Hogwarts Legacy (2023)

I'm disappointed by the Ranrock boss fight, most of your spells become useless against him especially the dark arts and it's the same with spells and potions.

The worst thing of all however was the decision to have floating orbs that you have to break to remove his immunity to damage, as you are too focused on the orbs to keep an eye on Ranrock.

Hogwarts Legacy feels like the evolution of The Witcher 3. Playing the game makes me feel like I did when I played The Witcher 3 for the first time. The level of detail, the dialogs that make you sit up and listen and not skip them, combat that feels a little tricky to start but gives you a feeling of mastery. I want to do side quests because I want to hear from these people and hear their stories. In the same way that I was Geralt, I am my Hogwarts student.

But I think that Hogwarts Legacy is even better than The Witcher 3 at being a fun and engaging game to play, because it eliminates a lot of the cruft, and has a story, plot, and setting that is less dour and more palatable.

For example, Hogwarts Legacy doesn't have a tedious inventory system, where you have to constantly manage your weight, your potions, your oils, your bombs, your swords, your armor, your trophies, your books, your contracts, your maps, your keys, your letters, your notes, your diagrams, your recipes, your crafting materials, your junk, your horse gear, your Gwent cards, and your quest items. You don't have to worry about breaking your weapons or repairing your armor, or finding a merchant who will buy your stuff. You don't have to loot every corpse or chest you see, or collect every herb or flower you find. You don't have to play a card game that has nothing to do with the main story, or collect hundreds of cards that clutter your inventory. You don't have to read every book or note you find, or memorize every detail of the lore. You don't have to track every quest or marker on the map, or follow every breadcrumb trail.

Instead, you can focus on the things that matter: the story, the characters, the choices, the magic, and the fun. Hogwarts Legacy has a story that is captivating, thrilling, and emotional. It has characters that are memorable, likable. It has magic that is awesome, creative, and versatile. And it has fun that is varied, and rewarding.

Hogwarts Legacy is a game that makes you feel like you're part of a magical world, where anything is possible, and where you can shape your own destiny. It's a game that makes you feel like you're a witch or a wizard, and not just a player, due to the extreme level of detail and beauty in the game. It's a game that makes you feel like you're at Hogwarts, and not just in a game.

I'm 10 hours in and I feel like I haven't done anything and I mean that in the best way. I'm taking my time with this game. I'm enjoying every second. I don't fast travel because the world is too beautiful to skip over. I want to take it all in and savor every drop. The world is absolutely stuffed to the brim with character. It's practically oozing, bursting at the seams.

I haven't been this utterly and wholly immersed in a world since the first time I played Oblivion. Oblivion was my first real RPG experience and therefore, was especially transformative for me. I wandered around, not really knowing what I was doing and with no real agenda, just taking everything in. I had wide-eyed wonder with every turn of the camera, every distant landmark I glimpsed, every path I saw scurrying off towards a hill or wooded area. I came across the entrance to a mine and wondered at what dangers might lurk within, only to find that it was something of a copy-and-paste section, containing a few lowly rats and no loot of value; I wandered into a castle ruin thinking it was nothing special, only to discover that in the ruin dwelled a sleeping wizard trapped in a nightmare of his own making for having stolen the prized possession of an underworld god. Every minute seemed like an hour, and yet, every hour felt like a minute. In mere moments after loading up, I was locked into a state of flow. Tamriel felt real. It was magical in the purest sense of the word. Discovery was a bright and constant fixture and it never dimmed, not even after hundreds of hours and several different playthroughs.

Fast forward to now. Open-world games are, for the most part, very good. They have good gameplay, some have good stories, and a good portion of them are gorgeous. But most open worlds don't have that constant state of discovery about them. Once you've seen a 100-square-foot area of those worlds, you've probably seen most of that game. It's just not so with Hogwarts. There is so much character - I'll use this word a lot when describing just about any component of this game - that it's hard to articulate. I have that feeling from Oblivion that I haven't had since then. I'm wandering and just taking in the world around me. There is so much to see and I'm in no rush to see it all.

