Final Fantasy XIII: “Biggest Swindle in Gaming History”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Jan 9, 2010 18:42 JST
- Tags: China, Final Fantasy, Production Controversy, PS3, RPG, Square Enix, Xbox 360
Divisive RPG Final Fantasy XIII has received its most damning print review to date, being awarded a pathetic 40% by an overseas rag evidently free of the need to toady up to Square’s advertising department. The game is a “swindle” and a “joke” it is said, and many who have played the game will likely sympathise with the criticisms made.
The game received the following score:
System: 1/10 “Such a crude system barely warrants being called an RPG at all.”
Scenario: 2/10 “An epic tear jerker.”
Graphics: 9/10 “Top marks here.”
Sound: 7/10 “Mostly quality.”
Enthusiasm: 1/10 “As if you could play this for 100 hours! I could put up with 8.”
Total: 4/10 “To think it got this bad…”
Criticisms include:
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?
He goes on to deride the gameplay for having become a button mashing puzzle game with no real strategy or RPG elements and a plethora of annoying features, saying the 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, he opines, calling it in closing the “biggest swindle in gaming history” and the “biggest joke of 2009.”
The review, in Chinese:
Final Fantasy has never been so divisive and polarising; even Square Enix’s CEO seems somewhat sheepish about the title… Hardly the reception the supposed crowning masterpiece of the series should be receiving?
Gaisensha at Kashihara Shrine: “Itasha for Crazy Nationalists”
Racing Miku Nendoroid Set
Top 10 Cutest Things Guys Do On Dates
Hirasawa Ui Tiny Bikini Figure
Zero no Tsukaima F Yuri Skinship Anime
Yozora Mikazuki & Sena Kashiwazaki Figures
To Love-Ru Darkness Totally Tentacular
Ano Hana Naruko Anjo Anal Dress Figure
Top 10 Most Followed Seiyuu
Wonder Festival 2012 Winter Wondrous As Ever
Ciel nosurge: “Your Date With Ion = $170″
Nisemonogatari – “Where Did All The Ero Go!?”
Police Hunt Ushijima for “Public Indecency”
Cops Bust Cop in Nude BDSM Club Raid
K-ON! “Causes Keionbu Girl Band Boom”
Vippers vs Vankers: 2ch Targets “Korean Propaganda”
Overflow Delays “Final” Game: “We Are Not Going Bankrupt!”
Ritsu Topless Manga Time – “She Has Boobs After All!”
Top 10 Most Boring Anime of Winter 2012
Behold: The ONACOUNTER
Lenfried Sakuya Anal Tail Ero-Cosplay
Wonder Festival 2012 Winter Cosplay
“Post The Highest Level Cosplay Ever!”
“Share The Cutest Cosplay Ever”
“Dolls vs Figures – Which is Best?”
“Why Do Girls Always Have Such Cute Rooms!?”
Ranka Lee Wedding Dress Cosplay by Tomia
Shoko-tan’s Madoka & Ika-chan Cosplay “Excessively Cute”
Guilty Crown Yuzuriha Inori Cosplay by Sasa
IdolMaster G4U: “Who Needs 3D Idols Now?”
Why can't people make their own opinions of games? When it comes out, rent it. If you like the game then go buy it, but if you don't, just shut the fuck up.
1) None of us have played the game yet, they have. Their opinioms are more valid than ours.
2) We don't want to waste any cash on a game that turns out to be shit.
well, this is Final Fantasy- a commercially successful franchise.
It would take an idiot to not realize that they care about raking in the profits rather than making their fans happy, thus they haven't done anything to improve the lot of their games. They expect that doing something that worked a few times will keep working over time and not get old.
So the potential that you're wasting your money on a Final Fantasy game is absurdly high.
But then again, in any video games, I personally find the probability that I am wasting my money and time I could be using to advance myself to be very high.
FFXIII becoming the unlucky number?
Shows that a brand name can take hits to if it slacks somewhere.
And a good thing to!
