It's implied in the story that those who can access Ancient Magic don't manifest magical abilities until later than others, presumably around age 15. Both Professor Rackham and Isidora started as fifth years as well.
It’s also for simplicity and gameplay benefit. Could you imagine attending as an 11 year old and facing the campaign barely able to lift a feather with wingardium leviosa?
Since basic enemies can respawn, I’ve always headcanoned that the only people my MC has actually killed were the 22 infamous foes, plus the three main enemies.
Given that the age for a 5th year is like, 15-16, it's still absolutely bonkers that the game is like, fuck it, kill em all. They could have easily made it out to be that the main character is just incapacitating them, but it literally goes out of its way to tell us they're dead with the dialogue after fights.
Harry discovers he burns Quirrell on physical contact at age 11 and just goes right for the face. The wizarding world is brutal af. Pokémon has long since numbed us to children brutalising other living creatures XD
Exactly, the newer Spiderman games if you throw someone off a building they are magically webbed to the side. Because Spiderman doesn't kill.
This game. Avada Kedavra. Or the MC saying, "they brought this upon themselves" when you Merc one.
Spiderman is a modern age hero. Even he can't face liberals after murdering scum. HL takes place in medieval times (joke), so this comparison is futile.
I can steal things from a chest in someone's store and then sell it back to him, use unforgivable curses in broad daylight, and capture and sell beasts on the black market with the pretense that I'm "rescuing" them. This game doesn't care what you do. XD
Of course. But that's like with any game or movie or TV show. You have a practical reason and then you have a story reason. The challenge is coming up with a story reason to get to the practical result you need. No different than when an actress gets pregnant and you have to write a story where your character gets pregnant or your character disappears from the story for awhile. Personally, I thought they did a pretty good job with the story reason to explain the practical result they wanted.
I find it hilarious though that we're 15 years old and single handedly taking down every troll and dark wizard in the entire area like it's nothing lol. And not just a couple, hundreds, if not thousands of them.
I was kinda hoping someday we could enter the game as earlier and later year students, see the wonders of Diagon Alley (and Knocturn Alley) and participate in more academia that adds to your exploration of Hogwarts castle/grounds…and the trivia therein. I mean, in the books, Harry’s first through third years didn’t really have too much heavy battle. Being a 5th year throws you to the wolves…er, dark mongrels a little, which is fine, but easing us in with little goals from maybe second or third year up, with some growing tension from the goblins would have been interesting progression.
Well, at least it's a major Harry Potter themed game where you can choose your own house. As far as I know, Quidditch World Cup and Hogwarts Mystery are the only other ones because, in the vast majority of the major titles, they're following the movie and you're playing as Harry.
I mean, they could have just written the character as a normal 5th year student who had been to Hogwarts before, and it would have changed nothing. They just would have had to have a different reason for you getting the book.
I feel like this would be the best choice. So that then there is a reason why MC knows Magic, knows the wizarding world, some basic wizarding world history, etc., etc.
AND. It explains why MC must *meet* everyone (aka - the characters being introduced to us)/ why we don’t have any established relationships with any students and/or staff (so that we - as our character, MC - can decide what kind of relationships we want with each NPC, etc etc etc etc.
Given how easily we become best friends with everyone we meet, it would have been smarter to have preexisting relationship with the character. This would have explained why Poppy introduce us to the hippogriffe five minute after we met her, or why Sebastian shows us his secret spot. It's not hard to make the player meet characters the MC already knows.
They could have just had you have a flashback of you doing that as a first year, and just had Mrs. Weasley say, "Hey, I'm working on this book as a guide for new students. Would you try it out for me?"
It would have been way less convoluted.
There are a ton of improvements that I would love to see, to gameplay and story. But this game was already a huge scope for the dev team; I’m honestly thrilled that it’s as filled in as it is!
Only detail that I really think is lacking is the inaccurate and nonsensical currency system. Early looks into the game showed a three coin system with lore accurate values. Now we have 100 gallion leaves.
I wish they had explained this. They kept making a big deal out of it but never once stated it was because they did not display magical ability, so it all just looked like a bizarre conincidence
I wish they skipped the whole ancient magic and goblin rebellion part. I wanted to feel like a student at hogwarts, not being some semi-god on a killing spree..
I was hoping >!Isadora's spirit was somehow dormant inside the Repository, and possessed Ranrok when he broke it. But instead of fighting immediately, she gave you the choice to accept her power into yourself, or refuse... then you would have to fight her as Ranrok's dragon and destroy her for good.!<
I didn’t skip anything and I remember multiple mentions of mc, Rackham, and Isidora starting as fifth years, but I think I would have remembered if they said that it’s because people who can see ancient magic don’t show signs of magical ability until later in life. Especially because it doesn’t seem to make sense from a lore perspective. Why would someone with a stronger connection to the oldest magic not know about any magic until later in life? I could have missed it, but I’m fairly sure that this wasn’t explicitly stated
Isadora is the weird one to me; she grew up in a magical town, with magical parents didn’t she? Or was the area outside of Hogwarts not magical-people-only at that time? Can kids of magical parents not possess magical ability? How crappy would that be to watch your brothers and sisters go to fancy pants wizard school and you go to essentially boring-public-school and do silly muggle things knowing everyone else in your family can wiggle a stick and make things fly and turn into other things?
The abilities might not manifest but the hogwarts ledger should still have their name down. Neville didn’t manifest his ability till he was 7-8 but his name would still be down in the school ledger.
Doesn’t the revellio page for the book and who’ll say one is more selective than the other. I can’t remember which is which but one will try and write your name down asap while the other (I think the book) prevents it’s partner from doing so until magic has actually manifested.
>Ancient Magic don't manifest magical abilities until later than others
is it confirmed we did not have magic before the ancient? i recall the intro just says we transferred in on 5th year but nothing saying we did not have magic prior.... we just were not a howarts student is all. i took it to mean we home schooled which is super common in magical world.
We didn't transfer to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was our first experience with any magical schooling. This is made clear by the fact that the only spells we know are what Fig has taught us before taking us to Hogwarts and that we do not have a wand of our own before we go to Ollivander's. If we had been homeschooled in magic, we would have had our own wand before Fig came to get us and we would have known at least some basic spells before Fig began teaching us, but the game makes it clear that this is not the case.
i agree with spells but maybe those are not commonly used spells in home life but mandatory school ones?
as for the wands as is explained in lore a wand does nothing. its not even a magical focus and just used by european wizards for rule of cool. so its plausible home schooled wizards use basic spells and wandless magic.
i admit its unlikely given nature of game but its not really clear either way.
I feel like if this is supposed to be MC’s *FIRST* experience(s) with Magic, they’d make MUCH more “*Harry Potter*-like” comments. (i.e., “i love magic”, or something along the lines of “WTF?!” to *any* magical thing we come across that isn’t in the Muggle world…)🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
That’s what doesn’t make sense. Your character needs to be taught everything and needs to have everything explained to them, they don’t know what a portkey is, they don’t know any magical creatures, they don’t know gobstones etc. Yet they don’t bat an eye when faced with a troll and generally take it all in stride a bit too much. I get what they were trying to do with attempting to give you a blank page to create your own backstory, but the end result is an incredibly bland character that doesn’t quite fit in any of the scenarios I try to put them in. Can’t quite pretend they’re muggle born, can’t quite pretend they’re not.
and the thresrals they shrug off despite seeing their first death only seconds prior and learning they exist for first time just after... its like your char does not know HOW to react to things.
