An exhaustive review of Northern Rebirth
General feedback and discussion of the game.
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An exhaustive review of Northern Rebirth
Hello, after coming back to BfW for its 1.18 release, I've had the pleasure of replaying through some of the mainline campaigns both untouched and revamped, with a particular newfound love for UtbS' Nightmare mode developped by Hejnewar and its absolutely brutal difficulty. But as the topic's title suggests, I'm here to talk about another campaign which used to be my favourite, Northern Rebirth.
My experience as a player and a storyteller, though not excellent by any means, has progressed a lot over the decade I've spent playing Wesnoth, and where I used to see unmatched greatness, I now can't help but notice fundamental flaws that detract from the NR experience.
This review will tackle every NR scenario from both gameplay and story perspectives with as much detail as I can offer on aspects like the maps, unit and gold balance, character interactions and the overarching plot. Gameplay related issues will be looked upon from two specific points of view, NR is classified as an expert level campaign and is also Wesnoth's power trip on large scale battles. As such, this review will praise or criticize the scenarios based on their ability to meet these 2 criteria.
And yes, I'm aware of the existence of specific channels to make campaign feedback and if required, I will abide by its structure but this way grants me more freedom to make my points and will allow me to talk more broadly about the campaign once the 13-14 scenarios have been scrutinized. Consider it parts 1 and 2 of the review, with part 1 talking exclusively about the current state of NR and part 2 going further into what it could be.
NR S1 - Breaking the Chains
NR S2 - Infested Caves
NR S3 - To the Mines
NR S4 - Clearing the Mines
NR S5 - The Pursuit
NR S6 - Old Friend
NR 7 - Settling Disputes
NR S8 - Elvish Princess
NR S9 - Introductions
NR S10 - Stolen Gold
NR S11- Eastern Flank
NR S12 - Get the Gold
NR S13 - Showdown
I am aware that reworks are hard to do, and NR specifically has several defenders to push back against, but at the very least I believe the campaign could use rebalancing. It's not deserving of the "expert" difficuly tag and after thinking about it, it shouldn't be. Large scale battles make balancing far too difficult to handle to create the kind of challenge something like 1.18 UtbS can deliver.
I would label NR as "hard" instead and focus on diminishing the braindead unit mashing aspect a good portion of the scenarios display. If anything is to be done about NR, start by looking at the gameplay changes of each scenario (obviously I'm not saying you'd have to follow them, but I believe they're good starting points to think about)
My proposal for a NR rework
This will be broad strokes only as the finer details would need to be refined to create an experience worthy of mainline, but the primary goal of this rework will be to make NR a more cohesive story while also putting more emphasis on the idea of continuously expanding a massive and diverse army, in a sense I'm aiming to make it feel more like HttT.
In terms of story, the core issues we have to address are as follow :
- Make Malifor's takedown more believable
- Flesh out Krash, Elenia and Eryssa as characters
- Revisit Stalrag's conflict with the Ro' brothers
- Create a more tangible narrative for Rakshas' takedown and the instauration of the Northern Alliance
NR S1& 2
NR S3 - To the Surface
NR S4 - The Mines
NR S5 - Into the Lair
NR S6 - The North's Conqueror
NR S7 - Settling Disputes
NR S8 - Amidst Green Leaves
NR S9 - Introductions
NR S10 - Treachery
NR S11 - The Knalgan Gold
NR S12 - The North's Last Stand
NR - Epilogue
Obviously, this is only the first draft of such a gargantuous task, but in my heart this is a better version of Northern Rebirth's storyline. Maybe I will end up developping my own UMC version of the campaign but I definitely can't accomplish that alone with my current skills and time.
Note that this draft is mostly narratively driven, I have given very few indications for how the campaign would play out but basically, most scenarios would be battles of relatively large scale (with the notable exceptions of NR S1-7-9), with anywhere between 50 and 80 (100) units to defeat, the upper limit only being reached by S6 and S12, and in exchange the average lvl of the units would be raised to still provide a meaningful challenge.
The actual balance of the campaign remains to be discussed however, I'm far from the only valuable opinion on how campaigns should play out.
With that being said, this exhaustive review of Northern Rebirth is finally coming to a close, thanks for reading through all that rambling, I hope you found it insightfull. Who knows, maybe someday it will amount to something.
My experience as a player and a storyteller, though not excellent by any means, has progressed a lot over the decade I've spent playing Wesnoth, and where I used to see unmatched greatness, I now can't help but notice fundamental flaws that detract from the NR experience.
This review will tackle every NR scenario from both gameplay and story perspectives with as much detail as I can offer on aspects like the maps, unit and gold balance, character interactions and the overarching plot. Gameplay related issues will be looked upon from two specific points of view, NR is classified as an expert level campaign and is also Wesnoth's power trip on large scale battles. As such, this review will praise or criticize the scenarios based on their ability to meet these 2 criteria.
And yes, I'm aware of the existence of specific channels to make campaign feedback and if required, I will abide by its structure but this way grants me more freedom to make my points and will allow me to talk more broadly about the campaign once the 13-14 scenarios have been scrutinized. Consider it parts 1 and 2 of the review, with part 1 talking exclusively about the current state of NR and part 2 going further into what it could be.
NR S1 - Breaking the Chains
Spoiler:
Story : I have very little complaints for this introduction to NR, the continuity with HttT and premise of the story make it an engaging starting point for the campaign. The only minor issue I have is that it's rather convenient for the current overlord of the Dwarven Doors (Al'tar) to not be aware of the rise of Rakshas as paramount leader of the northern orcs. This could easily be resolved with minor tweaks to dialogue so that instead of simply belittling Garrugch, Al'tar would belittle his master aswell.
Gameplay : Again, I have to praise NR S1 for its introductory level, it's very different from the usual scenarios of mainline Wesnoth with a premise of our side being completely outmatched and needing to win through strategy with lvl0 peasants and woodsmen as our only options. I also really like the abundance of villages to emphasize the importance of income control to win the level.
However, there is one critical issue, the units we manage to level up in NR S1 are practically useless for the first half of the campaign. Peasants become spearmen and archers, both of which are exceedingly bad in NR S2, 4 and 5 with the permanently chaotic time of day and abundance of trolls and skeletons. The only scenario where they can be useful before meeting Rakshas is NR S3 where we fight goblins outside of the mines, but the player isn't encouraged to use them there either because it's a perfect map to advance dwarvish units for the upcoming S4 and 5.
The only marginally useful unit we can create in S1 is the poacher to fight the trolls.
As such, I think it would be a good idea to add the lvl0 "Ruffian" to the list of recruitable units, it's not too jarring in terms of flavour and it would be of tremendous help to get a head start in S2 if the player manages to get experienced thugs and footpads beforehand. This addition would also make NR S1 more interesting to navigate with the juxtaposition of loyal, neutral and chaotic units in the player's arsenal.
Gameplay : Again, I have to praise NR S1 for its introductory level, it's very different from the usual scenarios of mainline Wesnoth with a premise of our side being completely outmatched and needing to win through strategy with lvl0 peasants and woodsmen as our only options. I also really like the abundance of villages to emphasize the importance of income control to win the level.
However, there is one critical issue, the units we manage to level up in NR S1 are practically useless for the first half of the campaign. Peasants become spearmen and archers, both of which are exceedingly bad in NR S2, 4 and 5 with the permanently chaotic time of day and abundance of trolls and skeletons. The only scenario where they can be useful before meeting Rakshas is NR S3 where we fight goblins outside of the mines, but the player isn't encouraged to use them there either because it's a perfect map to advance dwarvish units for the upcoming S4 and 5.
The only marginally useful unit we can create in S1 is the poacher to fight the trolls.
As such, I think it would be a good idea to add the lvl0 "Ruffian" to the list of recruitable units, it's not too jarring in terms of flavour and it would be of tremendous help to get a head start in S2 if the player manages to get experienced thugs and footpads beforehand. This addition would also make NR S1 more interesting to navigate with the juxtaposition of loyal, neutral and chaotic units in the player's arsenal.
Spoiler:
Story : So far, still nothing major, it's convenient that Tallin would get help from wandering humans but considering the type of narrative we're following, it's acceptable that he would get lucky along the way, breaking free from slavery was already miraculous.
However, there is one issue. We learn later that the skeletons plaguing the caves are under the control of Malifor, but what are the trolls doing down there ? It's suggested by Hamel that they were part of Khazg's forces but if that's the case, why are they still down there ? It's not impossible that they just decided to settle in the caves but it would make more sense if they were just natural inhabitants who came back when Knalga fell. This also eliminates the issue of them being unaware of what the orcs are doing outside since they had nothing to do with in the first place.
Gameplay : This scenario is probably the hardest in NR, for some good reasons, and several bad ones. First off, the map itself. We're given 2 tight vertical paths and an horizontal one leading to a central room. The central room is practically suicide as it leads the player to fight sides 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 all at once, maybe it's actually winnable but I wouldn't bet on it. This leaves the player with the 2 vertical paths which are effectively mirrors, Camerin aside. These paths are about 3 hexes wide with the terrain being made of mostly caves which makes them gauntlets you have to force through. The main issue then is... Sides 2 and 3 are trolls with 200 starting gold and whelps as their only recruitable unit, meaning you have to get through about 20 lvl1 whelps to reach the leader if we account for their income.
There is very little strategy here, aside from a few tiles, the terrain gives both the player and trolls 30-40% defense, you just have to throw units at the trolls until they're exhausted of units. Healing is also extremely scarce so rotating wounded units out of combat has very low value. In the end, it's mostly a matter of RNG how many units you lose in the process, if you even manage to pass (and yes, i've had one run completely gated by a total of 20% of deviation from the average statistical damage, +10% received -10% inflicted where I just lost after 12 turns of grind).
