作者：Josh Bycer

间歇期对任何游戏来说都是个很重要的层面，可用来调控游戏节奏。如果游戏持续不断发生动作，玩家会感到厌烦。但是，如果数小时不发生任何事情，结果也是相同的。在动作RPG游戏中，间歇期有许多作用。（请点击此处阅读本系列第1、2篇）

首先，它是战斗休息时间。多数ARPG中都有某些城镇或中心，让玩家进行战斗准备。待在这些安全区域中，玩家无需担心会突然遇袭，可以自在地为动作做准备。存储和道具修理之类的选项往往会被放置在这里。

安全区域的另一个用处在于，玩家可以更进一步调整他们的角色。在《恶魔之魂》和《黑暗之魂》中，游戏永远不会暂停，所以玩家在战斗中根本无法进行仓库管理之类的动作。就《恶魔之魂》和《黑暗之魂》来说，这两款游戏都设置了不同的包含间歇期的机制。

在《恶魔之魂》中，Nexus就是游戏中的中心和主基地。提供法术学习和道具存储的NPC就设置在这个地方。玩家在游戏关卡中开展某些动作后，激活的新NPC也会显示在这里。在Nexus中，玩家只能进行升级和法术分配。Nexus的作用就是让玩家能够清晰地分辨“主基地”和战斗，或安全和危险之间的界限。

相比之下，《黑暗之魂》修改了主基地概念。这是款开放世界游戏，游戏地图中四处分散的篝火就是安全点。停在篝火旁边会使游戏中所有的普通敌人复活，而玩家可以修改法术和升级。

dark souls-firelink shrine(from dontcritme)

游戏中充当技术性主基地的区域只有一个，那就是firelink圣地，但是该圣地也不是整个游戏中永久性的主基地。与《恶魔之魂》不同的是，这款游戏中无需进行道具存储，因为只有穿上的装备才会占用角色的携带重量限制。

在这两者间，我更偏爱设计Nexus作为中心基地的做法，而不是以篝火的形式提供安全点。原因在于，我比较喜欢所有的间歇选项集中在同一个地方，而不是要自行在游戏世界中寻找。这也同我的节奏偏好有关，我更愿意在单个区域的间歇期内完成所有事项，而不是在探索时间中偶尔停下和重新开始。

《丁神的诅咒》的间歇期设计显得很独特。与多数ARPG不同的是，玩家在城镇中时并非完全安全。对于那些对游戏不熟悉的玩家来说，他们需要从一个城镇移动到另一个城镇，由此来体验所有随机出现的地下城。每个地下城中都有个BOSS，只要BOSS还存活，游戏就会随机为城镇制造难题，比如食物供应被劫持或有大批怪物轮番攻城。玩家必须平衡自己打通地下城和执行任务来帮助城镇的时间。你不会想要在城镇中休整过多时间，因为你在那里待的时间越长，意味着你在地下城中毫无进展。

间歇期的另一个层面是充当金钱消耗的角色。游戏中的东西要有价值，就必须有一定的用处。多数RPG游戏中会出现一种情况，货币的数量超过玩家的消耗力。ARPG中这个问题尤其严重，因为道具的种类比较少，所以这种情况会更早出现。这便是金钱消耗出现的缘由，这种机制的目标就是让游戏中的金钱发挥作用。重要的是要先澄清，购买补充生命值或魔法值道具的行为不属于这个类别。原因在于，无论玩家处于何种游戏状态下，都需要购买这类道具。

金钱消耗有两种形式：积极和消极。积极消耗指玩家通过消耗金钱来让他们的角色或装备变得更加强大，消极消耗指用来惩罚玩家的机制。在我们开始列举范例前先要指出，这两种类别并非像我们猜测的那样相互对立。

最常见的消极金钱消耗是耐久度，装备的耐久度会随玩家的使用而逐渐减少。当装备的耐久度减少到一定数值以下时，道具的属性就会受到影响。通常情况下，当游戏中装备耐久度为0时，道具会失去其全部作用。含有耐久度的多数游戏需要玩家回到城镇花费金钱来修理道具。耐久度还是种对技能较差的玩家的惩罚和鞭策，因为玩家每次死亡都会导致装备耐久度减少。

有趣的是，耐久度的金钱消耗是可以缩放的，越好的装备在修理时需要越多的金钱。但是，将耐久度作为主要金钱消耗方式的问题在于，它只适用于经验不足的玩家。一旦你对游戏熟悉且提升了技能，你死亡的可能性就会大大降低，而装备普通使用造成的耐久度减少是很小的。这种金钱消耗方法对专家级玩家来说，效果并不明显。

