阿卡尼亚王国：命运之刃 Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny p.152

创世纪地下世界：冥河深渊 Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss p.154

在我看来，这些游戏真正的过人之处，在于角色的微观管理系统。
我深知，有些人一听到微观管理就头皮发麻，但这正是很多玩家期盼已久的元素。我们信心满满，想开发一款市面上最硬核的 RPG 游戏，玩家要为自己操控的角色制定周密的行动计划。当然，并非所有人都能接受这种事无巨细的操纵体验。

The area where these games truly excelled, in my opinion, was the micromanagement of characters. I know, it sounds bad, but for many players this is what they were looking forward to. We wanted to make the most hardcore RPG out there, and I think we succeeded, all the way down to making sure players were feeding their characters on a regular schedule. Naturally, this kind of level of detail did not sit well with everyone.

Guido Henkel,
《命运之刃》作者

Guido Henkel,
Blade of Destiny’s producer

在“骨灰级”桌游爱好者眼中，这绝对是一大卖点。但对于毫无桌游经验的小白来说，这款游戏入门难度颇大。《黑暗之眼》的老手对游戏技巧、搜刮资源的妙招可谓了如指掌，但对新手而言，游戏没有足够的引导界面，玩家只能无助地翻阅游戏手册，靠自己摸索规律。

虽然《命运之刃》在玩法上存在争议，但这款游戏的优势在于游戏设定。游戏给索瓦安排了大量的文本描述，少许插图，辅之以大量 CYOA 交互式任务线，营造别致的氛围感。虽然少部分文本只是些没有营养的玩笑，但大多数内容都是由开发者精心设计，给玩家充分的代入感。同时，复杂巧妙（但有时稍显苛刻）的游戏规则能帮助你了解复杂的世界观。

说到这，不得不感叹，这真是一片极其广袤的世界。虽然主线剧情普普通通，但游戏有太多的奥秘等待玩家探索，让人欲罢不能。穿越郁郁葱葱的密林、攀爬雄伟壮观的高山、探秘幽深奇诡的洞窟、清理乌烟瘴气的海盗窝点、与幽灵船一起乘风破浪，凡此种种，不一而足。无论玩家前往何方，都能收获趣味，享受快乐。

Unfortunately, what was a huge selling point for tabletop veterans made things difficult for new players. As a TDE player, you knew all the tricks and exploits. As a newcomer, you were often left to your own devices, constantly flipping through the manual.

Still, the strength of the game has always been the setting. Digital Thorwal is dripping with atmosphere, with detailed text descriptions, small illustrations and countless Choose Your Own Adventure segments. Some of the texts are simply nonsensical jokes, but most of them are well-written pieces that immerse you in the setting. And the intricate (and often unforgiving) rules help ground you in this land.

And boy, it's a huge land. The main story is not too interesting, but there's just so much to explore! You can travel through forests, climb mountains, delve deep into various dungeons, eradicate a pirate village, set sail with a ghost ship, etc. Wherever you go, there's always something interesting to find.

2013 年，Crafty Studios 推出《命运之刃》的重制版，但直到发售时这款游戏仍是个未完成品，游戏漏洞与翻译问题比比皆是。此后，官方不断发布更新补丁，但整部游戏依然显得粗劣不堪。所以本文的笔墨主要花在原作三部曲上，而非重制版。

In 2013 a remake of Blade of Destiny was developed by Crafty Studios, but it was incomplete on release, with severe bugs and translation issues. It has been heavily patched since, but it's still a crude and poorly-made title. Stick to the original trilogy.

随着第一部游戏大获成功，1994 年，续作问世——《阿卡尼亚王国：星途（Star Trail）》。这款游戏在遵循前作理念的基础上，进行大量玩法升级，包括优化对话系统、设计全 3D 的城镇与地穴等。这让游戏体验显著提升，《星途》也因此成为公认的系列最佳。

1996 年，又一款续作出炉——《阿卡尼亚王国：里瓦之影（Shadows over Riva）》。本作取消大地图设定，玩家只能在一个城市活动。这个城市完成度极高，让人身临其境，游戏剧情也更引人入胜。游戏以容量较大的 CD-ROM 作为载体，因此具有预渲染背景^[1] 与过场动画。此外，玩家在系列首作《命运之刃》所打造的团队可以导入两部续作，玩家可以用同一支团队来贯穿三部曲，成就恢弘史诗。

此后，这个系列便陷入沉寂。虽然开发者曾试图重启系列^[2] ，但收效甚微，桌游 RPG 的鼎盛年代早已成为历史。直到现在，我都能感受到内心的悸动，想要重返索瓦这片北域，再见见游戏里的老朋友，再逛逛那片广袤的土地。然而，想到愈发陌生的桌游规则，那丝悸动便转瞬即逝。

After the success of the first game, came the sequels. Star Trail (1994) is commonly held as the high point of the series and adhered closely to the concept of its predecessor, while also adding a better dialogue system, fully 3D towns and dungeons and other upgrades that made the experience more satisfying.

The third game, Shadows over Riva (1996), removed the overland travel altogether and took place in a single, well-realised and fully fleshed-out city, with a more elaborate plot. It also used its CD-ROM format to add pre-rendered backgrounds and voiced cutscenes. Moreover, a party created in Blade of Destiny could be carried over the entire trilogy, in a truly epic journey.

After that, the Northlands fell into silence. There have been ill-fated attempts to revive it, but the boom of tabletop role-playing games had already passed. Still, from time to time, I can feel the temptation to return to Thorwal, to meet its people and explore its lands. If only I could remember the rules.

__________

¹ 译者注：预渲染背景是 90 年代兴起的技巧，帮助老游戏在有限的硬件上获得更高的画面体验。由于硬件限制，当时无法在游戏内实时渲染游戏场景，所以程序员先在三维建模程序中创建背景画面，在经历建模、纹理和打光后，游戏开发者将决定摄像机（即玩家视角）在场景中的位置，接着在玩家视角前方（即身前）与后方（与身后）放置对应的场景画面，以提升游戏的沉浸感。《生化危机》、《最终幻想 7》、《塞尔达传说：时之笛》也常常使用预渲染手法。
² 2013 年，Crafty Studios 推出《命运之刃》的重制版，但直到发售时这款游戏仍是个未完成品，游戏漏洞与翻译问题比比皆是。此后，官方不断发布更新补丁，但整部游戏依然显得粗劣不堪。所以本文的笔墨主要花在原作三部曲上，而非重制版。