凉凉

来源：http://www.acidcave.net/，以下由heavenk翻译。源于Acid Cave对Erwan Le Breton的采访，顺序比原文有所调整。

虽然大部分人应该都知道，这里只是有个明确的说法而已，那就是魔法门系列在PC平台已然凉已……没有英雄无敌八，没新的PC魔法门游戏，甚至连亚山世界也要完蛋了……

• The Really Big Question (that you probably won’t answer in an interview, but here it goes anyway ;) – are there any plans or chances for Heroes 8 in the foreseeable future?
• 真正的大问题（虽然你可能不愿意在采访中回答，不过我们还是问了），在可预见的未来有英雄无敌8代的计划或是可能性么？
• Unfortunately, very little chance in the near future. The base costs for such a game would be too high when compared with the sale expectations, even with a 90+ metacritic rating and a massive support from the community. However, the IP’s popularity in China may tilt the balance in the right direction.
• 不幸的是，在最近基本没有可能。这样的游戏开发成本与预期销量相比高出太多，即便在metacritic上获得90+的评分并且受到社区的大力支持也是一样。不过，这个IP在中国受追捧的程度可能会让收支导向正确的方向。


• Any other new Might & Magic titles that are coming our way? What should we look forward to for the next months / years?
• 有其他新的魔法门游戏会推出么？未来几个月或者几年内有哪些可以期待的？
• Might & Magic remains Ubisoft’s main medieval fantasy IP. Even with the genre seemingly less popular than in the recent past (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Witcher, Diablo, Dragon Age, League of Legends… being now “behind us”), it’s far from obsolete (Divinity: Original Sin 2, The Elder Scrolls VI, World of Warcraft’s new expansion…). So we keep pushing the IP whenever there’s a “let’s do a game with Knights and Dragons in it” discussion happening at Ubisoft.
• 魔法门仍然是Ubisoft旗下主要的中世纪奇幻IP。虽然这个系列已经没有过去那么受欢迎了（指环王，权力的游戏，巫师，暗黑破坏神，龙腾世纪，英雄联盟，这些已成过往），但还没有彻底没落（神界：原罪2，上古卷轴6，魔兽世界新资料片）。所以每次当Ubisoft 内部出现“让我们做一个有骑士和巨龙的游戏吧”这种讨论时，我们都会不断推进这个IP。


• Was the Might & Magic Ubisoft Team disbanded after Heroes VII?
• Ubisoft 的魔法门制作组在英雄无敌7代之后就解散了么？
• After the release of Trials by Fire, the Ubisoft Partners studio was terminated (as part of a global corporate restructuration, unrelated to Heroes 7’s disappointing performances). Ubisoft Partners was supervising the production of various games made in collaboration between Ubisoft and external developers, including many Might & Magic titles (Heroes 5-7, Dark Messiah, Clash of Heroes, MMX). Our IP team was part of this studio. So we were all relocated to other entities in Ubisoft. We still have a Might & Magic team at Ubisoft HQ, in the Editorial team, notably to support our 3 mobile games (Elemental Guardians, Heroes Era of Chaos, Heroes Dynasty). But it’s now mostly a content team. Marketing and Community Management are specific to each projects, not centralized anymore.
• 在烈火试炼发售以后，Ubisoft Partners 制作组就终止了（跨国公司部门重组的一环，和英雄无敌7惨淡的表现无关）。Ubisoft Partners 是Ubisoft与外包开发商共同结合，掌管多部游戏的制作组，其中就有好几部魔法门系列（英雄无敌5-7，黑暗弥赛亚，英雄交锋，魔法门X）。我们的IP部门也是这个制作组的一部分。所以我们都重新分配到了Ubisoft的其他部门去了。如今在Ubisoft总部仍然有一个魔法门小组，在编剧组里，主要负责支援我们的三款手游（元素守护者，英雄无敌战争纪元，英雄无敌王朝）。但是这个组主要是剧情组，市场和社区管理这些部门都是各个游戏自己的。


• It seems that with Heroes 7 we came as close to concluding the known Might & Magic storyline as possible, having now stories about almost all eclipses. What would you like to tell next? A story from the times of the Seventh Dragon maybe? or the story about what happened after Dark Messiah? Or maybe it`s time to reboot the Might & Magic universe?
• 在英雄无敌7代发布之后，我们大致可以总结出魔法门故事线的套路，就是每一部都围绕着血月之蚀。那么接下来你会创作些什么故事？有可能是七龙时代的？又或者发生在黑暗弥赛亚之后的事？还是说又到了重启魔法门宇宙的时候了？
• Honestly, we feel it’s about time to leave Ashan to rest and work on a new setting. Which means that Heroes Dynasty and Elemental Guardians are probably the last Ubisoft games set in Ashan. That said, they will be “live” for a couple of years, and there’s still the possibility for a new project to be signed that presents strong arguments to use Ashan as its setting, so no official “obituary” to be expected yet.
• 老实说，我们觉得是时候离开亚山世界稍作休息，并开始新的设定了。这意味着英雄无敌王朝和元素守护者大概是发生在亚山世界的最后两部Ubisoft的英雄无敌作品了。当然，它们还会“运营”个几年，同时也不排除新的作品需要再次使用亚山设定的可能性，所以暂时并没有正式的官方“讣告”。


