Scenario 4: Return to the Village

[Remellion]

1. Played on Grand Knight (Challenging), 1.15.14. (Also numerous times before on 1.5, 1.6 and 1.8 and 1.12.)

2. A difficulty of 3 maybe. Of course this is biased - I had 8 level 2s, 2 level 3s units and the knowledge of where to go and what to do. For those new to this campaign or to Wesnoth, the fog and mysterious objective (what village?) would be the difficulties I imagine. Certainly not the impoverished orc (200 gold). Is it just me or does the orc recruit more gobbos now? Those are annoying and more numerous.

3. Objectives are not clear. Once the orc leader is found, killing him is obvious. But the initial one ("Find out what is happening in the village") is vague. The village in front of the starting keep? Or "just across those hills" (Arvith's initial dialogue) which to me suggests the orcs' encampment rather than the loyalists. Maybe mention somewhere in the dialogue that the village is further north, or indicate it to the player through the fog.

4. Dialogue is not much, but sufficient to indicate the story. The initial dialogue and objective can be confusing (village? Men coming forward?) but the story is clear. Also the overall plot in the campaign is written pretty well stylistically, just that some parts seem weaker (motives of the elves, relationship between undead and orcs.)

5. Challenges: My play was quite silly. I almost let Arvith die getting surprised out of the fog on turn 3, and could maybe have lost fewer units by being careful. It sufficed anyway. If the orcs had more gold/income, or concentrated all their units on me, it may have been harder.

6. Funnishness is 6 for me. An actually slightly dangerous enemy and fog of war to make it harder, even if it is still ultimately a short scenario.

7. Improvements for me would concern clarifying the objective, and making it more likely to talk to Reeve before the scenario ends. Send a messenger from Reeve (Bowman? Calvalryman?) down to the player at the start, or in the first few turns. As it is, it's possible for the player to go over the hills and slay the orc without ever seeing the village with Reeve dying quietly behind the fog.

[mal_shubertal]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.16.2 Challenging
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I like the story coming full circle with the exact same orc showing up to give the mage brother a chance for redemption.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Trying to keep the allied leader alive. I know you don't NEED to do that, but it just makes me feel bad to leave him out to dry!
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6. Again, I like how the player gets options to make it easier or harder for themselves. I tried playing through by keeping the enemy leader alive, which required much better time management in the earlier turns. I also like the option for different directions to approach the enemy keep from.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I like it as is

[HenryY2020]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.16.9 Challenging
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I like the story coming full circle with the exact same orc showing up to give the mage brother a chance for redemption.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8 if you play somewhat aggressively. 6 otherwise.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I like it as is

[JL42]

What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?

v. 1.16.10
Grand Knight / Challenging

How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

1 – Having to keep your ally alive would make it more like a 3 difficulty, but that is not required. If the player arrives without any level 2 units then it would be harder, but that seems unlikely.

The difficulty level of this final map was much, much lower compared to the first two maps of the campaign, which feels a bit weird and unbalanced. I mean, here it's basically lvl. 2 vs. lvl. 2, and you have a helpful ally, good terrain, and straightforward enemies. It's enjoyable but really a cakewalk. Even if you only had level 1 troops it would still be viable. In contrast, the first two maps are your lvl. 1 units vs. their lvl 1 and 2 units, with swarming and flanking enemies that have drain, poison, magical attacks, and complex resistances, in awkward terrain that puts you at a disadvantage. Those earlier maps are really the problem that needs solving.

For the current scenario, perhaps just give slightly more gold-over-time to both the enemy orcs *and* the ally (while still limiting the ally to level 1 units) in order to make the battle a bit more challenging for the player.

How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Reasonably clear. I agree with some other comments that it would benefit from dialogue that better points to the ally's location ("We need to head to the north and find Reeve Hoban!")

How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Meh. It provided a reasonable wrap-up for the story, and I was glad that Baran got to redeem himself. This one had the fewest dialogue problems of all of this campaign's scenarios, but it still could benefit from better prose. The main issue here is that the characters and setting throughout the campaign are so thin and under-developed that we don't really care about their drama.

What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

None. The only thing that provided any risk at all here was Reeve Hoban charging out of his keep and getting himself killed; and it's not even actually necessary that he stays alive to win.

How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

6 – This was the most enjoyable map in the campaign, mostly because the terrain was set up in an interesting fashion and the novelty of working with an allied faction. It's a small and simple map, but well-done overall. Provided good opportunities for my horsemen and Baran to work in the plains while swordsmen and outlaws held the flank along the mountains.

What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

The overall terrain and layout here are solid. Perhaps just make it a bit more challenging by giving both the enemy and the ally more gold over time. I think if the ally were spamming a lot more lvl 1 or even lvl 0 units (Peasants), against a slightly stronger enemy, then it would make the field of battle seem fiercer and more involved.

About the Overall Campaign:

New players are directed to this one right after the tutorial. But I don't think it works very well as an "Intro" campaign, at least not in its current form. The first couple of maps are awkward and frustrating, effective combat requires an extensive knowledge of game mechanics, and the storyline is decidedly blah. There's basically nothing in the way of explanatory dialogue or introduction to the units and the game setting, as can be found in Heir to the Throne. The characters and context don't have much depth to draw people in. If this was my first introduction I would not come away with a very good impression of Wesnoth as a whole. It makes sense to have a short-and-simple campaign as the first one, but this just isn't it.

The campaign could benefit from extensive text rewriting to provide better narrative and more explanation of the units for beginners. Give that task to whoever wrote The South Guard or Heir to the Throne, both of which are much better in that regard. I also think some adjustment to the first two maps to provide simpler, more defensible terrain and more straightforward challenges (different enemy units) would be useful. Should note that I'm playing it on the harder difficulty (does anyone actually play on easy?), so that could possibly affect the unit distribution, but it doesn't affect the terrain or writing.

In its current form I have to give the campaign just 1 out of 5 stars. I would nudge beginners toward starting with Heir to the Throne, or maybe The South Guard, rather than this one.

[devavrata]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?

Battle for Wesnoth 1.8.3, Easy
Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.2, Hard

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

3

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Clear, not that interesting.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

Having units being poisoned by assassins - but then, there were plenty villages to heal them.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

6

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

It is a good scenario for beginners.

About the whole campaign:
Good scenario for beginners. Not difficult, introduces a lot of races, makes good use of the different terrain types, provides villages for healing, good map design. Simple plot, text too long.

[BlueMan2903]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Horseman - 1.18.2

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Pretty clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
In the intro we finally know what the hell happened in Toen Caric: Baran was a dick and got his men killed. In my humble opinion, it would have felt more natural if Arvith was more than just slightly annoyed in the first scenario, if this is what happened and caused them to drift apart.
But now they're back together and everything is good. A little too cheesy for my taste.

Then we learn the big reveal: the orc warlord ordered the kidnapping of Baran because he's the one who scarred him back at Toen Caric. What a wasted opportunity...
This reveal falls flat because the player is not invested in something that didn't happen on the screen but rather took place prior to the campaign. The only characters we see constantly throughout the few scneraios are the two brothers, therefore an impactful plot-twist would have been something that deeply affects them! Like a betrayal, a fatal injury, a big secret revealed, etc...

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
I liked how the mountains presented a nice maneuvering challenge, paired with the Orc Overload and his scary damage stats.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I really liked the fact that in this scenario we have some allies, thus making each scenario in the campaign very unique and interesting.
The big reveal fell very flat for me, so I would definitely change that into something more emotionally impactful.

P.S.
I would love to help out with improving this campaign!