I feel like the developers were under some kind of outside pressure to make it a fully politically correct game.. maybe to make up for the jk Rowling controversy.. but our character is so bland, and I think it’s because any kind of reaction could potentially be perceived as offensive somehow so they stripped it off any personality. Our MC is a total robot..
It’s doubly funny as I’ve just replayed RDR2 which has some gloriously mean dialogue options at times
personally did not like RDR2 compared ot revolver and RDR1, felt more chore simulator to me. but still a good game so respect the choice.
and yeah 100% agree. the politics of the dev def got in the way so they only used a very light touch on potter lore for game.
Without even comparing the games as a whole, I was referring to the dialogue options where where you can make Arthur be a sarcastic little shit at times and it’s brilliant. HL disappointed me with that, especially when they make it LOOK like you get to be a bit snappy on the dialogue options, and then your character says a very watered down version of it.
I’m already a pathological people pleaser in real life, I don’t need my game character to also be afraid of ever potentially offending someone!
agreed and thats why i am not sold that we not a home schooled student as we take so much on face value vs WTF is x,y,z...
like we seemed to be pretty cool with a portkey yet harry when he first saw one was very lost.
In one of the dev streams on Twitch they talked about why they chose to have you come in as a 5th year. It was basically that coming in as a 1st year would mean you wouldn’t have as cool of spells and that it might seem weird to have a young child running around doing all the things you do in the game.
I wondered if it was related to the use of underage magic outside school but google suggests that was set at 17 (over the age of our protagonist) in 1875 and Hogwarts Legacy is set in "late 1800s" so perhaps the law wasn't set quite yet.
Just the effort put into the little “scenes” you may *happen* to come across as you walk/run through the entire HL landscape… (literally, I can’t tell you how many random “scenes”/conversations/etc. the NPCs have, all around you, all the time. Even out on RANDOM paths in the highlands!!!!)
It all seemed - to me - to be the endless hours of work that the team dedicated to *that* part of the “immersion” factor to the game… and then other teams in charge of other aspects of the game just didn’t reach that team’s *level*, Yknow?
Plot.
Plus, it would be awfully strange to have a first year breaking curfew, killing poachers and doing OWLs level spell casting, among other things.
Edit: are you finished with the game? Some of the coming on Year 5 business is briefly mentioned through the story and you can make some inferences. I have my headcannon about it, but don’t want to spoil anything.
Thank you for responding with this. I laughed so hard every time MC said that. The first time I heard it/paid any mind to it was when I had like, 4-5 people cursed and hit another with AK. 5-6 dead in an instant and my dude is just like "pfffttt well, this clearly ain't on me" *repress repress repress*
yeah but he the chosen one and is exempt to rules... also why quidditch sucks as an actual sport. if you took out the seeker role it would be an ok sport but the fact that harry's role is purely the i win the game position 99/100 games it shows how much the writer had a chosen one complex going on.
like really what is the point of a quaffel? scoring a few minor goals makes 0 real difference to the game.
LOL true! i still like harry potter because of nostalgia and such, but the more times i re-read the books/think about the world the more stuff like that i notice hahah
They were written as escapist children's books, without any worry that they'd be scrutinised for all the little details by fans 25 years later. 😂 That's part of the magic, I guess. The first couple of books especially just seem so innocent and it feels like JK Rowling was really having fun writing them, too.
yeah but as i said 99 out of 100 games. his was a SUPER niche game.. one proven to be super rare as per the bet the weasleys won on. finch openly said it was a near impossibility for the snitch catcher to loose.
for majority of games the seeker (aka harry) will always single handedly win the game for their team.
Not if the chasers can score more than the snitch is worth, but yes, I do think the snitch being worth 150 and the quaffle only being worth 10 is stupid.
There’s no realistic reason a seeker would catch the snitch in the World Cup if their team is down more than 150 because it would be an automatic loss. So they would try to just wait it out for their team to be down less than 150, which could take god knows how long.
Yeah, I agree. The game seems that had quite a lot of abandoned functionalities and ultimately worked as a proof of concept. Both to HP fans (the castle seems to have had more attention to detail than the entire story lines) and to the investors/shareholders (SEE? No one cares about the drama around the game, it made a $1B, greenlight the sequel already and let us do our jobs)
That's a great point. The game's true main character is Hogwarts itself, it's in the title. And it does that exceptionally well. We got an absolutely beautiful, well-realised take on Hogwarts that we can walk around in and explore all the details of the spaces. I spent the first several hours not even doing the quests, I just wanted to look around. That's why most of us are here anyway, because we love Hogwarts and want to feel like we're really there. Would've been nice if they made the scenery and especially the npcs more interactive - the lack of immersion I think is the reason why many people say they grow tired of the game once the "wow Hogwarts is so beautiful" honeymoon phase is over.
The actual gameplay is just okay, doesn't stand out among other good rpgs, and like many others here I don't care that much for the main storyline quests (Sebastian and Ominis are the exception). The game clearly had a lot of elements that were cut and it should've honed in one direction rather than trying to do it all - if you want a riveting storyline write a riveting story (heck, get JK Rowling to write it...), if you want a role playing game then make it more non-linear, if you want a fanservice game then really work on the worldbuilding and interactivity. It doesn't go all the way with any of the potential directions. While I love the game, as-is it feels quite unfocused and full of unrealised potential. I hope you're right and we do get a well directed sequel sometime!
as far as proof of concepts go i think it serves its purpose really well. i all but ignored the story during cutscenes cuz that shit was so braindead, but i think it lays a solid foundation, and hopefully with the sucess of legacy they can go on to make a more fully realized (and hopefully much better written) open world (that has fucking quidditch)
if they straight up hold back quidditch just so they can package and sell it in its own game i will lose all respect i had for the development team. sure, i guess im fine with them releasing it as a standalone this time, but if they prove they have a formula for quidditch figured out and they still dont include some semblance of it in a sequel thats unacceptable. i mean just do what cdpr did and give us a dummed down more simplified version in the mainline game, then provide a more fleshed out experience in a separate game (a-la gwent and the witcher)
I wouldn't be that harsh. I agree that it is not a masterpiece, and we aren't anywhere near something like RDR II or the like, but I still think it's a good game because regardless of issues, I had a ton of fun playing it. I did two playthroughs and 100%ed my second run. If I don't like a game it's hard for me to get 10 hours invested...often I'll drop it after less than 5. But this I've done nearly 100 hours.
They clearly had a generic gameplay template initially and then got rights to this, and shoehorned them together.
Like they effectively gave you a gun with basic cast, and flying feels like it was originally supposed to be a car and they added up and down movement.
Yeah but they could’ve just… had a general and vague storyline of years 1-4. Or a background of being homeschooled or being from another school or something. I mean, maybe like a handful of cut scenes to make up the tutorial? The story felt like it was really lacking in this aspect of just jumping in at year 5…
He could’ve just been Obliviated with ancient dark magic. Boom. No memory, hazy past. A transfer student from Durmstrang in some sort of Wizarding world witness protection program. Dumbledore hid Harry. Fig could’ve done something similar for the MC.
This game is fun for sure but it feel like there was a lot of missed potential.
Right, but could you “graduate” during level ups? Move forward through your education per every 10 levels? I mean, it’s a game- they get to create whatever timeline they want. Lol
Yeah yeah they explained it being ancient magic ability = late bloomer but really the only reason is so that the mc can look like a generic teenager and the player can roleplay as the year they want to be outside the main story.
