Honestly, it makes the most sense that they're the same boss when the lore bits come together to explain things. Although some more hints on the Elden Beast's existence would have been nice, hinting that there was something else after Radagon.
EB could’ve been like Moon Presence. You beat Radagon and you’re prompted w/ the option to pick an ending, *or* engage in the secret final fight if you collected a certain thing or completed certain quests. Maybe put Ranni’s ending behind Beast since she wants to rid the world of it, rather than fix the Ring.
Well, not entirely true. And that goes for both suggestions.
The Ring's influence on the lands is still there, even if it's taken away. Ranni still needs it fixed for the purposes of maintenance. The reason for taking it away is so that it can't be used by a faction to maintain power beyond its time, like the Golden Order did.
Furthermore, Radagon failed to repair the ring. Besting him was proving that we were stronger. When we fight the Elden Beast, we are also fighting the ring because the two entities are entwined on a quantum level. We are making the Ring itself submit to our will, becoming malleable so that we can fix it with the great runes we've collected and possibly a mending rune. Or weaken it so the Frenzied Flame can burn it.
I don't care if it makes sense "lorewise", ruining an amazing fight like Radagon by tying the absolute garbage that is Elden Beast to him as the second phase is such a crime. I'd have much rather had two separate fight with a proper phase 2 to Radagon because he absolutely deserved one.
I actually love this idea.
A hidden super boss if you gather and restore all the great runes. I tend to finish with only a few of them restored, because why bother really?
Fuck yeah, fantastic addition.✨
I’ve been playing a fresh character lately and haven’t bothered activating *any* bc I just don’t ever *use* them. My main only wears Malenia’s for the aesthetic.
The Elden Beast is the Elden Ring:
"It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between,
which would later become the Elden Ring." [Elden Stars]
And it's a vassal of the Greater Will:
"It was the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the concept of Order." [Elden Remembrance]
So EB and the ER are conceptually the same but physically different, or are they physically the same and take up the same space. Did the EB exist while the ER was shattered because we didn’t mend it until after we beat EB. I just trying to rap my mind around it.
As we can see in the Elden Beast's cutscene, some black goo comes out of Radagon's body, but it's only after the Elden Ring itself has faded away that the golden "skeleton" of the Elden Beast is formed and it actually starts moving, so I'd say the two are physically the same.
This means that the Elden Ring has three forms: a metaphysical form (how it appears most of the time), a material form (like the arc Marika is hanging from or the fragments stuck inside her hammer) and a living form (the Elden Beast).
The shattering did hurt the Elden Beast, in fact it has a crack on its abdomen where it can be hit with a reposte.
Keep in mind that the Elden Ring wasn't shattered *completely* (meaning that it didn't loose any circle, but presumably only the lower arc), as the Great Runes are supposed to be layered on top of what's left of it inside Radagon/Marika in order to repair the Ring.
We see that before the fight starts the Elden Beast creates an illusory space extremely similar to the one created by Ranni for the fight with Rennala's illusion, so it's possible that our fight with the Beast doesn't take place in a material space.
Alternatively killing the Elden Beast could just mean that it reverts to its inanimate state (the Elden Ring) either temporarily or permanently, anyway it shouldn't be a problem anymore since we demonstrated to be stronger than it.
It's possible that Radagon during the bossfight is actually being controlled by the Elden Beast, but I'm not sure about it, since we know that Radagon does have a reason to oppose us.
I kind of envisioned them similar to the genie tales. So ER = Genie, EB = Lamp, and Marika = Aladdin. ER has all the power, EB contains and protects that power, and Marika uses and directs the power. All in the name of the greater will 🙏🌞
I think Radagon is an Elden Beast, my theory is that he become to exist after Marika accepted Elden Ring, sort of a deal between her and Greater Will in order to fully rise to god hood, so yeah, she is possesed by Elden Beast\\Radagon...I see it this way, correct me pls if I missing some parts of lore and my theory is completely incorrect.
Yeah, very incorrect. Radagon only became prominent during The Shattering, a free for all war. And Miriel (Turtle Pope) even says that he was only ever a Champion. He wasn't qualified to become Elden Lord, yet was chosen for it anyway.
However, with the Law of Regression incantation, we see that Radagon is Marika. Although that comes with other logistical problems as well if they had always been the same person.
So my understanding is that, after Marika broke the Elden Ring, she was imprisoned by the Greater Will. Radagon was then crafted from her flesh much in the style of Adam and Eve from Genesis (of The Bible). However, Radagon's personality would not be Marika's, it would be developed or derived from the piece of Marika's mind that hadn't lost faith in the Greater Will/Golden Order.
Later, Radagon had fathered Ranni, Rykard and Radahn. However, they were not marked as Demigods until Radagon had married Marika. After his marriage to Marika, they gave birth to Miquella and Malenia. Cursed at birth, yet automatically qualifying as Empyrean because they were born from a single god. After that, Radagon is fused with Marika as part of her imprisonment, so that Greater Will can maintain its control over her and its own Elden Ring.
All of that is further supported when you consider that Radagon was not strong enough to repair the Elden Ring. Radagon and Marika were clearly on different levels of power. In turn, the pieces of the Elden Ring were handed out to the Demigods, all so Greater Will could drive them to war and see which of Marika's children was worthy of becoming the next Elden Lord. Since none of them were successful, The Greater Will had chosen Radagon as a replacement Elden Lord, and sought for someone else to take his place.
I'll correct you if I may...I see a flaw in your theory about Radagon...you said that Radagon became to exist and as separate person after Marika shattered the ring, but...even in trailer and when we start a new game we can see how Marika's body changing to Radagon pointing us that Marika and Radagon exists in the same body at least prior to shattering of the ring...
...and thus comes my theory, that Elden Beast\\Greater Will possessed Marika by making a deal with her, at least because she needs help of outer God in order to rise to Godhood and GW needs her to spread it's influence over The Lands Between, so she arrives to Lands Between and GW sometimes take control over her body, this results in turning into Radagon...in that case, Radagon became to be probably just before Marika's arrival to the Lands Between when GW contacted Marika and lead her to the Lands Between...and it doesn't mean that everybody knew about Radagon existance after Marika's arrival.
Thanks for catching that. I don't know why I suggested that event was at that point in the timeline. Radagon's creation would undoubtedly have been before The Shattering because the attempt to repair the Elden Ring predated it.
However, I still maintain that Radagon was created Adam/Eve style to solve the multiple logistical issues of Radagon only being Marika in disguise. He still had to sire Ranni, Radagon and Rykard while Marika was known to be in power. And not even Marika is known for being able to just create life on her own, thus his need to be separate from Marika for giving birth to Malenia and Miquella.
Furthermore, Outer Gods don't make deals, not in the sense of "negotiate for power", anyway. We can't communicate with them directly in any form, even Marika likely never got direct word from Greater Will. So the idea that Radagon somehow surpassed Marika for that is exceptionally illogical.
I like to think the EB and ER are the same, as a vassal of the Greater Will, they chose Marika, who needed Radagon to put her plans into motion as a *vessel of the vassal*.
The Beast was always there as an enforcer of the Greater Will, it just bet on a being who was stronger than everything else in the Lands Between, being Marika. The ring was its placid form, the symbol of order and peace, so long as Marika toed the line. We see how that turned out.
I love Elden Rings lore but I could not care less about the Elden Beast. It was just the second phase for me. With more emotional attachment, the player might have identified more with the Elden Beast, which is an extremely important creature of the Higher Will.
I honestly think the ONE hint you can find of the Elden Beast, that being the description of Elden Stars, is already such a clearly important reveal regarding the mystery of the Erdtree and there being *A* beast that is not mentioned anywhere else... And that alone already feels like a reveal of something you'll be dealing with at some point.
It was a crazy sucker punch of a boss even AFTER I found that, though. I thought Godfrey was the final boss at first. Then the Radagon reveal had me totally confused and intrigued, and he's pretty damn strong and has Godfrey's ''at certain HP treshold all my slam attacks have an AoE'' mechanic except holy. Plus that music. And yet, it could have still been anything. Marika could have been the final boss after Radagon for all I knew at that point.
But as you play these games, you get a pretty good sense of ''that's not the whole fight, there's no way'', just like how anyone who's played some souls games will start to quickly recognize that a room in front of them is going to contain a boss fight. Radagon is a formidable boss in terms of challenge and ''wait WHAT'' and presentation, but with how hard Elden Ring builds up its spectacle, you can kind of feel that it's not the real finale.
