It's honestly amazing how well this game sold considering how mid the gameplay actually is. Having a popular IP really helped.
Eh, people don't buy for the gameplay mechanics most of the time, they buy for what they see in the trailers and read in the descriptions. Being the only videogame available for this IP, having the WB marketing juggernaut behind it, releasing at a time of the year without much competition, coming out on every single platform - it would have been weird if this game wasn't the best selling one in 2023.
Exactly. You don't know what the gameplay is until after you buy the game, unless you are savvy and watch reviews or something, which hardly any consumers do.
Also, it's not like the gameplay was mind bogglingly terrible, just some bland questing and a serviceable combat system. The main thing the game had to do to sell well imo was sell the environment and vibe which I think it did decently.
Are you saying that marketing works?!
My wife, whose entire history with video games is Sims 3, Animal Crossing: NH, and Pokémon Go, played through this game start to finish and loved it. It wasn't really made for "gamers", it was made for Harry Potter fans that wanted to play a Hogwarts game. It didn't succeed as a gaming revolution, it succeeded in bringing non-gamers to buy it.
Personally, I love that she got into it whether it's mid or not, because it introduced her to a lot of the mechanics necessary to play "real" games in the future. And she had a lot of fun.
I'm both a gamer and HP fan.
I thought the game was great, and I didn't really realize the depths of people's distaste for it, I guess.
Was it crazy revolutionary? No, but it was fun.
Fellow HP fan, I was kinda weirded out by the whole "free access to unforgivable curses" and "canonically killing people" and the honestly kinda disheartening stance on goblin personhood but man flying around the grounds is so fun
Oh yeah me too. There are a lot of moments in the writing that make me go "wait... what? are you sure about that?" and some of the game design was iffy here and there but the main attraction is just the fact that they've given us a "full-scale" Hogwarts and surroundings.
Oh no kidding, I loved how they handled the curses. For the most part at least. Like, I would’ve been pretty disappointed if they weren’t usable in-game at all, but was never sure how they could introduce them in a realistic way. So HL literally having entire side quests devoted to you discovering the curses and learning how to use them honestly blew away my expectations.
My only issue with them is being able to use them in front of others so casually. They should’ve just made them unusable if you had another character accompanying you.
the last video game my mom played before hogwarts legacy was like...pac man in the arcades. it was amazing to share our progress together and bond
Haha! That sounds like so much fun!
I thought the gameplay was awesome. To me, a really impressive entry to a potential series. What did you feel were the weak points in the gameplay?
I found the combat to be serviceable, and at some points I had fun with it. But it kind of got repetitive really quick. Like once you learn the core mechanics, they didn't really introduce a lot after that to keep you on your toes. But the main problem I had with the game came from the quests, they just felt so monotonous. I love exploring the castle, but finding every little collectible just felt tedious and didn't really seem to have any payoff.
All things I hope can be improved with an eventual sequel, I'm definitely glad I picked up the game. But it's not something I've ever considered revisiting once I beat it.
Yeah, agree with these points. It had that first entry vibe to it, similar to the Outer Worlds. Lack of enemy variety was a pretty big one, once you were a few hours in.
The IP was my only interest. Games like this I get bored with so I generally avoid. But the views of the school looked great and I've always wanted to walk around it, like the fantasy version of it. I've been to the real set and walked around that which is cool. My only complaint is I bought it on PC so I didn't get to see Azkaban.
What do you mean? I played on pc and went to Azkaban, what very little there was to see anyway
Azkaban is not based on platform but house, join Hufflepuff to see it.
I thought that was a PlayStation exclusive
What can you say gamers love anti-Semitism.
I'm playing this game right now and it's honestly a six out of 10. The only reason to launch the game at all is because of the world design which is top notch. So top notch it scores all of those six points, because the plot characters story and gameplay are all a let down otherwise. This is the type of game that will disable the controls for your magical flying broom and then tell you that you need to climb a wall. I wish it wasn't so successful so they didn't think this formula was so good, because if they made the game actually good AND a Harry Potter property, that would have really been something special. But as it is now, it's just an uninspired video game painted in a pretty coat of a popular franchise. I'm sure we'll get a sequel.
I would have loved to have this game as a kid. It may be a 6 out of 10 but most of the other harry potter shovelware they shit out when the movies were coming was at best a 0.2 out of 10. The only arguably not that bad one was the prisoner of azkaban movie based game.
IDK. Most of the early games were actually pretty entertaining. I fairly recently played sorcerer's stone on the gbc, and it was still pretty fantastic.
I'm curious, what open world games do you rate as a 9 or 10? I'm not saying Hogwarts did anything revolutionary, but it did most things pretty solidly. It's been a while since Ive played an open world game that does a good job on making the world actually feel alive.
Witcher 3 I'd rate 9/10.
Subnautica gets a 9/10. Fallout 2 and 3, if we're specifically going RPGs. NieR: Automata for action RPGs. Look at Persona for school influenced RPGs. I'd have geeked out so hard if we got even Persona-style class experiences in Hogwarts Legacy. Instead, all we get is completely contextless montage cutscenes.
Yeah I wish Hogwarts Legacy had taken more inspiration from Persona. Having a schedule, working on social links, engaging in fun activities outside of school, it all lends itself incredibly well to a Hogwarts game.
Unfortunately it sounds like the creators haven’t ever even touched a Persona game. I remember before the game launched they were asked if there’d be romance options, and they seemed almost offended by the thought since the characters are kids, despite Persona doing the same for literal decades.
Going to a ball in Hogwarts Legacy, or going on a date in Hogsmeade, would’ve been so much fun too.
Imagine that, teens dating... What a wild concept, they didn't even had to play Persona, our own culture is filled with teen drama series, even DC made gotham academy.
Not the person you asked, but for me personally to rate some open world games:
Hogwarts: 4-5/10. It's pretty damn bad IMO, beyond the fan pandering.
Avatar Frontiers of Pandora: 5-7/10, it's a slightly worse Far Cry (which is already damn tepid) but looks insanely pretty which makes it a good braindead time waster.
Cyberpunk 2077: Originally 2/10, laughably underdesigned and so buggy it felt like industry-criticizing sarcasm. Nowadays 7/10 if including the expansion, still quite buggy but not in a bad way, and the redesigned combat and character systems feel artificial but pretty fun. City still too dead and underdesigned, sadly.
Skyrim: 6-7/10, damn impressive at the time, but only briefly as the game was shallow as all hell, even in its best moments. Still impressive but it's all on the mods and hence the players, not the game designers.
Witcher 3: 8-9/10, essentially same design flaws as modern CP2077, but given its fantasy world suffers much less from it, of course the empty countryside is, well, empty.
Subnautica: 10/10, amazing horror vibes, good progression, not too open and not too confined, focus on exploration.
Outer Wilds: 10/10, completely open and pure exploration, reductive game design done perfectly right.
the redesigned combat and character systems feel artificial but pretty fun
What do you even mean by this? Artificial gameplay?
No like... it feels pretty obvious they weren't that way originally, if that makes sense? That this got changed after the game was already out for a while, this wasn't how it was designed at first?
I got Subnautica for free twice (PlayStation and Epic), I should really look at giving it a proper try. I have the feeling it'd be really good in VR, played No Man's Sky in VR recently and I immediately loved it while on flatscreen it didn't click with me as much.
Subnautica is a masterpiece.
Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2 are both up there for me.
I pirated the game. The first part in the actual school was really fun. But once you get out into the world, you quickly realise that it's just another generic open world game with outposts, collectibles, and general busywork that you've seen in every other open world game. It got boring very quickly for me and I never finished it.
I also pirated it, and yeah, I definitely got my money's worth from it. I tried to have fun, but it's the poster child for "mile wide, inch deep."
Maybe they can reuse the environment for a better game in the future.
I agree. The magical feeling of being a student at Hogwarts soon evaporated as soon as you got a broom and didn't really need to visit Hogwarts again and instead just fight endless random enemies, which gets pretty easy as you level up.
I was also disappointed by the endless voice acting. There was so much pointless talking and you couldn't really control the outcome, all options seemed to result in a positive outcome when I just wanted to be a badass Malfoy but you're not allowed, you jave to be a goody goody Hermione, juat in Slytherin clothes.
I was very interested in mods for this game, people found all kinds of fun cut stuff that would've elevated this game so much like companions having commentary for several quests when you used a mod to bring them, and having actual consequences for using the dark arts. But it's impossible to implement.
Technically it’s possible, but you’d have to reply on the cooperation of empress and that’s… not gonna happen.
I loved the mod that turned all those animated paintings into anime vtubers, so goofy
It's multi-platform, uses one of the biggest IPs of an entire generation and seems to do it quite well too. Everything else would have been more surprising to me.
I'm shocked the online outrage from gamingcirlclejerk didn't work
It's like the sub made for taking the piss out of gaming criticism and critique did what it was supposed to do.
Not really, they were often really serious about it which made it all the more ridiculous. Sometimes it's a fun circlejerk sub, sometimes it's presenting their slacktivism almost as being some gaming vanguard and fighting a war against the game.
It was pretty funny.
I used to love that sub, but these days they are only focused on the outrage culture. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I like to laugh at people who take their video game waifu too seriously. I initially joined that sub because it seemed like the best place to have level-headed conversations about overhyped games, like the Witcher 3. Everywhere else seems to love that game as if it’s the second coming of Jesus, but if you find some places that didn’t like the game, they swing a bit too hard on the opposite site, so you can’t have a conversation with them either. I found plenty of people in that sub who loved that game, but knew where the shortcomings were.
I wonder it's because it attracted a bunch of people who weren't into games, but are huge Harry Potter fans.
It's also on every platform, including the Switch, while TotK is just on the Switch.
Yeah this feels like a Look What They Have to Do (release on every system) to Mimic a Fraction of Our Power (be Zelda) meme.
More like: Even a bland game will sell more if it is released on multiple platforms, no matter how good the other game is.
I think you just nailed it, this is exactly why.
Yep it's an unfair comparison. If Zelda was available on all platforms then it might have been a different story.
But it isn't, and that is the problem.
Honestly it was just a good game. I saw it attracting both Potterheads and non-Potterheads. (I would not consider myself a Potterhead).
Does it have a bunch of replay value? Not really (neither do a lot of games). But man, that initial playthrough was just really good. It also looks like I clocked 113 hours on the game, so that's a pretty decent return to me.
Also, despite the source material and the author, it had a lot of very inclusive elements, which were a nice touch.
if you seriously think this game was special, I have a far cry themed bridge to sell you
Zelda was more fun though
Zelda would have been even more fun if it was available on every platform instead of just Nintendo.
That's it, I never played Nintendo games because I never had their hardware. For me personally it's just not worth getting into their closed ecosystem. Basically same reason I never had anything apple.
The same can be said for many games over the years then, but I don't like thinking that way.
If there's a game I want to play, I'll get the hardware needed to play it
It's available on PC.
PC gamers even got it before nintendo ones.
I only played the unpatched version with the dupe glitches, that was super fun.
I guess all the twitter drama around the author matters less to the real world. It's impressive to see how a vocal minority can completely distort what is happening offline.
Hogwarts came out a quarter of a year earlier and released on every platform compared to Zelda only being on one.
I wouldn't take that as a indictment that J.K.'s terf bullshit didn't have an impact on sales.
