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《黑色旗帜》如何将游戏玩法和故事有效结合在一起

发布时间:2016-09-27 14:19:07 Tags:,,,,

作者:Stanislav Costiuc

在我写这篇文章的时候,我最喜欢的授权游戏便是《刺客信条4:黑色旗帜》。不管是任务设计,故事,世界,以及这些内容间的融合,这款游戏都拥有非常精致的设计。或许它并未纠正来自其它游戏中的一些缺陷(如战斗系统还是非常简单),但就像我之前所提到的那样,这并不会影响那些令人惊艳的游戏体验。这款游戏真的是“最棒的《刺客信条》”,它将之前游戏中的一些优势紧密地结合在了一起。不过今天我想谈论的却是这款游戏的故事主题以及它是如何与游戏玩法结合在一起。

《刺客信条4:黑色旗帜》的核心内容是一个有关寻找你在世界中的立足之地的故事。我们拥有一群尝试着去寻找自己该去哪里以及该如何生存下去的角色。当然这个群组包含了主角Edward。同时这里也有渴望冒险的Stede Bonnet,搜寻财宝的Benjamin Hornigold,意识到自己的生活并不是自己的的Blackbeard以及在某一时刻决定将“快乐地度过短暂的生活”(游戏邦注:换句话说就是YOLO,即一生只有一次)当成座右铭的Bartholomew Roberst。

然后这里还有两个派系,即刺客和圣殿骑士,他们拥有各自的信仰与矛盾。通过与来自不同群组中的所有角色的互动,Edward最终认清了自己的身份以及自己在世界中的位置。这的确是一个非常华丽且有个性的故事,并且故事风格也与之前的游戏具有显著区别。说实话这个故事在很多地方让我产生了共鸣,可能我和Edward一样花了许多时间去搞清楚自己适合做什么以及适合去哪里吧。

acbf(from gamasutra)

acbf(from gamasutra)

在Edward的人物弧线和英雄的旅程中都蕴含着有关老鹰和寒鸦的伊索寓言,在寓言里,当寒鸦尝试着举起一只公羊时,牧羊人的孩子便问父亲那是什么鸟,而父亲的回答是“这是一只寒鸦,但是它当自己是老鹰。”而在游戏中,Edward努力去寻求更大的财富并最终获得远超过他所预期的财富便是在呈现这样的内容。

这样的设定是合理的,但这该如何与《刺客信条4》的游戏玩法整合在一起呢?毕竟这些都是应用于一些不同类型和游戏风格的游戏中的故事,人物弧线和主题,但这些似乎特别适合于《黑色旗帜》。而为什么会如此呢?答案便是寒鸦是Edward的舰船和家。

在游戏一开始玩家并不会拥有自己的舰船。玩家可能会驾驶一些船只,但在一些有限或线性部分中,大多数章节的开始部分中玩家都是待在陆上的,即他们没有能力离开那里。随后玩家将被囚禁起来并搭乘舰船被送走。

随后一场暴风雨降临了,玩家将和自己未来的大副以及未来的船员一起逃离,他们最终控制了舰船并将其驶出了飓风和大浪所包围的区域。这不仅是标志着玩家获得了“寒鸦号”的时刻,同时也是游戏开始将整个世界呈现在玩家面前的时刻。

但尽管现在玩家可以去任何想去的地方,他也仍然不是所向无敌的,就像加勒比中的不同区域开始变得更加危险并充斥着一些拥有良好装备的敌方舰船,堡垒等等。所以尽管主要故事与寒鸦/老鹰的伊索寓言具有相似之处,但是玩家还是会沉浸于将自己的寒鸦号舰船变成老鹰的游戏故事中。即玩家将通过完成支线任务去获取金钱和资源去升级寒鸦号并进入一些更危险的场所。最终玩家将到达拥有传奇舰船的高潮,也就是会遇到整款游戏中最难对付的敌人。

随着玩家不断深入《黑色旗帜》,他们将更深地依赖着自己的舰船,因为这款游戏拥有所谓的寒鸦经济和结构。而这并不只是意味着玩家将只在基于大海的活动去升级它并使用它,如登船,占领堡垒,捕猎鲸鱼,探索残骸等等。如果没有寒鸦号玩家甚至不能做那些基于陆地的活动,因为如果要到达任何陆地玩家都需要使用寒鸦号。在这里主角和玩家的目标和都是不断追寻能够带给自己更多财富的方法,并且作为玩家的你也将努力追寻能够帮助自己去壮大寒鸦号的财富。

当Edward感到郁闷时你也会如此。因为这时候的你们失去了寒鸦号,所以在你们的面前不再有开放世界,你们不能在前往任何想去的地方,你们将被禁锢在地图上一个特定的位置,那或许是个岛屿也或许是个城镇。即你们失去了自由(当然了从更广的意义上来看在任务本身中还是存在自由的,所以游戏玩法其实也并不是那么线性化)。

