辉光翼战记：天空的弓娜 Yumina: The Ethereal p.424

我们觉得对于《火炬之光》这样的游戏来说，这定价充满魔力。游戏的销量超过了我们的预期，说明 20 美元的 3A 级游戏是有市场的。我们的想法是：让我们的游戏开发时像 3A 游戏，玩起来也像 3A 游戏，但去掉昂贵的营销活动和所有与此不相干的东西。

We felt like Torchlight's price point was a magic price point for that kind of game and we sold more than we anticipated. So there's a market for a $20 AAA game. Our idea was: let's just make games that feel like an AAA game and play like an AAA game, but strip away all the extraneous stuff and the expensive marketing campaigns and all that.

Max Schaefer
《火炬之光》设计者

Max Schaefer,
Torchlight's designer

开发商的一个明智之举是发布了《火炬之光》的编辑器 TorchED。游戏因此具有高度的拓展性，从而涌现了大量的 mod——下至一些小调整，上至新的功能、职业甚至整体大改。

遗憾的是，《火炬之光》最大的缺点没法轻易解决：它缺少多人模式。对许多玩家来说，这是此类游戏中不可或缺的。

尽管受限于联机功能缺失和较短的游玩时长，但 Runic 以 20 美元的价格出售游戏并支持模组的决定使游戏大获成功。

随着《火炬之光》的销量超过一百万份，Runic 决定着手开发续作，扩大游戏体量，并加入玩家渴望已久的多人模式。

《火炬之光 2（Torchlight II，2012）》差不多就是这样——体量更大、质量更好的游戏内容，有新的职业、宠物、敌人和道具；由发生在大世界下的四幕剧情组成的，更长的单人战役；巨大的野外区域充满了事件、迷你地牢和支线任务；一个支持 Steam Workshop 的新编辑器（GUTS）；更简洁的 UI；以及终于——有了多人合作模式。

《火炬之光 2》有四种职业。工程师（Engineer）、漂泊者（Outlander）、狂战士（Berserker）和灰烬法师（Embermage）——每名角色都有专属的能量槽（Charge Bar），能量是一种独特的资源，能够在战斗中积累并为角色提供力量增强^[6] 。此外还有更多提升可重玩性的功能，如增强版新游戏（New Game+）^[7] 和一个随机地图生成器（Mapworks）。

A smart move from the developers was to release TorchED, the editor for Torchlight. Highly moddable, the game was flooded by mods – from small tweaks to new features, classes and extensive overhauls.

Sadly, Torchlight's biggest weakness could not be easily fixed: it lacks multiplayer, for many players, a must-have in games of this genre.

Despite limitations like this and a shorter overall length, Runic's decision to support mods and sell the game at a $20 dollar price point made it a success.

With Torchlight selling over one million copies, Runic decided to work on a sequel, expanding the game and adding the much-desired multiplayer.

Torchlight II (2012) is pretty much that – a larger and better game, with new classes, pets, enemies and items; a longer single-player campaign that spawns four acts all across the world, huge outdoor areas full of events, mini-dungeons and side-quests, a new game editor (GUTS) with Steam Workshop support, cleaner UI and – finally – multiplayer co-op.

The game now contains four classes: Engineer, Outlander, Berserker and Embermage – each with its own Charge Bar, a unique resource that builds up during combat to fuel their powers. And more replayability features were added, such as New Game+ and Mapworks, a random map generator.

《火炬之光 2》发布后，Runic 团队表示，由于职业倦怠（burnout）以及 MMORPG 领域的剧变，他们不会再开发《火炬之光》的 MMO。

An MMO version of Torchlight was planned, called Torchlight Frontiers. When Runic Studios closed down in 2017, the project changed hands and became Torchlight III, released in 2020 to mixed reviews.

尽管《火炬之光 2》在《暗黑破坏神 3（Diablo III）》之后几个月才发布，但许多人发现自己更喜欢这个“仿制版”，而不是暴雪这个开山鼻祖系列的新作，这足以说明问题。《火炬之光》和《火炬之光 2》都是精心打磨的伟大游戏，充满创造力和吸引力。亲民的价格和大量的模组更为其增色不少。

《火炬之光》模组：

伍尔夫的初学者模组包（Wulf’s Beginner’s Mod Pack）：几个可以在不改变游戏核心体验的情况下扩展游戏的模组。

灰烬狂魔（Emberfiend）：增加了打造系统、可招募的同伴、新的任务、道具和地点。可重玩性很高。

贾尔克的职业大全（Jarcho’s Class Compilation）：提供了20多个新的职业，如恶魔学家（Demonologist）、气功师（Airbender）和冰霜女王（Ice Queen）。

《火炬之光 2》模组：

砍杀要素（Haknslash Essentials）：一个庞大的模组集合，它增加了几十种新的职业、宠物、物品、敌人和任务，另外还对游戏进行了一些小的修复和调整。

协同模组（SynergiesMOD）：一个全面大改的模组，它提供了新的城镇，对大部分内容进行平衡性调整，增加了新的职业、敌人、物品、地图和功能，如洗点药水（Respec potion）。

远东包 1 和 2（Far East Pack I and II）：一个现已被放弃的饭制版扩展的一部分，增加了 7 个新的职业以及许多很棒的内容。

It's quite telling that, although Torchlight II was released just a few months after Diablo III, many found themselves preferring the “clone” to Blizzard's new entry in their genre-defining series. Torchlight I and II are both great games, highly polished, creative and inviting. Their lower price and the extensive mod library only add to their appeal.

Torchlight 1 Mods:

Wulf’s Beginner’s Mod Pack: Several mods to expand the game without changing its core experience.

Emberfiend: Adds crafting, recruitable companions, new quests, items and locations. Great for a replay.

Jarcho’s Class Compilation: Offers over 20 new classes, such as Demonologist, Airbender and Ice Queen.

Torchlight 2 Mods:

Haknslash Essentials: A massive collection of mods, it adds dozens of new classes, pets, items, enemies and quests, plus a few small fixes and tweaks to the game.

SynergiesMOD: A total overhaul mod, it offers new towns, rebalances most of the game, adds new classes, enemies, items, maps and features like Respec potions.

Far East Pack I and II: Part of a now-abandoned fan-made expansion, adds seven new classes and lots of great content.

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⁶ 译者注：通过攻击敌人积攒能量，停止攻击后能量慢慢减少。不同职业的能量槽效果各不相同，并与各自的职业特点相关。
⁷ 译者注：New Game Plus（NG+）是《火炬之光 2》中的一种游戏模式，取代了一代游戏中的退休系统，可以让已经通关主线的玩家以相同的角色重新开始游戏，角色将保留他们的全部物品栏、藏品、技能和统计数据，但面临的难度也更高。