巫术 8
Wizardry 8

Sir-Tech Canada, 2001
Windows 和 Mac

Sir-Tech Canada, 2001
Windows and Mac

于 1992 年发售的《巫术 7(Wizardry VII)》是该系列游戏中最为精彩的一作,然而 Sir-Tech 公司也从此走上下坡路。Andrew Greenberg,《巫术》系列的设计师之一,以公司未付版税为由,一纸状书将公司告上公堂,此事随后引起了极大的混乱。

Sir-Tech 公司就此关闭并在加拿大重新开张,不过与此同时 David W. Bradley 也离开了公司。一部名为《阿纳姆之石(Stones of Arnhem)》的《巫术》系列续作开始在澳大利亚进行开发,但该项目随后就被取消了。公司开始尝试进行产品线的多样化,他们发行了诸如《重装癫狂(Armed and Delirious[2] )》和《阿卡尼亚国度(Realms of Arkania[3] )》系列等游戏,同时,也开发了一款平庸的多媒体冒险/角色扮演游戏:《巫术外传:复仇者(Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure, 1996)》,这游戏也就只有名字里带个巫术了。事态每况愈下,1998 年时 Sir-Tech 公司已经接近破产了,他们关闭了旗下的发行机构然后尽全力开发两款游戏:《铁血联盟 2(Jagged Alliance 2)》和一款全新的 3D 《巫术》游戏。

在没有其原始开发者或者是 Bradley 帮助下,一款 3D 《巫术》系列游戏,听起来铁定会失败。更糟糕的是,由于无法找到合适的发行商,游戏不得不延期好几年发售。因为 Sir-Tech 已经实在是没什么钱了,他们不得不在游戏内植入广告:每次你关闭《巫术 8(Wizardry 8)》的时候,都会跳出一个 Falcon Northwest Computers 公司的广告。

The release of Wizardry VII in 1992 was a high point for the series, but also the beginning of Sir-Tech's downfall. Andrew Greenberg, one of Wizardry's creators, sued the company over unpaid royalties – and the aftermath was chaotic.

Sir-Tech closed down and reopened in Canada, while David W. Bradley left the company. A Wizardry sequel started to be developed in Australia under the name Stones of Arnhem, but the project got cancelled. They then tried to diversify, publishing titles such as Armed & Delirious and the Realms of Arkania series, as well as creating Nemesis: The Wizardry Adventure (1996) – a mediocre multimedia Adventure/RPG that was Wizardry in name only. Things kept going badly, and by 1998 Sir-Tech was nearly bankrupt. They closed their publishing branch and kept working on two games: Jagged Alliance 2 and a new, fully 3D Wizardry game.

The concept of a 3D Wizardry game – without its original creators or Bradley – seemed doomed to fail. Worse, the game was delayed for years, unable to secure a publisher. Sir-Tech was so starved for funds that they added in-game ads: every time you close Wizardry 8, an ad for Falcon Northwest Computers appears.

Sir-Tech 没能给《巫术 8》找到发行商,所以他们把游戏交给 EB Games[1] 独占销售,这导致游戏的发行范围非常有限。

Sir-Tech couldn't find a publisher for Wizardry 8, so they made an exclusivity deal with EB Games: the game was only sold at their stores, which severely limited its reach.

《巫术 8》的角色创建系统深度极高,他的人格系统也让自定义角色跟现代 RPG 游戏中的很多同伴显得更为独特且令人印象深刻。

Wizardry 8 offers a rarely seen depth in its character creation, and its personality system makes the custom characters more unique and memorable than many companions in modern RPGs.

