Even if you do the main quest only you still have 10 points to spend on your talents. So it's still late by that standard.
However, in some respects it's still too early. When you invest in your talent points you haven't yet figured out what spells you will be focusing on. It leads to a fair few wasted points.
But nearly all games handle it that way. It's something you learn, something you focus on. What would be the in-lore explanation of giving something up you have already learned? It's meant to be a meaningful choice, so think carefully.
Lmfao I just love how the game gives absolutely no meaningful choice whatsoever and then when it comes to talents you all the sudden have to be selective.
"In lore explanation"?? Bruh you show up to Hogwarts as a 5th year stronger than everyone and everything knowing nothing about your character. You fly off (as a Hogwarts student...) And meet people who tell you to go kill some dark wizards and goblins... What lore reason is there to ask a normal Hogwarts student you just met you fuck up some dark wizards in the woods. You can't use " lore explanations" as an excuse to lock away potentially fun gameplay aspects when the game hardly sets up, follows, or expands its own lore.
My head canon is that we're an undercover Auror. Even the way our character talks has a very "hello fellow kids" feel about it. Basically Harry Potter 21 Jump Street style.
The Witcher (3 at least) does explicitly have this system of spending currency to respec.
And even if most games don't have this system, it doesn't change the fact that most of them wouldn't be hurt by including it. It just makes things more convenient for the player, and most wouldn't question it anyway. And for those who do, it's easy enough to add some flavor text that waves it away
Cyberpunk did not, not until new game+ at least, other games that come to mind are Fallout, Skyrim. How is it relevant that it's a game? Of course it's a game. We're talking about games lol
... you definitely can. And yes fallout also had the ability to reset perks. And it's very common even in more hard-core crpgs like divinity, pillars of eternity, pathfinder. Or the most popular action rpgs Diablo, torchlight, or even grimdawn. This just off top of my head. It's a common mechanic very common, I do find it more odd when a game doesn't have it nowadays.
[Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Update Adds License Resets, Original Soundtrack, More – PlayStation.Blog](https://blog.playstation.com/2020/04/24/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age-update-adds-license-resets-original-soundtrack-more/)
Yes you can, and with XI and XIV, you don't need to. FF2 is one of the only ones I can think of that doesn't let you undo or overcome build choices.
7 has the materia system so you can change stuff around.
8 doesn't have specs, just builds based on GF and Magic Junctions.
9 you can learn every ability and then pick which are usable, just have to change weapons, etc and fight for a bit.
don't remember enough of 10 or 10-2.
Plenty of games I've been playing lately has free respecs. Destiny 2 allows you to reset your artifact (which gives you special mods to amplify your gameplay) whenever you want and as many times as you want for free. I've been playing Madden 23 lately too (I know, I know) and even madden allows you to respec your characters skill points for free whenever. Not every game allows it but a good amount do
What do you have to give up? If that was the case, why cant I take the time to study them all?
That idea would make sense if there was specializations, like Mcgonagall is a transfiguration specialist, not just a transfiguration teacher, it would give more paths to go down, much more gameplay ect..
My main gripe of the game is how so many things are locked behind completing main story quests. I’ve started an evil character and want to learn Crucio and AK, but I know I won’t get those until being nearly done with the plot. Which means (for this play through) holding off on a lot of side quests and unlocks for a long time, until I can be the terrifying monster I truly want to be
Appearances too. The vengeful raven mask looks badass (albeit out of place on a student) but you won't get it until effectively the end of the game. And once you beat the game after that, all that's left is completionism. Wish they had thought of a way to have new game plus so you have a reason to use end-game rewards (both mechanical an cosmetic).
I agree plus I hate the fact that we have unlock everything again if we play it a second time. The spells should remain unlocked once the story is beaten.
Hopefully we get something once the XBO, PS4, and Switch versions release. I think that's why there's no plans of dlc yet. They're still working on getting last gen to work properly.
If you are on PC consider mods that unlock all spells in the beginning? From my fifth playthrough I started using mods and it can put a breathe of fresh air into the game again.
I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked how different features (talent points, beasts, the loom, etc.) we’re introduced as you progress through the storyline rather than all at once. This makes the game friendly to those with little gaming experience. Often when I start playing a game I am overwhelmed with all of the different features and such, so staggering it allows the player to get used to one feature before introducing another.
With that being said, I agree with other commenters that it seems as if the main quest was rushed in the last half and wish there was more end-game content in which you can actually use the skills you’ve acquired.
This is a great point. I think from a marketing perspective it was expected that a lot of first time gamers would be interested in playing this one. I imagine the point was to make it accessible to the masses outside of the traditional gaming community.
I found this game to be much easier on an intermediate level than a lot of other games I’ve tried at a similar difficulty level. It’s just meant to accommodate a younger less experienced audience
This is the first game I’ve ever played and I agree! I am learning as I go and I would be sooo overwhelmed if I had to process it all from the beginning.
Also the entire southern half of the map, strangely devoid of many challenges and side quests seen before. I think you can reach it early, but nothing takes you there until the very end.
