Dad vs Videogames 🎮

I got only a few hours left before I take my annual break on blogging. Before I run out of time, I want to talk to you about this awesome game.

I bought Hogwarts Legacy for my wife on the Xbox. I myself wasn't actually interested in this game. I thought the game was a bit over-hyped, plus it came with a lot of controversy surrounding its development. So yeah, I didn't really care for the game early on. But after seeing my wife play it and seeing her go through the sorting hat ceremony, I was intrigued.

So I eventually gave it a try. What I found was a really compelling game. The game developers did a great job of bringing the Wizarding world from the Harry Potter books to life. My wife is really addicted to the game now. And if I'm being honest with myself, so am I.

First thing I want to point out is that this game is like a throwback to great single-player RPG games from the past. Think Fallout 4, think Oblivion or Skyrim, think Witcher 3, think Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. This game is a true single-player RPG game. There is no online component forcing the game to run in the background. When you pull up the menu, the game pauses, unlike so many of the new games nowadays. You can leave the game paused, go take care of your kids and come back and your character will still be alive. There's also no gem store or micro-transactions in the game. What a breath of fresh air!

Second, the graphics in this game are beautiful. I haven't bought a new game on it's first week of release since buying The Division 2. So while The Division 2 had great graphics, I'm not sure how good looking the newer games are. This game though looks wonderful on the Xbox Series X. The character models, the landscape, the scenery, the spellcasting effects, the whole world looks awesome. It just makes me want to play it more.

Third, some quests are different depending on which house you belong. After doing a quest one night, I asked my wife what she thought of click to read spoiler... when she did her quest. It turned out that she never visited that place at all, because she belonged to Gryffindor and the quest for her character took her to a different place. So, there is replayability in this game simply because you get to experience the game differently, depending on what house you belong to.

Fourth, this is a true open world game where there is hardly any loading time for the whole map. I could go from Hogsmeade, get on my broom, fly to Hogwarts Castle, land on the Castle grounds and step right into the Castle and not have to see a loading screen at all. It's pretty damn amazing.

Did I mention you could fly on a broom just like in the movies? I love flying around the map on my broom. Ever since I got my broom, I stopped using the fast travel option (except for navigating inside the Castle) and just hop on my broom and fly. It's so much fun to get to places on your broom.

Lastly, the combat in this game is pretty good. An initial review I watched said it wasn't that good or that it was just average. I think, for the kind of combat restrictions it has — fighting with a wand — it has a pretty fun and challenging combat system. Unlike the Witcher 3, where you could hold down a parry button to keep blocking attacks, there's no such thing in Hogwarts Legacy. You have to time your counter spells or you'll get floored. Against one or two enemies, it's easy to stand your ground and just fire away with your wand. Against multiple enemies with aggressive melee attacks, the game turns into an exciting battle for survival. I especially love being able to cast my counter spell at the last possible moment, stun the opponent with a Stupefy, then finish them off with a barrage of spells.

And that's all the time I have for tonight. I have a number of screenshots of the game. You can check them out here if you want. Thanks for reading and peace be with you!

Tags: #GameLog #HogwartsLegacy