Line #2 YMMV/HarryPotterHogwartsMystery


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Does Peregrine actually want to connect with his estranged kids or did he see them as a means to make the end, using their familial ties to be more manipulative? He seems genuine at times, but seems to have preyed on Jacob's desire to reunite the family, treating him as a backup Legilimens, on favoring his younger child more because they were more gifted. How much is the Cursed Amulet overwriting his personality? Is his revenge plot against the ministry really because he lost his friends in the war and almost lost his ex-wife or is it an accidental curse left behind by Ryusaki? Or perhaps it's a mix of both?]] It's hard to really say at the end of it all and the game allows you the interpret it either way.
2	* AngstWhatAngst: Despite [[spoiler:being trapped inside a portrait for at at ''least'' 5-10 years and having last seen their sibling when they were ''only'' around 9 or 10 years old, Jacob doesn't seem too shaken up by it all. Put aside the intense pscyhological trauma he may have endured (in comparison, Beatrice was only trapped there for a ''year'' and was severely traumatized), he ''should'' chronologically be around 26 years old when they player finds him again, but now is only biologically a few years older than his 15-16 year old younger sibling.]] You would think that [[spoiler:it would be a bit of a mental shock to see your younger sibling jump from a pre-teen to someone pushing their late teens, but Jacob seems perfectly fine with it]]. Either he's real good at pretending he's fine or writers just glossed over it all.
3	* ArcFatigue: Year 5's release schedule literally mirrored a real-time academic year. Its sheer length, as well as the fact that updates only come periodically, meant that plot points dragged out for months and constantly came to a halt, with timed side quests (some of which are as long as Year 1 on their own) being released instead of plot content half the time.
4	** Year 6 moved at an even slower pace, lasting a year and a half in real time, with a total of 46 chapters.
5	%%** Year 7 is the absolute worst. As of writing, its chapter count has exceeded Year 6 and shows no sign of a conclusion.
6	** Year 7 moved at an even SLOWER pace, lasting two and a half years in real time, with a total of 60 chapters.
7	* BaseBreakingCharacter:
8	** Rowan is either a [[{{Adorkable}} cute]], lovable friend players are glad to have in their corner or an obnoxious, clingy dweeb players wish they could dump. [[spoiler:Until Rowan takes the killing curse, which horrified even detractors.]]
9	** Merula. Some players think she's the memetic "Best Girl" in the game and want the player to befriend her, fawning over her design and personality or theorizing on her backstory. Others loathe her, finding her obnoxious and her FreudianExcuse not good enough for her bullying and past actions.
10	** Penny when her constant presence in side quests at the expense of characters who made more sense to include began to irritate players. Some also think she occasionally comes across as [[BreakTheCutie weepy and clingy]] in later years as well, but others think it is a reasonable weakness added to someone who was ''too'' perfect.
11	*** In the Valentine's Day side quest, [[spoiler:which triggers in year 5, chapter 4, almost right after Beatrice was trapped in a portrait, [[MoodWhiplash Penny seems to be her overwhelmingly cheerful self and hits on MC heavily]], which rubbed people up the wrong way. And then came the controversial part where she attempts to cast a love charm on MC behind their back; some considered this to be her being controlling and possessive, others brush it off as an impulsive prank, and [[IfIWantedYouDead if she had wanted to, she'd have slipped MC a love potion already.]]]]
12	* BreatherLevel: It used to take an ever-increasing number of points to gain Attribute levels 2-30, with level 30 requiring a mind-bending 17,275 points to achieve. After that, it only takes 1,890 per level to get 31-46. [[note]]Attribute points accumulate 2-40 per activity. A full day of grinding Attribute points in 8-hour classes (where they accumulate the fastest) will typically get a player 400-500 points. 17,275 points is ''over a month'' of grinding all day, every day, and more like two months on a realistic play schedule.[[/note]] This is now changed so attribute levelling uses a more conventional "gradually increasing points per level" model.
13	* BrokenBase: Some players enjoy the game and plotline and find it in line with the expectations they had for a mobile game; others find it SoOkayItsAverage but not engaging; and others were disappointed or downright pissed at the energy-demanding time-restricted point-and-click gameplay when the game was initially advertised as a more open-world RPG.
14	** The Full Marks recurring event. Despised by many for being tedious, overcompetitive, with excessively exclusive first place rewards, yet some love them for introducing a strategic, time management, weighing your options minigame in a game without much gameplay otherwise. If you succeed in tying with other random players (multiple players with exact same score in 1st place, so they all get the exclusive 1st place reward), it is an impressive feat of community coordination and planning on top of that.
15	* CaptainObviousReveal: In year 6, chapter 35, [[spoiler:Snape, Hooch, or Filch is suspected to be the "mole" of 'R' in Hogwarts. We already know they aren't or they won't be around in the books. However, even though the books already revealed that Peter Pettigrew is evil, he might still very well be a VillainOfAnotherStory and a RedHerring.]]