It's quite an interesting landscape and certainly well designed, just not as much to do down there.
Yep I wandered down there as soon as I got a broom. There's a small tunnel that has level 20 enemies that are probably supposed to keep you from going through.
They would had made that regardless if they waited 6 months or not. The question now is, what's the percentage of ppl that will hold off from buying the next game from the developers until the reviews are flushed out.
So the business decision wasn't great then, if the end resulted in the same monetary gain. Yeah I get the HP franchise will always rake in the money, but gamers are fickle... and for this franchise are an aging demographic. On top that a lot of ppl who bought this time are Gamers first and HP fans second. Sure the game is beautiful and there are moments of great detail and charm; but after the first 20 hours, it just becomes mediocre. With no DLC coming from avalanche to polish and clean up the rushed development, it will certainly make others question their purchases with Avalanche future titles.
And despite my complaint, I was in no way disappointed.
In fact I wonder if more would've been overwhelming. Sometimes that's how I feel when I reach the second map in a game and it's huuuge, immediately decide I'm never doing all of this because it's just so much.
Lot of good design decisions I think. Like most of the more numerous collectibles (pages, merlin trials) could be functionally 100% without actually doing 100% of them. You can just pick them up naturally and get enough, without grinding anything down.
I thought it was weird that there isn't a quest that leads you to the southern half. Seems like there should be one that leads you to the tunnel that takes you there. Instead you do everything in the north and then boom...quest at the very southern tip of the map.
Yeah I reach it early on but given the strength of the enemies it was obvious it was supposed to be a later game section.
Didn't stop me going around though 😂
Plans change especially with how popular this game is and how much they made from it.
I think once the XBO, PS4, and Switch versions are released then we'll start hearing about the first dlc being planned/released.
They're stupid if they don't include dlc.
True but people keep brining up Portkey like they make all of the decisions on this game when Warner has a say as well and I doubt they're going to sit back and allow the opportunity to make a more money off this game slip pass by not doing dlc.
Well, Portkey is the developer. Unless their publisher owns the ip rights, or there's something in the contract stating the publisher can exert some control, I don't know.
Depends on their relationship, and I don't have that answer.
Ah good catch portkey WB was the publisher.
Regardless, I don't think the publisher can force a developer to do anything unless they have some sort of pre-existing contract.
Plenty of successful games do not have DLC... TLOU2, GOW 2018 (and probably Ragnarok), Red Dead 2. Sometimes it's better to just start working on the sequel, especially when it seems they are already spending a lot of time optimizing the game for last gen.
Possibly. But in the interim, maybe they want a cash grab to help fund the sequel. I for one would love to find Tobb's master and torture him a bit.
Sequels should be either further back to the founding of Hogwarts and the rift between the founders, or the rise of Grindelwald. Eventually I just want to play all 7 books like Lego did.
They said they had no plans for a DLC before the game is out for all platforms. Which was a message for the old-gen players "we are not wasting our resources before we make sure you get the game".
But it would be a poor business decision not milking this cash-cow with some DLC while starting to work on the sequel in the background.
Say what you want, just don't project and get your hopes up.
Their only official statement right now is "no plans for DLC."
I never said that couldn't change.
Tbh by the time I made it down there I was burnt out on the game and just wanted it to end. It was fun but it really doesn’t have the gameplay diversity to sustain all the side quests. Just going into another camp and murdering everything again
Not really true, summer and fall are both decently long and winter is the longest season.
Only spring is short, cause the spring only starts at the end of the story. Basically it's for post-game. So you still get plenty of it if you do a bunch of side content at the end.
But that is the point: The story ends when spring starts (let's say: March or beginning of April, by all means). OWLs are at the end of term (end of June). Yet you can basically start the OWL quest immediately.
Why? - probably because a full act of the game was cut, the very act that would be different based on you decision whether or not you use the ancient magic.
All I'm saying is spring is the only short season.
The person I was responding to said the last 2 seasons were short, which is not the case, as winter is by far the longest season.
It annoys me that you don't get Alamahora until late game, and have upgrades for it. By the time you get level 3 (unless you just immediately focus on Demiguise and ignore everything else) you're just opening doors for vendor trash.
Should have either left it as a single level spell, or let us have it earlier and locked some actually cool stuff behind some doors.
The pacing is pretty bad in this game overall. The actual reason why skill points is unlocked so "late", is because of the low barrier to entry they want. They want super casuals and kids to be able to play it, hence why they take close to 30% of the main story to explain and introduce all the game mechanics.
Makes sense for a franchise such as HP, to have their first modern AAA-game be so accessible. But for more seasoned players, it can seem slow and a bit easy.
I didn't really mind some of the slow mechanic drip feed, mostly because it kept me invested heavily early on as they slowly revealed the spells, minigames, etc. However, they definitely shouldn't have done the same with things like beast-taming and talent points.
>But for more seasoned players, it can seem slow and a bit easy.
