Solasta: CotM | Palace of Ice - DLC Review

Talking about my experiences with the latest campaign DLC from Solasta Crown of the Magister, which brings a new level 10-16 campaign alongside gnomes and tieflings.
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#gaming #gamereviews #solastacrownofthemagister

[@SuperPranx]

It would be awesome if they also do a short 16-20 campaign DLC. With that, this would be the most complete non-tabletop D&D 5e experience :)

[@pendantblade6361]

I'm absolutely baffled at how much work is put into this game!

[@Alguien0101]

I'd bet a lot of money that Sorcerer is a proud owner of a Belt of Dwarvenkind beard.

[@Llortnerof]

Or a proud owner of a bag of barber ash.

[@MortismalGaming]

Well all my strength guys had 22 str already, so who else was I gonna give it too lol

[@xcenic]

My female orc barbarian love her new beard look.

[@mattmoylan4226]

Me and 3 friends are (slowly) working our way thru Crown of the Magister and loving it, so this was an easy Day One pick up for me, even if I don’t get to it any time soon

[@sarahohara5806]

Thanks for covering this. And yeah, it looks like they went for that exact 15 Dollar price point. Might probably rub some people wrong, but for me it's worth it. I have played both official campaigns multiple times already and am looking forward to making a full party under 5 feet tall with only gnomes and halflings. I think I will go through the original campaign first and then jump into the DLC with those new characters. And I have the hope that Tactical Adventures will at some point consider a Solasta 2. If they stick to this formula I am definitely on board.

[@fiyamage]

100% worth it. I could clear 80-90 hours in this DLC alone.

[@Ironclad6661]

Every time they do a DLC and upgrade like this the Community responds with dozens of fan made campaigns. We'll start to see more and more high level adventures now. This is the best $15 a person could spend.

[@millesabords1654]

I love those themed parties : only clerics, only elves or half-elves, only melee characters etc. Most game breaking was my only half-orcs team : there are some marvellous warlock, cleric and rogue half-orc builds out there

[@stevejackson4340]

If $15US is asking too much for a campaign expansion, then those "some people" should just play mobile games instead.

[@jerodtereshka3908]

I really hope they continue this series and can up the budget a bit for the sequel I kind of love how rough around the edges the game feels there is a certain charm to it but the base gameplay is a pretty solid version of d&d in video game form and deserves to be expanded upon. Also love that you can make custom dungeon content I havent tried any of that but I am curious how that plays/what people have come up with for it

[@darksavior1187]

Cool of Tac Adv to give you access for the review, I am a fan of their work!

[@ThomasPaine01]

Oh, boy, I was waiting for this DLC. Thanks for this review, man!

[@ryanz486]

Look forward to eventually picking this up. Really enjoyed all the DLC for Solasta so far and can't wait to have a gnome in my party finally.

[@rednite__8427]

Considering all the content in the game now, this could easily give us 100+ hours of new playtime. I know I will most likely want to play each of the classes from 1-16 through the main campaign and dlc campaign, and who knows what crazy custom content we will get from both custom campaigns and mods.

[@T3hIluvatar]

The Unfinished Business mod had an update along with the DLC (the modder coordinated with the devs), and it gives you so many new classes, subclasses, spells, features and such that it's another 100 hours on top of that. Can't wait for new custom campaigns, and might try to port some modules into the game myself

[@Bleeglesplotch]

Well this is awesome! I'm ready to jump back into the game now!

[@Verilee1970]

I think Solasta can continue to release "modules," alongside upgrades to their construction set. There's also a number of niche ideas I'd love to see them try, like a bottomless dungeon.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I didn't even know this was a thing that was coming. This video alone turned my whole day around. Thank you.

[@cyrusvile6622]

Going to play through it soon. Right now i am making a campaign. General gist is in the solasta forums under content creation. Palace of ice looks cool....

[@benjaminwhite2049]

Good review! Might have to grab this DLC. But might just wait for BG3 to get my DND PC fix haha

[@mclouj]

Just started with this yesterday, enjoying it so far. Its a good kind of janky, and the combat is an excellent implementation of 5e rules.

[@athormaximoff4634]

Ended checking out the game because of this review, and it turns out that, thanks to regional pricing, I could get the game + all dlc for just under $17 so I guess I'll be playing that this weekend

[@warrend2880]

Wow..where are you located? I just bought the Lightbringers Edition yesterday from GoG for C$50.00 which was 33% off..

[@MrTose12]

Damn you fast bro

[@cosmiccowboy9358]

So excited for this!

