Hogwarts: Legacy

[Dragon Lord]

IGN's review reeks of, "I absolutely love this game, but I'll say negative things about it to appease the lowly Twitter crowd."

[ShiraNoMai]

Nah it's definitely the opposite. They clearly had a terrible time playing it but had to appease the higher ups with the score.

Please don't... actually you know what, it's not worth it. I will continue to judge those who've made their decision, is all I'll say.

[Dragon Lord]

Hogwarts Legacy also topped the sales charts for both PlayStation and Steam on Friday, after having held the #1 spot on pre-order charts for PlayStation last month (and I think in December as well, but I might be misremembering) and I believe was also #1 on Steam's "upcoming games" list as well for a period of time.

No report on any sales yet, but seems most places are predicting an easy 10 million+ copies sold in the first week. We'll have to wait to find out, but looks like the devs are eating good on this one.

[Maniakkid25]

Yeah, this was always gonna happen, wasn't it? Despite the controversy of J.K. Rowling, normies were never gonna care about that and buy it anyway. Much like Star Wars, Harry Potter sells like gangbusters. I am not at all shocked that Hogwarts Legacy knocked it out of the park, even though I am saddened by it.

[Moonface]

I'm not surprised it sold well since even if the game was badly made, the license is just too big. Recent Pokémon games are a prime example of too big to fail. It just sucks the developers would not have seen this success with the game they made had it not been Harry Potter though since the game itself was well put together it seems.

[Dragon Lord]

I'm not surprised it sold well since even if the game was badly made, the license is just too big. Recent Pokémon games are a prime example of too big to fail. It just sucks the developers would not have seen this success with the game they made had it not been Harry Potter though since the game itself was well put together it seems.

The game was going to do well regardless, but the hate campaign against the game really helped to make the release even more of a success. The #1 way to get people to buy a game is to tell them not to buy the game. Also after seeing the sheer toxicity of the people "boycotting" the game, it just pushed more people to buy the game to spite them (especially once the harassing and death threats started). It happens every time and people just never learn. The harder you try to "cancel" it, the better it's going to do.

Of course it helps that this game is just good on its own merits. I haven't even gotten to the point where I can fully explore the world and I've already had a lot to do and discover. Things could change, but so far this game feels like one of the rare games that did open world right. Reminds me a lot of Ghost of Tsushima in that aspect, an open world that's big enough to have a good amount to do and explore, but not so big that it ends up just feeling empty (Skyrim, Elden Ring, etc.) or that it feels like it's taking ages to go any where. 

Hopefully it stays that way too, because Ghost was the first Open World game I played that I didn't end up disliking the open world, so if HL can also go into that category, that'd be great.

[queenzelda]

I've gotten out into the world and I feel like I literally get lost in it. Look, the game is pretty but I have seen a few npc glitches, and not being able to cast spells on npc students outside of battling them, it's not very realistic. If I was a 5th year I'd be using levioso on all the first yrs easily. xp

I also got sucked into the story and I'm not even a fan of the books or the movies. <_< I actually stopped playing recently so I could play Metroid Remaster which is a controversy apparently.

[Dragon Lord]

So I was doing a puzzle by the lake and saw something pop up out of the water, some kind of horror, and ended up killing it from the safely of shore. I was like, boy, sure glad I won't ever have to step foot in that lake, surely.

Five minutes later I come across an NPC who wants me to dive to the bottom of the lake to retrieve a family heirloom for her.

Well, Hogwarts Legacy sure was a fun game! Time to play something else.

[Moonface]

If you ever do venture under the water, I'm curious how the combat would work. Underwater combat always seems really iffy in games mostly because of the physics of the water traversal itself, but I've not heard anyone mention water combat for this game before so now I'm wondering if it does it well or people just don't really encounter it enough to bring it up.

[Kyng]

I got the game a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't had much of a chance to play it yet (mainly because I'm trying to finish off my Transport Fever game first, which will still take a couple more weeks ).