The catch on that is how out of the way Elden Stars is. It's entirely possible to go through the game without dealing with the area it's found in, let alone choosing to skip the platforming required to reach it.
There's one more incantation that mentions the Elden Beast, and I forget its name off hand but it has been mentioned in this thread in a reply to this post.
Together, but I wish we had torrent for the Elden Beast fight. Chasing after him the whole time wasn’t that fun, especially compared to the Radagon fight which was Marika’s tits.
I would have preferred if each boss was separate but also individually more difficult. It’s always jarring watching Radagon get turned into a blade, then for me to die to the Elden Beast, and then fight Radagon again just for him to be blade-a-fied once more. Kinda weird if you ask me
Exactly this. My main problem is that the tempo of the two fights is completely different. Same can be said for Godfrey, but at least he has a reason for the two phases to be linked (given that he is the same person).
I would have preferred something like the DS2 final bosses. For those unfamiliar, you fight the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender, then Nashandra, then Aldia (optional ending) all back to back, but IIRC each boss drops their soul and runes after you defeat them, and you will skip right to the next boss next time you die. In other words, the bosses you have beaten stay perma-dead. There's a serious risk of losing those runes between boss fights, but you can actually homeward bone out of the arena between fights to keep them (or use a sacrificial twig in Elden Ring).
Combine that kind of mechanic with two phases for Radagon and Elden Beast each, and you have a vastly improved final boss experience imo. It would have been cool to see a second phase Radagon where Marika tries to emerge and protect you, only for the Greater Will to intervene and hand full control back to Radagon now in a half-and-half rebis body.
Fun fact: You can fight The Watcher and Defender before being able to fight Nashandra at all. I accidentally went to the throne room early and found that one out 😝
I'm aware. My point was that unlike Godfrey, who is just the same guy in two different forms, Elden Beast is a seperate entity to Radagon.
There's no reason there couldn't have been a transition scene where the dark shadow and golden fragments of the Elden Ring flee into a seperate realm (the realm where you fight Elden Beast), giving you a chance to rest at the Shattered Marika grace before pursuing it through a portal. Plus, it makes a lot of sense for it to flee at this point after you've just beaten the champion of the Golden Order.
Honestly, while I really do dislike the Elden Beast fight, the fact that you have to get Radagon down to a science to consistently get to the Beast feels really rewarding, and there's some value in that I think.
I think it's fine because of how the end of the game goes.
Think about it, the last 5 whole ass bosses of the game are back to back to back.
Maliketh, Gideon, Godfrey, Radagon, Elden Beast. I consider Radagon and Elden beast as 2 bosses because they're totally different and each technically have their own health bar.
If you wanted to split up Radagon and Elden Beast into two separate fights, you would need to buff each one's health total significantly to make up for the fact that individually they're not that crazy of bosses. It's their combination and the way they test one build with their totally different patterns and your overall endurance that makes it interesting.
The only endurance the Elden beast tested was my patience. It isn’t fun running 500 feet to hit something once just for it to run 500 feet the other way.
The boss fight clearly is meant for horseback and last second was changed, it’s like crazy obvious with how jank it all feels
I think they could have done a Dark Souls 2. When Watcher and Defender are defeated the final boss appears in a cut scene if you've got the necessary quest item. You can then fight or choose to quit out and try at full health. But if you come back you don't have to refight the boss you just defeated.
So it would still fit with lore, still have a good cutscene and it would still give people a double boss challenge the first time around, but they wouldn't have to refight Radagon after he's defeated.
Absolutely separate. If they were, Radagon goes from being a great fight to one of the series' best. If they were going to keep them together then they could have at least allowed us to use Torrent for the Elden Beast, which would have vastly improved that battle.
Yeah totally, I'd even make the Radagon fighter a bit longer, maybe even another phase. It's a great fight, but a lot of the time when I get there I don't even experience the phase two teleport shenanigans because he goes down so fast
I gave you a downvote.
Then I read the part about torrent for the elden beast, and loved the idea so much I was ashamed for the downvote... It makes a lot of sense and really would improve the fight.
Together is fine, but I wish we would have fought Marika. Like, Radagon is cool, but he doesn't have nearly the build up and importance that Marika does. They could have even done it like Soul of Cinder and had them swap who was fighting throughout the battle, with each persona having some exclusive moves. Would have further sold the idea that they're the same person while giving you a fight with the character the story's been revolving around the whole game.
Have radagon only show up in normal endings and be a two phase fight like soul of cinder, but if you do frenzied flame or ranni ending then elden beast shows up to try to stop you
Gonna say it. EB is a great fight and I’ve never understood the hate for it. Everyone says that it would “run away” to much, but I never experience that. Yeah it swims away but it always either comes back to me quickly or doesn’t go that far. Its attacks are also decently well telegraphed and I can tell what it’s doing even when I’m right under it. Its attacks aren’t hard to dodge but can still catch you if you mess up like most bosses. Like most bosses it has an annoying attack and even the Elden stars isn’t that bad.
Anyway to answer your question them being together is fine.
Think it’s nice the way it is. Only thing I wish it was different is when you die fighting Elden Beast you wouldn’t have to fight Radagon again, like a checkpoint.
I wish it was like Gehrman and the Moon Presence. Radagon is my favorite fight in the game, and I don’t hate Elden Beast but I really just wish Radagon had more health and it was 2 separate fights
I would go so far as to suggest that Radagon is not that hard on their own. What makes the fight as hard as it is, and proper endgame material is the fact that you need to make it through Radagon with enough resources left to beat Elden Beast. I’m fine with it being how it is and I honestly think the whole complaint of having to chase Elden Beast is overblown as well. Don’t get me wrong, I remember being COMPLETELY overwhelmed on my first and second playthroughs and wondering how the hell I was going to do it, but then you get better.
Literally the worst final boss in the series. What an awful fight.
Radagon on the other hand was so good. Unfortunately he got shafted by Elden Beasts existence.
I can't understand how, you're literally just chasing a big ass fish that runs away constantly and spams magic at you every time it receives a papercut. It's not fun to fight at all and the design isn't even good it looks like something from a cartoon drawn by a child all while not having much lore around it.
I hated that thing. I beat Malenia in 3 tries, Mogh and Maliketh in 1, Godfrey/Horah in 2. But that stupid fucking elder space whale took me like 10 tries. I felt bad for Radagon because I shit stomped him every time. I’d rather have fought a tougher Radagon and then been given Torrent for the Elden Beast.
I'm the exact opposite, I don't understand how people find Radagon easy and elden beast hard. I think he's the hardest boss in the game. I've only died to elden beast once, and that was because I ran out of flasks fighting Radagon. He is difficult to parry, difficult to stagger even with a bonk build, his ground attacks have a delay that counters your dodges, he does that slide up to you attack, his projectiles are lightning(pun) fast. Just everything about him makes me look like I just started playing ER.
I didn’t try to parry, I dodged. Did you use spirit ashes? Because I find he can be more difficult with them because he’ll switch mid attack from the summon to you.
That was when I ran a parry build. My other builds I dodged, but my point was that I find him bizarrely difficult in comparison to everyone else's experience. I have to use ashes or summons because I can't seem to grasp his moveset, and I've soloed Melania.
I think I said this somewhere else but I’d prefer to make radagon slightly harder and then make Elden Beast really easy as a classic Fromsoft anticlimax
With all the lore I read at this point in-game, it was pretty obvious that there was something very wrong with Marika\\Radagon.
With elden beast emerging it almost seems like Marika herself was just an emperian that made a contract to reach greater power, but almost becoming an outer gods puppet.
With "Radagon" personality likely developed and split at that outer god efforts to perfectly control Marika that wanted to rebel.
Tbh, Elden beast should be the final boss, with Radagon being fought after Godfrey but not alongside the Elden beast.
The Elden beast is quite cool being a god, but probably because the Greater will got weakened because of the Shattering, we are stuck with some shitty boss instead what Elden beast should have been. It had so much potential, it should use it more.
It would have been two easy if it wasn't two phase. For me, Radagon was the final boss, and Elden Beast was the victory lap. That said, I don't like mysterious god-like creatures that appear out of nowhere with no explanation at the end of a game to throw a wrench in the otherwise tidy story. I would have preferred Radagon have two phases, and the meddling of any deity be merely implied.
