GCI/Playtesting/Delfadors Memours/Normal

Preamble

This is a playtest of the mainstream scenario "Delfador's memoirs" on Mage (Normal) Difficulty for Google Code-in.

For reference:

1. What difficulty levels and what version of Wesnoth 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?
8. Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
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?

Scenario 1: Overture

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. A very impressive introduction. I am fascinated to see how this campaign continues, it is very engaging.
5. N/A
6. N/A
7. N/A
8. N/A
9. WML is clear.

Scenario 2: The Valley Belongs to Me

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 8. This was a very tricky level.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. Storyline was satisfactory.
5. The biggest challenge seems to be the first two nights. TOD has a much larger effect on humans than the elves I'm used to, and I got easily overwealmed the first two games.
6. Fun: 2.
7. I found this scenario a bit too difficult to be the first (real) scenario, and I think the player could be given slightly more gold to start off with. That said, I usually play on easy so this suggestion should be taken with a grain of salt.
8. Delfador died. Given that he becomes a great mage he becomes in the future, I overestimated his strength and got him killed several times.
9. The code is clear.

Scenario 3: The Road to Weldyn

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 5. Easier than the first scenario since now you have wide open fields for your horsemen.
3. Clear objectives.
4. Storyline is still good, I'm interested to know what happens next.
5. The first nights are still a challenge if you're not careful.
6. Fun: 3.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. The WML is good; the comments make it especially obvious what each section does.

Scenario 4: Leollyn

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4. The gameplay lightens up a little, this is a good break after the first two difficult levels and a chance to gain experience.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. Storylinewise not much happens.
5. No major challenges.
6. Fun: 5.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. WML is very clear.

Scenario 5: Council in Weldyn

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. An interesting scene, it helps advance the plot.
5. N/A
6. N/A
7. N/A
8. N/A
9. Looks good, although I am curious to know why two lines of dialogue were commented out. It was not explained.

Scenario 6: Swamps of Illuven

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4. Still a calm level. The difficulty of the first two levels may be disproportionally hard compared to the rest of the campaign.
3. Objectives clear.
4. Storyline is average.
5. No major challenges.
6. Fun: 3. Two calm levels in a row is slightly dull.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Looks good. I noticed how making the choice actually had an impact and they didn't just take it and attack you anyway.

Scenario 7: Night in the Swamp

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 3. This campaign is seems to be getting easier as my units gain experience.
3. Objectives clear as always.
4. Storyline is good.
5. No major challenges.
6. Fun: 5.
7. The difficulty could be raised slightly higher, by perhaps increasing the spawn rate. I noticed from the WML that the campaign designer seemed to forget that mages would be very effective against undead.
8. None.
9. Very good.

Scenario 8: Ur-ThoroDor

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 5.
3. Objectives were clear, although it was unclear that the castle hexes not immediately adjacent to Ur-ThoroDor's keep were not sufficient to satisfy the objective.
4. Storyline is interesting, I wonder what happens next.
5. The largest challenges I had was keeping my mages alive, but once I decided to use knights who didn't die in one hit, the level was trivial.
6. Fun: 5.
7. No changes needed.
8. Delfador died.
9. Clear as always.

Scenario 9: Houses of the Dead

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 6.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. I found the storyline very intriguing, especially the story of the dead ghosts. And the staff explains why the elves in HttT mentioned how Delfador strong in physical combat as well as magic.
5. Keeping Delfador alive was tricky, and I only just made it several times due to luck and his level up.
6. Fun: 9. I really liked this level for some reason.
7. No changes needed.
8. Delfador died...again. Perhaps I'm playing to aggressive with him?
9. The WML for this scenario was not very clear. The sections near the beginning where events were defined, and later on in the middle when they were called did not explain what they were very well

Scenario 10: The Gate Between Worlds

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. Storyline is still interesting.
5. No major challenges.
6. Fun: 5.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Very clear.

Scenario 11: Wasteland

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4.
3. Objectives clear.
4. The storyline is very interesting at this point, I can hardly stand skipping ahead to see how it ends.
5. No major challenges.
6. Fun: 6.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. WML is clear.

Scenario 12: Terror at the Ford of Parthyn

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 8.
3. I understood the instructions, but they were not very helpful, I didn't know exactly where I should have be going. I think it would help to add a hint or so to nudge the player in the right direction.
4. Storyline is still very interesting and clear.
5. The hardest part was deciding whether I should attack the orc side and leave the ford undefended, or defend the ford and let them surround me on both sides; neither of which were desirable options. Also, nights were very painful and I had to restart several times as I ended up allowing too many units to be killed.
6. Fun: 4.
7. No changes needed.
8. Just the aforementioned painful nights.
9. Looks good, although the code is very long and tiring to read.

