Hogwarts Legacy

[Octavious]

I think it may have a bit to do with me sitting too close to a big monitor. I gave terrible perifieral vision so I don't see the prompts over his head. I also have a hard time with the targeting.

Like I'm looking at the dude way over on the right of the screen and a small prompt on my head I'm not gonna see..

[Scraper]

My only issue is that I find the combat quite difficult. So many different button presses and I kept missing blocks.

I’ve seen this in a couple reviews. Does the game have different difficulty levels?

Not interested in “Harry Potter and the Darkest of Souls”, but may give it a go if the combat can be dialed back somewhat.

It's definitely not as hard as a souls game. I'm about 4 hours in now and I have yet to lose a fight. I think it does offer a difficulty slider as well but I'm not 100% sure on that.

[Octavious]

I have to check when I get home as I was thinking about it and I think it's the block button. In this game it's Y. Anything else I play it's LB and it's messing me up. I'd really prefer to remap it if I can.

[YellowKing]

There are four difficulty levels if I recall correctly.

I'm not having too much trouble with the combat one on one because parry-able and dodge-able attacks are telegraphed pretty clearly. It's when I'm being attacked in a group where things get dicey since you can't always see what's hitting you from behind.

It's really neat that the same combat tactics can't be used against every enemy. You might get yourself in the pattern of Levitate/Blast on smaller enemies, but then you wind up running against an enemy too heavy to levitate and have to completely change tactics. It keeps the combat really fun and dynamic.

This will be a Game of the Year contender for sure.

[Kurth]

Any reviews talking about differences between PS5 and XBOX SeriesX?

[Scraper]

Any reviews talking about differences between PS5 and XBOX SeriesX?

The only thing I've seen is that the PS5 version has better performance when it comes to Ray Tracing mode, BUT the Series X has better performance in all other modes. Also the loading times are slightly better on the PS5. With that said they aren't miles apart and most people wouldn't notice the difference.

[Scraper]

I've experimented with Fidelity Mode, Performance Mode and Ray Tracing mode on the PS5. The Performance mode is really smooth, the Fidelity mode seems to stutter, especially in the castle, and Ray Tracing mode seems to run at a consistent 30FPS. Also, I can't tell much of a difference between the graphics on Fidelity and Performance, but I can see the improvements that Ray Tracing makes. So ultimately I'll probably play this on Ray Tracing Mode.

[malchior]

There are four difficulty levels if I recall correctly.

I'm not having too much trouble with the combat one on one because parry-able and dodge-able attacks are telegraphed pretty clearly. It's when I'm being attacked in a group where things get dicey since you can't always see what's hitting you from behind.

But even then if you can divide focus on "yourself" you still have a 'spidey sense' like indicator whether to block or dodge. At least the fights I have done so far helped with this even when surrounded.

It's really neat that the same combat tactics can't be used against every enemy. You might get yourself in the pattern of Levitate/Blast on smaller enemies, but then you wind up running against an enemy too heavy to levitate and have to completely change tactics. It keeps the combat really fun and dynamic.

This will be a Game of the Year contender for sure.

Agree wholeheartedly. It's early in the year but it feels like an extremely well done game coming along like this is usually only a 1 or 2 off a year thing.

[YellowKing]

But even then if you can divide focus on "yourself" you still have a 'spidey sense' like indicator whether to block or dodge.

Ahhh.....I figured there was some indication, but it hadn't clicked with me yet.

[malchior]

But even then if you can divide focus on "yourself" you still have a 'spidey sense' like indicator whether to block or dodge.

Ahhh.....I figured there was some indication, but it hadn't clicked with me yet.

Unless only I too can see mysterious forces I see red for dodge and yellow for block.

[coopasonic]

Just wanted to add my comments to the pile of praise. I have played around 4 hours and I am really enjoying it. I'm liking the combat a lot more than I expected. The exploration is interesting, though there is way too much stuff to collect. The story is too early to tell, but I like the character interactions for the most part. Performance has been very good on my PC. I haven't asked my kid about the 1660 Super, but he wasn't complaining last night.

[hitbyambulance]

i want this kind of game without the Hairy Pooter license

[malchior]

If anyone was wondering about it I loaded this up on my Steam Deck. Mostly because my wife wanted to know if it'd work on it for her purposes.

It had good performance, looked great even though it set itself to medium settings, and the controls were responsive. This really did release in a fairly good state. Give the devs credit for an above average release for licensed content.

[YellowKing]

I focused on combat tonight just running around fighting random stuff until I got a better handle on it. The biggest takeaway was SLOW DOWN. Random panicked button mashing is a death sentence in this game.

That said, this isn't Dark Souls. The game is quite generous in the time it gives you to react. I'd say you have a good couple of seconds to see a red (dodge) or yellow (parry/shield) and hit the appropriate button.

