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[hellegennes]

I don't think it was Black Hole's decision to release the game one year too early.

[Dalai]

I am ex-military and we are taught you can delegate authority, but not responsibility. UBI is ultimately to blame.

Brilliant! Absolutely agree.

[XEL II]

Also, don't forget was that Ubisoft Might and Magic World Team were the ones that scrapped the original universe and developed Ashan, its inferior replacement. They also worked very closely with both Nival and Black Hole and other contracted complanies on HoMM V-VI, Dark Messiah and CoH. They are also to blame, and I hazard to say much more so than Nival or Black Hole.

NWC were actually quite serious with the story of their games. However, I think that's rather irrelevant here.

Is the semantic meaning of "spin-off" a more relevant discussion?

From what i see they were serious about making games that are fun to make and play. In a way it was opposite to Ubi, which tried to be serious with "dark atmosphere" but ended up somewhat silly. NWC games are not only full of easter eggs from TV shows but ridiculous stuff like temples of Moo or Baa, backwards spelling, swamp things, killer sprites, magyars and crazed beggars. I doubt that anyone who takes its creation very seriously adds that amount of fun. The general plot of ancients, creators and interstellar travel was just so genial background that it gave it all a touch of seriousness. I think if one wants one could put Ashan, Lordaeron of Larry Laffer into NWC multiverse and make the appearance logic. The point that games changed worlds or continents in almost all installments, town and hero names were reused IMO does not sound like a conspiracy or grand plan, but just a flow of events when there is a general plan for gameplay, twists of events and background mythos but no desire to develop all minor details in punctually correct way.

I agree with your there. Yes, Might and Magic had lots of humorous stuff, but, as you yourself said, the backstory was indeed serious. In many aspects the details weren't all that developed, but some of them were. Anyway, what I'm saying is that HoMM is not a sequel, but merely a spiritual successor for King's Bounty. NWC repetaedly referred to HoMM as part of Might and Magic universe and associated it with MM seies as a spin-off. What you said about their main objective being making games that are fun to play is IMO totally right.

And yes, Varnal Hills, coupled with presence of Ironfist, merits the notion that Morglin came from VARN. It would be too coincidental that "Varnal" and Ironfists (a dynasty from VARN 4, never before encountered anywhere else) are not from the Land of Varn. If you're not desperate to cut all ties between MM and HoMM, of course (that's not about you, Pitsu). In that case, the discussion is indeed obsolete because of a bias one side has.

[hellegennes]

This may surprise you, but I have no benefit in proving that HoMM is not a MM spin-off. You have one point: there's the name Ironfist. Names have been reused several times, as I've said before.



You doubt that HoMM is a sequel to King's Bounty and not a MM spin-off, despite me quoting JVC saying this exact thing. If you don't believe the creator of the series, the discussion is indeed going nowhere.

[XEL II]

This may surprise you, but I have no benefit in proving that HoMM is not a MM spin-off. You have one point: there's the name Ironfist. Names have been reused several times, as I've said before.



You doubt that HoMM is a sequel to King's Bounty and not a MM spin-off, despite me quoting JVC saying this exact thing. If you don't believe the creator of the series, the discussion is indeed going nowhere.

Again, you're just ignoring most of what I say. The manual mentions Varnal Hills in the same context as the Ironfists (name never before reused outside of Varn). That's too much to be just a coincidence and not the same Ironfist dynasty. Face it already, Morglin came from VARN 4. And yes, this connection to MM storyline is indeed rather weak and there mainly there just to tie HoMM with MM. The real connection was made by The Mandate of Heaven.

And JVC never denied HoMM being a spin-off of MM, in fact, NWC usually talked about it as part of the overall MM franchise. And HoMM was envisioned as KB's sequel and was originally planned to be a full-fledged sequel, but Might and Magic name was added during the development (as JVC said in the past). But it's not a direct sequel or part of a KB series, it onherits much of the mechanics and concept, that's what makes one game a spiritual successor to another.

Besides, considering HoMM a spin-off of Might and Magic is also just common sense: they have the same universe and settings, share many concepts, heck, even the name "Might and Magic" (if it's any indication for you). And NWC itself positioned HoMM as part of the MM universe.