Remember this beautiful game? 美丽创世纪2 Gold Edition (simulation + strategy). It’s an old game, but its gorgeous art style still captivates plenty of players to this day (according to completely non-existent statistics -_-!).
The delicate, finely wrought visuals and the lively, adorable character designs — this game made me feel just how warm and cozy a simulation game can be. I first played it by pure chance back in middle school, and I could never get it out of my head afterward. Early this year I was really looking forward to exploring that gorgeous fairy-tale world again, but times have changed: the domestic publisher 世纪雷神 is no longer with us. I searched high and low with no luck, and it took a lot of effort before I managed to get a secondhand copy on Taobao from a veteran gamer — what a collector’s item! Sigh, 世纪雷神 has faded from the stage. A moment of silence for them, and thanks to 世纪雷神 for bringing us the Chinese version.
Heh, I still remember that endearingly goofy Pimon (who always makes me think of 3DsMAX) — all he cares about is eating; a UFO could land right in front of him and he wouldn’t even notice. Then there’s the drop-dead handsome Sajiki, whose fad is “spitting” (sort of like a water-splashing festival), and the sexy, gorgeous Amazons, where everything is turned upside down — a matriarchal society of women farming and men weaving.
So this year I started playing this classic again. I’d play over LAN in the dorm with Xiong and Niu. Back when their towns were at level 2, people would move out every few days, and at the time I’d secretly congratulate myself on how wonderful my ideal rural kingdom was — everyone living in perfect comfort. But what I could never wrap my head around was that by the very late stage of level 3, once the number of houses hit its cap and no more could be built, my people started getting unhappy across the board, and crime exploded! Xiong, on the other hand, could basically keep having a batch of citizens leave every few days and never had a mass riot. Was I playing the game wrong?
The most intense run I ever had: early on the town was totally comfortable, no resource ever ran seriously short, and mining, iron, and stone were all coming in fast enough. The people were content — farming, ranching, blacksmithing…
Vast territory, expanding borders, everyone mobilized, trudging long distances to build the Great Wall. To build the Wall, those foremen often couldn’t make it back to town for lunch at noon, so I built a hotel and a warehouse out in the wild. That’s where the bad luck started… I guess I was only thinking about military expansion and wasn’t paying attention to my people’s happiness every day. In hindsight, that move was a total failure.
Military expansion, patrols.
The army attacks. Shit — this Amazon town is solid as a rock!
It took a whole day and I still couldn’t take it; my soldiers were cut down in droves and I was getting ready to retreat. It got dark, then it got light again — shit! I’d been so focused on the expedition that I hadn’t noticed: back home my people had rioted! Bandits were running wild, and not a single citizen was left.
Failure taught me: 1. Good fortune hides disaster within it. Everyone being happy is only skin deep; if you don’t constantly remind yourself to pay attention to your people’s lives, national decline is lurking… 2. War brings your own destruction. If you try to invade others, it won’t end well for you.
Sigh, I’m not that good at the game. If you’re reading this and you play 美丽创世纪2, why not teach me a few tricks?
《美丽创世纪2》ISO image download: Download page (shared by StG) Download page (shared by 众人是孤独的)