Hey there folks!
How are you all doing? Winter is starting show its nose, it's getting pretty cold here in Paris! However, that also means we're getting closer to the Winter Update, which we will be talking about a bit more in today's Dev Update. But before that...
Sometimes I wish I could swap places with our pets. Sneaking a nap under a sofa sounds pretty fantastic right now.
Remind me what's in the Winter Update?
Worry not, we've got you. After all, it's already been 3 weeks since we first announced the upcoming Winter Update, and not all of us picked Keen Mind during character creation (though I sure wish I did, now where did I put those damn keys again...). So here is a reminder of what you can look forward to:
- An overhaul of the Lighting System, we're going back to the Tabletop Ruleset with no disadvantage in Dim Light and Darkvision working as its name implies.
- A new area and its set of quests, taking place after the Necromancy Main Quest
- The Scavenger System - no more lugging around all the junk you see lying around
- New combat features, such as hiding during combat and applying Poison onto your weapon
- More customization options in Character Creation, and a bit of plastic surgery on some faces
- Inventory and Shopping improvements, hand picked from your suggestions
- Optimization to the Food mechanic, so your party won't end up starving as often
Be prepared, this new location is absolutely gorgeous. Are you ready to enter the Wizard's Tower?
After Necromancy comes... which school again?
We'll talk about the light below, we've been talking non-stop about it these last weeks. What about the new content? Well friends, you're in luck - for I snatched two screenshots to share with you. To avoid spoiling too much, I'll simply show - and not tell.
New monster, coming through!
A new area means new monsters. Today the star of the show is the winner of the February Community Vote, let us give a warm welcome to... the Minotaur!
That's a big boy! You better be prepared, the Minotaur does not joke around.
The Minotaur's Charge, which deals extra piercing damage and can knock you down on a failed Strength Saving Throw.
The Minotaur's Reckless Attack, which grants it advantage on attack rolls in melee combat
Let there be Light, again!
You talked about it, we talked about it - Solasta's Lighting System had quite a few flaws. It wasn't properly explained, meaning a lot of people thought their constant disadvantage was caused by bugs. It was eating into the party's action economy, which was frustrating for some more experienced tabletop players. And to top it off it didn't affect monsters, who happily received a free coupon for a superior darkvision upgrade graciously offered by the MAAA (Monster Association Against Adventurers).
So we went back to the drawing board, and decided that sometimes the best solution is also the simplest - we're reverting the lighting system to the original Tabletop one. For those who may not be familiar with it, this means you will no longer suffer disadvantage to attack rolls while in Dim Light - only Perception Checks will be affected (meaning you're still advised to have a torch out if you don't want to run blindly into traps). Darkvision will also now allow characters to see in non-magical darkness up to a certain range, making it as if it were Dim Light for them (again, it won't help you against traps).
As you may already imagine, this made some encounters quite a lot easier - and some monsters much less scary. In order to rectify that, monsters who specifically relied on the darkness will now get extra bonuses while they remain in the dark. So... you should definitely get some light out, because as a wise adventurer named Zork once said: "It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue". Worry not though, we've added two new cantrips to help with that!
One Goblin, bright and shiny thanks to the new Shine cantrip which lights up an enemy
Light up to three wall sconces at once with the new Sparkle cantrip
For those of you who enjoyed the previous Lighting System, we'll consider adding it back as a difficulty setting. Some people enjoy their dungeons dark. Very Dark. Like, the Darkest of Dungeons (if you never looked at Darkest Dungeon, do yourself a favor and go check it out).
The fun doesn't stop here
There is still plenty of content we're working on for the final 1.0 version that won't be in the Winter Update, but that doesn't mean we can't show it to you! Here is a selection of some of the work our team's been churning out these last few weeks.
Research on armor texture to create magic variant for the Leather Armor (+1 / +2)
Studded Leather Armor Concept Art
Research work on tabards and robes to recognize faction NPCs more easily
Concept Art of a future undisclosed questline. This one is going to be a fun one!
Alright folks, this is the end for today! Thank you for reading, and don't hesitate to drop by our Forums or our Discord Server.
Read our previous articles here:
- Dev Update #24 - Community Feedback & Sourcebook Update
- TL;DR #9: A New Lighting System
- Dev Update #23 - Winter Patch Preview
Article by Tactical Myzzrym
new customization options for creation? i hope that is referring to allowing custom background skill/prof/language choices (like real 5e), or is it just talking about the look of a character? the biggest thing lacking in creation is really that-- backgrounds are very pigeon holed and don't allow swapping things if you already have them from race or class features.
We are in good hands here friends.The graphics are sublime as is the armor,robes etc.
Looks like some neat updates! More appearance customization is always good! Especially hairstyles.
Typos happen. More so on the phone.
Looks great! Any ETA for the patch release? I have beat the existing content so many times at this point (with a few different character group make ups), that the game is afraid of me.
Thank you devs. Your hard work, openness to feedback, clear and frequent communication and (importantly) ability to create a fantastic game are all appreciated.
I personally didn't mind the darkness-disadvantage (especially after getting used to it) and loved the game already with that game mechanic in, but I'm very happy that you have taken on the feedback from people who strongly disliked it. It bodes well for the future.
I don't think I'll be rushing to turn the current lighting system back on whilst the game is in EA, though I probably will in a few years time - after buying your next few expansions of course (and hopefully after you create a Mac version that runs on Apple chips - wink). It is not that I have money to burn, I can just see this being my next Morrowind/NWN2/Skyrim - where I sink unimaginable hours playing the game rather than doing something productive.
Brilliant stuff.
Always looking forward to see where you take it, to the point I'm glued to the updates :)
- Loswaith
Looks great.
Minotaur art is sick.
New cantrips will be very handy.
Food changes!
As a Dev team, y'all got your shit together! SO many other teams, could and maybe SHOULD, be taking notes and lessons from you folks. Looking fwd to the next update and especially, the new content!!!!!!!!
I really hope you add the current lighting system back as a difficulty setting. I think there was a significant number of us that thought you had found a better way than 5e RAW. That and a difficulty setting for resting/healing options. The more options you can provide the more people you will draw to this game.
Looking forward to this update! Sounds good, thanks for listening to the community and communicating with us. So many companies have lost their way on this, glad you guys understand and care about your own game. Love the screenshots, looking good.
Thank you so much for having the courage to put Lightning the way it should be. Can't wait to play again!
I really hope you add the current lighting system back as a difficulty setting. I think there was a significant number of us that thought you had found a better way than 5e RAW. That and a difficulty setting for resting/healing options. The more options you can provide the more people you will draw to this game.
I still think their way is significantly better than 5e RAW. If they were going "all-in" with the decision to revert the change, Lighting wouldn't matter at all. Like the source, once your party has Dark Vision it would be treated like the environment is lit up accordingly and the challenge would be lost. Kudos to them for deciding to keep light relevant by splitting up vision and environmental effect, instead of just having vision override everything.
Now, instead of complaints about players missing in Dim Light they can move on to dealing with complaints that players can't ignore all sources of Light completely because certain monsters require it. :P
Don't understand people who keep putting down the game's graphics. Those screen shots are gorgeous!!
Don't understand people who keep putting down the game's graphics. Those screen shots are gorgeous!!
Yes, the game is beautiful for the scenery and maps, for sure. The faces and cut-scenes are the obvious weaknesses. Just stating the obvious, but yes otherwise I find the maps really nice!
A Youtuber I follow and I found it reminded us of the recent game Outward: a very nice and good game, but the character models are not the greatest. Not a big deal, but revamping that aspect would probably help sales and attraction.
Steam profile : https://steamcommunity.com/id/baraz/