吸血鬼:
Vampire:
避世血族 - 救赎
The Masquerade - Redemption

Nihilistic Software, 2000
Windows

Nihilistic Software, 2000
Windows

与《吸血鬼:避世家族- 血脉(Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodline,后简称为《血脉》)》相比,《吸血鬼:避世血族- 救赎(Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption,后简称为《救赎》)》总显得相形见绌。后者也许谈不上史上最好的 CPRG 游戏,但它仍称得上是一部佳作。虽然开发团队规模很小,但 Nihilistic Software 仍然为《救赎》渲染出引人入胜的环境氛围,勾勒出扣人心弦的故事情节。

一位年轻的法国十字军战士克里斯多夫· 罗穆尔德(Christof Romuald)在中世纪的布拉格疗养,他爱上了悉心照料自己的修女。爱情的狂热令他卷入了与当地吸血鬼的斗争,在战斗中,克里斯多夫的英勇吸引了血族的关注,后者认为克里斯多夫是理想的初拥(embrace)对象。克里斯多夫遭布鲁赫(Brujah)族[1] (族内以战士与智者为主,这一脉可追溯到古迦太基)初拥,成为一名血族后,克里斯多夫出没于布拉格与维也纳的夜晚,一方面想与自己的心爱之人重逢,另一方面试图挫败一位古老的邪恶吸血鬼的复苏计划。游戏进程过半时,克里斯多夫陷入沉睡,醒来时发现自己位于 2000 年新年前夕的伦敦,他将在这里完成自己的使命。

故事本身简单明了,但本作在保证叙事紧凑的基础上,将白狼(White Wolf)[2] 的独特世界观展现地淋漓尽致。

Vampire: The Masquerade Redemption has always been overshadowed by its big brother, Bloodlines. It might not be the best CRPG ever, but it's still a bloody good game. With a small team, Nihilistic Software was able to build beautiful environments and a compelling story.

While convalescing in medieval Prague, a young French crusader called Christof Romuald falls in love with one of the nuns taking care of him. His overzealous attitude leads him straight into conflict with local vampires and paints him as a worthy candidate to undeath. Turned into a vampire by the Brujah, a clan of warrior-philosophers from ancient Carthage, our hero wanders through Prague and Vienna by night to save his lost love and prevent the awakening of an ancient wicked vampire. Halfway through the game, Christof is projected through time and awakes on the Eve of the New Year 2000 in London to end his quest.

The story itself is simple and extremely straightforward but the unique setting created by White Wolf is well-explained and keeps its density.

中世纪布拉格的一处地下墓穴,克里斯多夫与一名同伴联手,与卡帕多西亚族人[3]展开激战。

Christof and an ally battle Cappadocians inside the catacombs of medieval Prague.

玩家偶尔会在游戏里面临抉择,这些选择虽对游戏剧情的影响十分有限,但会改变最终结局。在两个时间线上,分别会有三个同伴与主角并肩作战,一起完成风险重重的任务。这些同伴风趣幽默,性格各异。每到一处新地方,他们会大发感慨;每遇一个新角色,他们会评头论足。这个设定让玩家得以了解吸血鬼世界的各种八卦趣闻。

古代线与现代线的游戏玩法如出一辙(但武器,UI 界面,人物稍有不同),但面对沧海桑田般的今昔对比,主角很不适应,闹出不少笑话,这点从玩家角度来看十分有趣。抛开烂俗的爱情线不谈,游戏台词与配音的质量也足以抓住玩家的心。奇特的是,游戏里还经常会出现自我揶揄式的幽默,其效果却往往恰到好处。

原版桌游的狂热爱好者会对这款游戏的玩法深感不满,因为它不符合原作设定。诚然,虽然《救赎》将血族的政治生态刻画地深入人心,但就玩法而言,这款游戏的玩法摒弃了传统桌游的策略性,而更像是一款动作类游戏。《救赎》好比一款注重叙事的《暗黑破坏神》类游戏(Diablo-like)。无论你爱或不爱,都无法否认《救赎》的存在。如果你能接受这个设定,就会收获一份有趣独特的游玩体验。

