1985-1989 新挑战者登场！ 1985-1989 Here come the new challengers p.68

我很遗憾没有和理查德（Richard Garriott）谈谈有关与《创世纪》太过类似的事情。不过请记住一点，他是个大人物，我只是个中西部一个没什么关系的无名小卒。当 Brøderbund 和 SSI 告诉我他很生气时，我不知道该怎么面对他。

One of my regrets was never calling Richard [Garriott] to talk about it [the similarities with Ultima]. But, bear in mind he was a big name, I was a nobody living disconnected in the Midwest, and Brøderbund and SSI were telling me that he was pissed. I had no idea what to say to him.

查克・多尔蒂（Chuck Dougherty）,
《魔界神兵》的创作者之一

Chuck Dougherty,
Questron's co-creator

《魔界神兵》一经发售便获得了巨大的成功，查尔斯和他的双胞胎兄弟约翰创立了 Quest Software，并制作了他们的第二款游戏《古人遗产（Legacy of the Ancients）》，《古人遗产》使用了最新的开发引擎，有更大的地图，更好的画面并添加了物品耐久度系统。但是它仍然遵循了和《魔界神兵》一致的游戏设计思路。在这款游戏里你要做的还是通过赌博或战斗来获取金钱，通过小游戏来提升属性，然后再去击败反派。

但是，《古人遗产》也有着属于它的独特吸引力，游戏中你会在银河博物馆（Galatic Museum）开启你的旅程，而这个博物馆里的物品都有着特殊的功能——你能通过他们传送到城镇或者地牢中、给予你道具或提升你的属性。要与这些物品进行互动，你需要用到一种特殊的硬币，你可以通过探索来得到获得。游戏中依旧没有经验值系统，取而代之的是博物馆的管理员，你可以通过他来提升你的等级或是解锁博物馆的新区域。

通过美国艺电公司（EA）发行了《古代遗产》后，兄弟俩又与 SSI 再度合作，在 SSI 旗下 Westwood Studios（西木工作室）的帮助下兄弟俩又推出了《魔界神兵 2（ Questron II）》。

Questron became a best-selling hit, so Charles and his twin brother, John, founded Quest Software and made their second game, Legacy of the Ancients (1987). It features an updated engine, with large towns, better graphics and an item durability system, but follows a very similar formula to Questron, where you must earn gold by gambling or fighting and then raise your stats in mini-games until you can defeat the evil bad guy.

However, Legacy had a unique hook: you start the game inside a Galatic Museum, where the exhibits are magical – they may teleport you to a city or secret dungeon, or grant an item or stat boost. To interact with them you need special coins, which must be found by exploring. The game still doesn't use XP; instead you must do quests for the museum's caretaker, who will grant you levels and unlock new areas of the museum.

After releasing Legacy under Electronic Arts, the brothers partnered again with SSI, who assigned Westwood Studios to help them create Questron II.

于 1988 年发行的《魔界神兵 2》画面表现更上一层，但不如说它更像是《魔界神兵重制版》，仍然是打怪买装备刷属性的路数，而且缺乏如同《古人遗产》的博物馆那样的创新型互动，游戏模式显得十分原始。这令它在 1988 年同《废土（Wasteland）》，《创世纪 5（Ultima V）》和《光芒之池（Pool of Radiance）》的竞争中败下阵来。

兄弟俩在 1988 年还做了一款游戏——《黑银传说（The Legend of Blacksilver）》，这款游戏把《魔界神兵》和《古代遗产》的精髓塞到了同一个精美的包装里，但本质上还是一模一样的。除此之外，发行商 Epyx 的破产使得该游戏的推广力度不佳，兄弟俩也因此决定不再开发游戏。

这是一个有趣的故事。查尔斯和约翰都没有 RPG 游戏开发的相关经验，他们只是单纯的喜欢《创世纪》，然后想要做出一款类似的游戏罢了。这导致了同一概念的多次迭代，但不幸的是，他们没能跟上时代的变迁，只能走向失败。

Released in 1988, Questron II had fancy new graphics, but was practically a remake of Questron I the same single-character RPG based around getting gold to buy gear and raise stats. Lacking the novelty of Legacy's Galactic Museum and with a primitive style of gameplay, it had little to offer next to big 1988 titles like Wasteland, Ultima V and Pool of Radiance.

The brothers still made one more game in 1988, The Legend of Blacksilver. It mixes the best of Questron and Legacy in a polished package, but it's ultimately more of the same. Furthermore, its publisher, Epyx, went bankrupt and failed to properly promote the game, so the twins decided to retire from game development.

It's an interesting story. Neither Charles nor John had any previous experience with RPGs – they simply loved Ultima and decided to make games like it. This led to several iterations of the same concept, but unfortunately it all fell apart when they failed to move on as times changed.