Scenario 1: The Elves Besieged

[Orek]

(1) What difficulty level and Wesnoth version have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

(1) Challenging (=Champion=Hardest) in 1.14.17 on permadeath
(2) 3 (19th most difficult = 5th easiest)
... [Difficult] 2, 16, 14, 4, 9, 6, 5b, 10, 13, 12, 23, 8, 7, 3, 15, 17, 19c, 22, 1, 20b, 11, 24, 18 [Easy]
(3) Very clear
(4) Clear and interesting enough
(5) Although this scenario itself was not very difficult, it was a challenge to figure out safe ways to earn/gain enough gold/XP for acquiring Simyr consistently in the next scenario. It took me more than 500 practice runs in 2 years or so.
(6) 10 (2nd most fun = 22nd most boring)
... [Fun] 2, 1, 6, 9, 5b, 4, 16, 15, 23, 3, 12, 14, 10, 24, 13, 8, 7, 19c, 20b, 11, 17, 22, 18 [Boring]
(7) It would be helpful to add a piece of advice on how to activate the accelerated speed for new players who may be annoyed by the slow enemy/ally movements/engagements.

YouTube Link: Run 1 Run 2 Run 3
Walkthrough: HttT walkthrough (hardest, permadeath, v1.14.17) + General campaign guides (Replays for all scenarios can be downloaded from here.)

[JoelPera]

Skipping the usual feedback form as I have only one lore-related quibble with here. Chantal is clearly an important character in Def's Memoirs and is Kalenz's daughter if I recall correctly. Could some sort of acknowledgement/dialogue be made here or in the scenario where Kalenz is introduced? Also it kinda implied she dies here or her fate's unknown. Some sort of explanation later would give us some closure. I get that this is a novice campaign why should newbies be given TMI, but it does allude to play Kalenz's story in the epilogue if I'm not mistaken. Completely ignoring her and her possible death feels weird.

I looked through the old posts and I found one user hinting that they felt Pandara (misspelt, the lady elf who saved Konrad and seems close to Deflador) could be Chantal and that's just her other name? Quite interesting at minimum.

[gnombat]

Chantal is clearly an important character in Def's Memoirs and is Kalenz's daughter if I recall correctly.

Granddaughter, actually.

Could some sort of acknowledgement/dialogue be made here or in the scenario where Kalenz is introduced? Also it kinda implied she dies here or her fate's unknown. Some sort of explanation later would give us some closure. I get that this is a novice campaign why should newbies be given TMI, but it does allude to play Kalenz's story in the epilogue if I'm not mistaken. Completely ignoring her and her possible death feels weird.

Chantal does in fact get mentioned one more time in the scenario "The Siege of Elensefar." It does not really go into detail but it's implied that she has survived.

[JoelPera]

Chantal does in fact get mentioned one more time in the scenario "The Siege of Elensefar." It does not really go into detail but it's implied that she has survived.

Granddaughter* Thanks.

Do they? I just did the whole campaign save for the last battle and need to peruse the script once more.  

Found it, tiny reference. No wonder I don't recall it but it's there.

We cannot go to Wesmere, for Asheviere’s orcs have the approaches ringed about with steel; Kalenz and I barely escaped, and Chantal cannot get out.

[JL42]

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

v. 1.16.10
Lord / Challenging

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

2 – Just getting to the signpost is super-easy; but trying to get some XP for your units along the way without getting them killed keeps things quite interesting.

How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Very clear.

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

Very clear; reasonably interesting. The writing throughout this campaign is not astounding or anything, but it's generally good and polished and makes the gameplay feel meaningful.

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

The only tricky thing here is needing to work around the ally's troops, and them wanting to steal all the kills.

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

7 – It's a fun scenario; definitely gives the sense of being a small fry in a big fight.

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

None.

---------------
About the Overall Campaign:

The maps and storyline here are well-made and polished, though not as completely epic as some of the other campaigns. I like that it is lengthy, giving you time to develop your army, and gradually introduces many different terrains and unit types. This seems like a great beginner campaign since it's fairly easy and the early scenarios are framed as a kind of mentoring environment for the young hero. (However, it's a bit strange that some of the basic dialogue tips, like "hey, loyal units don't require upkeep!" are just now arriving, after I've already played through several previous campaigns without that advice.) There are some glitches that can come up in the Scepter of Fire scenario, and some of the princess-related dialogue around scenarios 17–21 felt a bit confusing and unbelievable (more specific comments in the relevant threads). This campaign is very close to full marks, but due to those few lingering issues and the lack of any real epic blow-you-away maps I'm going to rate it 4 out of 5.

[Duke_Anax]

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

• Wesnoth 1.18 Lord(Challenging)

[/list][/list](2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]

• 5 - as difficult as you make it

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

• very clear

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

• Very clear, The introduction is great, but Delfador could have more flavor when describing the strategy. The destruction of the village was nice.

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?

• Getting Konrad out is fairly straightforward, the challenge is in how much gold and XP you can grab on the way. Also coordinating with the elves

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

• Quite fun. Multiple ways to approach it. I restarted a few times to figure out the best way to approach it. In the end, I went with two shamans and five fighters. I barely got any villages but managed to end a few orcs as well as one of the L3 Trolls. Quite a way to start the campaign, by facing multiple L2 as well as L3 with nothing but L1 and allies.

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

• It shows that the campaign is one of the older ones, the map is a bit dull with a very limited tile selection.