在“正确”的时间之前失去某些角色或使用关键物品可能会让你快速的推进游戏,但你后面可能会无法完成游戏,因为你需要某些角色或关键物品。所以毋庸置疑的,在每个章节的开头或结尾都应该存档。
游戏的界面有点问题,造成了垃圾的寻路功能和糟糕的游戏体验,但当我最终解决一切,弄清楚谜题并配了一身好装备去完成战斗时,喜悦溢于言表。这个故事很棒,这个世界很美,好奇心会促使你去探索下一个沉睡的小村庄或阴暗的废墟。
续集《复仇圣剑(Vengeance of Excalibur, 1991)》很大程度上沿用了与《圣剑之魂》同样的引擎与游戏机制。一群骑士追赶着偷走了王国领地内文物的叛徒,一路来到了西班牙。续集的寻路系统与游戏界面都进行了改进,游戏体验大大提升,故事的更偏向于单线叙事因而试错的次数也大大降低,游戏进行起来更加轻松。
Losing certain characters or using key items before their “right” time might get you through one episode, but make the game unsolvable because you needed those characters/items later. Needless to say, maintaining a save from both start and end of each episode is recommended.
While the game has a problematic interface, horrid pathfinding and at times frustrating gameplay, I nonetheless remember my elation at finally “solving” it, figuring out the puzzles and completing battles with strong knights equipped with the right items. The story is well-done, the world was beautiful for its time and the exploration, the curiosity to see what the next sleepy hamlet or gloomy ruin held, was captivating.
The sequel, Vengeance of Excalibur (1991) largely reuses the same engine and gameplay mechanics as Spirit. It moves the action to Spain, as a band of knights chase after a traitor who stole the artefacts of the realm. The game has improved path-finding and interface, making it potentially less frustrating, as well as markedly easier gameplay due to more linearity in the story and less trial and error.
游戏取消了分离队伍的形式,这次你只能保留四个骑士,但游戏保留了其核心吸引力:在一张不断变化的地图上进行探索与战斗的魅力。续集有一项新功能是可以从《圣剑之魂》中导入带有本来装备与属性的骑士。
总的来说,《复仇圣剑》的体验更流畅且更线性,拥有全新设定同时保留了其前作的大部分优点,尽管在口碑上不尽如人意,但如果你喜欢前作,那么本作也不会令您失望,本身就是一款优秀的作品,也比其上一代更容易上手。
到如今,这两款游戏都已被人遗忘,但我认为它们是粗糙的璞玉,对于寻求挑战与氛围的玩家来说十分合适。小时候我经常熬夜游玩并经历了我自己的亚瑟王传奇——这个系列激发了我的想象力,几十年后仍然在我的记忆中清晰闪现。
Locales are evocative however, and the game retains the attractiveness of its predecessor in exploring and fighting your way across a detailed and changing map, though you only control four knights and hardly need to split your party this time around. One new, nice feature of the sequel is the ability to import your knights from Spirit, complete with gear and stats.
In summary, Vengeance is a smoother, more streamlined and linear experience, with a completely fresh setting, retaining most of what was good about Spirit, although failing to evoke quite the same level of fondness. Still, if you like the first, you will like the second as well – it is a charming game in its own right and certainly more forgiving than its elder brother.
Both games are quite forgotten by now, but I see them as rough gems with lots of enjoyment to be had for the right aficionado looking for both challenge and atmosphere. As a child I stayed up many long nights playing, admiring the graphics and making up Arthurian lore of my own – as such, this series definitely sparked my imagination and still shines clearly in my memory decades later.