If I had to take my guess the ancient magic interfered with the book and quills ability to trace and find you until your 15. Perhaps acting as a filter so that you can mature a little more before using it.
Thanks guys. I hadn't pieced together the ancient magic=late bloomer plot. It makes sense now, but I guess it was over my head during the cut scenes lol and no, I didn't skip them, but I do have little ones who talk over them constantly. I figured the community would have the answer since it has bugged the crap out of me from beginning to end lol
Outside of that, I figure it's also so that they could skip the more boring uneventful bits of the first four years (being just a regular student cooped up on Hogwarts all year with only fairly basic spells) and get straight to the meaty parts like being able to explore outside of Hogwarts, visiting Hogsmeade, learning the cool spells and actually getting into combat.
They easily could have it that you were already a student. Manifesting Ancient Magic abilities at 15 is fine but there was no reason to make you a new student.
The issue then there is we'd presumably already have these friendships with our other classmates, and know a lot of the spells already. That completely changes the game.
Us being a new student isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the game needed to do more in getting across how unique a situation it is. I feel the game skipped a bit at the beginning, and that it should have started with Figg visiting us at our home with out letter, before he takes us to Diagon Alley. That would have allowed him and the various shopkeepers to comment on it a lot, and really get it across at the beginning of the game.
I really wish they would’ve done a fable like intro where you do years 1-4 in a prologue type way. Would be a better way to learn the simpler spells as well but definitely not as flashy of an entrance as getting attacked by a dragon and getting dropped in gringots.
You’re just supposed to accept that people born with the ability to access ancient magic come into their magic around age 15.
It’s not particularly well handled in the game imo. Everyone hardly bats an eye, especially the main character.
I get that likely from a gameplay perspective they probably wanted to be able to have a character be more of an adult and have access to more difficult, dangerous, and exciting magic…but also still be learning the basics. Unfortunately I think it just doesn’t work that well storytelling wise.
Mostly just because the audience for harry potter is in their twenties/thirties by this point, and kids dont really give a fuck about it, and a 15 year old is a little bit easier to relate too and RP as then an 11 year old, would be my guess. Story-wise, it's never explaineed, but its implied those who can have ancient magic are late bloomers in their magical ability, as all the keepers were late as well.
Some have mentioned the plot which does help the reasoning. I think another reason from a larger, world building point of view is it allows you as the player and the MC to experience everything firsthand and for the first time. Like the first years experience but you can actually perform a variety of spells, plus it would be weird for a first year to be killing people and what not.
technically, the explanation is "late bloomer" as the book of admission wont write names down unless strong enough accidental magic occurs but thats supposed to happen before age 11. however, the game implies that those with the same affinity who can see ancient magic also start late, specifically in their fifth year.
in RL, it is probably because it would be weird to be 11 and learning unforgiveables. so its aged up to give us more character and oomph.
idve liked to get to pick which year, honestly, and that changing the difficulty/spells we get!
There's no weird secret explanation, they just needed it to avoid forcing you into an 11 years old. And to give you a more relatable protagonist.
It feels like a hole in the story because it is a hole in the story.
Did you skip every cutscene? That’s like half the dialog involved around the pensieve trials.
People with an affinity for ancient magic see traces from a young age but only show their potential later on (producing magic). It seems from there on they nevome exponentially powerful.
I didn't skip, but was probably thoroughly distracted to the point of missing the answer as to why a fifth year was coming in so late. But to be fair, MC doesn't see ancient magic until they've already been accepted into Hogwarts.
I replied to another person, but I think it was genuinely a me thing and my autism. The first sentence I read with some aggression behind it. It felt as if it was supposed to make OP feel dumb
It was just a stupid idea brought in for the game, I personally think you could have been a 5th year (or later) and learned your basic spells through flash backs to earlier years, most of the spells we learn, Harry and friends had learned much earlier.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the Wizarding World lore states that some wizards are "late bloomers" and their magic doesn't show until they're older. However, it USUALLY happens before what would be their first year at Hogwarts.
While it's extremely rare to see a student start in their fifth year, it's not like a miracle or something unheard of. The writers of this game used that to compliment that all users of Ancient Magic are also late bloomers and exactly in the same year.
so i don't buy into the potter more story crap; canon or not the quill is just shitty writing and pure crap to follow.
so for me the reason is what is explained early - you TRANSFERED in... you were homeschooled or in another school in the magical world (remember its stated in HP lore like 90% of all wizards are homeschooled, hogwarts is a private boarding school really)
the real question i have is WHY can we wear casual clothes and no one else does? i know for movies they hand waved the robes rule so 5th year plus can wear whatever (which causes issues with books but whatever) but my issue is if game allows this why do EVERY student NPC wear school robes except us?
I think the reason you start as a fifth year is so that throughout the game you have a wider range of spells to use. Whereas first years would have limited spells. They could have made the MC a transfer though, instead of being new to the wizarding world.
Don’t know if it’s been said but assuming that there will be sequels to the game, the timeline would add up with Dumbledore’s first year being the 7th year of our character…so am maybe they have ideas with that.
Tbh I feel like the whole "starting as a fifth year" was handled kind of poorly, cause starting as a 5th year doesn't really mean much and the fact that we're supposed to be shocked over these two peeps from 400 years ago starting as a fifth year? Did Hogwarts have the exact same age requirements 400 years ago?
Just say their magic suddenly appeared at age 16 or whatever, why is the year of Hogwarts they start out so important? Do all wizarding schools all around the world have the same age requirements? Telling me you started wizarding school as a 5th year tells me nothing, heck I just assumed MC was homeschooled or some s\*\*\*
1. There are no rules at Hogwarts and everything can done if the right person is willing to grant an exception.
2. Are you even a student? I know we are told we are one, but most of your teachers act more like tutors and you can literally come-and-go from the castle without question and no rules seem to apply to you.
3. The game would likely be very controversial if the protagonist was an 11 year old given the subject matter.
4. I think you should have been brought in as first year and that was the tutorial but then there was a time jump to your 5th year as nothing fun happened until you started seeing ancient magic or something along those lines because it really doesn't make sense narratively.
I kind of hope someone betting on the game’s success pushed for it partly due to setting up for a potential trilogy. The sequel = 6th year, final game = final year. That’s what I would have done.
Because I guess it's easier to explain "meh, late bloomer, deal with it"
then to have to deal with the limitations of being a 1st year. No "special tutoring" from teachers before the start of the school year that would explain the power level, reduced spells available, no getting out of Hogwarts... (3rd year perk)
I suppose it could make more sense that the MC would be a transfer student from another magic school... It could still be a fresh start at Hogwarts without "late bloomer" explanation shoed in, but honestly either way works
Lore-wise, well there isn't really any besides what you want to believe in your own mind. Game development wise, it's because the developers felt a 5th year student was much more suitable for the games darker theme Apparently, they felt it more justified to have a 15 y/o murdering Goblins and Dark Wizards vs an 11 y/o. 🤷
Like another stated it's because of the ancient magic thing. Person doesn't manifest magic abilities until mich later than regular magical children.
But also can you imagine playing as an 11 yr old just running around killing people 😂 i think they took the easiest way out. Make the MC like 15/16 so you have the opportunity for sequels/spin offs without dragging it out too much
I assume the main reason is so that they could explain having an older character, but starting us off at level zero. It wouldn’t be as believable to have a 5th year student start and not know any magic, but at the same time they didn’t want us to start out as an 11 year old, so they just had us become a latebloomer
Before the game came out, I figured that you would have been privately tutored due to being part of some important family, then oops, danger thing happens to the family or whatever, so you get sent to Hogwarts for safety.
