Hidetaka Miyazaki and the rest of the development team at FromSoftware have had their biggest financial and critically-acclaimed launch yet in the form of Elden Ring and fans are craving to know more about it. The fascinating dark-fantasy world of the Lands Between is the most daunting scale they've tackled in a video game, demanding a new level of commitment behind the scenes.
Since the game's announcement, there was very little revealed of Elden Ring until last year's gameplay trailer, surely a testament to its intense production. Naturally, that means that many things were happening during its development cycle that fans may not know about.
The Elden "Ring" Wasn't Originally A Ring
The literal Elden Ring that makes up the crux of the game's lore didn't start as a tangible object. In the final product, players are told and shown about the Elden Ring being what holds the natural laws of the world in place -- the Golden Order -- in tandem with the Erdtree.
However, in a Famitsu interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki translated by Video Games Chronicle, he mentioned that during his early work with writer George R. R. Martin, the Ring wasn't initially as clear cut. "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. 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."
George R. R. Martin's Level Of Involvement
Author George R. R. Martin makes perfect sense to have been chosen to collaborate with Miyazaki and company. FromSoftware's Demon's Souls, Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, and now Elden Ring are all sprawling and rich dark-fantasy universes that are a natural fit for the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire books and the catalyst for one of HBO's greatest original shows.
This team-up was a significant marketing point for Elden Ring, but Martin's level of involvement wasn't known until recently. In the same interview, Miyazaki said "Martin’s lore has existed since the very early stages of development and has given us various inspirations. 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."
Development Went In Parallel With Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
The developers are essentially the progenitors of the "Souls-like" subgenre, which spans most of their recent releases. And another one of FromSoftware's best games, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, proved to have a degree of influence on Elden Ring. The 2019 Game of the Year winner, per Miyazaki in the same interview, saw a stage of its development work in parallel with Elden Ring.
According to Miyazaki in the Famitsu interview, "Since this work and the production of Sekiro were in parallel, there was not much direct feedback from Sekiro," and "However, since I directed both, it is certain that they influenced each other." This becomes apparent when playing through Elden Ring's more fluid and flexible combat system.
A New Level Of Visual Vibrancy
Dark-fantasy worlds are often presented in a way that lives up to the subgenre's name. Locales are more grounded, bleaker, and have a grueling atmosphere. However, Elden Ring has introduced a new level of vibrancy to its world. In an interview with Miyazaki on PlayStation's official blog, he said that the more "lush" environments were intentional, "though not necessarily to make the game brighter."
"But giving it a splash of color was necessary this time, particularly considering Elden Ring has a vast open world to explore. We wanted to give a sense that a Golden Age has passed through this world and that the player can still see traces of it." Among other things, Elden Ring has been acclaimed for its stunning artistic variety, and that includes unique areas like Caelid that one might expect in dark fantasy.
The Narrative Structure
Ever since Demon's Souls, FromSoftware has become famous for its subtle brand of storytelling. It's become increasingly unique in an age where games strive to be more cinematic. In the Famitsu interview, Miyazaki said in the Famitsu interview that the foundation for writing Elden Ring's was generally the same, with some moderate adjustments.
"The basic policy of telling a story in this work is the same as in the Dark Souls series. 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." When learning of the Lands Between's lore, there does seem to be more direct dialogue from NPCs. Though, Elden Ring still retains a veil of ambiguity.
FromSoft Rebalanced Multiplayer To Make It More Accessible
Multiplayer elements have been part of FromSoft's Souls-like RPGs since Demon's Souls, with Elden Ring expanding on that approach in an open-world setting. The context of this format was key to making multiplayer a realistically accessible part of the game, given that these games are already famous for their difficulty.
Miyazaki suggested in the Famitsu interview that cooperative play was something especially taken into account. "In the context of ‘degree of freedom’ that I often mention, it’s not very appropriate to raise the hurdles of multiplayer play as a means of trying to overcome difficulties without relying on pure action, I decided." On top of making use of Elden Ring's Spirit Ash summons, this is another immersive way to brave the Lands Between.
Managing Pacing & Character Progression
Up until now, FromSoft's Souls-like RPGs have been following the tempo set by Demon's Souls and refined through Dark Souls III when it comes to character progression. But fleshing out that base formula into one of the most richly vast open worlds in gaming demands more than a "copy/paste" job.
Miyazaki said in the PlayStation Blog interview that "Another challenge making an open-world game is the tempo and pacing of the player’s progression, essentially trying to balance how the player paces themselves as they explore this vast open-ended map and how that factors into the scope of freedom and progression they provide."
Balancing Martin's Grandiose Designs With FromSoft's Otherworldy Ones
Even with Martin's punishing dark fantasy world, many of the inspired character designs give off an air of nobility. Meanwhile, FromSoft's fantasies contain some of the most otherworldly and shocking designs.
In the PlayStation interview, Miyazaki said "[Martin] created these very heroic and grandiose designs," and "we wanted to take what he provided us and create a new core for these characters and how we design them." Dark Souls and Demon's Souls provided many memorable character/monster designs, and Elden Ring's bosses, in particular, are a great example of Martin and Miyazaki's meshing influences.
Miyazaki Interpreted Martin's Text-Based Lore For The Story
The prospect of Miyazaki and Martin collaborating on a fantasy game was a salivating one when it was revealed in 2019. Now that the latter's role has been more defined for the public, Miyazaki has also divulged how some of their flow of information worked.
In an interview with Games Radar+, Miyazaki said "There was nothing visual – it was all text" when referring to Martin's worldbuilding outlines. He expanded upon that, saying "it was something that depicted the setting or set the scene for the game and for the world," and then they "were able to interpret this in our own way and provide the visuals."
Other Literary Influences
With the star power behind the Lands Between's lore, it's a given that A Song of Ice and Fire had a consistent influence on Elden Ring. However, since Dark Souls also looked to be an amalgamation of fantasy inspirations, it's also expected that Miyazaki sought out more.
In the Games Radar+ interview, he says that there were "a lot of different works that influenced the creative process." A couple being "The Lord Of The Rings, The Eternal Champion series of novels by Michael Moorcock." For fantasy buffs, the former comes as no surprise since Tolkien is commonly regarded as the father of modern fantasy storytelling.