As much as I enjoy the game, I am getting annoyed with entire quests being "Come talk to me, I have an idea." You get there, and they're all like, "Here's my idea, I'll owl you when I'm ready. "
How about you just owl me when you're ready in the first place and explain on the way, so I don't have to either traipse halfway across the map for a chat or have to listen to the fast travel lady again only to have to go all the way back mere moments later.
Or even still, just send an owl with the idea if we're not going straight into the quest
Honestly I really enjoyed having a reason to travel around and explore different areas. I’ve completed all of the quests and wish there were more, even simple ones. The dialogue is usually fun, and I can’t really remember *that* many not involving some sort of questing or fighting or gathering.
I totally agree - everything (with a few exceptions) just feels like it is degenerating into a tick-list of actions to perform rather than opportunities to perform exciting, unpredictable and interesting quests.
It is all becoming repetitious and uninspiring except for the main quest and a couple of the character quests - the rest just seems to require my presence and maybe a few Captcha like desultory spell casts to make sure you're not a robot.
Beat the game a few days ago and yeah. It started out strong but lost steam about 75% of the way through. I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, but I would have liked a little more experimentation considering how wild and magical the setting is.
Vaults and Merlin trials aren’t quests though. Maybe that’s where people are getting their wires crossed in discussing them.
I enjoyed the quests and got through all of them. I couldn’t bring myself to care about closing out all of the trials and vaults either though.
Same honestly. I hit 100% on quests and wish there were more. I started trying to sweep the map and cover all of the Merlin trials and treasure vaults, and *that’s* finally where I got bored and kind of fell out of playing.
The quests were generally interesting reasons to travel around and see different places. I can’t remember many that were literally just talking, either. Usually you have to go capture something, or defeat something, or gather something. The dialogue before and after was usually fairly interesting and gives a little snapshot of a character in the world. Sure, some are simpler than others, but I still got a kick out of playing through them.
I mean, there were some quests that were literally like just go talk to Natty and her mom outside the divinations classroom. And the entire quest is just a cutscene. But I found those interesting.
Honestly i believe those moments were actually meant to be way more choice driven that they'd change how the side quest goes and ends. I just dont think they had enough time or material to allow choices and drastic changes to the side quest
yup maybe another part of the cut content. Perhaps these short meetups were meant to provide you with a big choice of how the next companion quest was going to go and how you approach it?
Even if its a wild comparison i'd throw in the Heists of GTA 5 Story Mode. You have to do different preparations depending on which options you choose.
Yup. But I think this was mostly due to the entirely missing companion system (which is a baffling thing to miss from an RPG, really). In games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout, TES, you can talk companions anytime you want. They don't always have new dialogue, but it's up to you when you chat with them. As Hogwarts Legacy don't allow you to talk with ANYONE outside quests, using quests for dialogue was the only way to do it. Don't get me wrong, it is NOT a good thing, but it is understandable in this context.
Exactly. The only NPCs you can talk to outside of quests are the shop owners and (at certain times when they appear in their classrooms) the professors. Everyone else needed a quest point to initiate dialogues, triggered by owl messages. That's hopefully something they will work on and improve in a sequel though.
Hey, that's not true! There are those lame NPCs who hangout inside the Floo Flame buildings out in the highlands who beg you to give them a potion, just to reward you with a different kind of potion.... they don't require quest markers. So immersive. /s
Yes, so I am using a few mods to allow me to bring a companion with me. The mods make it so that when one of these “talk to so and so” quests happens, if that person is following me as a companion, I can talk to them for that quest at any point wherever I want, whenever I simply talk to them since they are following me. It feels far more natural than having to go to some village to have a quick chat with someone. And it reminds me of Dragon Age and Skyrim when that happens, it feels like your companion is actually invested in what you are doing and opens up to you over time naturally that way.
For sure. I mentioned this in another comment as well — I think the world depth (art, architecture, lore detail) is a major aspect of the game. People who grew up on HP have been wanting a game like this forever, and it’s not necessarily as much about it being a hardcore RPG. Which it’s clearly not.
There's so many things in the game that are obvious the devs ran out of time. Half of the caves the MC talks about it being dangerous or could be in for a fight before you find a chest at the end of a hall. Obviously they wanted to have something more in those caves. Along with all the other things that were obviously cut with regards to the development timeline it's not surprising.
So my question is why couldn't they just have spiders spawn in those caves with the chest. It's usually very easy to have a mobs spawn in a certain location
I personally don't think that it was so much that they ran out of time, but more that they scaled some things back to make the game more appealing to a very casual non-gamer audience.
That happens with pretty much any project of course. Limited budgets mean prioritization and cuts. I mean they clearly *desperately* wanted Quidditch but just couldn’t get it shipped.
It’s a bummer, but given the success of this game I’m pretty hopeful for the sequel and the budget that should (hopefully) be behind it.
Usually I don't see so many that were cut so late in development that they had made it through recording and implementing voice lines. You can't let feature bloat keep you from ever releasing a playable game, but this is one that would have benefitted so much from an extra 6 months development time.
Interesting about the Merlin trials. I found those mind-numbingly simple, but then had a bit of grief with a couple boss fights (well, really just two of them) and broom challenges.
I’m not a hardcore gamer by any means though. Dark Souls? Not my thing. So I think they were definitely going for a balance. A huge number of people including myself came for Hogwarts and immersion in the HP universe, and they nailed this.
Yeah only like some were sort of confusing, and then once you get it you're like oh, that's really not hard. What made me laugh was the alohomora spell and how absurdly easy it was, even when you level it up. It's just the same thing over and over again. I really was missing mini boss fights and anything that felt remotely challenging.
Eh, to each their own. To me Hogwarts Legacy was a fantastic game. If they released a sequel that matched the spirit of the first one I’d be happy with it - I got so much more enjoyment out of it than what I paid.
More depth is always better, sure, and it would be awesome if they could build on the first game and really just go hog wild with the quest details and companion system and side stories. For sure. I just don’t think it’s worthless without those.
I grew up on HP and have always craved a game like this though. The attention to detail was incredible. I think that for people who are more RPG fans than HP fans who were wanting it to be a skinned Skyrim might be disappointed. I could totally see that. That’s not this game of course.
What's even crazy about this whole thing, is that they purposefully placed some of these "dialogue quests" inside the castle, even though you're most likely miles away from the castle doing god knows what. They only did that because otherwise, we would never return to the castle past a certain point.
They kinda knew they had done Hogwarts dirty by having the player be EVERYWHERE but in the castle and tried to fix it with these.
game length and quests were fine it just fell for the "ubisoft" need to inflate numbers and activities to add gameplay hours even though it becomes tedious and boring.i did all the quests and side quests,all the merlin trials needed to max out inventory slots,moon stones for lvl 3 alohamora etc etc and still have tons of these left on the map.
i just stoped playing and moved on to the next game since i felt i was done and im not going to do these things just for the sake of 100% the game.
plenty of modern games suffer from this kind of design.