[@knavesquill9198]

I'm excited for this expansion, partly for the new campaign, but mainly for the new tools people now have to make new and more expansive content. I've gotten so much game time out of how creative people have been, and more it definitely on the way.

[@pureimagination7072]

Is anyone else having trouble getting your subscribed content to show up

[@talahar123]

I have yet to jump into Solasta, but thanks to your coverage I definitely will. Eventually. But as greedy as I am, I wouldn't mind if Tactical Adventures turned it into the ultimate D&D5 experience by adding the Artificer in another DLC. Especially with the release of Baldur's Gate 3 just looming over the horizon. :D

[@Kriizikaan]

They legally cannot add the artificer, but the unfinished business mod adds that and many other things.

[@karlklein2263]

This is dropping days after I finished my first playthrough of icewind dale. Really stoked to keep the frost theme going!

[@Gumby-vx7ki]

Have they fixed the wonky stuff that went on with spider climb and flying?

[@thatdude7102]

Beem wanting to check this game out just got into these style of games and new to DnD rile set. recently finished DOS 1. The base game is on gamepass planning on jumping into it this weekend .

[@wallchris75]

I really hope the do one more dlc for 16-20 and add multi classing. That to me would be the cherry on top.

[@christophermzdenek]

looking forward to playing through this this weekend

[@havasigabor9986]

We need levels 17-20, so, please devs, don't leave the game now. :)

[@peterbrunelle7780]

good stuff.

[@liammcgrath9117]

When I port my characters from COTM do they also keep all of their current items?

[@MortismalGaming]

Yeah, they're in chests at the camp you start in

[@kaidorade1317]

Also: new Rogue Trader trailer dropped with a June 1st Beta. I hope the Machine God blesses you with a key

[@kyuujinyetto6228]

It truly only needs better models and it's an amazing game. More support for community mods and I can see myself playing this every year like i do with dos2

[@mysticmastiff1414]

Thanks for this review! Are you able to post the location of the blog you mentioned around updates to spells at 7th and 8th level, please (mentioned at 4:00)? Thank you!

[@MortismalGaming]

Yeah sorry: store.steampowered.com/news/app/1096530/view/3719452816812364244?l=english

[@mysticmastiff1414]

@@MortismalGaming Thank you! As always appreciate your review and the info!

[@soldierx345]

If multiclass comes ill be a very happy man

[@jakislol1111]

You can do it with unfinished buisness mod and it also adds a ton of content, feats, subclasses etc

[@soldierx345]

@@jakislol1111 is that on the steam workshop?

[@wizardwhohasmorempthanhp]

if this game had better character models/faces it would be literally twice as good.

[@dracul74]

Nice. I am going to give this game another try. Something about the character ui and dialog didn’t click with me when I tried it originally… though I loved building my whole party. Worth another try and if I like will buy dlc.

[@timm8998]

Yeh I had the same. It didn't feel like a computer game to be, more like a pen and paper rpg or something. Also thought it was cause of the UI.

[@Ironclad6661]

I quit the game too and came back recently and now I'm seriously in love with it. Almost done with Crown of the Magisters. Going to finish that up today and tomorrow and then play Palace of Ice and hopefully finish it before D4 is launched.

[@dracul74]

@@Ironclad6661 … good to hear…thx!

[@cheese5081]

I love solasta's ui (mostly) it's so well organized and easy to understand, I found it impressive how this game has more consideration put into the layout of the UI then a lot of triple A games

[@dracul74]

@@cheese5081 interesting… what crpg do you find it better than? Just seems ‘normal’ to me.

[@Syaniiti]

Solasta could be so great but the DnD5e systems hold it back, after level 5 every fight is pretty much the same and legendary resistances make control casters essentially pointless in boss fights (the only fights you'd really want control in). Concentration means you only really cast that one spell at different levels and then cantrip the rest of the fight. The last part of Palace was the only place where there was something interesting happening, and that was mainly because resting wasn't allowed so I actually used more than just 1 spell in the end, if only to try out the high level spells that one time. I also find it quite interesting that crafting is the main way to get gear in Crown but in Palace crafting is essentially pointless, I do appreciate not needing manacalon proficiency in the party but the should've been a midpoint between it being mandatory and completely pointless.

[@domingossn]

They could do a paid DLC with official stuff from PHB - probably wouldnt be cheap b/c royalties to WotC, but would be great anyway

[@taomahNEGEV]

Palace of Ice knows well how to kick your ass. Still no multi classing though.

