FFXIII-2 inevitably got a 40/40 from famitsu.

[valleyshrew]

Famitsu awarded FFXIII-2 a 40/40 [http://gamingeverything.com/12567/famitsu-review-scores-126/]

It was inevitable because they awarded a 39/40 to FFXIII which was an awful game more deserving of 25/40, so any slighty improvement would take it up to 40/40. From what I've read, they've done more than a slight improvement, they've really changed the entire game design philosophy. XIII was merely cutscenes, corridors and combat, self-admittedly inspired by call of duty's cinematic linearity. XIII-2 brings back the multi-layered interactivity and adventure that made the series so popular.

But, it may still be a pretty bad game by WRPG standards. The minigames may not be well integrated or interesting. You only have 2 characters. It's filled with QTEs. Battles are still using the god-awful paradigm system. Time travel & monster capturing could be interesting or horrible. The less said about the childish nonsensical narrative and world the better.

Mass Effect 2 (91 -> 96), Assassins Creed 2 (81 -> 90), Uncharted 2 (88 -> 96) and some other games have shown this phenomenon of a flawed new IP which reduces the flaws in the sequel and gets a much higher review score as a result. Will western reviewers feel compelled to do the same with XIII-2?

They have a quandary. Do they compare it with the games it is similar to (flawed but deep games e.g. yakuza 3, alpha protocol) and review accordingly (so ~70%), or do they review it compared with what score they gave FFXIII (so ~100%)? The new features may well bring *more* flaws with them, and western reviewers love to over-rate shallow flawless games and under-rate complex flawed games. Readers have become very irascible to any review score they disagree with lately, it will be controversial whatever score they give it and they have an impossible job. I predict it will get 85% on metacritic, the same as X-2.

Does the perfect score make you hyped? It's in some great company and it's bound to at least be worth playing for it's uniqueness and jrpg charm.

 

[4RM3D]

I stopped caring a long time ago what reviewers are saying. Most of them can't be trusted anyway. But that's a whole different discussion.

 

[Pearwood]

I'm gonna disagree too, FF13 was a good game. Not the best in the series by a long way but certainly around the middle. I thought the linearity was just the result of all those people bitching about FF12 being too awesome for them to handle and getting lost everywhere.

 

[Dr.Susse]

I liked FF-XIII enough to platinum it but I can see where all the hate came from. And going by the trailers (Which are never a good thing to go by) and the news stories XIII-2 looks like I'll be wasting my weekends on it.

A bit sad I haven't seen Fang in any trailers yet.

 

[Pearwood]

The hate for FFXII baffles me. I thought it was one of the best in the series. It certainly was in the top 3 for characters. Balthier for the win.

Yeah it was my favourite by far. Although I'm not sure about characters, Balthier is undeniably awesome but Vaan is undeniably a ***** so they might just cancel each other out.

 

[Skoldpadda]

No, perfect scores don't make me hyped, they make me suspicious.

I've been playing FFXIII a bit for the last couple of days (late to the party) and I'm shocked and appalled at how linear and shallow it is. It's all flash and cutscenes and little to no gameplay. It looks amazing, but it's horrid. But if XIII-2 is more like earlier installments, then that's something to look forward to. It's just that it means that I'm gonna have to complete the shitty one first if I want to enoy the sequel.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well it's a Japanese magazine and Final Fantasy products are Japans bible, it would be pretty damn blasphemous if anything with a FF badge got less then a perfect score.

 

[Pearwood]

This might be true. Although it is hard to find a Final Fantasy game where the main character isn't annoying.

Zidane was good, Lightning was alright too. The cast from 3 weren't good but at least they weren't annoying either.

 

[VoidWanderer]

*Curls into feotal position and starts rocking back and forth*

It's only a dream, it's only a dream...

 

[valleyshrew]

I'm gonna disagree too, FF13 was a good game.