Scenario 13: The Return of Trouble

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 10.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. This whole scenario was challenging. It was not obvious at first that I should have been sending out many weak units (I had to check the walkthrough to find out), and I think there should have been a hint mentioning that it would be impossible to finish this scenario without losses and that you should recruit units keeping this in mind. The hardest part in this scenario was the first night, when you're trying to kill the east orc while the west one is attacking you on the other side.
5. The story is very interesting. I haven't played "The Legend of Wesmere" yet, but I'm not curious to find out about Kalenz's past.
6. Fun: 3.
7. Adding the hint mentioned above would help.
8. Yes, multiple times.
9. The code is still good.

Scenario 14: Shadows

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 6.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. No major challenges.
5. The dialogue in this scenario was interesting, and I'm interested to know about this book.
6. Fun: 5.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Looks good.

Scenario 15: Save the King

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4.
3. Objectives clear.
4. No major challenges.
5. The story is still very interesting, I wonder what this book does.
6. Fun: 6.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. The code is clear.

Scenario 16: Dark Sky Over Weldyn

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. N/A
3. N/A
4. N/A
5. The dialogue felt very forced. At first, the king talks about how inexperienced Delfador is and how he knows what he's doing, then suddenly half the army gets slaughtered, the king is desparate for help, and Delfador is giving orders to the king. It just seems to be an excuse to take away an assured victory, and I don't get the feeling of time having past. It would take a bit of work, but I'd suggest adding a scene showing the battle and how the army lost instead of just this short paragraph. At the very least, the dialogue should be reworked.
6. N/A
7. N/A
8. N/A
9. Code is fine.

Scenario 17: A New Ally

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 2. An easy scenario for a change.
3. Objectives clear.
4. No major challenges.
5. Storyline is proceeding as expected, we get to the dwarves. I haven't seen them at all this campaign until now.
6. Fun: 4.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Code looks good. I found the event occures when Delfador kills unit humourous.

Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 7.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. The hardest part was getting Delfador back to the cave enterance. It takes a whole 8 turns, during which he can easily be killed. I was only able to make it by sacrificing a Steelclad and the Dwarvish Lord that was given in the beginning, and even then just barely.
5. Storyline is good.
6. Fun: 2.
7. Going through the icy ground to the portal and back was painful, I think a couple of non-frozen tiles could be added to make it easier.
8. See challenges above.
9. Looks good.

Scenario 19: Showdown in the Northern Swamp

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 6.
3. Objectives were clear.
4. The first night, when you're outnumbered 3-2 is difficult, but afterwards it's easy to overwelm the enemy. The trick where you hold onto the north bridge makes things easier.
5. The dialogue near the end was good foreshadowing of the other campaigns.
6. Fun: 5.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Code is clear.

Scenario 20: Prince of Wesnoth

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 6.
3. Objectives clear.
4. Keeping all my units alive is difficult. I have very limited gold (I seem to always end negative) and I can't afford to replace any units.
5. The story is very interesting. Also, I'm wondering if any campaigns explains the origin of the book.
6. Fun: 7.
7. I think the play could be given slightly more gold.
8. I fell for the trap of sending all my units into the forest in the middle the first time, and they died.
9. The code is very clear and well commented, although I think Kalenz's monologue for the time over event could have been less melodramatic.

Scenario 21: Clash at the Manor

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 4.
3. Objectives were mostly clear, the part where I had to find the secret entrance was confusing.
4. No major challenges.
5. Storyline is very interesting, I never thought Delfador would take such extreme measures.
6. Fun: 6.
7. No changes needed.
8. None.
9. Good.

Scenario 22: Face of the Enemy

1. Version 1.9.2. Mage (Normal) Difficulty.
2. Difficulty: 2.
3. Objectives clear.
4. No major challenges.
5. A good ending to this scenario.
6. Fun: 5.
7. This level might be too easy for the last level.
8. Delfador and Kalenz are able to easily kill the enemy archers, which allows them to just keep coming and eventually kill them.
9. Looks good.

Summary

I found Delfador's Memoirs to be an excellent campaign. While the gameplay was entertaining to play, I especially like the storyline and how it developed. It fit well with both the campaigns before and after it (chronologically), and was also good at expanding Delfador's character to more than just the archetypal "wise old mage". This campaign is another great addition to the Battle Of Wesnoth universe. --S.Lee94 03:06, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Post scriptum: There appears to be a typo in the name of this page. --S.Lee94 03:07, 12 December 2010 (UTC)