Top 10 Reasons Why Wesnoth is the best game of all time EVER

[suvorov]

1. Free- Doesn't cost a penny

2. Open-source- available on many platforms, constantly updated with user-input, able to be modified, adapted, switched around fairly easily- Ive even worked on a few campaigns myself and I know NOTHING about programming... except the little WML I've learned in the course of playing Wesnoth.

3. Multinational- Wesnoth is truly a world wide project... in fact one day I'd like to see a kind Of Wesnoth Olympics Tournament with people competing for their countries. But just while playing casual games in the lobby I've met Americans, Canadians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Venezualans, South Africans, Almost every country in Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, Russia, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and those are just off the top of my head. Sometimes the most fun I have in a team game is in trying to communicate a strategy with someone from halfway across the world who only has basic English. "Move Lancer/pointy-horse to bridge and ATTACK!" "We must hold town or die." "Bad trolls kill us now!" etc etc.

4. Well-balanced- this aspect of Wesnoth is particularly amazing considering its open source, user-contributive nature. Drakes and Undead are of course the wild cards and every once in a while you come across someone arguing that they are either too strong or too weak. A lot depends on the map, but if you watch the games of the masters, players like Becephalus, Soliton, and Noy, you can see that any faction becomes a devastating tool in the hands of a skilled player.

5. Good single player campaigns. I've played every single player campaign on Wesnoth, as well as a lot of the experimental add-on campaigns and I've almost always been satisfied with their depth and scope. Even after I'd beaten all the campaigns, I still like to go back and play the computer using the random map generator, generally facing two enemies with my lonely band of elves or dwarves.

6. Modability- this goes back to the open source characteristic listed above. But who hasn't been amazed by some of Bob_the_Mighty's mods such as "A New Land" and many others. At one point when I was playing a version of Wesnoth that involved the sailing of a boat and plundering banks I almsot forget that I was playing Wesnoth it was different. Of course the list is too long to list in full here, but some examples and spin-offs include: Spacenoth, Wesbowl, Temple of the Nagas, Skullduggery, AuctionX and many more. Even if you just play the basic multiplayer maps, there are many eras to choose from on top of the 6 default factions. The strategies are endless. Many times I've thought I've had a game in the bag when my opponent has launched a desperate charge against my leader and cut him down to win the game.

7. Good fun and comradery. I'd be lying to say I've NEVER met a troll on Wesnoth but they are few and far between. I've been playing Wesnoth since version 1.1.4 and for the most part players are good sports. Some players have been around for awhile recognize each other and there's a mutual respect for the skill of the other.

8. Open forums... What's so exciting to me about Wesnoth, and I've already mentioned this above, is that it's so easy to go from playing the game to programming the game. Someone like me, for example, who has no background in programming and has a hard time sending an email with an attachment, can jump right in and begin building maps, and with little extra reading on the forums, crafting whole scenarios. People are very open and constructive with each other and if you have a project in mind and lots of elbow grease to spare, there are plenty of people on the forums who can guide you through the process, and even provide feedback by playing it. This part of Wesnoth is really educational. And fun. Programming has never been easier. Or more rewarding... nothing compares to the thrill of seeing your pet project added to the official "add-on" list of Wesnoth.

9. Tournaments and ladders. For the competitive spirit, there's many tournaments, both single and multi player, as well as a ladder for Wesnoth. I remember playing Wesnoth for a couple weeks and thinking I was hot stuff. Then I joined a tournament and got my rear end handed to me in a sling by Pietro, (from Czech Republic I think.. sorry if I remember wrong). What's funny is that I continued to watch the rest of the games of the tournament and that's when I began to grasp the depth of strategy that Wesnoth offers. When you watch two Wesnoth Masters play each other you will see them purposefully killing their weakened thief on a level 2 javelineer so that the xp is wasted. You will see them use ZOC's like a Civil War General, and you will see ways of deploying your army that would never have occurred to you.

10. Innovation. I believe that open source is the future of the internet. And I think it's games like Wesnoth that prove how strong a game can be when a bunch of strategy fans get together to make a game that is both perfectly balanced AND extremely flexible. There are so many different ways to play, head to head, team match, survival, competitive survival, multiplayer campaign, and the list goes on and on. Whenever I update my Wesnoth to the newest version the first thing I do is begin downloading the Add-ons, because I there's always something new and surprising... some new angle of playing Wesnoth that I never would have thought of. To everyone who has ever contributed to Wesnoth, please accept my heartfelt thank you!

Did I miss anything? If there's some aspect of Wesnoth's awesomeness that I missed please respond!

[Dunno]

Simpleness! I know there are some people who have troubles understanding how this game works (my dad xD), but to me it's very simple, and I like it.

[artisticdude]

It's more or less a given in the strategy genre, but I really like Wesnoth's replayablility (is that a word...?). Wesnoth offers thousands of ways to complete any given map, scenario, or campaign, simply through the decisions you make as the player. No two games, even those played on the same map in SP campaigns, are going to be alike. I love games that have good replay value, and Wesnoth scores high in that department.

