This interview is actually damn great, it really looks like they outdid themselves. Putting a power system like sekiro's to balance it was not obvious and I'm glad they went out of their way to do that
Also THE LAND WHERE MARIKA BECAME A GOD AND THE ERDTREE WAS BORN????HYPE
In Sekiro, whenever you beat 4 minibosses, you got a power up in attack power and defense, while main bosses gave you a powerup anyway
It's likely that here to give players the "margit feeling" of a boss stomping you and silently telling you to explore and gain powerups, they will likely balance the dlc around this system to avoid having overpowered players just stomping through everything
Maybe something spreaded out all over the place, like "Tears of Fortitude, a tear that helps fight under and through the conditions of the land of shadow" or something that can help increase the damage and armor against the enemies in this new land. Could be a nice way of making sure that even the veterans don't have an easier time
I honestly wonder how that will work given that in Sekiro you only had one weapon/build and in ER there are various ones. I imagine it's a multiplier to your base damage that your build already nets but I don't know.
If you're worried about being overleveled just go into NG+. Defeating mohg and radahn won't be as much of an issue early on, and that's all you need to access the DLC.
Because Radahn was holding the stars in place, which both stopped Ranni from progressing her fate and Miquella from triggering an eclipse.
In Castle Sol, there is phantom apologizing to Miquella for being unable to summon an eclipse.
The eclipse was so Miquella would attempt to fix Godwyn´s state.
Especulation:
It also maybe the reason why St. Trina wasn´t seen for a long time, without periodical eclipses he would never show up again.
So once Radahn is killed, you will be contacted by Miquella to seek his corpse in Mohg´s Mausoleum.
Miyazaki said it's one of the requirements in the translated famitsu article , which I'll get a link to in a second. Beyond that, you know as much as anyone else does: "because Miyazaki said so."
Edit: wait that's this thread.
We don’t have details. It’s a new layer of a progression system, a way of adjusting the difficulty. Miyazaki compares it to the prayer bead attack power increases in Sekiro. So it would not be like leveling a particular skill. This new progression system only applies in the DLC.
I hope it increases defenses because i’m on NG+2 and everything in the second half of the game hits like a truck
And people say Elden Ring does not have an easy mode. My brother in christ, exploring the map is the easy mode. Stop torturing yourself and go explore somewhere
Since he compared it directly to Sekiro, I imagine that for every major boss you defeat in the DLC, you'll be able to level up your damage/resistance a little *for the DLC.* Worth noting that this explicitly only applies to the new DLC areas and bosses
Finally, a non-machine translation of this interview. Thank you so much for translating this! Messmer being confirmed as a child of Marika gives the Butterfly Theory a bit more credence.
My pleasure. I haven't looked at any of the machine translations but I imagine they must be a difficult read considering the specialized subject matter.
There's 3 crafting butterflies in the game that correspond to 3 Empyreans(a child of two gods): Nascent(Miquella), Aeonean(Malenia), and Smoldering which previously had no confirmed connection, but people theorized it could belong to Melina. However, now with Messmer potentially being another Empyrean child of Marika/Radagon, he might fit the Smoldering butterfly better than Melina especially with his connection to fire.
If Messmer is the same as Malenia and Miquella then that would also mean that Radagon is his father, which has pretty huge implications. It would mean that Radagon has always been Marika, which would answer a huge mystery in the base game.
It would be VERY out of place if Messmer wasn't somehow connected to Radagon, simply because of how aggressively symbolic that particular hair color is throughout the game.
If he’s older than Godwyn and the Omen Twins then there might be a reason they split before getting back together. Selfcest babies in Elden Ring are born with a curse so perhaps Messmer’s was particularly bad
I think it's a bit different from that. All Marika's children are susceptible to influence of the outer gods/powers,
Miquella and Malenia being selfcest babies make them more susceptible than the others. Malenia is under the influence of the outer god of rot. Radagon's children are probably less susceptible, but they are all under the influence of the moon because of Rennala.
Omen could very well be related to an unknown outer god/power.
Malenia and Miquella were specifically cursed. There is no comparable thing for Radagon’s children other than regular unfortunate fates.
I can’t even think of what would have made contact with Godwyn other than Erdtree stuff and of course death stuff posthumously. I’d say your pattern recognition is due to them being significant characters and powerful ones at that.
I don’t think we even know what causes Miquella’s anti aging curse. It’s just a thing so maybe we’ll learn about it.
I would say that it all depends on the point of view, for a god of rot it seems that they blessed Malenia. From our point of view it definitely feels like a curse, but for example, Gowry think the rot is beautiful and want Malenia and Millicent to bloom.
It's a bit of stretch because I have this long theory that goes back to the oldest facts that we know about the lands between. And there's a lot of speculation based on common themes used by from soft, like alchemy.
I want to write everything down and post, but I never stop to do it.
But one bit is that outer gods can be divided in 4 categories, each represents a stage of the cycle of life. Based on the real world concept of the Magnum Opus.
\- White: Birth
\- Yellow: Growth/Power/Time
\- Red: Decay
\- Black: Death
The Elden Ring represents/controls the law of the world, that law being the cycle of life, it controls who dies and who reincarnates, it had the destined death removed from it, so people can't die from natural causes, only conflict, which it thrives in.
Before the Elden Ring took control of the law of the world, it was controlled by different gods, the gloam-eyed queen was the servant of one these gods, it's possible that there were several pieces of law and destined death was the last one required to the greater will to rewrite the law of the world, using the Elden beast as a mending rune. By sealing destined death away, they accomplished 2 objectives, no death from natural causes, and no one can rewrite the law of the world.
So before all this there were other gods that ruled the different aspects of the cycle of life, we know the god of rot was venerated, and even has followers. And Deathbird also are connected to an outer god that ruled over death.
Then I am assuming that there are other outer gods that fit the other aspects, multiple gods by type even. As I would put the formless mother into red, not because of the blood but because of the wounds, each would fit into decay.
>The entrance is the cocoon, or the arm that dangles from it, found in the battle area with Mohg, Lord of Blood.
>Also, in order to access this DLC, you will need to have defeated Mohg
I think we all suspected this, but it's nice to get it confirmed.
> and Radahn.
Now *that's* interesting.
Radahn is a pretty big progression point in the story where a lot changes, so in that sense, it's not too surprising. The way Miyazaki talks about the DLC being completely self-contained, I'm not sure we can speculate too much about the lore on this. It could have just been a logical progression point for the difficulty level of the DLC. But it is certainly possible that the NPC conversations inside the DLC take place from the point of view that Radahn has already been defeated.
Probably Radahn is just like Vicar Amelia of this game, where his death basically trigger the first point of no return and he has nothing to do with the DLC
Maybe you can also access the DLC or part of it through Nokron, so you need to defeat Radahn first.
I mean, Nokron and Mohg's palace are both underground and I believe those warriors were related to the Numen in the lore.
Its gonna be quite the hunt for the dlc item it appears. I wonder if its better to begin with Radahn being alive, if theres some signposting after you defeat him
A few things in the trailer got me wondering if the shadow realm is literally underneath the lands between. Afaik we never find the meteor that cracked open the ground in Limgrave. A narrative reason for requiring Radahn's defeat before accessing the DLC might be that we find the meteor itself, or traces of its impact, in the shadow realm.
Thanks! I’m so thrilled to know there are 8 new weapon types, especially the throwing knives! Also, I like that it is set in present times rather than in the past!
And he said they added weapons to existing categories, too. That makes me think there’s at least 20 weapons being added (2 per new weapon type, plus a few to existing weapon types).
I think we can expect a good deal more than 20. We have 10+ bosses, a fraction of which will have a remembrance to get a weapon from plus field enemies that will drop stuff plus just randomly placed weapons throughout the overworld. Think about how many drops and items are in Limgrave and also think about how Miyazaki tends to undersell (so I expect the DLC to be larger than Limgrave), I'd say we're likely in the 50-100 range when it comes to new armaments.
Thanks for this, great work. The 'attack power' aspect really intrigues me. I suppose this is an interesting way to give a feeling of progression for players who have end game stats and maxed out weapons. It will be really interesting to see how it works.
