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Future Press [Guide]

4Gamer [18.06.2014]

IGN First [05.02.2015]

Edge [11.03.2015]

Famitsu [13.03.2015]

Playstation [20.03.2015]

Drained of Blood - An Interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki [Future Press]

Drained of Blood - An interview with the director of Bloodborne: Hidetaka Miyazaki. Interview was done by Future Press and is located in their official collector's guide. The following pages present an interview with Bloodborne's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki alongside carefully selected pieces of the game's concept artwork.

001 General Questions 002 General Questions 003 Chalice Dungeons 004 Chalice Dungeons, Story and World 005 Story, World and Iosefka

006 Iosefka and Master Willem 007 Doll and Paleblood 008 Paleblood 009 Paleblood and Favorite Weapon 010 Artwork Page

011 Favorite Boss 012 PvP, PvE and Patches the Spider 013 Creative Names 014 Ending Questions 015 Artwork Page #2

» Pages 001 - 003

Interviewer: First off, congratulations on your new role as company president. Miyazaki: Well, thank you very much. Interviewer: In relation to that, would you say that assuming the role of president has reduced the amount of time you're directly involved with game design? Most people would assume that's the case. How would you say your time is divided now between company-president duties and game development duties? Miyazaki: Well, to be honest, I'm probably shirking a lot of my presidential duties, or you could say that everyone around me is humoring me on that front (laughs). In terms of percentages though, I'd say it's around 20 percent. Out of your typical five-day workweek, I'd need to devote a little over a day to that kind of work. Still, it's not as if I was able to devote 100 percent of my time to directorial duties even before. Once I knew that we'd build the current company structure, I had the director-level staff plan a new production workflow, one that helps support my work when I'm running short on time, so I wouldn't say that I'm devoting less time to game design now. Interviewer: Regarding the process of creating Bloodborne, could you tell us what the development process had in common with, for example, Demon's Souls or Dark Souls, or how it's been different? Miyazaki: I wouldn't say it's been that different, but there are two points in particular that come to mind. The first one, which I touched on a little bit just now, is that the director-level staff in the company are now all participating in a unified production workflow. As for what I'm leaving to them in particular, one thing we need from the start of the project is the ability to express our concepts and aims in words. When I'm doing all of that by myself, I tend to verbalize the bare minimum necessary…or, to put it in a bad way, I tended to procrastinate a lot (laughs). I couldn't get away with that here. I think a lot of good came out of that arrangement. Verbalizing it and bringing it out to other people made me notice a lot I wouldn't have otherwise. The chalice dungeons, one of the biggest elements we added to this game, are something that came out precisely because I got other people involved in the operation. The other point is the environment that the title and its production team were working within. This marked a major change. With Demon's Souls, of course - and while we worked on Dark Souls, too - the expectations around us were still pretty low. All around us, there was always the idea that "there's no way that something like this will sell." That's no longer the case with Bloodborne, so it's become notably easier to make. We're feeling more pressure at the same time, but even with that, I think it's the kind of environment that makes a game developer happy. We really owe a lot to the gamers who gave so much praise to our previous titles. It's all thanks to them.

Interviewer: As you worked on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, was there anything you envisioned for the game but weren't able to make happen? Were you able to make any of those things happen in Bloodborne based on your past experience? Miyazaki: There are a lot of things, both big and small. If I were to bring up a few of these easier-to-understand details… I could bring up how armor parameters are now based on percentages, or how the effects of items are now based on giving bonuses to your stats. One problem we had with Demon's Souls was that once you reached a high enough level, the whole idea of armor began to lose meaning to some extent. In Demon's Souls, armor parameters were based on static values that you weren't able to power up at all. As players grew stronger, the percentage of their total defensive ability derived from armor grew smaller and smaller. The importance of your armor equipment declined gradually as time went on, and eventually, once you were high-level enough, armor was little more than decoration. You'd start thinking "This isn't very different from going around naked." So, in order to fix that, we implemented an armor upgrade system in Dark Souls. We had it so you could boost your armor's stat,s ensuring that even as your character got stronger, the percentage of their defense governed by armor wouldn't go down, ensuring that it remained important. I think this did have at least some effect, but there were some problems with the formula we used, and it was an extremely difficult thing to fine-tune. We only had so many resources we could devote to the balancing process, so it wound up being a bit of a problem. So we considered those experiences and based Bloodborne's armor on percentage reductions. As the player grows, the percentage that armor plays in your character's overall defense doesn't go down, armor remain an important aspect of the game, and it was much easier for us to fine-tune as well. Your inventory of items work much the same way. For items like Molotov Cocktails which had a static attack stat, you'd rely on them a great deal at first; they'd help give you another option during battle. By the endgame, though they wouldn't be much use at all, and that's a problem we wanted to tackle. An easy-to-understand example of this [is] an item like Throwing Knives, I think. Items are one of the things that contribute to the role-playing-experience, so we figured it'd be more fun if the game offered enough leeway that you could do things like create a character who relied on Throwing Knives for their offense. For Bloodborne, taking recovery items – which are pretty much essential to the game – and making them their own category makes it easier, I think, for players to express more personality with the items they use. It's nothing flashy, maybe, but it's on element that I hope turns out well.

Interviewer: Making these changes must require a fine-tuning process, acquiring an idea that this or that change is the right decision to make. How do you decide what way to adjust the game's balance? Do you have people test the game and make adjustments based on their reactions? Miyazaki: Good question. For this game, I participated in the balancing process for things like the basic feel of the game and its foundational elements. For others detailed aspects beyond that, especially when it comes to competitive multiplayer and post-ending repeat play, my strategy was to leave that to the balance team. Either way, though, I keep a close eye on our test-play runs and our feedback. For the former in particular, to put it in an extreme way, if it's not any fun to play, I think that immediately discounts it, and that applies no matter what your concept or your aim is. I remember devoting a pretty long time to repeated test-play sessions, even asking SCE to get involved. However, that doesn't mean we're simply accepting all the feedback we receive at face value. We focus on aspects that make players feel stressed out, out of place, or bored. For that kind of feedback, we listened carefully and went to see what we can do about it. That doesn't mean, though, that we necessarily implement that suggested solution as-is. One we know what needs improvement and figure out how to solve that, we try to find a solution that follows our concept and aims… One that adheres tot he overall worldview of the game. If we didn't do that, the game would feel like this big patchwork mess. Interviewer: We image you'll be releasing patches for the game after it goes on sale? Miyazaki: …That's a hard question to answer, but yes, I imagine so. I'm sure users would prefer it if we released something free of imperfections from the get-go, and that's a perfectly reasonable expectation to have, but realistically speaking, I think patches are a necessary thing. To put it simply, it's important for balance, particularly with competitive multiplayer.

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Interviewer: Will you gauge gamer reactions as you work on that? Miyazaki: Certainly yes, I think our game-balance team will be working alongside SCE to handle whatever issues arise. Myself, I'll just try to be careful not to butt in too much on their work. I mean, it's not that I don't like watching gamers post gameplay videos or give their takes on the game, but at the same time, I don't think I could assess every single one of them, even if I tried. So with that in mind, if I started insisting on changes based on this one video I happened to watch, that'll wind up twisting the balance in unexpected directions. The concept and aims I brought into this project are important to me, of course, but – as hard as it can be each time – I try to maintain a polite distance from the balancing process. Back when I worked on Armored Core, we usually had some free time after development wrapped up, I would often be the one directly fine-tuning the parameters and so on afterward. Going as far as that nowadays, though, would be pretty tough. Interviewer: You mentioned the chalice dungeons earlier. Were those inspired by Rogue or NetHack or some of the other roguelikes you've played, or… Miyazaki: The idea for the chalice dungeons actually came from a kind of different place. First, I think that with the sort of games we make, difficult games where the fun lies in the strategy you tackle the with, it's hard to beat the surprise factor you get when you play it for the first time. That period when you're groping around for a way to get past new and unknown difficulties, then sharing your experience with everyone and chatting about this and that. That kind of fun naturally doesn't last forever, but we were wondering if there was some way we could keep that going, even if it was just in a virtual kind of way. That was what first led to the chalice dungeon idea. As a result, the chalice dungeons are a completely separate system in the game. The way that each dungeon has different elements used to generate it in order to keep things fresh, and the way that you can keep a dungeon in place after generating it in order to share it with others, are both ideas that extend out from that original concept. I think there are a lot of role-playing games out there where the structure of the dungeon changes every time you play, but that approach doesn't let you share the dungeon and strategize about it with others. For a game like this one, based on the idea of learning about your environment and taking advantage of it to overcome obstacles, making them shareable was a necessity. Working on the chalice dungeons in this game, has kindled an interest in so-called procedural games in me; to see where that kind of approach might lead. Chalice dungeons are not strictly procedural in nature, though.