所以这种玩家与角色间的共鸣能够进一步将他们联系在一起并增强故事的主体性,这也能够有效回答玩家心里所想的这些问题:这么做是否值得?如果不值得你要怎么做?等等。

或许看起来这些都是很显而易见的事,但事实却并非如此。让我们以《刺客信条:叛变》为例,这是一款拥有与《黑色旗帜》截然不同的系统的游戏。其主角Shay Cormac同样也拥有一艘舰船Morrigan。说实话那艘船和“寒鸦号”比起来真的不算什么。不过为了更加公平让我们进一步比较这两艘舰船。

acbf(from gamasutra)

acbf(from gamasutra)

1.如何获得舰船

《黑色旗帜》:玩家是在逃脱监禁并想办法从自然灾害中逃离的时候获得了这艘“寒鸦号”。

《叛变》:玩家是通过在一个荒凉之地消灭了一艘独自驻留于此的舰船上的敌人而占有了这艘“Morrigan”。

2.获得舰船的重要性

《黑色旗帜》:当玩家获得了寒鸦号后便能够去探索整个加勒比海域,这也标志着角色和玩家获得了自由。

《叛变》:因为玩家在最初的任务中获得了舰船,所以玩家并不清楚如果没了这艘船会怎样。

3.依赖舰船的航行

《黑色旗帜》:如果没有寒鸦号,玩家便不能到达加勒比的任何地方。

《叛变》:《叛变》中主要包含三个大背景。首先是纽约,在这里玩家根本不需要舰船。然后是河谷,即玩家只需要在部分区域使用舰船,因为这里有很多场所都和陆地相连或者可以通过皮筏到达。所以玩家唯一需要使用舰船航行的区域便是北大西洋。

4.经济的重要性

《黑色旗帜》:玩家在游戏中最重要的收入来源来自海上,即使用寒鸦号去抢夺那些护送着许多金钱和大量资源的皇家舰队和战舰。还有一些是来自陆地上的资源,这主要是用于升级寒鸦号。

《叛变》:玩家在游戏中最重要的收入来源是来自陆地上,即革命能够提供给玩家稳定的收益以及大量的资源。所以即使不从事海上作业玩家也可以拥有稳定的收入。

5.故事的重要性

《黑色旗帜》:寒鸦号是Edward的延伸。他的个人目标以及玩家的目标都是和寒鸦号相关的。Edward的角色发展则是依赖于这些目标。

《叛变》:Shay的目标是阻止刺客找到Precursor Temple。而Morrigan并不能帮助他做到这点。

我做这些比较并不是要批评《叛变》(尽管我始终认为Morrigan在游戏中是毫无意义的),而是希望强调有效连接故事和游戏玩法的重要性。我们可以找到许多真正做到这点的优秀游戏例子。例如《兄弟:双子传说》便有效连接了游戏机制和故事。但如果游戏范围更大,开发者便更难去创造并维持这一的连接。所以我才会认为《刺客信条4:黑色旗帜》真的是一款非常优秀的开放世界游戏。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

Black Flag’s narrative theming in gameplay

by Stanislav Costiuc

Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag at the moment of writing this post is my most favourite game of the franchise. It’s just so well-crafted, from mission design to narrative, world, how it all connects together. And maybe it doesn’t fix all the flaws inherited from other games (like the still very easy combat system), but as I’ve mentioned a couple times before, it’s not a barrier for some amazing experience and in my opinion Black Flag delivers it. The game is really a ’Best of Assassin’s Creed’ collection, combining all the strengths of previous titles in one cohesive package. But today I want to talk about the narrative themes of the game, as well as how they connect to gameplay.

At its core Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag is a story about finding your place in the world. We have our pirate group of characters where each tries to figure out where and how they fit. Part of this group is the main character Edward, of course. But there’s also, for example, Stede Bonnet with his desire for adventure, Benjamin Hornigold searching for order, Blackbeard realizing this life is not for him and Bartholomew Roberts who at one point decided that his motto is ‘a merry life and a short one’. In other words, YOLO.

Then there’s the two factions, the Assassins and Templars, with their already established beliefs and conflicts. And through interaction between all the characters from these different groups, Edward finally finds out who he is and what his place in the world is. It’s a very beautiful, personal story, quite different in style from narrative of the previous titles. And to be honest it resonated with me quite a bit, possibly because I too, as Edward and many others before and after him, have spent some time trying to figure out where and how do I fit in.

Black Flag’s narrative theming in gameplay

And at the core of Edward’s character arc and Hero’s Journey lies Aesop’s fable about the Eagle and the Jackdaw (hence the name of Edward’s ship), in which the jackdaw tries to lift a ram, and childs of a shepherd ask what bird is that, to which their father replies ‘This is a Jackdaw, but if you ask it would call itself an Eagle’. In the game, this is represented by Edward seeking great fortune but getting far over his head.

Ok, that’s all well and good, but how does that fit in with the sneaky-sneaky-stabby-stabby-shippy-shippy gameplay of Assassin’s Creed IV? After all, these are narrative and arcs and themes that can be applied to a number of games of different genres and playstyles and everything, but it works particularly well with Black Flag. Why? Well, the answer is – the Jackdaw, Edward’s ship and home (well, there’s also Great Inagua that for some reason tries to act as a base, but it’s kinda irrelevant, Jackdaw is Edward’s real home).

