I LOVE THIS GAME 😭 Can it never end please thank you The song?! The song. THE SONG. Anyways, hope you like the video! Chapters 0:00 intro 0:39 recap 6:53 Speak with dead Haarlep 10:54 Raphael boss fight (featuring the best song ever) 1:08:40 that RPing though! 1:09:16 the worst glitch in history 1:18:10 please standby 1:20:32 OKAY we're back 1:33:49 thoughts & outro
Been waiting for your reaction to his fight and you didn't disappoint :) It's hard to believe the entire House of Hope is 100% optional given it's one of the best and most memorable parts of the game. I have 1100 hours played and it still gives me chills seeing others experience it the first time.
@@samhain9283 ditto. And it is legit is one of the toughest fights in the game, along with Ansur and Myrkul. You did well, Whimsy! Also, don't hesitate to report bugs to Larian- my first Honour mode attempt had a bug which prevented me from long resting. Larian responded to me 6 days after my report. Just make sure to not delete the bugged save! Cheers!
The game only glitched so you could hear the song again. Raphael's actor Andrew Wincott made a surprise appearance at the BG3 concert and sang the song! Great episode.
They literally asked him "By the way, can you sing?". Borislav Slavov said that Swen came up with an idea of Raphael having his own song :) The man not only never did work for games, but also never sang lol. That concert version is outstanding btw, saw it on YT (someone recorded, so kind of "pirating" a bit, but ...) No cover tops the performance. Not offense to those trying, but impossible to cover.
This fight is the best piece of computer gaming ever, I'm 44 yo and the emotion and joy of this theme and fight for the 1st time was AMAZING! I wish all main bosses had this level of design! It's a joy seeing other people enjoy it! Keep it up Whimsy!
Was waiting for you to reach this fight since I heard the song on my play through. Was immediately thinking, “Oh, Whimsy is going to love this.” Best song in the game.
If you "play the game"with Haarlep instead of fighting them, you get a chance to unlock a dialogue option that dishes out an absolutely brutal taunt to Raphael for your last words. 😂
The story of Baldur's Gate is basically as old as the pen and paper / D&D universe itself. Since the first Baldur's Gate was released, it has almost single-handedly transported the pen and paper feeling into the digital world. BG2 has made it even more extensive and a bit more interesting. Since then, many games have tried to put this feeling into their own projects. We basically all know them. Skyrim, Witcher, etc. One studio that discovered the feature of consequences for itself was the young studio Quantic Dream. With Fahrenheit, the sequels Heavy Rain, beyond two souls and finally Detroit Become Human. So many different ways to tell your own story where certain people can die right at the beginning. With Skyrim, it was the variety and design of the avatar. And of course to some extent the story too. The world feels tangible and comprehensible. And now, over 20 years later, after 3 years of Early Access, the long-awaited Baldur's Gate 3 is coming out. What I (we) had hoped for was actually the same as in BG2, only with more story and interesting characters and, of course, enormous freedom of choice. What we didn't think, however, was that Larian Studios had overdone it in every phase of what was humanly possible, to the point that it leaves you speechless after the first 10 hours. Wow, even the Early Access phase doesn't even come close to doing the finished product justice. I can't find the words to describe how deeply grateful I am personally to be able to consume something like this. In times of spectacular disasters and the worst games ever released, BG3 stands out so much from the crowd that you can't ignore it. UA-cam, Instagram, Twitter, Metacritic, every platform agrees. BG3 The Best F... Game of The Year. And I for one am glad that there are people out there like Naughty Dog, From Software and Larian Studios who still dare to do something and produce games for gamers and not primarily for the shareholders. And what have we learned from games like BG3? Well, that you just need a leader in steel armor who runs around the studio the whole time and motivates his employees to do the same. Please Larian, don't lose your fire like Blizzard or Activision. Because then you'll quickly end up in the top 10 worst games on Steam and who wants that? I'm happy to be able to consume content like this and I'm excited to see what else Larian will conjure up. Fill me with magic and take me with you wherever it may lead. Love lots of love and a 12/10 for the best adventure in my gaming history. 180 hours for one RUN btw.
Love your response. Raphael going full Disney villain is so funny and fully in character. Apparently he didn't want to do it, but Larian loved his theatrical performance and the musical director hyped him into it. Pure peer preasure.
sometimes games leave a mark of pleasant surprise, the song being absolute FIRE is one thing but actually hearing the voice actor slaying it on his characters personal battle song is just such a awesome move.
The gradual increase in emotional bonding with Raphael as a villain was excellent, but not unique. Sephirot had a similar build up bonding (in a more distanced way). What is unique about Raphael is the timing and unexpectedness of this masterpiece of a song. Other battles in bg3 are silent, then suddenly this comes. Shock 1. Then Raphael himself starts singing, shock 2. All is perfect and aligned. That there is a golden moment in video game history
The House of Hope is such an amazing location, and fighting Raph is sooo cathartic! My Pally was itching to smite him the whole game, lol. It was great to see you explore and enjoy it, despite the bugs. I agree with your observation on the difficulty unfortunately, if you understand the mechanics and items well enough to have a decent build and synergy for your characters plus intelligent tactics and item usage, most of the enemies towards the end feel a little easier than some of those in earlier acts. Also just because you have so many more tools. Still tons of fun though! BTW, I didn't realize at first when I found it, but the actual best property of the Helldusk armor you got is the proficiency, which means ANYONE can use it, even squishy casters like Lilith.
I’m here for a Whimsy Honour Mode playthrough! I’m in Act 3 of my first Honour mode campaign and big bosses get extra legendary actions and resistances that really up the danger!
Just the fact that I searched for a reaction to this video to see if anybody else was brought to tears and confused by it… omg!!! It felt so nice to see somebody confronted with those emotions when the song started!!!
Raphael and Ketheric Thorm were the 2 most difficult battles in my playthrough. Every other battle including Ansur was surprisingly much easier to deal with. I think you just had the a good strategy and things just went your way with rolls and checks.
I mean, she's been metagaming hard the entire playthrough and reading comments that tell her what feats, spells and gear to use. Also she's playing the most OP class in the game. So really there is no reason why she should NOT be facerolling the game.
That song alone made this one of the most memorable encounters in gaming for me and the design of house of hope and its questline was fantastic. Couldn't believe they did all that for a fight that was technically optional and not even the final boss. Agree that some bosses can feel a bit too easy on tactician if you are familiar with the mechanics. In act 3 my party was so overpowered that I can't remember dying to any bosses at all, even all the "main" ones. I do have a lot of experience with crpgs though. Most friends that I know of found balanced difficulty fairly challenging already. I think you are just ahead of the curve :)
16:43: "Oh I'm fucked!", had the same exact reaction the INSTANT I heard this music start playing. LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVESSSSSS, ALL MORTAL LIVESSSSSSSSSSSSSS, EXPIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
hey whimsy! since i've began watching your playthrough i've been waiting for this moment! this song in this battle is amazing. the thing with the difficulty: i think this fight has reasonable difficulty when you are level 10... and since you can do it just as you arrive on the lower city, you have a challenge there. but once you reach level 12 almost nothing is a challenge anymore with your skills... i think the most difficult fight ever is against ansur... after that if you are careful you are good... thanks!
