Hogwarts Legacy

According to the Challenges I'm 40% of the way through the quests. The first week was a blast but I'm really beginning to notice the Ubisoft-ness of the title. There are so many boring one-note copy-paste time wasters.

It basically locks features behind bullshit which was already locked behind other bullshit. Merlin trials for instance are 4 or 5 braindead 'puzzles' repeated over and over just so you can have some inventory space. The monkey statues that you've seen since the beginning of the game are mostly locked behind a later spell pickup and a super fun, "go to the map and switch to night" feature. "Slowly fly through these balloons", "Hold B to land on this platform", "Go around pressing your scan spell over and over ", etc.

The main quest has been really good but just about everything outside of that is actually garbo filler.
 
Bankie said:
According to the Challenges I'm 40% of the way through the quests. The first week was a blast but I'm really beginning to notice the Ubisoft-ness of the title. There are so many boring one-note copy-paste time wasters.

It basically locks features behind bullshit which was already locked behind other bullshit. Merlin trials for instance are 4 or 5 braindead 'puzzles' repeated over and over just so you can have some inventory space. The monkey statues that you've seen since the beginning of the game are mostly locked behind a later spell pickup and a super fun, "go to the map and switch to night" feature. "Slowly fly through these balloons", "Hold B to land on this platform", "Go around pressing your scan spell over and over ", etc.

The main quest has been really good but just about everything outside of that is actually garbo filler.
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That's a perfect summation of what I said earlier about it being assassin creedy. The main story is fine, the art assets are nice, but the side fluff is a grind suckfest, it is clear where time was spent and where it was busywork to save them time. I'm about 80% on challenges and it's brutally repetitive. I like to 100% games but the Ubisoft formula has killed that for me, and I don't think I have it in me to 100% this one either. You're mine now demiguise!

Maybe instead of having 42 merlin quests with repeat puzzles, one of each version only would have left it feeling special? I remember thinking the first few were cool, but they're everywhere! Same goes for loot caves, etc. I was making sure to get every chest on quests etc and then finally decided why bother? It's just random gear.

There's only a couple variations of loot caves too, and then they get recycled. Recycled houses in the towns, etc. They used small assets well in hogwarts, but reusing huge assets elsewhere is lame.

And I WISH the main character had more dialog options when going to repeat locations, or didn't monolog as much as he did, I'm glaring at you hogsmeade! And it triggers when leaving too lol. You're mine now demiguise!
You're mine now demiguise!

I got all the daedalion keys, I've been playing without looking stuff up hoping jt would be something awesome. I go to unlock it and it says I'm at 15/16 keys. I looked up where all the chests were, verified I had opened them, and then looked up the rewards. It's a freaking cosmetic regalia outfit! Apparently the game glitches on this and if you go to each chest, save and quit and reload it MAY reappear at one of the chests. All that for some cosmetics...

Speaking of cosmetics, all the brooms are cosmetic unless I'm mistaken. The speed differences only come from unlocking the expensive upgrades, which you only get access to after doing some main quests anyway to "pass time". 7500 for the 3rd, 4500 for the second, and I think 1000 for the first.

I've still enjoyed the game for the most part, but I wish they didn't do that AC/ubi crap so hard. If I have to grind, make it something epic too, and don't make EVERYTHING a grind.

Killer cabbages FTW
 
finished it today, it was good but ending was a bit of a let down/short. agree with the above, i stopped looking for everything around the 50% mark. ended up taking 66hrs, there were a few "left on pause" additions to that though, and 87% complete.
 
I think people are misunderstanding what's grind. If you can finish the game without doing something then it is not grind. Grind is when you are forced to do repetitive tasks just to progress the main story.

You kind of need the side content to be more than you are comfortable doing, because if it's "just enough" there might be someone else who says there is not enough to do. So the more side content the better, and you do as much as you are comfortable doing everybody wins.

I never understood the "need" to 100% games. I never once 100%-ed a game. I do in them what I like as much as I like, and no more. If your reason for playing a videogame is to get the 100% achievement that turns it into work.
 
I can agree that there are many side quests with some repetitive actions but I never felt that it was a grind. I played the game casually. If I saw a monkey statue at night I'd pick it up. If it was daytime it would automatically be marked on the map so you can go back whenever you want and get it later. Same with the balloons, if I was flying around I'd pop 5 in a row if not I wouldn't worry about it. If you sit there and actively try to 100% any of these activities then yes I see how it can be considered a grind but the player that decided to do that created said grind. IMO if you just integrate these activities into your normal gameplay it'll feel fine.
 