[@YoreHistory]

Wouldn't it be better to leave the game once it has reached a lvl 20 cap like the 5e rules proper? Seems a better fit for the Dungon Maker tools for the community as well. Just my thoughts.

[@awhitescreen5070]

Any particular reason as to why you tend to give your characters purple hair(or scalp in this case)?

[@MortismalGaming]

It's my favorite color

[@rodrigoluzz7534]

That was fast lmao

[@andreah2o]

I hope for a solasta complete edition now

[@Kriizikaan]

already out. as soon as the dlc dropped they showed off the "lightbringers edition" which is currently 40 USD on gog and steam. Game with all dlc and soundtrack.

[@andreah2o]

@@Kriizikaan thanks for this info. Gonna buy it!

[@FhargaZ]

Can you transform into a dragon? No? 😔

[@RupertMDoc]

Mortismal, have you ever played Massive Chalice? It was Tim Shaffer's take on budget XCom. Please consider a retro review.

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

I remember that one. I got it on sale and was enjoying it but then a game I was waiting for came out so I kinda forgot about it. I'll have to take another shot at it.

[@mick5779]

Should i say it ? I love you for this Review Thank you

[@kaidorade1317]

Oh is this dlc finally out? Yes! At last!

[@coconutologist]

I know level is a big ask by some, so it's nice to see games still hit the higher levels. Onward to 200k. All glory to the algorithm.

[@rekiirek5601]

I see you unlocked Hold up… Let him speak on your Steam account. Trying to complete the game on xbox and this one doesn't seem to be unlocking. Am I right in that you just need to mention the three things against the other two candidates for the position so that Gil wins?

[@armelior4610]

With all the DLC this game has come a long way in choices for race/class since the initial release... but the price too if you don't wait for sales unfortunately. Expanding the XP cap is always welcome.

[@MortismalGaming]

They put out an edition with all the DLC for $40 today too it looks like

[@erikskoog8415]

Good show sir

[@michaelr3572]

$14.99 as of 5/25. So, more expensive than the 12.99 you guessed at, but still within your recommendation price range from when you recorded. Thank you for your review of the campaign though. It answered some questions I had about it.

[@Blastros01]

Anyone else use Mort's reviews for asmr? Lol

[@Slackarius]

I think they could possibly milk the core game another year or two with just two more expansions. One to finish up their systems design to level 20 fitting the 5e level cap, and then a final expansion with a single campaign that covers the full 1-20 experience. The core engine here is solid, and they've done a lot of work to homebrew a lot of interesting content on top of the SRD. Probably the most faithful D&D CRPG of recent memory(not that it stopped me from loving the absolute hell out of WotR and eagerly anticipating the full release of BG3).

[@robinmattheussen2395]

I'm fairly sure they officially announced this would be last content for Solasta, no?

[@MortismalGaming]

I also thought so, but for the life of me I can't seem to find them saying that officially anywhere.

[@robinmattheussen2395]

@@MortismalGaming Hmmm, me neither. Collective hallucination?

[@JeedthejetDoe]

Love this

[@JayFlowie]

I ended up deleting all my Solasta content and reinstalling before getting the dlc not wanting the mods to interfere with the new content... Somehow steam lost some of my saves and was unable to load with my previous saves. That said I really want to test out the decisions from previous quest being loaded but also want a gnome and tiefling, so I think I'm going to play through cotm again for that experience anyway. Kinda sad I couldn't do this a few days ago as I want the new content, but hopefully worth the extra time investment

[@AwesomeJedi182]

I've seen this game around and I've played almost all cRPGs in recent times, and I love games with rich lore and a cool story. Doesn't have to be a masterpiece just not boring. I loved wrath of the righteous, pillars of eternity ( both of em even tho the second one had a weak main quest but the world was rich in lore) , and also wasteland 3 and i loved tyranny too. And of course divinity original sin 2. My question is, is the story in this game good? I've heard many good things about the combat but I don't want just a combat simulator ..... Is this game for me?

[@onatgz]

free comment.

[@SweatiestDegree]

man I wish this game looked a bit better, the models are rough

[@princeblackelf4265]

Shadow Gnome needs major work, it comes across as redundant and very inferior to Rock Gnome. It needs to offer a different stat boost and maybe just some better stuff over all Personally i hope we get more dlcs , at least maybe another side story campaign akin to Lost Valley that caps things off at 20

[@richardyoung3462]

They have already said that they messed up, and one was supposed to get a Dex +1, the other was supposed to be Con +1. They are working on the patch to fix that.