I'm still not *great* at combat, but once I stopped freaking out and actively started paying close attention to windows of opportunity, my success rate went way up. The best time to strike is after a dodge or successful parry, so hang back, let the enemy do his thing, counter, hit him with a combo. This gets trickier the more enemies you're fighting at once, but the general strategy works.

They also made the enemy shields color-coded and super easy to manage. Red shield, hit them with a red spell, blue shield, hit them with a blue spell, etc. It's a bit more nuanced because some enemies react in different ways when you hit their weakness, but that's the general idea.

Once it starts clicking you can do REALLY cool shit. Like jerk a weapon out of an enemy's hand, levitate them, pull them towards you, then set them on fire.

[Carpet_pissr]

Will it run on Xbox s? My son has that and wants the game, but he also has a PS4 Pro that he doesn’t use bc none of his friends are PS…ers.

I heard him say he would consider this title on PS due to the better…graphics or features maybe?

I told him I would help him pay for it ($15) if he did some chores but he would have to pay the rest.

[Octavious]

Ya it runs on the s. There are some performance videos out there. Runs at a lower resolution, but it will work. I switched back to RT mode and it ran really well today. It ran well enough that I never thought about it. So for the upped lighting I'm going to stick in with that.

I'm still having trouble with the combat, but I'm getting better. My biggest problem is that y as a block just hurts my DS brain. Everything else is fine.

I beat the first boss so it's not like I'm getting stuck or anything but I'm still clunking around. So far 11-12 gours in and there is no point where I have been bored. It's really impressive how they have paced the game out. Always with something interesting to do and attain.

[Scraper]

Will it run on Xbox s? My son has that and wants the game, but he also has a PS4 Pro that he doesn’t use bc none of his friends are PS…ers.

I heard him say he would consider this title on PS due to the better…graphics or features maybe?

I told him I would help him pay for it ($15) if he did some chores but he would have to pay the rest.

FYI it's out now on the Series S, but the PS4 version doesn't launch until April. Also I imagine the game will look and run better on the Series S than the PS Pro. Personally I went with the Deluxe version that way I can play it on the PS5 and my daughter can play it on the PS4 Pro when it releases.

[Skinypupy]

I went ahead and grabbed it this morning, thinking I'd have some time to dig into it today...only to realize it doesn't unlock until 10:00 tonight.

So, tomorrow then.

[YellowKing]

Not even officially out yet and already breaking records.

The article also points out something I didn't mention, which is the inclusion of a trans character. If that makes you feel any better about supporting it. I do know some rabid Harry Potter fans who still aren't going to buy it since Rowling stands to gain royalties.

[Octavious]

She's going to be rolling around in money no matter what they do. If it makes them sleep better at night good on them I guess... She has an estimated net worth around 1 billion. I just want to go home and play as apparently I have no moral compass.

[El Guapo]

She's going to be rolling around in money no matter what they do. If it makes them sleep better at night good on them I guess... She has an estimated net worth around 1 billion. I just want to go home and play as apparently I have no moral compass.

Honestly that's my inclination as well. But it's funny because my FB feed is decidedly different, so it was just interesting to see a discussion of the game without that thread in it.

[malchior]

Not even officially out yet and already breaking records.

The article also points out something I didn't mention, which is the inclusion of a trans character.

There is bit of freak out over that character because of perceived issues with 'male-coding' (since the character's name starts with 'Sir' - seriously) and tokenism. Love the inclusiveness but you can't win over the mob.

[Scraper]

Not even officially out yet and already breaking records.

The article also points out something I didn't mention, which is the inclusion of a trans character.

There is bit of freak out over that character because of perceived issues with 'male-coding' (since the character's name starts with 'Sir' - seriously) and tokenism. Love the inclusiveness but you can't win over the mob.

I'm enjoying the game and giving 0.0% thought into J.K. Rowling while I play. Is the game fun? Yes. Is J.K. Rowling an incentive twat? Yes. Do I care enough to stop playing something I enjoy? No. For me it seems like a weird hill to die on.

On the other hand I probably won't play that Atomic Hearts game because of all it's ties to Russia. That is too much for me.

[YellowKing]

Yeah my thought is unless you're just going to abandon the IP altogether and boycott every new HP thing that comes along be it book, movie, game, or theme park attraction, you may as well support the products that are attempting to counter Rowling's opinions. That said, I understand the people that don't want to put a dime in her pocket. You've got more willpower than I do.

[Daehawk]

I intend to have fun and joy while Im here. Dont care what she said. Thats on her.

This game looks so much fun. If only it was a MMO

[Octavious]

You know how to know the game is good? Half my achievements have been 1am or later. I rarely stay up past midnight as I do early calls. But I can't stopppp. I was up until 2am and did a 7:30 am phone call lol.

