Hogwarts Legacy

[Draconifors]

I see a lot of people here playing this, but it does not have its own thread yet. So, here is one.

My username is literally a spell from a Harry Potter game, and I have been a huge fan of the series since I was 9 or 10 -- so, naturally, I ended up failing to resist the temptation to grab this shiny, new game.

Go Sorted into Ravenclaw, which did not surprise me.

So far, I am absolutely loving the game. I will definitely take my time with it.

PS. I was delighted when I found out who the headmaster in this time is.

Spoiler

The least popular of them all, according to Rowling's books, which should make things interesting.

Please use spoiler tags if posting spoilery content.

 

[pliskards]

I purchased this game and really enjoyed it for the first five hours or so. I ended up putting about fifteen hours into it and then quit. The game started out beautiful graphically and the very beginning of the story grabbed me. The world was huge and looked to be interesting to explore. But after about five hours it started to set in for me that...

1. While the world was big it felt very empty to me. You would find some cool little town and there would be one person to talk to that had like three lines of dialogue and a fetch quest.
2. The things to do in the world are also extremely repetitive and feel very Ubisoft'ish. There is a lot of random stuff - but none of it is really interesting.
3. The story goes from interesting to mediocre rather quickly - at least in my opinion. Also, there is a particular side quest that is actually more fleshed out, interesting and full of choice than the main story.
4. There were very few RPG elements to the game. The choices I made felt meaningless.
5. Gear and equipment are very basic and essentially meaningless.

It does not surprise me that people who really, really love Harry Potter would really, really love the game. I enjoyed the movies, never read the books - but I found it to be extremely interesting at the beginning, then it kind of flopped.

 

[0248991]

Hey,
I played like 10 hours and kind of lost interest.

While I find many of the elements of the game pretty good, I am not getting vibes similar to the books or movies.
I find it ridiculous that a fifth-year can learn unforgivable curses and spam them on a cooldown, evaporate giant trolls and make his/her way through hordes of rebels who shoot killing curses on sight.

Many options feel like redundant fan service - being able to select a house irrelevant to the decision of the sorting hat, design a wand at Ollivanders,...

The level design is too rich and too fairy-tale-ish, the spell effects and animations look too powerful and majestic - e.g. Reparo causes all of the broken parts of an item to fly around in circles before joining together.
Protego and similar shields look completely out of place - like some WoW paladin bubbles.
Many of the customizable clothes feel over the top.

Also, I find the teachers to be written like some sort of smart-ass know-it-alls with an undying enthusiasm for truth and justice.

Magic and atmosphere are not there for me, I find the game to be much more of a collectable, looter-shooter...something.

 

[CiriusBlack]

Currently level 32 and 39 hours in the game.

I did watch all the movies (several times), read all the books (several times) and played all the games so far (including Lego versions). So I guess one could say I'm kinda Potter fan, even if I wouldn't say I am. I just enjoy the general atmosphere around this stuff. Which is pretty much wizards and dragons <3

The world is huge and full of stuff to find. At some point it starts to feel bit repetitive, I agree, but then I do few quests in between and things start rolling again. There are also benefits in visiting those points of interests, so they are not just sitting there for nothing. Me thinks.

Spoiler

For example, Merlin Trials will give you more inventory space, capturing creatures will earn you money and ingredients, exploration in general unlocks stuff elsewhere etc.

For me this game is a perfect hit. The story may not be anything super spectacular, but I enjoy the exploration and all those numerous puzzles a lot. For me this game is first and foremost fun and relaxing entertainment.

I love it.
Several of my colleagues at work loved it.
I have watched several streamers loving it.

So even if the game is not for everyone, the people who like it really seem to love it. I feel like this could be one of those rare games for me that I want to finish 100%. We'll see how it goes.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

First, I'm not a fan, never read the books, never played any of related games and only watched the movies once...
So I agree with the comments above, the game definitely has flaws. Yes, it's true that the openworld definitely smelt "Ubisoft" in terms of filling activities/content which could become (very) repetitive and the story(ies)/the writing are not that great... But at the end, it have such strong points like the atmosphere or the OST that I can do with its flaws without any problem (like I do with AC games in general^^).

I really have a good time to play it. Like @Sunsibar said, it's a very "relaxing" game to play. Just reaching your destination (without flying obviously^^) and exploring or/and completing some activities/puzzles on my way is quite nice and fun enough.

