Harry Potter Video Games

Now, before this discussion starts, I'd like to say I recognize that there are Video Game adaptations of the Harry Potter series, with varying degrees of quality.

However, it seems incredibly obvious to me that, with a Theme Park and a prequel movie in the works/being updated, why hasn't there been a BULLY-esque (Open World School Environment) Harry Potter game?

It seems rather logical. Set the game years after Voldemort's Downfall. Show the development of the world after that point and what's going on. Have Jo be there to make sure the game doesn't contradict anything.

New Player!Portagonist characters which you get sorted into any of the houses (probably have to take one of those 'Personality Quiz' thing like on Pottermore, but I think the option to by-pass that and choose wouldn't be too bad) allowing for more development to the already under-developed Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin houses.

It doesn't seem like too bad of an idea, though magic might be the major problem as each of the adapted games had a different idea of how to use magic, from only being able to use spells on certain objects (the PC Platformer game which I still play from time to time) or moving the control sticks in different shapes to cast (Oot P and HBP) to Gears of Hogwarts: Call of Magic (First-Person Shooter).

Any input out there?

It could be that no one's with the money to get the rights to Harry Potter is willing to take the risk of trying to sell a Harry Potter game without Harry Potter.

Lego Harry Potter is open world.

Lego HP doesn't expand the canon or give the under-developed houses the... well, development that they have needed for some time.

modify Skyrim's magic system a bit. have each trigger be a pre-set spell, along with some buttons, maybe have some tied to motion of the stick, but then have a menu with all the spells you know that you can equip from. maybe a "fav" list too(mine in skyrim always ended up being my entire spell book so I didn't have to mess with the menu)

How about Grand Theft Broomstick, a prequel where you play as Voldemort during his school years and can either be the perfect prefect, or the ultimate bad kid?

Because you have not gotten a job in the video game industry yet and those in it happen to not have your sense of vision? Without Suda 51 would we have ever gotten anything like Killer Seven?

An open world game, to me, is Grand Theft Auto, Superman Returns, Hulk Ultimate Destruction, Prototype, Arkham City, and Assassins Creed. While the freedom is nice, I usually end up with too much money and nothing to constantly spend it on. I always cringe when someone says they want to ride around in the Batmobile in an open-world Batman game. I can just imagine all the stupid glitches that would occur from players trying to turn Batman into a mass murderer; utterly uncharacteristic.

So, I don't want to see Harry Potter as an open-world game, but if it has to be, I'd prefer it to be more in the vein of Demon's/Dark Souls - no vehicles, limited space, no exploring giant cities and collecting trivial trinkets for an Achievement or Trophy; money that can be easily lost; short levels compounded with enemies and bosses that are tough-as-nails. Harry Potter has brooms, however. A Harry Potter game without any broom-flying would have to have a pretty tightly-constructed plot and above-average graphics, because that'd be a pretty signature gameplay feature to miss out on.

Another thing that interests me is how they would work out the combat system. The tie-in games obviously did, but how can you map out Potter-verse spells.

I remember Flipendo, a Knockback Jinx, from the earliest games. The films seem to favor Septum Semptra (whatever) and Reducto, some kind of magical stun bolt of some kind. There's Winguardiam Leviosa for telekinesis.

Avadra Kedavra would be broken as all hell.

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But as to what you're asking, maybe it's because the book series has finished and they don't have any input from Rowling on where to continue. Branching off and creating a "Harry Potter Expanded Universe" via video games is dangerous; we've all seen Adaptation Expansion/s that screwed with the continuity of a franchise we liked.

For it to be an interesting game, there must be a conflict. This will probably be an expanded or divided faction of Death Eaters, if my limited Harry Potter knowledge serves, sporting some new Death Eater figure who takes over the power gap left by Voldemort (assuming they weren't all destroyed). Adding new figures and creating new factions in a video game world can make things needlessly convoluted, since any game wants to be unique and stand on its own two legs rather than stick to the source material verbatim.

Another potential problem would be ignoring the canon characters. The game might put Harry and friends in mentorship roles, and how much fun would that be, being a Mook Wizard under the command of Potter, Malfoy, Granger, etc etc. Or since Rowling has finished Harry's story, maybe she doesn't want him or the others featured at all. That would leave a gap in the storyline - what is Harry doing while all of this bad Death Eater terrorism happens? Studying off in France while the main characters fights the Death Eaters? Lame.

What you described in the OP reminds me of X-Men Legends, which certainly sounded good before I knew it was about three 'original' mutants whose powers were totally different from everyone else's. So basically, three custom characters vs the rest of the X-Men universe. Yipee.

Those are my narrow ideas, so there could be a very good plot and very good pacing and very good characters and the whole shebang. The 'Potterbase' could absolutely love it and I'd be in a measly little corner of Game FA Qs with other skeptics overanalyzing the game despite not having the nostalgic value earned from reading and enjoying the books.

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The ideal Harry Potter game I see is something akin to Ko TOR - heavy RPG, choices, transportation and transition to new, exotic locales, numerous enemy types that won't suffer from the player having too much space to move around or spawn a tank in, a potential currency system that hopefully won't be as extravagant as Assassin's Creed, and multiple endings that won't revolve around collecting 200 of Hedwig's feathers.

edited 20th Jan '14 8:19:51 AM by Soble

The title "Why hasn't a Harry Potter Video Game been made yet?" is a bit misleading. I think Lance Solous 13 should holler a mod to have it changed, possibly adding "sandbox" (or even "MMO"? Hogwarts Online!) in it.

