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[IbizaPocholo]

Elden Ring Edge interview reveals creator Hidetaka Miyazaki doesn't enjoy playing his own games

The Dark Souls creator opens up on why he hasn't tried out the Demon's Souls PS5 remake

www.gamesradar.com

Speaking in Edge 367, which goes on sale today (December 30), Miyazaki reveals that he is yet to play the Demon's Souls PS5 remake, before he opens up on why he doesn't like spending time in the worlds he creates.

Miyazaki says: "It brings up a lot of old emotions, a lot of old memories, and this gets a little bit overwhelming, and it doesn’t feel like playing anymore. So I have not played the Demon’s remake, but I am very glad to see it get this fresh look, these brand-new current-gen graphics".

However, this doesn't mean that Miyazaki hasn't paid attention to the work that Bluepoint Games did on the remake, and he goes on to talk about how their approach to revisiting one of his most famous games sparked his curiosity. He says: "One thing that was really fun was seeing [Bluepoint Games] come up with things we didn’t consider and to approach certain elements of the game – its visuals and its mechanics – in a way that we either couldn’t or didn’t back in the day. So to see them researching and applying these new thought processes and new techniques, this was something that was really exciting and interesting for me."

 

[Aenima]

As long as he enjoys and keeps making them, its fine by me.

 

[ReBurn]

Me either.

 

[bender]

 

[bitbydeath]

Difficulty is probably too hard.

 

[kingfey]

He is too manly.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

I don’t blame him.

 

[Hobbygaming]

That's big praise he gives to Bluepoint and the Demon Souls remake and I do understand him not wanting to play his games

It's kinda like how some gamers work on a computer all day and don't want to game on PC

 

[Captain Toad]

Sounds like he needs to git gud.

 

[Ebidramon]

Seems like he has a good taste.

 

[Balducci30]

How does anyone works on something that long play their own product? It’s like directors watching their own movies. I don’t really get it you are not seeing it as a “player” or “audience”

 

[Lupin25]

If I worked to create a product for multiple years, through stress and other hardships for it to succeed…

I’d be sick of it too.

And imagine going through processes from front to back timeless amounts?

Even if you don’t actually play the end product, the experience was spoiled as someone whose made it for others to enjoy.

 

[DeadOblivion78]

Well yeah that makes sense. If you guys have ever worked in a kitchen you‘ll find yourself desensitized to basically everything in the kitchen and not find food that appetizing anymore because you constantly keep smelling it.

 

[kyliethicc]

Yup its a pretty common thing with devs.

 

[worldwithpyramids]

The title is really misleading given the quote. It’s just him saying he doesn’t want to play the Demon’s Souls remake for obvious reasons.

 

[Ikutachi]

Like some actors who don't watch their movies.

 

[KàIRóS]

Lol at people talking about difficulty being the reason, as if the man didn't have access to game builds with invincibility.

 

[Juza]

Ken Levine also doesn't like to play his games! He says making games is more fun than playing them.

 

[SLB1904]

Definitely a guy with great taste

Spoiler

joke of course, Bloodborne was my first platinum ever and the first and only game I finish more than twice

 

[Northeastmonk]

It’s like he gives a piece of himself with each game.

 

[swarley64]

He needs to git gud

 

[Bakkus]

Like some actors who don't watch their movies.

The equivalent here would be if movie directors don't. But, yeah, he's not the only one. Kamiya is another one who finds this very awkward.

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

you try making a game and then playing it. i bet most people would feel the same way. you spend countless hours working on it and the simplest thing you will know what it took to get it working. you know how everything works and probably remember exactly how it's coded. in a way it becomes tedious and frustrating but you need to find the passion and motivation to keep going. you will never get to experience it the same way as the player does.

it's the same for many other creative things: making movies, writing a song, writing a book, painting a picture. the creator sees it in a different way and has a different experience.

of all the things i've created in my life i rarely go back to them. i don't like playing the game i made. i don't like listening to songs i've wrote. i know them inside out and have the seen animation/voice like a thousand times. i've heard the same guitar chords a thousand times.

so all these jokes about he needs to "git gud" lol...he would likely kick everyone's ass at his games. he'd know how the enemy AI works and how to exploit them. how bosses target players and what way is best to exploit them. he is literally the god of dark souls, bloodborne, sekiro and elden ring.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Stop making them so bloody hard then

 

[Nautilus]

As suspected, a lot of people haven't understood a bloody thing he said.

