这款游戏在第一个周末就卖出了超过 40000 份拷贝,这可以说是个爆炸性的新闻。我们不仅卖廉价的‘简装(jewel case)’版,我们还卖大盒版。当时这款游戏的热度实在太高了,以至于在制作部门的员工都跟不上游戏销售的速度。结果基本上所有的开发队伍都去帮忙给大盒版装盒去了。

The game has sold over 40,000 copies in the first weekend which was a blast. It was being distributed not only in cheap ‘jewel cases’ – it also had a bix box edition. The hype around this game was so wild that the employees working in the production department were unable to keep up after the tempo of the sales. So basically everyone from the dev team was involved in packing those big boxes.

Nikolay Baryshnikov
《国王》首席作者及 1C Entertainment CEO
Nikolay Baryshnikov,
Konung's Lead Writer
and 1C Entertainment's CEO

《国王》中的战斗很残酷——只靠自己无法存活,而且往往会有同伴阵亡的情况。通过重建定居点,你可以请商人、治疗师和铁匠为你训练更多的同伴。

Combat in Konung is brutal – you won't survive alone and your companions will likely die often. By rebuilding settlements you can ask traders, healers and blacksmiths to train more companions for you.

不过《国王》也有其独到之处:游戏中你会找到废弃的或者被摧毁的定居点。你可以重建这些定居点,让居民重新入住。遗憾的是这些定居点提供不了太多交互——大多数情况下它们只是充当提供免费医疗与武器维修服务的枢纽。不过它们对减少回头路还是能起到重要作用,因为快速旅行咒语代价高昂,而游戏节奏又非常缓慢,加快节奏的唯一办法是给整个游戏加速。在旅行的时候加速很有用,但在战斗中加速很可能让你没法准确地操纵你的角色和同伴。

除此之外,《国王》在视听方面好坏参半。游戏中有美丽的风景,高大的桦木林以及昼夜循环在当时让人赞叹不已。取材自俄罗斯民间传说的怪物形象,还有五颜六色的传统服装与盔甲都让人印象深刻——然而这些都被糟糕的动画毁了。游戏音乐也很奇怪,其风格在浪漫民谣和 lo-fi 舞曲间徘徊不定。

Konung has its original touch though: you will find abandoned or destroyed settlements that can be rebuilt and repopulated. The sad part is that you can't do much at these settlements – mostly they serve as hubs for free healing and weapon repair. Still, they are important to limit backtracking, since fast travel spells are expensive and everything is really slow. The only way to speed things up is to speed up the whole game. It helps while travelling, but in combat you will most likely lose control over your character and his companions.

Aside from that, the audiovisual part of Konung cuts both ways. The game has beautiful landscapes with high birch trees and a day-night cycle, which was impressive for the time. The monsters were inspired by Russian folklore and they made an impression back then, as well as beautifully painted national clothes and armour – but all of it was ruined by poor animations. The soundtrack is also weird, wobbling from romantic folk-related tunes to some kind of lo-fi techno.

2004 年出现了一款粉丝制作的《国王 2》前传,名为《续写传奇(The Legend Continues)》,故事发生在第一部游戏的事件结束之后。1C 以官方身份发行了这部作品,但仅在俄罗斯范围发行。

A fan-made prequel to Konung 2 called The Legend Continues was created in 2004. Set after the events of the first game, it was officially published by 1C, but only in Russia.

总体来看,对生向我们一样在俄罗斯的小孩子来说,《国王》是一款迷人而暖心的游戏。即使我们已经有了《辐射(Fallout)》和《博德之门(Baldur's Gate)》,我们仍然无法抗拒这款奇异而让人沮丧,却又有些迷人的游戏。但话又说回来,我不愿去想象今天再去玩这款游戏是什么样子,特别是对那些生活在俄罗斯之外,没有经历过那个年代的人会有什么感觉。

回到那个年代,《国王》在俄罗斯国内取得了巨大的成功,由此诞生了两款续作。2003 年的《国王 2:泰坦之血(Konung 2: Blood of Titans)》优化了初代作品的玩法,并加入了更多的职业和技能,而且还能够乘船旅行。2009 年的第三部作品,《国王 3:王朝的束缚(Konung 3: Ties of the Dynasty)》,转向了全 3D 画面,但是无法达到玩家们的预期,即使是最爱国的玩家也觉得质量太低。《国王》系列的十年历程就像是一个象征,它见证了俄罗斯游戏开发的崛起与不光彩的衰落。在此之后,俄罗斯游戏产业经历了多年的断档,大批经验丰富的 PC 和主机开发人员转而从事社交游戏和手机游戏开发工作。

All in all, Konung was a cute and heart-warming game for us as Russian kids. Even though we already had games like Fallout and Baldur's Gate, we couldn't help but fall in love with this weird and frustrating, but somehow charming game. However, I don't even want to imagine how playing it today would feel to somebody from beyond Russia and its context.

Back in the day, Konung was a huge local success, getting two sequels. Konung 2: Blood of Titans (2003) polished the original's gameplay and added more classes, skills and the option to travel by ship. The third game, Konung 3: Ties of the Dynasty (2009), moved to full 3D graphics but failed to match the expectations of even the most patriotic gamers. Symbolically, after a decade of existence, the Konung series saw the rise of Russian game development and its inglorious fall, which was followed by years of hiatus and experienced PC and console developers leaving to work in social and mobile gaming.

《国王 2》极大地改善了游戏游玩体验,提供了更好的队伍控制,而且减少了走回头路的情况。

Konung 2 greatly improved the gameplay by providing better party control and reducing the backtracking.

《国王 3》没能达到玩家的预期,这时候他们已经有了《星球大战:旧共和国武士(Star Wars: KOTOR)》和《质量效应(Mass Effect)》之类的游戏。

Konung 3 failed to match the expectations of gamers who already had Star Wars: KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc.

《电脑 RPG 游戏史(The CRPG Book Project)》原书信息

英文原版主编:Felipe Pepe
原项目网址:https://crpgbook.wordpress.com/
授权协议:知识共享 署名-非商业性使用 4.0 国际许可协议 (CC BY-NC 4.0)

这本书历时四年,由 119 名志愿者共同完成。

《CRPG 通鉴(The CRPG Book Project)》中文版版权说明

您正在看到的内容是《CRPG 通鉴》版本的一部分。
本中文版在原书授权协议的约束下进行创作与线上传播。

中文版编者:《CRPG 通鉴》编译委员会
中文版项目网址:https://crpgbook.cn

本书(《CRPG 通鉴》版本)正在筹备出版中文实体版,欢迎各路英豪加入我们编译委员会,详情请访问 这里

参与此中文 CRPG 文章的讨论

暂无关于此中文 CRPG 文章的评论。

您需要登录或者注册后才能发表评论
登录/注册