GCI/Playtesting/Descent into Darkness/Challenging

1) Saving Pathryn

Played on Challenging, version 1.9.2

This scenario was relatively easy, especially with the backup from the NPC. 3/10 for difficulty.

Scenario objectives were perfectly clear.

Storyline was clear, but the dialogue annoyed me, as it was aimed to do. That guy

really had the audacity to exile Malin, after he saved their whole bloody town!

There weren’t any real major challenges in completing the objectives. Although your starting zombies ARE rather squishy.

This scenario was less fun, and more entertaining. About what a person should expect from a starter level. 6/10

I would have liked to have been able to keep my allied units. I never saw those dang spearmen again!

No, there wasn’t any event to give cause for retrying.

--blank--- No bugs to report.

2) Peaceful Valley

Played on Challenging, version 1.9.2

This scenario was much fun, I loved the part where the ghouls popped out of the bog! 7/10

The scenario objectives confused me for a second, usually you can win the map by just killing the big boss in the keep, but I ended up scrambling around with my vampire bats looking for that last town. XD

Storyline was crystal clear, and the dialogue kept me amused. Posting a suggestion to make it more fun lower down.

There weren't any major challenges to completing the objectives, other than the fact that I lacked units who could one shot the enemy.

This scenario was great fun. I got my first dread bat on this level, I think! The orange type of bat anyways. 7/10

I think it would be hilarious if every time you killed one of those annoying little goblins, you get text. Something like, "Eep! *dies*"

I nearly had to retry because of that town in the upper right corner of the map! But I got there in time, luckily.

--blank--

Wording- During the intro, after the scenario starts: Will give us some souls upon which to call. Very wordy, can be shortened to "Some souls to call upon."

3) A Haunting in Winter

Challenging, 1.9.2

Actually rather hard until I redid it with ghosts and bats. Then it was a cinch! Love this guy with the backstabbing..makes it really strategy oriented. 5/10 for difficulty.

Scenario objectives perfectly clear.

Storyline was, as ever, accurate. Dialogue kept me entertained, I even smiled when Malin was like, 'The dwarves will surely aid us! Or not..."

No real challenges, other than that little bog between you and the boss. I circumvented it with ghosts and bats :D.

This scenario has to be the best of the whole campaign. 8/10 for fun factor.

To make it more fun? Uh..make it longer? :P

No cause for reloading.

--blank-- No bugs to report

4) Beginning of the Revenge

Challenging, 1.9.2

Pretty darn easy with my scouting party doing all the hard work xD. 4/10 for difficulty.

Scenario objectives clear, but I have to admit, I killed the orc leaders rather than moving Malin haha.

Storyline is perfectly clear, dialogue was minimal.

No major challenges in completing these objectives.

Fun scenario, I loved how the wolves would fall to their doom in the frozen lake. 8/10

To make it more fun, give the part of the valley you start in zones more adequate for defense by skeletons.

No cause for retrying.

--blank-- No bugs to report.

5) Orc War

Challenging, 1.9.2

Scenario was rather challenging. Three on one much? 7/10

Scenario objectives are rather hard to misinterpret. Kill, kill, and more kill.

Storyline was clear. The dialogue made me laugh, an orc trying to be smart with me..huh. Malin's speech was lengthy, but it added rather than detracting from the story, imho.

No major challenges in completing the objectives. Twas rather hard to hold the lower bridge without sacrificing my minions.

This scenario took a while to get right, just because of the sheer mass of enemies! Good one once you get it though. 6/10

Make the dark acolytes less squishy! I never managed to level one up, always died..

No event to cause a reload.

---blank--- No bugs to report.

6) Return to Pathryn

Challenging, 1.9.2

This scenario wasn't honestly that hard. I assassinated the traitor guard, bum rushed the orc leader, and ran for my life! Not a single loss that I could tell. 5/10

Scenario objectives were clear, if you actually read them. Which I didn't. Caused a reload. Details below.

Storyline was clear, but the dialogue was just plain cruel. This guy Malin is getting it from all angles, and all he wants to do is help.

No major challenges in completing the objectives.

This scenario was great fun, I rather felt bad for the orc enemy when my guys got to him...one shot much? 7/10

To make it more fun? Um. No real suggestions..maybe make the orc boss harder? He didn't last long.

I had to retry after the first turn. I got my guys all set up to decimate the traitors' guards..and I tried killing them BEFORE I killed the traitor. Scenario failed. Time to reload -.-

---blank--- No bugs to report.

7) A Small Favor, pt. 1

Challenging, 1.9.2

This one was tough. I lost one of my bats! That hurt. 7/10

Objectives were clear.

Storyline was clear. The dialogue was very fishy. I could tell something was gonna go down with Darken Volk.

No major challenges in completing the objectives.

This scenario was a slaughter! Those guys had NO chance against my level 3 units. 8/10

To make it more fun? Uhm. That shock guard was pretty over powered, imho.

No cause for retrying, unless I wanted to save my bat from oblivion. I didn't bother.

--blank-- No bugs to report

8) A Small Favor, pt. 2

Challenging, 1.9.2

This one was a bit harder, the tight spaces made my hit and run tactics hard to pull off. 7/10

Scenario objectives were clear. Wasn't terribly hard to find the big magician guy. He went down in two shots, if I remember right.

Storyline was clear, and the dialogue sparse. Left you pretty much fully in control, which was nice.