Do I like the game? Yes.
Will I finish the game? Sure.
Will I replay it? Maybe, not sure. Or not soon, at least... knowing that Valheim is about the be released on Xbox

I have watched several streamers loving it.

Watched some streamers/youtubers which were fan I guess, literally cry when discovering Hogwarts or their common room

 

[DjSpyder]

I'm enjoying it a lot.

I've finished the game once (M Gryffendor) and I've started a second playthrough, (F Huffelpuff) My biggest concern is, they kind of set up to "Encourage" multiple playthroughs one for each house. And some of the house differences have been interesting so far... Just not super significant and probably appeal more to big franchise fans than they do the more casual fan or gamer. Which is fine I don't need the houses to have massive differences some extra content and conversations, maybe a few unique locations is cool... where the problem is, too much stuff feels a little "Grindy" not terrible just the normal open world grindy stuff, maybe not even as bad, but things like having inventory size locked behind merlin challenges, and having the starting limit so small and maxed out not all that big, makes the challenges basically mandatory, so playing each house might be a little too much. These are mostly small things pacing issues, but it's also but lock-picking and upgrading magic and it starts to feel like a lot of running around just to find the thing to upgrade the other thing, and sometimes it more repetitive than fun.

Having said that. I think the story is good even if it does slow down a lot after the big intro before it starts to pick up again. And the combat is pretty decent, easy to pick up, but complex enough you can do some cool combos and master some interesting counters that might now immediately be obvious. And the exploration is mostly interesting.

So yeah, I enjoy it, and yeah, I highly recommend it to fans and non-fans alike. But I think they're working against themselves with some of the way the pace is set VS wanting multiple replays.

 

[CiriusBlack]

My first post was mostly positives, so let's check few negatives too. For me these are only slight annoyances and nothing too serious, but negatives non the less. If they ever make another game like this, I would like these things to be tweaked a bit.

Spoiler: Minor enemy spoiler.

There really are few too many spiders in this game.

Cosmetic overrides are amazing and otherwise I really love how the system works, but I really hope that overrides wouldn't disappear _every time_ you change gear. I would like to be able to override specific equipment slot instead of actual piece of gear. As an extra bonus, it would be really nice to be able to save few favorite sets for "one click equip".

Navigating back and forth in menus also feels bit too complicated time to time, specifically in

Spoiler: Location spoiler

Room of Requirement.

 

[pliskards]

Agreed with the above Sunsibar.

If they make a sequel I will definitely give it a try. I loved the 'transmog' system as well and agree with your complaint of it always changing every time you swap gear. But I would add that I hope they do a complete overhaul to the gear system in general and make it a bit more interesting!

 

[DjSpyder]

Yeah the Gear needs a bit "More".... some of the attributes you could add with the loom are good. But the gear itself is just a Def or Off number that goes up slightly, and not much info on how big of a difference the number actually makes.

Most of it looks really good, and transmog is always welcome especially since the world has magic so it would be wild if you couldn't "Transfigure" clothing to look how you like, since they literally do it with your robes in the intro.

 

[Spockprime]

I've enjoyed it a lot. Just checked -- I have 106 hours in it. Not much by a lot of standards, but it's a lot for me.

The game world is beautiful and the castle even more so (except for breaking Ray Tracing shadows with their latest update, but there are fixes for that). The magic also is really fun. Broom riding is great, after you get the hang of it -- although I'd hate to try it with mouse/keyboard. I can imagine that being intensely frustrating. There are already over 600 mods for it, so there are a lot of opportunities to enhance the game, and will be more.

The biggest defects for me are the shallow interaction with other characters, and the story doesn't really make any sense. The story is fun if you don't take it very seriously, but the plot holes are massive.

My biggest complaint is also one of the most enjoyable parts of the game:

Spoiler

Although the combat is really fun, your character is a mass killer on such a scope that even Voldemort from the books seems rather unthreatening. In addition, even though I love this from a game play perspective, your character as a 5th year student is the most powerful wizard in the world, and there doesn't even seem to be anyone else close. He/she would absolutely stomp Voldemort, and probably Voldemort and Dumbledore at the same time.

Also, I have a new favorite phrase: "Unleash the cabbages of war".