> i think the most difficult fight ever is against ansur.. She is doing House of Grief next, so we'll see... That is the fight I've seen most tears shed, lol
Yurgir fought with me, because I already talked to him in Act 2 and could convince him that I'm powerful enough to kill Raphael. With Raphael singing while fighting you makes him even more of a Disney villain. 😂 Game can't handle your strategic mastery. Breaks at every opportunity! Could've tried throwing Shadowheart at something. Helped last time. Fun episode! Good job on killing Raphael! Have a nice rest of your day, Whimsy! PS: Is there a nerd restaurant called "Hard Lock Café"? Would be an idea...
i didn't even talk to him and still convinced him so you still can convince him regardless but it's a fairly high roll i think? most classes i like are charisma based so
I don't know how you end up with these awful glitches Whimsy, I'm so sorry D: I feel really lucky now that I've never faced these glitches haha, personally on my first try this was the third most difficult fight, you haven't faced that no1 and no2 enemy yet though! Looking forward to the next episode every week!
Like for real, same, idk how :) And it isn't like I have played it "conventionally", especially after 1st run I know there are visual ones, or mods break the game, but like...(and I've played 3 House of Hope fights now and watched a dozen glitchless) Like she is getting act3 treatment release state lol It is a bit sad tbh
great episode again! I think it is impossible for Larian to make the main act 3 fights really difficult for good players with very good equipment and max level, op builds like Karlach , using potions etc. they have to balance it somewhat to also work for players that do those fights at level 10, without all the combat skills and knowledge of d&d game mechanics , without very good equipment and without optimized builds.
I learned that the most powerfull weapon in almost ANY combat, is bottle of water, or create water spell! Wet status negate lightning or cold resistances, except in the case of immunity to same, and if target has NO such resistances, then wet status makes them take DOUBLE damage from lightning or cold attacks! Imagine casting create water over a whole bunch of enemies, as opening salvo, and then chain-lightning spell or scroll :) It took one bottle of water and 3 chain-lightning scrolls to end Myrkul!
The Storm Sorcerer’s bread and butter, thanks to metamagic-create water with bonus action and then unleash the lightning (or ice storm). So fun to clear the room 👍
@@wawho9645 I use respeced Shadowheart to create lightning mayhem, made her into tempest domain cleric! Myself, I play Rogue Thief-Ranger Gloomstalker-Fighter, in 5-5-2 in leveling, I have SO much extra attacks with that combo, it's insane! Even without adding 2 levels of Fighter! But with it, you unlock action surge on all those extra action, making you practically unstoppable! Enemies don't have time to react in most cases :)
@@zoranhorvat8284 I also do that! Regardless of what class I’m playing I think Tempest Cleric suits Shadowheart thematically. Will say Tempest Cleric paired with Storm Sorcerer makes a pretty overwhelming team,especially with both hastened and using elixir of bloodlust.
@@wawho9645 Found a great buff recently, If you don't use Steeped in Bliss, you simply must try it! It gives you +2 to ALL sawing throws, and you can get it by donating 4600 gold to one of the gods in act 3, in that building near Basilisk gate, and you can do that with every party member! It says that you can go there in the beginning of each new day, to ask for that blessing, but it's not necessary, it stays on, only disappears in the case you steal your donation back, but after removing the curse you get for stealing, you can ask the statue for blessing again, free of charge! I love buffs, that is why strange ox never survives my playthrougs, I end him as soon as possible, to get that shapeshifter boon ring, when you wear it while shapeshifting into someone or something else, you get Mark of the shapeshifter buff, which gives you 1d4 to ALL checks in the game!
@@wawho9645 I'm playing my 15th run, and got 4 honor runs finished, and 2 fails, one practically on purpose, cause I didn't get everburning blade with drop weapon, and I attacked the commander kamikaze style! It was early in the game, so I thought, what a hell! It didn't work, but next time, I blocked that corridor those 2 extra cambions use to join the fight, with 3 chests I found on the ship, and then it was different story! Those two screwed me over, without them, I just let mindflayer go at the commander, with Laezel's help, and attacked mindflayer with the rest, so their HP goes down at the same time, and once I get them close to 25HP, I retreat and throw fireball at 3 nautiloid tanks I placed around commander and mindflayer! My second loss was a little bit more painful, Ansur did it, 130 hours in, and that made me so angry, I created the EXACTLY the same character in my current run, and my goal is revenge, I don't even care about finishing the game! In fact, I have a plan, if I defeat the dragon, I want to end Gortash on his corronation, with all the steal watchers there, I saw it can be done, and I just HAVE to try it! But first, I must defeat Ansur! Globe of invulnerability comes to mind :)
In D&D at higher level your characters become extremely powerful, almost godlike at the highest ones so to be fair this game is pretty accurate to D&D regarding player powerspike in the endgame (and still it is much more ridicolous in D&D lol)
@@darkguardian50 sounds like Larian was becoming open to it until internal dispute or at least disagreement with wotc occured, so they took their devs and went home (back to Divinity).
Initial level cap estimation in early access was 10. Due the community feedback, which was pretty small, yet very direct and precise, in comparison to nowadays (loud, but more of murmur, if it makes any sense?), it was upped to 12, but that's it. They specifically didn't wan't to go higher because - it is making things works completely different or straight up not implementing certain (plenty of) high level spells - encounters get ridiculous, you're close to demi-god like figure at the point of 14, it is just silly and not fun without being very restrictive (which game specifically doesn't want to be) BG2 high levels were justified RP wise, but were absolutely ridiculously implemented, and with a party of 6 it was a clownfiesta at high levels. I personally don't mind it, but it was the purest form of jank (which, tbf, went alongside Bioware's magic back in the day) WoTC and such - no indication whatsoever, it is not like they've out-staffed their devs in a first place. Most of the fun things in the game are not even DnD, strictly speaking, but progression of Larian fun from DOS2 which was already a DnD game in all but the name. Well, it is, in fact, their own tabletop game. WoTC didn't do anything tbf, the most things they've done in consulting on the lore and where certain legacy characters end up canon wise. And this team is gone by now.
This has been another wonderful lets play episode with you. Your presentation is just wonderful. And you have progressed quite a lot in your playthrough and built a very solid team. Thats also the reason that you did not struggle that much in the fight. Also you did the fight quite late (after Orin, Ansur) which is another reason for it to feel relatively easy. People could potentially arrive there a lot sooner, almost immediately after coming to the city.
Wow this game can go in so many different ways... I remember this fight as utter chaos, I was so under leveled, I used different abilities and magic to spawn around 6-7 minions to help me, I didn't read all the Raphael details so I foolishly used Shadowheart Divine intervention and Raphael blocked it while laughing (he said something too, I can't remember what), and at some point she used all her magic so I made her go outside the room, close the big doors and take a nap to restore all the spells while everyone else was holding Raphael back and dying...With the song in the background...I think I had my jaw dropped the whole fight...I did it first time too but it was so epic when Shadowheart came back to the room with full spells and revived everybody
Once again, congrats on finishing a fight on tactician on a first blind playthrough, you’re a better gamer than me (or at least a lot braver, ‘cause of my first playthrough I kept it on balanced the whole way). That said, I also thought the Raphael fight was more theatrics and less life and death stakes. Dang, frustrating glitch, glad that didn’t happen to me on my honor run! And I agree, Ansur fight was tougher for me as well, he left my whole party a smoldering ruin on my first attempt…and I seriously considered skipping him on my first honor run, but glad I didn’t, as it really gave me a sense of accomplishment when I finally finished him off. My favorite Raphael fight was with Astarion redone as open hand monk and Karlach as berserker barbarian-kept Raphael stunned and prone for most of the fight, which was over very quickly lol
Larian put a built-in mod in the game called 'Honour' that you can enable with BG3MM. It won't make the game an honour mode run, but it will enable all of the bosses to use their special honour mode abilities on tactical difficulty.
