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.

[Demiurge]

Postat inițial de 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.

^THIS

[Demiurge]

Postat inițial de Jin-:

Lol @people getting offended from this post

right, because disagreeing with a post must mean we're all offended by it. *facepalm*

[DCid]

There letters.

D-L-C.

[Cal]

I can't quite put my finger on it but the world just feels dead and empty, Like you don't even form relationships with anyone or experience any actual character development it just feels like a harry potter simulator or something not an actual standalone immersive RPG.

[Erudite]

The right sort of criticism, to be honest. Don't think it should be getting so many angsty replies.

Honestly though, I think I'm just an easy mark for the game, I'm having a blast. I see the weaknesses, and *man* I can't tell you how much I've gone on with friends about "what if" or what each of us thinks would be the best way to have done a Hogwarts-focused "grow your own wizard" story.. particularly disappointed at the lack of any meaningful choices for dialogue, but I'm having a lot more fun than I did with something like Fallout 4, which had similar weaknesses. That said, FO4 *did* let you align with different factions at the expense of others, so yeah.

[Salvia]

I know that feel...

First thing that made me a bit disappointed is customization bc it was promised like you can create exact copy of yourself. Well...
Dialog options are either being very mean or very kind. Seems like no choices "i got this thing of yours that you asked for but I'll leave it with myself". No narrative choices and consequences at all
Almost no interaction with npc and no reaction from them on any case. Spiders in village? Avada in a class room? Meh.
I even miss lines like "how are you today, my npc friend? - good. -okay, see you in school" or "how's you study going? - good. -okay, see you in my class", no, instead listen to miss floo powder's and that elf in RoR's 3 lines for 100th time.
All interactions in common room are eating a muffin or spinning a globe. Yes it's excellent done and very detailed but I was here once and don't want really to come back and have no reason actually
Choosing house doesn't matter despite color on clothes. And yes we need some house special quests or even npcs one from each house.
Even in HP2 game was that competition between houses
Why do I need all these chairs and benches in RoR I can't even sit here enjoying the view or invite my npc friends?!?!
Since level ~10 the class is just "make this potion, use it in battle, come here to watch 10seconds cutscene of students studying, learn new spell by pushing 2 buttons".
Map is giving me skellige islands question marks flashbacks.
Very few types of enemies.
Also have you ever experienced that thing when you're in battle and it lasts pretty long and in one moment enemy stops to attack and is like "okay I'm tired, I nvm you, I will just casually walk here and there" but it's still battle?
I don't like potion and ingredients system at all :c Would be better not making seeds infinite and give an opportunity to sell plants.

Well, otherwise the game is very good itself and positive things about it are way more than negatives and I still enjoy it. But the more I play the more I notice such things listed above
Maybe I was expecting too much after watching advertising streams and listening to promises about living life here, making friends, doing what you can and so on. I had in mind Stardew Valley as an example of all these actions and thought that triple A project and magic world setting will do so much better. Now I see Hogwarts just pretends to be roleplaying.

Despite gameplay moments in the end the game in so many aspects just doesn't feel alive and there's almost nothing behind stunning visual side and so well-made designs and locations moving with so many animations. I'm definitely not "living my life in Hogwarts". So much wasted potential

I really hope they will give modders all the tools, it's in their interest despite the greed

[Ash]

Postat inițial de Demiurge:

Postat inițial de Harris:

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.

What incorrect expectations? Game was advertised as rpg with choices and such. Even days before the premiere there were interviews with devs about how our choices will have consequences, affect the endings and such.

So it's not OPs fault, or anyone else's, that we were lied to about those things.

[Maligner]

Postat inițial de Demiurge:

Postat inițial de Jin-:

Lol @people getting offended from this post

right, because disagreeing with a post must mean we're all offended by it. *facepalm*

+1

I have to comment that what they did get right that gives the game life, is the people and constant things happening around the world. The ghosts, the armor talking. I saw a pair of suits of armor get into a fight and it took over 20 hours for it to happen. Students on brooms flying overhead. Myriad sounds, effects and music playing in probably one of the best and most seamless ways I've seen in a game.

On the other hand, all your points are right. All of those people you see can't be interacted with. Many real life interactions are missing.

But here's the thing; I don't know that that will ever happen. Some of my favorite games that I consider the best of all time don't do any of those things very well. Take a game like Skyrim or Fallout New Vegas. You can talk to people, but it means nothing most of the time. It's all designed to give the impression of life. It's a carefully crafted ruse to immerse the player. Considering what this game does well, I can forgive what it lacks.

