With Elden Ring just a few short weeks away, game director Hidetaka Miyazaki is doing the interview rounds to talk about the game. In a recent interview with Edge magazine, Miyazaki talked about meeting George R R Martin for the first time and working with him on Elden Ring.
When asked about his first conversations with Martin for Elden Ring, Miyazaki had this to say.
“I have some good memories of those initial discussions. Not so much for the content but just the general feelings I had speaking with George Martin. He actually knew about the Dark Souls games. He was aware of them and what they were about, so that made me happy. That sort of gave me a little bit of a boost. I knew immediately from talking to him, it just became apparent his skill and his passion for the fantasy genre, and for games as well.”
Hidetaka Miyazaki
Miyazaki did say that he was a little nervous about meeting Martin due to their age difference.
“There was a little bit of a generation gap between us, so I felt a bit apprehensive about going to these talks, but after a lot of these conversations, it was just like speaking with an old friend. And it just felt so fresh to have those conversations with someone who was so passionate about the same things, and to show that pure joy and sense of curiosity for these fantasy worlds.”
Hidetaka Miyazaki
Miyazaki was also asked about how the meetings with Martin took place.
“It was usually us going to America and to his hometown or base of operations. I think it was a hotel where we first sat down and spoke. It was us going out to him, to his home turf, and having these kickoff conversations with him there in person.”
Hidetaka Miyazaki
Miyazaki also discussed the creative process of working with Martin to create the backbone of Elden Ring’s story.
“Mr Martin respected the fact that we didn’t want him to write the game’s story or the in-game text. Because we felt like that would actually limit his creative output, and if it was limited to something that was already a game or already a concept in this way, then it would limit the inspirations we could possibly get from him. So we established very early that he would be writing that foundation, that historical element to the game, something that took place long before the events of the game itself. And this way he was able to much more freely flex those creative muscles and provide something that wasn’t restricted.
We started off by giving him these very vague and broad themes and ideas for the mythos that I had swimming around in my head, along with what kind of games we typically make, and the sort of themes we’d like to explore in our games. So it was all very loose and quite vague. Then he would come back to us with a lot of ideas: how about this, this, and this? That back-and-forth started the exchange of ideas.”
Hidetaka Miyazaki
The interview with Miyazaki is incredibly detailed and extensive. Be sure to check out the full interview here. With Elden Ring just a few weeks from release fans have been clamoring for any bits of info they can find. Luckily, Miyazaki has been incredibly open about almost every aspect of development.
Elden Ring will be released on February 25. The game will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.