I've been playing this and I really like it, specially the surprise of it if you will. The maps are noticably larger I feel than the main campaign that add a little explorer feel plus the "approach as you like." Also I'd like to point out that if you create a Ranger with the spy background you effectively create a Rogue in that you can do the sneaky stuff plus she can lockpick (if you give him thieves tools) and create poisons. For 13$ I feel the price is really fair, bordering on steal considering the scope and replayability of this dlc. A surprise to be fair, but very welcome in this day and age. More devs should take note of this. Highly recommended.
@@quint3ssent1a With the Ranger however you get pass without trace plus goodberry which is good for travelling/resting without buying rations (although I know this is not relevant to a Rogue but this is very handy to have as an added bonus).
I am enjoying a lot the new DLC. So many choices, so many side quests, decisions that actually have an impact on the story. If the base game was a DND5 dream come true, then Vally is a wet dream
I'd love to see another DLC with the bard, warlock and monk added. Also, another race. Ideally CHA-based...Whatever they can do to fit the Tiefling (or similar) into the setting. It's a good game, and I want to get back into it. I honestly got a little bored with the original campaign. I also think I got this too soon. I bet we're going to see a "definitive edition" sometime in the near future...
Theres an AWESOME community mod which is essentially an expansion that adds Warlock and Artificer, both with incredible subclasses. Tons of feats, 5e spells, and other awesome features, its called the Solasta Community expansion and if your friends all have the mod you can still do multiplayer together. Def worth checking out as Warlock is my favorite class too!
Been playing this co-op quite a bit on twitch and been thoroughly enjoying it. Nothing emulates the authentic D&D experience more than trying to figure out a diplomatic solution to a problem and the 2 other people I'm playing with deciding to murder their way through it. Unironically the chaos other players throw into the multiple choice system really make it shine.
Thanks for this Mort, I loved Solasta (still havent finished the first playthrough) I preferred it to BG3, it isnt so pretty as BG3, but for me it had way more playability and was a lot less Larian, I will certainly be getting the DLC
Genuinely curious what you mean by “a lot less Larian” (I’ve bounced off Divinity Original Sin 2 multiple times despite peoples’ praise for it, so I’m not an offended fan. Rather, I’m trying to put my finger on what it was that kept me from getting far in their games)
@@joearnold6881 Hi Joe, for me it was more about not having to work out what part of the environment you need to manipulate/destroy to defeat the current encounter, I am old school and think more in the realms of fighters to the front, caster to the back, healer alongside, commence combat and NOT that phase spider is on a destroyable web, so I cast fireball or acid at it and the spider drops to the ground etc etc
@@NurkePL though there is a bit of terrain manipulation here with those stones and things your backline caster can make fall on enemies and while they're effective they're not mandatory - the lighting though is very important but I get your point.
@@joearnold6881 for me it is the quirkiness of the divinity world setting. They tend to be a fantasy with weird quirklike discworld type humor. Also their setting tends to be a weird mix between high and dark fantasy. Original and very creative but this openness and especially the openness when you make your own original main character makes the main character feel bland. In DoS2 i got very far on my own custom character when i realised choosing a premade background character makes it a lot better story wise. However this also showed why i kinda dislike the setting in general. The general world somehow pulls less if you do not choose their premade setups. The many options and also the highly randomised gear while great gameplay wise makes the roleplaying part less attractive to me then old fashioned classics like bg2 and pillars 1
Currently playing this campaign. Sylvan Elf monk Island Halfling Warlock Tiefling Bard Dwarven Druid. The last fight I did was a random encounter against a rock golem. Because I'm a hive warlock I was spores on it to give it disadvantage against a saving throw then used stunning strike from the monk and he rolled a 1 so he got stunned. Super easy fight when the enemy can't do anything and every attack against him has advantage because he's stunned.
Looking forward to giving this a go! Ugh…and my backlog will continue to grow, between family and work, my gaming time gets shorter and shorter. I’m currently working on a Mass Effect Legendary Edition play through, created a character in Atom waiting to play, created a whole party in Solasta still waiting to play, still finding great Neverwinter Nights modules on the vault I want to play (eventually), and finally playing through Borderlands 2 with my son on the Xbox. It’s a futile effort to try and clear out my backlog haha.
I remember in your sponsored video you said it was on sale, so I got the base game and all it's DLC for barely more than the base game costs by itself this morning. I look forward to dipping my toe in.