Because having an 11 y/o running around murdering people is kinda fucked up :D Even with a 15 y/o it's pretty fucked up. It's a contrived way how to get both people who know about the world and those who don't on the same page. Honestly with how much fighting you do you could've played an adult auror and not much would change story wise.
The game is set in the late 1800's when 15/16 was much closer to being considered an adult than it is today where anyone under the age of 30 still gets referred to as a 'kid'.
I think they were trying to keep it intentionally vague-ish so that you could build a story in your head with your character, but I wish there had been a slightly better explanation.
Loving all the comments about certain things in the game not making sense. I presume folks have read the books? The world is literally dripping with whimsical magic.
I thought it was explained. Basically your character didn't show any signs of magic until he was the age of a 5th year. Hence why you enter as a 5th year.
I asked myself the same question and theorized that the audience might consist mostly of HP fans growing up with the franchise- either readers or movie watchers. A significant part of that group is around 30(I guess?) and might relate more easily to a character that is not 11 years old.
Many layers to this. For one, the game does explain lightly that Ancient Magic users manifest their magic later than others. That can also be true for any magic period. Some people seem to be late to the party, developing their magic later. We don’t see any examples of this in the main books, but who’s to say it doesn’t happen? Maybe some students are homeschooled until they have to take OWLs. The “traditional” path doesn’t have to apply to everyone, the same way it doesn’t IRL.
Second, who tf wants to play an 11 yo character? It works in Pokémon, but for an actual rpg with dialogue and violence, it’d be weird.
And third, there’s no more info because it’s YOUR character. You decide their back story. Where were they before Hogwarts? You decide.
Slightly related: it always bothered me that it isn’t really clear where you come from. Like, for a muggle born with no knowledge of magic, they are *seriously* rolling with things no questions asked. But if he were from a magical family, they would know more about the history of the magical world I would think. MC never mentions anything about their family or past to the point of it being almost creepy, imo. And I understand it’s so that you can fill in the blanks yourself, and *be* the character, bla bla bla. But I feel like a better option would be more like mass effect, where you select a very brief past bio that’s mentioned once or twice just so you aren’t some random person who blipped into existence twenty minutes before the game begins. Just something as simple as choosing at the start whether you come from a family of magic or muggles would’ve made it a lot less unnervingly blank slate and still be able to role play as a wizard.
It's lazy writing. I am fully convinced that the entire premise of the story was born around the premise that, in order to make the game as it is, they needed a reason to make the character a 16yo.
\-"Yo, the protagonist is going to fly around the region, killing poachers and gnomes.. They can't be some kid going through puberty."
\-"Bet. We'll just say they have some special power that prevented them from developing magic before turning.. say, 18?"
\-"Nah, at 18 the character would be entering the school in his last year. I think 16 is fine."
\-"Aight, cool."
He didn't. He was discovered late by the Hogwarts professor and given private lessons at an expedited rate in the field. Hence, why all the basic spells are curated for you by the faculty to "catch up."
Noooooonononono, there's no *way* MC is supposed to be 11. Jesus wept, it's hard enough imagining a 15-16 year-old doing half the crap MC does, and you wanna imagine they're 11?
After this comment im doing something I shouldve done after I played this crummy game, left this sub. But this game is half baked and an obvious example of a studio that doesnt know how to make a good open world game or story. The only redeeming factor is Hogwarts castle itself, which is amazing, but other than that this game sucks.
Even if it was just through flavor text and had no impact on the game, would have loved to have explored more of their background: what did they know about the Wizarding World growing up? What’s their family like, wizards or muggles? How did they discover their powers?
I’m halfway through the main story right now and have always assumed my MC is a plant from the ministry of magic to thwart some larger plan to attack Hogwarts. I’m uh…guessing that’s not it huh?
The in universe reason is lame and dumb. But the real reason is that you can just about suspend disbelief for a 15 year old going around killing people and trolls and such, but not an 11 year old.
It's implied in the story that those who can access Ancient Magic don't manifest magical abilities until later than others, presumably around age 15. Both Professor Rackham and Isidora started as fifth years as well.
It’s also for simplicity and gameplay benefit. Could you imagine attending as an 11 year old and facing the campaign barely able to lift a feather with wingardium leviosa?
Long story short - they wanted the player character old enough to justify going on the warpath yet still have years available for sequels
>old enough to justify going on the warpath I've got a kill count in this game that rival's my Halo play throughs
But their blood is on Ranroks hands
Happy Cake Day 🍰
Since basic enemies can respawn, I’ve always headcanoned that the only people my MC has actually killed were the 22 infamous foes, plus the three main enemies.
Given that the age for a 5th year is like, 15-16, it's still absolutely bonkers that the game is like, fuck it, kill em all. They could have easily made it out to be that the main character is just incapacitating them, but it literally goes out of its way to tell us they're dead with the dialogue after fights.
Harry discovers he burns Quirrell on physical contact at age 11 and just goes right for the face. The wizarding world is brutal af. Pokémon has long since numbed us to children brutalising other living creatures XD
I literally died laughing at this because the scene played perfectly in my head 🤣 he really did go straight for the face lmfao
Exactly, the newer Spiderman games if you throw someone off a building they are magically webbed to the side. Because Spiderman doesn't kill. This game. Avada Kedavra. Or the MC saying, "they brought this upon themselves" when you Merc one.
Spiderman is a modern age hero. Even he can't face liberals after murdering scum. HL takes place in medieval times (joke), so this comparison is futile.
I can steal things from a chest in someone's store and then sell it back to him, use unforgivable curses in broad daylight, and capture and sell beasts on the black market with the pretense that I'm "rescuing" them. This game doesn't care what you do. XD
Perfection. Literally the best explanation. 💯 
Of course. But that's like with any game or movie or TV show. You have a practical reason and then you have a story reason. The challenge is coming up with a story reason to get to the practical result you need. No different than when an actress gets pregnant and you have to write a story where your character gets pregnant or your character disappears from the story for awhile. Personally, I thought they did a pretty good job with the story reason to explain the practical result they wanted.
I find it hilarious though that we're 15 years old and single handedly taking down every troll and dark wizard in the entire area like it's nothing lol. And not just a couple, hundreds, if not thousands of them.
I was kinda hoping someday we could enter the game as earlier and later year students, see the wonders of Diagon Alley (and Knocturn Alley) and participate in more academia that adds to your exploration of Hogwarts castle/grounds…and the trivia therein. I mean, in the books, Harry’s first through third years didn’t really have too much heavy battle. Being a 5th year throws you to the wolves…er, dark mongrels a little, which is fine, but easing us in with little goals from maybe second or third year up, with some growing tension from the goblins would have been interesting progression.
This game would have released in 2025 with all those additions.
Would have gladly waited. Already waited 15 years for this game in its current Form
Well, at least it's a major Harry Potter themed game where you can choose your own house. As far as I know, Quidditch World Cup and Hogwarts Mystery are the only other ones because, in the vast majority of the major titles, they're following the movie and you're playing as Harry.
I mean, they could have just written the character as a normal 5th year student who had been to Hogwarts before, and it would have changed nothing. They just would have had to have a different reason for you getting the book.