No major challenges in completing the objectives, other than the tight spaces.

This scenario was challenging, which made it all the more fun. 8/10 for fun factor.

To make it more fun? Maybe magical traps or something, for your units to wander into. That'd be cool.

No cause for reloading.

--blank-- No bugs to report.

9) A Small Favor, Pt. 3

Challenging, 1.9.2

This scenario was ridiculously easy. 4/10

Scenario objectives were easy. I was expecting Darken to turn on me at this point though.

The storyline and dialogue were clear.

No major challenge. Hell, no challenge at all to be honest.

This scenario was so short, you can't really call it fun or boring one way or the other. 5/10.

To make this more fun, uh. Make it longer, or more challenging.

No event gave cause for retrying.

--blank-- Darken Volk wandered into the bottom left corner, and got stuck there for a little while. The doors wouldn't open for him. After the objectives changed from getting the book to exiting the cave, he readjusted course and started moving properly.

10) Alone at Last

Challenging, 1.9.2

This scenario was HARD! Omg. Four enemies. 9/10

Scenario objectives were clear.

Storyline was drawn to a satisfying conclusion here, imho. Dialogue wasn't very clear as to whether or not Darken Volk really felt like turning on Malin, but Malin made that point moot by his vicious assault.

The major challenges I had on this one was crossing the river, escaping with the book, and staying alive with the damn paladins chasing me. Those mounted units are vicious!

This scenario wasn't terribly fun, just because of the sheer difficulty factor. 5/10

No cause for retrying, unless I wanted to 'attempt' to salvage some of my high powered units.

--blank-- No bugs to report

11) Descent into Darkness

Challenging, 1.9.2

This scenario was tough on my dark acolytes. They got PLOWED by those trolls.

Scenario objectives were very clear.

Storyline was clear, though I find it odd that Malin went from an noobling necromancer to a Lich, the pinnacle of necromancy, of all things, in such a small time. The dialogue made you feel sorry for Malin, and then triumphant when he lived on.

My major challenge in getting the objectives done here was the fact that my experienced units had been decimated in the last scenario.

This scenario was fun. Those poor rats got OWNED. 8/10

To make it more fun? Give us a new unit here. Something cool, like an undead troll that hurls blobs of guts.

No cause for retrying.

--blank-- No bugs to report.

12) Endless Night

Challenging, 1.9.2

This scenario was tough because my forces had been decimated, and I didn't manage to salvage anything but a ghost from the last mission. 6/10

Scenario objectives were clear.

Storyline was clear, and the dialogue gave me a smile. Foolish hero, ain't that the truth?

No major challenges in completing the objectives, other than overcoming the sheer MASS of the enemies I was after.

This scenario was great fun, giving me a chance to build back up my strength. 7/10

To make this more fun? Uh. I don't really see any realistic way to do that.

No cause for retrying

--blank-- No bugs to report

Campaign Overview

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

Challenging, 1.9.2

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) Easy, all the way through to the second to last level, where you not only face Darken Volk, but your sister AND a ton of paladins. After that, it was easy until the third endless night scenario, where the orcs benefitted from being in the cave. My average rating is 4/10, with it reaching peaks of 8/10.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives? Very clear, and if I happened to forget, I could always check the scenario objectives via the menu.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario? The story was clear enough, but the dialog was mildly archaic, and didn’t always flow well. I was intrigued all the way through however, but I never felt an overpowering urge to come and play it some more.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? The most difficult part of meeting the objectives of the scenario was dealing with the hordes of undead. My group build was pretty much set as a hit and run (2 bats, 2 nightgaunts, a wraith), so it was probably MORE strategy oriented than it needed to be for me.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) I had major fun plotting out and succeeding in hit and run tactics. Necromancy has always had an appeal to me, yet sadly, not many authors (That I have found, anyways) write of necromancers from a protagonist’s view. I was rather annoyed by the never ending missions at the end. After four levels of the same mission, I checked google to try to figure out if my game had bugged or something. Anyways, even when my entire force was decimated by paladins, I was having fun. I'm giving it an 8/10 for fun factor.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? Give us a warning about those endless levels. Take away the mounted paladin units. Maybe have put in one or two more units. The dark acolytes had value, I could tell, but were so dang squishy I couldn’t get them to level.

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

(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? ---BLANK---

Here is a short list of the sort of bugs we are interested in

• bad wordings/spelling mistakes/ typos

During the intro, "When Malin was 10, a mage who passed through the town sensed strong magical yadda yadda," I believe the sentence would flow better if 10 was spelled out as a 'ten'.

Later it says, "Shortly a man dressed in the robes of a necromancer emerged from the trees. I think maybe it meant ‘a short while later,’ or, ‘Shortly,’ with a comma.

(After this nothing obvious jumped out at me)

Save files all available here:

(Consolidated version - If a file is missing, use the individuals below..http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=Saves.rar)

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_replaythd.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_Auto_Save5.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_Turn_12AGERWGER.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_Auto_Save12.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_Turn_11aGEWGENTBE.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Endless_Night_Turn_11agewge.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Descent_into_Darkness_replay.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Descent_into_Darkness_Turn_29m_nbvdwefd.gz

http://www.yourfilehost.com/media.php?cat=other&file=DID_Descent_into_Darkness_Turn_29hbgrweagv4d.gz