NVC 对 Julien Pirou 的采访
来源：https://vk.ru/@homm_ashan-bolshoe-intervu-s-zhulenom-piru
由于篇幅超长，所以没直接塞新闻里：传送门
部分摘录：
- How would you imagine the plot unfolding after the events of Dark Messiah? It seems Ashan has reached a dead end. It's as if the developers deliberately avoided this moment, as if they didn't know how to continue the story. Tell us how you resolved this plot twist. We understand this is unofficial, but I'm just curious about your opinion. Would we have seen this in Dark Messiah 2, or did the game end where Dark Messiah left off?
- 您如何看待《黑暗弥赛亚》之后的剧情发展？似乎亚山已经走到了死胡同。就好像开发者故意回避这一刻，好像他们不知道如何继续故事。告诉我们您是如何解决这个情节的转折的。我们明白这是非官方的，但我只是好奇您的意见。我们会在《黑暗弥赛亚2》中看到这一点，还是游戏就在《黑暗弥赛亚》结束的地方结束了？
- Dark Messiah 2 was in development around 2015, but sadly was cancelled along with our plans for more Heroes VII expansions, as recalled above. DM2 was an ambitious and exciting project, and its cancellation breaks my heart even a decade later. The idea was for it to take place in a "mystical reflection" of Stonehelm. You would have played Raelag (with the possibility as embracing stealth, magic or melee combat), now a Dragon Knight in training (still struggling to find his “inner dragon”). Raelag arrives in Stonehelm just as the whole city is engulfed in light (basically what we briefly see in the ending cutscene of DM1). Stonehelm now exists partially in the Spirit World in a sort of "primordial bubble", the Rift, and it's slowly corrupting the lands around it. Whatever happening inside the city must be stopped before all of Ashan is consumed. Within the Rift, Raelag would be guided by the spirit of Tieru (acting as a sort of sarcastic “mission control”), and would meet some old friends like Zehir, who has also come to investigate the phenomenon. Some parts of Stonehelm have been overwhelmed by elemental magic, so there would be an Earth district, a Fire district, etc. The idea was to have an “interconnected” structure, much like in Metroid or Dark Souls, and some areas would change elements over time. The place is overrun by demons, corrupted humans, remnants of Arantir's undead armies and magical creatures driven mad. Eventually, Raelag discovers that because Sareth's fate is in flux and the whole of Ashan hangs on his decision, the world is basically freezing around him. It's like multiple timelines conflicting with each other, with poor Leanna being simultaneously alive and dead for instance. Kha-Beleth is here too, and wants Sareth to embrace his role as the Dark Messiah to bring down the walls of Sheogh. Raelag also discovers that he was always part of Sar-Shazzar's prophecy: one of the stanzas mentions the “daughter of fire” as well as her “glory” and “everlasting torment”. He realizes that this refers to Tuidhana and as her first-born son, he is her “glory”. That's why Kha-Beleth conspired to turn him into Agrael, as a means to control all aspects of the prophecy. But he could never have expected Agrael to fall in love with Isabel, which would lead him to reclaim his true nature and become a Dragon Knight. Ultimately, Zehir—always the smartest man in the room—figures out that Order cannot exist without Chaos and vice-versa. The scenario where Sareth banishes the demons forever would break the world just as surely as the scenario where he joins forces with Kha-Beleth to wage war against Asha's creation. But there's another way: Sareth can become the Dark Messiah and open the gates of Sheogh... but also lead the demons himself, seeking cohabitation rather than endless war. Of course, this can't happen while Kha-Beleth is around to whisper in his ear. Which leads to a final battle pitting our heroes against old Kha, who reveals his true identity and form... whatever they may be :D (We were still debating ^) Oh, and there was also a final rematch between Raelag and his old nemesis Veyer, who would turn into a massive Avatar of Destruction. As Sareth embraces his destiny on his own terms, a new balance between Order and Chaos is reached and Ashan is deeply changed as result... paving the way for new lands, new factions, new characters, etc. And an open horizon for stories.
