Using the Dual Sense PS5 controller as an example:
Right now you hold D-pad up or down to bring up the selection menu without going into the full menu.
This is supposed to be how you select from the variety of food and consumables in combat.
The problem is that as it currently is, it opens the menu, but you cannot move or act, and because of how moving from left to right on item selection, it wouldn’t even work naturally if they allowed you to move with the left joystick and select from the right since you need to hold the D-pad.
What the controller DOES have, however, is an emote wheel on the right hand shoulder.
Consider swapping this function so the emote menu comes on holding the down or up D-pad, and leave the R2 radial menu for quick slot consumables. That way you can select from a variety of food and consumables via the right joystick while moving in combat and being naturally able to dodge or parry. You can even make it so the radial menu has pages that can be swapped by pressing R3 (right joystick down) to cycle between pages while holding R2. Nobody uses emotes in combat anyways.
The reason I’m asking for this feature change is that realistically enemies and bosses are so aggressive that standing there while side scrolling from a consumables menu while unable to dodge or move is not a functional selection feature.
And it does seem, because of the varying secondary but short-lived food and elixir/vial and bomb effects, that you want us cycling across consumables, so making a proper radial menu you can bring up while staying mobile and being able to dodge helps a ton in usability.