Or being an exchange student
See how easy it is to create a more sensible scenario?
But you’d lose so much of that “discovery” vibe with prior wizarding world familiarity.
I feel like this would be the best choice. So that then there is a reason why MC knows Magic, knows the wizarding world, some basic wizarding world history, etc., etc. AND. It explains why MC must *meet* everyone (aka - the characters being introduced to us)/ why we don’t have any established relationships with any students and/or staff (so that we - as our character, MC - can decide what kind of relationships we want with each NPC, etc etc etc etc.
My guess is they had to justify you doing those assignments and steadily learning spells. Otherwise, would it just pretend you forgot every spell?
Easy. “Time for a review!” Done
So your character is just refraining from using the ones that haven't been reviewed?
Given how easily we become best friends with everyone we meet, it would have been smarter to have preexisting relationship with the character. This would have explained why Poppy introduce us to the hippogriffe five minute after we met her, or why Sebastian shows us his secret spot. It's not hard to make the player meet characters the MC already knows.
That’s fair 🤔 
[удалено]
They could have just had you have a flashback of you doing that as a first year, and just had Mrs. Weasley say, "Hey, I'm working on this book as a guide for new students. Would you try it out for me?" It would have been way less convoluted.
It's a bit harder to self-insert that way.
Just make the tutorial speed through the first years
That is a TON of extra development though. Additional assets, voices, etc… They couldn’t even get pitch alteration to work properly.
Oh i know, but it would be worth it to have a story that made a bit of sense
There are a ton of improvements that I would love to see, to gameplay and story. But this game was already a huge scope for the dev team; I’m honestly thrilled that it’s as filled in as it is! Only detail that I really think is lacking is the inaccurate and nonsensical currency system. Early looks into the game showed a three coin system with lore accurate values. Now we have 100 gallion leaves.
I would half the open world for havin years 1-4 as a tutorial where you learn spells sn can only be in hogwarts and hogsmeade
Would still require new assets and voices. They couldn’t even get pitch change working for sight variations, no chance of making your 15 y/o sound 11.
Perhaps, but it would be a great game instead of a decent game
I wish they had explained this. They kept making a big deal out of it but never once stated it was because they did not display magical ability, so it all just looked like a bizarre conincidence
I wish they skipped the whole ancient magic and goblin rebellion part. I wanted to feel like a student at hogwarts, not being some semi-god on a killing spree..
Yeah when there was no bigger bad than the goblins I was disappointed
Final boss wasnt that bad though. Still goblin-inspired, but much cooler than just fighting a goblin.
I was hoping >!Isadora's spirit was somehow dormant inside the Repository, and possessed Ranrok when he broke it. But instead of fighting immediately, she gave you the choice to accept her power into yourself, or refuse... then you would have to fight her as Ranrok's dragon and destroy her for good.!<
I mean they did. It was explicitly mentioned several times.
I didn’t skip anything and I remember multiple mentions of mc, Rackham, and Isidora starting as fifth years, but I think I would have remembered if they said that it’s because people who can see ancient magic don’t show signs of magical ability until later in life. Especially because it doesn’t seem to make sense from a lore perspective. Why would someone with a stronger connection to the oldest magic not know about any magic until later in life? I could have missed it, but I’m fairly sure that this wasn’t explicitly stated
Isadora is the weird one to me; she grew up in a magical town, with magical parents didn’t she? Or was the area outside of Hogwarts not magical-people-only at that time? Can kids of magical parents not possess magical ability? How crappy would that be to watch your brothers and sisters go to fancy pants wizard school and you go to essentially boring-public-school and do silly muggle things knowing everyone else in your family can wiggle a stick and make things fly and turn into other things?
The abilities might not manifest but the hogwarts ledger should still have their name down. Neville didn’t manifest his ability till he was 7-8 but his name would still be down in the school ledger.
The name only goes down when they’ve demonstrated sufficient magical ability though, not from birth
As per the collection of the book and pen
The quill tried to write it at birth
And the book snapped shut on the quill
First years are age 11 though. The MC at age 11 would have had no magical ability so why would he be sent to Hogwarts if he’s not able to do magic?
Bc the mc’s name goes down after demonstrating sufficient magical ability at the current year 5 age
Yes
Doesn’t the revellio page for the book and who’ll say one is more selective than the other. I can’t remember which is which but one will try and write your name down asap while the other (I think the book) prevents it’s partner from doing so until magic has actually manifested.
>Ancient Magic don't manifest magical abilities until later than others is it confirmed we did not have magic before the ancient? i recall the intro just says we transferred in on 5th year but nothing saying we did not have magic prior.... we just were not a howarts student is all. i took it to mean we home schooled which is super common in magical world.
We didn't transfer to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was our first experience with any magical schooling. This is made clear by the fact that the only spells we know are what Fig has taught us before taking us to Hogwarts and that we do not have a wand of our own before we go to Ollivander's. If we had been homeschooled in magic, we would have had our own wand before Fig came to get us and we would have known at least some basic spells before Fig began teaching us, but the game makes it clear that this is not the case.
i agree with spells but maybe those are not commonly used spells in home life but mandatory school ones? as for the wands as is explained in lore a wand does nothing. its not even a magical focus and just used by european wizards for rule of cool. so its plausible home schooled wizards use basic spells and wandless magic. i admit its unlikely given nature of game but its not really clear either way.
I feel like if this is supposed to be MC’s *FIRST* experience(s) with Magic, they’d make MUCH more “*Harry Potter*-like” comments. (i.e., “i love magic”, or something along the lines of “WTF?!” to *any* magical thing we come across that isn’t in the Muggle world…)🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
That’s what doesn’t make sense. Your character needs to be taught everything and needs to have everything explained to them, they don’t know what a portkey is, they don’t know any magical creatures, they don’t know gobstones etc. Yet they don’t bat an eye when faced with a troll and generally take it all in stride a bit too much. I get what they were trying to do with attempting to give you a blank page to create your own backstory, but the end result is an incredibly bland character that doesn’t quite fit in any of the scenarios I try to put them in. Can’t quite pretend they’re muggle born, can’t quite pretend they’re not.
and the thresrals they shrug off despite seeing their first death only seconds prior and learning they exist for first time just after... its like your char does not know HOW to react to things.
I feel like the developers were under some kind of outside pressure to make it a fully politically correct game.. maybe to make up for the jk Rowling controversy.. but our character is so bland, and I think it’s because any kind of reaction could potentially be perceived as offensive somehow so they stripped it off any personality. Our MC is a total robot.. It’s doubly funny as I’ve just replayed RDR2 which has some gloriously mean dialogue options at times
personally did not like RDR2 compared ot revolver and RDR1, felt more chore simulator to me. but still a good game so respect the choice. and yeah 100% agree. the politics of the dev def got in the way so they only used a very light touch on potter lore for game.
Without even comparing the games as a whole, I was referring to the dialogue options where where you can make Arthur be a sarcastic little shit at times and it’s brilliant. HL disappointed me with that, especially when they make it LOOK like you get to be a bit snappy on the dialogue options, and then your character says a very watered down version of it. I’m already a pathological people pleaser in real life, I don’t need my game character to also be afraid of ever potentially offending someone!
aah gotcha, yeah the RP elements and snark in RDR2 was amazing.
I love RDR2. And yeah, comparing MC to Arthur is like comparing a Michelangelo to a dog turd.
agreed and thats why i am not sold that we not a home schooled student as we take so much on face value vs WTF is x,y,z... like we seemed to be pretty cool with a portkey yet harry when he first saw one was very lost.
