创世纪 4:
Ultima IV:
圣者传奇
Quest of the Avatar

Origin Systems, 1985
Amiga, C64, Apple II, MS-DOS 和 Atari ST

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

这是一部年代久远的游戏,它最初是为只有 64K 内存,CPU 仅能跑到 1MHZ 的 8 位系统设计的。尽管如此,《创世纪 4(Ultima IV)》取得的成就却是令人惊叹的。

游戏开始时创建角色的方式很是新颖:一个吉普赛女人用类似塔罗牌算命的形式向玩家提问。她会向玩家描述一些情景,每个情景都有两种可选答案,且它们并无对错之分。

开发者设计这些问题的目的是为了衡量玩家的精神面貌、道德准则与伦理观念,并以此给出最适合玩家的职业。游戏里的每个职业都象征了这八种美德之一:英勇(战士)、荣誉(圣骑士)、灵敏(游侠)、谦逊(牧羊人)、诚实(法师)、自我牺牲(修补匠)、怜悯(诗人)以及公正(德鲁伊)。

创建一个法师、战士、诗人或任何其它职业,并重复此流程:打怪、刷装备、直到拯救世界——对于许多游戏而言,这就是全部了。但在《创世纪 4》里,这只是玩家漫长的灵魂之旅的起点,而这场旅程旨在让玩家利用上文中提到的八种美德来完善自我,最终成为圣者(Avatar)。

It's a very old game now, designed originally for 8-bit systems with 64K RAM and CPUs running about 1 MHz. Regardless, the achievements of Ultima IV are astonishing.

It begins with a novel method of character creation: the Gypsy woman and her quasi-Tarot cards. She presents several situations, each with a choice of two responses. There are no right or wrong answers.

The reading is designed to gauge your mental outlook, your morals and ethics, and give you the profession closest to them. Each profession represents one of the eight virtues: Valour (Fighter), Honour (Paladin), Spirituality (Ranger), Humility (Shepherd), Honesty (Mage), Self-Sacrifice (Tinker), Compassion (Bard) and Justice (Druid).

With many games, that's as far as it would go. You'd have your mage or fighter or bard or whatever, and play on from there – killing monsters, collecting loot and saving the world. In Ultima IV, this is only the start of a long journey of the soul, a journey that depends on building character; on perfecting yourself in all eight virtues and becoming the Avatar.

针对本作有一个由粉丝制作的 DOS 版本升级补丁,该补丁对《 创世纪 4》 的画质、UI 界面与音乐进行了改善。

An upgrade for the DOS version was made by fans. The Ultima IV Upgrade Patch fixes bugs, improves the graphics, the UI and the music.

月亮之门赋予了玩家快速旅行的能力,船只则能带你前往难以直达的区域。

Moongates allow fast travel; ships can help get you to inaccessible places.

《创世纪 4》给出的游戏目标无疑是空前绝后的,其它游戏的目标都只是要玩家成为一个更强大的战士或施法者,而实现这一目标的手段就是战斗,这就不难理解为何其它的 CRPG 中会有如此多的战斗安排了——因为战斗是让角色升级的主要途径,在某些游戏里,它甚至是唯一的途径。

为了证明游戏中的勇气美德,玩家肯定会在《创世纪 4》里进行战斗,但别忘了——勇气仅仅只是一种美德,要想获取其它七种美德,则取决于玩家在游戏里对待他人的反应与态度。

必须要说的是,在玩家选择开始了本作的旅程之后,就再无退路了。每种职业所对应的“八美德”(指从美德中得到的启蒙)的获取都极为困难且是非永久性的:游戏会追踪玩家的一举一动,一旦玩家的行为有失德行,就会失去已获取的“八美德”启蒙,因此,只有真正的圣者才能完成此游戏。

《创世纪 4》同样采用了开放世界设计,玩家几乎可以在任意时间,去任何自己想去的地方。此外,本作的流程设计也并非线性,游戏拥有丰富的支线任务和收集要素,并且在大多数情况下,玩家都可以按照任意顺序完成它们。当然,随着游戏接近尾声,剩下可做的事情也自然会变少,而在那之前,玩家将拥有极大的选择权,可以自由地决定要去何处或干什么。

虽然战斗并不是本作的主要内容,游戏仍然安排了足够多的回合制战斗,本作的战斗难度经过了精心调整,以确保玩家不会被敌人轻易碾压,尤其是在游戏的初期——你完全可以大胆去探险,而不用担心突然蹿出来一大群兽人把你干掉。值得一提的是:如果敌人遭受的伤亡过多,他们也可能逃跑。

在游戏流程中,玩家并非孤身一人,随着流程的推进,玩家能召集七位同伴加入到队伍中,他们象征着其余的七种美德,而在这趟旅程中,每一位队友都会发挥到重要的作用。需要额外说明的是:升级可不是本作的重点元素,你所能达到的最高等级也只有 8 级。

No game, before or since, has had such an objective. All others have been concerned with making you a better warrior or spell-slinger, concentrating entirely on developing physical or magical prowess. Combat is the means to this, and it is easy to see why other CRPGs have so much. It's the main way to get ahead; in some cases, the only way.

You certainly have fighting in Ultima IV. It's how you prove your Valour – but Valour is only one virtue. Developing those other seven depends upon how you react to and treat other people.

There's no backsliding here either. Each “eighth” (enlightenment in a virtue) is hard to earn and not permanent. The game watches every move you make. Start acting the wrong way, and you'll be losing those eighths. Only a true Avatar can finish this game.

There's also Ultima IV's open design. You can go almost anywhere you want, any time you want; the game is very much not linear. There are many things to do, and quite a few objects to gather, but, for the most part, these can be done in any order. Eventually, of course, everything narrows down to the end game. Until that time, the player has a lot of discretion as to where to go and what to do.

While combat isn't the main focus of the game, there is plenty of it, and it's turn-based. Opponents are carefully controlled, so you won't, especially at the start, be overwhelmed. You can explore without worrying that a horde of orcs will show up and wipe you out. Also, enemies will sometimes run away if they take too many casualties.

You aren't alone, either. Over time, you gather in seven members to your party. They represent the other seven virtues, and you will need every one of those people. Further, levelling is not a big item; eight is the maximum level you can reach.

GameDB 相关游戏: 创世纪 4:圣者传奇

《电脑 RPG 游戏史(The CRPG Book Project)》原书信息

英文原版主编:Felipe Pepe
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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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