Hong Kong Gaming Magazine Gives Final Fantasy XIII a 4/10

[Oasis Writer]

Ouch is right. Oh well, though. It's just opinions, and it's been proven time and time again; good marketing sells more than good reviews.

In any which case, I've had this purchased for almost two years now, and I will play it until the disc is destroyed from exhaustion.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

I know, I found that utterly weird as well. We've seen Japanese and non-native Japanese reviewers comment on how good the battle system is and how it makes up for certain other negative elements. Then to have this review come in and suddenly give such a seemingly contrasting view is odd.

I've been spoiled on the story (I imagine you and Ariana have as well, Ryan ) so I can comment on it compared to the other FF games. It really doesn't deserve a 2/10 at all. Nothing, I mean nothing, can be worse than FF Tactics A2's story.

Yes, I've seen the beginning, end, what happens to who and nearly everything in between other than the cutscenes It's rather amusing though, I found this off a FFXIII review on another site:

"To sum up, Final Fantasy XIII as a whole is worthy of a stroke, mainly due to the excellent battle system, absorbing visual experience, unique style and excellent fine-tuning the details."

I'm pretty sure the Hong Kong people said that battle system is worth a 1

I doubt seeing videos of the game on Youtube and reading the plotline on Wikipedia is an adequate substitute for playing the game itself (which for obvious reasons I can't do), but from what I have seen the storyline is pretty mediocre at best. I think they must have hired an English localization team from Russia, coming up with childish names like "Sazh Katzroy" instead of something we can actually pronounce. If they manage to fix this before the NA release of the game (unlikely), I'll be much more receptive of whatever storyline they include.

Wikipedia says next to nothing on the storyline and videos on youtube are pretty poor

Saz Katz-roy.

And essentially the majority of Final Fantasy titles probably have some laughable names to people who don't like the series or individual games.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

I dont expect anything of this game.....anymore....I dont think its worth 60 bucks or so..
wait till discount lol

The game seems way too rushed...

 

[Stoic Hero]

Just because of a couple of reviews? Dude, don't be swayed so easily. Who can really say whether or not you'll enjoy the game but yourself? Would you trust your parents to play the game and their opinion? No? Then why trust some random guys from china/us/uk that you don't even know? Try the game. I'm confident you won't be as disappointed as you think you'll be.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

Lol I dont take these reviews too lightly man, I think most of them actually telling the truth..

They have already mentioned a dozen of facts I dont like about it..

Like no shops, almost no NPC's, not a non-human playable char,almost no towns, cant change the designated player,

cmone dude for me PERSONALLY that is what I really loved about FF in general

but you are right, first play then bitch about it

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

We normally would come in here, explain why we believe this game is going to suck, justify our reasons and such, then explain that we've read the story, watched live streams, played the demo, blah blah blah. However, we feel as if we've done this at least 10 times in other threads...

Everyone has their own opinion. If you think it's going to be great, hey, that's fine. If you think it's going to suck, good for you.

Bottom line is, with every review you're going to have die hard fans defending the game, and skeptics assaulting said views.

In good reviews, we don't like how they describe the game.
In bad reviews, we don't like how they describe the game.
In Live Streams, we don't like the way the game plays. We don't like what we are seeing on screen.
In the demo, we weren't interested at all.
Bottom line: We don't like the game.

Personally, we're not going to buy this game. Yes we think it's going to suck, yes we're disappointed, and no, we do not need to play the game to figure that out.

To each his own.

 

[TheRealTrxd]

This review was ridiculous, they obviously know nothing about JRPG's if they insulting the things they are insulting.

We normally would come in here, explain why we believe this game is going to suck, justify our reasons and such, then explain that we've read the story, watched live streams, played the demo, blah blah blah. However, we feel as if we've done this at least 10 times in other threads...

Everyone has their own opinion. If you think it's going to be great, hey, that's fine. If you think it's going to suck, good for you.

Bottom line is, with every review you're going to have die hard fans defending the game, and skeptics assaulting said views.

In good reviews, we don't like how they describe the game.
In bad reviews, we don't like how they describe the game.
In Live Streams, we don't like the way the game plays. We don't like what we are seeing on screen.
In the demo, we weren't interested at all.
Bottom line: We don't like the game.

Personally, we're not going to buy this game. Yes we think it's going to suck, yes we're disappointed, and no, we do not need to play the game to figure that out.

To each his own.

Those points do not prove the bottom line at all.

Until you are in those shoes, making the decisions and being completely in charge you simply do not know. I wouldn't say this if it hadn't happened to myself before.

Have you honestly never found out something about a video game that you hated, but ended up liking it?

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

They have already mentioned a dozen of facts I dont like about it..

Like no shops, almost no NPC's, not a non-human playable char,almost no towns, cant change the designated player,

I think regarding this however, they shouldn't be mentioned in any review simply because it would could down to 100% opinion. I doubt that would ruin the game, it's more of what you'd like to see rather than what's needed in the game.

 

[DeadFantasy]

TBH, I still want that game It looks amazing I mean, I really dont pay attention to reviews because thats their view on it not mine. I much rather give the game a chance then maybe I'll decide weather or not I agree. I personally cannot wait! The game looks intresting and well, I love FF so I mean why not It does seem a bit absurd but I won't give in that easily. >_>

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

Those points do not prove the bottom line at all.

