Soldier of Wesnoth: SP Campaign (Feedback and Reviews)

[ahmannar]

I have already finished this campaign on 1.11.5, with the mid difficulty(forgot the name and i don´t have acess to wesnoth right now), and i must say that it´s one of the best i have ever played, so congratilations for that(by the way, sorry for the huge post that i am going to make xD).
I don´t know the exact number of scenarios where this happened but sometimes, at the beggining, my starting units have the movement points and health from the previous one. It happened in quite a few of them but i don´t know exactly where, as i have finished this a few days ago.
Also, while most scenarios are very well done(which is a huge task for a campaign with so many of them), there is a bunch of them that i think you could improve:
- in the first scenario, there´s too much luck involved in the beggining with the 2 wolf riders and the goblin(took me many times until i could manage it). It would be plausible that the daughter of a baron would have more guards while she was so far away and in the middle of a time of violence like this;
-in the third scenario, the necromancer gets attacked by me and the orcs at the same time(while having the same gold as them, more or less), which makes him easily defetead in 2 turns, at most. This makes the scenario too much easy;
-in the seventh scenario(the one after the escape from the griffin mountain) the same problem occurs. The elves get attacked by undead, me and the rogue mages, which makes beating them so easy(a similar problem from the third scenario) and i feel that this wasn´t your objective at all;
-the tenth scenario(the first commanding the death-bringer) is just too easy. A couple of swordsman and healers on the back are enough to counter the enemy attack with no casualties and no difficulty or strategy;
-while i liked very much going through the lich level(the one where the enemy is morgan past lover), walking all the way to the bottom was just so slow and the amount of enemies was so high that it just feels clustered and chaotic. This feature is the main feature of the level, but i think that it goes for far too long(considering the huge map);
-i am little biased on this one, but the cave level after facing the khalifate for the first time could be smaller and still have the same feeling. Right now it is similar to the lich level(but easier) and they are very close to each other, which makes it even more obvious;
- the 3 levels in the nortlands are too easy and/or right now. The first one sends to you just a couple of weak undead in small waves(which are no match at this stage of the game). The second one has almost no enemies(which you also recognize in the first turn) and could be easily passed with the starting units. The third one, while having a good premise, has a huge map and nothing happening on it for a long time while also having so many bottlenecks that slow it even more. A open battle with mal-keshar army would be so much more enjoyable than this right now;
- and at last, i think that you give too many reinforcements to the player on the last fight with the kalifathe. The number of units and allies that i had at this point was unnecessarily huge for this fight and made the scenario trivial;
About the story, i only have a problem with 2 things:
- The first one is that the levels outside wesnoth(the three ones i talked before) feel out of place right now. You face an enemy that is well know to have a grudge against orcs, in a area without orcs at all for a long range. I know that you portrayed him as having gone insane, but it feels awkard and just an excuse to put mal-keshar in this campaign. I feel it would be better if you integrated him more in the story, rather than "another evil one just because we need more of them".
- In the epilogue you mention that the akladians rule wesnoth currently and that someone is telling this story. Is it really necessary to introduce them at the last minute? I felt like being slapped with a glove because, after spending so much time with a great campaign, it ends with someone telling me that wesnoth was conquered but that we should learn from the actions of people like the protagonist of this campaign. It feels kinda rushed and out of place.
I apologize if i sound too harsh. Remember that only someone that liked your work would waste so many time writing this. I can give more details about my playtrough in the future if you wish(and sorry for my english, i am not a native speaker).

[revansurik]

Well, ahmannar, first of all: thanks for playing my campaign! I really don't find it tiresome to read such long posts, I actually enjoy very much reading detailed opinions on my stories
Now, to the comments...

- in the first scenario, there´s too much luck involved in the beggining with the 2 wolf riders and the goblin(took me many times until i could manage it). It would be plausible that the daughter of a baron would have more guards while she was so far away and in the middle of a time of violence like this;
-in the third scenario, the necromancer gets attacked by me and the orcs at the same time(while having the same gold as them, more or less), which makes him easily defetead in 2 turns, at most. This makes the scenario too much easy;
-in the seventh scenario(the one after the escape from the griffin mountain) the same problem occurs. The elves get attacked by undead, me and the rogue mages, which makes beating them so easy(a similar problem from the third scenario) and i feel that this wasn´t your objective at all;

Um, I didn't had much problem when I played scenario 1, but only because I sent Addra to fight the riders alongside the cavalryman - but maybe I should add another one, or 2 spearman instead; I just didn't want Elywen's guards to follow the couple across the woods.
In the third scenario, the necromancer is never supposed to be strong - after all, he's still a mere Dark Adept, but if it was too easy, then I may change it a little... And in the seventh, I did made the undead side stronger (with more gold); also, I thought that the elves, using only druids and archers, would be quite vulnerable to the revenants and necrophages, but I may have underestimated them

