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Is Miyazaki’s run since Demon Souls the best 4+ game run for a single game director?

Krappadizzle

Gold Member
UpiCca6.jpg
Hell, other than Todd Howard I struggle to think of any that have done it as well.

People want to say Kojima, but everything before MGS didn't exactly set the world on fire and everything post MGS3 has been incredibly divisive.


Commander Keen
Wolfenstein 3D
Spear of Destiny
Doom
Doom 2
Quake
Quake 2
Quake 3
Doom 3

Pretty impressive, and each of those (with the exception of Spear of Destiny and Doom 2) was a major technological breakthrough.
So I vote for John Carmack.

Not discrediting Carmack's absolute monster contribution to gaming in general, but I'm pretty sure he was more of a tech director/programmer lead than actual game director.
 
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Krappadizzle

Gold Member
As much as i love Eldern Ring, and Souls games, i think Todd just takes this for me as his open world RPG's are my fave games of all time, with Skyrim being my fave.

Morrowind
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Skyrim
Fallout 4

I mean God damn.
Thinking back to when I first experienced Morrowind is some of my fondest gaming memories. My buddy and I each bought a copy of the game, went to his house, set up two tv's and two xbox's right next to each other and started at the same time. By the next day, both of us covered in Dorito dust and Mountain Dew stains, we had such vastly different experiences and it was so cool to see that I could replay the game and it'd be something new.

I remember I was a nimble little wood-elf archer "thief" and he was an Orc Warrior and I was struggling so much just trying to keep my max weight down. I specifically remember him teasing me and saying, "Man, it's a good thing gold doesn't weigh anything because I have so much of it from selling everything I steal."

the office rage GIF
 

conpfreak

Member
As someone who wasn't gaming in this era MGS1,2,3,4,V, deathstranding all seem more impressive.
Those games may have not even happened if Miyamoto hadn't absolutely nail his output through the NES/SNES generations. That's why I don't get the point of this thread. While its significant that a game director consistently delivers with their output, it's nothing compared to a director creating games that drove sales for entire hardware platforms and keeping video games as we know it afloat in the mainstream.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
For me Miyazaki is the GOAT.

Because both Demon's and Dark Souls 1 were my top picks of the PS3 generation, Bloodborne is probably number 2 after Witcher 3 on PS4. And right now Elden Ring is the best game I have played this generation so far. Not to mention Sekiro was one of my GOTY contenders in 2019.

So yeah, the guy has been consistently pumping out classics since 2009.
 

Fredrik

Member
As much as i love Eldern Ring, and Souls games, i think Todd just takes this for me as his open world RPG's are my fave games of all time, with Skyrim being my fave.

Morrowind
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Skyrim
Fallout 4

I mean God damn.
Unless my google skills fails me Todd wasn’t the director on Morrowind and Oblivion, he was executive producer there.
 

Stuart360

Member
Unless my google skills fails me Todd wasn’t the director on Morrowind and Oblivion, he was executive producer there.
I have always understood it as he directed Oblivion and Morrowind too. In fact i'm sure he has talked about this in interviews before.

EDIT. His IMDB page has him down as director of Oblivion and Morrowind -

 
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Fredrik

Member
I have always understood it as he directed Oblivion and Morrowind too. In fact i'm sure he has talked about this in interviews before.

EDIT. His IMDB page has him down as director of Oblivion and Morrowind -

Okay I went by what’s stated on his Wikipedia page

But you’re right, if I go to the Morrowind Wikipedia page it says that he’s the director:

Can’t find anything on Oblivion though.
 
Those games may have not even happened if Miyamoto hadn't absolutely nail his output through the NES/SNES generations. That's why I don't get the point of this thread. While its significant that a game director consistently delivers with their output, it's nothing compared to a director creating games that drove sales for entire hardware platforms and keeping video games as we know it afloat in the mainstream.
Video games would still exist without Miyamoto… true those games may not have existed but the whole argument “this is better cause it fostered gaming as we know it” isn’t an argument of quality. It’s like saying Pong is the best game ever cause it’s first.
 

Labadal

Member
It is impressive. His streak is very impressive.

There are some other directors that I also think have done a great job, even if their games are not as critically acclaimed.

Swen Vincke of Larian Studios. I like all of their stuff, even if some of their games aren't liked by all.

Toshihiro Nagoshi has had more than one good streak as a game director.

