on the night of December 7th 2017 The Gaming Community was pleasantly surprised when a new game by from software was teased at the game awards with the tagline Shadows die twice it had been a year since the release of Dark Souls 3 and 9 months since the last DLC so the community had been eagerly anticipating an announcement all right right now as we count down to the show we've got another world premiere this is really special and it comes to us all all the way from [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Japan [Music] the from software logo alone was enough to send the souls Community into a frenzy to provide clearer context regarding the excitement the teaser brought to Soul's fans here are two reaction videos from popular YouTubers the first reaction video is by maximilan dude show all right here we go another world premiere this is really special and comes to us all the way from Japan from Japan this is good I like Japan I like things that come out of Japan but not go in things that go in very weird it's dark souls oh my God what oh [ __ ] you oh [ __ ] you that's all you get a little tease of the next project are you [ __ ] [ __ ] me was that bloodborne 2 that little tease of what they're working on next uh are you [ __ ] [ __ ] me are you [ __ ] me are you [ __ ] on my face right now are you [ __ ] [ __ ] in my mouth in my eyes on my ears are you [ __ ] shiding me did they just tease bloodborne 2 and of course we've got the game on some really amazing offers for gaming hardware and accessories you'll hear all about it and the game awards Orchestra are you sh are you [ __ ] me did they just tease bloodborne 2 are you [ __ ] me me enjo game awards no no no Jeff can we talk can we can we can we spend the entire next two hours talking about what just happened can we spend the next two hours going over every dude the moment I heard an audio queue I was like man that's some really good audio quality it almost seems like it's blood and then from soft and that from software showed up in the the second reaction video is by easy allies sing no they it's funny they had so many other options and the what for so like okay here we go ghost of Shima sounds you might be right yes Brad what is it what what what what tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow members of the community began analyzing the meaning of the teaser trailer however one of the most notable figures in this regard is the master of Souls Lore vvidia here is a section of his expert analysis on the trailer with most of his speculations later confirmed to be accurate when more information about the game was released from software's new project Shadows die twice they've given us 13 seconds of footage to work with but in a way the less there is the more there is to talk about for example have you noticed the Japanese script in the background or the Oriental instruments what about those shavings in the corners or the Chisel that likely caused them which components of this mechanism move first is this phrase a name or a tagline and will all my theories be proven wrong in a day or 12 months listen on and let's find find out now everyone's first impressions uh including mine was that this looks like bloodborne 2 right in fact my first thought was that this mechanism looks a lot like a trick weapon German's long-handled Scythe in particular the theories from The Souls Community can be categorized into three the first Theory widely shared by the majority suggests that this teaser is for bloodborne 2 if you recall in Dark Souls we had marvelous Chester a character that many believe to be a reference to bloodborne due to his attire essentially hinting at the Victorian setting of The Future game in contrast in bloodborne we have old Hunter yamamura who many believe to be a reference to from software's upcoming game implying that the game will have a setting in Japan the second theory which actually came closest to the truth is that the teaser is for a new entry in the Tenchu franchise a ninja game series created by from software across various platforms some of the reasons for this speculation include the kanji in the background the instruments used in the trailer and the word Shadow possibly referring to ninjas finally the last Theory suggests that the teaser is for a future Shadow Tower game when the Project Beast trailer was shown many believed it to be a shadow Tower game with some considering it a spiritual successor additionally having the word shadow in the tagline also adds weight to this speculation one day after the teaser trailer yasuhiro posted a message on Twitter to reassure fans that they wouldn't have to wait a whole year for more information even though the announcement was made early if you recall from our bloodborn video he was in charge of bloodborne's marketing and communication at Sony later on he transitioned to from software as a promotion and Community manager for their games for several months from software maintained complete silence after kau's tweet however on June 10th 2018 during Microsoft's E3 press conference the new game was finally unveiled bearing the title sakiro Shadows die [Music] twice so you're awake looks like death is not your fate just yet some time is pass since I found you your master still lives they'll soon make use of his blood line the limb you have lost will give way to something more useful you'll learn to appreciate its worth your death won't come [Music] easily the gameplay reveal sparked a surge of excitement and anticipation among Souls fans here are some comments from various forums where fans shared their enthusiasm wow I'm genuinely hyped for this combat looks very fluid and interesting I'm digging this setting and the enemies so much so excited looks amazing the focus on single player is really exciting and welcome especially for me I can't wait to see what Miyazaki and the rest of the team at from have in store for us with this I can't get enough of this trailer some of the most impressive particle effects I've ever seen in a game game praise the sun to gain further insight into the community's excitement for sakiro here's a well-known Souls content creator epic name bro sharing his reaction video to the E3 trailer what's up y'all I am Marcus also known as ianb and from software has finally unveiled their new title it is Seido Shadows die twice they've put up a new trailer for E3 2018 if you haven't checked it out I recommend going somewhere on the internet just Google it's everywhere uh watch that first and then come back here this is going to be a reaction video just me uh exp explaining my thoughts on the trailer that we we've seen uh first of all my first reaction to this trailer is thank God it's a it's a new world it's a new world it's um a new IP some people are going to say maybe this is actually a spiritual successor to some older from soft titles and that it's a possibility but the point is they have the creative freedom to do whatever the heck they want with this one there's no expectation this is isn't bloodborne 2 this isn't Dark Souls 4 and I do understand that a lot of people out there were wanting uh bloodborne 2 specifically a lot of people were really hyped up about that and I would say that I just me I I personally think that bloodborne 2 is still a possibility um if I was Sony I would pay for bloodborne 2 to be a PlayStation 5 um launch title that that would be me if I was Sony I I I think there's plenty of demand for it I think Sony knows that it's valuable and and I think that from soft would probably do it like we've seen that they've had a pretty good working they've had a pretty good working relationship with Sony recently with bloodborne Demon Souls maybe not so much um so I I still think that that's a possibility out there but for me personally I feel like um Dark Souls 1 was great I feel like Dark Souls 2 story isn't as bad as a lot of people think I I actually like it with with in itself as a standalone game but the connections to Dark Souls 1 is where I I feel like okay it's just tacked on it they're just forcing two things together that don't necessarily Belong Together uh and then Dark Souls 3 I didn't really get into the story as much because it tries to be the glue that holds those games together a lot of people feel differently about it and that's totally fine it's just my personal personal opinion but um I just feel like fromsoft is really at their best when they're creating something new and a lot of people who are excited for something like bloodborne 2 I feel like uh you know bloodborne a lot of the big surprise and shock and amazement from bloodborne was finding out that it's not Gothic horror that it's Cosmic horror bam aliens and space gods and [ __ ] like we already know that so bloodborne 2 would not be it wouldn't be able to shock you as much now I'm sure miyazaki's got his ways he's got his ways he's got his ways uh but you know that's just that's for me so the first thing just seeing that okay this isn't a sequel this is a new thing yes I'm happy about that a day after the gameplay reveal of sakiro Jeff Keeley conducted an interview with yasuhiro K from software's marketing lead for the game and Robert coni the game producer from Activision and now we're going to talk about a game that may be familiar to you if you watch the game awards because from soft where the creators of Dark Souls and bloodborne had a new title that was uh just revealed yesterday in Microsoft's press conference and here to talk about sakiro Shadows die twice is from softwares yashiro and Robert coni from Activision uh guys first of all Shadows died twice we had that teaser with the uh the arm at the game awards a lot of speculation about what it was uh Finally Revealed yesterday uh as this incredible uh game ninjab based sort of game appropriate cuz we got ninja coming up uh live streamer ninja but tell us a bit about this this project partnership with Activision which I think was a surprise to a lot of folks as well um why did from want to make this uh you know their next project sure I'm not good at English so transl he said he has no idea why Activision would have interest in working with such a tiny unknown company such as his but he'll he'll give the best reasons he can so uh one of the reasons is that um they understood that act Activision would be able to provide a lot of support to their development um and it could um help them um work on their titles in ways that uh would help them in some ways to be able to um get new references or or new information from outside places so it was It was kind of an interesting idea to to work with a western publisher as opposed to other one it's worth noting that this interview involved Jeff yasuhiro and Robert all of whom played integral roles in sako's Journey from its initial reveal and promotion to its eventual success in winning one of the most prestigious Awards in the world of video Gam this is the story of the making of sakiro and how it brought forth the creative genius of hitaka Miyazaki resulting in one of the finest combat-based games ever join me as we delve into its development and uncover the captivating Journey behind miyazaki's fifth Masterpiece in December 2015 at the age of 41 hitaka Miyazaki was actively engaged as the game director for the final installment of the Dark Souls franchise dark Dark Souls 3 having recently finished the development of the old Hunter DLC for bloodborne in November and with from software typically developing multiple titles concurrently Miyazaki chose to commence work on a new IP in the last month of 2015 this new game would eventually be known as sakiro during an interview the host inquired from software's newest project sakiro has finally been announced first how did you come to develop this project Miyazaki explained this project began shortly after we concluded development on bloodborne's DLC around the end of 2015 during that time we were still actively working on Dark Souls 3 and we had a few concepts for titles to pursue afterward given from software's history with projects like ninj blade otogi and the tenu series from the third installment onward we envisioned creating a more Japanese style game in that vein freed from the constraints of our previous projects this marked the first opportunity for myself and many of the younger developers at the studio to delve into crafting a Japanese style game we were eager to explore fresh ideas and embark on a new Direction with this upcoming title you might be curious about what Miyazaki and his team did once they settled on the idea for the new game the next section will delve into how they presented the project proposal to various companies and how they eventually formed a partnership with Activision as the game's producer for now let's delve into the origins of the title and the significance of its tagline let's begin with the title of the game sakiro in an interview the host inquired about the details of the title stating sakiro is written in kanji as Lone Wolf correct Miyazaki explained yes it means one-armed wolf it's the main character's nickname or something similar a man who lost an arm but carries the ferocity of a wolf that kind of feel since it's a Japanese style game we thought about the name starting from the kanji and ended up using the kanji 1 which interested us on a design meaning and feel level surprisingly Activision which isn't deeply involved in the field of kanji culture was intrigued by this decision in another interview Robert coni commented on this saying there is an old Japanese term for someone who is missing a limb which is seian SEI is from that word row means wolf it translates to one armed wolf which is not the hero's name per se but it describes him the tagline Shadows die twice posed a significant puzzle for the souls Community when the teaser trailer was unveiled in December 2017 in an interview the host inquired about its meaning stating in the trailer revealed at the game awards there was an emphasis on the words Shadows die twice can you explain the meaning of that with regards to this project Miyazaki explained the phrase Shadows die twice was originally a short catchphrase I designed for the trailer but the publishing people really liked it and ended up making it the subtitle but but there's definitely significance behind it Shadows is a metaphor for the essence of the ninja and die twice is a reference to the idea of Revival in the game systems as well as its philosophy also it's a bit of a blunt message to the players that they're going to die a [Music] lot when from software unveiled the Gameplay trailer for sakiro at e328 fans Not only learned about the title and nature of the game but also discovered that it would be public lished by Activision this Revelation came as a significant surprise to the souls Community given that the two companies couldn't be more different it's almost like heaven and hell from software is one of the most admired and beloved gaming companies in the world if not the most beloved in contrast Activision is one of the most disliked and criticized gaming companies ranking just below EA considered the most hated gaming company it's no wonder that members of the souls Community were expressing rage and panic about this unexpected partnership words alone might not fully convey the depth of the community's reaction to the Activision reveal to truly understand what they felt during this announcement let's take a look at this clip from fighting Cowboy reacting to the news that sakiro would be published by Activision that's our new thing that's what we saw on the trailer F okay so the hand is some kind of trick weapon instantly what the [ __ ] what the [ __ ] this is what happens this is what happens see hype train you're like oh [ __ ] oh [ __ ] trick hand weapon shoot shoot all aboard the hype trade from software let's [ __ ] go why why why is Activision involved in this why is Activision involved in this Activision doesn't need to be involved in this for a couple reasons here one Activision is known primarily for publishing multiplayer titles this is not officially confirmed but basically confirmed to be a single player action RPG type Style game God of Wares I'm all about it Activision stay Activision this is a message to you keep your grubby [ __ ] fingers off of this game I swear to God if this game comes out and there's [ __ ] microtransaction in it I'm going to take a massive [ __ ] in a box and send it to Activision's headquarters I swear it right now and you know what I'll probably get in [ __ ] trouble they'll probably go back and look at this video and be like sir we found the man who smelled [ __ ] into our office that's a uh that's a biohazard Let's uh send in the SWAT team I don't care [ __ ] you don't you put microtransactions in this game it better be the most hands-off [ __ ] publishing I have ever heard of they need to keep their [ __ ] grubby hands away from it because I do not like Activision I don't like Activision I think they have shitty business practices I think most of their games are recycled [ __ ] and if they [ __ ] this up I will never forgive them a fan from Reddit accurately summed up why fans hate Activision saying Activision is somewhat rightly hated due to taking iconic franchises and mutating them into games that lack the features that made those franchises iconic Spyro was cannibal ized into 10-year-old fodder and crash was left in the vault when Activision realized that creating the same game again in a different skin doesn't mean Mega sales to some sales are all they care about the criticism directed at Activision extends Beyond Spyro or crash and includes numerous games under the umbrella of the gaming companies it has acquired while I can't speak for these other games I have firsthand experience with what Activision did to mutate one of the games I deeply care about Diablo II Diablo II stands out as one of the most beautifully designed games in gaming history often regarded as one of the best and most addictive games ever crafted with passion and love the game exhibits no predatory practices despite its game mechanics being ripe for abuse however when blizzard now Under the Umbrella of Activision created Diablo I the game's creators introduced a real money auction house to a game centered around Loot and the collection of weapons and items though this may be a distant memory for some it triggered a substantial backlash at the time leading to the game director being despised by Diablo fans and subsequently removed from the project ultimately departing from blizzard in the same year that sakiro was announced Diablo Immortal was unveiled and its creators faced booze from the audience this the current plan is to be on mobile both uh Android and iOS uh we don't have any plans at the moment to do uh PC you guys not have phones yeah you guys have you can play your tablet too yes it's also on thewit while the creators may or may not share the same passion for their projects there is a prevalent belief that Activision is driving this particular project a blatant money grab intended to exploit the loyal fans of the Diablo franchise here is a short clip from Beast mod player explaining how Activision earned its status as one of the most hated gaming companies especially in light of an Activision game announced shortly after sakiro Diablo Immortal released to PC on June 2nd its release caused Mass outrage among the Diablo Community because of the absolutely egregious microtransactions included in the game the level of microtransactions in this game is probably worse than I've even seen EA release on launch it was rumored to take a little over 110,000 ,000 to max out a character in Diablo Immortal however it turned out to be much much more than that because of a hidden mechanic the community originally wasn't aware of the way Diablo Immortals grind works is to get your character maxed out you need six five out of five star gems which each cost on average 16,000 per gem which keep in mind you are gambling to get these gems so so this number is theoretical you can't you can go even higher than this or you could end up getting lucky and going lower but most likely you could end up going higher than this the mechanic that the community hadn't taken into account Awakening a gem which basically adds an additional five slots for five out of five star gemms to that gemm which means it takes 36 five out of five star gems to Max a character which is where the $300,000 to $600,000 number came from which is basically the cost of a house a freaking house for some pixels on a screen and that's not even a guaranteed amount you can end up spending more than that since it's gambling like I said earlier so you aren't even guaranteed to max out your character at $600,000 if you don't see how this is predatory and a disgrace to the gaming industry I don't know what is and it has been making the rounds all over the Internet everyone's talking about it and it's another just PR disaster for Activision Blizzard that's really going to hit them where it hurts it was in this cont text that fans and prominent members of the souls Community questioned the involvement of Activision in the creation of sakiro the upcoming clip by epic name bro will provide insight into the partnership between from software and Activision while it's a bit lengthy it will offer a broader context not only on the development and design of video games but also on the business and strategic aspects of running a gaming company the elephant in the room for me is Activision and Microsoft's involvement in this and I've even had people tweeting at me being like I I hate this I'm not going to buy this game because Activision ruined other companies and they're going to ruin fromsoft first of all um fromsoft still owned by kadokawa like it's not like Activision has bought from soft to my knowledge and I think we would know I think we would hear about that uh so maybe don't worry too much about that but I I really want to look at this from From soft's perspective you think Demon Souls was published by Sony except they didn't want to publish it overseas and so that's where Atlas gets involved and it's kind of a mess then fromsoft goes with Bandai for Dark Souls and it's a huge multi-platform success but it's not on PC there is the um the petition from Total biscuit um total biscuit you remember that guy because that Dark Souls one would not have been on PC without total biscuit um there's that petition there's the PC release of Dark Souls and I've speculated in the past and I stand by this belief I believe that at the time that they negotiated to