It was a long game that took a lot of effort to make, but realistically it was not a good one. I got a platinum trophy in it and almost got another but gave up getting all the equipment in japanese, so it was a bit of a love hate relationship... but when you really analyse why FFVII-XII were great games, XIII completely falls short of the standards they set. It seems most people agree that it was bad in terms of narrative and adventure, but what confuses me is people who think the battle system was good enough to redeem those flaws. It merely gave the illusion of action by requiring you to tap autobattle constantly, it was objectively the least engaging battle system in the series. XII's battle system was actually strategically engaging, but instead of having to tap an automated battle button, you had to program it yourself and got to walk around during battles. The lack of limit breaks (aka trances, overdrives & quickenings) is unforgivable. They were the joint most iconic part of the final fantasy battle systems. It would be the equivalent of leaving out summons. Anxiety for death, the thing that is what really motivates most human actions, was missing because you can just retry and you autoheal between battles and there's no rationing of MP or limit breaks or anything like that except summons. The summons seemed like they would be innovative with the drive mechanic but it just boiled down to more autobattle spamming and look at the pretty visuals. The break system was moderately interesting at first, but became repetitive. The defensive role had a few moments of strategy and was a good addition but it was mostly unnecessary. The ability and equipment systems in XIII were the worst in the series (VIII's was pretty bad too and I never played I-III). It made the most changes to the series by far. You only controlled 1 character. XII had a similar system of automating battles, but let you switch party leaders at any time. One of the worst things was that the game chose your party for you at all times. In the first half you are in forced pairings. FFIX did something similar with splitting up your party, but I don't like it. In the second half, they forced you to use only lightning, hope and fang. No other combination was viable. Using Snow, Vanille and Sazh would be hugely gimping yourself.

I enjoyed VII-XII because they were an escape into an interesting adventurous world. XIII was not an adventure game. My top 5 favourite games were final fantasies before this generation, but now I enjoy Rockstar, bioware, bethesda and obsidian games the most because they're the ones creating an immersive and interesting world and story.

I thought the linearity was just the result of all those people bitching about FF12 being too awesome for them to handle and getting lost everywhere.

To a small extent maybe, but they openly admitted they cut out towns because they took too much time and money to make. They've said a FFVII remake could take 10 years to make in 3d and HD because of how deep it was. Linearity was not an artistic choice. FFX was linear too but it had minigames and towns and puzzles to keep the player engaged and most people liked it. XIII is literally just battles. I think they probably had some towns and minigames already developed or planned in XIII but cut them out for XIII-2.

 

[Project_Xii]

Haven't even looked into it. Or at it. In fact I've actively avoided it. Considering just the sight of Lightning makes an uncontrollable rage well up inside me is probably enough to show how much I hate what FFXIII did to the series and my trust in it.

FFXIII Versus, however... just the handy-cam trailer of that gets me randy. My god I want that game bad. Perhaps even a little more then I want Gemma Atkinson.

Ok, maybe not QUITE that much. But close.

 

[Pearwood]

You know, FF9 is the only FF game I never really played. I bought it when it came out and just kind of forgot about it. The character styles threw me off, and I kind of just forgot to play it after that. And Lightning wasn't too bad. Sometimes she got a little bitchy, but I suppose I prefer that over whining child.

I just like that she kept on decking Snow early on in the game, something I wish I could do myself.

FF9 is another of my favourites, I'd say give it a chance. It's kind of their reaction to people saying they wanted a classic FF game after 7 and 8.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

The hate for FFXII baffles me. I thought it was one of the best in the series. It certainly was in the top 3 for characters. Balthier for the win.

Yeah it was my favourite by far. Although I'm not sure about characters, Balthier is undeniably awesome but Vaan is undeniably a ***** so they might just cancel each other out.

This might be true. Although it is hard to find a Final Fantasy game where the main character isn't annoying.

There are plenty FF games where the main character is not annoying or at least has a reason for their personality and in Characters that is where FFXII really let itself down and not just with Vaan. It have other good aspects(soundtrack to name one) to it though so the overall hate is unwarranted.

But, it may still be a pretty bad game by WRPG standards.

The new features may well bring *more* flaws with them, and western reviewers love to over-rate shallow flawless games and under-rate complex flawed games. Readers have become very irascible to any review score they disagree with lately, it will be controversial whatever score they give it and they have an impossible job. I predict it will get 85% on metacritic, the same as X-2.

Ok first part really just seems like you are trolling or looking for controversy as WRPGs are not better than JRPGs in fact they are different sub genres. Also I didn't hear anyone complaining about oh look Skyrim got good scores after Oblivion's flaws and kept the flaws. Just saying.

Your next point does not make sense that a shallow game is a flawless game and a complex game is a flawed one. I am genuinely confused here and would like if you would elaborate a lot as the only shallow games I've played(such as recent CoDs,) have been deeply flawed in many ways. I would even say being shallow is a flaw itself.

 

[PrinceOfShapeir]

This might be true. Although it is hard to find a Final Fantasy game where the main character isn't annoying.

Zidane was good, Lightning was alright too. The cast from 3 weren't good but at least they weren't annoying either.

I hope you mean Final Fantasy 3 for the NES and not Final Fantasy VI for the SNES - for one thing, God only knows who the main character of FFVI is, and for two, those are some of the best and most memorable characters I've ever seen, right up there with the cast of Chrono Trigger.