这样做的坏处是,RPG 元素是有限的。特别是战斗,从系列的一开始到最后都是小型游戏的地狱,只有细节上的变化。装备方面的内容也很少,每次游戏升级也不多。
最好不要把这些元素当作主菜,把他们视作游戏过程中的调剂即可,这一点更体现在你可以接受的副线任务、在世界范围内或多或少自由游荡的能力、昼夜循环,最糟糕的怪物通常在晚上出来,以及需要吃和睡。
该游戏充分利用了自己冒险故事的内核,叙事结构方面要比其他同时期的游戏强得多,每个小游戏都按照相应的规则被放置在了不同的位置。
《荣耀任务 I》的故事发生在主角熟悉的斯皮尔堡(Spielburg)。《荣耀任务 2:火之审判(Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire , 1991》则发生在阿拉伯(Arabia),你要在一座大城市里行动,任务是有时限的,你要抓紧时间处理,找出幕后黑手然后离开商队。
The downside of this is that the RPG elements are limited. Combat especially is mini-game hell from the very start to the very end of the series, only the details changing. There's very little in the way of gear too, with usually only a couple of upgrades per game.
It's best to think of these elements as seasoning rather than a major part of the meal, manifest more in elements like side-quests that you can take on, the ability to wander more or less freely around the world, day-and-night cycles where the worst monsters usually come out at night, and the need to eat and sleep.
Being based on adventures did however allow for much stronger narrative than most RPGs had back in 1989. The series made great use of this, with each game set in a different location with its own rules.
For Quest for Glory I, it's the European village of Spielburg, where everything is familiar. Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1991) took the hero to Arabia, with most of the action taking place in one big city where events happened on set days and had to be dealt with before it was too late – before then leaving on a caravan to sort out the mastermind behind it all.
《荣耀任务 3:战争的代价(Quest for Glory III: Wages of War , 1992)》是少数背景在非洲的游戏,重点是战争和寻找失落之城。
总的来说,这款游戏不仅仅是旅行,英雄们会不断接触有着欲望与需求的人们,当然还有必须阻止的敌人,也会学到“一副好皮囊,坏水心里藏”的道理。
比如说在《荣耀任务 I》中有一伙恐吓民众的强盗,其幕后主使是当地男爵的漂亮女儿,不过接下来的事让你明白她不只是一个彻头彻尾的恶棍:她的一个手下伤害村民时,她亲自上前干预并让村民得到治疗。她是有感情的,虽然不是每个坏蛋都可以类似的去看待,但这种细微的情感表现贯穿全作始终。
游戏一再强调,英雄主义在很大程度上依赖于看到人们的好与坏。无论你是否想成为一名英雄,游戏都会给你深刻的一课。
Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (1992) remains one of the few games to explore Africa, focusing on war and the hunt for a lost city.
Collectively, these become more than just a travelogue, with the hero constantly being exposed to both what people want, and what they really need facing evil enemies who have to be stopped, but also learning that appearances can be deceptive.
In QFG1 for instance, there's a group of bandits terrorising the valley. The big reveal is that their leader is the local baron's enchanted daughter, but the route to learning that makes a point of showing her to be more than just a snarling villain. She has honour. She makes a point of personally intervening when her men attack one of the villagers and getting him medical treatment. She has nuance, and while not all of the baddies are similarly redeemable, that nuance runs through every plot point and every decision made in the series.
Heroism, it repeatedly emphases, relies just as much on seeing the good in people as the bad. There are worse lessons for a game to teach, whether you want to be a hero or not.