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StryderxX said:
I can agree that there are many side quests with some repetitive actions but I never felt that it was a grind. I played the game casually. If I saw a monkey statue at night I'd pick it up. If it was daytime it would automatically be marked on the map so you can go back whenever you want and get it later. Same with the balloons, if I was flying around I'd pop 5 in a row if not I wouldn't worry about it. If you sit there and activity try to 100% any of these activities then yes I see how it can be considered a grind but the player that decided to do that created said grind. IMO if you just integrate these activities into your normal gameplay it'll feel fine.
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Yeah but you are not getting 100% completion doing it this way. That's how I played for the first 25 hours. And I got exhausted with the things I did along the way doing it this way too. Oh great a flying book is nearby, better deviate and grab it, I've only got 92/100. Oh just a quick merlin quests or two after annihilating the poacher castle, again.

If you're a completion'ist or OCD, you're gonna want to get 100% on everything. But Ubi style games just use tedium, and passing it off as optional and as content (which obviously it is if you DGAF about 100%s, or checking guides for what is or isn't an achievement) encourages more devs to follow that recipe.

Would demiguise not feel more special if there was only 1 or 2 in hogsmeade/the world? There's I believe 13 in hogsmeade, but maybe I'm thinking how many you need for unlocking level 3 on the alohasnackbar spell? Seems... excessive? Also seems out of character when you learn some spells SUPER easy but to level up unlocking you gotta find ~22 of the bass turds.

Would merlin trials feel more special if you cut their number by 75%? They're EVERYWHERE. Might be better if we didn't have to watch the same cuts energy every time! I mean it is a nice pergola, the leafy man is cool, but it lost its coolness after a couple in. Arguably the most famous wizard of all English lore, and all it is is that and storage. Their lore says he was all about power, the power of a storage unit?

Would loot caves (or whatever they're called) feel more special if they were rarer, and thus less often recycled? Maybe unique items in them instead of random loot/money?

Obviously I enjoyed it and got my worth out of it, but my overall experience would be even better if that crap was reduced. And if the rewards were worth the effort for some of these.
 
rhkcommander959 said:
Yeah but you are not getting 100% completion doing it this way. That's how I played for the first 25 hours. And I got exhausted with the things I did along the way doing it this way too. Oh great a flying book is nearby, better deviate and grab it, I've only got 92/100. Oh just a quick merlin quests or two after annihilating the poacher castle, again.

If you're a completion'ist or OCD, you're gonna want to get 100% on everything. But Ubi style games just use tedium, and passing it off as optional and as content (which obviously it is if you DGAF about 100%s, or checking guides for what is or isn't an achievement) encourages more devs to follow that recipe.

Would demiguise not feel more special if there was only 1 or 2 in hogsmeade/the world? There's I believe 13 in hogsmeade, but maybe I'm thinking how many you need for unlocking level 3 on the alohasnackbar spell? Seems... excessive? Also seems out of character when you learn some spells SUPER easy but to level up unlocking you gotta find ~22 of the bass turds.

Would merlin trials feel more special if you cut their number by 75%? They're EVERYWHERE. Might be better if we didn't have to watch the same cuts energy every time! I mean it is a nice pergola, the leafy man is cool, but it lost its coolness after a couple in. Arguably the most famous wizard of all English lore, and all it is is that and storage. Their lore says he was all about power, the power of a storage unit?

Would loot caves (or whatever they're called) feel more special if they were rarer, and thus less often recycled? Maybe unique items in them instead of random loot/money?

Obviously I enjoyed it and got my worth out of it, but my overall experience would be even better if that crap was reduced. And if the rewards were worth the effort for some of these.
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I'll say it again. If your goal is to 100% every side quest or collect every single item available it is definitely a grind but the player has to decide to create that grind. You don't have to 100% any side missions or collect every item to progress the main story or enjoy the overall experience.
 
M76 said:
If you can finish the game without doing something then it is not grind. Grind is when you are forced to do repetitive tasks just to progress the main story.
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I've never heard of that exact definition. To me a grind is a game forcing you to do repetitive tasks to experience most of the gameplay or content. Sure you can finish a game, but if you're missing half of the content such as abilities or weapons that limit the gameplay options that is a grind. Or if the game becomes frustratingly difficult without unlocking certain gear, or locking story content (not referring to the "main story") behind artificial goal posts.

There are many games out there where you can technically finish without grinding, but your gameplay options will be very limited and you won't be able to experience the full depth of the gameplay. This is becoming fairly common and "side content" is increasingly becoming essentially required content.
 
