我想我大部分时间都是边玩边开发的。在这个游戏中，我想我的灵感来自于乔恩・范・坎尼姆（Jon Van Caneghem）创作《魔法门》的启发，那就是从一个基本的引擎开始，然后疯狂的添加细节。这也很有趣，因为许多年后，在 Maxis 开发《模拟城市 4》和《模拟人生 2》时，我遇到了同样的原则，那就是：在构建游戏之前，真的没有办法衡量游戏的乐趣，至少已经有了足够完成度，可以开始玩了，才能知道这个游戏到底好不好玩。

I think I mostly made it up as I went along. In this, I think I was inspired by Jon Van Caneghem's approach to making Might and Magic, which was to start with a basic engine and then add detail like crazy. It's interesting too, because many years later in working on SimCity 4 and Sims 2 at Maxis, I ran into the same principle, which is this: there's really no way to measure how fun a game will be until you've built it, or at least built enough of it that you can start playing.

大卫・乔纳（David Joiner）
《幻境传说》的创造者

David Joiner,
The Faery Tale Adventure's creator

然而，其他的 RPG 元素相对有限，导致游戏被誉为“轻度 RPG”。每个兄弟只有四个属性：勇敢、幸运、善良和活力。战斗的成功取决于勇敢的属性，勇敢属性随着战斗的胜利而增加（生命力也会慢慢增加），从而形成一个反馈循环，在这个循环中，一个成功的兄弟变得足够强大，就可以将战斗简单化。

除了少数例外，只有三种类型的敌人——骷髅、食人魔和看起来像《魔戒》中的戒魂（Nazgûl）的幽灵——这些敌人随机出现，只要把兄弟指向正确的方向并按下一个按钮就可以打败他们。

仅有的其他进步包括积累金币和库存物品。游戏中加入了一些魔法物品：例如，蓝色宝石允许在石柱之间进行传送，而鸟类图腾可以显示出显示你周围地形的地图，金戒指则可以短暂地冻结时间等等。

Other RPG elements are relatively limited, however, contributing to the game's reputation as an “RPG lite”. Each brother has only four attributes: Bravery, Luck, Kindness and Vitality. Success in combat depends on the Bravery attribute, which increases with victory in combat (as does Vitality more slowly), creating a feedback loop in which a successful brother becomes powerful enough to trivialise combat.

With few exceptions, there are only three types of enemies – skeletons, ogres, and wraiths who look suspiciously like Nazgûl – all of which appear randomly and are defeated by pointing the brother in the right direction and pressing a button to attack.

The only other progression consists of accumulating gold pieces and inventory items. The game is spiced up with several magic items: for example blue stones allow teleportation between circles of stone pillars, while bird totems reveal a map showing terrain around you, and gold rings briefly freeze time.

游戏手册包括一个更广泛的背景故事，详细介绍了三兄弟、他们的父亲、村庄的护身符，甚至还有红骑士，但这与实际的游戏玩法完全无关。

The game's manual includes a much more extensive background story, detailing the three brothers, their father, the village's talisman, and even the Red Knight, but this is entirely irrelevant to actual gameplay.

虽然它卖得很好，但《幻境传说》对当时的其他 RPG 缺乏实质性的影响。它的续集直到 1997 年才出现。《幻境传说 2：亡灵殿堂（Halls of the Dead: Faery Tale Adventure II）》将重点保持在无缝探索上，但是对游戏进行了彻底的修改，将兄弟们聚在一起，使战斗成为回合制。可悲的是，由于过于前卫的鼠标驱动加上失败的地图导航，使得角色很难四处走动。在其开发商 Dreamer's Guild 破产后发行的《亡灵殿堂》也因最后一刻对内容的大量删减而受到影响，而且几乎没有人注意到它。

尽管如此，《幻境传说》的基本设计为后来的开放世界的“徒步模拟器”指明了方向。那些对它的魅力无动于衷的人可能会发现它很单调乏味，但尽管有其局限性，对那些有幸在其原始平台上体验过它的人来说，《幻境传说》仍将是他们情感上一直喜爱的一款作品。

While it sold well, Faery Tale Adventure lacked substantial impact on other RPGs of the time, and a sequel didn't appear until 1997. Halls of the Dead: Faery Tale Adventure II kept a focus on seamless exploration but radically revised gameplay, keeping the brothers together as a party and making combat turn-based. Sadly, the overambitious, mouse-driven controls combined with faulty path-finding made it difficult to even move the brothers around. Released after the bankruptcy of its developer, The Dreamer's Guild, Halls of the Dead also suffers from extensive last-minute cuts to content, and it passed with little notice.

Nonetheless, the basic design of FTA pointed the way forward to the open-world “hiking simulators” of a later era. Those indifferent to its charms may find it monotonous, but despite its limitations Faery Tale Adventure will remain a sentimental favourite of those fortunate enough to have experienced it on its original platform.