Gas Powered Games, 2002
Windows 和 Mac
Gas Powered Games, 2002
Windows and Mac
尽管现在已经没什么人记得了,但在 21 世纪之初,《地牢围攻(Dungeon Siege)》可是一颗备受期待的重磅炸弹——由创造了传奇 RTS 游戏《横扫千军(Total Annihilation)》的 Chris Taylor 所打造的“《暗黑破坏神》阻杀者”。现在回想起来这仍是一段有趣的记忆。
Taylor 对这部作品的宣传十分激动人心:一部波澜壮阔的动作 RPG,发生在一个巨大的无缝世界之中,使用最新锐的 3D 图像技术,操作一个庞大的小队,但控制方式是符合直觉的 RTS 方式——无论是 RPG 的铁杆粉丝还是彻头彻尾的菜鸟,任何人都能轻松上手这种控制方式。
《地牢围攻》由 Microsoft Studios 发行并在宣传上投入了很大的力气。《地牢围攻》在发售时收获了许多好评,最终售出大约二百万份,这在 2002 年可谓是一个相当出色的成绩。
那么《地牢围攻》为什么没能跻身于经典 RPG 游戏之列呢?为什么这样一款商业成绩如此优秀的游戏会最终被遗忘在了历史的故纸堆中呢?
答案很简单:《地牢围攻》确实具备了优秀的画面和激动人心的音乐,而且谁都能轻松上手游玩——但它同时也是一个平平无奇、重复冗长而且非常容易被遗忘的游戏。《地牢围攻》把流程拖得太长,中途的体验变得太无趣,以至于没多少人能坚持到通关。
Now a mostly forgotten game, it's amusing to recall that Dungeon Siege was an eagerly awaited blockbuster back in the early 2000s – a “Diablo-killer”, made by Chris Taylor, the man behind the legendary RTS Total Annihilation.
Taylor's pitch was powerful: an epic Action RPG set in a huge, seamless world, with cutting-edge 3D graphics and a large party of characters, but with an intuitive RTS-like control that's accessible to anyone – be it a hardcore RPG fan or a total beginner.
Published by Microsoft Studios and promoted by a massive marketing campaign, it was met with very positive reviews upon release and sold almost two million copies – an impressive feat in 2002.
So why isn't Dungeon Siege celebrated among the pantheon of classic RPGs? How can such a commercially and critically successful title fall into history's limbo?
The answer is simple: Dungeon Siege indeed had great graphics, amazing soundtrack and was easy for anyone to play – but it's also a generic, repetitive and utterly forgettable game that lasts so long and stretches itself so thin that few players endure finishing it.
游戏开始于给自己的角色起名字。《地牢围攻》中没有种族和职业,甚至没有经验值,所有的系统都归结于三个属性——智力、力量和敏捷。这三种属性会随着你的使用而增长:射出很多箭矢的话,敏捷就会增加,提高伤害并且允许你使用更好的弓。
广受好评的无缝世界确实令人印象深刻:你从密林旅行到城镇,再深入到矿井之中,全程都不会见到载入界面。但不幸的是,玩家很快就会意识到整个世界就是一个又长又窄的走廊——你只需要朝一个方向前进然后战斗 40 小时。资料片《亚兰纳传奇(Legends of Aranna)》只是雪上加霜,它徒增了游戏时长却没有增加游戏深度。
在旅途中你会遇到一些可招募的 NPC 队友,组建一个最高可达 8 人的队伍。遗憾的是,他们全都毫无个性,而且与几乎不存在的主线剧情也没多少联系——即使是主角,你都可以毫无顾忌地把他踢出队伍或者留下等死。《地牢围攻》中唯一能让人记住的角色是驮兽:它们紧随队伍,背着战利品,时不时还踢敌人一脚。
尽管队伍庞大,但战斗基本是全自动的。由于“熟能生巧”系统的存在,角色们能担任的职责有限:带着弓的人会一直射箭,而肉搏战士则专注于挥砍。由于不需要管理技能和特殊能力,战斗时除了指挥角色走位,也就只需要使用咒语或药水来治疗他们了。
游戏中还有一个多人模式,你可以和最多七个人一同游玩,此时每人操作一个角色——然而这反而让战斗变得更无聊了。更奇怪的是,多人模式的地图是一个全新的区域,不仅更大,而且还是非线性的!这个提高实在太大了,以至于有不少 mod 就是让玩家可以在单人模式下玩这个区域。说到 mod,《地牢围攻》配备了强大的编辑工具,因此诞生出了大量的玩家自制模组,这些模组被称为“小围攻”(siegelet),其中甚至有著名的《创世纪 5(Ultima V)》和《创世纪 6(Ultima VI)》重制。
You start the game by naming your character. There are no races, classes or even experience points; everything revolves around three stats – Intelligence, Strength and Dexterity. They increase as you use them: fire a lot of arrows and your Dexterity will go up, boosting damage and allowing you to use better bows.
The much-lauded seamless world is impressive; you travel from forests to towns to mines without a single loading screen. Sadly, you'll soon realise the world is a long and narrow corridor – you'll just keep marching in one direction and fighting for 40 hours. The Legends of Aranna expansion only made things worse, adding even more length instead of depth.
You'll meet a few recruitable NPCs as you travel, gathering a party of up to eight heroes. Sadly, they're all devoid of personality or relevance to the barely there plot – even the main hero can be safely dismissed or left for dead. The most memorable characters in Dungeon Siege are the pack mules: they follow the party around, carrying loot and kicking enemies.
Despite the large party size, combat is mostly automatic. Due to the improve-by-use system, your characters play limited roles – those with a bow will just keep shooting arrows, while melee warriors will always hack-and-slash. With no skills or special abilities to manage, there's little to do besides repositioning characters and healing them with spells or potions.
The game has a multiplayer mode where you can play with up to seven friends, each controlling one character – which makes combat even duller. Oddly, it takes place in an entirely new area that's not only bigger, but non-linear! It's such a step up that mods were created to make it playable in single-player. Speaking of mods, the game had a powerful editor tool, leading to many fan-made modules (called “siegelets”), including the famous Ultima V and VI remakes.