尽管我们在开发一个混合类型的游戏,另外还在做一个完备的地牢模拟器,但是我们依然有非常大的优势,因为我们是在《创世纪》的基础上做这部游戏的。当然我们加入了挥剑和移动之类的系统,但这部游戏归根结底还是《创世纪》,谈话、获取、丢弃、调和药剂和使用符文,这些系统一样也不能少。
We had a huge advantage in that even though we were trying to make a hybrid game and we were trying to figure out what a dungeon simulator was, we had all the Ultima -ness of it to fall back on. Sure, we were inventing how to move and how to swing your sword and all that stuff, but at the end of the day it was an Ultima. You talk, you get, you drop, you combine reagents, you use runes.
Doug Church,
《创世纪 地下世界》程序设计师Doug Church,
Ultima Underworld’s programmer
或许是因为整个团队在游戏开发上都非常缺乏经验,其解谜要素和一些挑战都缺乏打磨。规则即冷门又严丝合缝,对我来说就好像是 TRPG 里的游戏主持人仅仅因为听起来很有趣就想出来的一些桥段。其中一个关卡就好像《吃豆人(Pac-Man)》一样,要在幽灵的追赶下拾取蓝色金属块。为了跟蜥蜴人沟通,玩家需要多多少少学一些他们的语言。许多挑战都是开放式的,玩家可以通过多种方式利用游戏规则和 3D 环境达成目标。
更多的创新和改进遍布在游戏中,其中包括一个允许在上面随意标记的漂亮的自动地图,一个较为早期的派系系统,还有一个受限制的创造系统。虽然受当时的技术限制,但是这些设计对于当时除大型 3A 工作室以外的任何同行来说,都是非常具有野心的。
Perhaps because the team was, as a whole, fairly inexperienced in game development, the puzzles and challenges possess a raw, rule-of-cool wildness that, to me, feels like the sort of thing a human game master in a tabletop RPG might come up with just because it sounds like fun. One section of a level is mapped like a Pac-Man maze, requiring the player to pick up blue nuggets pursued by a ghost. To communicate with the Lizardmen, the player must learn their language a bit at a time. Many challenges are open-ended, allowing the player several methods to accomplish their goals using the rules systems and 3D environment.
More innovations and improvements to the genre are sprinkled liberally throughout the game, including a beautiful automap that allowed free-form note-taking, an early faction system, and even some limited crafting. While limited by the technology of the day, its design would still be considered ambitious for anyone but a major AAA studio.
《创世纪 地下世界 2:世界的迷宫(Ultima Underworld II:Labyrinth of Worlds, 1993)》很快便发布,增加了一些改进内容。其作为《创世纪 7(Ultima VII)》的续作,其叙事更加用心并且更紧密的承接前作。游戏角色的台词更多了,而且他们会根据故事的走向说一些不同的话。该游戏提供了更干净的游戏界面,更好的游戏平衡性以及更加高端的技术。并且,虽然开发周期特别短,它却依然保留了原作的游戏性、感觉和创造性。
总而言之,这些游戏提供了 PC 上最好的地牢冒险体验,而有些东西却经常被他们所谓的第一款“真”3D RPG 的名头盖了过去,它们可能是开创性与过时性并存的。但是在 VGA 图形和笨重的界面之下不远处,隐藏着至今都值得一玩的绝妙地牢冒险。来跟新鲜空气和阳光做一场暂时性的吻别吧。
Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds (1993) appeared shortly afterwards, providing a number of incremental improvements. The story was more carefully crafted and integrated as a follow-up to Ultima VII. Characters had more to say, and what they said and did would change as events transpired. The game offered a cleaner interface, better balance and technology. And, in spite of the extremely tight development schedule, it still retained the fundamental gameplay, feel, and creativity of the original.
Together, these games provide some of the best dungeon-crawling experiences to be found on the PC, something too often forgotten in their chief claims to fame of being the first “true” 3D RPGs. Pioneering and primitive they may be, but, not far beneath the VGA graphics and clunky interfaces, the games conceal wonderfully visceral dungeon exploration still well worth playing today. Come prepared to kiss the sunlight and outdoor air goodbye for a while.