Disappointment in this game after playing it for many hours now... many many missed opportunities

[Ulfhedinn]

So, Im going to talk about just facts here, no story points. But I do want to give a spoiler alert to anyone who doesnt want to know ANYTHING.

I LOVE the game overall. I do.
The world is beautiful, acting and animations and sound is great.
And overall the story is compelling and driven, and I DO feel like I am playing a solid story RPG much like God of War.
But I feel we were really misled by the developers in so far as how open this game is in our customization and ability to tell our own story as a wizard or witch.

**POSSIBLE SPOILERS ABOUT GAME FACTS**
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K so the fact is, nothing we actually do in the story matters at all. It reminds me of the same issue we ended up with with Mass Effect 3.
None of our choices really influence anything in any real way.
The end happens the way it happens, and even if you make the choice at the end to do things one way or another, the end of this game doesnt get affected in any way what-so-ever...

I actually tried to be evil, fully evil and devious in my intentions. I sold out people when I could, I lied, I used politics to get ahead I was insulting to the best I could be... But no matter what I did, it was always a smile on the other persons face for the most part. And everyone always wanted to help like I was stuck in my own personal hell where nothing I did ever actually seemed to affect the way anyone felt about me.

The rampant stealing of things out of chests in shops, only to sell them to the same vendor a moment later. Another missed opportunity to make stealth spells worth anything. Because you dont need them at all in the game.

You dont have a need to specialize in ANYTHING. You are a jack of all trades, master of none. When you kill these insanely hardcore baddies... you basically get a, "wow" good job...

Lastly, the world masks this shallow game design behind its beauty, and the more you play it the more frustrating it is. Its like having a dream about the most beautiful thing you ever saw, but in your dream its untouchable....
It feels like the game had major things cut out of it due to time or money. And it feels incomplete as an experience.

1. Why is it that my house I am selected into doesnt matter?
2. Why is there no house specific missions that make me feel like I am part of a team. (There are LITERALLY HOUR GLASSES FULL OF GEMS that mark scores in competition between schools during the year... and yet I have no reason to care about my house ALL GAME LONG).
3. Why is it that my decisions with my friends only affects dialogue?
4. Why is it no matter how screwed up I am to those around me, or friendly for that matter, NO ONE reacts any differently to me in the most basic ways overall?
5. Why is it I can be the absolutely most evil character I can be, and I will get nothing different and no change in my story than I would if I just played it normally like a good guy?
6. How come there is no Quidich?
7. Why is it if I am design my hero to be a specialist in something, I dont get to work with students on things to better them? Or improve the abilities of my other housemates?
8. A great little creator for my character... yet a huge scar on my face and NO ONE asked where it comes from...

This game is HUGELY disappointing in this regard, where the experience, the whole creation mechanic... its just a pretty face... no meat behind it at all. An illusion in reality to mask the fact that we are actually, just going to go from point to point, and solve oversimplified puzzles and shoot things with a wand. Most of the fights are actually very simple. If you have ANY DS or ER series experience, its gonna be a breeze.

I gotta be honest, I felt games like fable actually pulled off their "create your own story" world far better than these developers have, at all.

And now that there has been that leak this morning that WB Discovery are being possibly sold in the next 24 to 36 months to competition; it looks like there wont be any real expansions or sequels to this as it stands now, which might be able to rectify this and create some great content to make this game ACTUALLY interactive and our choices matter...

Anyway, it was fun, but I guess we will all be waiting for that truly immersive RPG experience to come from someone else.
BEAUTIFUL game, not gonna lie. Very beautiful.
But ultimately unsatisfying at about the 16 hour point. To much of the same with no choices that matter on any level.

[Jin-]

Lol @people getting offended from this post

[AVGVSTVS]

I'm about halfway through at 24 hours in and starting to lose interest, I feel like i have seen just about everything and it's not engaging.

[Lucci]

AVADA KEDAVRA

[Millmaster]

Originally posted by BLK Telu:

You wanted a Skyrim, you got a Breath of the Wild game. I'm ok with that. I wanted to ride a Harry Potter story and i got it. Hogwarts is full of secrets to find. There is interesting note to read. There is plenty of little stories everywhere in the world (I'm still amazed by the first time i saw hippogriffs flying in the sky). The side quest are interesting and unique mostly.

