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New items, weapons, and armor once identified can be equipped and make a real difference in the encounters.
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It may sound odd in our loot shooter timelines but for D&D it is perfect. Items are introduced exactly as a Dungeon Master would in a campaign…slowly and in finite quantities. IT is always satisfying to get new gear, especially magical items, and Solasta handles this really well. Frankly, all the systems are well represented especially treasure. Other systems like crafting, short/long rests, and using ritual for detecting and identifying magic items is also handled great. I have to say using my mage to cast sleep on a pile of goblins, sniping the ones unaffected with my rogue and plowing into their ranks with my fighter is a great experience. Actions and bonus actions are handled in an elegant fashion as are the various power like skills.Įnemies react intelligently to the varied situations and leverage high ground, use spells and range attacks making battles challenging. Spells and Cantrips are represented excellently. Mages and archers on high ground and warriors close to enemies is always helpful.Ĭombat is exactly what I hoped from a faithful D&D 5.1 experience.
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Prior to starting combat if the characters are sneaking positioning themselves in key spots is very useful. In exploration everything is real time, but once an encounter is started it shifts to a turn based structure. I even gained experience points for that avenue which is something Baldur’s Gate 3 does not do currently. I managed to avoid a number of battles by talking my way out of the conflict. It is all very satisfying.Įven meeting enemies and other NPCs leverages dice rolls with Insight and various skill checks modifying conversations. Locks can be picked, obstacles moved and if athletics are high enough gaps can be jumped. In Caution mode (think sneak) traps and tracks become visible. In exploration characters are hindered by darkvision and light sources are needed to navigate. Once the game starts and the party is exploring or in battle, the rules pervade everything. The story is serviceable, but the true star of this game is the incredibly implemented D&D 5.1 ruleset. Of course, the story spirals into a larger conspiracy, centering around the titular Crown of the Magister, and follows pretty similar tropes. The game proper starts with a mission from a city official, which any D&D pen and paper player has encountered. This was an incredibly smart way to start the game and brought a true smile to my face. One character had to escape a prison, another hunt down wolves. This short playable sequences were a great introduction and fun to boot. In a neat take on a tutorial each of them describe how they struggled to reach the reunion. Party in place I started the game and was pleasantly surprised to see it begin in a tavern where the 4 characters are reunited. Not such a big deal if the game was entirely isometric, but the camera zooms in during dialogue and cutscenes and the limited cosmetic options come across in not the best light.ĭespite this small and frankly not overly critical issue aside, I was so happy with my party of adventurers. Very few face, hair, and voice options are there right now and are actually at the level of the old Black Isle games like Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate.
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I was beyond happy to choose a Snow Dwarf Fighter with a focus on the Battle Master subclass but she just looked awful. While the actual options to select your perfect characters are all there in exquisite detail, the actual cosmetic options are quite lacking at this point. Staring from the most important part of any RPG, the Character Creator, I was thrilled with the options and depth available. Now that Solasta: Crown of the Magister has been released on Early Access via Steam, I had that chance and I was incredibly impressed. I was immediately interested in the faithful recreation of the D&D 5.1 ruleset but wanted to see more of the total game. It launched the campaign with a well received demo and surpassed its target by almost double achieving many stretch goals.įast forward to PAX Online this year and Solasta is well into it’s development with an updated demo I checked out as part of that coverage. Set in an original High Fantasy world, Solasta started it’s life as a Kickstarter project back in September 2019. Solasta is nowhere near as flashy as BG3, but it is an incredible simulation of the Dungeons & Dragons 5.1 ruleset and far more satisfying to play despite some flaws. Joining Baldur’s Gate 3 in the RPG Early Access D&D ecosystem is Solasta: Crown of the Magister.