Yeah, and the fact that people basically can't talk about this game without mentioning it got boycotted because one of the people who makes money from it is a massive piece of transphobic shit is a small step forward all on its own
In that sense, it worked. Let's face it: The people who don't care about the author's raging bigotry were never going to be convinced regardless, but there were a lot of us who didn't even consider playing it because of the TERF.
Anecdotally, everyone I’ve talked to about it doesn’t care. They don’t like she’s a TERF and some even condemn her for it, but every single person I’ve talked to separates the world of Harry Potter from her. It basically has a life of its own and they couldn’t care less about JKR now, that’s what I’ve been able to surmise of people’s view of it now. It’s like having racist parents but not being labeled as one because you’re a separate entity.
I'm a big gamer, and was a massive HP fan. I did not buy the game, or even consider it, specifically because of JKR's bullshit.
I may be in the minority, but I guarantee I'm not the only one in this boat. So now you've talked to someone who cares, if you count this as talking.
And just to say a little more, no I didn't crusade against the game, nor do I villainize people who bought it and enjoyed it. I do think it's possible to enjoy art without liking the artist. Hell, my favorite book series of all time is the Ender's Game series, and Orson Scott Card is probably just as bad as JKR, though maybe not quite as famous/public about it.
But I can't bring myself to buy it. I'm trans, and her rhetoric, and how public it is, has been specifically harmful to me, directly. But that's just me. I won't tell other people how to live their lives or enjoy their free time, so long as they're not actively hurting others. And no, I don't consider buying a game where one person who is profiting from it might spend a sliver of that profit on anti-trans BS to be actively harming others, especially when she already has enough money to do whatever the hell she wants anyways.
This doesn't make a dent, and ethical consumption under capitalism is impossible anyways. I just hope that some portion of people who bought the game heard about the protests and maybe donated a fraction of what they paid for the game to some pro-LGBTQ groups. I have to believe there's at least a handful of people like that. I do believe that people are mostly good, and want to do good.
Yeesh, I wrote a lot more than I planned to here. I'll stop now lol.
Death of the author only applies if she's dead.
So unless there's been some good news in the last day, those people are just coping
So very true.
HP Lovecraft was horribly racist, but his works are in the Public Domain. Neither him, his estate or any causes he supported get any money by engaging with his works. His opinions are still part of his works, but that can be criticized and modified in adaptations and derivative works.
The same can't be said of living creators who still own and profit from those works. Even if some team deliberately tries to gloss over or alter concerning aspects, the money the author gets might still be directed towards concerning movements.
In all fairness there are concerning aspects in many industries and a lot that we consume, and each person has a lot of other issues to worry about, so while disappointing, it's inevitable that people won't care about everything. But I definitely don't feel confortable giving money to someone who's spreading hate about people I care for. I used to be a big HP fan but this situation completely spoiled any interest I had in that world... and also helped me realize it was never that good anyway.
(Thought experiment time) So at what point, if ever, does a universe separate from its creator? Think about Star Wars. There have been a large number of derivative works by multiple authors. However if George Lucas came out against gays and trans people, would you taint the entire franchise? At what point are the two separated, if ever?
However if George Lucas came out against gays and trans people, would you taint the entire franchise?
Yes. I would immediately lose ibr
interest in Star Wars and go do something else. There's plenty of entertainment out there that's not made by shitty bigots.
Fr, why are we acting like this is hard? Or acting like any of these aggressively mid media franchises are so sacred as to be unassailable?
Even if JKR was a literal saint Harry Potter would still be Baby's First Fantasy Series, at best, so the idea that so many people are willing to continually enrich one of the world's most influential TERFs for it honestly blows my fucking mind.
Like just pick and follow literally any other fantasy series folks, jesus.
Star Wars is an awkward example because it's already pretty well tainted itself with mediocre films.
But yes, unironically I would actively stop looking for the shreds of good among the carnage that is the once-beloved franchise if I knew its creator, whose name is still tied to it and who financially benefits at least from the propagation of successful entries under that IP, would be just a little bit more able to get their awful views out there thanks to that success.
When it stops making them rich as fuck
This happens a lot more than you think. It isn't just coping.
How many movies were produced by Weinstein? How many comics were published by bigots that still re-sell in droves today?
How many celebrated tv shows were made by pieces of garbage?
Wrestlemania season is here. THAT company is completely vile from the ground up.
Sometimes, people just pick and choose their fiction and legitimately separate the artist from the art. The Harry Potter franchise has outgrown it's original author, just like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, WWE or almost any franchise.
If you think the world truly is so black and white, you haven't gone out and experienced enough of it.
Thats not death of the author, thats you covering your eyes while handing them money.
Death of the author does not exist while the author makes money off the product.
If you pirated the hogwarts game? Then you have room to speak on death of the author. But jkr has a hefty royalties deal on hp products. If you paid for it, the author is living well.
Im sorry you apparently cant face that truth, but that doesnt change it.
Bruh, if you are going to try and pretend your consumption under capitalism is better than the other, that's cool.
I'm sure you are the most morally sound person you've ever met 🤣
The phrase "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" does not mean "therefore, death of the author always exists for all art the second it is made."
For starters, you will not die if you dont experience all art made. Its not food. Its not shelter. You will be okay if you dont watch some movies, dont read some books, and dont play some games. I promise.
But, more specifically, death of the author means to separate an author and their life from the work they create. If your purchase directly funds the author? You didnt separate the author from the work.
Death of the author is when you accept and understand that reading a story written by a shitheel from the 18th century is not supporting their shitheel opinions. That you can study the work and its influence on culture without that study or consumption being explicit or implicit support of the creators thoughts and opinions.
But when you pay an author for their work, you have supported the author. Period, thats what the word means.
Now you can fibble or quibble about morality of putting money into someones pocket all you like, but if the author is literally benefiting from your purchase, they are not dead. There has been no death of author.
You also don't need an iphone or mac since there are plenty of other smartphones and PCs available, but nobody stopped buying them because foxxcon used slave labor.
Everyone draws the line where they want, this controversy only exists because people were trying to guilty trip streamers and anyone online from playing it, do not try to rewrite what happened.
You mean you didnt stop buying apple products? Lots of people, myself included, avoid slave labor brands.
(And also most jobs and housing do require a phone, and its better to buy a used phone second hand than a brand new phone every time. Utility devices are far more nuanced and intricate about "ethical" choices than a video game.)
E: also, this thread specifically is about death of the author, which I dont think anyone would apply to iphones at any point regradless
Lol I said the same thing a bit ago and was down voted for it.
I mean, I didn't consider playing it because I've never been a fan of Harry Potter, but Rowling's ramblings definitely didn't do anything to change my mind.
I was a moderately engaged HP fan before I learned what a colossally awful human the author is, but her TERF ramblings also made me realize there's quite a lot of racial and ethnic stereotypes baked into the franchise. It's probably the fastest I've ever totally abandoned an interest in a series. Even if we do separate the works from the author like so many fanbois suggest, they're still awful.
The whole situation with house elves, goblins and other intelligent magical creatures treated as inferior doesn't make the story feel to good. It might even be understandable if the heroes realized the deeper problems that couldn't be solved simply by fighting, but the protagonist ultimately just inherits a slave and becomes an enforcer for the status quo.
In retrospect it makes a lot of words about good and love and doing what's right feel like going through the motions rather than any real values.
Doesn't seem to have had a big impact I'd say
You csn say all you like, we literally have zero idea how many lost sales they had.
We know it didn't prevent it from becoming the year's most sold game, so whatever the impact it's pretty easy to shrug off
Buddy, its the worlds 5 largest IP, id be shocked if it didnt sell millions of copies regardless.
For all we know it could have lost out on 20 million sales, but its an untrackable metric.
Did any of the other HP games ever top the charts?
If not, then there must be something special about this one other than IP. Especially since most of the other HP games came out before there was any JKR controversy.
Other than mobile games or Lego versions, there hasnt been a proper Harry Potter game since 13 years ago and from memory they were extremely average movie tie in games.
Its not a series like Pokemon or Zelda that sees frequent releases. It being the first real game, and done beautifully (graphics/ recreation wise) is certainly the biggest selling point.
I mean I'm sure it's a lot more cheerful for the to imagine the number as really high, but the fact of the matter is that in the end it still sold really well, becoming the top seller of that year.
A bit of a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ situation
Its nothing to do with cheerful, its to do with not knowing how effective a boycott was.
No one in their right mind would expect it to sell zero copies.
Tell me, how do you tell if a boycott was successful?
I'd expect it to meaningfully affect the sales and the maker/seller/whoever behind it. Being the most sold game of the year and presumably making a fat profit, I don't think it really did either.
So again, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, the fact that it took all year on all 4 major platforms to outsell one game from a much smaller but recognized IP thats restricted to one platform doesnt sound like a meaningful effect on its sales to you?
Because thats a very weird thing. It should not have taken so long to reach this point, given the size of hp as a franchise.
That's the cheerful way to look at it. It sure could've, hypothetically, sold two gazillions instead of one. Take that, game, the boycott must've worked! Yeah...
What exactly do you think detriment to sales means dude
Why, because they point out that the entire thing was a lound minority running in their own echochamber?
Sure call me a bigot. The point I was making is this is an echo chamber issue for people who want to eat others because they are not pure enough. And on that you come out swing with the same incessive echo put stuff I was pointing to.
No matter how much you hurt the people you say you are fighting for. Go ahead, run your inquisition on people to see if they match your purity standards, don't be surprised if one day you end up in front of the inquisition yourself accused of being impure.
You spend time fighting with someone who might disagree with you in this fringe of society but still takes on the biggest fights out there.. and you would rather burn them than focus on better, easier, more impactful targets.
It happens every time. Pokémon Sword/Shield and Scarlett/Violet had the biggest launch in the franchise's history despite being (justifiably so) heavily criticized by pretty much everyone online.
People shit on microtransactions and always-online games but the top charts always show online multiplayer games are among the most played.
It doesn't make the criticisms any less valid; it just means that the general public is usually ignorant of them.
Or just don't care that much
JKR is a very vocal TERF that basically wants trans people to dissappear. A lot of people dont want to financially support her because of that. That most people seemingly either dont care about trans erasure or even worse, bought the game specifically because theyre the type to do shit just because people with a conscience told them they shouldn't, says more about most people than it does that "vocal minority"
Oh pipe down, I read the entire thing when it was recent and in no way does she want what you claim. She has an open letter on her own website outlining her views.
Over the course of the years since this happened it has grown, morphed and people are now probably also saying she would be the one herding the trans people into the gas Chambers.
This right here is why Lemmy is often a shitshow. You're absolutely right, but since you're going against the hive mind it's nothing but downvotes. No one's even bothered to reply because there's nothing to argue against in good faith. Just angry downvotes because your facts are getting in the way of fake outrage.
Nah. Both of you just haven't kept up with her history of equating trans women with sexual predators and trans men with poor brainwashed little girls, some of which was hinted, if disguised in polite words, in the article where she talked about the situation and defended how she totally didn't mean any harm to anybody.
Did you see when she said she'd march with trans people if they truly were persecuted? Their rights have been challenged and undermined many times since, and she didn't show any sign of that.
Because, you know, sometimes people aren't completely honest and taking them at their word is not the ultimate measure of their characters.
