this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 44 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Tbh that's a low bar to pass. The newest CoD flopped pretty bad and Rockstar has been too busy with GTA6. Almost every other notable release was either a flop or a smaller studio or indie title.

[–] slimerancher 28 points 10 months ago (2 children)

While that might be true, 2023 was an year filled with great games and yet Hogwarts Legacy is first, and Call of Duty is 2nd.

As for notable games of the year that weren't flop (in no particular order):

  • Spider-Man 2
  • Baldur's Gate 3
  • Diablo IV
  • FF 16
  • Armored Core 6
  • Street Fighter 6
  • Alan Wake 2

Not to mention:

  • Resident Evil 4 Remake
  • Dead Space Remake

They may not be to your taste, but they all rated very highly. I haven't included any Nintendo games, cause they don't share digital data. Their numbers are based only on physical sales.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's actually fair. I barely pay attention to AAA gaming to begin with, so most of these games just weren't on my radar. I just thought "oh, Starfield was the big hyped flop of the year, of course there wasn't much AAA competition"

[–] slimerancher 4 points 10 months ago

No worries. Of all the games mentioned above Starfield was probably my most anticipated. But it let people down.

[–] cbarrick 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Those Nintendo releases this year we're bangers:

  • Tears of the Kingdom
  • Super Mario Wonder
  • Pikmin 4
  • Super Mario RPG Remake
  • Metroid Prime Remastered

Plus the DLCs for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe came out this year.

Great year for gaming IMO. But yeah, all of these are niche enough that I wouldn't expect any of them to be top sellers.

On the other hand, I know at least one non-gamer that got a Switch just to play Hogwarts Legacy.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Been waiting to pick it up cheap second hand. Not interested in financially supporting it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Honestly, considered it even though I haven't pirated a game in like twenty years. But when I found out the the person who cracked the game is also a hateful bigot, I didn't even want to download their work. Nah, I'll buy it second hand.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Would have tried it out if the author wasn't a transphobic piece of shit. Might pirate it.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Might pirate it.

Wait till you learn about who cracked that game.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 months ago (3 children)

Oh yea Empress may be the most transphobic person alive currently

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago

I did. it was alright. Worth it if you want to explore hogwarts and surroundings.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Also, the erstwhile lead designer was a far right agitator.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 months ago (9 children)

Is this game really that good? I’ve been holding out on buying it.

[–] ThunderWhiskers 64 points 10 months ago (1 children)

No.

It's extremely popular because it is a well polished Harry Potter game; something the world has been begging for for a long time. It does invoke that sense of magic that the films do so well, so if you're just looking to get a fresh hit of the Hogwarts world it's great. There are also a lot of really interesting and well designed characters. Most of all the world, particularly the castle, is beautifully and lovingly crafted.

The game buried beneath all that polish is a pretty basic-ass RPG. It is crammed with filler fetch/find quests. The dialogue system is just another exhaust all options non-system. The combat has some really cool ideas on paper but I personally ended up mostly mashing buttons against one of like 5 generic enemies most of the time. Also the only customization in this RPG is your appearance.

It's not a bad game by any means, but i wouldn't say it's great either.

[–] TIMMAY 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As much as I enjoyed the game, I cant deny anything said here. Pretty much sums it up

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I also agree with the above statements. The best way I could describe it is that while the gameplay wasn’t all that spectacular, experiencing the game world was definitely a treat, and made me smile like I did the first time I opened the first Harry Potter book or played the first games that game out on PS1!

[–] TIMMAY 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Oh big time, I told myself going in that I wasnt going to also listen to all of the audiobooks again but I definitely did

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Haha! I actually listened to the audiobooks on the lead up to the release to get myself in that warm and cozy mindset for the game. Those books are like comfort food for my soul.

[–] TIMMAY 3 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Im basically always juggling back to back harry potter and wherl of time read-throughs

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[–] movies 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I got it on sale in December and think it’s worth it. I’m not a huge HP fan by any stretch but was impressed by the mechanics, they’re fun. Though as the game opens up you start to spot the tedious shit all open worlds tend to throw in to keep you busy. I just ignore that shit.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Thanks! I hate when open works games do this. I might skip out on it for this reason.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

I've been enjoying the game as well. Not so much the story, or even "day by day" quest line its had. Once you get into the game and it opens though as the last guy said, it also has a lot of fun activities. You can also customize youre own "room" with the many magical creatures you can find as well.

If you liked the books, and just want to enjoy the game to feel what it might be like as a wizard than its an awesome game.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

My wife is a big Harry Potter fan but has mixed feelings about it. She described the game this morning as not great but not bad either, with great graphics, but also with an indecisiveness to it that suggests too many cooks in the kitchen.

With that said, that's just one opinion. The game seems outstandingly popular. She felt it's worth the money if you can get it on sale in her personal opinion.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 months ago (2 children)

My wife and I had the same opinion. Magical to run around the castle for a few hours and do the early classes, surprisingly good combat mechanics, but then... Nothing.

It is really hurt by the inclusion of brooms. They necessitate a huge world so you can't cross it in a minute, but then it's too spread out and empty. At least in Ghost Recon my world-design-crippling flying devices have rockets and gattling guns.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

You may hit the nail on the head, once you get the broom you just breeze past everyhring. The forbidden forest may be the most dense content wise on foot, everything after that does feel more sparse as it was designed with the broom in mind. All in all I still enjoyed the game and got my moneys worth out of it, I did pick it up rather cheap on a sale

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

And then for some reason they decide to give you some worse modes of transport later on for fuck knows why

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Totally agree with this. The first few hours were great but then when you get the broom and you see the huge open space that’s just really lacking. I really wish it never went to that scale.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a casual game that lets you run around the world of harry potter casting spells at people and things, solving puzzles, and wearing silly wizard clothes. If that sounds good to you then it's good.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Pretty much, yeah, that's what I want. Character maker?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The character customization is pretty good. Mostly just face and hair iirc but there's a good bit of options. You can also customize your wand. That's the most important bit I'd say.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

Cool, thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

It's a standard open world game. If that appeals to you and you love HP then perhaps.

[–] wccrawford 4 points 10 months ago

If you aren't sure, wait for a big sale. I quite enjoyed the game, but other than being a massively-popular IP, I'm not sure why it's getting so much acclaim. It's big, it's Harry Potter (with all the attention to detail that usually gets), and it's an RPG. If it wasn't HP, it'd be another good indie game, and that's it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

It's fun, lemmy/reddit screeches (rightfully so) about JKR's views but that doesn't mean the game itself is bad.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Culture warriors would rather play a mid rpg at $80 than admit that JK Rowling is a bigot who is bad at world building.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

She is a terrible bigot, and a loud one, and that sucks because she also produced a cultural phenomenon of my childhood, and while the canon of HP is only just barely pretty okay sometimes, it spiralled out from there and SO MUCH of the media and culture I've consumed and existed within since then has been informed by it.

So yeah. If there's any comfort, let it be that any money she gets from this comes from explicitly affirming a trans woman through the work, as well as implicitly affirming any trans players through the character creation options. Small comfort maybe, but she is far away.

[–] Zahille7 5 points 10 months ago

That's how I justified it to myself.

That, and there was an entire team of people working on this game for years, trying to make it the best vision of theirs as well as making it fit within the pre established world.

[–] Xanvial 8 points 10 months ago

Number 5 in switch after just a few weeks is crazy

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