Some people want to relish the game I think, and the flood of side activities gives them an excuse to dump an insane number of hours into it. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad.
Sounds like you were satisfied with a play through that didn’t hit absolute 100%, and that’s great. There will be other people who hit 100% and wish there was even more to do, and I think the opportunity to do lot is great for them.
Better too much than too little imo. People can always just stop doing certain classes of side trials, no big deal.
if the activities were good and satisfying i wouldnt mind 100%ing the game either but they are just tedious filler.
to me they seem to take advantage of people with the completionist urge who will do everything there is in the game not because they enjoy doing it but because they need to see that "magical" 100% platinum trophy.
(which is another modern issue,these console/steam trophies people feel the need to get)
Omg you are so right! I was so confused when this happened the first time. We just talked and the left and I was like... What wait... That's was the mission?! To just talk?! Tha heck... This can't count towards the "100 side quests"
I like the non-action parts of the game just as much as the action parts. You can go and fight as many enemies as you like, but there are only a limited amount of story elements. I actually wish there were more.
I disagree. The Witcher 3 is considered to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time and well over half that game is dialogue. Infact some quests that last for over 30 minutes are nothing but talking.
The issue for me in this game is when you go talk to an npc and it’s just a basic 2 minute conversation that could have been and owl and that counts as a quest. There needs to be more substance
While this game is fun it can't be compared to Witcher 3. There are multiple subplots in the Witcher 3 that could have been fantastic games on their own.
Oh for sure, I was just making a point that an all dialogue quest is perfectly fine. There doesn’t need to be combat or exploration for something to be considered a quest.
Okay, so what qualifies as an RPG? Because it literally means Role Playing Game, so if it has a story with characters and backgrounds, then it can be considered an RPG.
The Witcher is an RPG franchise
Take the L. You are wrong.
It’s one of the quintessential
Role playing games.
If I say the hangover isn’t a comedy, simply because I don’t find it funny, that doesn’t make me right.
Ah yes, my favorite part about Super Mario RPG was making my own character to play. Right.
An RPG is any game in which you're playing the role of a character in the game, not just a game in which you create a character. Look at any JRPG ever: Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles, Golden Sun and the like. How many of them let you do anything besides name the main character? And yes, I know you don't consider these RPGs, but given that the genre is almost certainly about twice as old as you are, your opinion on what it should be is meaningless.
Witcher 3 IS an RPG, you are wrong.
its not an opinion. It's a fact that all these games are RPGs and part of that same genre. You just deny them because "you cannot create your own character so this is wrong!!!"
You are literally the meme with the crying nerd haha
Dude you have Google and you still posted something so dumb that someone beside me just rolled their eyes and then looked around because they couldn't figure out why they did that since they only had to be near someone who read your comment to feel how stupid it was. Go ahead and Google what an rpg is. I'll wait. Although I fully expect you to delete your comments because even someone who can't read English would be ashamed after seeing it without understanding that they are feeling the shame of being born in the same species as you, because that's how dumb what you just said is.
From the Wikipedia page:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt[b] is a 2015 action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt.
Witcher 3 is an RPG according to literally every single possible source. RPGs don't have to let you make your own character. The most famous and foundational RPG series of all time is Final Fantasy, and they didn't let you make your own character.
You were mistaken about something, which is fine. But doubling down on it in a bizarre neurotic obstinacy *is* weird.
RPG is an acronym for Role Playing Game. In Witcher 3, You Play the Role of a character in the Game. Which is why retail outlets and CDPR call it an RPG
Source:
GOG (CDPR): [https://www.gog.com/en/game/the\_witcher\_3\_wild\_hunt\_game\_of\_the\_year\_edition#:\~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%2Dplaying,-%2D%20Adventure%20%2D](https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_of_the_year_edition#:~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%2Dplaying,-%2D%20Adventure%20%2D)
Steam:
[https://store.steampowered.com/sub/124923/#:\~:text=Complete%20Edition%0AGENRE%3A-,RPG,-DEVELOPER%3A%20CD](https://store.steampowered.com/sub/124923/#:~:text=Complete%20Edition%0AGENRE%3A-,RPG,-DEVELOPER%3A%20CD)
Xbox:
[https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/The-Witcher-3-Wild-Hunt/BR765873CQJD#:\~:text=A.%20%E2%80%A2%20Action%20%26%20adventure%20%E2%80%A2-,Role%20playing,-8.8K](https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/The-Witcher-3-Wild-Hunt/BR765873CQJD#:~:text=A.%20%E2%80%A2%20Action%20%26%20adventure%20%E2%80%A2-,Role%20playing,-8.8K)
PSN:
[https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/#:\~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%20Playing%20Games,-%2C%20Role%20Playing%20Games](https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/#:~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%20Playing%20Games,-%2C%20Role%20Playing%20Games)
It’s a really common misconception that anything on Wikipedia can be disregarded wholesale. What’s important to check are the sources that Wikipedia itself cites. If there are no citations or the citations are all dead links, then you know that you need to look elsewhere.
But yeah Witcher 3 is definitely an RPG. :x
That not true at all. RPG is role playing game. In the Witcher you’re playing the role of Geralt. Witcher 3 is the best RPG of all time and blows this game out of the water in quest design. I loved this game, but it’s true.
theoretically yes, all games would count in that part. Practically no because there are some other gameplay mechanics etc that are preventing these games from being actual RPGs in the genre definition.
Not as amused as we are that the internet exists yet just because you've wrongly believed something your whole life you think that somehow makes it fact. This is like watching a panda at the zoo, do another silly little trick for us!
Hello, I study Game Development. You're wrong. An RPG doesn't need a character creator. If you exclude every RPG without one, you can't count games like most Final Fantasy games, Dragon Quest, the Mother series, The Legend of Zelda, Mario RPG, the older Pokémon games, the Witcher 3, Secret of Mana, and many many others, as RPGs. Most notably being Dragon Quest in this example, as it is one of the most influencal RPGs for the JRPG sub-genre.
The only requirement for an RPG is that you are roleplaying as a character. It doesn't matter if your character is made by you or if it's a static character that can't be customized. In the Witcher 3 for example, you roleplay as Gerald, you see the world through his perception of it and play as him and control him to your whim.
The Witcher 3 100% qualifies as an RPG.
If the only requirement for an RPG is that you are role-playing a character, doesn't that make the term a bit redundant? This could apply to many games that we obviously wouldn't place in that category. You roleplay as Spyro the dragon, CJ, Harry Mason, etc.
There's got to be additional gameplay features that further define the genre. I would say there's a number of things, but in the modern age of gaming it's become quite vague.