Honestly the definition of "grind" is going to depend on what you're used to in previous games. As someone who played a pretty decent amount of old school Lineage II, I can say that no, some repetitive side quests do not feel grindy at all.
 
Also, what's up with the god awful flight controls? Who thought that was a good idea? My wife was having trouble with it and asked me to help. Me, being an avid Ace Combat player, was like sure I got this.

What. The. Fuck.

Had to go download a mod that put all movement on one stick, and camera on the other. Like a normal game.
 
NightReaver said:
Also, what's up with the god awful flight controls? Who thought that was a good idea? My wife was having trouble with it and asked me to help. Me, being an avid Ace Combat player, was like sure I got this.

What. The. Fuck.

Had to go download a mod that put all movement on one stick, and camera on the other. Like a normal game.
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Link for the mod? I think that might drive me crazy.
 
I've played about 15 hours with KBM and it's been fine. The interactive parts with the mouse are weird, like when you learn a new spell or have to push the mouse up/down to open or close objects or whatever. The broom's controls are also absurd.
It's better with a controller unless you have a strong preference to use a mouse and keyboard.

I love a good open world grind but it's a chore in this game. The merlin puzzles are obnoxiously bad. With all these spells, they had a great opportunity to do some BOTW/Fenyx Rising puzzle stuff and it seems like they blew it.
I'll probably just do the main/side quests and be done, unless something motivates me.
 
KBM is solid but I've been PS5 controller all the way on this.

I can tell I'm not far from the end and I'm going to be super sad when that happens.

I'm already thinking about what my second character is going to be and how differently I can play it. ;)
 
what games would you compare this to? I am interested but I'm not sure if I will enjoy it or not. I mean thiss isn't Fallout meets harry potty world right? is it more like Final Fantasy meets HP?
 
If you’re adept at using 1-4 on the kb I’d say kb/m controls are actually a bit better, I’m not, so I’ve been using a pad mostly. I hate how when using a controller you have to use the d-pad to switch spell sets, which means you lose movement assuming you use your left thumb. Flight controls are terrible on both. Also, I think they should have just limited the number of spells to 16 to accommodate the 4 sets. Many of the spells are really similar and the game forces you switch them out often and it’s super annoying.

I like the game and there’s a ton of things that were done right, but if the appeal of the charm and lore wears off it starts to feel like any other pointless open world grind. Once I unlocked the 3rd inventory expansion I completely ignored the remaining Merlin trials. It’s also really annoying that you have to change day to night so often for quests and those demiguise moons, and there’s also way too many damn locked doors, unlocking so many for weak loot gets old fast.

I’m actually disappointed there’s not a deeper classroom mechanic, something like a schedule to be on time for, learning spells and potion recipes, maybe even some history. I wanted it to actually feel like being a student at Hogwart’s, something could’ve been done here.
 
Bigbacon said:
what games would you compare this to? I am interested but I'm not sure if I will enjoy it or not. I mean thiss isn't Fallout meets harry potty world right? is it more like Final Fantasy meets HP?
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The most similar feeling games that come to mind would be most of the modern Zelda games. There are some very obvious elements that they took from BOTW here as well.

The combat is actually the highlight in this game, to me personally. When you're nailing combos the combat just feels so good.

Generally, I'd rate this game pretty good - Although many of the open world elements with the puzzles are kind of a let down. It feels like a lot of the puzzle designs were held back in order to make the game more 'accessible' to younger players.

Still, this is a solid game and you have to appreciate the general level of polish/stability on launch as well. Most open world games of this scope these days are complete garbage at launch.
 
Mchart said:
The combat is actually the highlight in this game, to me personally. When you're nailing combos the combat just feels so good.
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Is this kind of like Bayonetta where you need to mash buttons and combo to actually be good at the game? I've never played a modern zelda game. Last one I played was Ocrina of time on t he N64 back in 1996 or whatever.
 
Bigbacon said:
Is this kind of like Bayonetta where you need to mash buttons and combo to actually be good at the game? I've never played a modern zelda game. Last one I played was Ocrina of time on t he N64 back in 1996 or whatever.
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No, this isn't button mashing. Different fights do best with a load out of a certain selection of spells, and you have to be intelligent about the order you use certain spells to deal the most damage.
 
Mchart said:
No, this isn't button mashing. Different fights do best with a load out of a certain selection of spells, and you have to be intelligent about the order you use certain spells to deal the most damage.
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this is where I wish games had demos still. Is 2 hours even enough time to get to a point where you would know if you liked the combat or not?
 