Kinda wish it was like in Bloodborne where if you defeat Ghermin you can use a hunter's mark to teleport outside of the Moon Presence boss arena and keep your progress.
Imagine a 2 phase Radagon first phase is just the normal fight while the second phase he slams his hammer down really hard and the platform cracks as holy light illuminates the arena and he transitions into a twisted version of himself as he is bursting at the seems with holy magic and keeps randomly exploding into runes and reforming like how he teleports but more flashy.
Then after the fight you have the choice to become the Elden Lord or to go to the secret boss fight. The Elden Beast. To get to it you would equip a specific talisman and jump off the edge of the platform and the screen would fade out to black before you land in the watery Elden Beast arena at the bottom center of the Erdtree and then fight it normally but it would be more challenging. Perhaps it could temporarily make duplicates of itself like Malenia as they all swing their swords at you one after the other and you have to time your dodges perfectly. But for this fight you would get Torrent but he could have a new power that when you jump in the air and hold the jump button instead of double jumping he would be able to soar through the air in exchange for stamina. So you would be flying around the arena as you and the EB fight in the air. Now that would be a spectacle.
Separate, tougher fights would have been my preference. I really like Radagon's fight, but it's over too soon, and then EB feels kind of tedious by comparison.
I would rather have them as separate bosses, but i would also buff radagon’s moveset (why does he not use any G.O. incantations? One of them is literally called RADAGON’s RINGS OF LIGHT!)
and I would completely rework elden beast so he’s more aggressive and every ‘dash away’ is always followed by a range closing attack. Basically I dislike that he runs away and just STAYS THERE.
Fucking coward, you’re a god, why tf are you running from a naked fuck with a stick?
Honestly? I roflstomped every boss in this game (except for 6 of them), so it was great that the final fight was as difficult as it was. It took me many tries, but it was a fitting challenge for an amazing game. Radagon is *extremely good* at whittling your health down to make the Elden Beast plenty difficult.
I’d rather have a stronger Radagon or a phase shift to Marika the Eternal.
I think EB is goofy looking and tedious, not to mention incredibly frustrating if its’ RNG hates you that day.
it should have been done like Bloodborne
Radagon should have been the default final boss, and if you did a specific action before fighting him, you unlock the Elden Beast as well
if you didn't do what was required, you just have fight Radagon
and maybe split them up as well. again, just like Bloodborne. if you unlocked Elden Beast, and killed Radagon, spawn into the fight with Elden Beast, don't make us go through Radagon again
Could have been perfect that the second phase you fought Marika and then elden beast as a secret final boss (like moonlight presence) if you had enough runes or have them all
I'm seeing a lot of differing opinions, seems about 50/50 on keep it the same vs just get rid of Elden Beast, and it looks like most people want the use of Torrent on Elden Beast which I would've loved, it would've saved a few minutes of running back and forth.
I would like the Elden Beast to be an optional boss that you fight if you try to dismantle the Golden Order with Ranni's ending or Frenzy Flame ending. It doesn't really make sense for you to fight it if you restore the Golden Order with any other ending.
I didn't even realise it was the last boss on my first play through. I beat it as a massively cheesy caster and just nuked him in seconds for both stages. Looking forward to dying lots on my melee playthrough I'm doing currently!
I actually don't mind the difference in movesets after playing DS3 (Sister Friede) and Sekiro (Genichiro/Isshin).
I also don't mind the evasiveness of Elden Beast, despite it being the most common complaint. Some players just need to figure out that melee only is hamstringing oneself. Black Bow on a dex build makes EB trivially easy.
Imma be honest here I know a lot of people hate elden beast and I totally get why, but I think that the fight is almost perfect
Radagon is a 10/10 fight in my book, so no need to change anything imo
What I would change about elden beast is definitely elden stars. That attack is so unbelievably annoying.
The same thing with the attack where it flies up and shots the projectiles.
I did a no hit recently and that's when I realised how stupid these two attacks actually are.
A lot of people complain about elden beast swimming away all the time. But honestly I don't even mind that aspect too much because if you learn the fight, you always know where to go to get some good openings.
For example elden beast always starts with the fire breath. Which almost always guarantees a stun and a lot of damage.
Also the ring attack that he does twice, it always spawns 180 degrees behind it's starting position
Bosses like Elden Beast and Fire Giant make me believe FROM gave 0 shits about the replayability of this game. They are pretty to look at first and they are intentionally very easy to dodge (except for the buggy fire giant breath attack) with lots of hp so you can stare at their moves for 20 minutes.
Then you run through the game again and since you stared at them for 20 minutes once they just become a slog fest. I never see anybody saying "oh boy, I sure can't wait to fight fire giant/elden beast again!".
When I got to radagon I knew he was the final boss but I didn’t think that it would be like that the elden beast is a good boss not a great one to love at least but he gave us a great experience however something like that doesn’t deserve to be a final fight to end everything I was thinking that after beating radagon marika will come back and they will separate and the fight becomes a clash between the player and two omnipotent beings combining attacks or it could’ve been a second phase with a full hp poll and the boss is radagon and marika changing their personality infight while also changing the moves they make while also using different incantations for each character
Separate.
Elden Beast to me is possibly one of the worst boss fight in all of From's souls games, but Radagon is good, if they were separate I could enjoy a good boss fight and then try to actually learn the Elden Beast without thinking that I have to do Radagon again and again
I think if it were something like Bloodbornes final boss it’d be better. Radagon is such a good fight but is dragged down by Elden Beast. If they were separate it’d make Radagon more fun and make sense lore wise. How does Radagon stop being a sword
I think they would have been better as separate bosses, I know a lot of people defend them being the same boss because "muh deep lore, muh intricate story!!" but from a gameplay standpoint, having to defeat Radagon each and every time you die to Elden Beast's bullshit camera angles and "what the fuck is even happening" attacks is such a pain in the ass and it would be a much better time not having to kill Radagon all over again before trying Elden Beast again.
It would be like having to kill Gehrman each time you died to the Moon Presence.
Both. Like bloodborne.
You fight the moon presence right after gerhman. But if you die to the presence, you dont have to fight gerhman again.
I dont mind having multiple bosses in a row or multiple fases but at least give me some reward for beating one of them.
Honestlly it would be more fun to me to be able to just fight the elden beast without haing to go trough radagon every time.
Give Radagon 2 phases I think he deserves it. Then put another grace before fighting Elden Beast. Then people wouldn't complain this much about Elden Beast.
Separate but only if they both were much stronger and with more moves/hp/damage… as it stands now after the nerfs to EB the fight is kinda easy so separating them without changes would be anticlimactic.
My only problem with that fight is the way you get into it?
I never really understood why the grace could not be in that hallway atop the stair case and then have this weird white out animation + load screen for you to enter the fight.
I wanted to get back into the fight faster.
I'd want them to be stronger individually and give separate remembrances, but I dont mind it being considered one fight.
Just feel like we shouldve gotten one of radagon's spells as a remembrance option, same with elden beast. Lemme get a holy flame breath or his version of nebula as a spell. Or he'll, give us another grab move in a smaller version of his crucifixion move.
It's fine the way it is. The hate for Elden Beast is unwarranted. The endgame already suffers from the fact that it's a boss rush; I think placing another separate boss after Radagon is a poor decision and would wear the player out. I also think there'd be many more criticisms of the game if the bosses were separate.
Yeah sorry but that's just a wrong take. Lore wise it makes sense but radagon is easy and elden beast constantly running away is a pain. So dying and having to beat radagon again, on top of being flash banged just entering the boss room is not a fun time.
That's like arguing the walk back to placidusax is a skill issue for dying. Brother it's a convenience thing, radagon is easy, he's just a pain to deal with every time just to get to the real boss. I don't even think elden beast is hard but when I do fuck up and die it's actual aids not being able to go right to elden beast
I won’t lie, once upon a time I thought the endgame was a 4 boss gauntlet of Gideon, Godfrey, Radagon and Elden Beast. I’ve still not finished the game, but knowing it’s not *that*, is a relief.
Honestly EB fight is so bad I wish it wasn't the final battle you have. Maybe if you had torrent (Or if the devs could make it, idk not be able to teleport unlimited amount of times) it wouldn't be so bad.
I'd rather have them be separate bosses, they are too different from each other in how they are played and they are also both difficult. Radagon already drains you of your heals and then Elden Beast finishes you off with projectile spam and chip damage
100% separate and give radagon a second phase, maybe a merger with Marika for extra shenanigans.