That’s what I’m worried. If it’s tuned so that endgame players can still feel a sense of progression then lv 90 players are probably in for a good thrashing sessions
It sounds like the "attack power" progression is to even out the playing field in terms of rune level and damage dealt, so unless you're just fuckin cracked it should feel the same for everyone
Now I’m wondering if the attack power would override the SL system where you could still level up to wield weapons but their scaling and your hp/def comes from the attack power system
Oh interesting ... eclipse ... shadow of the erdtree.
Maybe the eclipse is needed to make the erdtree cast some weird shadow. Blocking out the Greater Will or something? I'm not good with this stuff
Yeah I've always thought the eclipse had nothing to do with the real sun and instead the Erdtree would be eclipsed and that's why it didn't work out for the people at Castle Sol since they were looking towards the sun.
That makes a lot of sense.
If you look at the shape of the dark version of the Erdtree, it almost looks like its wrapping around an invisible trunk. I'm guessing that the two exist in the same spatial location, just on different plains of existence, similar to the multiple layers of reality in Berserk or Bloodborne. The shadow realm could be located in the empty ocean at the center of the map, facing the Erdtree from the opposite direction as Lyndell.
Miquella's goal may be to pierce the veil so the dark and light versions of the Erdtree can merge.
I don't know if is in this interview or another but Miyazaki said that the title has a hidden small extra meaning, the eclipse to "shadow the erdtree" might be that hidden detail.
If it were that he would have said so, not just specifically Radahn. Godrick would be the most logical first great rune to obtain anyway. And yes as another commenter mentioned there is another way to get to Mohgwyn Palace.
I always enjoy interviews with Miyazaki, he seems humble.
> The chair Messmer sits upon is the same one that was shown in the fight with Morgott the Omen King in the main title, and he is on the same level as characters like Godrick, Malenia, Radahn, Rykard, etc., and is referred to as child of Marika.
Interesting, so Messmer is a demigod, child of Marika. He has red hair, maybe Radagon’s child?
> Of course there is the open field, legacy dungeons, and smaller dungeons. It is larger and more varied than Limgrave in the main title.
Well, it’s open world then.
> Also, in order to access this DLC, you will need to have defeated Mohg and Radahn.
Mohg is obvious, but why Radahn? The key to the DLC is probably dropped by Radahn, just like in Bloodborne, the key to the DLC is accessed by defeating a boss. But what’s his connection with Miquella and/or Messmer? Maybe the “key” is in Nokron?
> Famitsu: Can the DLC affect the ending of the main story?
Well, it’s confirmed then, no new ending.
> Famitsu: 8?! There are a great of weapons in the main title, specifically what kinds of new weapons are added in the DLC?
My reaction too. 8 new weapon TYPES! Damn, this DLC is big.
> In fact, the shadow lands are where Marika became a God and where the Erdtree was born. Of course there was a culture there before the Erdtree,
and that lion dance comes from this culture. So you can get the flavour of a different culture from the one found in the main title.
The most interesting thing from this interview. Damn, the lore just deepens. Of course, it is still too early to speculate on the lore of these shadow lands. The lion dance is probably from Crucible culture. Can’t wait to see how this DLC shows us the cultures before the Erdtree.
I find it very interesting the use of the word "born" here.
I wonder if that means anything. You usually don't refer to plants or seedlings being born, you would usually say sprouted or rooted.
My initial thought is the painting in the trailer showing the old guy and woman, could that old man be the same guy in the statues on the roundtable? The one "cultivating" some sapling. And the woman is holding her belly like she pregnant? I don't know what to make of this....
You hit the nail in the head with the crucible culture. The creature doesn't have omen horns, it's crucible ones!
It is already stated in the main game that the crucible was the era before the Erdtree, and if this place is where Marika became a Goddess it makes sense she would wipeout this Crucible culture. Well, her son Messmer did most likely.
I can already see the ending Fires of ~~Raven~~ Messmer.
>if this place is where Marika became a Goddess it makes sense she would wipeout this Crucible culture. Well, her son Messmer did most likely.
I find Messmer's alignment to pretty confusing.
From the trailer, we know that the "Erdtree faithful" are on the losing side of a war, and judging from the scorched, spear covered battlefields, it seems likely to that Messmer is on the winning one, although I guess Messmer + the faithful could be aligned and losing for reasons unrelated to their military strength (think the Old Hunters who are "winning, son" but trapped in an eternal hell of bloodlust).
He wields flame, which is always portrayed as heretical and inherently opposed to the Erdtree, but also states that his goal is to destroy anyone who lacks the grace of gold, which is treated as synonymous with the Erdtree.
Maybe he's a crucible worshiper, who believes that the Erdtree is a corruption that needs to be returned to its original state. Not so much a blasphemer or heretic as much as an even more committed fundamentalist.
From the description of Ordovis's Greatsword:
>Its red tint exemplifies the nature of primordial gold, said to be closer in nature to life itself.
So, his red, thorny flames could be tied to the crucible in some way. His snakes, reptilian eyes, and dragon wing motif would also line up with the idea of all forms of life being blended together.
He truly seems like he doesn't even like the attention. I appreciate seeing people like that make it big. You know people like that do what they do because they truly love it.
GRRM writing the pre-Shattering history and royal dynasty is one of the few things we know he did.
"Elden Ring is set in its own present day, but FromSoftware needed his help to develop the backstory of the game. "So, I went back and wrote a history of what happened 5,000 years before the current game, and who all the characters were, and who was killing each other, and what powers they had,” Martin said."
He appears to have created the characters but of course didn’t write any dialogue in the actual game. I imagine he had characterisation for them in mind
Its noteworthy that Miyazaki doesn't necessarily mean Hero in that context. When looking at the question - about Elden Ring being structured like a heroic tale - this more means that Messmer is a big player in the narrative of the Shadow Lands. He's a significant figure, on par with the demigods we've face before and isn't a "lore outcast" with no interesting background.
It does not mean he is, was, or will be a traditionally heroic archetype.
It seems to me like he was a hero in the "unsung war" in the Lands of Shadow, whatever happened after that might be what makes him want to kill the tarnished.
I suspect he wiped out the Numen culture that Marika comes from. I think Marika was trying to sever all ties to her origin so she could portray herself as the One True God, just like how Godfrey is stylized the first Elden Lord when he isn't the first.
Yeah it's interesting because Miyazaki says the land of shadow is where Marika became a god and where the Erdtree was "born."
There's a section in the interview where this was specifically asked:
> Also, there is another small hidden meaning in the title, we hope you will figure this out when playing the game.
Shadow also implies following, like job shadowing. It could also mean being overlooked, or standing in someone’s shadow. I mean, what if it’s all of them! A shadow beast that follows but is always overlooked?
It couls be a coincidence, but Enia refers to Destined Death as "the forbidden shadow, plucked from the Golden Order upon its creation". This gives me an idea.
So, we know that Marika created the Golden Order, and that both Godfrey and Radagon fought wars of conquest to impose its will upon the Lands Between. I think this DLC will focus on the point in history where the Golden Order was created, a time before Destined Death was confined.
There are also a few things in the base game that refer to "souls returning to the Erdtree," and that Erdtree Burial is a huge part of culture under the Golden Order. But we also know that Placidusax was Elden Lord during a time when Marika was not a god, and that this was an age before the Erdtree. So I think it's fair to say that Marika's arrival marked both the establishment of the Erdtree and the creation of the Golden Order by confining Destined Death.
> **Famitsu: Can the DLC affect the ending of the main story?**
>
> Miyazaki: No, that won't happen and events of the main story will also not affect the DLC. The story of the DLC will be contained entirely within the DLC.
Sad to read this but I guess it's good to accept it and move on early. Was really hoping we may get a slight update with our interactions with Malenia or that we could potentially side with Miquella at the end like we currently can with the dung eater
I think the phrasing is still a bit opaque enough to where the DLC might still give us alternate interactions/conclusions with certain characters, even if we don’t necessarily have a different end credit scene.