- 《黑暗弥赛亚2》大约在 2015 年开发中，但遗憾的是随着我们更多《英雄无敌七》资料片的计划一起被取消了，如上所述。黑米2是一个雄心勃勃且令人兴奋的项目，即使十年过去了，它的取消仍让我心碎。这个想法是让它发生在石盔（Stonehelm）的一个“神秘镜像”中。你将扮演雷拉格（可以选择潜行、魔法或近战），他现在是一名正在受训的龙骑士（仍在努力寻找他的“内在巨龙”）。雷拉格到达石盔时，整座城市正被光芒吞没（基本上就是我们短暂看到的黑暗弥赛亚一结局过场动画）。石盔现在部分存在于灵界，处于一种“原初气泡”中，即裂痕（Rift），它正在慢慢腐蚀周围的陆地。必须阻止城内发生的事情，以免整个亚山被吞噬。在裂痕内部，雷拉格将由蒂耶鲁的灵魂引导（充当一种讽刺的“任务控制中心”），并会见一些老朋友，比如泽希尔，他也来调查这一现象。石盔的某些部分已经被元素魔法淹没，所以会有土区、火区等。这个想法是拥有一个“互连”的结构，很像《银河战士》或《黑暗之魂》，有些区域会随时间改变元素。这个地方挤满了恶魔、被腐化的人类、阿兰蒂尔亡灵军队的残余以及发狂的魔法生物。最终，雷拉格发现因为塞拉斯的命运悬而未决，整个亚山都悬在他周围。这就像多条时间线相互冲突，比如可怜的莉娜同时活着和死了。卡-贝勒斯也在这里，他想让塞拉斯接受他作为黑暗弥赛亚的角色，以此推倒谢尔戈的围墙。雷拉格还发现他一直是萨-沙扎预言的一部分：其中一节提到了“火之女儿”以及她的“荣耀”和“永恒的折磨”。他意识到这是指图德哈娜，作为她的长子，他就是她的“荣耀”。这就是为什么卡-贝勒斯密谋把他变成阿格雷尔，以此来控制预言的方方面面。但他绝没想到阿格雷会爱上伊莎贝尔，这导致他找回了真我并成为了一名龙骑士。最终，泽希尔——永远是房间里最聪明的人——弄清楚了秩序不能没有混沌，反之亦然。塞拉斯永远驱逐恶魔的场景会像他加入卡-贝勒斯向亚莎的造物开战一样的确会打破世界。但还有另一种方式：塞拉斯可以成为黑暗弥赛亚并打开谢尔戈的大门……但也亲自领导恶魔，寻求共存而不是无尽的战争。当然，只要卡-贝勒斯还在耳边低语，这就不可能发生。这就导致了一场最终决战，让我们的英雄对抗老卡，他揭示了他的真实身份和形态……不管它们是什么 :D（我们当时还在争论^）哦，还有一场雷拉格和他的宿敌维亚尔的最终复战，维亚尔会变成一个巨大的毁灭化身（Avatar of Destruction）。随着塞拉斯按照自己的意愿拥抱命运，秩序与混沌之间达成了新的平衡，亚山也因此发生了深刻的变化……为新土地、新阵营、新角色等铺平了道路。以及故事的广阔地平线。
- Is there any chance we'll get MM XI from you? We loved MM X, we really wanted a sequel, and we were very upset that Part 1 wasn't greenlit. Tell us more about the plot you were planning.
- 我们有可能从您这里得到 MM XI 吗？我们爱死 MM X 了，我们真的很想要续作，我们对第一部没有被批准感到非常难过。详细说说您计划中的剧情。
- Unfortunately, I'm not working at Ubisoft anymore and I don't own the rights to Might & Magic, so if there's a MM11 it won't come from me (but never say never I guess!) My pitch for MM11 (codenamed “Odyssey”, which sounded like a nice follow-up to “Legacy”) was for it to take place in the Dragons' Causeway, east of the Holy Empire. It would have featured the Free City of Stormcliff, the Shanriya Nagas, Blackskull orcs, the Helexia monastery, Ostgerd dwarves... Gameplay-wise, I wanted to go for something a little more modern, with real-time movement but still turn-based battles, more in line with MM6-8 but not exactly similar (I love those games but by today's standards they are clunky). Playable species would have included Minotaurs and Nagas. There would have been a travelling village (a caravan of sort) which would have followed the player across the land and would have been upgraded over the course of the journey, adding new shops, new NPC... I had lots of ideas.
- 不幸的是，我已经不在育碧工作了，也不拥有《魔法门》的版权，所以如果要有魔法门11，也不会来自我（但我想永远别说永远！）我对魔法门11的提案（代号“奥德赛 Odyssey”，听起来像是“遗产 Legacy”的一个不错后续）是让它发生在神圣帝国东部的龙脉（Dragons' Causeway）。它会以自由城邦风暴崖（Stormcliff）、Shanriya 娜迦、黑颅兽人、Helexia 修道院、Ostgerd 矮人为特色……在玩法方面，我想做一些更现代化的东西，有实时移动但仍然回合制战斗，更符合魔法门六到八，但不完全一样（我爱那些游戏，但以今天的标准来看它们很笨拙）。可玩物种会包括牛头怪和娜迦。会有一个旅行的村庄（一种大篷车），它会跟着玩家穿越陆地，并在旅程中升级，增加新的商店、新的 NPC……我有很多想法。
- Were there any plans at any stage to add new factions (subfactions) that we hadn't seen before and that didn't make it to release?
