Elden Ring Edge Interview with Miyazaki and Overture Book Announced

More Elden Ring information has surfaced to the public, including an interview with Miyazaki and The Overture of Elden Ring art book.

Elden Ring Edge Magazine Interview with Miyazaki and “Overture” Book Announced

Good news for Elden Rings fans! The wait could not feel any longer as a slew of new information was revealed to the public via Reddit posts last night. A few pages of the developer interview Hidetaka Miyazaki had with Edge Magazine were released. Alongside this, “The Overture of Elden Ring” was also announced, which will feature art, lore and more from the titular game and other FromSoftware games that came before it.

Without much further ado, let’s dive right in as there is a lot to unpack in this update. Warning to those who wish to go into the game blind: we will be discussing lore and gameplay aspects in this article. Potential spoilers ahead!

Godfrey the First Elden Lord

One of the biggest lore reveals in Edge Magazine was the discussion of Godfrey, who is important enough to be the cover of this month’s issue.

During the talks with George R. R. Martin, one of the things they agreed upon was the creation of mythical heroes and stories of legends to create mystery around the world of Elden Ring. These core characters were treated as the centrepieces of the world and integral parts of The Lands Between’s ancient histories. The emphasis on heroes such as Godfrey was not present in the previous games and thus had given FromSoftware the opportunity to tell more dramatic stories.

Godfrey, the majestic warrior on the cover of Edge Magazine, was the first Elden Lord. He was married to Eternal Queen Marika, another figure discussed in previous reveals. Godfrey was intended to be a personification of all the good things at the peak of the world’s grandeur.

However, he was banished from The Lands Between and became Tarnished. This is what will bind the story of the player to the world, as both are Tarnished.

The interviewer also noted that Godfrey’s axe contained the presence of tentacles on it, and questioned Miyazaki whether this meant that this hero had a connection with the ocean. As usual, Miyazaki kept this a secret, and promised that Godfrey is “a major presence in this story. And he represents not only a great part of the player character’s role but also a large part of the world and its history”.

Creating The Lands Between

A lot of detail and care went into the creation of The Lands Between, the game’s primary setting. A previous post on Elden Ring claimed that “Like the Erdtree itself, a Tarnished’s path reaches up to the branches of the heavens and twists down into the roots of the earth”. The existence of locations such as an underground “Eternal City” and “Temple in the Sky” suggests that like Dark Souls, Elden Ring will have a lot of verticality in its level design. Some other notable locations previously visited are Fringefolk Hero’s Grave, the Church of Dragon Communion, and Stormveil Castle.

Miyazaki confirmed that these two areas will indeed be explorable by players. A lot of areas will be hinted at either via item descriptions or stories being told in the world, which should create a sense of wonder when exploring the world.

The Lands Between is also going to be bustling with activity. It will be littered with many known locations, like the Erdtree, but will also have many secrets to discover. The world is also a living entity, and thus it does not revolve around you. The player starts their journey into the Lands Between as stories are already happening all around them.

Mounted Combat

Torrent, the Spirit Steed, is the player’s mount in Elden Ring. It will be used as the primary form of travel for the player, but will also open up the option for mounted combat. This is definitely one of the bigger features being introduced in Elden Ring.

Miyazaki confirmed that there won’t be any scenarios that specifically require the use of Torrent, but would instead have instances where using him is an option. They do not want to shoehorn the player into a specific playstyle but instead give them the freedom to choose. The large explorable world of The Lands Between will hopefully encourage the use of the steed, but the player should be able to walk around instead if they choose to do so.

Variety is definitely one of the things Miyazaki has strived to provide in Elden Ring. This is quite evident in combat, as mounted combat is a viable option and magic is also being given more emphasis this time around. One of the best parts about magic is you can now summon Spirits using Ashes, like the Lone Wolf.

Evolve or Die

FromSoftware surprised us when Elden Ring’s Network Test came out this November 2021. From 10 intricate boss fights to the evolved combat style of incentivizing technique and skill as opposed to the regular button-mashing. More specifically, the game features the invisible posture, which is familiar to those who’ve played Sekiro. With this, you’re able to determine the enemies’ vulnerable spots, enabling you to execute multiple and deadly critical hits. Unlike in Dark Souls, it will no longer be enough to simply spam R1 to optimally attack creatures.

However, there were some who criticized FromSoftware’s decision to reuse some assets from their previous games. But this shouldn’t be a problem considering the number of new features and gameplay mechanics they’ve already innovated in Elden Ring. One of which is the inclusion of mounted combat as mentioned earlier.

According to Miyazaki, this is the ideal open-world game to show “tight combat, fantasy medieval settings, with dungeons to explore” that he’s been wanting to make. With Elden Ring, he has evolved and made his ideas a reality by having the possibility to explore the vast realm of the Lands Between while being able to fight against intimidating dragons in the process.

The Overture of Elden Ring

Lastly, Famitsu also confirmed that Amazon Japan will be releasing a new book titled “The Overture of Elden Ring”. Currently, it is only available in Japanese. The book contains a lot of artwork for Elden Ring as well as the previous games such as Demon’s Souls and Bloodborne. The details of the printed version are as follows:

Elden Ring is shaping up to be 2022’s game of the year. With all of the new features as well as throwbacks to the previous games, it should contain many exciting things for new and old fans alike. While waiting for the release date in February, be sure to check out our Elden Ring Wiki. It contains all the currently known information on the game. You can also check out other Top Soulslikes to Play While You Wait for Elden Ring, or hear our thoughts on the 10 Things You Should Know from the Closed Network Test.

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Be sure to check out our other news, Genshin Impact Update 2.4 Introduces Underwater Ruins and Action RPG Sim Weird West Gets Delayed to March 2022.