Wednesday, 11 June 2008

《仙剑奇侠传》历代简评

我认为我还能算一个仙剑的崇拜者。从小学玩到现在,从DOS版玩到四代我一部都没放过。无论舆论的褒贬,我对狂徒制作群和上海软星的支持是没有动摇过的。随着网络游戏的迅速崛起,作为单机角色扮演游戏泰山北斗的仙剑奇侠传的前途可以说是一片迷茫。


DOS和WIN95版

仙剑之所以能“活”到现在90%归功于当时风靡于大江南北的第一代的成就。游戏的操作十分简易,BUG少,但引人入胜的情节是它成功的主要因素,李逍遥、赵灵儿、林月如和阿奴四人之间的爱情故事几乎可以和中国民间四大传说相提并论,主题曲《蝶恋》也跃升为最出名的游戏音乐。每当我看到开场动画中一只只仙鹤在云雾飘渺的丛山中飞翔时,我就会激动起来,迫不及待的进入游戏。仙剑的迷宫是无与伦比的困难,尤其是在傀儡洞中寻找隐藏的五灵神像时我走了几天都没找到,为了能通关必须和朋友经常讨论迷宫的走法。从阴森的迷宫转了出来,就到了热闹的城市,看一幕幕感人的画面,读一首首耐人寻味的诗歌,用有中国特色名称的招式和物品。悲惨的结局所留下的震撼和悬念,能常常令我想起游戏中的高潮迭起的故事。仙剑从此成为了一种文化,一个不能超越的极限。

新仙剑:内容和一代大致一样,只不过用了全新的游戏引擎,虽然漂亮了不少,不过感觉没那么爽。


仙剑二

整个游戏被一代的光辉所埋没。为了对一代有个交待,大宇做出一个“能模仿时就模仿”的续集,一样是一男三女遨游江湖。剧情被一代所束缚,故事的发展毫无起伏,也缺乏连贯性,不能给人新颖的感觉。美术更是彻底的失败。作为帅哥李逍遥和美女赵灵二的女儿,李忆如却被画成了一个丑八怪。网上论坛里不乏腌臜制作团队的玩家,也是因为如此仙剑二很快的在玩家的记忆中消失了。最近看了一篇报道,说公司的内乱是导致二代失败的主要原因。虽然是“家族败类”,但我觉得感人的结局和动听的音乐还是值得鼓励的。


仙剑三

在仙剑二失败后,仙剑三的制作完全由上海软星负责策划。为了不让这个金字招牌倒下去,整个团队可以说是呕心沥血,这一点可以从游戏里的多个小游戏和庞大的系统看出来。魔剑培养,御剑飞行,冶炼合成,投资当铺,我真的不知道他们哪里来这么多点子。整个战斗系统也是大改革,可以说是我见过最精彩,而且不用疯狂按热键的战场。故事背景也基本脱离了一代,我能控制更多的角色来玩出不同的结局。情节的起伏虽然不能和一代相提并论,但也十分有创意,可见这次大换血把仙剑又带回到了正确的轨道上。我所不能接受的是粗糙的3D场景,虽说停留在2D是与时代背道而驰,但好歹也不要让我一直被卡,卡通风格的人物也不适合这么一个老字号。

问情篇:填补了一代和三代剧情中的空缺,起了一个承上启下的作用。虽然删除了当铺和魔剑系统,整个感觉根三代差不多。酒剑仙,剑圣,圣姑,李三思,巫后等等熟悉的人物都作为配角一一登场。


仙剑四

这是上海软星解散前的遗作,一发行就受到了好评。虽然他的历史地位还需要时间的奠基,但四代无疑又掀起了一股仙剑热潮,网上铺天盖地的都是关于“仙剑文化”和“拯救国产单机游戏”的声浪。遗憾的是制作团队的骨干都相继辞职,又给仙剑的将来蒙上了一片阴影。我个人觉的故事情节完全可以和一代相提并论,四个主角的个性被刻画得十分鲜明。战斗系统也被改动,和三代相比各有千秋,3D造型也从卡通升级到了真人比例,画面也细腻的多,操作起来也相当顺畅。

Friday, 6 June 2008

Amazing thailand

The half a month that I spent in Thailand was quite an eye-opener. It deserved detailed chronicling. However, as I did not bring a camera, thinking that other people would surely bring one, describing everything i saw vividly is inherently difficult with my limited vocabulary. And as I do not want to talk too much about the army, most of the stories will go into my personal diary.

Here are just some points of interest about the trip.

  • When I left the house for the airport on the 10th, I was trapped in the lift at my block for about 20 minutes. It was the first time I encountered a breakdown and I was all alone. Not much drama and no rescue team as well. The lift came back to life on its own.
  • I have seen a transsexual for the first time. Maybe you are wondering what was I doing all my 20 years, but seriously it was the first time. The only obvious way to distinguish them is through the pitch of their voice. There are pretty a lot of them there in Thailand.
  • There was a part of a railway that runs through a small market town in Kanchanaburi, yet there was not any barrier or warning device to inform the motorists of any potential danger. Though I heard that the trains will slow down when they are reaching such junctions, the locals are taking no chance. No one ever speed past this point, even though they disregard most other traffic regulations. So the next time the traffic police in Singapore want to limit the speed of the vehicles, just build one railway through the road. Lol.
  • Thailand is a beautiful country. When travelling along the roads, I have seen herds of cows grazing on the grass and birds flying about. Near the road there are the rice fields; further are the trees and houses; In the background there are mountains shrouded in clouds and mists. Actually I shouldn't have included this paragraph, as the description was no where close to the actual beauty of the landscape.
  • There is no showering facility in Sai Yok Camp. Instead, there is a water tank for us to scoop water to wash our bodies. Most of the time there would be lots of insects in the water. I have dubbed them “spices”, just like in the past whereby people added flower pedals to the water when they bathed.
  • When an artillery fires, the ground will shake. And you can hear the sounds of the shell as it travels in the projectile.
  • Certainly Thai people are better at field deployment. When the troops arrived at their deployment sites, ninja stores were already set up to sell ice-creams, fried rice and noodles to the soldiers. And they are a daring group pf people. I have seen a small boy around the age of 10 navigating around the artillery guns and command posts to sell drinks to the Singapore soldiers.