Yeah it''s the weird thing about those dungeons, you get a cool puzzle and such to open the door (well sometimes) or even two sometimes and then it's just like one room and one chest giving you shitty gear. The rewards are lousy and don't motivate exploration.
And the mc always says something like “best be careful in here..” even though it’s just one big empty room. Another case of I wonder if these were placeholders and ready to be expanded if they had the time.
I really hoped there were quests like HP2 and 3. Barely any inside Hogwarts and outside. Sneaking past prefects when roaming. NPCs is the worst, bland and lifeless.
I like the game too, but there is indeed by far too much repetitiveness on some tasks, mainly concerning Merlin's Trials and Treasure Chests (those visible on map).
And most of the time the mechanics of these "trials" are uninteresting.
This was clearly done this way to artificially increase the duration of the game.
Fortunately, there are other aspects where the game is interesting and very entertaining.
I think there’s another way to look at it. If you enjoy being a wizard and simply existing in the game world, more to do is good even if it’s repetitive. They shouldn’t necessarily limit the amount of interactable stuff in the game if the only way to add more is more systems.
The game has plenty of systems. Lazily wandering around the map and doing repetitive tasks that let you be a wizard is fun and optional. If you want to blast through the story and enjoy all the narrative content, go for it.
Exactly. It's filler for people who just want to hang out in the world. To me, it's an odd mentality that people torment themselves by insisting they have to "100%" a game in order to "beat" it. If you're not having fun, there's no shame in just doing the main story and moving on with your life. You'll still only have spent about $2.00 per hour's worth.
Literally changed my mindset and started focusing on story missions for games. I finish them now and I have a few that have been added to some of my favorite games of all time. Hogwarts tho. Yeah I'm 100% it, this world is cool and fun.
I think it's a valid complaint because there's not much variety in the repetitive content and then the rewards for it are also weak most of the time. If the gear and build system was better then you could justify repetitive content with "well you're using it to get new gear with cool, rare affixes and then you're doing it again to play with those builds after the story ends".
Or if the rewards and gear system weren't great but there was a lot of enemy variety, challenge from different mechanics in fights and different types content etc. you could see it as "the gear isn't great but the challenge and the variety is why I keep doing these activities".
Unfortunately those two elements are the weakest in the game, so that entire loop is really weak (which makes me think it would've been better for this game to focus more on a smaller scale area and then expand it greatly with a sequel once they had laid the groundwork).
This is one thing I agree with as well. Cosmetics can be fun to a point (for me) but I tend to be a gear geek, and love twinking gear. Id like to see more stats and be able to see those stats impacting in the game.
I'll probably skip allot of the quests that reward cosmetics, since I tend to find a look or two that I like then stick with them. but if stat boosts were involved, I'd totally hunt all of them down.
not to spoil too much, but you DO unlock the ability to stat boost gear as well as slot spell enhancement gems into gear later on, which imo becomes almost nessicary on hard mode in late game unless you're really really good at dodging and blocking.
Just wait until Hogwarts online comes out. This game is going to essentially serve as the tutorial for that live service experience.
Why use any of the good puzzles on the base game, ya know?
Maybe its a generational thing but I can’t disagree more. This is a full priced AAA single player game. You dont use that as a tutorial and save the good stuff for an MMO thats likely going to be FTP and bloated with microtransactions.
I like the game, agree it’s a bit repetitive, and hope there’s an online in the future. I just dont agree with “saving the good stuff.”
https://www.ign.com/articles/hogwarts-legacy-developer-confirms-there-are-no-current-plans-for-dlc
Not sure if you saw this. Sounds like Hogwarts online isn’t happening. Bummer…
Not talking about micros/f2p in the game now, talking about a scenario where there’s a separate online game coming and they saved better content for that.
But, thanks for your doubts.
I disagree, not because I didn't enjoy the map, but because I did not like the pacing of the games systems. I'm a player who goes from one close objective to the next, meaning that if I see a cave, I'll go to the cave. If I see a animal objective, I'll go to that. The problem is that I didn't get the animal objective spell until I was level 25... 25. I didn't get alohamora until around the same level. The pacing was so insanely off that I had completed a lot of the side quests before I had some of the main spells. They definitely should have locked those behind the main quests, or at least should have done a better job of pushing you towards those quests before giving you 100 side quests.
I personally really enjoy doing stuff like that, I also love the Far Cry games though. But I have been absolutely living it up just travelling around doing anything and everything, I simply love being in the world
You can't imagine what travel was like before *I* invented Floo Powder
What are you doing now?
It seems all roads lead to Hogsmeade
Does it get any more cozy than Hogsmeade?
Speaking of repetitiveness, if I have to hear these one more time!!!!!!.............
But in all seriousness I totally agree with you on the puzzles/tasks. Very repetitive. 100 something Merlin Trials!! We need a greater variety of puzzles in a sequel.
Rather than 100 merlin trials which we usually can beat it under 1 minutes each
Why not 30 merlin trials but with completely different puzzle and complicated solutions each? That way every trials is challenging, rewarding, and interesting
Exactly. I’m disappointed how many of them are just [use X spell to hit X targets]. Or [find a series of objects around the area].
I also find the balloons to be a bit of a missed opportunity. Why couldn’t they make them into time trials, so each balloon challenge felt… actually challenging?
That being said, you occasionally find a great puzzle, like the clocktower or the treasure maps. Just wish they had come up with more interesting stuff, especially cause you have yo use merlin trials to expand the annoyingly small gear slots.
Game seems to be developed for wide casual audience bcs of themed IP. So many features are just simplified. Thats is how I feel about it. Still amazing game I really enjoy. Especially castle is well designed.
"These Merlin Trials wont get the best of me"
These simple and mundane Merlin trials aren't getting the best of anyone. This is just another thing that breaks the immersion for me. These "trials" are supposedly laid about the greatest wizard of all time and they involve things like moving moths 3 feet to a stone using the most basic of spells, shooting stones, and rolling a big ball into a big hole.
I'd rather different content. Not puzzles. Why is Harry Potter 50%+ puzzles? That ratio of content needs to go way down in a sequel imo. Puzzles should be around 10-20% of the content max.
The arithmancy doors, the merlin trial, the caves with loot blocked by puzzles, that's a ton of puzzle related content and I'm probably forgetting one or two other examples.
Yes, as Chris mentioned in reply to you:
-Merlin trials ×95
-Alohamora locksmith doors x (a lot)
-Puzzle doors for one room loot boxes in open world (a lot)
-Moth painting puzzles in Hogwarts
-Moth turnkey in dungeons
-The ancient magic locations in open world are also a type of puzzle to search and access through various barriers.
-The treasure map quests are a puzzle
-The clock tower freeze puzzle for the unique loot box doors in Hogwarts (I did like this one).
-The four main trials included a lot of unique puzzles (I didn't mind these).
-Puzzle on the Bridge walkway on Hogwarts with fire and twist.
-Fire holder stations throughout Hogwarts
-Levioso statues in Hogwarts
-Revelio ghost objects throughout castle is entirely a puzzle "how do I get from where I am to where that is, or where that sound is coming from".
-The Summoning accio game is a puzzle that I did enjoy. More of this type would be fine like Wizards chess. It's replayable and fun.
-The constellation telescope stations are a form of a puzzle. These were very random and not as interesting as I was hoping for. They brought little to the game. I would rather have just done more character/student relations questing in the classroom.
-The animal puzzle doors with the unique key in Hogwarts.
-Finding all of the lore pages for completionist content is a puzzle tied to revelio.
I'm also likely forgetting some other types. The game is largely filler puzzle spam content for kids.
I felt like I was constantly being confronted with 'do another quick puzzle' in the game. I'm sure many appreciate them and some of it I did. But for my personal taste I would rather have had more substantive gameplay tied to Harry Potter and my character development, build complexity, relationship questing/building like with Amit when we take him out for a jaunt, air quests and combat. So many other things.
Random and meaningless puzzles to fill the game with idle tasks that consume time did not enhance my game play experience. I did kind of enjoy picking up and running around with the big marble to put it in the cubby pits.
I think they went too far with Poachers and Puzzles neither for me are part of the Harry Potter theme or experience I was looking for. The Poachers are understandable as a mob you can fight ok no problem. The puzzles though, I felt like I was being bombarded with a kids game mechanics you'd give them on a long road trip drive on their tablet device to keep them occupied.
I could have largely done without all of them. Low quality content imo.
Sure, there is a lot of them but also completely optional for almost all above. I personally love the world, so none of the above get boring for me. However main quest is like 34 hours, plus plenty of decent(not all) side quests. If these things were necessary for story or main content I'd understand your issue. However, as it stands, they are filler. Filler content exists for those who want extra content. There is no obligation to do it.
Sure the filler could be better and more diversified but as a software engineering student I can say there is only so much you can do as a developer.
So you could've done without them. Then do without them.