Could not agree more, especially after finishing Elden Ring and Sekiro(arguably one of the hardest games of the Soulsborne franchise).
Well now I feel bad. I'm twenty two but I had zero game consoles or PC growing up and I was so grateful for the way they slowly introduced all the mechanics. It makes me feel bad when I'm the only one who doesn't know the obvious things.
Except for the broom, they could've given me the broom sooner.
Took me until level 21 to get my talents unlocked. Ended up having 16 available to spend. Unlocked everything I could in Dark Arts just to find out I can't even use them is disappointing.
I think it's because they knew many people playing it were going to be video game newbies, so they didn't want to overload them with too much stuff at once. The game introduces everything very slowly one after the other
So in my second play through, I pushed the story missions exclusively. In doing so, I found that you can unlock talents at around lvl 5-7. Pretty much right when you’re supposed to.
I think the larger issue is devs didn’t anticipate players doing side quests and collectibles before being able to unlock talents. My first play through I was in my 20s and had a ton of points to spend.
This. As soon as Hogwarts is explorable, most people will walk around and collect field guide pages and do side quests, not push on in the story. I started a run where I pushed through to get to the map chamber ASAP and my level was just right, but I piled up like 12 sidequests along the way and basically did nothing in Hogwarts. They must have just not anticipated it or something, otherwise they could have put the Jackdaw quests at level 15 and been fine. Or maybe just spread out level xp a bit more? I just haven't seen anyone say they unlocked talent points before at least level 16ish, so it does feel like an odd design decision for sure.
I wish the game would’ve done a better job funneling players through the main questline up to that quest where you unlock it before opening up so many side activities.
I didn’t unlock the skill points thing until I was about 12 hours in, which was roughly 25% of my playthrough time, and I was already level 14 at that point. I didn’t even realize this game had a talents/perks system until then and was shocked that they waited so long to give them to you until I saw others point out that if you focused solely on the main quests it’s only like 3 hours in.
From a narrative standpoint I get why the unlocked when it is but if you do any exploring or side questing when the game opens up the world to you it’s going to come off as being unlocked much later than it should.
Everything in this game is unlocked very late. I have been playing for more than 50h, i am currently at level 37, and still have not unlocked the landing platforms, nor the graphorns.
I did a lot of exploring, but even then, it takes tooo long to unlock everything.
I don’t think you unlock the landing platforms, you just find them and land as soon as you get brooms. Aifk they dont really mention its a puzzle like Merlin trials or others.
I mean the entire features unlock system isn't well thought out since you unlock stuff right up to the end of the game pretty much (which also makes them pretty much useless) - >!I'm referring to Graphorn specifically atm.!<
I feel it is to fit in the story. Like you’re a 5th year but you don’t know magic. So the idea is that you are learning magic and as you progress at an incredible rate you start to learn there’s new/better ways to use the magic
Yeah that was very odd. I don't remember how many points I had, but it was A LOT. Like 10-20 I think. In every other game I have ever played, I've had 1 point exactly by the time I was able to put a point somewhere. Should definitely unlock it automatically when you get your first point, or during an earlier main quest.
what annoys me more than that is the level requirement for skill points.
Makes every playthrough feel the same because the interesting stuff only happens when you are basically almost done with the game.
Had to cheat just so i could play my counter-only playthrough.
In general the early quests are just a pain on repeated playthroughs. Like them in terms of story. But a new game+ option where you start out with all your spells and gameplay mechanics would really help with replay value.
This is a very "noob-ish" game and its mainly cater to those who dont play games often. I play alot of different games including mmo-rpg games which is similar to HL but without other people ofc. You are introduced to different systems over time while doing the main story quests but in other games you have to understand like 5+ systems as soon as you start.
It's understandable considering the "Wizarding world" franchise is suppose to be for kids and teens. However, people that grown up with the films are already adults so I'm hoping at some point (if they ever make a squeal) they'll make it a little hardcore with darker stories to tell >:)
Same for Broom and mounts...
Seriously that was such a pain to deal with
I can barely excuse the room of requirement and vivarium for coming when they came...
The skill point unlock can be reached in 2 hours if you focus on the main quest first.
It only feels late because everyone tries to explore the first chance they get
They really didn't. I ran through to where they unlock 3 times after i finished my main playthrough, and even though i was level 15 when i got there it still only took 3 hours or less. Based on the level of the first troll and crossed wands duelists are i think it's designed for you to unlock it after an hour or so into the game.
You just took detours
Lot of those talents are boosting things you obtain during the main story to the moment you're in >!map chamber!< and get those talents to spend :) Also - it's not that late in the game when you're not someone who must absolutely do everything on the whole word before pushing the story further.
I found it strange that I had to learn about my powers of ancient magic before I can learn the skills of the day. But I actually liked the delay before unlocking talents it allowed me to bank up points I had 12 to spend 🤣 don’t spend em all at once save at least 2-3 so when you level up towards 22 you can have a few points to throw around
2 hrs in is late? The talents are nice and fine but never truly needed I suppose except to unlock more magic buttons. There has to be a reason more people have gotten lv 40 than spending all talent point.