do a PC Port of Dark Souls 1 they negotiated for a couple of sequels as well I think that's where Dark Souls 2 and 3 came from I don't know that I don't know that this isn't Insider knowledge this isn't um this is this is a strong hunch of mine it's just from me looking at the situation that's what I believe it's my speculation um so they did that with Bandai but it's kind of had them trapped and stuck in this same they have to use this world and they have to connect things together and they can't really innovate a whole lot so they went back and they did something else with Sony they did bloodborne it's different it's not gameplay wise I would argue that it's really not as different as people think it is but in terms of presentation and story it's different from the souls games and it's a different setting as well for sure um so at that point you know you've you've worked with Sony you got locked in with this with Bandai you've done this thing you're looking for other options you go back with Sony again you do something new let's look at what they get out of a partnership with Activision first of all they probably get a bigger budget because of all of the successes that they've had in the past and Activision's got a lot of money and if Activision's like you know what we'll do this we'll publish this I'm looking at the trailer and it looks like there are going to be some graphical improvements it it it looks like it's going to be better and particularly with regards to the animation with the grappling hook this would be my one big concern is um how well animated the character is going to be for grappling especially if there's lots of leaps and verticality we'll see how it actually goes but I think that uh they get that out of it I think that probably they get the freedom to make a new IP because if they do something else for Sony it's probably going to be the likes of a bloodborne 2 or if they did something with Bandai Bandai would probably want Dark Souls 4 because they have that IP and they want to add value there so if they want to do something new then I think they kind of need a new publisher um it helps them cultivate fans on multiple different platforms H this is not since they're if they don't want to work with Bandai they don't want to do more Dark Soul stuff maybe Sony but if Sony wants bloodborne 2 maybe not but if Sony's like well we'll let you make something else but still it would only be on Playstation so if they want it to be on PC as well and they want it to be available to people who have Xboxes this is something that Activision is definitely going to be wanting to do I think another major thing that it does is it lets them show their old Partners it lets them show Sony hey we don't need you to make games okay we we can make games with other people people will give us money to make video games all right all right so I think that increases their uh their ability to negotiate with the likes of Sony or Bandai or whoever in the future to so we can work with Bandai we can work with Sony we can work with Activision we can work with whoever the heck we want and we can make whatever the heck we want I think it kind of empowers froma from that perspective uh but the main thing is I feel like it really gets them the cash to make what they really want to make and it gives them freedom from from their old IPS I would also say that I think there's a little bit of an east west divide here and I don't know I I honestly think that fromsoft has no idea how much a lot of people hate Activision I I really don't think that they truly understand that their company takes a pretty substantial Goodwill hit from consumers in the west because they are having a game published by Activision and not everybody's like that you know there are a lot of people including myself were like can Activision really um so I don't know um as for as far as Activision ruining from soft I don't think it's going to happen could Activision like really commercialize the [ __ ] out of this game and like really gouge consumers on DLC and [ __ ] like that yeah they could do that they could ruin this game they could uh I don't know I would like to hope that they wouldn't um but in general I wouldn't read I wouldn't read too much into this now that we've gained a comprehensive context on the mood of the souls Community regarding the partnership with Activision let's delve into the details from Miyazaki and his team's perspective on the origins and nature of the partnership first let's explore the origins of the partnership from from software's Viewpoint and later we'll revisit it from Activision's perspective when from software initially started working on the game that would become seiro the leadership group didn't have a specific publisher in mind the studio engaged in discussions with various companies of about the project yasuhiro explained initially when we had this project proposal we took it to a number of companies we don't have the clout to publish outside of Asia and Japan so Activision was one of the companies we approached and one of the companies that expressed interest in discussing it Activision showed the most Keen interest in the project proposal they loved the idea right from the start respected our vision and provided user testing and feedback that we simply couldn't handle making their invol ment highly beneficial regarding the nature of the game it was initially planned as an installment in the tenu franchise a property to which from software did own the rights interestingly Activision had originally purchased the rights to this game from Sony but later sold the rights to from software in 2004 Kau shared when we initially set out to create something different from Dark Souls and our previous titles we thought it would be interesting to make a Japanese themed game so we started moving in the direction of the Shinobi and ninja and of course Tenchu was an IP with that history that was the original impetus for this project but as we developed and partnered with Activision and began building it together it started becoming its own thing the game we wanted to make was no longer just Tenchu it really evolved into its own entity now let's examine the origin story from Activision's perspective Michelle fansa senior product and marketing director at Activision shared a similar account to what K conveyed stating at that time what sakiro would actually be was still up in the air it certainly wasn't sakiro when we first started talking with from software Miyazaki was really interested in creating something in Japan specifically in the sangoku period he was fascinated by that time so they thought Tenchu would fit with his interest it became clear to both sides that this was something unique and special and something that should be an experience on its own if you attach it to an IP that is known and beloved by fans you become constrained from software then began shaping what would become the world of sakiro as Activision and from software continued to collaborate both companies perceive the partnership as mutually beneficial Michelle fona remarked sakiro adds something very different and special to our lineup of games we're providing them with various resources whether it's Financial or the infrastructure we have we know how to bring big games to Market we understand the process of publishing and marketing these games in the Western Market using these resources helps us ensure the game reaches as many hands as possible and that's our primary goal in this partnership in addition to publishing responsibilities Kau mentioned that Activision also assisted them in areas outside their core strengths stating they offered to help us in areas that we don't consider our expertise such as user testing and providing feedback on usability we're gaining a lot of stimulation from the ideas they give us Activision is mindful of from soft software's devoted and passionate fan base and understands the need to proceed with caution fona stated from software has always had this sense of mystery in their games so there's a fine balance between guiding people through the experience and allowing them to discover it we've been very thoughtful about what to show and how to maintain that right pace for the fans we don't want to reveal too much in the marketing either there's a lot that we want to reserve for people to discover on their own finally let's explore Miyazaki perspective on the nature of the partnership in an interview the host asked it's been widely reported that from software is working with Activision on this title what kind of collaboration exists Miyazaki explained excluding actual game development and sales within Japan and Asia we've entrusted sales in the rest of the world to Activision one of the most significant reasons for choosing Activision as a publisher was that they could provide advice throughout the entire length of game development but let me be clear all all decisions about game development are made by us Activision respects the game that we are making and that we desire to make and offers play impressions as well as advice about how we could improve the game as always we request that all decisions after the title screen be left to us and we've successfully collaborated under this framework judging by the outcome of the collaboration between the two companies even years after the game's release it's safe to say that they both succeeded in adhering to this collaborative framework throughout our making of videos we have consistently delved into the aspects of game development and game design of the souls games however we have rarely touched on topics related to game production especially from The Producers perspective specifically that of Sony and Bandai Namco fortunately during the making of sakiro Activision's game producer for sakiro Robert coni shed light on this topic and we will share these insights in this section to understand game production the first thing we need to grasp is the role of a game producer in an interview the host addressed this exact topic asking what role does a producer play in the creation of a game such as sakiro Robert coni explained my job is to ensure that production on the game is on schedule at quality and on budget responsibilities include obstacle and risk communication and mitigation communicating with the developer hiring third-party vendors and managing them and their costs getting voiceover recorded working with Outsourcing groups ensuring age ratings Readiness ensuring Readiness for final submission to First parties speaking as an expert on the game at press events and much more I'm also the internal Center of contact for the plethora of departments involved in the making of a game of this scale including legal quality assurance customer service localization marketing PR and others another part of my job is to know the game inside and and out to understand not only what's in the game but also what a developer is planning to change to ensure we're making the best possible decisions as an organization and that the message we're communicating is correct upon careful observation of what Robert coni shared a producer is essentially a project manager plus more it is understandable why Miyazaki mentioned during our video on Dark Souls that he would never want to do game production again after handling dual roles as director and producer for Dark Souls nevertheless a producer is crucial in game development allowing the director to focus on the creative side of things such as game design and Direction it is evident from Robert con's response that the qualities required for a game producer are very different from those of a game director in the interview the host followed up asking what is a key quality you need for a job such as yours Robert shared you've got to be a pretty good multitasker to keep up with so many things coming at you from so many directions keeping a cool head when everything is on fire is pretty important the host continued what skills and qualities would an employer look for when hiring a producer Robert replied when I'm looking for an associate producer or production coordinator I'd want someone who is passionate about what they do organized flexible experienced doesn't mind weird hours across multiple time zones and has strong soft skills and game sense if you are interested in becoming a game producer rather than a game designer Robert has you covered in the interview the host asked if someone wanted to have a job like yours how would they go about getting one Robert shared there are many different ways to get into the industry a common starting point is joining a testing team others take internships or come into the industry partway after working in another one with cross application such as Finance production is very specific and tends to be hard to get into as there are usually not a large number of producers on a game ranging from 1 to six for the biggest games out there I personally had a relatively rare way of breaking into the industry where I was lucky enough to get a job at a Japanese developer for several years after studying the language in college and then applied for a job with Activision after we'd worked with them directly if you observed the earlier interview with Jeff yasuhiro and Robert you would notice that he also worked as a translator for yasuhiro in the interview the host asked how this skill has helped him with his job saying how does your fluency in Japanese help the overall project Robert replied it helps communication for sure we don't have to rely on translators for live conversation or emails as much which could have slowed things down a lot especially with the time zone difference being able to speak to a developer directly means meetings are easier to schedule and info flows more quickly the downside is that I'm not a native speaker and my Japanese isn't perfect plus if we only have a conversation in Japanese then all of the onus is on me to ensure that what was discussed is accurately conveyed to our other groups such as QA and user testing we have no doubt that Robert feels fortunate to be able to work with Miyazaki and from software in the interview he shared how he felt when the host asked what has been the most satisfying part of your work on sakiro Robert said being a part of this game and working directly with from software has truly been an honor it's not often you get to work with a developer of their caliber one of the most satisfying Parts was seeing the the game moved from a super early prototype into something that gradually was fleshed out into more and more of a full gameplay experience the other really satisfying part was when we announced and saw how excited fans were it really had a positive impact on everyone's motivation sakiro introduced a lot of changes to the Soul's mechanics including the skill tree grappling hook and prosthetic arm in the interview the host asked what are your favorite gameplay mechanics that appear in sakiro Robert shared the combat is in my very biased opinion fantastic despite the relatively simple controls it is incredibly deep and also unique I've never played a game that felt this way and I hope it's going to feel like a huge breath of fresh air for the fan base our last topic is interesting because we are once again discussing game development Robert's experience is unique because he has observed how games are developed in the west and can provide a comparison with from software during the inter inter the host asked what Impressions did Activision have regarding from software's development process Robert responded it's interesting I'm not sure how much I can disclose but it's just interesting the host followed up asking can you provide an example of what you find interesting Robert explained well to begin with the development Styles in Japan and the United States are generally different in my personal opinion in the American development scene specifications are crucial it's essential to have the entire game's content detailed in the specifications from start to finish on the other hand in Japan it's often the case that ideas are developed and expanded upon during the creation process the host commented Japan is often said to be inefficient Robert replied it might not be efficient but I personally like it in Japan there's an atmosphere where even new ideas that emerge during production can be implemented because they're deemed interesting even when compared to the development scene in Japan I think from software has a unique approach it's about creativity I'm truly impressed whether it's enemy design or the images they send us everything is amazing especially in sakiro the fusion of Japanese Beauty and the Mysterious atmosphere characteristic of from software creates a unique and fresh World on the first day of Gamescom 2018 Activision officially announced sakiro release date as March 22nd 2019 additionally they unveiled the collector's edition of the game which includes a 7-in Shinobi ninja statue a collectible art book and more eager fans had the opportunity to play sakiro at Gamescom through the available demo booths on the same day Activision also released a 5-minute gameplay footage on their YouTube channel this was particularly beneficial for those who were unable to participate in the event it [Music] yeah [Music] on [Music] get [Music] [Music] SP what you know up [Music] help [Applause] [Music] [Music] a [Music] w [Music] in this section we will introduce the key members of miyazaki's team who worked on sakiro namely Yuka kitamura kazuhiro matani Masaru yamamura dauk satake and others we will delve into the nine profiles of the sakiro team ranging from concept artists game designers and game programmers we are going to show short clips of each team member so that we can gain more context and familiarity with the team members who support Miyazaki fortunately during the creation of sakiro from software collaborated with the website Game Informer and created short documentaries on the creation of ious aspects of the game such as the music concept art and gameplay some of the clips related to sakiro are from this collaboration the rest of the clips are from interviews for older games like bloodborne Dark Souls I and ninjab blade as some of the sakiro members were not included in the game Ander documentaries if you recall our bloodborne video we included a section about the beautiful soundtrack of the game and featured several composers one of them was Yuka kitamura who created themes for characters like lady Maria ebrietas and others Yuka kitamura has also contributed to other from software games such as armored Core 5 Dark Souls 2 deasi and others however the game that most people associate with her is Dark Souls 3 where she composed The Glorious opening theme this Majestic song greets players every time they load the game here's a short clip of her sharing some insights into the creation of the music for sakiro in general when start these projects the team and I get uh sort of Core Concepts from Miyazaki uh this time you know it wasn't just boss battle music like our previous titles but we had to think about the General open field background music the enemy suspicion music and also there's a the larger element of the story this time we had to think about individual theme songs for each character so we built the backbone of a lot of the boss battle music off of those key character themes my initial reaction was seeing as this is a game set in Japan well it was very exciting but it was also very challenging compared to our older titles which used a lot of kind of Regal fantasy or very grandiose orchestral or chiral elements this time it was obviously said in Japan said in sangoku uh this is a very bloody period of conflict and so we had to think about a lot more wildness to the nature of the tracks and the composition so this provided at the same time a lot of new stimulus and a lot of new challenges so obviously there is no correct answer for this it varies person to person but what I personally like to do is to just start with a sound you just need to kind of make a sound to kick everything off and to kick everything into gear this time the themes that we were given weren't just Japan it was thinking about the sang Goku period this period of war and conflict thinking about the specific culture which is sort of an esoteric Buddhist approach roach to the religious aspects of Japan and so all of that needed a sort of backbone and a base and for that I chose to use a wo which is a large Japanese drum so I just hit the drum and I used this as a baseline for all my initial composition so mostly our composition in the past has used the computer I like to use DST instruments as my kind of main tool but this time being a Japanese title we used a lot of live recording of Japanese instruments including a Japanese flute called the shinob buou and also obviously instruments we've used in the past for Dark Souls and such like violin cello vocals things like that those also became elements of the composition do you play those instruments yourself yeah I played the violin cello and used my own voice the flute was played by another instrumentalist that must make the game feel so personal whenever you play cuz it's like oh I remember singing that I remember playing that that part yeah it's a little bit strange and fun for me but also when I play it for my family they say oh really you made this part what's it like working with external Partners on the soundtrack then is that much different from what you've done in the past it's really interesting working with external composers as well for bloodborne we had this approach for the Dark Souls series we worked with Sako basan and for Sako as well we have this collaborative composition and it's really interesting while we're making music for games they have a unique take on it as well and they provide new stimulus and they provide a different level of warmth for the melody or a different baseline or Different Drum bead that can help us reflect our own ideas so of course being a game set in Japan with these brand new themes it was quite refreshing at first but as I thought about it it began to feel like it was quite restricting you know we have to make a more emotive score or something that is just Japanese flavored without too much of that Western influence from our previous titles uh eventually though as I began working it kind of came into its own I began to find a lot of new ways to express myself with this kind of Japanese styling So eventually it did become very refreshing and provided a lot of new stimulus if you