So far, though, I've enjoyed what little I've done. I've got to the sorting ceremony (where I got my preferred house of Ravenclaw)... and, based on what I've seen so far, there's a good game waiting for me when I've finished what I'm currently doing !

[Dragon Lord]

If you ever do venture under the water, I'm curious how the combat would work. Underwater combat always seems really iffy in games mostly because of the physics of the water traversal itself, but I've not heard anyone mention water combat for this game before so now I'm wondering if it does it well or people just don't really encounter it enough to bring it up.

There might not even be water combat, haha. Maybe encountering that creature was just a random thing that can happen when you're on the shore of a the lake. Or maybe there's a spell later that lets you move in water as if you were on land (I haven't fully checked out the spell list, so I don't know). All I know is that I saw some weird creature in the water, the game wants me to go into the water, and I don't like going into the water. KEKW 

I'll find out tonight probably.

[aerodynamik]

I hate the fact that it's not available on PS4 yet while it allowed me to buy a deluxe version PS4+PS5 WITHOUT CLEARLY STATING I WASN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME.

Sorry, small rant.

[Dragon Lord]

So it turns out I didn't actually have to go underwater and do anything. There's just bubbly points on the water that you can press a button to dive and collect loot from. I also discovered the enemy I saw in the water is actually just some kind of frog-like thing (I forgot their names) and the one I encountered just happens to be one that swims around in the shallows. Doesn't seem like there is any kind of deep-water threat in the game, so I don't have to be worried about that, haha.

[Moonface]

I hate the fact that it's not available on PS4 yet while it allowed me to buy a deluxe version PS4+PS5 WITHOUT CLEARLY STATING I WASN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME.

Sorry, small rant.

Yeah, I checked the PS Store myself to see if it says anything, and from what I could see there is no notice about the PS4 versions release date; it just states the game released on Feb. 9, which is true but also false at the same time. Were you going to get the Deluxe version anyway or did you only get it somehow thinking it would contain a released PS4 version?

So it turns out I didn't actually have to go underwater and do anything. There's just bubbly points on the water that you can press a button to dive and collect loot from. I also discovered the enemy I saw in the water is actually just some kind of frog-like thing (I forgot their names) and the one I encountered just happens to be one that swims around in the shallows. Doesn't seem like there is any kind of deep-water threat in the game, so I don't have to be worried about that, haha.

The loot diving is the only interaction you can have with the water that involves going beneath the surface. Given how broad the game already was I don't blame the devs for not opting to also create underwater content too, but if they make a sequel I can see them trying to add that stuff. We already know there are potions to breathe and swim better underwater from Goblet of Fire.

Anyone got far enough to trigger whatever changes the seasons in the game yet?

[aerodynamik]

I hate the fact that it's not available on PS4 yet while it allowed me to buy a deluxe version PS4+PS5 WITHOUT CLEARLY STATING I WASN'T GOING TO BE ABLE TO PLAY THE GAME.

Sorry, small rant.

Yeah, I checked the PS Store myself to see if it says anything, and from what I could see there is no notice about the PS4 versions release date; it just states the game released on Feb. 9, which is true but also false at the same time. Were you going to get the Deluxe version anyway or did you only get it somehow thinking it would contain a released PS4 version?

So it turns out I didn't actually have to go underwater and do anything. There's just bubbly points on the water that you can press a button to dive and collect loot from. I also discovered the enemy I saw in the water is actually just some kind of frog-like thing (I forgot their names) and the one I encountered just happens to be one that swims around in the shallows. Doesn't seem like there is any kind of deep-water threat in the game, so I don't have to be worried about that, haha.

The loot diving is the only interaction you can have with the water that involves going beneath the surface. Given how broad the game already was I don't blame the devs for not opting to also create underwater content too, but if they make a sequel I can see them trying to add that stuff. We already know there are potions to breathe and swim better underwater from Goblet of Fire.

Anyone got far enough to trigger whatever changes the seasons in the game yet?

No I was gonna get the Deluxe version since it will allow me to bring it to the PS5 when I purchase one. But still feels like false marketing and kinda forcing me to either wait, ask for a refund or buy a PS5.