When you work on a game for multiple years, design every aspect of it and know everything about the game, of course you wouldn't enjoy the final product, because you have already played the game to death.

Its exactly because of that, that he already knows the game by heart and worked on it tirelessly, that he wont enjoy his own games, because he is burned out by working on them so much.

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

As suspected, a lot of people haven't understood a bloody thing he said.

When you work on a game for multiple years, design every aspect of it and know everything about the game, of course you wouldn't enjoy the final product, because you have already played the game to death.

Its exactly because of that, that he already knows the game by heart and worked on it tirelessly, that he wont enjoy his own games, because he is burned out by working on them so much.

reminds me of people who say they'd love to have a job as a game QA tester just because they'd get to play a new game before it comes out and get paid for it. lmao. yeah you'd play it but it's a job. it's not for fun. you will replay the same section over and over and over again looking for issues. that's not how the game is meant to be played. you are literally trying to break the game. after playing those sections you'll be burnt out and if you do play the final game you'll be having flash backs.

Stop making them so bloody hard then

they aren't really that hard though. they just require more thinking and patience. too many people these days want a mindless game that holds their hand. they want to have the option of pausing it or turning it down to easy when it gets a bit challenging.

sekiro is probably the most dumbed down game from them. it's still challenging but lol they let you pause and, since it's in the title of the game, give you a second chance if you die. i hope Elden Ring cuts out that bullshit. No pausing and if you die then you need to restart from the last check point (bonfire/lantern etc).

 

[Team Andromeda]

they aren't really that hard though. they just require more thinking and patience. too many people these days want a mindless game that holds their hand. they want to have the option of pausing it or turning it down to easy when it gets a bit challenging.

They're hard and there's not much fun in dying hundreds of times in a game IMO.

 

[Bartski]

Thanks OP, nothing like some good old zero effort ctrl+c ctrl+v clickbait dumbfuckery to start the year

 

[Fess]

They're hard and there's not much fun in dying hundreds of times in a game IMO.

I agree, I love a decent challenge but I haven’t finished Demon’s Souls, not on PS3 or PS5, and since I haven’t done that I haven’t played any other of his Souls games either, since they seems to kinda connect.

I would love to finish Demon’s Souls Remake, it’s one of the best games I have on PS5, but it’s just too hard and I don’t have time to git gud and can’t change the difficulty, so

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

They're hard and there's not much fun in dying hundreds of times in a game IMO.

don't die then. if you die it's your own fault and it's an opportunity to learn from your mistakes.

 

[Davevil]

Me too

 

[Team Andromeda]

don't die then. if you die it's your own fault and it's an opportunity to learn from your mistakes.

Ok GOD

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

I can hardly read a post I've sent to GAF after I wrote it. Can't imagine what kind of hell playing the game would be you created yourself over the course of sometimes five painful, long years of blood sweat and tears.

 

[Team Andromeda]

I agree, I love a decent challenge but I haven’t finished Demon’s Souls, not on PS3 or PS5, and since I haven’t done that I haven’t played any other of his Souls games either, since they seems to kinda connect.

I would love to finish Demon’s Souls Remake, it’s one of the best games I have on PS5, but it’s just too hard and I don’t have time to git gud and can’t change the difficulty, so

It's so sad what happened to Fromsoftware. They're trapped in making games so hard. There was such a thing as Easy mode
Shame too has Fromsofwtare art and bosses are so amazing I want to play their games, but they're just too hard

 

[Makoto-Yuki]

It's so sad what happened to Fromsoftware. They're trapped in making games so hard. There was such a thing as Easy mode
Shame too has Fromsofwtare art and bosses are so amazing I want to play their games, but they're just too hard

i can't tell if you're serious.

out of curiousity, what games did you play and how long did you stick with them?

