Jim Sterling and the Mystery of the Missing Review Copy

[Rayce Archer]

If a game is a big pile of shit you can usually tell before you finish. In the case of Final Fantasy XIII, playing to the very end certainly doesn't make up for the time you waste getting there.

I'm sure it's an issue of Jim not being attached to a publication ATM. Frankly that he gets ANY review copies in his current situation is pretty remarkable since he is, at present, just a guy.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Jim Sterling verified that he didn't finish the game in the following interview:


I personally think that when reviewing a story-driven game, not completing the story and then proclaiming one's opinion as "Finalised" and not disclosing the fact you haven't finished the game is deceptive at the very least.

To then go on and hide your profile so it doesn't happen again, is also very questionable.

Regardless, this was 5 years ago. I don't care, and you probably shouldn't either.

But, I proposed it as a theory for why SE went with this decision. And an unlikely one at that.

Neat interview (Also why does it seem like everyone skips FF 12 when they chat about Final Fantasy? :c It's my favorite).

Anyway, I'm on Jim's side for this. It sounds like he played enough of the game to know all the game had. FF13 is a story heavy game, but from what I heard the story wasn't exactly it's strength anyway. :/
Plus, as a good number of people have noted, if they weren't enjoying the game in the first 20-30 hours, why would they stick around for more?

Topaz on page 2 also brings up a good point about how one "completes" a long game for a review. Reviewers got to get that stuff done in time for the review to still be "relevant" when they release it (that's why getting the review copy is important, it gives them extra time to review it because they normally come earlier than the launch).

As Topaz noted, Yahtzee finished ME3 (in that he got to the end of the story), but to do so he still didn't do "everything" in the game, and with ME3 that may have affected how the end went for him (also the question of "What counts as "finishing the game"? Doing everything in the game, or just getting to the end?).

As for the theory that S.E. didn't give Jim a review copy because he didn't complete their last game.

1. You already gave far more likely reasons (ex: he's on his own now so they thought they didn't need to).
:/ Odd though that they would say they were out of review copies when he asked them about it though. I didn't know you could run out of digital copies of a game. Unless they were giving out physical copies, I guess.

2. If that's why, then how come it took them 4 years to stop giving him review copies? Seems like a long time to hold a grudge and not doing anything.

 

[klaynexas3]

I'm actually torn on the idea that he didn't finish a game and reviewed it. On the one hand, yes, to be able to review something you must have a good understanding of it, at least for it to be a professional level review, rather than just an opinion. However, with games a reviewer shouldn't always be expected to have done all the content in a game for the review. Let's look at Dragon Age, Skyrim, hell, the Souls games. All of these are games which have a bountiful amount of content to explore, to expect a reviewer to play through all of this is simply absurd. With a book or a movie or an album, all the content is easy, straight forward, linear, you can have it done in a matter of a few hours or days. Some video games can have weeks worth of content. Hell, there was a side quest in Final Fantasy 9 that wasn't discovered until at least over a decade after the game came out.

While I get that the main storyline is generally the accepted part of a what constitutes whether a game is beaten or not, it still seems a bit weird that that's what we draw the line at as to what has to be completed before someone can be deemed worthy to review a game. Talk to anyone that has played a Bethesda game and they can tell you how lost they can get in the side content, and honestly how the main storyline can even be boring and uneventful by comparison of what else the game has to offer.

As for a game that is heavily story based, that becomes a little bit more of a necessity to complete the main storyline, however, in a game like Final Fantasy 13 where the gameplay doesn't suddenly change near the end or anything, I believe I can say if someone just watched the ending on youtube they'd get a close enough experience with the storyline, and they already have done the gameplay, that ultimately they'd still have a good understanding of the game.

Those are my thoughts on that situation at any rate.

 

[Lightknight]

The answer is that he's no longer working for a major publication that they send review copies to.

I wonder what the process is to let major studios know to send you stuff. Do you register with them or do they just "find" you?

 

[RoBi3.0]

I find it a bit unprofessional to complain that you weren't given a free copy of a game in the first place. It doesn't really matter why you didn't get one either.

If you feel that not getting a copy was the result of an error, you contact the marketing or PR person responsible for handing out review copies privately and and sort it out. If you don't know who that person is I will venture a guess that is the main reason you didn't get a copy in the first place.