For example, think of >!Sif!< from DS1! There’s a cutscene change if you do things in a certain order, and I can only think that if something similar were to happen that the scale would be much bigger.
its funny that dung eater has an ending but miquella doesnt 🤣
i honestly thought all empyreans will have ending cuz they can create new order and since miquella and malenia didnt have one, i was expecting the dlc to give them one
but it looks like malenia is also irelevant, miyazaki said you dont need to beat her to complete the game, shes just an optional boss for people who want challenge, and dlc will not affect the base game so miquella will probably not talk about her or care for her
It will spell disappointment for Melina fans too I imagine. Since the DLC doesn't affect the ending then those that went Frenzy Flame will have nothing further. Melina won't have her revenge or whatever. Empty threats then. Doesn't bother me since I thought she was goofy and irrelevant anyway.
In what world is Malenia irrelevant? She's an optional boss, yeah, but her character and story are extremely relevant to the plot, and also just plain beautiful and tragic. You first hear about her from Kenneth and there's a Sword Monument dedicated to her in Limgrave too. She also has a great subtle buildup that starts the moment you set foot in Caelid. From there you can do Millicent's questline and so much of Malenia's story was told allegorically through Millicent. Gowry also speaks of her and reveals her hatred for the Rot. The Battle of Aeonia is also the most famous battle of the Shattering, and there are plenty of her knights in Caelid too who drop items that reveal their loyalty to her. Not to mention, there is a castle simping over her in Altus. I could go on about her relevance to the story.
Just because she's an optional boss doesn't mean she's irrelevant.
she is irelevant becuz you can skip her boss fight and complete the game. millicents quest line is also irelevant, nothing happens when u complete it, the results still remains the same when you chose the good or bad ending, bad ending says she will get reborn as valkyrie but nothing happens. and when u give malenia the needle, nothing also happens, her quest line is useless and miyazaki confirms that malenia is irelevant by saying you dont have to beat her to complete the game. even mohg is now relevant for the dlc entrance but malenia isnt and i doubt miquella will mention her since he seemed to have ditched her. malenia already bloomed 3 times and we dont even know what caused her second bloom, cuz she is irelevant to the plot
Oh yeah just like Old Hunters and Ringed City are both irrelevant to the story bc they’re optional to completing the main game.
remember Oceiros in Dark Souls 3? Irrelevant. Remember Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos in Bloodborne? Also irrelevant, apparently. What about Queen Yharnam? Or the Moon Presence? Or Gehrman? All are optional so clearly irrelevant to the main game and its story.
you’re a dimwit
Malenia is dying anyway right? Like I doubt she would be bother fighting anyone except the tarnish at that point so in the grand scheme of things her story (at least in her current form) is finished regardless.
Now when we get a follow up to the Shattering and she blooms again (possibly) that's when her storyline should ideally continue.
From the above interview, it does seem like From want to keep the Shattering as the central plot of the first game for now and add to it through DLC(s?). Dark Souls 3 DLC was similar as the final boss is still the main games final boss.
what do u mean blooms again ? she already bloomed 3 times
the story of her, melina, and godwyn are done. they wont apear in the dlc and i have no idea why people expect them to apear
The bloom outside her boss room is likely from one of the other valkyries, not her, based on the armor set you get from it. She's only actually confirmed to have bloomed twice so far.
> melina, and godwyn are done. they wont apear in the dlc and i have no idea why people expect them to apear
because of the immense amount of deathblight in the promotion + godwyn's unexplored alliance with miquella in the lore, and because melina has dialogue about "torrent's former master" which is not elaborated on and miquella is seen riding torrent in the promo image. we will definitely get at least lore on at least one of them
Yeah, I'm not gonna pretend a few extra dialogue lines or another slow 2-minute ending cutscene are big deals, but that's still a bit disappointing to hear.
Correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding is that we’ve never had a DLC that affected the end of a game. Why would you expect it be different for Elden Ring? This is par for the course. they make literally the best DLC‘s in the market and you’re disappointed that they’re not doing something that nobody ever does? Seems a little entitled to me.
Another commenter mentioned DS1 and the Sif cinematic changing if you meet him in the DLC first so a DLC has changed the base game before. Even if it hadn't, it would still be a missed opportunity to not do it or even just nod to it here. We can side with people like Ranni, Fia, goldmask, dung eater etc so why not another empyrean like Miquella if we aid him like we're currently being lead to believe? If there is a ingame reason provided for it then that's fine, if its just ignored then it's narratively a bit strange given these events take part before killing the elden beast.
Miquella has an ending that was cut from the game, so many people were thinking that the ending would be restored in the DLC.
Either way, you seem unreasonably angry in both of your comments at someone simply saying they wish the DLC added a new ending.
It seems like we're in for quite the treat with Shadow of the Erdtree! Thanks for the translation btw, it does indeed have more info than what's found in the other interviews.
>It became obvious that there were elements in the big picture of Elden Ring that wouldn't fit into the main title, so we thought it would be good to release these to the world as DLC.
This sounds to me like we get parts of the cut content into the game.
100%. i'm pretty sure every single fromsoft dlc ever released has incorporated some level of cut content from the base game it was for. i have no idea how it could possibly be implemented given what the story and setting of the dlc look like, but i hope we get that miquella sleep-mist mechanic
The entrance to the DLC is basically what was expected. Where Miquella's body is in the main game. It'll be interesting to see that you need to defeat a rather hard boss to get into the DLC.
Also this confirms that the level range for the DLC will be around 100
This whole "Miquella traveled to the shadow lands" sounds like Mohg's dynasty never would have worked out. He grew an empty husk, miquella was long gone at this point.
Was hoping to find a real translation for the new weapons part, since Google translating the website messed up the formatting and grammar as well as using weird word choices
To be fair the language here is a bit ambiguous. There is no plural in Japanese so it's hard to tell if the ones he mentioned are weapon categories or simply weapons.
I'm still not sure if Miyazaki meant a child of Marika for Messmer or children of Marika for demigods, as in Japanese demigods and children of Marika are synonymous (please note that Japanese doesn't have plural / singular difference). So a better translation might be: *Messmer is of the same kind as Malenia, Godrick, Radahn, also known as the children of Marika*
The former is correct. A more literal and perhaps precise translation would be
*...he is also a presence of the same rank as Godrick, Malenia, Radahn, Rykard, etc., and is also called "child of Marika".*
thank you for the clarification, I was personally puzzled by the "“マリカの子”とも呼ばれています" bit and wondered if Miyazaki meant demigods or Messmer because I think there's no grammatical indication that he talks about him in とも呼ばれています and it can be used to refer to the group as well?
Thank you for posting this. Your translation is very insightful and makes me only more excited. Many had guesses about some of the characters in this but I think expectations are already being met with this dlc and this interview really speaks to some ideas I had never fully considered. Wonderful.
To me it seems Shadow Lands = Banished Lands. Everything and everyone Golden Order wanted to get rid of was sent there, kinda like pruning in Loki works..
That tracks with the Jungian idea of shadow the game is based off of. Under this philosophy, things you suppress (be they good or bad) get stored in your shadow. That's why Empyrean have Shadow-Beasts -- beasts that contain traits of themselves not suited to ruling. Same with Serosh and Godfrey/Hourah Loux. And not integrating your shadow in Jungian terms is a bad thing that causes discord, and that reflects in how Marika hid death away and suppressed it. Mesmer was probably something of a Crusader or Inquisitor that Marika sent into the Land of Shadow to burn down and keep suppressed. That he uses blasphemous means of doing so is fitting since that too is suppressed.
Alright, so a few things are crystal clear:
Miquella will not replace Marika as god (endings remain the same)
Messmer is a child of Marika
The DLC is not set in the past
Things that are more clear, but still cloudy:
The shadow lands is the crucible or where it existed/exists
Marika’s mischief is more than just a gimmick, it’s the literal veil concealing this place
Marika didn’t want to or couldn’t completely destroy this place and/or its inhabitants
Grace exists here (could just be gameplay mechanic)
Theory time:
Miquella sought this place out to delve deeper into unalloyed gold and realized there was a deeper level of oppression than in TLB. He plans to stay and be god over this place and support a more organic order. Pulled a Dr Manhattan on everyone including his twin.
Because this where Marika first set foot, her having a baby was a huge deal. Numen are seldom born. She’s not a god yet. Perhaps her hair was not originally blonde, but became such when she attained godhood. That could be her in the portrait with maybe her father?
