Hidetaka Miyazaki

“I think death is a crucial element when designing games around the theme of the satisfaction of overcoming overwhelming odds.”

“For me, 'Dark Souls III' is the end, but that doesn't mean the end for 'Dark Souls.' If someone other than myself, like another staff member, wants to make a 'Dark Souls,' then I don't want to deny others from making future installments.”

“First of all, I don't dislike direct storytelling - people seem to think that about my games! Actually, the truth is, I'm just not good at implementing direct narrative in my games.”

“I, as a gamer, understand passion to discuss favourite games.”

“In order to produce the satisfaction of comprehension, there first needs to be the process of comprehension. Furthermore, the overarching idea at hand needs to be something that is actually comprehensible.”

“Utilising wit in the thick of battle will be your key to victory.”

“One of my favourite Japanese cartoons is 'Yasuragi no Yakata,' written by the famous Fujiko Fujio.”

“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.”

“I enjoy the process of adding elaboration into games and like to communicate with users through the details I create.”

“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.”

“We do need this diversity in the industry. Regardless of what From Software is doing, we need people making battle royale games and live services, and we need people making single-player focused experiences. We feel that this diversity is what will keep everyone going.”

“When I was working on the first 'Dark Souls' - as far back as 'Demon's Souls,' actually - I didn't expect the player community to come up with speedrun contests or any of the strange new ways to play the games.”

“'Deracine' is French for uprooting, or someone who's been displaced from their natural environment.”

“We personally don't try to follow industry trends or themes. We just try and make something that we think would be cool and we want to make.”

“I'm not very good at action games in general and find most action games to be hard.”

“I think one of the studio's characteristics is to embrace wholeheartedly what we feel is interesting; what we perceive to be worthwhile, cool, or beautiful; and to place these ideals at the foundation of the games we make.”

“Overcoming challenges by learning something in a game is a very rewarding feeling, and that's what I wanted to prioritise in 'Dark Souls' and 'Demon's Souls.'”

“A shinobi embodies an archetype that is able to use everything at their disposal. They don't pick a fighting style; they use every means and everything they can get their hands on. They exploit every weakness.”

“The intention behind the high difficulty of the games I direct is to evoke a feeling of joy and accomplishment in the player when they overcome these challenges.”

“I am conscious of that when I make these games: I try to make a game that has beautiful open spaces, gaps, room for players to enjoy it in ways that were not authored. I never want it to be where you have to follow the rules completely, where you have to do things exactly as the designers intended.”