In the twilight of the miracle and myth era, sing the finale for the dragon.
20 18-02-06 08:0 1:24
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Neither the elves nor the gods can stop the progress of the long river of time, even in the middle ages, but no one will think that the technology and ideas in these fantasy worlds will not advance. And when these fantasy worlds really develop to the moment when technology is about to sweep the whole magic road, what kind of posture will they show?
A world you imagined but didn't take seriously.
A person's life will always experience the alternation of some times, from a commodity trend to a wave of times that can affect the whole world.
In August of 200 1 year, Enigma: Steam and Magic brought by the creator of radiation, in a sense, is the last classic of CRPG from the isometric perspective of the previous era. From then on, it was many years before this genre was considered as a sign of recovery again.
Interestingly, the core idea of the game Enigma is also about the theme of the alternation of times. It puts forward a theme that many people may think of, but rarely occupies a central position in the game-what kind of story will happen if the world of Dungeons and Dragons develops into the industrial revolution era?
This is a role-playing game, which takes place at a moment when the whole world is facing a choice. It allows players to observe, feel and blend in, ending a fictional but realistic era.
Many fantasy works actually have scientific and technological elements, but most of them don't care about "why is there science and technology?"
How to play games that nobody plays.
Mystery: Role-playing Games under the Industrial Revolution
Timothy Kane Leonard. Bojarszky and Jason. Anderson, the core creator of old radiation. The stubbornness and paranoia of these three old guys about role-playing have been branded in their works until now, and it is conceivable how strong their persistence in the style of their works will be when they were young.
At the beginning of the development of radiation 2, because of the gap between the game design concept and the future development direction, the three decided to let Interplay witness the pain alone, take on the debt, resign and let go of themselves.
They named their new studio after "Troika Game", in which "Troika" refers to the positions held by three developers in Radiation: creative director, art director and programmer. Its team concept is intended to create works that "retain the old role-playing game spirit".
How many people can put their heads on EXE?
Just like their ideas at the beginning of the studio, the games they created all have a strong core of classical PC role-playing, and this temperament has continued into the blood of Obsidian today.
Old school, hard core, deep-rooted bad taste and artistic pursuit, and of course, the creativity of early PC games full of personal flavor.
In other words: the mainstream will not give them too much tolerance.
From birth to end, the troika only took less than eight years. In this short life, the game it brings is still full of its own style.
Like radiation, or those role-playing games with the black island gene: not the most popular, but the most personalized.
Farewell to the dragon
Only when the laws of nature exist can magic reflect the possibility of distorting and destroying reality.
Dragons, demons and gods, the theme of Demonbane in the fantasy background has been repeatedly interpreted in countless literary works, and as the main theme source of role-playing games, we are naturally familiar with it.
Every work naturally has its own theme and ideas to convey, and for me, the most critical point of fantasy elements is based on the fundamental idea that miracles that easily change the laws of reality exist in reality.
People rely on magic, witness miracles and praise dragons-these things are just beautiful imagination in our eyes, and they exist completely as the "common sense" of that world in the story.
If the dragon under the oriental thinking is divine, then the magic dragon in the modern western world is a "real" creature that praises the forces of nature.
In these works, how many people think, and how many stories really mention: if these worlds finally reach the era of popularization of science and technology, what changes will the mage, the dragon and the whole world face? What kind of attitude will people face?
No matter what the proportion, there will never be a complete acceptance of something in the world, and in a world that advocates magic, promoting the development of science and technology is definitely more complicated than the industrial revolution in our reality.
The main story of Enigma takes place in such an era. About a century before the game started, the last dragon was killed, and Longdong has become a place for archaeology and tourism. Railways began to appear in major cities, and people no longer need to worry about monsters in the wilderness.
However, in the mysterious world, the cultural background is gradually replaced by oligarchy similar to the business circle under the rule of the monarch. Many cities show the same environment as the Victorian era in the real world, and the wild exploration in North America.
Can you imagine an orc housekeeper running around in a suit?
In addition to the very traditional fantasy adventure, the battle between heroes and evil and other enduring themes, the whole game always conveys various human attitudes under the conflicts of various races, camps and different concepts in the changing times.