[Carpet_pissr]

I imagine the game will look and run better on the Series S than the PS Pro.

Really? I thought PS4 Pro was more powerful than Xbox S.

[Kurth]

Not even officially out yet and already breaking records.

The article also points out something I didn't mention, which is the inclusion of a trans character.

There is bit of freak out over that character because of perceived issues with 'male-coding' (since the character's name starts with 'Sir' - seriously) and tokenism. Love the inclusiveness but you can't win over the mob.

The first lesson in dealing with the mob is just that: You can't win over the mob.

So do what you're gonna do because you think it's the right thing to do. But don't be surprised when the mob doesn't put down their pitchforks and torches. They're a fucking mob, after all.

[Octavious]

No...

https://versus.com/en/microsoft-xbox-se ... tion-4-pro

The series s is kind of a fascinating little beast. I'm glad I upgraded to the X, but the S can hold it's own at lower resolutions. I'm still amused at all the tv reviews touting 4K 120 and how important it is to have. We're having issues even getting a solid 4K 60 FPS in most games. Turn on ray tracing and ya...

[malchior]

No...

https://versus.com/en/microsoft-xbox-se ... tion-4-pro

The series s is kind of a fascinating little beast. I'm glad I upgraded to the X, but the S can hold it's own at lower resolutions. I'm still amused at all the tv reviews touting 4K 120 and how important it is to have. We're having issues even getting a solid 4K 60 FPS in most games. Turn on ray tracing and ya...

Yeah the 4090 can do it...barely at native speeds. To do it consistently the 4090 needs to upscale 1440p to 4K. It does a great job of it but 4K 60 fps requires a ton more horsepower than a console is going to have anytime soon.

[Carpet_pissr]

No...

https://versus.com/en/microsoft-xbox-se ... tion-4-pro

The series s is kind of a fascinating little beast. I'm glad I upgraded to the X, but the S can hold it's own at lower resolutions. I'm still amused at all the tv reviews touting 4K 120 and how important it is to have. We're having issues even getting a solid 4K 60 FPS in most games. Turn on ray tracing and ya...

Wow, thanks for posting that. I remember kvetching a bit internally when he decided he wanted to ditch the (in my view at the time) recent PS4 Pro for the Xbox.

I vaguely remember thinking that it was a hardware downgrade, but obviously that’s false!

[gbasden]

The first lesson in dealing with the mob is just that: You can't win over the mob.

So do what you're gonna do because you think it's the right thing to do. But don't be surprised when the mob doesn't put down their pitchforks and torches. They're a fucking mob, after all.

I mean, I think the people complaining about things in this game have a bit of a point. I've bought the game, will play it and will enjoy it, but leaning into including blood libel and Jewish symbols into your already antisemitic goblins isn't exactly a good look. I think they are due some criticism.

[Kurth]

The first lesson in dealing with the mob is just that: You can't win over the mob.

So do what you're gonna do because you think it's the right thing to do. But don't be surprised when the mob doesn't put down their pitchforks and torches. They're a fucking mob, after all.

I mean, I think the people complaining about things in this game have a bit of a point. I've bought the game, will play it and will enjoy it, but leaning into including blood libel and Jewish symbols into your already antisemitic goblins isn't exactly a good look. I think they are due some criticism.

They’re fucking goblins. Jon Stewart made a joke about it and the mob did their mob thing. There are a million and one reasons why the whole anti-Semitic goblin charge is a crock of shit, but just listen to the guy who unfortunately — and unintentionally — caused that to catch fire:

I do not think J.K. Rowling is anti-Semitic. I did not accuse her of being anti-Semitic. I do not think the Harry Potter movies are anti-Semitic. I really love the Harry Potter movies, probably too much for a gentleman of my considerable age … I cannot stress this enough. I am not accusing J.K. Rowling of being anti-Semitic. She need not answer to any of it. I don’t want the Harry Potter movies censored in any way. It was a lighthearted conversation. Get a fucking grip!

Edited to add a link and quotes to the article where that came from:

Dave Rich, director of policy at Jewish charity the Community Security Trust, told The Hollywood Reporter: “I don’t believe J.K. Rowling is an anti-Semite or is responsible for creating anti-Semitic caricatures. There is nothing in her record to suggest that she holds anti-Semitic views: quite the opposite in fact, as she has spoken out consistently and repeatedly in support of the Jewish community and against anti-Semitism, when there was no need for her to do so. Consequently, I think in this case, her goblins are just goblins. Now, we could have a fascinating discussion about whether the traditional depictions of goblins in European culture have been subliminally influenced by anti-Semitic depictions of Jews (you could do the same for vampires), but that doesn’t make every goblin an anti-Semitic caricature.”

