Hogwarts Legacy Review: Why Even Harry Potter Haters Should Play

what's up guys today we're going to be talking about Hogwarts Legacy okay well let's get this out of the way first yes this is a love letter to Harry Potter fans loads of Easter eggs and connections characters and hints that will come in the movies and books and stuff that you'll see later seeing the Hogwarts Castle and the surrounding grounds give New Life to a story and world that so many have loved for so long and it's awesome this is the game that Potter fans have been waiting for and honestly this is the kind of game that fans of all franchises would hope for a game in the world where you get to take part in something you love but not just recreate the same story but experience something new in that world all its own unfortunately that seems to be either very difficult or extremely risky to do because it happens so seldom I truly hope that the success of Hogwarts Legacy lead Studios developers Publishers and anyone else involved in making video games to look at the path that they've used to make this game and then use that framework for making games for other franchises all of that said and out of the way the truth is I love this game but I hope to explain to you why even if you are not a Harry Potter fan you should give this a go because even if you stripped it of the world that people already know and love if you removed it from its connection to Harry Potter Hogwarts Legacy would still be an absolutely fantastic video game let me tell you why okay look the story is pretty good it probably isn't the best story you'll play all year but it's far from the worst depending on how you feel about playing a teenager in a school setting it may hit a little harder or a little softer but the truth is they really don't focus on the school stuff too hard so if you don't like that I wouldn't worry too much the classes just kind of serve as like a story behind the character learning new spells and stuff like that also you do come in as like a fifth year which is equivalent to a junior in high school in America so I mean really your character is like 17 anyway so you're not that young speaking of your character though there's a pretty good amount of customization you get here the Character Creator is made up of predetermined choices so it's not like sliders where you get to change every detail rather it's like you know 50 hair types with 30 different color choices and you can kind of change them around right but but there's a good amount of of those options and so it doesn't feel cheaper or too limiting the gear also plays a pretty big role in customizing your character and you will find tons and tons of it now what's really cool though is all of the stuff you find can be used in your look now what do I mean by that okay so this transmog system is probably the best I found in any game so here's how it works any and every new piece of gear you find whether it's glasses uh mask a coat a robe you know clothes underneath your gloves hats whatever once you've found it it can then be used freely in a transmog system so while you're going through the game you will earn all kinds of stuff just find it in chess and whatever but you can also earn them by completing challenges or specific quests and those ones are these like special appearance items so those you don't wear they don't give you armor boosts but they can just be worn as the transmog piece and those tend to be a little more unique or maybe even like part of a specific set you know that kind of thing but so whatever you wear as your armor so you get the armor that has the highest numbers but then you can place over it anything that you've ever gotten you don't even have to put it on if you've acquired the piece then you can use it as a transmog you can change out you can have whatever hat you've ever owned that you're wearing no matter what you're currently wearing every robe can be you know can pull the hood up which is super easy so like for example uh I'm kind of boring but I found like this night set that was like all black and I took one of the like very early robes that's mostly black pull that hood up and you know then I wore that frankly like the whole game once I found it so but like my son on the other hand like he found he kept changing it he would he wore a mask for a while like this metal mask that covered his whole face and then he changed it and he wore like these steampunk glasses and uh a cool jacket I mean you can change it often you can buy new stuff you can you acquire it like so much it's almost like a Diablo or or a looter shooter style like you get a ton of gear but again you can sell it you can do stuff with it and and all of it again even if you don't wear it you don't even have to put it on once it just getting it makes it a option to wear as part of your look which is really cool and I really hope more games take that because I think that is probably the coolest way to do it now apart from your look you can change your character's voice uh it's kind of like two options like a male and a female but you can change the pitch right making it a higher pitch voice or a lower pitch it's not a huge change but you you can't tell the difference um so this isn't like a fully immersive Sim or anything but you do get to pick your responses to parts of the narrative usually it's still going to kind of lead to the same outcome or at least a similar one it's just like whether your character is going to be you know a little bit harsh and Sassy or a little more straight laced and kind I mean it it's not a huge difference but it does give you a little bit uh a little bit of choice there you also get to pick how you lay out your spells what items and potions you use if any you get upgrade points which you can be used for things like new spell slots upgrading spills you already have uh upgrading potions and plant capabilities upgrading stealth stuff like that all of that works together to feel like a pretty solid RPG experience so let's talk about the story you essentially are are this person who somehow is able to see and sense an ancient magic that most don't even know exist and there's a bad guy that can kind of see and use it too so you basically just gotta take him out before he uses it to kill everyone I mean that's you know that's kind of the story in a nutshell of course there's more to it and some twists and turns along the way but that's the essence of it the game starts off really pretty strong it throws you right to the thick of it with a pretty cool cut scene things get moving and then you you kind of end up on this on an island or whatever and right away it's feeding you mechanics and gameplay one thing at a time though in story and so it really feels pretty natural and has a really good Pace to it as you move through that first set piece you just kind of learn all the basics there's more you'll find out as you go but I mean it just it really gets you going I found it to be pretty brilliant actually a really good tutorial and uh I I