ARTé: Mecenas®

[h1]《艺术：赞助人》 (ARTé: Mecenas) 评测：其曲弥高，其和弥寡[/h1] [i]* 感谢SteamCN鉴赏家提供游戏评测机会 * 本评测在SteamCN社区：https://steamcn.com/t443683-1-1[/i] [b]总评[/b] [quote]引商刻羽，杂以流征，国中属而和者，不过数人而已。是其曲弥高，其和弥寡。——战国•楚•宋玉《对楚王问》[/quote] 《艺术：赞助人》 (ARTé: Mecenas) 出自专精于艺术教育严肃题材的美国独立开发团队Triseum，玩家扮演意大利佛罗伦萨著名的美蒂奇家族，经营国际贸易，兴办商业银行，参与政治阴谋，资助最伟大的艺术家们，完整经历15世纪文艺复兴时代百年风雨，达成家族荣耀巅峰。 本作自身的游戏性相当有限，亦有全程阅读英文的较高门槛，但作为学习西方美术史的辅助工具则显得卓尔不凡，仅适合对此有专门兴趣的非典型玩家择机入手。 [b]游戏上手初体验：轻松，简明，严谨[/b] 游戏标题直接采用了意大利语原文ARTé: Mecenas，相当于英语的Art: patron，直译即《艺术：赞助人》，颇合游戏的历史背景。Mecenas一词出自人名盖乌斯•梅塞纳斯 (Gaius Maecenas) ，其人是古罗马帝国首位皇帝：奥古斯都•恺撒的密友兼私人顾问，以慷慨好义的形象彪炳史册，他名字中的Maecenas也就成了后世赞助人、尤其是艺术方向赞助人的代名词。 艺术赞助活动在欧洲文艺复兴时代最为流行，富豪、贵族和统治者，多通过这种多方获利的公关形式来支持他们的政治野心、社会地位和声望。后世最著名的艺术赞助人群体，当数本作主角的美蒂奇家族。 美蒂奇家族兴起于14世纪末，绝嗣于1737年。自1532年起，就保有世袭的佛罗伦萨公爵头衔，后扩张领土升格为托斯卡纳大公国。该家族一共走出了四位教皇、两位法国女摄政王和数不胜数的欧洲王室成员，是同时代欧洲最富有的家族。美蒂奇家族银行是当时欧洲最受尊敬、最具信用的银行，并率先采用复式记账法和总账会计系统，沿袭至今。 美蒂奇家族最为后世津津乐道的艺术赞助人身份，在本作中体现得淋漓尽致。本作亦把美蒂奇家族极力赞助艺术家，广为创作宗教题材的艺术品，讨好教廷，洗白不义之财的政治投机考虑，刻画得入木三分。 游戏上手体验足够轻松简明，亦处处体现出制作者严谨的历史观。 Reputation和Soul分别代表美蒂奇家族对世俗势力和教会势力的影响程度。 有趣的是，游戏用美第奇家族盾徽上红球的多寡，来表示家族当前世俗声望的高低，但即便Reputation达到最高的100%，红球也最多只有8颗，与史实高度相符。盾徽上的红球代表金币，另一说为家族先祖阿韦拉多曾效力查理曼大帝，红球代表阿伟拉多盾牌在战斗中被击出的凹陷。盾徽上标志性的蓝色鸢尾花，则来自法国国王路易十一世的御赐。 地图Map标出了当前年代下，游戏中登场的典型势力。熟悉P社《十字军之王》或《欧陆风云》的玩家一望即知，若与奥斯曼土耳其暗通款曲的话，就要小心教廷降下最严厉的破门绝罚Excommunication。而小至行会、大至王国的世俗势力之间，亦遵从史实，各有龃龉，留给了长袖善舞的美蒂奇家族以经济干预政治的足够空间。 市场Market标出了游戏中有限的交易品：羊毛Wool、明矾Alum，以及由亚麻Flax制成的成品亚麻布Linen。交易品虽品类有限，却忠实还原了美蒂奇家族的主营实体业务。历史上美蒂奇家族除了长于纺织品国际贸易，更是教廷独家特许的明矾矿开采者和运营者。明矾是当时皮革加工业的必备耗材之一。明矾矿多产自火山活动频繁地区的高硫地质环境，意大利中部的维苏威火山自古就出产明矾。当然今天世界最大的明矾产地，已经转战至我大江浙沪包邮区的温州，产量占到了全世界的六成，此乃后话。 