Akitoshi Kawazu is another one, but the SaGa series rarely gets good reviews. He also "saved" Legend of Mana and Final Fantasy XII when they were in development hell.

Then we have Miyamoto, Sakaguchi and a few others.
 
It is a good run, but the games are also extremely similar to one another. It’s almost like playing 1 long ass game DeS -> ER. So 4 good games in a row isn’t as meaningful as it would be if those 4 particular games were different genres, or if they radically altered the gameplay or mechanics to add something new and interesting to the game. Adding power moves is essentially the equivalent of games adding super meter, it’s nice but it’s not revolutionary by any means. I love all the souls games to death, but really it does feel like I’ve been playing variations of the same game for 10 years now.
 

Ezquimacore

Banned
Exactly, very ironic.
Miyamoto developed donkey kong, zelda, mario, star fox and fzero in less than 10 years (just to name a few) including games like super mario world, ocarina of time and a link to the past. Miyazaki is doing castlevania 3d since demon souls. I love souls games but souls fanboys are a cult right now and they need to be stopped.
 
Miyamoto developed donkey kong, zelda, mario, star fox and fzero in less than 10 years (just to name a few) including games like super mario world, ocarina of time and a link to the past. Miyazaki is doing castlevania 3d since demon souls. I love souls games but souls fanboys are a cult right now and they need to be stopped.
Nintendo is a much bigger cult, can't you handle people not sucking up to Miyamoto?

Miyamoto was good for his time and made some good games for kids when the industry was a lot less mature. Miyazaki, with his very unique style, thrives and stands out in a much more complex environment.

Miyazaki has reached a similar level of erudition as Kojima, while Miyamoto could never see games as more than family entertainment. Is Walt Disney the greatest director of all time? He was good, had a lot of success and made a few movies that were ahead of his time, but no he wasn't the GoaT.

If you were to give Miyamoto unlimited resource and unlimited technology what would he create? 4D Mario?
 
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Ezquimacore

Banned
Nintendo is a much bigger cult, can't you handle people not sucking up to Miyamoto?

Miyamoto was good for his time and made some good games for kids when the industry was a lot less mature. Miyazaki, with his very unique style, thrives and stands out in a much more complex environment.
calls Nintendo a cult, proceeds to say the most cultist thing ever.
sausage-throw.gif


BTW Miyazaki played botw a lot, you can see it on his latest work, he even says I likes botw openly! it's just his cultists that are this intense.

sNeRyms.png
 
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calls Nintendo a cult, proceeds to say the most cultist thing ever.
sausage-throw.gif


BTW Miyazaki played botw a lot, you can see it on his latest work, he even says I likes botw openly! it's just his cultists that are this intense.

sNeRyms.png
You are free to have your opinion, but I think is unwarranted to call other peoples cult members when you can't even accept that some people might not think Miyamoto is all that.

What is Miyamoto trying to say with all his Mario games?

He takes way too much credit for other people games as well, seems like the result of years of Nintendo marketing revolving around him. I'll not fall for it.

It's like debating who is the GoaT QB, Tom Brady of Manning? It obviously Eli.
 
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Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
eh fuck no

dark souls 1 fail
dark souls 2 good
dark souls 3 great
bloodborne great
sekiro great

kojima and sakaguchi are both people with a bigger "streak" than miya
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
Came here to say Todd Howard but seems several others beat me to it. :messenger_tears_of_joy:

I'm know I'm somewhat biased since Bethesda WRPGs along with Halo games are my all-time favorites and I have less than zero interest in anything by FROM, but BGS games have some damn good scores. I think BGS games have a higher average than FROM Software games.
Morrowind - 89
Oblivion - 94
Fallout 3 - 93
Skyrim - 96
Fallout 4 - 88
 

Kokoloko85

Member
Probably the best.

Shinji Mikami had a great run from Resident Evil 1.
Shigeru too but he wasnt the director in every game. Kojima MGS1-2-3-4 was pretty awesome too
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Let's have this conversation when the game isn't another Souls game. As good as the games are, they are the same game, right down to the annoying dogs. Say what you want about Kojima, but at least the man is willing to take risks with his product.
 

Zannegan

Member
Designer on TES Morrowind and Oblivion. Yup, he’s important for sure.
When looking at the designer role it seems like Emil Pagliarulo is someone to look at too, designer of Skyrim, Fallout 3,4,76, Starfield.
So THAT's what happened.

You are free to have your opinion, but I think is unwarranted to call other peoples cult members when you can't even accept that some people might not think Miyamoto is all that.