Interviewer: Adding chalice dungeons to this game, we feel, reduces the emphasis the game places on repeat play. Was this entirely in order to reduce the hurdles to getting through the game? Or did you want the dungeons to provide the core “replay value” to the game this time? Miyazaki: That's a bit of a surprise to hear, actually. Speaking for us, we had no intention to downplay post-ending repeat play. That concept is still front and center in this game. Bloodborne features multiple endings, and there are a couple of options if you want to see them all: play through the game again, or create a different character and start at level one. I think you're free to choose whatever approach you like, and that stance on our part hasn't changed since Demon's Souls. Repeated play in this game offers a lot of incentive, as well as a lot of this series' trademark challenge and fun too, I think. This game has the Wooden Shield – the only shield in the game – and it doesn't seem like a very reliable piece of equipment, but some people say that it gets more and more important the more times you play through the game with it. The game's battle system relies on the idea that you're going to take hits now and then, which is what I think leads to ideas like that. But anyway, that just serves to demonstrate that we're in no way downplaying repeat runs through the game. Interviewer: I think that, with Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, the game made a point of not revealing the full story to you, keeping it an enigma and leaving some of it to gamers' imaginations. Miyazaki: That's true yes. Interviewer: So the world of Bloodborne has the Hunter's Dream, and then several areas referred to as nightmares. There's a world that serves as the game's “reality” as well, right? Miyazaki: Ah, so you're asking if areas like Yharnam are meant to be reality? Well, that has some implications within the story. Yharnam at night, with the Hunters and all, truly is a nightmare-like world, but is it actually a nightmare? Or was it? That kind of thing. I think different gamers will have different interpretations of that, especially depending on which ending they reach. That's something deliberate on our part. This might be going off-topic a bit, but I like reading about how gamers interpret or think about the story and world of my games. So I don't want to rob them of that space for open interpretation. That, after all, is part of the fun I get to have after development (laughs). Still, this can often be a delicate thing, and I'm not exactly an expert at it either, so I can't be confident yet about whether it'll go well or not. Apologies in advance if it doesn't, then.

Interviewer: We think creating this story where you're working inside of dreams allows you a lot of creative freedom. You can do things you normally couldn't do in reality. But if you go too far with that, it may all just get too crazy and players wouldn't find it fun. How do you manage that kind of balance, between reality and dreams? Miyazaki: I think you're absolutely right. It'd be no fun if you could just do whatever you wanted in dreams. So in this game, the setting of Yharnam is essentially based in reality. It's so dark and dismal that it's entirely possibly to interpret it as an actual nightmare in the end, but this isn't some kind of dream world where anything you can picture will come to life. I think that Bloodborne has aspects of both Gothic and Cthulhu-style horror, but it's the former that's depicted from the start and provides a guide for the game's visual feel. That's because Gothic horror is based more in the world of reality. Of course, that doesn't mean it's real – it's a world of grotesque scary horror. And here, you have a world like that which is gradually being eroded away by Cthulu-style horror. That kind of image. Interviewer: That's interesting… To get a bit more into the story, everyone at Future Press really liked the character Iosefka. Miyazaki: Oh, I'm glad to hear that. I think you're probably referring to the non-fake one, but the doctor at the clinic is a character that I really like, both the real one and the fake one. Some people in Yharnam are just completely beyond help, but she, or the two of them, are different. Interviewer: Did she really transform into a beast? Or is there any hope of her being alive somewhere? Miyazaki: Hmm…. To be honest with you, I don't think there's any chance of that for her. In the latter part of the game, if you go inside Iosefka's clinic, I think you'll run into something that suggests as much.

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Interviewer: Did you have a reason for not creating a story path where she survived? Miyazaki: That… Well, what should I say? Let's just say that I tried to make one, but the rest of the studio was against it (laughs). That's not too removed from the truth, and it also has the side effect of keeping me safe from them! Things like that happened during the development of Dark Souls, too. I remember that figuring out what to do with Sif, the Great Grey Wolf was a huge hassle. But regardless, and sorry to repeat myself, but I'm glad to hear that you like her. At the same time, I hope you'll provide just as much support to her fake as well! That's a character I like a great deal too, but during development I'd say to the team “She's one of the heroines of this game” and nobody would believe me, which left me a bit crestfallen. That's one of the underlying themes of the game… Or, you could say that I have a thing for the “scholarly investigator” character trope. You have Sage Freke in Demon's Souls and Master Willem in this game and the fake Iosefka kind of descends from there. But, perhaps because I'm not good at characterization, none of those characters ever seem to get very popular. It makes me feel a little sorry for the fake Iosefka, if she follows that same route. Interviewer: Everyone at Future Press liked Willem, too. Miyazaki: Really? Well, that's great to hear. Interviewer: You have these kind of trademark characters, investigators seeking the truth that stray from the path a little. People like Freke and Logan. Willem was also one of their favorite characters in this game, but in general, he doesn't speak to the player. Instead, all of his dialogue is in flashback form. Miyazaki: Yeah. Willem is certainly that way. Interviewer: What was the reason for that? Miyazaki: Well, not to go back to my old crutch of being not so great at characterization, but if we had him speaking directly to you about all the supreme truths of the world or whatnot, it would've wound up really hackneyed. In a general way, I wanted the text we wrote to be as protective as possible of his dignity, his way of thinking. That was the approach I took. Really, whether it comes to Willem or the Choir or the School of Mensis, each of them has a certain background philosophy that drives them. At the start of development, we had this forum where I'd write whatever came to mind of a daily basis and the rest of the team could browse through it. I'd write about things like the meaning of the mind's eye and its limitations upon people, or discussions about blood and beast transformations, and a really large amount of other meaningless stuff like that. Most of which really never made it into the game (laughs). Of course, the theme with this game was not to tell too much story, just like before, so I think our approach turned out well enough.

Interviewer: The doll was another character that really stroked our curiosities. Making a gesture towards her and seeing her react was something that struck us as oddly soothing. Miyazaki: Thank you very much. Interviewer: Whose idea was that? It's a really good one. Miyazaki: I think that sprang out from my assorted ramblings on the forum, but it was [Masaru] Yamamura, one of the designers, who actually implemented it. That was a pretty busy period during development, I think, but he managed to make the time to do it and tell me “Hey, Miyazaki, check out this thing I made.” I gave him the OK for that immediately, of course. That was all thanks to his efforts. Ever since the Demon's Souls days, I've always had problems coming up with heroines for our games, but I really like that doll, including her design. Hopefully the gamers who play it will think the same way. Interviewer: One unique aspect of your games is that the truths behind them are rarely revealed in-game. Miyazaki: Well, that's not necessarily something I aim for, but I do try to leave room open for people's imaginations. Interviewer: Right, well there's enough room left open for people to let their imaginations run wild. In this game, the hero is motivated to set off following a hastily-written note telling you to “seek paleblood to transcend the hunt”. The term “paleblood” is hardly used at all afterwards, though. Miyazaki: Right. I had considered making that a little easier to understand… but we wound up going with that. I think there are two different ways you could interpret “paleblood” here. One is the color of the sky after you defeat the Vacuous Spider and the Mensis secret ritual is revealed. The sky there is a very pale blue, like a body drained of blood. I think there's also a message placed in Yahar'gul, Unseen Village that calls back to that. This is before the ritual is revealed, so when you're kidnapped and go to Yahar'gul, you don't know what it could mean yet. Then, after the ritual, you could look at it again and it'll dawn on you… That was my intention, anyway, but I have to admit, that's probably a bit tough to pick up on (laughs). But either way, this leads to the interpretation that “seek paleblood” refers to uncovering that ritual and putting a stop to it. Interviewer: Was it not referring to the blood of the Great Ones? Miyazaki: Right, that's another interpretation. “Paleblood” is another name for the monster that comes from the moon under certain conditions. I think there's another message in the lecture building that hints at this, but I don't want to go into too much more detail here. This is someplace where I want to leave room open for the imagination – both my own and the imaginations of gamers.