This is made even worse by the player's recruit list. Peasants and woodsmen useless against trolls, spearmen and archers are at a huge disadvantage because we're fighting underground, so that leaves us with the newfound thugs, footpads and poachers.
Poachers lack the damage to reliably kill trolls, they're hitting for 4x4 so about 10 damage on average, which means 2 after regeneration kicks in, and they're extremely weak in melee. And it wouldn't be a problem in open terrain, they could pick off wounded trolls, but that's no good in a 3 hexes wide gauntlet. They're also useless against skeletons.
Footpads hit a little bit harder, but even on 70% defense terrain, they cannot take more than 2 punches before dying which means they'll hold a position around 1 turn before going down, they're also better suited for picks which again, doesn't work in a gauntlet. They are however very useful when they reach lvl2 for their versatile impact dmg against the skeletons.
Which leaves us with thugs as the main unit we'll be recruiting, loads and loads of thugs to brainlessly mash against the whelps and skeletons.
Then we have Camerin, he's a lvl3 archmage who can fry practically every unit in the scenario by himself but his house is blocked by side 2 and you can't access him without breaking through the gauntlet.
Once either vertical path has been cleared, the map finally becomes interesting as we have to progress through the remaining sides while controlling villages with fewer but stronger units, control which is exceedingly important to avoid getting overrun by the income of the remaining sides. Which brings me to yet another complaint, side 6 has too much base income at 24. He's likely to overwhelm at least one of the skeleton leaders and if he does, the map becomes a slog because trolls move faster than undead in caves, meaning he can secure many villages and start endlessly recruiting lvl2 trolls even when we finally reach him. It's not fun to lose 10 turns reaching side 6's leader alone because he has infinite resources.
As such, I have several tweaks to propose. Allow sides 2 and 3 to recruit lvl2 trolls to reduce the amount of units in the gauntlets while also putting more pressure on the player's units and granting him quicker advancements if he manages to fell the stronger trolls and keep the relevant units alive. Throwing in lvl2 trolls would also encourage the usage of alternatives to thugs since thugs would fall very quickly to the trolls' blows.
Then, move Camerin's house closer to the player's starting point so that he can find him without needing to clear side 2's gauntlet, in exchange, bump him down to a lvl2 red mage (it's also always struck me as weird that he would start at lvl3 when most of your companions start at lvl2, especially Morvin and Thera or Eryssa).
Finally, bump down side 6's starting income down to 10 (equivalent to sides 7 and 8 ) and maybe even up sides 7 and 8's starting gold by 50 or 100 each so they could better fend off side 6 and also send more units against the player in the early turns.
However, there is one issue. We learn later that the skeletons plaguing the caves are under the control of Malifor, but what are the trolls doing down there ? It's suggested by Hamel that they were part of Khazg's forces but if that's the case, why are they still down there ? It's not impossible that they just decided to settle in the caves but it would make more sense if they were just natural inhabitants who came back when Knalga fell. This also eliminates the issue of them being unaware of what the orcs are doing outside since they had nothing to do with in the first place.
Gameplay : This scenario is probably the hardest in NR, for some good reasons, and several bad ones. First off, the map itself. We're given 2 tight vertical paths and an horizontal one leading to a central room. The central room is practically suicide as it leads the player to fight sides 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8 all at once, maybe it's actually winnable but I wouldn't bet on it. This leaves the player with the 2 vertical paths which are effectively mirrors, Camerin aside. These paths are about 3 hexes wide with the terrain being made of mostly caves which makes them gauntlets you have to force through. The main issue then is... Sides 2 and 3 are trolls with 200 starting gold and whelps as their only recruitable unit, meaning you have to get through about 20 lvl1 whelps to reach the leader if we account for their income.
There is very little strategy here, aside from a few tiles, the terrain gives both the player and trolls 30-40% defense, you just have to throw units at the trolls until they're exhausted of units. Healing is also extremely scarce so rotating wounded units out of combat has very low value. In the end, it's mostly a matter of RNG how many units you lose in the process, if you even manage to pass (and yes, i've had one run completely gated by a total of 20% of deviation from the average statistical damage, +10% received -10% inflicted where I just lost after 12 turns of grind).
This is made even worse by the player's recruit list. Peasants and woodsmen useless against trolls, spearmen and archers are at a huge disadvantage because we're fighting underground, so that leaves us with the newfound thugs, footpads and poachers.
Poachers lack the damage to reliably kill trolls, they're hitting for 4x4 so about 10 damage on average, which means 2 after regeneration kicks in, and they're extremely weak in melee. And it wouldn't be a problem in open terrain, they could pick off wounded trolls, but that's no good in a 3 hexes wide gauntlet. They're also useless against skeletons.
Footpads hit a little bit harder, but even on 70% defense terrain, they cannot take more than 2 punches before dying which means they'll hold a position around 1 turn before going down, they're also better suited for picks which again, doesn't work in a gauntlet. They are however very useful when they reach lvl2 for their versatile impact dmg against the skeletons.
Which leaves us with thugs as the main unit we'll be recruiting, loads and loads of thugs to brainlessly mash against the whelps and skeletons.
Then we have Camerin, he's a lvl3 archmage who can fry practically every unit in the scenario by himself but his house is blocked by side 2 and you can't access him without breaking through the gauntlet.
Once either vertical path has been cleared, the map finally becomes interesting as we have to progress through the remaining sides while controlling villages with fewer but stronger units, control which is exceedingly important to avoid getting overrun by the income of the remaining sides. Which brings me to yet another complaint, side 6 has too much base income at 24. He's likely to overwhelm at least one of the skeleton leaders and if he does, the map becomes a slog because trolls move faster than undead in caves, meaning he can secure many villages and start endlessly recruiting lvl2 trolls even when we finally reach him. It's not fun to lose 10 turns reaching side 6's leader alone because he has infinite resources.
As such, I have several tweaks to propose. Allow sides 2 and 3 to recruit lvl2 trolls to reduce the amount of units in the gauntlets while also putting more pressure on the player's units and granting him quicker advancements if he manages to fell the stronger trolls and keep the relevant units alive. Throwing in lvl2 trolls would also encourage the usage of alternatives to thugs since thugs would fall very quickly to the trolls' blows.
Then, move Camerin's house closer to the player's starting point so that he can find him without needing to clear side 2's gauntlet, in exchange, bump him down to a lvl2 red mage (it's also always struck me as weird that he would start at lvl3 when most of your companions start at lvl2, especially Morvin and Thera or Eryssa).
Finally, bump down side 6's starting income down to 10 (equivalent to sides 7 and 8 ) and maybe even up sides 7 and 8's starting gold by 50 or 100 each so they could better fend off side 6 and also send more units against the player in the early turns.
Spoiler:
Story : In its current form, this scenario serves no purpose, it's a reminder that there's an orc threat looming with yet another mention of "the master" but other than that it's just fodder goblins before the real fight. And the strangest part is that they don't even acknowledge the undead's existence and vice versa, the only interaction the orcs and the undead ever have is the mention of the previous orc leader's trolls liking to smash bones by Hamel.
I would rewrite it so that the goblins would be an explicit scouting party sent by Rakshas to evalutate the state of the mines, and I would include a side of undead sentinels at the entrance of the mines aswell.
Gameplay : This map is grossly imbalanced in favor of the player, even on Nightmare mode. It's so bad that I managed to easily defeat the goblins with 200gold worth of lvl1 dwarves against 500gold of lvl1-2 goblins. This is made possible by the presence of Hamel and his "leadership" ability, Camerin, and the map dominated by the presence of mountains borded by flat terrain. It's way too easy to abuse the goblins with absurd amounts of damage from safe positions.
For that I think the map needs to be remade entirely with way less mountain hexes and an emphasis on hill hexes as the primary form of terrain, with the flat paths only being 1 or 2 hexes wide. I would also add a third undead side protecting the entrance so that even if we ignore the goblins and rush the mines, which is a possibility, we still have to fight our way through the undead.
Balance wise I honestly don't know what would be best here, maybe 400g each? They would be hostile to each other aswell so we need to account for the units we won't have to fight ourselves.
I would rewrite it so that the goblins would be an explicit scouting party sent by Rakshas to evalutate the state of the mines, and I would include a side of undead sentinels at the entrance of the mines aswell.
Gameplay : This map is grossly imbalanced in favor of the player, even on Nightmare mode. It's so bad that I managed to easily defeat the goblins with 200gold worth of lvl1 dwarves against 500gold of lvl1-2 goblins. This is made possible by the presence of Hamel and his "leadership" ability, Camerin, and the map dominated by the presence of mountains borded by flat terrain. It's way too easy to abuse the goblins with absurd amounts of damage from safe positions.
For that I think the map needs to be remade entirely with way less mountain hexes and an emphasis on hill hexes as the primary form of terrain, with the flat paths only being 1 or 2 hexes wide. I would also add a third undead side protecting the entrance so that even if we ignore the goblins and rush the mines, which is a possibility, we still have to fight our way through the undead.
Balance wise I honestly don't know what would be best here, maybe 400g each? They would be hostile to each other aswell so we need to account for the units we won't have to fight ourselves.
Spoiler:
Story : At first glance, it looks really good. An Ancient Lich building an undead empire in the ruined Knalga and using the mines to amass more forces, with all the gloating that comes with it. However, this doesn't really look like mines, more like a heavily fortified underground village, it's not a massive issue per say but still.
