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本帖最后由 酷乐 于 2024-4-11 01:59 编辑
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What is a "JRPG", exactly? Literally, it just means "a role-playing game from Japan", but over the years it's become the name of a sub-genre, a very specific style of RPG, whose evolutionary branch led to a vastly different product from Western RPGs. So when did this happen, and where did the term come from?
“JRPG”究竟是什么?字面上,它只是意味着“来自日本的角色扮演游戏”,但随着时间的推移,它已成为一个子流派的名称,一种非常特殊的RPG风格,其演化分支导致了与西方RPG截然不同的产品。那么,这何时发生,以及该术语从何而来?
In the early '80s, most RPGs in Japan were imported from the United States, and much of the locally developed software was based roughly on Ultima, Wizardry, or some combination of the two. The real flashpoint for this style of game was Dragon Quest, published by Enix for the Nintendo Famicom in May 1986.
在80年代早期,日本的大多数RPG都是从美国进口的,而本地开发的大部分软件大致上是基于《创世纪》(Ultima)、《巫术》(Wizardry)或两者的某种结合。这种游戏风格的真正亮点是《勇者斗恶龙》(Dragon Quest),由艾尼克斯(Enix)于1986年5月为任天堂FC发行。
Broadly speaking, Dragon Quest was successful because it took the mainstays of RPGs - that is, the feeling of a sprawling journey, combined with character growth - and put them into a form that was easily accessible. The Famicom audience largely consisted of children, so the games needed to be easy to play and understand. Earlier RPGs had a reputation for being extraordinarily difficult, often giving you no guidance or easily putting you in an unwinnable situation. Dragon Quest was much friendlier, giving you some direction into and context for the game world. It was even generous about player death, resurrecting you at the starting point, letting you keep your experience and equipment, and only charging you half of your gold. A strategy guide was helpful, but not necessary. Further, the Famicom controller only had four buttons and a directional pad, so the controls needed to be simple and straightforward, compared to the complex keyboard commands required by computer RPGs. Combined with artwork by famed manga illustrator Akira Toriyama, who was seeing incredible success with Dragon Ball, and the game became the reference point for generations' worth of RPGs.
从广义上讲,《勇者斗恶龙》之所以成功,是因为它抓住了RPG游戏的核心——即一种广阔的冒险感,并结合了角色的成长——并将它们转化为易于上手的形式。FC平台的受众主要是儿童,因此游戏需要易于玩耍和理解。早期的RPG游戏以极其困难而闻名,常常没有指导或容易将你置于无法取胜的境地。《勇者斗恶龙》则更为友好,它为你提供了游戏世界的方向和背景。它甚至对玩家死亡表现得很大方,从起始点复活你,让你保留经验和装备,只收取一半的金币。一个策略指南是有帮助的,但不是必需的。此外,FC控制器只有四个按钮和一个方向键,所以控制需要简单直接,与电脑RPG所需的复杂键盘命令相比。再加上著名漫画家鸟山明的艺术作品,他在《龙珠》上取得了巨大的成功,这款游戏成为了几代人RPG游戏的参考点。
There were many direct clones in the mid to late '80s, and most have been forgotten. Other companies jumped on the RPG bandwagon but still crafted their own unique experiences- of this era, Final Fantasy and Megami Tensei were the most popular, and both remain internationally successful to this day.
在80年代中后期,出现了许多直接的克隆作品,其中大多数已被遗忘。尽管其他公司也加入了RPG的潮流,但它们仍然打造出了自己独特的体验——在这个时代,最终幻想和女神转生是最受欢迎的,至今它们在国际上仍然取得了成功。
However, there is more to a JRPG than approachability. The game style evolved from the 8-bit Famicom onto the 16-bit platforms, and then the 32-bit CD systems. Broadly speaking, elements include: an overworld that is divided into discrete town and dungeon sections; separate screens where battles take place, typically turn- based and executed via menu commands; a focus on battle statistics in lieu of other RPG elements (e.g. charisma statistics to influence conversation); unique character customisation systems; manga- style artwork; strong soundtracks, as seen in other console games; and linear storylines.