Put another way, if this game had all the things you want on top of what it already has, it would instantly be the best game of it's genre ever. That would not be a bad thing, but it's a lot to expect and frankly probably won't happen for a long time, if ever. It is what we all want. We want a game that has everything so much so that there is content that no one cares about. But who has the time and resources to make such a game?

I'd suggest you join the ranks of the Star Citizen crowd if you haven't already, and throw money at them for years in hopes of getting that ultimate game. I am very skeptical that it will ever happen. It's a very, very tall order.

[[BLK] Telu]

The dev should focus more on performance issues, quality of life features missing (like the ability to reset your talent tree), gameplay bugs. Than touching on the core of the game. I mean, the open-world aspect of the game is pretty ok and the game feel alive (a lot of npcs with their own story everywhere, lot of unique towns, ... )

I saw really little place who felt copy/pasted. It was mostly little ruins with the same corridor, the same statue and the same chest at the end. The rest was mostly pretty unique.

[l8dybu6]

Exactlyyy!!! When I try to tell people that this game is actually really disappointing and way too easy, they get butt hurt and tell my I'm speed running. I've played a good amount of games, but I have o ly actually finished ONE before this game. And I did it in less than half the time they said it would take. And I got 100% on everything (except I'm missing one configuration collectable even though I have gotten all chests) there isn't nearly enough quests and the beef of the game is the "exploring" and very simple and annoyingly redundant "puzzles". What makes it even more annoying is that you HAVE to hunt down all this stuff for you to level up. By level 30, I was starting to one hit "bosses" with my ancient magic. Then add that I have 5 bars of it and I have a trait to make it fill faster...? Yeah the fights didn't last long at ALL. Also, you would think that the trials would get harder as ypu go, but they got easier. I thought trial 3 was super easy until I got to trial 4! There's not enough meat in the game. There is no house appreciation and you don't actually get to see or do things to earn or reduce house points. The game was way too simple and way too easy and was filled by wasting time and energy hunting down field pages and such. I can appreciate the work and the design and the Lore without having to do all of that. I went foe good this game with the intent of being purely evil, but im not even sure I want to play this game again with how this experience was. They missed out on SO MUCH they could have added. I'm really upset that this game has let me down.

[Jerroser]

I don't think there is anything wrong with having high expectations, especially given how hyped up this game has been. There are certainly some things it does well but also very underwhelming in other aspects.

Even simple things like the ability to go to sleep in your bed in the dormitories, to trigger the wait till day function would have gone a long way. It may be very minor, but there are tons of little things throughout the game that really detract from being immersed in the setting and world that I'm very surprised the devs didn't think were worth including.

[Maligner]

Postat inițial de Jerroser:

Even simple things like the ability to go to sleep in your bed in the dormitories, to trigger the wait till day function would have gone a long way.

I've read about sleeping from others. Is the option to wait until day/night in the map not good enough because it's not a role-play type of choice? Or are people unaware that there is a wait option?

The option to sleep in the dorm would be important if the changing of the days meant anything, but it doesn't. Classes don't run on a clock, they happen when you choose to start the quest. Otherwise, I like the option of waiting until the next day/night cycle without having to change maps, especially since changing maps takes quite a lot of time with the technical issues of the game.

[[BLK] Telu]

Postat inițial de Jerroser:

To trigger the wait till day function would have gone a long way.

This feature exist in the map.

At least, play the game before posting.

[Jerroser]

Postat inițial de Maligner:

Postat inițial de Jerroser:

Even simple things like the ability to go to sleep in your bed in the dormitories, to trigger the wait till day function would have gone a long way.

I've read about sleeping from others. Is the option to wait until day/night in the map not good enough because it's not a role-play type of choice? Or are people unaware that there is a wait option?

The option to sleep in the dorm would be important if the changing of the days meant anything, but it doesn't. Classes don't run on a clock, they happen when you choose to start the quest. Otherwise, I like the option of waiting until the next day/night cycle without having to change maps, especially since changing maps takes quite a lot of time with the technical issues of the game.

From my perspective it would be more of a role playing aspect, although to be honest I would actually like it if the day/night cycle did matter slightly more. Heck even something as minor as rending sleeping students in their beds when you go there at night would have been nice to see.

[Jerroser]

Postat inițial de BLK Telu:

Postat inițial de Jerroser:

To trigger the wait till day function would have gone a long way.

This feature exist in the map.

At least, play the game before posting.

I was talking about using the bed as an alternative means of triggering this, I'm fully aware that it can be done through the map page.