Interviewer: The scene after you defeat Amelia also leaves a lot to the imagination… Miyazaki: That's meant to give you a look into the memory of Laurence, who appears in the cut-scene as well. His skull served as the start of the Healing Church itself, but it's taken the form of a twisted beast. There's a lot you can imagine from that. Masaaki Yamagiwa: Producer at SCE JAPAN Studio: I sure can't (laughs). Miyazaki: Oh, that's all right. The gamers definitely will. I'm trusting on that. Of course, I'm sure we may get some criticism that gamers aren't given enough explanations, and I'll gladly accept that if so. But I think the fun of imagining things for yourself is one of the core tenets I follow. I like trying to focus on the fun of exploring this really dark place, then attempting to shine a light upon it. If that winds up simply being too hard to understand, then that's just another sign that I'm stretching it a bit, I think. However, if you don't mind me going off topic a bit, but I kind of have a virtual pendulum in my mind. Generally, every other I make is inscrutable and interpretive,t hen the next one is easier to understand. Armored Core 4 was my first game as a director. That was really hard to understand, but then my next one, For Answer was a lot more approachable. Then Demon's Souls was inscrutable, Dark Souls more approachable, and now we have Bloodborne. Of course, generally speaking they're all on the hard-to-understand side, so I bet some would say “They're all the same!” to that (laughs). But Armored Core 4, the first one… that one's especially hard to follow. Masaaki Yamagiwa: I had no idea what was going on at all. Miyazaki: Oh, yeah, just put it out like that (laughs)! But it's true. A lot of the studio would have agreed with you back then. Someone posted up a story summary on this video site, and one of the team members from back then said “I finally understand the story after watching that. It's actually kind of interesting, isn't it?” And I still remember the very mixed feelings I had, hearing that, I mean , it shows there's such a thing as too much, you know?

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Interviewer: You discussed shining a light on a dark story earlier. With this game, there's a scene with a baby crying inside a nightmare. Some of our writers with children mentioned that scene really struck them emotionally. It projected a much more morbid image that we could've predicted from previous games you were involved in. Have you ever created a dark world for a game, then see it have an impact on your personal life or those of your team? Miyazaki: Mmm, I think I'm safe on that at least (laughs). But it's certainly true that this game is a lot drearier than my previous ones. I think it's because, whenever I'm crafting a fantasy story, I always wind up mixing in some of the other things I look up to. It's these things that provide the creative energy I use, after all. The beauty of a heartfelt prayer, for examples. That's the kind of thing that provides inspiration to me. So the things you see in Bloodborne – the dismalness, the lack of salvation, the insanity and so on – I suppose I look up to those, too in my own way. There's something beautiful in there that I feel. Interviewer: This is meant partly as a joke, but that baby is Mergo, right? Could you talk a little about Mergo? We though it'd be better if Gwynevere was the wet nurse instead… Miyazaki: I don't know where that came from (laughs). But in the world of Bloodborne, babies that are treated as “special” in one way or the other are offered as lures to the Great Ones. The Great Ones have all lost their children because of their positions, and as a result, they're attracted to these special babies. The babies are one way of calling them. This story setup was something I came up with pretty readily in my mind. When it comes to living creatures, the stronger or more advanced you are, the fewer offspring you produce in your life. Even with human beings, the birth rates in more advanced countries lower, right? Looking back, I wonder if facts like that were at the root of the idea. Interviewer: Here are some questions from the fans. What's your favorite weapon? Miyazaki: Weapon? That's a tough one, but one I'd give right off is the threaded cane. I think it's the hardest of your initial weapons to use, but I like the design, that little touch of class it has. That's why they're priced a little higher. We're secretly playing favorites (laughs). Interviewer: And your favorite boss? Miyazaki: That's another hard one. Hmm… Which would it be for this game? Maybe this is cheating a little, but if you ignore gameplay for a moment, it's Rom, the Vacuous Spider. From the design and atmosphere to that kind of plaintive air she has, I really like her. There are some oddly cute aspects to her moves and modeling. Interviewer: Another question from the community. A lot of foes in this game are nightmare-like in appearance. Are any of them based off scary experiences that you yourself have ever had? Or more generally, where do you get ideas for their designs? Miyazaki: I, personally, have never had any really scary or paranormal experiences. I don't have any occult powers, and I definitely haven't seen any ghosts. Maybe that's part of why I “look up to” things like that, like I talked about before. I suppose I'm a little jealous of people who are scared of the dark. So the inspiration for ideas comes from somewhere a little different. For this game, for example, one theme was the “inner clash” going on within the beast-type foes. The urge to transform into a beast is in conflict with the basic sense of humanity we all have. That humanity serves as a kind of shackle, keeping the transformation in its place. The stronger the shackle keeping that urge to transform in place is, the larger the recoil once that shackle is finally broken. The results cause you to transform into a larger creature, or a more twisted one. The struggle between these two urges is one concept here. You see that pretty clearly with the beast characters designed early on – especially the Cleric Beast, which serves as their icon of sorts. That connects with the idea that the cleric is really the most fearsome beast of them all.

Interviewer: How did you think about and fine-tune the balance in the PvE and PvP fighting? Miyazaki: This has been the case since the Demon's Souls days, but the first thing I focus on is strategy. Whether or not a battle feels good or is fun, lies at the core of this. Things like PvP balance get considered once that core is in place. Of course, when I say that, I don't meant hat we don't see PvP balance as important. I didn't do any PvP balancing work for this project, but this approach is something that I think is shared among the entire balancing team. Interviewer: The health-regain system reminds us of the system you see in some fighting games where damage is permanent after the second hit. Were games like that in our mind when this system was conceived? Miyazaki: No, not exactly. The regain system was something we came up with to encourage the sense that you're fighting a life-and-death struggle, one of the themes supporting this game's battle system. It changes the concept of your defense to something proactive, and it invites you to take a more fatalistic approach to fighting, encouraging that to-the-death feel. That was both the inspiration for, and the aim of, the regain system. The original concept called for something like a “post-attack guard.” If you attack after receiving damage, you regain the damage you would have avoided if you have defended. You're taking a more proactive tactic with the attack, even though it's still after the fact. It opens up more room for on-the-fly decisions and strategies, and again, it hopefully leads to a more life-or-death aspect of fighting is one of the core themes of this game, and the regain system is one of the most important elements that supports this. Interviewer: There's a character in the game called Patches the Spider. Is that an upgrade or a downgrade for him? Did someone on the team have something against him? Miyazaki: That's not an 'upgrade', exactly (laughs). There are a lot of other spider men in the game apart from Patches, but all the others have long since gone insane. Patches, despite being exposed to enough of the world's mysteries to be transformed into a monster, has still retained his sanity and is still continuing with his research, Thinking about it that way, he's a pretty rare existence in this world. As his creator, I can't help but feel a sense of pride that he's made it this far. Interviewer: We still have lots of wonderful memories from our last visit here. The only regret was that we weren't able to check out From's legendary president's office. What's inside there, anyway? Miyazaki: Legendary president's office? What's that? I've never heard of it (laughs). If you're talking about the office [former From president Naotoshi] Jin had, I'm afraid that's already been packed up. That, and I'd better not talk about what that office used to look like anyway. I wouldn't want anyone getting mad at me, after all. As for my own office, well that's not something I can really show to other people. It's just a huge mess. There's all kinds of games, videos, board games, manga, reference books, figures, and so forth all over the place. It's crazy. Even if I told you “Go ahead, check it out”, I think Mr. Kokura over in the PR department would probably put a stop to it (laughs). Interviewer: Now it's even more of a mystery (laughs) Miyazaki: It's probably best that it remains a mystery to some extent. I think everyone on the team would agree with me there (laughs).

Interviewer: Here's another community question. A Lot of the names for items, lands and NPCs are very creative. How do you choose them? Miyazaki: I do occasionally get hints and suggestions from everyone on the team, as well as Frognation, the company that's handled the English versions of our games since Demon's Souls. But in the end, I choose all the names. That's always been the case for the titles I've directed. Names are an incredibly important part of any world you want to depict, of course, but even more than that, I just love coming up with them. I'm a bit of a naming nerd, I guess. It's always fun for me. I consider things like word origins, how it sounds in expressions, regional considerations, the whole thing. The single exception here is the titles of my games. I'm really terrible at that, and really, I never had a good experience with it (laughs). Interviewer: Two final questions for you. What kind of games have you been into lately? Things you've liked, things you do often, games you've played, movies you've watched, books you like? Miyazaki: Hmm, that's tough. I read a ton of different books all the time, so I'll try to stick with answers relevant to our discussion (laughs). But… This isn't any particular title, but I've been getting a little sentimental lately, so sometimes I've been rereading things, or looking back and playing older games again. It's a fresh experience, since my emotional makeup is a lot of works, too, and it's fun to gauge those differences. That's been a favorite pastime of mine lately. It's like I'm being amazed, just blown away at how deep really good creative works can be. But that's what's fun about them. I also work to keep abreast of the new releases in each media genre, of course, but that's kind of more an extension of my workaholic ways, and I tend to get distracted a lot from it (laughs). Interviewer: You've created Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, and now Bloodborne. When you make these games, what kind of elements do you think serve to best support them? Also, when you make games like these, tell us what you find personally fun about the development process. Miyazaki: This is something I say all the time, but it all comes down to a sense of achievement. I think the essence of games lies in attaching meaning and value to the actions you take. Demon's Souls, Dark Souls and Bloodborne all have one thing in common, and that's how it places that meaning and value on the sense of achievement you can earn from playing. That's how the battles and exploration elements work, and it applies to the world setting and story as well. You defeat powerful enemies, discover hidden locations and shortcuts, gain an understanding of the game's structure, and use the window you're given to imagine the game's world and story. My intention here is that every aspect of game design either creates or enhances the joy, or the sense of achievement, you feel as a result of these actions. That, and as for what I find fun about it… That's a difficult question. To be honest, I can't get enough of the game-director role because it's kind of like being the total overall designer for a game. If I had to give one aspect in particular, though, it'd be the map design. Outside of the chalice dungeons, I personally laid out all the maps in Bloodborne, something I like doing a lot. That connects to the sense of achievement I talked about, too. Adding flow and meaning to the map structure helps provide a sort of joy to the player, the fun of drawing up a map of the land in your mind. That adds value to player actions. Along those lines, it's a really game-like design, I think. I really like that kind of thing.