然而,JRPG的魅力不仅仅在于其易上手性。这种游戏风格从8位FC发展到16位平台,再到32位CD系统。广义上讲,其要素包括:一个被划分为离散的城镇和地下城部分的世界地图;用于进行战斗的单独屏幕,通常为回合制并通过菜单命令执行;注重战斗统计数据而非其他RPG元素(例如,通过魅力统计数据来影响对话);独特的角色定制系统;漫画风格的艺术作品;与其他主机游戏相同的强大配乐;以及线性故事情节。
Obviously, even at the time, there were exceptions to these rules. Square's Final Fantasy used artwork by Yoshitaka Amano, whose illustrations are a far cry from typical manga (though Tetsuya Nomura, who joined the series as an illustrator with the seventh instalment, is a little more standard). Data East's Metal Max presented an open world that let the player explore at their leisure. Atlus' Megami Tensei (and its 16-bit sequel series, Shin Megami Tensei) kept the first-person perspective found in Wizardry. Namco's Tales of Phantasia used an action-based battle system even though the rest of the systems were similar to other games. RPGs grew to be so popular in Japan that there was quite a bit of experimentation, and this created an audience with a wide variety of tastes, though America and Europe only saw glimpses of this in the 16-bit era since (for the most part) only the most mainstream games were localised.
显然,即便在当时,这些规则也有例外。Square的《最终幻想》采用了天野喜孝的艺术作品,其插图与典型的漫画相去甚远(尽管第七部作为插画家加入该系列的野村哲也的作品较为标准)。Data East的《重装机兵》呈现了一个让玩家自由探索的开放世界。Atlus的《女神转生》(及其16位续集系列《真·女神转生》)保持了在《巫术》中出现的第一人称视角。Namco的《幻想传说》采用了基于动作的战斗系统,尽管其余系统与其他游戏相似。RPG在日本变得非常流行,因此出现了大量的实验,这创造了一个口味广泛的受众群体,尽管美国和欧洲只是在16位时代才瞥见了这一点,因为(在很大程度上)只有最主流的游戏被本地化。
While this type of game is what most people think of when referring to a JRPG, the net is quite a bit wider. While Dragon Quest had turn-based, menu-based battle sequences, it certainly wasn't the only popular game to feature them. RPGs from as early as 1984, like Nihon Falcom's Dragon Slayer and T&E Soft's Hydlide, focused almost entirely on action, though they were often clumsy, as combat often consisted of bumping into enemies and hoping you had the stats to beat them.
当提及JRPG时,大多数人首先想到的是这类游戏,但其实其范围更为广泛。尽管《勇者斗恶龙》采用了回合制、菜单式的战斗序列,但它显然不是唯一一款流行此类游戏。早在1984年的RPG,如日本Falcom公司的《Dragon Slayer》和T&E Soft公司的《Hydlide》,几乎完全侧重于动作,尽管它们往往显得笨拙,因为战斗常常只是简单地与敌人碰撞,并祈祷你的属性足以击败他们。
The flashpoint for this evolution, once again a Famicom game, was Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda. Like Dragon Quest, it was relatively easy to understand and play, and moreover, had much better controls and combat than previous computer RPGs.
这场演变的导火索,同样是一款FC游戏,是任天堂的《塞尔达传说》。与《勇者斗恶龙》类似,它相对容易理解和操作,而且,其控制和战斗系统比之前的电脑RPG要好得多。
Ironically, the Zelda series is not really considered an RPG by most modern gamers, and that's mostly because so many of its elements are either simplified or abstracted. In the original Legend of Zelda, there are only a few pieces of equipment, with most items used to open new areas or solve puzzles, and the only permanent character growth comes from expanding your life meter. Its sequel, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, is a little more complex, having an experience system, several magic spells, and other statistics, though later games reeled these back. That being said, by the definitions we're setting down, Zelda is indeed technically a JRPG . but only barely.
具有讽刺意味的是,大多数现代玩家并不真正将《塞尔达》系列视为角色扮演游戏,这主要是因为它的许多元素要么被简化要么被抽象化。在最初的《塞尔达传说》中,只有少数的装备,而大多数物品都被用来打开新的区域或解决谜题,唯一永恒的角色成长来自于生命值的增加。它的续作,《塞尔达传说 2:林克的冒险》,稍微复杂一些,拥有一个经验系统、几个魔法和其他的统计数据,尽管后来的游戏又对这些进行了简化。尽管如此,根据我们正在制定的定义,从技术上说,《塞尔达》确实是一个JRPG。但只是勉强如此。
Partially, this is because RPG elements began cropping up in all kinds of other games. For example, the famous Metroidvania sub-genre, which grew into existence with Super Metroid and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, are basically Zelda games with a side-scrolling perspective (and Metroid, as with Zelda, also heavily abstracts the statistical elements).
