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Miyazaki: Elden Ring's Gameplay Heavily Based On Dark Souls

Mista

Banned
elden-ring-1024x576.jpg


Speaking with IGN, Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about the gameplay. He reiterated that the game will be an open world title, and that the gameplay is based on the Dark Souls framework. He did also say, however, that due to the change in game structure, the flow of combat could be a different beast for even experienced players.

Elden Ring is a third-person action RPG with a fantasy setting. Gameplay-wise, it’s heavily based on Dark Souls.
“However, that doesn’t mean that it plays out in the same way. With a more open and vast environment, the way combat plays out becomes fundamentally different.”
 

Kumomeme

Member
although they said they will be no town and npc like in standard city in open world rpg, i believe there might be still an hub like area like Majula in dark soul 2 where there still npc existed that related to the player storyline and gameplay element

im fine with no town..as long the exploration and combat is fun and engaging like Dragons Dogma
 
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Senhua

Member
Well so maybe the leak from 4chan which I read on the e3 reveal day is true then (at least some of that)
>How much did Martin create in the story?
Martin created I would say about a good 90% of the overall plot and lore of the base world. He was some general themes at the beginning and worked off of that. The underlaying themes and central plot lines were 100% controlled by Miyazaki. Essentially Miyazaki drew up the foundation, and Martin filled in the rest and was responsible for the lore surrounding different areas of the game.
>Is this a Souls Game?
Yes and no. Technically yes, but it's being designed purposefully ambiguous enough to so you will be able to draw your own conclusions. As some of you have more than likely already guessed the "Elden Ring" is a direct reference to the Linking of the Fire. There will be a few somewhat obvious Souls references in the game, but the Souls world won't have any real bearing on what is happening in this current game.
>How open world?
It's exactly as it sounds. From the beginning of the game you will be able to go anywhere you want with no hand holding. The world is divided up into different kingdoms, each with their own culture and ruling agendas. What is interesting, is which areas you choose to go to first and decisions you make will "alter" the other areas. What this mostly means is that other kingdoms will become more difficult and questlines may change depending on what order you decide to proceed.

For example; one of the kingdoms is plagued by a mysterious disease that if you were to say go to that area first, can be taken care of fairly easily. If you were to save that area for last, the disease will have spread further, causing greater mutations and more terrifying creatures to appear. Mechanics like that.
>Customization
It's standard Souls affair with different stats. Instead of Vigor, End, STR, etc., you will level up things like: Courage, Honor, Emotion (name is still pending). Some will have more obvious effects than others.

You will also obtain powers by defeating bosses and harvesting their "Emboldened" body parts. Now before you get excited, no you won't be able to make some Abomination Frankenstein Monster with spliced up parts. They won't be any actual physical changes to your character. Also the powers aren't really anything super OP; just will give a slight edge in battle. You also have a limited number of powers you can use.

The good news, there is a shit ton of weapons in this game. This is easily the greatest number of weapons they've put in any game yet, so everything should be able to find something they like.
>Story
Here come the spoilers, so you have been warned.

The Elden Ring was destroyed(?) many years ago; so long in fact no one actually knows who/what did it, why it was done, or what even is. All that is known is that it is an immense power source that will essentially make anyone who has it a god.

Several kingdom want this power to rule everything, a couple just want it so not to get destroyed by other countries and one wants to make sure it's kept destroyed.

Thing is, no one really knows where it is or how to get it, but believe the other kingdoms do, or rather, a piece of how to obtain it hidden within each kingdom; either through the governing ruler or other means. Causing essentially a stalemate for countless years.

With war now on the horizon, your character becomes tasked with finding the Elden Ring before any of the other kingdoms, and ultimately deciding the fate of the world. This also means that certain kingdoms can/will become your ally or enemy depending how you play the game, or what stage in the game you are.

>Ending
There are technically 5 different Endings but really I would say only 2 "true" endings; a "Hard" ending and a "Secret" ending.

The Hard ending only happens if you make every "correct" decision in your entire playthrough. Meaning you complete every essential quest line in the game for NPC's and find certain items.

I'll go more over this in a bit.

