Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Feedback for the mainline campaign Dead Water.

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PorkSol
Posts: 56
Joined: August 23rd, 2011, 2:10 am

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by PorkSol »

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

1.10.5 - Triton - (Nightmare) - No save/load - 181 starting gold

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

5 - The two loyal bats make this one easy, but you're probably looking at at least one restart

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

Clear. I knew that the white shrine graphic was where my bat needed to go.

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

No complaints.

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

Finding the shrine, finding a good path to the shrine for my bats, defending my castle and leveling a bit. I went for a quick win because I have many leveled units.

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

5. You don't really have to do much when you have the loyal bats. I did however like it when the enemy bats came out of the cave and then returned to it during the day.

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

It's fine as it is, but it might make sense to disallow bats from talking to the mage. You'd have to warn the player ahead of time though, so it might not be worth it.

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

Never reloaded, couple of restarts to find my way to the shrine and because I was surprised by the bats coming out of the cave.

No replay because it is corrupt.
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flammstrudel
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Joined: April 13th, 2013, 9:08 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by flammstrudel »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.10.2 Triton (difficult) – no reloads

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7/10

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
The map design suggests heading north and once you see the white estate you know you found your target. It's not confusing.

(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?
Sooo many scorpions, sooo many bats...

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8/10 I liked the map, really spooky! The bat cave is a very smart idea, it's better than in Under The Burning Suns where they just spawn randomly and vanish at dawn. The scorp-bat-spider combo was surprisingly tough to engage, despite fielding several tier 3s. Nice scenario.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe the loyal Drake shouldn't be allowed to die during preceding levels, without him some people might be hard pressed to finish the scenario in time.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Since time is short I tried to advance, but I always had some losses trying to accomplish this. So I just turtled and was successful.
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Maiklas3000
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Joined: June 23rd, 2010, 10:43 am

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) Level, version, and gold? Nightmare, 1.11.15, 92 starting gold.
(2) Difficult? (1-10) 8 or 9, a real nightmare.
(3) Objectives? Pretty clear.
(4) Dialog? Very good.
(5) Challenges? Surviving. With 92 gold (90 is the minimum), my forces were stretched to the maximum. In the previous scenario, I wasn't sure if recalling a unit for the holy water would really cost me gold, but I guess it did. (I had just played Under the Burning Suns, where recalling a unit in such a situation does not cost gold for the next scenario.) After the assault was broken, I had Keshan and a loyal Soulless bat to hunt for the Mage, but my Mermen were not far behind and would have made it in time (barely.) I wasn't sure if the bat could trigger the Mage.
(6) Fun? (1-10) 9, in a horror movie sort of way. Everybody loves the bats.
(7) Changes? Great as is.
(8) Restarts? None. I won the first time, no save-reloads, but it was really dicey.
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Inky
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Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by Inky »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.10.4, Triton / Difficult, 158 starting gold

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7, the scorpions aren't much of an issue but there are so many bats!!

(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?
Fine.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Getting swarmed by bats.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5- The bats from the cave are really annoying but at least they go away at dawn.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It feels a little cheap to use a bat to get to the temple. Maybe the mage should only agree to come with you when a talking unit like the drake discovers him.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
1 restart (to beginning). Tried to send the loyal bat straight to the temple. Did not work (too many scorpions). Second time I cleared most of the scorpions before sending the bat north. Still managed to almost get it killed, but it made it to the temple.
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D-Wade
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Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by D-Wade »

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

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1 - If you have the bats, it isn't difficult at all.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
It was ok but somewhat short and nothing special (same as the scenario itself).

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
There wasn't any challenge.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
3 - Like I said: If you have the bats, it isn't challenging at all and only takes 4-5 rounds.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Don't know. I guess it is quite a bit harder if you don't have the flying units.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Nothing.
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shadow12
Posts: 98
Joined: November 6th, 2015, 1:06 am

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by shadow12 »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on? Medium, Wesnoth Ver 1.10.5, iOS App Ver 1.0.4 (not jailbroken) so it is not possible yet to upload or download a replay.gz

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 8. The scorpions were relentless with the poison. It would definitely be an easier scenario if I had got myself a bat in a previous scenario. But more of a challenge without one.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives? Very clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario? Very clear and very interesting!

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Spiders and scorpions darting out of the fog were creepy and spooky. I seriously hate spiders!!! This was my first time encountering spiders in this game, and seeing spiders scurry around sorta freaked me out. I had an impulse to take off my shoe and smack the screen! :shock:

The bats flying out of the cave at night :twisted: - very cool - I had to keep my guard up.

The poison from the scorpions turning everyone green. :mrgreen:

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8-9. Very fun!

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? I
Maybe a giant spider web with spiders crawling all over it, and you never know when one will dart out at you. :( Just kidding! It is great as is! Like a mini horror story. (I love thrillers.)