Then you and us have two different opinions on what the bottom line is. However, we weren't necessarily saying that it's the bottom line, but just our bottom line.

Until you are in those shoes, making the decisions and being completely in charge you simply do not know. I wouldn't say this if it hadn't happened to myself before.

We have been, it's called the demo. Even without it, we can still safetly come to the conclusion that we're not going to like it. Through livesteams we've seen enough of the gameplay to realize that it sucks. (In our opinion of course.)

Through reviews that have both bashed, and those that have praised it, we didn't like 75% of the core game itself.

Have you honestly never found out something about a video game that you hated, but ended up liking it?

FFVIII, we hated the draw system; we liked the game. However, the Draw system didn't make up 75% of the game.

We saw what you were attempting to do there.

We're not buying or playing this game, and that's final.

(Now, to the people that keep sending us PM's on why we're wrong and should play it anyway: Stop. It's getting annoying, and we're not changing our mind. Now, get off our lawn. /grumpyoldman)

EDIT: We do think that the story is rather good. However, with the changes to the gameplay, we could care less. When everything about the series that we know and love has been changed around, we simply have no desire to play it. We'll read all about the story someplace else. We're not going to stress ourselves with bad gameplay simply because we think the story is good.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Random quotes:

“The game is complete linearity until the open areas near the end. You can’t even backtrack.”

“Of all the RPGs I’ve played in recent years, this is the first which has been so linear that it’s little more than riding an amusement park ride.”

“I had heard the opinion that, ‘It’s amazing once you get to Chapter 11,’ but why should you spend 20 or 30 hours on a game to get to the only enjoyable part? Just how do they intend to make me play this? Do they think I’m some kind of masochist?”

“A button-mashing puzzle game with no real strategy or RPG elements and a plethora of annoying features, game as a whole is little more than a digital novel of sorts.”

“For such a game to approach 2 million copies sold must be due solely to the strength of the Final Fantasy brand.”

“Biggest swindle in gaming history.”

“Biggest joke of 2009.”
Translations apparently

 

[Ewan]

Haha, well I still think this review is bogus in light of the fact that the the reviewer is likely to be biased. The language gives off the strong impression that's he's bitching about it and whatever problem he/she has with FF or SE, it's starting to get to them.

And to be honest, I don't care if it's linear. Even when I play games that have a lot of freedom I always go straight the places I need to go and complete the main story missions.

Examples? Assassin's Creed 2 and Grand Theft Auto. I save the exploring and side quests for later on in the game. That's the way I play.

 

[Linnaete]

“The game is complete linearity until the open areas near the end. You can’t even backtrack.”

Wait a moment- until the end? So even the great wildernesses of Pulse are linear, or is this person wrongfully thinking it's near the end? Even backtracking in FFX is possible.

“Of all the RPGs I’ve played in recent years, this is the first which has been so linear that it’s little more than riding an amusement park ride.

Even Crisis Core is less linear than this? Dear God, that is really sombre and depressing news. But as I have always said, hatred of linearity is merely opinion-wise. Linearity isn't necessary a bad thing.

“I had heard the opinion that, ‘It’s amazing once you get to Chapter 11,’ but why should you spend 20 or 30 hours on a game to get to the only enjoyable part? Just how do they intend to make me play this? Do they think I’m some kind of masochist?”

Yup, I heard about how the game suddenly changes from then on. That sounds rather interesting. But this quote assumes that the content before it isn't enjoyable. Opinion-wise only I'm sure.

“A button-mashing puzzle game with no real strategy or RPG elements and a plethora of annoying features, game as a whole is little more than a digital novel of sorts.”

The first I heard of that. So Paradigm Shift no good then? I'm interested to see a review of these "annoying features". And it's a "puzzle" game then? So it has puzzles? Interesting....

“For such a game to approach 2 million copies sold must be due solely to the strength of the Final Fantasy brand.”

Sadly true.....

“Biggest swindle in gaming history.”

The price of the game in Japan is high, yes, but definitely not the biggest swindle in "gaming history". But don't SE dare raise the price in the west or they can forget all about first day sales.

“Biggest joke of 2009.”

I've seen worse, so I doubt it. Then again, how many video games does Hong Kong get anyway?

 

[Donald Trump]

I've seen worse, so I doubt it. Then again, how many video games does Hong Kong get anyway?

Probably many more than the US.

I'm not sure why people are so surprised by all these negative reviews. SE have not produced a good FF game yet. It's very possible, and indeed likely that FFXIII will be worse than FFXII.
People have been waiting for this game for so long that they want it to be great, but every review seems to confirm that it's going to be like FFXII. Pretty Graphics, interesting/new gameplay, poor story, little character development.

 

[FinalHeart]

A 2 in Storyline? I wonder what games like GRAW 2 and MW2 got... 5+?

Seriously, that smells fishy. Otherwise, I couldn't really give a crap. There's bound to be an outlier, and these guys are probably it.

 

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

Yup, I heard about how the game suddenly changes from then on. That sounds rather interesting. But this quote assumes that the content before it isn't enjoyable. Opinion-wise only I'm sure.

The worst thing about this review is that I don't think he even played all the way through, I'm sure there was another comment somewhere where he said something like "100 hours gameplay, I struggled to manage 8" then that quote further up saying "I heard the opinion that", which sounds like he hardly touched the game.