I have this and the base game on my wishlist. Looks good. Currently, working my way through the ol' backlog. The struggle is real. Anyway, love your content!
Indeed a brilliant DLC. Even better than the Palace of Ice. I just wish the journal told me why I fail certain quests. For instance I've never found out why I failed the Witch Hunt quest.
I feel like I've been unfair to this game so far - I always had it on my "I'll get to it eventually" list, but never really gave it a shot. There's an earnest quality to all of this that's really endearing. EDIT: Holy hell, the combat in this is amazingly fun! Everything around it really is kind of lacking, but hot damn the dungeon crawling is really well done. That said, I get some genuinely weird and intense performance dips (like 10 fps for about a minute or so) every now and then, with no readily apparent reason. it's usually during non-combat sequences with a lot of moving entities, but despite that it doesn't happen in town. No idea what's up with that.
Many thanks for your review. The game is definitely a hidden gem and I want warlock too as a class cause this company has proven their subclass design is awesome. I just wish WotC helped them more.
So I know this is a double comment months later. My wife and I finally finished this dlc. I have to say, yes the non linear nature of it is pretty neat, but its almost too open. We kept getting bogged down trying to figure out what each faction was and why we even cared about them. On top of that the questing felt very aimless. One thing that was nice about CoTM is you pretty much knew at all times what your goal was. LV I can remember a moment where an npc was brought up towards the end of a faction questline and I legitimately could not remember who it was or why they were even important.
The Lightbringer edition is 57% off so I'm considering getting Solasta. I was originally going to just play the Gamepass version but the idea of so much being locked behind DLC rubbed me the wrong way.
Unless they get an official full license from Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro instead of just the SRD allowance (which seems doubtful given BG3), they most likely can't add Warlocks. The same reason that Pathfinder never had any Warlocks, classes and races added in 3.x "splatbooks" (as they are called) were not under the OGL and remain official D&D intellectual property. Unless Warlocks are in the SRD, they were in the player's handbook, so, maybe.
Fiend Warlock and Open Hand Monk would be amazing. The base game is at a point where they can keep building on it, and they are, and that is pretty exciting.
I like inbalances.. the limit is ofc. if it’s downright broken, but the inbalances gives a lot more meaning to leveling and it makes things more believable and dynamic.
I hope they will eventually allow multi classing. That will really open up some cool builds and continue to add more races and subclasses. And more campaigns, keep raising that level cap and get it to 20.
I'd love to see how the crafting results in changing the way the crafted object would look like, since they ended looking like regular weapons after they were enchanted (not like the armors) and also to see more variation in the designs of the costumes. Add costumes for Barbarians and casters! Cloaks, anybody seen a cloak? XD And the sizes for the bodies like they had in the old demo pre release, with the fighter being bulkier. :)
This game has absolutely great combat and the harder difficulties really provide a challenge. I recommend this DLC just for the combat experience. The story and quests are still not that interesting and you can get caught ruining your reputation with a faction without any warning. I hope in the future they add more classes, get a much better writing team - the faction system could be so good if done right. Hope they improve the character models, weapon and armor models, etc. Great job for a small team just hope they keep growing and getting better. This game has endless replay ability with all of the custom dungeons people are making. With the dungeon maker you can have endless content from this game. Definitely recommend buying for the combat and all the custom content out there.
RPGs require alot of devotion. I am still in 'tunnel vision' mode with BG3. Having limited game time vs the Rat Race of Life, I choose to focus my time one game at a time. I have over 70 games, Including Solasta, While I only play BG3, Doom, and Cuphead.
mort, not sure if you have a steam deck but would you consider a video on how some the games you cover run on the steam deck? i would be curious what the experience is with CRPGs games like pathfinder WotR, bg3, etc before i pull the trigger on a deck. thanks for DLC review btw. you are my go to for CRPGs.
Tactical Adventures said on Monday (June 6, 2022) that they're going to add Warlock, Monk, and Bard as classes. I'm not sure whether the classes will come as a free update or as DLC.
Surprised the review didn't mention anything about bugs. I've definitely found it to be buggy, but maybe that's just me. I don't disagree with the ultimate conclusions. I'd just recommend waiting for a patch or two before buying, especially if you have a backlog to work through.
I bought Solasta when it released out of impulse, didn't really play it much, would you ever recommend someone go through Lost Valley before the main game? I think I'd prefer one a bit less linear.