Hey, thanks for this comment, after enabling these mods with bg3 mm how do you create a new save with the customized difficulty ? just create it with tactician ? Thanks !
In my playthrough, it was not that easy. Considering your fight with Cazador(very clever use of stone wall) I think you just became good in understanding D&D. :)
Well yeah, but you are a very kind and thoughtful mass murderer 🤣 GF Whimsy! I agree, Ansur is probably the hardest fight aside from confronting the elder brain.
Before entering House of Hope, I always make sure I have at least 4 disintegrate scrolls, for pillars of souls! One scroll per pillar is enough! Then, I cast globe of invulnerability, and I make sure Hope is in it, cause she's Rafael first choice target, and I get the others under globe's protection too! Black hole illithid spell is for blasting away enemies from the globe, so they don't get invulnerable status!
This isn't a great fight, this is THE FIGHT! The one fight that finally got me desperately looking through my bag of 100 unused scrolls and arrows and bombs. First playthrough, on tactician, I kid you not, it took me 45 minutes. 10 signatures/10 devil contracts, best boss fight I had in a decade of gaming (no offence to FormSoftware games, but I never managed to get into that style of gameplay).
Wanna know a great fun fact? If you cast silence on Raphael his verses stops. That means he's canonically singing in the fight while he beats our asses 😂
@@000Scala yeah don't worry, for some reason there's a lot of people that's really convinced of it. I guess considering the amount of details the game has, it could even make sense that something like that would happen, sadly it doesn't
1:43:07 I get what you're saying, but then I go on reddit or twitter and see plenty of posts "I'm struggling on explorer", "What am I doing wrong?" and so on. Like, you're a good player, who reads what skills do and had some knowledge of DnD, and with that you still have to reload and test mechanics, and some portion of spells/skills and so on (like I would say 10-15%) is heavily underused while being good. But, you're playing good, simple as that. It isn't really Dark Souls lol, but it still has 30-40-50 hour learning curve. Raphael destroyed plenty of players, but you played 1st try "flawlessly". Although I agree, it is more of flavor fight, then challenge for at least semi-experienced player. So, yeah, if you read and do stuff “correctly” and with imagination and fun - the game isn't that difficult. Some Honor Mode bosses, like Grym (you struggled with it, I don't remember really?), absolutely slap. Also, the level has to be taken into account, like lvl12 is close to power fantasy, so balancing fight is either OP abilities, or enormous health, or horde or enemies (not fun), otherwise lvl12 adventurer dealing 100+ dmg a turn within the rules will be broken. If you kill devil on material plane, like, let's say there are brave souls that kill Mizora, even earlier acts (which leads to sad hilariosity), devil doesn't really die But in the Hells, he is dead-dead, in my opinion at least I'm pretty certain Zariel will just take House of Hope back, as archdevil and ruler of Avernus, no beating her that's for sure "Bruh" moments in the episode 1:25:29 Bruh.... like that's quite a vivid dream, Raphael 1:30:51 "I could say the same of you"... bruh, yeah, like the first cutscene is described on one of the books in the vaults, it the common theory (which is almost certain) is that Emperor tadpoles you and Lae'zel, before starting snatching people in the City of Yartar in order to build his army of helpers after he "broke free". Because it is clear that it isn't part of the plot, which is very subtle and doesn't intend to reveal mindflayers.
When me and my parther got here first it was amazing and we went to silence him. If you do, he stops singing the song while silenced. Its so amazing haha
Tbf, she had some visual stuff with faces in Rivington, Blink working weirdly, Wyll being weird in the end due to what happened during Ansure fight, and some jumping with, this falling through the ground, some other stuff with couple spells. This is during like 40 last hours or so. BUT, it is still more than I had during all my playthroughs lol. Shadowheart portrait is hilariousity mostly, although I get why some people are upset. Shield Bash was annoying af, but that was for everyone since patch4, even during Act2. And even in act1-2 Whimsy had corpse not showing, Gale appearing during first Elminster meet, and some other weirdness. It is what it is, imo, sadly, the game is too mechanically complex to ever be bugless :(, which it is close, but still. Like, Act2 is the most linear act with the most amount of cut content to make a more linear story (as they admitted in recent interview), the most streamlined map design, the least complex act and has the least amount of content by Larian standards of "should be content every corner" since DOS1-2. But, for a lot of people this is exactly why it is the best act - each encounter is more memorable. For plenty, it is not (complaints: content, how short it is with almost 0 new stuff in replays, especially Gauntlet of Shar for some reason I can't grasp, atmosphere and style in general). I think they should find a balance between act2 and act3 in their future games, just from polish perspective. Still, personally, my favorite fantasy RPG (BG2 second, DA:O third, Witcher 3 4th, both Pathfinder games 5th-6th, and so on), specifically because of gameplay, and I've played a lot. Also, I genuinely think the game works and plays better on PC, even on mid-rig. Personally I would lose my marbles if played with controller, I get they tried, but cmon, late-game you gotta be a wild "magic sorc" or "wizard" irl to manage it.
Unfortunately, Act 3 tends to be pretty glitchy at the best of times. Recent patches have fixed the worst of the glitches; but playing saves that began before the most recent patches tend to be even worse. The Raphael fight can be really tough; but with a bit of tactical thought it becomes 100x easier. The first time I fought Raphael, I did fine (I reloaded only because I wanted to keep Hope alive). The second time, my main character was an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, and I went at it thinking I was going to walk all over Raphael... but my overpowered smite was turned back on my poor Paladin and killed her before Raphael even took an action. Raphael is probably my favorite fight in the game, almost entirely because of the song. He's so campy and utterly unaware of his own absurdity, it's amazing! In my opinion, the toughest fights are in Act 1, before characters hit level 5 and the class power levels jump by like a factor of 10 (So like, Dror Ragzlin, Priestess Gut if you fight her in the main chamber instead of her private space, Auntie Ethel, the Phase Spider Matriarch, the gnoll Flind, and the Githyanki patrol by the Mountain Pass; though these fights all become substantially easier once you hit level 5). The actual hardest fight, though, for me, was the first time I fought Balthazar in the Shadowfell.
That is a heartbreaking softlock. atleast we have the footage to prove how well you did in the fight tho. The song is god-tier! Karlach's dialogue made me think of David Bowie's "Heroes" such as: "We could steal time, just for one day. We can be heroes, forever and ever." As a character I think karlach would fit perfectly with this song. An amazing character to go with an iconic song. You sure did make this look easy. When i went through here in co-op we were under-leveled and it was a task indeed. I personally liked the first two acts and the first half of the game much more. Act 3 is almost overhwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. I enjoyed this episode very much! Looking forward to the next one!
idk, imo, especially on subsequent playthroughs Act3 is absolutely the best, and you can always find something you haven't seen before, not to mention the best dungeons, story wrap-ups and so on. Tbf, also some crap quests like Free the Artist and Dribbles the Clown. After optimization and some bug fixes (on PC, idk about consoles), even tho personally I was pretty content with it on release, Act3 is just great, I like how backloaded the game is with so much stuff to do. Rivington + Wyrm's Crossing is probably top3 locations in the game, alongside Underdark and Creche Y'llek. I like Act2 the best because of how focused it is, and because it works with Act1 nothing-story (aka slow burn), but it is either not rated fairly for its linearity and quite dull map design, or hated for no reason for Gauntlet of Shar (I don't understand why people hate it and no one can explain why, besides nagging about how difficult/annoying/tiresome). And it has the least replay value for sure. To each their own, idk how one could find it "much more" likeable, but arguing tastes isn't my strongest feat :) I've certainly wasn't underwhelmed, but also was a bit burned out on 1st playthrough because of how much things still left to do (and pretty much all of them were peak). None of the acts are perfect imo, but personally they are all 10/10 for me after playing the game almost 4 of times. I'll patiently await for anyone to top this with their party-based fantasy RPG :) (Mass Effect is still the best sci-fi)
I don't think the fight is too easy. It's just that you are overpowered and skilled your characters to the optimum. Most players don't do this and they usually need some tries.