《恶魔之魂》和《黑暗之魂》中设有积极消耗。这两款游戏都允许玩家在铁匠铺升级他们的装备。升级装备需要大量的材料和灵魂。升级武器能够大幅提升基础攻击力。玩家还可以根据武器的当前升级方向为其添加独特的属性，比如增加魔法恢复值或闪电法术伤害。

这是种纯积极消耗，因为提升武器效能毫无坏处。关键在于，你只有花费金钱和资源尝试每种升级方向，才能知道最终能够获得何种特别属性（游戏邦注：除非玩家拥有游戏指导手册）。因为提升装备对角色来说完全没有坏处，所以设计师在这个系统中添加了两个限制条件。

首个条件是，将能够最大化升级链的材料设置为极稀有的物品，在整个游戏过程中可能只会掉落1到2次。第2个条件是，每件装备的升级次数存在限制。这意味着，最终缩放效果将成为你提升伤害输出值的唯一来源。

在我们继续探讨其他问题前，要先特别指出的是，这两款游戏不含有其他ARPG所具有的货币问题。敌人的灵魂既可以换成金钱也可以换成经验值，玩家在游戏中可以自由做出选择。在这个方面，我更为偏爱《黑暗之魂》，因为升级能够改善角色的基础防御值。而在《恶魔之魂》中，你必须提升特定属性才能改善防御。

有些APRG和MMO中有锻造系统，这也是种可缩放的积极金钱消耗机制。在制造系统中，玩家需要花费金钱和资源来制造装备或道具。通常情况下，游戏中还会有提升所制造装备质量等级的方法。有些游戏需要玩家花费金钱来提升制造经验，有些游戏让玩家通过不断制造道具来提升经验。坚持将锻造系统提升至高等级的玩家往往能够获得很强大的制造图纸。

还有一种金钱消耗既是积极的也是消极的，这显得更为有趣。在许多ARPG中，有个“投机商”NPC。玩家可以看到投机商出售的装备类型和价格。这个价格往往要高于从商店中直接购买同类型装备。但是，玩家只有在购买后才能看到装备的稀有度。投机商出售的剑可能是极为稀有的武器，也可能只是垃圾，只有你花钱后才能够看到所售道具的质量如何。

《火炬之光》中的附魔师是种特别的金钱消耗方式。附魔师可以提升任何你给予他的装备。附魔的结果可能是为装备添加新属性或增加插槽。附魔价格取决于装备成功附魔的次数以及道具的基础等级。但是，附魔也可能付出代价，附魔后装备有可能失去全部新增属性，只剩下基础属性。每次成功附魔都会增加失败的可能性。

对任何ARPG来说，间歇期都是必要的内容，让玩家可以得到休息，同时查看其它游戏玩法系统。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The Devil Is in the Details of Action RPGs – Part Three: Downtime

Josh Bycer

Downtime is an important part of any game and helps with pacing. Games that have constant action, will lead to the player becoming bored. While not having anything happen for hours on end will produce a similar result. When it comes to Action RPGs, downtime serves several purposes.

First is simply a respite from the combat. Most ARPGs feature some kind of town or quest hub that the player starts in on loading a game. By starting in these safe areas, the player doesn’t have to worry about being jumped the second they load up and can take time to prepare for action. Options like stores or item repair are usually placed here to keep things centralized.

Another use of save zones is that they are the perfect places for players to take a closer look at their character. In both Demon’s and Dark Souls, the game is never paused which makes it impossible to do any kind of inventory management during combat. Speaking about Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, both titles have a different mechanic involving downtime.

In Demon’s Souls, the nexus acts as the game’s hub and home base. NPCs that offer spells and item storage are situated here. New NPCs will show up here after certain actions are done in the levels of the game. The player can only level up and assign spells in the nexus. What this does is give the player a clear understanding of “home base” and combat or safety and danger.

Contrast to Dark Souls, where the concept of a home base has changed. Since the game is open world instead of level oriented, bonfires spread throughout act as safe points in the game. Stopping at a bonfire will revive all normal enemies in the game and is where the player can change spells and level up.

There is only one area in the game that technically acts as a home-base: firelink shrine, however without spoiling it, the shrine won’t remain a home-base for the entire game. Unlike Demon’s Souls, item storage is unneeded as only worn equipment will factor into the character’s weight limit.