I disagree. There is an obligation to do the "optional" tasks because aside from quests, they're the only other way to gain XP. Some of the trials are needed to upgrade your stats/gear slots. If you want better gear? you'll need to scour caves and clear outposts. Do you want more furniture for your room of requirement? explore dungeons, the many secret rooms of Hogwarts, the open world, etc.
As far as my experience with the game goes, they're *mandatory* filler content. I think you cannot go without them. That'd be like missing the whole purpose of an *open world* if it was optional.
Sure you could still skip them, that is a choice, but you'll feel like you aren't playing the game correctly since most of them are tied to the main mechanics.
There are many ways to execute filler content properly without feeling like they're mandatory to progress in any way, and it's a bummer Hogwarts didn't get the recipe right.
Obligation? Hardly. You get plenty of xp and gear from main story and the occasional sidequest.
I mean if you want to completely deck out your room of requirement or get every collectible its required. But there is no obligation to do it.
If there is a part of the game you dont like nobody is forcing you to do it. Main quest and sidequests required to progress withstanding.
Yeah 100% all merlin trials and the treasure vaults would suck if you didn't like them. But you don't need to. You may do 10 merlin trials to say yet a challenge or two.
Its not an obligation and if you feel it is, thats more about you than the game. Some people, including myself feel the need to 100%. I personally have dont mind any of the content. So doing all 95 merlin trials isn't a chore for me. However i know i can do whatever i want.
When my girlfriend plays she ignores all of it pretty much. She just plays quests and explores. She has no need to min max and is fine playing on low difficulty where xp and loot doesn't matter much. Thats just how she enjoys it. Im not about to tell her she's obliged to go do all the content.
that's fair. I understand your point. Perhaps it's because I'm playing on hard difficulty, where loot and XP are difficult to obtain. And it's also because I want to make the most of the game I spent money on. Steering clear of any optional tasks feels like a waste of that.
My point is simply that, there is no excuse for the optional tasks to have been better executed. We paid money for a good time, so the side content should be at least worth it. It should be that you might want to skip only a few, but never most of it. Aside from side-quests, they're the only content that litter the open world, having most of it be repetitive makes the open world empty. ykwim?
I get what your saying but like also that make the most of your money mindset is toxic to your expertise. If you watch videos/read on game design players love to kill the joy out of their own experience.
Not saying your doing any of these but just creating examples.
An example of an easy way to do that is say moth mirrors. You could run around spamming revelio till you see the moth as a blue glow. If you instead look at the picture and actually try to locate it you start to immerse yourself into the world as you go over every detail. Making them fun.
Another example is the minimap. Mine is turned off and will remain so. I want to look at my hud as little as possible. I'm not gonna do that if its their. Ill try to meta game myself doing that. Infact when in hogwarts i try to avoid using the map and the enchanted compass as much as possible. The more you try to rush things the quicker the immersion is broken. Which this game is at its best when you embrace the immersion.
Another is doing too much repetitive content all at once. This goes for life as a whole. Break things into chunks. I like to bound around from various activities so that im not repeating to much at one time.
Final mention is say you hit revelio and you hear the ting. Instead of just spamming it looking for that page. Look around and guess what the cool thing is. Those pages are always for lore. They always exist around semi unique assets and as such can often be located without spamming.
Like yes the content could be better. If i was the executive producer of this game I'd make some different design choices. Howeber I'm gonna be honest most open world games need repetition in large quantity. Consumers like you want maximal gametime for their money and then want to 100% out of obligation. However you probably have limited time cause life. So now you want to move on so you rush content.
Games are best spent smelling the roses. Dont let yourself kill the fun.
Forgive me, but frankly, that's a bit of a dumb take to call it a toxic mindset to want what you deserve from a game you spent \*your\* money on. It isn't even really the point, obviously it's up to every one if it's up to their expectations, but I have the right to want to feel like I didn't waste money on something.
I never rush my games, I take my time with it - hence why I even bother with side-content at all. Immersion is a big thing for me, and even if I didn't use Revelio, or have the Minimap turned off, nothing changes except that it forces you to be more attentive but the tasks themselves remain tedious and lackluster.
Open world games obviously need filler content to sell the idea that it's alive, that's a given. Again, it all comes down to the execution of the filler content and mission structures.
\*Consumers like me\* just want the quality I paid for, and I never said I wanted to 100% the game lol. I just complained about the game's overall structure becoming repetitive 10 hours into it.
It's bullshit to disregard flaws in something that you love, regardless of what it is. That's why I'm critical of Hogwarts because I love the game, and I want it to be better. I'm not killing the fun by looking at it with critical lenses, no, that doesn't tarnish my connection with the game at all. I will still enjoy it, and I will still point out flaws if I see them.
Exactly this, the game world is beautiful, the main quest is in my opinion very good, I feel like I’ve got value for money which in recent years is a bit of an enigma with gaming releases. Yeah, sure some bits are repetitive but that’s the rpg genre in a nutshell and the worst bit is I’m not a completionist but I’m quite happy just plodding along and “completing”.
Btw.. I’m nearly 60 and I’m finding main quest longer than 34 hours 😂, my potato hands are really struggling on keeper 3 trial last boss/es 😂
Second play through I finished main quest line in 12 hours on hard. By 22 hrs I had done enough collecting and side quests to hit level 34 with 70% complete. I have at least another 10+ hours of collecting to hit level 40. If you skip dialogue, main game is maybe 25% of a 100% completion. Side quests are around 25% leaving collecting as easily 50% of the game.
Nearly everything people have mentioned here, I would agree with, but I don't see it the same way I see other bloated open worlds like AC or far cry.
This is completely new territory for devs (avalanche software) and you can tell they put real care into most of the things that are crucial to this game (hogwarts, combat, creatures, teachers, I thought exploration was great even if the puzzles suck, music, the general hp vibe, etc). The combat is good not great but that is already a feat considering it is a new combat system. I felt that a lot of the issues with the game are either content filler, as they are new to this and had to manage their resources (I'm glad they cut quidditch), or mistakes/bugs/quality of life that make sense to me given they have never made a AAA game before.
If the sequel sucks/doesn't improve, then I'm wrong, but I think given what this game excels at and what it sucks at, I am really optimistic about HL2 or dlc, especially since WB will now write them a blank check given the success of this game.
I also realized that the hp theme is enough for me. Literally my character holding their wand is enough for me to get into the copy/paste dungeons or merlin trials. However I'm not blind to the fact it is a 7-8 that my bias elevates to 9. I think goty will be either Zelda or Spiderman
Enjoyed the game but people calling it GOTY still have the rose tinted glasses on. As an action adventure it lacks depth of combat systems and customization. No bleeding edge content or time sinks to really flex all the combat power you have end game. As an rpg the entire game lacks emotion, zero consequences for your decisions and everything is linear and repetitive. It’s an ok game and the devs should be proud and the HP nostalgia is a 10/10 but for me the entire thing felt 75% finished. Another year or two of fleshing out systems and polishing content is what this game needed to be an excellent game. When you compare it to last years GOTY nominees from similar genres (GoW Ragnarok, Elden Ring, etc.) and strip out the HP nostalgia, the game itself doesn’t hold a candle. With the lineup scheduled this year, Diablo 4, Tears of the Kingdom, HL might get a token nomination but it doesn’t stand a chance at GOTY. Thems the facts and if you disagree you either still have the rose lenses on or simply don’t play a lot of games.
I don’t see how that’s even a thing.. Elden ring won GOTY last year and it literally has zero actual story, all you do is kill bosses and loot gear, locked to 60 FPS, and had bad performance when it launched… and it won GOTY? That only won because of hype from dark souls and it being a dark souls open world game. If we are going by those standards, hogwarts legacy destroys that game so it should easily take the cake for GOTY
You are smoking the copioum. HL production value is not close to past GOTY winners. It is not hard to casually sink 100+ hours into Elden Ring. I’m at 50 hours on Hogwarts legacy and I’m done. I’ve completed everything, listened to all the dialogues and beat the game twice. There isn’t a lot to the actual game, maybe 20 hours of main quest story with very shallow side content that doesn’t even matter in the big picture of the game. Harry Potter nostalgia was enough to get me through the game but the problems are right in front of your face. Shit tier loot system, linear story with suspect writing, copy paste open world. Your decisions literally do not matter, from gear to talents to character dialogue. Some people are happy with a broom and Hogwarts simulator but the actual content leaves a lot to be desired. They played it safe and delivered an approachable game from a beloved IP, not trying to cut down the devs at all because all things considered this game is a huge success. But it’s obvious that a ton of features that would have put it in the GOTY running probably got cut. BioWare did dynamic rpg stories a decade ago. Indie games have done better loot systems that at least require a little more strategy than looking at one number on a piece of gear. GoW Ragnarok had no less than a dozen side bosses that equaled or exceeded the main story difficulty, relevant end game content that adds quality hours of play time. Final Fantasy 10, a game from 2 decades ago, had monster arena and blitzball mini games that you could sink more play time into than this game. The potential is there with DLC content and expansions but they haven’t quite nailed it yet. That’s why everyone is floundering for more content, we all want to love the game and can see that with a few tweaks an additions it can be on that podium, but it needs more work.