think it was it was somewhat similar to like you know when you're reading a book and a good writer who will kind of show The Narrative instead of just having a character vomit it and onto a page in like an endless description dissertation it's not like that at all it makes the world more intriguing and the story more enticing because you already feel like you're taking part and and learning what's going on and how to do it because of that and the way you start off the it feels like you're being swept up into something and I loved that feeling I did however find that at least in the main narrative that the feeling of being swept up that the The Narrative carrying you it did kind of Wane as the story progressed it's not that the story was bad or anything it's just that the strength of the narrative wasn't always quite as strong as the opening I don't necessarily think that that's bad I mean in an open world you want to feel like it's okay to do all of this side stuff and the you know all this stuff that the game puts in front of you you want to feel like it's you can do that and not like you're ruining something right I mean most open world games are like this Skyrim Fallout whatever there is the main narrative and the main story but but you don't feel like it's immediate and and this for the most part felt that way as well the main narrative itself is still good I just wouldn't say it's top tier I would have loved if they would have spent a little more time going even more in depth into some of the stories that led I mean not just your character but the ancient magic itself like where did that come from how do we know about it what is your character you know what's their involvement all that kind of thing uh but in all fairness I didn't dig into all the side content so it is possible that they they did more depth there I did a quite a bit of it though and never saw it so I kind of doubt it that said I do think it's saying something that I do actually want to know more of this story in the world the fact that I'm interested enough to even ask is probably a pretty good Notch for them I would say uh but I would guess that it won't story that brings you back time and again however I will say the dialogue in this game is on the whole pretty darn spot on there's absolutely some cheesy lines and some questionable conversations some barely Possible voice acting but overall it actually is pretty respectable characters have a purpose they have personality they have good acting for the most part I I really do think that they did a pretty good job on that uh I do remember at least one of the characters that you you have more conversation with feeling um maybe a little stiff at times but the others were actually really good and so I do feel like the dialogue had a good sense of emotion behind it so while it is true that I don't think the narrative itself is top-notch I do think that the way they delivered it and a lot of the side stuff actually is pretty top tier now where they did stumble in the little areas of the main story The Character stories as I was talking about they excelled no matter which house you end up being a part of there are a few friends that you will meet along the way the depth of these characters is superb they sh they show skills they're telling backstories and developing that relationship between your character and these comrades or whatever the characters are really believable their stories are fairly impactful and you really want to engage with them it's important to note that there isn't any romantic elements in Hogwarts there's no dating Sim stuff so I would you know maybe don't come thinking you'll get a high school rom-com because that ain't happening but just to serve as an example in the Litany of spells you can acquire throughout your playthrough there is a whole section of them that you cannot access you simply do not get them unless you go through one of these social quest lines you'll see them in this Vlog but you just don't have access you'll see an upgrade tree that makes it more powerful and frankly you can even sink points into that but it won't bear any fruit unless you follow the quest line through and get access to those spells these spells are not needed to beat the game I know because I was kind of in a rush to read the main story because I have kids in my house and I didn't want them going and spoiling anything for me so I rush to the main story did not complete the social quest lines until after I beat it and so a whole repertoire of attack spells and upgrades that was completely optional that I didn't have until after I beat the game but if you want them you can go get them I actually kind of love that I think it's awesome that that's an option and I like that they're not necessary they're just a part if you want I think that is an important aspect of any open world game so I think that was a really good choice on the developer's part now talk talking about spells leads me into what was by far the most surprising and exciting piece of this whole game for me and that's the combat I had incredibly low expectations for the combat of Hogwarts as the books and films of Harry Potter do not exactly fill you with ideas of potential amazing fighting capabilities but what Avalanche Studios produced here was an engaging entertaining and frankly just super fun experience now I play on normal difficulty and I that's that's how I play most games okay mostly combat wasn't stressful but it certainly pushed back far more than I expected some of the combat had these really strong puzzle solving mechanics that they don't even tell you up front but like a great story they give subtle hints and then expect you to figure it out now I'm not saying it's dark souls level okay don't don't get that Twisted it ain't Dark Souls combat it's not that the fighting is intrinsically hard but rather that it is multi-faceted forcing you to not only know the combat mechanics but also to use your brain to figure out how to solve the combat puzzle presented by any specific encounter pushing through the main story like I did by the end I was actually pretty decently under leveled and the combat was actually pretty challenging the last three Encounters in particular actually took me a few tries each to get it right that gave a real level of satisfaction because I didn't just simply mash the trigger faster but I did time the right Spells at the right enemies at the right times I learned the mechanics of the boss exploited it when the opportunity presented itself I dodged parried used the environment to my advantage made good combos you know used my specials on the right enemies so that when I did take out the enemies and the little thing sounds for when the battle is over there was a level of satisfaction in the encounter part of this yes comes from the fact that it was harder because I was under leveled but the other part comes because of the customization options of how you set up your spells and and what you put your upgrade points into whether you use your potions or