作者：Cary Chichester

此前《塞尔达》系列游戏遵从着相同的结构，玩家扮演的都是被紧急调往打败邪恶势力的普通男孩。但是这些年来，游戏作品越来越强调故事情节，游戏中玩家响应号召的时间也不断推迟，为的是呈现更多故事情节。虽然之前的游戏习惯于用开头的篇幅来阐述故事，但是现在这个部分也被用作供玩家熟悉游戏的教程。通过教程学到许多相关内容后，他们最终会遇到“教程地下城”，玩家在这个区域中有机会尝试在后期地下城中需要的解决谜题、战斗和导航技能，但是教程地下城的难度并不高。

现在，当玩家到达“教程地下城”时，才真正可以尝试《塞尔达》游戏的核心游戏玩法体验。通常情况下，完成教程地下城后，玩家会感觉到他们已经完成了游戏的教程部分，可以开始玩“真正的”游戏。出于这个原因，玩家在教程部分所花费的时间长短变得很重要。我喜欢游戏为我呈现自己即将做的事情的背景，但是我也想知道自己需要等待多久才能够开始《塞尔达》游戏中的探索和解决谜题。所以，我研究了4款不同的《塞尔达》游戏，看看自己需要花多长时间才能达到首个教程地下城并完成它。

A Link To the Past(from desktopgaming.com)

《A Link to the Past》

教程地下城：城堡；到达时间：2分钟；完成时间：20分钟

游戏开始后的1到2分钟就让我产生良好的感觉。离开家后，你的首个任务是找到通往城堡的路，所以游戏完全没有浪费时间，一开始就给你呈现需要解决的谜题。你进入城堡后，教程就开始了。你拾取的每件道具都有如何使用的描述，但是游戏只会呈现你完成地下城所需的道具而已。在这种情况下，教程和教程地下城是相同的，游戏教授你玩游戏的必要信息，你在扫荡城堡解救公主的过程中学到这些内容。正因为游戏直接让你进入操作层面，所以这是本次测试中我最喜欢的《塞尔达》开场体验。

《Ocarina of Time》

教程地下城：Deku Tree；到达时间：20分钟；完成时间：40分钟

在这款游戏中，你需要经历些许故事内容，与某些角色交谈。但是，并不是说让你在游戏中漫无目的地行走。你是在响应来自Great Deku Tree的行动号召，你的任务就是寻找剑和盾。找剑和寻找足够购买盾的卢比的过程可以确保玩家对游戏进行适当的探索，包括阅读标识和与NPC交谈。这样，玩家就能够学会如何玩游戏，但是学习的行为玩家是玩家自己选择的，并非游戏强迫玩家做出的。尽管游戏教程所耗费的时间比《Link to the Past》多，但仍然是让玩家学习游戏的绝妙方法，同时还能够保证玩家对游戏的控制权。

《Twilight Princess》

教程地下城：Twilight Castle；到达时间：60分钟；完成时间：70分钟

我身处一个农场中。这是游戏呈现你刚开始是个无足轻重的平民。你会接到许多卑贱的任务，包括牧羊、购买弹弓驱赶小孩和钓鱼（游戏邦注：这些内容在游戏中并不重要）。有一次，你将一个摇篮交还给一个孕妇，她让你跟随她到自己家中。我不知道你是否见过还能走这种远路的孕妇，总之我只能跟着这位女士慢慢地爬上山坡。我真希望自己能够在她的家中看到剑，这样我就能够结束这段痛苦的历程。

《Skyward Sword》

教程地下城：Farron Woods；到达时间：70分钟；完成时间：100分钟

在游戏开始时，你就接到了一项艰巨的任务：忍受漫长的过场动画！与《Twilight Princess》相似，这款游戏似乎毫不在意让你马上体验到地下城中的乐趣。只是《Twilight Princess》使用的是无聊的任务，《Skyward Sword》使用的是无聊的任务加上漫长的对话和过场动画。我花了1个多小时的时间才体验到这款游戏的真正趣味内容，这确实太长了。

time to arrive (from gamasutra)

在体验过这些游戏后，可以明显地看到，到达教程地下城的时间不断增加。尤其是《Twilight Princess》和《Skyward Sword》，除了拥有更多需要教授给玩家的机制外，多数教程发生在教程地下城之前。

time to complete(from gamasutra)

有趣的是，完成教程地下城所需耗费的时间，似乎并没有像到达教程地下城的时间那样发生很大的改变。事实上，如果我们扣除《Skyward Sword》的NPC对话中占用的将近10分钟时间，这些游戏的教程地下城完成时间都约为10-20分钟。

tutorial time comparisons(from gamasutra)

综合考虑这些情况，我发现了一个似乎相当令人不安的趋势。每款游戏的蓝条与前代游戏的绿条相比，要么持平，要么更高。这意味着，玩家在游戏中到达地下城所需的时间等于或更多于玩家在前代游戏中完成地下城的时间。如果这个趋势维持下去，那么下款《塞尔达》游戏可能需要100分钟的时间才能真正看到地下城！

随着时间推移，宫本茂对该系列游戏的影响力将逐渐减弱，我们看到该游戏对故事元素的倾斜和倚重，也看到了它对玩家游戏体验的副作用。这种趋势起源于《Link to the Past》，并在随后的续作中不断增强。有时候，这些内容是为了传达大量的故事内容，比如《Skyward Sword》。有时，它们只是为了让玩家完成些无聊的任务，就像《Twilight Princess》。这两种方法都需要重新评估，游戏玩法和必要信息的地位应当超越故事和扩展信息。玩家刚开始接触到游戏应该令其感到兴奋而不是乏味，所以我们要记住，不要让玩家产生“何时才能真正玩到游戏？”的疑问。如果你无法找到呈现教程的合适方法，可以借鉴旧款游戏所采用的方法。（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）

Tutorials of Zelda: When Do Players Get to “Play”?