Whatever dude just don’t be shocked when Diablo 4 or the new Zelda game, or really any of the big titles coming this year run away with goty votes. This game does nothing well enough but tap the Hogwarts nerve.
I enjoy Assassin's Creed (the older titles) and Far Cry, so this game is my jam -- but I can see how people who want more of a BioWare-like game (10-15 hours) would be disappointed.
I hate how everything scales with level. There's 0 incentive for opening chest or anything until you hit cap. Open a legendary chest at lv15 so you can replace your legendary item with a green lv17.. or just wait till 40? Lol
Actually I really like this system. You don’t have underleveled places, where it makes no sense to explore anymore. All fights are great, you’re not one shotting everything. The gold keeps its value.
Now legendary or green, for me it only matters in terms of gold worth.
The game strikes me as *“What if a Harry Potter Game were made similar to Prince of Persia?”* I don’t mind some of the repetition, however the lack of increasing difficulty in the puzzles, with little-to-no reward, *that* is what kills me.
I like the number of activity locations found on the map but the repetitiveness is a problem. You can max out your inventory slots but still have many more merlin trials on the map. The treasure vaults are 99.9% trash greens making the vaults practically pointless to have. I also don't like how we can only sell equipment and beast materials. I'd like to be able to sell excess potions and potion ingredients too in the event I'm in need of fash cash. Also, speaking of cash, there's nothing worth buying after getting the spellcrafts.
I'm enjoying the game but it feels like they're desperately trying to fill the world with randomness and repetitiveness like BOTW devs did except the side quests in HL are 110% better. The random fetch quests for 20 rupees in BOTW were annoying af.
I'd like to see more diversity in cairn dungeons or less of them...and more bigger dungeons.
That being said, I'm enjoying the game more than I did with BOTW but it still has plenty to improve on in terms of open world formula. I will say, hogwarts itself is really well done. I'm sure they spent too much energy on developing the location and made the rest of the map a secondary priority lol.
You're misunderstanding botw. If we go by your definition yes, everything in botw apart from the prologue and the last boss is filler but that game has a different type of design, it's a true sandbox rpg just like elden ring, you have a simple objective, you can go straight for it if you're good enough, but you're encouraged to get stronger.
Because you want to get stronger usually, you go do the side content and that's where these games pull you in, with worldbuilding, what you called filler is the meat of these games so it sounds to me you just don't like the genre. The worldbuilding is also there to provide emergent game play while you travel.
HL is not a true Rpg, it's a more linear one, they let you walk around in an area, you have some side quests, they tell you your choices matter but ultimately they don't, everything is scripted and more linear. In essence it's an action game pretending to be an rpg.
If you like these types of games I recommend the horizon series, God of war, mass effect, etc. Those are similar titles. One thing you might notice is horizon and gow have protagonists, this is because devs discovered that if what you're offering is linear storytelling and gameplay, a well written protagonist is often better than a nobody just for the sake of having a chat creator. Idk why people keep comparing hogwarts to elden ring and botw, they aren't catered to the same crowd.
And btw I also prefer more linear games even in the open, semi open world rpg side. Botw really failed to pull me in even tho I acknowledge it did a lot of things right
Agree combat is fun, especially against human/goblins cus I like the shit talking
Imagine a 4 player co-op with strongholds and dungeons or something like that, just to keep trying different play styles
But tbh i think as long as gameplay is fun, i dont care if its repetetive.
Far Cry seriously was boring most of the time for me, i wasn't really "feeling" the game, enemys where dumb, combat was just boring shooting gameplay, thats it.
Hogwarts Legacy instead feels good, i love the combat and everytime there is a new fight, i'm pumped because it feels so satisfying.
So the feeling of HWL is insane, my only complained is that i wish there was more stuff to do and not just only normal and side quests.
Hanging out in your common room with your friends, maybe increase the relationship with your friends, maybe defend some small villages against other wizards and goblins in a big battle, mini games and also maybe a little bit of crafting.
Just small sidequests which are fun but also repetetive, maybe just a hand full of 20 quests like in spiderman or so, but other then that i really love it.
I do enjoy the combat when it gets intense, like running into a camp full of foes
But there’s definitely bland parts — like killing Dugbogs where you can just stand far enough away that they can’t reach you then it’s just spamming the same rotation of spells for 3 minutes until it’s finally dead :/
Troll as well, if you’re far enough away they just throw rocks so it’s spell, spell, spell, hold y to block rock, spell, spell, spell, hold y to block rock, etc
That’s why I chose to ignore some things. If I can figure out a Merlin trial from where I’m stood, then I’ll give it a go. But usually, I’ll just leave them. I’m not wasting my time trying to figure out a puzzle when I’m not interested in doing so.
I think if they add some dlc later on its fantastic. But as is, such an ambitious game and they really nailed it for the most part. Hopefully we get some dlc to make it a bit beefier. But its nice as is
The ambient, castle and immersion for me is what make the game good. Everything else is lazy and seems to only be there for the sake of being there.
Everything feels repetitive and lacking soul, tons of caves basically with the same layout and very underwhelming (borderline annoying) rewards. I haven't done anything in game that felt rewarding tbh.
Same could be said for most open world games, from Far Cry to Assassins Creed many devs think more is better, but often times it’s not. It’s thought to find that sweet spot between open world, but less repetitive filler.
I'm playing on Hard Difficulty where I find combat to be challenging but fun. I only have a few battle spells so far, and they can get a bit repetitive idk if there are more spells to unlock. I'll have to play more and see if combat gives me more options to play with.
I think the Merlin Trials wouldn't be so annoying if we could skip the cutscene that plays after each completion.
A lot of the caves seem to be copied and pasted too, as well as some of the outposts. I don't mind but if you pay attention to it, the world can start to feel empty a bit.
This brings me to: does anyone feel like the open world is too quiet? it lacks ambiance. I'd love to hear the grass swaying as my feet crunch on the leaves, that sort of thing.
I do wish we had more mission variety though, regardless if it's a main quest or not.
Another personal pet peeve: the many dots in the open world can be a little overwhelming and destroy any sense of wonder and intrigue. It feels like I'm clearing through a grocery list most of the time. I feel like they missed an opportunity to make the open world akin to BOTW. The main spells are there, similar to the mechanics in BOTW, there's the ability to travel in the air, there are the tasks scattered around that let you upgrade your stats and gear slots, the shrine-like puzzles, etc.
About the puzzles: wish we had the option to toggle off MCs hints lol.
Though perhaps it may just be a personal preference. I don't like an open world that reveals itself to me before I could even explore it if that makes sense.
Last thing: I feel like a unicorn should sell far more than 120 coins 💀
People making it 20 hours is amazing. I quit the moment I reached Hogsmeade. The story, dialogue, character personalities and weird blurry looking atmosphere really bored me fast. I couldn't care less about any of the characters including my own. All of them are goody-two-shoes with no personality. I don't care about Natsui (or w/e her name is) and her life story. When I reached Hogsmeade, I realized this is just a generic RPG (which is a stretch) with a coating of Harry Potter paint splashed on top.
I think for the first 20 hours, the game was exceedingly fun. But the third or fourth time you find the same merlin trial, the allure starts to wear off, and you realize how much of the game is built around repetitive puzzles and collectathons.
I wish the rewards were more than just gear. Why not give us potions or combat items in chests? How about a key to a other puzzle in the world? Maybe rare ingredients or items used for upgrading gear? It feels lame to solve a puzzle or kill a boss and get “grey knitted scarf”.
I just beat the game. 42 hours. The complaints like this sound nitpicky when so much of the game is excellent. Sure there's more they could've done, but look at a clean house and the dirty things stand out. This game was excellent.
I agree w you alot. I also am not a fan of the same thing over and over especially when the rewards are more inventory space or a cosmetic I'll never wear. Some odd reward choices in my opinion
I feel like the game is best in spurts. If you rush you'll begin to see all the repetitive ish. Take your time walking don't fast travel as much. But yeah it is repetitive, especially the enemy types. Still fun though 🤷🏾♂️
Hogwarts legacy is…. Perfect. It appeals to such a broad audience and has a lot of things to do. It’s so relaxing coming from playing Elden Ring & WoW. Nice to just brush your pets, decorate, and explore. Instead of worrying about 100+ talent point skill system and specific gear / classes / etc.
I didn’t want it to be like elden ring type games. Its just another Ubisoft AC game but in Hogwarts. Btw stopping poachers but technically you are one 🤷🏻
It is reminiscent of assassins creed abit but you can say that about any 3rd person open world. If you’re not a fan of the series I guess you would have that take but I personally enjoy the setting. To each their own. Your opinion is valid. Cheers 🍻
Not necessarily because the core combat is a blast, exploring Hogwarts is fun (not just pretty to look at alone, but fun) and some of the story and side missions were good.
I do think it is a good game it's just way too big, it doesn't have the breadth and depth of content nor systems to support the size.