What you discover is that the Elden Ring was destroyed by your ancestor, for both the love of the a women who was tied to the Elden Ring. Your Ancestor was asked by the women that he loved to destroy the Elden Ring as it was, according to her, cursing the world and keeping it in an endless cycle of war and death. Your ancestor found the way destroy the ring, but ultimately it also meant that her life ended as well.

This is part of the whole "ambiguous" part I mentioned earlier; the ring is the Eternal Flame and the women was the last Fire Keeper, although none of this will ever be explicitly said though there will be a few clues. There was also a auditory clue at the very absolute beginning of the Elden Ring trailer for those who missed it.

That said, if you don't like this then you can easily just ignore these as the story is perfectly fine on its own.

The final boss is you fighting your ancestor; regardless if you intend to restore the Elden Ring or not.


Now let's get back to the ending. In 3 endings, restoring the ring will ultimately lead to disaster; always ending up destroying things. What you find is that it's hard as fuck to restore the true ring. It also "resets" the world.

You can only restore the true Elden Ring by completing the Hard ending. Doing so will also "reset" the world, but it makes it into a seemingly Garden of Eden like paradise, at least for now. This could argue to be the "Good Ending".

The secret ending also the "Ruler" ending, is weird as fuck, but also is more likely intended as the true ending and only happens if you uncover the mystery of a forgotten kingdom that you find fragments of throughout the world and in each Kingdom. There is also a secret boss you have to defeat.

Summarized: Time is a very central theme in Elden Ring, and no matter what you do the world is doomed to repeat itself.

Restoring the Elden Ring will reset the world no matter what. Leaving the Elden Ring destroyed will just leave the world continuously at war seeking out a power that should not exist until eventually someone else restores it and resets.

The only way to prevent this is to obtain an item that will let you restore the ring but also seal it in another world, or microverse that you have possession of.

This allows you to take the power of the ring as your own without being subjected to the endless looping effect, as now "the ring is inside you, not you inside it". The game ends with you taking over the entire world.
>Game mechanics
If I had to describe it, it's kind of a middle ground between traditional Souls and Sekiro. I wouldn't really compare it to BB at all, but even the middle ground system isn't quite right.

There's no official name for it yet, but it's going to be an armor breaking or weakness seeking system. Basically enemies will have certain weak points that you will need to target in order to trigger an armor "break" that will allow you to actual start dealing damage.

The parrying system from Sekiro isn't gone exactly, but it's not the main mechanic anymore and you'll probably be dodging more than parrying now.

Also, you won't be jumping and flying all over the place like in Sekiro. There is jumping and climbing though.

Also I should clarify a bit; it's still totally viable to damage an enemy without "breaking" them, but it may take longer.

For example a, a greatsword will cause greate over all damage, but may have difficulty causing a "break" effect as it cannot target or has a harder time targetting specific parts.

Something like a dagger, may not be able to do seemingly any damage, but will have a much easier time causing "break" as it can target select parts much more efficiently. The trade off obviously is that you have to get much closer and can't do much damage until "break" is achieved. There's also different ways to achieve "break" aside from just hitting the enemy directly.

Also the ways shields work is a little bit different. Less able to block, but much more easy to deflect/parry.
 

ymoc

Member
I wouldn't have any other way!

Now just confirm multiplayer component and we're golden.

I just hope that for once they do quests right. That shit has always been outrageously obscure. Like how the fuck would I know that in DS3 Greirat dies if I kill Pontiff boss before I rescue Siegward in the Cathedral. Or where Sirris's summon signs appears after you beat "x" or "y" boss. Or that I need to level 5 times with Yoel of Londor before beating the Abyss Watchers, else he dies and breaks his questline. GTFO.
 
I wouldn't have any other way!

Now just confirm multiplayer component and we're golden.

I just hope that for once they do quests right. That shit has always been outrageously obscure. Like how the fuck would I know that in DS3 Greirat dies if I kill Pontiff boss before I rescue Siegward in the Cathedral. Or where Sirris's summon signs appears after you beat "x" or "y" boss. Or that I need to level 5 times with Yoel of Londor before beating the Abyss Watchers, else he dies and breaks his questline. GTFO.