What is Miyamoto trying to say with all his Mario games?

He takes way too much credit for other people games as well, seems like the result of years of Nintendo marketing revolving around him. I'll not fall for it.

It's like debating who is the GoaT QB, Tom Brady of Manning? It obviously Eli.
I feel like Poe's law was in full effect here, but the QB thing made it clear that you're joking. Well done.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
IDK if he's a game director, but uhhhhh
gabe newell?
nearly everything valve's put out has been a masterpiece and i don't need to list anything
Other than him, kojima IG. Kojima goes fucking hard dude
 
Shigeru Miyamoto did 10 maybe more, metal gear man also excluding death stranding, dont get me wrong i love the soul bourne games, but i dont understand why hes being classed as a great developer, yes hes made something genre defying and has evolved it, but to me hes no different to yoshio sakamoto (main producer of metroid while also directing afew) until miyazaki steps away from the formula hes created i wouldnt even class him in the top 10
 
Kojima's is actually crazier since you aren't even starting at the right spot. MG1->Snatcher->MG2->Policenauts->MGS->MGS2 is absolutely insane. And I'm even leaving out MGS3 which a lot of people consider the best one.

That said, this feat is also super impressive and I'm glad that I stuck with Demon Souls and Bloodborne long enough for them to click with me. I just hope I come around quicker on Elden Ring lol
Id definitely say kojima is definitely one of the greats but hopefully he actually makes a decent game that isnt metal gear, death stranding is pretty meh and if it didnt have his name on it it'd get slammed, also him saying its the first strand like game is pretty laughable also
 

tassletine

Member
There are plenty, but those talking about 'it being the same game' have a solid point.
Miyazaki may have made some excellent games with superb art direction but they are all very similar to each other. He's creating a genre not really developing new games, or even new stories.

Sam Houser (who I would say he is behind on this imaginary list) is almost never mentioned because he shuns the spotlight, but is much the same sort of developer as Miyazaki.
They are both Conservative. Ie: They build on what they did before, sticking rigidly to that basic template -- And in both cases they were riffing on a template that didn't originate with them. GTA and King's Field -- Demon Souls being inherited from another director -- And also, in both cases, their games are pretty janky.

So, whilst both series are great, I don't feel either of them belong on a "winning streak" list simply because they're really not interested in pure gameplay, and don't take risks as other video game directors do. Certainly not in the same way as Miyamoto, Mikami, Kojima etc. might.
 

Sentenza

Member
As much as i love Eldern Ring, and Souls games, i think Todd just takes this for me as his open world RPG's are my fave games of all time, with Skyrim being my fave.

Morrowind
Oblivion
Fallout 3
Skyrim
Fallout 4

I mean God damn.
Eh, I mean, with the exception of Morrowind I don't like a single one of these and I would still put a giant asterisk even close to that title.

is dumb bullshit.
 
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Kssio_Aug

Member
I LOVE the franchise, albeit still yet to play Elden Ring. But we can't deny that all the games (except for Sekiro) are all very similar, and at this point very formulaic. Not that it's a bad thing though, I still love them and am glad they're continuing it, but there are other directors that worked on more varied and very successful franchises too; but Souls is now a super popular franchise among the gaming community.

I have seen similar response in the past about Platinum and Hideki Kamiya, until many people started to feel tired of their formula too... (still great though)
 
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kevm3

Member
Miyazaki has made my favorite game in Dark Souls. I don't know if I can put him over guys that have made great games in several different genres though. Just about all of his modern games are in a very similar vein.
 

Bragr

Banned
Several of the Nintendo directors have had runs of a similar/greater quality but the exact labeling they do for the positions of their games makes it less clear cut.
Yes, I have been struggling to understand how they function for a while too, but it seems to me that during the SNES era, they started to have multiple directions with one head producer serving as not only the producer but as some sort of "head director". Ocarina of Time seems to be developed that like, where there were multiple directors that all answered to him yet they still had a lot of control in major parts of the game.

In the west, people come and go, but at Nintendo, you have guys like Miyamoto and Tezuka and some of these old-school pioneers who have trained and nurtured the next generation of developers for decades. It seems Miyamoto started to phase out of game development during the late 90s and only worked on some games here and there that he really enjoyed, while instead handing over Mario and Zelda to Koizumi and Aonuma, and serving as an overseer sort of guy for Nintendo franchises.
 
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