• Let’s get the hard ones out of the way first. Heroes 7 received mixed or average reviews ranking a Metacritic score of 67 with reviewers and 4.9 with users. In terms of sales and popularity it definitely wasn’t a hit. What went wrong?
• 先从最难的开始。英雄无敌7代在Metacritic 上的平均媒体评分只有67，平均用户只有4.9。从销量与受欢迎程度来看这明显不及格。那到底是哪里出了问题？
• To put it bluntly our biggest mistake was to ship the game too early in spite of the community’s warning. After months of interacting with the Shadow Council members and listening to their feedback, we pushed the game’s release when all the fans were raising the red flag. The game had severe technical bugs, and artistic and design flaws that could have been fixed given some extra months of polish. In my opinion Trials By Fire was a better (if not perfect) illustration of what we really intended for Heroes 7. I was proud to showcase it at the Gamescom, and I’m still thankful to Limbic and my fellow M&M colleagues at Ubisoft for their dedication in a time when we had very little love and support. That said, our initial intention for Heroes 7 was to make it the “Best Of” Heroes by involving the community and combining the most appreciated features from Heroes 1 to 6. To be honest, we failed. My own personal analysis is the following (not pointing fingers at anyone here, I’m also guilty as charged):

• 坦白讲，我们最大的失误，就是在社区反对的情况下仍然过早的发售了游戏。在和影子议会成员交流了数月，并听取了他们的反馈之后，我们加快了游戏的发售进度，尽管当时所有的粉丝都表示反对。游戏本身有大量的服务器技术问题，美工与设计上的瑕疵需要再来好几个月时间打磨。在我看来，烈火试炼相对就好一些（尽管还不完美），代表着我们真正想要做出的7代的效果。我很自豪能够在科隆展上演示它，同时我也十分感谢Limbic和Ubisoft的魔法门系列同僚，是他们在我们最缺乏爱和支持的时候甘愿奉献。回过头来说，我们对英雄无敌7代的期许是，在社区的帮助之下整合英雄无敌1代到6代中各自的优点，最终制作出一部最好的英雄无敌。实话实说，我们失败了。我个人认为原因如下（当然并没有指责任何人的意思，我本人首当其冲应该负责）：
• A collection of features is not a Creative Vision – Heroes 7 lacked a “soul”
• 各代要素的集合并不代表着有创意——英雄无敌7代缺少“灵魂”
• I’m OK with the reuse of art and audio assets from former games because it allowed for a larger scope, but, for various reasons, Heroes 7 ended up looking less modern and appealing than Heroes 6.
• 对于前代作品的美术与音乐资源的重复利用我是接受的，毕竟这是一个悠久的游戏系列，但是出于各种各样原因，英雄无敌7代最终还没有6代吸引人。
• No matter what we do, we always stand in the shadows of Heroes 3. We’re Ubisoft, we’ve acquired the IP, we have not created it… Fighting the nostalgic aura of Heroes 3 is like fighting the waves, ultimately futile.
• 无论我们怎么做，我们始终在3代的阴影之下。我们是Ubisoft，我们只是买来了这个IP，而不是我们自己开创的。对抗3代的怀旧加成，就像是对抗空气一样，只有挫败。
• For a large company like Ubisoft, Turn-Based Strategy titles like Heroes are now too costly to produce (because of the scope expectations and our overhead costs) and too limited in their sale potential.
• 而像Ubisoft这样的大公司，英雄无敌这种回合制策略游戏制作成本太高，潜在的销量又有限。


• If you had a time machine (from the Ancients) or a magical stone of infinite power that could turn back time, what would you have done differently with Heroes 7?
• 如果你有远古神民的时间机器，或者能够回溯时间的无限宝石，那么你会做什么来改变英雄无敌7？
• Spend more time and effort on finding the game’s focus. A breakthrough feature. A defining vision to give it a clear identity. Push harder on the art side. I know some fans lament that we spend too much money on making our games nice versus refining the gameplay, but trust me, it’s key in leveraging internal support and external favorable reviews that convert into more confidence (and budget, and time) on the project. And of course, don’t ship until our beta players raise their green thumbs up.
• 花更多时间和精力来找到游戏的关键点。一个突破性的要素，一个能够让游戏有明确特性的视觉风格。在美术方面加大力度。我知道很多粉丝认为我们花了太多资源在让游戏好看而非强化游戏性上，但是相信我，这样能够获得更多的内部支持与外部评论的青睐，从而给项目带来更多的信心（当然也包括预算和时间）。此外一点，就是在受到beta测试玩家的一致好评之前不要发售游戏。


• Might & Magic Showdown - a short-lived game that broke records in terms of lack of players (a maximum of only 79 players playing at once and also a very often minimum of 0). Was that just a bad idea? or a failed experiment?
• 魔法门Showdown作为一个短命的游戏，同时还打破了最低玩家人数的记录（同一时间最高玩家数量79人，大部分时间都是最低数量0人）。这个游戏是个错误的想法？还是一个失败的实验？
• I still see it as a good idea (the figurine collection concept, them coming to life to fight in an arena or a dungeon, the paint workshop…), but flawed in its execution.
• 我仍然认为这个游戏是个不错的创意（收集模型，然后看着它们活过来在竞技场或是地牢里战斗，还能给它们涂色等等），但是执行的并不完美。