“The Gringotts goblins are totally coded as anti-Semitic Jewish stereotypes,” similarly opined Dan Kahan in PopDust in 2019. “[But] J.K. Rowling almost definitely didn’t do this intentionally. … Rowling also borrowed and pastiched from all sorts of fantasy and folklore while writing Harry Potter, so it’s likely that a lot of the goblins’ more anti-Semitic features are actually related to older fantasy fare surrounding bankers. It just so happens that those were probably inspired by anti-Jewish propaganda.”

[gbasden]

They’re fucking goblins. Jon Stewart made a joke about it and the mob did their mob thing. There are a million and one reasons why the whole anti-Semitic goblin charge is a crock of shit, but just listen to the guy who unfortunately — and unintentionally — caused that to catch fire:

I love me some Jon Stewart, but if you take bankers and moneylenders that happen to have long crooked noses and jewish features and then have those characters abduct kids and use their blood for those rituals and also coincidentally use horns that look exactly like Jewish shofar, I'll politely disagree with him that it's all ok. As far as I know a bunch of that plot and inclusion was by the developer, not necessarily Rowling, but it sure doesn't make it ok.

But hey, if you are fine with the "fucking goblins" then more power to you.

[Jaymann]

Do the goblins in the game use actual Jewish symbols??? That would definitely be a turn off for me.

[malchior]

They’re fucking goblins. Jon Stewart made a joke about it and the mob did their mob thing. There are a million and one reasons why the whole anti-Semitic goblin charge is a crock of shit, but just listen to the guy who unfortunately — and unintentionally — caused that to catch fire:

I love me some Jon Stewart, but if you take bankers and moneylenders that happen to have long crooked noses and jewish features and then have those characters abduct kids and use their blood for those rituals and also coincidentally use horns that look exactly like Jewish shofar, I'll politely disagree with him that it's all ok. As far as I know a bunch of that plot and inclusion was by the developer, not necessarily Rowling, but it sure doesn't make it ok.

Not everyone buys this idea. I can buy the layered historical version argument for sure. The paragraph above? That feels like a very big old stretch to me.

Do the goblins in the game use actual Jewish symbols??? That would definitely be a turn off for me.

NO! Well unless you buy this shofar argument. I don't but opinions seem to differ. To me it's a horn. Like used in many cultures.

[YellowKing]

The game also includes possibly one of the most diverse casts of NPCs I've ever seen in a video game - Asian, Indian, MIddle Eastern, African-American, Latino, the aforementioned transgender character and at least one lesbian.

So on one side you have people bitching about the anti-Semitic goblins and on the other side you have people bitching about how "woke" it is.

Maybe it's just a video game set in a fantasy world for kids. God, I hate this timeline. You can't even put out a damn video game without everyone at each other's throats.

[malchior]

Maybe it's just a video game set in a fantasy world for kids. God, I hate this timeline. You can't even put out a damn video game without everyone at each other's throats.

This is how I feel. It's exhausting. I've pretty much cut down activity in another hobby because it has become overrun with people constantly spoiling for fights and arguing about this stuff instead of just enjoying something.

[gbasden]

NO! Well unless you buy this shofar argument. I don't but opinions seem to differ. To me it's a horn. Like used in many cultures.

Turns out the anti-Jewish parallels go even deeper. The game, and books, reference a made up “1612 Goblin Rebellion.” Here’s where things get bad. It turns out there was a real, fatal riot toward Jews that started in 1612 and went on for years. It’s called a pogrom, which officially translates to “an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe….”

The shofar thing could maybe be explained away on its own, but when you put it together with the pogrom, it becomes really hard to not see a pattern here.

Look, as I said I already ordered a copy. I'm going to enjoy it I'm sure once us non-deluxe edition peons get to play. But that doesn't mean there isn't some potentially problematic shit in this.

[malchior]

I'll restore some of the snip.

Turns out the anti-Jewish parallels go even deeper. The game, and books, reference a made up “1612 Goblin Rebellion.” Here’s where things get bad. It turns out there was a real, fatal riot toward Jews that started in 1612 and went on for years. It’s called a pogrom, which officially translates to “an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jewish people in Russia or eastern Europe….”

The shofar thing could maybe be explained away on its own, but when you put it together with the pogrom, it becomes really hard to not see a pattern here. On top of that, the 1612 reference goes all the way back to book 3 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The likeliest explanation is that the developers simply scraped the lore from the books or some Potterverse encyclopedia and used it as flavor text in the game. Instead, if this was true we should be prepared to accept that JK Rowling researched an obscure pogrom in medieval Germany and slipped a reference of it into a book. It's possible but it sure feels unlikely.

Also we need to keep in mind that Rowling wasn't involved. So that'd mean that the developers picked up what Rowling put down and decided to spice it up with a shofar on their own. I guess there might someday come footage of every chest in the area dispensing 88 coins and we can put this to rest. But that feels like it required a lot of effort to code in some antisemitism you really need to squint hard to see.