Topic: Hogwarts Legacy

@Dutchx Considering it's often on sale and it's the best selling game of 2023, I'd personally say it's worth buying. Plus we just got new, free DLC. Just look for a sale.

@Dutchx
Yea, it's a good game. And if you like Harry Potter stuff, you'll love it. You can usually find it for 10-20 bucks off.

On the switch, it seems they alternate between discounting the base game and the deluxe edition… When one returns to full price, the other one lowers; so it’s basically always on sale.

Before it would be 30% off, it seems they’ve now pushed it down to 50%.

Honestly one of the biggest concerns for me is the draw distance / performance with flying, and with the Hogwarts castle itself.

When you're flying around, what is the performance like? Do the frames hiccup at all, how is draw distance, etc?

And with the castle itself, how easy is it to take an outdoor tour of the castle? Does it look good, or are the textures super compressed, as well as draw distance around the castle grounds?

I've already heard about the loading times, but those two issues above were the main reasons why I wasn't sure if I should just wait to play it on Switch 2.

With this current sale for half off, I've been getting antsy to go ahead and purchase it. I've been obsessed with the game's soundtrack on Youtube, saving and listening to many different ambience playlists.

@Ulysses Flying was my biggest worry, too. But it flies ok. The trees in-game are more simple, and lower count. While both Digital Foundry and Switch Up have performance reviews on youtube, they might omit showing flying. I did find a video with flying: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq0Y5tfEoWY

EDIT: I will also note, that a patch came out late december - mid january that helped improve frame rate stability. That patch came out about a month+ after everyone posted performance reviews when it launched on the switch in late November. Although, forgive me for not being to quantify it or put in better context.

There are about 3 or 4 of us here in this thread that have the game, and have been enjoying it. And I don't think any of us have complained about frame rate. I've played it for 60 hours.

@WoomyNNYes Ah, that's great to hear! And thanks for the edited clarification! I didn't know the game was updated. Thanks for your reply! Sounds like the game is totally playable on my platform of choice 🤓

I enjoyed Hogwarts Legacy on my PS5, but its a shame there is no version of this game that is complete. Both the PS5 and Switch version have to download files.

I understand it is a big game, but it still sort of blows.

@ShonenJump121 : I don't even think size is an issue. The game is under 16GB on Switch. Some publishers have released budget titles with games requiring such a cartridge. I think it's more the case that WB wanted to rush the game to shelves, and so they pressed an unfinished build to disc/cartridge while they gave themselves time to make the finishing touches between the manufacturing of the physical copies and the time the game actually reached shelves. Pressing the games on lower-capacity cartridges/discs was just a bonus. God, I hate modern AAA publishers.

As for PS5, they have access to 100GB Ultra HD Blu-ray discs (there's a lower 66GB tier as well).

@ShonenJump121 Normally I would grumble internally because they're too cheap to use a cartridge size > 8GB. But I think for this particular game the additional download is a good thing. This is not Nintendo: the game needs lots of fixes. These games have quality issues on initial release. Check out the list of fixes in the 12/12/23 update:

https://portkeygamessupport.wbgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/239...

Would you want to play without those fixes?

Consider also the stuff you get in the 6/5/24 update:

https://portkeygamessupport.wbgames.com/hc/en-us/articles/295...

That "little" update is a 2.4GB download on its own.

@cwong15 I don't know how it runs now, but I remember on PS5 even after some updates the game still had some sluggish issues especially with framerate.

Its also one of the only games I've had straight up crash on me, I had about two crashes during my entire playthrough. With that experience I have no idea how it runs on Switch since even on PS5 it had noticeable issues.

@ShonenJump121 If you have a PS5 and have played the game through, I don't see why you would be interested in how it performs on the Switch. This game should be experienced on the big screen, IMHO.

Anyway, on my part I have logged 80+ hours on this game on the Switch, and performance has not been a problem. They obviously had to downgrade graphical fidelity to make this playable on the Switch. Given that, I find it quite playable and never noticed framerate issues. I'm on my second playthrough right now, and I'm looking forward to the formerly PlayStation-exclusive sidequest that just became available.

@cwong15 It would've been nice to have it portably for a second playthrough as a different house since I've already experienced it once before.

@cwong15 Are you choosing a different house for the second playthrough? I only did Gryffindor.

@WoomyNNYes Yes, definitely. IMHO a change of house should be part of a replay. You have exclusive access to the house common room which looks quite different for each house. Slytherin's room is under water. There's a section in the early part of the main story that is different for every house. IMHO the Slytherin variant (my current playthrough choice) was lame. It was only as a Hufflepuff that I got to visit Azkaban, which was way more cool.

Another potential variation is to change your character's sex, since it alters the outfits you wear. There was a sidequest that offered a witch's outfit as a reward, but that outfit was mostly unusable for my (male) character.

This time round, I will try the other ending for Sebastian. And since I only have a Switch, this is my chance to do the now-available Haunted Hogsmeade quest.

@cwong15 Oh, that's right. I thought read that Hufflepuff is the only house that has a Azkaban quest. Thanks for the tip!

Does the game have some sort of quiz or “ceremony” to give you your house, or is it just a plain <pick one yourself> thing?

If I eventually get this, it’d be fun to just let the game assign me one.

reckon I'll get this around Halloween.

@Eel The answers to your house selection questions are both "yes". There is a Sorting Ceremony. The Sorting Hat will have an opinion. But if you remember your Harry Potter, you'd know that the student's wishes will override the Sorting Hat's. This game is faithful to that tradition.

@cwong15 ah then you can have it both ways, that’s good to know, thanks.

I have to say, after spending time with this game on Switch, it's pretty impressive what they've managed to do. I think the visuals here are better than Xenoblade 2, for reference - shows how far games can come on a console within a generation of learning how to squeeze power out of the hardware.

To me, when playing docked at least, it's evident the devs made the choice to go for a smoother framerate over the visual fidelity, and for an action adventure title like this, I think that is the correct choice. If the visuals were a little sharper but the input felt sloppy/choppy, it would ruin the game for me. But the way it is, the camera and movements feel smooth, you just have to get over the blurred visuals.