Hogwarts

[Cognisant]

Currently creating a character, the diversity is artfully included and not obnoxious at all.

The game doesn't let you customize your face much, so no Joker or Homer Simpson faces.
No beards? Not even a mustache? Sigh, totally unplayable.

Haha you can customize voice pitch, the female voice turned up to high pitch sounds like an anime character.
The male voice turned all the way down has a robotic reverb, more points for diverse-idor!

Overall presentation is very slick.

 

[Cognisant]

I've just spent the last three hours role playing a coked up fashion obsessed loot goblin.

This is either a good game or an amazing Skinner box, I've yet to decide.

The graphics, art direction, sound/music design are all very potter-verse, I definitely get the impression the team behind this knew exactly what they were going for.

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

Disclaimer: Cancelling gamers who want to play a game is dumb (people are acting like complete braindead shits on both sides of the issue, the wokes and anti-wokes), with that out of the way...

Why are all gamers suddenly playing a hogwarts game?
Is it because they don't have their own taste in games and just play anything that's popular?

In my view there's literally thousands of more interesting games than running around a magical high school with minimal fantasy elements. Really HP as a setting is one of the most boring things ever conceived. I mostly play strategy that requires thinking and co-op so I don't care.

The infighting around it is so dumb. Gamers be like "I don't care 'bout anything just give mah boobs and mah games the way I like 'em REEEEEEE"
As if 99.9% of games weren't heteronormative or didn't have boobs and nudity in them, it's reassuring how reactive and dumb people can be, at least I know I wasn't covertly transported to an alternate utopian reality

Like why suddenly a bunch of conservative gamers feel insecure that a game is going to be ruined by lgbt, like that ever was a concern lol. Of course a big game like this will be made to appeal to the widest and dumbest audience possible to make the most $.

Your gender norms and straight sensibilities are perfectly safe, you are basically the biggest customer here.

This shit is memetastic "In 2023 gamers learn how to wield political influence because some fucker tried to lgbitify a game they never planned on playing anyway" Gamer:"Waaaait that's also miiiine" lol and the game became an overnight success because of that sleek controversy.

I betchya a beer that this controversy was staged to help drive marketing and both sides are just bickering over culture-war issues they've already been about for oh so many years.

 

[Cognisant]

 

[EndogenousRebel]

Kinda watched someone else play it for an hour. YouTuber I like. Wasn't that interested in it personally, but maybe it picks up.

 

[Daddy]

so is this a good AAA game or a decent A game made popular because of the controversy?

Just wondering because most movie games are pretty mediocre and I never heard anyone getting hyped or excited for this. Just people talking about how they either hate jk rolling and are boycotting or are buying 20 copies because they hate the boycotters…seems like we’re all just supposed to hate each other I guess. But that doesn’t tell me anything about the game…

 

[Cognisant]

Indeed because that's what this thread is about, because how else would we know if its a good game if somebody doesn't play it?

The Hogwarts castle is very impressive, very detailed and if your computer is fast enough you can run through the entire thing without stopping to load the next area. On mine I'll get stuck at a door for a few seconds before it lets me through but only when I'm going from one major area to another, so long as I'm not sprinting around its seamless. The world map is Hogwarts, Hogsmead and about half a dozen little hamlets, roughly the size of Cyrodiil, maybe a bit bigger but feels smaller once you can get on a broom and fly around.

What stood out to me is all the little scripted events which don't demand your attention but certainly make the setting feel more alive, like the ghost Peeves annoying some kids, or a couple of thieves being caught by a store owner. The game has a great slice of life feel that encourages you to just walk around and experience the world happening. The developers put a lot of love into this, no doubt about it.

Combat is a little repetitive but combat encounters are relatively few and far between for an adventure game so it never really overstays its welcome, and once you have a few spells doing massive damage by juggling enemies and hurling them off cliffs adds a little extra spice. The game rewards you for approaching combat like a puzzle and experimenting with different combinations of spells, most enemies can be totally screwed over by countering them a particular way. For example a frog thing will try to hit you with its tongue, the creature itself is too heavy to levitate but if you cast that spell at the right time it gets hung by is tongue, then if you use another spell to slash it the tongue will be cut off killing it instantly, ending what is otherwise a fairly tanky opponent.

 

[scorpiomover]

I wonder if Harry Potter (and the game) would be as popular if Hogwarts were called "Swine-boils".

 

[Cognisant]

Swineboils School for Witchcraft & Wizardry.

Has a nice ring to it.