FromSoftware has been creating masterpiece after masterpiece ever since their first soulslike Demon Souls, was launched. Even though their games are similar at heart, they are different in just the right places. Players get to explore new worlds, use new kinds of weapons, and fight new kinds of harder bosses. Each one of these things was present in the Elden Ring.
As vibrant as these games are, their fanbase is not half bad either. It consists of people fighting one of the hardest bosses around 6000–7000 times, and there are even people who would play these games without getting hit even once. And director Hideteka Miyazaki has no issues, as he wants fans to continue having fun with the game.
Hidetaka Miyazaki does not discourage Elden Ring players from experimenting with things
There was a game that was released on GameCube called Donkey Kong Jungle Beat. It was an action platformer featuring none other than everybody’s favorite Donkey Kong. Nintendo was its own exciting self back then too; hence, they decided to release a controller designed like Bongo drums for it.
Playing with that controller was not easy, but it was a nice novelty device to use. Just bang on those drums and see Donkey Kong do stuff on screen. And just like that, those controllers became a part of video game history. Many people remember it, and sometimes they laugh about it, and other times they cannot believe something like that was ever launched.
But some Dark Souls fans are just so brave. They do not mind looking back in time and finding stuff that can challenge them. Why would they mind anyway? They are some of the hardest bosses gaming has ever seen. And maybe that’s why one gamer decided to pick one of these bongos and started playing Dark Souls 3 with it.
And they even completed the game with those unusual controllers. This is some feat. Then there was a player who played the whole Dark Souls trilogy without getting hit a single time. That’s some expertise.
This goes to show that Dark Souls fans are a whole different breed. They would do whatever they could to increase the level of challenge in these games. Some of them even use mods to change the in-game items.
And when game director Hidetaka Miyazaki was asked about these mods, his answer reflected just how much he loves his fans. “It’s something we shouldn’t try to discourage, whether it’s speedruns or challenge plays or playing with a banana. It’s something that should be enjoyed and it’s just great to see that kind of community interaction.”
No doubt, he himself keeps tabs on what new mods are being released for his games. And then he enjoys people attempting to finish those games while dealing with the changes those specific mods have made.
There’s no shortage of unusual mods for Elden Ring either; some of them are there to make the game easier, while others make it significantly harder. For example, there’s a mod called “Prepare to Die” for Elden Ring; it makes things harder by increasing enemy stats, HP, attack power, and such, and makes it equivalent to New Game+. And this is just one of the changes it makes.
And that’s why it makes sense that Miyazaki does not mind Elden Ring fans trying all these mods and just having fun. That’s what these games are made for anyway, to have fun.
Other developers and publishers should have a similar opinion about mods
This is a very refreshing take someone has had on mods. There have been a number of developers and publishers that try to avoid mods like the plague. 2K and Rockstar Games are two prime examples of this.
They have done their best to make sure GTA 5 cannot be modded. Here’s hoping the industry changes a bit and becomes more like FromSoftware and Bethesda, who allow their games to be modded without a fuss.
