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[IbizaPocholo]

FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki Explains Why He Won't Play Elden Ring

In a recent interview, FromSoftware president and Elden Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki explains why he won't play his own game.

gamerant.com

The latest set of reveals come way of Edge Magazine (in issue 367), which recently interviewed FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki regarding Elden Ring. More details are likely to be revealed in the coming days, but already, this interview has revealed why the game won’t feature rings (Talismans are more varied and Rings play an important story role), that Elden Ring won’t force players into horseback, and most interestingly, why Hidetaka Miyazaki himself won’t play Elden Ring.

This may come across as an initial surprise, as someone not playing a game they made seems like an odd premise. However, for Miyazaki, not playing his own games is “sort of [his] personal policy.” It’s not that he’s worried about Elden Ring or anything like that; in fact, he also describes it as “something that’s very close to [his] ideal game.” For Miyazaki, Elden Ring just doesn’t hold any surprises.

“You know, I probably won't end up playing Elden Ring because it's a game I've made myself…You wouldn't get any of the unknowns that the fresh player is going to experience. Like I said before, it wouldn't feel like playing. But if I did, then this would be close to the ideal game I'd want.” Given this personal policy, it does make sense. One part of any successful Soulslike game is that it nails the environmental storytelling that pieces it all together like a puzzle, and for Miyazaki, he already knows all the pieces.

Miyazaki also explains that he didn’t approach it like this, like he was trying to make his ideal game, but “just that the open world enriches this ideal experience [he’s] trying to achieve.” As such, it’ll be interesting to see how these open-field or open-world elements influence Elden Ring.


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Elden Ring Won't Force Horseback Combat on Players

While Elden Ring's horseback feature may be imperative to open-world exploration, Miyazaki addresses that it will not be imperative to combat.

gamerant.com

Miyazaki also reportedly stated that combat while mounted on the spectral steed would not be a necessary solution to any encounter, and that it only offers "another viable strategy among many." Indeed, Torrent provides players with a unique way to lunge in-and-out of combat with mounted strikes while quickly galloping around the area to avoid direct encounters on foot. Other enemies and mini-bosses have been seen to ride horseback in Elden Ring's Closed Network Test as well, which levels the playing field for such battles.


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Elden Ring Creator Explains Why Rings Aren't Equippable Item

FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki addresses the fact that rings will not be items players can equip in Elden Ring, unlike its Dark Souls predecessors.

gamerant.com

Miyazaki shared more information recently in an interview with EDGE, where the director and developer discussed "rings" and how they are no longer an item that players equip in Elden Ring. While it may seem strange initially that a game with the item in the title does not feature it as an accessory, Miyazaki explains that "rings do no exist as physical 'finger rings' in the game, but more as unique items that are involved in the story and unique character events."

Instead, Elden Ring's talisman items are the new "ring" accessory and provide the same passive status condition buffs that rings would, such as the Chloranthy Ring in Dark Souls 3 that increases stamina regeneration by twenty percent, or the Red Tearstone Ring that increases damage by twenty-percent when the player's health is below twenty percent. As such, talismans supplant rings so that rings do not need to feel like a trivial item for the wearer whilst having "a special positioning within the world."

 

[Roni]

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

 

[ANDS]

Completely unsurprising. It's like watching your own movie: you know everything you've put into it, so other than watching it with friends or what have you's what is the point.

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

I'm sure he means the released version of the game. He's not THAT good.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Aren’t the rings destroyed? That’s the sole purpose of the Tarnished coming back to the Lands Between. Just like if the Elder Scrolls were destroyed. Totally cool with that. I’d imagine he knows his game by heart.

 

[AlexxKidd]

A little tldr for those who don't want to read the article,

Edge: "Is it true you won't play Elden Ring? Why is that?"

Miyazaki: "Because the game has no difficulty select."

 

[kyliethicc]

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

Fun fact - most game devs don't play the games they work on after release, at least not for a while. They can't not see all the flaws. They've played parts of the game hundreds of times over and over again during development. Upon release, its the last thing many want to do. Of course Miyazaki will have play tested Elden Ring during dev, but after release I doubt he wants to. Devs basically ruin their own games for themselves by making them.