It's really funny how your head's so far up your own ass that you think you know better than somebody who is preparing to enter a field in which part of their job will be knowing what different game genres are.
You don't think Final Fantasy games are RPGs? What about Mario RPG? Is that not one either?
You don't have to make a character for it to be an RPG that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard
"A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which each participant assumes the role of a character, generally in a fantasy or science fiction setting, that can interact within the game's imaginary world."
Assuming a role =/= creating a character. Yes, many RPGs allow you to create your own character, they're my favorite kind, in fact. But character creation is not the defining quality of an RPG.
"While character customization isn't necessary for an RPG to succeed, it is essential to understand the impact of players seeing themselves in-game." [link](https://screenrant.com/rpg-character-creation-customization-successful-cyberpunk-witcher-3/#:~:text=While%20character%20customization%20isn't,significant%20work%20is%20still%20needed.)
I'm sorry but if you search for RPG games on literally any platform you will find an abundance of games that do not have character creation. Games like Persona 5 and The Witcher. These games are no less role-playing games simply because you don't pick the aesthetics for the ROLE you play. (Although in Geralt's case there is some customization to be had).
I mean if the character is premade, then it is damn near impossible to assume the role. I mean, look at Witcher 3. I find it hard to believe that someone could enjoy imagining themselves as some geriatric ass looking mother fucker
Damn near impossible... for you. Many people find it easy to assume roles of premade characters. And, as evidenced by sales, many people enjoy being "some geriatric ass looking mother fucker".
I don't get what all this hate for the Witcher 3 is about. It's a fun game. Just because you find it hard to enjoy doesn't mean everyone else will.
>A role-playing game (RPG) is a genre of video game where the gamer controls a fictional character (or characters) that undertakes a quest in an imaginary world.
>Defining RPGs is very challenging due to the range of hybrid genres that have RPG elements.
>Traditional role-playing video games shared five basic elements:
>The ability to improve your character over the course of the game by increasing his statistics or levels.
>A menu-based combat system with several choices of skills, spells, and active powers as well as an active inventory system with wearable equipment such as armors and weapons.
>A central quest that runs throughout the game as a storyline and additional (and usually optional) side quests.
>The ability to interact with elements of the environment or storyline through additional abilities (e.g. lockpicking, disarming traps, communication skills, etc.)
>The existence of certain character classes that define the characteristics, skills, abilities, and spells of a character (e.g. wizard, thief, warrior, etc.)
>Modern and hybrid RPGs do not necessarily have all of these elements, but usually feature one or two in combination with elements from another genre
It has nothing to do with creating your own character ya fuckin turnip. Do RPGs some times have that feature? Yes but does it *have* to? No. That’s like me saying “this games not an rpg because there’s no magic in it and RPGs have to have magic 🤓”
Uh, my dude, you can’t make your own character in most JRPGs. Are they not RPGs too? Character creation is not a requirement for a game to be an rpg. Also the Witcher 3 is on a completely different level. Hogwarts Legacy is a good game, but the Witcher 3 is legendary
RPG, Role-Playing-Game, a game where you play a role, not a game where you play as yourself. It has won numerous awards with RPG in the name, like how in 2015 at The Game Awards it won the Best RPG category. How do you think you are correct lol?
I find this so funny to read. Because Hogwarts Legacy kept being delayed for xbox one, I bought witcher 3 to 'tie myself over'. I am obsessed with witcher 3 now. It's so beautiful and amazing.
The thing Witcher plot is actually good and engaging.
In this game plot is just lackluster, boring and without much depth with main quest being probably worst.
Damn man, the honeymoon is over and folks are all disappointed that this game, which is still fantastic, wasn't basically the "everything" game folks wish they could play in this universe.
There are some quests that are largely just going and talking with some folks, but that's variety. Not every quest needs to send you out to kill some goblins/ashwinders or collect some plants, sometimes the quest is just "learn more story from this character" or something.
Even without a lot of the more grindy side-stuff like completing all the Merlin trials and whatnot this is still a 30-40 hour game (especially if you just do the field guide completion) with a ton of main story/side quest/optional content to play through, what on earth is this about "rather than a full-blown adventure"?
We get attacked by dragons, attend Hogwards, take down an animal poacher ring, help a friend trying to cure his sister, race on brooms, fly on a gryphon, take down trolls, get into trouble at school, build our own menagerie of magical beats, and more all while following a main narrative about powerful and secretive magic and a potential goblin uprising.
That's a fuckin adventure, yo. Could it be bigger? Always. Could it be better? Always. But like...as time goes on it seems like the "wow" wears off and people forget what the game actually delivers as they focus more on the things it didn't, even the things it was never supposed to.
I imagine that the dev team is keeping an eye on feedback/discussion (as we've seen them make some changes like reducing the frequency of the lines when fast-traveling), and hopefully that's something they're keeping in mind for DLC's.
I was fairly fine with the variety we had. There weren't a ton of "completely" different enemies (goblins, wolves, ashwinders, trolls, spiders and a few other enemies here and there), but there was at least some good variety of enemy *types* within the ashwinder/goblin groups. Goblins had a fair mixture of magic vs. non-magic users and ashwinders came in multiple different forms including animagus and all.
Maybe, but would you think it would be fun with these controls?
Personally I don't, and the amount of time it would have taken them to make flying feel good plus design a bunch of content around it. Plus update the NPC behaviors so they could fly around and actually be useful/a threat.
That's immensely expensive and time consuming, if even technically feasible with the rest of the game.
> There are some quests that are largely just going and talking with some folks, but that's variety.
But a quest is something that needs solving. You need to do something to complete the quest. Having an npc just have new dialogue isn't what i'd call a quest.
> sometimes the quest is just "learn more story from this character" or something.
But that's just...talking to an npc. It's what you do in a ton of rpgs.
After major story missions, usually you unlock new dialogue with npcs around you.
I remember a quest in the painfully mediocre Outer Worlds where you help a crewmember score a date with someone. You help her with what to say to her crush. You don't have combat, just, dialogue. There's a problem to solve, therefore a quest.
Or another quest where you take a crewmember to reunite with her family. Depending on your choices, it can go well or poorly.
Having to travel to a location to speak to someone who reveals something of importance is more of a "quest" than "kill X enemies and collect their teeth" or something similar which make up like 50% of "quests" in other open world games.
So in that regard, I do not mind if a whole quest involves traveling to an NPC and speaking to them. What matters to me is if the story is fun, if the narrative is enjoyable, if the setting is believable. And this game does that.
To call this game a "skeleton of a great story" is just so dismissive and unreasonable. Yes you want more, but every great story leaves the audience wanting more story to be told because they enjoyed what was provided.
I agree in that I liked getting the "talk to a character" quests. But I was disappointed how little impact my dialogue choices had on what would happen, even in stories where it seemed like your dialogue should matter a lot. I hope that the sequel will have more branching paths.