I think the main campaign does a great job of setting up the world and teaching you how to play, so I wouldnt outright ignore it, but if youre familiar with 5e you could just jump straight to Lost Valley and be fine probably
TA cannot add the Warlock legally. It’s not a part of the open game license. D&D holds that. They could create their version of it, but they can’t use the actual warlock class from D&D 5e. Same reason they could never use mind flayers and a few other things.
I have a question, when I finish the main game will I be able to continue to the DLC or I need to start with level 1 characters again ? if not will the enemies be scaled up to my current level ?
surprise mechanic seems to be malfunctioning - I'm noticing many enemies are not surprised even when I obviously have surprise...I check the dice roll log, they are rolling perception checks instead of using passive perception, that's not a faithful rendition of the rules at all
You haven’t discovered the West Exit of the Swamps yet. If you face the giant in the prison, go left. On the side of the map you can jump to a new trail that you have not recognised yet. Of you find it, it is pretty straightforward from that point.
I've been playing this and I really like it, specially the surprise of it if you will. The maps are noticably larger I feel than the main campaign that add a little explorer feel plus the "approach as you like." Also I'd like to point out that if you create a Ranger with the spy background you effectively create a Rogue in that you can do the sneaky stuff plus she can lockpick (if you give him thieves tools) and create poisons. For 13$ I feel the price is really fair, bordering on steal considering the scope and replayability of this dlc. A surprise to be fair, but very welcome in this day and age. More devs should take note of this. Highly recommended.
@@quint3ssent1a With the Ranger however you get pass without trace plus goodberry which is good for travelling/resting without buying rations (although I know this is not relevant to a Rogue but this is very handy to have as an added bonus).
@@quint3ssent1a You must not have found the good merchants, as the item is sold anywhere as Rangers can cast goodberry as well
I am enjoying a lot the new DLC. So many choices, so many side quests, decisions that actually have an impact on the story. If the base game was a DND5 dream come true, then Vally is a wet dream
I'd love to see another DLC with the bard, warlock and monk added. Also, another race. Ideally CHA-based...Whatever they can do to fit the Tiefling (or similar) into the setting.
It's a good game, and I want to get back into it. I honestly got a little bored with the original campaign. I also think I got this too soon. I bet we're going to see a "definitive edition" sometime in the near future...
Dragonborn are canon in Solasta for race. Classes are unlikely due to SRD and WOTC / work needed.
Theres an AWESOME community mod which is essentially an expansion that adds Warlock and Artificer, both with incredible subclasses. Tons of feats, 5e spells, and other awesome features, its called the Solasta Community expansion and if your friends all have the mod you can still do multiplayer together. Def worth checking out as Warlock is my favorite class too!
Is there a link to this add on?
@@nicholasjackson8709 nexus mods. Solasta Community Expansion
@@orlonm Man i haven't used nexus mods in a minute. I didn't even think to check the mod community for this game. Thanks a ton.
The developers added warlock to the game! So thats cool!
@@Ananomos yep but the mod adds mod subclasses and invocations now. Which is even better
Picked it up after seeing your video earlier this week and really enjoying it! Looking forward to what the creators make next
Been playing this co-op quite a bit on twitch and been thoroughly enjoying it. Nothing emulates the authentic D&D experience more than trying to figure out a diplomatic solution to a problem and the 2 other people I'm playing with deciding to murder their way through it. Unironically the chaos other players throw into the multiple choice system really make it shine.
Thanks for this Mort, I loved Solasta (still havent finished the first playthrough) I preferred it to BG3, it isnt so pretty as BG3, but for me it had way more playability and was a lot less Larian, I will certainly be getting the DLC
Genuinely curious what you mean by “a lot less Larian”
(I’ve bounced off Divinity Original Sin 2 multiple times despite peoples’ praise for it, so I’m not an offended fan. Rather, I’m trying to put my finger on what it was that kept me from getting far in their games)
@@joearnold6881 Hi Joe, for me it was more about not having to work out what part of the environment you need to manipulate/destroy to defeat the current encounter, I am old school and think more in the realms of fighters to the front, caster to the back, healer alongside, commence combat and NOT that phase spider is on a destroyable web, so I cast fireball or acid at it and the spider drops to the ground etc etc
So you prefer a finished game over a demo or alpha that is for BG 3 at the moment ? Nice
@@NurkePL though there is a bit of terrain manipulation here with those stones and things your backline caster can make fall on enemies and while they're effective they're not mandatory - the lighting though is very important but I get your point.