16	* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Patricia Rakepick is a Dark Witch seeking the power of the Cursed Vaults for herself and the organization known as "R". During Jacob's time at Hogwarts, Rakepick would work with Jacob in finding the Cursed Vaults, only to betray Jacob by willingly leaving him [[AndIMustScream trapped]] in a [[PortalPicture portrait world]] within the Fifth Vault upon fleeing from the dragon guarding it. Resurfacing in Hogwarts in 1987, Rakepick would pose as a Curse-Breaker and use this position to gain the trust of [[PlayerCharacter Jacob's sibling]] and their friends, with the goal of using them as expendable bait for the dragon. After revealing her true colors at the end of the Fifth Year, Rakepick callously subjects Merula Snyde to the [[ColdBloodedTorture Cruciatus Curse]] multiple times and would have killed her had it not been for the intervention of Jacob's Sibling. Returning in the Sixth Year, Rakepick would launch an ambush in the Forbidden Forest and kill Rowan Khanna with a killing curse meant for Ben Cooper. When defeated at the end of Year Six, she displays no remorse for Rowan's murder, claiming that Rowan [[NeverMyFault brought it on themselves]] by diving in harm's way.]]
17	* DracoInLeatherPants: Merula's rivalry with the main character is very reminiscent of Harry/Draco from the books - except in Hogwarts Mystery, you can [[DatingCatwoman date Merula]], which often draws parallels to Drarry shipping.
18	** [[spoiler:Rakepick started off as merely ruthless but eventually turned out to be a full-on murderous EvilMentor, which a significant portion of the fandom still have a hard time accepting. Incidentally, in her character sheet, she's mentioned wearing leather gloves and [[LiteralMetaphor dragon-scale texture pants]].]]
19	* EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame: Many critics point out about how the core gameplay is boringly tap the screen at best and manipulative [[AllegedlyFreeGame greed game]] at worst, though as the tropes pages can show you, the story makes people come back for more.
20	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
21	** Merula's popularity virtually exploded online, with many hoping that she'd eventually be a friendship or romance option for the player. The developers apparently listened, as beginning in year four, the player can choose to [[EnemyMine temporarily ally with Merula for certain quests]], and she also becomes [[DatingCatwoman an option]] for the [[RomanceSidequest romance-related events]]. She still isn’t a friendship option, however.
22	** Penny became extremely popular after the game's debut due to her cute character design and kind personality, making some wonder if they could be ''her'' best friend instead of Rowan's. She became a bit of a BaseBreakingCharacter in later years.
23	** Barnaby was one of the most popular male characters of the game before he was even introduced due to some wondering if he would be a TokenGoodTeammate for Slytherin. While some were disappointed with his DumbMuscle characterization in his first introduction, the fact that he's more well-meaning and naive than antagonistic and befriends the player later in the game has made many warm up to him regardless.
24	** For a character who [[TheGhost has never even been seen]], Billingsley has quite a few fans eager to at least get a glimpse of him due to his notoriety.
25	** Two background characters also managed to gather a following. One who is titled as "Clumsy Gryffindor" during Charm class (who is also the Slytherin girl with the sleepwalking problem in the infirmary) nicknamed Clumsy, and a boy also from the Charm class who has difficulty casting Wingardium Leviosa for 4 years straight now nicknamed "Leviosa Kid". The latter in particular became so popular [[AscendedMeme he was specifically mentioned at the end of Year 4]] when the player is using Wingardium Leviosa.
26	*** Leviosa Kid also joins in your Exploding Snap games in History of Magic, but nobody can remember his name. Not even Charlie and Jae, who share his dormitory.
27	** Liz, a Slytherin student you share your Care of Magical Creatures class with, is popular for both her kind and friendly attitude towards the player, and her unique character design.
28	** Sickleworth, Rakepick's Niffler, and his cute dancing jig were immediately endearing to many players.
29	** Chiara, despite not having much focus, definitely has her fans because of her backstory and cool character design.
30	* EpilepticTrees: Some fans are convinced that Ben and Rowan are secretly evil and will be the antagonist in later years, due to Ben's occasional unintentional creepy demeanor and occasional (glitched) BlackEyesOfEvil, and Rowan [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking for always needing your help with Lumos during class]]. [[spoiler: Rowan dies in Year 6 without ever becoming evil. Ben is still up for debate.]]
31	* {{Fanon}}: The cast of Hogwarts Mystery were present during the Battle of Hogwarts.
32	** With the introduction of the character [[MrFanservice Murphy]] [[NameMcAdjective McNully]], it is common a belief that the British Ministry of Magic offers a magical pin, in the form of a snitch for [[MrFanservice Murphy]], that can conjure a sphereical flying elevator to take the holder, and anyone who they wish, anywhere in the castle as an option for any physically disabled person.
33	* FanNickname: The player character's name in game falls under HelloInsertNameHere; the Harry Potter Fandom wiki uses the name "Jacob's sibling", while the fanbase generally casually refer to them as "MC" for "main character".[[note]]Some would make their character name with initials "M.C.", so "MC" can loop back to being a justifiable in-universe nickname.[[/note]] [[WordOfSaintPaul Gizmo]], which makes the cinematic trailers, refer to the player character as "Emma", so some fans joked after her surname is "Cee", or "[[PunnyName Em Cee]]".
34	** Barnaby is known as 'Barnabae' in some circles.
35	** Talbott as "birdboy".
36	** Year 6 Chapter 18 [[spoiler:is often referred to as the "cursed chapter" due to Rowan's death.]]