So don't confuse disagreeing with people here and getting downvoted with being the one clear-minded contrarian. However much internet bandwagons are a thing, you won't get the clear picture unless you go look into it. Sometimes you might get that reaction because you are wrong and that's it.
It's OK, people can read the content themselves. I have a lot of (maybe misplaced) confidence in most people.
And I personally don't see a lot of hivemind but plurality of opinion luckily. The angry downvotes without response is usually telling enough, although someone did reply to tell me to "fuck off" this time.
Seriously! If I say something stupid, others are supposed to show up and educate me on why what I said is stupid! That is how public discourse is supposed to works!
Wait, why aren't the people tired of my ignorant shit jumping to help me learn? Oh I know, that means I'm actually super smart, totally correct and fully informed. Everyone else is just being stupid and mean to me for no valid reason.
Honest feedback (for honest ppl): there are ways to ask people what they think so they'll be inclined to reply earnestly. Starting with "pipe down" ain't it... ya fuckin dingus. lol
I think that the masses are mostly disengaged with terminally-online type discourse. The only reason I knew JK Rowling was TERF was because of reading it on here, so if you are only on social media to follow your old high school classmates on facebook, you'd probably never find out
The masses are largely disengaged with LGBT rights in general, but the declining rights of transgender people in the UK (and the US) shows this is not just a "terminally-online" kind of issue. She is not the only one responsible, of course, but her outspoken antagonism towards transgender people is influencing people.
It concerns me when people can't differentiate "this issue does not affect me" from "this issue does not exist". Even calling matters "terminally-online" in general is a bit questionable when whole ass presidents get elected by meme campaigns these days.
The game has a minor character who is trans too. It uses the world she invented but does not borrow her real world views
Just because a minority is depicted in a work of art does not mean that depiction was made in good faith. Americans are familiar with that concept because of our dark history of minstrel shows and blackface performances.
When the trans woman character's name is Sirona Ryan, it calls into question whether she is meant to be a character or a caricature.
Hasnt Nintendo like, not released digital sales for TotK? I remember reading that recently.
Not a cope post, I don't care if you play the terf game, just actually curious.
The terf game?
The owner of the Three Broomsticks is trans... ?
When the series creator is vocally advocating to marginalize transgender people and financially supporting other members of the hate movement, it takes more than a token NPC to make up for it.
Most likely that character is an insincere PR move from Warner Bros, but some trans people also pointed out that naming her Miss Ryan was probably done in bad faith. If anything, sounds exactly like the kind of tasteless thoughtless naming that JKR is infamous for.
Most likely that character is an insincere PR move from Warner Bros,
There was a lot of that shoehorned in that made me wonder if it would've made sense in 1800s wizarding world.
don't care
That's a good way to get yourself blocked. Bye.
don't care
Thank god tokenism is here to save the day again.
That's not what "TERF" means.
Theyre trying to argue that JKR being a massive TERF is fine because theres one trans character in the game. The "I cant be racist, I have a black friend" defense.
The "I can't be racist, my book has a black guy AND an Asian woman!" defense too. Just don't think too hard about what they're named lol
I don't care for JK. But JK didn't make the game. Hundreds of designers, artists and programmers did. And you think those people should be boycotted because one person is a TERF.
She collected royalties from it. It doesnt matter if she had any input or not. Buying that game results in some of that money going into her pocket and I dont want to give her a dime. If she didnt get a dime for it that might be different but as it is she does and she revels in the shit stirring that shes done that resulted in blow back. I cant justify giving that troll the satisfaction of buying products that benefit her financially.
Those people were already paid, and you can make a game about wizards and magic without licensing the Harry Potter IP and further enriching JK Rowling.
The people who mattered dont get paid based on sales. So, fuck em, they got their bag just fine?
Maybe in your fantasy world, but in real life when a game bombs the studio gets cut down, downsized, etc. Volition was recently closed because of the bombing of the Saints Row reboot. Avalanche is great studio and I wish them to continue existing.
I dunno what fantasy world youre living in, but here in reality you get downsized and laid off regardless of how good your games do.
Unless youve missed the game trends for the past 4 months?
The artists, programmers etc have already been paid as much as they're going to get for it.
Never got into Harry Potter since I was too old. This game was really fun to just explore and I constantly felt a forward momentum. Some of the stories were good, and some were awful.
I would absolutely play a sequel just based on the well done sense of discovery alone. I just wish more of what you found was impactful instead of cosmetic.
On the one hand, I agree about wishing there was more to find than a new color cloak, but on the other hand I think it's a neat way to keep the game approachable to more casual gamers (and to try and get as many Harry Potter fans to get it as possible). That being said, I would have liked if there were more challenge, and something other than just flat stat improvements could have been a way to keep that interesting if they had higher difficulties.
I get it, but it doesn't have to be just pure stats. Could have been mild ability improvements or something or maybe changed some of the effects or visual things that occurred around you. Hell, even walking speed improvement or something like a tone to help you locate hidden items.
There's a lot they could have done considering we're dealing with magical items! Still had a pretty good time with it overall though.
If you have nothing else to play and want a simple open world game set in and around Hogwarts, it's perfectly servicable as long as you pirate it. Don't expect to be blown away by it though.
I assumed that after literally nobody or any media outlets have talked about it since release. Telltale sign of bang on average game. Probably great for potter fans and boring for those who don’t care or haven’t seen the films/read the books.
I would - and I hate my saying this - rather recommend Avatar then. Yeah it's a Ubisoft game. I know. Yeah, it needs a beefier machine to actually look really pretty.
But oh my fucking hell is it pretty when cranked up. And it helps the generic open world gameplay a lot to be this awesome looking. Fun to just wander around and take in the scenery, even when you leave the jungle areas and go to the plains and see the wind-swept grass and all.
Has anyone played both? Im loving zelda at the moment and wouldn't mind moving onto this next
Hogwarts is fun for about 30 hours roleplaying as a wizard, as a casual potter fan. I got really bored of it after that and never finished the game. At its core it really is very generic, it's really propped up by the IP. That's not to say it's bad by any means but its not got the depth of Zelda.
I think the biggest issue for me was how large the map was. They did the castle and hogsmede very well, but then threw in a bunch of filler content in the other towns. If they had stuck to the more core areas only, the game wouldn't have gotten so stale later on.
That's because they needed somewhere for you to fly your broomstick since it was the most fun part of the game.
Sure, more room is nice, but the map could have been 1/3rd the size and still have a good sense of speed with it. A better option would have been to put in some fun mini games with the broom, but that would have been required then to make flying the broom more engaging.
I'm kinda curious in what way Zelda (assuming TOTK) has more depth. Combat wise HP has stealth, an attack typing system, comboing, special moves, and more if I recall correctly. TOTK does have a variety of weapons and you can craft weapons, but it generally boils down to just whacking away at things. You could also mention the ability to make vehicles/automaton, but the time to build things (until you find ultra hand?) mixed with limited resources made that more of a pain/chore than fun.
I could go into other mechanics, but ultimately I think TOTK would be rated worse if it wasn't for the Zelda branding carrying it.
You aren't wrong, there was an unpopular opinion thread some weeks ago and several zelda fans called both BOTW and TOTK just ubisoft open worlds with a zelda skin. They are both carried by their IP (even though I love these 2 zeldas), the worst Zelda (Skyward Sword) still sold 4.15 million units, just counting the HD version, the Wii version sold 3.67 million.
Haha I appreciate the comment and the ability to call them out even though you like them.
I just wish I felt the same. The longer they've been out the more I realize that we probably won't get a more traditional zelda ever again. I think the thing I liked about zelda up to BOTW was that the world itself was a puzzle. Figuring out how to navigate and open up new areas was part of the fun and challenge to me. Not to mention dungeons being larger and more intricate puzzles than anything you come across in BOTW and TOTK.
Zelda is the better game. Problem is (sales wise) the Zelda franchise isn't nearly as popular outside of gaming circles, and access to this game is locked to those that own a Switch, whereas HL is on all platforms
I played both. Both are excellent games, and both also have flaws.
I think Zelda was by far the better game - HL isn't really on the same level as it at all, design-wise, story-wise, or or in terms of things to do.
HL's strength is definitely the world itself - the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade areas in particular are both incredibly well done and very faithful to the source material. The other areas are just alright.
I'd say HL's weaknesses become most apparent if you're a completionist. Things can get very repetitive if you're going for 100%. I did, and I honestly think you'll like it a lot more if you just don't.
It's still lots of fun though. Zelda was my most played game in 2023 and HL was kind of far behind, and everything else combined would still probably be a distant third.
I absolutely agree with the other people saying HL is generic and propped up by the IP. But for me that was enough.
The story of HL is also one of its weaknesses. It's a generic chosen one story with unmemorable characters.
I'm really confused by all of the story comments in this thread. It's fair to criticise HL's story, but at least there is a story and characters. What story does TOTK even have? What characters have more than a line or two? While Zelda has never been big on complex narratives, at least previous entries (before BOTW and TOTK) could develop a story since they could have a linear progression. A couple of flashback scenes really doesn't tell a great or compelling narrative and really disconnects the gameplay from the events going on.
Disclaimer: I haven’t played TOTK. I only played a bit of BOTW.
It’s all about expectations. I never thought of Zelda as a game with a story, so BOTW not having one doesn’t bother me. Harry Potter, on the other hand, I’ve always associated with memorable characters and a bonkers world. HL translates this bonkers world into a game quite well, but its story doesn’t (in my opinion) fit that world nor does it have memorable characters. (Some of the characters look and feel like Lidl versions of the characters from the original books.)
I have. Hogwarts Legacy has really good graphics but it's honestly pretty generic, it only sold so well because there are millions of harry potter fans out there.
I mean clearly that’s not the only reason, right? If it were, every previous Harry Potter video game would’ve sold just as well.
Zelda has tighter gameplay and holds your attention longer.
I pirated it and played for maybe two hours. It was boring and the controls didn't feel good. Uninstalled shortly after.
If you are WB, I can't see how you compare the performance of this game vs the performance of Suicide Squad (which had similar development time) and not rethink your approach to future licensed titles
Nooooooooo!
I mean both were good games, but Zelda is just legendary status and on another level. It holds a special place for me, and they somehow nailed it out of the park yet again with TOTK. I don't know how they keep doing it! They have some geniuses over there.
Very curious. I played for about 10-15 hours and was just bored, but I’ve never been a huge potter head. Glad people like it though
Completed both 100% and they're such great fun games.
Hogwarts was awesome to walk through the wizardry world. Battling wizards, poachers, spiders, etc. Finding all the secrets and going through the story. Finished the game in a week, I just couldn't put the controller down.
poped in to say transrights! that'll be all
fuck harry potter, read terry pratchett
Can I just read Pratchett without fucking anyone? I'm ace and it's just really smelly and uncomfortable.
Can I just read Pratchett without fucking anyone?
You can, but you're missing out. Getting to the climax of Guards! Guards! is really something else.
Absolutely but I do recommend whispering to yourself "get fucked JK rowling" before reading a book as it is good luck. You can substitute "eat shit" or whatever else feels right to you and it should still work fine.
Bit unfair, because when compared to Terry Pratchett, just about everything else gets tossed to read more Pratchett. 😅
(not that I disagree, Pratchett is best)
Imagine if JK Rowling had even a 1/1000th the artistry and intuitive empathy Pratchett had for the world, there would be millions upon millions of people out there with a life long love of a series who didn’t feel betrayed and forced to make a choice between being part of a community that textually hates them or continuing to love their childhood nostalgia.
