2011 SPOnG
SPOnG 专访增田顺一与杉森建：伦敦首发夜谈《宝可梦 黑／白》重启原点、掌机社交哲学与比克提尼之爱
增田顺一
杉森建增田顺一与杉森建谈《宝可梦 黑／白》重启、掌机社交与比克提尼。
There�s a lot of love in this club. For Pokemon, that is. I�m sat in the middle of a VIP area of a Leicester Square bar about to chat to Game Freak�s Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori.
这个俱乐部里充满了爱。对宝可梦的爱。我坐在莱斯特广场一家酒吧的VIP区中央，即将与Game Freak的增田顺一和杉森建交谈。
A row of DS consoles frame a packed dancefloor full of Nintendo representatives, journalists and lucky competition winners eager to get their hands on Pokemon Black and White early.
一排DS主机环绕着挤满人的舞池，里面全是任天堂代表、记者和幸运的竞赛获胜者，他们迫不及待地想提前拿到《宝可梦 黑／白》。
The moment I stepped into the venue, I was greeted by huge costumes of the three starter Pokemon - Tepig, Snivy and Oshawott - and immediately my inner child went squealing for a picture.
我一踏入会场，就看到了三只初始宝可梦——暖暖猪、藤藤蛇和水水獭——的巨大玩偶装，我内心的孩子立刻尖叫着要去拍照。
That excitement soon turned into an intense, overwhelming feeling of nerves as I speak with director Masuda-san and designer Sugimori-san. But the developers must have been equally as nervous as to how fans would react to this new, rebooted version.
当我与总监增田先生和设计师杉森先生交谈时，那种兴奋很快变成了一种强烈、压倒性的紧张感。但开发者们对于粉丝会如何反应这个全新的重启版本，肯定也同样紧张。
For a start, there were a few challenges involved in bringing the series back to its roots in Black and White. �It was very difficult this time around, because we actually broke down absolutely everything the games had in the past and tried to rebuild it. That process was quite hard,� Masuda mused.
首先，在《黑／白》中将系列带回根源涉及一些挑战。“这次非常困难，因为我们实际上把游戏过去的一切都彻底拆解，并试图重建它。那个过程相当艰难，”增田沉思道。
With a development time of around four years, it seems that the team had got the balance right - gone are the extraneous and convoluted things like Poffin making and underground exploration, replaced with a heavier emphasis on adventure and story-based play.
开发时间大约四年，团队似乎找到了正确的平衡——制作宝芬和地下探险等多余而复杂的内容消失了，取而代之的是更强调冒险和基于故事的玩法。
But for all the good work Game Freak has done in cutting the chaff here, is there a danger of things slowly inching back to the confusing and arduous world of mandatory fashion shows to complete your Pokedex? Just as I asked this, a representative for the Pokemon Company said, �I don�t think that�s the point, it�s not that it got too confusing. That�s not the point of Black and White�s existence,� before asking the translator to rephrase my question to a simple �Why did you decide to reboot the franchise?�
但是，尽管Game Freak在删减冗余内容方面做得很好，是否存在一种危险，即事情会慢慢回到为了完成宝可梦图鉴而必须参加时装秀的那种令人困惑和艰巨的世界？就在我问这个问题时，宝可梦公司的一位代表说：“我不认为那是重点，并不是它变得太令人困惑了。那不是《黑／白》存在的意义，”然后要求翻译把我的问题改述为一个简单的“你们为什么决定重启这个系列？”
The translator asked me if this was what I wanted to ask. Um, sure, I guess. Pretty sure I didn�t have much of a choice in the matter.
翻译问我这是否是我想问的。嗯，当然，我想是吧。我很确定我在这件事上没什么选择。
Masuda said that the studio�s reasoning for rebooting the franchise was he wanted everybody to begin from the same starting line. �There are kids who have played Diamond and Pearl, and adults who grew up with Red and Blue. When you get these players to battle, some may know more about each other�s weaknesses than others. We wanted everyone to start from scratch and lead a team that they had never experienced before.�
增田说，工作室重启这个系列的原因是他希望每个人都从同一条起跑线开始。“有些孩子玩过《钻石／珍珠》，有些成年人是伴随着《红／蓝》长大的。当你让这些玩家对战时，有些人可能比其他人更了解彼此的弱点。我们希望每个人都从零开始，带领一支他们从未体验过的队伍。”
My thoughts turned to the role of the home console in general when it comes to the Pokemon franchise - Game Freak has always said that the main adventure games will be exclusive to handheld platforms like the Nintendo DS, so how does the Wii fit in on the grand scheme of things? Are games like Pokemon Snap and Battle Revolution the only products fit for the home? Perhaps not…
当谈到宝可梦系列时，我的思绪转向了家用主机的一般角色——Game Freak一直表示，主要的冒险游戏将 exclusive 于任天堂DS等掌机平台，那么Wii在宏大计划中处于什么位置？像《宝可梦随乐拍》和《战斗革命》这样的游戏是唯一适合家用的产品吗？也许不是……
-1- 2 next »
-1- 2 下一页 »
�The reason the series stays on portable consoles is because you can instantly exchange Pokemon with others, and that�s one of the core elements of the franchise,� Masuda revealed. �And a lot of those fellow players tend to be near you. For home consoles, most of the time players tend to use WiFi Connection to interact with those much farther away.