37	* HarsherInHindsight:
38	** If you don't take Rowan with you when Rakepick calls the Player out for asking around about her, they say this funny line which does not age well at all considering what happens in Year 6.
39	--->'''Rowan:''' You're a good friend, (Player). I'll miss you when Madam Rakepick kills you.
40	** Merula jokes that the good news the Player wants to share with everyone in the 'Adventures in Curse-breaking' is that they're leaving Hogwarts, with the Player answering with a very deadpan 'No'. Hilarious at the time, but [[spoiler:doesn't feel so good after realizing that later the Player tries to run away from Hogwarts because they're terrified R might kill one of their friends and feels that their presence only puts everyone in danger; double points go to ''Merula'' being one of the people trying to convince them not to leave because she ''does'' care about them.]]
41	** In year 4 there is a Aging Potion class and Snape [[spoiler: says he doesn't want to do the same class when he is old and gray. Remember what happens in Deathly Hallows?]]
42	** Tonks, while trying to handle unleashed Fanged Frisbees, says she had imagined dying while doing something more heroic.
43	** When you learn to brew Dreamless Sleep potion, Snape says it helps keeping nightmares at bay after you lose someone close to you, and he has a lot of practice at making it. MC even wonders whether Snape has lost someone, too.
44	** In the Puppy-Dog Tales side quest mostly involves playing with cute Cruppies, and at the end Penny bids them a slightly emotional farewell, saying "We won't see anything as wonderful as this for a long time..." [[spoiler:It was released between Year 6 Chapter 13 and 14. While the Wizard in white robes escaped in Chapter 13, Chapter 14 had Madam Pomfrey petrifried, 15 had the Wizard attacking MC and finally the infamous Chapter 18 has Rowan killed and all the depression that goes with it.]]
45	* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
46	--> '''Tonks''': Though I have heard of Patronuses changing form after falling in love... But that'll never happen to me. I can't imagine my Patronus being anything but a Jack Rabbit!
47	* HilariousInHindsight:
48	-->'''Snape''': How many more years will I be forced to tolerate your presence, [MC]?\
49	'''You''': I'm a fifth-year, so two more.\
50	'''Snape''': Two too many.
51	** Now remember who gets into Hogwarts the moment MC leaves.
52	** There is a 1957 children's song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IclFQj4l3F0 Magic Penny]]". Listening to the song and lyrics, it is hard not to be reminded of a certain cheerful, open-hearted, generous, loving witch.
53	* JerkassWoobie:
54	** Merula has had some cursed luck. [[spoiler:First, both of her parents were incarcerated in [[HellholePrison Azkaban]] for their support of Voldemort when she was just 7 or 8. Likely because of that, she's hinted to be poor (her boots are noticeably over-sized compared to the dress shoes everyone else wears, her leggings are ripped, the uneven cut of her hairline makes it look like she couldn't afford a haircut so tried to cut her own hair and gave up on it, and she has an overall ragged appearance). It's revealed by Tulip that she had a lack of real adult supervision or care after their arrest, so she grew used to having to be aggressive to get her way. On top of her background scaring others away from her, her extremely competitive and unpleasant personality combined with her bullying ensures that she has no friends. Tulip, the one person who she did trust and befriend used and betrayed her. And finally, the protagonist always manages to [[AlwaysSecondBest effortlessly outdo]] or foil her in everything she tries to do. Even when she wins, she loses, such as the case where the player crowns her the "Face of Hogwarts" in Rita Skeeter's popularity contest. Overwhelmed with happiness at first, Merula learns the hard way what type of journalist Rita is as she proceeds to write a scathing article in the Daily Prophet about how the child of Death Eaters is loose in Hogwarts.]] Is it any wonder there's a segment of the fanbase hoping that you'll get to befriend her later?
55	*** Gets even worse for her in Year 5, where [[spoiler:she ends up being tortured via the Cruciatus Curse, by Rakepick, a woman whom Merula had idolized]].
56	** Ismelda shows signs of this in one quest. The quest line involves Merula and the main character working together to get ingredients for Professor Snape and, remarkably, the two actually seem to get along during this. Ismelda sees this and confronts the MC, accusing them of trying to steal her only friend away from her. This is the first time where people can really sympathise with Ismelda, as it shows that she's actually very lonely and fears losing Merula as a friend. She also has her own sidequest where she’s bullied and [[spoiler: ends up getting her heart broken over her crush on Barnaby]]. During the quest you find out [[spoiler: she has a beautiful, popular, talented older sister that her parents clearly favour]]. If you choose to talk to her to borrow her broom and visit the Red Cap, you can also detect Ismelda’s backstory may not be a happy one.
57	* LGBTFanbase: Does seem to have more of it than average. The EveryoneIsBi in romance side quests (plus [[spoiler:MC towards Penny in the main storyline, and Barnaby towards MC in "Crushed", both regardless of MC's gender]]) probably helps. The fans went wild with the release of Festival Fun, which, on top of the usual, [[spoiler:has their date kissing MC on the cheek while riding a broom together and MC gives us an AsideGlance, as they ''fly off into a rainbow''.]]
58	* MemeticLoser:
59	** Rowan. Needs tutoring assistance for casting Lumos in Charms class as late as ''Year 6''. In Flying class, they join Merula in being struck by their brooms when trying to summon them up. Their uniform tie is always in disarray.