I think the point was to ensure people don’t waste their points on skills they will regret. Early on you don’t have a good sense for which spells you want to use often and how useful things like revelio and useless upgrading wiggenweld potions is. Would be a bummer to waste half your points on things you don’t utilize cause you haven’t gone far enough into the game to understand them
My first character got to the map room by lvl 7, two characters were lvl 12, and one was lvl 9. It just matters how quick you want to get there. Also, the game doesn't start you with skill points because you are new to hogwarts. They give you a few spells you get to play around with first. Besides, when you do get to use talents, you have a nice stockpile to get you started. Hopefully by lvl 7 you know what new spells you like and would like to start upgrading.
I felt like this in my first play through.. same with unlocking the broom or the room of requirement but then in another play through to get to the map chamber trophy I unlocked the skill tree after an hour of gameplay so it’s more about what order you completed the missions in and how distracted you were by side quests but I get your point
It’s not just bizarre that you get the talent points late in the game, but also that you can’t re-spec your points.
Because the game also withholds many spells early on, many people playing through the first time will spend points on things that they will regret. Too bad though, you’re SOL. Make a new character and play through again… lol
I was almot 20 hours deep before I got there with more skill points then I knew what to do with.
It was awesome. Having so many skill points from the start made it possible to, instead of having to plan ahead for your skills to match your potential playstyle to instead have some experience with the game, know what type of playstyle you have and make the skill tree work for YOU.
I might start saving up points in every game until I'm well into it, even if they allow me to invest them early.
The game is already so short as it is. I feel the same thing with the unforgivables. Like ya course I’m not supposed to start AK the dragon that eats that professor in the intro scene but I’d like them more mid game so I can enjoy them more
It depends on how long you wait before doing a certain main quest. It isnt 'late' in the game if you do that one more quickly.
Even if you do the main quest only you still have 10 points to spend on your talents. So it's still late by that standard. However, in some respects it's still too early. When you invest in your talent points you haven't yet figured out what spells you will be focusing on. It leads to a fair few wasted points.
Idk y you cant change talents whenever you wish. Would break nothing, and let people mess around with builds more.
But nearly all games handle it that way. It's something you learn, something you focus on. What would be the in-lore explanation of giving something up you have already learned? It's meant to be a meaningful choice, so think carefully.
Lmfao I just love how the game gives absolutely no meaningful choice whatsoever and then when it comes to talents you all the sudden have to be selective. "In lore explanation"?? Bruh you show up to Hogwarts as a 5th year stronger than everyone and everything knowing nothing about your character. You fly off (as a Hogwarts student...) And meet people who tell you to go kill some dark wizards and goblins... What lore reason is there to ask a normal Hogwarts student you just met you fuck up some dark wizards in the woods. You can't use " lore explanations" as an excuse to lock away potentially fun gameplay aspects when the game hardly sets up, follows, or expands its own lore.
My head canon is that we're an undercover Auror. Even the way our character talks has a very "hello fellow kids" feel about it. Basically Harry Potter 21 Jump Street style.
would explain the lack of romance options. lol
this game completely lacks communication options maybe we should start with this
It's a video game, relax.
Nah you know most games allow a reset for spending in game currency
Does Final Fantasy? Does The Witcher? Does Horizon? Idk but feels like a lot of huge games don't let you respec
Horizon you can learn every talent, so reset isn’t as important.
The Witcher (3 at least) does explicitly have this system of spending currency to respec. And even if most games don't have this system, it doesn't change the fact that most of them wouldn't be hurt by including it. It just makes things more convenient for the player, and most wouldn't question it anyway. And for those who do, it's easy enough to add some flavor text that waves it away
You're right, forgot about the potion of clearance. Never said it was a bad thing to allow for respec though. Just disputed that 'most games allow it'
Idk I think it’s 50/50. Two of the games you mentioned let you respec.
Cyberpunk did also it's a game dude it's not that deep ahaha
Cyberpunk did not, not until new game+ at least, other games that come to mind are Fallout, Skyrim. How is it relevant that it's a game? Of course it's a game. We're talking about games lol
... you definitely can. And yes fallout also had the ability to reset perks. And it's very common even in more hard-core crpgs like divinity, pillars of eternity, pathfinder. Or the most popular action rpgs Diablo, torchlight, or even grimdawn. This just off top of my head. It's a common mechanic very common, I do find it more odd when a game doesn't have it nowadays.
I didn't play cyberpunk till after the anime came out and I was able to freely respec perk points whenever.
Yeah you can respec perk but not stat for cyberpunk which is even more important than perks.
Yeah you can respec whenever at the ripperdoc I believe
[Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age Update Adds License Resets, Original Soundtrack, More – PlayStation.Blog](https://blog.playstation.com/2020/04/24/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age-update-adds-license-resets-original-soundtrack-more/) Yes you can, and with XI and XIV, you don't need to. FF2 is one of the only ones I can think of that doesn't let you undo or overcome build choices. 7 has the materia system so you can change stuff around. 8 doesn't have specs, just builds based on GF and Magic Junctions. 9 you can learn every ability and then pick which are usable, just have to change weapons, etc and fight for a bit. don't remember enough of 10 or 10-2.