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario? a couple of reloads if I lost a favorite unit.
Sometimes life unexpectedly throws a Troll or a nasty Queen Naga in your path.
sine_nomine
Posts: 39
Joined: April 30th, 2016, 11:34 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by sine_nomine »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Difficult (Triton), wesnoth 1.12.4
146 starting gold

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
In actuality it's at most a 6 but it's quite intimidating. I panicked and overrecruited.

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

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
"Oh cool there's some scorpions I guess I'll have to - OH GOD BATS BATS EVERYWHERE AND SCORPIONS WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BATS AND SCORPIONS"
There weren't really that many and aside from nearly killing a priestess on turn 1 it wasn't so bad. I recalled some strong units and turtled up so my gold carryover was poor. Apparently I also had good luck in avoiding damage.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6.5, it wasn't that great or strategic but it was pretty memorable for such a simple scenario.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Is it really okay for the mage to respond to bats? Seems like a big advantage, you can probably even skip the enemies and fly there early.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No
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lujo
Posts: 27
Joined: December 10th, 2014, 10:21 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by lujo »

[quote="sine_nomine"](1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

Highest, wesnoth 1.12.6

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

It's complicated, see below. It looked way more difficult than it was.

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

It's complicated.

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

Nice. The mage guy is a nicely written character in both this and the next scenario.

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

Realizing what it is I'm supposed to do. I think I could've finished the level two turns earlier if I just realized that all I'm supposed to do is fly a bat over to the temple. I even realized that bringing a unit to the temple would bring up who I was looking for due to how temple work in HttT, but from the dialogue I didn't think this would end the level, but rather that it would cause a fight. So I thought I was supposed to get there with plenty of troops and this meant killing all the scorpions and spiders. I was frankly shocked that just flying a bat over there meant that the level was over.

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

1. I like the idea of having to fight a horde of creepy crawlies... until I realized that, no, I didn't have to, I just needed to fly a bat to somewhere, which was trivial and made me feel like an idiot.

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

The way it looks is that you're going to meet the guardian of the flaming sword and have a fight with him. In fact I thought it was him who summoned all the scorpions, bats and spiders. A fight with the mage which ends with him saying something along the lines of "all right, all right stop it I have this exploding staff!" and explaining the whole staff thing to you there and then would be way more satisfying.

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

I honestly can't remember. It's possible that the swarm of stuff ganged up on one of my units at one point and I decided to reload as it seemed avoidable...
Konrad2
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Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by Konrad2 »

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

Difficult, 1.14.1

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

5

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

Good enough.

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

It was interesting and clear.

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

Keeping the bats contained.

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

5, it was a nice change of pace.

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

Make the monsters spawn in waves instead of one huge wave rushing at me.

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

Losing a unit to an 'unexpected' bat spawn. ._. I reloaded and properly contained them.
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LordWolfDan
Posts: 216
Joined: September 30th, 2018, 7:31 am

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by LordWolfDan »

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

- 1.14.5, Normal

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

- 8

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

- Clear, but not entirely as I had no clue where the mage was hiding

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

- It's good. Caladon seems suspicious with his way of talking. I don't think I can trust him here

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

- Scorpions, random popping bats and the spider. Jesus! Despite like being limited amounts of these, they seemed so deadly in here!

(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?

- I'd put the line to either Cylanna or Gwabbo (if he's alive, which he is during my gameplay here), to indicate about the possible location of Caladon, such as different looking village or such

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

- Well, yeah. I dragged with fighting the scorpions and managed to defeat them all by turn 14, but I didn't get to Caladon in time so I had to play over
devavrata
Posts: 119
Joined: August 30th, 2012, 8:59 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DW 9 - The Mage

Post by devavrata »

Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Battle for Wesnoth 1.10.7, all four difficulty levels.
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear, the dialog from Caladon is actually interesting. Still... no matter how many battles the protagonist wins, the characters that he encounters keep looking down on him.
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The scorpions and spiders are tough opponents, and the bats complicate things... nice touch. Some experimenting: I start up with 4 loyal flying units (3 bats and the drake), so... I tried blocking all four hexes for the cave! Results? The bats keep appearing, but on different hexes. So, they cannot be blocked.
Anyway... looking at it from my perspective, the bats are not obstacles in my way, they are just experience to be harvested... so, they must not be allowed to escape. My strategy? Use a total of 14 units, 10 of them to surround the cave completely so the bats cannot escape and will get killed as soon as they appear. The priestess is placed in the nearby village, so she can heal the units in the two nearby hexes (wounded or poisoned units will be moved to these hexes on each turn). The remaining three units will explore the map until they find the mage - I used the two fastest bats and the drake, who has a very bad defensive bonus in the cave-surrounding hexes anyway.
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It is good as it is.
Content Feedback wrote: August 21st, 2010, 7:26 pm(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No
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