remember from our Dark Souls 3 video we extensively discussed miyazaki's approach to co-director ship in the game we shared how co-directors like yui tanimura and isamu okano supported Miyazaki while he was simultaneously working on bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 for sakiro Miyazaki employed a similar approach appointing kazuhiro hamatani as the co-director here is a list of the projects kazuhiro hamatani has worked on up to 2022 he joined from software much earlier than Miyazaki taking the same position of game planner as Miyazaki when he joined in 2005 notably hamatani served as the lead game designer for bloodborne and later became the lead event designer designer for Elden ring since hamatani was not featured in the game in former interview the video clip I will show is from a much older from software game called ninjab blade you'll notice that this video has a 9s feel to it and is being dubbed by a [Music] woman the main character uh as you can see uh is a ninja and he comes from a family of ninja uh who have the power and ability to fight against against the Monsters uh generation after generation and the main uh character uh is a ninja and uh the setting here is Tokyo and the the town of Tokyo uh is uh contaminated by parasites and the infected uh human beings and animals turn into monsters and the purpose of the main character is to eliminate such Monsters uh from Tokyo recently Masaru yamamura has gained attention for becoming the game director of the newly released from software game armored Core 6 it represents the first major game from from software not entirely directed by Miyazaki since he assumed the role of company president this shift reflects the trust and responsibility placed upon yamamura however before stepping into the role of game director yamamura also contributed to most of miyazaki's games here is a list of the projects yamamura has worked on up to 2022 you will notice that he played a role in all of miyazaki's major Games Starting as a game planner in 2010 he gradually progressed from a game planner to lead game designer and later took on the role of game director here is a short clip of Masaru yamamura sharing some insights into the creation of the tutorial for sakiro can we talk about tutorials will this game have more tutorials than previous games and how do you feel about that we're actually being very friendly with our tutorials this time probably more so than you're used to with our previous titles yeah this is is something we're also putting a lot of attention into do you want to do that is that coming from the team or do you think Activision would like more tutorials in the game you know I feel good about it initially it was a piece of advice from Activision to you know go friendlier on the tutorial side but as we began creating the game we realized the tutorial is not necessarily for teaching the game and the mechanics but for conveying the appeal of the game and particularly to players who are used to our previous titles these people would play it and you know not really get it and you know not really understand that appeal and try and play it from a you know a dark souls or a bloodborne perspective and so in the end it was really us going to Activision and saying you know don't we need to teach this a little bit more here and don't we need to be a little bit more friendly here so yeah it's been a really good to in process so we understand that we have players who have made a bit of a thing about from games like not teaching the the player anything and not guiding them at all and letting them get lost in the world and learn all the systems of themselves and we don't want to disappoint those users as well we we feel like we've come to a nice middle ground and found a nice compromise where we can teach the appeal of the game and teach them new mechanics without being too overbearing and without disappointing those fans so what will the tutorials look like in the game is it at the very start of the game of just walking you through the process or what is that middle ground one thing we're being wary of even right from the start with this onboarding is you know not to make it feel like we're just teaching the player everything or just like schooling them we want to give them you know each element introduce each element one by one and each action one by one and then allow them to try that out and to challenge themselves we don't want to give them all the answers uh from the get-go but will there be prompts on the screen of press the square button when the enemy does this or what will it look like it's uh not really a sequential process where we just teach one thing after the other it's more like a you know a systemic introduction like we say there is a concept of posture in the world of Seco now trying attacking see what it does or try deflecting and see what it does so we like to try and you know give the user the tools and then let them see how the the tools work within these systems we are now turning our attention to the technical members of the team responsible for the actual programming of the game ultimately video games are software no different from the mobile and desktop applications we install on our computers the lead programmer for sakiro is Yoshi taka Suzuki here is a list of the projects Suzuki has worked on up to 2022 you will notice that he has been in the game industry for a long time creating video games professionally even while Miaki was still studying in University as Suzuki was not featured in the game Ander documentary the short clip we will show involving him was taken from a Dark Souls 2 documentary where he shared some insights into the development of the game I think the basis is to provide a fund play environment for the players and Dark Souls was a little rough in certain areas my task was to smooth out the rough edges for a more direct and comfortable gameplay experience the biggest thing I kept in mind when developing was to make sure it was still dark souls but to refine and enhance elements of the game similar to Yoshi taka Suzuki takasuke Ando is a game programmer who has been with from software for a longer duration than Miyazaki he has made significant contributions to the development of the armored Core games as well as the souls series here is a list of the projects takasuke Ando has worked on up to 2022 if we exclude demon souls and Dark Souls you will observe that Ando has been actively involved in the development of subsequent Souls games extending up to Elden ring notably Ando has been featured in most documentaries that delve into the making of various from software games in the next clip Ando provides his perspective on the creation of sako's Game World so yeah actually along with the artists we feel like there's approach in this world is is definitely freshh uh it's a new color palette there's a new kind of visual range um you know we have to think about how we best technically incorporate their Vision um so for us it gives us a fresh feel as well and also this time with SEO we're using uh HDR display um configuration so that allows us uh an even higher level of detail so a few things we've been paying attention to with this uh project SEO um obviously we've used fog in our games before but this time we you know we have to give this presentation of the light coming through the fog and and how that affects the again the color palette and the uh the game environment um the player can interact with the the Water Service they're able to swim um so we need to make sure the the water Reflections and you know Ripples and waves are looking good and also the kind of a more realistic sense of vegetation and representing Japanese vegetation and again player and enemy interaction with it particularly you know speaking of Japan we have uh bamboo trees a lot of which you can bump into a knock down cut down with your sword so yeah we're trying to add a higher sense of realism when we're approaching these aspects of the environment yeah actually in making these Maps uh even from a engineer standpoint um there's a lot more vibrancy there's a lot more color that we're used to in creating these titles and there's obviously these elements of beauty we haven't really rendered in this way before so when I see that and experience that in the game it kind of feels not only refreshing but it's it's kind of soothing as well jnto holds a special place in this group as one of the original members who contributed to three essential Souls games Demon Souls Dark Souls and bloodborne in each of these games he not only served as a game programmer but also held the role of lead programmer here is a list of projects Juno has been involved in up to 2022 as mentioned earlier he served as the lead programmer for almost All Souls games including the VR game de Ras interestingly for both sakiro and Elden ring he has transitioned to the R&D section since he was not featured in the game and former documentary the short clip I will show involving him was taken from a bloodborne documentary where he shares insights into the development of the game I don't think the basic process for creating a game has changed much but the memory storage and the number of CPU cores had much bigger increases during the transition from PS3 to PS4 versus the transition from PS2 to PS3 the PS4 is a wonderful device that is very easy to create with we are now transitioning to the artists group of the seiro team as you may recall from software released special art books titled design works for each of their games featuring interviews with Miyazaki and a group of concept artists the three members we will delve into belong to this category tetsu Takahashi contributed to bloodborne Dark Souls 3 and sakiro while he may not have extensive experience with the older Souls games he was included included in the game and forer documentary here is a brief clip of him sharing insights into the creation of the world of sakiro so around the time that I was finishing up work on bloodborne's DLC the prototyping for seiro was beginning to take place we weren't even sure of the game play or what shape it was going to take at that point but everyone was asked to provide their ideas for a game world and just provide these images to serve as a base and I drew this image and looking back at it now it was just one image but I feel that it encapsulated that world that speaks a lot to my memories of what sakiro is previously I worked on bloodborne and the bloodborne DLC when designing those worlds it was very much a case of digging deeper and deeper and going darker and darker but with this game something that I wanted to achieve was using both light and dark kind of simultaneously the emotions that come with light and dark one thing that I was particularly impressed by when making the world of siko we had to research a lot of Japanese architecture from the time I was blown away by how amazing this architecture was and the Integrity of these structures we actually had these real blueprints that were used at the time we researched these and when you look at them I was just staggered and moved by just how intricate they were and how brilliant they were even as a Japanese native who was born and bred here I saw again something that I'd never even considered as part of the design process so of course as with previous titles we have design orders or Concepts and themes from Miyazaki that we used to develop our ideas it was the same with this game but we had to fit those ideas within the existing framework in some way so how they might fit into that medieval blueprint of Japan that was at the same time extremely challenging but a lot of fun Rio fujimaki worked on all of the major games directed by Miyazaki from Dark Souls onwards you will observe from his list of projects that he was already at the director level by the time Elden ring was created as he was not included in the game in former documentary the short clip we will show involving him was taken from the bloodborne video where he shared some insight into the creation of the game bloodborne was produced with the idea that the world the characters and the player will become a single entity allowing the player to create a world of their own to enjoy under this theme the player progresses through a variety of different situations some beautiful and extravagant While others are dark and depressing the game is set in a massive and cursed city called yarum which is inspired by 19th century Gothic horror Traditions last but not the least we have dauk satake I intentionally saved him for the end for a particular reason satake holds a unique position in the sakiro team as the sole member who has worked on all of the Miyazaki directed Souls games spanning from demon souls to Elden ring remarkably he has also contributed to projects like Dark Souls 2 and the VR game deas as one of the longest serving members at from software he brings a wealth of experience to the Securo team here is a list of the projects satake has been involved in up to 2022 for those who appreciate the design Works books you'll consistently find him in the interviews alongside Miyazaki given that he wasn't featured in the game inform forer documentary the short clip we will show involving him was taken from a Dark Souls 2 documentary where he shares insights into the development of the game the most important aspect of Dark Souls 2 is exploration we want players to explore the relationship between the characters and the map what's important is what the characters are doing what their background story is and what has lead them to be at that specific place at that specific time when the characters of Dark Souls are in a place where something significant has occurred the player needs to understand why the character is there the story lines of the characters and locations contribute to the emotional reactions and personal character characteristics of both the protagonists and antagonists I tried to develop these story lines as much as possible to make it interesting as possible for the player before delving into other game development topics let's start with the Souls Lore Bible as it's both enlightening and amusing in our previous video we covered the Souls Lore Bible and its significance if you haven't seen it yet be sure to watch as it confirms the existence of the Holy Grail of Souls lore during an interview the host posed a question related to the Souls Lore Bible asking I'm professionally curious about the specific tools you use with your team when you have to pitch your game idea to them how do you do it is there a common Bible for all departments or does each department receive an adapted and incomplete document Miyazaki revealed usually each department receives a different document I never tell them everything that's going on in my head especially during the development phase I adapt the documents for the art department for those working on combat and for the other teams I try to make them the best in the sense of how I tailor them to each discipline that being said even though the document is there they simply use it as a base if they followed it word for word it would stifle their imagination the same thing happens with developers their imagination grows as they develop the game just as the player's imagination grows when playing it that's the key the thing is obvious viously they can't help but share the documents between departments and you'll find contradictions because there are inconsistencies between the different documents but this aspect might be necessary for the creative process so in the end our team believes that everything is following a common and coherent goal contradictions May surface during development but in the end everything falls into place they believe in me previously we delved into the origins of the partnership between from software and activis Vision we briefly mentioned that sakiro was initially conceived as a new tenu game in an interview Miyazaki provided further insights into the decision to take a different direction Miyazaki explained you might notice but the early stages of this project were heavily influenced by the tenu series while we initially considered releasing it as a new tenu game we abandoned that idea swiftly fundamentally tenu was crafted by a completely different group of developers with distinct idiosyncrasies that were evident in their work we were concerned that developing under that name might lead to our work being perceived as mere imitation therefore although we drew many influences from tenhu including the grappling hook and ninja kill we established Our Own Foundation for this game Miyazaki revealed that when deciding on the main character for their Japanese themed game they initially had to choose between a Samurai and a ninja ultimately they opted for the ninja to accommodate the Innovative game mechanics Miyazaki wanted to introduce however this decision didn't prevent him from incorporating Samurai characters and NPCs into the game the choice of a ninja as the main hero was crucial to realizing miyazaki's vision for groundbreaking combat and movement Innovations Miyazaki explained when you talk about a Japanese inspired setting you generally have two main directions samurai or ninja we chose the ninja because Samurai tends to be more grounded and fixed primarily engaging in groundbased combat in contrast ninjas at least from a Japanese perspective embody versatility and freedom in design ninjas are a fantasy I aim to navigate the rich multi-layered environments the studio creates in a dynamic and free form manner a ninja symbolizes an archetype capable of using anything at their disposal they don't adhere to a fixed fighting style but employ every means and exploit every weakness this multifaceted hero was a concept the entire team was eager to explore now that Miyazaki had settled on the settings and the type of hero the next decision was to determine the historical period in which the story would unfold in making this Choice he deliberated between the sangoku period and the Ado period Miyazaki clarified when it comes to setting and World design the primary periods associated with ninjas in Japan are the Ado and the sangoku periods we opted for the sangoku period over the Ado period for two main reasons firstly the sangoku period was was characterized by constant Warfare and violence being an era of Waring States in Japan this backdrop of bloody battles and conflicts resonated well with the ninja aesthetic and the kind of game we envisioned the second reason for selecting the sangoku period was that the Edo period is generally regarded as Japan's early modern period while the sangoku period is more medieval by choosing the medieval sangoku period we could draw inspiration from ancient Japanese mysticism capturing a timeline of beauty and incorporate these elements into the world design if you recall at the start of our video Miyazaki decided to start working on a new IP once they wrapped up development for the bloodborne DLC in an interview the host asked for the last decade you've been known primarily for the souls born games Dark Souls and bloodborne why did you choose now as the right time to introduce a new action IP Miyazaki explained I believe it's important for us to have a diverse and free approach to making games in the way that we like the souls born games came about through this way of thinking and it felt like a good time for a fresh IP once those projects wrapped up it is evident that the new game sakiro is breaking away from many conventions established by earlier Souls games such as the Western medieval setting online multiplayer character and class selection among others Miyazaki acknowledged that he initially felt a bit hesitant about unveiling a game that wasn't a dark souls or bloodborne sequel he explained simultaneously we were eager to Showcase what we could achieve with sakiro we believed people would appreciate the freedom from the constraints of our previous games and you know we're witnessing that enthusiasm at these shows people are having fun and providing us with valuable feedback that's a relief we're not deliberately trying to position sakiro as an antithesis to the souls games or completely alter the company's Direction in game development or catch people off guard we love the souls games I enjoyed creating those games sakiro is meant to be something fresh and different incorporating elements familiar to players of the old games I want to preserve that because I enjoy those aspects of the old games but introducing new components and mechanics is a way to keep it Innovative providing something new is what will result in a better game as early as our video on Demon Souls we highlighted miyazaki's inclination for developing multiple games simultaneously during an interview The Host inquired about his experience with parallel development asking with daasi and sakiro you directed two very different games simultaneously what was that experience like did the two games inform or influence one another in any ways Miyazaki explained directing multiple projects simultaneously is quite common for me but it's true that these two titles had the most drastic change in disposition compared to those I've been involved with so far while simultaneous direction does keep you very busy the reason I'm willing to take it on is for the abundance of unique inspiration it can provide I believe this was especially true with these two titles it was a highly motivating experience to have this Whirlpool of thought in the same head space for two completely different games it's challenging for me to precisely quantify the tangible influence they had on each other but I like to think there was some resonance between the two perhaps the Tranquility of deas heightened the violence in sakiro while the intensity of sakiro made deas all the more Serene the host followed up with given how different these games can be do you think there is a through line or a connecting feeling or philosophy that ties together the works of from software Miyazaki replied that's a difficult question I think one of the Studio's characteristics is to wholeheartedly Embrace what we find interesting what we perceive as worthwhile cool or beautiful and to place these ideals at the foundation of the games we create some of these aspects effects we find interesting May deviate slightly from what is considered to have Mass Appeal this unorthodox nature could very well be what ties our games and our culture together when asked about the challenges he faces during parallel development Miyazaki shared actually