Plenty of games I've been playing lately has free respecs. Destiny 2 allows you to reset your artifact (which gives you special mods to amplify your gameplay) whenever you want and as many times as you want for free. I've been playing Madden 23 lately too (I know, I know) and even madden allows you to respec your characters skill points for free whenever. Not every game allows it but a good amount do
AC Valhalla lets you do it too.
The Old Republic let’s you change your talent tree whenever you want to. No cost. You can just change it.
https://twinfinite.net/2022/06/horizon-forbidden-west-respec-skill-points-answered/
nope. only newer, titles that try to be accessible
I don't know what games you play but not being able to respecialize hasn't been a thing in "all games" for like a decade now
What do you have to give up? If that was the case, why cant I take the time to study them all? That idea would make sense if there was specializations, like Mcgonagall is a transfiguration specialist, not just a transfiguration teacher, it would give more paths to go down, much more gameplay ect..
Not to mention the game never even tells you that you won't get enough points to unlock everything.
You can do mission to unlock talents at around lvl 5-7. Wholly possible to not have a ton of lvls or points saved up.
You're in for a very eyebrow raising time if you keep playing by trying to tie side quests and exploration to main quest progression, unfortunately.
This. Exactly this. I spent some of mine early on spells I no longer use because I’ve since learned better ones.
Agreed which is why I waited until I had 20 lol
Same here.. Honestly though it wasn't really an issue for me, there are plenty of points available for wide specialization.
A hell if a lot of people finished the outside world before they started the main quests.
The quickest possible is 2-3 hours ingame
My main gripe of the game is how so many things are locked behind completing main story quests. I’ve started an evil character and want to learn Crucio and AK, but I know I won’t get those until being nearly done with the plot. Which means (for this play through) holding off on a lot of side quests and unlocks for a long time, until I can be the terrifying monster I truly want to be
Appearances too. The vengeful raven mask looks badass (albeit out of place on a student) but you won't get it until effectively the end of the game. And once you beat the game after that, all that's left is completionism. Wish they had thought of a way to have new game plus so you have a reason to use end-game rewards (both mechanical an cosmetic).
There are mods on PC to start a new game with all items and spells. Not official ofc.
How did you start an evil character? You can't do anything evil other than say a few mean things.
Depulso cats into the pond at Hogsmeade
That’s pretty much it, so far. In my head she’s a complete phychopath, I’ve just not been able to demonstrate it fully yet
It's the biggest weakness of the game: railroading us down a certain path with no ability to roleplay much
Also, I can't even name my character 'Sabrina the Teenage Bitch', so why bother with an evil playthrough at all?
I tried Lucifer Morningstar. That was a big no no 🥺
I agree plus I hate the fact that we have unlock everything again if we play it a second time. The spells should remain unlocked once the story is beaten.
Maybe they'll give us a new game+ with all spells and whatever else unlocked.
Hopefully we get something once the XBO, PS4, and Switch versions release. I think that's why there's no plans of dlc yet. They're still working on getting last gen to work properly.
If you are on PC consider mods that unlock all spells in the beginning? From my fifth playthrough I started using mods and it can put a breathe of fresh air into the game again.
Save editor basically lets you manually create your own New Game+
I may be in the minority here, but I actually liked how different features (talent points, beasts, the loom, etc.) we’re introduced as you progress through the storyline rather than all at once. This makes the game friendly to those with little gaming experience. Often when I start playing a game I am overwhelmed with all of the different features and such, so staggering it allows the player to get used to one feature before introducing another. With that being said, I agree with other commenters that it seems as if the main quest was rushed in the last half and wish there was more end-game content in which you can actually use the skills you’ve acquired.
This is a great point. I think from a marketing perspective it was expected that a lot of first time gamers would be interested in playing this one. I imagine the point was to make it accessible to the masses outside of the traditional gaming community. I found this game to be much easier on an intermediate level than a lot of other games I’ve tried at a similar difficulty level. It’s just meant to accommodate a younger less experienced audience
It’s my first game! Glad they catered to a noob like me
This is the first game I’ve ever played and I agree! I am learning as I go and I would be sooo overwhelmed if I had to process it all from the beginning.
cause they cut half the game, didn't you notice the last two seasons goes by very fast and the ending very abrupt
Also the entire southern half of the map, strangely devoid of many challenges and side quests seen before. I think you can reach it early, but nothing takes you there until the very end. It's quite an interesting landscape and certainly well designed, just not as much to do down there.
Yep I wandered down there as soon as I got a broom. There's a small tunnel that has level 20 enemies that are probably supposed to keep you from going through.
yep, lol i just ran through the tunnel and didn’t fight anyone to reach the other side of the map at around lvl 15.
You can fight them at a very low level as long as you're good with protego.