• We do know that Julien Pirou was at one point in charge of making a new Might & Magic game, but it was cancelled. Could you confirm whether this was supposed to be Dark Messiah 2? Could you reveal what plans did you have for it and why was it cancelled?
• 我们知道Julien Pirou之前曾经负责制作过一款魔法门系列的游戏，但是之后取消了。您能告诉我们那是黑暗弥赛亚2么？能否透露关于计划的更多消息，以及为什么取消了？
• At the time of the release of Heroes 7, several other Might & Magic projects were in discussion, including Dark Messiah 2, but also Clash of Heroes 2, and Might & Magic XI. Concepts were proposed, with various possible partner studios, all involving Julien Pirou at one position or another, but unfortunately, none was greenlighted.
• 在英雄无敌7发售的同一时期，还有几个魔法门项目在商讨中，其中包括了黑暗弥赛亚2，也包括英雄交锋2和魔法门11。提出了很多创意，也找了一些潜在的制作组，Julien Pirou在其中也担任过各种职位，但是不幸的是，这些最后都没能通过。
• Editor`s note: Some time ago we found some graphics published by their authors that were created for Ubisoft during the time Julien Pirou`s game was being developed. Ubisoft does not comment on them. We do think they were created for Dark Messiah II, but with no confirmation that remains to be only speculation. Here are some of those graphics:
• 编辑注：不久之前我们找到了一些画家在网上发布的设定图，这些都是在Julien Pirou的游戏制作期间，他们为Ubisoft所创作的。Ubisoft并没有对此做出任何说明。我们相信这些应该就是黑暗弥赛亚2的，但是目前仍只是推测，并没有证实。这些设定图如下：

• Now that we have the hard ones out of the way, let’s be more positive :). Might & Magic Elemental Guardians is the latest installment of the brand. Is this a “new way” for Might & Magic titles – going the route of mobile games for the still expanding market?
• 现在把这些棘手的问题放在一边，来看一些更积极的。魔法门元素守护者是这个系列最新的作品。这算是魔法门系列的新方向么，走手游路线开拓新的市场？
• This is indeed the “current” way. Might & Magic is a perfect fit for RPG and Strategy titles on mobiles.
• 这确实是“目前的”方向。魔法门系列是很适合在移动平台推出的RPG和策略品牌。


• Can you reveal some Elemental Guardians details that are coming our way?
• 你能告诉我们一些元素守护者的细节么？
• As it is a “live” game with constant updates, I don’t want to interfere with their communication strategy. However, what you can expect from the game’s future updates is new, original creatures to enrich the Might & Magic bestiary. Hopefully, some of them will one day migrate to PC games.
• 这是一个“活的”游戏，有着不断的更新，我不想影响到他们的宣传策略。但是，你能够期待的是游戏未来的更新将要推出全新的原创生物，来丰富魔法门的世界观。希望有朝一日这些生物当中有一些可以来到PC游戏中。


• Besides yourself, who is currently working on Might & Magic at Ubisoft? How many people?
• 除了你之外，还有谁在Ubisoft 现在的魔法门组里工作？总共多少人？
• There’s me, Julien Pirou (still our loremaster, and occasional “jack of all trades”), Theo Gallego (our game design expert), and Victor Malineau (content director for the mobile games). All of us have other missions at Ubisoft. Our involvement with Might & Magic is just a fraction of our time. External experts (like writers Kurt McClung and Simon MacKenzie) are sometimes called to the rescue.
• 有我，Julien Pirou（我们的博学者，偶尔也是“万事通”），Theo Gallego（我们的游戏设计专家），和Victor Malineau（手游的剧情总监）。我们在Ubisoft也都有其他任务，只在部分时间参加魔法门的工作。其他像作家Kurt McClung和Simon MacKenzie有时候也会来搭把手。


• It seemed that you kind of “withdrew” from the scene before Heroes VII release, while you were the frontrunner for Heroes VI. Why?
• 看起来你在英雄无敌7代发售那段时间相对“低调”，但是在英雄无敌6代那会你却是主角。为什么？
• Simply because I was producer of Heroes 6 versus “Might & Magic Creative Director” for Heroes 7 (so less hands-on on the project). I was still a spokesperson for the game, but sharing the spotlights with its “parents” (Ubisoft producers and Limbic developers).
• 主要原因是在英雄无敌6代的时候我是制作人，而在英雄无敌7代的时候我是“魔法门系列制作总监”（所以较少插手项目）。我虽然还是游戏的发言人，但要与它的“父母”（Ubisoft的制作人和Limbic的开发者）分享公众的注视。


• In Heroes VI there are some remnants of the Academy faction. What was the reason for it being cut? What would the campaign be about if it made it to the game? Something about Elisabeth perhaps?
• 在英雄无敌6代里有一些学院阵营的残余内容。是什么原因导致学院被删除了？学院原本的战役会是什么内容？有可能是关于伊丽莎白的内容么？
• Academy was planned for the Nival Heroes 6 and originally kept in the Blackhole reboot. It was cut during production for budget and time reasons. The story was not about Elisabeth but about a great daughter of Sveltana (born in the Seven Cities and raised as a Wizard), and her falling in love with a Djinn, then faced with the choice to sacrifice her lover (and gain power and prestige) or spare her (and become a hunted rebel). The story was edited to become the Academy campaign in Heroes 7 (Fahada and Khalida).
• 学院阵营一开始就在Nival版英雄无敌6代的计划中，也保留到了黑洞版中。后面在开发阶段被删除的主要原因是预算和时间。学院战役的故事并不是关于伊丽莎白，而是斯维尔塔娜的女儿（出生在七城联盟作为法师长大），她和灯神坠入爱河，却面临着两难选择，是牺牲挚爱以换取权力和声望，还是和爱人一起走上被人追捕的背叛道路。这个故事后来修改成为了英雄无敌7代的学院战役（法哈达和卡里达）。


