Consort Radahn is a fight that i keep coming back to for the past few weeks cuz i just cant seem to fully get it out if my head.
A common statement i hear from various people online is that consort Radahn and the SOTE bosses in general "show that souls style combat can only go so far/is hitting its limit" and im just not sure that i agree with this.
This is gonna be a lil disorganized so forgive me
One major point of complaint about Consort Radahn ive heard ad nauseum is that his triple slash attack is inexcusable in its design. That it cannot be reasonably dodged without taking damage, or that if it can be dodged, it can only be done so by going for a severely limiting playstyle. That fromsoft has lost their touch and made a boss that is hard for the sake of difficulty.
What makes me question this is like, SOTE as a whole is a dlc filled to the brim with boss attack sequences which greatly reward methods of defense other than the capital D dodge button. Jumping, straffing, low profiling after jump attacks, crouching, even torrent mount/dismount i-frames. These techniques have existed in the base game but the DLC as a whole feels like it really encourages the player to find solutions other than pressing the circle button as a kneejerk get out out if jail card. For a series that has had its combat derided as "dodge swing", the dlc has genuinely done a great job at showing how much farther the combat CAN be pushed, in fact.
And so i look at radahn, and i look at the triple slash. While not truly UN-DODGEABLE, this is definitely an attack that is trying to say "dodging alone is not enough" right? Must a boss be able to be cleanly hitless'd with nothing but good ol dodge roll in order to be "fair"? To be interesting? To be fun? Is "fair" actually what we want from a boss? Like, PERSONALLY, while i think hitless runs and such are fucking cool and genuinely badass, isnt it in some way kind of flattening for a boss to be able to be bested using only dodge-hit? If we criticized the series for being dodge-hit, do we really want the final boss of this game to be easily beaten by dodge-hit? Do we really want dodge-hit to be the most FUN way to fight this last boss? Does a bosses's quality hinge on how it plays doing dodge-hit only with no other mechanics?
Like, there are a plethora of ways to take on Radahn that will allow a player to interact with triple-slash and other problematic attacks from radahn and come out the victor. Shields (both normal shields and the new thrusting shields), parrying, deflecting hardtear, endure, quickstep, bloodhound step, all those fucking backhand blade ashes of war, miriam's vanishing, vow of the indomitable, blinkbolt, raptor of the mist, uplifting aromatic, Crucible feather talisma, Fine-crucible-feather-talisman, Windy Crystal Tear. And thats just things outright meant to help you dodge or severely face-tank it, not even getting into summons/spirit ashes. The cross slash does not true-combo all of its hits together, so if you're vig is well levelled and youre well armored and using SOME kind of damage negation buff, you can probably tank one of those 3 hits and not even be knocked below half health.
"b-b-but unavoidable damage isn't good game design!!". Literally, says who? Like firstly, we've established its not unavoidable. if you REALLY want to truly, 100% avoid it, there are the plethora of options given above as well as the "stick to his right knee like glue" strat. But let's throw that aside for the sake of argument. It is unavoidable. Youre getting clipped by SOMETHING in that move, no matter what. Does that make it bad? Is adjusting your build and your playstyle around the idea that there is 1 attack you cannot actually avoid a bad thing? Is it a bad thing for a final-final boss to put a harder limit on your resources than other bosses in the game? That you MUST dip into your flask resources more? That you must adjust your own DPS to account for this? That you must adjust what a "safe" amount of remaining health is, knowing that this attack COULD come along and clip you?
This isn't even the first time Fromsoft have played with this idea in Elden Ring. Mohg's Nihil will either force you to burn through 3 of your flasks mid-fight (so you must fight him as though your flask resource is actually 3 less than your maximum) or devote half of your physick to the tear that counters it (thus removing an additional tear which could help further boost your DPS or some other effect). Malenia has her whole HP regen gimmick, meaning you cannot simply hit trade the whole fight and win purely through out-damaging her and then healing. Waterfowl itself is a move that, while it can be avoided, certainly feels like a move that is meant to clip most players, and further eat into their resources while refilling her own. I think there is something interesting in a boss attacking your resources, sometimes literally.
I don't think consort Radahn is a perfect boss. I actually do have my own complaints about him (most notably: how awful the frame rate can get in phase 2. its inexcusable). But while not PERFECT, I think he was made with more deliberate intent than simply being mindlessly difficult. I think, as a boss encounter, he is DEMANDING players to use more than JUST base-game dodge rolling in order to survive him. He's testing your ability to make an efficient build, to mitigate losses mid-fight, to use defensive maneuvers other than just dodging, and when you ARE dodging to make sure youre dodging in the RIGHT direction rather than mindlessly dodging away from him.
in a sense the triple slash is bringing in Armored Core sensibilities, right? a game where you simply can't do a hitless run unless you're a true maniac. it's cool and good to see them cross-pollinating their games, and a DLC that didn't push so far outside the players' comfort zone would be a much less impressive thing and I think, for those who really dive into it, much less fun as well