I agree with this , hold on to your panties, don't get me wrong although i have my flame suit on, this is a Franchise. The Devs had to have a story line which is from the books to develop the game. now from here hopefully the success of this launch the franchise with DLC can expand in a field like ESO with story back as 200 years before Harry Pottery. With good writers and a dedicated platform maybe Avalanche can make this into a ESO platform or perhaps something better. This should be a begginning with out an end for 200 years before Harry Potter was there eventually ending with Harry Potter entrance

[Maligner]

All good points. For my part, I didn't plan to buy this and wasn't interested but got interested in the last few days as I heard things and saw video. I've played 20 hours in less than 48, and I'm still finding new things, new puzzles, and unlocking content. One of the best experiences I've had in the last couple of years, despite the technical issues. I'd score this one a win, and pretty handily.

[Theta]

I loved the game at the beginning but slowly started to feel it was pretty shallow halfway through. And now that ive completed the main storyline, I have no real reason to continue.
The cosmetic stuff you get from challenges dont look good enough to slog through it all. Combat gets a bit repetitive and cant really interact with anyone.

[EJR]

TBH I don't mind this game railroading me to into a singular story where it does not matter, this is Harry Potter afterall. But I do agree that this game needs things added like House-specific quests/missions, some minigames, unique questlines with other students (Not just one quest), etc. Something to add to the school feeling of Hogwarts. Would also like there to be circumstances to being a somewhat "evil," delinquent student if that is how you play to be.

[Xeno]

well said OP.
The game plays like a fancy illusion.
As long as you dont look to deeply you will have a lot of fun without any negative point.
The moment you look behind the curtain, you will see that its all empty.

NPCs dont react to you in any way.
NPCs disapear at night even thou we have sleepwear.
Cant sleep in bed.
Sleep on the floor to "wait" nobody bats an eye.
Every other spellcaster in the game is trash and can only compete with you by their Health pool or their numbers.
no consequences for breaking the rules.

All in all its an on rail story with a lot of time sinks added to increase the "play time"


One can only hope that a better studio will pick up the license and make something better.
Or mods fix this game.

time will tell

[Odium]

Originally posted by Corypheus:

Originally posted by Tyrael:

I have not completed it yet but isnt there at least two endings? I thought I read there was a regular ending and dark wizard ending if you use the Unforgivable curses.

No, the ending depends on a single choice of dialogue near the end. You basically choose the ending right there. Nothing else affects it.

So I have 0 reason to have two saves going. I set up two saves at the point where you can learn the first unforgivable. But Im still able to learn them, use them and then still get the good ending, reload and choose the dark wizard ending?

[Ash]

I enjoy the game very much, but sadly, everything you said in your post is true, OP. I wanted an rpg and I got just action adventure in open world.

Before the premiere, there were plenty of articles with interviews from devs and they were all saying how our decisions will impact the endings of the game, same with side quests. I guess that was a lie...

Or, articles stating there are over 100 quests in the game. Quick google search says it's only around 50, which of course isn't a small number, but it's half of what was promised.

[Rein Terios]

Originally posted by ✿Sqüirrel✿:

You admit the game is good and then proceed to say how it should match your perfect game..bit silly honestly. I have 35 hours of game time and not the slightest bit of less interest. If you lose interest that is on you and what you like, not the game, because for many it is an overwhelming success.

Game can be both good and deeply flawed. Wild, i know.

[Rein Terios]

Originally posted by Tyrael:

Originally posted by Corypheus:

No, the ending depends on a single choice of dialogue near the end. You basically choose the ending right there. Nothing else affects it.

So I have 0 reason to have two saves going. I set up two saves at the point where you can learn the first unforgivable. But Im still able to learn them, use them and then still get the good ending, reload and choose the dark wizard ending?

Yes. There is technically a "third" extra dark ending, but all the difference is one scene dialogue with Fig and you get exactly the same cutscene as average dark ending. But it doesn't matter. It is Mass Effect 3 ending all over again. Except you can continue to play after the Main Quest and no one, NOT ONE of NPCs, gives a ♥♥♥♥.

