Hidetaka Miyazaki is known for creating the Soulslike genre bringing the Dark Souls franchise and now Elden Ring to the world. Miyazaki believes the genre can be interpreted in several ways and is happy to see other studios coming up with several interpretations of the Soulslike, none of which he believes can go wrong.
Surprisingly, Miyazaki has revealed that he wasn’t involved in one minor aspect of all these titles. In an interview conducted on a Japanese podcast, Miyazaki revealed he had no idea about the process that went into character creation in any of the titles by FromSoftware Inc.
Miyazaki Remains Clueless About the Character Creation in Elden Ring and Dark Souls
Miyazaki may have created one of the most difficult genres in gaming but revealed that he left the character creation aspects to his developers. Answering questions in a podcast, Miyazaki stated that “character creation wasn’t my responsibility.” Explaining further, he went on to say he didn’t take part in that aspect of the game.
He didn’t score just how well made the characters were in the titles, but he did mention that it was pretty well made. He felt that nobody would care about it in a Soulslike game.
Yeah, it’s that feeling of “Who actually cares about this?”
The podcast hosts also touched upon some of the weirdly named sections that pop up when creating the characters, giving the example of the “big, head small” option. Miyazaki mentioned that players should “accept that weird text as a charm of the game!”
Miyazaki also explained why one specific body type had the words, “He might be wise.”
Miyazaki Admits Having to Get Creative With Descriptions
When the hosts questioned why one specific body type in Dark Souls had the description that it could make the character-wise, Miyazaki mentioned it made no difference to the character. He explained that he had to become creative to fill in the description within three lines of text which he felt was impossible.
Another interesting revelation by Miyazaki was that the female hairstyle includes a pigtail which was added to the game honoring the request of a graphic artist who had to leave the development team out of illness. Miyazaki promised her saying, “I will get it in no matter what happens.”
Miyazaki also explained that even though players end up being hollow after all the effort players put into making a good face and the perfect character, starting as a hollow was still the best way to do it. He revealed that the balance between human and hollow forms was tweaked until the end but the hollow ended up being the most favored.
He also revealed that there was an idea to return the characters to their human forms and keep them that way. Miyazaki concluded by saying he didn’t think players “making a good face was that important.”
What was your impression of the detailed character creation in the Dark Souls franchise and Elden Ring? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
