With Miyazaki taking a step back, and Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura who both worked on Namco Bandais Japan-only mech series Another Century now in the driving seat, many players have expressed fears that the characteristically singular vision of the Souls series may be lost as its publisher looks to widen the games audience. Not so, according to Miyazaki.
Im not one to restrict the potential that Dark Souls has by insisting that only I can work on the titles, he tells us. I want new expressions. Its true that Im sad about not being involved in the development of Dark Souls II, because Ive worked on Demons Souls and Dark Souls development for the past five years. I*really love those two titles; however, maybe this is the time to have new inspiration, so Im fine about that.
Im looking forward to playing Dark Souls II not as part of the development team, but with a little bit of distance. Everybody knows what the core of Dark Souls is the dev team does, the fans do, the media does and that will never change. I [wouldnt] really care for Dark Souls VIII to come out. Thats not the point. Its more, What do the fans want? We want to stay true to what they expect.
And that core remains in Miyazakis charge, Namco Bandai stressing to us that he put in place the foundation and framework of Dark Souls II, while Tanimura and Shibuyas task will be to put up the walls and decorations, and build up the rest of the house that he has created. And introducing a fresh pair of eyes two pairs, in this case to work on broadening Dark Souls appeal doesnt necessarily mean dumbing down what makes the series special in the first place.
In terms of the characteristic of Dark Souls, its very clear what we did wrong and what we did right, thanks to the reviews from the media, the feedback from the fans, Miyazaki adds. Fortunately everythings not all over the place all the feedback is headed in the general right direction.