• At the very early stages Heroes VI was being developed by Nival Interactive (the studio that made Heroes V). What was kept from Nival’s work and why Ubisoft and Nival parted ways?
• 英雄无敌6代的初期是Nival Interactive（英雄无敌5代的制作组）开发的。后来哪些Nival的工作保留了下来，又是什么原因让Ubisoft和Nival分道扬镳了？
• The collaboration stopped because we had some disagreements on key elements of the Creative Vision and because Nival’s priority had shifted from Heroes (their “flagship” title at the time of Heroes 5) to online games (they were focusing on Allods Online and heroes 6 was their “B” project). What’s left of the Nival vision is a “Faction reputation” system that evolved to become the Tears / Blood choices in Heroes 6, and a couple of concept artworks that were used as inspirations / references for other Might & Magic games (notably Duel of Champions).
• 合作结束的原因是我们对于创意要素的不同见解，以及Nival的主业由英雄无敌（在英雄无敌5代时期是他们的旗舰产品）转向了网络游戏（他们专注开发Allods Online，而英雄无敌6代则沦为了B类项目）。Nival版本保留下来的主要是“阵营声望”系统，后面进化成了英雄无敌6代的血泪选择，还有一些设定图被用来给其他魔法门游戏提供创意和参考（比如冠军对决）。
• Editor`s note: Courtesy of Erwan and Ubisoft we can present a few previously unpublished artworks created by Nival for Heroes 6 (and also - for comparison - an artwork that was finally used in Duel of Champions):
• 编辑注：经由Erwan和Ubisoft提供，我们可以展示一些Nival为英雄无敌6代绘制的未发表的美术设定图（同时为了方便比较，也放上了冠军对决最后使用的美术设定图）。



• Could you tell us something more about the cancelled Might & Magic titles: “Kingdoms of Might and Magic” (not to be confused with “Might & Magic: Heroes Kingdoms”) and “Might & Magic Raiders”? What was their storyline about?
• 你能和我们说说取消掉的魔法门游戏：魔法门王国（不要和魔法门之英雄无敌：王国混淆）与魔法门突击者么？它们的剧情是什么？
• (About Kingdoms) The game’s concept, pitched by the late studio Wolfpack, developers of Shadowbane, was an MMORPG with innovative Strategy (Realm vs Realm) features. The game’s pitch was a conflict between a kingdom of Order (Haven faction + allied races) and a realm of Chaos (Inferno faction + allied creatures). Their world was called Axeoth but borrowed from various Might & Magic settings and mixed everything with very little lore references, mostly “name-dropping”. The pitch was not greenlighted so we had very little interactions with the team. Only a world map and a couple of artworks remain.
• （王国）游戏的设计是Wolfpack 制作组负责，也就是开发魔剑这部带有创造性策略要素（国度对国度）的MMORPG的制作组。本作的主要内容是秩序王国（圣堂阵营+联盟种族）与混沌国度（地狱阵营+联盟种族）之间的冲突。他们的世界叫做Axeoth ，但是借鉴了以往魔法门游戏的许多设定，混合了许多相关的剧情内容，不过大部分都只是“借名人之名”。由于本作的初期版本没能通过，所以我们和制作组之间也没有太多交流。只有一张世界地图和少数美术设定保留着。

• (About Raiders)
• Some of the lore created for Might & Magic Raiders, such as the Raiders and their code, Hammer Fall and its Bloodsmiths... later found their way into Might & Magic X and Heroes 7. A few music tracks composed by Roc Chen for Raiders were also reused in these games. Some characters created by Kurt McClung for Raiders would also find a life of their own later on: two minor NPCs from MMX, Romuald and Karim, were originally characters in Raiders (Romuald was supposed to appear as a street urchin in Hammer Fall). Gloria and Murazel from Heroes 7 were important story characters in Raiders.
• （突击者）魔法门突击者里的一些剧情，比如突击者和他们的代号，落锤镇和血铁匠，之后都融进了魔法门X和英雄无敌7。Roc Chen给突击者谱写的一些音轨也在这些游戏里。Kurt McClung 给突击者撰写的几个人物后来也在其他游戏中找到了归宿：比如魔法门X里面的两个次要NPC，Romuald和Karim，就是出自突击者（Romuald原本是落锤镇上的街头混混）。 英雄无敌7的Gloria与Murazel也是突击者里的总要剧情人物。