<3 trans people <3 granny weatherwax and I really wanna get drunk with nanny og.
Careful, Nanny will make you do chores.
Does Nanny NOT make you do the chores?? She told me everyone else was very studious about doing them and that only I was slacking off.
Wait a minute….
She had me convinced SHE was the one being fooled this whole time, she even told me so
I just wish there was more media of the Discworld other than the books, a handful of movies and some games of the 90's. It is such a big universe that has so much room for stories.
I'm sure the studios will get around to it and then we'll get a million sequels. Maybe the estate owning the rights is not keen on authorizing works.
Yeah I don't think his daughter is that hot on allowing a lot of people to do stuff with it. Last year's animated Maurice movie was about the only thing in a long time, I think?
okay
I bought it and was hoping for more leveling up and more RPG elements but it wasn't.
I really liked the side quests though. It felt like every single one involved going to a cave, finding out the NPC's friend/relative was dead, and then report back. It definitely didn't get old after the first dozen or so.
Also, the Merlin trials were great. Hundreds of locations, but only like 6 different puzzles.
I haven't played a game where the devs copy/pasted that much in a while.
I really liked the side quests though. It felt like every single one involved going to a cave, finding out the NPC’s friend/relative was dead, and then report back. It definitely didn’t get old after the first dozen or so.
Sounds exactly like Skyrim tbh...
I thought it was a great game that captured the spirit of the books & movies so well. Thankfully all the mock outrage and virtue signaling didn't affect its sales and probably boosted them.
mock?
Yes. Some game "reviews" were such absurd, performative straw man attacks at JK Rowling that they bordered on parody. I'm thinking of the Wired one in particular but others were equally bad. The irony is these diatribes clearly helped the game, or rather, this really good game sold well in spite of that crap. Ultimately these websites just undermined their own reputations.
Considering one of the main hubs for outrage was /r/GamingCirclejerk who themselves use the defense of "lmao this list of streamers playing wizard game totally isn't an invite to harass them. This is a joke subreddit why are you taking it seriously?!".
I can hardly blame people for thinking the outrage was fake. Some of it was so over the top it was insane
That said, fuck J.K Rowling, and fuck her opinions
I bought the game only because of the obnoxious virtue signaling cunts screaming about boycott.
Ended up enjoying it tremendously and playing it way too much.
So, thanks to obnoxious virtue signaling lynch mob I guess.
There is something to be said about voting with your wallet and boycotting people who actively donate to anti-lgbt organisations.
But christ was that particular boycott super fucking obnoxious.
I thought the game was kinda mid. The first part in Hogwarts was amazing, the rest of the game turned into the standard open world grind a bit too quickly for me.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I can see how you did 😁
Smug gamer thinks what others like is wrong. Shocker.
Supporting transphobes is wrong. Millions of people supported a transphobe. For me, that's not being smug, it's being terrified
The developer and people that worked on the game aren’t transphobes. Get a new bit.
We just have different ideas of what it means to be transphobic.
Enjoying the game doesn't mean you are supporting the author.
Especially if you pirate it.
No smugness here, just disappointment.
Why does it matter to you what others play?
Financially supporting a crusade against a minority group (trans folks) is one of my pet peeves
So. You’re saying the developer and everyone that worked on the game are part of a crusade against a minority group?
Or is it just that you’re delusional enough to think that because the creator or the IP is a blowhard hag of a human being, everyone associated with her IP should be thoroughly punished?
Nah thats not what im saying. But the millions raked in by harry potter enterprises goes in to Rowlings pockets. Also, i dont weep for the devs, they were paid already...
So? People like the game. They’ll play it. It’s not for you to decide what they spend their money on.
She gets paid or not. Shouldn’t matter to you. Maybe find something to occupy your time better.
So? I dont like your arguments. I will refute them. It is not for you to decide the tenor of discussion on this topic.
Transphobia will be discussed. Shouldnt matter to you. Maybe find something to occupy your time better.
lol… okay! Enjoy the crusade. I just bought a copy of the game to support the developer in your honor.
Lol, this guy. If you got 60 bucks to throw away because of an internet comment I cant really help you.
$41.99 on sale. And I wasn’t asking for help from you.
The game allowed you to create a trans protagonist (male voice/female body, pronouns, ...). It isn't a crusade against them at all, it is empowering them. No matter what the author said.
where do we find the stats for zelda?
The open world Zeldazes were over hyped but still, really? I haven't played it myself but watching others play, it didn't seem all that great.
It really isn't. They want you to play through each house but it's literally the same story regardless of which house you choose.
The game is only fun until the hype of exploring Hogwarts fades. Then it's just your average mid tier adventure game.
It only survived because it's Harry Potter.
Edit: The broom flying was cool af though I'll give them that
Edit 2: Something I've always brought up about this game is, once you get petrificus totalus it turns into Harry Potter and the Assassin's Creed
Edit 2 is what I needed to hear to know that this is definitely not for me.
I only say that because it's like the stealth archer build from Skyrim. Once you unlock the ability you just naturally move to a stealthy approach.
That and you can unlock an upgrade that allows you to take out a bunch of people at once if they're grouped up
Embarrassing.
Oh just now?… wow they had to work real hard to top a game that released on a single console.
Serious question. Who'd win, wizard trying to cast a spell or sovereign citizen with a gun?
If the sovereign citizen's gun is as real as their documents, then the Wizard.
I absolutely loved hogwarts legacy personally. Any other year it would have won more awards, just that Baldurs Gate and Alan Wake were even better. We really were spoiled in 2023
Yeah, lucky us, the largest transphobe in the world sold the most popular game in the world. As a trans person, I feel so spoiled and lucky!
She didn't sell the game, she only lend the IP.
Avalanche Software nor Warner Bro's are anti-trans. As shown in the game where you can make a full fledged trans protagonist including your pronouns.
She makes money, directly and indirectly from the success of this game. She increases her relevance and thus the weight of her voice with the ongoing success of the game.
Boo hoo.
Didn't take much to make you go mask off...
I don't know what "mask off" means, sorry. I'm sure it was clever, no doubt.
Meh I wouldn't be so sure about that.. a lot of it was absolutely forgetable.
Culture wars sell games. If not for all of the noise surrounding JK Rowling, the right wing contingent of the internet probably would have passed it over as "a game for kids". If comment sections are any metric to go by, everyone that played it either thought it was completely mid or bought it to own the libs.
I don't get the whole "this game isn't even good, there's no way it was the best selling game of the year without rightoids overwhelmingly buying it simply to own the libs" idea when year after year after year the best selling games are Call of Duty X+1, Madden X+1, and FIFA X+1
A game doesn't need to be good to be popular, and I'd bet probably 99% of the owners are just normal people who aren't even aware of the controversy
Right, but COD is good. Good in the sense that it's been refined over the years to give gamers the ultimate fast paced arcade FPS experience. The controls are tight and responsive, and the game is easy to understand. It's essentially one of the hallmarks of the genre. But yes, the political controversy surrounding the game was above and beyond the controversy surrounding yearly COD releases. The sales numbers speak for themselves.
Why you downvoted? You're right. They're mean fucking trolls with the character of a child. They're obsessed with triggering others. This is their MO.
I came here to write something along the lines of "fuck that Nazi terf piece of shit" but saw your comment first.
What's hilarious to me is that, while the downvotes mean nothing in the long run, I'm hardly sharing a unique opinion, even on this thread.
Because they are wrong? You don't actually think everyone that bought it is a trumptard do you? Please touch grass, twitter drama isn't relevant to the real world.
Correct. I've never bought a video game in my life and I ain't about to start but everyone had a take on that shit, it was so tiresome, I imagine for a lot of babytrans/babylgbt it might've been a shock that people will choose a game of their beloved childhood corporate intellectual property over being allies and that being allies was to a lot of people always virtue signaling, but I was far too cynical to let that bother me at that point.
What about it? None of us are surprised that people chose a childhood memory over respect for trans people as human beings.
What a ridiculous take. First of, outside of certain parts of the internet most people aren't even aware of the issues surrounding Rowling, secondly you can very much acknowledge that she's a terrible excuse for a human being while still enjoying a game she had nothing to do with (yes, she gets royalties, but she has the kind of fuck you money that multiplies by merely existing anyway).
Your profile has "Nazis can fuck off", but you're here calling out people who have issues with Rowling, a bigot who stans Nazis like Kellie-Jay Keen
I'm not. I'm calling out people who call me a bigot for not living up to their standards on ethical consumption. Personally I avoid Nestlé and their billion subsidiaries wherever humanly possible, but I am not calling everyone who doesn't pro-slavery. That's my issue, not the warranted labelling of Rowling as a bigoted piece of shit.
Tons of people worked on the game who aren't bigots. Artists, programmers, designers etc. Buying the game supports them, too.
Also, someone decided to make the owner of the Three Broomsticks trans.
Ah yes the "I cant be racist, I have a black friend" defense. JKR is still a TERF and she still financially benefits from hogwarts legacy and no amount of tokenism is going to change that.
It's genuinely amazing to me how some people are obsessed with the idea that buying a videogame based on the works of an author that wasn't even involved in making the project makes you transphobic.
Would it shock you that 99% of corporate officials are bad people? I guess we should stop buying anything ever because some percentage of money can go to people I don't like.
She's literally said that people buying her shit proves she's right.
I'm sorry people have some more morals with their money and have trouble giving it to people who have made it their entire focus to shit on them and be called rapists and groomers by their former childhood heroes.
Your morals are fine, what isn't fine is that most of the people boycotting the game are harassing people that buy it.
She’s literally said that people buying her shit proves she’s right.
So what? Why is everyone giving some dumbass writer that hasn't been relevant in 10 years so much attention? Who cares what she says? Tons of people say terrible, stupid things on the internet. Sorry I'm not joining your crusade to call everyone that wants to enjoy a video game a bigot.
They may not be bigots themselves but they happily give their money to a person well known for being bigoted that also actively tries to make the world a worse place for trans people. It is like buying a burzum album; you don't have to be a nazi to do it but the nazi still profits.
Hogwarts Legacy is a 7.5 of 10. It's a fun game. But it's not revolutionary or break new ground. I hadn't played Tears of the Kingdom.
The two things the boycott did is to make the trans community look bad and made people hate them. The final thing was to give the game free advertising.
...boycott did is to make the trans community look bad and made people hate them.
I was talking about the harassment and doxing of people who played/streamed Hogwarts Legacy during the boycott.
If you hated trans people because some people online told you to boycott the product of a piece of shit celeb, not gonna lie dude you were a shit person and it had nothing to do with seeing the backlash to the game.
No joke, if this drama in any way altered your opinion of "trans folk" as a concept, you need to sit yourself down in front of a mirror and not get back up until youve fixed the rot in your personality. Utterly brainless take.
I was talking about the harassment and doxing of people who played/streamed Hogwarts Legacy during the boycott.
Honestly surprised that people seem to have forgotten about the harassment. It was really bad for some streamers and was inexcusable. It's like how gamingcirclejerk tried to deny that the harassment even happened.
They didn't forgot about the harassment. They're playing dumb.
If some completely anonymous random strangers doxxing people you dont know made you hate trans folk as a concept, it had literally nothing to do with the doxxing and you know it.