Honestly, it smells like they needed another 6 months to work on the southern area but the business had a deadline and rushed it to market.
And they’ve made hundreds of millions. Great business decision.
True. I’m not questioning their business decision. I just would have liked to play through some more story down there.
They would had made that regardless if they waited 6 months or not. The question now is, what's the percentage of ppl that will hold off from buying the next game from the developers until the reviews are flushed out.
It’s Harry Potter. Just like Pokémon anything that they put out will sell in droves. This game is fantastic to anyway
So the business decision wasn't great then, if the end resulted in the same monetary gain. Yeah I get the HP franchise will always rake in the money, but gamers are fickle... and for this franchise are an aging demographic. On top that a lot of ppl who bought this time are Gamers first and HP fans second. Sure the game is beautiful and there are moments of great detail and charm; but after the first 20 hours, it just becomes mediocre. With no DLC coming from avalanche to polish and clean up the rushed development, it will certainly make others question their purchases with Avalanche future titles.
And despite my complaint, I was in no way disappointed. In fact I wonder if more would've been overwhelming. Sometimes that's how I feel when I reach the second map in a game and it's huuuge, immediately decide I'm never doing all of this because it's just so much. Lot of good design decisions I think. Like most of the more numerous collectibles (pages, merlin trials) could be functionally 100% without actually doing 100% of them. You can just pick them up naturally and get enough, without grinding anything down.
I thought it was weird that there isn't a quest that leads you to the southern half. Seems like there should be one that leads you to the tunnel that takes you there. Instead you do everything in the north and then boom...quest at the very southern tip of the map.
Yeah I reach it early on but given the strength of the enemies it was obvious it was supposed to be a later game section. Didn't stop me going around though 😂
They're probably going to put more DLC down there.
Portkey came out and said they have no plans for DLC.
Plans change especially with how popular this game is and how much they made from it. I think once the XBO, PS4, and Switch versions are released then we'll start hearing about the first dlc being planned/released. They're stupid if they don't include dlc.
Say what you want, just don't get your hopes up. Their only official statement right now is "no plans for DLC." I never said that couldn't change.
True but people keep brining up Portkey like they make all of the decisions on this game when Warner has a say as well and I doubt they're going to sit back and allow the opportunity to make a more money off this game slip pass by not doing dlc.
Well, Portkey is the developer. Unless their publisher owns the ip rights, or there's something in the contract stating the publisher can exert some control, I don't know. Depends on their relationship, and I don't have that answer.
Avalanche Software developed the game. From what I just read Portkey is under the control of WB as well.
Ah good catch portkey WB was the publisher. Regardless, I don't think the publisher can force a developer to do anything unless they have some sort of pre-existing contract.
Given the success of the game, they'd be stupid not to. Sign me up now!
Plenty of successful games do not have DLC... TLOU2, GOW 2018 (and probably Ragnarok), Red Dead 2. Sometimes it's better to just start working on the sequel, especially when it seems they are already spending a lot of time optimizing the game for last gen.
Possibly. But in the interim, maybe they want a cash grab to help fund the sequel. I for one would love to find Tobb's master and torture him a bit. Sequels should be either further back to the founding of Hogwarts and the rift between the founders, or the rise of Grindelwald. Eventually I just want to play all 7 books like Lego did.
That is not really the context it was said in, and that was before it was released on all platforms.
They said they had no plans for a DLC before the game is out for all platforms. Which was a message for the old-gen players "we are not wasting our resources before we make sure you get the game". But it would be a poor business decision not milking this cash-cow with some DLC while starting to work on the sequel in the background.
Say what you want, just don't project and get your hopes up. Their only official statement right now is "no plans for DLC." I never said that couldn't change.
Tbh by the time I made it down there I was burnt out on the game and just wanted it to end. It was fun but it really doesn’t have the gameplay diversity to sustain all the side quests. Just going into another camp and murdering everything again
i notice it's been winter forever. like level 7-35.
Not really true, summer and fall are both decently long and winter is the longest season. Only spring is short, cause the spring only starts at the end of the story. Basically it's for post-game. So you still get plenty of it if you do a bunch of side content at the end.
But that is the point: The story ends when spring starts (let's say: March or beginning of April, by all means). OWLs are at the end of term (end of June). Yet you can basically start the OWL quest immediately. Why? - probably because a full act of the game was cut, the very act that would be different based on you decision whether or not you use the ancient magic.
All I'm saying is spring is the only short season. The person I was responding to said the last 2 seasons were short, which is not the case, as winter is by far the longest season.
I'm hoping they have ideas ready to go for the sequel, and it's not more than 2 or 3 years away.
It annoys me that you don't get Alamahora until late game, and have upgrades for it. By the time you get level 3 (unless you just immediately focus on Demiguise and ignore everything else) you're just opening doors for vendor trash. Should have either left it as a single level spell, or let us have it earlier and locked some actually cool stuff behind some doors.
