Scenario 3: Guarded Castle

Feedback for the mainline campaign A Tale of Two Brothers.

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the_revenant
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Post by the_revenant »

1. Easy 1.3.9

2. 3 (the level was easy, but i kept loading due to my high exp units not getting the kills, so not levling)

3. Pretty clear, it took me two turns to realise that it was Arne that had to open the cell, not the soldier who picked up the key

4. clear, plus the password added a nice extra, though i chose to fight for EXP

5. nothing really, the guards defending the keep were rather tedious as they had such high doge chance, but thats acceptable as you're besieging a castle.

6. 8, I love the senarios in this campaign because of their simplicity, not much to know, just good old fasion wesnoth.

7. Erm for realism, perhaps a few more guards for a guarded castle, though for easy that may make things un balanced
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Dwachs
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Dwachs »

ivanovic wrote:(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
(1) easy, 1.2.8
(2) after arriving the first time in this scenario, I replayed the first and second to get more experienced troops. So I came with some L2-fighters and the L3-infanterist, I had enough money and troops to survive, I would say it was easy after all: 3
(3) it was not clear, were Bjarne was hidden
(4) nothing to say here
(5) rotate the troops that the right troops get experience - a luxory problem
(6) 8
(7) nothing - maybe show bjarne hidden somewheree, that arne can go in teh right direction
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Anym
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Anym »

(1) Horseman (Beginner), 1.4, English [US]
(2) 5: Well-balanced, potentially leaning a bit on the easy side if I hadn't been overly thrifty with my gold (which I seemed to have a lot of left over from the previous two scenarios)
(3) Mostly clear, depending on which order you found the key and Bjarne in.
(4) Clear, but still not interesting. Less dialogue means less bad dialogue, so that was welcome. The passwords were are nice idea, but don't work all that well and make the evil henchmen look stupid in a very cliched manner.
(5) The village near the castle's gates was a nice trap for greedy players (that I fell for). Other than, I wasted several turns lugging Arne, who had retreated to a village for healing back to Bjarn's cell. Also, I liked having to be careful when attacking the sorcerer.
(6) 6: The best of the campaign so far. Fun to play and not as painful to read.
(7) The passwords might work better if both passwords were offered in both dialogues. After all, you know two passwords, but not which password is for whom, so that you'd only have a 50% chance of neutralising the first guards, but a 100% chance (if you paid attention the first time, that is) of fooling the second ones (which seems to be more stupid anyway). Regardless of that, it might be worthwhile to have all the options in the multiple choice dialogue start with the same syllable or at least the same letter, to simulate Arne not remembering the password perfectly and rewarding players who paid better attention the first time. I'm not sure those are enough to make the passwords actually interesting, though. Also, I was a bit surprised that after you rode east to a castle lying to the northeast yet arrive to the southeast of it. Maybe the starting location or the dialogue at the end of the previous scenario should be modified to accommodate for that. The dialogues in general could use a rewrite, like in the previous scenarios. Regardless of that, some dialogue seems out of place, for example when Arne kills Rotharik and first says "There's a key in his robes" only to follow it up with "I will take the key" which only works well as dialogue if a unit other than Arne dealt the killing blow (and thus finds the key). Similarly, if you kill Rotharik before having found Bjarn in his cell, updating the objectives to "Move Arne to the cell with his brother to free him" seems out of place, as you don't know for sure if Bjarn is in this castle or even if he's still alive. I suggest a "Find Bjarn" objective if you kill Rotharik before finding Bjarn's cell, just like you get a "Kill the dark sorcerer to get the cellkey" if you find the cell before killing him.
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Turuk
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Turuk »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Challenging 1.4.6

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4. Lost a couple units due to the level 2 orcs, but overall not too hard. I had a number of level 2's and a couple level 3's

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Not too bad, short and to the point. The explanation for the orcish mercenaries could be a bit better, but does not matter too much. Or for why they really captured him.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None really.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5. Nice map, it's interesting to try and push through the orcs/undead at the entrance.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Potentially more enemies, or make it easier for the player to recruit a bit more to make it seem more like an attack on the castle then an easy raid.
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RS14
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by RS14 »