I'm very used to directing multiple titles at once armored Core 4 and Demon Souls were developed simultaneously as were bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 this is a pretty normal situation for me but what wasn't normal was announcing two games at the same time I I actually prefer parallel Direction directing multiple projects at once as a creative if you're focused on a singular thing all the time it's easy to get stuck in that mentality it's easier to find inspiration when you're working on multiple things than when you're totally focused on one I enjoy that it's not uncommon for games to go through lengthy years of development as seen in the case of Diablo I and Diablo 4 or in some instances where games don't even get released when asked about his ideal length of game development M Miyazaki shared we have probably spent 3 years per title at least for our very recent games it used to be a much quicker cycle that was tough for me personally I feel 3 years is enough to keep the idea fresh you can get the game out there while it is still fresh in your mind also if we don't have that deadline it's something that's hard for me to stop so whether it's a 3-year or 5-year cycle I need that deadline and a point to cut off and release the game 3 years feels like that sweet spot d is a virtual reality game developed in parallel with sakiro and directed by Miyazaki himself though we didn't create a separate making a video for it we shared insights into its development because it highlights the unbounded creativity and risk-taking attributes of Miyazaki in an interview the host asked about deas saying I didn't sleep at all yesterday to complete deas which I absolutely fell in love with perhaps more than any work you've created so far what can you tell me about it Miyazaki shared for from software deas is an experiment or more precisely a challenge first because it marks our debut in virtual reality second because there's no combat and the adventure is centered around the narrative nature of the game it's much smaller in scale why did we take this risk there are several reasons one is that at from software we want to have a variety of games and Adventures this changes the direction of our works the direction we should follow games should be divers verse both in their combat and the skills they explore daasi is in terms of its genre a graphic adventure this opens up a new and surprising Horizon for from software we want to convey that our company doesn't focus on just one thing but we have a wide range of capabilities that means we don't only make combat games even though combat is dear to us and essential even without combat in deasa we haven't gotten bored it allowed me to look the myth in the eye directly the Souls game are renowned for incorporating references to various media with fans often anticipating the appearance of familiar elements like patches and the Moonlight Greatsword in each new installment when asked about continuing this tradition in sakiro Miyazaki clarified first and foremost we want to emphasize that while we have a reputation for including the Moonlight Greatsword and similar elements in our games we don't want this to become too restrictive as we embark on creating this new IP in world we aim to avoid the feeling of repeating ourselves or forcing these elements into the game just for the sake of it or to fit them into the lore this approach can impose limitations on our creativity so I want to make it clear that the Moonlight Greatsword for example will not be featured in sakiro as for creating Odes or references to our other games within sakiro we're actually being a little bit careful because working with other Publishers means you have to be careful with how you treat this material and this content so if it's dark souls to Dark Souls 3 it's easy to put in Odes and references here or there since it's the same publisher for instance with Dara that was released recently for VR we had an Ode to bloodborne in there both titles are published by Sony actually that reference that KN itself caused a much greater stir than we expected way more than we expected when we were given that idea like why don't you just put a little nod in there it would be great and we tried it and it blew up so we just want to tread a little bit more carefully around that front the host followed up are people reading too much into that little nod in deas Miyazaki admitted you know it wasn't so much that they read too much into it it was just supposed to be a little homage but people kind of expected bloodborne too and it kind of got a little bit crazy so we feel like we caused a great inconvenience to Sony and that was really not Our intention our making a video wouldn't be complete without exploring Miyazaki favorite boss in the game for sakiro the host asked who is your favorite boss in the game you don't have to go into detail just sort of the broad Strokes Miyazaki revealed that's a tough question actually one of them that I really like which you saw in the TGs trailer is just a glimpse at the end the giant ape I hope you look forward to that one another and you don't often see it in boss fights employs really dirty tricks real devious and underhanded techniques hopefully you'll recognize that one when you encounter it it as a final topic on game development the host asked Miyazaki about his experience working with different Publishers including Bondi Namco Sony and Activision Miyazaki shared working with each of them is very different and each has its peculiarities product management and development priorities are different among them as each has its own specialty in the case of Activision the company played a very important role in support and guidance especially in areas where we at from software are not not strong such as localization user experience and marketing having them by our side helped us in development for every new game Miyazaki creates he always identifies and sets the main themes that will guide him in game direction we witnessed this approach in our videos on the making of Demon Souls Dark Souls and bloodborne for sakiro Miyazaki identified three main themes and in this section we will cover each of them in in an interview Miyazaki shared there are three major Concepts to the design in this game Dynamic exploration violent sword fighting and strategic gameplay the idea of role playing a ninja seemed the coolest way to realize these Concepts while still retaining a sense of reality which made that character archetype extremely attractive in other words the impetus for sako's design initially came from the role of a ninja the souls games are renowned for their vertical map design and among them sakiro makes the most of it by introducing the grappling hook resulting in a dynamic exploration never seen before Miyazaki elaborated saying the grappling hook adds a new dimension to the action the ability to Traverse a three-dimensional map vertically a unique feature of this game allows players to fully immerse themselves in the environment and move with greater Freedom moreover the grappling hook facilitates positioning during combat expanding the range of available combat options if you ask anyone who has played sakiro and enjoyed it the number one reason they will share about what they love is the combat this is achieved through the intense Clash of swords and weapons in the game resulting in the famous and delightful clang sound that is very familiar to Securo players regarding the combat Miyazaki explained this work has a unique perspective on Sword Play based on the Japanese style of Swords fiercely clashing together in a blend of offense and defense as Fighters seek to wear down and debilitate their opponent's posture we have a finishing blow the ninja kill based on this idea the core of the battle structure involves seeking a moment of weakness in a battle on the edge of death just like a ninja still on the topic of combat Miyazaki emphasized that sakiro is not merely a Japanese themed version of dark souls in an interview the host inquired When you mention that sakiro is combat focused it gives the impression of a Japanese themed Dark Souls but it's not quite like that that is it Miyazaki affirmed that's correct the combat in sakiro particularly The Sword Play Demands a different approach compared to Dark Souls the sword play in sakiro is intense with swords clashing fiercely and within that intensity there's a strategic aspect of chipping away at the enemy's posture and finding openings moreover in certain fights there are set approaches that are highly effective which is another distinctive feature of sakiro it places emphasis on employing various tactics strategizing and discovering effective approaches finally the third major design theme of sakiro is strategic gameplay among the three major concepts of sakiro strategic gameplay is the one Miyazaki emphasized the most whether it is in the usage of stealth the prosthetic arm or the grappling hook he encourages players to make use of all available options to overcome the various challenges in the game Miyazaki explained in this work we've significantly expanded on fighting styles with an emphasis on allowing for creativity in approaching obstacles we've provided numerous ways to solve these problems with applications across various situations and enemies you can either confront challenges directly or use the surroundings and your weapons to kill wisely in a manner more akin to ninjas than to Samurai the grappling hook and sword play also reinforce this style Dynamic vertical movement with the grappling hook or ninja-like Sword Play based on exploiting a moment's weakness or the vast range of ways to approach the game's challenges all contribute to that style one common observation from players who have experience with older Souls games is that their familiarity with those titles doesn't necessarily translate into an advantage in sakiro many find that they often die in the game and in general perceive it as more challenging than its predecessors Miyazaki shared that sakiro unlike the other games demands more strategy from players to overcome its difficulties he explained sakiro requires a unique approach to combat and tactics that differs from previous titles posing a challenge for both existing fans and new players alike elements such as stealth and dynamic positioning can be used to find a good attack point and prosthetic tools can be employed to overcome challenging situations effectively players have the opportunity to employ a great deal of cunning and because of this I feel sakiro is less rooted in pure action and More in strategy than previous from software titles in an interview the host commented on this saying it sounds like kill wisely will be a critical point for this work Miyazaki agreed yes it's actually one of the core themes of this work a means to allow many players to experience the thrill of overcoming difficult challenges to put it plainly if you're not that good at action there will be other ways to play the game of course you can always confront problems headon The Sword Play is strenuous without any tricks and may end up being more challenging than what we've worked on up until now in fact the opportunities for Ingenuity may end up being more interesting than straightforward combat the host remarked so the player can enjoy a variety of approaches Miyazaki elaborated it's reflected in our level design as well instead of solely getting caught up in combat as you progress through the level you'll have the opportunity to observe enemies from high above with a naturally flowing space allowing you to adjust your battle plans the flow of battle is different and you might even say it reflects the diversity of approaches the host then inquired do you think it'll be more enjoyable to think of battle strategies Miyazaki concurred yes it's tied to the fun of exploration you'll be able to EES drop on enemies conversations before battle and freely use that information to devise new strategies We Believe it'll be enjoyable in this section we'll explore the various sources that served as inspiration for Miyazaki in creating sakiro undoubtedly tenu stands out as the most significant inspiration behind the creation of sakiro we've extensively covered this aspect in the origins of sakiro and in our game development sections reflecting on this inspiration Miyazaki shared it's true that there was a lot of influence from tenu we even pondered making sakiro a part of the tenu series at first of course after that we researched and referenced many other games as well but I think the largest influence was from tenhu given that tenhu played such a pivotal role in the creation of sakiro it's crucial to gain some familiarity with the game considering that tenu belongs to older console Generations like the PS1 PS2 Wii and Xbox many people haven't played it and in some cases may not even be aware of its existence to provide context regarding the nature of the game I'd like to share two video clips that I believe you'll find very interesting the first video is a TV commercial for the original tenu game titled tenu stealth assassins you are the wind that moves through the air unseen you are the darkness that goes unnoticed in the night you are the lightning that strikes unannounced you are the Ninja rikimaru you are the Ninja who kills by Ste you are the Ninja who cannot be stopped you're the ninja need to sneak up on some of that dog poop in the backyard tenu stealth assassins live by Honor killed by stealth the second video focuses on the making of the original tenu we're fortunate that such a video has survived from a time before YouTube existed from this footage alone you can already discern some mechanics that influenced and found their way into [Music] sakiro we take you to Tokyo Japan to the offices of acquir Corporation for an inside look at the development team behind the hit PlayStation game tenu Teno is set in 16th century feudal Japan the player assumes the role of a Ninja Warrior who must use stealth strategy and Espionage to become the ultimate ninja assassin the player can choose from two characters both have different attacking techniques and unique motions for special moves rura uses a ninja sword for up to three sequential attacks iami uses short swords in both hands for up to four sequential attacks with the user controllable camera the player surveys historic Japanese environment while remaining undetected uh the player can use a camera to search for the enemy around corners and from rooftops strategically it's one of the keys to master in the game and critical to executing the various stealth kills all the character movements and animations are modeled from authentic ninja techniques in order to create the realism of the character's movements we hired sh kugi a well-known jiujitsu professional his son Kane and several other experts for a motion capture session then we integrated their movements into the game about 300 in all through stealth tactics and precision the player is rewarded with up to 20 lethal weapons devices and spells tenu has a unique targeting system that allows a player to aim weapons from afar the camera angle changes to the firstperson perspective and displays a Crosshair this helps a player attack with more accuracy following a successful release in Japan the production team went to work to make enhancements for K shu's highly anticipated US release we created two entirely New Missions and in-game cinematics for each character new weapons plus we made substantial improvements to the enemy artificial intelligence with the enhancements to the AI the enemies react with more realism a palace is alerted by the sounds like a throwing star or Barking Dog they call for help when under attack there is no other 3D game out there with a smarter AI T live by Honor killed by stealth in our previous videos we've already established that Miyazaki draws inspiration from Manga and Anime given their immense popularity in Japan he has also confirmed confirmed intentionally referencing these Inspirations as seen in the case of Berserk regarding the game sakiro Miyazaki confirmed drawing inspiration from two specific manga sources which will'll cover in their respective sections let's begin with the manga titled blade of the immortal before we delve into discussing what the manga is about and its significance to sakiro let's first lay out the evidence so that it's no longer a topic of contention allowing us all to proceed without any distractions in an interview the host asked are there any other animes that you were inspired by for sakiro Miyazaki revealed if I had to pick one a small inspiration would have been hiroaki samura's blade of the immortal that's another manga blade of the immortal was actually a small source of inspiration for parts of bloodborne as well it's something I enjoy the weapons are so cool in that the term small inspiration is actually an understatement considering the significance of the inspiration and its impact on the story of sakiro to fully understand the influence we need a clear understanding of the manga blade of the immortal but before we do that let's quickly return to miyazaki's Childhood in our video about him we covered the different stages of his life and provided a comprehensive table mapping his young age and the available mangas corresponding to each age you'll notice that Miyazaki was exposed to berserk when he was 15 years old in the year 1989 if we extend this table by one more year you'll see an entry in 1993 for the release of the manga blade of the immortal Miyazaki was 19 years old when this manga was released just at the right age to experience this grim and violent San manga If Miyazaki had been a little younger blade of the immortal wouldn't have resonated with him however fate had willed it so that he was at the perfect age to understand and appreciate the mature topics covered by this San manga for those who are are not very familiar with the term San manga refers to those that are more grim and adult-oriented compared to the heroic and adventure-based Shonen manga which are made for a younger audience now let's return to sakiro one of its prevalent themes is the concept of immortality throughout the game players encounter various Immortal characters such as the true corrupted monk this boss possessing three Vitality bars wields the naginata and serves as the guardian of the million Bridge initially her illusion protects the entrance to the wedding cave door and she wears the attire of an old nun concealing her face behind a mask while clutching a Buddhist prayer necklace in her left hand as the battle progresses a centipede emerges from her neck revealing her infestation and triggering a new set of feral behaviors Miyazaki revealed that sakiro Drew inspiration from the manga blade of the immortal when exploring the concept of immortality in this manga the the protagonist mji becomes infested with worms that Grant him eternal life the story follows mji as he assists a young girl and seeking revenge for her murdered family mani's immortality was bestowed upon Him by a nun named yaobikuni and driven by the death of his sister he embarks on a quest to end his eternal existence he vows to atone by slaying 1,000 evil men sustained by sacred blood worms that allow him to survive any injuries and reattach severed limbs even after hours of Separation there are other characters and creatures in sakiro that manifest a similar worm infestation as mangi from blade of the immortal this can be observed when fighting the guardian ape releasing a similar centipede as the true corrupted monk during the second phase of the battle other characters like the senpu monks and even hanai the undying use the term infested and the words blessed by the worm much like the case of mangi from the manga here is a trailer of the film adaptation of blade of the immortal beautifully depicting the points I shared earlier with manga [Music] [Music] screenshots [Music] [Music] [Music] youee [Music] for talking about the party y my homies ready for talking about the party y my homies ready Bo [Applause] [Music] w [Music] one of the joys of watching anime and reading manga based on ninjas is discovering numerous fascinating characters possessing special powers making the medium very compelling for many audiences this appeal is exemplified by Naruto belonging to the largest Manga and Anime franchises whose story revolves around the world of ninjas in Japan one of the most well-known authors involving Ninja characters is futaro Yamada specifically through his novel The couga Ninja Scrolls this seminal work written in 1958 influenced many future Manga and Anime based on ninjas after its publication the work itself has been adapted into a manga titled basilisk and influenced one of the best known ninja films ninj scroll in our previous videos we learned about miyazaki's fondness for reading books for Creative inspiration which helped him design the stories and characters of his games he acknowledged futaro Yamada as one of the authors who influenced his game sakiro during an interview the host inquired we thoroughly enjoyed the movement of lady butterfly we encountered yesterday would you like to discuss the initial design and the inspiration behind the texture and personality you conveyed to the designers for that character Miyazaki replied yeah actually when designing this boss I had a very clear idea of what I wanted initially I suggested that this boss would use illusionary techniques and razor thin wires to move around the map I conveyed this clear idea to the designers additionally I love these kinds of old Japanese ninja stories created by the likes of futaro Yamada who depicts a strong old Japanese ninja grandma if you're familiar with basilisk futaro Yamada is the original creator of the series I envisioned a super strong ninja granny character and really wanted to include one in my game and if that is not yet enough evidence of miyazaki's preference for drawing inspiration from existing media here is another interview where Miyazaki placed emphasis on futaro Yamada in the interview the host asked I remember that when we talked about bloodborne we discussed a lot of weird literature alganon Blackwood Chambers dunsen and above all Lovecraft is there a similar literary figure influencing sakiro Miyazaki shared ninjas as you know are traditional Japanese icons and make for interesting characters of course to capture this I read many books including Japanese mythology especially Buddhist mythology and Buddhist sutras so my creativity draws from these sources