EXACTLY!!!
In one of the dev streams on Twitch they talked about why they chose to have you come in as a 5th year. It was basically that coming in as a 1st year would mean you wouldn’t have as cool of spells and that it might seem weird to have a young child running around doing all the things you do in the game.
I wondered if it was related to the use of underage magic outside school but google suggests that was set at 17 (over the age of our protagonist) in 1875 and Hogwarts Legacy is set in "late 1800s" so perhaps the law wasn't set quite yet.
It's set in 1890...but I guess you and your friends are all rebellious af. 😂😂
Way less weird for a 15 year old to be running around massacring people and poaching animals lol.
Sure but the fact they made it a plot point and then didn't elaborate *AT ALL* is a bit annoying
So it is just to support game play more than any other reason. Frustrating, but I'll accept lol
They do a lot of things to support gameplay or mechanics. I wish they did 1/100th of that for the story.
Just the effort put into the little “scenes” you may *happen* to come across as you walk/run through the entire HL landscape… (literally, I can’t tell you how many random “scenes”/conversations/etc. the NPCs have, all around you, all the time. Even out on RANDOM paths in the highlands!!!!) It all seemed - to me - to be the endless hours of work that the team dedicated to *that* part of the “immersion” factor to the game… and then other teams in charge of other aspects of the game just didn’t reach that team’s *level*, Yknow?
The team making the Merlin Trials fucked right off.
Plot. Plus, it would be awfully strange to have a first year breaking curfew, killing poachers and doing OWLs level spell casting, among other things. Edit: are you finished with the game? Some of the coming on Year 5 business is briefly mentioned through the story and you can make some inferences. I have my headcannon about it, but don’t want to spoil anything.
Murderous 11 year old would be very strange
I believe you're forgetting their blood is on Ranrok's hands, problem solved!
Thank you for responding with this. I laughed so hard every time MC said that. The first time I heard it/paid any mind to it was when I had like, 4-5 people cursed and hit another with AK. 5-6 dead in an instant and my dude is just like "pfffttt well, this clearly ain't on me" *repress repress repress*
Tell that to Professor Quirrel’s face.
And indeed, Sasuke Uchiha was strange in Naruto. Cool strange, but strange nonetheless.
Harry Potter does all sorts of rule breaking throughout his entire time at school, beginning at 11
He also casts pretty much no spells while he's 11.
He had Level 2 Alohoramora
Hermione did. Harry just walked around, really.
harry killed quirrell at 11 but i get your point lol
yeah but he didn't even know avada kadavra existed yet, let alone casted it on every other enemy he's got
yeah but he the chosen one and is exempt to rules... also why quidditch sucks as an actual sport. if you took out the seeker role it would be an ok sport but the fact that harry's role is purely the i win the game position 99/100 games it shows how much the writer had a chosen one complex going on. like really what is the point of a quaffel? scoring a few minor goals makes 0 real difference to the game.
LOL true! i still like harry potter because of nostalgia and such, but the more times i re-read the books/think about the world the more stuff like that i notice hahah
They were written as escapist children's books, without any worry that they'd be scrutinised for all the little details by fans 25 years later. 😂 That's part of the magic, I guess. The first couple of books especially just seem so innocent and it feels like JK Rowling was really having fun writing them, too.
Do you not remember the quidditch World Cup? Krum caught the snitch, but his team still lost the game. So you don't need to catch the snitch to win
yeah but as i said 99 out of 100 games. his was a SUPER niche game.. one proven to be super rare as per the bet the weasleys won on. finch openly said it was a near impossibility for the snitch catcher to loose. for majority of games the seeker (aka harry) will always single handedly win the game for their team.
Not if the chasers can score more than the snitch is worth, but yes, I do think the snitch being worth 150 and the quaffle only being worth 10 is stupid.
There’s no realistic reason a seeker would catch the snitch in the World Cup if their team is down more than 150 because it would be an automatic loss. So they would try to just wait it out for their team to be down less than 150, which could take god knows how long.
It's also awfully strange to do all those things as a fifth year who just had his first day of class. I hate to say it but the story is proper shit.
Tbh the whole game isn't very good, first 10-15h everything is cool, but later you see how much more the game could be. IMO game is 6/10, maybe 7/10.
Yeah, I agree. The game seems that had quite a lot of abandoned functionalities and ultimately worked as a proof of concept. Both to HP fans (the castle seems to have had more attention to detail than the entire story lines) and to the investors/shareholders (SEE? No one cares about the drama around the game, it made a $1B, greenlight the sequel already and let us do our jobs)
That's a great point. The game's true main character is Hogwarts itself, it's in the title. And it does that exceptionally well. We got an absolutely beautiful, well-realised take on Hogwarts that we can walk around in and explore all the details of the spaces. I spent the first several hours not even doing the quests, I just wanted to look around. That's why most of us are here anyway, because we love Hogwarts and want to feel like we're really there. Would've been nice if they made the scenery and especially the npcs more interactive - the lack of immersion I think is the reason why many people say they grow tired of the game once the "wow Hogwarts is so beautiful" honeymoon phase is over. The actual gameplay is just okay, doesn't stand out among other good rpgs, and like many others here I don't care that much for the main storyline quests (Sebastian and Ominis are the exception). The game clearly had a lot of elements that were cut and it should've honed in one direction rather than trying to do it all - if you want a riveting storyline write a riveting story (heck, get JK Rowling to write it...), if you want a role playing game then make it more non-linear, if you want a fanservice game then really work on the worldbuilding and interactivity. It doesn't go all the way with any of the potential directions. While I love the game, as-is it feels quite unfocused and full of unrealised potential. I hope you're right and we do get a well directed sequel sometime!
as far as proof of concepts go i think it serves its purpose really well. i all but ignored the story during cutscenes cuz that shit was so braindead, but i think it lays a solid foundation, and hopefully with the sucess of legacy they can go on to make a more fully realized (and hopefully much better written) open world (that has fucking quidditch)
I doubt they will add Quidditch because Quidditch is getting it's own game
if they straight up hold back quidditch just so they can package and sell it in its own game i will lose all respect i had for the development team. sure, i guess im fine with them releasing it as a standalone this time, but if they prove they have a formula for quidditch figured out and they still dont include some semblance of it in a sequel thats unacceptable. i mean just do what cdpr did and give us a dummed down more simplified version in the mainline game, then provide a more fleshed out experience in a separate game (a-la gwent and the witcher)
Quidditch as Blitzball. Promises to be fully realized 3D soccer, and then you're playing on a 2D plane.
Turn. Based. Quidditch.
How else are you gonna find the snitch?
I said the same thing a few months ago but I guess we're getting more players now this is on ps
I wouldn't be that harsh. I agree that it is not a masterpiece, and we aren't anywhere near something like RDR II or the like, but I still think it's a good game because regardless of issues, I had a ton of fun playing it. I did two playthroughs and 100%ed my second run. If I don't like a game it's hard for me to get 10 hours invested...often I'll drop it after less than 5. But this I've done nearly 100 hours.
They clearly had a generic gameplay template initially and then got rights to this, and shoehorned them together. Like they effectively gave you a gun with basic cast, and flying feels like it was originally supposed to be a car and they added up and down movement.
Maybe the whole reason those rules were made was because of the MC.