1) Hard, 1.4.
2) 6.
3) Clear.
4) Clear. I forgot the passwords though, and wound up just watching my replay of "The Chase" to get them.
5) Time. I let the Orcish Warriors come outside to meet my troops, so was left with only a few turns to grab the gold, key, and Bjarn.
6) 7.
7) As I noted in my feeback for "The Chase," it would be cool if an Unedead Nil-Galion would appear several turns after the player in this scenario.
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Vainglorious
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Vainglorious »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Easy difficulty, 1.4.7.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
I found them to be very clear and easy to understand.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The storyline and dialogue were very clear. The storyline was fairly interesting. However, as in the first and second scenarios in this campaign, I found the dialogue short/abrupt and simplistic. It's a bit campy and doesn't seem to take itself seriously (see the first two ToTB scenario threads for previous specific dialogue examples).
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The major challenge I faced was the final approach to the evil mage's castle. Since the narrow cave walls created one-hex-wide bottlenecks, it was quite difficult to launch an effective assault while also protecting my units from death. That phase of the scenario reminded me of the 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.
(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?
Only enhancing and extending the dialogue.
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arevelation
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by arevelation »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Hard 1.4.7, (and Easy 1.4.7)
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Hard 7, Easy 1
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
ok, unit who get's key should open the door, not leader.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
good
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
I found it very hard to get past level 2 with units strong enough to get into the caves quickly after replaying numerous times i manged to get a few knights which made level 3 quite easy and level 4 way to easy.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9 short scenario which can be replayed from the start easily to affect the overall strategy in later levels
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Whilst it was a tough challenge on hard i'd like it tougher one still... On hard make the last level tougher on knights, add force use of the mage, who's been away the whole time, perhaps let the mage get kidnapped further into the first mission. Perhaps if leaders were not so weak to long distance charges it would be better, either by giving them more defensive units or surrounding them by horse unfriendly terrain. Mage on level 2 was a bit of a wimp too.
Krellja
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Krellja »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
(1) Easy, 1.6.2
(2) 4
(3) clear
(4) ok
(5) The orcish warriors in the entrance caused some headache.
(6) 6
(7) none. Or maybe the key should go with the unit which killed the boss.
DrPepper8
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by DrPepper8 »

1. 1.6.4, Challenging
2. 8.
3. Clear. The only minor confusion came at the end - when I killed the necromancer, I already had Arne standing next to the cell door, but he wouldn't unlock it until I moved him away and back again.
4. OK. I would have liked to see the elven leader from the previous scenario return as an undead.
5. Getting past the guards at the entrance to the fortress. I had to reload a few times before I figured out a good way of dealing with them (ended up luring out the orc guards one at a time while rotating wounded units into the villages).
6. 9 - I liked the 'storm the castle' concept.
7. I'd have liked the mage to be able to contribute in some way after being rescued - as it is he came across as a bit pathetic, needing to be rescued by his cool older brother who'd managed just fine without him. I know the mage gets to fight in the last scenario, but it still seemed a bit of an unequal contribution from the 2 brothers.
The absence of a healer (I hadn't managed to level Arne to paladin) was annoying at times, particularly when I got deep into the castle away from all the villages.
Joram
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by Joram »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Hard, 1.7.6

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

3- The level 2 orcs came close to doing some big hurt on me, but I had enough footpads that I got through all right (the Footpad seems to be the magic target in this game; useful for meat shields).