@@joearnold6881 for me it is the quirkiness of the divinity world setting. They tend to be a fantasy with weird quirklike discworld type humor. Also their setting tends to be a weird mix between high and dark fantasy. Original and very creative but this openness and especially the openness when you make your own original main character makes the main character feel bland. In DoS2 i got very far on my own custom character when i realised choosing a premade background character makes it a lot better story wise. However this also showed why i kinda dislike the setting in general. The general world somehow pulls less if you do not choose their premade setups. The many options and also the highly randomised gear while great gameplay wise makes the roleplaying part less attractive to me then old fashioned classics like bg2 and pillars 1
Currently playing this campaign.
Sylvan Elf monk
Island Halfling Warlock
Tiefling Bard
Dwarven Druid.
The last fight I did was a random encounter against a rock golem. Because I'm a hive warlock I was spores on it to give it disadvantage against a saving throw then used stunning strike from the monk and he rolled a 1 so he got stunned.
Super easy fight when the enemy can't do anything and every attack against him has advantage because he's stunned.
free comment to celebrate the first 4k video that you've uploaded (as far as i'm aware).
I've been trying to upload reviews in 4k, the past few have been, glad to see it get used though!
Looking forward to giving this a go! Ugh…and my backlog will continue to grow, between family and work, my gaming time gets shorter and shorter. I’m currently working on a Mass Effect Legendary Edition play through, created a character in Atom waiting to play, created a whole party in Solasta still waiting to play, still finding great Neverwinter Nights modules on the vault I want to play (eventually), and finally playing through Borderlands 2 with my son on the Xbox. It’s a futile effort to try and clear out my backlog haha.
I remember in your sponsored video you said it was on sale, so I got the base game and all it's DLC for barely more than the base game costs by itself this morning. I look forward to dipping my toe in.
I would love to see more classes, especially Bard, my favorite class
I have this and the base game on my wishlist. Looks good. Currently, working my way through the ol' backlog. The struggle is real. Anyway, love your content!
Indeed a brilliant DLC. Even better than the Palace of Ice. I just wish the journal told me why I fail certain quests. For instance I've never found out why I failed the Witch Hunt quest.
I was on the fence whether to buy this, but this convinced me to get the Primal Calling DLC (I love barbarians) and this one!
I feel like I've been unfair to this game so far - I always had it on my "I'll get to it eventually" list, but never really gave it a shot. There's an earnest quality to all of this that's really endearing.
EDIT: Holy hell, the combat in this is amazingly fun! Everything around it really is kind of lacking, but hot damn the dungeon crawling is really well done.
That said, I get some genuinely weird and intense performance dips (like 10 fps for about a minute or so) every now and then, with no readily apparent reason. it's usually during non-combat sequences with a lot of moving entities, but despite that it doesn't happen in town. No idea what's up with that.
Love it when the dlc is better than the base game. Like the Fallout 4 Far Harbor dlc
Many thanks for your review. The game is definitely a hidden gem and I want warlock too as a class cause this company has proven their subclass design is awesome. I just wish WotC helped them more.
So I know this is a double comment months later. My wife and I finally finished this dlc. I have to say, yes the non linear nature of it is pretty neat, but its almost too open. We kept getting bogged down trying to figure out what each faction was and why we even cared about them. On top of that the questing felt very aimless. One thing that was nice about CoTM is you pretty much knew at all times what your goal was. LV I can remember a moment where an npc was brought up towards the end of a faction questline and I legitimately could not remember who it was or why they were even important.
You can choose the lowlife background if you dont want to play a rogue. It still works out.
The Lightbringer edition is 57% off so I'm considering getting Solasta. I was originally going to just play the Gamepass version but the idea of so much being locked behind DLC rubbed me the wrong way.
Unless they get an official full license from Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro instead of just the SRD allowance (which seems doubtful given BG3), they most likely can't add Warlocks. The same reason that Pathfinder never had any Warlocks, classes and races added in 3.x "splatbooks" (as they are called) were not under the OGL and remain official D&D intellectual property. Unless Warlocks are in the SRD, they were in the player's handbook, so, maybe.
Warlocks are in the SRD according to the document up on WotC's website, but yes they are limited by what is in the SRD and what they can homebrew
Well, Mortis, as usual, thanks for the very informative video!
Fiend Warlock and Open Hand Monk would be amazing. The base game is at a point where they can keep building on it, and they are, and that is pretty exciting.