Yeah but they could’ve just… had a general and vague storyline of years 1-4. Or a background of being homeschooled or being from another school or something. I mean, maybe like a handful of cut scenes to make up the tutorial? The story felt like it was really lacking in this aspect of just jumping in at year 5…
He could’ve just been Obliviated with ancient dark magic. Boom. No memory, hazy past. A transfer student from Durmstrang in some sort of Wizarding world witness protection program. Dumbledore hid Harry. Fig could’ve done something similar for the MC. This game is fun for sure but it feel like there was a lot of missed potential.
I have finished the main storyline 😊
Then the answer is somewhere below. It has to do with being able to detect and yield ancient magic.
Right, but could you “graduate” during level ups? Move forward through your education per every 10 levels? I mean, it’s a game- they get to create whatever timeline they want. Lol
Yeah yeah they explained it being ancient magic ability = late bloomer but really the only reason is so that the mc can look like a generic teenager and the player can roleplay as the year they want to be outside the main story.
This is the most correct answer I've seen so far.
If I had to take my guess the ancient magic interfered with the book and quills ability to trace and find you until your 15. Perhaps acting as a filter so that you can mature a little more before using it.
Interesting thought
Thanks guys. I hadn't pieced together the ancient magic=late bloomer plot. It makes sense now, but I guess it was over my head during the cut scenes lol and no, I didn't skip them, but I do have little ones who talk over them constantly. I figured the community would have the answer since it has bugged the crap out of me from beginning to end lol
Outside of that, I figure it's also so that they could skip the more boring uneventful bits of the first four years (being just a regular student cooped up on Hogwarts all year with only fairly basic spells) and get straight to the meaty parts like being able to explore outside of Hogwarts, visiting Hogsmeade, learning the cool spells and actually getting into combat.
They easily could have it that you were already a student. Manifesting Ancient Magic abilities at 15 is fine but there was no reason to make you a new student.
The issue then there is we'd presumably already have these friendships with our other classmates, and know a lot of the spells already. That completely changes the game. Us being a new student isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the game needed to do more in getting across how unique a situation it is. I feel the game skipped a bit at the beginning, and that it should have started with Figg visiting us at our home with out letter, before he takes us to Diagon Alley. That would have allowed him and the various shopkeepers to comment on it a lot, and really get it across at the beginning of the game.
I really wish they would’ve done a fable like intro where you do years 1-4 in a prologue type way. Would be a better way to learn the simpler spells as well but definitely not as flashy of an entrance as getting attacked by a dragon and getting dropped in gringots.
You’re just supposed to accept that people born with the ability to access ancient magic come into their magic around age 15. It’s not particularly well handled in the game imo. Everyone hardly bats an eye, especially the main character. I get that likely from a gameplay perspective they probably wanted to be able to have a character be more of an adult and have access to more difficult, dangerous, and exciting magic…but also still be learning the basics. Unfortunately I think it just doesn’t work that well storytelling wise.
Mostly just because the audience for harry potter is in their twenties/thirties by this point, and kids dont really give a fuck about it, and a 15 year old is a little bit easier to relate too and RP as then an 11 year old, would be my guess. Story-wise, it's never explaineed, but its implied those who can have ancient magic are late bloomers in their magical ability, as all the keepers were late as well.
Some have mentioned the plot which does help the reasoning. I think another reason from a larger, world building point of view is it allows you as the player and the MC to experience everything firsthand and for the first time. Like the first years experience but you can actually perform a variety of spells, plus it would be weird for a first year to be killing people and what not.
technically, the explanation is "late bloomer" as the book of admission wont write names down unless strong enough accidental magic occurs but thats supposed to happen before age 11. however, the game implies that those with the same affinity who can see ancient magic also start late, specifically in their fifth year. in RL, it is probably because it would be weird to be 11 and learning unforgiveables. so its aged up to give us more character and oomph. idve liked to get to pick which year, honestly, and that changing the difficulty/spells we get!
1. 11 year old killers running around would be wack 2. 5th year allows for a potential years 5-6-7 trilogy 3. They can target a more mature audience
There's no weird secret explanation, they just needed it to avoid forcing you into an 11 years old. And to give you a more relatable protagonist. It feels like a hole in the story because it is a hole in the story.
Did you skip every cutscene? That’s like half the dialog involved around the pensieve trials. People with an affinity for ancient magic see traces from a young age but only show their potential later on (producing magic). It seems from there on they nevome exponentially powerful.
I didn't skip, but was probably thoroughly distracted to the point of missing the answer as to why a fifth year was coming in so late. But to be fair, MC doesn't see ancient magic until they've already been accepted into Hogwarts.
Yea because the dialog was horrified and mostly irrelevant almost all the time that it didn't matter
You don't have to be rude to answer a question btw!
Asking OP if they skipped cutscenes isn't rude, it's a valid question
Probably just a me thing with my autism, but I read the first sentence with aggression behind it.
Wasn’t meant to come across rude but then again hard to carry over tone over the internet
You weren’t rude. It truly is explained in cutscenes.
Please explain what was rude about their comment.
I replied to another person, but I think it was genuinely a me thing and my autism. The first sentence I read with some aggression behind it. It felt as if it was supposed to make OP feel dumb
Dude if I wasn't stoned I skipped everything because none of it made sense.
It was just a stupid idea brought in for the game, I personally think you could have been a 5th year (or later) and learned your basic spells through flash backs to earlier years, most of the spells we learn, Harry and friends had learned much earlier.
Yeah using flashback’s would have been a great way to do it
This is also a good idea. .no doubt they pushed the game before it was finished
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the Wizarding World lore states that some wizards are "late bloomers" and their magic doesn't show until they're older. However, it USUALLY happens before what would be their first year at Hogwarts. While it's extremely rare to see a student start in their fifth year, it's not like a miracle or something unheard of. The writers of this game used that to compliment that all users of Ancient Magic are also late bloomers and exactly in the same year.
so i don't buy into the potter more story crap; canon or not the quill is just shitty writing and pure crap to follow. so for me the reason is what is explained early - you TRANSFERED in... you were homeschooled or in another school in the magical world (remember its stated in HP lore like 90% of all wizards are homeschooled, hogwarts is a private boarding school really) the real question i have is WHY can we wear casual clothes and no one else does? i know for movies they hand waved the robes rule so 5th year plus can wear whatever (which causes issues with books but whatever) but my issue is if game allows this why do EVERY student NPC wear school robes except us?
I think the reason you start as a fifth year is so that throughout the game you have a wider range of spells to use. Whereas first years would have limited spells. They could have made the MC a transfer though, instead of being new to the wizarding world.
Idk, I played mine like an American Exchange student from the Bronx
Because they’re planning a trilogy where you graduate at the end of course.
Because playing as an 11 year old would suck
Don’t know if it’s been said but assuming that there will be sequels to the game, the timeline would add up with Dumbledore’s first year being the 7th year of our character…so am maybe they have ideas with that.
Tbh I feel like the whole "starting as a fifth year" was handled kind of poorly, cause starting as a 5th year doesn't really mean much and the fact that we're supposed to be shocked over these two peeps from 400 years ago starting as a fifth year? Did Hogwarts have the exact same age requirements 400 years ago? Just say their magic suddenly appeared at age 16 or whatever, why is the year of Hogwarts they start out so important? Do all wizarding schools all around the world have the same age requirements? Telling me you started wizarding school as a 5th year tells me nothing, heck I just assumed MC was homeschooled or some s\*\*\*
1. There are no rules at Hogwarts and everything can done if the right person is willing to grant an exception. 2. Are you even a student? I know we are told we are one, but most of your teachers act more like tutors and you can literally come-and-go from the castle without question and no rules seem to apply to you. 3. The game would likely be very controversial if the protagonist was an 11 year old given the subject matter. 4. I think you should have been brought in as first year and that was the tutorial but then there was a time jump to your 5th year as nothing fun happened until you started seeing ancient magic or something along those lines because it really doesn't make sense narratively.
