South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Feedback for the mainline campaign The South Guard.

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Sandsculpture
Posts: 21
Joined: February 20th, 2021, 2:55 am

Re: South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Post by Sandsculpture »

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

1.14.15, Soldier (Normal)

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

3, only need to kill 2 lv2 enemies besides the leader.

(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.

(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)

7, Being able to blitz the outlaw leader is fun

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

-Allows the undead leader to get more basic income/a small amount of reinforcement every night
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Scenario stats:
Spoiler:
Apparos_Vaklas
Posts: 37
Joined: April 24th, 2021, 11:52 am

Re: South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Post by Apparos_Vaklas »

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

Version 1.14.16, Soldier (Normal) difficulty

(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?

9/10 I liked the plot

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

Having all loyal units survive and getting them some xp. At first I split my force, sending half to the north and half to the south but that didn't work very well. I restarted the scenario and send all of my units south, engaging with both enemies at the same time and it worked much better. I lost 3-4 units but all of them were non-loyal non-levelled cannon fodder.

(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?

-
mal_shubertal
Posts: 93
Joined: December 1st, 2018, 6:58 pm

Re: South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Post by mal_shubertal »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.16.2 soldier/hardest
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
very. the dialogue did a good job of making it clear that you must both kill all enemy leaders and move ethiliel to the village.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I like it. More Urzas, and a cool thematic element of the undead overshadowing the bandit units more every scenario, foreshadowing the direction the campaign will take. I love how Ethiliel is so casual about her bodyguards and everyone else is so flabbergasted. Their reaction really matches the players' reaction, and gives her character development, as she clearly starts off kind of aloof and not very communicative with the humans, and sort of warms up to them later on.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
the level 2 skeletons and skeleton archers. Skeleton archers are especially tough because they are so tough for Hylas or Ethiliel to attack into, and they can absolutely wreck Deoran. For me, the only way I could handle them was to just spam cavalrymen and surround them.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. The map has a really cool design that gives lots of tactical options and encourages you to get creative in how to take down the undead ASAP before the bandits arrive. and the water elements in particular make mermen relevant throughout.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
As it is, once you take down the undead leader the battle against the bandits is pretty trivial. Maybe giving the bandit leader some more gold when the undead leader dies would give more challenge to the second part of the scenario.
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Eru_Iluvatar
Posts: 24
Joined: May 24th, 2013, 3:52 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA

Re: South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Post by Eru_Iluvatar »

Very minor bug: you still get the dialogue about how the weapons are ineffective against the undead even if your first attack is by Minister Hylas, which then makes the dialogue seem a bit silly. It should probably be changed so it's only after the first attack with a blade or pierce weapon.
JL42
Posts: 66
Joined: December 9th, 2023, 11:19 am

Re: South Guard 4. Vale of Tears

Post by JL42 »

What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
v. 1.16.10
Soldier / Normal
How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5
How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very clear.
How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The dialogue and storyline are very well done.
What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Fighting the lvl. 2 undead with my mostly lvl. 1 troops, while simultaneously holding back the bandits coming up from the south. Low cash plus two fronts meant that the troops were stretched quite thin. But, the terrain is favorable if you can manage to keep the undead in the water, and having Ethiliel, Hylas, and Gerrick on your side keeps it from being overwhelming. Getting the merman hunter up to a netcaster is also super-useful here.
How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 – Interesting combat challenges.
What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Can't really think of anything I'd do differently. I think this map has been significantly revised since the last time I played, and the changes seem like a good improvement. I remember that old version of the map being obnoxious and super-hard. I also like how the mermen have a chance to be useful now.

About the Overall Campaign:

In general this campaign is really well done. The story and writing quality are notable here; it draws me in right from the start, gives Deoran some background and character, and creates a sense of urgency and mystery about what is going on in the countryside. You can really see the hero developing across the scenarios as new realizations emerge and as the challenges he faces continue to become more significant.

Most of the maps are excellent as well, very thoughtfully designed, and the battles feel engaging and meaningful. The early scenarios are mostly simple and easy but then they become solidly difficult around #5 and #6. Nearly all of them have some kind of interesting happenings or combat complexities. Really just enjoyable to play.

The only thing that brings this down for me is the final two scenarios. (I'm reviewing the elf branch – never played the bandit branch since they are clearly scum and siding with them seems like it would be out of character for Deoran.) In the elf branch, the last two scenarios feel like a total afterthought and waste of time; you could wrap this up with an epilogue after scenario 6 and be better for it. The story aspects continue to be good in those final scenarios, but the actual gameplay is a massive letdown from the previous maps.

For me the campaign is 4 out of 5 stars; the only reason it doesn't get full marks is the boringness of the final two scenarios.
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