Scenario Review: DiD 8 - A Small Favor - Part II

Feedback for the mainline campaign Descent into Darkness.

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Mawmoocn
Posts: 154
Joined: March 16th, 2019, 3:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 8 - A Small Favor - Part II

Post by Mawmoocn »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

1.14.13, Summoner (Difficult)

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

9

(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?

Interesting, his "master" probably killed his former colleague or ""master"".
I didn't get all easter eggs on this replay because mages are powerful. It's still fun!

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
  • Trying to get no Bat killed but that didn't work because I got unlucky on killing Lord Karres and some Dread Bats died.
    ...but at this replay I probably shouldn't sacrifice that intelligent Blood Bat because I messed up on planning my bat attack there. Malin sacrificed his intelligence
  • Killing Mages can be hard. I needed to lure on a spacious room to kill them quick.
  • Letting his "master" kill Karres so I have no blood in my hands.
  • Keeping Malin or his "master" at full hitpoints.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

9

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

Bigger, better, extravagant rooms! (I'm joking :lol:)
None

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
  • Dread Bat and Blood Bat deaths.
  • Trying to make Lord Karres attack Malin or his "master" so I could easily kill him like I did before on 1.12.6. That didn't work.
  • Trying to view all easter eggs in one replay but .... didn't work because Lord Karres is hard to kill due to him killing my bats .....
  • Shock Trooper pursuers.... Swordsman is close because my damage is lower than what I can drain.
  • Saving that Walking Corpse.
The reason it got harder is because of no sacrifices.

It's also weird that the melee units inside the rooms don't move, unless your in their range.

I attached two replays and I think it's possible to just kill Lord Karres but that's really so hard without losses that I gave up due to the next scenario that made it impossible not to kill anyone.
Attachments
DiD-A Small Favor — Part 2 replay.gz
(24.58 KiB) Downloaded 223 times
DiD-A Small Favor — Part 2 replay the no kill possibillity.gz
Unused branch and how it may be possible to just kill Lord Karres
(20.02 KiB) Downloaded 241 times
mal_shubertal
Posts: 93
Joined: December 1st, 2018, 6:58 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 8 - A Small Favor - Part II

Post by mal_shubertal »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.16.6 Summoner (challenging)
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5. tricky to figure out how to kill mages before they could kill your units.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear. I agree with the earlier comment it would be better to add some turns to your turn limit after you kill the mage and your objective changes to escaping, but I was not pressed for time so it didn't matter for me.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
filler.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
positioning units just right so that they could take out mages in a single turn after a door was opened.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
There is some novelty to the 'hunting' aspect of opening rooms searching for the mage, but the strategy for each room is basically identical: rush in with high damage melee units, follow up with skirmishers to hopefully finish off the mage, pray you don't die on the counterattack. It might be better if there was more variety to the rooms, so you would have to use different strategies.
It's also interesting how many items and easter eggs there are throughout the rooms, but as far as I can tell, none of them do anything mechanically, which is a let down. It would be better if they fit together into some kind of puzzles/buffs, like in the revamped A Haunting In Winter. Like the ankh could give one of your units temporary resistance to arcane damage, a red potion could give resistance to fire damage, etc. That would encourage some strategy in deciding how to distribute these items to your units to take out the different varieties of mages. The crystal balls could let you peek into other rooms you haven't opened yet so that you can prepare for them, etc.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
none.
Attachments
DiD-A Small Favor — II replay 20230112-184201.gz
(30.46 KiB) Downloaded 52 times
JL42
Posts: 66
Joined: December 9th, 2023, 11:19 am

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 8 - A Small Favor - Part II

Post by JL42 »

What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
v. 1.16.10
Summoner / Challenging
How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7
How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
The main objectives are reasonably clear, but this scenario suffers from a common problem in Wesnoth – it doesn't tell you exactly where you need to move to win. The general area is clear, but the exact trigger tile isn't shown. This means the player can accidentally end the scenario early even if you wanted to keep fighting for XP. Even worse, if you've gotten into position near the exit and are waiting as your units continue to fight, then you may find you've misjudged the distance and end up losing on the last turn because you can't make it to the win-spot. Or if you're planning to break off from the fight and run for the exit, it's the same problem; you can easily misjudge it because you don't know where exactly you need to end up. This is obviously quite annoying. The map should show the specific victory tile(s).

Beyond that, it was a bit distracting and exhausting to have to evaluate all the extensive map-clutter with different units to see if there are any secondary objectives. (And then restart so as not to waste moves.) Wesnoth really needs a better way to distinguish between what is a point of interest and what is just decoration.

There is one item in this map that gives a resistance bonus to Malin, but there is no notification of this at all, so the player could easily miss it even if they did visit that location with that specific unit. At a minimum it needs to add one of those floating-text thingies similar to the monoliths to show when you get the bonus.
How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The overall story continues to be excellent. But some of the specific aspects in this scenario are a bit confusing. First of all, it's supposed to be good mages that live here, right? But the whole setup of the manor is weird, like they've been conducting some kind of dark ritual with orbs that speak of shattering reality and blood and pestilence and such. Then there's the empty chests, and the room with the torn-up dress and wedding ring. It's kind of creepy. Then, Lady Karae pops out and it sounds like she knows Darken, or they have some kind of history. And then that's it, we just move on without any further explanation. It seems like Malin should at least ask him about it, "It sounded like she knew you ...." And some kind of explanation for why there is all this weird stuff in the manor?
What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The enemy mages are really dangerous, and you're fighting in narrow corridors so there's less opportunity to focus them down before they can attack. Plus you don't have any healing. The time factor can become a real problem as well if you play too cautiously. I had Malin with the plague sword, which helps a lot in creating sacrificial/distraction units, plus I also had a fair number of leveled undead, so it wasn't too bad. If the player comes in here without a strong army I could see it being very hard.
How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5 – It's a cool scenario overall, but the serious clutter issue, and confusion about what's going on, plus losing on the last turn due to the victory tile not being shown, all bumped it down a bit in my estimation.
What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Gameplay aspects seem well-balanced. Needs a clear victory tile, better explanation about what's going on in the manor, and if possible better distinction between purely decorative items vs. points of interest.

---------------
About the Overall Campaign:

I was a bit conflicted about how to rate this campaign, because it has some elements that are just completely epically awesome, but other elements that are still glitchy and frustrating. The best parts are the overall story with its nuance and moral complexity, the final scenario concept, and the unique leveling system. A lot of the maps seem to have improved since the last time I played, with more interesting terrain and tactics and new "special objectives"; those changes seem generally great. On the downside though, the implementation of the leveling system has some confusing and frustrating aspects, some of the writing is not up to the story's overall standards, and there are numerous minor glitches, poorly placed objectives, confusing descriptions and events, confusing map clutter, etc. To avoid repetition I'll put the details of leveling issues etc. into the last scenario thread. Overall I'm going to give the campaign 5 out of 5 stars, because I think its awesomeness outweighs the lingering problems. But, it could definitely still benefit from patching up in places.
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