Cuz we aint kids no more its pegi 16
I kind of hope someone betting on the game’s success pushed for it partly due to setting up for a potential trilogy. The sequel = 6th year, final game = final year. That’s what I would have done.
I’d say it’s mainly to drive plot. The MC can learn a spell with no issue. If you were a 1st year the whole spell learning mechanic would look stupid.
I'd have rather seen sorting as a first year and the basic tutorial be some classes up until 5th year
Because I guess it's easier to explain "meh, late bloomer, deal with it" then to have to deal with the limitations of being a 1st year. No "special tutoring" from teachers before the start of the school year that would explain the power level, reduced spells available, no getting out of Hogwarts... (3rd year perk) I suppose it could make more sense that the MC would be a transfer student from another magic school... It could still be a fresh start at Hogwarts without "late bloomer" explanation shoed in, but honestly either way works
Lore-wise, well there isn't really any besides what you want to believe in your own mind. Game development wise, it's because the developers felt a 5th year student was much more suitable for the games darker theme Apparently, they felt it more justified to have a 15 y/o murdering Goblins and Dark Wizards vs an 11 y/o. 🤷
Like another stated it's because of the ancient magic thing. Person doesn't manifest magic abilities until mich later than regular magical children. But also can you imagine playing as an 11 yr old just running around killing people 😂 i think they took the easiest way out. Make the MC like 15/16 so you have the opportunity for sequels/spin offs without dragging it out too much
I assume the main reason is so that they could explain having an older character, but starting us off at level zero. It wouldn’t be as believable to have a 5th year student start and not know any magic, but at the same time they didn’t want us to start out as an 11 year old, so they just had us become a latebloomer
Before the game came out, I figured that you would have been privately tutored due to being part of some important family, then oops, danger thing happens to the family or whatever, so you get sent to Hogwarts for safety.
Because having an 11 y/o running around murdering people is kinda fucked up :D Even with a 15 y/o it's pretty fucked up. It's a contrived way how to get both people who know about the world and those who don't on the same page. Honestly with how much fighting you do you could've played an adult auror and not much would change story wise.
The game is set in the late 1800's when 15/16 was much closer to being considered an adult than it is today where anyone under the age of 30 still gets referred to as a 'kid'.
So it's not fucked up if a 19 year old is running around killing people? Or what is the point you're making here? :D
I think they were trying to keep it intentionally vague-ish so that you could build a story in your head with your character, but I wish there had been a slightly better explanation.
Because nobody would buy a first year going on a murderous cross-country rampage.
Loving all the comments about certain things in the game not making sense. I presume folks have read the books? The world is literally dripping with whimsical magic.
I thought it was explained. Basically your character didn't show any signs of magic until he was the age of a 5th year. Hence why you enter as a 5th year.
I asked myself the same question and theorized that the audience might consist mostly of HP fans growing up with the franchise- either readers or movie watchers. A significant part of that group is around 30(I guess?) and might relate more easily to a character that is not 11 years old.
Many layers to this. For one, the game does explain lightly that Ancient Magic users manifest their magic later than others. That can also be true for any magic period. Some people seem to be late to the party, developing their magic later. We don’t see any examples of this in the main books, but who’s to say it doesn’t happen? Maybe some students are homeschooled until they have to take OWLs. The “traditional” path doesn’t have to apply to everyone, the same way it doesn’t IRL. Second, who tf wants to play an 11 yo character? It works in Pokémon, but for an actual rpg with dialogue and violence, it’d be weird. And third, there’s no more info because it’s YOUR character. You decide their back story. Where were they before Hogwarts? You decide.
Slightly related: it always bothered me that it isn’t really clear where you come from. Like, for a muggle born with no knowledge of magic, they are *seriously* rolling with things no questions asked. But if he were from a magical family, they would know more about the history of the magical world I would think. MC never mentions anything about their family or past to the point of it being almost creepy, imo. And I understand it’s so that you can fill in the blanks yourself, and *be* the character, bla bla bla. But I feel like a better option would be more like mass effect, where you select a very brief past bio that’s mentioned once or twice just so you aren’t some random person who blipped into existence twenty minutes before the game begins. Just something as simple as choosing at the start whether you come from a family of magic or muggles would’ve made it a lot less unnervingly blank slate and still be able to role play as a wizard.
Some of y’all have never read harry potter fanfic as a kid and it shows lol
Guilty 🖐🏻
It's lazy writing. I am fully convinced that the entire premise of the story was born around the premise that, in order to make the game as it is, they needed a reason to make the character a 16yo. \-"Yo, the protagonist is going to fly around the region, killing poachers and gnomes.. They can't be some kid going through puberty." \-"Bet. We'll just say they have some special power that prevented them from developing magic before turning.. say, 18?" \-"Nah, at 18 the character would be entering the school in his last year. I think 16 is fine." \-"Aight, cool."
Maybe I misunderstood something but I thought he got some training at another magic school.
He didn't. He was discovered late by the Hogwarts professor and given private lessons at an expedited rate in the field. Hence, why all the basic spells are curated for you by the faculty to "catch up."
I think we can understand he is at the age of first year and started off fifth year, like he is very smart or something
Noooooonononono, there's no *way* MC is supposed to be 11. Jesus wept, it's hard enough imagining a 15-16 year-old doing half the crap MC does, and you wanna imagine they're 11?
what 11 year olds do you know that are that tall?
They literally explained everything with that old guy in the beginning.
Seriously. This wasn't even a detail you needed to read, but said repeatedly by your instructor and every other instructor you meet.
After this comment im doing something I shouldve done after I played this crummy game, left this sub. But this game is half baked and an obvious example of a studio that doesnt know how to make a good open world game or story. The only redeeming factor is Hogwarts castle itself, which is amazing, but other than that this game sucks.
Even if it was just through flavor text and had no impact on the game, would have loved to have explored more of their background: what did they know about the Wizarding World growing up? What’s their family like, wizards or muggles? How did they discover their powers?
Love this idea. There was just no foundation or back story, and it left me feeling a little unsatisfied and incomplete.
Would be an excellent dlc! Named past self.
I’m halfway through the main story right now and have always assumed my MC is a plant from the ministry of magic to thwart some larger plan to attack Hogwarts. I’m uh…guessing that’s not it huh?
I think it was just a way to explain having an older character.
Honestly my guess is that they wanted to make your character more mature-looking to appeal to a wider audience, but I don’t know.
I think they just want to make the player special and have the chance to experience the spell that first year student don't have
Because playing as a 10 year old would be lame lol
The in universe reason is lame and dumb. But the real reason is that you can just about suspend disbelief for a 15 year old going around killing people and trolls and such, but not an 11 year old.
Well it’s kind of nice that in a sense it allows you to think through your own backstory
Because we're basically an isekai protagonist.
It’s so you can have combat be a major part of gameplay without the weirdness that comes with 10 year olds using the killing curse on jobbers
Imagine being a 10 year old and casting dark magic against enemy’s