不计教程关，游戏按时间顺序共有4个正式关卡，各关均要求玩家在蜡烛燃尽之前的有限回合里，达成契合史实的过关条件。 游戏主要玩法是：玩家每回合需阅读提示信息Notifications，点击待处理事务Messages，对当前急需处理的3-4项历史事件给出明确的支持或反对意见，推动剧情发展。 玩家在游戏里忙完了一天的工作，眺望窗外佛罗伦萨的地标性建筑：圣母百花大教堂，触景生情，有没有当时就想吟两句诗的冲动呢？[spoiler] （想法很危险，快醒醒！）[/spoiler] [b]作品实质：游戏乎？西方美术史教辅乎？[/b] 游戏由内嵌的时间轴进行线性驱动，即游戏进行到史实特定时间段，一定会出现相应艺术家在美蒂奇家族资助下，创作出传世艺术品的剧情。游戏当前版本收录了美蒂奇家族赞助创作的三大类共116件传世艺术品，包括73幅绘画、33座雕塑和10座建筑。 收录的艺术品中，既包括米开朗基罗的雕塑作品《大卫》、达芬奇的绘画作品《维特鲁威人》，这些广为公众熟知的艺术品，也包括洛伦佐•吉贝尔蒂 (Lorenzo Ghiberti) 的“天堂之门”、菲利波•布鲁内莱斯基 (Filippo Brunelleschi) 为圣洛伦佐教堂设计的圣器室，这些西方美术史上的扛鼎之作。 玩家翻开案头厚厚的百科事典，看看越来越多已解锁的艺术品，细细品读每条艺术品小传，唐太宗李世民“天下英雄尽入吾彀中矣”的成就感，亦不过如此吧！ 资助艺术家序列事件发生时，玩家除了需要遵从史实，适时资助或引导艺术家之外，还要在游戏给出的三件艺术品影像中，遴选出唯一符合条件者。笔者只在参与汉化的游戏《埃及古国》中见过类似设定。游戏最大的乐趣、或言之、最大的难点，正在于此。毕竟，能识得达芬奇《最后的晚餐》者众，而知道同题材作品出自安德利阿•德尔•卡斯坦诺 (Andrea del Castagno) 之手者，多半要系统学习过西方美术史课程吧。 游戏经常给出的典型场景是：某某艺术家在您的支持下，致力于创作反映某某理念的某某类型艺术品。他期待您的指导，看以下三件艺术品，哪件最能体现您对艺术的不凡品位呢？ 笔者每每玩到此，心里念叨的却是编剧汪海林老师的金句啊！他在一次访谈中说到，[quote]“……到今天我还是很怀念煤老板做投资人的日子，他们特别好。……但最好的还是煤老板，他们除了要求找女演员以外，没有别的任何要求，他根本就不干预我们的创作，……真的，他是特别尊重专业的人，因为挖煤这个事真的不能瞎干预。”[/quote] [b]游戏性：严重缺乏互动体验[/b] 游戏既然高度遵从史实，意味着留给玩家互动的空间就相对有限了。 游戏只提供了3-4种有限的交易品类，且市场价格毫无波动，亦无任何海陆运输工具或交易路线设定，想玩商战的念想可以休矣。 无论玩家进行过何种互操作，游戏中奉行高度重商主义的金雀花王朝，都不可能鼓励本土羊毛特产的自由贸易；1453年的黑色星期五，君士坦丁堡仍会陷于突厥人之手。而商队从东方带回的精美中囯瓷器、伊比利亚冒险家想率先探明经由好望角通往东方的黄金航路，类似事件只能是昙花一现，无法进行更多后续深究。 玩家只能作为历史的参与者、见证者，见证那段大时代的风云变迁，按照大势所趋，体验美蒂奇家族实际走过的历史进程。 玩惯了光荣或P社那种历史魔幻主义创作题材的玩家，怕是对本作会有隐隐的腹诽吧。 [b]结语[/b] 越来越多元化的玩家群体，不仅仅需要“枪车球”等工业流水线快餐产品，或是“二次元”、“小黄油”等亚文化衍生产品，也需要本作这样的严肃功能产品满足较高层次的精神需求。 笔者在此钦佩Triseum美国开发团队逆流而上的勇气，更希望他们能有漏船载酒的运气，他们带来的这款《艺术：赞助人》 (ARTé: Mecenas) 本身即是精致的艺术品，理应赢得更多有品位玩家的脱帽致敬。