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

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The level 2 orcs weren't a big problem after their initial wave.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8- It suffers slightly in comparison to the last one, but it's still fun.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
No changes that I can think of.
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ftl
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by ftl »

ivanovic wrote:(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
1. Easy 1.6.5
2. 5.
3. Clear.
4. Clear, reasonable.
5. Maneuvering with Orcs and Skeletons in cramped passageways. Dealing with no healing in the castle.
6. 7. I liked exploring/invading the castle. The passwords were a very nice touch.
7. Hmm. The castle was very ornate, and had some eye-candy (statues, goblets, etc.) which didn't do anything. Might've been cool to have some more events happen - a secret door, maybe a trap, or something - but then again there were already the passwords for guards and the treasure chest, and having to bring a key to open the cell, so maybe that's enough gimmicks for one scenario.
shadowblack
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Re: Two Brothers: 3. Guarded Castle

Post by shadowblack »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Hard, 1.8.2 (I’ve played it on Easy, too, but I’ll comment only on the Hard version)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Varies between 4 and 7 depending on luck (enemies can cause some serious damage if their attacks hit). Giving the wrong password would probably increase difficulty.

(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 and interesting.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Killing enemies (especially undead) before more enemies arrive. Too many enemies gathered at one place complicates things, especially with the limited space for maneuvering inside the castle.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None.
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Ferox
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Re: Scenario 3: Guarded Castle

Post by Ferox »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Easy, iPhone.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Crystal
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Crystal and 8/10
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None other than investigating the castle.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8.5/10
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Add more detail to the inside.
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Mountain_King
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Re: Scenario 3: Guarded Castle

Post by Mountain_King »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.9.5, Challenging, no recruits, Irish.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
I'm gonna give this a ten. You have to be really fast at killing the orcs before the skeletons come for you.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear as clear can be.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
It was incredible, of course. I really liked the connection between the two dark sorcerers.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Those orcs at the gate. It's really hard to be killing them off, even during the daytime, when your most damaging units only get 40% defense. As I wasn't recruiting, I'm not complaining. I think the scenario took me two or three tries from the beginning before I got it. I lost my leader once toward the end and decided to go back a turn instead redoing of the whole scenario, so sue me. :lol2:
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
I'll say about a five. You basically have to make Arne (oops--Arvith) a paladin to win. He can heal, AND destroy undead.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It'd be kinda nice to have a village to heal myself in while I'm stuck in the castle, but again I'm not complaining as the extra challenge was self-imposed. :D
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Faello
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Re: Scenario 3: Guarded Castle

Post by Faello »

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

Challenging (Knight) - top difficulty level, 1.9.6, no saves/reloads, 214 starting gold

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

8.

It's difficult scenario that requires a good tactic and precise prediction of the dealt&inflited damage. It also requires a strong core of level 2 and (if possible) 3 units from the previous scenarios. There's not much of villages to recruit reinforcements and heal the troops and time restriction on killing the Rotharik (Dark Sorcerer) is also quite tight. Rotharik doesn't have much gold at the beginning but he doesn't need it. He has strong defensive force of bandits that can hurt player easily if not dealt with precision. Rotharik can also pop a lot of reinforements if Rogue from bandit reinforcements will go for some neutral villages in the (W) part of the map instead of going after player troops. I had to restart several times after losing loyal veteran unit. Finished it in turn 23/24(30 - after killing Rotharik, player gets additional 6 turns)

5 losses, 30 kills in this one.

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

Quite clear, player gets information from Baran that a key that Rotharik has is rquired to open his cell, but, considering time restriction, this might be painful way to get informed about a necessity of killig the Rotharik.

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


It's well written, dialogs are excellent, but storyline gets a bit watered at this point. Why was Baran so important to be captured anyway? He doesn't give any information about it when rescued.

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

Keeping my veteran loyal units alive. It was very difficult, Couple of times risk of losing one was quite probable.

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

7.

It's a difficult scenario that allows player to train some skills like regaining initiative in combat, fighting in unfavourable ToD, being undergunned and not knowing what he has to face next. Still, a bit too much depends on the RNG factor (3/3 or 4/4 from enemy unit can really hurt you in this scenario). Thus 7 not 8.

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

Add a village or 2 on players side to make sure he won't be out of cannon fodder ^_^

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Yes, I had to restart this scenario several times because of losing my loyal units due to the RNG or bad positioning.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?

I've encountered some WML error in this scenario. Nothing serious, but campaign creators can look into it.

Replay attached:
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Guarded Castle replay, Challenging (Knight) difficulty level, 1.9.6, no saves/reloads
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