Speaking to Famitsu in the March 10 issue of the magazine (with translations from VGC), Miyazaki spoke about how releasing a game normally results in an amount of anxiety. “It’s the same for all past titles, not just this one, but it’s not a very pleasant time,” he said. “I’m sure I’m relieved, but I’m more anxious about it. I never get used to it.”
The Dark Souls creator also explained how now was the right time for FromSoftware to make Elden Ring, noting his “excellent staff,” and how they are able to “leave (him to it).” Elden Ring is a much bigger game than previous titles from the developer, but “it was expected from the beginning that this work would be the largest scale ever.”
Elden Ring. Credit: FromSoftware.
Miyazaki also touched on how Sekirowasn’t a direct influence on the development of Elden Ring. “Since this work and the production of Sekiro were in parallel, there was not much direct feedback from Sekiro,” he said. “However, since I directed both, it is certain that they influenced each other.”
And for those curious about how involved A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin was in the development of Elden Ring, Miyazaki spoke about that too. “Martin’s lore has existed since the very early stages of development and has given us various inspirations,” said Miyazaki. “The lore depicts a complex and interesting relationship between mystery and the player, and gives us a multi-layered depth that we can call history.”
Miyazaki approached Martin with a general concept of the Elden Ring itself, as well as the game’s opening, but things like the Erdtree were not established until later on. “At first, it wasn’t called the ‘Ring’, but I think he talked about the Elden Ring-like existence and the image of the opportunity for it to break,” said Miyazaki. “However, it was only spoken as an abstract concept, and I don’t think he had a concrete motif such as a golden tree at that time.”
Elden Ring. Credit: FromSoftware.
As well as this, Miyazaki delved into the general framework he has for storytelling in Souls games, with what he calls his ‘basic policy’. For Elden Ring, this ‘basic policy’ is the same as what you would find in Dark Souls. “The textual information is presented in pieces and is intended to be connected in the user’s mind or to be imagined by the user. The reason for this is that we want the gameplay itself to be the story of the user. However, I think that NPC conversations are more straightforward than in past works.”
A recent datamine of Elden Ring hinted at a potential colosseum DLC coming to the game at some point in the future.