The more pressing issue is that there's absolutely no way our group of ragtag heroes can defeat Malifor, we're talking about a band of peasants armed with clubs and a single dwarf community which barely survived for years against the might of an undead army. Yes it feels super cool that we get to face a massive army with an Ancient Lich at its head but it realistically shouldn't be possible in our current state. We would either need to surprise Malifor or get more help on the surface before facing him.
Gameplay : This is arguably one of NR's better large scale battle maps but it has two key problems. First, it's very straightforward, at this point, the player is geared to take down skeletons with the combination of thugs, footpads and dwarvish fighters, the strategy basically boils down to spending all of our starting gold, push endlessly and rotate units until we reach Malifor.
The second problem is that it's too easy to apply the before mentionned strategy, we fight a vast majority of lvl1 units and even lvl0 zombies and bats, the biggest hurdle isn't even to keep units alive, it's to push through the unending enemy lines.
If we keep the same map, I would replace the zombies and bats by their lvl1 counterparts and upgrade the loyal undeads already present at the start to lvl2, less units but more powerful is a common suggestion I will keep making as we move forward. So far it's not too problematic yet because we ourselves are limited to a majority of lvl1 fresh recruits but it will become a crippling issue down the line.
The more pressing issue is that there's absolutely no way our group of ragtag heroes can defeat Malifor, we're talking about a band of peasants armed with clubs and a single dwarf community which barely survived for years against the might of an undead army. Yes it feels super cool that we get to face a massive army with an Ancient Lich at its head but it realistically shouldn't be possible in our current state. We would either need to surprise Malifor or get more help on the surface before facing him.
Gameplay : This is arguably one of NR's better large scale battle maps but it has two key problems. First, it's very straightforward, at this point, the player is geared to take down skeletons with the combination of thugs, footpads and dwarvish fighters, the strategy basically boils down to spending all of our starting gold, push endlessly and rotate units until we reach Malifor.
The second problem is that it's too easy to apply the before mentionned strategy, we fight a vast majority of lvl1 units and even lvl0 zombies and bats, the biggest hurdle isn't even to keep units alive, it's to push through the unending enemy lines.
If we keep the same map, I would replace the zombies and bats by their lvl1 counterparts and upgrade the loyal undeads already present at the start to lvl2, less units but more powerful is a common suggestion I will keep making as we move forward. So far it's not too problematic yet because we ourselves are limited to a majority of lvl1 fresh recruits but it will become a crippling issue down the line.
Spoiler:
Story : My personal favourite of NR, storming Malifor's dungeon, pillaging his wealth, rescuing prisonners, and the final showdown with Malifor, all of that is awesome, but it's not perfect. I have no issue with Father Morvin and Sister Thera, but it's a little weird that Abhai would follow us till the end of the game, it's stated that he doesn't know how to return to the realm of the dead but that's not talked about before the epilogue, maybe mention it here and make him pledge an oath to Tallin until they find a way. Elenia on the other hand is a non character, the reason for her being there in the first place is very weak and she doesn't accomplish anything beyond that point besides introducing Tallin to her sister. But by far the worst offender is Krash, he's also a non-character and his only utility is being a plot device later in the story, he doesn't even have a reason to be kept prisonner here.
I can't exactly give advice for Elenia other than write more dialogue to flesh her out which is very vague, but I would move Krash all the way down to NR S3 and have him be a prisonner of the goblins. As for why he would follow Tallin, my suggestion would be to play into Krash's honourable nature as a drake and have him join Tallin as a second in command leader under Hamel's guidance, I would even go as far as to lock him into the Flameheart unit line.
Gameplay : I only have one complaint which I have seen mentioned before. The key to Malifor's defeat is poorly implemented. I understand the idea behind needing to land the killing blow with Morvin or Thera thematically, but we've already defeated Malifor once in NR S4 with hammers and fireballs, but now we can't even touch him other than with sacred light ? Not even holy water boosted attacks work ? Not even the Rod of Justice ? That's just janky, it used to be that only the killing blow would need to be dealt by sacred light, otherwise Malifor would regenerate to full hp and taunt the player which is a much better alternative in my opinion. It's also clearer because it's a second hint that Malifor's weakness is sacred light, the first being Morvin's initial commentary when rescued.
Other than that, I wouldn't touch this scenario much, maybe it could be made more difficult but it's already a decent challenge and a really well executed idea.
We have to note though that we're starting to accumulate a lot of potential powerful loyal units, Zlex as a spearman/archer lvl3, Camerin as a lvl4 great mage, Elenia as a lvl3 shyde (and the 1.18 buffed version no less), Krash as a lvl3 (infernal)/flameheart, and Morvin and Thera as not only 2 mages of light, but actually immortal units which is unbelievably powerful as a mechanic in Wesnoth. While not a problem in and of itself, after all it's part of the power trip fantasy of NR, having so many powerful starting allies (and the list isn't even complete yet) calls for more and more drastic measures to create a meaningful challenge, and as we will soon see in the second part of NR, it fails miserably.
I can't exactly give advice for Elenia other than write more dialogue to flesh her out which is very vague, but I would move Krash all the way down to NR S3 and have him be a prisonner of the goblins. As for why he would follow Tallin, my suggestion would be to play into Krash's honourable nature as a drake and have him join Tallin as a second in command leader under Hamel's guidance, I would even go as far as to lock him into the Flameheart unit line.
Gameplay : I only have one complaint which I have seen mentioned before. The key to Malifor's defeat is poorly implemented. I understand the idea behind needing to land the killing blow with Morvin or Thera thematically, but we've already defeated Malifor once in NR S4 with hammers and fireballs, but now we can't even touch him other than with sacred light ? Not even holy water boosted attacks work ? Not even the Rod of Justice ? That's just janky, it used to be that only the killing blow would need to be dealt by sacred light, otherwise Malifor would regenerate to full hp and taunt the player which is a much better alternative in my opinion. It's also clearer because it's a second hint that Malifor's weakness is sacred light, the first being Morvin's initial commentary when rescued.
Other than that, I wouldn't touch this scenario much, maybe it could be made more difficult but it's already a decent challenge and a really well executed idea.
We have to note though that we're starting to accumulate a lot of potential powerful loyal units, Zlex as a spearman/archer lvl3, Camerin as a lvl4 great mage, Elenia as a lvl3 shyde (and the 1.18 buffed version no less), Krash as a lvl3 (infernal)/flameheart, and Morvin and Thera as not only 2 mages of light, but actually immortal units which is unbelievably powerful as a mechanic in Wesnoth. While not a problem in and of itself, after all it's part of the power trip fantasy of NR, having so many powerful starting allies (and the list isn't even complete yet) calls for more and more drastic measures to create a meaningful challenge, and as we will soon see in the second part of NR, it fails miserably.
Spoiler:
Story : Part 2 of NR begins and already I'm throwing question marks. As mentioned before, Rakshas isn't even aware that Malifor was a threat (and as we will learn later, somehow the elves were), it's just very convenient timing on his part to come some time after Malifor's defeat. Easy enough to fix with a mention of scouts poking around. But worse than that is the strategy adopted by our heroes. Sending the humans who are barely a functioning army at this point out in the open against a battlehardened ost of orcs is quite the opposite of what a presumably competent strategist like Hamel would go for. Reminder that a few weeks/months before, they were still brutalized slaves with no formal experience in war. At the very least the actual defense is made of dwarves in strongly defended positions I suppose.
It would probably be better humans and dwarves fought side by side in the aformentioned defenses and at some point the leaders would withdraw to discuss strategy because there's no way they're winning a straightforward war.
Gameplay : The map is terribly designed and it ruins the scenario. It wants the player to go out to fight the orcs with massive resources of his own only to be fooled by reinforcements every time he slays a general or when he gets too close to Rakshas himself with the surprise goblins and burst in gold... But the player who already knows or decides to reload after the fact won't go this route and the whole point of the map crumbles because it's mindblowingly easy to defend the keep until the end of turns. It doesn't matter that we're facing a hundred+ orcs with potential reinforcements, we can survive by fighting a mere 20 in a tight chokepoint.
And as if that weren't enough, a decent portion of the units sent against us are lvl1 which does practically nothing except bloat the map with useless fodder. Even if we use the scenario to farm newer units, we still have access to several dwarvish lords etc if needed.
The access to the caves needs to be opened up extensively so that the player needs to plan out an actual defense line regardless of his strategy. As it stands, the current state of the map is nothing more than a very safe way to farm a few new lvl2 units from the now available spearman and archer units, with no need to spend the gold we found in Malifor's treasure vault.
It would probably be better humans and dwarves fought side by side in the aformentioned defenses and at some point the leaders would withdraw to discuss strategy because there's no way they're winning a straightforward war.
Gameplay : The map is terribly designed and it ruins the scenario. It wants the player to go out to fight the orcs with massive resources of his own only to be fooled by reinforcements every time he slays a general or when he gets too close to Rakshas himself with the surprise goblins and burst in gold... But the player who already knows or decides to reload after the fact won't go this route and the whole point of the map crumbles because it's mindblowingly easy to defend the keep until the end of turns. It doesn't matter that we're facing a hundred+ orcs with potential reinforcements, we can survive by fighting a mere 20 in a tight chokepoint.
And as if that weren't enough, a decent portion of the units sent against us are lvl1 which does practically nothing except bloat the map with useless fodder. Even if we use the scenario to farm newer units, we still have access to several dwarvish lords etc if needed.
The access to the caves needs to be opened up extensively so that the player needs to plan out an actual defense line regardless of his strategy. As it stands, the current state of the map is nothing more than a very safe way to farm a few new lvl2 units from the now available spearman and archer units, with no need to spend the gold we found in Malifor's treasure vault.
