LinLog

After upgrading to Kubuntu Edgy, I see that I've got a new version of Battle for Wesnoth. The upgrade installed version 1.1.8, which is a significant improvement over the 1.0.x version I was running before. I have to say, Wesnoth has really gotten good since i got hooked on it three years ago.

The graphic improvements are nice, but those aren't really the best changes. What really helps it is the improved music, sound, and dialog. I'm in the middle of the Heir to the Throne campaign right now, and it feels a lot more polished than the last time I played it. In fact, the sound and music are now good enough that it feels like you're actually losing something when you turn them off!

I was particularly pleased the dialog is getting better. Portions of it were really kind of corny and stilted. They've also fleshed out the characters a bit, giving them more than one dimension. For example, Li'sar now actually has some motivation for betraying her mother, rather than just turning on a dime when the good-guys fill her in. They've also started giving Konrad a little sense of reality, as opposed to just making him a caricature of the innocent young hero. It's really quite refreshing.

People may complain about the open-source community being unable to produce decent games, but you konw what? I'll take Battle for Wesnoth over some crappy 3-D "kill everything in site" game any day. Snazzy visuals is not synonymous with quality, regardless of what the people at nVidia and ATI might like you to think.