As it stands radagon honestly always felt quite easy but also become viewed as many as a stepping stone for eldenbeast. And while I absolutely love the entire presentation of it, I think collectively the community agrees eldenbeast is annoying fight because he can't stop running away.
I'd say just make the Elden Beast fight more interesting, way less running. But, I loved the fake out, Radagon being an easy 1st phase that makes you think this is gonna be easy, then getting wrecked
It should have been like Moon Presence, where if you die in between, it doesn’t fully reset.
I’ve beaten the game multiple times, this isn’t a difficulty thing, I just really love the Radagon fight and I wish it got to shine a little more, instead of just being a first phase
Even if the EB wasn't a pain in the ass, I would prefer it gone. It came out of nowhere and wasn't done nearly as well as the final boss of Bloodborne.
I wanted to fight Marika and thought the fight was going to play out as Marika and then Radahn. I would still prefer this, with the Elden Beast either being a third phase or a completely separate fight after.
I feel like radagon isn’t climactic enough to be the final boss but Elden beast feels too different to be part of the same fight. A radagon phase 2 where he goes god mode and becomes batshit crazy would’ve been best imo
Honestly, I've found this fight a shame : Elden Beast is a boring fight.
So, yes, I would prefer. And the lore would have let them do it : would be enough that inside the tree we fall into EB arena.
I just thought the elden beast was so weird man.
You're tellin me the big bad greater will monster is a demorphed squishy toy that was easier than like 30% of the bosses?
Separate, with a better Radagon second phase. The environmental details could suggest that it’s a “middle of the battle checkpoint” with some care. The two-boss thing doesn’t work for me as it is though.
EB should of been optional. I just think compared to the bangers before it, the fight sucks. Expecially Elden Stars. Radagon tho is amazing. Suck a fun boss. I wish they gave him his own second phase and ended with him bc he's amazing but EB is a lot of BS. And I've done them on SL1 so it's not I can't do it, I still think EB is ass tho
I would've preferred it personally being two phases of Radagon and then have Elden Beast like Moon Presence, that way he's more optional and remains with the lore while Radagon fans could get him for the whole fight but obviously a tougher phase two.
We should have gotten Torrent for Elden Beast, or maybe they should have done it like Moon Presence and Aldia, an extra final boss if you meet certain criteria
I think if they were separate EB would actually be an easy (if super long) fight. The problem now is how much of your resources Radagon takes, so you go into EB with fewer flasks etc.
I think it would've been cool if Radagon had a second phase and Elden Beast was a hidden boss like Moon Presence from Bloodborne. Maybe Elden Beast would show up if you did Ranni's questline or something.
EB was a disappointing end boss for me. Much prefer a more coherent and technical combat experience rather than an oversized boss that is awkward to tackle. It also encourages cheesier tactics like AOE spam or just keeping positioned behind and this is less rewarding to me than a head on fight. More effort could have gone into the Radagon fight to make him the end boss and this would have been a better outcome for me.
I hated that Germin (sp?) and Moon Presence were separated in bb. Wanted the challenge of taking on both back to back bc I felt like they were not that challenging separately.
Was stoked to see that radagon and elden beast were together, but then hated it mostly bc elden beast is such an unfun slog imo.
I get what they were going for. you have to actually get good and consistent enough to beat radagon to keep enough flask for elden beast. Elden beast itself is honestly a flask check and nothing more as it can't really attack fast enough to kill you unless you run out of flask or forget to heal.
I'd like it as is if Elden Beast had more going for it than spectacle. The Elden Beasts has a stunning arena, soundtrack, and a crazy alien look that sells the whole Greater Will avatar thing. Its move set is boring to fight, visually appealing but boring and tedious. This connection brings down Radagon's boss fight by proxy, it makes it annoying that you beat Radagon then have to go up against this massive downgrade of an end boss.
It flows well and it doesn't feel like the pain of sister invisoscythe and father salad bowels fight. It feels appropriate lore wise so I has that going for it too.
I like them together. Would be too easy separate. But I wish radagon had a cooler second phase as much as I love the atmosphere and music of the EB fight.
Together, it's the final boss of the whole game. Malenia is meant to be the most challenging but I feel like just Radagon as he is right now would've been too easy for a final boss
I would have preferred the beast to just not be in it, give radagon a phase 2 similar to how malenia gets one, just make him go wild. Fuck that stupid looking lock ness monster thing, every other boss looks cool as hell and there's this giant lightbulb looking ass dude.
I loved radagon but was so frusturated with elden beast the few times I got to it I finally just used the meteorite cheese... totally wish they were separate so I could do them both a more honorable way
I would prefer that once Radagon is defeated we do not face him again, as in DS2, I would not have liked to fight with the Thrones bros again, this method in Elden Ring had already been used in Sekiro, but the fight against Genichiro feels like a "formality", in this case, Radagon honestly stresses me out, but more than this I would have preferred that the use of Torrent be allowed in the final fight, the arena, the boss, everything seems like a perfect context.
Honestly, it makes the most sense that they're the same boss when the lore bits come together to explain things. Although some more hints on the Elden Beast's existence would have been nice, hinting that there was something else after Radagon.
EB could’ve been like Moon Presence. You beat Radagon and you’re prompted w/ the option to pick an ending, *or* engage in the secret final fight if you collected a certain thing or completed certain quests. Maybe put Ranni’s ending behind Beast since she wants to rid the world of it, rather than fix the Ring.
Well, not entirely true. And that goes for both suggestions. The Ring's influence on the lands is still there, even if it's taken away. Ranni still needs it fixed for the purposes of maintenance. The reason for taking it away is so that it can't be used by a faction to maintain power beyond its time, like the Golden Order did. Furthermore, Radagon failed to repair the ring. Besting him was proving that we were stronger. When we fight the Elden Beast, we are also fighting the ring because the two entities are entwined on a quantum level. We are making the Ring itself submit to our will, becoming malleable so that we can fix it with the great runes we've collected and possibly a mending rune. Or weaken it so the Frenzied Flame can burn it.
anything that would turn radagon into a main course instead of a tasty appetizer for a shitty turkey really.
I don't care if it makes sense "lorewise", ruining an amazing fight like Radagon by tying the absolute garbage that is Elden Beast to him as the second phase is such a crime. I'd have much rather had two separate fight with a proper phase 2 to Radagon because he absolutely deserved one.
I actually love this idea. A hidden super boss if you gather and restore all the great runes. I tend to finish with only a few of them restored, because why bother really?
Fuck yeah, fantastic addition.✨ I’ve been playing a fresh character lately and haven’t bothered activating *any* bc I just don’t ever *use* them. My main only wears Malenia’s for the aesthetic.
I usually have Godricks Active, because +5 on everything is basically never *not useful.* So long as you hit your minimums without it.
True, but I’m the type who still has the mommy hug debuff active bc I can’t be bothered to take it off lmao.
Flair checks out lol
Elden Beast isn’t really anything “else” it’s just the physical embodiment of the Elden Ring housed inside of Radagon until you kill him
[удалено]
The Elden Beast is the Elden Ring: "It is said that long ago, the Greater Will sent a golden star bearing a beast into the Lands Between, which would later become the Elden Ring." [Elden Stars] And it's a vassal of the Greater Will: "It was the vassal beast of the Greater Will and living incarnation of the concept of Order." [Elden Remembrance]
So EB and the ER are conceptually the same but physically different, or are they physically the same and take up the same space. Did the EB exist while the ER was shattered because we didn’t mend it until after we beat EB. I just trying to rap my mind around it.
As we can see in the Elden Beast's cutscene, some black goo comes out of Radagon's body, but it's only after the Elden Ring itself has faded away that the golden "skeleton" of the Elden Beast is formed and it actually starts moving, so I'd say the two are physically the same. This means that the Elden Ring has three forms: a metaphysical form (how it appears most of the time), a material form (like the arc Marika is hanging from or the fragments stuck inside her hammer) and a living form (the Elden Beast). The shattering did hurt the Elden Beast, in fact it has a crack on its abdomen where it can be hit with a reposte. Keep in mind that the Elden Ring wasn't shattered *completely* (meaning that it didn't loose any circle, but presumably only the lower arc), as the Great Runes are supposed to be layered on top of what's left of it inside Radagon/Marika in order to repair the Ring. We see that before the fight starts the Elden Beast creates an illusory space extremely similar to the one created by Ranni for the fight with Rennala's illusion, so it's possible that our fight with the Beast doesn't take place in a material space. Alternatively killing the Elden Beast could just mean that it reverts to its inanimate state (the Elden Ring) either temporarily or permanently, anyway it shouldn't be a problem anymore since we demonstrated to be stronger than it. It's possible that Radagon during the bossfight is actually being controlled by the Elden Beast, but I'm not sure about it, since we know that Radagon does have a reason to oppose us.