4Gamer Interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki - [18.06.2014] [4Gamer, Fully Translated]

» It Was Never Demon’s Souls 2

» The Three Concepts of Bloodborne

4Gamer: Thanks for your time today. I’d like to start by asking how Bloodborne became a completely new title instead of being simply Demon’s Souls 2? Since it’s another collaboration between SCE and From Software, and you are the director again, it just seems natural that the project would be a sequel to Demon’s Souls. Miyazaki: This project actually started out with the proposal to make something new on new hardware. 4Gamer: It was SCE that came to you with that proposal? Miyazaki: Yes. I think it was around the time that development for Artorias of the Abyss Edition of Dark Souls settled down, and it was still before the initial PS4 announcement, but the idea of working on new hardware was very appealing to us, so we eagerly agreed. 4Gamer: So the whole thing never even started as Demon’s Souls 2. That definitely sounds like SCE, even if it’s a little crazy. Miyazaki: Yes. Those of us actually working on the game never even considered making it Demon’s Souls 2. Even looking at it objectively, it does seem like a very SCE-like decision. 4Gamer: How about yourself? Were you interested only in creating something new? Miyazaki: That’s a difficult question and I can’t really say for certain. Working on an all new game is definitely appealing, but on the other hand—and I felt this way while working on Artorias of the Abyss Edition—but there is a unique kind of fun when you’re working on a sequel. You can make lots of straightforward additions to what you've already built, and there are a lot of things you can take for granted, allowing you to really expand on the scope of the game. Partially because development on Artorias of the Abyss Edition and Dark Souls II was going on simultaneously, I was kind of removed from the development of Dark Souls II and then I began work on Bloodborne. As it turns out, I’m having a ton of fun working on it, too. 4Gamer: One thing that’s always seemed strange to me is that you removed yourself from the development of Dark Souls II. How did that happen? I assume that since Dark Souls was so successful, a decision was made to develop a sequel. Not only that, but the sequel would be a big title that could ultimately decide the fate of the company and yet you decided to put someone else in charge of the project. That seems like a pretty crazy business decision for the company to make. Miyazaki: I understand what you’re saying. I’m not in a position to say what kind of decision the company made at the time, but my personal thought on that matter was that the Dark Souls II project could be a huge chance for even someone other than myself. I had already received plenty of chances, and if someone else in the company could take that same chance and make good on it, then From Software could grow as an organization. Also, speaking as a developer—and I’ve already said this in previous interviews—but I also wanted to see what kind of possibilities awaited when the base concept of Dark Souls was unshackled from myself.

4Gamer: I’d like to talk in a bit more detail about what kind of game Bloodborne is. Miyazaki: The format of the game is very close to Demon’s Souls. It’s in the action RPG genre and it features a behind-the-back camera. From there, however—the setting, story, various gameplay elements, etcetera—will go in their own direction for this game. 4Gamer: So the concept of being a challenging action RPG for gamers remains unchanged? Miyazaki: Definitely. That concept won’t change. From the very beginning of this project, the whole premise was to make a serious game for people who like games. On top of that premise, we have a multiple themes throughout the various layers of the game, but three big ones would be “exploring the unknown,” “the feeling of fighting for one’s life,” and “new online elements.” 4Gamer: Those are some intriguing keywords. Would you mind explaining each of them? Miyazaki: First, in regards to “exploring the unknown,” we wanted to make it fun to explore the environments, but we’re not limiting it to just that. We’re using the phrase to apply to a broader range of concepts. For example, it applies to both the setting and story, too. We want to create a mysterious space for the players to explore. 4Gamer: Speaking of which, the setting of this game isn’t all “swords and sorcery,” and appears to be a bit more modern. Miyazaki: That’s correct. The concept for the general feeling of the era is very much based on the Victorian era. However, the first thing most people think of when they hear “Victorian era,” is probably London. The setting for this game is not based off London, but more on the remote towns that may have existed in the era. Towns that would feel really old and gloomy. The setting we created takes these old gothic towns and layers more Victorian era elements, such as street lamps, on top of them. 4Gamer: Watching the video, the gothic horror atmosphere definitely came across. Miyazaki: Yeah. To start off I wanted to convey a similar atmosphere to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. We have this old city in an outlying region, and it was a town long known for its medical community, but now there’s a disease spreading called the “plague of the beast—“that kind of setting. 4Gamer: What made you want to go with that kind of setting? Miyazaki: I have a few reasons, but first and foremost, the setting really matched the new gameplay I had in mind. 4Gamer: What kind of new gameplay? Miyazaki: That ties in to the second theme I mentioned—“the feeling of fighting for one’s life.” In Demon’s Souls, the battle system was really defined by swords and shields, particularly shields, and it ended up feeling a bit passive.

4Gamer: Yes, I remember hearing that you wanted to recreate the feeling of sword fighting that was in the movie Excalibur—that sense of deflecting the opponent’s attack with your shield, and using that opening to counter attack. Miyazaki: That’s right. With Demon’s Souls, we had that more passive feeling in mind when creating the battle system, but with this game, we want to make it more active—make it more of something where you’re fighting your way out of a dangerous situation. 4Gamer: Taking the angle of active vs. passive definitely seems interesting. Miyazaki: When I thought about how we could express this idea of more active battles in the game, I thought that guns could be effective. However, I didn’t want to turn the game into a shooter. I wanted the guns to show their true usefulness in close quarters combat. That’s why an era in which guns existed, but they are still more like old-timey guns really worked for this game. At the same time, the elaborate designs of the Gothic and Victorian eras, and the images and atmosphere that can be created by layering those designs on top of each other, are things that we can now make a reality with the power of the PS4, and that kind of direction is something we really wanted to pursue. So it’s from both a gameplay and visual standpoint that brought us to this setting. 4Gamer: So, with this more active direction you’re taking with the gameplay, does that mean we can expect to quickly dispatch tons of enemies as we make our way through the game? Miyazaki: No, that’s not what I meant. One of the other themes is “the feeling of fighting for one’s life,” so I definitely think the feeling of the gameplay and the challenge that people have come to expect from us will remain intact. 4Gamer: I see. That puts some of my fears to rest. Miyazaki: Going back to the theme of “exploring the unknown,” we want to apply that concept to the various gameplay elements, too. The tactical aspect of having more active battles is part of that, but we also want to include a variety of unknown elements in the other facets of gameplay, such as character builds and the routes and strategies that players take through the game. We want players to enjoy groping their way through the game and exploring. One example I can use to explain what I mean would be the weapon contraptions that, in addition to the gun, kind of defines the weapons of Bloodborne. In the E3 version of the CG movie, we showed the saw machete weapon. This weapon has a very unique shape and it can also transform. Its abilities also change depending on which transformation it is in. How you use these different transformations becomes part of the gameplay, and there are even unique attacks with their own traits that can be performed only while the weapon is mid-transformation. I think players will find a lot of room for exploration when it comes to mastering the different weapons. 4Gamer: Interesting. I can’t wait to see more.