[Demiurge]

Originally posted by | Ge'el |:

technically his not wrong the game is missing a lot of ♥♥♥♥, a lot of ♥♥♥♥ that was actually advertised too.. examples are
-Companions/classmates to hang with ( atm they're only available during quests ) the companion system is non existent.
-Cannot sleep or go to bed in your dorm.. or house dorm..
-Dialogs have 0 impact on the world i can go around blasting avada kedabra and nothing happens.
-Your house feels pointless because through out the WHOLE game there not 1 single thing u do for your house Lol.

there's a few more details left out but idc, i didn't actually get the game with high expectations i knew the game was gonna be meh the moment it came out, but lets see over time if they actually add these things.

funny I never had those expectations nor do i remember them mentioning it

[Kashra Fall]

Originally posted by Harris:

Originally posted by Demiurge:

Lol op thought he was playing skyrim or something.

Basically there are two very different and distinct kind of games:

1) "Harry Potter games" - and here I mean linear story-focused games of the early 2000th based around puzzles and castle exploration with all the bells and whistles like potions and flying on a broom thrown in.

2) RPGs - where you usually create your own character and even if not, there are roleplay opportunities, choice and consequence, different builds to encourage replayability and all those other nice things.

Hogwarts Legacy tries to sit on both chairs but does it in a very clumsy manner, ultimately falling on the floor.

It tries to be a worthy successor to the classics, but the copy/pasted puzzles and "collect-em-all" gameplay turned the most exciting part of the game into the most tedious one. At some point you will start avoiding locked doors to save yourself from the Alohomora minigame which is absolutely the same for the 50th time.

It tries to be an RPG, but the open world is dead, character progression is rudimentary, the story is on rails, your choice has no consequences and possibilities for roleplaying are nonexistent since the game forces being a hero on you no matter what you do.

When a game has interesting progression, different skills and builds to experiment with you can overlook the plot flaws. When a game has rich roleplay you can enjoy it even when the combat is garbage. When both aspects of the game are lacking, then you can at least have fun exploring an exciting world full of unique secrets and puzzles.

But when all of those aspects are frustrating on their own, it leads to the game being frustrating as a whole. That's the kind of disappointment I felt after a playthrough, and that's likely what the OP felt too.

So no, it's not the case of wishing for this game to top Skyrim (not that it's too much an ask in 2023), it's the case of seeing a huge gorgeous decoration but only a minimal effort put to bring it all to life. I enjoyed the Medusa portrait that petrifies you, but for each little gem like that we get 20 soulless Arithmancy puzzles.

Hit the nail on the head, agreed 10000%

[Demiurge]

Originally posted by Harris:

Originally posted by Demiurge:

Lol op thought he was playing skyrim or something.

Basically there are two very different and distinct kind of games:

1) "Harry Potter games" - and here I mean linear story-focused games of the early 2000th based around puzzles and castle exploration with all the bells and whistles like potions and flying on a broom thrown in.

2) RPGs - where you usually create your own character and even if not, there are roleplay opportunities, choice and consequence, different builds to encourage replayability and all those other nice things.

Hogwarts Legacy tries to sit on both chairs but does it in a very clumsy manner, ultimately falling on the floor.

It tries to be a worthy successor to the classics, but the copy/pasted puzzles and "collect-em-all" gameplay turned the most exciting part of the game into the most tedious one. At some point you will start avoiding locked doors to save yourself from the Alohomora minigame which is absolutely the same for the 50th time.

It tries to be an RPG, but the open world is dead, character progression is rudimentary, the story is on rails, your choice has no consequences and possibilities for roleplaying are nonexistent since the game forces being a hero on you no matter what you do.

When a game has interesting progression, different skills and builds to experiment with you can overlook the plot flaws. When a game has rich roleplay you can enjoy it even when the combat is garbage. When both aspects of the game are lacking, then you can at least have fun exploring an exciting world full of unique secrets and puzzles.

But when all of those aspects are frustrating on their own, it leads to the game being frustrating as a whole. That's the kind of disappointment I felt after a playthrough, and that's likely what the OP felt too.

So no, it's not the case of wishing for this game to top Skyrim (not that it's too much an ask in 2023), it's the case of seeing a huge gorgeous decoration but only a minimal effort put to bring it all to life. I enjoyed the Medusa portrait that petrifies you, but for each little gem like that we get 20 soulless Arithmancy puzzles.

I get where you are coming from, but i see it more as your own fault for expecting those things rather than what it is. I for example, never expected those things. It was never presented as those things. At least i don't remember it being. Either way, I didn't take it as such. I knew exactly what it was and guess what, it is exactly as I thought, and I enjoy it. It doesn't need to be all of what you wanted and still be good. Like i said, your fault for your incorrect expectations.