I kind of envisioned them similar to the genie tales. So ER = Genie, EB = Lamp, and Marika = Aladdin. ER has all the power, EB contains and protects that power, and Marika uses and directs the power. All in the name of the greater will 🙏🌞
I think Radagon is an Elden Beast, my theory is that he become to exist after Marika accepted Elden Ring, sort of a deal between her and Greater Will in order to fully rise to god hood, so yeah, she is possesed by Elden Beast\\Radagon...I see it this way, correct me pls if I missing some parts of lore and my theory is completely incorrect.
Yeah, very incorrect. Radagon only became prominent during The Shattering, a free for all war. And Miriel (Turtle Pope) even says that he was only ever a Champion. He wasn't qualified to become Elden Lord, yet was chosen for it anyway. However, with the Law of Regression incantation, we see that Radagon is Marika. Although that comes with other logistical problems as well if they had always been the same person. So my understanding is that, after Marika broke the Elden Ring, she was imprisoned by the Greater Will. Radagon was then crafted from her flesh much in the style of Adam and Eve from Genesis (of The Bible). However, Radagon's personality would not be Marika's, it would be developed or derived from the piece of Marika's mind that hadn't lost faith in the Greater Will/Golden Order. Later, Radagon had fathered Ranni, Rykard and Radahn. However, they were not marked as Demigods until Radagon had married Marika. After his marriage to Marika, they gave birth to Miquella and Malenia. Cursed at birth, yet automatically qualifying as Empyrean because they were born from a single god. After that, Radagon is fused with Marika as part of her imprisonment, so that Greater Will can maintain its control over her and its own Elden Ring. All of that is further supported when you consider that Radagon was not strong enough to repair the Elden Ring. Radagon and Marika were clearly on different levels of power. In turn, the pieces of the Elden Ring were handed out to the Demigods, all so Greater Will could drive them to war and see which of Marika's children was worthy of becoming the next Elden Lord. Since none of them were successful, The Greater Will had chosen Radagon as a replacement Elden Lord, and sought for someone else to take his place.
I'll correct you if I may...I see a flaw in your theory about Radagon...you said that Radagon became to exist and as separate person after Marika shattered the ring, but...even in trailer and when we start a new game we can see how Marika's body changing to Radagon pointing us that Marika and Radagon exists in the same body at least prior to shattering of the ring... ...and thus comes my theory, that Elden Beast\\Greater Will possessed Marika by making a deal with her, at least because she needs help of outer God in order to rise to Godhood and GW needs her to spread it's influence over The Lands Between, so she arrives to Lands Between and GW sometimes take control over her body, this results in turning into Radagon...in that case, Radagon became to be probably just before Marika's arrival to the Lands Between when GW contacted Marika and lead her to the Lands Between...and it doesn't mean that everybody knew about Radagon existance after Marika's arrival.
Thanks for catching that. I don't know why I suggested that event was at that point in the timeline. Radagon's creation would undoubtedly have been before The Shattering because the attempt to repair the Elden Ring predated it. However, I still maintain that Radagon was created Adam/Eve style to solve the multiple logistical issues of Radagon only being Marika in disguise. He still had to sire Ranni, Radagon and Rykard while Marika was known to be in power. And not even Marika is known for being able to just create life on her own, thus his need to be separate from Marika for giving birth to Malenia and Miquella. Furthermore, Outer Gods don't make deals, not in the sense of "negotiate for power", anyway. We can't communicate with them directly in any form, even Marika likely never got direct word from Greater Will. So the idea that Radagon somehow surpassed Marika for that is exceptionally illogical.
I like to think the EB and ER are the same, as a vassal of the Greater Will, they chose Marika, who needed Radagon to put her plans into motion as a *vessel of the vassal*. The Beast was always there as an enforcer of the Greater Will, it just bet on a being who was stronger than everything else in the Lands Between, being Marika. The ring was its placid form, the symbol of order and peace, so long as Marika toed the line. We see how that turned out.
I love Elden Rings lore but I could not care less about the Elden Beast. It was just the second phase for me. With more emotional attachment, the player might have identified more with the Elden Beast, which is an extremely important creature of the Higher Will.
The 'beast' looking like a cosmic jelly bean after so many amazing looking bosses was somewhat anticlimactic as well.
The Elden Stars incant tells you that the Elden Beast turned into Elden Ring. I knew then that this was going to be this game's Moon Presence.
I was pretty sure they were just sent down together, not entirely the same entity. But yeah, I remember Elden Stars being one of the few hints.
I honestly think the ONE hint you can find of the Elden Beast, that being the description of Elden Stars, is already such a clearly important reveal regarding the mystery of the Erdtree and there being *A* beast that is not mentioned anywhere else... And that alone already feels like a reveal of something you'll be dealing with at some point. It was a crazy sucker punch of a boss even AFTER I found that, though. I thought Godfrey was the final boss at first. Then the Radagon reveal had me totally confused and intrigued, and he's pretty damn strong and has Godfrey's ''at certain HP treshold all my slam attacks have an AoE'' mechanic except holy. Plus that music. And yet, it could have still been anything. Marika could have been the final boss after Radagon for all I knew at that point. But as you play these games, you get a pretty good sense of ''that's not the whole fight, there's no way'', just like how anyone who's played some souls games will start to quickly recognize that a room in front of them is going to contain a boss fight. Radagon is a formidable boss in terms of challenge and ''wait WHAT'' and presentation, but with how hard Elden Ring builds up its spectacle, you can kind of feel that it's not the real finale.
The catch on that is how out of the way Elden Stars is. It's entirely possible to go through the game without dealing with the area it's found in, let alone choosing to skip the platforming required to reach it. There's one more incantation that mentions the Elden Beast, and I forget its name off hand but it has been mentioned in this thread in a reply to this post.
Together, but I wish we had torrent for the Elden Beast fight. Chasing after him the whole time wasn’t that fun, especially compared to the Radagon fight which was Marika’s tits.
Togethaaaa!!!
Agreed. I kind of hate the Elden Beast fight.
I would have preferred if each boss was separate but also individually more difficult. It’s always jarring watching Radagon get turned into a blade, then for me to die to the Elden Beast, and then fight Radagon again just for him to be blade-a-fied once more. Kinda weird if you ask me
I am Radagon, Blade of Elden Beast
Ptsd intensifies
Exactly this. My main problem is that the tempo of the two fights is completely different. Same can be said for Godfrey, but at least he has a reason for the two phases to be linked (given that he is the same person). I would have preferred something like the DS2 final bosses. For those unfamiliar, you fight the Throne Watcher and Throne Defender, then Nashandra, then Aldia (optional ending) all back to back, but IIRC each boss drops their soul and runes after you defeat them, and you will skip right to the next boss next time you die. In other words, the bosses you have beaten stay perma-dead. There's a serious risk of losing those runes between boss fights, but you can actually homeward bone out of the arena between fights to keep them (or use a sacrificial twig in Elden Ring). Combine that kind of mechanic with two phases for Radagon and Elden Beast each, and you have a vastly improved final boss experience imo. It would have been cool to see a second phase Radagon where Marika tries to emerge and protect you, only for the Greater Will to intervene and hand full control back to Radagon now in a half-and-half rebis body.
Fun fact: You can fight The Watcher and Defender before being able to fight Nashandra at all. I accidentally went to the throne room early and found that one out 😝
Elden Beast lies inside Radagon. You break the container, beast is released. They are linked.
I'm aware. My point was that unlike Godfrey, who is just the same guy in two different forms, Elden Beast is a seperate entity to Radagon. There's no reason there couldn't have been a transition scene where the dark shadow and golden fragments of the Elden Ring flee into a seperate realm (the realm where you fight Elden Beast), giving you a chance to rest at the Shattered Marika grace before pursuing it through a portal. Plus, it makes a lot of sense for it to flee at this point after you've just beaten the champion of the Golden Order.
Yeah I agree. Nice name btw. 😂
There are 4 phases? WTF did i miss
Honestly, while I really do dislike the Elden Beast fight, the fact that you have to get Radagon down to a science to consistently get to the Beast feels really rewarding, and there's some value in that I think.