Whereas I usually loathe having to backtrack because I'm missing an item or ability that will grant me access to area, I'm instead smiling at not being able to find the secrets within yet and look forward to having a reason to come back later. Whereas I usually use subtitles to help me skip through conversations as quickly as possible, I've instead turned off the subtitles and listen to every word spoken to me, so sonorous and well done is the voice acting. Whereas I keep a minimap on so I can find the quickest route to my destination, I have the map turned off so I can wander and find my way naturally. I want to be in the moment. Hogwarts Legacy, for the first time in a long time, is not a task to be completed; it's a world I'm happy to spend time in.

Hogwarts Legacy doesn't have anything truly unique that other open-world games don't have; it's the nearly flawless execution of it all that is so enchanting and impressive. I spent two hours walking around Hogsmeade just looking at the shops and admiring all the details. I stopped to listen to NPC conversations. I looked over every square foot of each shop, stunned at the pleasant clutter and live-in aesthetic of each dwelling. I crept through every back street and strolled through every backyard garden. I skipped rocks across a pond with my wand while fellow students near me studied quietly. And I loved every single minute of it.

And this is much of my experience so far. I've done missions and participated in plenty of duels against students, dark wizard, and goblins, but most of my time has been spent admiring. I admire the absolute hell out of this game. There are so many different gameplay systems, from puzzles to flying to traversal to combat, and they all work flawlessly. There's not a single loading screen in the world and the chances are if there's a door, you can walk through it instantly. I haven't experienced a single glitch or bug. I want to know how the hell the developers pulled this off. How did they create such a massive game with such an exceptional level of polish? How did they stick the landing?

It's sad that I even see this as a point of praise but we should be realistic: games are very hard to make. They take a lot of time and money. A lot can go wrong in development. Most games are released with a problem, if not numerous problems. Games with millions of dollars behind them go through intensive and prolonged development and STILL have issues. It needs to be recognized that Hogwarts Legacy was released with virtually no problems. We need to reward developers for this and make it known this is what we, as consumers and gamers, want to see more of.

But again, it's the execution of everything that is so impressive and singular. Open-world games have a lot of components and different systems. The result is usually that some of the systems are great and others aren't so much. With Hogwarts Legacy, I really can't point to anything that disappoints. The combat is fun and challenging, the loot is satisfying, the spells are fun as hell to use, exploration is absolute dynamite, crafting is worthwhile, flying feels great, the story is engaging and logical, the characters are likable, the voice acting is some of the best in the industry...I could go on, I really could. But suffice it to say this game is extraordinary. I mean that: it's extraordinary.

I pause to consider if there might be bias in my analysis because of the impact the Harry Potter books had on me growing up. I've always found great comfort in the innocent and pure-hearted nature of the Wizarding World. But when I consider that possibility, it doesn't hold water. I've played just about every big-name open-world game out there, and the smaller ones too, and this one just spanks them. It just does. I don't think my bias is talking for me here.

Most recently, I completed the Flying Class mission wherein my character was taught how to fly on a broomstick. I was smiling gleefully the whole time. I laughed out loud at the teacher's dialogue, as well as a moment where the player character's face drops when she gets in trouble. The level of charm here is disgusting. I cannot wait to see what else this game has in store. This is the game all of us Potterheads dreamt of when we were wee lads reading about Hogwarts. This is the open world game developers should try to best. This is the level of quality all studios should strive for.

Quick thoughts after 2.5 hours in

• Holy shit this game is impressive (I went in blind other than seeing a few screenshots here and there, no footage though, so didn't really have a lot of expectations)
• Balanced mode is the best graphical setting for sure. Too choppy on Fidelity and missing out on real detail on Performance
• This is the first RPG I've played in years, years, and more years, where I'm not bored during conversations. I haven't wanted to skip dialogue ONCE
• Controls feel great
• Music is downright splendid without relying on John William's themes from the films
• The castle is gigantic and being able to just walk about it is pretty amazing
• Voice acting is superb
• Likeable characters
• Systems are introduced in bite-sized amounts
• Plot is actually interesting, which I expected, but it's still impressive - I wasn't sure if a very interesting story could be told in the years before Voldemort
• I have a feeling I'm going to sink hundreds of hours into this. It's kind of reminding me of the first time I played Oblivion

I deleted my previous thread about this game because the discussion moved too far away from the video game topic, was getting nowhere and it was flooding the front page and my mentions.

If you want to keep discussing the political ramifications of the issue, I recommend you to go to the forums, which are better suited for longform debates.

That's right. I'm deplatforming all of you. LOL.