部分地,这是因为RPG元素开始出现在各种其他游戏中。例如,著名的银河恶魔城(Metroidvania)子流派,它随着《超级银河战士》和《恶魔城:月下夜想曲》的出现而逐渐发展起来,基本上是采用横向卷轴视角的《塞尔达》游戏(而《银河战士》与《塞尔达》一样,也大量抽象了统计元素)。
Even these are only a portion of what could be considered a Japanese RPG. There are strategy RPGs (or rather simulation RPGs, as they tend to be referred to in Japan), where units of opposing teams are put on square (or hex) boards and must move to attack each other. This style of game has its roots in the PC game Daisenryaku, which in turn was based on the sort of war games you'd see from developers like SSI Nintendo's Fire Emblem for the Famicom was the first big entry to establish the simulation RPG, as it gave your units individual personalities, presented them in a grand storyline, gave them statistics, and let them grow over the course of the game. Later games include Quest's Tactics Ogre (and its own sorta-sequel, Final Fantasy Tactics), Square's Front Mission, SEGA's Shining Force, Sakura Wars, Valkyria Chronicles, and many others.
即便如此,这些也仅是可被视为日本RPG的一部分。还有战略RPG(或更确切地说是模拟RPG,因为它们在日本往往被称为此类),其中对立团队的单位被放置在方格(或六角)板上,并且必须移动以相互攻击。这种游戏风格起源于PC游戏《大战略》,它又基于类似开发者的战争游戏,如SSI Nintendo的《火焰纹章》系列。FC上的《火焰纹章》是确立模拟RPG的第一大作,因为它赋予了你的单位个体性格,以宏大的故事情节呈现它们,赋予它们统计数据,并让它们在游戏过程中成长。后续的游戏包括《皇家骑士团》(及其自身的某种续作,《最终幻想战略版》)、Square的《前线任务》、SEGA的《光明力量》、《樱花大战》、《战场的女武神》等众多作品。
Then there are the Rogue-likes. Rogue was a dungeon crawler with randomly-generated levels, dating from the early '80s, which was widely ignored outside of the most hardcore PC circles. In Japan, Chunsoft's Mystery Dungeon series, beginning on the Super Famicom, created a new, then-unique variation of this game. The first entry here was a tie-in with Dragon Quest, featuring Torneko from the fourth game. Much like its parent series, it took this style and made it approachable for broader audiences. Over the decades, other licences have been plugged into the Mystery Dungeon style, including Final Fantasy, Pokémon, and Chunsoft's own original character, Shiren.
接下来是Rogue-likes的游戏。自80年代初以来,随机的等级生成使得《Rogue》成为一款地牢探索游戏,但除了最铁杆的PC玩家群体外,它并未受到广泛关注。在日本,Chunsoft从超级任天堂开始创作的《不可思议迷宫》系列,为这款游戏创造了一种新的、当时独特的变体。这里的首部作品与《勇者斗恶龙》合作,以第四游戏的Torneko为特色角色。与它的母系列一样,它采用了这种风格,并使其更接近更广泛的受众。几十年来,其他授权也被融入了《不可思议迷宫》的风格,包括《最终幻想》、《宝可梦》以及Chunsoft自己的原创角色,西林。
Then there are the first-person dungeon crawlers. While games like Wizardryeventually fell out of style with '90s PC gamers, they maintained some niche level of popularity in Japan, where the licence actually continued for many years. Atlus' 2007 DS game Etrian Odyssey resurrected this style of game for a new generation, with bright visuals, attractive characters, and perhaps most importantly, mapping tools on the bottom screen of the console. This sparked another revolution, with similar games also being developed by others.
那么,我们来看看第一人称地牢探索类游戏。尽管像《巫术》这样的游戏最终在90年代的PC玩家中失去了流行度,但它们在日本仍然维持了一定的市场份额,该游戏授权实际上持续了很多年。Atlus在2007年推出的DS游戏《世界树迷宫》为新一代玩家重新复兴了这种游戏风格,其明亮的视觉效果、吸引人的角色,以及或许最重要的,控制台底部屏幕上的地图工具,引发了另一场革命,其他公司也开发了类似的游戏。
And the list goes on and on. There are MMORPGs like Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XIV. There are monster-collecting RPGs, starting with the Pokemon craze. There are Souls-like games, a particular brand of action RPG begun by FromSoftware's Demon's Souls, which emphasise a high level of difficulty. There's a unique branch of Japanese arcade RPGs, like Namco's Tower of Druaga. Many action games, particularly in the PlayStation 2 era, with games like Devil May Cry, also started offering character customisation, though since the focus is more on the action elements, it usually isn't considered an RPG.