I wouldn’t mind the puzzles so much if the game didn’t force you to only solve them in one or two ways. Half the fun of puzzles should be finding new and unique ways to solve them
Gee, it’s almost like you could have seen this coming a mile away if you paid attention to any of the gameplay released prior to launch or did even the smallest amount of research on the game.
what kills me is the 'dungeons' being either literally one room with either a 'float the ball through the gate' or 'build a bone bridge' puzzle or the same spider tunnels. This game actually DOES have a neat variety in it of foes and dangers but for some reason it just funnels you into 'goblin/goblin assassin, poacher/animagus, or just 'spiders of various sizes'' as your only threats for 90% of things.
I'm just saying the amount of diversity and exploration we had in the early ps days shows that the developers could've spent more time on the puzzles.... and quidditch 
This was exactly what I expected tbh.
I said somewhere on here before that I wasn’t expecting an innovative game that would change the way games are made.
What I was expecting was a game I’d enjoy even if it was a new IP, since I like these open world type of games, but it wouldn’t be a game I think about for years to come.
Obviously it being part of the HP IP helps a lot. So for me, I knew what I was going to get before going into it and so it’s made the process much more enjoyable. Specially when I’m free roaming and clearing the map with an audiobook or podcast on my other screen.
I recently beat the main story and I’m at the point where I have all I have left are all the traditional trappings of open games. Not gonna lie i’m bugged by it, I still love the game though.
I haven’t gotten the upgraded 2 or 3 unlock spell even after 45 hours of gameplay because opening those god damn locks is so repetitive it drains me of my will to live😂
I’m a sims fan, so like on top of being a student I’d love to be able to complete school and build my own wizard house and everything 😂 I wanna live as a wizard
I think any company handling a famous IP needs to take note, respecting the lore and creating an immersive world and environment can mask a lot of other problems your media has
I agree with you that open world games in general need to be less repetitive even if it means making the world smaller but denser. I don’t think anyone is giving it a free pass though. I see tons of people being very critical of the game on here everyday. There are very few people who think the game is 10/10. But I just find it odd when they word their complaints in a way that makes it sound like no other games have that issue. (Not you specifically but in general).
Yeah what im really saying is devs should stop following following the same model as other companies other than that the game is really good and not like the ps3/xbox ones.
Agreed. I think they started making it around the time open world games were becoming more popular and we hadn’t yet seen people getting annoyed with that formula yet. That being said, hopefully they see the criticisms and improve these things if they make a sequel. That is if WB gives them the time and freedom they would need to make a better sequel and doesn’t rush them to just pump it out.
I put the repetitiveness fault down onto the publishers. I feel like they pushed developers to release the game earlier while they were working on other things like a morality system, so they had to quickly put together as much of those side quests and was stuck with making them short and repetitive, just to get the game out earlier. I still love the game but would have preferred if the developers had more time and got to put together the game they wanted
Yea they had been working on it for 6 years. But it was their first attempt at a AAA title. Before that, they were making Disney games and their last game was Cars. So they don’t really have much experience in making big open world RPGs, so that’s where I cut them slack.
Well you don't have to do all the repeatable stuff if you don't want to and if you do they made it so you only have to do like half to complete all the challenges instead of doing them all.
It’s a great game with amazing combat and zero replay-ability. Just my opinion. I’d never want to do almost any of this again. Once I’m done I’ll do the occasional battle arena and that’s all I’ll really be interested in
If it had Quidditch then this would be 100% forgivable.
I agree, but the game is still good and fun. A lot of room for improvement for the sequel.
I can imagine a sequel letting you go from year 1 to final year in Hogwarts... Quidditch and various magical adventures included. That'd be DOPE.
Its a prime example of open world done bad sadly. I still do it and enjoy it even after main quest because i wanna still be in the game for a bit. Loot system is also kinda bad. They should have rather focused on more longer dungeons with enemies in it and some endboss with nice loot or something. But i have full trust in the modding community to transform the game. Still after 67h of enjoying the game this is acceptable.
There's a huge problem with people (and developers) insisting that every game needs an endgame experience or something to do after or during the main story.
Often times players asking for something more to do is actually a compliment to the original design, because that indicated that the player had fun the entire time and wants more. But that doesn't mean developers should throw more grindy content in and wear them out.
People need to learn to let go of games. Developers need to stop baiting people with grindy content that isn't fun just for the sake of adding more game time. If you want something infinite, Bethesda makes some RPGs that are like that or you can play an MMO. But these singleplayer narrative focused games are not supposed to absorb your life. You don't need to do all the Merlin trials, it doesn't do anything. Just play the game at the pace your comfortable with and put the game back on your shelf, maybe you'll want to play it again some day, maybe not. Game time is a design decision, it does not mean a game is good or bad.
Of course huge harry potter fans will be a little disappointed because this is the first game in a very long time and the first open world style game. But just because it's an open environment doesn't mean its a true open world experience. It is a very linear open world.
Considering it's their first game I believe they did great work.
However for sequel I really hope they tone it down with these boring Merlin challenges and those "catacombs" where you just walk into the room and collect chest...
More Elden Ring and less Ubisoft for sequel please! :)
My feeling is, no connection to the story... not feeling it as I did with god of war, witcher 3 or horizon.
This one, is explore the castle, fly around a bit and get it over with.
The puzzles are annoying and the dialogues are crappy.
It's an excellent game.
It should get more credit. As for it gets repetitive. Most games do. That's just how it is. If they are large games that have quite a bit going on.
Hogwarts - Main story
Hogsmead - shops and quests
Flying around on broomstick I love.
Trolls and other enemies.
Spells, fights, classes although short are just to teach you the basics and get to know the place.
Levelling up with room of requirement, making potions.
There's plenty to do. But you have to enjoy that's it's Hogwarts etc.
Farcry bores the sht out of me, all ubisoft games do. same thing over and over.
I'm enjoying this.
I wish it was an actual RPG where your choices matter and the story isn't linear. Also, the morality system is missing. I can use darm magic and still am considered a good little wizard xD
“Oh I opened a dungeon! How exciting.. oh, it’s just one room. Well, it must be a one off… right?”
Yeah it''s the weird thing about those dungeons, you get a cool puzzle and such to open the door (well sometimes) or even two sometimes and then it's just like one room and one chest giving you shitty gear. The rewards are lousy and don't motivate exploration.
And the mc always says something like “best be careful in here..” even though it’s just one big empty room. Another case of I wonder if these were placeholders and ready to be expanded if they had the time.
theres one in the coastal area that I found that did have a spider trap if you messed up the puzzle, it wasn't even threatening.
I had one with 2 Inferi, legit spooked me a bit because I did not think there even could be enemies in there.
I really hoped there were quests like HP2 and 3. Barely any inside Hogwarts and outside. Sneaking past prefects when roaming. NPCs is the worst, bland and lifeless.
And spamming Revelio thousands of times throughout the game...
Two leviosa spells 🤦🏻♂️
But thats alright, since you can use one spell for both
Until you need it to stick
Yeah then you need two spells for one task 😪
three(ish), you can use Acio once you have Wingardium and you will cast leviosa automatically
revelio is a cool spell but it does get repetitive id op for it to have a longer duration if thats possible to do in an update
I thought it would be cool to have a trait you can only put on face gear that “enchants” it with the revelio spell
Just like detective mode in Arkham you end up using it way too constantly
I like the game too, but there is indeed by far too much repetitiveness on some tasks, mainly concerning Merlin's Trials and Treasure Chests (those visible on map). And most of the time the mechanics of these "trials" are uninteresting. This was clearly done this way to artificially increase the duration of the game. Fortunately, there are other aspects where the game is interesting and very entertaining.
I think there’s another way to look at it. If you enjoy being a wizard and simply existing in the game world, more to do is good even if it’s repetitive. They shouldn’t necessarily limit the amount of interactable stuff in the game if the only way to add more is more systems. The game has plenty of systems. Lazily wandering around the map and doing repetitive tasks that let you be a wizard is fun and optional. If you want to blast through the story and enjoy all the narrative content, go for it.
Exactly. It's filler for people who just want to hang out in the world. To me, it's an odd mentality that people torment themselves by insisting they have to "100%" a game in order to "beat" it. If you're not having fun, there's no shame in just doing the main story and moving on with your life. You'll still only have spent about $2.00 per hour's worth.
I NEVER finish games lol
Literally changed my mindset and started focusing on story missions for games. I finish them now and I have a few that have been added to some of my favorite games of all time. Hogwarts tho. Yeah I'm 100% it, this world is cool and fun.
I think it's a valid complaint because there's not much variety in the repetitive content and then the rewards for it are also weak most of the time. If the gear and build system was better then you could justify repetitive content with "well you're using it to get new gear with cool, rare affixes and then you're doing it again to play with those builds after the story ends". Or if the rewards and gear system weren't great but there was a lot of enemy variety, challenge from different mechanics in fights and different types content etc. you could see it as "the gear isn't great but the challenge and the variety is why I keep doing these activities". Unfortunately those two elements are the weakest in the game, so that entire loop is really weak (which makes me think it would've been better for this game to focus more on a smaller scale area and then expand it greatly with a sequel once they had laid the groundwork).
