Hogwarts: Legacy

[JennyorAlice]

Well, this game is suppose to come out this year (assuming it isn't delayed yet again). 

Who will be getting this game?  Which system will you be getting if for?  What are you looking forward to the most about this game?

[ShiraNoMai]

Nope, can't say I'm interested nor do I want to support the IP because of Ms. TERFs-a-lot. I'm good.

[Moonface]

Yeah, I feel bad for the developers working on this game who have the misfortune of it being attached to someone like Rowling. For the sake of the developers I'm not going to wish ill on the game, especially since if it sold poorly it would affect the developers and not Rowling, but my interest in Harry Potter withered before the movies even ended so I wasn't planning to get this game even without Rowling attached to it at all.

From a standpoint of just viewing the game on its own merits though it looked like it could be promising so long as it nails the ambitions it set for itself. I think the biggest thing that could make it fall apart will be the supposed freedom of player choices and the consequences of that, since I find a lot of games these days like to claim your choices affect the world but ultimately fall very short, so I don't trust what any developer claims about those types of mechanics until I see how they actually work once the game is released.

[Dragon Lord]

I was never interested in Harry Potter games before, but Hogwarts Legacy looks absolutely fantastic and I'm looking forward to playing it. Might even clear my schedule to start playing it day 1 so I can experience the hype along with everyone else.

Just hoping it doesn't become another victim of looking incredibly good pre-release, but then falling short of all of the potential that it showed.

As for which platform I'll get it on... torn between PS5 and PC. Might go with PS5 just because I like adding to my trophy collection + my TV is now better than my computer monitor and as long as the PS5 can hit a stable 60 FPS, I don't care about the fact my computer could run the game better.

[Mr EliteL]

Don't own a Harry Potter game, but think I did play an earlier one on PS1 before when we had it borrowed from a store. This one does look good for fans but not for me. Similarly to Moonface, my interest in Harry Potter dwindled towards the end of the movie series.

[Moonface]

Just hoping it doesn't become another victim of looking incredibly good pre-release, but then falling short of all of the potential that it showed.

I decided to check out some of the most recent gameplay, and it featured a lot of the open world segments and if anything brings that down, it seems to be that the world was designed solely for flying through it at a high speed until you find a notable landmark, and if the game has fast travel I could see that becoming the primary means of getting around once players stop caring about taking in the visuals of the world. It might be a detail I've missed but it would be neat if the open world has stuff you can gather for potions and such and it varies on the location, season, and time of day, with areas being more or less dangerous depending on those factors.

I think the core gameplay mechanics will be solid though, since they've never really been bad in any Harry Potter game in the past. I know this is a different developer but the budget for this is going to be way higher than any of the old HP games, especially since the franchise wasn't the juggernaut it became when some of those games first came out. The developers also throwing out over an hour of footage covering multiple things also tells me they're not trying to hide anything or tailor what you see by using vertical slices, similar to the team behind the Dead Space remake, so the only iffy things are going to be the stuff we can't get to see due to spoilers and such, like the story.

[Dragon Lord]

As far as I know, the story will be completely standalone and won't be connected to the original Harry Potter cast (outside of maybe some references), so I think the story will be fine. They'll have had lots of freedoms to do what they want with it, instead of being forced to go certain directions. It won't be a case like Kingdom Hearts where Disney forces Square Enix to make it so that Sora and company don't come into direct contact with certain characters in the games as to not "corrupt" the image of those characters (Elsa in Kingdom Hearts III for example).

I'm going to be jumping into this game like 98% blind though. I watched one of the early trailers for the game and that was it, so I'm going in with absolutely no expectations for the game and just looking forward to seeing how much the game can wow me.

[aerodynamik]

I've seen a trailer and it looks absolutely amazing so I'll definitely be getting it. Probably on the Switch.

[Moonface]

As far as I know, the story will be completely standalone and won't be connected to the original Harry Potter cast (outside of maybe some references), so I think the story will be fine. They'll have had lots of freedoms to do what they want with it, instead of being forced to go certain directions. It won't be a case like Kingdom Hearts where Disney forces Square Enix to make it so that Sora and company don't come into direct contact with certain characters in the games as to not "corrupt" the image of those characters (Elsa in Kingdom Hearts III for example).

Yeah the story is standalone and is set in the 1890's which is about 100 years before the first book takes place, so I doubt there's even going to be any characters in the game that are recognizable as none will have been born yet including Voldemort.

I've seen a trailer and it looks absolutely amazing so I'll definitely be getting it. Probably on the Switch.

I would be shocked if the Switch version of the game isn't a cloud-based port, since it's rare any large AAA third-party titles are ports that run straight on the system itself. I know Hitman and Kingdom Hearts both have to use cloud-based ports for Switch and neither of those are the large open-world game that this one is.

[Dragon Lord]

Ah, I was unaware that it took place so far in the past in the timeline. That's good then, they really shouldn't have anything holding them back in their freedom to do whatever they want with the story, which can only translate to a huge positive for the game.