- 在任何阶段是否有计划添加我们以前没见过的新阵营（子阵营），但未能发布？
- Heroes VII came to an abrupt end in 2016 with the release of Trial by Fire. This happened as Ubisoft had decided to close his third party department, Ubisoft Partners, which had been shepherding Might & Magic games until that point. This unfortunately nipped in the bud all our plans for Heroes VII and beyond, as brought the cancellation of the Dark Messiah sequel we were working on. It was a distressing time for everyone involved. Essentially, I had a masterplan for Heroes VII. I was hoping we would do at least 1, but hopefully 2 more expansions for the game, finally catching up with the events of Heroes V and allowing us to move to the post-Dark Messiah era in Heroes VIII. Overall, it was a story in four acts I liked to call the “rise and fall of the Griffin”. Heroes VII vanilla was “Rise of the Griffin”: it saw Ivan seize power and become Emperor. Trial by Fire was “Triumph of the Griffin”: it's Ivan at the peak of his power, now fully legitimate as a ruler. The next expansion would have been “Corruption of the Griffin”. It would have been a sequel of sorts to the events of Clash of Heroes, dealing with the madness of Emperor Oleg due to Sandro's influence. At that time, Sandro is in Lorekeep, having essentially infiltrated and corrupted the Blind Brothers (or at least this particular chapter of the order). We would have followed Alexei IV as he assembles a team of allies to take down Sandro once and for all: characters such as Cyrus, Godric, Nadia as well as Zakera from H6 Shades of Darkness. It would have introduced the Shanriya Sanctuary (the "Ice Nagas" seen in Duel of Champions) as a new faction, as well as Sandro's Nethermancers as an alternate Necropolis line-up. As you can imagine I was really looking forward to this, as a means to finally tell that story after so much build-up. I would have been happy with just doing that one, but even happier if we could have done a third and final expansion, which would have been "The Fall of the Griffin". It would have been about the War of the Eclipse, with Inferno returning, and would have ended with Alexei's death and Nicolai's crowning, bringing us full circle. But it's as they say: the best laid plans of mice and men still come undone...
- 《英雄无敌七》随着《烈火试炼》的发布在 2016 年戛然而止。这是因为育碧决定关闭其第三方部门 Ubisoft Partners，该部门直到那时一直在指导《魔法门》游戏。不幸的是，这扼杀了我们关于《英雄无敌七》及更远未来的所有计划，导致我们正在制作的《黑暗弥赛亚》续作被取消。这对所有相关人员来说都是一段痛苦的时期。基本上，我为《英雄无敌七》制定了一个总体规划。我希望我们能做至少 1 个，希望是 2 个更多的资料片，最终赶上《英雄无敌五》的事件，让我们能在《英雄无敌八》中进入后黑暗弥赛亚时代。总的来说，这是一个我称之为“狮鹫的兴衰”的四幕剧故事。《英雄无敌七》原版是“狮鹫的崛起”：见证了伊凡夺取政权并成为皇帝。《烈火试炼》是“狮鹫的胜利”：伊凡处于权力的顶峰，作为统治者完全合法化了。下一个资料片本该是“狮鹫的腐化”。这在某种程度上是《英雄交锋》事件的续集，涉及 Oleg 皇帝因桑德罗的影响而发疯。那时，桑德罗在学识要塞，基本上已经渗透并腐化了盲眼兄弟会（或者至少是修会的这一分支）。我们将跟随亚历克斯四世组建一支盟友队伍，以一劳永逸地打倒桑德罗：包括塞勒斯，哥德里克，娜迪亚以及来自六代《暗影黎明》的紮库菈等角色。它会引入 Shanriya 圣所（在《冠军对决》中看到的“冰娜迦”）作为一个新阵营，以及桑德罗的虚空法师（Nethermancers）作为亡灵堡垒的替代阵容。你可以想象我非常期待这个，以此作为在这么多铺垫之后终于讲述那个故事的手段。如果能做完这一个我就很开心了，但如果能做第三个也是最后一个资料片就更开心了，那将是“狮鹫的陨落”。它将关于日蚀之战（War of the Eclipse），地狱回归，并以亚历克斯的死和尼科莱的加冕告终，让我们圆满收官。但正如他们所说：老鼠和人类最好的计划仍然会落空……