plants or not because when I did lose a fight I often would feel like oh you know maybe if I moved this spell over here and mapped these buttons instead of over here it would be easier I could do better so there was a a level of fulfillment and just fine-tuning where your spells were located and the plan of attack that you would go for and that was actually really rewarding I really did enjoy that quite a bit as I mentioned it before but this was so surprising to me I did not expect the combat to be good let alone my favorite part of the game I will say though for the first few hours of the game it it won't feel that way okay it takes a little bit of time and you have to start unlocking spells before before the combat opens up so I do highly recommend that you prioritize the quest to unlock spells so that as you're able to upgrade and and do all those kind of things that you could pick more you know the Spells I highly also recommend that you that you get your upgrades that open more spell slots so you have you know more options and that will make combat just feel way more natural it will pick up way faster outside of combat there's a lot to do in this game puzzles are everywhere and a lot of them are not super challenging right some of them might stump you pretty hard at first a lot of them once you figure out what to do you just you can run around and nail them one after the other most of the puzzles I found I was able to answer fairly quickly there are a few that took me a little bit there's these doors that are a little bit of a math problem but once you know the the sequence they're super easy the good news is that once you've figured out one of these each of these puzzles the rest will come super easy if nothing else you can always just try using every spell you have on Things That Glow after you use revalue and just see what happens some of the puzzles and dungeons can actually be super challenging but there are guides so like don't be afraid to look it up if you need help or you know if you leave a comment down below I'll try to help you out there's math puzzles and Hogwarts they require or or statues that require you to hit them with specific spells Merlin trials which you know may require any number of things along with puzzles though there are flying challenges which are super fun flying is like one of the best parts of this game like as soon as you can get that trust me it's it's awesome I love flying in this game uh there's like Summoners Court which has you using Akio to draw balls towards you and you try to stop him in a in a spot with higher points there's like Collectibles everywhere and if anything that might be something to complain about there were so many Collectibles oh they were everywhere so if you're a collectible person that's gonna tide you over for a long time uh it got a little bit tedious for me so I got a chunk but not all of them when you're running around you're going to want to use revelio all the time because there's stuff everywhere and you just always need to be using it there's also these things called like demigod statues you can only get those at night which is really cool this is constellation alignment puzzles on and on it goes I mean there's just so many so if you like having this kind of wide array of stuff to do in open World Games Hogwarts Legacy has you covered okay a real quick note on performance I played on a PS5 and it was flawless I saw no frame drops no popping all the shaders and textures look good I had a little bug here or there but other than that nothing really it ran pretty good unfortunately though the PC Port as is the story more often than not these days has some real trouble frame rate drops are a huge issue and stuttering may play you as well there are some newer videos saying that there are things you can do to fix the issue but my understanding is that as a whole the patches they've pushed out have not fully taken care of the problem so if you're a PC Gamer be aware of that I know that you have to put up with a lot if you are a PC Gamer lately this stuff has been real garbage um I've recently been playing way more games on my my PC so I get it uh but just be on the lookout for that okay now because of that PC Port treble if you are waiting for the PS4 or the Xbox One or haven't helped you the switch then you might want to wait for reviews to make sure you don't spend full price on a broken game uh if you watch these later and that's an option look up another review by someone who did it on one of those systems they will come out um if I'm able to I'll get one out but I don't know that's gonna happen so just make sure you check it before you buy those ones because they might just be awful all of this combines to make a really outstanding game regardless of a previous love for Harry Potter or not if you grew up reading the books or not are we watching the movies or not or maybe you even found them as an adult but whatever the case if you do love and know the world then man let me tell you this game is a treat there are so many Easter eggs and connections hints towards events that will happen later that you know about but the characters don't exploring Hogwarts is amazing running around hogsmeade is super cozy it makes you want to sit down by the fire drink a butter beard kick your feet up you know all the good stuff very early on you get to put the Sorting Hat on it has a short questionnaire to kind of put you in a house I mean it's not much it's not like the good quizzes or anything but you can always pick which one you want anyway uh I think what will speak to fans the most is actually not the Easter eggs or or tie-ins or even the lore connections it's not even the World building it's the feeling of wonder when you travel through the world when you go in a tent and it becomes a giant Arena or you go to a cave and watch the entrance kind of unfurl in front of you the creators of this game truly understood the feeling and of awe and wonderment the Fantastical and mysterious of the mystical and Supernatural it is the amount of times that make your eyebrows raise up just in mundane transitions the way the stairs appear as you walk up the grand staircase or you get swallowed by a frog statue to come tumbling out of another it all feels just Enchanted and and fascinating it is this feeling above all else that genuinely makes the Harry Potter Universe both nostalgic and yet new and exciting this is a game for anyone who enjoys fantasy or good combat or open worlds but if you loved the Harry Potter stories then this game is something incredibly special and there it is I strongly recommend Hogwarts Legacy for pretty much anyone if you enjoyed this video do me a favor and hit that like button it helps out a ton and if you're new around here make sure you subscribe down below as always thank you so much for watching have a good one oh

Channel: Cailian

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Id: 0eyYoHdOYTg

Length: 22min 23sec (1343 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 20 2023