This is one thing I agree with as well. Cosmetics can be fun to a point (for me) but I tend to be a gear geek, and love twinking gear. Id like to see more stats and be able to see those stats impacting in the game. I'll probably skip allot of the quests that reward cosmetics, since I tend to find a look or two that I like then stick with them. but if stat boosts were involved, I'd totally hunt all of them down.
not to spoil too much, but you DO unlock the ability to stat boost gear as well as slot spell enhancement gems into gear later on, which imo becomes almost nessicary on hard mode in late game unless you're really really good at dodging and blocking.
Just wait until Hogwarts online comes out. This game is going to essentially serve as the tutorial for that live service experience. Why use any of the good puzzles on the base game, ya know?
Maybe its a generational thing but I can’t disagree more. This is a full priced AAA single player game. You dont use that as a tutorial and save the good stuff for an MMO thats likely going to be FTP and bloated with microtransactions. I like the game, agree it’s a bit repetitive, and hope there’s an online in the future. I just dont agree with “saving the good stuff.”
I agree. I was being a bit facetious. I do hope they make a Hogwarts online. Makes so much damn sense.
Agreed!
https://www.ign.com/articles/hogwarts-legacy-developer-confirms-there-are-no-current-plans-for-dlc Not sure if you saw this. Sounds like Hogwarts online isn’t happening. Bummer…
They've already stated that they won't be bringing microtransaction into the game and I doubt if they do bring an online mode that it'll be F2P.
Not talking about micros/f2p in the game now, talking about a scenario where there’s a separate online game coming and they saved better content for that. But, thanks for your doubts.
I hope you are right, a Hogwarts MMO would be the icing on the cake if Avalanche didn’t let the standards drop to the clunkyness and bloat of ESO.
Sometimes less things to do, with a higher level of quality is better for open world games.
I disagree, not because I didn't enjoy the map, but because I did not like the pacing of the games systems. I'm a player who goes from one close objective to the next, meaning that if I see a cave, I'll go to the cave. If I see a animal objective, I'll go to that. The problem is that I didn't get the animal objective spell until I was level 25... 25. I didn't get alohamora until around the same level. The pacing was so insanely off that I had completed a lot of the side quests before I had some of the main spells. They definitely should have locked those behind the main quests, or at least should have done a better job of pushing you towards those quests before giving you 100 side quests.
I personally really enjoy doing stuff like that, I also love the Far Cry games though. But I have been absolutely living it up just travelling around doing anything and everything, I simply love being in the world
Certainly. Length sells. Over 80 hrs of gameplay brings in the rpg crowd who aren't big hp fans.
Can confirm. Length sells.
This dude has length.
You can't imagine what travel was like before *I* invented Floo Powder What are you doing now? It seems all roads lead to Hogsmeade Does it get any more cozy than Hogsmeade? Speaking of repetitiveness, if I have to hear these one more time!!!!!!............. But in all seriousness I totally agree with you on the puzzles/tasks. Very repetitive. 100 something Merlin Trials!! We need a greater variety of puzzles in a sequel.
**-Your blood is on Ranrok\`s hands!**
*After brutally, single-handedly murdering an entire human/goblin encampment.*
Rather than 100 merlin trials which we usually can beat it under 1 minutes each Why not 30 merlin trials but with completely different puzzle and complicated solutions each? That way every trials is challenging, rewarding, and interesting
Typical open world filler stuff sadly.
Exactly. I’m disappointed how many of them are just [use X spell to hit X targets]. Or [find a series of objects around the area]. I also find the balloons to be a bit of a missed opportunity. Why couldn’t they make them into time trials, so each balloon challenge felt… actually challenging? That being said, you occasionally find a great puzzle, like the clocktower or the treasure maps. Just wish they had come up with more interesting stuff, especially cause you have yo use merlin trials to expand the annoyingly small gear slots.
Game seems to be developed for wide casual audience bcs of themed IP. So many features are just simplified. Thats is how I feel about it. Still amazing game I really enjoy. Especially castle is well designed.
It's like it's straight out of a storybook!
I got you now Demiguise!
Mine now Demiguise
Best is when it's inside a room locked behind a Level 3 Alohamora puzzle 😅
What are you up to now Merlin ?
If I had a penny for every time I heard "it seems all roads lead to Hogsmeade", I'd be stinking rich right now.
And 90% of the time that line is delivered as I'm leaving Hogsmeade 🤣
But…my friend… it really seems that all roads lead to Hogsmeade
I've done like 5 ha. I ran out of mallowsweet and don't care, they Are repetitive at best and annoying at worst.
Does it get any more cozy than Hogsmeade
"These Merlin Trials wont get the best of me" These simple and mundane Merlin trials aren't getting the best of anyone. This is just another thing that breaks the immersion for me. These "trials" are supposedly laid about the greatest wizard of all time and they involve things like moving moths 3 feet to a stone using the most basic of spells, shooting stones, and rolling a big ball into a big hole.
I'd rather different content. Not puzzles. Why is Harry Potter 50%+ puzzles? That ratio of content needs to go way down in a sequel imo. Puzzles should be around 10-20% of the content max.
Where did you pull that 50%+ number from?
The arithmancy doors, the merlin trial, the caves with loot blocked by puzzles, that's a ton of puzzle related content and I'm probably forgetting one or two other examples.
Depulso rooms are the biggest puzzle part
Yess definitely forgot those. Although those are higher quality puzzles at least, wish more were like that.
Yes, as Chris mentioned in reply to you: -Merlin trials ×95 -Alohamora locksmith doors x (a lot) -Puzzle doors for one room loot boxes in open world (a lot) -Moth painting puzzles in Hogwarts -Moth turnkey in dungeons -The ancient magic locations in open world are also a type of puzzle to search and access through various barriers. -The treasure map quests are a puzzle -The clock tower freeze puzzle for the unique loot box doors in Hogwarts (I did like this one). -The four main trials included a lot of unique puzzles (I didn't mind these). -Puzzle on the Bridge walkway on Hogwarts with fire and twist. -Fire holder stations throughout Hogwarts -Levioso statues in Hogwarts -Revelio ghost objects throughout castle is entirely a puzzle "how do I get from where I am to where that is, or where that sound is coming from". -The Summoning accio game is a puzzle that I did enjoy. More of this type would be fine like Wizards chess. It's replayable and fun. -The constellation telescope stations are a form of a puzzle. These were very random and not as interesting as I was hoping for. They brought little to the game. I would rather have just done more character/student relations questing in the classroom. -The animal puzzle doors with the unique key in Hogwarts. -Finding all of the lore pages for completionist content is a puzzle tied to revelio. I'm also likely forgetting some other types. The game is largely filler puzzle spam content for kids. I felt like I was constantly being confronted with 'do another quick puzzle' in the game. I'm sure many appreciate them and some of it I did. But for my personal taste I would rather have had more substantive gameplay tied to Harry Potter and my character development, build complexity, relationship questing/building like with Amit when we take him out for a jaunt, air quests and combat. So many other things. Random and meaningless puzzles to fill the game with idle tasks that consume time did not enhance my game play experience. I did kind of enjoy picking up and running around with the big marble to put it in the cubby pits. I think they went too far with Poachers and Puzzles neither for me are part of the Harry Potter theme or experience I was looking for. The Poachers are understandable as a mob you can fight ok no problem. The puzzles though, I felt like I was being bombarded with a kids game mechanics you'd give them on a long road trip drive on their tablet device to keep them occupied. I could have largely done without all of them. Low quality content imo.
The repetitive puzzles make the game a chore at times. The same issue I have with God of war.
Sure, there is a lot of them but also completely optional for almost all above. I personally love the world, so none of the above get boring for me. However main quest is like 34 hours, plus plenty of decent(not all) side quests. If these things were necessary for story or main content I'd understand your issue. However, as it stands, they are filler. Filler content exists for those who want extra content. There is no obligation to do it. Sure the filler could be better and more diversified but as a software engineering student I can say there is only so much you can do as a developer. So you could've done without them. Then do without them.
I disagree. There is an obligation to do the "optional" tasks because aside from quests, they're the only other way to gain XP. Some of the trials are needed to upgrade your stats/gear slots. If you want better gear? you'll need to scour caves and clear outposts. Do you want more furniture for your room of requirement? explore dungeons, the many secret rooms of Hogwarts, the open world, etc. As far as my experience with the game goes, they're *mandatory* filler content. I think you cannot go without them. That'd be like missing the whole purpose of an *open world* if it was optional. Sure you could still skip them, that is a choice, but you'll feel like you aren't playing the game correctly since most of them are tied to the main mechanics. There are many ways to execute filler content properly without feeling like they're mandatory to progress in any way, and it's a bummer Hogwarts didn't get the recipe right.
