February 25
Will Elden Ring be easier? Its director says: "more players will finish it"
Hidetaka Miyazaki shares the creative process behind Elden Ring. The director thinks that more players will finish it than his previous works.
The eternal debate about the difficulty of Elden Ring is back. Hidetaka Miyazaki, director of the project, has spoken out on this topic. The creative shares what has been the creative process in this regard and what has been the philosophy that prevails in each of the projects under his mandate.
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“It’s a valid discussion,” explains Miyazaki. “I feel like our approach to these games, not just Elden Ring, is to design them to encourage the player to overcome adversity. We don’t try to force difficulty or make things hard for the sake of it. We want players to use their cunning, study the game, memorize what’s happening, and learn from their mistakes.”
Regarding the difficulty, he assures that they never wanted the game to feel is "unfairly punishing”, and that when designing the gameplay loop they always seek to "make the cycle of repeatedly trying to overcome these challenges enjoyable in itself."
“In Elden Ring, we have not intentionally tried to lower the game’s difficulty, but I think more players will finish it this time,” mentions the director. Miyazaki believes that a number of circumstances are key to achieving this: “the player’s level of freedom to progress through the world or return to a challenge later are all elements that I feel will help people get through the game at a more leisurely pace. Also, there isn’t a focus on pure action. The player has more agency to dictate their approach against, for example, the field bosses in the overworld and how they utilize stealth in various situations”, he revealed.
Among the changes in structure, we find the multiplayer, full of barriers and special circumstances. Elden Ring has "reduced the number of hoops that you have to jump through to enjoy it in multiplayer." “We hope the players embrace that idea of receiving help from others," he concludes.
Elden Ring will be released on February 25, 2022, on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.
Source | PlayStation Blog