• Tell us something about you becoming the Might & Magic creative director. What were the reasons for it? Were you excited to “get the job” or scared?
• 告诉我们你是怎么成为魔法门创意总监的。有什么原因么？你对“获得”这个职位是激动还是畏惧？
• When Ubisoft started development of Heroes 5 and Dark Messiah, I was part of the Editorial team and my job was to help the dev teams on the definition and implementation of their creative visions. My portfolio of games was with the “fantasy” settings (Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil, Myst, The Settlers, and… Might & Magic). The development of the Might & Magic games was supervised by the EMEA Third Parties studio. Its manager, Stéphane Decroix, offered me a job as associate producer on Dark Messiah, with a parallel mission to work on the Might & Magic IP (create the world of Ashan, etc.). During the development of Heroes 6, the “parallel” mission was becoming the most important one (with new Might & Magic projects being kicked-off in internal Ubisoft studios – Raiders in Chengdu, Heroes Online in Bluebyte, Duel of Champions in Quebec, etc.). It was thus natural for us to create a dedicated IP team, and I left my producer position to become the full-time IP Creative Director. I was super-excited to get the job, as it was a logical continuation of my involvement on the IP, and the opportunity to work with people I highly esteemed. I sometimes joke about travelling back in time to speak to teenager me and tell him “you know what, sometime in the future you will have meetings to define the colors of Dragons, and people will discuss seriously about it, and you’ll get paid for that”
• 当Ubisoft开始开发英雄无敌5和黑暗弥赛亚的时候，我还是剧情组的一员，工作主要是帮助开发者界定并实现他们的创意。我参与的游戏都是“幻想风格”的（波斯王子，超越善恶，神秘岛，工人物语，以及魔法门）。当时魔法门游戏的开发是由EMEA Third Parties 制作组负责，它的经理Stéphane Decroix 给我提供了黑暗弥赛亚副制作人的职位，同时也兼任魔法门IP的工作（创造亚山世界）。而到了英雄无敌6的开发时期，兼职已经变成了主职（新的魔法门项目分给了Ubisoft自己的制作组，育碧成都负责突击者，Bluebyte负责英雄无敌在线，育碧魁北克负责冠军对决）。所以自然，我们需要成立一个专职的IP组，于是我离开了制作人的岗位，成为了全职的IP创意总监。能获得这个职位我非常激动，这是我过去对这个IP工作的延伸，也是一个与我尊敬的人合作的机会。我经常开玩笑说，如果我能回到过去，我会和十来岁的自己说“你知道，不久的将来你将开会来决定龙的颜色，而且与会者们都会严肃地讨论这个问题，最后你还得付钱给他们”。


• What are your best and worst memories of working with the brand? What are you most proud of and what would you like to forget?
• 你在这个品牌下工作的经历中，最好和最痛苦的回忆是哪些？哪些是你最自豪的，哪些是你最想忘记的？
• My worst memory is related to the release of Heroes 6. I was hurt with the degrading relationship between Ubisoft and Black Hole, crushed by the game’s state at launch and the absence of support to fix it, saddened by the loss of esteemed colleagues who were leaving Ubisoft to create Amplitude Studios, in conflict with other people at Ubisoft, and at the same time divorcing from the mother of my daughters. Fortunately, at the time of Shades of Darkness, the situation had greatly improved and I was back to my smiling self. As for the “best moments”, they were countless – brainstorming on exciting contents with the design teams, seeing them come to life during development, celebrating the games’ releases, and sharing our passion with the fans (and sometimes the press) during consumer shows or Might & Magic conventions. My biggest pride is related to the relationships I’ve built over the years with some people who have worked with me on the IP. It’s a mix of admiration and genuine friendship. I would go to hell without hesitation with them, knowing we would find our way back with incredible stories to tell
• 我最痛苦的回忆是英雄无敌6发售的那段时间，Ubisoft 和Black Hole之间紧张的关系，游戏发售那会频繁出现的程序崩溃，修复补丁的难产，还有尊敬的同事决定离开Ubisoft 去成立Amplitude Studios，和其他Ubisoft同事之间的争论，加上同一时期和孩子她妈的离婚。幸运的是，等到黑暗之影发售那会，生活总算有了好转，我也终于能重获笑容。至于最好的回忆，那多的数不清，在开发组里进行头脑风暴想出了绝妙的点子，看着这些创意在开发者手里获得生命，庆祝游戏发售，在游戏展或是魔法门聚会上与粉丝一起分享我们的热情（包括压力）。我最骄傲的是，能够在这些年来和与我一同在这个IP下工作的人之间构筑起良好的关系。这种友谊即相互尊重，又非常真诚。我愿意毫不迟疑地和他们一起共赴地狱，因为我知道我们能一起跨越难关完成伟业。


• Why games that were developed after Heroes V and Dark Messiah told tales from Ashan’s past instead of continuing the storyline further?
• 为什么英雄无敌5和黑暗弥赛亚之后开发的游戏都在讲述亚山世界过去的故事，而不是延续后面的剧情？
• Simply because we had tons of cool things to say about Ashan’s history. In retrospective, setting Dark Messiah very late in our world’s timeline was a mistake. If I were to do it again (build a new world), the first games I would publish would be very early in the timeline, so we could build form them instead of going backwards to explore the past.
• 主要因为关于亚山的历史，我们有很多很酷的故事可以讲。现在回顾起来，将黑暗弥赛亚的剧情设定在时间线的末期其实是个错误。如果我可以重来（创造一个新世界），首个发售的游戏应该是时间线最早期的故事，这样我们就可以沿着时间线开发新游戏，而不是倒回去探索过去。


