No one hates the concept. I personally hate this game's take of 'people only use wands to be dramatic and no other reason'.

 

At least for me, the problem is the dismissive tone the game takes toward wand magic, combined with reading a lot of edgy indy!Harry fics. It gives me flashbacks to Harry strolling into a fight with Voldemort and backhanding his spells out of the air before turning him into a chicken or whatever with a flick of his wrist. And then go on a rant about how awful and ignorant everyone in the magical world is.

 

The issue isn’t wandless magic being a thing, the issue is wandless magic supposedly being superior to wands. Why are goblins frothing over being denied access to them? Why have the Ollivanders been making them since the 4th century BC? Why wands at all?

 

This is my point exactly. I didn't get the dismissive feel for wands at all from this game. It's definitely there in fanon, but aside from Natty saying it looked silly (because it's still new to her, and it does) everyone else is frothing over them.

 

So this is fun. Spending too much time just running around the Forbidden Forest and killing things and not enough progressing through the story.

 

Finished the game. Did everything except completing ALL collections. I remember when I started, people were saying the game is ~30h main story, ~65h for everything. These are rarely correct for me... but well, my Steam is sitting at 64.8h, so it was pretty damn right this time around.

Game pretty much stayed around 8.5/10. It definitely got repetitive, and the later it went, the more shallow the story felt. The ending was downright anticlimactic to me. I did get used to the combat eventually. It's wild how overpowered you are at high level. Lots of flaws, but a fun game. Better than I thought it was going to be.

 

Got us a bunch of mods out now. There's a free-flying one (https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/255), and it didn't take long to get a respec mod out (https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/220) . Oh, and there's a couple of better flying controls too (https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/128)

https://www.nexusmods.com/hogwartslegacy/mods/categories/6/?BH=0

 

Spoiler

I'm not quite finished yet, but the refrain of removing pain was so juvenile that it felt odd in a game where you roam around the Scottish Highlands murdering bad guys. It felt like it belonged in an - average - Disney movie.

I don't personally buy the take that because HP is a children's book, the themes and story have to be equally as juvenile, but that's just me I guess.

 

These are actual ending spoilers, so don't read until you're done with the main conflict:

Spoiler

What's very ridiculous is that this huge secret that the four portraits were gatekeeping really just was a way of using ancient magic to remove pain and some side consequences and nothing else. If they wanted to keep it a secret... why show it to me in crumbs. The MC would never have learned of it on their own. This is like someone inventing a spell, her friends realizing that it's a dangerous spell, murdering the creator, but instead of... keeping quiet about it and destroying all mentions of it, making a four-part trial and memory show to its hidden spellbook. Utterly ridiculous. ESPECIALLY when the last 'keeper' casually used the Killing Curse in the last memory... after decrying how dangerous the pain removal magic was.

Obviously, it turned into some Dark Arts juice, but still, man.

It's a huge shame that the whole ancient magic thing turned only to be some mage sight and combat L1 + R1 function.

There's also the fact that professor Fig just... died in a split second in some cutscene where I didn't even realize. Shocking they didn't milk his death. And I never learned what he actually taught at Hogwarts.

 

All you people powering through. This weekend I unlocked flight, the Room of Requirement, Depulso and Confringo. Character is at Level 19 and I shall shortly be off to complete the first trial.

 

Spoiler

The main plot mystery is just about the most assembled-by-committee, paint-by-numbers, unimaginative, basic fantasy trope shite they could have gone for.

 

Just finished.

Yes.


In case anyone is interested, the breakdown of house choices on PlayStation (for those who made it to the Map Chamber)

24% Slytherin
21.9% Gryffindor
16.4% Ravenclaw
10.1% Reta, I mean Hufflepuff

 

Interesting that Slytherin beat Gryffindor.

 

I will fite u

Hufflepuff is the best house our common room is a hobbit hole and the entrance is keg clearly 89.9% of ppl are blind and stupid.

 

The plurality chose Slytherin, of course their choices are suspect.

 

What kind of loser doesn't choose the bold and the brave and the glorious crimson and gold?

 

When I found the chimney into their common room just out in the courtyard, I wondered how it could smell like anything other than dung bombs year round.

 

Why would you dungbomb a random statue enchanted to smoke?

 

Just came across the Deathday Party room. Put an absolutely massive smile on my face seeing Nick trying to waft the aroma of the rotting food.

 

65 hours total, 100% completed.

Overall, I agree with the consensus. This game was solid, but it only excelled because it gave me the Hogwarts immersion that I've always wanted and dreamed of. Hogwarts is as real in this game world as it has ever been; that is its best achievement.

So, because of that, 9/10. But very low replay value for me, except maybe to see what the other common rooms look like.