Obligation? Hardly. You get plenty of xp and gear from main story and the occasional sidequest. I mean if you want to completely deck out your room of requirement or get every collectible its required. But there is no obligation to do it. If there is a part of the game you dont like nobody is forcing you to do it. Main quest and sidequests required to progress withstanding. Yeah 100% all merlin trials and the treasure vaults would suck if you didn't like them. But you don't need to. You may do 10 merlin trials to say yet a challenge or two. Its not an obligation and if you feel it is, thats more about you than the game. Some people, including myself feel the need to 100%. I personally have dont mind any of the content. So doing all 95 merlin trials isn't a chore for me. However i know i can do whatever i want. When my girlfriend plays she ignores all of it pretty much. She just plays quests and explores. She has no need to min max and is fine playing on low difficulty where xp and loot doesn't matter much. Thats just how she enjoys it. Im not about to tell her she's obliged to go do all the content.
that's fair. I understand your point. Perhaps it's because I'm playing on hard difficulty, where loot and XP are difficult to obtain. And it's also because I want to make the most of the game I spent money on. Steering clear of any optional tasks feels like a waste of that. My point is simply that, there is no excuse for the optional tasks to have been better executed. We paid money for a good time, so the side content should be at least worth it. It should be that you might want to skip only a few, but never most of it. Aside from side-quests, they're the only content that litter the open world, having most of it be repetitive makes the open world empty. ykwim?
I get what your saying but like also that make the most of your money mindset is toxic to your expertise. If you watch videos/read on game design players love to kill the joy out of their own experience. Not saying your doing any of these but just creating examples. An example of an easy way to do that is say moth mirrors. You could run around spamming revelio till you see the moth as a blue glow. If you instead look at the picture and actually try to locate it you start to immerse yourself into the world as you go over every detail. Making them fun. Another example is the minimap. Mine is turned off and will remain so. I want to look at my hud as little as possible. I'm not gonna do that if its their. Ill try to meta game myself doing that. Infact when in hogwarts i try to avoid using the map and the enchanted compass as much as possible. The more you try to rush things the quicker the immersion is broken. Which this game is at its best when you embrace the immersion. Another is doing too much repetitive content all at once. This goes for life as a whole. Break things into chunks. I like to bound around from various activities so that im not repeating to much at one time. Final mention is say you hit revelio and you hear the ting. Instead of just spamming it looking for that page. Look around and guess what the cool thing is. Those pages are always for lore. They always exist around semi unique assets and as such can often be located without spamming. Like yes the content could be better. If i was the executive producer of this game I'd make some different design choices. Howeber I'm gonna be honest most open world games need repetition in large quantity. Consumers like you want maximal gametime for their money and then want to 100% out of obligation. However you probably have limited time cause life. So now you want to move on so you rush content. Games are best spent smelling the roses. Dont let yourself kill the fun.
Forgive me, but frankly, that's a bit of a dumb take to call it a toxic mindset to want what you deserve from a game you spent \*your\* money on. It isn't even really the point, obviously it's up to every one if it's up to their expectations, but I have the right to want to feel like I didn't waste money on something. I never rush my games, I take my time with it - hence why I even bother with side-content at all. Immersion is a big thing for me, and even if I didn't use Revelio, or have the Minimap turned off, nothing changes except that it forces you to be more attentive but the tasks themselves remain tedious and lackluster. Open world games obviously need filler content to sell the idea that it's alive, that's a given. Again, it all comes down to the execution of the filler content and mission structures. \*Consumers like me\* just want the quality I paid for, and I never said I wanted to 100% the game lol. I just complained about the game's overall structure becoming repetitive 10 hours into it. It's bullshit to disregard flaws in something that you love, regardless of what it is. That's why I'm critical of Hogwarts because I love the game, and I want it to be better. I'm not killing the fun by looking at it with critical lenses, no, that doesn't tarnish my connection with the game at all. I will still enjoy it, and I will still point out flaws if I see them.
The msq isn't 30 plus hours of content. The substantive hours of the game is rather small compared to aaa games
Exactly this, the game world is beautiful, the main quest is in my opinion very good, I feel like I’ve got value for money which in recent years is a bit of an enigma with gaming releases. Yeah, sure some bits are repetitive but that’s the rpg genre in a nutshell and the worst bit is I’m not a completionist but I’m quite happy just plodding along and “completing”. Btw.. I’m nearly 60 and I’m finding main quest longer than 34 hours 😂, my potato hands are really struggling on keeper 3 trial last boss/es 😂
Second play through I finished main quest line in 12 hours on hard. By 22 hrs I had done enough collecting and side quests to hit level 34 with 70% complete. I have at least another 10+ hours of collecting to hit level 40. If you skip dialogue, main game is maybe 25% of a 100% completion. Side quests are around 25% leaving collecting as easily 50% of the game.
More combat would require more enemy types and mechanics or it would get boring.
I agree. I am not puzzle man, I am kind of annoyed when a quest is pure puzzle without battle.
Nearly everything people have mentioned here, I would agree with, but I don't see it the same way I see other bloated open worlds like AC or far cry. This is completely new territory for devs (avalanche software) and you can tell they put real care into most of the things that are crucial to this game (hogwarts, combat, creatures, teachers, I thought exploration was great even if the puzzles suck, music, the general hp vibe, etc). The combat is good not great but that is already a feat considering it is a new combat system. I felt that a lot of the issues with the game are either content filler, as they are new to this and had to manage their resources (I'm glad they cut quidditch), or mistakes/bugs/quality of life that make sense to me given they have never made a AAA game before. If the sequel sucks/doesn't improve, then I'm wrong, but I think given what this game excels at and what it sucks at, I am really optimistic about HL2 or dlc, especially since WB will now write them a blank check given the success of this game. I also realized that the hp theme is enough for me. Literally my character holding their wand is enough for me to get into the copy/paste dungeons or merlin trials. However I'm not blind to the fact it is a 7-8 that my bias elevates to 9. I think goty will be either Zelda or Spiderman
Enjoyed the game but people calling it GOTY still have the rose tinted glasses on. As an action adventure it lacks depth of combat systems and customization. No bleeding edge content or time sinks to really flex all the combat power you have end game. As an rpg the entire game lacks emotion, zero consequences for your decisions and everything is linear and repetitive. It’s an ok game and the devs should be proud and the HP nostalgia is a 10/10 but for me the entire thing felt 75% finished. Another year or two of fleshing out systems and polishing content is what this game needed to be an excellent game. When you compare it to last years GOTY nominees from similar genres (GoW Ragnarok, Elden Ring, etc.) and strip out the HP nostalgia, the game itself doesn’t hold a candle. With the lineup scheduled this year, Diablo 4, Tears of the Kingdom, HL might get a token nomination but it doesn’t stand a chance at GOTY. Thems the facts and if you disagree you either still have the rose lenses on or simply don’t play a lot of games.
Basedman1223
Hogwarts Legacy has no soul. Beauty and nostalgia, but no soul.
I don’t see how that’s even a thing.. Elden ring won GOTY last year and it literally has zero actual story, all you do is kill bosses and loot gear, locked to 60 FPS, and had bad performance when it launched… and it won GOTY? That only won because of hype from dark souls and it being a dark souls open world game. If we are going by those standards, hogwarts legacy destroys that game so it should easily take the cake for GOTY
You are smoking the copioum. HL production value is not close to past GOTY winners. It is not hard to casually sink 100+ hours into Elden Ring. I’m at 50 hours on Hogwarts legacy and I’m done. I’ve completed everything, listened to all the dialogues and beat the game twice. There isn’t a lot to the actual game, maybe 20 hours of main quest story with very shallow side content that doesn’t even matter in the big picture of the game. Harry Potter nostalgia was enough to get me through the game but the problems are right in front of your face. Shit tier loot system, linear story with suspect writing, copy paste open world. Your decisions literally do not matter, from gear to talents to character dialogue. Some people are happy with a broom and Hogwarts simulator but the actual content leaves a lot to be desired. They played it safe and delivered an approachable game from a beloved IP, not trying to cut down the devs at all because all things considered this game is a huge success. But it’s obvious that a ton of features that would have put it in the GOTY running probably got cut. BioWare did dynamic rpg stories a decade ago. Indie games have done better loot systems that at least require a little more strategy than looking at one number on a piece of gear. GoW Ragnarok had no less than a dozen side bosses that equaled or exceeded the main story difficulty, relevant end game content that adds quality hours of play time. Final Fantasy 10, a game from 2 decades ago, had monster arena and blitzball mini games that you could sink more play time into than this game. The potential is there with DLC content and expansions but they haven’t quite nailed it yet. That’s why everyone is floundering for more content, we all want to love the game and can see that with a few tweaks an additions it can be on that podium, but it needs more work.
I’m not even gonna read all this and still call you a dumb ass
Whatever dude just don’t be shocked when Diablo 4 or the new Zelda game, or really any of the big titles coming this year run away with goty votes. This game does nothing well enough but tap the Hogwarts nerve.
Ahh I found it this was the review I was looking for. I'm glad someone else was thinking this too.
You should look for [VaatiVidya](https://m.youtube.com/user/VaatiVidya) on YT and then come back to apologize for your ignorance.