60	** The "Leviosa Kid." There's a young Gryffindor student in Charms class who constantly needs your encouragement just to perform Wingardium Leviosa. He's still struggling years into the game. Since this character exists for this scene and as a LivingProp outside of class, he has no notable characteristics outside of his failure.
61	*** He has, however, been allowed to appear in two class minigames- tutoring him in his Levitation Charm in Charms Class, and playing Exploding Snap with him in History of Magic. Absolutely nobody, not even Flitwick ''or his own dormmates'' can remember this poor kid's name.
62	*** He does however get his own ''sidequest'' as of July 2021, where not only do we ''finally'' learn his name ([[PunnyName Levi Kidd]]) but we learn he likes puzzles and brain teasers, and really gets time to shine.
63	* MemeticPsychopath: Albus Dumbledore, with the fandom often depicting him as orchestrating the torment all the students go through. The usually sweet and harmless Penny is also depicted as a {{Yandere}} rather often.
64	* MoralEventHorizon: Patricia Rakepick's alignment is a bit of an enigma most of the time the MC interacts with her, shifting rapidly between antagonizing the MC and helping them along. Then she decides to show the MC how to cast the Cruciatus Curse by demonstrating it on a random bystander in Knockturn Alley.
65	** [[spoiler: And, if that weren't enough, it turns out she left Jacob trapped in a portrait for years, betrays the Player Character in the fifth Cursed Vault, and, after declaring the four students she brought along with her to be "collateral damage," uses the Cruciatus Curse on Merula -- the one character who trusted her from the outset. And taken even further when she cast ''the Killing Curse'' on Ben, who's only saved by [[HeroicSacrifice Rowan leaping in front of him and taking the spell]].]]
66	* {{Moe}}: [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/93/bd/da93bd0dae1e27cd8ed71061f737e1dc.jpg Puffskein Merula]] from the Sphinx Club timed quest. Everyone who sees her can't help but mention how cute she is.
67	* {{Narm}}
68	** The huge smiles made by your avatar and whomever they're talking to when you complete a quicktime event. Rowan, in particular, looks like they just got away with murder when you accomplish their note-passing events.
69	** In general, the number of animations that characters share, no matter their age or personality. It's especially jarring to see the laidback Bill dance on his feet like an excited child, or a magical suit of armor hunched forward and pouting once you defeat him. And despite the glorious feasts you witness at the Dining Hall, you and your friend will never eat anything besides really big sandwiches.
70	** Ismelda's constant crazy talk. Every single time she has a line it's something along the lines of "I want to torture everyone!" or "I hope someone dies in class today". It stops being creepy very quickly and just ends up seeming like the writers couldn't come up with any character traits for her besides being sadistic.
71	** In Year 7, Chapter 18, the hilariously low-res low poly gamecube-esque [[spoiler: [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/239935620649189376/889929914814447616/unknown.png Doxy egg models]]]].
72	* OvershadowedByControversy: People outside of the ''Harry Potter'' and mobile gaming fandoms probably know of this game because of the criticism it received for its Devil's Snare scene, and the image of the player's avatar being strangled being a great picture to show the horrors of micro-transactions.
73	* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap:
74	** Choosing Ben for the mission late in Year 2 shows his HiddenDepths and allows the player to get away without losing house points, which warmed a few players up to him. Though he kind of spiraled back into the heap post Year 5 after he TookALevelInJerkass ''and'' became a little too [[TookALevelInCynic cynical]], losing what good qualities people had begun liking him for.
75	** Ismelda was a widely unpopular character, seen as something of a FlatCharacter with little dialogue and characterization other than being cruel and sadistic. Many came around to her, however, after her side quest showed her JerkassWoobie HiddenDepths, as well as her study session for the O.W.L.s being the most genuinely helpful sessions in the sidequest and giving her the surprising trait of sincerely loving the oft-mocked History of Magic class.
76	** Beatrice was widely hated at the beginning of Year 6 for her antagonistic behaviour, particularly against the fan-beloved Penny who only wanted to care about her. It has been a [[EarnYourHappyEnding gruelling journey]], but throughout the first 28 Chapters of Year 6, we get to see her side a bit more, seeing that Penny wanting to "parent" her not working as well as she wanted to, and laid bare that she is, after all, a traumatised preteen girl struggling to make friends. She also made up with Penny after seeing how devastated she is at [[spoiler:Rowan's death]].
77	* TheScrappy:
78	** Ben was panned on the initial release due to his cowardly personality and rather unflattering character design, as well as the fact that [[ButThouMust the game basically forces the character to be good friends with him]].
79	*** The game takes it up to eleven in Year 6, when Ben's experiences at the end of Year 5 push him straight into being a reckless, obnoxious edgelord. So, he goes from being unlikeable because he's a one-note coward to being unlikeable because he's a one-note {{Jerkass}}. [[spoiler:Then in Year 6 Chapter 18, Rowan [[HeroicSacrifice takes the Killing Curse for him]], which outraged even those who hated Rowan and firmly believed [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead Ben should have died instead]].]]
80	** Jane, the Hufflepuff prefect, garnered the reputation of being the most hated prefect in the game; though her abrasive and henpecking dialogue is no different from the other prefects', the fact that she's supposed to be in the nicest house made it even worse, especially as the Hufflepuff house sidequests leave her without some of the more entertaining dialogue that other prefects such as Felix enjoy.
