Hogwarts Legacy

[Exodor]

I read a one star review of the game today from Wired that almost made my eyes roll out of my head. There's no reason to trash a great game over your personal hang ups. Give it to another reviewer that can separate video games from their moral high horse.

I don't have a horse in this race - I like HP well enough but JK's views on trans women are horrific. But still - Wired had a trans woman review the game. Seems like they might be a tad bit biased.

[JCC]

So, I was reading a bit more news on the controversy. While doing so, I happened upon an article which revealed a new strategy against the game and was full of game spoilers/reveals. So their idea is to punish people for not taking their side. Sounds like a really good way to win over allies to me. I always want to immediately change an opinion to the group that went out of their way to piss me off. Wow.

I think all people should be able to live the life they want and trans people in particular are facing tons of idiotic discrimination and hatred. But, I also think people shouldn't be assholes just because people are enjoing a piece of entertainment. It is possible to love art while also condemning the views of the artist. Or in this case condemning the owner of the intellectual property who is so rich she won't care if the game's profits are reduced slightly. Roger Waters has been accused of having some pretty radical, unflattering views lately. If these things are true, it will greatly lower my opinion of him. But, am I going to never listen to Pink Floyd again? They have been one of my favorite bands for over 35 years!

One of my buddies is loving the game. I will almost certainly get it at some point because I still love Harry Potter. Even though I think Rowling is an idiotic dope for doubling down on her misguided fear of "men" in women's bathrooms.

Hell, I am still pissed the Fantastic Beasts movies were canceled. I really liked them.

[Isgrimnur]

Hell, I am still pissed the Fantastic Beasts movies were canceled. I really liked them.

Warner Bros. Discover isn't exactly a happy place for anyone's favorite anything at the moment.

[Kurth]

I read a one star review of the game today from Wired that almost made my eyes roll out of my head. There's no reason to trash a great game over your personal hang ups. Give it to another reviewer that can separate video games from their moral high horse.

I don't have a horse in this race - I like HP well enough but JK's views on trans women are horrific. But still - Wired had a trans woman review the game. Seems like they might be a tad bit biased.

I don’t want to drag this down the R&P hole, but if you think so, would you mind posting in R&P to explain why JK’s views on trans women are horrific, as opposed to maybe, misguided or ignorant or uninformed or unenlightened? I mean, to my ear, “horrific” sounds like you think she wants to burn trans women at the stake or enshrine laws that discriminate against them and make them second class citizens. That’s not exactly consistent with my understanding of what JK has actually said.

[Scraper]

I think one of the things I like best about this game is that the quests aren't overly long. You can literally play this game for 20 minutes and feel like you got something done. I'm also a fan of collection style games so the amount of content crammed into this world is something that really clicks with me.

Also, I'm about 14 hours or so in and I literally just found a whole new section of the castle that I hadn't been to before. It's the courtyard that was featured so heavily in the movies. I have a feeling there's still a lot left for me to explore in this game.

[Blackhawk]

Out of curiosity, are they working the the book license, the movie license, or both?

[coopasonic]

Out of curiosity, are they working the the book license, the movie license, or both?

I think the answer is no? I mean generally, I think video game licenses are independent. The game is based on and expands the lore of the Wizarding world, but it is set well before the books/movies (1899).

[Max Peck]

Out of curiosity, are they working the the book license, the movie license, or both?

From a quick look, it seems to fall under the overall Wizarding World media franchise, which seems to be co-owned by WB and Rowling, in which case I'd guess the answer would be along the lines of "all of the above" more or less.

[YellowKing]

I'm 20 hours in and now feeling very comfortable with combat. The amount of spells you'll have access to can be somewhat overwhelming, so what I've done for my primary loadout is my 3 most heavily used combat spells and one "swing" slot where I'll swap out spells as needed to best fit with the specific combat scenario I'm in.

Generally I've found you can handle most random world fights without having to resort to very specific loadouts, though for boss fights and tougher enemies like trolls you'll definitely want to tailor your spells to the enemy. The bestiary in your collections is VERY useful on illustrating monster weaknesses and how to defeat them the most efficiently.

Combat hint that I'll put in spoiler tags just in case:

Spoiler:

Stealth is SUPER OP in this game. You can one shot a lot of the regular enemies, and upping your skill to avoid detection and effect multiple enemies with one stealth attack can have you wiping out most of a camp before the enemy even spots you. I've found myself skipping stealth (even though it's quicker/easier) just for the heightened challenge.