You are correct. It isn't only playing optimally, it is min-maxing not only specific party members, but specific party composition to be OP. Every other character, well besides Lae'zel, is sidelined. Adding 1-2 of them would make everything much more difficult, since none of them, pretty much, is optimized like the main 4. So, yeah, ofc OP party doing OP things. 4 character party that were respecced multiple times and optimized to use specific items + 1 follower-healer Most of the players not familiar with the genre or just disliking this kind of stuff (min-maxing, itemization, etc, aka "RPG elements", or straight UP being overwhelmed with combat) wouldn't bother and would be destroyed at lvl10-11 still having Color Spray or Sleep or Grease as lvl1 spells in their book, relying on True Strike as cantrip (not being harsh, just look at Wyll state in this party, even tho Bardlock is a legit strong multiclass). Not only those players, but in general, Balanced players not doing too much min-maxing However, I would prefer more gimmicks/specifics in boss fights actively countering some approaches. They tried with some, but I think it could've been done even more. Like with DOS2, when not only encounter is a puzzle, but the appoach to encounter (sometimes a bit too cheesy). It would upset a lot of "general audience" players, but it would be cool. Like Grym is a great example of a tough boss fight with a certain gimmick, and on HM it is even cooler/tougher.
I genuinely don't think it would've worked. She was properly glitched in through the floor, there was no way the missile could reach around :( But I mean, who knows.
I tried to be funny, got called out on being wrong and not verifying my sources, and accidentally created a core memory that will randomly make me cringe for years to come...
Dragon was a lot higher level than Raphael. And you are now max lv and high geared. So no wonder fights are easy. (If not max lv. And not that geared fights are so much harder. Your party is now at a demigod lv)
The game is extremely unbalanced with lots of leveling and rests. Trying Raphael on level 9 really is a completely different experience compared to everything on the max. Especially if you do not have long rests, or even just a few. Honour Mode really does not change that, it only makes it harder to overlevel because you cannot do every quest for XP with a direct attempt.
"Balance is almost dirty word here at Larian" Adam Smith, their... Lead Writer, during the interview about map design. Not that they don't account for balance, it's just not the priority. Same sentiment was years ago, about DOS2. In comparison to DOS2, BG3 is very well-balanced game. Long resting is just a crap DnD mechanic tbh... well, not crap, but, not easily implemented in games. I just dislike short resting / long resting in DnD in general, as within the written rules. Idk how you don't have long rests tho, you pretty much can spam them (which is good, thank god we don't need to hunt for food, change spells only with rests and so on). We can agree, disagree, I'm certainly not glazing a particular approach and wish for DOS2 to be more balanced, that game was truly hard sometimes to the point of annoyance, which is bad. But the overall idea is going for "fun" ("Is it fun?"), which is far more difficult, since "fun" is subjective. They are mostly going for tabletop kind of "fun", I would say. DOS2 was their first game that allowed for switching out of convo and positioning the party (same feature that went into BG3, just like many DOS2 features), or even pickpocketing the boss to make them encumbered (the games usually don't allow for this kind of clownfiesta, but tabletop party/session certainly does). You know the expression, "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game"? The same goes for the balance, in my opinion. HM is just Tactician plus, overleveling there is pretty much the same and works fine. Bosses are more threatening, for sure, some more than others. But encounters overall are no different from Tactician. So if you struggle on Tactician, find it hard/unbalanced - HM is just the same, and probably not to experimented with, and that is ok. If you're level 9 and going for Raphael it is almost certain you've rushed through some parts on the game, which is fine, the game won't stop you, it allows for whatever you want (lvl3 in the Underdark). But, that's on the player, if they are going for this, like "wish granted".
Hi Whimsy. Not sure if your already on your vacation or if your already back right now, but hope your having or had fun. Just started watching this episode, just wanted to chime in a second. '' I'm not a mass murderer like you. My bodycount is probably high actually '' No no no no, hey listen. To be fair, ok. It may be in the 100's by now, possibly 1000's but hey, self defense. They brought it on themselves. Now that poor hamster on the other hand... AND IT'S ONLY A WAR CRIME THE SECOND TIME, your still on the first time. I mean, you got a worm in your head, your a medical professional I'm sure you've seen this kinda thing before. It's not your fault..... just.... just...... some motha fuckas always be trying to ice skate uphill. xDDD
![D&D beginner plays BALDUR'S GATE 3 for the first time! | Ep.1 | Let's Play [PS5]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JmF01TP5Q5w/mqdefault.jpg)
![D&D beginner plays BALDUR'S GATE 3 for the first time! | Ep.1 | Let's Play [PS5]](/img/tr.png)
I LOVE THIS GAME 😭 Can it never end please thank you
The song?! The song. THE SONG. Anyways, hope you like the video!
Chapters
0:00 intro
0:39 recap
6:53 Speak with dead Haarlep
10:54 Raphael boss fight (featuring the best song ever)
1:08:40 that RPing though!
1:09:16 the worst glitch in history
1:18:10 please standby
1:20:32 OKAY we're back
1:33:49 thoughts & outro
The Symphony of the Realms live version of the song is fantastic! You should check it out if you haven't already. Cheers !
Been waiting for your reaction to his fight and you didn't disappoint :) It's hard to believe the entire House of Hope is 100% optional given it's one of the best and most memorable parts of the game. I have 1100 hours played and it still gives me chills seeing others experience it the first time.
@@samhain9283 ditto. And it is legit is one of the toughest fights in the game, along with Ansur and Myrkul. You did well, Whimsy! Also, don't hesitate to report bugs to Larian- my first Honour mode attempt had a bug which prevented me from long resting. Larian responded to me 6 days after my report. Just make sure to not delete the bugged save! Cheers!
Fun fact: if you cast "silence" during the song, Raphael stops singing. THIS is genius!
the fact that raphael sings his own boss theme is just a level of genius only larian is capable of.
So true !
you should give credit to the guy who made the song not Larian
the best part is that if you silence raphael the song stops
fucking epic
I heard that it's his first time recording a song too. He did great!
The game only glitched so you could hear the song again.
Raphael's actor Andrew Wincott made a surprise appearance at the BG3 concert and sang the song!
Great episode.
Oh my I'm so jealous!! That must've been CRAZY
They literally asked him "By the way, can you sing?". Borislav Slavov said that Swen came up with an idea of Raphael having his own song :)
The man not only never did work for games, but also never sang lol. That concert version is outstanding btw, saw it on YT (someone recorded, so kind of "pirating" a bit, but ...)
No cover tops the performance. Not offense to those trying, but impossible to cover.
