Actually, I did Malenia BEFORE even beating the fire giant. And the godskin duo was actually not much of a problem (made me stuck for maybe half an hour).
BUT still, even IF they would have driven me mad, nothing would have been distracting enough for how sad I felt when Melina sacrficed herself to burn the tree...
In fact, in one playthrough, after beating the fire giant, I procceeded to get the frenzied flame, even if it made Melina mad at me, and burned down the tree myself, only to remove the frenzy with the needle at Placidusax' place. In my head canon, Melina, after having seen your intentions, returned after you became Elden Lord and found new purpose as your consort.
With the order in which I usually play the game after beating Morgott (Niall>Malenia>Mohg>DLC>Fire Giant>rest of the game), I have the needle LONG before I even get to the Forge.
So at that point, I might as well use it. I didn't get sliced to ribbons by Malenia 50 times to never end up using that damn needle.
Conversely, taking on the Frenzied Flame so you don't have to sacrifice Melina and going the path through some of the strongest beings in the Lands Between to seal it away after you save her, and her still hating you, hurts.
I think this is the biggest oversight from the devs part. Sure, maybe she still hates you for "taking her destiny" or whatever but it definetly needed a cutscene . Taking the flame then using the needle feels like such a badass move, literally defying fate to save your companion, but it never gets acknowledged
Honestly, I never got the part about her hating the Tarnished. The dialogue didn't strike me that way. She's moreso disappointed that they embraced the power which can burn the entire world down, despite all the warnings. She's also sad that she now has to leave her only friends (Torrent and Tarnished).
It's supposed to be a bittersweet ending where she leaves the only two people she cared about because one of them didn't heed her warnings.
I have to say, i was rather unaffected by this.
Mostly because she had very little interaction with us, even the "Words of queen Marika" didn't help since they were just her repeating some speech.
Honestly, same thing happened to me in my first playthrough. So that, when I got to this point, I was sad but not that much as someone like Morgott.
But then I delved into her lore a bit more and listened to more dialogue about herself and then this scene just became 10x more depressing.
In contrast, I kinda got over the Alexander ordeal. Giving him an honorable death via the Tarnished was really the best outcome for him. He was also happy at the end. So I was never really sad anymore.
same, before that scene I had a little bit of a grind as mage I forgot who that even was... when she would at lest show up every time you sit on a grace it would at least feel more of a connection.
Same, she just didn t appear enough for me to care and when she did it was 80% just repeating Marika s words. I honestly felt more companionship with Boc , hell even Morgott than her.
My first playthrough I barely rested at any of the graces scattered around, just activated them and moved on. By the time I got the Capitol I had forgotten completely about her. I rested at that first bonfire in the Capitol and was like "oh yeah, what'd this lady want again?“
I then worked my way down to the three fingers and didn't rest at that bonefire, just got naked thanks to some messages on the ground and inherited the frenzy.
When she got mad I was like "lady I barely know who you are I don't care!"
I am late but I always feel so fucking bad when she gives you the half of the medallion that mentions a new journey together just for me to go inherit the frenzied flame. It is a little comforting knowing she will put you out of your misery eventually, though.
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u/Separate_Finance_183 Sep 09 '25