随着《阿卡拉贝斯》的成功，我决定面向大众消费市场重新发布一款个人新作。于是我开始创作这款游戏，最初的命名是“Ultimatum”！它利用与《阿卡拉贝斯》几乎相同的代码，继续完善理查德・加里奥特的虚拟世界建构技术。游戏地图为我根据 D&D 规则创造的世界，叫做索萨利亚（Sosaria）。本作完成后，我们以《创世纪（Ultima）》为名将其发售。

With the success of Akalabeth, I decided to start fresh with my first work intended for public consumption. I began a game originally entitled ‘Ultimatum'! Built on much of the same code base as Akalabeth, it continued to refine the Richard Garriott virtual worldbuilding techniques. The game maps were largely based on the D&D worlds I created called Sosaria. When finished, we launched it under the name Ultima.

理查德・加里奥特，
《创世纪》制作人

Richard Garriott,
Ultima's creator

魔法系统非常简单，只有几种魔法卷轴。实际上真正有用的只有两种：魔梯术【上】和魔梯术【下】。它们会让地下城之旅变得轻松很多，你不再需要认真绘制地图，苦苦寻找暗门。

《创世纪》如此具有革命性的原因之一是：当其他的 RPG 还局限在地下城探险的时代，《创世纪》已描绘了一个完整的冒险史诗故事——你可以探索一个广袤的世界，访问城镇，觐见国王，骑马驰骋，甚至穿梭时光，飞向太空，当然，你仍然可以去地下城打怪物。游戏很容易上手，只要阅读丹尼斯・卢贝（Denis Loubet）所绘制的精美说明书，通过命令摘要卡学习一下游玩中所需的几个按键，便可以沉浸于游戏世界。

《创世纪》是我玩的第一个真正的 RPG 作品。由于当时的我已读过 Endless Quest （中译：《无尽的任务》）和 Choose your Own Adventure （中译：《惊险岔路口》）这些游戏书，对这一类的东西算是有一点了解，然而在 1988 年，13 岁的我在新买的 C64 平台上玩到本作时，它提供的体验超乎想象。

The magic system is quite simple, with only a few different spells sold as one-cast scrolls. And really, only two are useful: Ladders Up & Down. Those aid in making dungeons much easier, as they allow one to avoid having to seriously map or look for secret doors.

This is part of why Ultima was so revolutionary: while other RPGs were dungeon crawlers, Ultima was an epic adventure – you would explore a large world, visit towns, talk to kings, ride horses, travel in time, go to space and, yes, also battle monsters in dungeons. Yet it was easy to get started; just read the gorgeous manual illustrated by Denis Loubet to get immersed in the world, and then use the Command Summary Card to learn the few keystrokes required to play.

Ultima was my first real RPG experience. While I had some understanding of this sort of thing thanks to the Endless Quest and Choose Your Own Adventure books, this game was like nothing my 13-year-old mind had experienced back in 1988 on my new C64.

一位名叫 Joseph Propati 的粉丝，制作了供单人游玩的桌游版《创世纪》。你可以在 www.boardgamegeek.com 上免费下载。

Fan Joseph Propati created a board game adaptation of Ultima, made for solo play. It's free, and you can find it at www.boardgamegeek.com

它不但成了我的键盘键位启蒙老师（译注：游戏中一切命令需要通过键盘按键输入），也告诉了我什么是所谓“RPG”。在图文并茂的精美说明书的指引下寻找线索、探索世界，我亲身经历了一场真正的冒险，而不是坐在荧幕前看了场霍比特人（Hobbit）动画。

这个游戏陪我度过了美妙时光，打通它用了整整一个月，而且过程中只给 Origin 打过一次求助热线电话（那个年代游戏攻略可没现在这么好找）。它让我彻底爱上了这种游戏类型。

像 Wizardry（中译：《巫术》）这样超高难度，虽然可操作多角色，但很容易在一瞬间被致命陷阱团灭的游戏能带给我一样的体验么？

像 Apshai（中译：《阿帕莎神庙》）这样控制方式繁琐，世界的细节都隐藏在一本游戏附赠小册子的字里行间，角色成长超级缓慢的游戏能带给我相同的感受么？

我觉得不能。

It taught me keyboard layouts and how these “RPG things” worked. To look for clues. To explore a world with much of its flavour in the manual's wonderful text and artwork. To BE in an adventure, as opposed to just watching the animated Hobbit film.

This game took me a good month to complete with only a single call to Origin's hint line towards the end game – in those days before game solutions were easily available. And it made me fall in love with the genre as a whole.

Would a much more difficult and unforgiving game like Wizardry have done the same, with its deadly traps and multiple characters – who could all be permanently wiped out in an instant?

Would Apshai, with its far more finicky control scheme, world detail hidden within multiple paragraphs to read in a booklet and far slower form of character advancement have done the same?

Probably not.