[Moonface]

Ah, I was unaware that it took place so far in the past in the timeline. That's good then, they really shouldn't have anything holding them back in their freedom to do whatever they want with the story, which can only translate to a huge positive for the game.

Yeah, they clearly chose a period so far before the books so that they had creative freedom as well as no chance for complaints about the game not mentioning any characters from the books. It probably also helps for voice acting too since the developers won't be locked into using the actual actors or finding decent stand-ins nor even have to necessarily use VA's that are celebrities. Although I do at least know Simon Pegg is voicing one of the teachers but he's the only confirmed voice actor I know about off-hand. I'd rather see most of the voice acting done by either game VA's or fresh talent though since it's not like this IP needs to rely on celebrity names to sell itself like you see with a lot of new animated movies.

[queenzelda]

I just prereserved the game on PS5 for my husband since he's a huge Harry Potter fan. I know the controversy around it but tbh I wasn't really interested in the game, my husband is. I plan to play it first before I decide if I'm going to get any deeper into it. Tbh it looks like it's a lot of fetch quests where your helping out your fellow students. From what I understand, there is also a dark arts route you can take which every one seems to be excited about. I am unsure about this game. I want to like it, but I feel like the game might be a bit underwealming. Idk, I hope I'm wrong. :|

[Moonface]

From what I understand, there is also a dark arts route you can take which every one seems to be excited about. I am unsure about this game. I want to like it, but I feel like the game might be a bit underwealming. Idk, I hope I'm wrong. :|

I think the reason the Dark Arts route is getting people excited is because a lot of the spells that fall into that category are universally viewed as "Unforgiveable Curses" that barring a few rare instances, have been exclusively used by villainous characters and so the idea that the player is actually going to be allowed to use them is something I doubt many people would have expected to see actually happen. The severity of those spells also implies there will be a very notable sense of morality and decision making, because there is no way the player can be viewed as a "good, heroic character" while running around tossing out Avada Kedavra and such, and certainly shouldn't be devoid of severe consequences when you consider how all those spells are seen as being unforgiveable if they're used. No hero character even considers using one of them in the books even when their friends and family members die before them, and an argument could be made that a character couldn't be blamed for using such a spell when faced with that sort of situation but my impression is that there is zero excuse for knowingly using one. The only time I recall a hero character using that is when Harry pops one on Draco in Half-Blood Prince, but that only happens because Harry doesn't realize what the spell he's casting is actually going to do.
I am concerned though how a post-game is supposed to work with a character that leans into the Dark Arts. Unless this game finds a way to make it acceptable for the player to be using these spells (I fail to see how when even the Battle of Hogwarts didn't give leeway on those spells) I don't see why the player would be allowed to remain at Hogwarts as a student, and while it would be cool and make sense for a player to be expelled for taking a Dark Arts route I can't see the game kicking the player out of being allowed in what is going to be the most appealing and notable location in this entire game.

[Dragon Lord]

I think it'd actually be a really neat feature if the player was locked out of post-game content by taking the dark arts route, forcing them to play through again (or on NG+ if the game will have that) to be able to access post-game by playing on the "good" route. It'd be a really cool, "Okay, you can use these forbidden spells and be evil, but it's going to cost you something in return."

I feel like if the two paths would be different enough in story content, that players would be completely okay playing through twice to experience everything. Sadly I don't imagine the scope of this game will be that great, but it's a fun concept to think about at least.

[Moonface]

I think it'd actually be a really neat feature if the player was locked out of post-game content by taking the dark arts route, forcing them to play through again (or on NG+ if the game will have that) to be able to access post-game by playing on the "good" route. It'd be a really cool, "Okay, you can use these forbidden spells and be evil, but it's going to cost you something in return."

My only concern with this would be if it ends up like how the "choice" system was in GTA V. In that game the player is presented with three choices, where two will lock the player out of certain post-game content while one will give the player access to everything. As expected, practically nobody chooses either of the options that result in less content but also, there's nothing to gain by choosing the other two choices either which is also a big factor in why that "choice" system that randomly turns up at the end of that game is utterly pointless.

If anything I guess the "morality" system could be more like how it works in Red Dead Redemption. If you play like an utter asshole, it changes how you're perceived in the world and by other characters, and has slight differences in how particular end-points are reached but ultimately the plot stays the same, and the characters and world itself are what reacts to you instead. How you respond and treat other characters in this game determines if NPC's will join you for things or not, but I've only seen treating people well result in companions; I'm curious if treating people badly can also get you companions by the likes of students who are like Draco, who didn't have any problem looking down on people and acting like a dick.

If Diagon Alley is in this game at all (it surely has to be) maybe being bad gives you free access into Knockturn Alley and the ability to purchase things in there either at all or with a heavy discount. We see in Chamber of Secrets that the Malfoy family shops in both Diagon and Knockturn, so the precedent is there to have those options be there for players who don't stay entirely good.