“这个系列一直留在掌机上，是因为你可以即时与他人交换宝可梦，而这是这个品牌的核心要素之一，”增田透露。“而且很多这样的玩家往往就在你附近。对于家用主机，大多数时候玩家倾向于使用WiFi连接与距离远得多的人互动。”
�If we do put the franchise on home consoles it would need to be in such a way that you could maybe play with others in the same area. That�s the kind of element we could introduce for the home experience, just like the Pokemon Wii games we have developed in the past.�
“如果我们真的把这个系列放到家用主机上，那它需要以某种方式让你能和同一区域的人一起玩。这就是我们可以在家用体验中引入的那种要素，就像我们过去开发的宝可梦Wii游戏那样。”
Naturally, if you think of one of the defining aspects of Pokemon, it�s in its connectivity with people whether they�re near or far. With the Nintendo 3DS just around the corner, the means of interacting with other players becomes more sophisticated.
自然，如果你想到宝可梦的决定性方面之一，那就是它与人的连接，无论他们近在咫尺还是远在天边。随着任天堂3DS即将推出，与其他玩家互动的方式变得更加精细。
�The many different ways of engaging in wireless connectivity is something we would like to take advantage of in the 3DS,� Masuda hinted. Perhaps StreetPass will be a factor - and although nothing was said of the AR capabilities of the upcoming handheld, if a future Pokemon game failed to involve an interactive tie-in with the Trading Card Game I�ll eat my trainer�s cap.
“在3DS上，我们想利用多种不同的无线连接方式，”增田暗示道。也许StreetPass会是一个因素——尽管关于这款即将推出的掌机的AR功能只字未提，但如果未来的宝可梦游戏没有与集换式卡牌游戏进行互动联动，我就把我的训练家帽子吃掉。
Unfortunately, I wasn�t able to pick the director�s brains about the state of the games industry - with Game Freak rejecting the idea of a Pokemon MMO and the world seeming to gravitate towards social networking, I was curious how he sees games (including Pokemon) evolving over time.
遗憾的是，我未能就游戏行业的现状探询这位总监的想法——在Game Freak否决了宝可梦MMO的想法、而世界似乎正被社交网络吸引之际，我很好奇他如何看待游戏（包括宝可梦）随时间演变。
Apparently, �that�s not really a question for Game Freak,� according to the Pokemon Company representative. I was instead encouraged to ask questions that would probably have been better answered in a press release.
据宝可梦公司的代表说，“那其实不是该问Game Freak的问题”。我反而被鼓励去问那些或许更适合在新闻稿中回答的问题。
As a result, I didn�t end up getting much, if any, of Masuda�s enthusiasm throughout the interview. Which is a shame when you have a rare opportunity to speak to a key developer behind one of the world�s best-loved gaming franchises. Sticking to safe answers and towing very heavily to the company line may seem like a good idea for PR and business, but it doesn�t do much to communicate a respected developer�s personality.
结果，在整个采访中，我几乎没有感受到增田的任何热情。当你难得有机会与世界上最受喜爱的游戏品牌之一背后的关键开发者交谈时，这实在令人遗憾。坚持安全的回答、严格遵循公司口径，对公关和生意来说或许是个好主意，但这无助于传达一位受人尊敬的开发者的个性。
Regardless, I can tell that Masuda�s happiness at the franchise�s colossal success is genuine, even underneath the uncompromising business poker face and the sharp executive suit. �I�m really surprised at just how far the brand has come,� he tells me, indicating his pleasure at seeing a large number of fans enjoying the new game and his excitement for having a battle against one lucky competition winner.
无论如何，我能看出增田对这个品牌巨大成功的喜悦是真诚的，即便在那毫不妥协的商业扑克脸和笔挺的高管西装之下也是如此。“我真的很惊讶这个品牌已经走到了这么远，”他告诉我，表示他很高兴看到大量粉丝享受新游戏，也很兴奋能与一位幸运的比赛获胜者对战。
His favourite Pokemon? �I won�t get to use him in this battle, but I really like Victini.�
他最喜欢的宝可梦？“这场对战中我不会用到它，但我真的很喜欢比克提尼。”
Pokemon Black and White is out today. SPOnG�s review will be coming soon, but here�s a hint - it�s good.
《宝可梦 黑／白》今日发售。SPOnG 的评测即将发布，不过先给个提示——它很不错。
« prev 1 -2-
« 上一页 1 -2-
Index 本篇提到
- 地点
- 莱斯特广场
- 同一件事的另一种说法Eurogamer 独家专访：增田顺一与杉森建谈《宝可梦 黑·白》幕后心智（纽约曼哈顿采风、156只全新宝可梦大换血的决断与成熟叙事）同为2011年3月欧洲发售前增田杉森专访
- 同一件事的另一种说法Nintendo Power 专访增田顺一与杉森建：《宝可梦 黑·白》设计理念与百余只全新宝可梦同为2011年3月黑·白海外发售期增田杉森专访