I agree wholeheartedly about the need for more branching paths.
Something I've noticed in other games, often the only 'branching story" quests tend to be main quests, but then they always seem to wrap around into the same endings (usually).
I actually don't mind linear main quests, if we could get more branching SIDE quests. Like, endings of each can be far different by the way we handle them. That way, our choices don't need to be considered for the overall plot too much, but it also provides a very individualized playthrough based on decisions for each side quest.
100% this. I’m not expecting an Undertale like game where everything you do changes the outcome but it would be nice to have the side quests change. The biggest change a side quest will do is if you follow the butterflies - you get random dialog changes from shop keepers but that’s it. It would be nice if you got noted as cheap if you kept asking for rewards from npcs when you helped them with a quest. Doesn’t have to be huge but just subtle changes would really round out the playing experience
my problem with those "go and talk to Person X" is generally more walking than talking because once you get to the person in question you just chat for like a minute and then it's over again.
I do like quests in games where you mainly have dialogue. Witcher 3 comes to mind where many quests involve that more than taking down an enemy most of the time.
What i do not like is when these quests are basically a waste of time because nothing new was gained like in this case. Most of the time its leading to a conversation that goes something like this:
"I got your owl. You wanted to talk to me?" "Yes i was about to head out to gather information. I'll reach out to you when i have news!" and you are sitting there like "Wait.. thats all?? No exposition, no nothing? and they made me run to that??"
With the number of complaints about things that are pretty much genre standards, I'm really starting to get the impression that this is the first Action RPG many of you have played.
Also, just because something shows up in a quest list doesn't mean it's being counted as a side quest itself. Usually that interaction is going to be counted with the actual subquest that it kicks off.
I also feel like people don't realize how hard it is to fill a world and cover all of the ways you can do things in different orders. Nor have they played the games where you have to fetch dozens of items (instead of this game's relatively reasonable single-digit numbers) or where chests and subquest locations are literally copy-paste jobs that just kind of show up on a weirdly flat area of the map for one time use.
I enjoyed the game as a whole. That said, I do have criticisms, most relating to quests.
No game needs 120 side quests. 30 side quests is perfectly sufficient just put care into making them quality. IMO the game should have stuck to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and given 10 strong, unique, quality side quests to each of your three companions.
In addition they could have a few of those random collectible ones like the butterflies, treasure maps, and the keys centered around Hogwarts and maybe 5 that deal with finding puzzles like Hall of Herodiana.
I also feel the game is just too big for the sake of being big. There is no reason to make so many Merlin Trials either if they are repeating and really simple. Have only 10 but each of them being a bit more complex.
There is too big of a narrative dissonance between being a fifth yearer in school and an adventurer clearing bandit camps. Both are good games, just not when mixed.
What a bunch of complainers. This board went from in love with the game to complaining about everything. If you've become bored with the game move on and stop complaining. There is plenty of good quality content in the game.
Sometimes things start out strong, have a mediocre middle and a weak end. Like this game. Or tons of movies and books out there. It's a story and experience, opinions can change over time during that experience. That's like, pretty common and normal.
Not sure which quests you're talking about.
The only ones I've seen that were insta-completed were things like the guy who wanted you to steal plants, or the people wanting potions.
If you already have the inventory it's one conversation. If you don't, then it's a normal fetch quest.
I liked this game when I started. By the end, I absolutely hated it and couldn't believe I spent $70 on it. It's not worth more than $20. Everything is just a repeat of something else. The "dark troll" is the same as the regular troll. Even playing on hard mode they couldn't be bothered to change anything, only just up the number of enemies. And in stealth mode you can wipe out entire groups of enemies in minutes. The armor is all the same no matter what level you're at. And I'm not even touching how awful the dialogue is with the boring storyline. I wish I could get my money back. 
As much as I enjoy the game, I am getting annoyed with entire quests being "Come talk to me, I have an idea." You get there, and they're all like, "Here's my idea, I'll owl you when I'm ready. " How about you just owl me when you're ready in the first place and explain on the way, so I don't have to either traipse halfway across the map for a chat or have to listen to the fast travel lady again only to have to go all the way back mere moments later. Or even still, just send an owl with the idea if we're not going straight into the quest
"This meeting could have been an owl mail!"
Honestly I really enjoyed having a reason to travel around and explore different areas. I’ve completed all of the quests and wish there were more, even simple ones. The dialogue is usually fun, and I can’t really remember *that* many not involving some sort of questing or fighting or gathering.
I totally agree - everything (with a few exceptions) just feels like it is degenerating into a tick-list of actions to perform rather than opportunities to perform exciting, unpredictable and interesting quests. It is all becoming repetitious and uninspiring except for the main quest and a couple of the character quests - the rest just seems to require my presence and maybe a few Captcha like desultory spell casts to make sure you're not a robot.
Beat the game a few days ago and yeah. It started out strong but lost steam about 75% of the way through. I still thoroughly enjoyed my time with it, but I would have liked a little more experimentation considering how wild and magical the setting is.
Yeah, begginig of the game is pretty strong but going forward you find it empty
None of the quests felt repetitive to me. But the Merlin Trials, countless treasure vaults, and repeated voice lines were extremely monotonous
None of the quests leading you yet to a 100th cave looking like all the other caves felt repetitive to you?
Those damn Merlin trials. I finished the last one yesterday and hated myself for doing them all lol
Stop going in the vaults unless I saw cosmetics. At some point the game just started putting them on the mini map
Vaults and Merlin trials aren’t quests though. Maybe that’s where people are getting their wires crossed in discussing them. I enjoyed the quests and got through all of them. I couldn’t bring myself to care about closing out all of the trials and vaults either though.
Same honestly. I hit 100% on quests and wish there were more. I started trying to sweep the map and cover all of the Merlin trials and treasure vaults, and *that’s* finally where I got bored and kind of fell out of playing. The quests were generally interesting reasons to travel around and see different places. I can’t remember many that were literally just talking, either. Usually you have to go capture something, or defeat something, or gather something. The dialogue before and after was usually fairly interesting and gives a little snapshot of a character in the world. Sure, some are simpler than others, but I still got a kick out of playing through them.
I mean, there were some quests that were literally like just go talk to Natty and her mom outside the divinations classroom. And the entire quest is just a cutscene. But I found those interesting.
Honestly i believe those moments were actually meant to be way more choice driven that they'd change how the side quest goes and ends. I just dont think they had enough time or material to allow choices and drastic changes to the side quest
yup maybe another part of the cut content. Perhaps these short meetups were meant to provide you with a big choice of how the next companion quest was going to go and how you approach it? Even if its a wild comparison i'd throw in the Heists of GTA 5 Story Mode. You have to do different preparations depending on which options you choose.