81	*** Jam City appear to realise how much Jane is disliked; not only does Bill forget her name in a later sidequest, it's revealed that while all of the other prefects have led successful lives post-Hogwarts, Jane had a short stint in Azkaban for unknown reasons.
82	*** It could also be due to the EldritchAbomination theme some fandoms associate her with. [[MemeticMutation She wasn't locked with the Dementors. The Dementors were locked with her.]] She rather looks healthy and her usual self for someone who was in Azkaban.
83	** Penny's younger sister Beatrice has become all but insufferable in Year 6. She believes Penny is being too over protective of her after she'd spent the entire previous year trapped in a portrait and in response has decided to hang out with Ismelda. This has turned her into a bratty EmoTeen whose sole purpose seems to be to whine at her sister for being concerned for her safety.
84	* ScrappyMechanic:
85	** The [[FreemiumTimer energy system]] requires players to pay real money to speed up gameplay, lest they have to wait hours to get through a simple class; this is especially frustrating for players who aren't able to play their game intermittently at their leisure, leading to some failed requirements. It's the most frequent criticism of this game.
86	*** In the first few months after the app was released, the player was practically forced to waste energy by completing tasks that required more energy than necessary to complete a star requirement (points would carry over for story-related actions, such as searching a room, but not for stars during class lessons), such as only giving the option for a task requiring 5 energy points when the player only need one or two more to gain the star, which is problematic when the timer begins to run out. A later update eased this by "refunding" the player energy when expending energy that goes past the points requirement, though you'll need the energy to complete the task in the first place to get such a refund, meaning you'll still be screwed if you have 10 minutes left in a class with empty energy and the only option is a 5-energy task.
87	*** There's also the fact that these segments of spending 1-8 hours using energy and reloading it come at some points in the game that are clearly just fodder. At the very least, you can choose how long a class period takes, with longer times getting higher rewards. But there are several points in the game where something mundane--talking with a friend, looking for something, etc.--for some reason takes a three-to-eight-hour period.
88	** During the first few days of gameplay, the game would occasionally prompt the player to buy more energy with gems; some players who were tapping the screen merely to turn it back on found themselves drained of gems with an absurd amount of energy they didn't mean to purchase. This was fixed with an update, which still offers energy to buy but gives players a chance to see the screen before purchasing.
89	** In some parts of the game, you can only choose a dialogue option if you have a high enough level in empathy, courage, or intelligence. If your level is not high enough, you're left with a much less interesting/kind response. Few players choose to grind for higher levels due to the aforementioned screen-tapping boredom of doing so. One can get a nasty PlayerPunch when you have to insult or hurt another character simply because it was your only option.
90	*** This really gets out of control by the final chapters of Year 7. Players who did all the main chapters, side quests, and Quidditch chapters up to this point would most likely have attributes roughly around 50. The alternative dialogue options now require attributes to be at least higher in the 50s and have all of a sudden been rapidly increasing, as if you’re expected to reach the next attribute level for all three by the next chapter (which by this point, grinding to the next level takes an incredibly long time). Made even worse with conversations and duels, where if you don’t have high enough attributes, you won’t be able to progress through the main story until you grind your way up.
91	** Almost all players fall into EnjoyTheStorySkipTheGame since, well, there's very little ''game'' at hand. The different objectives in a chapter (go do this, go do that, etc.) sometimes require a waiting period. So it's pretty annoying when you just want to get to the next part of the story, but you either have to wait several hours or pay 30-100 gems.
92	*** Year 6 is just plain insulting with its waiting times as they now occur between virtually every single quest. The Quidditch quests, however, are the biggest slap in the face of all. Eventually you have to play "friendly" matches between actual quests and there's a seven hour wait between these matches for those not willing to pay for them.
93	** When the game was officially released, Years 1, 2, and the beginning of 3 were already available, with the latter released in large portions within a month (each year relatively short with 10-11 chapters). In June 2018, Year 4 was released with 1-2 chapters per week, lasting throughout the summer, with 17 chapters. While this forced players, most who have caught up by now, to keep waiting every week for more, the process was at least consistent and all the chapters were laid out. When Year 5 was released in September, the chapter a week plan slowed down dramatically because of events and timed side quests being released AS OPPOSED to chapters instead of alongside them, as well as extending the number of the chapters shown with each update, leaving players in the dark as to how many there would actually be. Year 5 was finally completed in July 2019, lasting over 10 months with 34 chapters. Thanks to more timed side quests and the addition of Quidditch, Year 6 moved at an even slower pace until it was completed in January 2021 with 46 chapters. Year 7 somehow made this even worse by following a similar process until its completion in July 2023 with 60 chapters.
94	*** The game is moving at such a slow pace, that players are starting to forget the main story altogether.
95	** The events in general are normally panned by players. For example...