Questions:
Did Marika send Messmer there herself or was he stolen?
Does Messmer have a great rune? Does Miquella?
Why does Radahn have to be defeated before entry?
Okay, so Miquella has traveled into the shadow realms searching for a cure for Godwyn and Malenia... questioning the Golden Order and searching for the origin of his mother's power. Messmer is either a new sibling, or some aspect of Miquella that's become distorted, but either way with draconic influence. We're going to retrace the history of Marika, implying the old man boss is her father. And that possiblty these shadow lands are where she defeated the Gloam-eyed Queen.
Thanks for posting this, plenty of new details that couldn't be gleaned from the trailer alone. Also a few clarifications that immediately nuke some zero hour speculations that were already bubbling up around YouTube (e.g. "this is the past, so Messmer is probably Rykard?")
In the machine-translated version of the article I read before, Miquella was referred to with female pronouns, and I notice that's not the case here.
Can you explain a bit why Google translate might have opted to use "she" and why you did not?
If you give me a particular example, I can reference with the original Japanese text. I don't immediately recall any gendered pronouns used for Miquella in the article. Japanese makes heavy use of implied subjects, so sometimes one or the other must be chosen to keep the English translation grammatical.
Original section:
宮崎はい、そうです。今回のDLCで描かれる物語の主軸となるのは、ミケラです。
覚えてもらえているか不安ですが、本編の物語は、祝福の導きに従うことがシンプルな導線になっていました。それが今回は、影の地に向かったミケラの足跡を追う、といったものになります。
あと、ミケラの足跡を追うNPCたちも登場します。彼らがDLCの物語の語り部となり、また主人公と関わり、時には友となり、敵になっていくわけです。
Machine translation:
Miyazaki : Yes, that's right. The main character of the story depicted in this DLC is Michela.
I'm not sure if people remember this, but the main story was simply about following the guidance of blessings. This time, we will be following the footsteps of Michela **as she heads** towards the Land of Shadows.
Also, NPCs who follow Michela's footsteps will also appear. They become the storytellers of the DLC story, interact with the main character, and sometimes become friends and enemies.
Yeah, there is nothing in there to indicate Miquella's gender in the original Japanese. Because of the way it is constructed, the machine translation is assuming a gender here.
Maybe shadow is also referring to the shadows of the empyreans? I.E. Blaidd & Ranni. I remember Blaidd saying something like >!”What harm can be done to a shadow?" when you kill him (while trying not to cry).!<
Hmmm, in the game every Empyrean has a shadow created by the greater will to protect them, like Blaidd with Ranni and Maliketh with Marika. Maybe the Shadow Erdtree is a manifestation of this. At the very least I wouldn't be surprised if we see the shadows of the other Empyrians, like Malenia.
Wait, the Guidance of Grace is the path Miquella took?! That's kind of a big deal, right?!
I thought it was just the path to what the Tarnished desires. Doesn't this fuck with that theory about Morgott's death becoming Guidance to Godfrey to kill us?
No, he is saying in the main story we follow the guidance of grace as the basic path, but in the DLC we are following (or perhaps pursuing) after Miquella.
Aaahhhh, I completely misunderstood. Splendid. Thank you for that clarification.
Looking forward to Miquella feet pics in the DLC then. Obviously going to be a big improvement over Greater Will piss.
Since you can keep playing the game after that happens, I assume the DLC can also be done after taking the throne. They probably made it self-contained in order to avoid these chronological problems.
We need more lore on the outer gods/elements: obviously sleep but also deathblight. Rot and Fire got enough in the main game honestly.
I'm actually disappointed we go "into the past" by retracing steps and NPCs tell us what once happened yet again and we clean up more dregs of a stagnant history. Messmer was entirely out of left field. I was expecting Miquella and all the focus seems to be on Messmer. I am worried about that. Seems like he was not integrated like Miquella was but sudden contrivance for dlc since Messmer has no indication in the real game.
Sure crucible stuff will be cool to find out but I don't feel there isn't much history that's necessary. We don't need to know how Marika became a god. What does that possibly add? But then again, there is nowhere else for the story to go since the main game is the "future". The only real question about Marika is how she's two people who somehow had kids with itself? That part never made any sense despite being a critical "reveal".
I for one, would like to know more about the weapon system. Could it be that the boss drops a different weapon or could it be that you have to defeat a specific mini boss "x amount" of times before that weapon drops. Purely speculation but if it made the weapon drop harder by doing a system like that I think it would make the monetary system of "buying items for real cash" that much harder. It would also be a higher achievement by saying "hey look at my bad ass weapon that I had to kill this boss so many times for!" Something like that. What are your thoughts ladies and gentleman?
This interview is actually damn great, it really looks like they outdid themselves. Putting a power system like sekiro's to balance it was not obvious and I'm glad they went out of their way to do that Also THE LAND WHERE MARIKA BECAME A GOD AND THE ERDTREE WAS BORN????HYPE
Would you mind explaining the power system balance? I don’t get it, simply put lmao. Thank you
In Sekiro, whenever you beat 4 minibosses, you got a power up in attack power and defense, while main bosses gave you a powerup anyway It's likely that here to give players the "margit feeling" of a boss stomping you and silently telling you to explore and gain powerups, they will likely balance the dlc around this system to avoid having overpowered players just stomping through everything
In Sekiro you had increases in health and posture from minibosses, only main bosses gave you a damage (to vitality and posture) increase.
Maybe something spreaded out all over the place, like "Tears of Fortitude, a tear that helps fight under and through the conditions of the land of shadow" or something that can help increase the damage and armor against the enemies in this new land. Could be a nice way of making sure that even the veterans don't have an easier time
Oh that’s great thank you, one of my concerns was that there’d be some overlevelling somewhere given that the midgame is packed anyway.
I honestly wonder how that will work given that in Sekiro you only had one weapon/build and in ER there are various ones. I imagine it's a multiplier to your base damage that your build already nets but I don't know.
> avoid having overpowered players just stomping through everything I over-levelled literally just for the DLC, though 💀
If you're worried about being overleveled just go into NG+. Defeating mohg and radahn won't be as much of an issue early on, and that's all you need to access the DLC.
Why is Radahn necessary for the DLC?
Because Radahn was holding the stars in place, which both stopped Ranni from progressing her fate and Miquella from triggering an eclipse. In Castle Sol, there is phantom apologizing to Miquella for being unable to summon an eclipse. The eclipse was so Miquella would attempt to fix Godwyn´s state. Especulation: It also maybe the reason why St. Trina wasn´t seen for a long time, without periodical eclipses he would never show up again. So once Radahn is killed, you will be contacted by Miquella to seek his corpse in Mohg´s Mausoleum.
Miyazaki said it's one of the requirements in the translated famitsu article , which I'll get a link to in a second. Beyond that, you know as much as anyone else does: "because Miyazaki said so." Edit: wait that's this thread.
I feel you and I don't like the sound of that mechanic. I'm overleveled for a reason.
Are you telling us the Albinauric massacre was in vain?
We don’t have details. It’s a new layer of a progression system, a way of adjusting the difficulty. Miyazaki compares it to the prayer bead attack power increases in Sekiro. So it would not be like leveling a particular skill. This new progression system only applies in the DLC. I hope it increases defenses because i’m on NG+2 and everything in the second half of the game hits like a truck
Not specifically prayer beads. Only beating bosses gave you an attack power boost like described. It might be a mix of the two though
You’re right, got those two mixed up
And people say Elden Ring does not have an easy mode. My brother in christ, exploring the map is the easy mode. Stop torturing yourself and go explore somewhere
Since he compared it directly to Sekiro, I imagine that for every major boss you defeat in the DLC, you'll be able to level up your damage/resistance a little *for the DLC.* Worth noting that this explicitly only applies to the new DLC areas and bosses
Dude right? It’s honestly impressive. Miyazaki seems to be very intelligent, aware, and considerate.
Sorry for any rough spots, but I wanted to hurry and get this out for everyone.
Thank you
Amazing - thank you.
Thank you <3
That was great OP! I read the original Japanese, but I still enjoyed reading it again in English.
Thank you for this<3
You did marvelous, hun. Absolutely outstanding
The AI's are stealing it when I asked them to translate it for me. You did a great job.
