魔法门 8:
Might and Magic VIII:
毁灭者之日
Day of the Destroyer

New World Computing, 2000
Windows 和 PS2

New World Computing, 2000
Windows and PS2

魔法门 8(Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer)讲述了两个末日故事。玩家在游戏中的目标是挫败爱斯卡顿(Escaton),他是一个远古的位面行者(planeswalker),意图毁灭世界。与此同时,游戏的缺陷以及仓促的开发时间表也是另一场悲剧的预兆——仅仅几年之后,New World Computing 及其新的母公司 3DO 就破产了。

《魔法门 8》是不到三年时间里的第三个《魔法门》游戏,也是最后一个使用过时的《魔法门 6》引擎的游戏。《魔法门 8》展示出了 UI 上的升级,但是画面和玩法相对于前作来说罕有改进。

最大的变化是队伍的组建方式:此前的游戏中玩家管理一个固定的队伍,而本作中玩家在游戏开始时只能创建一个主要角色,然后在游戏中雇佣至多四名 NPC 来填补队伍空位。对于追求极端数据的玩家(min-maxer)这很不幸,因为不使用存档编辑器的情况下,这些雇佣兵的初始属性、技能和外观都不能自行定制。

前几部游戏的设定总体上很接近传统的奇幻设定,并在其中加入了少量科幻元素,而本作中玩家来到了贾达密(Jadame),这片大陆上居住着许多外形怪异而心地善良的种族。举个例子,在起始区域匕伤群岛(Dagger Wound Island),玩家发现自己要帮助一个友好的蜥蜴人城镇抵御人类掠夺者。除此之外,诸如弓箭手(Archer)、游侠(Paladin)[1] 和巫师(Sorcerer)之类的传统职业被替换了黑暗精灵(Dark Elf)、吸血鬼(Vampire)以及死灵法师(Necromancer),甚至还有龙(Dragon)!

然而,本作中新的队伍系统出现了一些平衡问题:可以在游戏早期获取到一些等级过高的雇佣兵,同时龙角色十分强大,足以让大部分游戏内容变得毫无挑战——龙角色不需要装备,能够喷吐火炎,可以学习飞行,甚至可以把整支队伍背在自己的背上!而另一方面,一些新加入的职业毫无特色,与之前《魔法门》中的职业相比并没有太大区别。

Might and Magic VIII tells of two doomsday stories. The player's in-game goal is to thwart Escaton, an ancient planeswalker intent on destroying the world. However, the game's flaws and rushed production schedule were early signs of another tragedy – the bankruptcy of New World Computing and its new parent company, 3DO, just a few years later.

The third Might and Magic title in less than three years, MM8 would be the last game to use the ageing MM6 engine, sporting an updated UI but few changes to the graphics or gameplay of its predecessors.

The biggest difference is how party composition works: instead of managing a fixed party, you create a single main character at the start of the game, then hire up to four additional NPCs to fill out your ranks. Unfortunately for min-maxers, the initial attributes, skills and appearance of these hirelings cannot be customised without a save editor.

While previous games kept to a mostly generic fantasy setting with some sci-fi elements, you now go to Jadame, a continent populated by monstrous, albeit well-meaning races. For instance, in the starting area, Dagger Wound Island, you find yourself defending a town of friendly lizardmen from human marauders. Additionally, many traditional classes such as Archer, Paladin and Sorcerer are replaced by Dark Elves, Vampires, Necromancers and even Dragons!

However, the game's new party system presents some balance issues: a few overlevelled hirelings can be obtained at an early stage in the game, and Dragon characters are powerful enough to trivialise much of the game's content – they require no equipment, breathe fire and can learn to fly, carrying the entire party on their backs! On the other hand, some of the new classes are underwhelming, offering little to differentiate themselves from previous M&M classes.

和《魔法门 6》与《魔法门 7》类似,GrayFace 的补丁合集修复了一些 bug,加入了鼠标指针外观之类的额外特性。Choose Party 这个 mod 则允许玩家随意定制队伍,同时也非常适合孤狼玩家。而 MMerge mod 则允许你将《魔法门 6 7 8》作为一个游戏来玩。

As in MM6 and 7, GrayFace's patch fixes bugs and adds features like mouselook. The Choose Party mod allows you to start with any party setup you wish, while the MMerge mod allows you to play MM6, 7 and 8 as a single game.

New World Computing 试图把重心放在叙事上,但是剧本本身并没有那么有趣,而且玩家也感受不到其中的紧迫。游戏中盘玩家在组建联盟时需要做出几个选择,但这些选择最后并没有多大的区别。

尽管并非是系列中最优秀的一部作品,但《魔法门 8》仍然是一款好游戏。它抓住了《魔法门 6》和《魔法门 7》玩家共同的兴趣点,喜爱这些游戏的玩家很可能也会喜欢上《魔法门 8》。

New World Computing tried to give more focus to storytelling, but the plot itself is not that interesting and there's no sense of urgency. Mid-game you're asked to make some choices when forming an alliance, but they ultimately don't make much of a difference.

While it's not the strongest entry in the series, Might and Magic VIII is still a good game that scratches the same itch as MM6 or MM7 – a fan of those games would most likely enjoy this one as well.

本作的交互界面相对于前作有所改进,但画面大体上没有变化,和 2000 年的其他游戏放在一起就显得十分过时。

The interface was improved upon previous games, but the graphics remained mostly the same, looking outdated next to other games released in 2000.

队伍大小扩大到了 5 个角色,但现在你只能在游戏开始时创建一个角色,其余的角色必须在游戏内招募。然而,虽然是被预先设定好的,这些角色并没有多少个性可言。

Party size was expanded to five characters, but now you only create one at the start – the others must be recruited. Yet, despite being pre-made, these characters have little personality.

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1 译者注:Paladin 在《龙与地下城》规则语境中往往翻译成“圣武士”,通常要求善良或中立阵营。而此前的《魔法门》系列中 Paladin 职业可以选择邪恶路线使用黑暗魔法,考虑到这一点,这里采用当年引进时的翻译,将 Paladin 译为“游侠”。

GameDB 相关游戏: 魔法门 8:毁灭者之日

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