 

[LeKill3rFou]

It's just a guess, but I feel like they built an open world too big for the amount of content they planned to put in (or been able to put in). So at the end, they "just" threw randomly a lot of points of interest here and there (a cave there, a bandit camp here, a merlin's trial there, a stars observatory here and so on...). So many that they become pointless at some point... For example, there are easily twice as Merlin's trials as required to upgrade your inventory space. Or a bunch of caves which contain "only" common stuff when you more likely already have a full legendary set.

So at the end, the open world feel "useless" and empty (the south seem to me very under-used... they could have easily done without).

A bit the same problem that Cyberpunk have, in fact

 

[Draconifors]

I'm 17 hours in now. The more I play the game, the more I love it. So much to do, interact with, listen to, and find, even without leaving Hogwarts.

So far, my only complaint is that with some quest objectives you are not allowed to leave an unspecified area. It is annoying, but, thankfully, not too common.

My favourite part is the eyeball chests. Early on, I assumed I would need the Confundus Charm to open them.
Now that I can open them, they are hilarious but also pity-evoking. Poor things.

I also really enjoyed encountering honking daffodils, which I remembered from the books. As it turned out, they are only ever mentioned once, in a single, unimportant sentence in the fifth book, though. I guess I really am getting more out of the game than someone who hasn't read the books 10 times would.

Edit: Oh, and lovelovelove the transmog system, too.

 

[CiriusBlack]

I think that one reason behind huge amount of repetitive content (in any game) could possibly be the idea of making the game nice and casual also for people with less time and/or patience. If there is a lot of stuff to collect, you can still collect enough of it even if you just "run through the story". Casual players won't lose their interest because they are forced to grind "boring side content". Unfortunately this can make things bit boring for those who like to collect everything.

Not sure what would be a good balance here. For the moment we have adjustable difficulty settings in games mostly for affecting combat difficulty. Could it be possible to also do similar system with just loot and collectibles? And then again, one game just can't have everything in it.

This is a common problem pretty much in all the games that I enjoy so much that I want to collect everything in them. I have just been thinking it's more me problem than game problem. Currently I have way more money, ingredients and whatever than i need, but I still just have to collect all those map markers. Just for the sake of collecting them all.

 

[ElmoPelle]

How hard are the puzzles? I guess the first ones are quite easy but later they start to be challenging

 

[CiriusBlack]

How hard are the puzzles? I guess the first ones are quite easy but later they start to be challenging

It gets more challenging at some point, but so far I haven't seen anything overly challenging. I had to google one or two because I didn't have time to think it through, but I'm sure I would have figured it out if I just had those few extra minutes.

I have enjoyed the difficulty level in puzzles. Nothing too hard core, but it still makes you think for a moment. You also get hints at some point, which may or may not help too much.

There are few actual puzzle rooms which seemed to offer even more challenge, but so far I have only done one of them.

 

[cartlidge]

I stand by my former assessment, It is a competent AAA game and that's it. It is lacking soul and content. The puzzles are more often than not far too easy. How disappointed was I with the door puzzles once I figured it out, I was expecting to be using algebra and examining several doors but no, far too often I over thought puzzles when I should have just blasted. The game is designed for kids in its difficulty, nothing wrong with that, I am not the target audience

The roleplay is dire, are there any meaningful choices to be made in the game? additional playthroughs seem like a chore rather than exploring a different personality and paths. Even different builds are not that much different.


It's an alright game, I enjoyed my time there and certainly don't begrudge the money I spent on it, I might return at some point but cp2077 rules over it hand over fist in my book. A potter fanatic I am sure will get far more out of it.

I have played around 200+ hours

 

[MrGuyton]

I stand by my former assessment, It is a competent AAA game and that's it. It is lacking soul and content.

The roleplay is dire, are there any meaningful choices to be made in the game? additional playthroughs seem like a chore rather than exploring a different personality and paths. Even different builds are not that much different.

Spoiler

I found that the quest for the dark arts spells was surprisingly moving.

But other than that I haven't played through all the houses so I don't know how much difference they make in terms of detailed and varied outcomes character relationships and story.

 

[iCake]

This is coming from someone who was never into Harry Potter saga, I did watch some movies but mostly because my suster and my mon loved it. It was okay to me but nothing to really be too excited about.

