15) How did the development of M & M X: Legacy begin?
I was a fan of the Might & Magic series even before I became a fan of the Heroesspin-off , so when I joined the Might & Magic Team to work on Heroes VI , I asked why Might & Magic X was not there yet . The answer was ... complicated. Poor sales and the worst critical takeover of the Might & Magic IX meant that Ubisoft did not know whether the new part would be viable. There was also the question of what will be the game M & M the X . The success of Elder Scrolls games has set a new standard for first-person RPGs : it would be very difficult to get a budget to make an FP gamewith such a production cost, but with a party, step-by-step gameplay, since this mix will feel strange and awkward for most players. In addition, Ubisoft has never done an RPG before , so it would be a risky business. So the situation was difficult. In fact, when Arcane Studios approached Ubisoft with a project that became Dark Messiah , it was originally called M & M X , but ultimately it was decided that their project was so different that it would be better to give it a different name.
After the release of Heroes VI , a renaissance of underground "cellular" games such as Etrian Odyssey or Legend of Grimrock took place . So I suggested: why not go back to the “old school”? Thus, we could honor the legacy of the game series, do it with a small budget and learn how to create RPGs in a less risky project. We had a management change, and our new boss suggested that we hold regular project competitions to decide which project we should do next. I presented the idea of the project “Might & Magic Legacy” , and in the end it was chosen.
Since Might & Magic was controlled by third-party developers at Ubisoft Partnersat the time , we still had to find the right team. We contacted several development studios, each of whom thought about what game they would do, but no one felt right (one very talented studio, for example, wanted to make a direct clone of Legend of Grimrock with only one city and one big dungeon , but for us it was not Might & Magic ).
We met Limbic Entertainment during the final stage of development of Heroes VI , when they joined the team to help Black Hole with some technical aspects. Then Limbic started creating Adventures. During the conversation with the boss of Limbic, Stefan Winter, we turned to the topic of how he would like to work on an RPG project. I remember talking to Gary Paulini, the producer of the game, who was sitting on the other side of the table. We thought the same thing: why not Limbic ? At least, let's see what they will do with the Might & Magic the X .
A few weeks later, Limbic developers returned to us with a functional prototype, demonstrating a study of the game world and a small dungeon. It was then that we realized that we had found suitable partners for the project.
16) Why are M & M X events taking place only on one peninsula, and not on the whole continent, as it was in the early parts of M & M?
This is a matter of scale. We had a small budget, and we calculated that we can only make a world that would be about the size of Clouds of XEEN. This included only a few cities and 20 dungeons. If you look at Tallan, the main continent of Askhan, then there are a huge number of territories, dozens of villages and cities, regions with very different cultures and so on. It is simply not feasible with our capabilities.
I was always interested to learn about Kartal, the city that was shown on the map of Askhan, included in Heroes V , but was never explored and was not mentioned in the game itself. It seemed like an interesting place to explore, without too much baggage. We saw only the eastern boundary of the peninsula in the campaign for Inferno in MMH6 : as a level designer, I created the city of Sorpigal-on-Sea there. At that time, this city was only a funny little “Easter egg”, but this detail prompted the decision that the as yet unnamed Peninsula with Kartaly become the region where Might & Magic X will take place , and Sörpigalle - the initial city, as in the old good times!
17) How could an astronomer Edwin see other planets so clearly through the Veil?
Creating a “skybox” for Might & Magic X , especially the night sky, we wanted it to be strange and magical and obviously did not look like a real night sky. We came up with the idea that the Veil will be visible at night, like the magical Milky Way. And from there came the idea that the astronomer looks through the Veil and sees all sorts of strange things, including the flat world and the distant planet (if you look closely at the pictures on Edwin's wall, you will understand that this is Terra from Might & Magic III ).
18) Can the Masters of the Elements from the Elemental Forge be considered avatars of the Masters of the Elements from the Universe of the Ancients
I, of course, prescribed them that way. For me, the Masters of the Elements are ethereal creatures that transcend time and space and can potentially have avatars in all the worlds of the M & M universe . True, in Askhan there are two more sovereigns [comment: per: Light and Darkness] ...
19) Is Jassad from Sorpigal-on-Sea - is it a real Jassad or is it a simple Easter egg?
This is certainly an “Easter egg”, but this is the real Jassad Attka from the novels of Jerry Gravela . Lane: Author of the Might and Magic book dilology . I contacted Jerry to ask him for permission to turn on his character and discuss with him how he should look. His appearance occurs some time after the events of the novels, he studies Askhan with his new best friend - Ail do Mer.
20) Can you tell us about the plans of M & M 11?
At first, we intended to make an independent addition to Might & Magic X , which would add a completely new region to explore (Wild Islands) with new quests, cities and characters. As in World of XEEN, players who have a main game and an autonomous addition would be able to take the ship in Kartal and go to the Wild Islands and vice versa. After the completion of both parallel storylines, finally, a new cycle would open about choosing a new Pirate King after the death of Craig Hack. The player could choose his candidate (he would meet them all during the previous assignments) and help him claim the title through the final series of assignments. Unfortunately, in the end, these plans were canceled. Canonically, Tsuan becomes the next Pirate King, as stated in Bart Brimstone’s script in Trial by Fire .
I had a concept for Might & Magic XI (codename: Odyssey , which is quite funny, given the name of the new Assassin's Creed ). The events of this game were to take place in the Dragon Gati, a mountain region located on the eastern border of the Holy Empire. The appearance of the free city of Stormcliffe was planned, as well as the naked chanri, the Black Skull orcs, the dwarfs of Ostgird ... The idea was to build on what we learned during the MMXL, and make a more ambitious project, with the introduction of a number of modern functions (for example, free movement in the game world). The player would have access to new races for the group (including minotaurs and Nagas) with their classes. This would be an epic journey through the desert territory: one of the ideas that worried me a lot was that the player was driving a caravan assembled in a small city and traveling around the game world. It would be possible to update the caravan, invite new merchants or mercenaries to join, and so on. The player would have the opportunity to take mercenaries as characters in the group (they would have unique classes) or leave them to protect the caravan from enemies (there would be random events during the journey).
Well, those were the ideas that were in my notes anyway. Unfortunately, MMXL did not have good sales, and therefore the project would never have received the "green light". This is especially frustrating, since MMXL downloaded a lot of people illegally.