What a stupid thing to say. Invest in therapy asap.
When did I say I hate trans people? All I did is to point out an problem with the boycott. You had a group of people who harass and dox people. That group made trans people look bad. Keep on looking the other way. That will totally help the trans community. /s
It didnt make trans people look bad, because trans people arent a hive mind.
If this made trans people look bad to you, you are just a bigot looking for an excuse. You already hated them, this did not magically change anything
It's honestly amazing how well this game sold considering how mid the gameplay actually is. Having a popular IP really helped.
Eh, people don't buy for the gameplay mechanics most of the time, they buy for what they see in the trailers and read in the descriptions. Being the only videogame available for this IP, having the WB marketing juggernaut behind it, releasing at a time of the year without much competition, coming out on every single platform - it would have been weird if this game wasn't the best selling one in 2023.
Exactly. You don't know what the gameplay is until after you buy the game, unless you are savvy and watch reviews or something, which hardly any consumers do.
Also, it's not like the gameplay was mind bogglingly terrible, just some bland questing and a serviceable combat system. The main thing the game had to do to sell well imo was sell the environment and vibe which I think it did decently.
Are you saying that marketing works?!
My wife, whose entire history with video games is Sims 3, Animal Crossing: NH, and Pokémon Go, played through this game start to finish and loved it. It wasn't really made for "gamers", it was made for Harry Potter fans that wanted to play a Hogwarts game. It didn't succeed as a gaming revolution, it succeeded in bringing non-gamers to buy it.
Personally, I love that she got into it whether it's mid or not, because it introduced her to a lot of the mechanics necessary to play "real" games in the future. And she had a lot of fun.
I'm both a gamer and HP fan.
I thought the game was great, and I didn't really realize the depths of people's distaste for it, I guess.
Was it crazy revolutionary? No, but it was fun.
Fellow HP fan, I was kinda weirded out by the whole "free access to unforgivable curses" and "canonically killing people" and the honestly kinda disheartening stance on goblin personhood but man flying around the grounds is so fun
Oh yeah me too. There are a lot of moments in the writing that make me go "wait... what? are you sure about that?" and some of the game design was iffy here and there but the main attraction is just the fact that they've given us a "full-scale" Hogwarts and surroundings.
Oh no kidding, I loved how they handled the curses. For the most part at least. Like, I would’ve been pretty disappointed if they weren’t usable in-game at all, but was never sure how they could introduce them in a realistic way. So HL literally having entire side quests devoted to you discovering the curses and learning how to use them honestly blew away my expectations.
My only issue with them is being able to use them in front of others so casually. They should’ve just made them unusable if you had another character accompanying you.
the last video game my mom played before hogwarts legacy was like...pac man in the arcades. it was amazing to share our progress together and bond
Haha! That sounds like so much fun!
I thought the gameplay was awesome. To me, a really impressive entry to a potential series. What did you feel were the weak points in the gameplay?
I found the combat to be serviceable, and at some points I had fun with it. But it kind of got repetitive really quick. Like once you learn the core mechanics, they didn't really introduce a lot after that to keep you on your toes. But the main problem I had with the game came from the quests, they just felt so monotonous. I love exploring the castle, but finding every little collectible just felt tedious and didn't really seem to have any payoff.
All things I hope can be improved with an eventual sequel, I'm definitely glad I picked up the game. But it's not something I've ever considered revisiting once I beat it.
Yeah, agree with these points. It had that first entry vibe to it, similar to the Outer Worlds. Lack of enemy variety was a pretty big one, once you were a few hours in.
Just seen they've uploaded this pretty funny video 😂: https://youtu.be/gwyHqXMSkAw?si=7REw4Cgj2lEpbAc0
The IP was my only interest. Games like this I get bored with so I generally avoid. But the views of the school looked great and I've always wanted to walk around it, like the fantasy version of it. I've been to the real set and walked around that which is cool. My only complaint is I bought it on PC so I didn't get to see Azkaban.
What do you mean? I played on pc and went to Azkaban, what very little there was to see anyway
Azkaban is not based on platform but house, join Hufflepuff to see it.
I thought that was a PlayStation exclusive
What can you say gamers love anti-Semitism.
I'm playing this game right now and it's honestly a six out of 10. The only reason to launch the game at all is because of the world design which is top notch. So top notch it scores all of those six points, because the plot characters story and gameplay are all a let down otherwise. This is the type of game that will disable the controls for your magical flying broom and then tell you that you need to climb a wall. I wish it wasn't so successful so they didn't think this formula was so good, because if they made the game actually good AND a Harry Potter property, that would have really been something special. But as it is now, it's just an uninspired video game painted in a pretty coat of a popular franchise. I'm sure we'll get a sequel.
I would have loved to have this game as a kid. It may be a 6 out of 10 but most of the other harry potter shovelware they shit out when the movies were coming was at best a 0.2 out of 10. The only arguably not that bad one was the prisoner of azkaban movie based game.
IDK. Most of the early games were actually pretty entertaining. I fairly recently played sorcerer's stone on the gbc, and it was still pretty fantastic.
I'm curious, what open world games do you rate as a 9 or 10? I'm not saying Hogwarts did anything revolutionary, but it did most things pretty solidly. It's been a while since Ive played an open world game that does a good job on making the world actually feel alive.
Witcher 3 I'd rate 9/10.
Subnautica gets a 9/10. Fallout 2 and 3, if we're specifically going RPGs. NieR: Automata for action RPGs. Look at Persona for school influenced RPGs. I'd have geeked out so hard if we got even Persona-style class experiences in Hogwarts Legacy. Instead, all we get is completely contextless montage cutscenes.
Yeah I wish Hogwarts Legacy had taken more inspiration from Persona. Having a schedule, working on social links, engaging in fun activities outside of school, it all lends itself incredibly well to a Hogwarts game.
Unfortunately it sounds like the creators haven’t ever even touched a Persona game. I remember before the game launched they were asked if there’d be romance options, and they seemed almost offended by the thought since the characters are kids, despite Persona doing the same for literal decades.
Going to a ball in Hogwarts Legacy, or going on a date in Hogsmeade, would’ve been so much fun too.
Imagine that, teens dating... What a wild concept, they didn't even had to play Persona, our own culture is filled with teen drama series, even DC made gotham academy.
Not the person you asked, but for me personally to rate some open world games:
What do you even mean by this? Artificial gameplay?
No like... it feels pretty obvious they weren't that way originally, if that makes sense? That this got changed after the game was already out for a while, this wasn't how it was designed at first?
I got Subnautica for free twice (PlayStation and Epic), I should really look at giving it a proper try. I have the feeling it'd be really good in VR, played No Man's Sky in VR recently and I immediately loved it while on flatscreen it didn't click with me as much.
Subnautica is a masterpiece.
Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2 are both up there for me.
I pirated the game. The first part in the actual school was really fun. But once you get out into the world, you quickly realise that it's just another generic open world game with outposts, collectibles, and general busywork that you've seen in every other open world game. It got boring very quickly for me and I never finished it.
I also pirated it, and yeah, I definitely got my money's worth from it. I tried to have fun, but it's the poster child for "mile wide, inch deep."
Maybe they can reuse the environment for a better game in the future.
I agree. The magical feeling of being a student at Hogwarts soon evaporated as soon as you got a broom and didn't really need to visit Hogwarts again and instead just fight endless random enemies, which gets pretty easy as you level up.
I was also disappointed by the endless voice acting. There was so much pointless talking and you couldn't really control the outcome, all options seemed to result in a positive outcome when I just wanted to be a badass Malfoy but you're not allowed, you jave to be a goody goody Hermione, juat in Slytherin clothes.
I was very interested in mods for this game, people found all kinds of fun cut stuff that would've elevated this game so much like companions having commentary for several quests when you used a mod to bring them, and having actual consequences for using the dark arts. But it's impossible to implement.
Technically it’s possible, but you’d have to reply on the cooperation of empress and that’s… not gonna happen.
I loved the mod that turned all those animated paintings into anime vtubers, so goofy
It's multi-platform, uses one of the biggest IPs of an entire generation and seems to do it quite well too. Everything else would have been more surprising to me.
I'm shocked the online outrage from gamingcirlclejerk didn't work
It's like the sub made for taking the piss out of gaming criticism and critique did what it was supposed to do.
Not really, they were often really serious about it which made it all the more ridiculous. Sometimes it's a fun circlejerk sub, sometimes it's presenting their slacktivism almost as being some gaming vanguard and fighting a war against the game.
It was pretty funny.
I used to love that sub, but these days they are only focused on the outrage culture. Nothing inherently wrong with that, I like to laugh at people who take their video game waifu too seriously. I initially joined that sub because it seemed like the best place to have level-headed conversations about overhyped games, like the Witcher 3. Everywhere else seems to love that game as if it’s the second coming of Jesus, but if you find some places that didn’t like the game, they swing a bit too hard on the opposite site, so you can’t have a conversation with them either. I found plenty of people in that sub who loved that game, but knew where the shortcomings were.
I wonder it's because it attracted a bunch of people who weren't into games, but are huge Harry Potter fans.
It's also on every platform, including the Switch, while TotK is just on the Switch.
Yeah this feels like a Look What They Have to Do (release on every system) to Mimic a Fraction of Our Power (be Zelda) meme.
More like: Even a bland game will sell more if it is released on multiple platforms, no matter how good the other game is.
I think you just nailed it, this is exactly why.
Yep it's an unfair comparison. If Zelda was available on all platforms then it might have been a different story.
But it isn't, and that is the problem.
Honestly it was just a good game. I saw it attracting both Potterheads and non-Potterheads. (I would not consider myself a Potterhead).
Does it have a bunch of replay value? Not really (neither do a lot of games). But man, that initial playthrough was just really good. It also looks like I clocked 113 hours on the game, so that's a pretty decent return to me.
Also, despite the source material and the author, it had a lot of very inclusive elements, which were a nice touch.
if you seriously think this game was special, I have a far cry themed bridge to sell you
Zelda was more fun though
Zelda would have been even more fun if it was available on every platform instead of just Nintendo.
That's it, I never played Nintendo games because I never had their hardware. For me personally it's just not worth getting into their closed ecosystem. Basically same reason I never had anything apple.
The same can be said for many games over the years then, but I don't like thinking that way.
If there's a game I want to play, I'll get the hardware needed to play it
It's available on PC.
PC gamers even got it before nintendo ones.
I only played the unpatched version with the dupe glitches, that was super fun.
Genuinely curious which game has more "Hours Played". I'm willing to put money down on it being Zelda.
I guess all the twitter drama around the author matters less to the real world. It's impressive to see how a vocal minority can completely distort what is happening offline.
Hogwarts came out a quarter of a year earlier and released on every platform compared to Zelda only being on one.
I wouldn't take that as a indictment that J.K.'s terf bullshit didn't have an impact on sales.
Yeah, and the fact that people basically can't talk about this game without mentioning it got boycotted because one of the people who makes money from it is a massive piece of transphobic shit is a small step forward all on its own
In that sense, it worked. Let's face it: The people who don't care about the author's raging bigotry were never going to be convinced regardless, but there were a lot of us who didn't even consider playing it because of the TERF.