Cary Chichester

The Zelda games have–at least since Link to The Past–followed the same structure of introducing the player as an average boy of little importance who is quickly called to action to stop an impending evil. Over the years however, greater emphasis has been placed on the games’ story, and consequently the point at which the player answers the call has been pushed back in each game to expound on the plot more. While the beginning portions are used to deliver the story, this time is also used as a tutorial for the player. After they have learned a bit through the tutorial they eventually come across a “tutorial dungeon”, which is an area that gives the player the chance to try out the puzzle-solving, combat, and navigational skills that are required in later dungeons, but without any real difficulty.

It’s at this point when they arrive at the “tutorial dungeon” that the player finally gets to try their hand at the core Zelda gameplay experience. Usually after a tutorial dungeon is completed, the player feels like they have finished the tutorial part of the game and finally gets to start playing the “real” game, so the time to complete a tutorial dungeon represents the time until a player truly begins playing the “real” game. For this reason, it’s important to note how long it takes for a player to experience this. I enjoy having a story to give context to what I’m doing, but I’m sure I’m not the only one that wonders how long he has to wait before he can start exploring and solving puzzles in a Zelda game. So I took a look at four different Zelda games (because I don’t own a copy of The Wind Waker) to see how long it took me to get to that first tutorial dungeon and complete it.

A Link to the Past

Tutorial Dungeon: Castle; Time to arrive: 2 minutes; Time to complete: 20 minutes

Oh man, I totally forgot how good it feels to really start playing game after one or two minutes. Your first task after you exit your home is to find a way into the castle, so the game wastes no time in giving you a problem to solve. Once you’re in, the tutorial begins; every item you pick up will have a description on how to use it, but you’re only really told what you need to complete the dungeon and nothing extra. In this instance, the tutorial and tutorial dungeon are the same; you’re being taught the necessary information to play, but you’re learning it while storming a castle to save the princess. Because of the way the game lets you jump right into the action, this is easily my favorite starting experience of the Zelda games I tested.

Ocarina of Time

Tutorial Dungeon: Deku Tree; Time to arrive: 20 minutes; Time to complete: 40 minutes

So now there’s a bit of story to get through and some characters to talk to. Still, it’s not like you’re wandering around without a purpose. You’re answering your call to action from the Great Deku Tree, and you’re tasked with finding a sword and shield to progress. Both finding the sword and finding enough rupees for a shield ensures that the player will do a fair bit of exploring, including reading signs and talking to NPCs. This way the player ends up learning how to play, but the act of learning is initiated by the player and not forced onto them by the game. It may take longer to get started than Link to the Past, but it’s still a great way to let a player learn about the game while keeping them in control.

Twilight Princess

Tutorial Dungeon: Twilight Castle; Time to arrive: 60 minutes; Time to complete: 70 minutes

I’m on a farm…..yaaaay. Here is when they really try get the point across that you’re a mild-mannered individual of no importance. You’re given several menial tasks to complete including herding goats, buying a slingshot to impress some kids, and fishing (which is actually not important to learn). At one point when you returned a cradle to a pregnant woman, she asks you to follow her her home for a gift. Now, I don’t know if any of you have ever seen a pregnant woman move around before, but they don’t exactly break into full sprint. Having to slowly walk behind Ms. Preggers as she waddled her way up a hill made me wish I had my sword right there so I could end my misery.

Skyward Sword

Tutorial Dungeon: Farron Woods; Time to arrive: 70 minutes; Time to complete: 100 minutes

You’re immediately given a difficult task as soon as the game begins: Endure all of these cutscenes! Similar to Twilight Princess, this game is in no rush to see you having fun inside a dungeon, but whereas Twilight Princess filled up time with boring tasks, Skyward Sword does it with boring tasks AND lengthy conversations and cutscenes. It took over an hour before I really started having fun with this game. THAT’S. TOO. LONG.

When playing through each of these games it was very apparent that the time to arrive at the tutorial dungeon was increasing. Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword in particular–in addition to having more mechanics that needed to be taught to the player–had most of their tutorial occur before the tutorial dungeon rather than during it.

It was interesting to find, however, that the length of the tutorial dungeons did not vary nearly as much as the time to actually arrive at them. In fact if we knock out 10 minutes from the time for Skyward Sword due to how much time NPC conversations were taking up (it was a LOT), it would seem that these dungeons take around 10-20 minutes to complete.

Putting these numbers together, I found a trend that seemed relatively disturbing. The blue bar for each of the games is either equal to or greater than the green bar for the previous game; this means that it takes the same or more time for a player to arrive at a dungeon in one game, than it did for the player to complete a dungeon in the previous game. If this trend holds true–and really it has to end at some point–then the next Zelda game could very well require 100 minutes of playing before the player actually arrives at a dungeon!

Over time–as Miyamoto’s influence started to dwindle from the series–we see the focus on story increasing and its negative effect on enabling the player to enjoy the game. The trend has been taking the structure for the beginning of Link to the Past and making it longer with each iteration. Sometimes these segments are for delivering large amounts of story like in Skyward Sword, and sometimes they’re for teaching the player a lot by performing boring tasks like in Twilight Princess. Both approaches need to be reevaluated; gameplay and necessary information should be considered over story and extraneous information. A player’s first moments should be exciting instead of boring, so while we may fret like a worried parent that the player hasn’t learned enough before they jump into a game, we should remember that a player should be playing a game instead of asking “When do I get to actually ‘play’?” And hey, if you can’t find a way to streamline a tutorial, there’s always the old way of teaching players. (Source: Gamasutra)