不过,当我们把这些遗憾放在一边,会发现《巫术 8》真的是一款杰作。像老《巫术》一样,游戏开始你要创造一只由六名角色组成的小队,采用由《巫术 7》出色的角色系统升级而来的版本进行角色创建。在 11 个种族,15 个职业,40 个技能和超过 100 个法术的帮助下,队伍构筑几乎是数不过来的。同时,游戏也移除了随机掷点系统,创建角色时只需要选好种族、职业,然后自由分配属性点和技能点就行了。

但是真正塑造角色的部分其实是人格系统。像《博德之门》这样的 RPG 游戏允许你为角色挑选配音,但是《巫术 8》给玩家提供了 36 种人格选择,包括独来独往、和蔼可亲、高大魁梧和混乱无序等人格。举例来说,你可以创造一个古里古怪的精灵武士,他说话一直都是第三人称,就好像他是这故事的旁白一样。他将会在整个游戏中都这样行动,包括战斗、事件、区域或者是死亡等等,而这些都是有配音的!这是创造出让人记忆犹新角色的一个完美答案。

在游戏开始的时候,你会发现《巫术 8》的 3D 化跟《魔法门 6(Might and Magic VI)》差不多,队伍现在可以在一个庞大的 3D 世界里自由移动,并且敌人也是可见的了,不过队伍玩起来还是很像“一坨”,因为整个队伍在地图上是一个单位。但是《巫术 8》引入了队形系统,极大地影响了战斗过程:若你把所有战士都放在前排,队伍中的施法者会很容易地从背后或是两侧被偷袭,这种事情在游玩过程中发生得很频繁。《巫术 8》继承了系列的精髓:在难度上一点也不含糊。

在玩家完成队伍创建并开始探索初始地下城的头几个小时,游戏的难度可以说跟那些开局很简单的 RPG 来比较也算是较为轻松的了。游戏气氛烘托的挺不错,队伍里的嬉笑逗乐也很又去,战斗还算是比较有挑战性,地下城里也充满了在新的 3D 表现下看起来非常自然的陷阱和秘密。

不幸的是,在玩家踏出地下城并走入臭名昭著的山金车路(Arnika Road)之后,游戏最大的缺点就一拳打在玩家脸上:填充战斗。

Somehow, despite all this, Wizardry 8 is amazing. You start by creating a party of six characters, using an upgraded version of Wizardry VII's already excellent system. With 11 races, 15 classes, 40 skills and over 100 spells, it allows for countless party builds. It also removed the need for dice-rolls – you just pick a race, a class and then assign stats and skill points.

But what really sets character creation apart is the personality system. RPGs like Baldur's Gate allow you to pick voices for your characters, but Wizardry 8 offers 36 personalities to choose from – such as Loner, Kind, Burly, Chaotic, etc. You can, for example, make an Eccentric Samurai Elf that talks in third-person, as if he was the narrator of the story. And he'll act that way during the entire game, reacting to battles, events, areas, deaths, etc. – all fully voiced! It's an amazing solution to allow custom yet memorable characters.

Once the game starts, you'll see that Wizardry 8's transition to 3D was similar to Might and Magic VI's: the party now moves freely across a large 3D world and enemies are visible in the distance, yet the game still plays like a “blobber”, with the party moving as a single unit. However, there's now a formation system, which greatly affects combat – if you place all your fighters at the front, the party's casters will be open to attacks from the sides or the rear. And that will happen often; true to its heritage, Wizardry 8 is unapologetically hard.

The first few hours, where you create your party and explore the initial dungeon, are easily among the best starting hours in any RPG. The atmosphere is great, party banter is amusing, battles are challenging and the dungeon is filled with traps and secrets that feel natural in this new 3D presentation.

Sadly, as soon as you step out of the dungeon into the infamous Arnika Road, the game's biggest flaw will hit you right in the face: the filler combat.

__________

1 译者注:EB Games,美国的一家电脑视频游戏零售商,于 1977 年创立。
2 译者注:《重装癫狂》是一款以精神不正常的老奶奶为主角的 AVG 游戏,老奶奶的目标是解救她那些因为虐待动物而被动物囚禁的家人们,中文译名为译者自行翻译。
3 译者注:《阿卡尼亚国度》系列游戏是首款基于德国桌面 RPG 系统《暗黑之眼》(The Dark Eye)的 RPG 游戏。

GameDB 相关游戏: 巫术 8

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