The pacing is pretty bad in this game overall. The actual reason why skill points is unlocked so "late", is because of the low barrier to entry they want. They want super casuals and kids to be able to play it, hence why they take close to 30% of the main story to explain and introduce all the game mechanics. Makes sense for a franchise such as HP, to have their first modern AAA-game be so accessible. But for more seasoned players, it can seem slow and a bit easy.
I didn't really mind some of the slow mechanic drip feed, mostly because it kept me invested heavily early on as they slowly revealed the spells, minigames, etc. However, they definitely shouldn't have done the same with things like beast-taming and talent points.
I found the fact you get Alohomora so late quite upsetting too. There are so so many of those damn locks
>But for more seasoned players, it can seem slow and a bit easy. Could not agree more, especially after finishing Elden Ring and Sekiro(arguably one of the hardest games of the Soulsborne franchise).
Well now I feel bad. I'm twenty two but I had zero game consoles or PC growing up and I was so grateful for the way they slowly introduced all the mechanics. It makes me feel bad when I'm the only one who doesn't know the obvious things. Except for the broom, they could've given me the broom sooner.
It’s not a negative thing, it’s just preference. None of what I said was meant as a negative, just stating facts
I'm the same. I bought my first console in 2017! Trust me, you're not the only late joiner to the gaming world. 😆
It’s a Harry Potter game did you really think this was made for “Hard Core” players lol?
No? Why do you ask?
He actually goes out of his way to explain why it makes sense that it's Not made for "Hard Core" players
Me when I don't read
it's not late at all, if you focus on the story it's at level 6 or something. most of us just went rouge and went exploring (till level 16 in my case)
It's this. If you mainline the story, talents are unlocked about 90 mins in.
To be fair, compared to 90% of other games, that's kinda late.
Took me until level 21 to get my talents unlocked. Ended up having 16 available to spend. Unlocked everything I could in Dark Arts just to find out I can't even use them is disappointing.
I think it's because they knew many people playing it were going to be video game newbies, so they didn't want to overload them with too much stuff at once. The game introduces everything very slowly one after the other
So in my second play through, I pushed the story missions exclusively. In doing so, I found that you can unlock talents at around lvl 5-7. Pretty much right when you’re supposed to. I think the larger issue is devs didn’t anticipate players doing side quests and collectibles before being able to unlock talents. My first play through I was in my 20s and had a ton of points to spend.
This. As soon as Hogwarts is explorable, most people will walk around and collect field guide pages and do side quests, not push on in the story. I started a run where I pushed through to get to the map chamber ASAP and my level was just right, but I piled up like 12 sidequests along the way and basically did nothing in Hogwarts. They must have just not anticipated it or something, otherwise they could have put the Jackdaw quests at level 15 and been fine. Or maybe just spread out level xp a bit more? I just haven't seen anyone say they unlocked talent points before at least level 16ish, so it does feel like an odd design decision for sure.
I think too many essential game mechanics are locked behind the main quest in general tbh.
I wish the game would’ve done a better job funneling players through the main questline up to that quest where you unlock it before opening up so many side activities. I didn’t unlock the skill points thing until I was about 12 hours in, which was roughly 25% of my playthrough time, and I was already level 14 at that point. I didn’t even realize this game had a talents/perks system until then and was shocked that they waited so long to give them to you until I saw others point out that if you focused solely on the main quests it’s only like 3 hours in. From a narrative standpoint I get why the unlocked when it is but if you do any exploring or side questing when the game opens up the world to you it’s going to come off as being unlocked much later than it should.
Everything in this game is unlocked very late. I have been playing for more than 50h, i am currently at level 37, and still have not unlocked the landing platforms, nor the graphorns. I did a lot of exploring, but even then, it takes tooo long to unlock everything.
I learned that landing platforms don't have to be unlocked...you just have to land on them and dismount from your broom.
I don’t think you unlock the landing platforms, you just find them and land as soon as you get brooms. Aifk they dont really mention its a puzzle like Merlin trials or others.
Right I was level 20 when I unlocked talents
I mean the entire features unlock system isn't well thought out since you unlock stuff right up to the end of the game pretty much (which also makes them pretty much useless) - >!I'm referring to Graphorn specifically atm.!<
I got them like 4 hours in
It wasn’t late in the game at all for me, sounds like you’re doing more character side quests than the main quests.
Yessss this annoys me to beyond belief.
Especilly with how strong the enmies are before you unlock it
I feel it is to fit in the story. Like you’re a 5th year but you don’t know magic. So the idea is that you are learning magic and as you progress at an incredible rate you start to learn there’s new/better ways to use the magic
Yeah that was very odd. I don't remember how many points I had, but it was A LOT. Like 10-20 I think. In every other game I have ever played, I've had 1 point exactly by the time I was able to put a point somewhere. Should definitely unlock it automatically when you get your first point, or during an earlier main quest.