 

[DaleinCalgary]

This makes no sense at all.

 

[Danjin44]

This makes no sense at all.

Actually its pretty common that most creators dont watch or play what they create.

 

[RoadHazard]

Miyazaki not gud confirmed.

 

[Tschumi]

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

that's the point, he's played it ad nauseum so there's nothing great about playing it

 

[lh032]

This makes no sense at all.

actually it makes alot of sense.
I mean yea some people will play their game to see the final result, but some people have seen way too much to enjoy the experience.

 

[Bartski]

gamerant, motherload of BS clickbait nothing-burgers.

Spoiler: also,

 

[jigglet]

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

It’s totally taken out of context I reckon. It makes zero sense otherwise.

 

[Ezquimacore]

are we still pretending this is not dark souls but open world?

 

[Concern]

Miyazaki is a "bad kid"?

 

[Elder Legend]

What a legend.

 

[Spukc]

So he won't play it after release then? ' Cause I remember him saying he used to tweak the difficulty until he wasn't able to beat it. That requires playing the game extensively during development.

It’s called marketing

 

[Fess]

Completely unsurprising. It's like watching your own movie: you know everything you've put into it, so other than watching it with friends or what have you's what is the point.



I'm sure he means the released version of the game. He's not THAT good.

I don’t understand it. I’m a creative soul, make music and art and games and build stuff etc, the only way for me to improve is to dissect my finished content and learn from my mistakes, otherwise I would unknowingly make the same mistakes again.

 

[FunkMiller]

Authors don’t read their own novels. Same thing.

 

[Haggard]

He´s probably played the game more than 99% of buyers ever will at the point it`s finally ready for release, knows every secret, knows every character in and out.

Most other people don`t replay games, either.

 

[cireza]

I understand him. I wouldn't play it either.

 

[Nickolaidas]

FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki Explains Why He Won't Play Elden Ring

In a recent interview, FromSoftware president and Elden Ring creator Hidetaka Miyazaki explains why he won't play his own game.

gamerant.com

The latest set of reveals come way of Edge Magazine (in issue 367), which recently interviewed FromSoftware President Hidetaka Miyazaki regarding Elden Ring. More details are likely to be revealed in the coming days, but already, this interview has revealed why the game won’t feature rings (Talismans are more varied and Rings play an important story role), that Elden Ring won’t force players into horseback, and most interestingly, why Hidetaka Miyazaki himself won’t play Elden Ring.

This may come across as an initial surprise, as someone not playing a game they made seems like an odd premise. However, for Miyazaki, not playing his own games is “sort of [his] personal policy.” It’s not that he’s worried about Elden Ring or anything like that; in fact, he also describes it as “something that’s very close to [his] ideal game.” For Miyazaki, Elden Ring just doesn’t hold any surprises.

“You know, I probably won't end up playing Elden Ring because it's a game I've made myself…You wouldn't get any of the unknowns that the fresh player is going to experience. Like I said before, it wouldn't feel like playing. But if I did, then this would be close to the ideal game I'd want.” Given this personal policy, it does make sense. One part of any successful Soulslike game is that it nails the environmental storytelling that pieces it all together like a puzzle, and for Miyazaki, he already knows all the pieces.

Miyazaki also explains that he didn’t approach it like this, like he was trying to make his ideal game, but “just that the open world enriches this ideal experience [he’s] trying to achieve.” As such, it’ll be interesting to see how these open-field or open-world elements influence Elden Ring.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elden Ring Won't Force Horseback Combat on Players

While Elden Ring's horseback feature may be imperative to open-world exploration, Miyazaki addresses that it will not be imperative to combat.

gamerant.com

Miyazaki also reportedly stated that combat while mounted on the spectral steed would not be a necessary solution to any encounter, and that it only offers "another viable strategy among many." Indeed, Torrent provides players with a unique way to lunge in-and-out of combat with mounted strikes while quickly galloping around the area to avoid direct encounters on foot. Other enemies and mini-bosses have been seen to ride horseback in Elden Ring's Closed Network Test as well, which levels the playing field for such battles.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elden Ring Creator Explains Why Rings Aren't Equippable Item

FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki addresses the fact that rings will not be items players can equip in Elden Ring, unlike its Dark Souls predecessors.

gamerant.com

Miyazaki shared more information recently in an interview with EDGE, where the director and developer discussed "rings" and how they are no longer an item that players equip in Elden Ring. While it may seem strange initially that a game with the item in the title does not feature it as an accessory, Miyazaki explains that "rings do no exist as physical 'finger rings' in the game, but more as unique items that are involved in the story and unique character events."