96	*** The dueling system is essentially Rock-Paper-Scissors, which means that it's often based on pure luck rather than skill. The duels that happen in the story aren't so bad, as the player can simply grind to improve their stats if they're having too much trouble, but the duels in the infamous Dueling Club event were very different. Not only were the first half-dozen Dueling Club events marred by bugs, poorly balanced matches and criticism of the ever-changing ticket refresh system, many were critical of the structure of the duels itself: the opponents are obviously bots (there is never any lag for any opponent, regardless of how fast you select your choice), meaning that you fight a computer that knows your choice immediately. Players slammed the event for being based entirely on luck and RNG, another push for players to buy and spend gems to end waiting times early so they can hope to get higher-tier prizes on time.
97	*** House Pride events quickly became this. Some players faced glitched opponents, where rival houses' point totals were in the ''tens of thousands'', leaving no way for them to win, while many suspected botted allies and resented [[TheLoad teammates who didn't score any points]] towards the winning spot. After the first House Pride event, the points required to get the second half of the prizes (including the coveted Notebooks, which weren't obtainable by ''any other method'' and were required to buy the new pets and newer pet skins) were raised exponentially, leading many to realize that it would be impossible to earn the required points and getting a full night's sleep. The devs attempted to make the event "fairer" by forcing the player to get 20 House Points before joining a team, though this helped most players little, as your team has almost no effect on your prizes or likelihood of winning the event, and [[TheLoad teammates could just score 20 points and then stop]], not that this even matters when players confirmed the bot theory when many different players' teams had "players" with identical names, and some real users who weren't even participating in the game showed up on teams with point totals that didn't exist in their own save file.
98	*** And again, with Full Marks, where the event places players in a group, where only one can win first place outfit, and the rest fight for the rare books. It also forces players to spend a lot of coins either to fill in a slot in the act, alone, or spend it on hanging out with friends, playing Quidditch, dueling, or even spending it at the store (which the player might waste gems, instead). A lot of players find themselves flat out broke by the end of the event and might not even win any of the prizes they were aiming for, even if it was not first place.
99	** Being forced to complete classes in order to advance the story further. This is annoying as very few of these classes reward you with anything you'll ever use after learning it. The Flying, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and most of the Potions classes are completely pointless and really only exist to try to get players to pay for more gems so they can refill their energy bars. It's an even bigger kick in the head if you complete all your classes and are rewarded with the dreaded eight hour wait for the next story quest.
100	** Speaking of classes, mandatory lessons attended through the plot itself no longer award House Points or Crests like they used to, making them totally useless for the already frustrating House Pride and the less frustrating Crest events.
101	** Earning 18 stars in lessons/"study" before you can even complete the mandatory classes is arguably infinitely more annoying than the classes themselves.
102	** The currency in the game, with special mention to the Notebooks, which have become this due to being so hard to obtain unless you pay real money or lose sleep, spending on the provided method- the Shop or House Pride, and the Galleons, which by mid-Year 4 you run out of things to buy, leaving many players with 50,000 of them (the {{Cap}}). Players by Fifth Year beg Jam City to let them use coins to buy notebooks off the smuggler, Jae Kim, just to get rid of surplus coins which are the exact opposite of Notebooks- very easy to obtain as they’re awarded for every action you take that uses Energy and are the first prize in every single event, often in large sums.
103	*** [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor However,]] Jam City then released an update that allowed players to play Duelling Club tourneys on demand, a decision lambasted by fans as the staggering cost to win the tourney (a high cost for one match, and the player must win an average of 10 games) is rarely worth the randomly chosen prizes (a small amount of gems, notebooks or creature food, emphasis on "small"); furthermore, large coin rewards disappeared overnight and the coin cost of friendship activities increased... And no new outfits were released to purchase for coins, a sore spot for many as the demand was high. To many, it was another example of Jam City herding players towards using real currency to buy more coins.
104	** While attributes were raised at a fairly steady level in early years, it quickly becomes frustrating to level them up in Years 4 and 5. It takes thousands upon thousands of points to level up, yet rewards from classes remain extremely low (usually 5 or 10 points, the max reward remaining a rare, stingy 40 points). You can buy clothes to get a big boost in points, but as Jam City only recently (as of August 2019) released a new slate of clothing options (the clothes themselves are a ScrappyMechanic, with almost all of them being considered universally unflattering, and the best outfits reserved for end prizes in House Pride and Crest events), many have already maxed out these options. Imagine an RPG where, halfway through the game, the player can only grind to the next level via the low-level monsters defeated in the very first level.
105	** Raising Hagrid's friendship is reliant upon periodically released sidequests which force you to purchase a particular magical creature to advance. If you've been using notebooks to acquire ones he doesn't need to see, you're stuck unless you either luck into winning some notebooks or cough up the cash for them (assuming the ones you need are even being offered for sale).
106	** What should have been a pretty awesome moment for the game -- Quidditch ''finally'' being added as an activity -- was mired by the fact that advancing its sidequests is absolutely ''swimming'' in timers, whether it's waiting for the relevant character telling you to wait to talk to them or waiting for the option for a Friendly match to open up again.
107	* {{Shipping}}: The game has a noticeable ''lack'' of [[OfficialCouple Official Couples]], outside those already established in the books, despite a large original cast.