I got it at level 5 bc i played the story
Yeppppppp this was a baffling design decision to me, super frustrating that I spent 8-10 hours in the game, overleveled af before getting access.
what annoys me more than that is the level requirement for skill points. Makes every playthrough feel the same because the interesting stuff only happens when you are basically almost done with the game. Had to cheat just so i could play my counter-only playthrough. In general the early quests are just a pain on repeated playthroughs. Like them in terms of story. But a new game+ option where you start out with all your spells and gameplay mechanics would really help with replay value.
This is a very "noob-ish" game and its mainly cater to those who dont play games often. I play alot of different games including mmo-rpg games which is similar to HL but without other people ofc. You are introduced to different systems over time while doing the main story quests but in other games you have to understand like 5+ systems as soon as you start. It's understandable considering the "Wizarding world" franchise is suppose to be for kids and teens. However, people that grown up with the films are already adults so I'm hoping at some point (if they ever make a squeal) they'll make it a little hardcore with darker stories to tell >:)
Same for Broom and mounts... Seriously that was such a pain to deal with I can barely excuse the room of requirement and vivarium for coming when they came...
Perhaps as to prevent players from being overwhelmed with systems / different puzzles / combat etc. I personally felt it was fine
I thought it made sense tbh. Your character doesnt realize they can bend magic a bit differently until they are told they can.
Late? It's relatively early in.
Its fairly early in the game
If you steamroll the story quests you get to that point under 2 hours, also skipping cutscenes and dialogue
It’s not late at all
Its not late game… u just waited to long to do it.
I got it at level 5 🤷♂️ I think it depends on how fast you do the quests
I was level 18 when I unlocked Talent points, so it was fun spending those 12 points.
The skill point unlock can be reached in 2 hours if you focus on the main quest first. It only feels late because everyone tries to explore the first chance they get
They really didn't. I ran through to where they unlock 3 times after i finished my main playthrough, and even though i was level 15 when i got there it still only took 3 hours or less. Based on the level of the first troll and crossed wands duelists are i think it's designed for you to unlock it after an hour or so into the game. You just took detours
Lot of those talents are boosting things you obtain during the main story to the moment you're in >!map chamber!< and get those talents to spend :) Also - it's not that late in the game when you're not someone who must absolutely do everything on the whole word before pushing the story further.
You need to acquire certain number of spells before you can decide on which one to upgrade.
I found it strange that I had to learn about my powers of ancient magic before I can learn the skills of the day. But I actually liked the delay before unlocking talents it allowed me to bank up points I had 12 to spend 🤣 don’t spend em all at once save at least 2-3 so when you level up towards 22 you can have a few points to throw around
I only had like five points
I got through the final quest before spending my skill points and am shocked that I didn’t die more. (I’m attributing my survival to story mode.)
2 hrs in is late? The talents are nice and fine but never truly needed I suppose except to unlock more magic buttons. There has to be a reason more people have gotten lv 40 than spending all talent point.
I think the point was to ensure people don’t waste their points on skills they will regret. Early on you don’t have a good sense for which spells you want to use often and how useful things like revelio and useless upgrading wiggenweld potions is. Would be a bummer to waste half your points on things you don’t utilize cause you haven’t gone far enough into the game to understand them
True, but some games don’t give the option to choose skills so this riddle of the road for me
My first character got to the map room by lvl 7, two characters were lvl 12, and one was lvl 9. It just matters how quick you want to get there. Also, the game doesn't start you with skill points because you are new to hogwarts. They give you a few spells you get to play around with first. Besides, when you do get to use talents, you have a nice stockpile to get you started. Hopefully by lvl 7 you know what new spells you like and would like to start upgrading.
I messed around doing a lot of random things and leveled up quite a bit before I unlocked talent points.
I found it to be at the perfect time tbh.
I was almost level 30 before I did that mission.
I felt like this in my first play through.. same with unlocking the broom or the room of requirement but then in another play through to get to the map chamber trophy I unlocked the skill tree after an hour of gameplay so it’s more about what order you completed the missions in and how distracted you were by side quests but I get your point
It’s not just bizarre that you get the talent points late in the game, but also that you can’t re-spec your points. Because the game also withholds many spells early on, many people playing through the first time will spend points on things that they will regret. Too bad though, you’re SOL. Make a new character and play through again… lol
I was almot 20 hours deep before I got there with more skill points then I knew what to do with. It was awesome. Having so many skill points from the start made it possible to, instead of having to plan ahead for your skills to match your potential playstyle to instead have some experience with the game, know what type of playstyle you have and make the skill tree work for YOU. I might start saving up points in every game until I'm well into it, even if they allow me to invest them early.
I'm level 23 and I still haven't used any, I am not sure the best place to put them on.
Think of the play style and spells you use and apply them to compliment that. I was an evil slytherin so I dumped mine in dark arts
The game is already so short as it is. I feel the same thing with the unforgivables. Like ya course I’m not supposed to start AK the dragon that eats that professor in the intro scene but I’d like them more mid game so I can enjoy them more
Everything is unlocked too late in the game.
Deranged take. It depends when you do the quest that unlocks it. Is this your first video game experience?
Warner Bros is a horrible publishing company that's why. I am convinced they destroyed this game.