Instead, Elden Ring's talisman items are the new "ring" accessory and provide the same passive status condition buffs that rings would, such as the Chloranthy Ring in Dark Souls 3 that increases stamina regeneration by twenty percent, or the Red Tearstone Ring that increases damage by twenty-percent when the player's health is below twenty percent. As such, talismans supplant rings so that rings do not need to feel like a trivial item for the wearer whilst having "a special positioning within the world."

This is why we need brainwashing technology to erase the spoilers from our memory and we could play a game again with a clean slate. Like that movie with Ben Affleck.

 

[Bramble]

This makes no sense at all.

This. There's nothing more cool than playing the final product yourself after years of hard work. I mean, people replay games too quite often. Same thing. I used to record DJ mixes at home. They've always been among my most played sets when I'm driving or working out for example.

 

[Nickolaidas]

This. There's nothing more cool than playing the final product yourself after years of hard work.

He's basically saying that watching Planet of the Apes while being the one who wrote the spoiler in the end scene takes a lot out of the OOOOMF in the movie.

I kinda get it, but in the end ... the majority of players who play Souls games don't play them for the story.

 

[Bartski]

I don’t understand it. I’m a creative soul, make music and art and games and build stuff etc, the only way for me to improve is to dissect my finished content and learn from my mistakes, otherwise I would unknowingly make the same mistakes again.

I don't know a single art professional who would do that. You're "dissecting" your own work for hundreds if not thousands of hours under a microscope before you release it to the public. It's the same with any form of art. Imagine helming a project of this magnitude for years.

 

[Skifi28]

Wow, so bad even the director ain't touching it.


I imagine these are the expected reactions, sort of a click-bait title. Anyway, pretty cool interview and still day one baby.

 

[Thief1987]

Authors don’t read their own novels. Same thing.

It's not the same. In a game you can change or tweak pretty much every aspect after release date unlike to movies or books.

 

[Life]

I'd be sick of playing too if it was my job playing it daily pre-release.

Nice clickbait.

 

[Fess]

I don't know a single art professional who would do that. You're "dissecting" your own work for hundreds if not thousands of hours under a microscope before you release it to the public. It's the same with any form of art. Imagine helming a project of this magnitude for years.

I find it odd, why not keep playing and keep improving it instead?
What if this is why Bloodborne and several Dark Souls games still have frame timing issues? Maybe he just tell the team to polish it up and release it when he know the content is there and don’t even know there are still issues?

Edit: But yeah I’m just being creative as a hobbyist, I’ve worked on projects for years on and off but doing it professionally without pause and with crunch and a deadline is probably something that can make you sick of whatever you’re doing.

Makes me even more impressed of what Hello Games are doing with No Man’s Sky. They’ve never dropped it. Still seems excited to play and to see what fans are doing.

 

[ANDS]

I find it odd, why not keep playing and keep improving it instead?

In Miyazaki's mind the game is finished. And that finished product he's already gone over with a fine toothed comb numerous times.

Makes me even more impressed of what Hello Games are doing with No Man’s Sky. They’ve never dropped it. Still seems excited to play and to see what fans are doing.

Much different experience; that game was nowhere near finished or in a shape that Murray was (clearly) satisfied with. As for content on top of release, this is more a product of the really open ended nature of NMS; I doubt ER will be as flexible in terms of morphing the game into something else.

 

[Kabelly]

are we still pretending this is not dark souls but open world?

are we still pretending this doesn't sound fucking badass?

