Moa

The Harry Potter movies were perfectly cast and it’s going to be hard to come up with something that doesn’t feel like a cheap knock off of the original actors. Buuuuuut, the Harry Potter movies also sucked ass and the story could’ve been told much better. Inb4 the internet literally lights on fire when black Hermione happens.

I hope it's good. The original Spiderverse was such a great surprise that it's going to be hard for a sequel to live up to it.

Also yeah, the Connor speech at the end was fantastic. It's the type of thing only a character who's been pointedly ignored or derided for several seasons could pull off.

I'm starting to think this Joel guy might not be the greatest person.

It may just be the time skip but the Roy kids all seem kind of flanderized. The dialogue continues to be all bangers all the time, but I’m starting to feel like there might actually be too many bangers and they’ve gone too far upstream from anything anyone would ever say. Also I’m officially casting my lot with team Disgusting Brothers. I hope they win the game of thrones.

Finally have the time to watch this. I haven't played the games but after episode 6 I'm sure excited for the PC release.

The world and initial quests are pretty incredible. The creepy occultism is fantastic.

It looks like they've correctly identified that the counter-strike audience doesn't want titanic gameplay changes. I feel like big esports has the problem of how to keep games relevant past the ten-year mark, and this looks like the answer.

Ashley is legit terrifying in VR.

Error 38 incoming.

That combat looks CHUNKY

I learned about this plane like yesterday, and learned that it was destroyed in the invasion. It would honestly be dope if MSFS contributes significantly to rebuilding this monstrosity.

Yeah, but does she care about Hogwarts Legacy?

I know I'm several years late to the party but man, Deep Rock Galactic is incredible. It's hard to know where to start because everything about this game is fantastically made. The enemy design is fantastic and does a lot to elevate it above other horde shooters. The levels and objectives allow each class to shine in certain circumstances while avoiding making certain compositions mandatory. The vibes of everything are just impeccable. The economy and reward system feel really good since you aren't chasing iLevel upgrades on the same old gear. Everything feels laid out in an approachable way without compromising depth. I really just started playing this a week ago and I feel like I haven't been left behind in the way I would if I tried playing (somewhat) similar co-op games like Destiny.

Trying to generalize about the success of this game seems obviously ridiculous. The game is successful because it's the first game to tap into like 20 years of pent up demand for a real Harry Potter game. I also wonder if some of the game's success is in being set in a charming world with lower stakes, independent of the Harry Potter IP. I feel like so many AAA games create uncomfortable worlds that you can only interact with violently. These games can be great, but they'll never be something I return to just to chill out and sight see for a moment.

It was either done maliciously or negligently. Given the longstanding criticisms of the goblins in HP, they probably should've just stayed away from them. If they really had their hearts set on including the goblins then they should've dialed back the antisemitic tropes and been deliberate about not invoking additional antisemitic parallels. Instead they included the literal blood libel. There's no way nobody brought this issue up in development so at best they had to decide they just didn't give a shit. They really could have done anything else, but they didn't. It's cool that they included at least one trans character to distance themselves from JKR's shit. I also like that the player chooses their dorm rather than their sex or gender. It's a shame their ability to be culturally sensitive didn't extend further.

Hufflepuff is for the kids without personality disorders.

The best thing to come out of Hogwarts Legacy is me now knowing these videos exist.

There’s something really funny about the prospect of just being evil as hell and having the game treat you as a YA protagonist. I want to see a pumped up kicks music video to the protagonist just abra kadabraing the hell out of fellow students who like, bullied someone on the quidditch course or something. Commit a few war crimes on the way to herbology.

I’m looking forward to the launch drama. This is a hugely ambitious game with high expectations from a relatively unproven dev. Just that means that there’s a huge range to the potential quality of the game. Combine that with the various controversies, which I’m sure some reviewers will take into account, makes the whole thing a guaranteed shitshow.

I agree with this so much just a reaction wouldn’t do.

Right, I had just always thought of the antisemitism in Harry Potter as the vague stereotypical stuff that is pretty endemic to the fantasy genre where different races tend to be stand ins for real world cultures, ethnicities, and religions. I'm definitely being too charitable with my phrasing here, but I won't spend too much time finding the right way to put it since I'm about to get less charitable. The blood libel is a lot more specific, obscure, and harmful. It's been used to justify murdering Jews for thousands of years, and the inclusion of anything remotely resembling it in something that is already clearly engaging in antisemetic tropes is hard to interpret as anything other than deliberate hate.

"The main scheme of the primary antagonist is to kidnap the player character, and harvest their blood for a spell that will wipe out his enemies while aligned with a number of dark wizards. While the narrative is somewhat problematic..." I knew JK was off her rocker and the devs of the game weren't far behind, but I didn't know the game was literally incorporating the blood libel into the primary conflict.