This idea of a fallen-from-grace character is a common motif when it comes to Miyazaki, but it's so effective every time and always adds a dimension to the games' lore. To this day, I think Gehrman in Bloodborne is my favourite boss fight because it's simultaneously a test of everything you've grown into over the course of the game yourself, and also the conclusion of this man's painful, long and tragic existence

Are there any examples where this isn't the Motif in Elden Ring?

Arguably this is his only motif.

Elden ring is basically a huge ungodly mountain of character flaws.

There are definitely a few exceptions. Pontiff Sulyvahn (DS3) comes to mind as one, it's possible that Godrick in ER is also although we'll need to uncover more lore still. Byrgenwerth (Bloodborne) as an institution definitely. The motif of evil with Miyazaki often seems to be the institutional evil that affects the world, and very occasionally specific individuals in those institutions

Man, that fight was so satisfying, particularly since I’d eaten the umbilicals first.

Without context, this sounds quite crazy.

Hey man, people eat placenta.

This is rich, maybe Miyazaki just has different judgment than me but Dark Souls is one of the grossest and gloomiest games I've played due to the immediate application of gross-out body horror.

[0] is the Asylum Demon, which is literally the first boss in Dark Souls.

Bloodborne cranks the gross-out factor up to 11 with [1] and [2].

[0] https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6qCB_x7KQR8/maxresdefault.jpg

[1] https://bloodborne.wiki.fextralife.com/file/Bloodborne/ludwi...

[2] https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kXCskueejFY/XLlAKLB-nmI/AAAAAAAAd...

I think that quote gets misinterpreted a bit. I don't think Miyazaki is against the gross out factor entirely, but he doesn't want that to be the sole characteristic of the design.

Ludwig (your second example) is, I think, a perfect example of this. He's one of the most disgusting designs they've ever made, and yet when he stands during his second phase, and the music swells, you get an immense feeling of the grandeur and power of Ludwig before his fall to the disgusting creature he became:

https://youtu.be/7n1qe2ZSTPA?t=102

That being said, I think FromSoft's designs sometimes ARE "just gross". But it's an admirable guiding principle, even if they don't always hit it.

No mention of Gaping Dragon[0] and Ceaseless Discharge[1]? They just want hugs :( The Gaping Dragon also has an attack where it vomits in a very large area.

[0] https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/dragons/images/a/ac/OtTP...

[1] https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/darksouls/images/4/49/Ceas...

they are gross if you consider just the deformity and references (I've had to design character looking at all SORT of deformations and diseases) but also each has their own "dignity"

if you want to see pure grossness like they try to avoid watch something like peter jackson's "dead alive" the souls really nail a kind of tragic or even self respecting aspect of deformation in their more "offputting" characters.

And now we got the God Skin Duo... gulp...

Just beat them last night.... it was brutal.

If you explore a bit you'll find a site of grace that's directly in front of one of the gates. I also switched to frost damage and it made the fight almost trivial.

You can also use sleep items/magic and fight them one at a time.

Also if you never lock on to either of them, they are less aggressive.

I love that these games are turning to my old man. “Back in my day you Had to think your way through the problems…”

I didn't mean in terms of difficulty, but in terms of being "dignified" as a horror image, which was what GP was quoting from Miyazaki. Also I don't mean it as a way to point out some sort of hypocrisy, but that sometimes concessions were made. Horrible, horrible concessions.