Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said he doesn’t find the game any easier than previous FromSoftware titles, but he believes more players will finish it.
In conversation with PlayStation.Blog, Miyazaki was asked about the “ongoing discussion” surrounding the accessibility of FromSoftware’s games and whether the team took that into account at Elden Ring. They were asked whether that discussion influenced the team to deliver a “measured and equally difficult FromSoftware” game.
“We are aware of it,” Miyazaki said. “It’s a legitimate discussion. I think our approach to such titles, not just Elden Ring, is to help players deal with adversity. We’re not trying to force the difficulty for no reason. We want players to be crafty, study the game, remember what happens and then learn from their mistakes.We don’t want players to feel that they are being unfairly punished, but rather that there is an opportunity to get past a tricky situation and move on.
“We understand that Souls-like games are often associated with impossible difficulty levels and a high barrier to entry. We want to develop games that make the cycle of trying again fun. We hope Elden Ring and the new possibilities it offers can succeed .”
He also talked about the open-world format of Elden Ring and that more players will play through the game. Even when FromSoftware “unintentionally lowered the game’s difficulty.”
“In Elden Ring, we didn’t intentionally lower the difficulty, but I think more players will play out this time,” said Miyazaki. “The freedom of how players want to progress in the world or take up a challenge later on helps people move through the game in a more relaxed way. The focus isn’t purely on the action either. how to proceed, the field bosses in the overworld for example and how they sometimes use stealth.
“We have also paid attention to make the multiplayer more fun. We hope that players will be happy with the idea that others can help them. For all these reasons, we believe that more people will finish playing the title.”
Miyazaki gave another word of advice to new players, don’t use the Wretch!
“Players should determine their own starter class,” said Miyazaki. “It’s an RPG, they get to choose how they approach it and what looks coolest. But I wouldn’t recommend the naked, (aka the Wretch). That’s probably the hardest class!”
Elden Ring will be released on February 25 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. Check here how long it takes to play, and more details over de multiplayer.