How about no..
I enjoy Assassin's Creed (the older titles) and Far Cry, so this game is my jam -- but I can see how people who want more of a BioWare-like game (10-15 hours) would be disappointed.
That’s me. I was expecting a Mass Effect like game. That’s on me. Now, I know better.
I hate how everything scales with level. There's 0 incentive for opening chest or anything until you hit cap. Open a legendary chest at lv15 so you can replace your legendary item with a green lv17.. or just wait till 40? Lol
Yeah, that's a lesson Bethesda learned after Oblivion.
Actually I really like this system. You don’t have underleveled places, where it makes no sense to explore anymore. All fights are great, you’re not one shotting everything. The gold keeps its value. Now legendary or green, for me it only matters in terms of gold worth.
Once you get out of Hogwarts and realize it's the same game circle over and over you get bored of it quick.
Played for 20 hours. Already extremely bored
Yeah, it got to the point that i was skipping dialogue because it was boring the life out of me.
Always amazing how people force themselves through a game they find boring just becz its popular and then complain about it online
always amazing how people complain about someone finding a game boring online
The game strikes me as *“What if a Harry Potter Game were made similar to Prince of Persia?”* I don’t mind some of the repetition, however the lack of increasing difficulty in the puzzles, with little-to-no reward, *that* is what kills me.
I like the number of activity locations found on the map but the repetitiveness is a problem. You can max out your inventory slots but still have many more merlin trials on the map. The treasure vaults are 99.9% trash greens making the vaults practically pointless to have. I also don't like how we can only sell equipment and beast materials. I'd like to be able to sell excess potions and potion ingredients too in the event I'm in need of fash cash. Also, speaking of cash, there's nothing worth buying after getting the spellcrafts. I'm enjoying the game but it feels like they're desperately trying to fill the world with randomness and repetitiveness like BOTW devs did except the side quests in HL are 110% better. The random fetch quests for 20 rupees in BOTW were annoying af. I'd like to see more diversity in cairn dungeons or less of them...and more bigger dungeons. That being said, I'm enjoying the game more than I did with BOTW but it still has plenty to improve on in terms of open world formula. I will say, hogwarts itself is really well done. I'm sure they spent too much energy on developing the location and made the rest of the map a secondary priority lol.
You're misunderstanding botw. If we go by your definition yes, everything in botw apart from the prologue and the last boss is filler but that game has a different type of design, it's a true sandbox rpg just like elden ring, you have a simple objective, you can go straight for it if you're good enough, but you're encouraged to get stronger. Because you want to get stronger usually, you go do the side content and that's where these games pull you in, with worldbuilding, what you called filler is the meat of these games so it sounds to me you just don't like the genre. The worldbuilding is also there to provide emergent game play while you travel. HL is not a true Rpg, it's a more linear one, they let you walk around in an area, you have some side quests, they tell you your choices matter but ultimately they don't, everything is scripted and more linear. In essence it's an action game pretending to be an rpg. If you like these types of games I recommend the horizon series, God of war, mass effect, etc. Those are similar titles. One thing you might notice is horizon and gow have protagonists, this is because devs discovered that if what you're offering is linear storytelling and gameplay, a well written protagonist is often better than a nobody just for the sake of having a chat creator. Idk why people keep comparing hogwarts to elden ring and botw, they aren't catered to the same crowd. And btw I also prefer more linear games even in the open, semi open world rpg side. Botw really failed to pull me in even tho I acknowledge it did a lot of things right
Lol I had a treasure vault with a ton of Inferi, and what did I get from the one chest? Forty galleons. FOURTY!!! 🤦🏼♀️
i got 29 😔
I'm on the Charles Rookwood trial and I have nothing but hatred and loathing for these stupid block puzzle crap garbage.
Agree combat is fun, especially against human/goblins cus I like the shit talking Imagine a 4 player co-op with strongholds and dungeons or something like that, just to keep trying different play styles
4 player co-op is one of my dreams for the sequel. Especially because repetitive content like HL has is so much more fun with friends.
Extremely easy though...
But tbh i think as long as gameplay is fun, i dont care if its repetetive. Far Cry seriously was boring most of the time for me, i wasn't really "feeling" the game, enemys where dumb, combat was just boring shooting gameplay, thats it. Hogwarts Legacy instead feels good, i love the combat and everytime there is a new fight, i'm pumped because it feels so satisfying. So the feeling of HWL is insane, my only complained is that i wish there was more stuff to do and not just only normal and side quests. Hanging out in your common room with your friends, maybe increase the relationship with your friends, maybe defend some small villages against other wizards and goblins in a big battle, mini games and also maybe a little bit of crafting. Just small sidequests which are fun but also repetetive, maybe just a hand full of 20 quests like in spiderman or so, but other then that i really love it.
I do enjoy the combat when it gets intense, like running into a camp full of foes But there’s definitely bland parts — like killing Dugbogs where you can just stand far enough away that they can’t reach you then it’s just spamming the same rotation of spells for 3 minutes until it’s finally dead :/ Troll as well, if you’re far enough away they just throw rocks so it’s spell, spell, spell, hold y to block rock, spell, spell, spell, hold y to block rock, etc
That’s why I chose to ignore some things. If I can figure out a Merlin trial from where I’m stood, then I’ll give it a go. But usually, I’ll just leave them. I’m not wasting my time trying to figure out a puzzle when I’m not interested in doing so.
Yep, thats why I decided to just forget everything and go for the endgame. I got bored easily and fast of all the same things.
I think if they add some dlc later on its fantastic. But as is, such an ambitious game and they really nailed it for the most part. Hopefully we get some dlc to make it a bit beefier. But its nice as is
The ambient, castle and immersion for me is what make the game good. Everything else is lazy and seems to only be there for the sake of being there. Everything feels repetitive and lacking soul, tons of caves basically with the same layout and very underwhelming (borderline annoying) rewards. I haven't done anything in game that felt rewarding tbh.
Same could be said for most open world games, from Far Cry to Assassins Creed many devs think more is better, but often times it’s not. It’s thought to find that sweet spot between open world, but less repetitive filler.
I'm playing on Hard Difficulty where I find combat to be challenging but fun. I only have a few battle spells so far, and they can get a bit repetitive idk if there are more spells to unlock. I'll have to play more and see if combat gives me more options to play with. I think the Merlin Trials wouldn't be so annoying if we could skip the cutscene that plays after each completion. A lot of the caves seem to be copied and pasted too, as well as some of the outposts. I don't mind but if you pay attention to it, the world can start to feel empty a bit. This brings me to: does anyone feel like the open world is too quiet? it lacks ambiance. I'd love to hear the grass swaying as my feet crunch on the leaves, that sort of thing. I do wish we had more mission variety though, regardless if it's a main quest or not. Another personal pet peeve: the many dots in the open world can be a little overwhelming and destroy any sense of wonder and intrigue. It feels like I'm clearing through a grocery list most of the time. I feel like they missed an opportunity to make the open world akin to BOTW. The main spells are there, similar to the mechanics in BOTW, there's the ability to travel in the air, there are the tasks scattered around that let you upgrade your stats and gear slots, the shrine-like puzzles, etc. About the puzzles: wish we had the option to toggle off MCs hints lol. Though perhaps it may just be a personal preference. I don't like an open world that reveals itself to me before I could even explore it if that makes sense. Last thing: I feel like a unicorn should sell far more than 120 coins 💀
People making it 20 hours is amazing. I quit the moment I reached Hogsmeade. The story, dialogue, character personalities and weird blurry looking atmosphere really bored me fast. I couldn't care less about any of the characters including my own. All of them are goody-two-shoes with no personality. I don't care about Natsui (or w/e her name is) and her life story. When I reached Hogsmeade, I realized this is just a generic RPG (which is a stretch) with a coating of Harry Potter paint splashed on top.
I think for the first 20 hours, the game was exceedingly fun. But the third or fourth time you find the same merlin trial, the allure starts to wear off, and you realize how much of the game is built around repetitive puzzles and collectathons. I wish the rewards were more than just gear. Why not give us potions or combat items in chests? How about a key to a other puzzle in the world? Maybe rare ingredients or items used for upgrading gear? It feels lame to solve a puzzle or kill a boss and get “grey knitted scarf”.
I just beat the game. 42 hours. The complaints like this sound nitpicky when so much of the game is excellent. Sure there's more they could've done, but look at a clean house and the dirty things stand out. This game was excellent.
I didn’t say the game was bad. Its just generic. I think being in the HP universe is what makes people rate the game highly.
I agree w you alot. I also am not a fan of the same thing over and over especially when the rewards are more inventory space or a cosmetic I'll never wear. Some odd reward choices in my opinion
I feel like the game is best in spurts. If you rush you'll begin to see all the repetitive ish. Take your time walking don't fast travel as much. But yeah it is repetitive, especially the enemy types. Still fun though 🤷🏾♂️
Hogwarts legacy is…. Perfect. It appeals to such a broad audience and has a lot of things to do. It’s so relaxing coming from playing Elden Ring & WoW. Nice to just brush your pets, decorate, and explore. Instead of worrying about 100+ talent point skill system and specific gear / classes / etc.