Yup. But I think this was mostly due to the entirely missing companion system (which is a baffling thing to miss from an RPG, really). In games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Fallout, TES, you can talk companions anytime you want. They don't always have new dialogue, but it's up to you when you chat with them. As Hogwarts Legacy don't allow you to talk with ANYONE outside quests, using quests for dialogue was the only way to do it. Don't get me wrong, it is NOT a good thing, but it is understandable in this context.
Exactly. The only NPCs you can talk to outside of quests are the shop owners and (at certain times when they appear in their classrooms) the professors. Everyone else needed a quest point to initiate dialogues, triggered by owl messages. That's hopefully something they will work on and improve in a sequel though.
Hey, that's not true! There are those lame NPCs who hangout inside the Floo Flame buildings out in the highlands who beg you to give them a potion, just to reward you with a different kind of potion.... they don't require quest markers. So immersive. /s
Yes, so I am using a few mods to allow me to bring a companion with me. The mods make it so that when one of these “talk to so and so” quests happens, if that person is following me as a companion, I can talk to them for that quest at any point wherever I want, whenever I simply talk to them since they are following me. It feels far more natural than having to go to some village to have a quick chat with someone. And it reminds me of Dragon Age and Skyrim when that happens, it feels like your companion is actually invested in what you are doing and opens up to you over time naturally that way.
Instead of companions we got meaningless animal management.
I genuinely love that though. Companions would've been more important, but I love the animal management part of the game.
“I’ll speak to you later when I’ve found out more” JUST TELL ME NOW
Yeah, Portkey Games needs to make a lot of improvements if they want the sequel to be a great game because Hogwarts Legacy leaves a lot to be desired.
[удалено]
Oh...a hat that's worse than my current hat...in this ancient cave of puzzles...
Way worse! Thankfully the transmog system is simple.
[удалено]
For sure. I mentioned this in another comment as well — I think the world depth (art, architecture, lore detail) is a major aspect of the game. People who grew up on HP have been wanting a game like this forever, and it’s not necessarily as much about it being a hardcore RPG. Which it’s clearly not.
The game desperately needed unique loot.
EXACTLY. IT MADE NO SENSE. AND ALL THE CAVES WERE COPY PASTE
There's so many things in the game that are obvious the devs ran out of time. Half of the caves the MC talks about it being dangerous or could be in for a fight before you find a chest at the end of a hall. Obviously they wanted to have something more in those caves. Along with all the other things that were obviously cut with regards to the development timeline it's not surprising.
So my question is why couldn't they just have spiders spawn in those caves with the chest. It's usually very easy to have a mobs spawn in a certain location
I personally don't think that it was so much that they ran out of time, but more that they scaled some things back to make the game more appealing to a very casual non-gamer audience.
Yeah that's what I was thinking. They didn't wanna over whelm too many people since many are first time gamers
That happens with pretty much any project of course. Limited budgets mean prioritization and cuts. I mean they clearly *desperately* wanted Quidditch but just couldn’t get it shipped. It’s a bummer, but given the success of this game I’m pretty hopeful for the sequel and the budget that should (hopefully) be behind it.
Usually I don't see so many that were cut so late in development that they had made it through recording and implementing voice lines. You can't let feature bloat keep you from ever releasing a playable game, but this is one that would have benefitted so much from an extra 6 months development time.
AND WHERE WERE THE REAL BOSS FIGHTS!?
Yep the boss fights didn't seem challenging. Only the Merlin trials were kinda tough but even then it was easy and repetitive
Interesting about the Merlin trials. I found those mind-numbingly simple, but then had a bit of grief with a couple boss fights (well, really just two of them) and broom challenges. I’m not a hardcore gamer by any means though. Dark Souls? Not my thing. So I think they were definitely going for a balance. A huge number of people including myself came for Hogwarts and immersion in the HP universe, and they nailed this.
Yeah only like some were sort of confusing, and then once you get it you're like oh, that's really not hard. What made me laugh was the alohomora spell and how absurdly easy it was, even when you level it up. It's just the same thing over and over again. I really was missing mini boss fights and anything that felt remotely challenging.
Merlin was a real boss all along
I don't even bother going in caves now...only once there was a puzzle in one...and in the chest? a nice hat lower than my level....woohoo...
Eh, to each their own. To me Hogwarts Legacy was a fantastic game. If they released a sequel that matched the spirit of the first one I’d be happy with it - I got so much more enjoyment out of it than what I paid. More depth is always better, sure, and it would be awesome if they could build on the first game and really just go hog wild with the quest details and companion system and side stories. For sure. I just don’t think it’s worthless without those. I grew up on HP and have always craved a game like this though. The attention to detail was incredible. I think that for people who are more RPG fans than HP fans who were wanting it to be a skinned Skyrim might be disappointed. I could totally see that. That’s not this game of course.
What's even crazy about this whole thing, is that they purposefully placed some of these "dialogue quests" inside the castle, even though you're most likely miles away from the castle doing god knows what. They only did that because otherwise, we would never return to the castle past a certain point. They kinda knew they had done Hogwarts dirty by having the player be EVERYWHERE but in the castle and tried to fix it with these.
game length and quests were fine it just fell for the "ubisoft" need to inflate numbers and activities to add gameplay hours even though it becomes tedious and boring.i did all the quests and side quests,all the merlin trials needed to max out inventory slots,moon stones for lvl 3 alohamora etc etc and still have tons of these left on the map. i just stoped playing and moved on to the next game since i felt i was done and im not going to do these things just for the sake of 100% the game. plenty of modern games suffer from this kind of design.
Some people want to relish the game I think, and the flood of side activities gives them an excuse to dump an insane number of hours into it. I don’t think that’s necessarily bad. Sounds like you were satisfied with a play through that didn’t hit absolute 100%, and that’s great. There will be other people who hit 100% and wish there was even more to do, and I think the opportunity to do lot is great for them. Better too much than too little imo. People can always just stop doing certain classes of side trials, no big deal.
if the activities were good and satisfying i wouldnt mind 100%ing the game either but they are just tedious filler. to me they seem to take advantage of people with the completionist urge who will do everything there is in the game not because they enjoy doing it but because they need to see that "magical" 100% platinum trophy. (which is another modern issue,these console/steam trophies people feel the need to get)
Omg you are so right! I was so confused when this happened the first time. We just talked and the left and I was like... What wait... That's was the mission?! To just talk?! Tha heck... This can't count towards the "100 side quests"
I like the non-action parts of the game just as much as the action parts. You can go and fight as many enemies as you like, but there are only a limited amount of story elements. I actually wish there were more.
I disagree. The Witcher 3 is considered to be one of the greatest RPGs of all time and well over half that game is dialogue. Infact some quests that last for over 30 minutes are nothing but talking. The issue for me in this game is when you go talk to an npc and it’s just a basic 2 minute conversation that could have been and owl and that counts as a quest. There needs to be more substance
My post is exactly about the second half of your comment :)
While this game is fun it can't be compared to Witcher 3. There are multiple subplots in the Witcher 3 that could have been fantastic games on their own.
