冰城传奇
The Bard's Tale

Interplay, 1985
Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, C64 以及 MS-DOS

Interplay, 1985
Apple II, Amiga, Atari ST, C64 and MS-DOS

冰城传奇三部曲(Bard's Tale 系列)是 Interplay 在 80 年代中期至后期开发的一系列游戏,它设计于电脑 RPG 的辉煌时期,那时,使用图纸来绘制每一个可探索的空间几乎是常态。

受到它之前的名作 Wizardry——《巫术》系列的高度启发,《冰城传奇》系列是强调以战术为基础的地牢探险游戏。富有创意和令人难忘的地牢设计,纯粹的写作手法,怪物精灵动画,以及其深刻独特的魔法系统,要求玩家使用四个字母的代码词——这些都帮助推动了以队伍为基础的地牢探险游戏的发展。(ARFI、MAMA、NUKE 这些还有人知道吗?)

Michael Cranford 的野心来源于游戏窗口化的第一人称视角,随着纹理的变化,它以一种伪 3D 效果移动,营造了一种真正在虚拟世界中移动的沉浸感。玩家的角色 1 到角色 6 排在下面,还有一个槽位可供召唤生物或 NPC 偶尔加入你的无畏团队。

Designed in the halcyon days of computer role-playing games, where using graph paper to map out every explorable space was practically the norm, the irrepressible Bard's Tale trilogy is a deeply treasured series of games developed by Interplay through the mid to late 80s.

Highly inspired by its older brother, Wizardry, Bard's Tale helped push the party-based dungeon crawler forward with its emphasis on tactical turnbased combat, deviously creative and eminently memorable dungeon design, sheer atmospheric writing, monster sprite animations and its deeply unique magic system, requiring the player use four letter code words. (ARFI, MAMA, NUKE anyone?)

Michael Cranford's ambition came in the form of a windowed first-person perspective which moves with a pseudo-3D effect as the textures change, creating an immersing sense of truly moving through a virtual world. The player's characters 1-6 were listed below, with a slot available for summoned creatures or NPCs who may occasionally join your intrepid group.

有八部小说围绕着《冰城传奇》所展开,是由著名作家梅赛德斯・拉克(Mercedes Lackey)、约瑟夫・谢尔曼(Josepha Sherman)和迈克尔・斯塔克波尔(Michael Stackpole)所写(他也帮助设计了《冰城传奇》第三部)

Eight novels were written around the Bard's Tale lore, by famous authors such as Mercedes Lackey, Josepha Sherman and Michael Stackpole (who also helped to design The Bard's Tale III).

最初的 Apple II 版本在如今看来过于简易,但是动画流畅,相较于《巫术》系列游戏中粗糙廊道的线条框有着革命性的进步。

The original Apple II release may look simple today, but the smooth animations were revolutionary next to Wizardry's crude wire-frame corridors.

可以说,《冰城传奇》中最大的乐趣在于队伍的创建:各种不同的角色来探索 Skara Brae,迎接它的挑战。丰富的队伍设计让这些游戏具有奇妙的持久性,我还能清楚地记得,我曾尝试过圣骑士、战士、猎人、吟游诗人、浪人和法师,来寻求“完美”的阵容平衡。

《冰城传奇》的角色系统中一个独特的方面是玩家可以自由支配的一系列魔法等级。除了经典的吟游诗人类可以在战斗中和战斗外编织有限数量的魔法之歌来影响游戏进程,然后再需要一杯烈酒之外,玩家还可以有效利用不同的魔法等级系统。虽然在创建角色时,Magicians 和 Conjurers 是初期仅有的两个施法角色,但经过一段时间的等级提升后,玩家可以选择将施法者的等级改为巫师(幻术)和魔法师(召唤),从而增加战斗的深度。

在游戏的早期阶段,《冰城传奇》对玩家的要求比较高,因为玩家必须快速地熟悉 Skara Brae 的重要位置,否则会遭受许多随机所遇敌人的攻击,这些随机遭遇很容易将玩家的低级角色一锅端了。当你第一次去 Garth 的商店,探索一个新的地下城区域时,你会有一种不可思议的危机感,又或是当一个人回到楼梯,没有魔法点还要去冒险家公会的避难所时的恐惧感,以及到存档点的安全感,都是这部精彩三部曲令人难忘的亮点。

因此,在一开始的时候,慢慢地小心翼翼地培养和管理自己的角色,随着队伍逐渐变强,就能够更有把握地在冬日的街道和地下城中前进,还会得到回报:最终面对 Mangar 本人!

Arguably one of Bard's Tale's greatest pleasures lies in the party creation: making a diverse range of characters to explore Skara Brae and meet its challenges. The rich party design gives these games a fantastic longevity and I can vividly recall experimenting with many combinations of Paladins, Warriors, Hunters, Bards, Rogues and the spellcasting classes, seeking that “perfect” party balance.

A distinctive aspect to the Bard's Tale character system is the array of magic classes at the disposal of the player. In addition to the classic Bard class, who can weave a limited number of magical songs in and out of combat to influence proceedings before requiring a stiff drink, the player can also take advantage of the tiered magical class system. Whilst Magicians and Conjurers are the only two spell-casting classes initially available in character creation, after some levelling, players can choose to change the classes of their spellcasters to Sorcerer (Illusions) and Wizard (Summoning), adding depth to combat.

During the early phases of the game, Bard's Tale is an intensely demanding experience as players have to familiarise themselves with Skara Brae's important locations relatively quickly, else suffer the wrath of one of the many random encounters which could easily send low-level characters to their collective doom. The incredible sense of danger one has when simply making one's way to Garth's Shoppe, exploring a new dungeon for the first time, or the sense of dread when making one's way back to the stairs with low magic points to the sanctuary of the Adventurer's Guild and the safety of a well-saved game, are memorable highlights of this wonderful trilogy.

Thus, a slow careful approach in nurturing and managing one's characters in the beginning pays off as the group progressively becomes stronger and moves with greater assurance through the wintery streets and dungeons: to finally face Mangar himself!

《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/
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这本书历时四年,由 119 名志愿者共同完成。

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