[GreenGoo]

In honour of this thread, I watched all the HP pitch meetings, back to back. It seemed to me that the pitches (which are based on the actual movies, although often from a different perspective) get progressively sillier and sillier as the movies themselves seemed to do.

HP pitch meetings

[malchior]

I quite like the ability which allows multiple groups of spells. I first set this up because the fire spell has such short range. I didn't find it super useful against groups of humans. That is now my "beasts" setup. I have another set up for dark wizards (with combos centered around expelliarmus) and then a third for stealth. It all works pretty well and I don't have to shuffle the spell sets that much.

[coopasonic]

I have all but one spell unlocked and not even a fraction of the slots I need. So very many uncommon use spells to swap out. One of the four sets is pretty much for room of requirement stuff (if you know, you know) but I overwrite it all the time for specific use cases.

So much to do. Steam has me at ~36 hours, which is about 4 hours higher than what the save game slot shows (32 I think) in case console folks want to compare.

[naednek]

anyone know of any deals for the ps5 version. I had ignored this as I thought it was a VR game and this Saturday is my son's 13th Bday. I was hoping to not spend $70

[Skinypupy]

I'm about a dozen hours in and am still absolutely in love with this game. It's been a truly fantastic surprise.

Everything about the way it is designed just clicks with me. The cool setting, the excellent story and characters, the beautiful graphics, the ease of navigation (both getting around in-game and in menus), how crystal clear every single objective is, the puzzles that make you think but aren't brain-melting, the spell-flinging combat that can be as easy or difficult as you'd like, the cool gear...all of it. There's a ton of small touches in their design that I really appreciate. For example, if a quest needs you to do something during the day and it's nighttime, you can simply go to the quest location and it gives you the option to wait until morning, then start the quest. That's a very simple thing, but one that just generally makes the game easier to play.

I'm really quite amazed at just what an incredibly solid overall gaming package this is.

[Alefroth]

anyone know of any deals for the ps5 version. I had ignored this as I thought it was a VR game and this Saturday is my son's 13th Bday. I was hoping to not spend $70

VR would be awesome, but I can't imagine any deals on a game not even a week old. Especially PS5.

[coopasonic]

anyone know of any deals for the ps5 version. I had ignored this as I thought it was a VR game and this Saturday is my son's 13th Bday. I was hoping to not spend $70

$63 with 3 day free shipping on ebay -- if the listing is to be believed, cuz, you know, ebay.

[Daehawk]

Why is it so expensive woo.

[coopasonic]

Why is it so expensive woo.

$70 is becoming the new normal.

[Carpet_pissr]

It’s been $60 for Xbox and $50 for PC for the past week or so at Newegg (digital download), so I bet it will go down another $10 and probably hover there for a while since it’s so popular.

[naednek]

It’s been $60 for Xbox and $50 for PC for the past week or so at Newegg (digital download), so I bet it will go down another $10 and probably hover there for a while since it’s so popular.

Ya but for some reason the ps5 isn't getting the love

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[YellowKing]

There's a ton of small touches in their design that I really appreciate.

They seemed to be aware of a ton of "quality of life" things that a lot of open world games forget. Fast travel from anywhere is huge. Being able to jump instantly to secret rooms from the map is huge.

It even extends down to things that most people won't even notice. For instance, I love collectibles in these games and I'm always keenly aware of how games handle "new item/new entry" exclamation flags. This game handles it perfectly - exclamation on the category if there are new entries to see that does not go away until every new entry inside the category is viewed. That sounds like the most nitpicky thing, but when a game does it wrong, I notice it.

Being able to juggle spell sets is huge, and they make it super easy.

Really there are multiple points where bad design could have made some aspect of the game a chore. And instead everything seems to be optimized to allow you to do everything you want to do as efficiently as possible.

Having recently played The Witcher and Red Dead Redemption 2, it's really noticeable where those games add literally hours over the course of the game just in travel and other aspects that could - with better design - be eliminated. I'm not knocking those games; I enjoyed them immensely and forcing the player to travel is just part of their world design. But it is a reality that a lot of their length to beat is tied up in filler.

[Octavious]

RDR2 purposely made everything realistic so you have to take your time and soak in the game. That's actually what I love about the game. But ya Hogwarts system is pretty darn good.

I swear I must be the only one that is still fumbling around with the spells and combat. I feel like I must doing something wrong. I'm constantly accidentally switching my spells. Slowly reacting to blocking. Maybe I've just gotten too old?

[Scraper]

RDR2 purposely made everything realistic so you have to take your time and soak in the game. That's actually what I love about the game. But ya Hogwarts system is pretty darn good.

