上古卷轴：竞技场 The Elder Scrolls: Arena p.200

1995-1999 全新的 3D 世界和全新的受众 1995-1999 New 3D worlds and new audiences p.202

在此之前，Bethesda 只开发过像《终结者（Terminator）》系列的动作类游戏和类似《韦恩·格雷茨基：冰球（Wayne Gretzky Hockey）》的体育游戏，却从未开发过任何角色扮演游戏。还记得那时候我和那群忙着开发《巫术 7：失落的迦地亚（Wizardry VII：Crusaders of the Dark Savant）》的 Sir-Tech 仔们聊天，我告诉他们，Bethesda 有能力开发出一款 RPG 游戏，结果他们哄堂大笑。

Up to that time, Bethesda had never done a role-playing game, only action games like the Terminator series and sports titles like Wayne Gretzky Hockey.
I remember talking to the guys at Sir-Tech who were doing Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant at the time, and them literally laughing at us for thinking we could do it.

Ted Peterson,
《上古卷轴：竞技场》设计师

Ted Peterson,
Arena's designer

为了帮助你消灭敌人，《竞技场》提供了 21 种武器类型与 26 种防具。玩家可以使用八种不同的金属来打造这些装备——比如铁、秘银或者乌木，各类原料都带有不同的特性加成。此外，附魔道具或许还会掉落于地牢中或者在商店里出售。如果你足够幸运的话，甚至还可以收集到指引你找到泰穆瑞尔众多传奇神器之一的线索。

此外，如果游戏提供的 50 种法术都显得太无聊的话，你随时都可以从大量的施法条件和效果中组合出属于你自己的法术（有事甚至可能会导致法师变得过度强大）。

当你玩游戏时，随机生成的各式任务会很容易使你忽略主线剧情。游戏里随机生成任务目标、地牢位置和各个城镇之间不同线索的系统会随着玩家花费越来越多时间在游戏内探索不同的省份，不断地填充内容到这个沙盒世界之中。

To help vanquish your foes, Arena features about 21 weapon types and 26 armour pieces, all of which can be made from one of eight different kinds of metal – such as Iron, Mithril or Ebony – each with a different bonus. Furthermore, enchanted items might be found in dungeons or bought in stores. And, if you're lucky, you might even hear rumours pointing you towards one of the legendary artefacts of Tamriel.

Also, if the 50 spells available are too boring, you could always try and create your own from a huge number of factors and effects (which could sometimes lead to making Mages wildly overpowered).

As you kept playing, the randomly generated quests made it easy to ignore the main campaign. The way that the game randomised the end-goals for sidequests, dungeon locations, and the rumours one could hear from one town to the next fed into that sandbox illusion with more and more hours spent wandering through each province just to see what was there.

从 2004 年开始，Bethesda 提供了可供玩家免费下载的《竞技场》游戏本体，作为上古卷轴系列十周年纪念活动的一部分。

Since 2004 Bethesda has made Arena freely available for download, as part of the 10th anniversary of The Elder Scrolls series.

虽然游戏纷繁复杂的支线任务让人眼花缭乱，但无法掩盖其弊病——技术的局限性。这块巨型大陆的大部分地区是空的，只有公式化生成的平原。红山虽然在地图上是可见的，但是游戏里却不存在（又或者说大部分山脉都不存在）。并且在做过了大量支线任务之后，野外的地牢就会因为不断重复的内容而显得有些过度眼熟了。

不管怎么说，这巨大的地图和无限冒险的设定成功地将泰姆瑞尔打造成一个充满可能性的沙盒，并为其他 CRPG 铺平了将来的道路。

《竞技场》拥有 3D 的画面与动作导向的战斗模式，搭配上属性、玩家自我选择的道德观，以及一个充满了多样装备和丰硕战利品的世界。对玩家而言，《竞技场》名副其实，堪称一个玩法多样的残酷角斗场，Bethesda 最为宏大的游戏系列就此迈出了坚实的第一步。

As compelling as the smoke and mirrors were, technology only went so far. The massive continent is mostly empty, filled with procedurally generated plains. Despite being visible on the map, there was no Red Mountain (or mountains for the most part) and doing so many side-quests would make some of those dungeons in the wilderness seem a little too familiar after so long with a bit of repetition thrown in.

Regardless, the sheer geographic vastness and the idea of infinite adventure successfully made the world of Tamriel a sandbox of possibilities that other CRPGs had only paved the way forward for.

With a 3D viewscreen, action-oriented combat, and blending all of that in with attributes, playerdriven morality, and a world filled with a wide variety of equipment and empowering loot, Arena lived up to its name as a crucible for players to find their own way and become the first stepping stone to Bethesda's biggest series.