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Elden Ring: George R.R. Martin Reveals What Exactly He Did for the Game

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

In a new conversation with WTTW, Martin opened up for the first time in an extensive manner to talk about Elden Ring and how he collaborated with FromSoftware. Martin explained that even though he's not big into video games, FromSoftware approached him a few years ago to help work on the title. From that point, he created what essentially became the basis for the world in which Elden Ring would reside in. FromSoftware then took his creation and adapted it into the video game that it is today.

Martin stressed that it has been a long time since he has actively worked on Elden Ring in a major way. Since his work on the project essentially needed to come before everything else, he hasn't really been associated with it in any manner for "several years". Still, he says those at FromSoftware have continued to keep him in the loop over that period of time and have consistently shown him how the title is progressing. Speaking to its impending release, Martin also said he is "as excited as anybody else to see it."

 

stickkidsam

Member
It's really neat that this is apparently the first game to be formed around the story and not vice versa amongst the Souls games. Depending on how this whole thing plays out, I may just consider it an actual sequel to Dark Souls. After all we do have that whole painted world from the DLC. Damn I love FromSoft.
 

Con-Z-epT

Live from NeoGAF, it's Friday Night!
I'm really curious to how much of an impact his involvement has on the story and overarching lore and how it compares to previous From Software titles.
 
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Soodanim

Member
"Sequel to...dark souls"

Pretty sure he just misspoke as he's not a gamer but that'd be a helluva slip if true.
There are too many things in the trailer for people not to suspect a sequel, even if it’s in the sense that Nier is a sequel to Drakengard.

Maybe they just can’t do anything else, and we’re destined to get remixes and improvements on Dark Souls forever. I welcome that with open arms - I love the base gameplay loop too much to care about the setting having similarities.
 

Bramble

Member
I really hope it's not a sequel to Dark Souls. I love Bloodborne, but the Dark Souls setting is really not my kind of thing. Please let this be a completely new story with original characters and setting.
 
It definitely looks like a Dark Souls sequel. Just a different setting and some things inspired by Bloodborne.

Not complaining. Dark Souls kicks ass. If we aren't getting Dark Souls 4 then I'll take this instead. I don't think Elden Ring is a one off thing like Bloodborne/Sekiro but a full on spiritual successor to Dark Souls and we will see Elden Ring 2 at some point.
 
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George is working closely with FromSoftware to recreate digitally his character and intellect so an AI surrogate (codename 'project Elden Ring 3') can finish writing The Winds of Winter before the Darksign traps us all in a timeloop where we all die before the story is finished.
 

cireza

Member
I don't why people expected anything else. Of course he was going to give life to the world and lore, and obviously, this must be done in the first steps of making the game.
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
"And then this character dies."
"Yes, George. We were planning on it."
"Uh..but then that character dies too!"
"Yup, totally on board for that."
"But did you see THIS chara..."
"Dead. Totally dead. And the knight that swore to guard them, plus their eldest son. The other one having gone totally mad, of course."
"..."
"Welcome to Souls games, George."
 
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skit_data

Member
"What-how did you?!? Okay, let's, let's think this through, alright? I was only joking, mate! Didn't mean anything! Tell you what. Since we're now friends ... take this. As a token of our friendship."

received A Song of Ice and Fire
Turns out you gotta finish the game three times to combine three ASOIF to get The Winds of Winter.
Then you gotta get three of TWoW to get A Dream of Spring.

Hardest trophy in the game, no doubt.
 

kyussman

Member
It's great they made an effort to get all the world's lore in order before making the game.....but I play From games for the exploration and cool enemies,so they could have slapped any old story together and it wouldn't really make much difference to me tbh.
 

ethomaz

Banned
He should take his time to finish the books that I'm waiting for years to read to the point to not even touch the late seasons of the show lol
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


Hidetaka Miyazaki revealed all new details about Elden Ring, Dark Souls spiritual successor, in a number of now translated interviews - including from Famitsu. Miyazaki discussed how summons, co-op, and PvP in Elden Ring would work, further broke down the lore and story of Elden Ring, and discussed the open field of Elden Ring vs its 6 major "Legacy" dungeons.
 

alife

Member
"Sequel to...dark souls"
It'd actually be pretty cool if the world in Elden Ring took place inside of the painting created by the Painting Woman who resides in the Painted World of Ariandel.
TAJZp50.gif
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

FromSoftware's upcoming action-adventure game, Elden Ring, notably features a collaboration with George R.R. Martin, who is the author of the A Song of Ice and Fire saga. While Martin's work on Elden Ring might be one of the most notable aspects of the title, however, it sounds as though Martin didn't actually contribute when it comes to the in-game writing that will be seen in the finished product.