» New Experiences

» Network Systems

» Creating Something Special

4Gamer: Could you talk a little more about the second concept, “the feeling of fighting for one’s life?” Miyazaki: That concept is applied both to the presentation of the game and the game’s systems. On the presentation side, we want players to fear the enemies and feel like they are fighting for their lives, so we are putting a lot of effort into the expressions and interactions in the game to accomplish this. A very straightforward example would be blood splatters. However, the goal isn’t to simply be grotesque or to make people feel revolted. We want the players to feel scared of the enemies and for the combat to feel deadly. That way, when they emerge victorious, there’s a very strong sense of joy, or relief. We want players to feel like, “That was crazy! I can’t believe I won…” 4Gamer: Interesting. Miyazaki: With Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, we always wanted players to feel a sense of accomplishment. That’s the only reason we went with a higher difficulty. 4Gamer: That makes sense. Miyazaki: And in this game, too, we want players to feel that sense of accomplishment. In order to make that feeling even stronger than before, we needed another pillar other than just a high difficulty. To allow for players to feel that sense of accomplishment, the difficulty must be set at a level that players can overcome. Difficulty isn't something that you can just endlessly raise. 4Gamer: No matter the game or genre, getting that balance right is always a difficult problem. Miyazaki: Indeed. So, our way of thinking is that we have the high difficulty on one side, but on the other side we have this feeling of fighting for your life to help bring about that sense of accomplishment. You encounter an enemy and know it’s going to be a tough battle. You start fighting and your hands get sweaty, and you feel like you barely scraped through by the end of the encounter. We knew we wanted elements to make players feel that way other than just numerical difficulty settings. 4Gamer: That makes a lot of sense. What are some of the actual systems in the game that you used to express that feeling? Miyazaki: The more active battles I just explained are one part of that. We’re also thinking of certain elements that entice players into engaging in these deadly battles. Unfortunately, I can’t talk in detail about this right now. 4Gamer: This applies to Demon’s Souls as well, but I’m always impressed with how you can take certain themes and concepts and really express them within the game by implementing them into the game systems. I’m really excited to see how this “feeling of fighting for one’s life” concept is expressed in the final game. Miyazaki: Yeah. We hope to effectively convey that feeling both from the presentation side of things and the game systems. Miyazaki: The third concept I mentioned, “new online elements,” is something I can’t talk in detail about right now. The key phrase would be “free sharing of exploration,” but I can’t say any more about it, so please wait for future announcements. 4Gamer: New online elements, you say? Miyazaki: Yes. Just like with Demon’s Souls, we want to do something cool with the network features.

4Gamer: I wondered this when I first interviewed you about Demon’s Souls, but do you come up with these new network features all by yourself? Miyazaki: Yeah. I mean, I like to bounce ideas off trusted members of the team, and I get a low of new ideas by doing that, but when you’re first thinking of network features, it can be very conceptual and abstract, so I spend a lot of time, comparatively, thinking of them by myself. This may apply to all aspects of my games, but especially with the network features, it can be very hard to get other people to understand my ideas (laughs). 4Gamer: Interesting… So, do you have a pretty deep knowledge of how network services are designed? Miyazaki: No, not really. 4Gamer: But you always come up with features that really use the network features in a good way. In Demon’s Souls, you had the bloodstain system that showed how other players died, and the more seamless cooperative and PvP gameplay. Those types of systems have become more commonplace now, but when Demon’s souls came out, and especially when you were still in the planning stages, I don’t think most people would have been able to come up with those ideas. Miyazaki: You’re definitely right that it was hard for people to understand at the time. I have a lot of bitter memories from that time. 4Gamer: The online multiplayer systems and features of the day tended to come from a much simpler way of thought—like, “this would be much more fun if we could play together!”—but that’s where a lot of those ideas seemed to stop. A lot of games didn’t seem to fully take into account the merits and demerits of those systems. But you, on the other hand, even a long time ago would say that “playing together is fun, but playing together at the same time can be a pain.” I remember you saying, “There has to be more possibilities with asynchronous mutliplayer gameplay.” Those words left a strong impression on me. Miyazaki: Yeah, I remember saying that. I’m the same way now, but at the time—and this may sound a bit pretentious—I was thinking about network systems in video games from more of a social sciences standpoint. 4Gamer: Social sciences? Miyazaki: Yes. When I was in university and later graduate school, I was interested in studying social sciences on the side. At the time, the Internet had really just entered the world. Looking back, it was a very interesting era—a time that really made me think about a lot of things. Of course, I was always playing video games and wasn’t a very serious student, so I don’t mean to say I’m some kind of expert, but I think I was influenced in a way. 4Gamer: Interesting. So that formed the backbone for your later work. Miyazaki: Nothing so grandiose as that. I just had academic leanings in that direction. I think a lot of people from my generation will know what I’m talking about. 4Gamer: Hmmm…

Miyazaki: I find network systems to be very interesting, both in general and when applied to games. Whether it’s an experience in a game or some kind of value, it can be expanded across a multitude of layers. This may sound a bit dramatic, but I feel that I’m very lucky to be able to create games in an era like this. 4Gamer: Well, I don’t know what kind of network systems we’ll find in Bloodborne, but in terms of it being a new challenge for you, you certainly have me excited. 4Gamer: Another question I had was if the teams working on Bloodborne and Dark Souls II are completely different or not. Miyazaki: They are totally separate teams. At From Software, we have the development resources to work on two so-called “high-end” games simultaneously. Bloodborne is one of those titles, and we've been working on it in parallel with Dark Souls II. 4Gamer: In terms of games being developed domestically in Japan, I feel that Bloodborne is definitely one of the bigger projects. At the same time, people are always talking about how Japan has a tough time competing head-on with the so-called triple-A game studios overseas, and that Japanese developers have to approach things from a slightly different angle. Are you conscious of that at all when developing games? Miyazaki: That’s a tricky topic. Speaking strictly about Bloodborne, the project has become quite large, but at the same time, I think that our particular style is still very much intact. It’s not so much a conscious decision that we keep our unique style intact, but more that it just happens naturally. Either way, the result is that we probably do end up approaching things somewhat differently. 4Gamer: When you say it naturally ends up that way, is that because the development team structure ultimately has you making the decisions? Miyazaki: That’s not necessarily always the reason, but it may be one. When it comes to game design, our style is to not have a “lead designer,” but instead have the director work directly with the individual designers. That, of course, has both a good and bad side. The good side is that you don’t lose sight of what you set out to make, and it’s easier to make your unique style shine through, but on the other hand, there are physical limitations. For as much as the structure allows you to you really stay on target, it’s also easy to become immobilized. 4Gamer: It also heavily depends on who is the director. Miyazaki: That’s right. In the end, you have to find the right team structure for the people creating the game. For example, we adopted different styles for Bloodborne and Dark Souls II. However, regardless of all that, for us at From Software, the base premise is always to make a good game--we all want to make something special. We’re always conscious of that. You can call that our unique style, or being “From-like,” but whatever it is, it comes down to being something special. I don’t intend to define what “something special” means, but I think it’s something that has value, and I want From Software to continue being a company that has it. 4Gamer: Interesting. I can’t wait to see more.

» Staying Involved in Game Development

» Making It Exciting

4Gamer: There’s another thing that’s been on my mind that I’d like to ask you about. Recently, it was announced that you would be taking on the position of president at From Software. Miyazaki: Yes, that’s correct… 4Gamer: So I think there’s a bit of concern, or should I say "worry," among fans about just how much you can be involved in the day-to-day development while also serving as the president of the company. You are definitely the director on Bloodborne, right? Not a producer or anything? Miyazaki: Yes. On Bloodborne, I am 100% the director. 4Gamer: Oh, that sure is a relief! But are you able to keep up your presidential duties at the same time? Miyazaki: Yeah, I’m getting by. I learned a lot from developing Dark Souls, so I have another person at the director level supporting me on this project, and I’m finding a way to make things work. Since this interview is about Bloodborne, I’d rather not talk too much about my role as president of From Software, but simply put, one of my conditions for taking on the role of president was that I would be able to remain involved in the day-to-day game development. 4Gamer: Conditions? Miyazaki: Yes. It might not have been the best idea to set conditions when they were offering me the position of president, but my personal goal has always been to create games. 4Gamer: I think I understand how you feel. Miyazaki: The previous president, Jin, was really understanding in this regard. Anyway, I am definitely the director of Bloodborne, and my becoming president will not lessen my involvement in any way. 4Gamer: This is a bit of a tangent, but your first project to work as a director was Armored Core 4, right? Miyazaki: That’s right. I started as the lead planner on the project, but became the director mid-way through the prototype phase. As the lead planner, I was in charge of the setting, story, design, and the game systems. One of the more distinctive features I worked on was the Quick Boost mechanic.