• Did you play Heroes VI or Heroes VII recently? What were your feelings?
• 你最近有玩过英雄无敌6和英雄无敌7么？你有什么感受？
• I haven’t played Heroes 6 or 7 since the release of Trial By Fire. I’m more of a solo / campaign guy for this category of games so I don’t play skirmish or multiplayer.
• 自从烈火试炼发售之后，我就没有再玩过英雄无敌6和7了。我是单机战役党，所以不玩遭遇战和多人模式。


• Can you finally reveal the true identity of Kha-Beleth and what happened to the six Demon Overlords?
• 你能最终揭示卡•贝勒斯的真实身份，以及六位恶魔大君的结局么？
• It’s something I want to keep secret for a little while longer. When we announce the “official” death of Ashan to leave room for a new Might & Magic world, I’ll be ready for an “ask me anything” interview
• 这是我打算再保密一段时间的。等到我们正式“官方”宣布亚山世界灭亡，以给新魔法门世界留出舞台的时候，我会准备好面对一个“问我任何问题”的采访。


• How the Shantiri Empire came to be? Who was their enemy (besides Demons?) and who or what was responsible for its disappearance? Why nobody, including the Demons, doesn’t seem to remember anything about it?
• 杉提瑞帝国是怎样建立的？它的敌人是谁（除了恶魔），又是谁要为它的消失负责？为什么没人，包括恶魔，记得杉提瑞帝国的事？
• The creation of the Shantiri Empire is as described in the Ashan Compendium: From the Spirit world, the Dragon Gods send visions to their now mortal servants, instructing them in proper worship.
• 杉提瑞帝国的成立在亚山编年史里提到过：龙神们在灵界给它们的凡人仆从送去幻象，引导他们采用适当的崇拜方法。
• This leads to the foundation of the Shantiri Empire which unifies all six Elder races into a single nation, ruled by a cast of Priests, led by nine Hierophants (one per Elemental Dragon, three for Asha to represent her various aspects). Through their prayers and sacrifice, the Shantiri devouts hope to restore the power of their Gods so they could someday return. The Shantiris spread across the face of the world, building titanic cities and temples. Their enemies were the Demons, but they also had internal conflicts. What doomed them to oblivion is the Elder Wars between the Angels and the Faceless. The power of the Void was unleashed during this conflict, resulting not only in the destruction of the empire but also to most inhabitants of Ashan forgetting about the Shantiri, their memories erased.
• 这导致了杉提瑞帝国的建立，将六大长老种族统合成一个单一的国家，有祭司阶层所统治，其首领是九位大主教（每个元素龙神一位，亚莎有三位对应她的三面）通过他们的祈祷与献祭，杉提瑞人虔诚地希望他们的龙神可以恢复力量并且有朝一日回归。杉提瑞帝国横跨整个地表世界，建立了巨大的城市和庙宇。他们的敌人主要是恶魔，但是也有内部纷争。最终导致他们湮灭的就是天使与无面者之间的长老战争。虚空的力量在这场纷争中释放出来，不光导致了帝国的毁灭，也导致亚山世界大部分居民忘记了杉提瑞帝国，他们的记忆被抹去了。


• How old is Ashan? Does it exist for millions of years? Or only thousands?
• 亚山的历史有多久了？它存在了数百万年了么？还是仅仅上千年？
• Ashan’s cosmogony is kind of “Creationist” - No Big Bang, no Dinosaurs, no Darwin, just the demiurgical work of Asha and the Dragon Gods. So tens of thousands of years versus hundreds of millions.
• 亚山的宇宙观是所谓的“神创论”，没有大爆炸，没有恐龙，没有达尔文，都是亚莎和龙神所创造的。所以没有几百万年，大概上万年吧。


• What can you tell us about other continents besides Thallan? And if that wasn’t ever specified – what would you like to find there?
• 除了萨兰之外，还有哪些别的大陆？哪里有什么特殊的，我们可以在哪里遇到些什么？
• Thallan is based on Eurasia, so naturally, we discussed an “African” continent in the South, and an “American” in the West, with opportunities for lost Shantiri cities and variations on known creatures (Egyptian-themed Angels for instance). But we never really brainstormed on what could be found there.
• 萨兰大陆主要基于欧亚大陆设计的，所以自然在南端有一个类似的非洲大陆，在西边有一个类似的美洲大陆，一些失落的杉提瑞城市和各种已知生物的变种都有可能出现（比如埃及风格的天使）。不过我们还没有对哪里可能遇到什么开始过头脑风暴式的讨论。


• Are the various small nods and connections to the previous storyline universe (from Heroes 1-4 and Might & Magic 1-9) only easter eggs or does it mean that the two universes are actually combined? You probably discussed about it many times throughout the years. What were the reasons for and against such an idea?
• 那些和NWC时代（英雄无敌1-4和魔法门1-9）世界观相关联的小节点是单纯的彩蛋，还是说这两个世界观确实整合在一起了？你们估计过去几年已经讨论过这个问题不少次了，支持和反对的理由都是什么？
• Julien Pirou fought tooth and nail for years to connect Ashan to the other Might & Magic worlds. I was his Nemesis, always refusing (“Ashan is pure fantasy, I don’t want any Science-fiction multiverse in it!”). However, little by little, with subtle touches, he convinced me to at least hint that maybe… but you’re never sure… could be just a coincidence or the ravings of lunatics
• Julien Pirou力主将亚山世界与其他魔法门世界联系在一起，而我是他的死敌，始终反对这一点（亚山是纯奇幻世界，绝对不要任何科幻要素！）。不过，慢慢地，潜移默化间他也多少让我相信或许可以一试，所以这说不准，这些关联或许是单纯的巧合，也可能是些疯言疯语。