I look forward to playing the English release so I can discover first hand what these people are on about. If it is poor, I hope it gets the criticism it deserves for being poor.
I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan, but I'm able to accept and criticise failings if and when they are there. This is what stoic fanboys need to learn to do as well. Because if they keep saying "No it's awesome really!" even in the face of a game that is perhaps actually quite poor, the franchise will never improve!
So a message to all fanboys: If you love your franchise as much as you claim, stop mindlessly defending it! Otherwise you'll eventually just end up with crap.
Well said, Fox. I highly doubt that "professional" reviews will be any harsh with it, though. Just look at GTAIV, Halo 3 and MGS4.
Look at Superman 64 and Rouge Warrior.
It being "poor" is not a consensus. Stop acting like if anyone likes it they are lying to themselves.
It sounds exactly like FFX, which was widely popular. Somehow I don't think FFXIII is going to suffer much in sales.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKTyqRPguBY
From what I've been hearing from people who have been the game, the game is a huge let down. I'll have to play it for myself but seeing how it resembles FFX in a lot of ways, I'm sure I'm going to have to force myself to beat it.
sadly this piece of shit will sell like crazy in the west, despite the fact we have had for-warning of how terrible this game is. Nothing will stop the FF fanfaggots from lining SquareEnix's pockets.
(Psst, I know a whole bunch of people on forums etc. who have played the Japanese import and love it to bits!)
I get the feeling FFXIII is a love/hate game for the FF fanbase, like XII was. Only instead of world-driven plot and battle system being the controversial areas, this time it is extreme linearity and lack of towns to explore.
Personally, I like one set path through a dull dungeon. I play Final Fantasy for the story and battle system, so I'm perfectly happy to bear with a single set path. I seem to recall the "dungeon crawling" element of FFX was the same for much of the game.
I will play it to see for myself... but I admit, the news so far has not been good.
chinese review. dont care.
lol. How can these guys be a serious reviewer, they even said they didn't make it more than 8 hours into the game. Here's an idea, if you're going to call a game crap play the whole thing first, lol. This is like watching the first ten minutes of an action movie and saying it sucks because the action part didn't start until fifteen minutes in. This review = untrustworthy. Having played the game I can personally say this review is a bunch of BS.
I think the meaning of the 8 hours thing was "This style of game is acceptable for about 8 hours" rather than "I only played 8 hours".
Don't hold me to that though.
I interpreted the same meaning as Fox89. Please don't take translations from this article too seriously.
I'm currently wondering about Final Fantasy XV... the old Squaresoft managed to release three "main" games in each platform (first trilogy on the Famicom, second one on Super Famicom, third one on PlayStation and fourth one on PlayStation 2), and I get it that Versus XIII isn't a main title, regardless of the fact that it'll also be released on PlayStation 3, pretty much like X-2... will Square Enix, in their current shape, be able to keep on this tradition of sorts, not to mention that all those consoles where pretty much the undisputed kings of the hill in their respective hardware generations, which the PS3 most definitely isn't?
It's kind of a "gamer gamble", a mere pastime. I guess they won't, it'll be kicked forward to the next gen.
hmmmmm...
nope, still don't care, still gonna get, cause I got the moneys...
Who cares it's got cute girls in it. I remember hearing all this buzz about the "Durge of Cerberus" from a friend and then he played it, finished it and was all dejected their wasn't "More to it"- He was all into "Kingdom Hearts 2" and stuff...plays alot of "Warcraft". He'll be first in-line for this just cause it's a "FF" title.
BTW...I'm loving the New names & Avatars...I wonder why they don't go on the forums much. DeathCrunch? FappingTime?- lol. I love the look on KOETA's avatar- very amusing. I smell a 2nd Renisaence for Sancom.
he can't think for himself. He lets advertisements and hype make decisions for him. I bet he'd deny it, because all those ads say "You're special, you're smart and can think for yourself. Buy this game, because you're intelligent, aren't you?"
seeeeee...... i said ff sucked, and no one believed me lol
no KiriCat sucks
"Scenario: 2/10 “An epic tear jerker."
