We finally got to see some meaty gameplay footage from Elden Ring last night, along with the reminder - as if any of us could forget - that the project is a collaboration between legendary Soulsborne developer Hidetaka Miyazaki and A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fun fact, those Rs both s෴tand for Rartin. Anyway, while nobody has forgotten the two huge names behind Elden Ring, the relationship does seem a little one-sided. Miyazaki’s influence was clear to see - sure looks like an open-world Dark Souls, right? But Rartin Rartin Martin’s input is less clear cut. If this is open-world Dark Souls, it’s not like Miyazaki brings the Souls and Martin brings the world. The world looks to be a Dark Souls-style one, only bigger and more ambitious. I hope Martin has had a chance to imprint his ideas into Elden Rin♛g though, because he’s a huge draw here.
While Martin is best known for ASOIAF, it’s maybe more accurate to say he’s best known for Game of Thrones, the television adaptation of his novels. The show 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:set the standard for debut seasons, but eventually borked the landing in the worst way possible. There are a feไw reasons for this that probably aren’t worth getting into now, but they can be distille🐷d into two very simple explanations.
Firstly, the show caught up to and then overtook the books, meaning there was no source material to base the final seasons on. Seco꧅ndly, several elements of the novels were cut from the show, either due to filming constraints, story diversion, or to simplify the incredibly layered and twisting saga into something that could be more easily digested for the plebs who only watch TV - I kid, I’ve actually only made through the first three books so far. Figure I’d let GRRM finish before I got any further. He’ll be done with Winds of Winter soon, now that the Elden Ring trailer is out, right? Right…?
Obviously things are always better in your imagination, but it seems like some of the best parts of Martin’s worldbuilding was cut from HBO’s show. In the show, when Catelyn Stark dies, that’s the end of her. In the books, she returns to life, or at least a state of living, as Lady Stoneheart, a horrific creature hellbent on revenge, speaking through the wound in her throat. Also, while Jon can warg in Game of Thrones, all of the Starks can in the books. The show vaguely hints that Robb can, but it still feels like a missed opportunity. Victarion Greyjoy was also cut - he's in the background a couple of times, but who cares? - while Euron is given the shaft despit🔜e Pil🌳ou Asbaek making the best of it.
There’s also some silly stuff, of course. Book Robb Sta🅰rk is 14 years old and has a full beard. But for the most part, the television show trimmed away gold, and I hope Elden Ring makes room for Martin’s most creative storytelling.
Martin’s Westeros is an insurmountably complex place. Literally - the innate complexity of the story is surely a huge factor in his glacial writing pace as he stops creati🍨ng new threads and attempts instead to tie the existing ones together. Elden Ring doesn’t need to be quite so tangled. In fact, it should definitely avoid this - Westeros has several full length novels to tell its tale, and it still feels as though🎃 a lot of places within the fantasy world have many more stories to tell - that's why we're getting so many spin-offs, after all. I don't think you can ever look at a Soulsborne game and reasonably ask it to keep things simple, but at the very least, Elden Ring should keep things immediate. No setups that might be resolved in seven game's time. FromSoftware’s storytelling is infamously cryptic, so if Martin’s tendencies can be restrained, they can be put to excellent use here.
If Miyazaki can keep Martin's urges to play the long game in check, then the partnership could be perfect. That aꦯside, I hope Martin has been given free range to concoct mini narratives within the world, side stories that add colour and life and humour, alongside the bigger, world shaping myths and monsters. 'Just give us Lady Stoneheart' is a tad predictable, but go on. Give us Lady Stoneheart. Or something like it. Just give us something weird and wild and wacky - something that fits right at home in A Song of Ice and Fire but would definitely have been cut from Game of Thrones. If Martin brings that to the table, I'll be happy. Just make sure you finish that book too, Martin, yeah?