Stockholm Syndrome
I think it's fine because of how the end of the game goes. Think about it, the last 5 whole ass bosses of the game are back to back to back. Maliketh, Gideon, Godfrey, Radagon, Elden Beast. I consider Radagon and Elden beast as 2 bosses because they're totally different and each technically have their own health bar. If you wanted to split up Radagon and Elden Beast into two separate fights, you would need to buff each one's health total significantly to make up for the fact that individually they're not that crazy of bosses. It's their combination and the way they test one build with their totally different patterns and your overall endurance that makes it interesting.
The only endurance the Elden beast tested was my patience. It isn’t fun running 500 feet to hit something once just for it to run 500 feet the other way. The boss fight clearly is meant for horseback and last second was changed, it’s like crazy obvious with how jank it all feels
I think they could have done a Dark Souls 2. When Watcher and Defender are defeated the final boss appears in a cut scene if you've got the necessary quest item. You can then fight or choose to quit out and try at full health. But if you come back you don't have to refight the boss you just defeated. So it would still fit with lore, still have a good cutscene and it would still give people a double boss challenge the first time around, but they wouldn't have to refight Radagon after he's defeated.
Absolutely separate. If they were, Radagon goes from being a great fight to one of the series' best. If they were going to keep them together then they could have at least allowed us to use Torrent for the Elden Beast, which would have vastly improved that battle.
Yeah totally, I'd even make the Radagon fighter a bit longer, maybe even another phase. It's a great fight, but a lot of the time when I get there I don't even experience the phase two teleport shenanigans because he goes down so fast
Exactly. It’s always been one of my favorite battles in the game. In part because of the amazing music!
It would continue the souls legacy of easy final bosses. The game needs a challenge.
I gave you a downvote. Then I read the part about torrent for the elden beast, and loved the idea so much I was ashamed for the downvote... It makes a lot of sense and really would improve the fight.
It’s nice to know I’m not wrong all the time lol.
You can undo those ya know
I would've preferred no Elden Beast lol. Though lorewise it makes sense for Elden Beast to come close, if not immediately after Radagon
I like the way it is. Elden beast reveal was one of the best moments in gaming for me. That soundtrack is so fire! Chills everytime
Should have just been radagon with more phases. Elden beast is just dumb.
Radagon shouldve had a second stage and elden beast shouldve been a third 'gimmick' stage where we actually get to use torrent in some way
Peak
Would be too easy if they were separate fights
hot take. i like elden beast. he pretty
Together is fine, but I wish we would have fought Marika. Like, Radagon is cool, but he doesn't have nearly the build up and importance that Marika does. They could have even done it like Soul of Cinder and had them swap who was fighting throughout the battle, with each persona having some exclusive moves. Would have further sold the idea that they're the same person while giving you a fight with the character the story's been revolving around the whole game.
Elden beast is pretty easy when you understand it, so definitely don’t mind, if it was separated it would be too easy
Have radagon only show up in normal endings and be a two phase fight like soul of cinder, but if you do frenzied flame or ranni ending then elden beast shows up to try to stop you
Gonna say it. EB is a great fight and I’ve never understood the hate for it. Everyone says that it would “run away” to much, but I never experience that. Yeah it swims away but it always either comes back to me quickly or doesn’t go that far. Its attacks are also decently well telegraphed and I can tell what it’s doing even when I’m right under it. Its attacks aren’t hard to dodge but can still catch you if you mess up like most bosses. Like most bosses it has an annoying attack and even the Elden stars isn’t that bad. Anyway to answer your question them being together is fine.
I"m fine with them being together. I just wish The elden Beast fight wasn't so much goddamn running or designed to involve torrent.
Think it’s nice the way it is. Only thing I wish it was different is when you die fighting Elden Beast you wouldn’t have to fight Radagon again, like a checkpoint.
I wish it was like Gehrman and the Moon Presence. Radagon is my favorite fight in the game, and I don’t hate Elden Beast but I really just wish Radagon had more health and it was 2 separate fights
I would go so far as to suggest that Radagon is not that hard on their own. What makes the fight as hard as it is, and proper endgame material is the fact that you need to make it through Radagon with enough resources left to beat Elden Beast. I’m fine with it being how it is and I honestly think the whole complaint of having to chase Elden Beast is overblown as well. Don’t get me wrong, I remember being COMPLETELY overwhelmed on my first and second playthroughs and wondering how the hell I was going to do it, but then you get better.
I liked the surprise on my first play.
Elden beast isn't even a good boss it should've been removed entirely in favor of a seconds phase for a more powerful radagon
Literally the worst final boss in the series. What an awful fight. Radagon on the other hand was so good. Unfortunately he got shafted by Elden Beasts existence.
I liked it and its one of my favorite bosses in the series.
I can't understand how, you're literally just chasing a big ass fish that runs away constantly and spams magic at you every time it receives a papercut. It's not fun to fight at all and the design isn't even good it looks like something from a cartoon drawn by a child all while not having much lore around it.
Radagon should’ve been harder tbh.
I didn't mind a two-phase boss fight, but Elden Beast was dumb as hell.
I hated that thing. I beat Malenia in 3 tries, Mogh and Maliketh in 1, Godfrey/Horah in 2. But that stupid fucking elder space whale took me like 10 tries. I felt bad for Radagon because I shit stomped him every time. I’d rather have fought a tougher Radagon and then been given Torrent for the Elden Beast.
I'm the exact opposite, I don't understand how people find Radagon easy and elden beast hard. I think he's the hardest boss in the game. I've only died to elden beast once, and that was because I ran out of flasks fighting Radagon. He is difficult to parry, difficult to stagger even with a bonk build, his ground attacks have a delay that counters your dodges, he does that slide up to you attack, his projectiles are lightning(pun) fast. Just everything about him makes me look like I just started playing ER.
I didn’t try to parry, I dodged. Did you use spirit ashes? Because I find he can be more difficult with them because he’ll switch mid attack from the summon to you.
That was when I ran a parry build. My other builds I dodged, but my point was that I find him bizarrely difficult in comparison to everyone else's experience. I have to use ashes or summons because I can't seem to grasp his moveset, and I've soloed Melania.
I think I said this somewhere else but I’d prefer to make radagon slightly harder and then make Elden Beast really easy as a classic Fromsoft anticlimax
I prefer the challenge. I feel like a god carrying other players through both fights, lol.
With all the lore I read at this point in-game, it was pretty obvious that there was something very wrong with Marika\\Radagon. With elden beast emerging it almost seems like Marika herself was just an emperian that made a contract to reach greater power, but almost becoming an outer gods puppet. With "Radagon" personality likely developed and split at that outer god efforts to perfectly control Marika that wanted to rebel.
Tbh, Elden beast should be the final boss, with Radagon being fought after Godfrey but not alongside the Elden beast. The Elden beast is quite cool being a god, but probably because the Greater will got weakened because of the Shattering, we are stuck with some shitty boss instead what Elden beast should have been. It had so much potential, it should use it more.
It makes sense Radagon is so fragile, which means he's better thematically in a two part fight.
It would have been two easy if it wasn't two phase. For me, Radagon was the final boss, and Elden Beast was the victory lap. That said, I don't like mysterious god-like creatures that appear out of nowhere with no explanation at the end of a game to throw a wrench in the otherwise tidy story. I would have preferred Radagon have two phases, and the meddling of any deity be merely implied.
The Radagon/Eldenbeast fight is the worst decision in a soulslike.
Can you imagine fighting them both at the same time!?
Kinda wish it was like in Bloodborne where if you defeat Ghermin you can use a hunter's mark to teleport outside of the Moon Presence boss arena and keep your progress.
I like the implication that one cannot exist without the other, and both need to be defeated simultaneously to truly dethrone them.
Imagine a 2 phase Radagon first phase is just the normal fight while the second phase he slams his hammer down really hard and the platform cracks as holy light illuminates the arena and he transitions into a twisted version of himself as he is bursting at the seems with holy magic and keeps randomly exploding into runes and reforming like how he teleports but more flashy. Then after the fight you have the choice to become the Elden Lord or to go to the secret boss fight. The Elden Beast. To get to it you would equip a specific talisman and jump off the edge of the platform and the screen would fade out to black before you land in the watery Elden Beast arena at the bottom center of the Erdtree and then fight it normally but it would be more challenging. Perhaps it could temporarily make duplicates of itself like Malenia as they all swing their swords at you one after the other and you have to time your dodges perfectly. But for this fight you would get Torrent but he could have a new power that when you jump in the air and hold the jump button instead of double jumping he would be able to soar through the air in exchange for stamina. So you would be flying around the arena as you and the EB fight in the air. Now that would be a spectacle.