We often see the saying that "an era is over", and the greatest charm of mystery lies in this-entering the "sword and magic world" that you should be very familiar with, feeling the glory and legend of the past, and gradually declining under the wheel of science and technology, rationality and civilization.
Whether to open your arms like most people and accept the arrival of the new era with joy, or to offer your last grief for the disappearance of dragons and myths under the turbulent wave.
Story, worldview and background
At the same time, it is more important to be persuasive.
The world view setting is the most attractive place of Enigma. It not only keeps the foundation of traditional fantasy, but also brings the industrial theme into full play, which is fully reflected in vision, text description and game kernel: at that time, it was 200 1, and steampunk was not popular yet!
The game has a timetable that is more in line with the modern calendar and is convenient for players. Compared with the development of our real world, at the beginning of the main line of the story, people in the whole mysterious continent have already felt the benefits brought by science and technology, and started a huge change by relying on science and technology.
Just like in our real world, the industrial revolution in the mysterious continent began with the appearance of the steam engine.
The first steam engine in the game was actually placed in a church dedicated to the gods.
After the human scientist Gilbert Bates invented the steam engine, the mechanized production technology that has begun to show various advantages has developed rapidly. Tarant, the most industrialized metropolis on the mainland, is enjoying the benefits brought by the development of science and technology, but its royal family suddenly collapsed mysteriously, and the merchants' guild led by halflings took over the city.
As the industrial revolution began to spread around the world, those non-human races in the fantasy background began to face different fates.
In such an era, both elves who are naturally sensitive to magic and dwarves who are actually more talented than humans in science and technology are inevitably divided-urban dwarves/elves and those who follow the tradition have gradually become irreconcilable differences, both in concept and in essence.
The contradiction between different races and beliefs has always been a key project in fantasy works, and the problem in Enigma is even more acute: is it to leave the doomed old kingdom and seek opportunities in the rapidly developing metropolis? Or are you looking for a way to continue your tradition?
In fact, the default role background when creating a role is also an introduction to the world view.
The stubborn monarch of the ancient kingdom refused the development of science and technology because he listened to the words of the court mage. In the end, when there is an armed conflict with a powerful talent, the proud Dragon Knight Corps can only be turned into fly ash under fire. Deng Hong is not the only country that opposes science and technology, but it is the most typical case of the impact of scientific and technological forces on the old system in the game.
Almost all the leaders of the city-states and races will face the dilemma of change and conservatism in the game. Whether the players contribute to these choices or not, they will eventually have their own ending.
There are many scenes about the opposition between magic and technology in the game. Although Enigma also has thoughts about good and evil, faith and other issues, it puts two completely different forces on the balance by telling various stories and interacting with the views of different characters.
Because we have reached this era, any intelligent race, whether it is a learned elf or a stupid orc, will face all kinds of new challenges.
The most interesting thing about thinking about the theme is that these non-human races-the forests on which elves live-are not just "strangers who poach and cut down trees" after falling into real estate disputes.
After human beings make laws without authorization, these behaviors are classified as so-called legal, and it is difficult for elves to drive away these rogues in the traditional way. Stubborn, conservative and arrogant elves certainly don't want to be led by human beings, but when many systems they couldn't imagine in the past were suddenly put on the negotiating table, they didn't know how to deal with them.
"We have the power of science! We have the ability to create the first docile orc in the world! We can return these poor people to the embrace of society. Let's take action and do experiments on orcs at once. There are a lot of ready-made experiments in the morgue, and the choice of living experiments should be carried out as soon as possible.
? Mr. Demry Tarant, lawyer, legal adviser and famous spokesman of industrial association.
? -From The Voice of the Orcs' Questions (Volume II)
Militant orcs are another problem: their savage nature is difficult to be completely eradicated, and "civilized society" naturally hates these guys. Ironically, the convenience brought by the industrial revolution has made people unable to accept excessive hard work, and the value of orcs as cheap labor has become a topic of debate from all walks of life. (The game spent a lot of time describing the controversy of the Orc Labor and Social Security Law)
If you think there is only a symbolic description of the conflict between science and fantasy, you will find that the screenwriter has made extremely detailed settings for its background after going deep into the whole game content-no matter religious beliefs, historical legends, myths and legends, and national values, there are huge materials, which make the whole world present a real texture.