I hope there are no quests and no hub. Maybe some NPC here and there but that's it.
 

brian0057

Banned
Is there anything From Software can make that isn't even remotely related to Dark Souls?
Where's Armored Core? Or goddamn Tenchu?
And people bitch and moan about Nintendo when they release a new Mario game. At least they can make more than one type of game
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Good god as if hearing people bitch about Souls games isn’t getting old. “Is this gonna be the same as Souls?” It’s going to be like this with everything From outs on from here on, isn’t it?

Yes the company that made their name with the three game Souls series who has used a similar gameplay in their other games will continue doing what they have done going on a decade now.
 
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All quests in souls games are 100% optional. Why remove them if nobody is ever forced to do any of them?

Because I never liked them. They are the worst part of the games, just obtuse "be there talk to that guy and be there (but before going over there) to trigger him to appear and then be there but don't talk to that guy, etc" things.
 

Ar¢tos

Member
Because I never liked them. They are the worst part of the games, just obtuse "be there talk to that guy and be there (but before going over there) to trigger him to appear and then be there but don't talk to that guy, etc" things.
You =/= all gamers
I'm glad From stick to their vision and ignore feedback.
Asking for something completely optional to be removed because "I don't like it" just shows how ridiculous gamers have become.
 
You =/= all gamers
I'm glad From stick to their vision and ignore feedback.
Asking for something completely optional to be removed because "I don't like it" just shows how ridiculous gamers have become.

People voicing what they would like in a game is exactly what a Gaming forum is about. You are completely off with your assessment. Of course I don't speak for any other gamer, I just said what I would like.

"Asking for something completely optional to be removed because "I don't like it" just shows how ridiculous gamers have become." This is just complete nonsese sorry mate.
 
pretty expected.....

it seems when they want to try new ideas they use DS as their template and create a new IP that branches off. conveniently all branches have been successes, but if they called Bloodborne, Dark Souls 4, or Sekiro, Dark Souls 5, or worse, not taking the time to think about what to cut/include and just lump it all in together, it probably would have hurt that overall brand.

seeing them take the strong foundation gameplay their studio is known for and layer new worlds and gameplay into new IPs is such a smart business move. its win win. you keep your core franchise fresh and without bloat or risky ideas, while testing out new ideas in games, where if they arent successful, worst case they can easily die as a one off, or, they go on to spawn a franchise of their own.
 

kiiltz

Member
Good god as if hearing people bitch about Souls games isn’t getting old. “Is this gonna be the same as Souls?” It’s going to be like this with everything From outs on from here on, isn’t it?

Yes the company that made their name with the three game Souls series who has used a similar gameplay in their other games will continue doing what they have done going on a decade now.
It doesn't even make sense because they have other games and Miyazaki literally just did a First Person Adventure VR game last year.

It honestly just sounds like a roundabout way of asking "Is it gonna be hard?".

Can't wait for all the GoT casuals attracted to George's name that will get Elden Ring, that's gonna be fun.
 

Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
I honestly think there are enough casual games to keep people busy. I go to FROM games for a very specific purpose, and it’s NOT to have an easy ride. Can’t wait to see more of this, I just hope we don’t have long to wait :(
 

Raven117

Gold Member
If the level design is indeed more open, then it really will feel different how the encounters play out as each scenario isn’t specifically crafted. I’m curious what they have in mind.

That said, man, I’d love to see their take on a modern Kings Field.

Sekiro was good, but to me, felt like it was done by the dark souls 2 team. It didn’t have that spark of madness that games with a heavier hand of miyazaki have.
 
If the level design is indeed more open, then it really will feel different how the encounters play out as each scenario isn’t specifically crafted. I’m curious what they have in mind.

That said, man, I’d love to see their take on a modern Kings Field.

Sekiro was good, but to me, felt like it was done by the dark souls 2 team. It didn’t have that spark of madness that games with a heavier hand of miyazaki have.

I imagine there will be a lot of tightly crafted dungeons, castles, etc.
 
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