遗产：恐怖领域 The Legacy: Realm of Terror p.184

和其他游戏不同的是，《叛变克朗多》不通过清关和不断前进来推动游戏进程，因为我们做出了一个基础层面上的改动。我们的游戏世界是活着的。它会自己存在并持续变化，无论玩家是否会亲临现场。我们对经典禅学公案^[1] 的答复就是——没错，那棵树在森林里倒下的时候当然会制造声响，但是否在现场见证这一刻并听到声响就是玩家需要自己决定的了。

Unlike other games whose progression mechanic largely revolved around ‘clearing out' levels and always moving forward, we made a radical decision. Our game world would be persistent. It would exist – and change – whether or not the player showed up to see what was going on. In answer to the classic zen koan, our answer was yes, the tree would definitely make a sound when it fell in the forest, but it would be up to the player to decide whether or not they were going to be there to hear it fall.

Neal Hallford,
《叛变克朗多》编剧

Neal Hallford,
Betrayal at Krondor's writer

这款游戏改编于 Raymond E. Feist^[2] 的《时空裂隙之战》（Riftwar）三部曲，一部来自八十年代的古典奇幻小说系列，不过游戏和小说在大部分基础要素上并不共通（实话实说，这或许是一件好事）。如果你对《时空裂隙之战》系列十分熟悉，那你或许会认出许多游戏里的角色和历史事件，但也仅此而已了。

虽然这么说，基于文学作品的基础很好地为 BaK 的写作模式提供了帮助。具体地讲，就是游戏里的一切内容看上去都像极了一本书。游戏的故事以章节划分，各章节着重于不同的角色和地点。各种信息都被展示在书页上，其描述的内容细致且出色，并且很难找到游戏里常见的功能性描述，比如“你无法这么做”或者“错误的道具”——游戏通常会展示一张和内容相关的精美图像，比如一个角色正尝试做一件毫无意义的事情，还说如果他不专注的话下次就会做出诸如不小心把果酱涂在剑上和把毒药倒在三明治里的情况。

The game is loosely based on Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar saga, a high-fantasy book series from the 80s, although it doesn't share that many common elements with the books (which is probably for the best, to be frank). If you're familiar with Riftwar, you'll probably recognise many of the characters and past events described in-game, but that's it, really.

Still, this grounding in literature lends itself well to Krondor's general writing format. That is, everything here resembles a book. The story is divided into chapters, each switching between different characters and locations. Messages show up on paper pages, descriptions are detailed and robust, and there are very few “functional” texts to find here, such as “this doesn't work” or “wrong item” – no, the game always presents you an intricate picture of something, such as a character trying something nonsensical and saying he has to stay focused or he'll be putting jam on his sword and poison in his sandwich the next time.

虽然《叛变克朗多》改编自 Raymond E. Feist 的书，但它本身是一个全新的故事。Feist 之后又将游戏剧情改编成了一本叫《克朗多：背叛（Krondor: The Betrayal）》的小说。

While Betrayal at Krondor was based on Raymond E. Feist's books, it's actually a whole new story. It was later adapted by Feist into a novel called Krondor: The Betrayal.

文本的风格并不是游戏唯一出色的方面，因为 BaK 本身的剧情也是同类中最优秀的之一。游戏描述了一场政治阴谋，伴随着成千上万的剧情转折和隐藏内容，并且需要深陷其中的玩家自己理解发生的一切。就像之前提到的一样，简单地从 A 点直线前往 B 点是永远不够的。为了彻底理清一切，你需要探索整张地图并收集线索，不然只会落得原地打转的下场。

《叛变克朗多》，确切地说，很有可能就是我最喜欢的 RPG 作品。当你想到大多数其他的角色扮演游戏时，你通常会说：“这个的确不错，但是……”。在 BaK 这里可没有“但是”。这款游戏从始至终都是出色的。它没有任何开发不完善或者失败的要素，也不会随着游戏内容发展逐渐表现得不再出彩。

这款游戏是我们在 CRPG 领域里找到的最接近极致的作品，如果你不同意的话，我愿意为了维护这个观点和你斗争至死。

But the style is not all, for the story in Krondor is also one of the best around. The game presents you a political intrigue with a hundred million billion twists, turns and hidden layers, and it's up to your party, caught in the middle of this maelstrom, to make sense of it. Plus, as said before, simply going from plot point A to B is never enough. To really connect the dots you have to investigate the whole world and gather clues, or you'll just keep stumbling around.

Betrayal at Krondor is, suffice to say, quite possibly my favourite RPG of all time. When you think of most other role-playing games, you'll always find yourself saying, “it's a great one, but…”. In Krondor, there are no “buts”. This game is great through and through. It has no underdeveloped or bad sides, nor does it fall apart as it keeps going.

It's the closest we've ever got to a perfect entry in the CRPG genre, and I'll be willing to fight you to the death to defend this statement.

__________

¹ 译者注：公案，禅宗术语，指禅宗祖师的一段言行，或是一个小故事，通常是与禅宗祖师开悟过程，或是教学片段相关。这里提到的问题其实是一个在佛教和哲学中都被广泛讨论的问题之一，从问题的表述上看，更接近于哲学家 George Berkeley 在《人类知识原理》（A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge）中的观点，基于此，作者所指的“禅学公案”可能是：“森林里一颗树倒下，如果没有被听见，它是否依旧发出声音”这个问题。
² 译者注：Raymond E. Feist，美国奇幻小说作家，著作有《叛变克朗多》系列。