Support NeoGAF

[Unknown Soldier]

About 6 hours in, I'm starting to think playing on Normal was a mistake. I usually play games on Hard, but people were saying this one is challenging enough on Normal. Well, so far I disagree, I've been destroying everything with almost no effort, including the third dueling club thing, which people were saying they were having trouble with (I did it solo). The biggest "problem" is that you can pretty much cheese everything with Protego + Stupefy, since that breaks enemy shields, making the whole "match spell and shield colors" mechanic completely irrelevant. I don't really feel like I need to use any spells beyond the basic attack at all because of that. I think the difficulty on Normal seems pretty good except for that, so hmm, what to do... How much harder is Hard? I don't really want frustrating difficulty either I think, I don't need this game to be Dark Souls.

Also, does the game ever teach you to use the different "pages" of spells (d-pad), or are you somehow meant to figure that out yourself? The only reason I even know it's a thing is because I saw it in a developer preview video. So far the game has only taught me how to replace the four spells on the first "page" with different ones.

If you find Protego + Stupefy to be OP, just tap the Protego button instead of holding it and you won't follow up with Stupefy.

The devs thought it was OP too, because the Stupefy counter is actually removed from Hard difficulty. It's only available in Normal and lower.

 

[zkorejo]

(Answer in spoiler Tags so I don't spoil it for thiose who want to learn on their own)

Spoiler

Turn Invisible

So the game never tells you that?

Also do they tell about the arithmetic puzzles that are all around the castle?

 

[Dr. Claus]

If you find Protego + Stupefy to be OP, just tap the Protego button instead of holding it and you won't follow up with Stupefy.

The devs thought it was OP too, because the Stupefy counter is actually removed from Hard difficulty. It's only available in Normal and lower.

Stupefy is still a thing on Hard though? Unless I am missunderstanding you.

 

[Moneal]

So the game never tells you that?

Also do they tell about the arithmetic puzzles that are all around the castle?

There is a cheat sheet in or near the arithmancy classroom.

 

[Meicyn]

Stupefy is still a thing on Hard though? Unless I am missunderstanding you.

It doesn’t break through shields on hard. You have to fully engage with the game’s mechanics in hard mode.

 

[zkorejo]

Everyone on PC, try realism reshade mod, I'm going with "more color and bloom" variation and it looks absolutely stunning. Costs like 4-5 fps but I changed dlss quality to balanced and it gives the lost fps back without losing much quality.

 

[zkorejo]

Very mild random environment encounter that most likely have ran past numerous times and not noticed, but this made me burst out laughing, due to how unexpected it is, I'll spoiler tag it anyway.

Spoiler

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/9VHK8AEK2V

Damn. He lost it.

I have seen this statue smack him across the head for humming twice.. didn't know it would go this far.

 

[JayK47]

Found a house with a tree growing through it, lifting it up and tilting it. Very cool. This game has so much detail and exploring is very fulfilling.

 

[Esppiral]

Has anyone run into a woman bartender that speaks with a male voice? JKR redeemed.

 

[Agent_Nobody]

Has anyone run into a woman bartender that speaks with a male voice? JKR redeemed.

Sinora, she’s a really cool character; basically the local sheriff and bartender all in one.

 

[LaughingStock]

So the game never tells you that?

Also do they tell about the arithmetic puzzles that are all around the castle?

That puzzle is so easy that it made me feel embarrassed that I never tried to solve it before someone spoiled it for me.

 

[zkorejo]

That puzzle is so easy that it made me feel embarrassed that I never tried to solve it before someone spoiled it for me.

I tried to solve it but I didn't know what values the animals had. I was waiting for a npc to introduce it. I kind of like it there is no hand holding.

 

[decisions]

I started the game today and played it for like 6 hours straight haha. It's really a great open-world game.

Only thing is on PC the performance is really disappointing. On a 3080Ti 12GB VRAM with 32GB RAM, I get 100% utilization and need to lock the game at 72fps which it stays at about half the time if I don't use ray-tracing. Usually it's at least above 60 so it's not really preventing me from enjoying the game, it's just disappointing.

 

[nikos]

Has anyone run into a woman bartender that speaks with a male voice? JKR redeemed.

I did IRL at a juice bar earlier today. She was incredibly rude for no reason, so after I got what I needed I said "thanks, dude" and left.

 

[kikkis]

Combat seems to work better if you disregard enemies entirely and focus on your own head having yellow or red pop ups.

 

[Moriah20]

About 6 hours in, I'm starting to think playing on Normal was a mistake. I usually play games on Hard, but people were saying this one is challenging enough on Normal. Well, so far I disagree, I've been destroying everything with almost no effort, including the third dueling club thing, which people were saying they were having trouble with (I did it solo). The biggest "problem" is that you can pretty much cheese everything with Protego + Stupefy, since that breaks enemy shields, making the whole "match spell and shield colors" mechanic completely irrelevant. I don't really feel like I need to use any spells beyond the basic attack at all because of that. I think the difficulty on Normal seems pretty good except for that, so hmm, what to do... How much harder is Hard? I don't really want frustrating difficulty either I think, I don't need this game to be Dark Souls.