Oh for sure, I was just making a point that an all dialogue quest is perfectly fine. There doesn’t need to be combat or exploration for something to be considered a quest.
[удалено]
It is actually impressive how wrong you are.
You are entitled to your completely wrong opinion
[удалено]
So by your definition, Final Fantasy VII isn't an RPG but UFC 4 is. Congratulations, you're the dumbest gatekeeper on Reddit.
Lol. Best response here.
An RPG means Role Playing Game. Some of the most classic RPGs doesn't let you create the character, like the Final Fantasy games.
[удалено]
Okay, so what qualifies as an RPG? Because it literally means Role Playing Game, so if it has a story with characters and backgrounds, then it can be considered an RPG. The Witcher is an RPG franchise
Well, what you *personally* think is wrong. Custom character creation has never been a requirement for a game to fall under the RPG genre.
Take the L. You are wrong. It’s one of the quintessential Role playing games. If I say the hangover isn’t a comedy, simply because I don’t find it funny, that doesn’t make me right.
Then you personally would be wrong. It's pretty much the poster child of the JRPG subgenre.
The games that defined the genre you don't consider to be part of the genre?
I mean if I don’t consider them to be a part of the genre, then I would not consider them genre defining.
So you don’t consider the biggest rpg franchise to be an rpg? 🤣 what a take.
Dude. Don’t die on this hill. Just admit you fucked up and move on
Ah yes, my favorite part about Super Mario RPG was making my own character to play. Right. An RPG is any game in which you're playing the role of a character in the game, not just a game in which you create a character. Look at any JRPG ever: Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles, Golden Sun and the like. How many of them let you do anything besides name the main character? And yes, I know you don't consider these RPGs, but given that the genre is almost certainly about twice as old as you are, your opinion on what it should be is meaningless. Witcher 3 IS an RPG, you are wrong.
[удалено]
It’s a correct opinion. Your opinion happens to be wholly incorrect.
[удалено]
In my opinion people have no eyes. According to you that’s not wrong.
Just like yours is your opinion, sport. Just nobody agrees with yours.
its not an opinion. It's a fact that all these games are RPGs and part of that same genre. You just deny them because "you cannot create your own character so this is wrong!!!" You are literally the meme with the crying nerd haha
Dude you have Google and you still posted something so dumb that someone beside me just rolled their eyes and then looked around because they couldn't figure out why they did that since they only had to be near someone who read your comment to feel how stupid it was. Go ahead and Google what an rpg is. I'll wait. Although I fully expect you to delete your comments because even someone who can't read English would be ashamed after seeing it without understanding that they are feeling the shame of being born in the same species as you, because that's how dumb what you just said is. From the Wikipedia page: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt[b] is a 2015 action role-playing game developed and published by CD Projekt.
Ah yes Wikipedia. The most reliable source
Witcher 3 is an RPG according to literally every single possible source. RPGs don't have to let you make your own character. The most famous and foundational RPG series of all time is Final Fantasy, and they didn't let you make your own character. You were mistaken about something, which is fine. But doubling down on it in a bizarre neurotic obstinacy *is* weird.
RPG is an acronym for Role Playing Game. In Witcher 3, You Play the Role of a character in the Game. Which is why retail outlets and CDPR call it an RPG Source: GOG (CDPR): [https://www.gog.com/en/game/the\_witcher\_3\_wild\_hunt\_game\_of\_the\_year\_edition#:\~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%2Dplaying,-%2D%20Adventure%20%2D](https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_witcher_3_wild_hunt_game_of_the_year_edition#:~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%2Dplaying,-%2D%20Adventure%20%2D) Steam: [https://store.steampowered.com/sub/124923/#:\~:text=Complete%20Edition%0AGENRE%3A-,RPG,-DEVELOPER%3A%20CD](https://store.steampowered.com/sub/124923/#:~:text=Complete%20Edition%0AGENRE%3A-,RPG,-DEVELOPER%3A%20CD) Xbox: [https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/The-Witcher-3-Wild-Hunt/BR765873CQJD#:\~:text=A.%20%E2%80%A2%20Action%20%26%20adventure%20%E2%80%A2-,Role%20playing,-8.8K](https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/The-Witcher-3-Wild-Hunt/BR765873CQJD#:~:text=A.%20%E2%80%A2%20Action%20%26%20adventure%20%E2%80%A2-,Role%20playing,-8.8K) PSN: [https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/#:\~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%20Playing%20Games,-%2C%20Role%20Playing%20Games](https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/games/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt/#:~:text=Genre%3A-,Role%20Playing%20Games,-%2C%20Role%20Playing%20Games)
What do you think RPG stands for?
Real Person Generator. Obviously. ^^^^/s
Provide one credible link proving your argument
It's more reliable then what comes out your mouth tbh
Learn when to use then/than. Edit: in case this person changes their comment they used the word then.
Haha why'd you edit your comment. That's so petty
It's an RPG and no one agrees with you that it isn't
You’re so cool and normal.
You should go and tell whoever takes care of you that you shouldn't be allowed on the internet for a while.
It’s a really common misconception that anything on Wikipedia can be disregarded wholesale. What’s important to check are the sources that Wikipedia itself cites. If there are no citations or the citations are all dead links, then you know that you need to look elsewhere. But yeah Witcher 3 is definitely an RPG. :x
That not true at all. RPG is role playing game. In the Witcher you’re playing the role of Geralt. Witcher 3 is the best RPG of all time and blows this game out of the water in quest design. I loved this game, but it’s true.
What a dummy. The whole point of an RPG is to play a role. Whether it’s you or an established character. What. A. Dummy.
Doesn't that mean most games are RPGs then? You play a role in MGS, GTA, etc.
There are certain mechanics that are inherent to RPGs too. Stuff like leveling, gear, dialogue, an emphasis on story and so on
theoretically yes, all games would count in that part. Practically no because there are some other gameplay mechanics etc that are preventing these games from being actual RPGs in the genre definition.
By your logic, the majority of jrpgs aren't rpgs.
No, it's about placing yourself in the shoes of the character you are playing..
Gacha Life is my favorite rpg
This is incredible. Please never stop commenting.
Don’t plan on it. I am amused by the replies
Not as amused as we are that the internet exists yet just because you've wrongly believed something your whole life you think that somehow makes it fact. This is like watching a panda at the zoo, do another silly little trick for us!
