A lot of people see Hidetaka Miyazaki as one of the foremost game creators we have today. Without him, there would be no Dark Souls, no Elden Ring. Before all that, though, Miyazaki, like all artists waiting for the recognition they deserved, did have his struggles with his team.
Katsuhiro Harada, the legendary Tekken director, explained as much in a lengthy post on Twitter talking about his experience and impressions of Miyazaki. "Today, he receives offers from all over the world, but when I think back to the days when he and his team were struggling the most, many of those offers seem like they're coming from people who only know who they are today. Some of them almost feel like complete reversals in attitude," Harada said, noting prior to Dark Souls that Miyazaki entered game development quite late compared to many of his peers, having a unique path.
To Harada, Miyazaki also has a unique perspective when it comes to games, too. When playtesting a game with Harada and other developers, Miyazaki "played it with incredible seriousness. Then, after everyone had finished and started discussing their impressions, he remained completely silent, staring intently at the preview monitor, deep in thought."
Miyazaki then apparently replied when asked what he was thinking about that he was considering how he would've made the game differently. Harada said it was a "rare moment" where he'd caught a glimpse of Miyazaki's "mad scientist" side. Without that side to him, it's unlikely Miyazaki would've made as much of an impression as he has on gamers across the world. Whether you love his games for their difficulty, their worlds, or anything in between, it's clear it takes a specific kind of creative to make a world like Dark Souls come to life.
