FromSoftware's executives should be more malenia, less consort Radahn

FromSoftware has built a reputation on the back of excruciatingly difficult games with Fire Ring be one of them. Despite a number of accessibility considerations and design choices that provide a smoother experience, Fire Ring ultimately features some of the hardest bosses FromSoftware has ever unleashed on the gaming world, for better or for worse. Nowhere is this difficulty with white knuckles more apparent than in the fight with the promised consort Radahn at the end of Shadow of the Earth Tree DLC.

With the expansion falling over two years after the base game, this encounter essentially serves as the finale to Fire Ring the experience as a whole – the “final” final boss of the game. As such, one would naturally expect this to be a difficult match, but few could have predicted how unforgiving and relentless it would be. This sparked several heated exchanges within the game's community, with many arguing that Radahn was either poorly designed, unfair, or hard for the sake of being hard. While these criticisms may vary in validity, they are indicative of a broader issue of difficulty in FromSoftware's games.

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Messmer the Impaler, Demigod Boss in Ring of Fire: Shadow of the Erdtree

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Why Malenia would be a better plan for the future from software executives than consort Radahn

Before Shadow of the Erdtree, Malenia, Blade of Miquella was almost universally seen as Fire Rings toughest boss fight. Tucked away in Miquella's Haligtree, players must fight their way through a huge, challenging, totally missed region to get to her. Since Haligtree isn't even available until after players reach the Giant's Peaks, Malenia is guaranteed to at least be a late-game boss fight, making her perfect for those looking for an extra challenge.

And an extra challenge is precisely what Malenia offers. She attacks the player with graceful ferocity, with a move that is one of FromSoftware's hardest to counter. Almost unavoidable attacks like her Waterfowl Dance combo, along with her Scarlet Rot status effects and health regeneration, make her a face reserved for only the most experienced (or masochistic) players, and beating her basically feels like overcoming the base game's final challenge.

Malenia's optional nature makes up for her crush difficulty

As is often the case in FromSoftware games, Fire Rings optional bosses are usually the hardest, and Malenia is no exception to this trend. But this informs their position in the overall structure of the game as players can tackle them at their own pace, and beating them is like an extra reward for mastering the game's mechanics or strengthening their character. This is inherently different from brutally challenging mandatory bosses like Promised Consort Radahn, which are more likely to be seen as frustrating roadblocks than worthwhile challenges.

In the case of Radahn, players will have to spend several hours getting through the DLC, putting themselves through Scadutree Fragments and the like, before hitting a brick wall. And make no mistake, Consort Radahn can really be a brick wall, especially in the pre-nerf game build, as his attacks are devastating, nearly impossible to dodge much of the time, and often hard to even see thanks to the visual noise of his second-phase Faith effects . Reaching him at the end of Shadow of the Erdtree can feel like an abrupt stop to momentum, reducing the overall experience for some players.

If Promised Consort Radahn was as powerful but included as an optional boss battle, then it's likely he wouldn't have been so maligned by the playerbase. Radahn would have been seen the same way as Malenia: a tough fight that creates bragging rights when it's done.