[@SageofStars]

Sadly, not on my platform of choice at the moment, and checking it on GOG says NO, Absolutely Not for a buy. Sadness, as this does look fun. Regardless, have a comment for the comment gods.

[@kumogekkou]

I really enjoyed the base campaign even if it was a bit liniar, but I have not been enjoying Lost Valley. The story in lost valley felt very nonsensical and I had no investments in any of the factions. I'm curious if this last campaign feels more like the first with stakes or is more "intruege based" like lost valley.

[@princeblackelf4265]

I'm the opposite, I'm preferring Lost Valley over all. I prefer the intrigue based story, lower stakes and the fact that I can bounce around the map as I see fit with everything pretty close to each other

[@kumogekkou]

@@princeblackelf4265 So Lost Valley I played multiplayer with a group, and it just felt wierd. The number of times we sequence broke it made it feel even more annoying. I was glad to hear thye fixed the sequence break, but in Lost Valley I just keep asking myself, why do I care, the only reason I'm here is trying to leave this valley.

[@MtheRat]

Hope they do at least one more dlc which lifts the cap to 20.

[@GamerSerg74]

I would love to see TA do a game based on the new 5e rules that are currently in play testing.

[@silverthorngoodtree5533]

A review? Already? so soon? Dammmm.

[@Antonin1738]

Gosh, imagine Solasta with the class depth of the Pathfinder crpgs!

[@DNDmaster29]

Day 5 pls review fear and hunger Also did you watch the playstation showcase? If yes which game are you most excited for

[@MortismalGaming]

I didn't watch it, but Dragon's Dogma 2 is about all that really had my interest there at the moment

[@HessenUK]

I found base Solasta okay as a filler game, but the thin story and RP really hurts it.

[@BlackWipeout]

Maybe Solasta 2 with Pathfinder rules this time ;)

[@Vrindlevine]

These devs really have heart. I hope they free themselves from the constraints of 5e since it has probably the most boring combat I've ever played in a game. It sucks that BG3 is going that same route but what ya gonna do.

[@jmmywyf4lyf]

I think I'm going to pass on this DLC. I bought Solasta and all the DLCs, but could not bring myself to even finish the main campaign. It just feels like there's something missing from this game, but it's incredibly expensive once the DLC is added up. Plus, you have to have a DLC to make it even remotely a complete product

[@pinegulf]

I see what you mean. However, true indie team and kickstarter origin makes me to give em a lot of slack.

[@jmmywyf4lyf]

​​​@@pinegulf I did try. I think I played for about 60 hours, restarted three or four times. Got one of my teams pretty far in, but just couldn't stand it anymore. The linearity, the lack of real Choice, the very underwhelming setting, and most of all the extremely brain-dead 5th Edition rules, are what really got me. Its a well made product, but just felt extremely amateur in the writing and quest design department. Story is what I play for, 1st and foremost. I could have been more forgiving, but it was increwibly expensive! The base game is inckmllete, and requires the dlcs to flesh it out with classes, so it ends up being more than a AAA title

[@NiSE_Rafter]

@@jmmywyf4lyf I'd agree that the story was mediocre and if that's your main thing then the game isn't for you. I played it literally because I enjoyed having a 5e game, the story was just a vessel to play with the system for me. There's practically no other modern game using the 5e SRD right now so it fills the desire for me until BG3 is fully released. I'd disagree that the DLC are really necessary though. Base game was a perfectly fine experience without it. Only bought DLC once I knew I liked the game and wanted to support the devs. Edit: I bought and played the base game when it was on sale rather than fully price, so I went in with different expectations for the $.

[@jmmywyf4lyf]

@@NiSE_Rafter The dlcs literally add the missing classes, and even personality traits, and abilities. One of the dlc even makes personality matter. So i have to respectfully disagree, that theyre not necessary. Its a very barebones game, even with all the dlc, partuclarly with the price point. The ruleaet is a matter of taste. For me, its just incredibly dumbed down, and simple, compared to what it used to be. Pathfinder is a perfect example of that.. I would even prefer Thac0, over 5e

[@NiSE_Rafter]

@@jmmywyf4lyf Okay you can't knock points on a system then if you already know it's not your preference. 5e was meant to be simple and Solasta specifically is even more limited by being constrained to the basic SRD due to WOTC's tyrannical legal constraints. Edit: overall I think we're mostly on the same page though. Solasta as a story based RPG isn't there. Your disagreement about DLC lines up with that. For just wanting to thunderwave people off cliffs though? It'll do. Some of us didn't care about personality traits and that deeper stuff. I save that for the table campaigns not CRPGs.