but it's not a case like Lovecraft who was indeed the seminal origin of bloodborne the influence of research hasn't been as strong this time however there is a Japanese author who wrote some fantastic ninja novels that I've read intensely perhaps they have influenced me the most now that we have established the inspiration based on futaro yamada's work let's gain more context on the story of the couga Ninja Scrolls which in itself possibly leads to a very interesting video game the story is set in 1614 Japan and follows two enemy ninja clans the couga and the IGA they've been Rivals for 400 years the retired Shogun Tokugawa yasu lifts their peace treaty to settle a government succession dispute danju and Ogen leaders of the cuga and IGA select nine members each for a deadly battle they receive a scroll listing all 20 combatants and the side with the most survivors returning with the scroll by the end of May at sunpu Castle will win basically it's a battle royale involving characters with superpower abilities that premise alone is very engaging and would make for an excellent ninja game before we conclude this section on sako's inspiration let's watch this clip from the anime basilisk which shows the premise and nature of futaro yamada's [Music] work [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] go don't you worry just relax this will only hurt for a [Music] second it's stronger than Katana and sharper Ogen what is this what is your ninja using wielding his coao technique yamaro controls his opponent's fate coated it in animal loil the shiny black Str from young women will slice you in [Music] half in this section we'll delve into additional game design principles and insights that we couldn't explore in the game development section if there is one topic we always covered in the making of videos It's miyazaki's adherence to the principle of gameplay first in an interview the host asked I'd like to delve into your creative process we know that books are an essential part of how you create video games and that the process of multiple readings helps you create your worlds but how do you choose or find these worlds are they the starting point of your creative process Miyazaki explained well let's talk about deas bloodborne or sakiro the starting point is the gameplay system mechanics and design the first thing we consider is the type of game we're looking to create based on that design we like to choose the the universe that best fits it the one that can contribute the most to its characters or narrative in the case of sakiro we wanted to design a very specific type of action and then we realized that the ninja character was a good fit for conveying the sensations we were seeking the host followed up so what is that initial spark a feeling an image how do you usually find that first idea Miyazaki replied it varies a lot depending on the case with sakiro it was about ideas I discovered while developing Dark Souls and bloodborne initially I thought about incorporating them into those games but we realized that they didn't fit the universe we wanted to create didn't align with either of them so if we wanted to explore these ideas we had to do it outside of those franchises I gathered all these Concepts that didn't fit in either Dark Souls or bloodborne and they ended up being the starting point for sakiro we have explored in other videos how Miyazaki does not follow game Trends nor blindly copy the mechanics of other games without understanding the underlying principles behind them in an interview the host asked a question related to this saying Dishonored series developer Arcane recently spoke out to praise from software for bucking industry Trends with demon souls and taking risks do you go into your work wanting to break rules is that the kind of feeling you want to carry forward in your career as well Miyazaki replied personally speaking I don't think I was wanting to break rules a closer description would be that I wasn't trying to follow rules I'm interested in rules and there is a lot to learn from them but that's merely an ingredient to help instigate game Design This approach I have isn't going to change over the course of my career with the conclusion of the Dark Souls series we could say from software is embarking on a New Journey with Miyazaki though it's not as risky as compared to when they released Demon Souls there is still a chance that the next venture might not work albeit a minuscule one in in an interview the host addressed this topic saying do you worry that the games you make from this point may not have the same kind of impact the souls Series has had Miyazaki replied I would be lying if I said no however I'm keeping my mind away from worries I don't think I'm good at using worries as a driving force to help develop games I mean the new titles I'm working on now make me feel excited instead of bringing me worries mind you I'm basically an optimist the soul series is renowned for its Rich lore and narrative themes SP marking a plethora of speculative content within the Soul's community in an interview the host asked about this in the context of sakiro saying let's delve into the mythology you've created for sakiro in Dark Souls we had death loneliness time and pain as the main themes what are the central themes in sakiro Miyazaki replied the sangoku era Japanese mythology and ninjas as I mentioned what's primarily in the background are myths by myths I mean Concepts like death or immortality specifically immortality is what has guided me or what I wanted to explore more deeply or in a different way than in previous titles Japanese myths cast a significant Shadow behind sakiro that's because in the era described in these myths humans and gods had a very close relationship in Japan this is the universal image from which Japanese culture emerges what I mean is that this is the way the Japanese myth of immortality arises the souls games are known for having signature designs of monsters and bosses something that could not be labeled as generic in an interview Miyazaki gave more insight about this the host asked what were some of your personal highlights from the development of Dark Souls 3 and the series in general Miyazaki replied I have a lot actually game designs level designs art designs and even in regards to the text however if I were to single out one Concept in particular I would say it's my personal want of of having things hold a sense of beauty within them no matter how hideous something is I want to see a spark of beauty within it or I want to create something of beauty that shines when it is next to whatever That Hideous something is we have consistently covered the topic of souls likes in our past videos starting from our video on bloodborne this is because bloodborne signaled that miyazaki's games had reached the mainstream audience during the making of sakiro the topic of souls like games was again discussed and we were fortunate to receive updated insights into miyazaki's views on them the host asked shifting gears a bit since demon souls and Dark Souls there has been a rise in soulslike games do you personally play these types of games Miyazaki replied I personally don't feel comfortable with the term soulslike but I do play these kinds of games quite often I find them enjoyable and at the same time they offer a source of inspiration because of the similarities in approach so it's a mix of enjoyment and study the host followed up have you played KO techmo Neo I remember being surprised when Sakira was announced as it seemed like from software was also working on a Japanese themed game Miyazaki replied yes I have played it when information about Neo was coming out we were already working on sakiro and I distinctly remember being quite surprised this year's E3 also saw the announcement of Neo 2 by KO techmo and Sony's ghost of tsushima I'm often asked what do you think it would make me really happy if in the future sakiro along with these other Japanese themed games is remembered as a time when Japanese themed games were thriving when sakiro was revealed to the public the Dark Souls remaster had already been released however the Demon Souls remake was not yet known the next question is interesting for us as we don't have information on a possible bloodborne remaster or remake yet however we can deduce miyazaki's perspective on this topic iPic from his reply the host asked any chance of a demon souls remaster after we had the Dark Souls remaster Miyazaki replied I don't think the possibility is zero but personally it's not something that I'd be interested in doing it's like when you write when you're younger you look back on it and think oh goodness what was I thinking it's not that I'm embarrassed I just don't like to look at my previous works it's the same with dark souls this wasn't my own idea so you'd have to ask Sony but I don't think that the possibility is zero you'd have to see what they're thinking about it but details I have nothing we have covered the topic of Boss variability in game design sections as early as our video on Demon Souls miyazaki's stand about this has not changed Through The Years in an interview the host asked is there a particular kind of boss that you found doesn't work well for the New Movement options or is there something you wanted to do but maybe didn't work as well Mia as Zaki replied yeah definitely there are boss fights that by Design didn't align with that approach they don't accommodate the New Movement options or stealth mechanics if we allowed players to use the grappling hook everywhere or perform stealth kills on every boss it would become monotonous and boring therefore we strive to tailor each boss fight to their specific characteristics and every character's unique traits crafting encounters based on what will be most enjoyable and the experience we want the player to have in that particular moment for instance there might be boss fights where you're pitted against a massive creature requiring you to navigate the entire Arena swiftly embracing dynamism conversely there are encounters where direct confrontation is essential utilizing every tool in Your Arsenal such as the prosthetic tul and the katana engaging in intense one-on-one duels thus we aim to cater to the unique idiosyncracies of each boss and situation one of the primary distinctions in sakiro compared to other other games directed by Miyazaki is the inclusion of a fixed main character and a more tightly structured narrative initially concerns lingered within the community regarding how these changes might impact the storytelling presentation or the unveiling of the game World in an interview the host asked unlike in previous titles you're going with a fixed character this time Miyazaki explained yes this will be my first project with a fixed main character but I think it's necessary to take a fresh turn the themes of this story are difficult without a fixed character I believe we'll enjoy this style though however to avoid any misunderstandings let me be clear this is not a game in which the story takes priority there are times when the story propels the characters but otherwise in most respects storytelling is little different from our previous works there's still going to be this kind of fragmented element to it you're still going to have to explore it to find all the clues and depth for yourself we feel like it's not going to changed too much in that sense our approach to storytelling has not changed the souls games have a long history with the Tokyo game show beginning with the disastrous Demon Souls demo in 2008 yet after the Triumph of Dark Souls these games garnered immense anticipation at the event attracting large crowds eager to experience the demos showcased at their booths this trend persisted throughout the development phases of Dark Souls 2 bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 on the first day of TGs 2018 the souls Community was treated to new sakiro videos the first was a brand new trailer for the game exclusively made for [Music] TGs [Music] fore fore [Music] fore [Music] what do you fore [Music] fore [Music] fore fore [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] the second video is a demo gameplay prepared by PS underground showcasing a boss battle with the true corrupted Monk and then we came out into this beautiful colorful area here from software has always been just exceptional at environmental design and I feel like it's it's really refreshing to see them have a chance to kind of spread their wings and do something different here oh absolutely they have a beautiful aesthetic and the ju deposition of going out of the cave into this brightly lit gorgeous orange red environment is pretty cool but as with most things from software this Serenity doesn't last very long oh speak of the devil speak of the devil and now we get to fight the corrupted corrup look at her I love the cackling that's great that's one of my favorite part of from soft War Games is just the voice acting the sound design I I love the way that this boss is animated too so fluid so so uh uh just kind of smooth yes and her her clothes all flow everything is in motion it's almost it's almost elegant yes and you can see when she does her attacks leaves will fly up off the bridge oh that's awesome and then again I am going to try to take on a very difficult enemy while I'm talking we'll see what happens what's your win rate against this boss it's it's not super good I can tell you that what is it when you're not trying to host an episode of a let's play style I was going to say I'm sure it's much easier when you're not trying to talk ooh I would say I have about a 70% success rate okay all right I like those odds practice makes perfect practice does make perfect GL it's not me playing right now if you're if you're old and you're skills have rusted it doesn't really help I love the setting oh come on man you can't be that old all right you got me so I don't know where she's going to come I can't lock on to her that's interesting but I can escape if need be oh ni but she can still get me from up here so I she can chase you up there as well can so you can see mobile she can still get me she's cleared the fog though every attack in the book I like that there are different phases that this fight is kind of yes so now I can resurrect I get a second chance on this fight but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to help me especially if I can't get out of the way of her unblockable attack quick enough yeah exactly so let's see what I can do here you got this so right there you can see I did a couple of different things I was to do her sweep ATT and I jped off of her oh yeah so is that like you jumped to her and then jumped again and you like used her like a spring that is exactly what I did wow okay and right there I I did a Miki which means I dodged into her attack uh-uh there's a lot going on in this game yes yes there is we want to make sure that we we we keep players challenged keep them on their toes but it's fair very cool oh man in our section on game production we discussed the role of a producer Robert coni highlighted that besides handling project management responsibilities he must also possess extensive knowledge about the game thoroughly understanding it this expertise allows him to offer information and share insights about it during events and promotions this essential aspect of a producer's role was evident during the first day of TGs 2018 specifically in the sakiro event hosted by PlayStation where Robert Ki and yasuhiro K actively participated if you recall our bloodborne video Sony organized a similar event where masaki yamagiwa bloodborne's producer faced the challenge of completing the bloodborne demo within a limited time frame he surpassed this challenge admirably earning cheers from the attending Souls fans let's watch this clip and see if Robert coni is up to the task of being a sakiro expert on top of his project manager [Music] duties pick up PlayStation present live shows shadow whole time hi for my for [Music] for [Music] up foree spee fore at [Music] [Applause] on the night of November 16th 2018 The Gaming Community was taken by surprise when Miyazaki received the golden joystick Lifetime Achievement Award to truly understand the significance of this honor it's essential to delve into the background of the awarding body and the award itself the golden joystick award stands as Britain's most esteemed video game award ceremony and holds the distinction of being the second oldest video game award- giving body globally over time it has acknowledged and celebrated numerous eminent game creators by presenting them with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award here is the full list of recipients which includes hitaka Miyazaki what's most interesting about the award awarding event is the choice of presenters we can confidently assert that the highlight of the ceremony for Miyazaki wasn't solely the award itself but the individuals who presented it giving him the recognition if you recall from our earlier video we delved into miyazaki's childhood as he wasn't permitted to play video games during his youth he sought Alternatives in the form of adventure books among his cherished Game books his favorites were created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston these two authors created the fighting fantasy Choose Your Own Adventure RPG books that Miyazaki immersed himself in and thoroughly enjoyed during his early years even after assuming roles as a game director and a company president Miyazaki consistently refers to these adventure books as his Wellspring of inspiration and frequently revisits them thus after his long journey from being a fan of adventure books to becoming a game planner and later a game director it was only fitting that at the Pinnacle of his journey he should reunite with the two individuals who influenced him the most his childhood Heroes serving as the presenters of the most prestigious game creator award possible we are delighted to present the full awarding event for Miyazaki here now ladies and gents I know we're getting to the end I will ask just for your attention properly for this one sh cuz our next award very very special indeed it's Lifetime Achievement now this year's recipient is joining a roster that includes luminaries like Meer EA anuma hideo Kima Ken LaVine and the late satoru iata their work has changed the way we talk about games introducing whole generations of Gamers and game developers to new ways of telling stories and challenging the player and this is very very exciting not least for me here to present the award to Legendary genuinely legendary figures who made my childhood much more exciting authors entrepreneurs and fighting fantasy co-creators it's Steve Jackson and Ian [Music] [Music] Livingston good evening everybody also good afternoon um little did we know that 37 years ago uh when Steve and I first started writing fining fantasy in sorcery Game books that's a young man or young boy in Japan also read them too in his native language and he would go on to become an incredible games designer who we all know and love and it's a great honor that we're here today to to appreciate together the great works he's achieved and how we in some way inspired him to do that so Steve say words we're very proud to have been even asked to present this award to a true G Genius of game design and uh I think that's it all he did actually go on to create some of the best games in the world and also some of the hardest games I don't think I've even finished the first one um so it's our great pleasure to present this year's Lifetime Achievement Award to Mr hitaka Mia zakian done you here we here or no and I think we have a little VT this year's Lifetime Achievement recipient is a huge success today but he had a modest upbringing and spent his childhood pouring over books borrowed from his local library The Works he found horror books such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and the fighting fantasy Choose Your Own Adventure series would go on to Define his career Mr HED Takia Zaki joined from software in 20 04 working at first on the armored Core Series but it was when he moved on to a fantasy project on the verge of cancellation that everything [Music] changed Demon Souls introduced his signature style ethereal and mysterious punishingly hard yet always Fair it was a game that asked a lot of its players and rewarded them in kind Mr Miyazaki has built on that foundation in the astounding Dark Soul Series in the gothic horror of bloodborne and his forthcoming ninja Adventure seiro Shadows die twice [Music] the setting may change but Mr miyazaki's style of game design is a constant in an era of long tutorials and endless handholding his games are a breath of fresh air respecting the player's ability to submount the toughest challenges If Only They are prepared to die and try again ladies and gents be upstanding for your lifetime achievement recipients [Music] [Music] the [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you very much I'm Miaki from FR software I'm such a huge fan of these two guys that I've almost forgotten what I was meant to [Applause] [Music] [Applause] say uh it's such a surprise and an honor to receive this prestigious golden joystick award uh I'm quite humbled this award is not just my award it goes out to everyone who has worked with me over the years making games everyone who's shared this passion with me and so I want to thank again everyone who has collaborated with from software everyone in from software uh our Publishers thanks again uh for everything thank you to my family for all of their support and more than anything thank you to the players to everyone who has played enjoyed and appreciated my games and it's thanks to you all of you really all the players that I've been able to to carry on making games with the one simple goal of making games that are interesting uh and I'm I'm so glad to have been able to to make games in these exciting times with all of you I plan to carry on making games for as long as I'm able uh and I will do my very best to make sure that they are games that you uh will enjoy uh so thank you for your continued support in advance and coming up very soon we have sakiro shadows die twice which is due to be launched in March so you can look forward to that thank you very much one more Miyazaki expressed genuine gratitude for receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award during an interview the host inquired the previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Ken LaVine hideo Kojima the former president of Nintendo satoru iata hironobu sakaguchi and Sid Meer among other prominent figures how do you feel about joining this distinguished group to which Miyazaki responded it's a great honor and I'm genuinely surprised to be honest I still can't quite figure out why I'm among this prestigious list of individuals so I might be perplexed by the situation however one thing is for sure this award is thanks to the colleagues I've worked with the players who have enjoyed our games and the users who have supported us in order to repay this debt to all of them I'm determined to create interesting and valuable games in the future on a personal note I was extremely happy that the presenters for the Lifetime Achievement Award were Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston they are the authors of the game book series fighting fantasy which is a fundamental experience for my f fantasy world I didn't know in advance that they would be presenting the award so I couldn't help but feel like a child with a heightened level of excitement when I saw them on stage two months after receiving the golden joystick award Miyazaki himself participated in a gaming event called taipe game show 2019 in Taiwan similar to the Tokyo game show the event buzzed with eager fans eager to try out game demos at the various booths yasuhiro K delivered a presentation while a game streamer showcased the demo on stage engaging in a battle against the same boss that Robert coni had fought during TGs 2018 during his presentation Kau pointed out different strategic paths in the game World these included underwater routs climbing buildings with the grappling hook for tactical advantages from high spots and sneaking to listen in on enemy conversations for hints about weaknesses and strategies following the stage event a media interview featuring Miyazaki took place with strict guidelines in place no recording or filming of the interview was permitted upon the conclusion of the session Taiwanese media and localization staff formed lines to request autographs and capture commemorative photos showcasing miyazaki's immense popularity as one of Japan's renowned game creators a week following the Taipei game show from software unveiled the story preview trailer of sakiro on their YouTube channel this video introduces sako's storyline and reveals the game's opening sequence in the closing years of the soku era Japan was consumed by a Perpetual [Music] conflict [Music] what's the matter stray Nothing Left to Lose well would you look at that will you join me starving wolf that day I pulled you from the battlefield I had no idea what you'd become [Music] we're now at the release month of sakiro on March 10th 2019 Sony interactive entertainment and from software hosted the sakiro countdown live in Tokyo as a pre-release premium event celebrating the upcoming launch of the game at this Gathering attendees got the opportunity to experience the initial stages of sakiro scheduled for releas release on March 22nd alongside gameplay demonstrations there was an overview presentation introducing key elements of the game visitors were given the chance to play sakiro for approximately 15 minutes starting from the beginning of the game furthermore for those interested there was an opportunity to challenge the boss known as the true corrupted monk if you recall from our Dark Souls 2 video from software and Bondi Namco hosted a similar special event to commemorate the game's completion likewise in our bloodborne video from software and Sony also organized a completion party to celebrate the imminent release of bloodborne during both occasions special guests were invited and unique collaborations and marketing events were unveiled building anticipation for the game's launch during the sakiro event yasuhiro Kau and Hatsune matsushima acted as MC's kauo discussed Activision at the start and although Robert coni wasn't present his video message conveyed gratitude and excitement for the games release during the presentation Kau provided an overview of sako's narrative delving into the background story of wolf and his master Kuro he highlighted that sako's focus on a central character makes the storyline more accessible compared to games like Dark Souls however he emphasized that the aspect where each player's gameplay shapes the story remains consistent allowing for continual analysis and interpretation throughout the game following this Kau shifted the focus to the gamees combat mechanics he explained crucial Concepts such as the posture mechanic its correlation with enemy Health damage and how the recovery rate functions additionally he showcased slides detailing the stealth mechanics enabling players to execute the Shinobi death blow on unsuspecting foes kauo then proceeded to highlight another significant feature of sako's combat the Shinobi prosthetic he elaborated on the various tools that wolf can collect and their functionality within the game subsequently he introduced the grappling hook emphasizing how it revolutionizes traversal within the game World finally he gave details on the game's Resurrection mechanics and the skill trees designed for upgrading the main character following kau's presentation Masaru yamamura the lead game designer of sakiro took the stage for a live gameplay demonstration showcasing several features of the game these included the seamless ability to switch prosthetic tools with a single button press Surviving High Falls into water and the tactic of eavesdropping on enemy conversations during stealth to gather valuable information during the demonstration yamamura exhibited various combat techniques he executed stealthy Shinobi death blows without alerting enemies utilized an enemy's blood to disorient and defeat another opponent and demonstrated the effective use of the makiri counter to evade enemy attacks and counter efficiently in the culmination of the demonstration yamamura engaged in combat with the mini boss named juu the drunkard he shared that ju's strength often leads to defeat approximately one out of every four attempts unfortunately during the live demo yamamura was unable to overcome juu and was defeated himself after the demo Kau and the team engaged in a question and answer session with the audience the queries revolved around various aspects such as the number of weapons available in the game the available endings and details concerning the upgrading of prosthetic tools in the event's final segment renowned music producer and composer Teddy Lloyd took the stage to Showcase a battle against the boss true corrupted monk Teddy Lloyd an avid fan of from software's action RPGs expressed excitement about playing sakiro however similar to Masaru yamamura Teddy Lloyd's live demonstration also culminated in defeat against the true corrupted monk yasuhiro kauo concluded the event with a message expressed expressing gratitude to the team and inviting everyone to anticipate the game's release a day after the sakiro countdown live event PlayStation unveiled the official launch trailer for the game your hunger May beget a fine shenobi I expected no less from you my boy sir I see listen wolf you must never forget the iron Cod I see defend your master with your life if he is taken bring him back at any cost I see I know the end is [Music] coming my Lord I have come for you so the noble Shinobi stands in our way oh you're quite prepared to die it seems fate still doesn't want you [Music] dead eyes take [Music] [Music] [Music] fall [Music] [Music] a week following the launch trailer PlayStation released a video providing a a comprehensive gameplay overview of sakiro Welcome to a vision of Japan unlike anything you've experienced before seiro Shadows die twice is set during the closing years of the sangoku period it's a time of near endless conflict and bloodshed journey into this unforgiving world shaped by violence and discover what Secrets await in the shadows seiro Shadows die twice follows the story of a Shinobi known as the wolf as a young boy roaming the battlefield he's taken in by the owl what's the matter stray Nothing Left to Lose the wolf is assigned to protect a new master known as the Divine Heir you will pledge your life in my service as you command the boy is the descendant of a mysterious bloodline making him the target of the asina clan leave this to me so the noble Shinobi stands in our way you must never forget the Shinobi code if your master is taken bring him back at any cost what is this the wolf's prosthetic arm changes how he fights this mysterious Shinobi tool can be outfitted with an arsenal of powerful items like the grappling hook use it to explore new areas or gain a tactical advantage break Shields with the loaded axe drag enemies closer with the loaded spear or set them a blaze with the flame vent stun and confuse enemies with shuriken and firecrackers or deflect heavy attacks with the loaded umbrella mix these powerful tools with your sword to find new ways to kill ingeniously and tip the odds of the fight your way comat B in seiro Shadows die twice requires strategy and the same tactics won't work against every enemy a master Shinobi must be both aggressive and versatile deflection is just one way to turn an enemy's attacks into an opportunity each deflection will deal damage to an enemy's posture keep it up and the enemy's posture will break leaving them vulnerable use this critical moment to land serious damage with a Shinobi death blow enemies at times will use perilous attacks that cannot be blocked in these situations you'll need to make a split-second decision will you risk great harm to yourself and attempt to counter the attack or will you use this moment to fall back and prepare for your next move success against stronger enemies will come down to learning their distinct tactics and responding with your own unique offensive and defensive maneuvers you'll also find that certain situations allow for a silent approach use your blade for a quiet takedown or EAS drop to gain Vital Information about your enemies in seiro Shadows die twice you won't survive every encounter but death is not always defeat the wolf has his limited ability to return from the dead using Resurrection after resurrecting the wolf is vulnerable if he's killed it will mean losing valuable resources and potentially other more personal consequences performing a Shinobi death blow or resting at a sculptor's idol will allow the wolf to resurrect once again with each battle one you'll begin to unlock new skills that help you fight and defend you'll discover Shinobi tools that expand the capabilities of your prosthetic arm and find materials like gunpowder to upgrade them your Journey Into Darkness will be Frau with Challenge and surrounded by death but if you execute different strategies in battle and Leverage The powerful Tools in Your Arsenal you can rise to any [Music] [Music] challenge now that we have reached the week of sako's release it's time to explore the major features of the game that have made it into the production version the primary and most significant difference between sakiro and the other Souls games is its being a singleplayer game not only does it lack the option for players to seek help from others online but within the game itself it doesn't offer NPCs to assist in battling major bosses this stands in stark contrast to games like Dark Souls 3 or bloodborne where even in offline mode players can summon in-game characters to Aid in overcoming challenging bosses this singleplayer feature of sakiro later becomes one of the contributing factors to the perceived inaccessibility of the game for play players struggling with its difficulty regarding sako's new single player approach Miyazaki explained there are several reasons behind the decision to exclude online elements we wanted to eliminate the constraints associated with multiplayer and focus entirely on the single player experience in this work Additionally the fixed main character is most appropriate for this work and provides a unique gameplay feel in essence it comes down to the need to focus limited resources on delivering a unique unque and engaging singleplayer experience that aligns with sako's distinctive gameplay and challenges one positive side effect of the single player mode is the ability to pause the game a feature absent from other Souls games furthermore without the availability of summons bosses can be designed with a single character in mind yasuhiro kauo commented on this topic stating when creating these play spaces we don't have to consider how players will interact with each other in these Maps or how they might exploit the space through cooperation this Freedom allows us to focus on the player experience and fully exploit the lack of restrictions associated with creating a multiplayer based game allowing our imagination to run wild in these places the second significant change in sakiro is the use of a fixed protagonist unlike Dark Souls and bloodborne where players could create their own character and choose a class this Freedom allowed the story to be conveyed through atmosphere and World building in sakiro however there is only one class and a sole pre-made character available for players to choose from resulting in a more straightforward storytelling approach due to the fixed perspective while exploring the world regarding the use of a fixed protagonist Miyazaki shared there were many things I feel we learned throughout the development process but the biggest thing that surprised us was just how much having a fixed protagonist influences the story's focus our previous titles put this focus on the story woven by the world itself whereas shifting it onto the protagonist allows for a completely different type of Storytelling which I feel was something very fresh and appealing we still believe those aspects of Storytelling from our previous titles are present such as putting the players experience first by not forcing the story on them or by giving their imagination room to work with fragmented elements when bloodborne was released a common complaint among some players was The Limited number of available weapons in the game especially when compared to titles like dark souls or its sequels these games featured not only a wider array of weapon types but also numerous instances within each weapon category in sakiro the limitation goes beyond just one main weapon type as players are restricted to a single primary weapon throughout the entire game when discussing this significant change Miyazaki shared the right-and katana is fixed as your primary weapon for the whole game this approach allows us to deeply explore what it means to master that Katana as your single main weapon while we do sacrifice customization and variety we compensate for that in the left hand we offer various prosthetic tools which can be upgraded providing users with the element of choice and freedom in how they strategize and use these two weapons together as mentioned by Miyazaki earlier the introduction of the prosthetic arm in sakiro compensates for the absence of weapon variety this rationale Echoes a similar approach used in bloodborne where weapon customization was achieved through weapon sockets and a wide variety of blood gems capable of significantly enhancing weapon attributes regarding the prosthetic arm Miyazaki explained the prosthetic arm itself functions as a special feature throughout the game it defines your player style represents a significant element of choice and is the most prominent aspect of expressing the eccentricity of the Ninja image in this game another important point is that the the effectiveness of tactical options for specific situations against enemies has been Amplified compared to previous games how you approach enemies and the situations in which you engage them have become more crucial sakiro places a strong emphasis on overcoming challenges by utilizing all the elements provided unlike previous works for numerous players who haven't entirely embraced or mastered the katana as the primary weapon against most bosses in the game the prosthetic arm offers a wide range of creative options to defeat them some bosses have vulnerabilities to specific prosthetic arm tools enabling players to exploit these weaknesses for victory one of the game mechanics that sets the souls games apart from other action RPGs is the presence of a stamina bar which essentially governs the pace of combat in the game this mechanic is instrumental in preventing the souls games from devolving into button mashing action games like others in the genre whether you're attacking blocking or dodging the flow flow of movement is influenced by the stamina bar however in sakiro Miyazaki opted to remove the stamina bar and introduced a new mechanic centered around posture now instead of the action revolving around dodging creating distance and using hit and run tactics sakiro system focuses on sustained combat and the Clashing of Swords key to this is the character's posture once the enemy's posture bar is filled it becomes vulnerable to a devastating attack called a Shinobi death blow when asked about the modification in the action flow of sakiro Miyazaki explained in order to realize more intense Edge ofyour seat combat we found that this change was necessary this was something we had envisioned from the very early stages of development as a very ninja-like style of combat with a Japanese flavor to it if you remember earlier in Meet the team section we introduced the core members of miyazaki's team one of them was Masaru yamamura sako's lead game designer and responsible for designing the core combat mechanic of sakiro involving the posture system here is a short clip from one of Game informers documentary on sakiro where yamamura shares Insight on the combat of the game so when fans of your previous games pick up the controller and start playing seiro what will stand out to them what will be the biggest surprises about how it's different so in previous titles just to you know first an example from Dark Souls is you have to you know defend with your shield and then strike back you know it's this kind of like given take bloodborne you had to kind of step out of Harm's Way and then dive back in and attack was like in and in and out kind of uh infighting Seido is more like Katana on Katana action so we're really concentrating on that blade to- blade duels and the the sword fighting aspect so you know we feel that once users have taken to and mastered the deflect technique they'll be turning you know not only dealing damage to their own attacks but when they're being attacked by the enemies they're turning that to their advantage and we feel like that's a really unique aspect this time and yeah we hope players are really surprised and enjoy this but you want players to focus on deflecting that's the key that's how they need to change their brain of course there are other elements such as the prosthetic tools and the the stealth but yeah we feel the katana and the way you're able to deflect almost any attack is going to provide the key and provide this new thrill yeah to the combat system how's it feel to change up froms combat in such a big way for this game you know it it is tough to make these big changes but we don't want to keep doing the same thing as a as a studio and as individuals and so when Mia Zaki came to us and said he wanted to make this brand new game and he tossed me with a brand new battle system then I was really excited and you can see you know he has that same excitement and this this spreads to the team um for making this new project there's a lot of head scratching on your part a lot of drawing on a whiteboard and thinking yeah absolutely a lot of head scratching the first big change is the fact that we're departing from you know what we're known for the soul series and you know in that it's like we got to make something new we've got to change stuff and so at first when we were initially creating the game it was difficult to Branch away from that and it you know ended up being quite similar but you know through that kind of process and uh you know going back to the drawing board and rethinking the systems then we've been able to create the deflect system and the katana combat system that you see today what was the most challenging system to create which one went through the most iteration so it's something I'm still struggling with and that the team is you know still finds hard to this day but in making this new combat system with the deflect system um we've really had to rethink the way that we make these fine tuning and adjustments to each battle so the deflect is not really like a Parry in fighting games or previous Dark Souls games where you have a kind of a large window of leniency it's very precise and in order to teach players this we need the enemy animations and the attack animations to be very precise we need them to see what's coming and to learn these movements and then to react accordingly and so when it comes down to tweaking these attacks we can't just do it on a parameter level we have to actually tweak frame by frame the animations and remove frames add frames here and there to make sure it looks Pitch Perfect and that the user is going to be able to react to that intuitively is it the biggest design challenge you've had in your career so far it's always a challenge to create these systems that adapt to that fit each game that we produce but especially for Seido when the time came to make these big changes and to distance ourselves a little bit from the soul series you know this was in itself the the biggest challenge I feel do you want talk about designing the death blow system especially having like the numerical countdown of how many are left there the death blow was originally known as ninu and tenu and this was kind of one source of inspiration for us also building the the game around this posture system and you know deflecting blows and whittling down your opponent's posture and staggering them we needed a a really good Feelgood finisher to kind of clinch that battle um and so yeah uh the death blow is something that we've really put a lot of time and effort into as early as our Demon Souls video Miyazaki has emphasized that death holds a special meaning in his games considering it an opportunity for Learning and a chance to try again when combined with the mechanic of corpse run dying in the Soul's games becomes a fundamental aspect of gameplay that is integral to the overall experience however in sakiro