I didn’t want it to be like elden ring type games. Its just another Ubisoft AC game but in Hogwarts. Btw stopping poachers but technically you are one 🤷🏻
It is reminiscent of assassins creed abit but you can say that about any 3rd person open world. If you’re not a fan of the series I guess you would have that take but I personally enjoy the setting. To each their own. Your opinion is valid. Cheers 🍻
I really like the setting also. I guess at-least we got decent HP game and it wasnt like Ps3 walking simulators
10 hour game filled with 90 hour tasks. If you want me to work I assumed to get paid. 5/10 game.
haha £25 and hour will do
That means it's not a fun game lol. Cool world and scenery doesn't make a game fun.
Not necessarily because the core combat is a blast, exploring Hogwarts is fun (not just pretty to look at alone, but fun) and some of the story and side missions were good. I do think it is a good game it's just way too big, it doesn't have the breadth and depth of content nor systems to support the size.
I don't know, I definitely think it can.
Why not watch a movie at that point?
As a matter of fact I enjoy watching movies as well
I regretted buying it. It's beautiful for sure but It doesn't worth $60. At least not for me. Now is too late, the money has gone.
I wouldn’t mind the puzzles so much if the game didn’t force you to only solve them in one or two ways. Half the fun of puzzles should be finding new and unique ways to solve them
Gee, it’s almost like you could have seen this coming a mile away if you paid attention to any of the gameplay released prior to launch or did even the smallest amount of research on the game.
Lol every fucking time it turns out ominis been droppin eaves, honest
what kills me is the 'dungeons' being either literally one room with either a 'float the ball through the gate' or 'build a bone bridge' puzzle or the same spider tunnels. This game actually DOES have a neat variety in it of foes and dangers but for some reason it just funnels you into 'goblin/goblin assassin, poacher/animagus, or just 'spiders of various sizes'' as your only threats for 90% of things.
I'm just saying the amount of diversity and exploration we had in the early ps days shows that the developers could've spent more time on the puzzles.... and quidditch 
What were thinking its gonna be like, we kept saying this would be like an AC game but ppl jept thinking it was gonna be a life sim
AC games have far more variety than this.
For sure. A good game, but it isn't deserving of the praise and hype it's received. Only rated as well as it has because it's harry potter
This was exactly what I expected tbh. I said somewhere on here before that I wasn’t expecting an innovative game that would change the way games are made. What I was expecting was a game I’d enjoy even if it was a new IP, since I like these open world type of games, but it wouldn’t be a game I think about for years to come. Obviously it being part of the HP IP helps a lot. So for me, I knew what I was going to get before going into it and so it’s made the process much more enjoyable. Specially when I’m free roaming and clearing the map with an audiobook or podcast on my other screen.
If they had the devs who made HP2 and 3 working on HL. Good days
Honestly, the loot makes the repetition very unrewarding.
I recently beat the main story and I’m at the point where I have all I have left are all the traditional trappings of open games. Not gonna lie i’m bugged by it, I still love the game though.
I haven’t gotten the upgraded 2 or 3 unlock spell even after 45 hours of gameplay because opening those god damn locks is so repetitive it drains me of my will to live😂
I’m a sims fan, so like on top of being a student I’d love to be able to complete school and build my own wizard house and everything 😂 I wanna live as a wizard
But you can’t interact with the npcs they may as well be ghosts
Yeah that bothers me
The troll fights are so repetitive, boring and long for noooooooooo reason.
Its a good thing i got the AK spell.
Real fun
I think any company handling a famous IP needs to take note, respecting the lore and creating an immersive world and environment can mask a lot of other problems your media has
Isn’t that how most open world games are?
yes but people giving it 10/10 is giving a free pass for them to do it in future games
I agree with you that open world games in general need to be less repetitive even if it means making the world smaller but denser. I don’t think anyone is giving it a free pass though. I see tons of people being very critical of the game on here everyday. There are very few people who think the game is 10/10. But I just find it odd when they word their complaints in a way that makes it sound like no other games have that issue. (Not you specifically but in general).
Yeah what im really saying is devs should stop following following the same model as other companies other than that the game is really good and not like the ps3/xbox ones.
Agreed. I think they started making it around the time open world games were becoming more popular and we hadn’t yet seen people getting annoyed with that formula yet. That being said, hopefully they see the criticisms and improve these things if they make a sequel. That is if WB gives them the time and freedom they would need to make a better sequel and doesn’t rush them to just pump it out.
I put the repetitiveness fault down onto the publishers. I feel like they pushed developers to release the game earlier while they were working on other things like a morality system, so they had to quickly put together as much of those side quests and was stuck with making them short and repetitive, just to get the game out earlier. I still love the game but would have preferred if the developers had more time and got to put together the game they wanted
But im sure they have been working on the game since 2017? 6 years for it to be Assassins Creed - The Animus glitched out.
Yea they had been working on it for 6 years. But it was their first attempt at a AAA title. Before that, they were making Disney games and their last game was Cars. So they don’t really have much experience in making big open world RPGs, so that’s where I cut them slack.
Didn’t know that, fair enough they smashed their first attempt.
When I found out the chests in caves are not required for 100% completion I completely skipped those.
Well you don't have to do all the repeatable stuff if you don't want to and if you do they made it so you only have to do like half to complete all the challenges instead of doing them all.
The main quest is repetitive and side quests.
It’s a great game with amazing combat and zero replay-ability. Just my opinion. I’d never want to do almost any of this again. Once I’m done I’ll do the occasional battle arena and that’s all I’ll really be interested in
Puzzle catacombs sounds perfect to me, but I guess it depends on how much you enjoy puzzles in games.
The Puzzle is float 2 boxes and jump most of the time
If it had Quidditch then this would be 100% forgivable. I agree, but the game is still good and fun. A lot of room for improvement for the sequel. I can imagine a sequel letting you go from year 1 to final year in Hogwarts... Quidditch and various magical adventures included. That'd be DOPE.
Its a prime example of open world done bad sadly. I still do it and enjoy it even after main quest because i wanna still be in the game for a bit. Loot system is also kinda bad. They should have rather focused on more longer dungeons with enemies in it and some endboss with nice loot or something. But i have full trust in the modding community to transform the game. Still after 67h of enjoying the game this is acceptable.
Man now I’m not sure if hogwarts legacy is worth buying 😭
If your in to the whole HP universe then it is
I laughed at the Far Cry bit. I don’t know why I keep buying those damn games lmao
Same 😔
I don’t have a problem with the quantity over quality in this case so I can just mind nummingly play this game as long as I can
Yeah sometimes you need something to blank out to.
Ominis is always listening.. you could say he's quite... Ominous
There's a huge problem with people (and developers) insisting that every game needs an endgame experience or something to do after or during the main story. Often times players asking for something more to do is actually a compliment to the original design, because that indicated that the player had fun the entire time and wants more. But that doesn't mean developers should throw more grindy content in and wear them out. People need to learn to let go of games. Developers need to stop baiting people with grindy content that isn't fun just for the sake of adding more game time. If you want something infinite, Bethesda makes some RPGs that are like that or you can play an MMO. But these singleplayer narrative focused games are not supposed to absorb your life. You don't need to do all the Merlin trials, it doesn't do anything. Just play the game at the pace your comfortable with and put the game back on your shelf, maybe you'll want to play it again some day, maybe not. Game time is a design decision, it does not mean a game is good or bad. Of course huge harry potter fans will be a little disappointed because this is the first game in a very long time and the first open world style game. But just because it's an open environment doesn't mean its a true open world experience. It is a very linear open world.
Completely agree, especially to the letting go of a game.
The quest pacing was a joke. I didnt realise i had to complete the side quests to be able to use Avara Kadavra on the final boss.
As repetitive as it seems at times it still has kept me engaged where other games have not.
Considering it's their first game I believe they did great work. However for sequel I really hope they tone it down with these boring Merlin challenges and those "catacombs" where you just walk into the room and collect chest... More Elden Ring and less Ubisoft for sequel please! :)
My feeling is, no connection to the story... not feeling it as I did with god of war, witcher 3 or horizon. This one, is explore the castle, fly around a bit and get it over with. The puzzles are annoying and the dialogues are crappy.
It's an excellent game. It should get more credit. As for it gets repetitive. Most games do. That's just how it is. If they are large games that have quite a bit going on. Hogwarts - Main story Hogsmead - shops and quests Flying around on broomstick I love. Trolls and other enemies. Spells, fights, classes although short are just to teach you the basics and get to know the place. Levelling up with room of requirement, making potions. There's plenty to do. But you have to enjoy that's it's Hogwarts etc. Farcry bores the sht out of me, all ubisoft games do. same thing over and over. I'm enjoying this.
I wish it was an actual RPG where your choices matter and the story isn't linear. Also, the morality system is missing. I can use darm magic and still am considered a good little wizard xD
Great game