108	** The first mention of romance in terms of the release date is year 5, chapter 5 where MC can confess to fancying Penny ([[EveryoneIsBi regardless of gender]]), which sparked a bit of a collective meltdown from the fanbase, with everyone with other opinions clamouring to be able to fancy other characters. This is probably why the developers quietly dropped that plot thread, and over time introduced 4 [[RomanceSidequest Romance Sidequests]] that allows players to pick a variety of characters, although [[EverybodyLovesBlondes Penny]] is still by far the most popular female option (at least as of First Date; the addition of similarly good-natured Hufflepuff [[BrokenBird Chiara]] in Festival Fun certainly chipped away at Penny's support), while Barnaby is the most popular male option, followed by Talbott.
109	** Outside of Romance Sidequests or anything to do with MC, we have Ismelda having a one-sided crush on Barnaby, Rowan's crush on Bill [[DoomedByCanon we already know won't go anywhere]], and a hint of Merula crushing on Jacob in year 6, but none of which are anywhere near a couple, and there is not much support from the fanbase either.
110	** Going into pure non-canon shipping territory, a few common ones include "[[PortmanteauCoupleName Parkwood]]" [[note]](or "[[{{Pun}} Skype]]", if you will), or [[LesYay Skye Parkin/Penny Haywood]], due to Penny being a huge fangirl for the Quidditch player, and the loading screen featuring Skye hanging upside-down on her broom facing Penny which reminded fans of the "Spider-Man kiss" posture. However, it declined in popularity as the Quidditch storyline went on, and many players found Skye too bratty and obnoxious[[/note]] Chiara/Jae [[note]]Or "[[{{Pun}} Kimchi]]" (since Jae has a Korean surname, Kim). They could be frequently seen together in background scenes, at least before Festival Fun; there is at least one interaction where Jae can be seen with the "lovestruck" animation, although Chiara had the "nervous" one[[/note]], Chiara/Penny [[note]]due to their sweet personalities, [[spoiler:the angsty dramatic potential of them being close while Penny is deathly afraid of werewolves while Chiara ''is'' a werewolf]], and their HeldGaze and Penny wearing daisies in her hair with Chiara plucking one from the ground in the Festival Fun loading screen, which interestingly also has Jae looking at Chiara[[/note]], and Tonks/Tulip [[note]]due to them being best pals with shared interests and hanging out together all the time, despite being DoomedByCanon[[/note]].
111	** In an ironic contrast, unlike Chiara/Penny for Festival Fun, the Valentine's Ball loading screen, which featured Penny dancing with Talbott, ignited a furious backlash from players who choose Penny or Talbott as their love interest and almost no support of those two together.
112	** See also [[https://cokebottlesanddenim.tumblr.com/post/188552887385/what-your-favorite-hphm-ship-says-about-you-with these]] [[https://cokebottlesanddenim.tumblr.com/post/188733755500/by-popular-request-what-your-favorite-hphm-ship two]] posts on shipping.
113	* SelfFanservice: Ismelda is almost always described as unattractive in-game, and is most noticeable of often getting quite a facelift in fandom.
114	* SignatureScene: [[WakeUpCallBoss The Devil's Snare]] strangling the player's avatar, followed by the game demanding a payment of real-life money to set them free quickly, is commonly cited in video reviews as a fitting allegory for the [[AllegedlyFreeGame micro-transaction system that plagues the game]] (along with other free-to-play games).
115	* SpecialEffectFailure: Most of the crowds in official Quidditch matches are 2D figures with blank white circles for faces, and they only move up and down.
116	** The game has a tendency to glitch out the characters when they're walking, some of them glitching into place or even morphing into one another during cutscenes. It can be quite distracting, especially if it's supposed to be a pretty important cutscene.
117	** Some of the outfits just do ''not'' work with each other. Clipping issues are rampant and it's almost a job in itself trying to match some of the more fancier hair styles with any outfit with a collar. The black one-handed glove accessory is just prone to glitching out at ''all'' times; it's almost like they didn't even ''try''.
118	** As mentioned in another example, the [[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/239935620649189376/889929914814447616/unknown.png hilariously low-poly low-res Doxy egg models]] for Year 7, Chapter 18. It's actually incredible how borked the textures and models are, even for this type of game. One has to wonder how this even got past quality control department...
119	* SpoiledByTheFormat: As of November 2020, [[spoiler:by chapter 39, MC's gang seems to be within striking distance of the final vault. However, there is still at least up to chapter 45 and then the entire year 7 left.]]
120	** Normally, you can choose to do your story classes at any point during a chapter. [[spoiler:In year 6 chapter 18, you have to do story classes first to progress. This foreshadows how Rowan is killed in that chapter, resulting in classes being cancelled. In year 6 chapter 42, this happens again, but is seemingly subverted in that while important things take place (you finally find the last vault and defeat Rakepick), there is seemingly no reason to make you do classes first. In year 6 chapter 45, this happens and is justified as Merula turns out to be the mole.]]
121	* TakeThatScrappy: After Jane, the most hated of the prefects, graduates, a dialogue option shows that nobody misses her. When she reappears in a prefect side quest in Year 5, Bill can't remember her name and she's revealed to have gone through a stint in Azkaban for [[NoodleIncident an unspecified crime]].
122	* ThatOneBoss: [[spoiler:The Acromantula who's guarding the Cursed Vault in the Forbidden Forest. Its attack pattern is quite unpredictable and it hits ''hard'', with its Aggressive attack that will consume half your health bar and its Sneaky attack that will constantly drain your health for 8 turns straight (if you even lasted that long). You're most likely going to spend a long while (or big cash) trying to beat it. Your best bet is to pummel it with Aggressive as often as possible.]]