The Troika is full of typical black humor or profound and sharp criticism, which hides countless opinions and problems on the mysterious continent. Some of them may only appear in fantasy literature, but more people always feel that they are alluding to something real.
When the smoke of steam engines is sweeping the world, no one can escape disputes and choices now.
The main story line of old wine and new clothes
As a core industrialized city on the mysterious continent, Tiancai has some new ideas similar to radiation 2 in a sense. Although it is the opposite of the latter and synonymous with civilization and advanced ideas in Capital of Crime, it also has the function of summarizing and containing a large number of main and auxiliary clues.
From the very beginning, the player's role was to take the Zephyr airship. After being attacked by a small plane piloted by an orc and becoming the only survivor of the crash, he embarked on a journey to find the truth behind the incident.
You will find that the way and process of entering the mysterious world is a bit "impossible", but fortunately you have a very competent and interesting attendant: Virgil (yes, there is Dante in this game). This guy with a little potential as a funny artist claims to believe in a religion called "Panali" and predicts that the reincarnation of an ancient elf will come in flames (or what? )。
Virgil is a competent companion, both in ability and shaping.
Although you didn't step on the flame, you did fall with a lot of burning garbage, so technically, there is nothing wrong with reincarnating you as a hero.
Entrusted by a mysterious person, transformed into an ancient hero in a prophecy, and pursued by a mysterious organization-the first half of the mystery's main story developed quite kingly. Although the dialogue lines, details and side stories are of high quality, the main line can only be regarded as antique even from the perspective of praise.
However, with the development of the story, even though Enigma has never broken away from the framework of "preventing an anxious guy from running out from another plane to chop people", the degree of this tossing and paving will not embarrass Radiation or any classic RPG when you experience the story for the first time.
It uses a very typical clue-driven script-starting with a little clue, gradually leading players into a tortuous and vivid story, and then revealing the face of the whole world.
The Troika goes to great lengths to describe the details of non-human races. When you follow the main clues to the main cities of dwarves and elves, you will have the opportunity to understand their culture and values. If you are willing to take the time to chat with the dwarf royal family and learn about their "stone way" and dwarf nature, you may get some interesting feelings from it.
In fact, before entering the dwarf kingdom, there were not many particularly long conversations in the game, but this does not mean that there is a mysterious lack of deep discussion and subtle dialogue like CRPG. On the contrary, there are many fascinating debates and discussions in this seemingly old-fashioned main line framework, but relatively speaking, screenwriters seem to prefer wise and humorous spit.
As mentioned earlier, the world view is the most fascinating part of mystery. From this point of view, what will happen to such a relatively traditional story outline under a completely subversive world view is the most interesting point of the main line of the game.
Undeniably, the "Troika" has indeed done pioneering work in this respect, and there are few precedents.
Playfulness, system and core mechanism
Complex character growth structure
Like Radiation, the game uses "locations" all over a large map to construct the overall world pattern, but the difference is that the mysterious continent is much bigger than the west coast. Whether it is a big town or a small special zone, the number has almost doubled, and the content is also sufficient and flexible.
A key point of role-playing in Europe and America is to emphasize the influence of role growth on the whole world-from the "evaluation" of the player's role ability by NPC in The Elder Scrolls to the changes of the character's attributes and skills in the whole story chain in Radiation, all follow this logic.
Your role has changed your ability, not only to fight, but also to talk, role reaction and environmental interaction.
Everything you do in the whole world is what you want to be and finally get. The attitude change of NPC from attribute point distribution and skill level to magic and technical tendency; From what you have done in a certain place, let the NPC of the whole region evaluate the players; Even the clothes you wear (or clothes you don't wear at all) may change the language of the characters.
Every numerical value will have an impact on the variables of the story, which can not be completed simply by designing a "good and evil value" to divide the camps, but the result of countless tests on the cross logic of each data (in other words, there are a lot of bugs).