Fuckin win
I have FF13, however I do admit that the game lacked luster compared to all its earlier releases. Usually when I get a FF game, i'll play through it constantly til completion. But with this release, I'm just playing like at most twice a week and taking breaks inbetween, the rest of the time spent playing other games instead.
FFXIIIComplex?
Impossible to get lost and no need for a strategy guide. Woohoo!
Ironically, it will never be admitted, but we should all obviously know why the game is so linear with no back tracking. Because one version can't be better than the other, and the version holding it back is on 3 DVDs.
No matter how much they want to play the PR bullshit game, bringing this game to the 360 on DVD and not planning ahead to properly work around the DVD medium's limits has pulled this game's quality down. Not in graphics or sound mind you, but in gameplay, the most important part everyone seems to forget.
Wrong way round, graphics and sound are what HAS been sacrificed for the Xbox. The 360 version has more highly compressed audio and CGI. The native resolution is also lower on the 360 I think.
There are also plenty of RPGs with multiple discs on the 360 that do allow backtracking and a larger degree of freedom: Lost Odyssey and Star Ocean: TLH are the two I have sitting on my shelf.
And there's proof of the former (especially the lowered native resolution)... where?
I looked it up again and I can't find the native resolution thing anywhere, so I was wrong on that one. Must have picked it up from a rumour or forum post or something.
Just compressed video and audio then. Which makes sense, you can save so much disc space without losing too much quality just by compressing. Ever seen a compressed .AVI file next to an uncompressed one? You lose minuscule amounts of quality for a huge size reduction.
Original starter of this line of discussion here. Basically those games you mentioned on the 360 were built around the idea of DVD's originally. FFX III was not.
Instead the 360 version was started half way through the development (I'm taking this from the day the 360 version was announced from the time of the original announcement and release). So the game had to be completely retooled, but they couldn't get it rebuilt from the ground up.
So now we have something that was probably meticulously torn apart and put back together and a deadline, and the game itself will never reach the same level of quality that was intended. This is all because SE got greedy for pay off money and didn't realize until it was too late that they had lost more money and reputation for doing so.
So, in the end, if they had not fucked around with the 360 for FF XIII (Or just released two different versions without detracting from the original PS3 versions intentions) then this whole mess of a game could have been avoided.
Anon 17:58: You're basing your assumptions on basically nothing. Square Enix never showed anything, any footage of the game at all, that isn't already in the game, save maybe for the promised graphical quality in the original E3 2006, but we know it was a fully pre-rendered FMV anyways.
There's literally no proof of any contents of the game's "original version" being cut for the retail one.
Next time you want to discuss, bring some stuff to the table so we can actually discuss something rather than just run around in circles.
How can people take this seriously when he says himself he barely played the game?
How cute
It is still the best RPG of the last few years
WHAT PERSONA 4 ANALFUCKS FINAL FANTASY.
I actually give a damn about the characters and the plot. It's not "save the princess, crystal, pokemon, etc."
You have androgynous-looking leads for the sake of the 16-year-old girls who will masturbate over them and effeminate Japanese boys who cannot grow facial hair.
Persona 4 & 3, Dragon Age Origins, Tales of Graces, Lost Odyssey and Demon's Souls would like a word with you
so what if ff13 is linear like a book? while the criticisms are probably warranted, it'll still buy simply for the experience, isn't that what most people play it for anyways?
There's always Final Fantasy XIII Versus.
it's FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII u moron
He's a moron for saying the name incorrectly?
Actually, going by the game's logo, he caps locked the right part.
Maybe if we point at it, Anon 04:36 will realize he Capslocked the wrong part.
Hoax.
Isn't possible to sankaku to post, for a change, something about a review telling good things about the FF XIII? I mean... toady up or not, I suppose they give some argument about why this FF would not be as bad as it has been said, so it would be good to see all sides of this discussion about the game.