-the tenth scenario(the first commanding the death-bringer) is just too easy. A couple of swordsman and healers on the back are enough to counter the enemy attack with no casualties and no difficulty or strategy;
-while i liked very much going through the lich level(the one where the enemy is morgan past lover), walking all the way to the bottom was just so slow and the amount of enemies was so high that it just feels clustered and chaotic. This feature is the main feature of the level, but i think that it goes for far too long(considering the huge map);
-i am little biased on this one, but the cave level after facing the khalifate for the first time could be smaller and still have the same feeling. Right now it is similar to the lich level(but easier) and they are very close to each other, which makes it even more obvious;

The tenth scenario is more like an excuse for the player to get more xp, I admit; I didn't want to offer a huge challenge as the Death-Bringer's first battle, because I didn't want the player to lose too many units too soon - after all, no new units can be recruited, and some of the following scenarios (such as the first standoff with Arslan and The Price of Loyalty) are a bit 'hardcore'
The map size for scenarios 14 and 16 is intentional, for they represent the vastness of the places they're visiting. I think the real problem there could be mobility: maybe if I add more clearings and flat paths to them they won't be so slow.

- the 3 levels in the nortlands are too easy and/or right now. The first one sends to you just a couple of weak undead in small waves(which are no match at this stage of the game). The second one has almost no enemies(which you also recognize in the first turn) and could be easily passed with the starting units. The third one, while having a good premise, has a huge map and nothing happening on it for a long time while also having so many bottlenecks that slow it even more. A open battle with mal-keshar army would be so much more enjoyable than this right now;
- and at last, i think that you give too many reinforcements to the player on the last fight with the kalifathe. The number of units and allies that i had at this point was unnecessarily huge for this fight and made the scenario trivial;

The truth is, I was a bit traumatized by the complaints against a scenario from my first campaign, one called The Wilderness, where I used the unit spamming technique in such ay that the scenario got annoyingly hard, so I reduced the number of units spawning in The Wolf of Lake Vrug; but maybe if I spawn many skeletons and necrophages instead of ghost it won't get so hard...
The second Northlands scenario is only there to avoid walls of text, actually; it is very like The Sceptre of Fire's Searching for the Runemaster, I think, its only goal is to find the sage, so I didn't think it worthwhile to send many enemy units against the player.
As for scenario Descent Into Darkness... I admit that the clash with the undead takes too long to happen, and I will solve that too, but I liked the idea of fighting on bridges over a bottomless abyss; but ok, maybe I should add more bridges then, to avoid too many bottlenecks
In the last scenario, it's true that the player receives many reinforcements, but did you see the size of Arslan's army? Besides, when I played the only reinforcements that were truly helpful were Vortern Decthor's and Vennyn's ghost army (I'll let you guess which fantasy saga this moment parodies )

- The first one is that the levels outside wesnoth(the three ones i talked before) feel out of place right now. You face an enemy that is well know to have a grudge against orcs, in a area without orcs at all for a long range. I know that you portrayed him as having gone insane, but it feels awkard and just an excuse to put mal-keshar in this campaign. I feel it would be better if you integrated him more in the story, rather than "another evil one just because we need more of them".

Well, at the end of his campaign, Mal Keshar loses himself inside the northern caves, and is constantly harassed by outsiders - not only orcs, but also humans, elves and dwarves - so I thought it would be normal for him to one day re-emerge in the middle of the Heart Mountains. Also, I was thinking about the (non-canon) Future History, which tells that Mal Keshar leaves the Northern Alliance in ruins; I thought that his emergence near Gorlac's town could be a prelude to that event.

- In the epilogue you mention that the akladians rule wesnoth currently and that someone is telling this story. Is it really necessary to introduce them at the last minute? I felt like being slapped with a glove because, after spending so much time with a great campaign, it ends with someone telling me that wesnoth was conquered but that we should learn from the actions of people like the protagonist of this campaign. It feels kinda rushed and out of place.
I apologize if i sound too harsh. Remember that only someone that liked your work would waste so many time writing this. I can give more details about my playtrough in the future if you wish(and sorry for my english, i am not a native speaker).

Again I was taking into consideration another UMC campaign, in this case A New Order, which deals with the Akladian invasion, and which timeline is considered by many as semi-canon. However, I didn't think knowing that the story was being narrated by a person from the Akladian days would be so shocking; after all, (I think) we all have already saved Wesnoth from so many evils only to see it utterly destroyed in Under the Burning Suns

[Paulomat4]

In the last scenario, it's true that the player receives many reinforcements, but did you see the size of Arslan's army?

I can only confirm ahmannar said. Arslan could have gotten reinforcements worth 2000 gold another time, and it wouldn't have made any difference. In the end, the undead, elensefar and the northern alliance didn't even fight in my case.

[gooby]

You are probably already be aware of this but in "Soldier of Wesnoth" events are not triggered robustly.

I had to approach Oweor a certain way in order to have the dialogue. Also, previously I had explored the northern battle ground before the right time and could not continue.

[revansurik]

I had to approach Oweor a certain way in order to have the dialogue. Also, previously I had explored the northern battle ground before the right time and could not continue.

How did you have to approach him? As for the northern battleground, going there before the right time simply does not trigger the scenario's final fight, what prevented you from continuing?

[gooby]

How did you have to approach him?