The core of the game is the growth of "magic/technology tendency" in addition to basic character data such as attributes and skills. In the mysterious world, all intelligent creatures have to face the influence of inclination-learning and approaching magic, and the probability of failure when using scientific and technological products is greater; People who rely on the power of science and technology for a long time are doomed to have a low affinity with magic.
In addition to the attitude of NPCs of different camps towards players, the most important thing is that there will be obvious differences in skills and equipment.
16 is magic, eight industrial disciplines, 16 skills plus various attributes, with your poor 64-point distribution point. ........
Basically, the magic in the game is a convenient skill that consumes physical strength, that is, it is put immediately. The benefits are naturally comprehensive, convenient and fast, but the problems of skills and taking medicine that need to be invested are inevitable.
Technology is a typical "props synthesis" system, which can provide players with a large number of tools and equipment similar to magic effects, such as making power armor, robot servants or various firearms.
Constantly upgrade the skills in a certain direction, and the tendency of the characters will go deeper and deeper in which direction. You need to choose between weapons and armor with different attributes: scientists can't enjoy the magic gain on arcane swords, and wizards wearing power armor are likely to be killed first.
When using high-tech products, wizards need to bear the risk of failure.
Although the sci-tech drama is very interesting: rummaging through the trash can and kneading it into a robot will definitely be fun. But what is embarrassing is that the role of technology is almost one of the weakest ways to play in the game, but no matter how strong or weak, the battle of the game will hardly bring you much fun.
Although it is not very bad, the combat link of Enigma is really meaningless, mainly reflected in the fact that AI almost only rushes to melee, the instant combat information changes too fast, the operation is inconvenient, and the melee is too strong. You can pick up a dog (meat) in the game Because the upgrade will only strengthen the ability related to hand-to-hand combat, you can brush almost any kind of enemy in the game later. .........
On the whole, Enigma, as a role-playing game, is excellent in the system of character growth and environment interaction, but it has not made satisfactory performance in the battle and has not made good use of the real-time system. It's a good idea to link magic with fatigue, but the situation of "everyone lying on the ground after the war" has somewhat slowed down.
The interface of synthetic props is very interesting: especially the advertising instructions full of the sense of the times.
Of course, a confident CRPG will never use its own system core only in combat. The numerical change of "role-playing" is too petty if it is only about "whether a knife is 9 or 99".
Real role-playing is more than just fighting.
A variety of skills and props, different changes in environmental interaction, so that you have a great choice when performing tasks (opening brain holes). A variety of circuitous event handling methods can really feel the connection with the game world for players who are familiar with routines.
If you like the old "radiation", you will basically not hate "mystery". From blood to soul, the connection between the two permeates all aspects.
Even bugs are so alike.
Of course, this does not mean that mystery lacks distinctive features. On the contrary, if you have been exposed to radiation, you will be surprised by the breakthrough made by the Troika in this work. The game has a rare theme and perspective. With a rigorous and imaginative attitude, it perfectly restores a world view that anyone can imagine through a relatively conservative engine and mechanism.
The growth system of characters truly embodies the core spirit of the word "role-playing": your efforts, choices and changes can give clear feedback to the whole game world. The tendency of "magic/technology" not only represents the training direction of the player's role, but also reflects the theme of the game well.
It is not impossible to be a mediocrity wandering between the two, but it can't achieve higher achievements: there can be wizards with revolvers in the mysterious world, but deformed people who wear power armor and want to display the portal are not necessarily better than the former. If you want a miracle of little finger resurrection, forget to repair the toaster.
The demon tendency is too high to even do the subway.
The "character background" inherited from the "character characteristics" of Radiation makes the players play a very rich role in the game.
You can be a brave knight everywhere, but because you sold your soul, the "good and evil value" can only be bound to the dark hero of the evil camp forever;
Or, as a descendant of a hero, you have to pretend to be a son of justice because of your reputation, but occasionally you do something trivial when others are not aware: a crime that no one sees is not a crime anyway.