Spoiler:
Story : First, the good. The story actually ties Morvin, Thera and Camerin to Ro'Sothian and Ro'Arthian which makes us expect powerful mages considering what our trio is capable of doing. It also establishes tension and the premise of an uneasy alliance out of necessity to face a bigger enemy, alliance that will lead to the north's rebirth and unity between people. It's also a decent subversion when we finally meet the 2 brothers since they're actually liches which makes them direct foils to what Malifor was. They're cold, deadly and dangerous, but they're not exactly evil, more like scholars who went too far and need to be allowed to rest.
Now the bad. How did Stalrag arrive there ? Did he settle in the valley while the Ro brothers were still alive and running an academy of sorts ? Was it the opposite ? How did they get so much beef between them ? Absolutely no idea, we only know that Stalrag defeated at least Ro'Sothian several times in what has been several years of fighting. The only argument I have is that Stalrag is trying to kill liches.
If I had to rewrite it, I would shift the conflict in the direction of the brothers arriving after Stalrag's clan, having peaceful relationships for years and only recently turning into liches for the sake of knowledge, thus igniting the tensions between the 2 parties since the brothers aren't actually doing anything harmful (besides practicing necromancy which is a pretty big problem by itself) but the dwarves won't tolerate abominations of nature roaming around their valley, and they feel betrayed by the brothers for turning into undead.
(Also there's no narrative reason for Stalrag's clan being a clan of Ulfs. There doesn't need to be one per say but for a mostly isolated tribe, it's a bit weird)
Gameplay : The only reason this scenario isn't the hardest in all of NR is the comical gap in power between individual units. The player doesn't get carry over gold, he's stuck with the base at an abysmal 80, and Stalrag gets 60, against 1600 for Ro'Arthian. This isn't even unfair, it's unbelievable.
Yet it's doable because the player starts with up to 7 loyal units already deployed, all lvl3/4 (Zlex, Elenia, Thera, Morvin, Krash, Abhai and Camerin) and Ro'Arthian only recruits lvl1-2 units.
Note also that you only get 15 turns to defeat Ro'arthian, with 12 units total it's extremely tight if not impossible without saveloading because of the sheer amount of units you have to get through with only 12 of your own, and you have no room for error bad RNG either since you're fighting with only 4 "expendable" units.
Stalrag is also completely useless since he only recruits ulfs, with 60 starting gold + the ones already present at the start... against a massively more numerous force of higher lvl. They're so bad they can't even reliably kill mages and those are the only unit they can hope to defeat from Ro'Arthian.
I simply do not understand why the balancing decision here was to swarm the player, yes it makes the map challenging, but it's not satisfying in the slightest. It's also very weird from a narrative standpoint since Stalrag is supposed to have fought against the liches for some time soooo... where is that 60/1600 gold canyon coming from ?
I'm unsure how I would balance this, I'm currently thinking of ditching the recall list entirely (justification being that we're not expecting heavy resistance and the veterans are needed to defend Knalga), cut Ro'Arthian's gold to something like 700 (bump Stalrag to 100 and the player to 100-150), maybe add a few lvl3 mage sentinels guarding Ro'Arthian, bump the turn limit back to 24 or so and accept it won't be a very hard scenario, at least it's not insufferable.
And now for the units. Replace the ulfs with guardsmen, ulfs are already hard to use in singleplayer but in a campaign where we're constantly fighting heavily outnumbered and against strong melee units, ulfs are practically worthless. And please, add trolls, ogres and mages to the list, or at the very least mages. It also makes more sense story wise since Stalrag's clan is after all an isolated community, they have no reason to value bloodlust.
Yes, Tallin gives a reason as to why he doesn't want trolls and ogres but the reasoning puts away half the value Ro'Arthian brings to the table by being recruited, and it goes against the power trip fantasy of NR. And it's not like it would make the player that much more powerful, mages would be useful yes, but with the dwarves we already have by that point, trolls and ogres would be flavour more than anything else. And if really necessary, just make Ro'Arthian a secondary leader who would be the only one capable of recruiting them.
Now the bad. How did Stalrag arrive there ? Did he settle in the valley while the Ro brothers were still alive and running an academy of sorts ? Was it the opposite ? How did they get so much beef between them ? Absolutely no idea, we only know that Stalrag defeated at least Ro'Sothian several times in what has been several years of fighting. The only argument I have is that Stalrag is trying to kill liches.
If I had to rewrite it, I would shift the conflict in the direction of the brothers arriving after Stalrag's clan, having peaceful relationships for years and only recently turning into liches for the sake of knowledge, thus igniting the tensions between the 2 parties since the brothers aren't actually doing anything harmful (besides practicing necromancy which is a pretty big problem by itself) but the dwarves won't tolerate abominations of nature roaming around their valley, and they feel betrayed by the brothers for turning into undead.
(Also there's no narrative reason for Stalrag's clan being a clan of Ulfs. There doesn't need to be one per say but for a mostly isolated tribe, it's a bit weird)
Gameplay : The only reason this scenario isn't the hardest in all of NR is the comical gap in power between individual units. The player doesn't get carry over gold, he's stuck with the base at an abysmal 80, and Stalrag gets 60, against 1600 for Ro'Arthian. This isn't even unfair, it's unbelievable.
Yet it's doable because the player starts with up to 7 loyal units already deployed, all lvl3/4 (Zlex, Elenia, Thera, Morvin, Krash, Abhai and Camerin) and Ro'Arthian only recruits lvl1-2 units.
Note also that you only get 15 turns to defeat Ro'arthian, with 12 units total it's extremely tight if not impossible without saveloading because of the sheer amount of units you have to get through with only 12 of your own, and you have no room for error bad RNG either since you're fighting with only 4 "expendable" units.
Stalrag is also completely useless since he only recruits ulfs, with 60 starting gold + the ones already present at the start... against a massively more numerous force of higher lvl. They're so bad they can't even reliably kill mages and those are the only unit they can hope to defeat from Ro'Arthian.
I simply do not understand why the balancing decision here was to swarm the player, yes it makes the map challenging, but it's not satisfying in the slightest. It's also very weird from a narrative standpoint since Stalrag is supposed to have fought against the liches for some time soooo... where is that 60/1600 gold canyon coming from ?
I'm unsure how I would balance this, I'm currently thinking of ditching the recall list entirely (justification being that we're not expecting heavy resistance and the veterans are needed to defend Knalga), cut Ro'Arthian's gold to something like 700 (bump Stalrag to 100 and the player to 100-150), maybe add a few lvl3 mage sentinels guarding Ro'Arthian, bump the turn limit back to 24 or so and accept it won't be a very hard scenario, at least it's not insufferable.
And now for the units. Replace the ulfs with guardsmen, ulfs are already hard to use in singleplayer but in a campaign where we're constantly fighting heavily outnumbered and against strong melee units, ulfs are practically worthless. And please, add trolls, ogres and mages to the list, or at the very least mages. It also makes more sense story wise since Stalrag's clan is after all an isolated community, they have no reason to value bloodlust.
Yes, Tallin gives a reason as to why he doesn't want trolls and ogres but the reasoning puts away half the value Ro'Arthian brings to the table by being recruited, and it goes against the power trip fantasy of NR. And it's not like it would make the player that much more powerful, mages would be useful yes, but with the dwarves we already have by that point, trolls and ogres would be flavour more than anything else. And if really necessary, just make Ro'Arthian a secondary leader who would be the only one capable of recruiting them.
Spoiler:
Story : Quite the convenience that Eryssa's prison would be located near a mine exit but sure, we can let that slide. Besides that, I don't have much to say on this scenario specifically besides Stalrag's comment that his clan is perfect to take down the defenses. Narratively speaking that might be true for an ulf clan, but the reality is comically against him.
Gameplay : As mentioned in the story section, ulfs are pretty much useless. You can beat the map with ulfs as your only recruits, but that's because you can beat the map with no recruits at all since by this point you're starting with up to 10 powerful loyal allies, 2 of which are still immortal. Ulfs themselves can't even scratch the side 3 guards. As for side 2, you can take the leader out by turn 2-3 without much difficulty which makes his 500 starting gold a non issue, and since he recruits lvl1 units anyway he's barely a thorn worth mentioning.
I would just remove side 2 entirely, it's not a big issue but its presence doesn't contribute much, maybe add a few additional guards to compensate. Alternatively, change the map a little and put side 2 on the side opposite to the player so it can't be removed from the equation and have its units serve as a way to slow the player down a little.
Gameplay : As mentioned in the story section, ulfs are pretty much useless. You can beat the map with ulfs as your only recruits, but that's because you can beat the map with no recruits at all since by this point you're starting with up to 10 powerful loyal allies, 2 of which are still immortal. Ulfs themselves can't even scratch the side 3 guards. As for side 2, you can take the leader out by turn 2-3 without much difficulty which makes his 500 starting gold a non issue, and since he recruits lvl1 units anyway he's barely a thorn worth mentioning.
I would just remove side 2 entirely, it's not a big issue but its presence doesn't contribute much, maybe add a few additional guards to compensate. Alternatively, change the map a little and put side 2 on the side opposite to the player so it can't be removed from the equation and have its units serve as a way to slow the player down a little.
Spoiler:
Story : A bit odd that there are still trolls in the caves but not too big a deal. However, for a character heavy scenario, it's not great. Elenia gets her moment but it's the only time she's relevant to the story, her being Eryssa's sister is mighty convenient and Eryssa acts like a young naïve girl (which totally won't be at odds with her place as leader of the elves a few scenarios forward). This is also supposedly the spring board for Tallin and Eryssa's romance but it's pretty much non-existent. And finally, apparently Malifor has been an issue for the elves for years, how so ? It's the first time we even hear that he operated outside of Knalga, let alone near Wesmere.
