Solasta: Crown of the Magister is an excellent game for anyone who loves turn-based RPGs or D&D in general. Since there are so many options for difficulty and game rules, pretty much anyone can play it regardless if you want something easy to experience the story, something extremely challenging, or something in between. Additionally, although I did run into some issues early on, all of them got better as I moved further into the story, which is the reverse of most games that typically start super polished and get rougher as you move closer to the end. This isn't a game to sleep on.
This is a very good game. If you like the 5e of D&D, it will be true to the genre. Admittedly, the graphics are very rudimentary and basic, but the gameplay is superb. I would give the story a B+, as the early and middle aspects of the story are good, but the ending is weak. However, my overall rating is very positive because this small Indie developer put a lot of love and effort into making this a true D&D game with good mechanics. They have also supported it after launch and done a good job therein. Definitely worth it.
On the whole, Solasta is a solid D&D simulator. Though its narrative is nothing to write home about, and the game can be a tad buggy at times, it has actually made me reconsider playing D&D as it showcases the system’s strengths so effectively. Hopefully Tactical Adventures will add more campaigns to Solasta over time, allowing players to use the same characters in various scenarios, mix them together to create party combos, and just generally become invested in them.
Solasta: Crown of the Magister takes the mantle of the “most” Dungeons & Dragons video game out there, if not quite the best. Though the game has a modular adventure setup that strongly suggests there will be more stories, this one falls too flat for its 40- to 50-hour length. However, the combat system is merely a few tweaks short of perfection, so I’d still be interested in sending my heroes on another adventure in the realm of Solasta.
With its extremely faithful rendition of the Dungeons & Dragons 5e ruleset, Solasta: Crown of the Magister is a dream come true for all those D&D fans who also happen to love video games. However, strict adherence to this ruleset is also the game's main flaw, as it results in an overwhelming experience for all those who do not live and breathe Dungeons & Dragons. Those who power through the initial difficulties, though, will find a solid cRPG featuring great tactical combat and amazing depth.
Overall though, in spite of the snags I hit, Tactical Adventures mostly did a really good job with the story and the combat in Solasta. It succeeds in pumping some life into a genre that hasn’t been catching my attention for a while. Some of my points might come across as a bit harsh, but I want to stress that it was still a very good experience most of the time. It might need a little love that it’s almost certain to get post-release, but I can still recommend this game for fans of D&D style RPGs.
SOLASTA: Crown of the Magister has its faults, but still manages to be an enjoyable RPG experience. if you just want a D&D-eqsue dungeon crawler to play through, there are certainly worse options to choose from.
It's a good game, though for a fan of the cRPG genre as such.
But don't listen to all those "I've played more cRPGs than all of you and this cRPG is bad". As if it gives some kind of special advantage.
Many imperfections are only a matter of time before they are fixed, so there's no point in whining about it. This game is still being updated.
The game is more than playable, gameplay-wise it's well done and the mechanics from DnD are nicely felt.
Graphically it's not the best, though it's not bad, but that's not what you should care about in a cRPG.
The story is pretty subjective here, some might like it and some might not.
It is worth noting the dungeon editor, it is a promising feature, although so far it is only in the early stages of development.
This game has great development potential.
It's a game with a lot of potential, despite being made by a small independent and low-budget game company. It definitely earned my respect more than BG3. Of course there are negative things about the game, but you feel that they did the best they could. You should definitely give the game a chance. I expect better things from this game company in the future. I hope they don't break their own line and do nonsense like Larian.
If you are a fan of the combat system in DnD 5e, this game is a must have. However, if you're not, or have no idea what the system is, it's a must-play first.
Solasta is a roleplaying game based on the Dnd 5e system. Unfortunately, the game doesn't offer any choices in terms of plot, despite being an RPG, there are no side quest activities (you walk up to the board, activate the quest, go to a location where you knock out enemies and loot an item and return to the board), and as for the main story line, you are limited to reading dialogues. The dialogues are not captivating either, and the sentences spoken by team members often don't fit together.
An example? The team encounters a secret passage.
Character 1: "It's a secret passage, they escaped that way!"
Character 2: "The passage must be from the time of the First Empire, interesting."
Character 3: "This is not the time for history lessons, follow them because they will escape us!"
Character 4: "They went this way, through a secret passage!"
Generic comments, nothing more.
The reputation system is done by force and is unnecessary, there is a lack of ways to use gold, better weapons can only be obtained through crafting.
The most disturbing and boring system is the one related to travel in the game world. To get to another location, you need to gather the right supplies, then wait for the animation showing the token's journey across the map, sometimes possibly dealing with enemies you encounter. While the first passage **** route is exciting, because you don't know if you won't encounter traps, obstacles or enemies, subsequent passages become boring. As we increase the levels of our characters, the enemies we encounter will become more and more afraid of us, trying to avoid a fight. So why waste time once again on a journey that takes long minutes of real time, instead of moving us to the chosen location right away? There are teleports, but using them often requires going through several loading screens, and they themselves are deployed quite sparsely.