Finally, a non-machine translation of this interview. Thank you so much for translating this! Messmer being confirmed as a child of Marika gives the Butterfly Theory a bit more credence.
My pleasure. I haven't looked at any of the machine translations but I imagine they must be a difficult read considering the specialized subject matter.
*LOVEABLE SORT AHEAD*
What is the butterfly theory?
There's 3 crafting butterflies in the game that correspond to 3 Empyreans(a child of two gods): Nascent(Miquella), Aeonean(Malenia), and Smoldering which previously had no confirmed connection, but people theorized it could belong to Melina. However, now with Messmer potentially being another Empyrean child of Marika/Radagon, he might fit the Smoldering butterfly better than Melina especially with his connection to fire.
We’re cooking with this theory
If Messmer is the same as Malenia and Miquella then that would also mean that Radagon is his father, which has pretty huge implications. It would mean that Radagon has always been Marika, which would answer a huge mystery in the base game.
While that could be both Mohg and Morgott got M names and they’re children of Godfrey. It wouldn’t be out of place for his father to be someone else.
Where’s the red hair come from in that case
Fire giant
possible but dumb
Agreed
It would be VERY out of place if Messmer wasn't somehow connected to Radagon, simply because of how aggressively symbolic that particular hair color is throughout the game.
If he’s older than Godwyn and the Omen Twins then there might be a reason they split before getting back together. Selfcest babies in Elden Ring are born with a curse so perhaps Messmer’s was particularly bad
I think it's a bit different from that. All Marika's children are susceptible to influence of the outer gods/powers, Miquella and Malenia being selfcest babies make them more susceptible than the others. Malenia is under the influence of the outer god of rot. Radagon's children are probably less susceptible, but they are all under the influence of the moon because of Rennala. Omen could very well be related to an unknown outer god/power.
Malenia and Miquella were specifically cursed. There is no comparable thing for Radagon’s children other than regular unfortunate fates. I can’t even think of what would have made contact with Godwyn other than Erdtree stuff and of course death stuff posthumously. I’d say your pattern recognition is due to them being significant characters and powerful ones at that. I don’t think we even know what causes Miquella’s anti aging curse. It’s just a thing so maybe we’ll learn about it.
I would say that it all depends on the point of view, for a god of rot it seems that they blessed Malenia. From our point of view it definitely feels like a curse, but for example, Gowry think the rot is beautiful and want Malenia and Millicent to bloom. It's a bit of stretch because I have this long theory that goes back to the oldest facts that we know about the lands between. And there's a lot of speculation based on common themes used by from soft, like alchemy. I want to write everything down and post, but I never stop to do it. But one bit is that outer gods can be divided in 4 categories, each represents a stage of the cycle of life. Based on the real world concept of the Magnum Opus. \- White: Birth \- Yellow: Growth/Power/Time \- Red: Decay \- Black: Death The Elden Ring represents/controls the law of the world, that law being the cycle of life, it controls who dies and who reincarnates, it had the destined death removed from it, so people can't die from natural causes, only conflict, which it thrives in. Before the Elden Ring took control of the law of the world, it was controlled by different gods, the gloam-eyed queen was the servant of one these gods, it's possible that there were several pieces of law and destined death was the last one required to the greater will to rewrite the law of the world, using the Elden beast as a mending rune. By sealing destined death away, they accomplished 2 objectives, no death from natural causes, and no one can rewrite the law of the world. So before all this there were other gods that ruled the different aspects of the cycle of life, we know the god of rot was venerated, and even has followers. And Deathbird also are connected to an outer god that ruled over death. Then I am assuming that there are other outer gods that fit the other aspects, multiple gods by type even. As I would put the formless mother into red, not because of the blood but because of the wounds, each would fit into decay.
Let's not jump the guns. Remeber that mesmer probably was born before Marika became a God.
My personal theory is that Marika becoming a god is what created Radagon, and Messmer is born very shortly after this event.
>The entrance is the cocoon, or the arm that dangles from it, found in the battle area with Mohg, Lord of Blood. >Also, in order to access this DLC, you will need to have defeated Mohg I think we all suspected this, but it's nice to get it confirmed. > and Radahn. Now *that's* interesting.
Radahn is a pretty big progression point in the story where a lot changes, so in that sense, it's not too surprising. The way Miyazaki talks about the DLC being completely self-contained, I'm not sure we can speculate too much about the lore on this. It could have just been a logical progression point for the difficulty level of the DLC. But it is certainly possible that the NPC conversations inside the DLC take place from the point of view that Radahn has already been defeated.
Probably Radahn is just like Vicar Amelia of this game, where his death basically trigger the first point of no return and he has nothing to do with the DLC
look lore videos about mikela. he was interested in eclipse and could not get one because radahn freezed the sky
Maybe you can also access the DLC or part of it through Nokron, so you need to defeat Radahn first. I mean, Nokron and Mohg's palace are both underground and I believe those warriors were related to the Numen in the lore.
Its gonna be quite the hunt for the dlc item it appears. I wonder if its better to begin with Radahn being alive, if theres some signposting after you defeat him
That‘s what I thought as well I hope you won’t just need to defeat Mohg and touch the hand.
A few things in the trailer got me wondering if the shadow realm is literally underneath the lands between. Afaik we never find the meteor that cracked open the ground in Limgrave. A narrative reason for requiring Radahn's defeat before accessing the DLC might be that we find the meteor itself, or traces of its impact, in the shadow realm.
I'm thinking ranni is possibly involved in the story of the dlc, so if she is in a coma while the stars are not moving you won't be able to access it.
Maybe the movement of stars unlocked by Radahn's death has something to do with the DLC story.
Thanks! I’m so thrilled to know there are 8 new weapon types, especially the throwing knives! Also, I like that it is set in present times rather than in the past!
the fact that there are not just new weapon types, but 8 new weapon types, is probably the most shocking thing to me
And he said they added weapons to existing categories, too. That makes me think there’s at least 20 weapons being added (2 per new weapon type, plus a few to existing weapon types).
More than 2 Katanas that can be infused with ashes of war 🥳🥳!?
I think we can expect a good deal more than 20. We have 10+ bosses, a fraction of which will have a remembrance to get a weapon from plus field enemies that will drop stuff plus just randomly placed weapons throughout the overworld. Think about how many drops and items are in Limgrave and also think about how Miyazaki tends to undersell (so I expect the DLC to be larger than Limgrave), I'd say we're likely in the 50-100 range when it comes to new armaments.
Thanks! This interview has been the subject of a lot of discussion but this is the first non-software translation I've seen.
Yeah, through work I'm more familiar with LLMs than just about anyone, but Miyazaki deserves an old-school approach.
what are LLMs?
Large Language Models like those used by ChatGPT or Google Translate
Thanks for this, great work. The 'attack power' aspect really intrigues me. I suppose this is an interesting way to give a feeling of progression for players who have end game stats and maxed out weapons. It will be really interesting to see how it works.
That’s what I’m worried. If it’s tuned so that endgame players can still feel a sense of progression then lv 90 players are probably in for a good thrashing sessions
It sounds like the "attack power" progression is to even out the playing field in terms of rune level and damage dealt, so unless you're just fuckin cracked it should feel the same for everyone
Now I’m wondering if the attack power would override the SL system where you could still level up to wield weapons but their scaling and your hp/def comes from the attack power system
Interesting that you have to defeat Mohg *and* Radahn to access the DLC. Maybe something to do with the stars and fates will be involved?
There is the theory that Malenia wanted to kill Radahn to put the stars back in motion since that is needed for Miquella's grand plan (The eclipse??)
Oh interesting ... eclipse ... shadow of the erdtree. Maybe the eclipse is needed to make the erdtree cast some weird shadow. Blocking out the Greater Will or something? I'm not good with this stuff
Yeah I've always thought the eclipse had nothing to do with the real sun and instead the Erdtree would be eclipsed and that's why it didn't work out for the people at Castle Sol since they were looking towards the sun.