Honestly, it's hard to argue over dialogue but one thing is certain, I would rewrite it a fair bit. Also it finally gave me an idea for Elenia given how she talks about Tallin. Make her a wandering bard, it explains her call to adventure, why she got captured supposedly alone and it gives her a way to stand out in the crowd.
Gameplay : Not much to say, maybe add a few lvl3 trolls to pose a semblance of a threat but this scenario is pretty much story only coated with a bit of troll paint. I'm fine with leaving it as is.
Honestly, it's hard to argue over dialogue but one thing is certain, I would rewrite it a fair bit. Also it finally gave me an idea for Elenia given how she talks about Tallin. Make her a wandering bard, it explains her call to adventure, why she got captured supposedly alone and it gives her a way to stand out in the crowd.
Gameplay : Not much to say, maybe add a few lvl3 trolls to pose a semblance of a threat but this scenario is pretty much story only coated with a bit of troll paint. I'm fine with leaving it as is.
Spoiler:
Story : Several major issues here, how did the trolls know where to look for the gold ? How the come the dwarves even survived the assault if this literal army is what got through ? Why send trolls in the first place when Rakshas has faster and more nimble units for such a job ? Why wait for Tallin's group at all ? Just a lot of questions all around.
And then, the drakes. Krash who didn't do anything up to this point just finds drakes and gets them to fight for him in what is the biggest plot bending action of the campaign. And it's made even worse with the rewrites for 1.18 with Drake culture now revolving around Flights and hunting, why would they ever bother with a lone drake asking for help ? And yes, I know it's supposed to be a big moment when Krash comes back with unexpected help in what is a desperate situation but it's not earned in any shape or form.
I'd have to look into the troll matter to find fixes, I won't argue here even though I don't like what's happening (I will only comment that Ro'Arthian looks really useful with his ability to control trolls that's never brought up). However, the drake matter I have ideas for. Make them present on the map from the start and harassed by the trolls (or rather orcs but let's work with what we have). Better yet, have the trolls murder the Aspirant which sends the drakes into disarray and Krash (who supposedly has leadership skills in this quick rewrite I decided for him) has to step in to rally the remaining forces against the trolls. Afterwards, make them follow Tallin's lead through a combination of desire for revenge against the orcs and Krash's newfound authority.
Gameplay : 4 sides with 700 gold each against 300-400 (and 160 for Krash when he steps in), and 27 base income for an absurd amount of units. NR S7 was the precursor but S10 is the first proper scenario where the player has to kill dozens of units in an endlessly shifting frontline. It gets boring real fast and the gap in resources call for drastic countermeasures.
Which bring me to the map. Abundance of mountains with big sections of flat terrain in between. Which means that there's an easy solution of throwing in dwarves (and at this point I had 10-15 dwarvish lords) and forming a nigh invincible line of defense.
Also there's a funny reliable exploit. Side 2's leader can be taken out turn 2 because he captures a village that puts him in range of our fastest starting units.
Ultimately, the map isn't hard, it's just really tedious, I didn't even need all my gold, a single round of recalls was enough to survive. As usual, I would reduce the amount of gold the trolls get, throw in lvl3s and redesign the map to open up more options besides dwarf spam. And please, get rid of that absurd base income, I understand the need of giving enemy leaders a way to stay relevant after their units have been defeated but getting to recruit 2 lvl1 - 1 lvl2 troll every single round with default income slows the game down more than it makes it difficult, it's not fun.
And then, the drakes. Krash who didn't do anything up to this point just finds drakes and gets them to fight for him in what is the biggest plot bending action of the campaign. And it's made even worse with the rewrites for 1.18 with Drake culture now revolving around Flights and hunting, why would they ever bother with a lone drake asking for help ? And yes, I know it's supposed to be a big moment when Krash comes back with unexpected help in what is a desperate situation but it's not earned in any shape or form.
I'd have to look into the troll matter to find fixes, I won't argue here even though I don't like what's happening (I will only comment that Ro'Arthian looks really useful with his ability to control trolls that's never brought up). However, the drake matter I have ideas for. Make them present on the map from the start and harassed by the trolls (or rather orcs but let's work with what we have). Better yet, have the trolls murder the Aspirant which sends the drakes into disarray and Krash (who supposedly has leadership skills in this quick rewrite I decided for him) has to step in to rally the remaining forces against the trolls. Afterwards, make them follow Tallin's lead through a combination of desire for revenge against the orcs and Krash's newfound authority.
Gameplay : 4 sides with 700 gold each against 300-400 (and 160 for Krash when he steps in), and 27 base income for an absurd amount of units. NR S7 was the precursor but S10 is the first proper scenario where the player has to kill dozens of units in an endlessly shifting frontline. It gets boring real fast and the gap in resources call for drastic countermeasures.
Which bring me to the map. Abundance of mountains with big sections of flat terrain in between. Which means that there's an easy solution of throwing in dwarves (and at this point I had 10-15 dwarvish lords) and forming a nigh invincible line of defense.
Also there's a funny reliable exploit. Side 2's leader can be taken out turn 2 because he captures a village that puts him in range of our fastest starting units.
Ultimately, the map isn't hard, it's just really tedious, I didn't even need all my gold, a single round of recalls was enough to survive. As usual, I would reduce the amount of gold the trolls get, throw in lvl3s and redesign the map to open up more options besides dwarf spam. And please, get rid of that absurd base income, I understand the need of giving enemy leaders a way to stay relevant after their units have been defeated but getting to recruit 2 lvl1 - 1 lvl2 troll every single round with default income slows the game down more than it makes it difficult, it's not fun.
Spoiler:
Story : We've reached a point of no return here. From this map onwards, the story can't realistically happen with the hand we've been dealt. NR S11 and co tell a story of how Tallin (and off screen Hamel) went into full blown war in orcish territory and in this case, dismanteled the fortress defending the orcs' eastern flank.
As a reminder, Tallin's resources are : his fellow human comrades who weren't soldiers a few weeks/months prior, a few "outlaws" accustomed to living in the wilderness, what remained of the Knalgan dwarves, some more dwarves recruited off screen who Hamel says came from surface clans and rejoined Knalga after Malifor's defeat, both of which are unavalailable for NR S11, Stalrag's clan, Ro'Arthian's gryphons as the trolls and ogres were rejected, a strong elvish army which also isn't avalailable for NR S11, and the drakes Krash found the scenario prior.
With how the orcs have been setup to be unbeatable by force, I do not believe anything smaller than Garard II's army from HttT would stand a chance, and certainly not a bunch of ragtags hastily put together even if we factor in the powerful mages at our side.
The problem here is that all the ending section of NR needs to be remade entirely to make more sense. Also this segment is the first to hint at a romance between Eryssa and Tallin, and considering the amount of dialogue prior, it's sloppy to say the least.
Gameplay : This scenario the one that marked me the most the first time I ran it, it was the largest battle I had done up to that point and it was intimidating, especially considering the fact I was heavily outnumbered, but coming back today... It's very bad.
First off, the map is yet again grossly imbalanced to favor dwarves, there's a continuous mountain range covering most of the upper part of the map. To its credit, the bottom half is far more interesting but it's also a smaller part of the battlefield.
Unto the ennemies now. Why oh why are still fighting lvl1 orcs besides assassins ? They're barely a threat yet they represent anywhere between 30 to 50% of the units present, sent against a line of invincible dwarves on one side, and lvl3-4 mages on the other. I've had several turns where they straight up wouldn't play because they were faced with Ro'Arthian and knew they couldn't scratch him.
The reality of this scenario is that it's a slow push up to the fortress with very little challenge besides the part defended by drakes who are by far the weakest part of your army, and the slow push is 15 turns long because you have to defeat over a 150 units.
But it's not over yet, after spending 15 turns doing that, you have to spend 15 more turns actually taking the fortress because the 5 ennemy leaders can endlessly recruit units with 47 base income each. That's an average of 10 fresh units every single turn until you manage to kill the leaders or block their keeps.
Before doing anything, cut that base income in half at the very least, 5 units per turn is still much but I understand the need of a constant threat, 10 is just boring overkill.
Then, remove the lvl1s entirely besides maybe assassins, this would cut down the amount of units to chew through while simultaneously rising the challenge on the weaker parts of your front line.
And finally, add a second part of the river going upwards with hills and forest hexes around it to increase the diversity in terrain and thus discourage dwarf spam since they would have trouble actually reaching the river.
As a reminder, Tallin's resources are : his fellow human comrades who weren't soldiers a few weeks/months prior, a few "outlaws" accustomed to living in the wilderness, what remained of the Knalgan dwarves, some more dwarves recruited off screen who Hamel says came from surface clans and rejoined Knalga after Malifor's defeat, both of which are unavalailable for NR S11, Stalrag's clan, Ro'Arthian's gryphons as the trolls and ogres were rejected, a strong elvish army which also isn't avalailable for NR S11, and the drakes Krash found the scenario prior.
With how the orcs have been setup to be unbeatable by force, I do not believe anything smaller than Garard II's army from HttT would stand a chance, and certainly not a bunch of ragtags hastily put together even if we factor in the powerful mages at our side.
The problem here is that all the ending section of NR needs to be remade entirely to make more sense. Also this segment is the first to hint at a romance between Eryssa and Tallin, and considering the amount of dialogue prior, it's sloppy to say the least.
Gameplay : This scenario the one that marked me the most the first time I ran it, it was the largest battle I had done up to that point and it was intimidating, especially considering the fact I was heavily outnumbered, but coming back today... It's very bad.