[Hulavuta]

It's also fun to roleplay kind of. In a game where you have a bunch of emotionless soldiers running around fighting, it's fun making your own relationships between people and adding your own dialogue to events. Like sometimes I lead a squad using a Drake Flare, and when he died, my Ambusher got really mad and attacked the enemy who killed him, and he actually hit him all 4 times even though the enemy was on a castle with 60.

Watching replays is fun too.

[Thrawn]

It's more or less a given in the strategy genre, but I really like Wesnoth's replayablility (is that a word...?). Wesnoth offers thousands of ways to complete any given map, scenario, or campaign, simply through the decisions you make as the player. No two games, even those played on the same map in SP campaigns, are going to be alike. I love games that have good replay value, and Wesnoth scores high in that department.

replay value Also, I agree. The out mentioned luck factor makes the same map, with the same units, playable many times, (and only very rarely changing the overall outcome that player skill would determine).

[IPS]

Wesnoth is indeed a awesome game.

1st you can play how many games do you want (Some games are limited because the history)
2do Its Totally Free.
3rd its International
4th NO 3D!! I hate many 3D games because many of them dont use the 3rd dimension well.
5th Awesome system of Add ons, you can make Add ons if you know how. And you can download how many of them do you like
6th Balanced, that is indeed, this game in Default era is very very balanced.
7th Good ambietation and Music, that was the greatest upgarade of the wesnoth 1.8.
8th You can talk with the eras dessigner in the forum, that is indeed awesome of useful.
9th You use the brain to calculate plans and strategy.
10th YOU LEARN ENGLISH WITH IT!!! overall when you need to talk with other players.
11th If you want to learn another language, put the game in the other language.
12th You can send whisper to players, that is indeed useful when you have friends.
13th Many different types of games in one, You can want RPG games like SX ot you can try to survive the survivals like Oricia and others. And you can play many stiles of game in one.
14th Good Campaigns and alone playing games.
15th You can learn how to play killing (not playing :p) the AI.


Them are many adventages in coomparation of others game, for that reason when I knew the version 1.3.4 I didnt stoped to play

[monochromatic]

6. Modability- this goes back to the open source characteristic listed above. But who hasn't been amazed by some of Bob_the_Mighty's mods such as "A New Land" and many others. At one point when I was playing a version of Wesnoth that involved the sailing of a boat and plundering banks I almsot forget that I was playing Wesnoth it was different. Of course the list is too long to list in full here, but some examples and spin-offs include: Spacenoth, Wesbowl, Temple of the Nagas, Skullduggery, AuctionX and many more. Even if you just play the basic multiplayer maps, there are many eras to choose from on top of the 6 default factions. The strategies are endless. Many times I've thought I've had a game in the bag when my opponent has launched a desperate charge against my leader and cut him down to win the game.

I'd go further to say that not only is it mod-able, it's not that hard to make mods. Especially with someone like me who has no experience in coding whatsoever, WML isn't that hard to learn, and thus a wide scope of people can make their own mod to their own liking. Different eras, campaigns, MP scenarios/campaigns, anything! With other games it often requires a load of work and decent coding ability/experience, but in Wesnoth it's not the case.

Wesnoth is by far the best TBS game I've played ever.

[Brook]

I'm new here but I'd say the fact that it's free and works on my computer is a huge plus ! I also just got done with my first campaign (A Tale of Two Brothers) and had a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to playing more of this game. I'd also reckon the world the developers created. I had a lot of fun reading the history of Wesnoth, love that kind of stuff. (Also being able to have the game up at the same time while browsing is really nice because the music is good to listen too )

I can't wait to play more

[deadman]

All those reasons are valid but for me that what makes wesnoth shine is its GAMEPLAY

Another feature I think is important for this kind of games is the balance (at least between main factions)

[Spell]

Just to mention it: Wesnoth might be not the only game on which all these points are fitting.

[deadman]

Just to mention it: Wesnoth might be not the only game on which all these points are fitting.

I agree.
But in linux world, we gamers have a hard time to find them...
If you have some suggestion for my platform (ubuntu) I'll be more than happy to hear it

[suvorov]

I would be hard pressed to find another game that had all ten characteristics listed above. In fact, I can't do it. I won't deny that it's possible. But rather than merely raising the possibility, why don't you make any suggestions.

So you have a particular game in mind and if so, which? I think Wesnoth will stand up well in a comparison to any other game in existence.

[IPS]

Wesnoth is an awesome video game.

I love the wesnoth mainly because the lot of differents game what you can play in this game. You can play rpg, default games, Survivals like Oricia, Empire Building games like Gambits Empire Build and many other games.

And you can calculate good how many time you have to play in what maps.

[Herduk]

Just to mention it: Wesnoth might be not the only game on which all these points are fitting.

Should you post some other names?
Even for Windows / Mac / any OS.
Emulators are great today

[IPS]

Yeah, other adventage of wesnoth is you can play regardless of your Opperative System