Originally Posted by MalacPok
I'm tempted to call BS on this. You waited all this time to get Honour Mode to try this fight?

To elaborate since my sentence seems poorly worded; I actually never took a step once into ACT 3 until Honour Mode so my entire run of ACT 3 was a completely blind first-attempt, not just Raphael. Honour Mode for me is just an excuse to experience the story's evil choices for which I'm not overly attached to because I can't properly experience the story's intricacies this way, so that's why my first ever ACT 3 experience was on Honour Mode and this was my first ever fight against him. My actual 1000 hours of playthroughs only ever go to ACT 2's finale and are waiting for Larian to polish all the ACT 3 story elements so I can properly experience the story (and naturally to optimize the act so it doesn't run like utter dog shit) grin

Anyway I am absolutely not suggesting he gets turned into some one-shotting AOE freak because after all this ain't Dark Souls and that is not what makes boss fights hard. And I am also not suggesting he requires some gimmicky exploits or mechanics to be defeated because this ain't World Of Warcraft where bosses then just end up being boss puzzles rather than boss fights.

The thrill of boss fights comes from looming threats during the boss fights that can create pressure by undermining the attempts to overcome the battle. What I am suggesting is to make his fight a bit more risky by having actual looming threats where things can go wrong;

  • By him being more resistant to CC so he isn't just a 666hp ragdoll flopping around on the floor or disrespectfully getting mindcontrolled by a Cleric he can snap in two with just his fingers
  • Him being more of an active threat so he doesn't just run around doing nothing
  • And there being other aspects of the fight that can shift the course of battle in any direction

He's a devil who snaps his fingers and terrible stuff happens, but my entire fight was just this;

  • First knocked out Korilla for story purposes and killed his other lackeys (years of MMO experience - always deal with the adds first)
  • Yurgir was absolutely no threat because funnily enough I disarmed him of both weapons in ACT 2, so he did not have any weapons in this fight grin
  • And Raphael, a devil who can simply snap his fingers to do terrible stuff just runs around, throws down some fire and heals from time to time. Spawns an occasional add, maybe punches someone. Not a threat whatsoever, just a meat-puppet that got perma stun-locked from 450hp all the way down to 0.

(An example of a great boss fight)

An example of a proper fight where there is a consistently looming threat and risk of things going from bad to worse would be Commander Zhaik's fight in the very prologue, who is much more threatening and scarier than Raphael because he is a 195hp demon gigachad smacking away at a Mindflayer while there are adds around him and we're on the clock. And the sense of looming threat is there forevermore because tsk'va hits the fan when there's also 2 very beefy cambions coming to kick our asses.

Doesn't matter whether one plays on Explorer, Tactician or Honour Mode; it's a beautifully composed fight for all difficulties where the risks are always incredibly high and the looming threat is ever present to create some butt-clenching moments because naturally we want his sword and 150xp for killing both. And if things go to absolute worst one can always simply escape.

Raphael however is a non-escapable boss fight for a villain that displays such massive almost-limitless power, but in actual gameplay poses no threat whatsoever even on Honour Mode which is why on my first ever blind attempt at him I did not even get to see his Ascended form because the pillars don't even do anything meaningful to warrant their destruction. The entire fight is mostly focused around his lackeys which are nothing really and Raphael himself doesn't pose any threat on his own because I suppose Larian figured because Yurgir and Korilla are there that it would not be fair if Raphael was a bigger threat.

In my opinion a way to make the fight more interesting and threatening with a risk of things potentially going wrong would be;

  • He is a devil who can snap his fingers. It would be amazing if he had something like a Wild Magic effect where he snaps his fingers and random stuff happens. This way his fight would always be random and unique each playthrough.
  • Making the pillars more of a looming threat throughout the fight by Raphael trying to drain the pillars every so often and if the draining of the souls is not interrupted each time he attempts it then he ascends.
  • Increasing Korilla's hp from 33hp (she gets one shot by literally anything, even Yurgir can one-shot her)
  • If all of his lackeys are dead, he ascends into his form permanently out of rage for making a mess of his house and killing his assistant.
  • And naturally making him more resistant to CCs. He's way too easily tripped, proned, immobilized, dominated, shut down.
  • Hope also mentions that Raphael will be furious and make mistakes in battle if he sees her out of her cage. Having or not having her should also play into the encounter with unique conditions for Raphael.