4Gamer: Oh, really? I remember feeling that Armored Core 4 and the sequel Armored Core for Answer felt even more video gamey than previous Armored Core titles, so I guess that was due to your involvement. Miyazaki: But with Armored Core for Answer, we were working on that in parallel with Demon’s Souls, so there were quite a few challenges. When Demon’s Souls was in the initial planning stages, and right around the time it was entering the prototype phase, I came on as the director, and at the time, it was a completely different and very difficult project compared to what it ended up becoming. 4Gamer: Is that so? Miyazaki: Yes. One thing I remember was that the camera perspective was completely different. At the time, the plan was to make it first-person, or more specifically, a game in which you switched between first and third-person perspectives. 4Gamer: Wow, really? Miyazaki: Yeah. At the time, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was a really big deal, and I think SCE wanted a game similar to that. From my perspective, though, I didn't think we could compete by taking the same approach as Oblivion, so I wanted to focus more on gameplay elements like battles and exploration, and had to do a lot to convince everyone that a third-person camera was the way to go. 4Gamer: What did you say to convince them? Miyazaki: I started by explaining the direction of the game. I just mentioned the focus on battles and exploration, and in order to facilitate those, I knew that a locked third-person camera was the best way to go, so I explained my logic. Whether you take the environment layout, the object and enemy placement, or the back-and-forth action in battle, I knew we couldn't do our best work unless the camera perspective was set. Even talking about the multiplayer elements and other facets of gameplay, I believed a third-person perspective was best. I said a lot of stuff like that, and whatever came to mind to convince them (laughs).

4Gamer: I think we’re running out of time, but is there anything you’d like to say to our readers and your fans? Miyazaki: Sure. To kind of summarize what we've talked about, I’d like to say that Bloodborne is a game that’s been full of challenges for us—it’s an all-new game that we’re developing on new hardware. However, the underlying philosophy of the game is the same as the projects we've worked on up until now—we want to make games with satisfying gameplay that are fun for people who like games, for example. 4Gamer: Being able to talk to you today, and seeing the game in motion has really put some of my fears to rest. Miyazaki: I can only hope that fans will also rest at ease, but at the same time get excited for all of the new stuff we have in the game. 4Gamer: I feel like there aren’t a lot of games these days that people can get excited about just from reading about them, but I think people might be quite excited for this game! Miyazaki: If that’s true, I couldn’t be happier. As a gamer myself, I love getting excited for games. 4Gamer: Just to be completely sure, allow me to ask one final time, but your becoming president of From Software won’t have any negative effect on Bloodborne, right? Miyazaki: Definitely not. Even when Jin was in charge, From Software was never a company where the president couldn’t be involved in game development. 4Gamer: So I guess the roles of president and game director aren’t entirely conflicting then. Perhaps that’s especially true at From Software. Miyazaki: That’s right. Of course, there are duties I need to take care of as president, but everything comes back to making a good product and a good game. If that’s the case, then of course it’s also a good thing for me as a game creator. 4Gamer: Is that the case? Miyazaki: I sure hope so (laughs)! Anyway, although the release is still a ways out, I hope everyone will look forward to Bloodborne. Thanks for your time today. 4Gamer: Thank you!

Inside the Mind of Bloodborne and Dark Souls’ Creator [05.02.2015] - [IGN First]

A candid conversation with From Software’s Hidetaka Miyazaki by Marty Sliva. Hidetaka Miyazaki is one of the most influential game directors of the last generation, but he’ll never tell you that. Director on Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, he helped put From Software on the AAA developer map by creating beautiful, punishing, and incredibly rewarding games that remind us what it was like to sit in front of our NES’ and chip away at the classics. During our IGN First trip to Tokyo for Bloodborne, we spent a day at From Software and sat down with Miyazaki himself. Our discussion traveled from Bloodborne’s inception, to the rise of speed runs and streaming, and even to which games he’s looking forward to in 2015. Sit back and relax, this one’s a doozy. On How Bloodborne Came to Be “To speak precisely on the timing, it was just about when we were wrapping up Prepare to Die when Sony approached From Software," Hidetaka Miyazaki told us. His response to Sony? "Why don't we start talking about next-gen?" But of course, the world of Bloodborne was something that Miyazaki had been thinking about for quite some time. “...the game mechanics, or the gothic theme for example, those were some areas or concepts that were always brewing, and one of the areas that I always wanted to achieve in my career, and I knew that when that trigger was pulled, this was it.” On Inspirations for the Setting The world of Bloodborne is brimming with influences from our own history. From the aesthetics of Victorian London, to the mass hysteria of the Black Plague, it feels familiar while still maintaining an air of mystery. When I asked Miyazaki about his history with...well...history, he responded, “The short answer to your question is...not necessarily did I really study the history during my student years. However, it has always been an area of interest, naturally as you can see with my games. One thing I'd like to emphasize is that because they are areas of interest, and because they have significant roles in human history, there isn't really a specific element that I'd like to pursue or I would like to connect to as an inspiration, specifically because if I did, I would dig too deep into that particular angle of history or incident, and it's more or less a hybrid. I touch these points lightly, intentionally.” On Reading Books Before Playing Games Miyazaki’s love for reading is immediately apparent when you hear him speak. He explained to us, “Growing up, as a kid, I loved to read. I liked to read books that were above my range. I always tried to aim higher and read difficult books. What would happen is, although I could read them, sometimes -- because I was so young -- I couldn't read TOO deep into them. Maybe I would understand half of the story? What would happen is that my imagination would help fill the other half, and that imagination element would just blow up. That's kind of the part I enjoyed as well, filling the gaps of where I didn't understand the readings, where my imagination took me eventually to think that I understood what I was reading.” He elaborated, “It kind of relates to what I'm doing in my creations. In addition to that, I studied Sociolology and Psychology, and, after school, I revisited those themes, and this is the fruit of what you're experiencing now.” When asked if he played games a lot as a kid, his answer surprised. “Growing up, I was restricted at home from playing video games until I reached University. This is a reason why I stumble when I'm asked this question. There was a board game called Sorcery which is one of my favorites and I would often revisit the game. It's not a video game but it definitely stands out in my mind as a game that impacted me.” Unsurprisingly, he elaborated on another physical game he enjoyed, “I've been a fan of Dungeons and Dragons, and for them to have come this far is very meaningful to me.” On How Development on PS3 Informed PS4 Miyazaki began his career developing games for the PlayStation 3. Years later, he’s on a brand-new piece of hardware. We asked him about that leap in technology. “...the PS3, at that time, was revolutionary for introducing the network features and functionality, hence, that kind of explains why Demon's Souls and Dark Souls were designed in those ways. Now, fast forwarding to PS4, the Share feature is obviously adding onto that network connectivity and capability and the sharing of the experience. This is an area which plays a theme in Bloodborne where for example, sharing dungeons will be one of the key factors.”

On Speed Runs and Streaming Beneath the initial layer of extreme difficulty and opaque storytelling, the Souls community has rallied around mind-boggling speed runs and long-form streams of the games. And you know what, Miyazaki is a huge fan of this. When asked if he predicted this community during development, he cheerfully replied, “I'm very well aware of how players are enjoying the speed runs. I would like to correct that I'm nowhere near perfect and that was nowhere near what I was aiming for or expected. That was actually behavior by the consumer base that I did not anticipate. I have watched those and I actually enjoy that kind of...almost...interaction, in some ways and that is also at the core of my thinking or philosophy upon game design.” In terms of streaming the entire game on services like Twitch, he sees both the positives and negatives. “Of course, there are areas or storylines for example that I would like for the users to experience or take away from Bloodborne, but there's always kind of a thought that it would be interesting from my or the team's point of view as well, where the gamers take it and how they get creative and how they want to play.” He continued, “I see it as almost an interaction between the two, in terms of, ‘Oh, I actually didn't think of that, but you took it in a different way and found YOUR way or interpretation of how you would like to enjoy Bloodborne.’” On Bloodborne’s Ties to Demon’s Souls Between the ties to Sony, the faster combat, and the presence of a Nexus-like hub world, Bloodborne definitely feels like a follow-up to Demon’s Souls. When asked, Miyazaki told us, “Just reflecting on your question and the history of my development...it carries the DNA. It carries the DNA of Demon's Souls and its very specific level design. And even in Bloodborne, the upper maps, the maps above ground, are all along the lines of Demon's Souls and very specifically designed.” But that’s not to say there’s nothing new in Bloodborne. Specifically, the procedurally-generated Chalice Dungeon throws a curveball at what most Souls fans expect from the bespoke level design of the games. Miyazaki resumed, “In terms of Chalice Dungeon, yes, there is an element of randomness. However, once, for example, a Chalice Dungeon is created, you can lock that. Once you've locked it, you can go back and play it time and time again and learn it. So, on those terms, it's still along the lines of a Demon's Souls experience. But, we did want to have some sort of variance with a new IP like Bloodborne, to throw something new into the mix.” With a smile, he concluded, “Hopefully, it will resonate with the people and the fans will appreciate it.” On Horror What genre does Miyazaki consider the themes of Bloodborne to fall under? We asked if he was a big fan of horror, and his reply surprised us. “I'm not necessarily a fan of horror genre of movies or books. I do like reading in general but I'm not specific in terms of genres. If I had to call out a genre, I would say dark fantasy. I do like taking things in from text and letting my imagination explore and run with the stories. What you see is the full combination of a lot of those elements combined with the core theme of the game.” On whether he’d ever tackle a lighter, more family-friendly tone in a video game, he smiled and replied, “It's funny you say that because I get asked this question quite frequently, and my answer to this has always been that I've always had an interest in doing something colorful or heartwarming, but no one believes me.” “Admittedly, games like [Bloodborne], which are dark and somber, are kind of my expertise and that's what I go back to, those are my roots and probably something I'll continue doing. However, I've always had an interest in doing something that's more child-friendly or more colorful and lively. For example, games like PoPoLoCrois on PS1, Ico on PS2...those games stand out from my point of view, just as examples, of something I'd like to explore given the opportunities.” On Quickening the Pace of Combat The first thing most people think when they get their hands on Bloodborne usually revolves around the more aggressive-nature of combat. According to Miyazaki, “There are two reasons for this. I wanted to differentiate from the previous series and I wanted to consider the hunt your nightmare theme. Considering the hunt your nightmare theme and the massive challenges in the game, adding the speed element and proactive battles, I thought this was a better match for Bloodborne. I felt that by adding the faster paced proactive combat players would gain a sense of accomplishment by overcoming those battles.”