From the northern passage leading to that place.

As for the northern battleground, going there before the right time simply does not trigger the scenario's final fight, what prevented you from continuing?

I believe it's because I unshrouded the area by visiting it first then getting upgraded to Royal Guard afterwards, before returning.

Also I find The Heart in the Darkness very difficult.

[revansurik]

From the northern passage leading to that place.

Well, you should be able to talk to Oweor coming from any direction... maybe by coming from the starting room you just have to get closer to him for that

I believe it's because I unshrouded the area by visiting it first then getting upgraded to Royal Guard afterwards, before returning.

Strange... I'll try it myself, and see what is happening...

Also I find The Heart in the Darkness very difficult.

I'm going to add another white mage to the Death-bringer in the next release... But for now, in case you haven't used this strategy, try this: keep the soldiers close together, surrounding your mages (if you still have them); knights are good against woses, and Orofarnië is a tank, he can take lots of impact damage before you have to withdraw him; and use Moran's leadership and Ceomyr's inspire to strengthen your soldiers. Also, remember that you don't have to go after the wose and fairy leaders

[gooby]

We'll see. In the mean time I am starting "The Reward of Loyalty" as lvl 0.

Wat.

[revansurik]

Did the previous scenario, The Beast of the Aethenwood, end right after the initial dialogue? If it did, restart it one or two times, and it should work properly - and you will start The Price of Loyalty at the level you were

[gooby]

Did the previous scenario, The Beast of the Aethenwood, end right after the initial dialogue? If it did, restart it one or two times, and it should work properly - and you will start The Price of Loyalty at the level you were

Will do but that's not entirely satisfactory...

EDIT - Now I have started with 2 gold.

[Crow_T]

In the first scenario I got a bunch of errors:

Spoiler:

Also I made a peasant sprite you can use if you want to, no animations though:
http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 30#p557029

*one last thing, the Lady says "bottle of water," you may want to change that to "quench my thirst" or "drink of water", no bottled water back then

[Adamant14]

In the first scenario I got a bunch of errors:

Because ID and NAME are equal.

Code: Select all

    [attacks]
        id=shock
        name= _ "shock"

Change one of them and the error message is gone (change it for all your custom abilities).

I spend a lot of time because of these "error' messages.

Related topic: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=39031

[revansurik]

In the first scenario I got a bunch of errors:

I'm already aware of these, I will correct them for the next release However, though these messages show up, the abilities themselves work just fine, right?

*one last thing, the Lady says "bottle of water," you may want to change that to "quench my thirst" or "drink of water", no bottled water back then

Um, well thought...

As for the peasant sprite, it's cool, but it doesn't fit Addra: he's blond and has no beard, while the sprite has brown hair and (apparently) a beard

[marecki]

Hey, you made a new campaign! I really need to check this forum more often, I can finally play some Wesnoth again.
I'm a few scenarios in (up until Return to Kerlath) and I really like it so far, more than SoF even in terms of dialogue and story.
-some bugs have already been reported, like repeating goblin-kill dialogue in the first mission, or Meranoic and Rhur disappearing in Soul of the Kingdom,
-similarly, if Liryn gets defeated in the mock battle, he does not show up in the next scenario. Also, both Liryn and Gomyr retain their mock battle experience, even though all other Death-bringer units start from scratch. I assume that's a bug as well,
-like one of the other posters here, I didn't like the rng with goblin and wolf riders at the very beginning,
-the 40% gold carryover in Frontier Skirmish is somewhat misleading, given that the next scenario is "empty" (dialogue only) and has no carryover whatsoever. People might play differently depending on whether they have to save gold, or go all out with recruitment.

Other than that it's been smooth sailing for now. The difficulty feels right: while some parts are a bit on the easy side (Rogue Mages, or Road Rumble), others are more difficult than your average "intermediate" campaign (Howling Heights). I'm pretty sure there's at least one scenario ahead which will make me feel like strangling someone in frustration and cursing your name.

The truth is, I was a bit traumatized by the complaints against a scenario from my first campaign, one called The Wilderness

[revansurik]

I'm a few scenarios in (up until Return to Kerlath) and I really like it so far, more than SoF even in terms of dialogue and story.

By SoF you mean Sceptre of Fire or A Song of Fire...?
PS.: If you can wait a little, I'm updating SoW to 1.0.1 today, with many bugs corrected and some map modifications; I just want to replay the three last scenarios

-the 40% gold carryover in Frontier Skirmish is somewhat misleading, given that the next scenario is "empty" (dialogue only) and has no carryover whatsoever. People might play differently depending on whether they have to save gold, or go all out with recruitment.

Um, good point...

Other than that it's been smooth sailing for now. The difficulty feels right: while some parts are a bit on the easy side (Rogue Mages, or Road Rumble), others are more difficult than your average "intermediate" campaign (Howling Heights). I'm pretty sure there's at least one scenario ahead which will make me feel like strangling someone in frustration and cursing your name.

No "Fires of Hope" here, sorry (BTW, I've made that scenario and also The Wilderness less save-loading dependent in the latest version of ASoF:-D )