Between the two, I prefer having the centralized location of the Nexus as opposed to checkpoints in the form of bonfires. The reason is that I like having all the downtime options featured in one area as opposed to having to find them in the world. This also has to do with pacing, I’d rather do everything that involves downtime in one area as opposed to having to stop and start while in the world.

Another game that had a different view of downtime was Din’s Curse. Unlike most ARPGs, the player is not truly safe while their in town. For those not familiar with the game, the player travels from town to town clearing out the randomized dungeon underneath it. Each dungeon has a boss and while the boss is alive, the game will randomly create problems for the town. Such as a missing food supply, or raids by monsters. Players have to balance between making headway in the dungeon while performing quests to help the town. You don’t want to be resting in town, as the longer you’re there, means that you’re not making progress in the dungeon.

The other aspect of downtime has to do with money sinks. In order for something to have value in a game, there must be a use for it. Currency in most RPGs will always reach a point where the player has more money then they know what to do with. ARPGs in particular with how rarer items sell for more money, reach that point quickly. That’s where money sinks come into play: a mechanic whose purpose is to give money a use. Now it’s important to make the distinction that buying supplies like health or mana potions are not a part of this. The reason is that they retain a use no matter what point of the game the player is at.

There are two kinds of money sinks: positive and negative. A positive sink is something the player can do to make their character or equipment better. While a negative sink is something used to basically punish the player for messing up. Now before we get to some examples, it’s important to note that the two categories are not mutually exclusive as we’re about to see.

The most common negative money sink is durability: where equipment will slowly degrade with use. When an item’s durability drops below a certain threshold, the item will take a stat penalty. Most often if durability hits zero, the item will lose all or most of its value. Most games that feature durability require the player to return to town to repair (at a cost of course.) Durability also acts as a slap on the wrist for lower skilled players, as the player’s equipment usually degrades each time the player dies.

Interestingly enough, durability acts as a scaling money sink, as better gear requires more money to repair. However the problem with durability as the main money sink, is that it’s only for less experienced players. Once you’ve gotten good enough at the game, you will rarely die and durability degrades very slowly through normal use. This reduces the money sink considerably among expert players.

An example of a positive sink is from Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls. Both games allow the player to upgrade their equipment at the blacksmith. Upgrades require a prerequisite amount of materials along with souls. Upgrading a weapon will boost the base attack damage. Players can also add unique upgrades to weapons based on the current upgrade path of the weapon. For example: adding mana recovery or lightning damage.

This is an example of a pure positive sink, as there is no downside to making your weapon better. The only real catch is that you won’t know what the upgrade paths are without spending money and resources going down each one (unless you have a guide handy.) Because there is no downside to making your equipment better, the designer placed two caps on the system.

First is that the material to max out an upgrade chain, is very rare and may only spawn once or twice in a play-through. Second is that there is a hard limit on how far you can upgrade pieces of equipment. That means that eventually the scaling effect (which was talked about in part 2,) will be your only source of improving your damage output.

Before we move on it’s important to mention that the Souls games don’t have the same problem with currency as other ARPGs. Since enemy souls count for both money and experience, there is always a viable use. This area is where I prefer Dark Souls, as leveling up will improve your character’s base defenses. Whereas in Demon’s Souls, you have to increase specific attributes to improve your defenses.

Some ARPGs and many MMOs feature a crafting system, which acts as a scaling positive money sink. Crafting requires the player to spend money and resources to create equipment or items. Most often there is a way to upgrade the quality level of equipment produced. Some games require the player to spend money for experience, while others just require the player to constantly create items. The players who stick with it to the high levels will usually be rewarded with very powerful crafting formulas.

The more interesting money sinks are both positive and negative. Many ARPGs feature a “gambler” NPC. How it works is that the player can view the type of equipment the gambler has and a price. The price is usually more expensive then buying the same equipment from a shop. The player however won’t know the rarity of the item until they bought it. That sword could be an ultra rare weapon, or a piece of crap and you’ll never know until you put your money down.

Torchlight featured a different kind of money sink in the form of the enchanter. The enchanter works by being able to enhance any piece of equipment you give him. The enhancement could be a new property on the equipment or added slots. The price for enchanting scales with how many times you use it successfully on the same piece of equipment, and the base level of the item. However there is a catch, there is a chance that the enchanter will wipe all properties off the equipment leaving it with its base stats. That chance also scales up with each successful enchant.

Downtime is a must for any ARPG, allowing players to relax while looking at the other gameplay systems. At this point, the end of the series is up in the air and if anyone has suggestions for topics by all means post. For part 4, I’m going to talk about a certain game that started this examination in the first place. (Source: Gamasutra)