The first post was a Famitsu review, giving a 39/40, all the fan reactions have been negative though.
We will have fun,
We will have fun,
We will have fun,
We will have fun...
The idea that linear is a synonym for "bad" is just moronic.
The idea that "too linear" can't be a valid complaint for a video game is perhaps moreso.
A valid complaint yes. A valid condemnation no.
When it's so linear it's literally a straight line, it is.
I am a HK-Chinese as well. I visited HK just a few weeks ago and really noticed the huge changes within popular culture from a few years ago. I'd have to agree that most HK-Chinese (at least, the newer generations) don't hate the Japanese at all, but they instead embrace it.
The game is pretty bad worse than FF10 and mabye as bad as FF8.... its a shame they do not know what they are doing ...then again the last best FF game was 9 story aside...... if 12 didn't poss on the skill system and made skills,limit breaks and equipment so damn generic and boring the level design was great(well ok it was good enough)...if they bothered to work on the game itself.........
epic fail
I'm not really a Final Fantasy fan, but I thought the game was fun. The story was interesting (better than 10 & 12 at least) and it was the first Final Fantasy I played to the end for a while. Anyway, why would you buy a Final Fantasy if you don't like seeing CG movies? They've been like that for the last few games...
Regarding the button mashing... Yes, until the end mission battles it's pretty much like that. But SE games have been like that lately (*cough* Kingdom Hearts 2 *cough*).
Definitely too long time until you can run on the free fields, though. They're also too few.
Do think the game deserves about 7/10, though.
the 360 port has ruined this game
FFXIII好似幾好玩,仲有幅圖細左D,咩都睇唔到!!!
"For such a game to approach 2 million copies sold must be due solely to the strength of the Final Fantasy brand"
Still gonna buy it, I'm SquareEnix's bitch and happily so.
Been playin it the past two weeks, it was extremely linear for the first 45 hours or so for me, but also fairly challenging, you need to be really on the ball to survive many of the battles, even against normal enemies. However this does make sense when you consider the plot to the game. They (the main characters) are on the run from the big bads of the story, it wouldn't make much sense for them to stop and smell the roses now would it? I think the developers main objectives with this game were to experiment with the new systems graphical and audio capabilities and to attempt to break away from the traditional final fantasy elements. Unfortunately that means their going to alienate a lot of players. Oh well. So far I have to the say the appearance, sounds, battle system, plot and acting are all top notch. As for the rest of it, oh well, it is what it is and it is pretty fun to play.
Yeah well if they want to experiment with new stuff then they can do so - but using a really established "old" name to package it in is a very bad idea as long as this name stands for something different. Final Fantasy is (except for it's nearly MMORPG-like attitude towards grinding) a game set with the good ones (you) the bad guys (some times they aren't even as obvious (X)), interessting skillsystems (X, XII), lots of magic and the irreplacable summons. Well you have summons but hey they are kind of boring I'd say. If I wanted to play something linear I'd maybe play...
well I'm kind of hard pressed here. Diablo wasn't linear, Oblivion is neither and I don't want to start about Fallout 3 and Morrowind. Hell I even know RTS-Campaigns that are not linear (Starcraft II comes to mind, or Earth 2150).
Basically I can't think of a single RPG that's that linear. Also there's probably more then 1 way to run away...
Designing cities was to difficult? Uhm, ok. Where exactely is the problem? If I think about Rabanastre there wasn't much to see anyway but it was nice running around.
I mean I could start with the Imperial Capital of Oblivion, hell even Balmora had more interaction then the whole of Rabanastre.
I better leave it at that...