123	** Werewolves in general, every one of their attacks either drains your HP every turn or stuns you. It woudln't be so bad if it weren't for several reasons. First, their stats are programmed to almost always be one level higher than yours at the time of the encounter, so you're spells are less effective and their attacks are stronger. Second, trying to cheese it by raising your stats becomes much harder to do if you've either F2P, already bought nearly all the customization options that give you stat points or in Year 4 or 5 where leveling up is much harder. The worst part? The fact that they're only fought in Time Limited Story quests, meaning you're on a time limit to win or fail the whole quest chain and have to do it over.
124	** Cribb, the boss of the Giant Dung Beetle side quest, not only is she similar to werewolves in that she's programmed to have higher stats then you at the time of your encounter, it's also due to the fact you are dueling her wandless and thus, your actions are limited.
125	* ThatOneLevel: You'll quickly come to dread any quest taking place in Dumbledore's office since they nearly ''always'' have the eight hour time limit. And if you don't want to spend any money to refill your energy bar, then you're in for a long wait with a pretty disappointing payoff.
126	** Indeed almost anything to do with Dumbledore will take 8 hours.
127	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
128	** The Slytherin prefect Felix Rosier. We see the name Rosier many times in the series as a family affiliated with Voldemort, however he doesn't have any separate characterization from the other prefects.
129	** Many were intrigued by Talbott and Chiara, two characters from different timed sidequests the player meets and befriends. Though Talbott very briefly appears in a Year 5 chapter, and both appeared for the [=OWLs=] sidequest, many were disappointed when they didn't appear in the friends list after the quest, with no apparent further plans to develop them. Talbott was eventually released as a friend via a timed sidequest, while Chiara didn't become available until Halloween 2019. In year 6, [[spoiler:both played big roles, as Chiara took over the Hospital Wing after Madam Pomfrey was petrified, and Talbott worked with Badeea to map the lake and helped MC with the white quill plot.]]
130	** Suprisingly, for a character that played a big role in the books, Cornelius Fudge is this for the mobile video game. Despite [[TheProtagonist Jacob’s sibling]] taking part in a student programme for [[TheMagocracy the Ministry of Magic]] in their 7th year, and even worked in the [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes]], the future Minister of Magic never appears. This is an especially wasted opportunity for fans who wish to see what made the magical community choose him as the next Minister for Magic, with the possibility of him and Jacob’s sibling going head-to-head making excuses for [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee]] with all of the [[PlayerCharacter player character’s]] options being UnwinnableByDesign compared to Fudge’s ideas to the point where even the player admits that he would make a good future Minister for Magic.
131	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot:
132	** Being sorted into your house is just a matter of picking the one you want. No attempt at replicating any of the ''myriad'' personality tests which could calculate which house you might actually fit into best, after which point the game could still let you choose the house you truly wish to be in if you didn't get the result you wanted.
133	** Though the mobile game format limits the amount of true customization involved, many were frustrated that the character's personality and gameplay has no real variation from house to house, making some accuse that the game assumed you would choose to be a Gryffindor and treated the plot as such (this is particularly obvious in the fact that your nemesis is a Slytherin regardless of which house you choose—including Slytherin!). Several side-quests allow you to act more like your respective house, but it mostly doesn't translate over to main gameplay.
134	* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The game treats the Prefects as though you're supposed to be extremely fond of them, and during the conversation where they point out they'll be leaving Hogwarts forever at the end of the school year, the obvious right dialogue choice is something along the lines of "I'll miss you when you're gone". Unfortunately, the only Prefect that seems to be genuinely liked by the fandom is Felix (Slytherin), because the GameplayAndStorySegregation hits ''hard'' with the other three, constantly nagging at you about having to earn more house points regardless of how many you have.
135	** Jane (Hufflepuff) seems to be hit worst by this, because in addition to the points thing, she lacks the entertaining dialogue the other Prefects have and also instigates a revenge action against a few Slytherins who (to the best of the player's knowledge) haven't really ''done'' anything, instead of just telling a teacher and docking points from them.
136	** Lupin has some goodwill due to being very sympathetic in the books, but [[spoiler: the Lone Wolf side quest does not show him in a particularly good light to some. Primarily due to him allowing MC to stay with Chiara while she is going to go through her werewolf transformation in a full moon without wolfsbane potion. He is also criticized for not realising how off it would look secretly meeting a 12-year-old Chiara to accept her wolfsbane potions.]]
137	* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Merula. Ostracized and hated in story, beloved by a chunk of the fandom.
138	* {{Woolseyism}}:
139	** An Enchanted Kiss: The name of the play, ''Equinox Enchanted'', is 愛在夢幻春分時 in Chinese ("Love at a dreamy moment of the equinox"), fitting how Chinese translation of popular western titles tend to be a little "extra", as with the translations of the original books (albeit to a greater extent). Penny's tongue twister is naturally different in other languages, like 四十四隻石獅子 (pronounced sìshísì zhī shí shīzi, "forty four stone lions") in Chinese, or "tres tristes tigres" in Spanish.

Context YMMV / HarryPotterHogwartsMystery