The best thing about this game is the combat sytem. It allows us to do a lot, each skirmish can be played differently. There is a mass of spells, skills, magic items, effects, statuses and environmental conditions. And all this we can use as we wish. The opponent casts a flying spell, soars high in the air and attacks us with spells, while we have trouble reaching him, because our team largely consists of melee characters? Well, how about treating him with the spell "Dispel Magic", so that the opponent will fall down and blow himself silly? Or how about a mage casting a flying spell on a fighter and the fighter gets him in his turn? Or will I just use the bow? Or will I cast a fire projectile, hoping that the opponent will no longer be able to sustain the flying spell? Or maybe I'll just teleport him to the vicinity of the monk, and the monk will render him unconscious? As you can see, the possibilities are many.
Unfortunately, however, we also don't have as many options as when playing a normal DnD session. Sometimes, too, the rules we know from a paper RPG don't apply in the game world (why the hell does torchlight affect vampires the way sunlight does?).
The rest system is also strange, long rests can only be taken in designated areas, this is especially noticeable during the final mission. Additionally, in the finale, the game ended prematurely for me because the AI decided to focus on the priest, and after he died the game said it was over because I had no way to revive him.
Despite the fact that I focus on the downside in the review, I still recommend trying this title. The game is very rewarding, and the main classes and their development paths will keep you entertained as you go through the game again.
A disappointing game that is nothing more than a combat simulator with mind numbingly and unthinking implementation of 5e rule to a computer game.
Other than the combat aspect (which is marred by bugs and some issues), the adventuring gameplay aspect, the writing and plot, character development (or lack thereof), the lousy travel mechanics that do not allow you to change your destination once set, the buggy travel mechanics that results in you getting exhausted and thus surprised every time you make camp if you do not set off at the "correct hours", ... all these are extremely lacking.
Not the mention the very linear game play, the limited locale to visit that does not even open up until the plot progress (not even when you see the background image in game and get close to it .. NONE of them) ... the lack of exploration and adventure plus the mindless implementation of 5e rules that does not make sense in a computer game shows the lack of understanding **** rpg game by the developer.
So .. no .. this is a don't buy - unless you are looking for nothing more than a competent DnD combat simulator.
A well meaning game that mostly fails. It is not second incarnation of BG2, it is not better then NWN or NWN2. People who keep saying that are either paid by the devs or devs themselves. I can understand such a behavior but I will not condone it hence this post.
Camera is terrible. It so bad that is detrimental to game play. It's reminiscent of the original Neverwinter nights but somehow feels worse. There are bugs here and there, but mostly minor ones, nothing game breaking but the game has terrible loading times even on SSDs and game feels lagy and sluggish. Animations are nice but slow so you'll find yourself alt-tabing during painfully slow combats constantly (I am writing this while fighting some fire elementals). It relays heavily on reusing locations, I am surprised no one called them on this. Main quest locations are beeing reused for minor quest. Those fire elementals are at the same place I already went for the crown, I can only hope this is the last time. It reminds me of Dragon age 2, that how bad it is. Other technical details are mostly bad but I can live with bad voice acting, ugly faces and other stuff, it is after all an indie game. That I can live with that is one thing, that people are giving the game 10/10 is something else.
Story is generic and writing and dialogs are nothing to write home about either. Why did they feel the need to insert some dialog "cut scenes" is beyond me. As stated faces in them are ugly and dialogs are average it would be better not to show that in close ups. Only thing they accomplish is spending devs time and money in showcasing deficiencies of the game. It invites comparison with NWN2 and it that comparison it loses badly. Tactical Adventures just isn't Obsidian. The minor quest are mostly fetch quests with added caviat of fetching things from the main quest's visited locations wehere you find a new mob to kill before fetching and going back. Very little efort is put in them, nothing is memorable, just there to pass the time.
Combat is perhaps only thing that redeems the game, it is not Divinity original sin good, but good enough. Or it would be if it was not slow and sluggish as **** It came to a point that I just wished for an auto calculate feature. Especially random encounters on the world map. They firstly take a lot of time to load, then even more to finish boring generic combat with enemies you already saw hundred times before and then again to load back to the world map. I dread times when I have to travel far. RNG feel somewhat skewed in enemies favor but I have that feeling on most of the games so I can't confirm if that is rely the case. The verticality, I am sure devs are proud of works only in a sense that it prolongs combat duration by making enemies hard to reach. Unless you are a mage or ranged that is. Being a rouge in this game just has no point. The same verticality scrues pathfinding in game outside the combat. Unnecessary jumps, climbs, falls, crawls just add to the prevailing feeling of slowness. Thank good for the on map quick travels.
The game prise it self for implementing 5th Edition D&D to the T. Implement it they maybe did (not realy, some classes are absent, darkvision is nerfed...) but what they also did is for example making Sleight of Hand useless. What's more: it is present in the character creation but you can use it anywhere. I just don't see the logic of having something and not using it. Sleight of Hand is not the only thing that get this treatment, but it is the one I miss the most.
So in the end 4/10 mostly for the efort, anything else in this game...
SummaryRoll for initiative, take attacks of opportunity, manage player location and the verticality of the battle field in this Turn-Based Tactical RPG based on the SRD 5.1 Ruleset. In Solasta, you make the choices, dice decide your destiny.