According to a new report from IGN, the in-game text that is found within Elden Ring is actually being written by Hidetaka Miyazaki, who is the director of the project. Miyazaki is the one who has primarily written the text that has been seen in past games from the studio, notably with Bloodborne and the Dark Souls saga. Speaking more to how the story in Elden Ring as a whole will be told, those at the studio said that the narrative in the game is still doled out in a similar manner compared to past games that it has worked on. "In From fashion, the story is told in fragments, and we haven’t changed our principle of providing a world and narrative that the player can interpret for themselves," said FromSoftware's marketing lead, Yasuhiro Kitao.
 

lillars

Member
Sounds like GRRM just did the world building. That works for me. I'm sure it'll be an amazing DS3 sequel.
 

Sorcerer

Member
George's involvement ended when he said that he finished level 3 and the graphics needed to be tightened up a little bit.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

George R. R. Martin spoke recently in a brief blog post about his involvement in FromSoftware's Elden Ring and how that collaboration came to be. Martin has spoke on his contributions at length beforehand, but this recollection takes a nostalgic look back on his experience and the inspiration that convinced him to take on the project. Martin cites FromSoftware and Hidetaka Miyazaki's "groundbreaking" and "gorgeous" art and, now that further demonstrations and trailers have aired, Martin believes Elden Ring "looks incredible."

Martin admits that he never had a significant aptitude toward gaming aside from strategy games such as Railroad Tycoon and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Martin addresses the fact that the gaming industry is just as big if not bigger than the film industry, sharing his admiration for the process it takes to create and develop a game such as Elden Ring. Rather, Martin was only tasked with offering "a bit of worldbuilding" for a "deep, dark, resonant world," an area of talent with which Martin has had years of knowledge and expertise.
 

JohannCK

Member

Miyazaki next talks about the details of Martin’s involvement in Elden Ring: He did not write the story itself, but the base for it, constructing the world that the game is based on. They knew from the start that Martin is an extremely busy man, and in any case did not aim to make a game that just follows a set story. They also did not want to end up having to make changes to Martin’s vision. As such, what they asked of Martin was for him to create a mythology taking place a long time before the game, that would become its world’s basis and foundation.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Sanderson, whose critically acclaimed Mistborn novels received a Fortnite crossover in May 2021, made the claim during a live recording of his Intentionally Blank podcast alongside co-presenter Dan Wells.

When an audience member asked Sanderson about the process involved in letting one of his characters appear in another property, he began by explaining how his Mistborn character Kelsier ended up in Fortnite, but then went off on a tangent about Elden Ring.

“Most of [these requests] go to the agent these days, but sometimes they pop up for me, but let me be salty,” he started.

From Software decides to make a fantasy game and partner with a fantasy novelist, right?

“And they choose someone who spends his days blogging about the NFL, rather than the person who has played their games since King’s Field, and has listed their games among his top 10 consistently over time? What are you thinking, people?

“If you don’t know, they went to George, and made a game with George, and I’m like, George doesn’t play video games. George has no idea. So anyway, there you go.”
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Oof. Those are some sour grapes (I'm sure he wasn't being serious). As far as I know they only relied on Martin to develop the history of the game; FS then came in and developed a "modern" story set within the same universe. Feels very much like CDPR's approach to Cyberpunk 2077: craft your own story in an already developed world with narrative rules already in place.

. . .though hearing things like "Elden Lords" and the like and I fear we might just be getting another retread of Dark Souls story beats (I hope not).
 

Cyberpunkd

Gold Member
. . .though hearing things like "Elden Lords" and the like and I fear we might just be getting another retread of Dark Souls story beats (I hope not).
I think this is just FS tapping into many archetypes for heroic fantasy as it was written many years ago - you don’t see it that often now (Mistborn is actually a good example with Lord Ruler) but one of the cornerstones of the genre was always demigod-like people and entities.

It’s simple, it works, no reason not to do it.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

One of the major highlights of Elden Ring has been the association with celebrated author George R.R. Martin, who is well known for his work in Song of Ice and Fire, and Game of Thrones. Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (via GamesRadar), George R.R. Martin reveals that he hasn't played the game yet.

"I have not played it", adds George R.R. Martin, while emphasizing the fact that fans are eagerly waiting for the arrival of his next novel, The Winds of Winter, the sixth installment in A Song of Ice and Fire. While he might not have played the result of his own mastermind, George R.R. Martin adds that his addictive personality got him sucked into games a long time ago. Having played games like Railroad Tycoon, Master of Orion, and Homeworld, he reminisces sitting for hours, just saying 'one more game, one more game.
 

Bragr

Banned

One of the major highlights of Elden Ring has been the association with celebrated author George R.R. Martin, who is well known for his work in Song of Ice and Fire, and Game of Thrones. Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (via GamesRadar), George R.R. Martin reveals that he hasn't played the game yet.

"I have not played it", adds George R.R. Martin, while emphasizing the fact that fans are eagerly waiting for the arrival of his next novel, The Winds of Winter, the sixth installment in A Song of Ice and Fire. While he might not have played the result of his own mastermind, George R.R. Martin adds that his addictive personality got him sucked into games a long time ago. Having played games like Railroad Tycoon, Master of Orion, and Homeworld, he reminisces sitting for hours, just saying 'one more game, one more game.
Who really thinks George Martin is gonna sit and grind Elden Ring?
 
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