First off, the map is yet again grossly imbalanced to favor dwarves, there's a continuous mountain range covering most of the upper part of the map. To its credit, the bottom half is far more interesting but it's also a smaller part of the battlefield.
Unto the ennemies now. Why oh why are still fighting lvl1 orcs besides assassins ? They're barely a threat yet they represent anywhere between 30 to 50% of the units present, sent against a line of invincible dwarves on one side, and lvl3-4 mages on the other. I've had several turns where they straight up wouldn't play because they were faced with Ro'Arthian and knew they couldn't scratch him.
The reality of this scenario is that it's a slow push up to the fortress with very little challenge besides the part defended by drakes who are by far the weakest part of your army, and the slow push is 15 turns long because you have to defeat over a 150 units.
But it's not over yet, after spending 15 turns doing that, you have to spend 15 more turns actually taking the fortress because the 5 ennemy leaders can endlessly recruit units with 47 base income each. That's an average of 10 fresh units every single turn until you manage to kill the leaders or block their keeps.
Before doing anything, cut that base income in half at the very least, 5 units per turn is still much but I understand the need of a constant threat, 10 is just boring overkill.
Then, remove the lvl1s entirely besides maybe assassins, this would cut down the amount of units to chew through while simultaneously rising the challenge on the weaker parts of your front line.
And finally, add a second part of the river going upwards with hills and forest hexes around it to increase the diversity in terrain and thus discourage dwarf spam since they would have trouble actually reaching the river.
Spoiler:
Story : Tallin and Eryssa's romance doesn't work at all and this is supposed to be one of its core moments, and Hidel has absolutely no business supporting them, he's known Tallin for about 1 day.
The gold plot however is... well for some reason Rakshas didn't personally pursue the elves who got the stolen gold back, he just sent one of his generals retrieve it and hoped for the best ? Frankly, I would remove Rakshas from NR S10 entirely and have the plot still revolve around the generals trying to get the gold back to Rakshas.
Gameplay : This map tries to be challenging by swarming the player with unreasonable amounts of units (1600 gold base and 20 or so units already deployed) but it's stupid easy because the map is very small and we can easily bruteforce our way to the leader in 5-7 turns since lvl2 units can't hope to hold a line against us, Tallin doesn't even need to recruit and Krash/Eryssa only need a single round of units, and even then it's for xp more than out of necessity.
I would remake this map entirely, strech it out considerably and have several orcs spread throughout to slow us down, with the actual main host being significantly weaker. This would give value to the drakes and elves who are faster in forest while also creating more tension since we can't bruteforce our way through in a single day cycle.
Granted, this would need extensive testing (not that the other suggestions wouldn't but this is probably the worst offender).
The gold plot however is... well for some reason Rakshas didn't personally pursue the elves who got the stolen gold back, he just sent one of his generals retrieve it and hoped for the best ? Frankly, I would remove Rakshas from NR S10 entirely and have the plot still revolve around the generals trying to get the gold back to Rakshas.
Gameplay : This map tries to be challenging by swarming the player with unreasonable amounts of units (1600 gold base and 20 or so units already deployed) but it's stupid easy because the map is very small and we can easily bruteforce our way to the leader in 5-7 turns since lvl2 units can't hope to hold a line against us, Tallin doesn't even need to recruit and Krash/Eryssa only need a single round of units, and even then it's for xp more than out of necessity.
I would remake this map entirely, strech it out considerably and have several orcs spread throughout to slow us down, with the actual main host being significantly weaker. This would give value to the drakes and elves who are faster in forest while also creating more tension since we can't bruteforce our way through in a single day cycle.
Granted, this would need extensive testing (not that the other suggestions wouldn't but this is probably the worst offender).
Spoiler:
Story : The final nail in the coffin, after spending half the campaign explaining that orcs can't be beaten the regular way, we storm Rakshas' fortress from all sides in a large scale siege. I've already explained what I think about that plotline, it doesn't work.
Also I have to ask who's defending Knalga if Hamel led the counterattack with supposedly most of his forces, or did the orcs just bail out off screen ?
Gameplay : In a similar fashion to NR S11, this map mostly revolves around battling an obscene amount of amounts for X turns straight, except this time we're fighting lvl2 recruits, and the lvl3 guard on the walls.
This fight just doesn't work on Nightmare mode, the way it's supposed to go is to have our 4 player controlled sides attack the fortress simultaneously but with Nightmare mode's resource balance.
The orcs start with 4x1200 gold + 1600 for side 2, for a grand total of 6400 gold, + 4x42 base income and 56 starting lvl3 guards. Hamel gets 400 while Tallin/Krash/Eryssa get anywhere between 400 to 1000, roughly half of the orcs' resources. The intended battlefield is also purely flat terrain.
This makes the intended approach close to impossible, fighting in the open field leads to too much losses on the drakes, elves, and Hamel's sides to sustain the battle, the only side who has a chance in this is Tallin because he has by far the most durable units to survive an onslaught outnumbered.
Yet the map isn't hard at all, why is that ? Since we can't win by brainlessly smashing units against each other (which is a good thing don't get me wrong, there isn't much strategy in that), we have to assume an advantageous position and turtle our way to victory. The most optimal way I found to do that is to flat out not recruit with Hamel and Krash, instead move them over to Eryssa and Tallin respectively, and fight on 2 fronts instead of 4, the starting forest (with a bit of hills) for the dwarves + elves, and Tallin's starting camp for him and the drakes (who don't even need to recruit for the strategy to work).
This leads the orcs to swarming Tallin with 90% of their units while Eryssa and Hamel deal with the remaining 10%, and then they can storm an undefended fortress since every remaining orc barring the guards are busy crashing against a wall of dwarvish lords on 60% defense, and funnily enough the orcs can't even abuse their obscene base income because most of their units are still alive, dragging it down.
So what are my issues with this map ?
The intended design doesn't work on Nightmare mode because of the resources and map at play, and what I consider to be the optimal strategy defeats the large scale battle experience entirely, making the ending result an unsatisfying experience.
To remedy this, I would do 2 things. As usual, enable higher lvl recruits to diminish the sheer amount of units we have to defeat, and change the map completely. Remove Tallin's camp fortification and diversify the terrain around the fortress, add hills, swamps, villages, outer orc fortifications, make the river more prevalent. The idea is to reintroduce strategy by giving the player hexes to play around while also removing the possibility to indefinitely defend. Outer fortifications, even if lightly defended would also serve as a way to discourage merging the player's sides.
And finally, give Hamel the control of Tallin's dwarf veterans. This forces Tallin to rely on the other unit types he's supposed to have amassed, and mitigates the dwarvish lord invincible line since Hamel doesn't have healers which makes the lords more susceptible to poison damage, and he has less troops to cycle aswell.
Maybe also reduce the orcs' gold by 200 each, yes it diminishes the challenge but part 2 of the review will cover why I think this way.
Also I have to ask who's defending Knalga if Hamel led the counterattack with supposedly most of his forces, or did the orcs just bail out off screen ?
Gameplay : In a similar fashion to NR S11, this map mostly revolves around battling an obscene amount of amounts for X turns straight, except this time we're fighting lvl2 recruits, and the lvl3 guard on the walls.
This fight just doesn't work on Nightmare mode, the way it's supposed to go is to have our 4 player controlled sides attack the fortress simultaneously but with Nightmare mode's resource balance.
The orcs start with 4x1200 gold + 1600 for side 2, for a grand total of 6400 gold, + 4x42 base income and 56 starting lvl3 guards. Hamel gets 400 while Tallin/Krash/Eryssa get anywhere between 400 to 1000, roughly half of the orcs' resources. The intended battlefield is also purely flat terrain.
This makes the intended approach close to impossible, fighting in the open field leads to too much losses on the drakes, elves, and Hamel's sides to sustain the battle, the only side who has a chance in this is Tallin because he has by far the most durable units to survive an onslaught outnumbered.
Yet the map isn't hard at all, why is that ? Since we can't win by brainlessly smashing units against each other (which is a good thing don't get me wrong, there isn't much strategy in that), we have to assume an advantageous position and turtle our way to victory. The most optimal way I found to do that is to flat out not recruit with Hamel and Krash, instead move them over to Eryssa and Tallin respectively, and fight on 2 fronts instead of 4, the starting forest (with a bit of hills) for the dwarves + elves, and Tallin's starting camp for him and the drakes (who don't even need to recruit for the strategy to work).
This leads the orcs to swarming Tallin with 90% of their units while Eryssa and Hamel deal with the remaining 10%, and then they can storm an undefended fortress since every remaining orc barring the guards are busy crashing against a wall of dwarvish lords on 60% defense, and funnily enough the orcs can't even abuse their obscene base income because most of their units are still alive, dragging it down.
So what are my issues with this map ?
The intended design doesn't work on Nightmare mode because of the resources and map at play, and what I consider to be the optimal strategy defeats the large scale battle experience entirely, making the ending result an unsatisfying experience.
To remedy this, I would do 2 things. As usual, enable higher lvl recruits to diminish the sheer amount of units we have to defeat, and change the map completely. Remove Tallin's camp fortification and diversify the terrain around the fortress, add hills, swamps, villages, outer orc fortifications, make the river more prevalent. The idea is to reintroduce strategy by giving the player hexes to play around while also removing the possibility to indefinitely defend. Outer fortifications, even if lightly defended would also serve as a way to discourage merging the player's sides.
And finally, give Hamel the control of Tallin's dwarf veterans. This forces Tallin to rely on the other unit types he's supposed to have amassed, and mitigates the dwarvish lord invincible line since Hamel doesn't have healers which makes the lords more susceptible to poison damage, and he has less troops to cycle aswell.