Also, does the game ever teach you to use the different "pages" of spells (d-pad), or are you somehow meant to figure that out yourself? The only reason I even know it's a thing is because I saw it in a developer preview video. So far the game has only taught me how to replace the four spells on the first "page" with different ones.

i definitely raised my eyebrows at some people claiming the game is challenging. its not. its easy as fuck, very generous parry window and every combat cue is very clearly color coded, but i actually dont really mind that, it also makes sense, its a family friendly game afterall, "normal" being rather non-challenging is completely sensible for a game like this

 

[Satansblade]

So the game never tells you that?

Also do they tell about the arithmetic puzzles that are all around the castle?

Spoiler

you can find ther answer to the Arithmancy puzzles in one of the towers. I just thought the chest thing was obvious.

 

[mxbison]

Not being able to pause cutscenes is so insanely annoying. I just don't get it. Reason enough to lower the score for me.

Everything else I'm enjoying a lot so far (3 hours in).

The world is amazing even though lighting can be pretty inconsistent sometimes ranging from gorgeous to completely flat.

 

[Satansblade]

i really can't wait to see them announce sales.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

i really can't wait to see them announce sales.

The announcement trailer has 32M views on YT

Going to do crazy numbers

 

[MastAndo]

Has anyone run into a woman bartender that speaks with a male voice? JKR redeemed.

The ironic part is that this is one of the most "inclusive" games I've played. Sirona even gets a they pronoun...yet the demographic that would appreciate it most has to pretend they're not playing it.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

What is worse is that if you open a chest while Gear Capacity is full, you end up losing the item that was in the chest. This happened to me last night. I had no idea I was at the initial limit. Opened a chest and saw what the item was, then got the notification that I was at the max. So I backed out, deleted some stuff and went back to the chest to find it empty and losing the item that was in the chest. They need to fix that.

Same thing happened to me. I had to re-load a previous save. It was a rather nice golden item too. A doubt it's by design (and if yes that's some shitty design).

 

[Slothbeing1209]

 

[DenchDeckard]

Yup, deffo a ps5 owner.......

Joke x

 

[nikos]

Same thing happened to me. I had to re-load a previous save. It was a rather nice golden item too. A doubt it's by design (and if yes that's some shitty design).

This happened to me once from a golden item chest. I have a feeling it's a bug with those types of chests, as I've always been able to re-loot regular chests after destroying a piece of gear.

 

[BadBurger]

The ironic part is that this is one of the most "inclusive" games I've played. Sirona even gets a they pronoun...yet the demographic that would appreciate it most has to pretend they're not playing it.

There's a blind character that you can follow around, and notice they use a spell to get around rather than a cane like some muggle would. They don't a big deal out of it - most probably won't ever notice. It's a small, pulsing red light that seems like it maybe provides him some echolocation. That shows real attention to detail. Most games just stick a NPC in a wheelchair and ticks off a box on the diversity and inclusion checklist.

 

[Pejo]

my guy always says "all roads lead to hogsmeade" everytime I fast travel there

I (for no good reason) took it as an homage to Dragon's Dogma. The first time I ran into wolves I wanted desperately to hear him say "They often hunt in packs!"

 

[nightmare-slain]

the problem with quidditch is that it's probably almost impossible to make fun as a game, and current broom flying in game definitely isn't good enough for it, imo.

There will definitely be DLC, but probably they use a smaller team to create it, and move the main team to a sequel. Assets are already there, so that makes development a bit easier.

Maybe in this game but I meant for a future game. If they got Quidditch done properly it would give the game countless hours of fun and replay ability. I don't know how the old Quidditch World Cup holds up but I'd love something like that in the game where we can have house games and a tournament. They really need to make sure they get it working in the next game.

 

[zkorejo]

Spoiler

you can find ther answer to the Arithmancy puzzles in one of the towers. I just thought the chest thing was obvious.

chest thing is quite obvious.. I was underestimating the game.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Damn, you can really be a dick if you want to. There's 2 different quests you can complete where being a dick and demanding money for helping them causes them to fume and give you money. This is some old-school Bioware shit LMAO

I feel bad for poor Cressida though, the game literally shows me what is in her diary the moment I grab it. I didn't even have a choice not to read it. So once that happened, what exactly was I supposed to do? I'm not even a Slytherin and I already knew the path before me was set. I knew what I had to do in that moment.

 

[GymWolf]

The biggest flaws for now are lack of enemy variety and some repeated boss fights.

 

[AV]

You can also grab items while riding your broom. You can jump off a cliff and summon your broom mid-air. You can even summon your broom while on the water.
Broom>flying mounts.