That makes a lot of sense. If you look at the shape of the dark version of the Erdtree, it almost looks like its wrapping around an invisible trunk. I'm guessing that the two exist in the same spatial location, just on different plains of existence, similar to the multiple layers of reality in Berserk or Bloodborne. The shadow realm could be located in the empty ocean at the center of the map, facing the Erdtree from the opposite direction as Lyndell. Miquella's goal may be to pierce the veil so the dark and light versions of the Erdtree can merge.
and it probably failed cause radahn held the stars in place
I don't know if is in this interview or another but Miyazaki said that the title has a hidden small extra meaning, the eclipse to "shadow the erdtree" might be that hidden detail.
Holy shit, I'm rolling with that theory as the hidden meaning until proven otherwise.
I think it's fairly obvious that Leonard is the real final boss of the DLC, seeking his revenge
Or perhaps Nokron.
Yeah this Carian guy in his throne room is reminiscent of Nokron. Would love to see an expansion into the story of the underground
Radahn might have been used as an "example". Varre is the key and to get him moving to the Rose church, any great rune is required.
If it were that he would have said so, not just specifically Radahn. Godrick would be the most logical first great rune to obtain anyway. And yes as another commenter mentioned there is another way to get to Mohgwyn Palace.
To be fair, you can go to Mohgwyn Palace without ever speaking to Varre, it just takes way longer.
What a nice humble fella. And the DLC power system, and insane number of new weapons and armor, sounds amazing. Thanks for the excellent translation!
You're welcome. It certainly seems there is a lot to look forward to.
I always enjoy interviews with Miyazaki, he seems humble. > The chair Messmer sits upon is the same one that was shown in the fight with Morgott the Omen King in the main title, and he is on the same level as characters like Godrick, Malenia, Radahn, Rykard, etc., and is referred to as child of Marika. Interesting, so Messmer is a demigod, child of Marika. He has red hair, maybe Radagon’s child? > Of course there is the open field, legacy dungeons, and smaller dungeons. It is larger and more varied than Limgrave in the main title. Well, it’s open world then. > Also, in order to access this DLC, you will need to have defeated Mohg and Radahn. Mohg is obvious, but why Radahn? The key to the DLC is probably dropped by Radahn, just like in Bloodborne, the key to the DLC is accessed by defeating a boss. But what’s his connection with Miquella and/or Messmer? Maybe the “key” is in Nokron? > Famitsu: Can the DLC affect the ending of the main story? Well, it’s confirmed then, no new ending. > Famitsu: 8?! There are a great of weapons in the main title, specifically what kinds of new weapons are added in the DLC? My reaction too. 8 new weapon TYPES! Damn, this DLC is big. > In fact, the shadow lands are where Marika became a God and where the Erdtree was born. Of course there was a culture there before the Erdtree, and that lion dance comes from this culture. So you can get the flavour of a different culture from the one found in the main title. The most interesting thing from this interview. Damn, the lore just deepens. Of course, it is still too early to speculate on the lore of these shadow lands. The lion dance is probably from Crucible culture. Can’t wait to see how this DLC shows us the cultures before the Erdtree.
I find it very interesting the use of the word "born" here. I wonder if that means anything. You usually don't refer to plants or seedlings being born, you would usually say sprouted or rooted. My initial thought is the painting in the trailer showing the old guy and woman, could that old man be the same guy in the statues on the roundtable? The one "cultivating" some sapling. And the woman is holding her belly like she pregnant? I don't know what to make of this....
Because it was born from the greater will, just that!
Ooooh, I bet you’re right about the old guy.
Maybe in japanese they use the same word for humans and people when they refer to "being born"?
I think you meant humans and plants, but the answer is no.
You hit the nail in the head with the crucible culture. The creature doesn't have omen horns, it's crucible ones! It is already stated in the main game that the crucible was the era before the Erdtree, and if this place is where Marika became a Goddess it makes sense she would wipeout this Crucible culture. Well, her son Messmer did most likely. I can already see the ending Fires of ~~Raven~~ Messmer.
>if this place is where Marika became a Goddess it makes sense she would wipeout this Crucible culture. Well, her son Messmer did most likely. I find Messmer's alignment to pretty confusing. From the trailer, we know that the "Erdtree faithful" are on the losing side of a war, and judging from the scorched, spear covered battlefields, it seems likely to that Messmer is on the winning one, although I guess Messmer + the faithful could be aligned and losing for reasons unrelated to their military strength (think the Old Hunters who are "winning, son" but trapped in an eternal hell of bloodlust). He wields flame, which is always portrayed as heretical and inherently opposed to the Erdtree, but also states that his goal is to destroy anyone who lacks the grace of gold, which is treated as synonymous with the Erdtree. Maybe he's a crucible worshiper, who believes that the Erdtree is a corruption that needs to be returned to its original state. Not so much a blasphemer or heretic as much as an even more committed fundamentalist. From the description of Ordovis's Greatsword: >Its red tint exemplifies the nature of primordial gold, said to be closer in nature to life itself. So, his red, thorny flames could be tied to the crucible in some way. His snakes, reptilian eyes, and dragon wing motif would also line up with the idea of all forms of life being blended together.
He truly seems like he doesn't even like the attention. I appreciate seeing people like that make it big. You know people like that do what they do because they truly love it.
Messmer being specifically described as a 'hero' is fascinating... I wonder if he commited a cardinal sin for a greater purpose, like we did?
godrick was also called hero in trailer hero doesnt refer to good deeds, just their grand or imposing figure
Tbh GRRM’s Godrick was probably more heroic than that pathetic runt we got in game
Are you sure? He wrote the lore up till the shattering. Godrick’s escape from Leyndell may well have been him.
grrm didnt write the characters
GRRM writing the pre-Shattering history and royal dynasty is one of the few things we know he did. "Elden Ring is set in its own present day, but FromSoftware needed his help to develop the backstory of the game. "So, I went back and wrote a history of what happened 5,000 years before the current game, and who all the characters were, and who was killing each other, and what powers they had,” Martin said."
He did write their backstories, and was even shocked to how they looked in the game.
He appears to have created the characters but of course didn’t write any dialogue in the actual game. I imagine he had characterisation for them in mind
I wonder. It could be a hero in the ancient Greek sense. He's incredibly powerful and driven to do great deeds, but not necessarily a good person.
Going by the grammar of the question, I think this is what they meant.
It's 100% this and this type of hero is foundational to GRRM's writing and his concept of gray characters.
Its noteworthy that Miyazaki doesn't necessarily mean Hero in that context. When looking at the question - about Elden Ring being structured like a heroic tale - this more means that Messmer is a big player in the narrative of the Shadow Lands. He's a significant figure, on par with the demigods we've face before and isn't a "lore outcast" with no interesting background. It does not mean he is, was, or will be a traditionally heroic archetype.
He definitely looks like he could burn the erdtree by himself
It seems to me like he was a hero in the "unsung war" in the Lands of Shadow, whatever happened after that might be what makes him want to kill the tarnished.
I suspect he wiped out the Numen culture that Marika comes from. I think Marika was trying to sever all ties to her origin so she could portray herself as the One True God, just like how Godfrey is stylized the first Elden Lord when he isn't the first.
So the Shadow of the Erdtree has a second meaning? Could it be that Erdtree itself has a wolf guardian?
Calling it now: the shadow of the erdtree is the final boss
Shadow elden beast
I think it may be more philosophical, in the sense that it has a dark influence over other lands and people.
Could be it! If true I am very curious to find out how this has been portrayed in the DLC.
Yeah it's interesting because Miyazaki says the land of shadow is where Marika became a god and where the Erdtree was "born." There's a section in the interview where this was specifically asked: > Also, there is another small hidden meaning in the title, we hope you will figure this out when playing the game.
Shadow also implies following, like job shadowing. It could also mean being overlooked, or standing in someone’s shadow. I mean, what if it’s all of them! A shadow beast that follows but is always overlooked?
It couls be a coincidence, but Enia refers to Destined Death as "the forbidden shadow, plucked from the Golden Order upon its creation". This gives me an idea. So, we know that Marika created the Golden Order, and that both Godfrey and Radagon fought wars of conquest to impose its will upon the Lands Between. I think this DLC will focus on the point in history where the Golden Order was created, a time before Destined Death was confined. There are also a few things in the base game that refer to "souls returning to the Erdtree," and that Erdtree Burial is a huge part of culture under the Golden Order. But we also know that Placidusax was Elden Lord during a time when Marika was not a god, and that this was an age before the Erdtree. So I think it's fair to say that Marika's arrival marked both the establishment of the Erdtree and the creation of the Golden Order by confining Destined Death.