This fight is the best piece of computer gaming ever, I'm 44 yo and the emotion and joy of this theme and fight for the 1st time was AMAZING! I wish all main bosses had this level of design! It's a joy seeing other people enjoy it! Keep it up Whimsy!
it wouldn't work if it was all the boss fights. This works because its a "WTF oh god, I shouldn't have done this" moment.
when raphael came in and threatend me i was like SILENCE BOTTOM
HAHHAHA
Was waiting for you to reach this fight since I heard the song on my play through.
Was immediately thinking, “Oh, Whimsy is going to love this.”
Best song in the game.
If you "play the game"with Haarlep instead of fighting them, you get a chance to unlock a dialogue option that dishes out an absolutely brutal taunt to Raphael for your last words. 😂
worth it 1000%
Raphael's battle (The whole thing, song included) it's one of the best things I've seen in the game industry in the last decade.
The story of Baldur's Gate is basically as old as the pen and paper / D&D universe itself. Since the first Baldur's Gate was released, it has almost single-handedly transported the pen and paper feeling into the digital world. BG2 has made it even more extensive and a bit more interesting. Since then, many games have tried to put this feeling into their own projects. We basically all know them. Skyrim, Witcher, etc. One studio that discovered the feature of consequences for itself was the young studio Quantic Dream. With Fahrenheit, the sequels Heavy Rain, beyond two souls and finally Detroit Become Human. So many different ways to tell your own story where certain people can die right at the beginning. With Skyrim, it was the variety and design of the avatar. And of course to some extent the story too. The world feels tangible and comprehensible. And now, over 20 years later, after 3 years of Early Access, the long-awaited Baldur's Gate 3 is coming out. What I (we) had hoped for was actually the same as in BG2, only with more story and interesting characters and, of course, enormous freedom of choice. What we didn't think, however, was that Larian Studios had overdone it in every phase of what was humanly possible, to the point that it leaves you speechless after the first 10 hours. Wow, even the Early Access phase doesn't even come close to doing the finished product justice. I can't find the words to describe how deeply grateful I am personally to be able to consume something like this. In times of spectacular disasters and the worst games ever released, BG3 stands out so much from the crowd that you can't ignore it. UA-cam, Instagram, Twitter, Metacritic, every platform agrees. BG3 The Best F... Game of The Year. And I for one am glad that there are people out there like Naughty Dog, From Software and Larian Studios who still dare to do something and produce games for gamers and not primarily for the shareholders. And what have we learned from games like BG3? Well, that you just need a leader in steel armor who runs around the studio the whole time and motivates his employees to do the same. Please Larian, don't lose your fire like Blizzard or Activision. Because then you'll quickly end up in the top 10 worst games on Steam and who wants that? I'm happy to be able to consume content like this and I'm excited to see what else Larian will conjure up. Fill me with magic and take me with you wherever it may lead. Love lots of love and a 12/10 for the best adventure in my gaming history. 180 hours for one RUN btw.
Love your response.
Raphael going full Disney villain is so funny and fully in character.
Apparently he didn't want to do it, but Larian loved his theatrical performance and
the musical director hyped him into it. Pure peer preasure.
sometimes games leave a mark of pleasant surprise, the song being absolute FIRE is one thing but actually hearing the voice actor slaying it on his characters personal battle song is just such a awesome move.
One of the best moments in the modern videogame history
The gradual increase in emotional bonding with Raphael as a villain was excellent, but not unique. Sephirot had a similar build up bonding (in a more distanced way). What is unique about Raphael is the timing and unexpectedness of this masterpiece of a song. Other battles in bg3 are silent, then suddenly this comes. Shock 1. Then Raphael himself starts singing, shock 2. All is perfect and aligned. That there is a golden moment in video game history
The last time a boss battle made me feel like this was FF7 One Winged Angel. 🔥🔥
The House of Hope is such an amazing location, and fighting Raph is sooo cathartic! My Pally was itching to smite him the whole game, lol. It was great to see you explore and enjoy it, despite the bugs.
I agree with your observation on the difficulty unfortunately, if you understand the mechanics and items well enough to have a decent build and synergy for your characters plus intelligent tactics and item usage, most of the enemies towards the end feel a little easier than some of those in earlier acts. Also just because you have so many more tools. Still tons of fun though!
BTW, I didn't realize at first when I found it, but the actual best property of the Helldusk armor you got is the proficiency, which means ANYONE can use it, even squishy casters like Lilith.
LOVE this reaction, so similar to my experience. So fricking epic. Your party is a riot, so fun watching Karlak throw Raphael into his minions.
I’m here for a Whimsy Honour Mode playthrough! I’m in Act 3 of my first Honour mode campaign and big bosses get extra legendary actions and resistances that really up the danger!
Just the fact that I searched for a reaction to this video to see if anybody else was brought to tears and confused by it… omg!!! It felt so nice to see somebody confronted with those emotions when the song started!!!
Aaah I love that! That feels so validating haha I get it!
This song terrified me, and seeing his 666 health, the fight felt hopeless, the song was very fitting.
Nothing like watching someone experience the Raphael fight and music for the first time!
Raphael and Ketheric Thorm were the 2 most difficult battles in my playthrough. Every other battle including Ansur was surprisingly much easier to deal with.
I think you just had the a good strategy and things just went your way with rolls and checks.
I mean, she's been metagaming hard the entire playthrough and reading comments that tell her what feats, spells and gear to use.
Also she's playing the most OP class in the game. So really there is no reason why she should NOT be facerolling the game.
Wow my fight with him was not this easy!! Was so great to see him fearful and thrown around
La Maison de l'espoir! J'aime tellement ce donjon la, j'avais tellement hâte que tu te rende la :D
That song alone made this one of the most memorable encounters in gaming for me and the design of house of hope and its questline was fantastic. Couldn't believe they did all that for a fight that was technically optional and not even the final boss.
Agree that some bosses can feel a bit too easy on tactician if you are familiar with the mechanics. In act 3 my party was so overpowered that I can't remember dying to any bosses at all, even all the "main" ones. I do have a lot of experience with crpgs though. Most friends that I know of found balanced difficulty fairly challenging already. I think you are just ahead of the curve :)
Came for the playthrough, stayed for the singing :)
16:43: "Oh I'm fucked!", had the same exact reaction the INSTANT I heard this music start playing. LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVESSSSSS, ALL MORTAL LIVESSSSSSSSSSSSSS, EXPIREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Ah shit... I'm a mortal life.
hey whimsy! since i've began watching your playthrough i've been waiting for this moment! this song in this battle is amazing.
the thing with the difficulty: i think this fight has reasonable difficulty when you are level 10... and since you can do it just as you arrive on the lower city, you have a challenge there.
but once you reach level 12 almost nothing is a challenge anymore with your skills... i think the most difficult fight ever is against ansur... after that if you are careful you are good...
thanks!
> i think the most difficult fight ever is against ansur..
She is doing House of Grief next, so we'll see...
That is the fight I've seen most tears shed, lol
Yurgir fought with me, because I already talked to him in Act 2 and could convince him that I'm powerful enough to kill Raphael.
With Raphael singing while fighting you makes him even more of a Disney villain. 😂
Game can't handle your strategic mastery. Breaks at every opportunity!
Could've tried throwing Shadowheart at something. Helped last time.
Fun episode! Good job on killing Raphael! Have a nice rest of your day, Whimsy!
