Though its focus is on the Souls series right now, FromSoftware hasn't always been making teeth-grindingly difficult fantasy RPGs. In 2004 the studio put out the fantastically titled, Japan-exclusive
Metal Wolf Chaos for the
original Xbox console, a mechs-and-more third-person shooter that has since gained a cult reputation with copies trading on eBay for upwards of $150. Miyazaki joined From the same year as the game came out, and it's one of his favourite titles the company's put out to this day – and it's also a title that stateside indie publisher Devolver Digital has
tweeted interest in porting for modern audiences.
"I really like
Metal Wolf Chaos, but it's not my title," Miyazaki says. "You'd have to ask Takeuchi-san (Masanori Takeuchi), who is on our board of directors, about whether or not it can be revived. He's a pretty scary guy who used to be my boss, so I'm not going to speak for him! We can't say anything solid about whether we would do it or not, but if Takeuchi-san wanted to, then it's on the table."
Miyazaki also has fond memories of
Otogi: Myth of Demons, a fast-and-furious hack-and-slash affair that From released in 2002 (2003 in the UK and US), again only for the Xbox. "Again, it'd be up to Takeuchi-san, but I really want to see a revived version of the Otogi series as well." (The original did receive
a sequel – anyone for an HD special edition of both games together?)
"We always look back at our back catalogue for inspiration for new titles," Miyazaki says, "but when it comes to very old things like the King's Field series, I'm concerned about just mimicking the style of what Naotoshi Zin, the founder of FromSoftware, created for the
PlayStation original. I would rather not go back to it simply out of respect."
Post-release downloadable content, or DLC, has become a part of the Souls series –
Artorias of the Abyss for the first game on console, the Lost Crowns Trilogy for
II, and
Bloodbourne received its
Old Hunters expansion at the end of 2015. I figure, what with Miyazaki sitting right in front of me, I've the perfect chance to pitch some
Dark Souls IIIDLC, relating to a game from his own past. Imagine, if you will, your avatar in gleaming armour, great sword in hand, so many enemies slain – and then taking that character into a gigantic, mechanised version of
Demon's Souls' Tower Knight and taking on White Glint. Yep, I'm talking about a Souls-Armored Core crossover. Miyazaki laughs, of course, before answering:
"You know, we actually released a Dreamcast game pretty similar to that concept, named
Frame Gride. It's a mix of fantasy and mecha genres, both of which I love working on. I'd love to work on a game that evokes the same themes as anime series like
Aura Battler Dunbine and
The Vision of Escaflowne, but it would be incredibly difficult to do so. I want to work on a game like that, but other people at FromSoftware would think that would be an impossible idea."
That said, surely if anyone in the industry right now has earned themselves a blank cheque to make whatever game they wanted to, it's Miyazaki. So, FromSoft's anime-inspired mecha-fantasy title for 2018 is
certain to be announced soon. Probably.
. you won't read this idiocy even on reddit, even they recognize that luck was a super shitty decision that shouldn't have ever resurfaced)