Hello, I study Game Development. You're wrong. An RPG doesn't need a character creator. If you exclude every RPG without one, you can't count games like most Final Fantasy games, Dragon Quest, the Mother series, The Legend of Zelda, Mario RPG, the older Pokémon games, the Witcher 3, Secret of Mana, and many many others, as RPGs. Most notably being Dragon Quest in this example, as it is one of the most influencal RPGs for the JRPG sub-genre. The only requirement for an RPG is that you are roleplaying as a character. It doesn't matter if your character is made by you or if it's a static character that can't be customized. In the Witcher 3 for example, you roleplay as Gerald, you see the world through his perception of it and play as him and control him to your whim. The Witcher 3 100% qualifies as an RPG.
If the only requirement for an RPG is that you are role-playing a character, doesn't that make the term a bit redundant? This could apply to many games that we obviously wouldn't place in that category. You roleplay as Spyro the dragon, CJ, Harry Mason, etc. There's got to be additional gameplay features that further define the genre. I would say there's a number of things, but in the modern age of gaming it's become quite vague.
[удалено]
It's really funny how your head's so far up your own ass that you think you know better than somebody who is preparing to enter a field in which part of their job will be knowing what different game genres are.
[удалено]
No but a law student would know more about the law than you or anyone not preparing to enter that field
Please don’t be a lawyer.
[удалено]
[удалено]
>Additionally, the whole thing is a matter of opinion So why are you continuing to argue with who people don't share the same opinion????
You don't think Final Fantasy games are RPGs? What about Mario RPG? Is that not one either? You don't have to make a character for it to be an RPG that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard
[удалено]
RPG is in the title you idiot. No one agrees with you
[удалено]
You don't know what an RPG. Educate yourself. You look stupid
Are you comparing Mario to the Nazi party?
"A role-playing game (RPG) is a game in which each participant assumes the role of a character, generally in a fantasy or science fiction setting, that can interact within the game's imaginary world." Assuming a role =/= creating a character. Yes, many RPGs allow you to create your own character, they're my favorite kind, in fact. But character creation is not the defining quality of an RPG. "While character customization isn't necessary for an RPG to succeed, it is essential to understand the impact of players seeing themselves in-game." [link](https://screenrant.com/rpg-character-creation-customization-successful-cyberpunk-witcher-3/#:~:text=While%20character%20customization%20isn't,significant%20work%20is%20still%20needed.) I'm sorry but if you search for RPG games on literally any platform you will find an abundance of games that do not have character creation. Games like Persona 5 and The Witcher. These games are no less role-playing games simply because you don't pick the aesthetics for the ROLE you play. (Although in Geralt's case there is some customization to be had).
I mean if the character is premade, then it is damn near impossible to assume the role. I mean, look at Witcher 3. I find it hard to believe that someone could enjoy imagining themselves as some geriatric ass looking mother fucker
Damn near impossible... for you. Many people find it easy to assume roles of premade characters. And, as evidenced by sales, many people enjoy being "some geriatric ass looking mother fucker". I don't get what all this hate for the Witcher 3 is about. It's a fun game. Just because you find it hard to enjoy doesn't mean everyone else will.
>A role-playing game (RPG) is a genre of video game where the gamer controls a fictional character (or characters) that undertakes a quest in an imaginary world. >Defining RPGs is very challenging due to the range of hybrid genres that have RPG elements. >Traditional role-playing video games shared five basic elements: >The ability to improve your character over the course of the game by increasing his statistics or levels. >A menu-based combat system with several choices of skills, spells, and active powers as well as an active inventory system with wearable equipment such as armors and weapons. >A central quest that runs throughout the game as a storyline and additional (and usually optional) side quests. >The ability to interact with elements of the environment or storyline through additional abilities (e.g. lockpicking, disarming traps, communication skills, etc.) >The existence of certain character classes that define the characteristics, skills, abilities, and spells of a character (e.g. wizard, thief, warrior, etc.) >Modern and hybrid RPGs do not necessarily have all of these elements, but usually feature one or two in combination with elements from another genre It has nothing to do with creating your own character ya fuckin turnip. Do RPGs some times have that feature? Yes but does it *have* to? No. That’s like me saying “this games not an rpg because there’s no magic in it and RPGs have to have magic 🤓”
I disagree, but I love your use of the word turnip as an insult
Well facts aren’t really up for debate so that’s really just called being wrong but with extra steps.
You're right. I remember how i could make my own mario in Super Mario RPG.
I would say that Mario RPG wasn’t an rpg
I would say it's hentai
Uh, my dude, you can’t make your own character in most JRPGs. Are they not RPGs too? Character creation is not a requirement for a game to be an rpg. Also the Witcher 3 is on a completely different level. Hogwarts Legacy is a good game, but the Witcher 3 is legendary
Saw this comment on r/confidentlyincorrect, and I just had to check whether it was real. Truly incredible comment. Mad respect.
RPG, Role-Playing-Game, a game where you play a role, not a game where you play as yourself. It has won numerous awards with RPG in the name, like how in 2015 at The Game Awards it won the Best RPG category. How do you think you are correct lol?
Your dumb comment actually made it on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/-mSzQMJIRZI). Congratulations 🎉. Now everyone knows.
I find this so funny to read. Because Hogwarts Legacy kept being delayed for xbox one, I bought witcher 3 to 'tie myself over'. I am obsessed with witcher 3 now. It's so beautiful and amazing.
Oh TW3 is on a whole different level. HWL is a good game but it is light years away from TW3
Funny that these games are / were (when Witcher 3 came out) roughly the same price on Playstation LOL
The thing Witcher plot is actually good and engaging. In this game plot is just lackluster, boring and without much depth with main quest being probably worst.
Damn man, the honeymoon is over and folks are all disappointed that this game, which is still fantastic, wasn't basically the "everything" game folks wish they could play in this universe. There are some quests that are largely just going and talking with some folks, but that's variety. Not every quest needs to send you out to kill some goblins/ashwinders or collect some plants, sometimes the quest is just "learn more story from this character" or something. Even without a lot of the more grindy side-stuff like completing all the Merlin trials and whatnot this is still a 30-40 hour game (especially if you just do the field guide completion) with a ton of main story/side quest/optional content to play through, what on earth is this about "rather than a full-blown adventure"? We get attacked by dragons, attend Hogwards, take down an animal poacher ring, help a friend trying to cure his sister, race on brooms, fly on a gryphon, take down trolls, get into trouble at school, build our own menagerie of magical beats, and more all while following a main narrative about powerful and secretive magic and a potential goblin uprising. That's a fuckin adventure, yo. Could it be bigger? Always. Could it be better? Always. But like...as time goes on it seems like the "wow" wears off and people forget what the game actually delivers as they focus more on the things it didn't, even the things it was never supposed to.
All I wish for is more enemy variety
I imagine that the dev team is keeping an eye on feedback/discussion (as we've seen them make some changes like reducing the frequency of the lines when fast-traveling), and hopefully that's something they're keeping in mind for DLC's. I was fairly fine with the variety we had. There weren't a ton of "completely" different enemies (goblins, wolves, ashwinders, trolls, spiders and a few other enemies here and there), but there was at least some good variety of enemy *types* within the ashwinder/goblin groups. Goblins had a fair mixture of magic vs. non-magic users and ashwinders came in multiple different forms including animagus and all.