Of course, the radiant Brave Mentally Retarded is still alive. Who says that wild children raised by wolves who can't even speak can't save the world?
It is no problem to reincarnate the ancient elf brave into an ogre.
In any case, if you don't rely on modification, you have to go through the whole process at least two or three times to experience all aspects of the game character system. It sounds original and rich in quality, but for a system without original templates, the threshold for newcomers is really much higher.
Rich tasks and contents
All kinds of interesting details hidden in the game make you full of countless surprises when exploring the mysterious continent. As a group of guys who have stuffed American cultural symbols in games less than 600M for 50 years, they naturally won't miss another opportunity to "hide stalks".
Of course, it's definitely not interesting to plug the stem at will. Radiation is interesting because those producers have their own ideas and opinions when adding content, reflecting on reality and perfectly matching with the current scene. Although the mystery is not as crazy as the former, it will still make you admire a noun or texture from time to time.
However, perhaps because of the theme of the game, Enigma does not have a strong black sense of humor as a whole, and many times the game shows beautiful grief and memories of yesterday.
When you are looking for the island of despair, when you ask NPC, they sometimes answer, "Do you mean' Black Island'? I have no idea. "
The main line of the story may not have a strong feeling, but many side stories are tragic in my opinion. The efforts made by players are often just to prevent some already bad situations, and even many tasks are not without good results.
Of course, this does not mean that the content of the game will be "sad". Perhaps it is more because the background music of Enigma is melodious violin sound, which makes people more or less sad and makes the story in the process look slightly gloomy.
The concept of "telegraph" is relatively novel in task design. The number of tasks is small, so you don't need to run hard after triggering a conversation request with someone. You can contact each other by sending a telegram and spending some money. Very creative, but it's just a small seasoning design.
Telegraph communication is an interesting design, but it can only be regarded as an ornament.
For the "optimal solution" of many tasks, it is better not to talk honestly and do it according to the system suggestions. Even a gentleman often needs to do something shameful in order to complete his task. The game will not pursue a crime that no one has ever seen, but will also encourage you to break through the rules and "pursue maximum benefits", which is often a shortcut to get a perfect game experience.
As an old gun CRPG, the game may still test the patience of players without intuitive task guidance: it will only record the information you have obtained, the entrustment you have accepted and the rumors you have heard in your diary, but it will never hang a giant exclamation mark on NPC's head.
Just like the end of radiation, after customs clearance, you can still see the influence of your actions and choices on various regions or people. Unfortunately, although the mystery is much bigger than the former in both volume and world, the changes that can be derived are not richer than radiation.
conclusion
On the topic of "excellent classic works neglected in the last century", the cases that can be listed will definitely be one of the biggest projects.
In this nonexistent list, mystery is definitely among the best. The book was born at an inappropriate time: the console platform was paid more attention at that time, and the traditional games of PC were at a very difficult time. Many media and players think that this work is a work without bright spots and new ideas, and various bugs and operational problems during the sale period have also received many negative comments. Although the performance of 200,000 sets is passable, it is still not enough to cause too much fluctuation.
In fact, as a classic CRPG, Enigma has reached the "mature" standard in all aspects with its multiplayer mode and MOD editing function, convenient path customization and item management, and its own clear core design. Perhaps what many players don't understand is that CRPG-type games are accompanied by a long period of stumbling, incomplete and full of problems. Even radiation is by no means perfect. This game type, which is full of personal style and ideas (people who don't have a big brain hole will not play this game) and is surprisingly complex, is doomed to be imperfect.
Thankfully, for decades, a relatively stable and complete "Divine World: Original Sin 2" finally came out.
Although there is still no detailed teaching guidance, it is very convenient and casual.
The mystery of the shuttle bus at the end of last century, apart from its rich classical role-playing fun, the most critical charm lies in its uniqueness: it can't be surpassed in any era. Detailed content and almost unlimited RPG gameplay provide an irreplaceable experience for any game in this fantastic steampunk world.
Is it a meaningful game? Are you worthy of a brother and sister with radioactive blood?
The answer is obvious. The only objection is to identify which corner of the mysterious continent is the key to this problem for different people.