I still decided to try the game out and ultimately I did not regret it. However, I do not think I'll ever return to this game unless any big DLCs, like Witcher 3 style big get released.

Some of critisism (I did like the game overall)

- The game feels unfinished in many instances, even more so than Cyberpank. E.g. There are lots of traces of morality like system in the game, but currently it only ever serves to get better rewards in quests.

- Filler world. Not really sure why it is an open world game. Extra activities in this game are servicable at best, like bandit camps. Anything else is simply some grind that is powered by desire to imporve some stats - the worst offender is those Merlin Trials. On the upside, I am very thankful that you don't need to complete them all to get those extra rewards, jsut a portion of them

- No player agency at all. Spoiler!

Spoiler

Only Sebastian's line has it but ultimately it is basically about "comform to the stigma against unforgivables or not" There's no extrra layer there at all, and ultimately, refusing the unforgivables is just about missing out on some fun spells

- Utter disappoinment with unforgivable curses. Well, they are actually good and satfisfying to use but then no one cares. Not a single reaction to you using them from either normal NPCs or story characters.

- Stale dialogs that more often than not had me think "Cut to the point, all the water you spewed on me does not really mean anything. Just shut it or say something meaningful

In any case, a good experience with servicable story and some side stories to keep you doing what you are doing and move along through the game. Quite fun combat too to keep you into the game too.

My 2 cents, your mileage may vary, of course.

 

[LeKill3rFou]

Now that I can open them, they are hilarious but also pity-evoking. Poor things.

I always feel so sorry, when they whine after opening them

How hard are the puzzles?

I'm not a "puzzle" adepte and so far, I didn't need to google any. Generally, when I was unable to resolve one, it's because I didn't have the "required" spell or the ability yet. So I came back later

The game is designed for kids in its difficulty, nothing wrong with that, I am not the target audience

Yes, I guess that's why puzzles and combats are rather easy. Also why I feel like the "writing" a bit too basic/polite. Even the (worst) bad guys threat you... kindly and respectfully

I think that one reason behind huge amount of repetitive content (in any game) could possibly be the idea of making the game nice and casual also for people with less time and/or patience. If there is a lot of stuff to collect, you can still collect enough of it even if you just "run through the story". Casual players won't lose their interest because they are forced to grind "boring side content". Unfortunately this can make things bit boring for those who like to collect everything.

Yeah, but with the challenges and the collection section, you know what you miss and it "push" you a bit to keep searching. But I really feel like they didn't have the content to fill up the map (How many of the same beast nests there are around the map, while you only need few beasts to meet your needs).
It don't bother me (I pretty much explored the map entirely), but I'm sure many gave up exploring because of repetitive (useless) things on the map.
-------------
I'm surprised that no one talk about the OST... It's maybe just me, but damn it's good. Just wandering in Hogwarts and the ambient music it's awesome

Spoiler: Stopped in the stairs to post and this musics is played right now... great^^

On side note, it bother me a bit, but way too often, characters and mine too, pose a bit like a "priest"
(i.e holding their hands at chest level)

 

[DanV40]

I purchased this game and really enjoyed it for the first five hours or so. I ended up putting about fifteen hours into it and then quit. The game started out beautiful graphically and the very beginning of the story grabbed me. The world was huge and looked to be interesting to explore. But after about five hours it started to set in for me that...

1. While the world was big it felt very empty to me. You would find some cool little town and there would be one person to talk to that had like three lines of dialogue and a fetch quest.
2. The things to do in the world are also extremely repetitive and feel very Ubisoft'ish. There is a lot of random stuff - but none of it is really interesting.
3. The story goes from interesting to mediocre rather quickly - at least in my opinion. Also, there is a particular side quest that is actually more fleshed out, interesting and full of choice than the main story.
4. There were very few RPG elements to the game. The choices I made felt meaningless.
5. Gear and equipment are very basic and essentially meaningless.

It does not surprise me that people who really, really love Harry Potter would really, really love the game. I enjoyed the movies, never read the books - but I found it to be extremely interesting at the beginning, then it kind of flopped.

I agree.

Started off great. I spent hours looking around the castle etc. After 15 hours it got so boring and had so many little things that I'd notice and would annoy me.

The graphics felt AA but the gameplay was so boring man and I never felt powerful with the wand, I felt kinda lame.