Maybe also reduce the orcs' gold by 200 each, yes it diminishes the challenge but part 2 of the review will cover why I think this way.
I would label NR as "hard" instead and focus on diminishing the braindead unit mashing aspect a good portion of the scenarios display. If anything is to be done about NR, start by looking at the gameplay changes of each scenario (obviously I'm not saying you'd have to follow them, but I believe they're good starting points to think about)
My proposal for a NR rework
This will be broad strokes only as the finer details would need to be refined to create an experience worthy of mainline, but the primary goal of this rework will be to make NR a more cohesive story while also putting more emphasis on the idea of continuously expanding a massive and diverse army, in a sense I'm aiming to make it feel more like HttT.
In terms of story, the core issues we have to address are as follow :
- Make Malifor's takedown more believable
- Flesh out Krash, Elenia and Eryssa as characters
- Revisit Stalrag's conflict with the Ro' brothers
- Create a more tangible narrative for Rakshas' takedown and the instauration of the Northern Alliance
NR S1& 2
Spoiler:
Leave those mostly untouched, they're a decent introduction to the campaign, the only really important thing we have to address is the conflict between Al'tar and Garrugch. This version of NR would make Al'tar aware of Rakshas' rise to power and dismiss him as a puny idiot who pales in comparison to the leader of the Dwarven Doors.
Spoiler:
Tallin and Hamel know they can't hope to defeat the orcs or the undead in their current state, the only course of action they have is to search for more allies and Hamel advises seeking dwarves living on the surface who should have had an easier time surviving out there.
The scenario would only feature one of the clans they'd manage to recruit and the goal would be to find dwarves while fending off wild beasts and a goblin scouting party trying to find an access to the Knalgan mines.
Krash would also be available for rescue in this scenario as a prisonner of the goblins and would be established as the last survivor of his Flight, the rest having been decimated treacherously by an orcish ambush. With nothing left and a debt to repay, he decides to join Tallin.
The scenario would only feature one of the clans they'd manage to recruit and the goal would be to find dwarves while fending off wild beasts and a goblin scouting party trying to find an access to the Knalgan mines.
Krash would also be available for rescue in this scenario as a prisonner of the goblins and would be established as the last survivor of his Flight, the rest having been decimated treacherously by an orcish ambush. With nothing left and a debt to repay, he decides to join Tallin.
Spoiler:
Even with their growing numbers, the threats of the orcs and the undead remain worrying, after some deliberation, our heroes decide to take care of the undead first since they initially came from the caves, which they're going to need if they are to reach the mines to start the rebuilding of Knalga. However, as Hamel points out, they probably can't retake the mines by force, until recently the undead were practically knocking on Hamel's door.
Camerin then comes in with the suggestion that there must be a powerful necromancer leading the undead and that if they manage to fry him, the dark magic binding the undead would dissipate and the threat would be eradicated.
The final decision is to split the party in two, Hamel and the dwarves will mount a diversion through the main gate of the mines while Tallin, with the help of the dwarves he lead on the surface, will use a series of smaller bowels to get around the main force and hopefully snuff the necromancer out. Camerin follows Tallin since he's their best bet to take their enemy out, while Krash follows him out of a sense of duty and growing respect.
As Tallin enters the earth's bowels, Malifor's ethereal voice reaches him and taunts him while simultaneously praising him for coming this far. Apparently, this way is also defended but in his arrogance, Malifor dares Tallin to try and reach his dungeon, and with no better solution in sight, Tallin charges forward.
As they progress, they stumble unto a small patch of underground lush caves. This is where they find Elenia who's been trapped down there ever since getting caught off guard by the undead when they first appeared. As she fled, she got lost and eventually ended up there, where Malifor kept her trapped as a kind of exotic pet. As it turns out, Elenia was a wandering elvish bard travelling between dwarvish clans to record songs unheard of her own people. Thrilled at the idea of seeing Malifor's defeat and recording the rebirth of Knalga, she joins the party.
Camerin then comes in with the suggestion that there must be a powerful necromancer leading the undead and that if they manage to fry him, the dark magic binding the undead would dissipate and the threat would be eradicated.
The final decision is to split the party in two, Hamel and the dwarves will mount a diversion through the main gate of the mines while Tallin, with the help of the dwarves he lead on the surface, will use a series of smaller bowels to get around the main force and hopefully snuff the necromancer out. Camerin follows Tallin since he's their best bet to take their enemy out, while Krash follows him out of a sense of duty and growing respect.
As Tallin enters the earth's bowels, Malifor's ethereal voice reaches him and taunts him while simultaneously praising him for coming this far. Apparently, this way is also defended but in his arrogance, Malifor dares Tallin to try and reach his dungeon, and with no better solution in sight, Tallin charges forward.
As they progress, they stumble unto a small patch of underground lush caves. This is where they find Elenia who's been trapped down there ever since getting caught off guard by the undead when they first appeared. As she fled, she got lost and eventually ended up there, where Malifor kept her trapped as a kind of exotic pet. As it turns out, Elenia was a wandering elvish bard travelling between dwarvish clans to record songs unheard of her own people. Thrilled at the idea of seeing Malifor's defeat and recording the rebirth of Knalga, she joins the party.
Spoiler:
As Tallin's party reaches the gates of Malifor's lair, the lich cackles as it lead them directly into a trap. Soon enough, the place will be swarming with undead and they will have no choice but to surrender, the fight in the mines is only occupying a fraction of his forces. Malifor taunts Tallin a last time, pressing the peasant to join him in undeath as an immortal general. Tallin refuses and sets out to destroy the lich once and for all before they get overwhelmed.
From there, the scenario proceeds pretty much as the current NR S5, with the exception that the only prisonners are Father Morvin and Sister Thera.
From there, the scenario proceeds pretty much as the current NR S5, with the exception that the only prisonners are Father Morvin and Sister Thera.
Spoiler:
With Malifor defeated, our group finds the dwarves still alive in the mines with Hamel at their head. They briefly discuss their unexpected victory before passing on to what remains to be done. The orcs will soon find out that the undead are no more and they will undoubtedly try to invade Knalga to seize its resources. Their respite will be short lived and they need to make the best of it by starting to manufacture new equipment with the newly retaken mines.
From there, Tallin follows Hamel's tactical lessons and with nothing better to do, Krash joins in the hopes of one day being able to skillfully lead his own Flight. They are however soon interrupted by the orcs' arrival. Their vanguard is standing at the gates, led by Rakshas himself. The Knalgans quickly organize their defenses and get ready to protect their home.
Before the scenario starts, Rakshas has one of his scouts executed for not finding out about the knalgans sooner, he remembers the war against the Dwarven Doors when he was still a young grunt and he knows that this kind of defense won't be taken down easily. But he desperately wants to seize Knalga to cement his place as paramount leader of the northern orcs so he sends his generals forward.
After 3 days of endless fighting, seeing as this will lead him nowhere, Rakshas swears he'll be back to crush them once and for all before leaving, allowing the defenders a brief respite.
From there, Tallin follows Hamel's tactical lessons and with nothing better to do, Krash joins in the hopes of one day being able to skillfully lead his own Flight. They are however soon interrupted by the orcs' arrival. Their vanguard is standing at the gates, led by Rakshas himself. The Knalgans quickly organize their defenses and get ready to protect their home.
Before the scenario starts, Rakshas has one of his scouts executed for not finding out about the knalgans sooner, he remembers the war against the Dwarven Doors when he was still a young grunt and he knows that this kind of defense won't be taken down easily. But he desperately wants to seize Knalga to cement his place as paramount leader of the northern orcs so he sends his generals forward.
After 3 days of endless fighting, seeing as this will lead him nowhere, Rakshas swears he'll be back to crush them once and for all before leaving, allowing the defenders a brief respite.
Spoiler:
Like in the current version of NR, the party realizes they're going to need new allies if they are to stand a chance, they merely managed to hold off the orcs' vanguard. Morvin suggests seeking out Ro'Arthian and Ro'Sothian, 2 powerful mages he was in contact with before getting captured and Hamel remembers that his old friend Stalrag also lives nearby and that they should get him aswell, his clan's renowned guardsmen would be invaluable to strenghten the knalgan defense.
Leaving most of his soldiers behind, Tallin sets out with his little group to travel to the valley where they find the 2 parties at each other's throats, with Stalrag accusing the 2 brothers of betrayal while the 2 liches want to kill him for attempting to destroy their academy and murdering their students. After defeating all 3 of them in combat, Tallin and Morvin manage to convince them to join the group to defend Knalga, their own dispute being irrelevant if the orcs end up storming the place.
As it turns out, Ro'Arthian has enough influence to move several troll clans to his side thanks to his connections with troll shamans. This could be of invaluable help to destabilize the orcs' unity.
Leaving most of his soldiers behind, Tallin sets out with his little group to travel to the valley where they find the 2 parties at each other's throats, with Stalrag accusing the 2 brothers of betrayal while the 2 liches want to kill him for attempting to destroy their academy and murdering their students. After defeating all 3 of them in combat, Tallin and Morvin manage to convince them to join the group to defend Knalga, their own dispute being irrelevant if the orcs end up storming the place.
As it turns out, Ro'Arthian has enough influence to move several troll clans to his side thanks to his connections with troll shamans. This could be of invaluable help to destabilize the orcs' unity.