I like inbalances.. the limit is ofc. if it’s downright broken, but the inbalances gives a lot more meaning to leveling and it makes things more believable and dynamic.
I hope they will eventually allow multi classing. That will really open up some cool builds and continue to add more races and subclasses. And more campaigns, keep raising that level cap and get it to 20.
There a mod called Unfinished Business that adds multi classing, more sub classes and races too
Agree on adding the warlock in the future. I enjoyed this game more than I thought I would and would love to return to it if they give me a reason to.
I'd love to see how the crafting results in changing the way the crafted object would look like, since they ended looking like regular weapons after they were enchanted (not like the armors) and also to see more variation in the designs of the costumes. Add costumes for Barbarians and casters! Cloaks, anybody seen a cloak? XD And the sizes for the bodies like they had in the old demo pre release, with the fighter being bulkier. :)
This game has absolutely great combat and the harder difficulties really provide a challenge. I recommend this DLC just for the combat experience. The story and quests are still not that interesting and you can get caught ruining your reputation with a faction without any warning. I hope in the future they add more classes, get a much better writing team - the faction system could be so good if done right. Hope they improve the character models, weapon and armor models, etc. Great job for a small team just hope they keep growing and getting better. This game has endless replay ability with all of the custom dungeons people are making. With the dungeon maker you can have endless content from this game. Definitely recommend buying for the combat and all the custom content out there.
There are way too many great games coming out these past couple years. I don't know if my backlog has ever grown this fast
RPGs require alot of devotion. I am still in 'tunnel vision' mode with BG3. Having limited game time vs the Rat Race of Life, I choose to focus my time one game at a time. I have over 70 games, Including Solasta, While I only play BG3, Doom, and Cuphead.
Sounds like a great piece of content, one that might actually bring me to the base game.
I held back getting this game due to the linearity, but this DLC got me really interested
Its VERY good!
mort, not sure if you have a steam deck but would you consider a video on how some the games you cover run on the steam deck? i would be curious what the experience is with CRPGs games like pathfinder WotR, bg3, etc before i pull the trigger on a deck.
thanks for DLC review btw. you are my go to for CRPGs.
It probably wont be soon, but I would very much like to get one, and if I do yeah I could make some content like that probably
Thank you Mortismal.
Tactical Adventures said on Monday (June 6, 2022) that they're going to add Warlock, Monk, and Bard as classes. I'm not sure whether the classes will come as a free update or as DLC.
I saw that, looking forward to warlock either way
Good show sir!
cant wait to play!!!!
Surprised the review didn't mention anything about bugs. I've definitely found it to be buggy, but maybe that's just me.
I don't disagree with the ultimate conclusions. I'd just recommend waiting for a patch or two before buying, especially if you have a backlog to work through.
This game was supposedly on Xbox game pass but I can't find it I type it in the store and doesn't come up. I would love to play this game
I bought Solasta when it released out of impulse, didn't really play it much, would you ever recommend someone go through Lost Valley before the main game?
I think I'd prefer one a bit less linear.
Maybe play through the tutorial of the main campaign first cos lost valley is very light on tutorials.
I think the main campaign does a great job of setting up the world and teaching you how to play, so I wouldnt outright ignore it, but if youre familiar with 5e you could just jump straight to Lost Valley and be fine probably
Better campaign than the base game, interesting !😀
TA cannot add the Warlock legally. It’s not a part of the open game license. D&D holds that. They could create their version of it, but they can’t use the actual warlock class from D&D 5e. Same reason they could never use mind flayers and a few other things.
One of the reasons I didn’t jive with the original was the look of the characters. Has there been any change in that area?
They've added customization options but the overall look is the same
I have a question, when I finish the main game will I be able to continue to the DLC or I need to start with level 1 characters again ? if not will the enemies be scaled up to my current level ?
It starts at level 1
Doubling the size of the base game while not raising the level cap past 12 still. :(
surprise mechanic seems to be malfunctioning - I'm noticing many enemies are not surprised even when I obviously have surprise...I check the dice roll log, they are rolling perception checks instead of using passive perception, that's not a faithful rendition of the rules at all
Anyone stuck trying to get the giant home?
I
You haven’t discovered the West Exit of the Swamps yet. If you face the giant in the prison, go left. On the side of the map you can jump to a new trail that you have not recognised yet. Of you find it, it is pretty straightforward from that point.
Need monks
gg
This game looks nice and terrible graphically at the same time.