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?
As a long time fan of the Final Fantasy Series, I find 13 to be a piece of s♥♥t not worthy of being called a Final Fantasy game. It’s “generic RPG #56”.
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 🙂
“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.
FFXIII好似幾好玩,仲有幅圖細左D,咩都睇唔到!!!