时光之塔
Tower of Time

Event Horizon, 2017
Windows, Linux , Xbox One, PS4等

Event Horizon, 2017
Windows, Linux , Xbox One, PS4, etc

曾经有一段时间,攻略地下城是 CRPG 唯一的目标。《时光之塔》(Tower of Time)全心参照的便是这一时期:一队充满奇幻作品刻板印象的角色不断战斗,深入地下城尽头,拯救濒临灭亡的世界。这些复古要素中也有现代的部分——游戏里有半打左右的系统负责让流程更加随机。无论制作还是寻找物品方面,玩家在调整队伍时都会有很强的《暗黑破坏神》(Diablo)既视感。主角小队会嬉闹和争吵,探索过程中的一些对话事件发生时他们也会给玩家解决对话的不同选项。

战斗是游戏的核心支柱。小队在探索时光之塔时若触发战斗,会进入各种和地表世界[1] 完全不同的竞技场中。游戏很像带有动作元素的塔防游戏:面对一波波敌人,玩家需要思考战术,用好高消耗的非破坏性能力,比如召唤巨大的笼子拖住敌人再处理其他威胁。这也是《时光之塔》玩法的魅力所在。大多数战斗都会在四面八方生成敌人,很容易看漏;这就使得有回报或惩戒性的危机管理成为了游戏的核心。

不幸的是,这种玩法仅限于游戏早期。角色提升方式过多,敌人数量也越来越多,导致战术逐渐失去了意义:后期战斗总结起来就是玩家在被敌人淹没前尽可能快地打出巨额伤害。资源方面也很容易达到最优解,使得后期玩家更像是在打 MMO 技能循环,而不是周到地应用队友能力。因此,游戏性带来的体验在剧情结束之前就已经结束了。

There was a time in CRPG history when dungeon delving was considered the sole goal of these games and Tower of Time draws whole heartedly from this period. A party of fantasy stereotypes chews through combat encounters in hopes of reaching the bottom of a dungeon to save a dying world. Modernity also has its say in this retro mix, with progression being spread about half a dozen systems heavy on the randomization aspect. Whether crafting or finding items, Diablo-like affixes will shower the player's eyes as they optimize the party. A party which banters, bickers and offers player choice in how they resolve some dialog encounters found during exploration.

The central pillar here is the combat, which takes place in arenas different from the overworld traveled by the party while exploring the tower. Waves of enemies need to be handled in a manner not too dissimilar from a Tower Defense game with an action element. Tactical use of high resource cost non-damaging abilities such as summoning a giant cage to contain enemies while others threats are dealt with is where Tower of Time comes to life. Most arenas feature spawn points in all directions making it easy for enemies to escape the player's attention meaning that rewarding or punishing crisis management is the game's core.

This sadly only applies to the early game. The myriad progress systems along with the ever higher enemy count supersedes the tactical aspect of the player's choices within the context of the combat. Late game encounters boil down to how hard and fast can the party hit so as to not get overwhelmed. Resource management is also easily optimized to the point where the player is doing MMO style rotations rather thoughtful application of the party's abilities. Thus, the experience that the gameplay offers ends far before the narrative wrap ups.

游戏于 2019 年添加了 RPG 精简模式(RPGlite),完全跳过剧情,专心攻略地下城。可惜这一模式并没有解决游戏性上的任何问题。

In 2019 an RPGlite option was added, removing the narrative and turning the game into a straight dungeon crawl. Sadly, it doesn't really solve any gameplay issues.

剧情也不是没有问题。游戏过度华丽的文风和低沉的环境音效很好地塑造了末日后的世界,但没能融合好科幻概念与奇幻叙事。《时光之塔》缺乏像《魔法门》(Might & Magic)系列那样把龙与生化人融进一个世界观的水平,内部逻辑时常站不住脚。

《时光之塔》里有各种新老游戏的影子。虽然游戏本身没能立起来,但玩家还是能不时喵到游戏里的可能性。正是这些可能性证明了虽然游戏不是同类型的必玩之作,但绝对不值得被历史遗忘。

A narrative that is also not without issues. The post-apocalyptic tone is communicated well through purple prose that knows its limits and morose ambient track, but the narrative fails in handling its blend of fantasy tropes with science fiction concepts. Lacking the glibness that series like Might & Magic had in mixing dragons and cyborgs, Tower of Time confronts the player with an internal logic which often falters.

Tower of Time is a chimera of influences, both old and new. That it never fully develops into its own beast is unfortunate but the potential that lurks here can be glimpsed from time to time. It is those glimpses which reveal that while the game is not a must-play for the genre, it most certainly doesn't deserve to be forgotten by history.

游戏采用实时战斗。玩家需要合理安排角色站位和技能冷却时间,击退一波波敌人。

Combat is real-time, focused on positioning your characters and managing their cooldowns against multiple waves of enemies.

玩家可以随时在战斗之外返回主城。主城需要升级以提升角色等级,制作装备或者给装备附魔。

Outside combat you can freely travel back to town, which you upgrade in order to level up your characters and craft or enchant equipment.

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1 译者注:游戏中的“塔”深埋在地下,玩家需要从地表的最顶层开始深入地底。

GameDB 相关游戏: 时光之塔

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