Can't quite believe I just paid £15 for this. I expected a lot more game for my money. There is a fixed number of turns per level, and three choices to make per turn, and ultimately one path through history you can take, and when you've done that it's done. I get that it's in early access, but there needs to be a lot more content before the game is worth even the discounted price. I like the basic premise, I think the trading aspect needs improving - just make the prices fluctuate, that's all you need to do. Hey here's a thought, given that the game encourages you to start branches in London, Bruges, wherever (which you will inevitably close when they lose money), why not make the market prices different in different cities. Not enough things to do, not enough ways to influence the progress of the game. the foreign branches make money, then they lose money and you close them and that's what happens. Sometimes you have to pay money to answer a question on Renaissance art; these are considerably beyond general knowledge level, I'd say at the least you've spent a term on the Renaissance in high school to get these, or alternatively, you're using google image search. If you answer these questions right (which you will do if you're using google), you will easily max out your reputation and soul (essentially your standing in Florence and the church. You occasionally have to decide whether the price from a merchant in a popup is higher than the one on the market, which stays the same without changing the whole game. And two of the three commodities have the same prices. You occasionally have to decide which city or political faction to support. It's not hard. I really wanted to like this game, I like the idea, but there's nowhere near enough to it. It's nice enough, but it's over far too quickly. As things stand it would justify a price of £2-3 at most, although even then, there's much bigger games you can get for £2-3.

Since the marketing for this game is somewhat dual pronged, I'll summarize: this is not a great strategy game with a ton of interesting decisions. It IS, however, a solid edugame, good enough to keep me playing while knowledge is dispensed. The biggest complaint I have is that the version being sold here is somewhat incomplete; the store page points to some sort of encyclopedia present in the student version of the game that's absent here, and that absence is acutely felt. Still, I'm generally able to figure out what I need to from a combination of googling and applying my existing knowledge of Florence and Renaissance art, but a requirement to already know about the subject matter seems like a mistake for a game that's trying to teach things. I hope they are able to add the encyclopedia or something akin to it in the future. I'd recommend this game for people who want their kids to learn about the Renaissance, Florence, the Medici, and related topics. The game is reminiscent of the classic educational games of my youth that are just fun enough to keep players engaged. But I'd also recommend that they seek out the classroom version linked to on the store page so that players can get the full experience.

Not a twenty-dollar game. It's done in a couple of hours without much in the way of choices, aside from "follow history religiously."

I have a degree in art history, and I love economy. On digital paper, this game was made for me. However, the gameplay is repetitive, alternating between Renaissance art trivia (and educated guesses) and a simplistic buy low / sell high economic mechanism. The tutorial was fair enough, but after playing the first mission, I'm unlikely to again submit myself to this tedium.

Trying to balance your moral compass between profit and religious enlightenment during the Renaissance. Strange to see how quick you grow greedy & curse the poor. Educational AND Enjoyable! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP62gtCe9Qs

The choices are only choices if you are happy failing. That being said, learning about the Italian Renaissance through a game like this is super cool. I really like it as an edu game. If you are looking to learn about some famous art and which popes are good and bad, then this is for you. https://youtu.be/AgAzwWOOUXA

Excelente jogo político!

This is about a 2 hour game. It's more of a story game than an economic simulator or an art history educational tool. That's okay, though. More than enough story and interactivity to be worth the $10 price tag.

nice quick game