PS: Is there a nerd restaurant called "Hard Lock Café"? Would be an idea...
i didn't even talk to him and still convinced him so you still can convince him regardless but it's a fairly high roll i think?
most classes i like are charisma based so
I love your reaction, feeling this scene for the first time was really epic
I don't know how you end up with these awful glitches Whimsy, I'm so sorry D: I feel really lucky now that I've never faced these glitches haha, personally on my first try this was the third most difficult fight, you haven't faced that no1 and no2 enemy yet though! Looking forward to the next episode every week!
Like for real, same, idk how :)
And it isn't like I have played it "conventionally", especially after 1st run
I know there are visual ones, or mods break the game, but like...(and I've played 3 House of Hope fights now and watched a dozen glitchless)
Like she is getting act3 treatment release state lol
It is a bit sad tbh
great episode again! I think it is impossible for Larian to make the main act 3 fights really difficult for good players with very good equipment and max level, op builds like Karlach , using potions etc. they have to balance it somewhat to also work for players that do those fights at level 10, without all the combat skills and knowledge of d&d game mechanics , without very good equipment and without optimized builds.
I learned that the most powerfull weapon in almost ANY combat, is bottle of water, or create water spell! Wet status negate lightning or cold resistances, except in the case of immunity to same, and if target has NO such resistances, then wet status makes them take DOUBLE damage from lightning or cold attacks! Imagine casting create water over a whole bunch of enemies, as opening salvo, and then chain-lightning spell or scroll :) It took one bottle of water and 3 chain-lightning scrolls to end Myrkul!
The Storm Sorcerer’s bread and butter, thanks to metamagic-create water with bonus action and then unleash the lightning (or ice storm). So fun to clear the room 👍
@@wawho9645 I use respeced Shadowheart to create lightning mayhem, made her into tempest domain cleric! Myself, I play Rogue Thief-Ranger Gloomstalker-Fighter, in 5-5-2 in leveling, I have SO much extra attacks with that combo, it's insane! Even without adding 2 levels of Fighter! But with it, you unlock action surge on all those extra action, making you practically unstoppable! Enemies don't have time to react in most cases :)
@@zoranhorvat8284 I also do that! Regardless of what class I’m playing I think Tempest Cleric suits Shadowheart thematically. Will say Tempest Cleric paired with Storm Sorcerer makes a pretty overwhelming team,especially with both hastened and using elixir of bloodlust.
@@wawho9645 Found a great buff recently, If you don't use Steeped in Bliss, you simply must try it! It gives you +2 to ALL sawing throws, and you can get it by donating 4600 gold to one of the gods in act 3, in that building near Basilisk gate, and you can do that with every party member! It says that you can go there in the beginning of each new day, to ask for that blessing, but it's not necessary, it stays on, only disappears in the case you steal your donation back, but after removing the curse you get for stealing, you can ask the statue for blessing again, free of charge! I love buffs, that is why strange ox never survives my playthrougs, I end him as soon as possible, to get that shapeshifter boon ring, when you wear it while shapeshifting into someone or something else, you get Mark of the shapeshifter buff, which gives you 1d4 to ALL checks in the game!
@@wawho9645 I'm playing my 15th run, and got 4 honor runs finished, and 2 fails, one practically on purpose, cause I didn't get everburning blade with drop weapon, and I attacked the commander kamikaze style! It was early in the game, so I thought, what a hell! It didn't work, but next time, I blocked that corridor those 2 extra cambions use to join the fight, with 3 chests I found on the ship, and then it was different story! Those two screwed me over, without them, I just let mindflayer go at the commander, with Laezel's help, and attacked mindflayer with the rest, so their HP goes down at the same time, and once I get them close to 25HP, I retreat and throw fireball at 3 nautiloid tanks I placed around commander and mindflayer!
My second loss was a little bit more painful, Ansur did it, 130 hours in, and that made me so angry, I created the EXACTLY the same character in my current run, and my goal is revenge, I don't even care about finishing the game! In fact, I have a plan, if I defeat the dragon, I want to end Gortash on his corronation, with all the steal watchers there, I saw it can be done, and I just HAVE to try it! But first, I must defeat Ansur! Globe of invulnerability comes to mind :)
In D&D at higher level your characters become extremely powerful, almost godlike at the highest ones so to be fair this game is pretty accurate to D&D regarding player powerspike in the endgame (and still it is much more ridicolous in D&D lol)
yea and this is one reason why Larian did not want to go any higher. This game would have gotten absolutely silly at level 20.
@@darkguardian50 I would have been okay with 14 or so in a more heightened expansion.
@@SwobyJ It would have been doable up to 15 I think it just would have required some major changes to how things work.
@@darkguardian50 sounds like Larian was becoming open to it until internal dispute or at least disagreement with wotc occured, so they took their devs and went home (back to Divinity).
Initial level cap estimation in early access was 10. Due the community feedback, which was pretty small, yet very direct and precise, in comparison to nowadays (loud, but more of murmur, if it makes any sense?), it was upped to 12, but that's it.
They specifically didn't wan't to go higher because
- it is making things works completely different or straight up not implementing certain (plenty of) high level spells
- encounters get ridiculous, you're close to demi-god like figure at the point of 14, it is just silly and not fun without being very restrictive (which game specifically doesn't want to be)
BG2 high levels were justified RP wise, but were absolutely ridiculously implemented, and with a party of 6 it was a clownfiesta at high levels. I personally don't mind it, but it was the purest form of jank (which, tbf, went alongside Bioware's magic back in the day)
WoTC and such - no indication whatsoever, it is not like they've out-staffed their devs in a first place. Most of the fun things in the game are not even DnD, strictly speaking, but progression of Larian fun from DOS2 which was already a DnD game in all but the name. Well, it is, in fact, their own tabletop game.
WoTC didn't do anything tbf, the most things they've done in consulting on the lore and where certain legacy characters end up canon wise. And this team is gone by now.
This has been another wonderful lets play episode with you.
Your presentation is just wonderful. And you have progressed quite a lot in your playthrough and built a very solid team. Thats also the reason that you did not struggle that much in the fight. Also you did the fight quite late (after Orin, Ansur) which is another reason for it to feel relatively easy. People could potentially arrive there a lot sooner, almost immediately after coming to the city.
Wow this game can go in so many different ways... I remember this fight as utter chaos, I was so under leveled, I used different abilities and magic to spawn around 6-7 minions to help me, I didn't read all the Raphael details so I foolishly used Shadowheart Divine intervention and Raphael blocked it while laughing (he said something too, I can't remember what), and at some point she used all her magic so I made her go outside the room, close the big doors and take a nap to restore all the spells while everyone else was holding Raphael back and dying...With the song in the background...I think I had my jaw dropped the whole fight...I did it first time too but it was so epic when Shadowheart came back to the room with full spells and revived everybody
Once again, congrats on finishing a fight on tactician on a first blind playthrough, you’re a better gamer than me (or at least a lot braver, ‘cause of my first playthrough I kept it on balanced the whole way).
That said, I also thought the Raphael fight was more theatrics and less life and death stakes.
Dang, frustrating glitch, glad that didn’t happen to me on my honor run!
And I agree, Ansur fight was tougher for me as well, he left my whole party a smoldering ruin on my first attempt…and I seriously considered skipping him on my first honor run, but glad I didn’t, as it really gave me a sense of accomplishment when I finally finished him off.
My favorite Raphael fight was with Astarion redone as open hand monk and Karlach as berserker barbarian-kept Raphael stunned and prone for most of the fight, which was over very quickly lol
Came here to see first reaction to the song. It was worth it
Raphael's song is up there with Disney Villain songs like Hellfire from Notre Dame.