Anecdotally, everyone I’ve talked to about it doesn’t care. They don’t like she’s a TERF and some even condemn her for it, but every single person I’ve talked to separates the world of Harry Potter from her. It basically has a life of its own and they couldn’t care less about JKR now, that’s what I’ve been able to surmise of people’s view of it now. It’s like having racist parents but not being labeled as one because you’re a separate entity.
I'm a big gamer, and was a massive HP fan. I did not buy the game, or even consider it, specifically because of JKR's bullshit.
I may be in the minority, but I guarantee I'm not the only one in this boat. So now you've talked to someone who cares, if you count this as talking.
And just to say a little more, no I didn't crusade against the game, nor do I villainize people who bought it and enjoyed it. I do think it's possible to enjoy art without liking the artist. Hell, my favorite book series of all time is the Ender's Game series, and Orson Scott Card is probably just as bad as JKR, though maybe not quite as famous/public about it.
But I can't bring myself to buy it. I'm trans, and her rhetoric, and how public it is, has been specifically harmful to me, directly. But that's just me. I won't tell other people how to live their lives or enjoy their free time, so long as they're not actively hurting others. And no, I don't consider buying a game where one person who is profiting from it might spend a sliver of that profit on anti-trans BS to be actively harming others, especially when she already has enough money to do whatever the hell she wants anyways.
This doesn't make a dent, and ethical consumption under capitalism is impossible anyways. I just hope that some portion of people who bought the game heard about the protests and maybe donated a fraction of what they paid for the game to some pro-LGBTQ groups. I have to believe there's at least a handful of people like that. I do believe that people are mostly good, and want to do good.
Yeesh, I wrote a lot more than I planned to here. I'll stop now lol.
Death of the author only applies if she's dead.
So unless there's been some good news in the last day, those people are just coping
So very true.
HP Lovecraft was horribly racist, but his works are in the Public Domain. Neither him, his estate or any causes he supported get any money by engaging with his works. His opinions are still part of his works, but that can be criticized and modified in adaptations and derivative works.
The same can't be said of living creators who still own and profit from those works. Even if some team deliberately tries to gloss over or alter concerning aspects, the money the author gets might still be directed towards concerning movements.
In all fairness there are concerning aspects in many industries and a lot that we consume, and each person has a lot of other issues to worry about, so while disappointing, it's inevitable that people won't care about everything. But I definitely don't feel confortable giving money to someone who's spreading hate about people I care for. I used to be a big HP fan but this situation completely spoiled any interest I had in that world... and also helped me realize it was never that good anyway.
(Thought experiment time) So at what point, if ever, does a universe separate from its creator? Think about Star Wars. There have been a large number of derivative works by multiple authors. However if George Lucas came out against gays and trans people, would you taint the entire franchise? At what point are the two separated, if ever?
Yes. I would immediately lose ibr interest in Star Wars and go do something else. There's plenty of entertainment out there that's not made by shitty bigots.
Fr, why are we acting like this is hard? Or acting like any of these aggressively mid media franchises are so sacred as to be unassailable?
Even if JKR was a literal saint Harry Potter would still be Baby's First Fantasy Series, at best, so the idea that so many people are willing to continually enrich one of the world's most influential TERFs for it honestly blows my fucking mind.
Like just pick and follow literally any other fantasy series folks, jesus.
Star Wars is an awkward example because it's already pretty well tainted itself with mediocre films.
But yes, unironically I would actively stop looking for the shreds of good among the carnage that is the once-beloved franchise if I knew its creator, whose name is still tied to it and who financially benefits at least from the propagation of successful entries under that IP, would be just a little bit more able to get their awful views out there thanks to that success.
When it stops making them rich as fuck
This happens a lot more than you think. It isn't just coping.
How many movies were produced by Weinstein? How many comics were published by bigots that still re-sell in droves today?
How many celebrated tv shows were made by pieces of garbage?
Wrestlemania season is here. THAT company is completely vile from the ground up.
Sometimes, people just pick and choose their fiction and legitimately separate the artist from the art. The Harry Potter franchise has outgrown it's original author, just like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, WWE or almost any franchise.
If you think the world truly is so black and white, you haven't gone out and experienced enough of it.
Thats not death of the author, thats you covering your eyes while handing them money.
Death of the author does not exist while the author makes money off the product.
If you pirated the hogwarts game? Then you have room to speak on death of the author. But jkr has a hefty royalties deal on hp products. If you paid for it, the author is living well.
Im sorry you apparently cant face that truth, but that doesnt change it.
Bruh, if you are going to try and pretend your consumption under capitalism is better than the other, that's cool.
I'm sure you are the most morally sound person you've ever met 🤣
The phrase "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" does not mean "therefore, death of the author always exists for all art the second it is made."
For starters, you will not die if you dont experience all art made. Its not food. Its not shelter. You will be okay if you dont watch some movies, dont read some books, and dont play some games. I promise.
But, more specifically, death of the author means to separate an author and their life from the work they create. If your purchase directly funds the author? You didnt separate the author from the work.
Death of the author is when you accept and understand that reading a story written by a shitheel from the 18th century is not supporting their shitheel opinions. That you can study the work and its influence on culture without that study or consumption being explicit or implicit support of the creators thoughts and opinions.
But when you pay an author for their work, you have supported the author. Period, thats what the word means.
Now you can fibble or quibble about morality of putting money into someones pocket all you like, but if the author is literally benefiting from your purchase, they are not dead. There has been no death of author.
You also don't need an iphone or mac since there are plenty of other smartphones and PCs available, but nobody stopped buying them because foxxcon used slave labor.
Everyone draws the line where they want, this controversy only exists because people were trying to guilty trip streamers and anyone online from playing it, do not try to rewrite what happened.
You mean you didnt stop buying apple products? Lots of people, myself included, avoid slave labor brands.
(And also most jobs and housing do require a phone, and its better to buy a used phone second hand than a brand new phone every time. Utility devices are far more nuanced and intricate about "ethical" choices than a video game.)
E: also, this thread specifically is about death of the author, which I dont think anyone would apply to iphones at any point regradless
Lol I said the same thing a bit ago and was down voted for it.
I mean, I didn't consider playing it because I've never been a fan of Harry Potter, but Rowling's ramblings definitely didn't do anything to change my mind.
I was a moderately engaged HP fan before I learned what a colossally awful human the author is, but her TERF ramblings also made me realize there's quite a lot of racial and ethnic stereotypes baked into the franchise. It's probably the fastest I've ever totally abandoned an interest in a series. Even if we do separate the works from the author like so many fanbois suggest, they're still awful.
The whole situation with house elves, goblins and other intelligent magical creatures treated as inferior doesn't make the story feel to good. It might even be understandable if the heroes realized the deeper problems that couldn't be solved simply by fighting, but the protagonist ultimately just inherits a slave and becomes an enforcer for the status quo.
In retrospect it makes a lot of words about good and love and doing what's right feel like going through the motions rather than any real values.
Doesn't seem to have had a big impact I'd say
You csn say all you like, we literally have zero idea how many lost sales they had.
We know it didn't prevent it from becoming the year's most sold game, so whatever the impact it's pretty easy to shrug off
Buddy, its the worlds 5 largest IP, id be shocked if it didnt sell millions of copies regardless.
For all we know it could have lost out on 20 million sales, but its an untrackable metric.
Did any of the other HP games ever top the charts?
If not, then there must be something special about this one other than IP. Especially since most of the other HP games came out before there was any JKR controversy.
Other than mobile games or Lego versions, there hasnt been a proper Harry Potter game since 13 years ago and from memory they were extremely average movie tie in games.
Its not a series like Pokemon or Zelda that sees frequent releases. It being the first real game, and done beautifully (graphics/ recreation wise) is certainly the biggest selling point.
I mean I'm sure it's a lot more cheerful for the to imagine the number as really high, but the fact of the matter is that in the end it still sold really well, becoming the top seller of that year.
A bit of a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ situation
Its nothing to do with cheerful, its to do with not knowing how effective a boycott was.
No one in their right mind would expect it to sell zero copies.
Tell me, how do you tell if a boycott was successful?
I'd expect it to meaningfully affect the sales and the maker/seller/whoever behind it. Being the most sold game of the year and presumably making a fat profit, I don't think it really did either.
So again, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, the fact that it took all year on all 4 major platforms to outsell one game from a much smaller but recognized IP thats restricted to one platform doesnt sound like a meaningful effect on its sales to you?
Because thats a very weird thing. It should not have taken so long to reach this point, given the size of hp as a franchise.
That's the cheerful way to look at it. It sure could've, hypothetically, sold two gazillions instead of one. Take that, game, the boycott must've worked! Yeah...
What exactly do you think detriment to sales means dude
Echo.. Echo.. echo..
Bigot...Bigot...bigot...
Why, because they point out that the entire thing was a lound minority running in their own echochamber?
Sure call me a bigot. The point I was making is this is an echo chamber issue for people who want to eat others because they are not pure enough. And on that you come out swing with the same incessive echo put stuff I was pointing to.
No matter how much you hurt the people you say you are fighting for. Go ahead, run your inquisition on people to see if they match your purity standards, don't be surprised if one day you end up in front of the inquisition yourself accused of being impure.
You spend time fighting with someone who might disagree with you in this fringe of society but still takes on the biggest fights out there.. and you would rather burn them than focus on better, easier, more impactful targets.
It happens every time. Pokémon Sword/Shield and Scarlett/Violet had the biggest launch in the franchise's history despite being (justifiably so) heavily criticized by pretty much everyone online.
People shit on microtransactions and always-online games but the top charts always show online multiplayer games are among the most played.
It doesn't make the criticisms any less valid; it just means that the general public is usually ignorant of them.
Or just don't care that much
JKR is a very vocal TERF that basically wants trans people to dissappear. A lot of people dont want to financially support her because of that. That most people seemingly either dont care about trans erasure or even worse, bought the game specifically because theyre the type to do shit just because people with a conscience told them they shouldn't, says more about most people than it does that "vocal minority"
Oh pipe down, I read the entire thing when it was recent and in no way does she want what you claim. She has an open letter on her own website outlining her views.
Over the course of the years since this happened it has grown, morphed and people are now probably also saying she would be the one herding the trans people into the gas Chambers.
This right here is why Lemmy is often a shitshow. You're absolutely right, but since you're going against the hive mind it's nothing but downvotes. No one's even bothered to reply because there's nothing to argue against in good faith. Just angry downvotes because your facts are getting in the way of fake outrage.
Nah. Both of you just haven't kept up with her history of equating trans women with sexual predators and trans men with poor brainwashed little girls, some of which was hinted, if disguised in polite words, in the article where she talked about the situation and defended how she totally didn't mean any harm to anybody.
Did you see when she said she'd march with trans people if they truly were persecuted? Their rights have been challenged and undermined many times since, and she didn't show any sign of that.
Because, you know, sometimes people aren't completely honest and taking them at their word is not the ultimate measure of their characters.
So don't confuse disagreeing with people here and getting downvoted with being the one clear-minded contrarian. However much internet bandwagons are a thing, you won't get the clear picture unless you go look into it. Sometimes you might get that reaction because you are wrong and that's it.
It's OK, people can read the content themselves. I have a lot of (maybe misplaced) confidence in most people.
And I personally don't see a lot of hivemind but plurality of opinion luckily. The angry downvotes without response is usually telling enough, although someone did reply to tell me to "fuck off" this time.
