如果你问三个人《哥特王朝（Gothic）》里都有什么，你会得到各式各样的答案。这就是为什么我们很难了解到玩家对新《哥特王朝》系列的期待有哪些。

If you ask three people what a Gothic game consists of, you'll get five answers. That makes it very difficult to realise what players expect from a new Gothic.

Björn Pankratz
《哥特王朝》系列和《崛起》系列游戏制作人

Björn Pankratz,
Gothic and Risen series' designer

《崛起 2》还饱受其他诟病：之前的无缝地图被岛屿所取代，这些小岛探索起来很枯燥（有些还只是走廊）；阵营被减；简单平淡的任务。二代加入了 DLC，快速旅行和 QTE 系统^[1] 和重新设计的主机游戏用户界面。如果不批评，那么只能说这游戏中规中矩，平淡无奇了。

游戏真正亮点在于其营销汹涌的海盗主题。但最后也不过是个唬头。除了用船能完成快速旅行，玩家并不能自如的控制小船。游戏剧情也不过是用一个神器打败一个神一般的存在。除了一些有趣的任务，游戏的海盗味也没那么浓重，至少就气氛可以说更偏向强尼· 德普（Johnny Depp）而非埃罗尔· 弗林（Errol Flynn），比较无厘头。

《崛起 2》确立的现代游戏风格标志着他们摒弃了粉丝钟爱的《哥特王朝》系列的一切。尽管如此，它还是卖出了 100 多万部。很难说这是由于海盗主题还是营销力量，但可能是两者的结合。

Piranha Bytes 在《崛起 3：泰坦之王》（Risen 3: Titan Lords，2014）试图迎合所有人，但终究只是一厢情愿罢了。因为一方面开发者宣称要回归《哥特王朝》风，另一方面新添了带有任务指南针的迷你地图和善恶道德系统，甚至还有一个精神视野（detective vision）^[2] 。

Several other issues also plagued Risen 2 – the seamless world was replaced by small islands that aren't interesting to explore (some are just corridors), the factions were reduced, the quests are mostly linear and fetch-based, DLCs, fast travel and QTEs were added and the game's UI was redesigned for consoles. If not a bad game, it was mediocre and forgettable.

The game's only real highlight was its aggressively advertised pirate theme. But, in the end, it was more of a façade. You can't freely sail your ship; merely use it for fast travel; and the plot is about defeating a godlike being with the use of magical artefacts. Beyond some flavourful fetch quests, the game really isn't all that pirate-oriented – or, at least, it's more Johnny Depp than Errol Flynn in terms of atmosphere.

Risen 2's adoption of modern gaming trends renounced all the things that fans appreciated about the Gothic series. Still, it did sell over a million units. It's hard to say if this was due the pirate theme or the marketing, but probably a combination of both.

Risen 3: Titan Lords (2014) was Piranha Bytes' attempt to pander to everyone – which resulted in nobody being pleased. On one hand it sold itself as “Piranha Bytes going back to its roots”, on the other it added a mini-map with quest-compass, a binary morality system and even a “detective vision”.

《崛起》系列没有大型模组，但 1 和 2 系列都有非官方的补丁帮助玩家修理一些小型 bug。你也可以调整游戏的.ini 文件来改善阴影和显示距离。

There aren't any big mods for the Risen series, but both Risen 1 and Risen 2 have unofficial patches to fix some minor bugs. You can also tweak their .ini files for improved shadows and draw distance.

3 代的对战系统稍有改进，不再那么死板，有一点让人想起初代的流畅感。但由于对滚砍和蓄力一击的过于依赖，游戏战斗的丰富性实在单薄。游戏阵营也调整到了三个，战士（Warrior），法师（Mage），盗贼（Mage）风格各异，各有千秋。

然而，为了迎合所有人的需求，《崛起 3》的世界杂糅了来自《哥特王朝》和《崛起》中的海盗与中世纪，分裂了游戏基调，给游戏的故事带来严重冲击。很尴尬，就像东施效颦。

《崛起 3》在机制上胜过前作，但由于缺乏连贯性和不讨喜的制作使得口碑并没被挽回多少。

Piranha Bytes 起先试着走老路；然后想要推陈出新；最后他们想那就走个中庸吧。他们每一步都想赢得粉丝稍纵即逝的注意力。但对现代玩家而言在《哥特》系列的独特体验是没法简单地复制到《崛起》系列里的——而是需要被不断改良。像《黑暗之魂（Dark Souls）》和《幽浮（XCOM）》等游戏向我们展示了困难但公平的玩法是可以经久不衰的。希望 Piranha Bytes 能在 RPG 的道路上回到他们全盛时期。

Combat was slightly better – no longer so rigid and with a bit of flow reminiscent of the older games. But, given the excessive reliance on rolling and on charged blows, it looked ridiculously floaty. The game also returned to having three factions, each leading to different flavours of the Warrior/Mage/Rogue paths.

However, trying to be everything for everyone, Risen 3's world is a mishmash of pirate and medieval influences from all other Gothic and Risen games, which resulted in a frankly schizophrenic tone and writing truly hitting rock bottom. It feels like a parody, especially since the protagonist sounds like Clint Eastwood doing an impression of Clint Eastwood.

Risen 3 may be marginally better mechanically than Risen 2, but its lack of coherence and obviously pandering design makes it far less redeemable.

Piranha Bytes first tried going back; then they tried changing; and then they tried compromising. All attempts at catching a flame that's ever-fading in the collective conscious of the gaming crowd. The Gothic experience can't simply be recreated for a modern audience – it needs to be reintroduced. Games like Dark Souls and XCOM show us that hard-but-fair is something that can flourish even today. Hopefully Pyranha Bytes can achieve this seemingly Sisyphean task of getting back to their old glory.

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¹ 译者注：QTE 是 Quick Time Event（快速反应事件）的缩写，即在游戏过程中，玩家要对游戏画面上出现的按键迅速作出反应，并按下与画面所对应的按键，其出现的按键有单个的按键也有组合按键。
² 译者注：这里作者指游戏中的 Astral Vision 魔法技能，受角色精神值影响，主要用来追踪特定物品。