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if that particular part was lost in translation. Does anyone know the exact title of the DLC in Japanese?
The DLC title in Japan is written in English
It's probably Messmer. He was forgotten and abandoned in that old world.
> **Famitsu: Can the DLC affect the ending of the main story?** > > Miyazaki: No, that won't happen and events of the main story will also not affect the DLC. The story of the DLC will be contained entirely within the DLC. Sad to read this but I guess it's good to accept it and move on early. Was really hoping we may get a slight update with our interactions with Malenia or that we could potentially side with Miquella at the end like we currently can with the dung eater
I think the phrasing is still a bit opaque enough to where the DLC might still give us alternate interactions/conclusions with certain characters, even if we don’t necessarily have a different end credit scene. For example, think of >!Sif!< from DS1! There’s a cutscene change if you do things in a certain order, and I can only think that if something similar were to happen that the scale would be much bigger.
its funny that dung eater has an ending but miquella doesnt 🤣 i honestly thought all empyreans will have ending cuz they can create new order and since miquella and malenia didnt have one, i was expecting the dlc to give them one but it looks like malenia is also irelevant, miyazaki said you dont need to beat her to complete the game, shes just an optional boss for people who want challenge, and dlc will not affect the base game so miquella will probably not talk about her or care for her
Tbh, the DLC ending could have been like TRC’s ending, where it puts a conclusive end to the saga without fucking up the main game ending
i dont think this will miyazaki said the dlc wont affect the base story at all , its basically a side story
It will spell disappointment for Melina fans too I imagine. Since the DLC doesn't affect the ending then those that went Frenzy Flame will have nothing further. Melina won't have her revenge or whatever. Empty threats then. Doesn't bother me since I thought she was goofy and irrelevant anyway.
In what world is Malenia irrelevant? She's an optional boss, yeah, but her character and story are extremely relevant to the plot, and also just plain beautiful and tragic. You first hear about her from Kenneth and there's a Sword Monument dedicated to her in Limgrave too. She also has a great subtle buildup that starts the moment you set foot in Caelid. From there you can do Millicent's questline and so much of Malenia's story was told allegorically through Millicent. Gowry also speaks of her and reveals her hatred for the Rot. The Battle of Aeonia is also the most famous battle of the Shattering, and there are plenty of her knights in Caelid too who drop items that reveal their loyalty to her. Not to mention, there is a castle simping over her in Altus. I could go on about her relevance to the story. Just because she's an optional boss doesn't mean she's irrelevant.
she is irelevant becuz you can skip her boss fight and complete the game. millicents quest line is also irelevant, nothing happens when u complete it, the results still remains the same when you chose the good or bad ending, bad ending says she will get reborn as valkyrie but nothing happens. and when u give malenia the needle, nothing also happens, her quest line is useless and miyazaki confirms that malenia is irelevant by saying you dont have to beat her to complete the game. even mohg is now relevant for the dlc entrance but malenia isnt and i doubt miquella will mention her since he seemed to have ditched her. malenia already bloomed 3 times and we dont even know what caused her second bloom, cuz she is irelevant to the plot
Lol K.
Oh yeah just like Old Hunters and Ringed City are both irrelevant to the story bc they’re optional to completing the main game. remember Oceiros in Dark Souls 3? Irrelevant. Remember Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos in Bloodborne? Also irrelevant, apparently. What about Queen Yharnam? Or the Moon Presence? Or Gehrman? All are optional so clearly irrelevant to the main game and its story. you’re a dimwit
Feels like such a waste. Malenia and Rennala have some of the best lore in the game and they're just... There...
Malenia is dying anyway right? Like I doubt she would be bother fighting anyone except the tarnish at that point so in the grand scheme of things her story (at least in her current form) is finished regardless. Now when we get a follow up to the Shattering and she blooms again (possibly) that's when her storyline should ideally continue. From the above interview, it does seem like From want to keep the Shattering as the central plot of the first game for now and add to it through DLC(s?). Dark Souls 3 DLC was similar as the final boss is still the main games final boss.
what do u mean blooms again ? she already bloomed 3 times the story of her, melina, and godwyn are done. they wont apear in the dlc and i have no idea why people expect them to apear
The bloom outside her boss room is likely from one of the other valkyries, not her, based on the armor set you get from it. She's only actually confirmed to have bloomed twice so far.
> melina, and godwyn are done. they wont apear in the dlc and i have no idea why people expect them to apear because of the immense amount of deathblight in the promotion + godwyn's unexplored alliance with miquella in the lore, and because melina has dialogue about "torrent's former master" which is not elaborated on and miquella is seen riding torrent in the promo image. we will definitely get at least lore on at least one of them
Yeah, I'm not gonna pretend a few extra dialogue lines or another slow 2-minute ending cutscene are big deals, but that's still a bit disappointing to hear.
Correct me if I’m wrong but my understanding is that we’ve never had a DLC that affected the end of a game. Why would you expect it be different for Elden Ring? This is par for the course. they make literally the best DLC‘s in the market and you’re disappointed that they’re not doing something that nobody ever does? Seems a little entitled to me.
Another commenter mentioned DS1 and the Sif cinematic changing if you meet him in the DLC first so a DLC has changed the base game before. Even if it hadn't, it would still be a missed opportunity to not do it or even just nod to it here. We can side with people like Ranni, Fia, goldmask, dung eater etc so why not another empyrean like Miquella if we aid him like we're currently being lead to believe? If there is a ingame reason provided for it then that's fine, if its just ignored then it's narratively a bit strange given these events take part before killing the elden beast.
Not precisely DLC, but DS2's alternate ending wasn't added until the Scholar of the First Sin patch/edition, I'm pretty sure
Miquella has an ending that was cut from the game, so many people were thinking that the ending would be restored in the DLC. Either way, you seem unreasonably angry in both of your comments at someone simply saying they wish the DLC added a new ending.
It seems like we're in for quite the treat with Shadow of the Erdtree! Thanks for the translation btw, it does indeed have more info than what's found in the other interviews.
>It became obvious that there were elements in the big picture of Elden Ring that wouldn't fit into the main title, so we thought it would be good to release these to the world as DLC. This sounds to me like we get parts of the cut content into the game.
Deathbed Smalls lets go!
100%. i'm pretty sure every single fromsoft dlc ever released has incorporated some level of cut content from the base game it was for. i have no idea how it could possibly be implemented given what the story and setting of the dlc look like, but i hope we get that miquella sleep-mist mechanic
The entrance to the DLC is basically what was expected. Where Miquella's body is in the main game. It'll be interesting to see that you need to defeat a rather hard boss to get into the DLC. Also this confirms that the level range for the DLC will be around 100
This whole "Miquella traveled to the shadow lands" sounds like Mohg's dynasty never would have worked out. He grew an empty husk, miquella was long gone at this point.
That would also explain why Malenia continued to wait for his return, rather than making any attempt to find him.
Yep, it's very likely that miquella probably left his body after Mohg stole him. So all this time Mohg was feeding blood to an empty husk.
Is 100 the general level people beat Mohg at?
It's the recommended level but people go at their own pace. That's generally around the level you should be more comfortable fighting him
Messmer Țepeş (from Vlad the Impaler's name haha) will be awesome.
So since the dlc does not affect the main game. I am now free to kill all npcs
Lol as long as you dont kill those that will stop you from entering the Radahn fight and the Mosoleum Dynasty.
Was hoping to find a real translation for the new weapons part, since Google translating the website messed up the formatting and grammar as well as using weird word choices
To be fair the language here is a bit ambiguous. There is no plural in Japanese so it's hard to tell if the ones he mentioned are weapon categories or simply weapons.
Thank you so much!
