I’m excited for this game, as it seems to have put the IP to good use and the overall gameplay setup really seems to fit the “witch/wizard school” backdrop. If I have one concern, it’s the fact that the game is cross-gen. Granted the PS4 version will be delayed to come out a few months later, which I appreciate, but apparently there is also a Switch version coming even later than that. If the game can run on Switch, then it deflates a little of my hype about how intricate and expansive the game can be.
I know the Switch runs very complex games like BotW, Witcher 3, Dark Souls Remastered, etc. but I like the idea that there are 100 side quests in an expansive world which interact with one another such that player choice and approach to questing will affect the main storyline. I have a feeling that if the game will be limited to older hardware that the way these interactive variables work will be relatively shallow.
And that’s all fine, it’s basically what RPGs that do “choice and consequence” storytelling have been doing for ages and it’s nice enough. But having hundreds of outcomes along a story where no two player’s experience the game storyline the same way is kind of the Holy Grail of open world gaming.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I think what you’re asking for isn’t going to become a reality in games, even in a game that isn’t cross gen. It’s probably not the tech that’s holding back that kind of idea, but the amount of work it would take to pull off.
I am really looking forward to this game and I am not even a Harry Potter fan. But i am a sucker for open world fantasy games and this game seems really up my alley. The gameplay previews I have seen get me very excited and I am hoping it is as good as it seems.
Gonna be funny since my wife also bought the game on Pc, so we gotta be careful to not spoil stuff to each other if one person gets further than the other haha.
@Lavalera My wife saw an ad for this and asked if it was one we’d be getting to play.
The only game we’ve played together (she is a complete non-gamer) was Lego Harry Potter. One boss fight she literally went and hid in a barrel and left me to beat it, despite me doing everything physically possible to let her do it (whilst screaming internally at her ineptitude).
I feel she won’t be playing this one, with or without me.
@Thrillho Haha yeah I guess thats the downside of having a non gamer wife. Well she can always run around in Hogwarts itself, i guess there isn't much scary stuff to be found there or she can just watch you play and try to not comment on anything
@Bentleyma Yeah, that’s true. All the scripting and differing voice recordings and algorithmic programming to have hundreds of outcomes is a lot of work. Just to have 100 side quests is a lot of development work in and of itself, and so when they say that in Hogwarts Legacy the order in which you do them will affect the world, it will probably just be some simple things like a binary outcome of either an NPC being there to help or not, or maybe an extra line of dialogue that acknowledges a prior quest.
As I’m playing Dark Souls now, that game has some of the most open linearity which affects storyline that I’ve seen. You end up at the same place eventually in the main story but depending what order you do the areas and bosses, sometimes you’ll lock yourself out of something, or if you kill NPC “A” before point “B” then he won’t be around to kill NPC “C” so you’ll have access to that NPC later. There’s probably about a dozen of these little side activities scattered around where you have to approach things in a certain order to get a desired outcome, but if you don’t then you’ll be okay and just have to deal with some inconveniences or not be able to get certain loot. Apparently Elden Ring has these branching storylines and open approach in a much more intricate way, but I haven’t played it yet.
Just talking about RDR2 recently, that game has really impressive open world personalized interactivity. Side quests are relatively straightforward but the world does evolve a little depending on your approach, but it’s mostly just binary - like depending whether you do “good” or “bad” actions then NPCs will have two differing responses to you. And that’s probably closer to what we’ll get with Hogwart’s Legacy.
An open world with the amount of story outcomes of a game like Detroit Become Human is surely tough to make. This might be where AI will come in handy as I know they are saying AI programmers are getting so good that they can write and develop quests and design things and make their own computer generated art that’s becoming indistinguishable from human creative work. And I’m not sure how I feel about that! 😅
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I've been trying to stay away from watching too many trailers / teasers about this so that there's at least some surprise to it. Unfortunately my kids have been watching those things and they keep telling me about them. Even so it's looking really solid so far and I'm hoping that it plays as well as what I have seen.
I'm not big on character creators myself as I prefer just to jump into the gameplay but I'll spend a bit of time taking a look at what's possible with that. My son wants to give the character a moustache but I fear he's going to be disappointed
@Zuljaras Interesting info. Looks like quality mode at 30 fps is what I’ll start with. I’ve become more spoiled by 60 fps of late but I don’t think I’ll mind 30 if I start there with the better graphics and lighting.
@render I really enjoy character creator options. I’m looking forward to that. Not sure I’ll do a mustache though 😅 although I remember plenty of dudes in High School who could sport one.
Have you all preordered the deluxe edition to get the early access?
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution Hell there are kids that can probably grow a moustache better than I can even now 😂. I've just gone for the standard edition as I got a good price for the physical version and as I'll be playing with the kids we likely won't have chance to start it until that weekend anyway so it's not going to be a problem waiting a few days. What about yourself, will you / have you got the deluxe edition? I think even if you don't there's still the option to purchase the dark arts pack in game so I might check that out at some point.
@render Yeah, same (on both the mustache and the game.. 😂) I am just going for the standard edition because I honestly won’t even start until the weekend at best or even a couple weeks after launch, depending.
I’m a little relieved that the side quests are really short, but still a bit worried at a complete playthrough being 100-120 hrs. I usually don’t like games to be that long. Hopefully it’s not bloated.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
@Th3solution I love a good open world game so really looking forward to discovering some side quests. I'm also happy that they are short as that means we should be able to blitz through some quickly but yeah 100-120 hrs is going to be a challenge. My problem will be finding the time when me and the kids are all together and aren't doing something else. I think I might have to push on with some things myself and then just play a selection of quests with them. I've also got Snowrunner on the go, courtesy of JudgeDredd (thanks if you are out there reading this) so that in itself is hundreds of hours 😅
@render Yeah I was just lamenting on the VR2 article that more than the money (although that’s a lot too) my obstacle for getting a VR2 is just having way more than I can already have time to play on my base PS4/PS5 systems. I have a goal this year of trying to play a few current games so that I’ll have some kind of opinion about the 2023 games when GOTY discussion comes around. Therefore Hogwart’s is one of my 3-4 games targeted this year to not wait on playing. But even then, I have catching up to do with HFW and Elden Ring from last year, and loads of things from years past.
But yes, at the core, I really enjoy good open world games every now and then. It sounds like the main story in Hogwarts is easy to power through if one grows tired of the side content. And I think it was 40 hrs to mainline.
Remarkably, there hasn’t really been any good third-person action story games that are magic and casting focused. Most games have a primary melee or shooter approach with the option to use magic, either as an adjunctive tool or to build a mage character to supplement your party. So I’ll be interested to see how this game survives on an all magic combat system.
@Th3solution It's the reason why I'm happy just being in the PS eco system at the moment, as I'm finding plenty enough to keep me busy here. All the games that I want to play tend to me on PS anyway so that's just a bonus.
It's a very good point you make about the all magic combat system. I used magic a bit in Demons Souls and Elden Ring but melee was definitely my go to in those. It's going to be very strange to not have that to fall back on. From the videos I have seen there seems to be a cooldown mechanic on some of the more powerful spells which I guess leaves you open to attack whilst you just have your less powerful spells to fall back on. I'm hoping that doesn't get too frustrating.
@colonelkilgore I’m not sure that’s a real spell colonel. 😂
It’ll take some good polyjuice potion and a piece of hair from Tom Selleck to get me a decent ‘stache.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
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