神界 2：龙裔 Divinity II: Ego Draconis p.415

龙腾世纪：

Dragon Age:

起源

Origins

当时的《龙腾世纪》很难去准确形容，虽然一直是独立单干，但是 Bioware 给我们带来了一些 RPG 流派中最经典最难忘的作品，然而，他们后来在《翡翠帝国（Jade Empire）》中涉足东方武术，并在《质量效应（Mass Effect）》中制作了低俗科幻小说射击类 RPG，这实属让其粉丝群体有人欢喜有人忧。

2004 年，《龙腾世纪》第一次公布时它便被视为一种形式的回归，回归战术战斗，回归硬奇幻的设定，回归不与受限制的游戏机妥协的游戏机制。虽然与创造一款原创的游戏 IP 这一公司景愿达成了一致，但是游戏本身却依然是《博德之门（Baldur’s Gate）》系列的精神续作。

重新命名过的《龙腾世纪：起源（Dragon Age: Origins）》，它高调的向世人展现了自己的雄心壮志，其中开始的新手引导章节根据你所创造人物的种族，阶级，社会地位的不同也会有很大的变化。该游戏因此巧妙地避开了记忆丧失这一老套桥段，为角色的生活和其可能的动机提供了充足的背景并将其与史诗般的第一章结合了起来，充分展现了瑟达斯（Thedas）世界面临的威胁，以及围绕该威胁存在的背景文化和政治阴谋。

It is difficult to accurately portray what Dragon Age represented at the time. While still independent, BioWare had given us some of the most memorable entries in the RPG genre. However, their recent dabbling in Eastern martial arts with Jade Empire and pulp science-fiction shooter-RPGs with Mass Effect, had baffled as many fans as it had pleased others.

Dragon Age, then, when first revealed in 2004, was seen as a return to form. A return to tactical battles, to a high-fantasy setting, to game mechanics uncompromised by console ports. While in line with the company's desire to create their own original IP, it was a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate series.

Rechristened Dragon Age: Origins, it held its ambitions up proudly, with an intro chapter that varied wildly depending on the race, class and social standing of your created character. The game thus sidestepped the usual memory loss trope beautifully, giving you plentiful background into your character's life and possible motivations – before tying it in smartly with an epic first chapter that demonstrated both the scope of the threat facing the world of Thedas, as well as the rich background of cultural and political intrigue that tugged at its periphery.

为协助宣传《龙腾世纪》，EA 聘请了 Blur Studio 制作了一个长达四分钟的 CGI 预告片，片名为《圣灰（Sacred Ashes）》。

To help promote Dragon Age, EA hired Blur Studio to create an elaborate 4-minute CGI trailer, titled Sacred Ashes.

时至今日，《龙腾世纪》依然是向玩家介绍游戏、世界和角色的终极教科书，但是很遗憾，很少有游戏会有这样的大局面，“起源”一词实属名副其实。

其次，战斗部分占了游戏体验的大部分时长，一种动态的，基于团队的战斗系统，玩家可以通过实时暂停来同时控制四名角色。无论何时，只要需要，游戏便可以从探索模式无缝切换到这种模式，这两种模式的视角控制都很优秀。PC 版还包括一个可以通过鼠标控制的第三人称战术俯视角，这便是对无限引擎（Infinity Engine）的明确认可。

大多数人所抱怨的点主要还是集中在，在缺少了丰富的龙与地下城规则书后，Bioware 便无法提供一套同样让人觉得引人入胜的替代方案，以及系统的过度简化：职业更少，能力更少，技能树也简化了，甚至连队伍人数也更少了，这就使得突发战斗也变得没那么吸引人而且战术挑战也更少了。

尽管也有许多精彩的场面：比如说第一次与高大的食人魔般的敌人战斗，或者是突然遭遇龙，但是很多战斗还是显得前篇一律而且一板一眼。

Dragon Age stands to this day as a masterclass in introducing players to a game, world and characters, and sadly, few games have attempted beginnings in such a scope. Origins, indeed.

Then came the combat that makes up much of the game. An active, party-based battle system where the player controls up to four characters in real-time-with-pause combat. The game seamlessly went into this mode from Exploration mode whenever required, offering in both modes a good degree of camera control. The PC version also included a third, tactical bird's-eye view with mouse-driven controls – a clear nod to the Infinity Engine games.

The complaint, for many, was that, in deviating from the rich Dungeons & Dragons ruleset, Bioware had not created an equally compelling alternative of their own, and the oversimplification of the system – fewer classes, fewer abilities, simplified skill trees, and even fewer party members – made for less compelling encounters and less of a tactical challenge.

While there were highlights – one of the first fights against a towering, ogre-like enemy, for instance, or the dragon encounters – many of the battles felt cookie-cutter and by-the-numbers.