Larian put a built-in mod in the game called 'Honour' that you can enable with BG3MM. It won't make the game an honour mode run, but it will enable all of the bosses to use their special honour mode abilities on tactical difficulty.
Hey, thanks for this comment, after enabling these mods with bg3 mm how do you create a new save with the customized difficulty ? just create it with tactician ?
Thanks !
@@90tiagosilva Yes, it just gives the bosses all of the legendary abilities without the game save restrictions.
@@Duskwind_ thanks man
In my playthrough, it was not that easy. Considering your fight with Cazador(very clever use of stone wall) I think you just became good in understanding D&D. :)
I cried too. It's to amazing not to. And when I hear the song I want to play it again.
The fact that they put the best song in the game in a fight you don't even have to fight is insane to me,
Well yeah, but you are a very kind and thoughtful mass murderer 🤣 GF Whimsy! I agree, Ansur is probably the hardest fight aside from confronting the elder brain.
Before entering House of Hope, I always make sure I have at least 4 disintegrate scrolls, for pillars of souls! One scroll per pillar is enough! Then, I cast globe of invulnerability, and I make sure Hope is in it, cause she's Rafael first choice target, and I get the others under globe's protection too! Black hole illithid spell is for blasting away enemies from the globe, so they don't get invulnerable status!
This isn't a great fight, this is THE FIGHT! The one fight that finally got me desperately looking through my bag of 100 unused scrolls and arrows and bombs. First playthrough, on tactician, I kid you not, it took me 45 minutes. 10 signatures/10 devil contracts, best boss fight I had in a decade of gaming (no offence to FormSoftware games, but I never managed to get into that style of gameplay).
I wish that cazador had his own song as well!
Wanna know a great fun fact? If you cast silence on Raphael his verses stops. That means he's canonically singing in the fight while he beats our asses 😂
That's actually not true... I really don't know where this rumor came from, but you can't silence the song by silencing Raphael.
@@laiofurious6433 ...I was sure until now
@@000Scala yeah don't worry, for some reason there's a lot of people that's really convinced of it. I guess considering the amount of details the game has, it could even make sense that something like that would happen, sadly it doesn't
@@laiofurious6433 thank you for correcting me in this one!
Do you just repeat everything you read in order to seem interesting?
1:43:07 I get what you're saying, but then I go on reddit or twitter and see plenty of posts "I'm struggling on explorer", "What am I doing wrong?" and so on. Like, you're a good player, who reads what skills do and had some knowledge of DnD, and with that you still have to reload and test mechanics, and some portion of spells/skills and so on (like I would say 10-15%) is heavily underused while being good. But, you're playing good, simple as that. It isn't really Dark Souls lol, but it still has 30-40-50 hour learning curve. Raphael destroyed plenty of players, but you played 1st try "flawlessly". Although I agree, it is more of flavor fight, then challenge for at least semi-experienced player. So, yeah, if you read and do stuff “correctly” and with imagination and fun - the game isn't that difficult. Some Honor Mode bosses, like Grym (you struggled with it, I don't remember really?), absolutely slap. Also, the level has to be taken into account, like lvl12 is close to power fantasy, so balancing fight is either OP abilities, or enormous health, or horde or enemies (not fun), otherwise lvl12 adventurer dealing 100+ dmg a turn within the rules will be broken.
If you kill devil on material plane, like, let's say there are brave souls that kill Mizora, even earlier acts (which leads to sad hilariosity), devil doesn't really die
But in the Hells, he is dead-dead, in my opinion at least
I'm pretty certain Zariel will just take House of Hope back, as archdevil and ruler of Avernus, no beating her that's for sure
"Bruh" moments in the episode
1:25:29 Bruh.... like that's quite a vivid dream, Raphael
1:30:51 "I could say the same of you"... bruh, yeah, like the first cutscene is described on one of the books in the vaults, it the common theory (which is almost certain) is that Emperor tadpoles you and Lae'zel, before starting snatching people in the City of Yartar in order to build his army of helpers after he "broke free". Because it is clear that it isn't part of the plot, which is very subtle and doesn't intend to reveal mindflayers.
When me and my parther got here first it was amazing and we went to silence him. If you do, he stops singing the song while silenced. Its so amazing haha
Man Ive never seen someone have so many bugs as you! :( Also I love the raphael fight, it's fun, but agree ansur is much harder
Tbf, she had some visual stuff with faces in Rivington, Blink working weirdly, Wyll being weird in the end due to what happened during Ansure fight, and some jumping with, this falling through the ground, some other stuff with couple spells. This is during like 40 last hours or so. BUT, it is still more than I had during all my playthroughs lol.
Shadowheart portrait is hilariousity mostly, although I get why some people are upset. Shield Bash was annoying af, but that was for everyone since patch4, even during Act2.
And even in act1-2 Whimsy had corpse not showing, Gale appearing during first Elminster meet, and some other weirdness.
It is what it is, imo, sadly, the game is too mechanically complex to ever be bugless :(, which it is close, but still. Like, Act2 is the most linear act with the most amount of cut content to make a more linear story (as they admitted in recent interview), the most streamlined map design, the least complex act and has the least amount of content by Larian standards of "should be content every corner" since DOS1-2. But, for a lot of people this is exactly why it is the best act - each encounter is more memorable. For plenty, it is not (complaints: content, how short it is with almost 0 new stuff in replays, especially Gauntlet of Shar for some reason I can't grasp, atmosphere and style in general). I think they should find a balance between act2 and act3 in their future games, just from polish perspective. Still, personally, my favorite fantasy RPG (BG2 second, DA:O third, Witcher 3 4th, both Pathfinder games 5th-6th, and so on), specifically because of gameplay, and I've played a lot.
Also, I genuinely think the game works and plays better on PC, even on mid-rig. Personally I would lose my marbles if played with controller, I get they tried, but cmon, late-game you gotta be a wild "magic sorc" or "wizard" irl to manage it.
Man, I love what games can do to people. I'll fight anyone that says video games are not art.
lol I forgot about this song. It made me chuckle when I heard it.
Whimsy , the cutest mass murderer ever , all with a smile hahahaha
Unfortunately, Act 3 tends to be pretty glitchy at the best of times. Recent patches have fixed the worst of the glitches; but playing saves that began before the most recent patches tend to be even worse.
The Raphael fight can be really tough; but with a bit of tactical thought it becomes 100x easier. The first time I fought Raphael, I did fine (I reloaded only because I wanted to keep Hope alive). The second time, my main character was an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, and I went at it thinking I was going to walk all over Raphael... but my overpowered smite was turned back on my poor Paladin and killed her before Raphael even took an action. Raphael is probably my favorite fight in the game, almost entirely because of the song. He's so campy and utterly unaware of his own absurdity, it's amazing!
In my opinion, the toughest fights are in Act 1, before characters hit level 5 and the class power levels jump by like a factor of 10 (So like, Dror Ragzlin, Priestess Gut if you fight her in the main chamber instead of her private space, Auntie Ethel, the Phase Spider Matriarch, the gnoll Flind, and the Githyanki patrol by the Mountain Pass; though these fights all become substantially easier once you hit level 5). The actual hardest fight, though, for me, was the first time I fought Balthazar in the Shadowfell.
That is a heartbreaking softlock. atleast we have the footage to prove how well you did in the fight tho. The song is god-tier!
Karlach's dialogue made me think of David Bowie's "Heroes" such as: "We could steal time, just for one day. We can be heroes, forever and ever." As a character I think karlach would fit perfectly with this song. An amazing character to go with an iconic song.
