. I think it would be difficult to linear adventure (given a budget), but I would look at:
1. A few side quests in town and on people. Maybe even sending people out of town on a quick overnighter. Maybe a few side quests during the adventure where you stay and fight... but have to flee anyway.
2. Do have a couple of forks in the adventure where you have a choice between paths so you aren't going everything.
3. Add a few options which might have effects on the later game. For example, maybe you can poison the well at the fort or something and this effects something in the next act.

[Fjøspølse van der Fenalaks]

Uncanny character models, weird dialogue, few choices in character creation when it comes to appearance, a few bugs, empty city streets, railroading. That's really the only things that drag this game down for me. But not enough to not be really happy with the gameplay which is very impressive in the way the game has managed to translate tabletop D&D.

I've been a Baldur's Gate nerd since the original was released in 1998. I have more fun with Solasta than BG3.

[gunser]

Barrel Gate 3 can't compare to this game's mechanics. My only complaint is the lack of multiclassing. I hope they can manage to do it someday.

[markelphoenix]

I would love for another campaign to be more open ended. One thing I loved about BG1 and BG2 was the sense of exploration and open-ness. It was really easy to go off the beaten path, use the world map to just explore. Zone into the next wilderness area, explore map, find a new exit that opened up a new wilderness area...was wonderful!

[Tyler Durden]

These guys aren't an AAA studio. We have to be at least somewhat understanding that they can't do everything.

[Ceilingcat]

Originally posted by Seldak:

It's the railroading that really irks me. Leaving only one choice in the wolf tutorial for example is just frustrating.
Also, there seems to be no other way than let someone in the party pick up the crown, even though you know it's probably a powerful artifact you know absolutely nothing about.
As a choice for stupid characters I would be fine with it but there is no other way to approach this.
You cannot check for magic and identify first. You cannot even cast identify on it after one of your characters puts it on it's head, though you can confirm that it is in fact a magical item.

Giving the player no option on how to approach situations outside of combat, which I think is great, really limits the potential of the game.

A metagamer would probably be suspicious of a crown. You don't know anything about this world's setting and if cursed objects are common or not. Calling the party stupid is metagaming.