Seriously! If I say something stupid, others are supposed to show up and educate me on why what I said is stupid! That is how public discourse is supposed to works!
Wait, why aren't the people tired of my ignorant shit jumping to help me learn? Oh I know, that means I'm actually super smart, totally correct and fully informed. Everyone else is just being stupid and mean to me for no valid reason.
Honest feedback (for honest ppl): there are ways to ask people what they think so they'll be inclined to reply earnestly. Starting with "pipe down" ain't it... ya fuckin dingus. lol
I think that the masses are mostly disengaged with terminally-online type discourse. The only reason I knew JK Rowling was TERF was because of reading it on here, so if you are only on social media to follow your old high school classmates on facebook, you'd probably never find out
The masses are largely disengaged with LGBT rights in general, but the declining rights of transgender people in the UK (and the US) shows this is not just a "terminally-online" kind of issue. She is not the only one responsible, of course, but her outspoken antagonism towards transgender people is influencing people.
It concerns me when people can't differentiate "this issue does not affect me" from "this issue does not exist". Even calling matters "terminally-online" in general is a bit questionable when whole ass presidents get elected by meme campaigns these days.
The game has a minor character who is trans too. It uses the world she invented but does not borrow her real world views
Just because a minority is depicted in a work of art does not mean that depiction was made in good faith. Americans are familiar with that concept because of our dark history of minstrel shows and blackface performances.
When the trans woman character's name is Sirona Ryan, it calls into question whether she is meant to be a character or a caricature.
Hasnt Nintendo like, not released digital sales for TotK? I remember reading that recently.
Not a cope post, I don't care if you play the terf game, just actually curious.
The terf game?
The owner of the Three Broomsticks is trans... ?
When the series creator is vocally advocating to marginalize transgender people and financially supporting other members of the hate movement, it takes more than a token NPC to make up for it.
Most likely that character is an insincere PR move from Warner Bros, but some trans people also pointed out that naming her Miss Ryan was probably done in bad faith. If anything, sounds exactly like the kind of tasteless thoughtless naming that JKR is infamous for.
There was a lot of that shoehorned in that made me wonder if it would've made sense in 1800s wizarding world.
don't care
That's a good way to get yourself blocked. Bye.
don't care
Thank god tokenism is here to save the day again.
That's not what "TERF" means.
Theyre trying to argue that JKR being a massive TERF is fine because theres one trans character in the game. The "I cant be racist, I have a black friend" defense.
The "I can't be racist, my book has a black guy AND an Asian woman!" defense too. Just don't think too hard about what they're named lol
I don't care for JK. But JK didn't make the game. Hundreds of designers, artists and programmers did. And you think those people should be boycotted because one person is a TERF.
She collected royalties from it. It doesnt matter if she had any input or not. Buying that game results in some of that money going into her pocket and I dont want to give her a dime. If she didnt get a dime for it that might be different but as it is she does and she revels in the shit stirring that shes done that resulted in blow back. I cant justify giving that troll the satisfaction of buying products that benefit her financially.
Those people were already paid, and you can make a game about wizards and magic without licensing the Harry Potter IP and further enriching JK Rowling.
The people who mattered dont get paid based on sales. So, fuck em, they got their bag just fine?
Maybe in your fantasy world, but in real life when a game bombs the studio gets cut down, downsized, etc. Volition was recently closed because of the bombing of the Saints Row reboot. Avalanche is great studio and I wish them to continue existing.
I dunno what fantasy world youre living in, but here in reality you get downsized and laid off regardless of how good your games do.
Unless youve missed the game trends for the past 4 months?
The artists, programmers etc have already been paid as much as they're going to get for it.
Never got into Harry Potter since I was too old. This game was really fun to just explore and I constantly felt a forward momentum. Some of the stories were good, and some were awful.
I would absolutely play a sequel just based on the well done sense of discovery alone. I just wish more of what you found was impactful instead of cosmetic.
On the one hand, I agree about wishing there was more to find than a new color cloak, but on the other hand I think it's a neat way to keep the game approachable to more casual gamers (and to try and get as many Harry Potter fans to get it as possible). That being said, I would have liked if there were more challenge, and something other than just flat stat improvements could have been a way to keep that interesting if they had higher difficulties.
I get it, but it doesn't have to be just pure stats. Could have been mild ability improvements or something or maybe changed some of the effects or visual things that occurred around you. Hell, even walking speed improvement or something like a tone to help you locate hidden items.
There's a lot they could have done considering we're dealing with magical items! Still had a pretty good time with it overall though.
If you have nothing else to play and want a simple open world game set in and around Hogwarts, it's perfectly servicable as long as you pirate it. Don't expect to be blown away by it though.
I assumed that after literally nobody or any media outlets have talked about it since release. Telltale sign of bang on average game. Probably great for potter fans and boring for those who don’t care or haven’t seen the films/read the books.
I would - and I hate my saying this - rather recommend Avatar then. Yeah it's a Ubisoft game. I know. Yeah, it needs a beefier machine to actually look really pretty.
But oh my fucking hell is it pretty when cranked up. And it helps the generic open world gameplay a lot to be this awesome looking. Fun to just wander around and take in the scenery, even when you leave the jungle areas and go to the plains and see the wind-swept grass and all.
Has anyone played both? Im loving zelda at the moment and wouldn't mind moving onto this next
Hogwarts is fun for about 30 hours roleplaying as a wizard, as a casual potter fan. I got really bored of it after that and never finished the game. At its core it really is very generic, it's really propped up by the IP. That's not to say it's bad by any means but its not got the depth of Zelda.
I think the biggest issue for me was how large the map was. They did the castle and hogsmede very well, but then threw in a bunch of filler content in the other towns. If they had stuck to the more core areas only, the game wouldn't have gotten so stale later on.
That's because they needed somewhere for you to fly your broomstick since it was the most fun part of the game.
Sure, more room is nice, but the map could have been 1/3rd the size and still have a good sense of speed with it. A better option would have been to put in some fun mini games with the broom, but that would have been required then to make flying the broom more engaging.
I'm kinda curious in what way Zelda (assuming TOTK) has more depth. Combat wise HP has stealth, an attack typing system, comboing, special moves, and more if I recall correctly. TOTK does have a variety of weapons and you can craft weapons, but it generally boils down to just whacking away at things. You could also mention the ability to make vehicles/automaton, but the time to build things (until you find ultra hand?) mixed with limited resources made that more of a pain/chore than fun.
I could go into other mechanics, but ultimately I think TOTK would be rated worse if it wasn't for the Zelda branding carrying it.
You aren't wrong, there was an unpopular opinion thread some weeks ago and several zelda fans called both BOTW and TOTK just ubisoft open worlds with a zelda skin. They are both carried by their IP (even though I love these 2 zeldas), the worst Zelda (Skyward Sword) still sold 4.15 million units, just counting the HD version, the Wii version sold 3.67 million.
Haha I appreciate the comment and the ability to call them out even though you like them.
I just wish I felt the same. The longer they've been out the more I realize that we probably won't get a more traditional zelda ever again. I think the thing I liked about zelda up to BOTW was that the world itself was a puzzle. Figuring out how to navigate and open up new areas was part of the fun and challenge to me. Not to mention dungeons being larger and more intricate puzzles than anything you come across in BOTW and TOTK.
Zelda is the better game. Problem is (sales wise) the Zelda franchise isn't nearly as popular outside of gaming circles, and access to this game is locked to those that own a Switch, whereas HL is on all platforms
I played both. Both are excellent games, and both also have flaws.
I think Zelda was by far the better game - HL isn't really on the same level as it at all, design-wise, story-wise, or or in terms of things to do.
HL's strength is definitely the world itself - the Hogwarts and Hogsmeade areas in particular are both incredibly well done and very faithful to the source material. The other areas are just alright.
I'd say HL's weaknesses become most apparent if you're a completionist. Things can get very repetitive if you're going for 100%. I did, and I honestly think you'll like it a lot more if you just don't.
It's still lots of fun though. Zelda was my most played game in 2023 and HL was kind of far behind, and everything else combined would still probably be a distant third.
I absolutely agree with the other people saying HL is generic and propped up by the IP. But for me that was enough.
The story of HL is also one of its weaknesses. It's a generic chosen one story with unmemorable characters.
I'm really confused by all of the story comments in this thread. It's fair to criticise HL's story, but at least there is a story and characters. What story does TOTK even have? What characters have more than a line or two? While Zelda has never been big on complex narratives, at least previous entries (before BOTW and TOTK) could develop a story since they could have a linear progression. A couple of flashback scenes really doesn't tell a great or compelling narrative and really disconnects the gameplay from the events going on.
Disclaimer: I haven’t played TOTK. I only played a bit of BOTW.
It’s all about expectations. I never thought of Zelda as a game with a story, so BOTW not having one doesn’t bother me. Harry Potter, on the other hand, I’ve always associated with memorable characters and a bonkers world. HL translates this bonkers world into a game quite well, but its story doesn’t (in my opinion) fit that world nor does it have memorable characters. (Some of the characters look and feel like Lidl versions of the characters from the original books.)
I have. Hogwarts Legacy has really good graphics but it's honestly pretty generic, it only sold so well because there are millions of harry potter fans out there.
I mean clearly that’s not the only reason, right? If it were, every previous Harry Potter video game would’ve sold just as well.
Zelda has tighter gameplay and holds your attention longer.
HL is decent.
I pirated it and played for maybe two hours. It was boring and the controls didn't feel good. Uninstalled shortly after.
If you are WB, I can't see how you compare the performance of this game vs the performance of Suicide Squad (which had similar development time) and not rethink your approach to future licensed titles
Nooooooooo!
I mean both were good games, but Zelda is just legendary status and on another level. It holds a special place for me, and they somehow nailed it out of the park yet again with TOTK. I don't know how they keep doing it! They have some geniuses over there.
Very curious. I played for about 10-15 hours and was just bored, but I’ve never been a huge potter head. Glad people like it though
Completed both 100% and they're such great fun games.
Hogwarts was awesome to walk through the wizardry world. Battling wizards, poachers, spiders, etc. Finding all the secrets and going through the story. Finished the game in a week, I just couldn't put the controller down.
poped in to say transrights! that'll be all
fuck harry potter, read terry pratchett
Can I just read Pratchett without fucking anyone? I'm ace and it's just really smelly and uncomfortable.
You can, but you're missing out. Getting to the climax of Guards! Guards! is really something else.
Absolutely but I do recommend whispering to yourself "get fucked JK rowling" before reading a book as it is good luck. You can substitute "eat shit" or whatever else feels right to you and it should still work fine.
Bit unfair, because when compared to Terry Pratchett, just about everything else gets tossed to read more Pratchett. 😅
(not that I disagree, Pratchett is best)
Imagine if JK Rowling had even a 1/1000th the artistry and intuitive empathy Pratchett had for the world, there would be millions upon millions of people out there with a life long love of a series who didn’t feel betrayed and forced to make a choice between being part of a community that textually hates them or continuing to love their childhood nostalgia.
<3 trans people <3 granny weatherwax and I really wanna get drunk with nanny og.
Careful, Nanny will make you do chores.
Does Nanny NOT make you do the chores?? She told me everyone else was very studious about doing them and that only I was slacking off.
Wait a minute….
