Otsuka: Next I'd like to ask about a very important area, the Firelink shrine.
Miyazaki: Firelink Shrine was Mr Daisuke Satake's, wasn't it?
Satake: Yes. From what I remember, it was originally designed as a water temple, but as work on the game progressed and the image of kindling and fire became more prominent, the water gradually dried up.
Miyazaki: Yes, that's right. Firelink Shrine serves as the hub for the game so I initially wanted it to be a very healing place with water, greenery, soft light and subtle music, and while that never really changed, as Mr. Satake said, factors like the introduction of kindling and Frampt's arrival later in the game meant that the water gradually disappeared from the area. We realised that when Frampt appears, he bursts through the ground, so the water that used to fill that area would all have to drain away…
The other thing is the bonfire placement. It use to be in a different location, the place it's in now used to be a small pond. We had problems with the original placement because the ground wasn't flat and it interfered with the player's sitting animation, so we had to search for a level location to move the bonfire to and that's were it stayed… but of course you can't have a bonfire in the middle of a pond, that water had to go, too.
Waragai: It feels like a place everyone will gather, so I think this location actually worked really well.
Miyazaki: Yes, I had an image of people gathered around the bonfire from the very beginning. Getting back to the subject, Firelink Shrine was one of the first places we designed. It's a small area but it connects to many different places and has many hidden spots. It was a very enjoyable location to create.
Satake: It was made to connect with areas in every direction. In fact, we had to remove some routes in the final game, as well as some other things. Initially Priscilla was the heroine of the story and she was going to be there, for example.
Miyazaki: That's not really something I want to talk about just yet….
Otsuka: Priscilla is certainly the most beautiful character in the game.
Miyazaki: Thank you. She was the heroine of the story at one point, so I'm glad you think so. Moving on to the Endead Burg: we never really spent much time working on the look of the area. It was the first map we created and the large bridge, the church and the other structures were already planned out by the 3D artist who was in charge of the area. As the lead artist on the project, he had already decided exactly how he wanted these things to look down to the smallest detail, even the levers and statues.