• How many Dark Elf clans and Wood Elf kingdoms actually are there? Can you tell us something about the ones we don’t know about?
• 黑暗精灵和森林精灵到底有多少王国？你能告诉我们一些我们还不知道的王国么？
• We have never decided on a finite, set number. We wanted to be able to create new clans / kingdoms whenever needed.
• 我们从没决定过具体数字是多少。毕竟我们需要随时在必要的时候添加新的氏族/王国。


• How big was Ygg-Chall in its entirety? Some texts suggest that it’s only one giant, ruined city of the Faceless, while other say it’s their kingdoms.
• 易格池沃到底有多大？有些剧情说它仅仅是一个巨大的无面者城市的废墟，另外一些则说那是无面者的王国。
• It’s their first original kingdom (not just a single city).
• 是他们第一个原始王国（并非单一城市）。


• One Heroes 5 scenario mentions Lake Elves – were they just different Wood Elves or maybe Sea Elves?
• 英雄无敌5代一个战役里面提到了湖泊精灵，他们是森林精灵的一种，还是海精灵？
• It’s just a Wood Elf tribe from Irollan that lived close to a lake.
• 他们就是一支生活在湖泊边上的艾罗兰精灵。


• Void Magic. What was known about it in the Shantiri Empire? Was it legal? Who practiced it (Demons, Faceless, Angels) ? Who discovered it?
• 虚空魔法，杉提瑞帝国对于其了解多少？是合法的么？谁会使用这种魔法（恶魔，无面者，天使）？谁最早发现的？
• Void Magic is one of the three aspects of Prime Magic. The best known is Order Magic, also called Arcane Magic, taught in the Wizard schools or in the monasteries of Asha (Blind Brothers, etc.). Then there’s Chaos Magic, linked to Urgash and the Demons. And there’s Void Magic, bound to the “Great Nothingness” that predated the Cosmic Egg and Creation. There are still vast expanses of “Void” in the Spirit World. Like Black Holes they are extremely dangerous to the unwary traveler. However, all souls cross the Void at the moment of death, after they are separated from their bodies, to erase the memories of their past life before being reunited with Asha on the Moon, and given a new incarnation. At the time of the Shantiri Empire, powerful sorcerer-priests (whose name and identity are now lost) experimented with Void Magic during the Elder Wars, resulting in the near-obliteration of their civilization. Centuries later, Sandro “rediscovered” Void Magic and was able to tame it (somehow). Void Magic has never been “legal” or favored by a certain faction (except the Nethermancers but they’re more akin to a sect). The Dragon Knights relentlessly hunt its practitioners.
• 虚空魔法是源力魔法的三面之一。源力魔法中最常见的是秩序魔法，又称为奥秘魔法，法师学院或者亚莎修道院（比如盲眼兄弟会）都会教授这种魔法。其次是混沌魔法，与鄂加斯和恶魔相关。最后就是虚空魔法，和孕育了宇宙卵及其造物的“大虚无”相连。在灵界中仍然有大片的“虚空”存在，就像黑洞一样，对于没准备的旅行者来说非常危险。不过，所有的生灵在死后都要穿过虚空，在他们的灵魂与身躯分离之后，会穿越虚空从而抹去昔日的记忆，然后前往月球与亚莎重聚，进入新的轮回。在杉提瑞帝国时代，强大的术士祭司（其真身早已不可考）在长老战争期间实验虚空魔法，最终导致了其文明几近湮灭。几个世纪以后，山德鲁再次“发现”了虚空魔法，并涉法驯服了这种力量。虚空魔法从来都不是“合法”的，也不曾被某个阵营所偏好（除了虚空术士，不过他们更接近于一个教派而非势力）。龙骑士们会无休止地追捕虚空魔法的使用者。


• What happened to the original Duel of Champions campaign, where the Herald of the Void was depicted as a man, not as Gazal, Sandro’s female accomplice?
• 冠军对决的原版战役怎么了，虚空先驱描述的那个男人哪里去了，怎么后来变成了山德鲁的女同谋贾扎尔了？
• It’s an inconsistency issue with the artwork of the Herald of the Void card. It was supposed to depict Kieran, sitting on the Throne of Renewal on Gazal’s command, to become the Knight of Negation. But if you compare Kieran’s card with the Herald of the Void they’re not exactly a 100% fit. And in DoC’s story, Kieran is not the Herald of the Void (Gazal is), so the card should show Gazal, not Kieran.
• 那是虚空先驱这张卡的卡图发生了不一致的问题。这张卡本来应该描绘的是基兰，在贾扎尔的指挥下坐上甦生王座从而成为虚无骑士。但是如果你把基兰的卡与虚空先驱的对比，你会发现它们其实并不吻合。而且在冠军对决的故事里，基兰并不是虚空先驱，贾扎尔才是，所以这张卡本应描绘的是贾扎尔，而非基兰。