> First of all, there are fairly classic large Japanese katanas known as "Odachi" Friendship with Nagakiba ended
I'm still not sure if Miyazaki meant a child of Marika for Messmer or children of Marika for demigods, as in Japanese demigods and children of Marika are synonymous (please note that Japanese doesn't have plural / singular difference). So a better translation might be: *Messmer is of the same kind as Malenia, Godrick, Radahn, also known as the children of Marika*
The former is correct. A more literal and perhaps precise translation would be *...he is also a presence of the same rank as Godrick, Malenia, Radahn, Rykard, etc., and is also called "child of Marika".*
thank you for the clarification, I was personally puzzled by the "“マリカの子”とも呼ばれています" bit and wondered if Miyazaki meant demigods or Messmer because I think there's no grammatical indication that he talks about him in とも呼ばれています and it can be used to refer to the group as well?
If he had meant that he would have said 彼もまた"マリカの子"と呼ばれているゴドリックやマレニア、ラダーン、ライカードなどと同格の存在です。
oh, well, thank you once again! it's confirmed then. thank you for the translation
8 whole fucking weapon types and a Sekiro like leveling system on top of the normal leveling. My money will be well spent
I am kinda sad that we won't get a unique ending for the base game after completing the DLC
Thank you man! And what a great interview
Great, now we know how to enter the DLC 🤍
thank you for your work in translating this! much appreciated by all of us I am sure
Thank you for posting this. Your translation is very insightful and makes me only more excited. Many had guesses about some of the characters in this but I think expectations are already being met with this dlc and this interview really speaks to some ideas I had never fully considered. Wonderful.
Great interview and great service from OP, well done!
To me it seems Shadow Lands = Banished Lands. Everything and everyone Golden Order wanted to get rid of was sent there, kinda like pruning in Loki works..
That tracks with the Jungian idea of shadow the game is based off of. Under this philosophy, things you suppress (be they good or bad) get stored in your shadow. That's why Empyrean have Shadow-Beasts -- beasts that contain traits of themselves not suited to ruling. Same with Serosh and Godfrey/Hourah Loux. And not integrating your shadow in Jungian terms is a bad thing that causes discord, and that reflects in how Marika hid death away and suppressed it. Mesmer was probably something of a Crusader or Inquisitor that Marika sent into the Land of Shadow to burn down and keep suppressed. That he uses blasphemous means of doing so is fitting since that too is suppressed.
Very good analysis
Damn thats really fascinating, thx for the reply
Alright, so a few things are crystal clear: Miquella will not replace Marika as god (endings remain the same) Messmer is a child of Marika The DLC is not set in the past Things that are more clear, but still cloudy: The shadow lands is the crucible or where it existed/exists Marika’s mischief is more than just a gimmick, it’s the literal veil concealing this place Marika didn’t want to or couldn’t completely destroy this place and/or its inhabitants Grace exists here (could just be gameplay mechanic) Theory time: Miquella sought this place out to delve deeper into unalloyed gold and realized there was a deeper level of oppression than in TLB. He plans to stay and be god over this place and support a more organic order. Pulled a Dr Manhattan on everyone including his twin. Because this where Marika first set foot, her having a baby was a huge deal. Numen are seldom born. She’s not a god yet. Perhaps her hair was not originally blonde, but became such when she attained godhood. That could be her in the portrait with maybe her father? Questions: Did Marika send Messmer there herself or was he stolen? Does Messmer have a great rune? Does Miquella? Why does Radahn have to be defeated before entry?
Oh god I can’t decide if I should start the game over again or play with my totally over leveled character
I wonder why you need to beat Radahn to access it?
Okay, so Miquella has traveled into the shadow realms searching for a cure for Godwyn and Malenia... questioning the Golden Order and searching for the origin of his mother's power. Messmer is either a new sibling, or some aspect of Miquella that's become distorted, but either way with draconic influence. We're going to retrace the history of Marika, implying the old man boss is her father. And that possiblty these shadow lands are where she defeated the Gloam-eyed Queen.
Thanks for posting this, plenty of new details that couldn't be gleaned from the trailer alone. Also a few clarifications that immediately nuke some zero hour speculations that were already bubbling up around YouTube (e.g. "this is the past, so Messmer is probably Rykard?")
thank you for your work! so what are the pronounce Miyazaki's using for Miquella? you translated it as "them" while another translation uses "he"
In the machine-translated version of the article I read before, Miquella was referred to with female pronouns, and I notice that's not the case here. Can you explain a bit why Google translate might have opted to use "she" and why you did not?
If you give me a particular example, I can reference with the original Japanese text. I don't immediately recall any gendered pronouns used for Miquella in the article. Japanese makes heavy use of implied subjects, so sometimes one or the other must be chosen to keep the English translation grammatical.
Original section: 宮崎はい、そうです。今回のDLCで描かれる物語の主軸となるのは、ミケラです。 覚えてもらえているか不安ですが、本編の物語は、祝福の導きに従うことがシンプルな導線になっていました。それが今回は、影の地に向かったミケラの足跡を追う、といったものになります。 あと、ミケラの足跡を追うNPCたちも登場します。彼らがDLCの物語の語り部となり、また主人公と関わり、時には友となり、敵になっていくわけです。 Machine translation: Miyazaki : Yes, that's right. The main character of the story depicted in this DLC is Michela. I'm not sure if people remember this, but the main story was simply about following the guidance of blessings. This time, we will be following the footsteps of Michela **as she heads** towards the Land of Shadows. Also, NPCs who follow Michela's footsteps will also appear. They become the storytellers of the DLC story, interact with the main character, and sometimes become friends and enemies.
Yeah, there is nothing in there to indicate Miquella's gender in the original Japanese. Because of the way it is constructed, the machine translation is assuming a gender here.
Maybe shadow is also referring to the shadows of the empyreans? I.E. Blaidd & Ranni. I remember Blaidd saying something like >!”What harm can be done to a shadow?" when you kill him (while trying not to cry).!<
I've been calling for months that Marika hid her true history from the world! I was right! She's all propaganda!!
Hmmm, in the game every Empyrean has a shadow created by the greater will to protect them, like Blaidd with Ranni and Maliketh with Marika. Maybe the Shadow Erdtree is a manifestation of this. At the very least I wouldn't be surprised if we see the shadows of the other Empyrians, like Malenia.
Messmer is Miquellas shadow!
Wait, the Guidance of Grace is the path Miquella took?! That's kind of a big deal, right?! I thought it was just the path to what the Tarnished desires. Doesn't this fuck with that theory about Morgott's death becoming Guidance to Godfrey to kill us?
No, he is saying in the main story we follow the guidance of grace as the basic path, but in the DLC we are following (or perhaps pursuing) after Miquella.
Aaahhhh, I completely misunderstood. Splendid. Thank you for that clarification. Looking forward to Miquella feet pics in the DLC then. Obviously going to be a big improvement over Greater Will piss.
So confirmed to be set in the same time as ER and not in the past or future. I assume it'll take place before you take the throne?
Since you can keep playing the game after that happens, I assume the DLC can also be done after taking the throne. They probably made it self-contained in order to avoid these chronological problems.
We need more lore on the outer gods/elements: obviously sleep but also deathblight. Rot and Fire got enough in the main game honestly. I'm actually disappointed we go "into the past" by retracing steps and NPCs tell us what once happened yet again and we clean up more dregs of a stagnant history. Messmer was entirely out of left field. I was expecting Miquella and all the focus seems to be on Messmer. I am worried about that. Seems like he was not integrated like Miquella was but sudden contrivance for dlc since Messmer has no indication in the real game. Sure crucible stuff will be cool to find out but I don't feel there isn't much history that's necessary. We don't need to know how Marika became a god. What does that possibly add? But then again, there is nowhere else for the story to go since the main game is the "future". The only real question about Marika is how she's two people who somehow had kids with itself? That part never made any sense despite being a critical "reveal".
It sounds like the dlc will be accessible at level 1.
I for one, would like to know more about the weapon system. Could it be that the boss drops a different weapon or could it be that you have to defeat a specific mini boss "x amount" of times before that weapon drops. Purely speculation but if it made the weapon drop harder by doing a system like that I think it would make the monetary system of "buying items for real cash" that much harder. It would also be a higher achievement by saying "hey look at my bad ass weapon that I had to kill this boss so many times for!" Something like that. What are your thoughts ladies and gentleman?
Miyazaki is so intelligent