 

[MisterBrimstone]

This. There's nothing more cool than playing the final product yourself after years of hard work. I mean, people replay games too quite often. Same thing. I used to record DJ mixes at home. They've always been among my most played sets when I'm driving or working out for example.

Guys let's make a multi year cruch game development and then let's see if we still want to pick up the controller.

 

[Ezquimacore]

are we still pretending this doesn't sound fucking badass?

Idk man, I like Souls games because of the combat and level design, not the exploration.

 

[Kabelly]

Idk man, I like Souls games because of the combat and level design, not the exploration.

There's those dungeons. I've been pretty blackout though on footage so I don't know how sparse the open world may or may not be looking. But I trust it won't be easy to just wander like in most open world games. You'll be using that combat for sure. I'm sure you'll be faced with a number of annoying hard enemies on your journey around and I've always appreciate the enemy design in Souls games. Day and night cycles have me interested too because I'm sure there will be exclusive enemies to based on that.

I'm optimistic. Sekiro was great. DS3 is fun as I'm going through it still. Bloodborne is one of the greatest games of all time. I'm not gonna pass this up.

 

[Flutta]

I remember Jonny Depp saying that he doesnt watch his own movies. So yeah a dev not playing his own games when it releases is not surprising at all and makes alot of sense.

 

[Batiman]

I don’t understand it. I’m a creative soul, make music and art and games and build stuff etc, the only way for me to improve is to dissect my finished content and learn from my mistakes, otherwise I would unknowingly make the same mistakes again.

Some actors never watch their own movies. I think this mindset is pretty normal

 

[Fess]

Some actors never watch their own movies. I think this mindset is pretty normal

It’s not their movies so it’s not the same thing, the end result is kinda out of their hands after the scenes has been shot. Would be weird if Spielberg said he never watched his own movies. But idk, I just thought it was odd, maybe it’s the norm

 

[Kokoloko85]

Not surprised. If I knew every detail of the game theres no reason to play it

 

[Bartski]

He didn't play Demon's Souls Remake either OH NO THIS CANNOT BE

 

[Shubh_C63]

You only get the ring slot option in NG+ once you have beaten the game and forged the Elden Ring.

Last 5 phase boss will drop the Elden Ring.

 

[Clear]

If you're working on a thing every day for years the plain truth is that you really, really don't want to look at it once its done.

You want to look at the reception and feedback, and perhaps follow up on specific things if they are being carried forwards to your next project, but go back and play the thing as a whole... yeesh. Like Miyazaki says, its uncomfortable. You can't really enjoy it because all you end up seeing is what might have been, and why those compromises were made.

On top of that there a whole host of memories about the process, which may have been difficult for you and the people around you. But that's really nothing that revisiting the end-product will shine any sort of light on.

The only real exception I guess is if there's a major social component to the gameplay, like a competitive shooter or such where the experience is about who your playing with as much as the game itself. But even then...

 

[Great Hair]

Shoe Yo-hey-she-da
is better than Hidetaka Miyazaki.
Confirmed.

 

[SCB3]

He didn't play Demon's Souls Remake either OH NO THIS CANNOT BE

I thought Miyzaki had little to do with Demons though and he was more on hand with Dark Souls?

Also I'm still not convinced that Elden Ring is not just Dark Souls 4

 

[Northeastmonk]

I thought Miyzaki had little to do with Demons though and he was more on hand with Dark Souls?

Also I'm still not convinced that Elden Ring is not just Dark Souls 4

He goes on to explain that Elden Ring could not have been made first. It could not exist without everything they’ve learned from Bloodborne, Sekiro, Dark Souls, etc. He feels like it’s their best work. I feel like calling it Dark Souls 4 is looking beyond their vision. He even goes into how graphics are not a top priority of theirs. Every single time a fan has explained this, there’s always that person who just blatantly says “..it shows”. That doesn’t look at what they’re doing from their creative standpoint. They even went into how challenging it was to create an open world and to create it in a way where a player didn’t feel like they were bored or that the main objective always hung over their head.

 

[Fools idol]

Sony should acquire Fromsoft and just get Bluepoint devs in there - would be an unstoppable GOTY factory like no other