She had me convinced SHE was the one being fooled this whole time, she even told me so
I just wish there was more media of the Discworld other than the books, a handful of movies and some games of the 90's. It is such a big universe that has so much room for stories.
I'm sure the studios will get around to it and then we'll get a million sequels. Maybe the estate owning the rights is not keen on authorizing works.
Yeah I don't think his daughter is that hot on allowing a lot of people to do stuff with it. Last year's animated Maurice movie was about the only thing in a long time, I think?
okay
I bought it and was hoping for more leveling up and more RPG elements but it wasn't.
I really liked the side quests though. It felt like every single one involved going to a cave, finding out the NPC's friend/relative was dead, and then report back. It definitely didn't get old after the first dozen or so.
Also, the Merlin trials were great. Hundreds of locations, but only like 6 different puzzles.
I haven't played a game where the devs copy/pasted that much in a while.
Sounds exactly like Skyrim tbh...
I thought it was a great game that captured the spirit of the books & movies so well. Thankfully all the mock outrage and virtue signaling didn't affect its sales and probably boosted them.
mock?
Yes. Some game "reviews" were such absurd, performative straw man attacks at JK Rowling that they bordered on parody. I'm thinking of the Wired one in particular but others were equally bad. The irony is these diatribes clearly helped the game, or rather, this really good game sold well in spite of that crap. Ultimately these websites just undermined their own reputations.
Considering one of the main hubs for outrage was /r/GamingCirclejerk who themselves use the defense of "lmao this list of streamers playing wizard game totally isn't an invite to harass them. This is a joke subreddit why are you taking it seriously?!".
I can hardly blame people for thinking the outrage was fake. Some of it was so over the top it was insane
That said, fuck J.K Rowling, and fuck her opinions
I bought the game only because of the obnoxious virtue signaling cunts screaming about boycott.
Ended up enjoying it tremendously and playing it way too much.
So, thanks to obnoxious virtue signaling lynch mob I guess.
There is something to be said about voting with your wallet and boycotting people who actively donate to anti-lgbt organisations.
But christ was that particular boycott super fucking obnoxious.
I thought the game was kinda mid. The first part in Hogwarts was amazing, the rest of the game turned into the standard open world grind a bit too quickly for me.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I can see how you did 😁
Millions of people have bad taste. Shocker
Smug gamer thinks what others like is wrong. Shocker.
Supporting transphobes is wrong. Millions of people supported a transphobe. For me, that's not being smug, it's being terrified
The developer and people that worked on the game aren’t transphobes. Get a new bit.
We just have different ideas of what it means to be transphobic.
Enjoying the game doesn't mean you are supporting the author.
Especially if you pirate it.
No smugness here, just disappointment.
Why does it matter to you what others play?
Financially supporting a crusade against a minority group (trans folks) is one of my pet peeves
So. You’re saying the developer and everyone that worked on the game are part of a crusade against a minority group?
Or is it just that you’re delusional enough to think that because the creator or the IP is a blowhard hag of a human being, everyone associated with her IP should be thoroughly punished?
Nah thats not what im saying. But the millions raked in by harry potter enterprises goes in to Rowlings pockets. Also, i dont weep for the devs, they were paid already...
So? People like the game. They’ll play it. It’s not for you to decide what they spend their money on.
She gets paid or not. Shouldn’t matter to you. Maybe find something to occupy your time better.
So? I dont like your arguments. I will refute them. It is not for you to decide the tenor of discussion on this topic.
Transphobia will be discussed. Shouldnt matter to you. Maybe find something to occupy your time better.
lol… okay! Enjoy the crusade. I just bought a copy of the game to support the developer in your honor.
Lol, this guy. If you got 60 bucks to throw away because of an internet comment I cant really help you.
$41.99 on sale. And I wasn’t asking for help from you.
The game allowed you to create a trans protagonist (male voice/female body, pronouns, ...). It isn't a crusade against them at all, it is empowering them. No matter what the author said.
where do we find the stats for zelda?
The open world Zeldazes were over hyped but still, really? I haven't played it myself but watching others play, it didn't seem all that great.
It really isn't. They want you to play through each house but it's literally the same story regardless of which house you choose.
The game is only fun until the hype of exploring Hogwarts fades. Then it's just your average mid tier adventure game.
It only survived because it's Harry Potter.
Edit: The broom flying was cool af though I'll give them that
Edit 2: Something I've always brought up about this game is, once you get petrificus totalus it turns into Harry Potter and the Assassin's Creed
Edit 2 is what I needed to hear to know that this is definitely not for me.
I only say that because it's like the stealth archer build from Skyrim. Once you unlock the ability you just naturally move to a stealthy approach.
That and you can unlock an upgrade that allows you to take out a bunch of people at once if they're grouped up
Embarrassing.
Oh just now?… wow they had to work real hard to top a game that released on a single console.
Serious question. Who'd win, wizard trying to cast a spell or sovereign citizen with a gun?
If the sovereign citizen's gun is as real as their documents, then the Wizard.
I absolutely loved hogwarts legacy personally. Any other year it would have won more awards, just that Baldurs Gate and Alan Wake were even better. We really were spoiled in 2023
Yeah, lucky us, the largest transphobe in the world sold the most popular game in the world. As a trans person, I feel so spoiled and lucky!
She didn't sell the game, she only lend the IP.
Avalanche Software nor Warner Bro's are anti-trans. As shown in the game where you can make a full fledged trans protagonist including your pronouns.
She makes money, directly and indirectly from the success of this game. She increases her relevance and thus the weight of her voice with the ongoing success of the game.
Boo hoo.
Didn't take much to make you go mask off...
I don't know what "mask off" means, sorry. I'm sure it was clever, no doubt.
Meh I wouldn't be so sure about that.. a lot of it was absolutely forgetable.
Culture wars sell games. If not for all of the noise surrounding JK Rowling, the right wing contingent of the internet probably would have passed it over as "a game for kids". If comment sections are any metric to go by, everyone that played it either thought it was completely mid or bought it to own the libs.
I don't get the whole "this game isn't even good, there's no way it was the best selling game of the year without rightoids overwhelmingly buying it simply to own the libs" idea when year after year after year the best selling games are Call of Duty X+1, Madden X+1, and FIFA X+1
A game doesn't need to be good to be popular, and I'd bet probably 99% of the owners are just normal people who aren't even aware of the controversy
Right, but COD is good. Good in the sense that it's been refined over the years to give gamers the ultimate fast paced arcade FPS experience. The controls are tight and responsive, and the game is easy to understand. It's essentially one of the hallmarks of the genre. But yes, the political controversy surrounding the game was above and beyond the controversy surrounding yearly COD releases. The sales numbers speak for themselves.
Why you downvoted? You're right. They're mean fucking trolls with the character of a child. They're obsessed with triggering others. This is their MO.
I came here to write something along the lines of "fuck that Nazi terf piece of shit" but saw your comment first.
What's hilarious to me is that, while the downvotes mean nothing in the long run, I'm hardly sharing a unique opinion, even on this thread.
Because they are wrong? You don't actually think everyone that bought it is a trumptard do you? Please touch grass, twitter drama isn't relevant to the real world.
Correct. I've never bought a video game in my life and I ain't about to start but everyone had a take on that shit, it was so tiresome, I imagine for a lot of babytrans/babylgbt it might've been a shock that people will choose a game of their beloved childhood corporate intellectual property over being allies and that being allies was to a lot of people always virtue signaling, but I was far too cynical to let that bother me at that point.
Oh no, but what about the boycott...
What about it? None of us are surprised that people chose a childhood memory over respect for trans people as human beings.
What a ridiculous take. First of, outside of certain parts of the internet most people aren't even aware of the issues surrounding Rowling, secondly you can very much acknowledge that she's a terrible excuse for a human being while still enjoying a game she had nothing to do with (yes, she gets royalties, but she has the kind of fuck you money that multiplies by merely existing anyway).
Your profile has "Nazis can fuck off", but you're here calling out people who have issues with Rowling, a bigot who stans Nazis like Kellie-Jay Keen
I'm not. I'm calling out people who call me a bigot for not living up to their standards on ethical consumption. Personally I avoid Nestlé and their billion subsidiaries wherever humanly possible, but I am not calling everyone who doesn't pro-slavery. That's my issue, not the warranted labelling of Rowling as a bigoted piece of shit.
Tons of people worked on the game who aren't bigots. Artists, programmers, designers etc. Buying the game supports them, too.
Also, someone decided to make the owner of the Three Broomsticks trans.
Ah yes the "I cant be racist, I have a black friend" defense. JKR is still a TERF and she still financially benefits from hogwarts legacy and no amount of tokenism is going to change that.
It's genuinely amazing to me how some people are obsessed with the idea that buying a videogame based on the works of an author that wasn't even involved in making the project makes you transphobic.
Would it shock you that 99% of corporate officials are bad people? I guess we should stop buying anything ever because some percentage of money can go to people I don't like.
She's literally said that people buying her shit proves she's right.
I'm sorry people have some more morals with their money and have trouble giving it to people who have made it their entire focus to shit on them and be called rapists and groomers by their former childhood heroes.
Your morals are fine, what isn't fine is that most of the people boycotting the game are harassing people that buy it.
So what? Why is everyone giving some dumbass writer that hasn't been relevant in 10 years so much attention? Who cares what she says? Tons of people say terrible, stupid things on the internet. Sorry I'm not joining your crusade to call everyone that wants to enjoy a video game a bigot.
They may not be bigots themselves but they happily give their money to a person well known for being bigoted that also actively tries to make the world a worse place for trans people. It is like buying a burzum album; you don't have to be a nazi to do it but the nazi still profits.
When has a boycott ever worked? For the most part people don't have principals unless their very livelihoods are directly threatened.
Hogwarts Legacy is a 7.5 of 10. It's a fun game. But it's not revolutionary or break new ground. I hadn't played Tears of the Kingdom.
The two things the boycott did is to make the trans community look bad and made people hate them. The final thing was to give the game free advertising.
Here's a video about the Harry Potter IP. Like who owns the rights to the games, books, plays, and so on.
EDIT
I was talking about the harassment and doxing of people who played/streamed Hogwarts Legacy during the boycott.
If you hated trans people because some people online told you to boycott the product of a piece of shit celeb, not gonna lie dude you were a shit person and it had nothing to do with seeing the backlash to the game.
No joke, if this drama in any way altered your opinion of "trans folk" as a concept, you need to sit yourself down in front of a mirror and not get back up until youve fixed the rot in your personality. Utterly brainless take.
I was talking about the harassment and doxing of people who played/streamed Hogwarts Legacy during the boycott.
Honestly surprised that people seem to have forgotten about the harassment. It was really bad for some streamers and was inexcusable. It's like how gamingcirclejerk tried to deny that the harassment even happened.
They didn't forgot about the harassment. They're playing dumb.
If some completely anonymous random strangers doxxing people you dont know made you hate trans folk as a concept, it had literally nothing to do with the doxxing and you know it.
What a stupid thing to say. Invest in therapy asap.
When did I say I hate trans people? All I did is to point out an problem with the boycott. You had a group of people who harass and dox people. That group made trans people look bad. Keep on looking the other way. That will totally help the trans community. /s
It didnt make trans people look bad, because trans people arent a hive mind.
If this made trans people look bad to you, you are just a bigot looking for an excuse. You already hated them, this did not magically change anything
We're done here. It was nice talking to you.