At the beginning of the game, you don’t have a ship of your own. You pilot a couple, but in restricted or linear sections, and most of the starting chapters you spend on land without the ability to leave the location you’re in whenever you want. And then at one point you’re imprisoned and sent away on a fleet convoy.

Black Flag’s narrative theming in gameplay

A (historical) storm rises as you escape alongside your future first mate Adewale and future crewmembers, commandeer a ship, and then in an epic setpiece get it out from the clutches of surrounding storm, hurricanes, big waves. And end of this setpiece not only marks the moment when you get the Jackdaw, but also the moment when the whole game world opens up to you (with the exception of a couple locations due to narrative restrictions, but they’re not in easily reached places at first). Getting the Jackdaw gives the feeling of freedom to Edward and to you as a player.

But even though you can go wherever you want, you can’t succeed wherever you want, as different areas of the Caribbean become progressively more difficult with more dangerous and better-equipped enemy ships, forts, and guarded locations. So, while the main narrative draws parallels between the Jackdaw/Eagle fable and Edward himself, you as a player engage in the meta-game of making your Jackdaw ship an Eagle. By completing side-activities to get money and resources to upgrade the Jackdaw and be able to go into more dangerous locations, and so on. The loop eventually climaxes with Legendary Ships, the hardest enemies in the entire game.

As you go through Black Flag, you get attached to your ship, because the game has what I call Jackdaw-based economy and structure. And by that I don’t just mean that you upgrade it and use it for sea-based activities like boarding ships, capturing forts, whale-hunting, exploring wreckages and whatnot. You can’t even do land-based activities without it, because to reach any sort of land you need the Jackdaw. So the protagonist’s and player’s goals align as Edward constantly seeks what will bring him wealth beyond imagination while you as a player seek wealth to improve the Jackdaw.

Black Flag’s narrative theming in gameplay

And when Edward fucks up, you feel it too. Because at those moments, the Jackdaw is taken away from you both. So no more open-world, no more go wherever you want, you’re restricted to one specific part of the map, be it an island or a town. No more freedom (in a broad sense of course, there’s still freedom inside the missions themselves, so gameplay doesn’t become linear).

So this alignment between the player and the character provides additional connection between them and adds weight to the themes of the narrative and questions asked: is it worth it, what do you do if not that, and so on.

And this may seem like something natural or evident or easy to do, but it’s not. Let’s take Assassin’s Creed: Rogue, which is a game that bases most of its systems off Black Flag. The main character, Shay Cormac, also has a ship there – Morrigan. And that ship, honestly, is nothing compared to the Jackdaw. But, not to be argumentless, let’s compare the two.

1 – How you get the ship.
Black Flag: You get the Jackdaw as you escape imprisonment and wrath of nature itself, outrunning hurricanes in a storm and surviving.
Rogue: You get Morrigan by simply clearing out enemies on a lone docked ship in a desolate location and now it’s yours.

2 – Significance of getting the ship.
Black Flag: The full open-world Caribbean becomes available to you only after you get the Jackdaw, it symbolizes freedom for the character and the player.
Rogue: You get the ship in your very first mission, so you don’t really know what it’s like without it.

3 – Reliance on the ship for navigation.
Black Flag: Without the Jackdaw, you can’t really get anywhere in the Caribbean.
Rogue: There are three big areas in Rogue. One is New York City, where you don’t need a ship at all. Another one is River Valley, where you need the ship only partially, as quite a few locations are connected through land, or through rafts. So the only location where you do need it for navigation is North Atlantic.

4 – Importance for the economy.
Black Flag: the most important income sources are sea-based, things like royal convoys with tons of money and warships with tons of resources, you need the Jackdaw to get them. Land-based activities are auxiliary, and are mostly used for the purposes of upgrading the Jackdaw.
Rogue: the most important income sources are land-based, with renovations providing a steady income of money and land outposts housing large amounts of resources. You can have a very steady and efficient economy without doing any sea-based activity (as a matter of fact, I didn’t really do anything sea-based in Rogue unless it was required by the plotline).

5 – Importance for the narrative.
Black Flag: the Jackdaw is an extension of Edward. His personal goals and the goals of the player as it concerns the Jackdaw are aligned. Edward’s character progression is based off those goals.
Rogue: Shay’s goal is to stop the Assassins from finding a Precursor Temple. Morrigan doesn’t have anything to do with that.

Now, the purposes of these comparisons is not just to criticize Rogue (even though I do believe that Morrigan is kinda pointless there), but to show how impactful properly connected narrative and gameplay can be. And there are plenty examples of games where this works particularly well. For example, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons has such a wonderful and emotional connection between mechanics and the narrative. But the bigger the scope of a game, the harder it is to create and maintain such a connection, and I think Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag being an open-world game does this incredibly well.(source:Gamasutra

 


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