On How the Hell Multiplayer Works Multiplayer has always been a bit of a mystery in the Souls games. In light of recent trailers that showcased three human players teaming up to fight a single boss, fans theorized that there might be a more streamlined, jump into a friend’s game kind of multiplayer this time around. Well, that’s not the case, as Miyazaki clarified. “You still have to go through the matchmaking process. However, there is a workaround where you can use keywords or a secret word and share them with friends. And of course, you can use Chalice Dungeons where you can share your chalice Dungeon with a limited number of friends.” On His Influence on Gaming as a Whole Despite the monumental success of his games, Miyazaki is a quiet, and humble creator. When asked how he felt about the Souls games being some of the most influential of the past generations, smiled and responded, “I'm very humbled and grateful to even be considered that influential in the industry. I feel that may be a bit exaggerated. I have been influenced by many games in the industry and am grateful and honored to be a part of the games industry.” After a moment of silence, he finished with a laugh, “I often get criticized for not answering this question well *laughter* On Where Games Will Be in Five Years “If I knew the answer to that question I would tell you! (laughs)” On the Rise of Virtual Reality It seems like a trade show can’t go by without news regarding some form of VR, whether it be Oculus, Morpheus, or anyone else. Miyazaki understands the appeal, saying, “I feel that the devices are such impactful pieces of technology that..it's a game-changer by itself, the delivery and the experience. Business aside, from the point of view of a creator, I would like to be a part of that exploration, of that movement and process. Fingers crossed, as an outsider, that it takes off. Still, as a creator, I'd like to be a part of that movement. Looking back at when the PS1 and N64 came out, polygons were the big thing, and suddenly the experience of 3D on your screen was made a reality.” He continued on the future of the technology, “I'm very excited for the possibility of Oculus and Morpheus to explore another phase, a new angle, of innovation, and how could I deliver content, game-specific content. That's something that really excites me.” On His Most Anticipated Games of 2015 We finished off our time with Miyazaki by focusing on life after Bloodborne. Once the game is out the door, what is he looking forwarding to playing? “Just specifically from the game industry point of view, I'm looking forward to E3 for example, and specifically, being domestic developers, games like Metal Gear Solid V...obviously being open world, something new. And Zelda, again open world and a very new approach that they're taking. [Those are] probably the two pillar titles that I'm looking forward to. From a consumer point of view, Evolve is one I want to get my hands on and start playing. Left 4 Dead is something I really enjoyed in the past and I'd like to, if I have the time, explore Evolve as well.” On What’s Next But of course, as much as he’d love to sit down and play games for the rest of 2015, that probably isn’t going to happen. He concluded with a smile, “Realistically speaking, once I've wrapped this, anytime I have extra time on my hands, I will start to create or develop or design something new, because that's the most exciting thing.” Marty Sliva is an Editor at IGN. He is ready to die, die, and die some more in Bloodborne.

Q & A with Hidetaka Miyazaki [11.03.2015] [Edge Magazine]

Hidetaka Miyazaki is as mysterious as his games. The developer interviews in the marvellous Dark Souls Design Works book portray a man who speaks in riddles, giving his designers keywords and concepts and then letting them flesh them out. It’s an uncommon approach, but it’s clearly effective: Miyazaki joined FromSoftware in 2004, and last year was appointed company president, juggling boardroom concerns with the business of directing Bloodborne. Interviewer: When FromSoftware creates new IP, how important is it that it recalls the style of previous games? And how do you ensure that it achieves that? Miyazaki: We don’t normally have any [of the] style of previous games in our mind, really, when we create new IP. What makes FromSoftware unique is the attitude we have — as players, we are eager to make a game that we want to play. Of course, the game style could happen to be similar [to a previous game] as a result, but we don’t think that is a bad thing. We never set out to create a similar style of game each time. Interviewer: With each new release, From Software’s games have become more popular. When making Bloodborne, did you keep in mind this expanded audience, or are you always making the game for yourselves? Miyazaki: I’m very pleased if our games really have become popular, but we don’t keep that in mind, and especially didn’t when making Bloodborne. Also, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say this, but I’m not a big fan of the market-driven approach personally. Our philosophy hasn’t changed much since Demon's Souls. Interviewer: When you first pitched Bloodborne, how did you describe it? Does the game match up to that original description? Miyazaki: The concept and the direction haven’t changed since our first presentation. Some keywords that I used to describe this game, such as “the sense of fighting for death”, have been reflected in the game since the early stages. But I think what I suggested were more concepts, or directions, at first. We tested these with a prototype and kept the things that were valid and felt realistic, so some of those early ideas are not in the final game.

Interviewer: Early in the development of Dark Souls, your discussions focused on how the world began, the meaning of life, and the meaning of fire. Did you have similar discussions when planning Bloodborne? Miyazaki: Well, I can’t tell you many of them, since they contain spoilers! But we covered topics like ‘What is deep inside of a beast?’ or ‘What it is like to become one?’ As always, I talked to the designer passionately about many random topics [laughs]. Interviewer: When you have a reputation for creating challenging games, do you feel obliged to make your next game even more challenging than the previous one? How do you decide on the difficulty level? Miyazaki: What we are trying to create is a game whose difficulty level is manageable, not simply just challenging. That difficulty level, when it is manageable, leads to a real sense of accomplishment for the player. It’s one of my biggest challenges. Interviewer: This is a much more attack-minded game. Did the shield-up, defensive approach many players took in the Souls games frustrate you? Miyazaki: No, not at all. I love the defensive approach — that is why Demon's Souls was designed like that. Just because we took a different approach to this time, it doesn’t mean that we disapprove of the player keeping his shield up. I don’t get frustrated by any approach — except when someone is clearly trying to annoy others. Interviewer: If someone plays the game alone, without ever connecting online, how much of the whole game do you think they’re missing out on? In other words, how important is online play in terms of how you’ve designed the game? Miyazaki: That is a tough question. Playing offline is your choice, and some players simply cannot play online for various reasons. So I wouldn’t say they are missing out, to be honest. It is true that we designed the game to have a variety of unique online gaming experiences, but it is not like players are going to miss something critical if they don’t play online. That said, I’d like users to play the game online, if they can.

Interviewer: Bloodborne lacks the character class system we saw in Demon's and Dark Souls. How, without that, do you offer players enough variety for multiple runs? Miyazaki: Well, for example, there is no clear ‘occupation’ in Demon's Souls [like in Dark Souls] — the class is defined by stats and equipment. This game has the character class system in a similar way. Depending on their stats and equipment, the personality of the character will be different. Interviewer: What drew you to the Gothic setting you’ve used in the game? Miyazaki: Really, we decided on the setting from a gaming point of view. We’d decided to introduce a gun to shift the flow of battle, to have it be more active. And we needed to do special things with the guns — things you wouldn’t find in a traditional shooter — for the guns to meet that purpose. This era, which uses these primitive types of guns, fits the game well. Interviewer: You’ve said early versions of Dracula were an inspiration. Is there something about Bram Stoker’s writing that speaks to you? Miyazaki: Bram Stoker’s Dracula was one of my formative [reading] experiences as a child. I remember I liked the idea of a “clammy” feeling before Van Helsing appears. I was an odd child, wasn’t I? [Laughs.]