Bigbacon said:
this is where I wish games had demos still. Is 2 hours even enough time to get to a point where you would know if you liked the combat or not?
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Not really, the biggest gripe I have with this game is that it takes forever to get into the meat of the game. It takes like 4-6 hours to get out of doing intro stuff.
 
With some linux help i can try this.

This is a well done game so far. Performance with RT enables is brutal thoiugh even at 1080 on my 3080 10gb.

Performance tanks to like songle digits at times even in a conversation
 
I've seen some posts about the recently cracked version having a decent bit more performance because of no denuvo. Who knows. Since I already bought the game I might try it and see if there's any truth to it.
 
NightReaver said:
I've seen some posts about the recently cracked version having a decent bit more performance because of no denuvo. Who knows. Since I already bought the game I might try it and see if there's any truth to it.
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Its all over for me even with RT off. Its fine for a bit, then tanks to single digits for a bit. Game is using 15gb of ram and lime 9gb of vram c9nstantly. I may have to lower stuff. Riggt now im on ultra everythonf woth RT off at 1080. the game set those settings for me.
 
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are there major differences in the story based on which house you choose (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff)?...exclusive side missions for each house etc?
 
polonyc2 said:
are there major differences in the story based on which house you choose (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff)?...exclusive side missions for each house etc?
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a few minor differences, one has an azkaban mission and i guess there are 3 different endings but not sure if those depend on house.
 
Looks like my problem is 10gb of VRAM according to the hardware unboxed testing.
 
Bigbacon said:
Looks like my problem is 10gb of VRAM according to the hardware unboxed testing.
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my 8gb hasnt seemed to be an issue, tops out ~7.5 used. im playing at 1440/75, mix of med-ult settings and get ~50-75fps(odd cut scenes drop to 45), with vrr on it plays smooth.
 
pendragon1 said:
my 8gb hasnt seemed to be an issue, tops out ~7.5 used. im playing at 1440/75, mix of med-ult settings and get ~50-75fps(odd cut scenes drop to 45), with vrr on it plays smooth.
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I wonder what it is then. The performance often end up in single digits.
 
Bigbacon said:
I wonder what it is then. The performance often end up in single digits.
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sig rig? what settings you using?
edit: nm, i just saw your last post. youre gonna need to lower a few settings if youre still running the 1080ti.
pic is crap but youll get the idea
1677452034890.png
 
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Bigbacon said:
no that is old. 5800x3D now, 32gb ram, 3080 10gb.....wow my sig is WAY old.
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lol, a smidge. i edited my last post, try dropping to the high/ult settings in the pic. i also have most "cinematic" effects off, but dof on. ult textures might be hitting it hard too.
 
pendragon1 said:
sig rig? what settings you using?
edit: nm, i just saw your last post. youre gonna need to lower a few settings if youre still running the 1080ti.
pic is crap but youll get the idea
View attachment 552282
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thanks I played a round a bit. seems better now. I think the actual problem was when the game needed to load in a new area it would just tank for like 15 seconds.
 
Bigbacon said:
With some linux help i can try this.

This is a well done game so far. Performance with RT enables is brutal thoiugh even at 1080 on my 3080 10gb.

Performance tanks to like songle digits at times even in a conversation
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Best for me on LInux:

Latest Proton

Launch options: DXVK_ASYNC=1 PROTON_ENABLE_NVAPI=1 VKD3D_CONFIG=dxr %command% - Enables the DLSS and Ray Tracing options

Create /etc/sysctl.d/99-max_max_count.conf with vm.max_map_count=1000000 inside - Stops crashing when loading / fast traveling

Download DLSS 3.1.1 ini file (https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-dlss-dll/) and place in /SteamLibrary/steamapps/common/Hogwarts Legacy/Engine/Plugins/Runtime/Nvidia/DLSS/Binaries/ThirdParty/Win64/ - Increases FPS and image quality


Add these lines to the end of /SteamLibrary/steamapps/compatdata/990080/Engine.ini - Increases / stabilizes FPS:

[SystemSettings]
r.bForceCPUAccessToGPUSkinVerts=True
r.GTSyncType=1
r.OneFrameThreadLag=1
r.FinishCurrentFrame=0
r.TextureStreaming=1
r.Streaming.PoolSize=3072
r.Streaming.LimitPoolSizeToVRAM=1

[ConsoleVariables]
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdates=1
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesDuringGamethreadUpdates=1
AllowAsyncRenderThreadUpdatesEditor=1
 
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