1.18 SP Campaign - A Tale of Two Brothers, Sire's Rework

[Sire]

Notice: I am not affiliated with the mainline team or any of the ongoing campaign reworks. This campaign was simply made on a whim, and serves as an alternative telling of the existing story.
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This is the general feedback thread for A Tale of Two Brothers, Sire's Rework. You can download the latest version using Battle for Wesnoth's Add-On Server using the 1.18 branch.
-- For the latest information on this campaign, such as changelogs, please check the latest posts.

The campaign is considered complete. Bug fixes and balance tweaks will be made if needed, but otherwise no further work is planned.
-- If this version is desired to make mainline, feel free to create a copy and make whatever modifications are desired. However, I will likely keep this version separate on the Add-On server.

= = = = = Description = = = = =

A retelling of the story of A Tale of Two Brothers. I have remade the campaign from scratch and tried to remain faithful to its original story. While the number of scenarios are the same, the story and setting has been expanded.

There's honestly not much else to say since AToTB already exists, so if you played that, you should know what to expect.

At any rate, I hope you enjoy my take on AToTB!

[Sire]

Version 1.1.0 has been uploaded to the Add-On server! Of note, the final scenario has been made more difficult by an increase in enemy gold as well an an addition of a new enemy faction.
-- This was done as the final scenario was deemed to be "too easy/basic," and it didn't really land the hype for being a final battle. Hopefully this change will make the finale more climatic and enjoyable of a scenario!

As an aside, I have only personally tested the campaign on Normal difficulty. I hope Easy is suitable for new players, while Hard provides an acceptable challenge for Wesnoth veterans. As always, any and all comments/feedback are welcomed!

Version 1.1.0 Changelog
-- Scenario 2 now has a more detailed note about the Elf Leader's death.
-- Scenario 3 now has a note explaining how the two map sections work.
-- Scenario 4 is now harder on all difficulties.
=== A new enemy has been added to Scenario 4.
=== Fixed a bug where Baran would say his lines when Arvith attacked.

[fishrose]

Excited to try this!

[holypaladin]

That's a nice rework of classic story. I would give leadership for Arvith and replace Brena's foolish behavior.

[fishrose]

I played this and enjoyed it a lot! Personally, I prefer this reworked version over the current mainline one. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to write detailed feedback because life got in the way; but I still remember many of the key impressions

I liked the more well-defined/recognizable personality for Arvith. His younger brother was comparatively less memorable -- probably because we don't spend as much time with him -- but the contrast between the brothers made them memorable as a pair.

I also really enjoyed exploring the map. It was obviously done with care, and many of the details around the brothers' village were excellent for both thematic and gameplay purposes. For example:

Spoiler:

The secret garden was a cute little spot, and the fact that it was close to the lighthouse was (intentionally or otherwise) thematically interesting to me. The way the battlefield was set up during the final battle necessitated fighting on two fronts with units moving between them, which highlighted the "Two Brothers" theme.

There were a few jarring or silly moments that stuck with me, for which I have these suggestions:

1. In the first scenario, I remember being all hyped up for Arvith to show his men how to take down a ghoul. He had very robust dialogue with much bravado, so I was under the impression that he would have a special advantage against ghouls -- or at least a guaranteed hit for the first charge. As it turned out, he had neither and missed all of his charges while getting hit hard in return. It wasn't a big issue for gameplay, but did elicit big eye rolls from me lol.

Suggestion: give Arvith guaranteed hit for his charge against the first ghoul, so that he would actually succeed in showing his men "how it's done".

2. Dialogues were sometimes triggered without visibility of the person speaking. For example, a key enemy unit in the northwest corner of an early scenario was guarded by two undeads at a river crossing; dialogue with this enemy unit was triggered upon sighting the undead guards, but I had no idea where the speaker was. In the final scenario, the southeast leader also began to speak without the player being given visibility.

Suggestion: grant area visibility around the speaker whenever dialogues are triggered.

3. The entrance to the Dark Sanctuary could become blocked. On my first attempt at that scenario, I spent too much time exploring the (excellently made) map. As a result, enemy units started coming out of the sanctuary. Since there was a single teleport tile, it was not possible to strike enemy units without entering the sanctuary, but it was also not possible to enter the sanctuary while an enemy unit stood on the destination tile. This meant that I had to wait for each enemy unit to come out on their own, resulting in many wasted turns and ultimately caused me to have to restart the scenario.

Suggestion: unsure -- perhaps prevent enemy units from stepping directly on the teleport tile within the sanctuary? Or perhaps a larger teleport area?

4. The many flavour dialogues (triggered by stepping on different map features) were great! The triggers themselves, however, were sometimes easy to miss, as they were all one tile in size.

Suggestion: bigger trigger areas for flavour dialogues, so that players wouldn't miss them.

[Sire]

I played this and enjoyed it a lot! Personally, I prefer this reworked version over the current mainline one. Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to write detailed feedback because life got in the way; but I still remember many of the key impressions

Apologies for the late reply, been feeling rather unwell lately. That aside, I'm glad you enjoyed the campaign!

As for the suggestions...
1. Arvith vs Ghoul
-- Hmm, I could try to raise the Hit Chance for Arvith, or make it a guaranteed hit as described. A part of me wonders how this will impact Hard Difficulty, although I could just have the set chance on Normal and Easy.

2. Dialogues and Invisible Speakers
-- I personally don't mind the "hidden speakers," and revealing their locations would somewhat impact some of the Fog of War/Shroud gameplay.
-- That said, I probably could do it for Scenario Two as he's right there already. The fourth scenario will likely remain hidden.

3. Dark Sanctuary - Block Problems
-- This is a difficult issue indeed. In the end I decided to try and expand the entrance (two more keep tiles that go above and below the interior entrance/exit tile).

4. Flavour Dialogue Triggers
-- The flavour dialogues are typically triggered wherever there are "named locations/map labels" on the map. So, in the first map, going to the "Southern Farmsteads" tile will trigger the extra fluff dialogue. Otherwise, I'm not sure how they will be missed.
-- The only real exception to this (off the top of my head) is Scenario Three with some two bonus books that can be read.

Once again, thank you for playing through the campaign! Hopefully I'll be able to put out the minor update sooner rather than later.

[Sire]

It's been way, way too long, but the new patch has finally arrived! You can obtain it off of the 1.18 Add-Ons Server!
-- As an aside, any feedback on the gameplay and story are still appreciated, especially on Hard Mode!

Version 1.2.0a
-- Scenario 1, Arvith now properly shows off if he fights the Ghoul/Necrophage.
-- Scenario 2, Bug Fix for Elves as they didn't have Ambush on Hard Difficulty.
-- Scenario 3 now has an expanded entrance to Mordak's sanctum (three tiles instead of one).

[Konrad2]

Replays for everyone

[holypaladin]

Bug sighted in 1st scenario. If Arvith come too late there is no defeat even if Barran already died

[Sire]

Bug sighted in 1st scenario. If Arvith come too late there is no defeat even if Barran already died

Not sure what version you are on, but the one I have no such bug exists.

I tested this using debug (remove shroud, remove fog, kill Baran, defeat occurs). I also just ran the game without moving Arvith, and when Baran died on Turn 8, it gave the standard game over.

Do you have a replay of this?