此列表不胜枚举。有如《梦幻之星在线》和《最终幻想XIV》等大型多人在线角色扮演游戏。有从《宝可梦》热潮开始的收集怪物角色扮演游戏。有如魂类游戏,这是由FromSoftware的《恶魔之魂》开创的一种特殊动作角色扮演游戏类型,它强调高度的难度。还有日本街机RPG的一个独特分支,如Namco的《迷宫塔》。许多动作游戏,特别是在PlayStation 2时代,如《鬼泣》,也开始提供角色定制功能,但由于其重点更多地在于动作元素,因此通常不被视为角色扮演游戏。
So now that we've defined (broadly) what a JRPG is, where did the term actually come from? Searches of old Usenet forums from the mid-'90s show the term popping up every now and again, but it really didn't come into popular usage until the PlayStation 2 generation, around the year 2000. At this point, there was a distinction between games like Final Fantasy, which grew from consoles, and Fallout and Diablo, which were franchises that started on PCs. Some gamers referred to these as “console RPGs" versus "computer RPGs", which made sense, but made for some confusion since the acronyms were identical. As more traditionally computer RPGs began to make their way onto console systems, like Bioware's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic for the Xbox, the audience began to settle on "JRPG" for the Japanese type, and "WRPG" (Western RPG, obviously) for American and European types. By this point, these sub-genres of games catered to wildly different audiences, hence the need for a different designation.
现在,我们已经大致定义了JRPG是什么,那么这个术语实际上是从哪里来的呢?对90年代中期的旧新闻组论坛的搜索显示,这个术语偶尔会突然出现,但直到2000年左右的PlayStation 2世代,它才开始广泛使用。在这个时候,像《最终幻想》这样的游戏与《辐射》和《暗黑破坏神》之间存在区别,前者是从主机游戏发展而来,后者是从PC开始的游戏系列。一些玩家将它们称为“主机RPG”与“电脑RPG”,这是有道理的,但由于缩写是相同的,这造成了一些混淆。随着越来越多的传统电脑RPG开始进入主机系统,如BioWare的《星球大战:旧共和国武士》登陆Xbox,观众开始将“JRPG”用于指代日本类型,并将“WRPG”(显然是西方RPG)用于指代美国和欧洲类型。到这个时候,这些游戏的子类型迎合了截然不同的观众群体,因此需要一个不同的称呼。
However, genres evolve, and what made sense during a certain era may not always hold true. Popular games like Final Fantasy XV have barely any resemblance to a traditional JRPG, having rather more in common with open world WRPGs like The Witcher 3, though there is still a distinct stylistic difference. Similarly, Capcom's Dragon's Dogma comes from a Japanese developer, but has more in common in looks and style with Western RPGs. There are plenty of turn-of-century Western-developed RPGs like Anachronox, Septerra Core, and Shadow Madness that are heavily inspired by Japanese games, while there are tons of Western indie RPGs, perhaps most popularly Undertale, which draw from similar sources. At this point, "JRPG" is far more a style than simply an RPG that came from Japan.
然而,流派是不断演化的,在某一特定时代看来合理的,可能并不总是适用。像《最终幻想15》这样的流行游戏与传统的JRPG几乎没有相似之处,它们更多地与《巫师3》这样的开放世界WRPG有共同之处,尽管它们在风格上仍有明显的差异。同样地,卡普空的《龙之信条》虽然出自日本开发者之手,但在外观和风格上与西方RPG有更多的共同之处。世纪之交有很多西方开发的RPG,如《Anachronox》、《Septerra Core》和《Shadow Madness》,它们深受日本游戏启发;同时也有大量的西方独立RPG,或许最受欢迎的是《undertale》,它也借鉴了类似的来源。在这一点上,“JRPG”更多地是一种风格,而不仅仅是一种来自日本的RPG。
So, like a lot of sub-genre labels, a "JRPG" designation isn't really binary, so much as a sliding scale. There are also hundreds upon hundreds of them. Obviously, we can't cover all of these because then you'd have a book nobody would be able to carry, but this book does cover all of the major and important ones, so you can get a feel for the variety and richness of what these games can offer.
因此,与许多子流派标签一样,“JRPG”的标识并非真正的二元性,而更像是一个逐渐缩小的范围。这样的JRPG也有数百乃至数千种。显然,我们无法涵盖所有这些,因为那样的话,你会有一本拿不动的书,但这本书确实涵盖了所有主要和重要的JRPG,因此你可以感受到这些游戏所能提供的多样性和丰富性。
While the genre isn't quite as prolific as it was back in the '80s and '90s, Japanese RPGs are still an essential part of the vibrant video-game landscape. They still provide unique mechanics, distinct visual styles, brilliant soundtracks, innovative stories, and other aspects that make them stand apart from their Western-developed counterparts.
虽然日本角色扮演游戏的产量不如20世纪80年代和90年代那样丰富,但它们仍然是充满活力的电子游戏领域中不可或缺的一部分。它们仍然提供了独特的机制、鲜明的视觉风格、出色的音轨、创新的故事以及其他方面,这些特点使它们与西方开发的同类游戏区别开来。 |
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