You can even complete the Merlin jumping trials by just brushing the stones while on your broom bit of an oversight but I'll take it

 

[Krathoon]

You really gotta find those gobstones.

 

[Portugeezer]

The PS5 loading times are dogshit, running through the castle has you stopping at various doors for the world to load.

Metroid Prime on gamecube had less loading.

 

[AV]

New for PC mods: shut up the flu lady, add numbers to the dumb door animal puzzles, and pause in cutscenes. Thanks modders.

Tradeoff seems to be the most visually buggy game I've played since Cyberpunk, but nothing's actually stopped me progressing.

 

[SCB3]

So I unlocked Crucio....

Spoiler: Quest Spoiler

Without casting it, Sebastian cast it on me and taught it to me

Is there any repercussions to ever using it? I heard it gives the bad ending if you use any of them

 

[RoadHazard]

I learned about the page feature while on the skills menu. They should do more to inform people about that.

What's "skills"? Talents? I haven't unlocked that yet I think.

 

[BadBurger]

I found the tower Dumbledore fell from in the Astronomy wing. Since Hogwart's is constantly changing it looks a little different. No clear path to the ground, for example.

I also went looking to see if Hagrit's would be shack already exists, but couldn't find anything convincing.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

It just wouldn't be a Harry Potter related videogame if I didn't take the secret passageway behind the One-Eyed Witch statue to the cellar of Honeydukes, I guess.

The amount of sheer effort that went into creating the world is astonishing in scope. The devs must have all been forced to read the books until they had every single little detail memorized so it could be put into the game.

 

[GymWolf]

Stupefy is still a thing on Hard though? Unless I am missunderstanding you.

But it doesn't destroy enemy shields so it is way less useful.

 

[GymWolf]

What is worse is that if you open a chest while Gear Capacity is full, you end up losing the item that was in the chest. This happened to me last night. I had no idea I was at the initial limit. Opened a chest and saw what the item was, then got the notification that I was at the max. So I backed out, deleted some stuff and went back to the chest to find it empty and losing the item that was in the chest. They need to fix that.

Not in my experience, the chest stay full until you clean your inventory, never loss anything.

 

[Dazraell]

I found the tower Dumbledore fell from in the Astronomy wing. Since Hogwart's is constantly changing it looks a little different. No clear path to the ground, for example.

I also went looking to see if Hagrit's would be shack already exists, but couldn't find anything convincing.

Spoiler

Hagrid's hut

is actually in game, but you need to leave through the other side of the castle. It even has a note with a quite fun reference. The path to it looks like taken straight out from the movies

 

[MMaRsu]

I found the tower Dumbledore fell from in the Astronomy wing. Since Hogwart's is constantly changing it looks a little different. No clear path to the ground, for example.

I also went looking to see if Hagrit's would be shack already exists, but couldn't find anything convincing.

very cool

 

[BigbyTheSheriff]

 

[SCB3]

Its gonna be the biggest selling game of the year, I can't think of much else this year thats going to compete

Keep in mind, this is before the PS4/Xbox One and Switch releases in April as well

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

add numbers to the dumb door animal puzzles

Completely defeats the purpose of the puzzle but ok.

Also seems like you may have to verify the integrity of your files if geometry just fails to render like that.

 

[Mr Moose]

So I unlocked Crucio....

Spoiler: Quest Spoiler

Without casting it, Sebastian cast it on me and taught it to me

Is there any repercussions to ever using it? I heard it gives the bad ending if you use any of them

I checked and no, doesn't seem to affect the ending.

 

[AV]

Completely defeats the purpose of the puzzle but ok.

Also seems like you may have to verify the integrity of your files if geometry just fails to render like that.

Nah it doesn't add the solution, it adds numbers around the edges so I don't have to look at the picture I took of the key on my phone every time, or go into the inventory and open the note.

 

[CGNoire]

JFC which psychopath decided it was a good idea to put L/R on the left thumbstick and Up/Down on the right thumbstick while flying? On what planet is this kind of control scheme a good idea?!

They really need to separate gear equip and transmog so you aren't sitting there manually re-applying your cosmetic overlays on every single piece of gear every time you upgrade to a new piece. And they should also implement cosmetic gear sets too so you can just push a button to equip your preferred appearance.

Wait really?....tell me you can change that shit?

 

[Satansblade]

Nah it doesn't add the solution, it adds numbers around the edges so I don't have to look at the picture I took of the key on my phone every time, or go into the inventory and open the note.

I just took a picture of it with my phone.

The PS5 loading times are dogshit, running through the castle has you stopping at various doors for the world to load.

Metroid Prime on gamecube had less loading.

They are 2-3 seconds at their very worst, and they only generally are that long when you go from inside to outside or vice versa. Otherwise, there is very little loading, so calling load times dogshit is a bit ridiculous.