I swear I must be the only one that is still fumbling around with the spells and combat. I feel like I must doing something wrong. I'm constantly accidentally switching my spells. Slowly reacting to blocking. Maybe I've just gotten too old?

I'm in my upper 40s. I have definitely noticed my abilities in reaction style games slowly declining. For instance I can't beat Returnal. For the life of me I can't get past the 4th level. 10 years ago I have no doubt I could have. I watched my 24 year old son beat the game in one weekend and he didn't do anything special. His reaction times are just better than mine at this point. I know I eventually won't be able to beat Souls type games but for now I can still beat them, but it's just a matter of time.

[Skinypupy]

There's a ton of small touches in their design that I really appreciate.

They seemed to be aware of a ton of "quality of life" things that a lot of open world games forget. Fast travel from anywhere is huge. Being able to jump instantly to secret rooms from the map is huge.

It even extends down to things that most people won't even notice. For instance, I love collectibles in these games and I'm always keenly aware of how games handle "new item/new entry" exclamation flags. This game handles it perfectly - exclamation on the category if there are new entries to see that does not go away until every new entry inside the category is viewed. That sounds like the most nitpicky thing, but when a game does it wrong, I notice it.

Being able to juggle spell sets is huge, and they make it super easy.

Really there are multiple points where bad design could have made some aspect of the game a chore. And instead everything seems to be optimized to allow you to do everything you want to do as efficiently as possible.

Having recently played The Witcher and Red Dead Redemption 2, it's really noticeable where those games add literally hours over the course of the game just in travel and other aspects that could - with better design - be eliminated. I'm not knocking those games; I enjoyed them immensely and forcing the player to travel is just part of their world design. But it is a reality that a lot of their length to beat is tied up in filler.

Agree with all of this. I really like that this game doesn't waste my time. I don't have to spend hours fiddling with systems, doing maintenance things, or wasting time traveling from place to place that simply isn't fun. Whether I have 10 minutes or 10 hours to play, it lets me jump right in and do something fun that feels like I'm making progress.

As someone with very limited gaming time (60-90 minutes a night, if I'm lucky), I really appreciate that. I get that "soak in the ambience" is a deliberate design choice, but it's one that doesn't work for those of us who can only game in short bursts.

I haven't struggled with combat, but I'm also playing on Easy. They did a really good job of that setting making me still feel like a bad-ass wizard without making it a big struggle to survive. Yet another thing I think this game does really well, but other who are in it for the challenge might disagree.

[YellowKing]

Slowly reacting to blocking.

For some reason my reaction to dodging is pretty good but blocking is TERRIBLE. And I feel like the game gives you an eternity to block, and I see it, recognize it, and my hand just won't move to that block button.

So I've generally just been dodging everything. Which works, but isn't efficient since blocking correctly stupefies the enemy.

I joke with my 11 year old all the time that I can destroy him in video games since I've been playing them so much longer than he has, but the reality is he can completely thrash me in head on competition. I only play co-op stuff with him because I can't come close to kid reflexes.

[Hyena]

I swear I must be the only one that is still fumbling around with the spells and combat. I feel like I must doing something wrong. I'm constantly accidentally switching my spells. Slowly reacting to blocking. Maybe I've just gotten too old?

I feel you on this. My biggest thing is the keys for dodge and block seem very counterintuitive. It is so hard (for me) to move, protego, and switch "target lock", which doesn't even seem to stay locked on as I find my character throwing spells at people other than the person I'm "locked" onto. Yes, I play on a keyboard, no I don't have a controller. I'm wondering if I can change dodge and block to my extra mouse keys, maybe?

That being said, after about a dozen tries I beat the Crossed Wands final battle mostly by blocking and then stupifying them.

All in all, I would agree that this game is loads of fun. Very kid-friendly, especially since I just finished my first run-through of Cyberpunk 2077, soo....

[Octavious]

Slowly reacting to blocking.

For some reason my reaction to dodging is pretty good but blocking is TERRIBLE. And I feel like the game gives you an eternity to block, and I see it, recognize it, and my hand just won't move to that block button.

So I've generally just been dodging everything. Which works, but isn't efficient since blocking correctly stupefies the enemy.

I joke with my 11 year old all the time that I can destroy him in video games since I've been playing them so much longer than he has, but the reality is he can completely thrash me in head on competition. I only play co-op stuff with him because I can't come close to kid reflexes.

Ah k that matches to what I'm doing. My biggest problem is that block should be LB. I can remap it on the PS5 but will not change the prompts. Games should always have an option to remap darn it.