Miyazaki introduced the new mechanic of Resurrection granting wolf a second chance to continue the fight when asked why he introduced Resurrection to a game centered on frequent deaths Miyazaki explained my idea of a ninja fighting as opposed to say a knight is that ninjas can't endure a lot of damage they take significant risks and are highly vulnerable during combat it's about fighting on the edge where a slight mistake could result in defeat with knights there's more resilience due to armor and such the concept of such high-risk combat inspired the introduction of Resurrection imagining combat as a risky Endeavor where one small mistake could be fatal sending players back every time they die and having to return to their previous position would disrupt the game's Tempo Resurrection was conceived to maintain the game's flow while battles are intense not having to restart entirely upon death helps balance the game playay and allows for riskier edgeof the- knife type Encounters this mechanic is also tied to the game's narrative revolving around the mystery surrounding the main character and the Young Lord Resurrection plays a role in that context one of the general concepts for the game is that you can kill ingeniously a ninja is so resourceful that he can even make use of his own death to gain an advantage that's kind of the idea we had Miyazaki added that as compared to other Souls games death in sakiro has a more significant role he said death influences sakiro in three ways it maintains gameplay flow while creating risky situations encourages creative use of it and is Central to the story's theme of Resurrection there's one thing I'd like to make sure isn't misunderstood the resurrection system was not introduced to make the game easier if anything it actually can make the game harder because it allows us to push the edge of risky combat where the player can die at any moment of course if you could resurrect infinitely it would eliminate the tension so we introduced certain limitations such as consuming a specific resource to limit the number of times you can resurrect you might also not be able to resurrect immediately after using it and even if you have Resurrection points left if you keep dying in the same spot it won't work we implemented these measures to prevent players from easily trivializing the game by repeatedly using Resurrection the souls games are known for their remarkable vertical map design in our earlier video Miyazaki shared that his natural inclination is to continuously stack a map vertically rather than horizontally with the introduction of the graph grappling hook players gain the ability to navigate more dynamically through multi-layered environments Miyazaki emphasized that this new mechanic plays a pivotal role in achieving the Shinobi type of character that they envisioned he stated the grappling hook facilitates versatile and dynamic movement throughout the map coupled with an array of Shinobi tools it enables various tricks and finesse essential elements in sakiro gameplay that reflect the protagonist's nature we aim to visually Express this with an easily recognizable appearance and visual language also well the idea of a Shinobi prosthetic was pretty cool we're all very fond of the design and it's one of the ways we've been able to incorporate the flavor and Flights of Fancy were known for when bloodborne was released it introduced a key combat mechanic known as the visceral attack where your character executes a high damaging attack on an enemy you perform a visceral attack by parrying the enemy staggering them or executing a Charged attack from behind sakiro on the other hand brought forth an even more powerful and devastating mechanic compared to bloodborne termed the Shinobi death blow this maneuver depletes an enemy's entire current life bar with only major bosses surviving you execute a Shinobi Death Blow by either filling the enemy's posture bar or executing a successful stealth attack in an interview the host inquired about this topic asking the shenobi death blow how did that come to be were you just really excited about visceral attacks from bloodborne and the backstab attacks in Dark Souls and you just wanted to do that to everything Miyazaki clarified it's not like we just love to do these critical attacks on everything it's an evolution of the elements the death blow the idea itself is one of the things we got a hint of from Tenchu from the original publications of that series also death blows are not just kind of a one-off onetime critical attack like a backstab or a repost or the visceral attack it's something that can be initiated from stealth as you saw yesterday allowing you a way in it's also something that is a result of trying to find or trying to make a momentary weakness in your opponent so the battle you experienced yesterday with the Sword Play It's Kind like a climax to that to each and every one of those battles we feel in that sense that it's different the concept and the way we've created and the way we've molded it is different from a straight up repost or a straightup visceral attack the Shinobi has the kind of elements of both offense and defensive that he has to use simultaneously the death blow is sort of like a result of that I use the word climax it's kind of like a treat or reward for the player at the end of that struggle that Clash of Swords another brand new mechanic introduced in sakiro is a skill tree based upgrade system purchasable combat arts and upgrades to the protagonist prosthetic arm replace the traditional stat Point allocation this presents a leveling scheme that appears to be more approachable compared to the number-based builds typical in Souls games when questioned about the choice of a skill tree system over the Stat system Miyazaki explained the concept behind a stats leveling system is to cater to diverse player builds this entails abilities usable by Mages strength users wielding great swords various sorceries and pyromancies and this means that not all users have to use everything they can specialize or they can focus on their build the idea of this game and the multifaceted ninja means you have to use every everything in Your Arsenal everything at your disposal to overcome these challenges the introduction of a skill system meant that we could allow people to unlock every facet of this multi-talented ninja having this locked behind parameters or having to boost certain parameters over others meant that if you came across a tough enemy with a specific strategical grammar to him like a specific weakness they would have to go back and retrace their steps and uncover this boost these parameters and what have you having these as skills and items that you can gradually acquire allows them to specialize in everything to a degree and to really become that really multi-talented multifaceted shenobi among all the souls games including Elden ring sakiro introduced the most new mechanics to expand the players traversal abilities within the game World sakiro notably introduced the ability for characters to swim and dive features absent even in Elden ring it was also the first to implement a dedicated jumping button enabling jumping with the addition of the grappling hook sakiro allowed players to navigate across water land and air enhancing movement Dynamics in an interview the host inquired about how these new traversal options influenced the team's approach to boss design stating with changes to movement such as the grappling system wall jumping and swimming how has that changed certain approaches to boss design Miyazaki explained you mentioned the swimming this is not present in boss fights as such this is something that caters more to exploration and general traversal just to add a little bit of change of pace something a little bit different just to cool things down however in Boss design these new traversal options and stealth tactics have a definite impact they significantly enhance Dynamic movement within the Boss Arena benefiting both the player and the boss itself it adds a dynamic element to the interaction between the player and the boss previously players might have been limited to circling around a boss's feet and attack attacking its lower parts now with these movement options both the player and the boss can fully utilize the entire Arena as for stealth in mid boss and boss fights its use varies depending on the situation it's an additional layer of complexity not present in every boss fight but at times it might cleverly or subtly enhance the experience the mechanic of corpse run has been a defining element across the souls games so much so that it has become a feature often emulated by other souls-like games the most evolved iteration of this mechanic can be found in bloodborne where Miyazaki introduced the feature of enemies picking up the dropped blood Echoes of a player requiring their defeat to reclaim the currency this distinctive feature has been emulated by other soulslike games as seen in instances such as the game Hollow KN and salt and Sanctuary hence many within the souls Community were surprised when Miyazaki decided to remove the corpse run mechanic in sakiro when asked about the reason for this change Miyazaki explained the reason there's no corpse run as is is first of all we don't really want to keep doing the same thing over and over again with our games we want to try different approaches and different switching up the systems speaking of death penalties we do want to incorporate a new sense of demerit or a disadvantage to death we want the player to fear death in the same way they did before but this will take on a different shape this time if we were to just add in Corpse running or having to go retrieve something on top of that it would have felt too messy or or too desperate or a little too much like there's too much at stake we want to concentrate on the new systems such as the resurrection system as well speaking of Resurrection this time we're taking this into elements of story as well so there's a reason for coming back to life and there's more General themes and Concepts around death and rebirth so this is something we wanted to explore on the gameplay side as well one of the common complaints about the souls games is their consistently dark or gloomy atmosphere however sakiro break away from this tradition by presenting breathtaking Vistas and Landscapes this change in visual style will also be present in Elden ring when asked about this decision Miyazaki shared one thing we focused on in sako's artistic design was the use of more Vivid color during the early stages of development I looked back on things that inspired a series of Japanese taste and was fascinated by the beauty of these colors deciding on them as one of the concepts for sako's artistic design we were conscious of using such colors effectively as a means of adding flare to the dynamic combat as well as painting the world around it adding our own idiosyncrasies and dramatic fantasies in an attempt to create an original take on sangoku Japan and in a way that represents us although rudimentary forms of stealth existed in earlier Souls games it was only in sakiro that a proper stealth mechanic was introduced when stealth is combined with the newly introduced Shinobi death blow their Synergy creates a very powerful option for dealing with enemies and bosses in the game Miyazaki expressed that the stealth mechanic aligns perfectly with the concept of playing as a ninja stating we're preparing a number of ways for the player to feel like they're able to use everything in their Arsenal in order to take on these situations with stealth elements it'll allow you to sneak undetected to an extent while you're undetected you can Eaves drop on enemies to get hints about other enemy weaknesses strategic hints about how to approach the map in certain situations or learn story details as well this is a kind of a new element and it relates nicely to the theme of the Shinobi the souls Community often considers sakiro as the toughest game of Miyazaki this perspective stems from various factors most Souls games share comparable mechanics but sakiro stands out distinctly many players believe that their familiarity with Souls combat actually hinders their learning curve in sakiro this is because the muscle memory from stamina based combat is very different from sako's recommended posture-based approach moreover the absence of online co-op and summonable NPCs during major boss battles inherently elevates sako's level of difficulty Additionally the improved behavior of sako's bosses adds to the challenge most of them can now block and deflect attacks which differs from enemies in Souls games who typically don't use these defensive tactics when questioned about sako's difficulty in comparison to his other Gam games Miyazaki explained Our intention was to create a game that surpasses previous entries in difficulty while enabling players to utilize creativity alongside action to overcome these challenges we aim not to disappoint players seeking a hardcore experience while also enabling as many as possible to relish overcoming challenges to achieve this we've implemented and continued to fine-tune numerous systems ultimately our goal is to strike a balance without making the game excessively difficult or overly simplistic sakiro was globally released on March 22nd 2019 and garnered widespread critical and Commercial Success many critics lauded the game's combat noting its departure from the typical style seen in from software's other similar games they likened sako's combat to a waltz praising the diverse approaches available to tackle challenges additionally they commended the posture system hailing the new combat style as both beautiful and refreshing while while well received within the souls Community sakiro didn't quite match or surpass the ratings achieved by Dark Souls 2 or bloodborne nonetheless it garnered several Awards notably the game of the year at the sxsw gaming Awards however the most anticipated Accolade awaited at the 2019 game awards which we'll delve into in the next section in terms of sales sakiro proved to be a commercial Triumph selling 157,000 units in its first week in Japan alone within 10 days of its release it had surpassed 2 million units sold addressing sako's performance Michelle fona remarked the fans have made Sakira one of the most incredible game launches of 2019 so far the game has performed admirably across all platforms including PC and were thrilled by the ongoing support from both Gamers and critics it's been immensely gratifying to witness The Joy fans experience as they conquer each [Music] challenge whenever a new Souls game game is released the topic of accessibility always arises discussing the need for an easy mode or ways for players to adjust the game's difficulty as evident from our early video about demons Souls we already know that Miyazaki will never include a feature in his games explicitly allowing players to switch the default difficulty in fact there are a few things we're certain Miyazaki will never do firstly release an official version of the lore of the games he has created and secondly add an explicit easy mode switch in his games as expected upon sako's release the topic of accessibility became a major point of online discussions again with some proposing the addition of a difficulty setting for these games While others defend the status quo we previously noted that sakiro being single player only is inherently harder Furthermore with the inclusion of smarter AI for enemies and the absence of NPCs that can be summoned for offline co-op the call for accessibility is more pronounced this time to understand what the pro accessibility members felt during the release of sakiro let's delve into Dave theer's article in Forbes he shared it's time once again to revisit an old saw it was true of Dark Souls 3 it was true of bloodborne it was true of all the other from software games and will keep being true until the only acceptable conclusion one of these games finally puts in an easy mode that hasn't happened yet and so here we are siko needs an easy mode the fact that these games don't have any difficulty settings means that only a certain sort of player with time inclination reaction speed and lack of physical issues will ever see the final boss fight anywhere but on Twitch this is a problem what's particularly ging about sakiro is that all other from software games at least had a sort of safety valve to allow you to move past the game's most difficult boss encounters With a Little Help by summoning other players into your game sakiro removes even that and so if you run up against a brick wall that's it either beat your head against that wall or stop playing it's the lack of a summon mode that prevented me from sinking too much of my psyche in the game I was able to beat the chained ogre without too much trouble even without the fire thing and so I don't know maybe I could keep doing well in this game but I do not like the idea of coming up against a boss that I can't beat without a week of frustration and so I can't let myself get obsessed with this one there's a lot of talk about respecting the player when it comes to not including an easy mode an idea that all players can and should play this game in this particular punishing way and yet I think the lack of an easy mode showcases the exact opposite it shows an almost stunning lack of respect for players with the idea that they cannot be trusted with their own gameplay experience that even those who want a challenging game would somehow be lured by the siren song of lower difficulties and destroy their own experience because they're too impatient or immature to know what they actually want just one day after Dave theer's article Eric Cain posted his own defending the status quo and the decision of from software and Miyazaki to not include an explicit difficulty setting in their games Eric Kan shared the option to turn down difficulty when stuck at a particularly hard boss would always be a Temptation it would be so simple to take the easy route and then we would never learn what from software and game director h Miyazaki hope we will learn how to overcome the odds and in so doing gift ourselves with a sense of Pride and achievement the beauty of a Souls game and of sakiro is in the Mastery of the game systems I felt like a virgin again when I first began playing sakiro it was like I was a novice Souls player killed for the very first time but as the days have gone by and I've kept up my plotting pace through the game I found myself learning its deadly ballet I keep beating these foes that at first seemed insurmountable not because I could change the difficulty setting or grind my way to a higher level or summon help online but because I was persistent I learned inch by inch from my mistakes I found new skills that helped me in tricky situations new Prosthetics that exposed an enemy's weakness and better timing to effectively Hue my way through the mobs sakiro patiently teaches us how to improve chiseling away our shortcomings and arming us with the tools we need to succeed like Dark Souls and bloodborne easy mode isn't a setting it's something you become easy mode is that moment when you realize that you've improved as a player the game keeps getting harder but you keep getting better alongside it it's a vicious Tango player versus environment choice and respect aren't always interchangeable we live in a world of endless choices and not every choice heightens our dignity or self-respect sakiro offers us a reprieve by giving us no choice at all play or don't play this isn't just about the hardcore players getting the difficult game they desire it's about the new players getting the game they deserve the one they might have missed if they could have changed the difficulty setting to easy we already know the stand of Miyazaki and how he views the topic of accessibility as we have covered it in our earlier videos however we are fortunate that he Revisited this topic in the context of seiro as usual he is very consistent in his views regarding the design of game names especially on the topic of accessibility he said we don't want to include a difficulty selection because we want to bring everyone to the same level of discussion and the same level of enjoyment so we want everyone to First face that challenge and to overcome it in some way that suits them as a player we want everyone to feel that sense of accomplishment we want everyone to feel elated and to join that discussion on the same level we feel if there's different difficulties that's going to segment and fragment the user base people will have different experience experiences based on that differing difficulty level this is something we take to heart when we design games it's been the same way for previous titles and it's very much the same with sakiro when asked about the accessibility of sakiro when compared to his other games Miaki explained we have tried to make it easier for people to access every part of this Shinobi's Arsenal in a previous title you had an area or a boss that could only be defeated by Magic that would be an issue because people are specializing in theirs build and we've created this unnecessary wall for them this way of building the game it gives us greater freedom and it gives the player greater freedom to decide how they want to tackle this or to encourage them to try to find something else and to keep adding to their Arsenal and to use every little bit of it to defeat these challenges before we move on from the topic of accessibility I'd like to share my personal experience as well as that of a well-known YouTuber who specializes in the monster hunter games when I when I tried playing sakiro I was already very familiar with the souls games I anticipated no surprises from their future iterations however sakiro was an exception not only did I find it more challenging than any of the previous games but it reignited that buyer's remorse Within Me reminiscent of the feeling I had when I hit a wall with father gascoin in bloodborne for a few days I regretted purchasing bloodborne because I thought if the first boss was this difficult how much tougher would the rest of the game be now bloodborne stands as my favorite among the souls games the question arises if there had been a difficulty slider would it have become my favorite game only I can answer this because it's a matter of personal experience and my response is no if bloodborne had an easy mode the entire journey I had with this game initially loathed but now