Famitsu Interview with Hidetaka Miyazaki - Bloodborne Going Gold Event [13.03.2015] [Famitsu, Fully Translated]

Interviewer: Congratulations on completing Bloodborne! How are you really feeling about it now? Miyazaki: I’m 30 percent looking forward to the players enjoying the game. The remaining 70 percent is freaking out. (laughs) It’s always like this. It hasn’t changed. This is the roughest period. (laughs) It’s scary…like you don’t know what’s going to happen. Development finished, before it goes on sale… this period makes me so uneasy, I just can’t stand it. Before it’s finished, there are still things you can do. Once it’s released, you can deal with problems that arise. Right now, there’s nothing I can do. So, my feelings now are a mix of hoping the game is enjoyed and a vague sense of fear. That’s how it is, honestly. I’d like to be brimming with confidence, but you have to prepare yourself mentally. Interviewer: You were pulling double duty as both company president and director this time around... Miyazaki: It's weird to say that it felt natural… Being the president is a serious deal. It’s less about anticipation and more about dealing with the heavy stuff. This time I had some really talented people working on the development. There were some things I could leave to them. We started this system where I could concentrate on certain areas and trust them with others. I think they did really well. Working as both presedent and director. That’s how I want things to go from here on out. I feel like this was a valuable test run. It’s not that I’m no longer intimately involved, the process has just changed. The change wasn’t bad. Working on it cooperatively is motivating and, more than just being president and director, I guess I could say I feel like there’s nothing I can’t do. Next, they need to help me out as company president. (laughs) Interviewer: (laughs) How did you feel about the Playstation 4 when you were working on it? Miyazaki: It was easy to make on the PS4. Compared to the experience we had with the “launch timing” on Armored Core 4 on the PS3, it’s completely different. I want to say the PS4 feel more compliant. It was easier to make. After the problems we had with the PS3, we were knew we wanted better, but it was even easier than we hoped. I really felt the design philosophy of the PS4.

Interviewer: At the (completion event) at UDX theater, you got to show the “theater demo” on a huge screen. How did the fans react? Miyazaki: While I didn't get to see their reactions when it was on screen, I really love personally hearing criticism and impressions of the game. I want to know how people feel about my work, so don’t be too harsh! (laughs) Use kind words. (laughs) User opinion is valuable and, as a creator, it’s rough when you don’t have any feedback, so I like to get a lot of different responses. I’m looking forward to hearing what people think. Interviewer: It seems like this game will let players make use of the Share Play feature, too. Miyazaki: It’s a new thing to look forward to. Sharing videos and live screen sharing, too. With Dark Souls, lots of players made videos and I got to see a lot of them. Then take Demon’s Souls. When we made it, we never guessed that players would do all that, but it was suited for it and it was a wonderful surprise. I wondered if there was something we could to do cater to that kind of enjoyment. Some titles lend themselves to it and others don’t. I think there are a lot of possibilities for the Share Play feature and I want to find them. We’ve yet to see what’s going to happen with Share Play, as it is not fully utilized yet, but I feel like that's all part of the fun. Interviewer: Like the possibility for video that was announced today: A show where musician/actor Nobuaki Kaneko “fights for his life” in Bloodborne. (Broadcast starts March 16th) Miyazaki: Actually, I didn’t know Nobuaki Kaneko was going to being doing it until the announcement event. I had heard about the format of the show, but I didn’t know he would be in it. His video message that was playing at the event was really intense. I was pleased. I’m also looking forward to his videos.

Interviewer: Lastly, what’s your message for all the fans waiting for Bloodborne? Miyazaki: I’m bad at this one. I can’t really say anything confidently but… When it says “Struggle against death in a terrifying world”, I hope players like the ‘terrifying’ part. It is my purest desire for players to feel the pleasure of winning and making it out alive. That’s why I made this game and I hope people give it a try.

A Playstation Blog Conversation with Hidetaka Miyazaki [20.03.2015] [Playstation Blog]

Interviewer: The Souls titles were never specifically labeled ‘horror’, but I can think of few other games that fill me with such a sense of fear and dread while playing. It looks like you’re taking that ball and running with it in Bloodborne – just watching the trailers makes me incredibly anxious… Miyazaki: There are several reasons why you need a sense of horror in the world, especially with Bloodborne, which has a more chilling world view than Souls. It’s not like horror is something we specifically go for, but it’s important to have that sense of fear and terror because it directly ties into the player overcoming that and enhancing their sense of achievement. At the same time, my personal view is that the world we live in can be a harsh and unkind place. To create a game world that is always kind to players – that’s not how I see the real world. Whether it be nature or society, it’s often a harsh and unkind environment – so that translates into my games. Interviewer: I know there are some who prefer the ‘hub’ system from Demon’s Souls but for me, one of the most memorable aspects of your recent work was the extraordinary world-building of Dark Souls – how the game’s locations all linked up like some grand, intricate work of origami. How have you approached Bloodborne’s map design? Miyazaki: I wanted to take the best of both approaches. So every area is linked in one way or another much like the first Dark Souls, but you also have a hub system like Demon’s Souls. The world itself is a painted world in several respects – like Dark Souls – but essentially each area is still seamlessly connected. At the same time, to access each point, there are central hubs that act as warp points, and to reach new points, you still have the hub which also acts as a refuge as well. I wanted to combine the best of these elements so that you’d be able to easily go to areas you’ve already discovered.

Interviewer: Since launch, the stature of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls has grown and grown, and they now inhabit pretty rarefied air, comfortably sitting among the all-time greats. How do you deal with having such an obsessive and passionate fanbase? Miyazaki: First of all, I’m incredibly happy to have these fans. I’d be lying if I didn’t feel pressure to meet their expectations, but I get a lot of enjoyment reading and hearing what they have to say. For these people to put so much time into my games and really discuss things that I’ve created with such passion… I’ll go online and enjoy reading what they have to say. Of course, sometimes there are things that are not so enjoyable to read – but even taking that on board, over all I take great pleasure in their comments. As a creator it’s such a valuable resource, to listen to their honest feedback and think about what game I’m going to make next. You couldn’t go out there and pay people money to put in the hours that these people do! When I went to PlayStation Experience in the USA at the end of last year, there was a Q&A panel there with the players, and I realised the level of passion that people have. Interviewer: Does it bother you that people are so fixated on your games’ perceived high level of difficulty, rather than other aspects of the experience? Miyazaki: It’s not something I find frustrating. I do understand why people ask about it a lot, but I’m happy that people are fascinated by it – in that respect I don’t mind being repeatedly asked about difficulty. It’s something that I find enjoyable to discuss. As a game creator – or a creator of anything – for people to be fascinated and ask questions and be curious about what I’m making, that’s something that can’t be taken for granted and I’m very grateful for that.

Interviewer: Often to the detriment of my social life, I’ve found Souls games to be hugely replayable, relinquishing new secrets every time I return to them. How are you approaching New Game + in Bloodborne? Miyazaki: The actual set-up is essentially the same, but if you play it I think you’ll see that the feel is a bit different to Souls. There is that replayability in the same form for Bloodborne as there was in Dark Souls, but it’s a different game, so even if the feature is similar, you might have a different experience with New Game + or New Game ++ – or however many times you choose to replay. A simple example is that there is no defensive style of play in Bloodborne. That starts to be more apparent the more New Game + playthroughs you go through. So a gamer can experience a different taste of New Game + compared to a Souls game. I’d like gamers to challenge themselves and see what they can get out of New Game +. Interviewer: There’s been a little consternation among Souls fans on the web at the suggestion that Bloodborne won’t feature quite so many weapons as in the Souls games. Can you clarify exactly how the weapon system works in Bloodborne? Miyazaki: In terms of how many physical weapons there are, the amount is less than in a Souls game, but that’s to some extent a decision made due to the game design. The weapons transform – so one weapon will have various uses and strategies that you can implement. You can also customise your weapon with Blood Gems. There are different types and you can slot in up to three at a time. One gem might have you use less stamina per swing, for example. You can have many different combinations – so actually the amount of weapons in Souls is absorbed in Bloodborne by this customisation element and how someone can tailor a weapon to how they want to use it. In a way, the variety is still there, but it’s absorbed down on a customisation level, rather than in the quantity of actual weapons, much more than in Souls.