Spoiler:
The party gets back to Knalga and continues discussing the situation. For some reason, the orcs haven't actually come back yet which is very suspicious. Thanks to Ro'Arthian's gryphons, they find out that a lot of movement is happening in the far north, where the orcs are most numerous. Apparently, Rakshas' defeat at the knalgan gates stirred unrest within his ranks, with several of his generals starting to question his ability to lead if he could be defeated by a bunch of ragtag slaves.
As a show of force, Rakshas rode back north to make some heads roll and reassess his domination over orc kind. They also found out that another of his targets was the forest of Greenwood to fuel the war effort. At this mention, Elenia freaks because it's her homeland, and although the elves had been rejected as possible allies with Lintanir feeling unthreatened and Wesmere being too obtuse, Elenia pleads to Tallin that Greenwood will help if they go to its aid, and Tallin accepts.
After several days of traveling, Tallin's party arrives at a conquered Greenwoood where orcs are arguing with each other over the spoils of war, with several elves enslaved, one of them being Eryssa, the head priestess of Greenwood, and the other Hidel, Greenwood's battle commander.
While Tallin is trying to think of a plan, the orcs start infighting between Rakshas' loyalists and a renegade faction, and Krash makes the call to attack the orcs while they are distracted to free the remaining elves.
Once the orcs are routed, Eryssa recognizes Elenia as one of her own people, gone long ago to sing along the moutain paths, and she agrees to join Tallin's alliance to defeat the orcs. Hidel however doesn't approve and decides to lead the remaining elves to Lintanir where they will be granted asylum. In the end, only Eryssa and her shamans remain with Tallin, but Hidel assures her that once their people are led to safety, he will come back to avenge his fallen comrades.
For the time being however, they have to flee their home and hope it won't completely ruined when the orc threat is finally dealt with.
As a show of force, Rakshas rode back north to make some heads roll and reassess his domination over orc kind. They also found out that another of his targets was the forest of Greenwood to fuel the war effort. At this mention, Elenia freaks because it's her homeland, and although the elves had been rejected as possible allies with Lintanir feeling unthreatened and Wesmere being too obtuse, Elenia pleads to Tallin that Greenwood will help if they go to its aid, and Tallin accepts.
After several days of traveling, Tallin's party arrives at a conquered Greenwoood where orcs are arguing with each other over the spoils of war, with several elves enslaved, one of them being Eryssa, the head priestess of Greenwood, and the other Hidel, Greenwood's battle commander.
While Tallin is trying to think of a plan, the orcs start infighting between Rakshas' loyalists and a renegade faction, and Krash makes the call to attack the orcs while they are distracted to free the remaining elves.
Once the orcs are routed, Eryssa recognizes Elenia as one of her own people, gone long ago to sing along the moutain paths, and she agrees to join Tallin's alliance to defeat the orcs. Hidel however doesn't approve and decides to lead the remaining elves to Lintanir where they will be granted asylum. In the end, only Eryssa and her shamans remain with Tallin, but Hidel assures her that once their people are led to safety, he will come back to avenge his fallen comrades.
For the time being however, they have to flee their home and hope it won't completely ruined when the orc threat is finally dealt with.
Spoiler:
As they fall back to Knalga, Tallin's group is found by goblin scouts. Rakshas' army is on the move again, bigger than ever before, and at its head, the fuming leader of the orcs is marching down to crush the Knalgan pests who keep being a thorn in his side, believing that they are to blame for the elves' escape. Their intervention cuts the introductions short as they must flee to the caves. When they reach it, they are greeted by trolls who end up being on Ro'Arthian's side, ready to slow the scouts down while they continue retreating south.
Tensions are at an all time high with the elves discovering that they are fighting not only alongside humans and dwarves, but also liches and even trolls, and it's only thanks to Tallin's leadership that it doesn't devolve into bloodshed. Eryssa however mourns that caves are a poor substitution to her bright home and Tallin promises that with the North united, everyone's home will be restored.
Tensions are at an all time high with the elves discovering that they are fighting not only alongside humans and dwarves, but also liches and even trolls, and it's only thanks to Tallin's leadership that it doesn't devolve into bloodshed. Eryssa however mourns that caves are a poor substitution to her bright home and Tallin promises that with the North united, everyone's home will be restored.
Spoiler:
As they get back to Knalga to ready themselves against another assault, the rear gets decimated as several trolls flee into the mines with a portion of the Knalgan gold. As they learn soon after, Rakshas managed to rally some of Ro'Arthian's trolls to his cause, as we learn later the shaman trolls had limits to their authority and it was easy to lure the warriors with promises of wealth and meat.
Stuck between the hammer and the anvil, Tallin takes up arms to retrieve the defecting trolls and stop them from bringing their spoils back to Rakshas. However, the trolls are faster than dwarves, humans and elves alike in the caves, and they end up reaching the surface near Lake Vrug. There, Tallin finds a huge goblin raid party busy killing drakes while waiting for him and the trolls.
There, they ambush him and Krash manages to rally the remaining drakes to his cause, their Aspirant having been killed by the goblins, to turn the tides. Sadly, several goblins escape with some of the stolen bags of gold.
Stuck between the hammer and the anvil, Tallin takes up arms to retrieve the defecting trolls and stop them from bringing their spoils back to Rakshas. However, the trolls are faster than dwarves, humans and elves alike in the caves, and they end up reaching the surface near Lake Vrug. There, Tallin finds a huge goblin raid party busy killing drakes while waiting for him and the trolls.
There, they ambush him and Krash manages to rally the remaining drakes to his cause, their Aspirant having been killed by the goblins, to turn the tides. Sadly, several goblins escape with some of the stolen bags of gold.
Spoiler:
The drakes rally Tallin's cause and they hastily decide to pursue the goblins. Thanks to Eryssa's elves and Krash's drake gliders, they manage to track down the goblins on the surface and end up reaching Rakshas' army. They seem to be too late, but all hope isn't lost yet. Rakshas is further away planning his attack with his most trusted generals and of those left behind, not all of them are entirely loyal to him and that gold is looking very tempting.
In an effort to cause chaos, Tallin decides to attack the rear guard to push the generals present into using the gold for themselves to rally more orcs.
Note : this scenario would work as a 1 versus 4, and victory would be achieved by beating 2 of the 4 present Warlords, with the remaining two fleeing the battle, one over to Rakshas, the other back north with remains of the gold.
(at the point of writing this rework, this is the scenario I'm most unsure of)
In an effort to cause chaos, Tallin decides to attack the rear guard to push the generals present into using the gold for themselves to rally more orcs.
Note : this scenario would work as a 1 versus 4, and victory would be achieved by beating 2 of the 4 present Warlords, with the remaining two fleeing the battle, one over to Rakshas, the other back north with remains of the gold.
(at the point of writing this rework, this is the scenario I'm most unsure of)
Spoiler:
Unable to do anything more, Tallin retreats to Knalga with his allies where they prepare to fight Rakshas for the last time at the Dwarven Doors. Although they managed to severely weaken Rakshas' forces, the task ahead of them is still looking desperate, but what choice do they have except fight for their freedom ?
With every ounce of strength they possess, the uneasy alliance of humans, dwarves, elves, drakes, mages and trolls prepares for a last stand against Rakshas who's coming with what remains of his forces. He's furious and hellbent on conquering Knalga this time to finally rise as uncontested leader of the North.
As the armies prepare to clash, a gryphon comes back. Hidel has kept his promise and is marching towards the Dwarven Doors with every blade he could muster to avenge Greenwood. And so, the siege begins to decide the fate of the North.
With every ounce of strength they possess, the uneasy alliance of humans, dwarves, elves, drakes, mages and trolls prepares for a last stand against Rakshas who's coming with what remains of his forces. He's furious and hellbent on conquering Knalga this time to finally rise as uncontested leader of the North.
As the armies prepare to clash, a gryphon comes back. Hidel has kept his promise and is marching towards the Dwarven Doors with every blade he could muster to avenge Greenwood. And so, the siege begins to decide the fate of the North.
Spoiler:
It proceeds similarly to the current version, with the exception that Krash also ends up joining the Wardens, while the Ro' brothers bequeath their academy to Morvin who will train the future scholars to advise the Wardens, while themselves finally go to rest. Elenia doesn't join the Wardens but promises to sing their tale wherever she can go, and Eryssa ultimately decides to remain at Tallin's side, much like she helped save the Dwarven Doors, Tallin will free and rebuild Greenwood where they would end up getting married before travelling together to ensure everyone's home in the north remains safe under their watch.
Note that this draft is mostly narratively driven, I have given very few indications for how the campaign would play out but basically, most scenarios would be battles of relatively large scale (with the notable exceptions of NR S1-7-9), with anywhere between 50 and 80 (100) units to defeat, the upper limit only being reached by S6 and S12, and in exchange the average lvl of the units would be raised to still provide a meaningful challenge.
The actual balance of the campaign remains to be discussed however, I'm far from the only valuable opinion on how campaigns should play out.
With that being said, this exhaustive review of Northern Rebirth is finally coming to a close, thanks for reading through all that rambling, I hope you found it insightfull. Who knows, maybe someday it will amount to something.
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holypaladin
- Posts: 225
- Joined: August 14th, 2017, 9:07 pm
- Location: Poland
Re: An exhaustive review of Northern Rebirth
Post by holypaladin »
What I would add is that the behavior of the elves is shocking that they are so eager to free Eryssa but totally show no interest in the fact that Elenia was also kidnapped and was in much harsher conditionsStory : Quite the convenience that Eryssa's prison would be located near a mine exit but sure, we can let that slide. Besides that, I don't have much to say on this scenario specifically besides Stalrag's comment that his clan is perfect to take down the defenses. Narratively speaking that might be true for an ulf clan, but the reality is comically against him.
„Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam"
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