You sure did make this look easy. When i went through here in co-op we were under-leveled and it was a task indeed.
I personally liked the first two acts and the first half of the game much more. Act 3 is almost overhwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. I enjoyed this episode very much! Looking forward to the next one!
idk, imo, especially on subsequent playthroughs Act3 is absolutely the best, and you can always find something you haven't seen before, not to mention the best dungeons, story wrap-ups and so on. Tbf, also some crap quests like Free the Artist and Dribbles the Clown.
After optimization and some bug fixes (on PC, idk about consoles), even tho personally I was pretty content with it on release, Act3 is just great, I like how backloaded the game is with so much stuff to do.
Rivington + Wyrm's Crossing is probably top3 locations in the game, alongside Underdark and Creche Y'llek.
I like Act2 the best because of how focused it is, and because it works with Act1 nothing-story (aka slow burn), but it is either not rated fairly for its linearity and quite dull map design, or hated for no reason for Gauntlet of Shar (I don't understand why people hate it and no one can explain why, besides nagging about how difficult/annoying/tiresome). And it has the least replay value for sure.
To each their own, idk how one could find it "much more" likeable, but arguing tastes isn't my strongest feat :)
I've certainly wasn't underwhelmed, but also was a bit burned out on 1st playthrough because of how much things still left to do (and pretty much all of them were peak).
None of the acts are perfect imo, but personally they are all 10/10 for me after playing the game almost 4 of times.
I'll patiently await for anyone to top this with their party-based fantasy RPG :) (Mass Effect is still the best sci-fi)
I love his song.
Sho-y-dine. Northern Irish is such a brilliant accent
Do you plan on replaying the game on honor mode in the future? If so are you gonna plan on playing on your own or record/stream your playthrough?
I don't think the fight is too easy. It's just that you are overpowered and skilled your characters to the optimum. Most players don't do this and they usually need some tries.
You are correct. It isn't only playing optimally, it is min-maxing not only specific party members, but specific party composition to be OP.
Every other character, well besides Lae'zel, is sidelined.
Adding 1-2 of them would make everything much more difficult, since none of them, pretty much, is optimized like the main 4. So, yeah, ofc OP party doing OP things.
4 character party that were respecced multiple times and optimized to use specific items + 1 follower-healer
Most of the players not familiar with the genre or just disliking this kind of stuff (min-maxing, itemization, etc, aka "RPG elements", or straight UP being overwhelmed with combat) wouldn't bother and would be destroyed at lvl10-11 still having Color Spray or Sleep or Grease as lvl1 spells in their book, relying on True Strike as cantrip (not being harsh, just look at Wyll state in this party, even tho Bardlock is a legit strong multiclass). Not only those players, but in general, Balanced players not doing too much min-maxing
However, I would prefer more gimmicks/specifics in boss fights actively countering some approaches. They tried with some, but I think it could've been done even more. Like with DOS2, when not only encounter is a puzzle, but the appoach to encounter (sometimes a bit too cheesy). It would upset a lot of "general audience" players, but it would be cool. Like Grym is a great example of a tough boss fight with a certain gimmick, and on HM it is even cooler/tougher.
I just fought him and had the same reaction
The only time music in a game made me stop playing and just listen during a fight. And I have played alot of games in 40 years.
The cambion could have been killed by magic missile. No need to redo the fight or run away.
I mean, that's why it's a magical missile, you know?
I genuinely don't think it would've worked. She was properly glitched in through the floor, there was no way the missile could reach around :( But I mean, who knows.
I tried to be funny, got called out on being wrong and not verifying my sources, and accidentally created a core memory that will randomly make me cringe for years to come...
Wait what was it?? On a Baldur's Gate subject? Aaah that happens, we _all_ have those moments that keep us awake at night 🤣
@@WhimsyPsyche I claimed that Raphael's song stops if you silence him - apparently this is not true and I was chastised for not checking my sources.
FYI: If you silence Raphael, the singing stops!
@37:34 you are correct! Something different does happen if you spare her!
Dragon was a lot higher level than Raphael. And you are now max lv and high geared. So no wonder fights are easy. (If not max lv. And not that geared fights are so much harder. Your party is now at a demigod lv)
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if you helped yurgir it works out better. he'll help you in this fight.
It's really cool, but after playing Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous for so long, having such epicness ascribed to a lowly cambion feels weird 😂😂😂😂😂😂
I came here just to see her crying. I don't know who she is. Can someone timestamp it please?
LMAOOO welcome in! Use the chapters I put, they should help!
The game is extremely unbalanced with lots of leveling and rests.
Trying Raphael on level 9 really is a completely different experience compared to everything on the max.
Especially if you do not have long rests, or even just a few.
Honour Mode really does not change that, it only makes it harder to overlevel because you cannot do every quest for XP with a direct attempt.
"Balance is almost dirty word here at Larian" Adam Smith, their... Lead Writer, during the interview about map design. Not that they don't account for balance, it's just not the priority.
Same sentiment was years ago, about DOS2. In comparison to DOS2, BG3 is very well-balanced game. Long resting is just a crap DnD mechanic tbh... well, not crap, but, not easily implemented in games. I just dislike short resting / long resting in DnD in general, as within the written rules. Idk how you don't have long rests tho, you pretty much can spam them (which is good, thank god we don't need to hunt for food, change spells only with rests and so on).
We can agree, disagree, I'm certainly not glazing a particular approach and wish for DOS2 to be more balanced, that game was truly hard sometimes to the point of annoyance, which is bad. But the overall idea is going for "fun" ("Is it fun?"), which is far more difficult, since "fun" is subjective. They are mostly going for tabletop kind of "fun", I would say. DOS2 was their first game that allowed for switching out of convo and positioning the party (same feature that went into BG3, just like many DOS2 features), or even pickpocketing the boss to make them encumbered (the games usually don't allow for this kind of clownfiesta, but tabletop party/session certainly does). You know the expression, "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game"? The same goes for the balance, in my opinion.
HM is just Tactician plus, overleveling there is pretty much the same and works fine. Bosses are more threatening, for sure, some more than others. But encounters overall are no different from Tactician. So if you struggle on Tactician, find it hard/unbalanced - HM is just the same, and probably not to experimented with, and that is ok.
If you're level 9 and going for Raphael it is almost certain you've rushed through some parts on the game, which is fine, the game won't stop you, it allows for whatever you want (lvl3 in the Underdark). But, that's on the player, if they are going for this, like "wish granted".
Whimsy! How are you? Are you ready for the dlc of Elden Ring? Have a great weekend!
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the song is the worst part, they could have found something else...But fighting Raphael is fun.
Whimsy runing late in the city 🏙️🌆🌆🤓 love your channel....😮
Hi Whimsy. Not sure if your already on your vacation or if your already back right now, but hope your having or had fun. Just started watching this episode, just wanted to chime in a second. '' I'm not a mass murderer like you. My bodycount is probably high actually '' No no no no, hey listen. To be fair, ok. It may be in the 100's by now, possibly 1000's but hey, self defense. They brought it on themselves. Now that poor hamster on the other hand... AND IT'S ONLY A WAR CRIME THE SECOND TIME, your still on the first time. I mean, you got a worm in your head, your a medical professional I'm sure you've seen this kinda thing before. It's not your fault..... just.... just...... some motha fuckas always be trying to ice skate uphill. xDDD
Raphael is just the best written villain in any game tbh 🤍Andrew Wincott did such an amazing job voicing him