 

[Team Andromeda]

i can't tell if you're serious.

out of curiousity, what games did you play and how long did you stick with them?

Last gen

Dark Souls 3
BloodBorne
Sekrio

I tried each for a weeks before giving up and before you ask Yes I bought and own the games, but sold Bloodborne. Dark Souls 3 wasn't too bad, but Bloodborne and more so Sekio were brutal and IMO unfair and no fun to play

 

[Y0ssarian]

The Alfred Hitchcock of gaming

 

[Y0ssarian]

I agree, I love a decent challenge but I haven’t finished Demon’s Souls, not on PS3 or PS5, and since I haven’t done that I haven’t played any other of his Souls games either, since they seems to kinda connect.

I would love to finish Demon’s Souls Remake, it’s one of the best games I have on PS5, but it’s just too hard and I don’t have time to git gud and can’t change the difficulty, so

Play a magic build and go pew pew with soul arrow, homing soul arrow, and so on

 

[Skifi28]

Oh boy, this has devolved to "games are too hard" again.

 

[The Shepard]

I wonder if he's played nioh 1 and 2, the best souls like games not made by this guy.

That new final fantasy game strangers in paradise is made by the nioh team and has difficulty options for those struggling with soulsborne style games, could be an access point for people.

 

[Nyxir]

What a clickbait title…

 

[Bartski]

You can't really blame an average gamer (or a game journalist) for having a totally pedestrian view of a creative process and thinking this is some kind of a big deal.

So it's kind of unfortunate, as for Miyazaki this is probably just as obvious as to anyone who has ever been involved in any long-lasting, inevitably soul-crushing balls breaking artistic endeavor.

 

[TonyK]

Would a writter read his own novel?

 

[Fess]

It's so sad what happened to Fromsoftware. They're trapped in making games so hard. There was such a thing as Easy mode
Shame too has Fromsofwtare art and bosses are so amazing I want to play their games, but they're just too hard

I wouldn’t say they’re trapped, they’re just catering to their audience, it might not gain them anything to try catching a new audience.

My interest in Demon’s Souls is complicated, while I think it’s fantastic at it’s core, I realized that ”git gud” mostly meant grinding to level up until you essentially unlock easy mode, or find ways to cheese the game. It can be a real time-sinker, I’ve done so many stupid things over and over. A menu option to increase the starting level or lower the XP needed to level up would no doubt make it a better game for me.

 

[Fess]

Play a magic build and go pew pew with soul arrow, homing soul arrow, and so on

I don’t have an issue with the character building but as said above I just find myself grinding to level up to make it easier. After going the same short route to kill a couple of blue knights a hundred times I’m just not having fun. A menu option would’ve been better for me.

 

[nush]

Last gen

Dark Souls 3
BloodBorne
Sekrio

I tried each for a weeks before giving up and before you ask Yes I bought and own the games, but sold Bloodborne. Dark Souls 3 wasn't too bad, but Bloodborne and more so Sekio were brutal and IMO unfair and no fun to play

You don't get on with that developers game style, yet you keep buying them (Special editions at that).

You're not very bright are you?

 

[Venom Snake]

A sadist does not necessarily have to be a masochist as well.

This is our role.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Sekiro has to click. Once I threw away my Souls stance ie. baiting out attacks and assess the enemy first, I beat the entire thing.

In Sekiro you need to get in actually, hope for flurries to come at you so you can parry them and build meter. At first you'd think Genishiro is impossible, but in fact he's rather easy if you dare to get in and parry, know when to jump and kick and when to mikiri counter. Its these 3 things that need to be mastered.


Its mechanically the most sound Miyazaki game, imo. Its just that Sekiro had not much of build variety, CC and PvP that I didn't play it as long as Souls games.

 

[joedan]

I write semi-professionally and don't re-read what I wrote after it's been published.

 

[Team Andromeda]

You don't get on with that developers game style, yet you keep buying them (Special editions at that).

You're not very bright are you?

And you're not very nice are you.