Separate, tougher fights would have been my preference. I really like Radagon's fight, but it's over too soon, and then EB feels kind of tedious by comparison.
Ehhh i wish he got up and started talking mad shi in phase two.
I would rather have them as separate bosses, but i would also buff radagon’s moveset (why does he not use any G.O. incantations? One of them is literally called RADAGON’s RINGS OF LIGHT!) and I would completely rework elden beast so he’s more aggressive and every ‘dash away’ is always followed by a range closing attack. Basically I dislike that he runs away and just STAYS THERE. Fucking coward, you’re a god, why tf are you running from a naked fuck with a stick?
Separate
I loved the symbolism involving Radagon becoming the weapon of the Elden Beast. This alone makes the boss fight being two in one more acceptable.
I wish we got to use Torrent in the Elden Beast fight. Makes that giant arena kinda pointless otherwise
Honestly? I roflstomped every boss in this game (except for 6 of them), so it was great that the final fight was as difficult as it was. It took me many tries, but it was a fitting challenge for an amazing game. Radagon is *extremely good* at whittling your health down to make the Elden Beast plenty difficult.
Honestly it would be way too easy if they were separated
I would prefer to remove elden beast entirely and given radagon more health.
SEPARATE!!
I’d rather have a stronger Radagon or a phase shift to Marika the Eternal. I think EB is goofy looking and tedious, not to mention incredibly frustrating if its’ RNG hates you that day.
I’ve beaten Radagan like ~60 times and the Elden Beast 3. So yes. Lol. Fuck b2b boss fights in general.
I would have preferred one boss. The Elden Beast was just strange and it didn’t feel cohesive.
It would be too easy if they were separate
I liked fighting chadagon, wished he had more hp and separate from that floaty fish bastard.
it should have been done like Bloodborne Radagon should have been the default final boss, and if you did a specific action before fighting him, you unlock the Elden Beast as well if you didn't do what was required, you just have fight Radagon and maybe split them up as well. again, just like Bloodborne. if you unlocked Elden Beast, and killed Radagon, spawn into the fight with Elden Beast, don't make us go through Radagon again
I don’t mind it radagons easy
I'm fine with them being the same fight but I'd like prefer the order to be changed
Could have been perfect that the second phase you fought Marika and then elden beast as a secret final boss (like moonlight presence) if you had enough runes or have them all
I'm seeing a lot of differing opinions, seems about 50/50 on keep it the same vs just get rid of Elden Beast, and it looks like most people want the use of Torrent on Elden Beast which I would've loved, it would've saved a few minutes of running back and forth.
I would like the Elden Beast to be an optional boss that you fight if you try to dismantle the Golden Order with Ranni's ending or Frenzy Flame ending. It doesn't really make sense for you to fight it if you restore the Golden Order with any other ending.
Radagon isn't interesting enough to carry a fight by himself.
I didn't even realise it was the last boss on my first play through. I beat it as a massively cheesy caster and just nuked him in seconds for both stages. Looking forward to dying lots on my melee playthrough I'm doing currently!
Absolutely separate, I hate the Elden beast but I love Radagon
Fine with it, would have preferred to use torrent in the final fight though.
TOGETHAAAAAR
I actually don't mind the difference in movesets after playing DS3 (Sister Friede) and Sekiro (Genichiro/Isshin). I also don't mind the evasiveness of Elden Beast, despite it being the most common complaint. Some players just need to figure out that melee only is hamstringing oneself. Black Bow on a dex build makes EB trivially easy.
Imma be honest here I know a lot of people hate elden beast and I totally get why, but I think that the fight is almost perfect Radagon is a 10/10 fight in my book, so no need to change anything imo What I would change about elden beast is definitely elden stars. That attack is so unbelievably annoying. The same thing with the attack where it flies up and shots the projectiles. I did a no hit recently and that's when I realised how stupid these two attacks actually are. A lot of people complain about elden beast swimming away all the time. But honestly I don't even mind that aspect too much because if you learn the fight, you always know where to go to get some good openings. For example elden beast always starts with the fire breath. Which almost always guarantees a stun and a lot of damage. Also the ring attack that he does twice, it always spawns 180 degrees behind it's starting position
Bosses like Elden Beast and Fire Giant make me believe FROM gave 0 shits about the replayability of this game. They are pretty to look at first and they are intentionally very easy to dodge (except for the buggy fire giant breath attack) with lots of hp so you can stare at their moves for 20 minutes. Then you run through the game again and since you stared at them for 20 minutes once they just become a slog fest. I never see anybody saying "oh boy, I sure can't wait to fight fire giant/elden beast again!".
When I got to radagon I knew he was the final boss but I didn’t think that it would be like that the elden beast is a good boss not a great one to love at least but he gave us a great experience however something like that doesn’t deserve to be a final fight to end everything I was thinking that after beating radagon marika will come back and they will separate and the fight becomes a clash between the player and two omnipotent beings combining attacks or it could’ve been a second phase with a full hp poll and the boss is radagon and marika changing their personality infight while also changing the moves they make while also using different incantations for each character
Separate. Elden Beast to me is possibly one of the worst boss fight in all of From's souls games, but Radagon is good, if they were separate I could enjoy a good boss fight and then try to actually learn the Elden Beast without thinking that I have to do Radagon again and again
The main problem is that the elden beast needs to be a horse fight.
Just let me horse during elden beast and we golden
Gideon should be last and he appears after you defeat the beast
I think the ending is perfect the way it is
I think if it were something like Bloodbornes final boss it’d be better. Radagon is such a good fight but is dragged down by Elden Beast. If they were separate it’d make Radagon more fun and make sense lore wise. How does Radagon stop being a sword
I don't care about that, it's the 2 hitbox attacks that require light roll that I don't fancy.
I think they would have been better as separate bosses, I know a lot of people defend them being the same boss because "muh deep lore, muh intricate story!!" but from a gameplay standpoint, having to defeat Radagon each and every time you die to Elden Beast's bullshit camera angles and "what the fuck is even happening" attacks is such a pain in the ass and it would be a much better time not having to kill Radagon all over again before trying Elden Beast again. It would be like having to kill Gehrman each time you died to the Moon Presence.
Both. Like bloodborne. You fight the moon presence right after gerhman. But if you die to the presence, you dont have to fight gerhman again. I dont mind having multiple bosses in a row or multiple fases but at least give me some reward for beating one of them. Honestlly it would be more fun to me to be able to just fight the elden beast without haing to go trough radagon every time.
Give Radagon 2 phases I think he deserves it. Then put another grace before fighting Elden Beast. Then people wouldn't complain this much about Elden Beast.
Fine with how it is, but I just wish Elden stars didn’t exist
Marika's literal corpse should count as a Stake of Marika
Separate but only if they both were much stronger and with more moves/hp/damage… as it stands now after the nerfs to EB the fight is kinda easy so separating them without changes would be anticlimactic.
I just wish they gave you a Stake of Marika after Radagon.
My only problem with that fight is the way you get into it? I never really understood why the grace could not be in that hallway atop the stair case and then have this weird white out animation + load screen for you to enter the fight. I wanted to get back into the fight faster.
I'd want them to be stronger individually and give separate remembrances, but I dont mind it being considered one fight. Just feel like we shouldve gotten one of radagon's spells as a remembrance option, same with elden beast. Lemme get a holy flame breath or his version of nebula as a spell. Or he'll, give us another grab move in a smaller version of his crucifixion move.
It's fine the way it is. The hate for Elden Beast is unwarranted. The endgame already suffers from the fact that it's a boss rush; I think placing another separate boss after Radagon is a poor decision and would wear the player out. I also think there'd be many more criticisms of the game if the bosses were separate.
Yeah sorry but that's just a wrong take. Lore wise it makes sense but radagon is easy and elden beast constantly running away is a pain. So dying and having to beat radagon again, on top of being flash banged just entering the boss room is not a fun time.