cherished the most would have been altered I adore it precisely because of the challenges I overcame similarly with sakiro it sec cured its place as my second favorite game because of the challenges I encountered I would have deprived myself of that unique experience if I had simply been able to adjust the difficulty even more interesting than my previous story is gin's experience with sakiro it's fascinating because gyin represents a gamer whom one might expect to possess the reflexes and expertise necessary to excel in a game like sakiro given his Mastery in one of the franchises considered more intricate and comparative harder than the souls Games The Monster Hunter franchise to draw an analogy mastering a weapon in Monster Hunter is akin to mastering a musical instrument in other words the weapons in Monster Hunter offer a depth surpassing any weapon in the souls games yet gayin underwent the same stages as I did when playing sakiro he traversed the stages of self-doubt and buyers's remorse then gradually built confidence harbored a glimmer of hope to continue and finally achieved Triumph feeling the Mastery required to confront the game's challenges before delving into the stages of his experience let's watch gin in action as he battles one of the monsters in Monster Hunter this clip might appear to showcase the ease in fighting the monster but for anyone who has played this game it's clear that it's not as effortless as it seems hey guys this is skyen Hunter Monster Hunter Generations ultimate has 92 different combinations of weapon and style that's 14 Hunter weapons with six Style each and eight different styles for prowers while each of them are unique and have their own pros and cons when it comes to Pure enjoyment Factor some really stand out for me in this video I want to go over my top 10 weapon and style combinations keep in mind this is what I find fun to use and is not an actual indicator of which style is so-called better than the others it's purely based on my personal preferences without further Ado let's jump in number 10 Adept hunting horn it's no secret that I'm a huge fan of the hunting horn I often use it with evade plus two since I like the getting close and smash the monster's face Adept allows you to completely remove the evasion skill from your set and just tank in whatever the heck you want now let's explore gin's initial stage the stage of self-doubt documented in a video he titled I can't handle this hey guys this is gun Hunter I just want to do a quick little video to let you know that I did get Seido and honestly I'm having love hate relationship with the game right now uh the game is fantastically made it's gorgeous the file size is nice and slim at 13 GB uh the sound design is great it's basically a friend software game strategy wise it reminds me a lot about Neo um but Neo I think was more complicated this is much more streamlined in a point that I think it's a little bit more easier to grasp but harder to play I actually find this game so far much more difficult than even Neo um and if you're in for a difficult game then you're going to love this um but if you're like me and you know you get really frustrated it might be a little bit too difficult for you because honestly I think I'm going to stop playing it because I just don't have the time given my lifestyle and also just my skill at these types of games to really be spending you know 4 five hours on every boss which is a slight exaggeration but kind of like what I was going through today um I do again I do like the game I'm not blaming it at all it's more on me um but I am happy I bought it I think they have some cool ideas here um even though I've only seen a sliver of them so far and I think that they really found something special for an action game now my point of absolute frustration and anger is that I was at stuck at a boss um it's very early in the game so honestly there's not a big lot of spoilers I kept dying down the scene over and over and over again for like 3 hours and it wasn't fun um I can get through the stage easily I can do everything else fine it's just it has this grab move that I can't beat and it kills me every sing single stupid time now I know the weakness to this boss which is the recipe of get good and unfortunately I don't have it so I just kept dying and dying and dying oh my gosh this was so frustrating honestly I found this game more difficult than bloodborne or Dark Souls 3i so far and man you okay I want someone to take me to the hospital you sure about that and that's all I was going to do I was going to make a small little video showing you how bad I am at this game let you know that I bought it but I'm probably not going going to complete it um and then a friend on Twitter tells me hey that jumping attack um is actually a Thrust attack and you can jump right on top of it just like you did with the other enemies and I'm just kind of like what so I went back it still took me 30 minutes but I did manage to beat this boss so at least I'm happy to feel that I overcame this challenge but I I don't know if I'm going to finish the game um but I'm at least happy that I conquered this demon so that I'm not walking away from the game if that's what I decide to do and still a boss that beat me so I don't know if that makes any sense after watching the video you'll recall gy Jin's words um and if you're in for a difficult game then you're going to love this um but if you're like me and you know you get really frustrated it might be a little bit too difficult for you because honestly I think I'm going to stop playing it because I just don't have the time given my life style and also just my skill at these types of games um I do again I do like the game I'm not blaming it at all it's more on me remember this is gin the same gamer who effortlessly defeats monsters in Monster Hunter to achieve that two crucial things are necessary familiarity with the weapons and an understanding of the monsters both require patience and tenacity quality is not much different from what you'd expect from someone who excels in the souls games number nine Valor charge blade I use this style especially when I have to go back to high rank to farm monsters for part hurts once you go into Valor mode you get this new combo with the a button that basically allows you to just go absolutely Bonkers on the monster it's really great stress relief really I mean just look at this and tell me that's not fun as expected gyin did not give up and he reached the stage of having some confidence that he can proceed with the game as I mentioned earlier I went through the same two stages initially I experienced self-doubt and later I harbored hope that I could continue at this point point if a difficulty slider existed in the game both guyene and I likely utilized that switch to overcome our self-doubt and enhance our buding self-confidence however an easy mode toggle was absent there was no switch only the determination to persist here is the second video of gin titled it finally clicked I I don't know if I'm going to finish the game I I don't know if I'm going to finish the game and then I found vod's video [Music] [Music] I know honestly I wanted to give you a quick update that on hour n of the 10hour limit I was giving myself to enjoy the game before putting it down it finally clicked and all thanks to V and some others online I'll put a link to the video that saved me down in the description below the issue I see it was not mainly about me needing to get good it was that my Approach was simply wrong this game in general is a little bit counterintuitive not just to Dark Souls but in action games in general your default reaction to an attack should be to stand your ground and deflect it unless it's marked by a kanji in which case you can jump over it or do a counter skill if you feel confident dashing is about positioning but it's not something you actually want to use that much because it's very tricky and the game will sometimes cheat just to punish you for trying to dash past an attack that you were meant to counter or jump over I took the early game farming location from vod's video I unlocked the core skills that he mentioned and by proactively simply spamming L1 and standing my ground and pretty much just attacking after every enemy attack sequence played out I found a lot of success plus I didn't realize that you could hold down the dash button to run and that really changed the game in my head the health bar was the main thing I wanted to deplete and if you are stylish and skilled enough you could ignore completely and just max out the posture damage bar for an instant kill but in reality it's kind of the opposite each time you attack and they Block it's posture damage each attack you deflect is posture damage just get that bar to Max and you're done anyways I'm still trying to get the hang of things but I wanted to give you a quick update that I am still playing the game and I'm slowly starting to get it and I haven't given up yet what's truly interesting about gin's second video is how he credited vati for helping him overcome the stage of self-doubt this is interesting because what vti did for gyin gyin had similarly done for hundreds and thousands of Monster Hunter players who were experiencing self-doubt about learning and mastering a game more complex than any existing Souls game as mentioned earlier mastering a weapon in Monster Hunter is comparable to learning to play a musical instrument I personally learned how to play Monster Hunter by watching gin's videos it's fascinating that even a skilled gamer like him having mastered Monster Hunter sought the support of other knowledgeable players to bolster his self-confidence now revisiting the notion of an imaginary easy mode toggle if it existed gyin wouldn't have required or sought help from others because it wouldn't have been necessary satisfied needs don't motivate and there would be no reason for gin to delve deeper into researching the game if if he could simply Breeze through it by toggling an easy mode finally here is gin's last video regarding the stages he went through in mastering sakiro the triumphant stage titled I did it 15 days since I started playing siko 47 hours and 48 minutes later I've beaten the game achieving the true ending and having missed only one optional boss that I know of in this video I want to talk about my experience the ups and downs and my final thoughts on the game I don't want to give away any spoilers because the game just came out like 2 weeks ago so this is going to be more like a podcast Style video with some trailers on Loop overall thoughts I really enjoyed the game and like how I almost gave up monster hunter when I first started playing it and I didn't get it I'm happy that I stuck through it all it was a thrilling game experience one that has given me some of my top frustrating moments ever and some of my favorite accomplishments as well lengthwise it actually felt pretty juicy to me perhaps that's because you die a lot and there's a lot of trial and error but you kind of felt sort of like the same light as bloodborne did if that's any reference for you the story itself I thought was serviceable um I really like the Japanese voice acting in particular for this game so I went with that as the audio and the English as subtitles so shout out to from software for having that option the English voices I just really wasn't feeling plus this material kind of begs for Japanese language to be used anyways I won't give away any story spoilers but let's just say that this is definitely a from software game game like there other games if you don't mind spoilers there's a lot of hidden stuff in this game to find lots of optional bosses some really cool side quests with some very interesting rewards I used online guides and overall I'm very happy that I did otherwise I feel I would have missed a lot overall I really liked it the game is great super difficult until you can understand the rhythm of the gameplay and the right approach but satisfyingly difficult afterwards at least for me if you like from software games you may already have this or you're planning on getting it but if not it might be worth considering but just make sure you dedicate time to understand how to play the game and do be prepared to die for several hours in a row on some bosses just know that all the experience that you get through those failures will definitely become your strength as you go on because they did a very good job of Designing these walls in the game to make you master one of the core components in the game's combat so consider it kind of a boot camp preparing you for what's next the game has a way that it wants to be played though so if the idea idea of blocking and even pairing attacks here and there really turns you off then you might not like the game that being said once you approach it by standing your ground and using the guard button to learn the rhythm of the attacks and then discover after which sequence you can punish the enemy the game does get a lot easier they did a good job of keeping the actual mechanics of the game quite simple and once you approach it this way you'll realize how forgiving it can be as well and what I mean is that your guard is like on the second that you press the button it even warns you when an unblockable attack is coming and even if your posture is broken from guarding just roll a bait and you're fine you know there is some reason why players are calling this kind of like a rhythm game because enemies attack in verses and your job is to know when those start and end epic name bro put it really well when he was tweeting about the game and said if you feel that this game requires really quick reactions it's because you don't understand the game and indeed I applied this principle when I was playing and I found great success if I found myself saying look I know what to do but the timing is just way too severe then I was probably going to Route it the wrong way or even the hard way a little change of approach and usually I was able to get it after some practice all this being said though the game is really really difficult overall and that is where the satisfaction comes from the difficulty debate there's been a lot of debate online concerning the difficulty of the game and if it should have an easy mode added to it or not first off let's not mix this conversation up with accessibility featur fees which are more for disabled Gamers and are always a good thing for those who passionately stand against the idea of an easy mode this is where they're coming from this game is the vision of the developer so demanding they add an easy option is kind of ridiculous because you're telling the artist what to make the main thing F software here is trying to achieve is to give the player a sense of thrill for overcoming something that seemed imposs to this extent an easy mode would not only make it so that the game is not being played as intended but but it also goes against the core design philosophy of the game itself which is its difficulty but that's the thing with no options they only have one model player in mind to judge what is doable and what is not what is difficult and what is impossible I think from software did a fantastic job here of figuring out what the average gamer can achieve and really pushing them to their limits but what about the other half of Gamers who have issues with things that the average person may not find so hard to them the difficulty in this game could just make it flat out unplayable and that's not good the more people who can enjoy a game the better the game already includes options that make it more challenging and difficult for those who want it so I think having the flip side would be a nice scene as well after all difficulty Sliders in a single player game affects no one but the player and what they get out of the product for me personally I actually shed tears after beating the last boss my hands were shaking and I think it's a moment I'll treasure for the rest of my gaming career I'm thankful for the moment and I do think that I may have been seduced by the option of an easer mode and would have missed out on this experience had it been there but of course if that was the case it would be on me and not the game one memorable line from his video that deeply resonated with me is what gyin said for me personally I actually shed tears after beating the last boss my hands were shaking and I think it's a moment I'll treasure for the rest of my gaming career I'm thankful for the moment and I do think that I may have been seduced by the option of an easer mode and would have missed out on this experience had it been there in my case up to this day what I still consider the greatest achievement of my life is defeating amydala in the defiled chalice dungeon that statement has no meaning for anyone but that is the beauty of the souls games it rewards us with that kind of experience you can never find elsewhere they allow us to face mythical creatures and Triumph against them if we're willing to pursue those extraordinary moments in this last section we will cover the months leading up to the 2019 game awards one week after the release PlayStation unveiled Ciro's accolades [Music] [Music] trailer [Music] 1 month after the release Yen press announced a collaboration with from software to create a brand new manga by Shin Yamamoto based on the story and world of seiro here's a trailer for the manga titled Han the undying I see B Rising I see trouble on the way I see earthquakes and lightning I see bad time I hear her canes blowing I know the end is coming soon I Rivers overflow I had the voice of ring don't go around tonight but it's B to take your life there a B on [Music] the [Music] oh hold you got things [Music] together hope you're quite prepared to die looks like we're in the nasty weather one eyes taken for don't go around tonight found and take your life there's a ble on around don't go around tonight we found to take your life there is [Music] a there's a bad moon on the r finally on December 12th 2019 the much awaited game awards took place where sakiro was among the contenders for game of the year it was up against hideo kojima's latest game death Str ing considered the strongest candidate to win the award now she's an actress and producer please welcome Michelle Rodriguez how yall doing today I'm happy to be here there's one last game announcement to share with you tonight and I'm really excited about about it allow me to present the world premiere of our latest expansion to The Fast and Furious [Applause] [Music] [Applause] saga I'm going to split it's the only way to keep you both safe I think I know someone who can help you ready to [Music] ride you want revenge we want [Music] Justice we're going to jump onto a moving train I got you st and that's why I'm in first place oh you got to be kidding me when in doubt do what I do I've seen what you do that's why I'm kind of terrified [Music] Lane do you want to stay amateur or take this to the next [Music] level I'm excited for that one can you believe it's been like 18 years man from a little a little article in a newspaper to a movie to a video game it's pretty cool I'd like to now introduce a surprise guest and also one of my uh friends for life Vin [Applause] Diesel [Applause] wait a [Applause] minute do not tempt me Michelle we are in our crowd I know man Gamers we have been Gamers we have been Gamers forever and we are at an award show of our people literally literally me and V used to just like literally spend all night playing like te Ken fighter games or Street [Music] [Applause] Fighter sorry yeah this is uh it's amazing to see that that trailer finally yeah I got to tell you a secret too I I I I didn't tell you before uh yesterday I saw the 4minute trailer to Fast N i s it to me it's insane it's insane back to you guys um I love all of you uh okay [Music] so here to pay tribute to all of the nominees for game of the year once again the game awards Orchestra [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] small [Music] [Music] [Music] fore [Music] the the glory go now it's day that ain't worth the pain rain [Music] [Applause] and the they keep telling me don't lean down as my daughter would say Dad take over your fear um and The Game of the Year award goes to [Applause] SEO tonight sakiro Shadows die twice also wins best action adventure [Music] game [Music] [Applause] thank you so much he's very moved so SE have is a lot of difficult and complex elements that made us a little unsure uh when it was about to come come out and we were both surprised and Overjoyed at the reaction that we [Music] saw so I'd like to share the joy of receiving this award with the staff at from software who pulled out all the stops to make it happen as well as the team at Activision for their ongoing support throughout [Applause] and finally I'd like to give out a huge thank you to our players um we couldn't have done it without you and it was uh huge honor to make so um we will continue to try and make the best games we possibly can [Music] thank you so much thank [Applause] you congratulations from sophore bazak son Game of the Year for sakiro all right guys well that's going to do it for the game awards 2019 thank you so much for joining us we'll see you again next December to keep celebrating games have a great night thank you very much good night everybody [Music] more than a year after sako's release the game received an update introducing several new additions these include the reflection of strength and Gauntlet of strength game modes which are Ciro's equivalent of a Boss Rush mode here is the trailer for The Game of the Year [Music] Edition [Music] [Music] as a final note on the making of sakiro a host asked Miyazaki about his future games saying please please tell us about your plans after sakiro in a previous interview you mentioned that there were 2.5 to 3.5 games in the pipeline Miyazaki shared yes there have been three major projects in the works of those 0.5 became Dai 1.0 is sakiro and the remaining 2.0 are undisclosed titles as for games like Dark Souls remastered and metal wolf chaos XD they are handled by external companies so we don't count them within the 3.5 titles the post followed up so you mean there are currently two undisclosed titles in development Miyazaki agreed yes that's correct while I can't go into details at this time both are games that bear the from software touch it will take a little more time but we will gradually reveal them to everyone once they take [Music] shape