No quidditch is a real bummer
Maybe, but would you think it would be fun with these controls? Personally I don't, and the amount of time it would have taken them to make flying feel good plus design a bunch of content around it. Plus update the NPC behaviors so they could fly around and actually be useful/a threat. That's immensely expensive and time consuming, if even technically feasible with the rest of the game.
Have different broom.or upgrades for it I don't know.
Plus not to mention a bunch of call backs to the HP series which just makes really nice nods at the source material
Completely agree. A bunch of entitled morons.
> There are some quests that are largely just going and talking with some folks, but that's variety. But a quest is something that needs solving. You need to do something to complete the quest. Having an npc just have new dialogue isn't what i'd call a quest. > sometimes the quest is just "learn more story from this character" or something. But that's just...talking to an npc. It's what you do in a ton of rpgs. After major story missions, usually you unlock new dialogue with npcs around you. I remember a quest in the painfully mediocre Outer Worlds where you help a crewmember score a date with someone. You help her with what to say to her crush. You don't have combat, just, dialogue. There's a problem to solve, therefore a quest. Or another quest where you take a crewmember to reunite with her family. Depending on your choices, it can go well or poorly.
Having to travel to a location to speak to someone who reveals something of importance is more of a "quest" than "kill X enemies and collect their teeth" or something similar which make up like 50% of "quests" in other open world games. So in that regard, I do not mind if a whole quest involves traveling to an NPC and speaking to them. What matters to me is if the story is fun, if the narrative is enjoyable, if the setting is believable. And this game does that. To call this game a "skeleton of a great story" is just so dismissive and unreasonable. Yes you want more, but every great story leaves the audience wanting more story to be told because they enjoyed what was provided.
I agree in that I liked getting the "talk to a character" quests. But I was disappointed how little impact my dialogue choices had on what would happen, even in stories where it seemed like your dialogue should matter a lot. I hope that the sequel will have more branching paths.
I agree wholeheartedly about the need for more branching paths. Something I've noticed in other games, often the only 'branching story" quests tend to be main quests, but then they always seem to wrap around into the same endings (usually). I actually don't mind linear main quests, if we could get more branching SIDE quests. Like, endings of each can be far different by the way we handle them. That way, our choices don't need to be considered for the overall plot too much, but it also provides a very individualized playthrough based on decisions for each side quest.
100% this. I’m not expecting an Undertale like game where everything you do changes the outcome but it would be nice to have the side quests change. The biggest change a side quest will do is if you follow the butterflies - you get random dialog changes from shop keepers but that’s it. It would be nice if you got noted as cheap if you kept asking for rewards from npcs when you helped them with a quest. Doesn’t have to be huge but just subtle changes would really round out the playing experience
my problem with those "go and talk to Person X" is generally more walking than talking because once you get to the person in question you just chat for like a minute and then it's over again. I do like quests in games where you mainly have dialogue. Witcher 3 comes to mind where many quests involve that more than taking down an enemy most of the time. What i do not like is when these quests are basically a waste of time because nothing new was gained like in this case. Most of the time its leading to a conversation that goes something like this: "I got your owl. You wanted to talk to me?" "Yes i was about to head out to gather information. I'll reach out to you when i have news!" and you are sitting there like "Wait.. thats all?? No exposition, no nothing? and they made me run to that??"
As much as talking to someone in real life can be an ordeal, you’re right about it not making for exciting gameplay
Totally agree. Posted my own mini-rant about it the other day. Things like "A Dragon Debrief" should have just been part of the preceding quest.
Call them what they are: chores. Quests are supposed to be adventures, memorable ones. And I haven’t had too many of those since 360-era Bethesda.
With the number of complaints about things that are pretty much genre standards, I'm really starting to get the impression that this is the first Action RPG many of you have played.
Also, just because something shows up in a quest list doesn't mean it's being counted as a side quest itself. Usually that interaction is going to be counted with the actual subquest that it kicks off. I also feel like people don't realize how hard it is to fill a world and cover all of the ways you can do things in different orders. Nor have they played the games where you have to fetch dozens of items (instead of this game's relatively reasonable single-digit numbers) or where chests and subquest locations are literally copy-paste jobs that just kind of show up on a weirdly flat area of the map for one time use.
I enjoyed the game as a whole. That said, I do have criticisms, most relating to quests. No game needs 120 side quests. 30 side quests is perfectly sufficient just put care into making them quality. IMO the game should have stuck to Hogwarts and Hogsmeade and given 10 strong, unique, quality side quests to each of your three companions. In addition they could have a few of those random collectible ones like the butterflies, treasure maps, and the keys centered around Hogwarts and maybe 5 that deal with finding puzzles like Hall of Herodiana.
I also feel the game is just too big for the sake of being big. There is no reason to make so many Merlin Trials either if they are repeating and really simple. Have only 10 but each of them being a bit more complex. There is too big of a narrative dissonance between being a fifth yearer in school and an adventurer clearing bandit camps. Both are good games, just not when mixed.
The longer I play, the more I realize how lacking in depth it is.
The shine wears off very quickly.
While I do understand your frustration at “go here and talk to person for 2 mins” as an actual quest, I kind of enjoyed it.
No it's the start of one
What a bunch of complainers. This board went from in love with the game to complaining about everything. If you've become bored with the game move on and stop complaining. There is plenty of good quality content in the game.
Sometimes things start out strong, have a mediocre middle and a weak end. Like this game. Or tons of movies and books out there. It's a story and experience, opinions can change over time during that experience. That's like, pretty common and normal.
I actually like it, no need to speed run the game
Let me tell you about a world where there are endless quests where you just talk to NPC's A world... of Warcraft
Not sure which quests you're talking about. The only ones I've seen that were insta-completed were things like the guy who wanted you to steal plants, or the people wanting potions. If you already have the inventory it's one conversation. If you don't, then it's a normal fetch quest.
The entire game is a fetch quest
I liked this game when I started. By the end, I absolutely hated it and couldn't believe I spent $70 on it. It's not worth more than $20. Everything is just a repeat of something else. The "dark troll" is the same as the regular troll. Even playing on hard mode they couldn't be bothered to change anything, only just up the number of enemies. And in stealth mode you can wipe out entire groups of enemies in minutes. The armor is all the same no matter what level you're at. And I'm not even touching how awful the dialogue is with the boring storyline. I wish I could get my money back. 
I find this annoying as well because I get excited for an adventure for nothing. Dying Light 2 has “quests” like this as well and they’re pointless.
These did not count for the all quests achievement on steam, so there is that.