• Did Wysloth’s story from Heroes 7 really happen or is it merely a legend? Why there are no specific dates on his campaign?
• 英雄无敌7代里威斯拉思的故事是真实发生的，还是仅仅一个传说？为什么他的战役没有具体的日期？
• [Credits to Julien Pirou for the answer to this question] The idea of the Sylvan campaign in H7 was that it was less grounded in history than the other ones, more like a folktale. It is certainly based on true events (Saabira, for instance, was clearly a real person), but Lasir weaves his own version of said events, to support the lesson he`s trying to teach Ivan. Lasir is a "marketing expert", in a way, and he knows the importance of storytelling to "sell" anything. That also makes him a rather unreliable narrator. To drive the point across, we drew a clear parallel with Homer`s Odyssey (the name of the campaign itself, but also its events: Cyclopes, pseudo-Lotus Eaters, pseudo-Charybdis and Scylla, and Saabira was the equivalent of Circe, being the sorceress who turns people into animals... or in this case, Beastmen...) . We also let the player choose the ending (foreshadowing Ivan`s own choices at the end of the game), and we didn`t give the campaign an actual date. It happens in "the time of legends". That being said, the drama between Danan and her mother, as well as the secondary Heroes who appear over the course of the campaign, hint that the true story happened some time after the Day of the Tears of Fire, but long before the events of Shades of Darkness.
• [这个问题由Julien Pirou来回答]英雄无敌7代森林战役的想法是，和其他几个人所讲述的故事相比没有那么基于真实历史，而更像是童话故事。当然事件本身是存在的（比如萨碧拉就是真实存在的角色），但是拉瑟在叙述故事的时候加进了自己的看法，从而支持他给伊凡传授的观点。拉瑟其实更像是一个营销专家，某种程度来说，他知道用讲故事的方法“销售”观点的重要性。所以他不是一个完全可信的叙述者。为了达到这个目标，我们效仿了荷马的奥德赛（无论是战役名，还是战役中的剧情：独眼巨人，类似的忘忧果，类似的卡律布狄斯和斯库拉，萨碧拉对应着喀耳刻，也就是将人变成动物的女术士，当然战役里是兽型人）。我们也让玩家可以选择结局（为最终结局伊凡的选择做铺垫），所以我们没有给这个战役一个明确的时间。它发生在“传奇时代”。不过参照达南和她母亲之间的悲剧，以及战役中所出现的副英雄，都表明真实的故事应该发生在火泪之日后，但是远远早于黑暗之影的故事。


• In Duel of Champions there was a Dark Elf Necromancer by the name of Damran. What’s his story? How does a Dark Elf become a Necromancer?
• 在冠军对决中，有一个黑暗精灵亡灵法师达姆兰（感染者达姆兰，后期变成了荆棘之选达姆兰）。他的故事是什么？一个黑暗精灵是怎么变成亡灵法师的？
• Anyone can become a Wizard, or Necromancer. Damran’s story was that of a rebellious Dark Elf who would turn against his clan and Malassa to become a Necromancer, but then would find “enlightenment” and finally become a Dragon Knight.
• 任何人都可以成为法师或是亡灵法师。达姆兰的故事，就是一个叛逆的黑暗精灵成为了一个亡灵法师，从而反过来对抗自己的氏族和马拉萨，但是之后终于获得了“启示”，并最终成为了龙骑士（荆棘之选，大地之龙西莱纳的龙骑士）。


• Do Sea Elves have some special creatures under their command?
• 海精灵有听从他们指挥的独特生物么？
• Yes. Like Wood Elves have Treants, Unicorns, and other forest creatures or spirits as allies to fight by their side in times of war, Sea Elves can count on marine creatures or spirits like Mermaids, Dragon Eels, or even Leviathans and Krakens (depending on their respective alliances).
• 有的，就像森林精灵有树人，独角兽，以及其他的森林精魂作为盟友一起并肩作战，海精灵也可以骑乘海洋生物或是精魂，比如人鱼，龙鳗，甚至是利维坦和海怪（取决于其各自的盟友）。


• Finally: Do you have a message for Might & Magic fans for the next 15 years? :)
• 最后：你对魔法门粉丝的未来15年有什么寄语么？
• There’s very little chance that I’ll still be in charge of Might & Magic in 15 years (even if… you never know), but I sincerely hope I’ll be there, with you, one fan amongst the multitude, happy to see the IP being still alive, maybe even elevated back to its former glory, when it was considered one of the top AAA Medieval Fantasy franchises in the video game world. No matter what happens in the future, I will fondly remember my time with the Might & Magic community. It was not always sunny and warm. But even the occasional “hate” messages were received with a smile. Some of them were, after all, quite funny. Others justified in what they were saying (if not in how they were saying it). Most of them I saved in a special folder to keep my feet on the ground and remember for whom we were working. And, all things said and done, I’m a half-full glass kind of person. There were so many great moments shared with the community that the glass, in my mind, still is, and will remain, full. So here’s my collective thank you to all the fans out there whom I’ve met in person, who have joined our VIP our Shadow Council programs, who have been active on our forums, who have played our games, who have sometimes joined our ranks to work side by side with us.
• 都是客套话，省略之……！