I haven't played the game all the way through, just the beginning. I think it's fair to say that there are points that I agree with and disagree with on this. For example, I thought that the story from what I had seen was pretty emotional and strong, and complemented the linearity of the gameplay. I also really enjoyed the battle system. I do agree it's not open-ended or such a large RPG system in comparison to others that I have played, but to me, it felt fresh and I think it's commendable that S-E have taken the approach they did with the game. I for one really liked it and can't wait for the English release :)
Having bought thousands of Hong Kong gaming magazines since I was young,I can tell you that 99.99% of the comments made on Japanese games are fair and nothing to do with the "Japanese hate" bullshit. Gamers from Hong Kong are not stupid and do appreciate good Japanese games like any other people,and if it's a bad game,authors will just tell you it's bad,really has nothing to do with racial hate,that I can assure you. People from mainland China however,may have the above issue since they seem less rational.
同意同意!!
Not playing a game because the story is not to one's liking is QUALITY journalism.
Final Fantasy will always be suck for Squeenix, the fans, and you suck for playing it!
no wonder this piece of shit sucked. they didn't put nobuo's music in it.
don't care. STILL buying it. It still looks awesome and well made. i'll decide if i like the story or not. i'm looking forward to it.
The other thing people seem to eb forgetting is, this game was in development for WAY too long. We were getting teased with screenshots and FMV teasers for over 3 years, and THIS is all we have to show for it? Even if the game isn't as bad as people are saying, there's no way it could even come CLOSE to living up to the anticipation it had built up. Could this be the Daikatana of JRPGs?
I am a HK-Chinese, and this review is absolutely done by HK Magazine.
In terms of game taste, most so-called CORE gamers in HK is more on Japanese games, well, in other word, WE are feed by Japanese (RPGs).
As a linear RPG, FFXIII is good. As a non-linear RPG, FFXIII is bad.
The reviewer's...well, rather vicious language suggests a bias. And really, the fact that sankaku found an obscure hong kong review site to agree with its obvious dislike of ff13 is also showing a rather childish bias. As many respectable Japanese and English review sites as there are that have gotten ahold of this, and so far sankaku's only showed the ravings of the internet (which I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw it) and this guy, who obviously has an axe to grind. Grow up, guys.
Wtf? It's not even that bad, crazy reviewer -_-
as a RPG, FFXIII is bad. as a CGI movie, FFXIII is good
One thing that I learned about reviews: they are fun to read and thats all it is to me. I dont take reviews lightly because some of the worst reviewed games are the best games that I have ever played.
Just be entertained by the reviews, but plz dont take them so seriously. Everyone hs different prefrences and maybe the worst reviewed games are the ones you would like, but you wont buy because of bad reviews. A lot of games that I buy are through instinct and not based on the reviews.
This is the same person but I forgot to add this.
Comming from someone that is half chinese and born in Taiwan, dont take everything chinese or japanese reviews to seriously. They flame (criticize) about everything no matter how flawless something is. They will always find something wrong with it. But then again, the Japanese and the Chinese take their games very seriously, thus why they criticize. Just something to think about. Some of the criticism about this game is just stupid Like:
WTF... Final Fantasy has always been linear. How is that a criticism. The scenarios has always been the same as the past Final Fantasies. In many cases, I wonder if this guy is just making shit up or if hes actually reviewing the game on flaws that are intentionally put in there because its Final Fantasy.
kyon-kun denwa...
The people criticizing FF XIII for their deliberate design decisions should read this:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26643/Analysis_The_Conundrum_of_Final_Fantasy_XIII.php
Preferably with an open mind.
It's an excellent article and basically invalidates a lot of the criticism or at least makes it understandable why some design decisions in FF XIII actually made sense.
who gives a shit if its linear? how is the game paced? i mean shit... modern warfare 2 is linear as hell but its fucking action packed and hella fun to go through. granted its like 5 hours but... its the best 5 hours of gaming around. so what if games are linear. i'm glad they made changes.
Meh, still gonna buy the game, and enjoy it. Plus, I can't wait for Versus to be in development. It seems to have something better going for it, even if it isn't following the FF-formula.
Besides, it is hard to get an objective viewpoint about this game. There are either people who foam at the mouth for Final Fantasy, or they hate the entire series to death. No in-between, real gamers giving a real gamer's opinion.
Square didn't pay protection fee to the Chinese triads who wrote the article, hence the bad review.