Hmm, an open-world, sandbox-style, Do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want HP action game that will have moral gardians and Soccer Mom(s) running up the walls?

How 'bout mabey?

Exactly this. Not only does someone with the desire and vision to create a Harry Potter Expanded Universe have to exist, they have to be able to get funding from people who have money to support it, and most importantly, Rowling has to sign off on it.

Rowling is pretty done with the Harry Potter story. She's defictionalized a couple textbooks, but nothing plot-centric. The epilogue to Deathly Hallows was effectively an author's note saying, "AND THEN NOTHING INTERESTING EVER HAPPENED AGAIN, FANFIC WRITERS." She's very settled on the story ending at the ending, and it would be hard to sell her on the idea of making a video game that takes place afterwards.

edited 20th Jan '14 11:51:16 AM by TobiasDrake

@Soble: That was X-Men Destiny, not X-Men Legends.

If you want to see that, become a game developer or higher-up in a gaming company (good luck with that) and suggest that idea to the company's board. Either you'll get a good reason as to why it'll never happen, or you'll make it happen. (Or it'll start to happen but crash and burn before it does.)

By the time I'd be able to make such a proposal, Harry Potter would be long since dead. Which, not that a revival would be a bad thing entirely at that point though.

In terms of antagonists, why not Muggles? I don't mean like Muggle!Lord Voldemort or anything, but more that the conflict is the muggle world becoming more aware of the magical one? Seems like an interesting way to take the storyline?

True, AK would be overpowered, but we wouldn't need to allow players to even use such a spell? I think Moody in Book 4 mentions something to the extent that they could try to cast it, but the best (worst) they could do would be a bloody nose. Just never add AK to their moveset unless theirs a good reason in the plot for them to cast it.

I don't know, I always thought that having a game set as Hogwarts where the players have their own Hogwarts student was the most logical thing in the world since I grew up on the series.

This also wouldn't be the first time HP has had an open-world game; Both Oot P and HBP were Open-World, but on a minor scale with just Hogwarts and not a whole ton to do there besides the core quest line.

Done right, it would be a gushing love letter to the fans.

Nitpick: AK is only OP by wizarding standards. By muggle standards, it is hilariously underpowered.

Yeah, that one spell (and I suppose several similar ones) can be stopped by sufficient durable materials.

Oh and umm there's... the drones.

That, and it's also pretty slow on the draw. Say the words out loud, as quickly as you can: Avada Kedavra. Six syllables. A trigger can be squeezed much faster than it takes to speak six syllables aloud, even if both duelists drew their weapons up at the same time, and that's just small arms. The wizarding world has no equivalent to an LMG that can put down large numbers of targets without ceasing fire, hand grenades which can clear a room without ever exposing yourself to the enemy, sniper rifles that can neutralize a target from a mile away, any kind of military vehicle....

A six-syllable spell is the most powerful WMD the wizarding world has, and the most it can do is kill one person per incantation. It's terribly underpowered compared to the killing power that even a standard muggle foot soldier can be expected to have on his person at any given time.

Wizards are very well equipped for espionage and subterfuge. The magic we've seen thus far is SPECTACULAR for that, which is probably how they've managed to go so long without ever being discovered. But they would need to SERIOUSLY step up their game if they wanted to directly confront muggles in a warzone. They are terribly ill-equipped for straight-up combat.

edited 22nd Jan '14 2:41:42 PM by TobiasDrake

Personally, I thought the game version of Order of the Phoenix on the PS 2 was excellent, and it's fairly open-world - or "open Hogwarts" at least. Chamber of Secrets before it was similar, and it too was extremely good.

The Order of the Phoenix game also had amazing music by James Hannigan. Seriously, nothing more epic can be imagined.

my thoughts exactly. Except I never got past the damned weeping willow on my copy, got to play my cousin's gamecube version a bit though. That was a good free-roam harry potter.

dunno about order of the pheonix though, didn't get any after the 4th.

hell I still haven't seen the last 3 movies

^ LOL, me too. Last film I saw was also OotP...thought that was the best really.

Also, I dunno...I'm not sure on how to continue really...

An MMO where you were a Hogwarts student seems like the obvious thing in the world. When Pottermania was running wild why didn't it exist. We can have a Lord Of The Rings MMO but no Harry Potter one?

I actually thought Pottermore was going to be exactly this before it was announced otherwise.

Yeah Pottermore originally was supposed to be free-roaming...

^^ Middle-Earth is a big world...Harry Potter's world...isn't that big. Generally wizard community is rather small, and those in other countries are not explained much by Rowling anyway, so...

Which, I don't think a HP MMO would work well. Just, we do-Oh. The above post beat me. lol Just a singleplaayer or maybe co-op game could work, but I doubt an MMO would flow well since HP doesn't have the typical concept of DPS/TANK/HEALER

Hah! I ended up fighting the basilisk with no Wiggenweld Potions to heal myself. Which meant I had to do it perfectly and not get hit once. Nintendo Hard doesn't begin to describe that. I also remember the Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans Room, a bizarre sequence where, if you beat Malfoy at House Points, you got to roam free like a sort of candy-addled Chosen One.

It's basically the same game as the Chamber Of Secrets, but darker. Also, Harry gains Ezio-level climbing skills and seems to lose any sense of self-preservation; one mission has you free-climb onto the roof to retrieve Colin Creevey's camera for him.

It's still cracking fun, especially when you get to fight people.

edited 26th Jan '14 8:48:09 AM by Achaemenid