Elden Ring NightergAn adventure with spin-off taking place in the Elden Ring universe, launched on May 30.
We spoke with the director of the game, Junya Ishizaki, of what we can expect from the next cooperative multiplayer of Fromsoftware.
The design of games focused on convincing fight
PlayStation blog: You have experience on the level of level and combat design for previous titles from Fromsoftware. Is there anything to which you paid special attention when creating Nightreign? What were some of the challenges?
Junya Ishizaki: If I had to choose an aspect on which we concentrated the most, it would be a fight. The main objective of the game is to defeat the nightlord at the end of each night, and the elements that form the character's constructions and the world map are placed worldwide to make the gameplay more convincing and encourage players to be more strategic in their fight.
In terms of challenges, honestly, everything was a challenge (laughs). Especially when it was a question of making major changes to the game mechanisms, we had to make sure that the game was always viable and really pleasant. We could have changed the mechanics without thinking about it, but there was a risk that the game will become something completely different, even if it was part of the Elden Ring universe. Finding the perfect balance between something that seemed fresh and new, while feeling faithful to Elden Ring, was difficult.
What was the idea behind the unique Renaissance system that allows you to save invalid teammates by attacking them?
As we use many existing assets of Elden Ring, we wanted to find ways to take advantage of them in an interesting way. While we were launching ideas, we realized that “attacking” is the most coherent element of the Nighterign gameplay. We tested to see if it would work for resuscitation, and we discovered a wide variety of tactics depending on the beach, frequency and probability, so we officially implemented it. We also found it quite fun (laughs).
After playing the network test, when I liked to build my characters, I also had the impression that the strategy aspect had become a little repetitive. Can we expect more unpredictability that encourages players to be more tactical, in the final product?
Yes, we are also looking for this approach, so the same strategy will not always work during the fight against the bosses. Your initial strategy can be effective for a while, but the bosses will evolve gradually and your tactics will no longer be viable, forcing you to rethink your approach.
In addition, in the final version of the game, you can determine the weakness of each boss before leaving. So, if the poison is effective against an upcoming boss, you can look proactively and loot objects that inflict poison more often in this race. Taking advantage of their sensitivity will give you an advantage in the fights. We have intentionally designed the game so that you had to adapt and develop your strategies as well as the changes that occur in the game.
Conflict clarity and difficulty – Addition of buffs to Gladius, night stupid
Have you made changes or adjustments to the game, following the network test results?
During the network test, some players had trouble understanding what elements were visible on the map, and said it was difficult to identify the next steps or how to use some of the character movements. To solve these problems, we have made some modifications so that the information is more clearly transmitted to the players during the gameplay.
We have also received many useful comments regarding the difficulty. We have made some adjustments to find a balance that makes the game difficult as you progress, but always manageable. Gladius, one of the Nightlords, will also receive some updates, so players have to hope for in the last match.
Eight playable characters derived from archetypes of construction and fantasy
Each playable character – or nightfarer – in the game represents a different class. How did you decided eight characters and their unique capacities?
We have mapped the type of characteristics that we wanted our playable characters to embody and finally landed on eight nightfarers. There were two pillars that guided our thought process, and one of them was “built”. In the Dark Souls and Elden Ring series, you can distribute your statistics to create constructions that use certain weapons or magic, and these are often labeled as force constructions or pure magic constructions. The other pillar was the idea of ”fantastic archetypes”. Swordsmen who fight on the front lines, those who protect you with their shields, the sorcerers qualified in magic, etc. We have ruminated how we can combine these two pillars to create playable characters that integrate into the world of Nightreign. A character like a “macho sorcerer” can exist if there were a hundred variations, but it is a little too eccentric when we only have a few playable characters (laughs). We have simply created combinations of characters that seemed the most natural, and which found themselves as the current eight nights.
Elden Ring Nighterg Launched on PS5 and PS4 on May 30.