乍一看,《救赎》与《暗黑破坏神》的玩法如出一辙:冲着敌人拿鼠标乱点一气,直到对方一命呜呼,然后将对方搜刮一空,周而复始。成为血族后,原本套路化的战斗流程变得丰富多彩。现在,界面上会显示三个指示条:生命条(life)、血条(blood)[4] 与狂热条(frenzy)。角色通过吸血(人血或其他敌对单位的血液)获得血液,这些血液可以用来恢复生命值,也能恢复异能(discipline)——即血魔法。如果角色的血量过低,狂热值会上升。狂热值越高,主角越容易陷入狂暴状态。狂暴状态下,角色将不受玩家控制,无差别攻击周围一切单位。

在战斗中,把握生命、血量、狂热值的平衡事关生死,如果团队角色因狂热而失控,一场本该轻松取胜的战斗很可能会以团灭收场。吸血鬼的弱点,如惧火、惧阳光,也会让战局急转直下。

A few occasional choices are given to the player, but they don't change much and only impact on the ending. Through the two time periods, three companions will join Christof on his desperate quest. Entertaining and diverse, they will comment on every place and every character encountered by distilling interesting tidbits about Vampire's universe.

While the Timeskip doesn't really change anything gameplay-wise (except the weapons, the UI and the characters), the cultural shock felt by Christof is pretty entertaining to watch. Putting aside the cheesy love story, the cast and the writing are good enough to keep your attention. Strangely enough, self-conscious humour is also present and works pretty well.

Aficionados of the original pen-and-paper game felt deeply betrayed by Redemption's gameplay. Indeed, while the profound political nature of the vampires is quickly established, the game is exclusively based around combat. Redemption plays as a deeply narrative Diablo-like. Love it or hate it, but there is no way to avoid it. If you accept it, it is an entertaining and original experience.

On the surface, Redemption's gameplay is very similar to Diablo: click on enemies until extinction, get loot, rinse and repeat. The vanilla formula changes quite a bit once you become a vampire. Your PCs have three bars: life, blood and frenzy. By draining humans (or enemies), you get blood which allows you to heal yourself and fuel disciplines – vampire magic. If your blood bar gets low, your frenzy rises up, making your character prone to enter a state uncontrollable rage.

Those simple facts become matters of life and death in combat as a simple fight can turn into a total party wipe with thirsty characters. Vampire weaknesses, such as sunlight or fire, can make things go south pretty fast.

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1 译者注:布鲁赫族是血族中最擅长战斗的氏族,成员的信仰也是最为复杂多样。在现代,布鲁赫已经成为了叛逆者与破坏分子的代名词。布鲁赫天生就反对一切安稳的现状——除非现状是由他们自己排除一切异议造就而成。但哪怕真是这样,还是有成群的布鲁赫会因为一时的热血上脑就跳起来把自己某个同族的伟大计划砸个粉碎,只为了简单的证明后者是一个从反抗者变成独裁者的无耻之徒。一些血族历史学家指出,布鲁赫的躁动本性来源于在上古时代他们的祖辈因盲从权威而吃亏后的矫枉过正。而另一些学者则声称,布鲁赫氏族的实质是命运的安排,即推进血族改革的助推器。不过对于布鲁赫自己来说,他们的氏族信条只有一个:谁欠收拾,就收拾谁。
2 译者注:白狼游戏公司,出版过多部桌游规则书。本文的《救赎》采用的黑暗世界(WOD,World of Darkness)就是白狼的作品。黑暗世界有新旧之分。后来,白狼被 P 社(Paradox Interactive)收购,据称众多 WOD 设定将整合成一个全新整体,黑暗编年史(Chronicles of Darkness)。
3 译者注:卡帕多西亚族,Cappadocians,在血族的千年历史中,卡帕多西亚族一直以“死亡之族”著称。事实上,其他血族也经常因卡帕多西亚的阴森而避免与其接触。尽管卡帕多西亚族的神秘特质令人畏惧,但同时也为他们赢得了不少尊敬。在吸血鬼的社会里,卡帕多西亚族通常充当着顾问或亲王的角色。他们的洞察力与智慧广受推崇,对世俗权力缺乏兴趣使他们备受信任。
4 译者注:注意血量值(BP)与生命值(HP)的区别,在大多数作品里血量即生命值。但对血族而言,血量储存在身体的血池(Blood Pool)里,血量越低越容易发狂失控,生命值低则会陷入沉睡。

GameDB 相关游戏: 吸血鬼:避世血族 – 救赎

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