It's the Endless Eight of the video game industry!
I don't see what's wrong with linearity. This obviously isn't your typical RPG.
Wow...
Can't wait to see some US/Canadian websites take a go at this one. Not to mention X-Play.
我只想说，“點知仲可以更衰”粤语自重
*yawn*
more retards
Wow, the guy really hates FFXIII, lol.
I've taken the liberty to translate some of the other funny remarks not translated by Arte:
The story: "The story is the usual rebellion vs evil empire stuff, while this is expected from the FF franchise, there's not much for the player to actually "play". You walk a long time, and then comes lengthy cutscenes, after battling few monsters, you have yet more cutscenes. And these cutscenes contain all sorts pompous jargon conceived to make the game look as though its interesting.
The premise basically follows the same mode as FFVIII and FFX2: an idol-like style, with pretentious plot, pretentious dialog and pretentious characters, it's obvious that this game was aimed for people used to watching Japanese Doramas. But who would seriously bother to memorize all these flashy jargon anyway?"
Concerning the repetitive battle modes: "You might as well add an auto-pilot mode and call it "Dummy Plug" mode."
"This is a visual novel, a puzzle game, a button smashing game, you can even call this a Front Mission-like turn-based tactical game, but this is NOT an RPG."
"Sound 7/10 - Of which 5 points is by virtue of Sakamoto Maaya being in the cast."
I'm still gonna get the game...I'll just rent it....this way I don't lose cash.
if ur doing the mission it'll take 100 hours at least
buy it you cheap fuck
The Chinese dude is right. This game sucks, even more if compared to a western RPG like Dragon Age.
idiots, JRPG =/= WRPG
shame on you
Admit it, FF XIII is an E-novel.
Why do you hate it when you like Fate, Stay Night?
FF13 doesn't have sex. It has effeminate men, none of them GAR, even the one who dresses like a hobo.
Fate, Stay Night got those sexy naked ladies, I think that helps alot ;)
Compairing FFXIII to F/SN? I hope you're trolling.
That review sucks ass. I have FF13 and it isn't bad so far (10 hours in).
"Crude system barely warrants being calls an RPG."How is the battle system any worse than other JRPGs? (Or did I misconstrue?) It's just the same formula but polished. In fact what defines an RPG's battle system? Tales, Fallout, FF those are all RPG's with different systems.
"Scenario.........." Does this reviewer even understand the story? While it may not be the best storyline in all of RPG history it does not deserve a 1, a 7 or 8 in my opinion.
The reviewer can't even count, he says it gets full marks for graphics yet it gets a 9 out of 10? Full marks are 10 out of 10, kid.
Enthusiasm what does that have to do with anything? All it shows is after x<8 hours he got bored with it, so he stopped caring for many wonderful aspects of the game. In fact, the reviewer probably was not enthused when he saw how the system was not "worthy" of being an RPG so he created a shitty, biased review to quench his undying RPG fanfag desires.
The battle system is certainly worse than other FF games. It's all button mashing.
That's an opinion and is it worse than 12? Where it was no buttons just analog?
And also it isn't a button masher wtf? If you get far in this by button mashing you are the new gaming God. Armored enemies require strategy to take down, and bosses (especially summon fights) are neigh impossible without some strategy.
Wow somehow my comment ended up down here xD
Quote: Graphics: 9/10 “Full marks here.”
...Full marks would be 10/10 here, Mr. Chinese reviewer sir ¬¬.
And 1/10 for system? The majority of news I've heard regarding that so far has been reasonably positive - lack of proper shops aside. This review may not be afraid to wind up the SE marketing department, but it still stinks of a review written to make a point rather than be a fair reflection of the game.
That Chinese review never said “Full marks here.” for graphics, whoever wrote this made it up.
SankakuComplex spreading misinformation!? Surely you jest! ^^
Well that's fair enough then, I withdraw my criticism of the reviewer and instead direct it to whomever summarised the translation.
I beg your pardon, I should have put "top marks" as a loose translation.