English
简体中文
n-Space, 2015
Windows, OSX, PS4 和 Xbox One
n-Space, 2015
Windows, OSX, PS4 and Xbox One
《剑湾传奇》[1] （Sword Coast Legends）的简介很吸引人。这款小队角色扮演游戏有单人和 4 人联机两种模式，发售时间恰逢 CRPG“文艺复兴”，采用流行的第五版《龙与地下城》（D&D）规则[2] （当时 D&D 本身热度也在上升）。此外，游戏还承诺提供地下城城主模式（DM mode），让玩家独创或者重现经典桌游模组[3] ，带上朋友一同游玩。
玩家在单人模式中扮演一名佣兵，隶属于名为燃烧黎明（Order of the Burning Dawn）的小公会，公会起源要比传承下来的版本光明（且黑暗）得多。很快，玩家和勇敢的队友们就会开始集体做噩梦，遭受镀金之眼（Order of the Gilded Eye）佣兵的袭击，并因此被迫前往剑湾[4] 各地乃至幽暗地域深处踏上生存与探索的冒险之路。
不论销量，游戏原本至少能凭借情怀和特色赢得不错的口碑，但结果恰恰相反：它实在是太……平庸了。CRPG 粉丝满怀期待地开玩，却发现选项毫无意义——剧情不过是从一个场景移动到下一个，没有实质性的分支，何况剧情本身也很老套。对话有分支树，但都殊途同归，通向同一个结果。
战斗采用即时可暂停模式，大部分时候都很无聊。战斗结果往往取决于谁先暴击，而非玩家策略；游戏为技能设计了冷却时间，很有动作 RPG 游戏的味道，却和原作《龙与地下城》相去甚远。
游戏本质上就是一款背景设在被遗忘国度（the Forgotten Realms），品质中规中矩的动作 RPG；认识到这点后，笔者认为游玩体验还是不错的。它没有任何突破，但 30 来小时的单人模式流程足以让玩家暂时告别现实，沉浸在 D&D 设定下的奇幻世界当中。
Sword Coast Legends seemed to have a lot going for it. A party-based RPG with single-player and 4-player co-op modes, it was released when CRPGs were in a renaissance, adapting the popular D&D 5th Edition tabletop rules (with D&D itself on the rise). Furthermore, there was a promised Dungeon Master mode that would allow you to create your own scenarios – or recreate classic tabletop ones – and bring your friends along.
In the single-player campaign, you play as a member of the Order of the Burning Dawn, a humble mercenary guild whose origins are much brighter (and darker) than it remembers. Soon, collective nightmares and attacks from the Order of the Gilded Eye push you and your plucky companions into an adventure of survival and discovery that stretches all over the Sword Coast and into the depths of the Underdark.
The game's pedigree and features should have ensured a solid reception if not an outright hit. Instead, the game was doomed by, well, its averageness. Eager CRPG fans criticized the lack of any real choice – the story (which itself feels cliché) progresses from one location to the next, with no real chance to deviate. Even its dialogue trees ultimately offer nothing beyond different paths to the same foregone conclusion.
The combat is real-time with pause, and often lackluster. Many times the outcome is based on who gets the big hit in first rather than any strategy on your part. The designers also opted for a cool-down timer mechanic for abilities, which fits the Action-RPG feel but seems too far removed from the source game.
For my part, I enjoyed SCL well enough for what it was: an inoffensive Action-RPG romp through the Forgotten Realms. It didn't break any new ground, yet its 30-something hours single-player campaign was fine for a D&D-related diversion from real life.
地下城主模式（DM mode）功能极其有限，在发展出 mod 圈之前就关服了。即便如此，在此之前玩家还是制作了超过 1600 个 mod，这些 mod 的数据随着关服全部丢失。
The DM mode was very limited and the game died before a modding scene could develop. Still, over 1,600 modules were made by players, then were all lost when the servers shut down.
然而，地下城主模式成了压垮游戏的最后一根稻草。玩家以为会有类似《无冬之夜 1&2》（Neverwinter Nights 1&2）的工具箱，结果却大失所望，因为他们并不能完全控制地下城的搭建——场景只能根据一系列选项按既定程序生成，而所有生物和战利品都会自动根据等级调整。本可以成为游戏大腿的模式就这样瘸了。
《剑湾传奇》在 2016 年仍坚持更新了一个免费 DLC，即以幽暗地域为中心的《恶魔之怒》（Rage of Demons）。然而游戏本体已在 2017 年底停售，联机服务器也于 2018 年关闭。游戏最终还是成为了 n-Space 的绝唱——在成立 22 年后，这家厂商不幸倒闭。
The biggest nail in SCL's coffin, however, was the DM Mode. Players envisioning toolsets similar to Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 were disappointed by its drawbacks, as creators did not have full control of what they were building – areas can only be procedurally-generated, based on a series of player-selected options, while all creatures and loot automatically level-scale – hobbling a mode that could have given SCL real legs.
The game still received one free DLC in the form of the Underdark-centric Rage of Demons in 2016, but sales were suspended at the end of 2017, and the multiplayer servers shut down in 2018. Sword Coast Legends would be the final release of n-Space, which sadly closed its doors after 22 years of existence.
游戏中的能力和法术没有蓝量或施法限制，冷却时长决定一切，因此大多数战斗都大同小异。
There’s no mana or casting limit on abilities and spells, everything is controlled by cool-downs, which makes most battles play in a very similar way.
游戏里有 5 版 D&D 规则中的 7 个职业 6 个种族可供选择，还有独特的亚种和背景。然而原版的技能、特性和进阶职业都被技能树取代了。
The game offers 7 classes and 6 races from D&D 5th edition, with unique sub-races and backgrounds, but the skills, feats and prestige classes were all replaced by skill trees.
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1 译者注：虽然中文译名相同，但本作和《博德之门》的 dlc 《博德之门：剑湾传奇”》（Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast）是两个完全不同的游戏。
2 译者注：网络上常见的叫法“5e”是第五版（5th edition）的简称，DND 5e规则就是第五版 DND 规则。
3 译者注：此处的桌游模组（scenarios）不同于一般的电子游戏模组（mod），可以理解为桌游的背景设定和故事大纲。
4 译者注：DND 乃至 RPG 史上最知名的背景设定之一就是被遗忘国度（the Forgotten Realms），剑湾、幽暗地域和费伦等都是其中的地名。
《电脑 RPG 游戏史（The CRPG Book Project）》原书信息
英文原版主编：Felipe Pepe
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