[Hyena]

Update (not that anyone REALLY cares, but just in case....):

I remapped the dodge and protego skills to my 4 and 5 mouse buttons and WOW did that make a difference. I took on an entire camp of goblins out on the second try (after a second wave I hadn't seen popped out from behind a barricade) and wiped them out. My enjoyment of combat has ramped up considerably now, and I'm at the stage where the game really seems to start to shine, outside and opened up completely. I found myself doing Merlin quests, swimming in the lake (where I was SURE a certain giant squid was going to make an appearance) for a sunken astrolabe, and delving into dungeons.

Once I turned to get my bearings and suddenly the entirety of Hogwarts swept into view on top of the hill, and I literally got chills. I love this game.

[Carpet_pissr]

$53 Xbox, $44 PC on Eneba for those looking for deals.

[Skinypupy]

Another example of great game design.

There's a segment that requires you to stealth into a room and steal an object. I failed this about 6 times, and just couldn't figure out how I was supposed to distract the guards and keep them from seeing me. On the 7th try, the game shifted the placement of the guards to make it a bit easier for me to sneak in. I was able to complete it and move on with the story.

The game recognized that I was really struggling with a unique mechanic that hadn't been used very much up to that point in the game. This game isn't Thief, where stealth is the primary focus. Rather than force me to continue to bash my head against that challenge, the game made a very minor adjustment by moving the guards to a different spot, which made it easier for me to complete. I still had to do the basic stealth mechanics, but it gave me some help to get past that specific part while still helping me learn it.

I thought that was a really fantastic bit of design.

[coopasonic]

Also for the record, they will tell you not to get spotted, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, you might go through a few healing potions, but there doesn't appear to be any failure for being spotted (at least in my experience).

[Skinypupy]

Also for the record, they will tell you not to get spotted, but it doesn't matter. Yeah, you might go through a few healing potions, but there doesn't appear to be any failure for being spotted (at least in my experience).

For the bit I'm referencing, you have to restart the mission if you get caught.

Spoiler:

When you have to sneak in to steal the first two Moon statue things

[coopasonic]

OK, yeah I never got noticed on that one so good to know it can count against you. Now that you are reminding me I just went through another stealth sequence last night that I expect would have been a reload if I was caught.

I retract my previous statement. There is one spot where they say don't get caught but getting caught just means a fight and I just took that to indicate that would always be the case.

[YellowKing]

Spoiler alert for how to distract the guards:

Spoiler:

Just do a basic cast (right trigger) wherever you want them to go. I failed that mission three times until I realized how effective that was.

[Skinypupy]

I think that after about 20 hours, I’m finally at the point where I need to stop doing side quests and chasing map markers and actually work on progressing the story. I feel my attention waning a bit with all the side stuff, as often happens in open world games.

It’s amazing to me that the game is still introducing brand new collectibles and mechanics, and I still haven’t opened up them all yet (at least according to the Challenges list).

The biggest compliment I can think to give is that after ignoring them entirely for 25 years, this game has me seriously considering reading the books for the first time,

[Hyena]

I think that after about 20 hours, I’m finally at the point where I need to stop doing side quests and chasing map markers and actually work on progressing the story. I feel my attention waning a bit with all the side stuff, as often happens in open world games.

It’s amazing to me that the game is still introducing brand new collectibles and mechanics, and I still haven’t opened up them all yet (at least according to the Challenges list).

The biggest compliment I can think to give is that after ignoring them entirely for 25 years, this game has me seriously considering reading the books for the first time,

I can't recommend them highly enough. She is a master at setting a scene. I've read few authors as adept at somehow having things going on in the background as the main characters have conversation, it's almost like watching a movie where something funny is going on blurred behind the cameras focal point.

She also masterfully wrote the series to grow as her audience grew. What i mean by that is say a kid was ten when they read the first book. By the time the fourth book hit the shelves, that same kid was 16 and much more able to handle the dark turn in that particular book, and it only got worse from there. By the time book 7 landed, those same kids were 20-21 years old. She grew tremendously as an author, and the series shows it.

Read them, you won't regret it.

[GreenGoo]

They are very popular.

[stimpy]

$53 Xbox, $44 PC on Eneba for those looking for deals.

Is that a reputable site?

[DOS=HIGH]

Is there much replayability by choosing a different house?

[Hyena]

Is there much replayability by choosing a different house?

Coming from someone that started a Ravenclaw before settling in with a Griffyndor, I think it's mostly flavor (in my first 10 or so hours) and the occasional "I would have expected this from a Griffyndor!" comments. I'm sure there's the option of skipping some side quests and saving them for a second playthrough, but not having finished the game I can't verify that for certain.