What would you want in a GOOD Harry Potter game?

With the last movie-based Harry Potter game having come out, I think we can safely say there hasn't yet been a Harry Potter game that's fully lived up the the source material. So, what would you want to go into a properly made HP game?

I think an action/RPG set in the First Wizarding War would be cool, possibly as an original or minor character who attends Hogwarts and then joins the Order or the Death Eaters and fights for their side.

No health bar >:|

A good harry Potter game would need to be set in the same verse but be separate from the plot of the books. Maybe set the game a few years after Deathly Hallows and therefore be freed from the limitations of having to stick to the story. Alternatively pull a KOTOR and set it years before the main storyline (preferably before Voldy so that we don't need to put up with any story elements of the books) and tell it's own story from there.

Admittedly the cynical side in me would want a dark deconstruction of the mechanics of the Potterverse mixed into the game as well.

As for actual gameplay- I'd say the mechanics of the books kind of lends itself to some form of combat with rpg elements. Probably some type of action rpg combat in the style of Diablo or whatever could work here.

If the game is set in Hogwarts it'd also lend itself quite well to some kind of big sandbox set in the school (maybe like Bully? Although personally I wasn't a big fan of the class minigames crap or the annoying time limits to go to class). I'd also say that I'd rather see all 7 years be in the game with multiple timeskips rather than having to put up with yet another 7 part series.

Definitely a fan of timeskips for Hogwarts. Maybe have your character start off in fifth or sixth year and go from there, with a flashback mission or two showing the first year.

Since characters and friends are really important in HP, a Mass Effect like dialogue system and party selection would be cool. For my First Wizarding War idea, you could pick two or three out of the Marauders, Lily, Mad-Eye, the Longbottoms or the Prewetts to accompany you.

I think a Harry Potter game would probably work best as an adventure game like Zelda, just because the majority of the spells used in the series wouldn't be incredibly helpful in combat, but could easily be used for puzzles and exploration.

Clearly you did not play Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone on the PSX or Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. They were Zelda rip-offs. Good Zelda rip-offs.

Anyhoo, Order of the Phoenix had everything I could want in an HP game.

Making your own spells. I heard there was a game for the Move that did that?

The first two games on the PC I thought were pretty good. I wouldn't mind more of that, to be sure.

I enjoyed Chamber of Secrets on PS 2, except for the absurd load times.

Sorceror's Stone for GBC was pretty good too.

The two GBC games were pretty nice. They were turn-based RP Gs and were based a little more closely on the books than the movies and had numerous subtle little Easter Eggs scattered around.

Having Ron chuck Scabbers at enemies never got old.

Yup, Chamber Of Secrets for the Game Boy Color was probably my favorite Harry Potter game thus far.

A sandbox game would be awesome.

I mean one that only loosely follows the books, but really opens up the works for the player to explore.

In other words, a Magic Axademy game that doesn't suck horribly.

The OOTP game has probably come closest in terms of a Hogwarts sandbox. It's a large, detailed and quite pretty map, with no loading times, but the voice acting is bad, the characters are creepy looking and gameplay just isn't fun.

edited 16th Aug '11 6:09:25 PM by HopelessSituationWarrior

There's always one flaw...

Perhaps they could just make it a Slice of Life kind of deal but with the major canon events scripted to taking place around your created student. You would then have the choice of taking part, sitting them out or just doing your own thing. Not sure how Genre Savvy players or experienced Sequence Breakers could be kept from messing up the whole thing.

A Bioware-meets-Shyamalan (so basicly Bioware) type of game where you control a young wizard who makes pals with another like-minded young wizard, and during the events of the game your moral actions will dictate the ending in a Schrödinger's Player Character way: if you were mostly good your character turns out to be Dumbledore, and if you were bad then your character turns out to be Grindelwald

edited 16th Aug '11 6:31:49 PM by Silveratus

To my experience, Chamber of Secrets was actually a pretty decent game and actually improved on the flawed (and very linear) mechanics of the Sorcerer's Stone (of course I've played them on the PC, so...)

That said, I haven't played any of the games from that time onward, and I could safely assume it went downhill from there. Haven't played the games for years, but I can't really judge them nor do I have intent to.

I'd like to see an RPG where you could focus on your Hogwarts schoolwork, extracurricular magic activities (Quidditch, etc.), or magical affairs outside of school. Schoolwork could help you build skills depending on the class, and the other things could be for fun quests and activities.

I really liked the PoA game for PC, which was pretty much Zelda with teamwork.

I'd also like a turn-based RPG like the GBC games but spanning all 7 years.

Wouldn't mind seeing an RPG (with the same gameplay as the GBA POA game) about the next generation, starring Albus-Severus, Rose, and Scorpious.

I'd like a straight-up remake of the Game Boy Color games, including Professor Sprout's Adaptation Dye-Job.

Play as Voldemort. Destroy the world.

Open world RPG. Be anyone, not just a character from the books. Course, there's better franchises for that, but I'd still play it.

I thought the 2 GBC games and the GBA Po A game were good turn based RP Gs. I really wish they had continued the style of those for the hand held games.

I do think the idea of a post Deathly Hollows could be really good. One problem with that I could see is the risk of the kids of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, etc. taking over the story, but with decent writing that could be avoided.

I thought I saw a RPG-styled HP game from before, and all I could remember about it is that they made Hermione a Glass Cannon, while Harry a Jack bordering on Stone Wall or even Lightning Bruiser.

Though if there would be an RPG (unlikely, as one poster stated that HP spells are better used for exploration than combat}, I could see Neville as a Mighty Glacier, Ron as a Lightning Bruiser, Hermione a Glass Cannon, and the rest of the DA gang as Jacks.

edited 12th Jul '12 10:45:45 AM by judasmartel