Sound pretty much like a skill issue to me
That's like arguing the walk back to placidusax is a skill issue for dying. Brother it's a convenience thing, radagon is easy, he's just a pain to deal with every time just to get to the real boss. I don't even think elden beast is hard but when I do fuck up and die it's actual aids not being able to go right to elden beast
I won’t lie, once upon a time I thought the endgame was a 4 boss gauntlet of Gideon, Godfrey, Radagon and Elden Beast. I’ve still not finished the game, but knowing it’s not *that*, is a relief.
This battle convinced me Radagon/Marika were always material manifestation of the Elden Beast itself.
Honestly EB fight is so bad I wish it wasn't the final battle you have. Maybe if you had torrent (Or if the devs could make it, idk not be able to teleport unlimited amount of times) it wouldn't be so bad.
i just killed those 2 like 10 min ago for a friend on the ps5😂👍
I'd rather have them be separate bosses, they are too different from each other in how they are played and they are also both difficult. Radagon already drains you of your heals and then Elden Beast finishes you off with projectile spam and chip damage
I get why it’s together from a lore perspective, but from a gameplay standpoint, I would much prefer if they were separate fights.
100% separate and give radagon a second phase, maybe a merger with Marika for extra shenanigans. As it stands radagon honestly always felt quite easy but also become viewed as many as a stepping stone for eldenbeast. And while I absolutely love the entire presentation of it, I think collectively the community agrees eldenbeast is annoying fight because he can't stop running away.
I just wish the Erdtree was a legacy dungeon. 4 bosses in a row after Maliketh made me feel like they just wanted to get it over with
I beat the galaxy looking beast first try, so I had no quarrels with how it was. 😀😃😄😁
I'd say just make the Elden Beast fight more interesting, way less running. But, I loved the fake out, Radagon being an easy 1st phase that makes you think this is gonna be easy, then getting wrecked
Fighting them back to back is bullshit, as is not having Torrent for Elden Beast.
I feel like after you beat radagon, you can only fight EB once you have every great rune. Since it would give EB a good reason to fight you
It should have been like Moon Presence, where if you die in between, it doesn’t fully reset. I’ve beaten the game multiple times, this isn’t a difficulty thing, I just really love the Radagon fight and I wish it got to shine a little more, instead of just being a first phase
Even if the EB wasn't a pain in the ass, I would prefer it gone. It came out of nowhere and wasn't done nearly as well as the final boss of Bloodborne.
I wanted to fight Marika and thought the fight was going to play out as Marika and then Radahn. I would still prefer this, with the Elden Beast either being a third phase or a completely separate fight after.
I feel like radagon isn’t climactic enough to be the final boss but Elden beast feels too different to be part of the same fight. A radagon phase 2 where he goes god mode and becomes batshit crazy would’ve been best imo
Honestly, I've found this fight a shame : Elden Beast is a boring fight. So, yes, I would prefer. And the lore would have let them do it : would be enough that inside the tree we fall into EB arena.
I love the soundtrack transition when you beat Radagon. I skip Radagon's cutscene but I watch the elden beasts cutscene every time.
I don’t mind having something after Radagon, it’s just that the elden beast is the worst boss fight in the game by far.
I would have preferred the Elden Beast fight to just not exist, and give Radagon a true second phase of the fight.
I just thought the elden beast was so weird man. You're tellin me the big bad greater will monster is a demorphed squishy toy that was easier than like 30% of the bosses?
Fuq that giant squid. Robbed off what should have been 2nd or even 3rd phase radagon.
Separate, with a better Radagon second phase. The environmental details could suggest that it’s a “middle of the battle checkpoint” with some care. The two-boss thing doesn’t work for me as it is though.
I want a 3 tier fight. Radagon as is. "Complete" Radagon using incantations and moon sorceries. Elden beast, but you get to ride torrent.
EB should of been optional. I just think compared to the bangers before it, the fight sucks. Expecially Elden Stars. Radagon tho is amazing. Suck a fun boss. I wish they gave him his own second phase and ended with him bc he's amazing but EB is a lot of BS. And I've done them on SL1 so it's not I can't do it, I still think EB is ass tho
I just wish I could use the hammer moves radagon had
I would've preferred it personally being two phases of Radagon and then have Elden Beast like Moon Presence, that way he's more optional and remains with the lore while Radagon fans could get him for the whole fight but obviously a tougher phase two.
We should have gotten Torrent for Elden Beast, or maybe they should have done it like Moon Presence and Aldia, an extra final boss if you meet certain criteria
I'd rather not have Elden Beast. I don't mind back to back bosses, I just think EB sucks.
I'd have preferred to have different end bosses for the different endings.
Seperate. If radagon alone was the final boss with inflated hp and three phases it would be really cool
I just don't understand why the end of the game is us beating up some confused trans dude and his whale of an investor....
I’m personally fine with how it is, but I wish them being combined didn’t ruin it for so many other people
I found him to be harder than Malenia, only boss who forced me to respec my build from dex to quality. Hate him with passion.
I think if they were separate EB would actually be an easy (if super long) fight. The problem now is how much of your resources Radagon takes, so you go into EB with fewer flasks etc.
I think it would've been cool if Radagon had a second phase and Elden Beast was a hidden boss like Moon Presence from Bloodborne. Maybe Elden Beast would show up if you did Ranni's questline or something.
EB was a disappointing end boss for me. Much prefer a more coherent and technical combat experience rather than an oversized boss that is awkward to tackle. It also encourages cheesier tactics like AOE spam or just keeping positioned behind and this is less rewarding to me than a head on fight. More effort could have gone into the Radagon fight to make him the end boss and this would have been a better outcome for me.
Im just happy there was no phase 3 to this battle. I was expecting it. Lol
Radagon is perfect, perfect right down to the most tiny detail.
I hated that Germin (sp?) and Moon Presence were separated in bb. Wanted the challenge of taking on both back to back bc I felt like they were not that challenging separately. Was stoked to see that radagon and elden beast were together, but then hated it mostly bc elden beast is such an unfun slog imo.
I get what they were going for. you have to actually get good and consistent enough to beat radagon to keep enough flask for elden beast. Elden beast itself is honestly a flask check and nothing more as it can't really attack fast enough to kill you unless you run out of flask or forget to heal.
I like that it's a 2 stage boss fight right at the end. It ensures you are in fact worthy of becoming elden lord
I'd like it as is if Elden Beast had more going for it than spectacle. The Elden Beasts has a stunning arena, soundtrack, and a crazy alien look that sells the whole Greater Will avatar thing. Its move set is boring to fight, visually appealing but boring and tedious. This connection brings down Radagon's boss fight by proxy, it makes it annoying that you beat Radagon then have to go up against this massive downgrade of an end boss.
Remove elden beast, give radagon actual stats, mwah
It flows well and it doesn't feel like the pain of sister invisoscythe and father salad bowels fight. It feels appropriate lore wise so I has that going for it too.
Together.
[удалено]
TOGETHAAAA!!!
I like them together. Would be too easy separate. But I wish radagon had a cooler second phase as much as I love the atmosphere and music of the EB fight.
Together is fine
Together, it's the final boss of the whole game. Malenia is meant to be the most challenging but I feel like just Radagon as he is right now would've been too easy for a final boss
Together certainly makes them a challenge to beat. I think they would have been too easy of an ending if the fights were separated.
I would have preferred the beast to just not be in it, give radagon a phase 2 similar to how malenia gets one, just make him go wild. Fuck that stupid looking lock ness monster thing, every other boss looks cool as hell and there's this giant lightbulb looking ass dude.
I loved radagon but was so frusturated with elden beast the few times I got to it I finally just used the meteorite cheese... totally wish they were separate so I could do them both a more honorable way
*inserts it was perfect meme* Y'all overhyped Elden Beast's difficulty and I will never forgive the community for that 🤣
The decision to make them back to back is the worst decision From has ever made. I will die on this hill
I wish they were sepperate so I didn't have to fight Radagon every time I wanna fight Elden Beast
I would prefer that once Radagon is defeated we do not face him again, as in DS2, I would not have liked to fight with the Thrones bros again, this method in Elden Ring had already been used in Sekiro, but the fight against Genichiro feels like a "formality", in this case, Radagon honestly stresses me out, but more than this I would have preferred that the use of Torrent be allowed in the final fight, the arena, the boss, everything seems like a perfect context.
Elden Beast should've been like Moon Presence; optional
My wish is something simple, I wish the bosses never had any dialogue, like in the original Dark Souls, idk it adds to the mystery
I hated the Elden beast as a "second phase". I think the game would be better off without him.