About the plot
Elden Ring clearly has a lot in common with the Dark Souls series . Why couldn't it just be called Dark Souls 4?
We wanted Elden Ring to be the culmination of our love for gaming and, in particular, dark fantasy, the action RPG genre. The Dark Souls setting would have bound us with unnecessary restrictions in terms of plot, gameplay, enemy design ... Besides, when it comes to building the world and the universe, we squeezed everything possible from the core theme of Dark Souls - kindling a flame - and therefore decided to try something new ... Fresh world, fresh themes.
Dark Souls presented the plot in small chunks and translucent hints, while Sekiro was more direct, with dialogue and cutscenes. How does the narrative work in Elden Ring ?
The narrative in Elden Ring is closer to Dark Souls. The story will be fragmented, and the player will have to explore the world, collecting scattered pieces of lore, in order to compare and interpret them later. This is an important element of the game - gradually discovering the world and understanding it deeper and deeper.
That being said, we certainly want to leverage the strengths of Sekiro's storytelling in Elden Ring. As you said, it is more straightforward; dialogues and cutscenes, in my opinion, are a good way to present the plot to the player, to interest him. In Elden Ring, it is especially important to understand the characters and their motives, because the story, in fact, has several protagonists. In addition to your hero, who plays the role of a window into the world of the game, many other characters with their own characters and motivation are involved in the scenario. They will affect how you understand and interpret ENT.
Will we be able to make decisions that will affect the plot?
Yes, there will be several endings in the game, depending on your decisions. The NPCs you meet will have a big impact on your worldview and reveal how they see the world themselves. And your path will be determined by what prompts you receive from them and how you behave with them. These characters are an extremely important part of the Elden Ring.
About horses
Horses are perhaps the most notable innovation in the game compared to Dark Souls . What is their role?
A horse, first of all, is needed to move freely and comfortably around the world: its "big jump" allows you to instantly climb huge rocks. You can also quickly cross dangerous terrain on it, and just ride.
The trailer also showed horse fighting. How will they differ from the usual ones?
First of all, the horse is still intended for riding: for battles, players will most likely want to dismount. But in some situations you will have to fight on horseback - or even avoid a risky situation. We will let the players choose how to use the mount: although horseback riding is not available in certain locations, where you can climb on a horse, everything is in your hands.
About multiplayer
In Dark Souls, you could summon other players and NPCs to help you fight bosses. And then the cooperative will work right in the open world?
The summoning of phantoms will not be available everywhere, but everything will not be limited to some bosses. You can explore the open world together, there will also be offline assistants - the spirits of the enemies you defeated. Again, they are not available in all locations, but this is another element of character customization: you can choose allies like magic spells or items - they will become part of your build.
Will there be any other restrictions? For example, earlier assistants disappeared after defeating bosses, and calling a partner did not allow the player to leave the location.
Elden Ring uses a system of signs familiar from Dark Souls, so the scheme is roughly the same: defeat the boss and disperse. True, we would call this not a limitation, but rather a way to let the players relax. A good point after which you can let the players return to their business, so that they do not annoy each other: "well, when we already disperse", "how much more we have."
Otherwise, we aim to reduce stress in multiplayer and make sure that players who want to play together have as few obstacles as possible. So that they can participate in the network game whenever they want. First, we have reduced the amount of resources required for multiplayer. Previously, players needed humanity or other rare items, which repelled the audience: now we want to achieve maximum accessibility, give players as much freedom as possible in this regard.
Secondly, since the world of Elden Ring is huge, it can be difficult to find summoning signs in it. To do this, we have highlighted special locations where players can leave their signs or see who is currently available. And so that the battles do not turn into endless hide and seek, we are adding interface elements that provide enough information to both participants in the confrontation.
Yeah, will there still be PvP in Elden Ring ?
(Miyazaki brightens up noticeably) Yes, there will be invasions and, let's say, optional PvP. Throughout development, we tried very hard to make this aspect of the game as less annoying for both players as possible - we are still working on it.
What about the Covenant?
In this sense, Elden Ring is similar to
Demon 's Souls : the conditions for participation in multiplayer are minimum, you just need to leave a sign. The game has a bit of a covenant twist, but the multiplayer-tied ones just add some flavor to the multiplayer. They add their own characteristics, like role-playing. They will not become a mandatory requirement for multiplayer.
About the open world
How does the open world of Elden Ring work ? Are the locations just creating a backdrop for travel between key points, as in Shadow of the Colossus , or are question marks scattered throughout the map, as in The Witcher?
Neither one nor the other (laughs). It's hard to say where he is closer, but the open world of Elden Ring will definitely not be an empty field for horse rides from point A to point B. We wanted him to have character, so that he would have interesting finds, dangers and memorable encounters. The map is not filled with question marks that distract attention: players will have to place markers themselves to mark points of interest. For example, we climbed higher, saw some notable places and wrote down that you want to go there and find out what kind of story unfolds there. We want players to build their own storytelling in these lands. In Elden Ring there will be a so-called "main" path, a natural route of passage - the player will find out about it almost immediately. But there is also an opportunity to turn off the intended path, to find your way.
Sounds just like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild . However, there was a problem with the rewards: exploring the world was very fun, but nothing sensible was found in it. What rewards will Elden Ring offer for exploring the world ?
Many items of equipment are hidden around the world: weapons, armor, spells, skills, spirits for summoning and ingredients for crafting. So there will be rewards for player explorers. But I would also note that meetings with plot characters are in themselves a reward, because thanks to them you get to know the world better and look at already familiar places from a different angle. They add drama to the journey, add twists to the narrative, allow for the story of the hero, and influence the endings.
Well, since you remembered Breath of the Wild - I personally went through it to the end with great pleasure, and my reward was a sense of satisfaction from the process. But our approach is still somewhat different: we place great emphasis on character development and customization.
The most important question
Why is there a poisonous swamp in every game you play?
(laughs) Yes, there will be a poisonous swamp in Elden Ring too! Perhaps this is some kind of my injury! (laughs) I don't know! Something makes me put poisonous swamps everywhere! Maybe something in the subconscious. Good question, I somehow didn't even think about it.
