Final Fantasy XII - Reviewing the reviewers

[Nojiko]

Check out Next-Gen's (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2461&Itemid=2) great article detailing Famitsu's "Perfect Score"s and how Square-Enix has evolved the series over time.

"In the background Yasumi Matsuno and his team of intrepid programmers, some of the most talented videogame software producers on earth, were busy forging ahead through the jungle of preconceived notions that stand between any lone game developer and a good videogame.
What we have, basically, is a Final Fantasy game made by the people who made Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and even the legendary Ogre Battle. The music is by Hitoshi Sakimoto, and the story is by Yasumi Matsuno.

The hero (who, as I have said before, I really wish was wearing a shirt and not just that little monkey vest) is a rather plucky young man named Vaan, who just so happens to have strong ties to a conflict that is on the verge of engulfing an entire world in war.

There are good people and evil people. There are airships in the skies and magic-using wizards and knights riding giant birds and clashing on a rainy field of battle on the ground. The story promises to be enormous and epic -- like Final Fantasy Tactics, executed with Vagrant Story's focus, and given the blessing of Square-Enix's highest budget."
Personally, I loved FFTactics. I'm hopeful that it will be one of the good ones.

[Borys]

So far, though, it's really quite brilliant.

Best FF ever, confirmed once again :)

The anticipation is killing me :( US/ Euro launch date? ? ?

[Heretic Machine]

Same crap I was hearing about FFX. It sucked. Chances are good that this will suck too.

I'll rent it, or buy it when it drops to $30.

[captainspankypants]

Until this Famitsu review, I had really heard nothing but bad things about this game. Given the Japanese's unflinching devotion to all things Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, I think I'll wait for a few more reviews.

[EvilBob46]

Even with the Japaneses' obsession with Final Fantasy, no FF game has ever scored a perfect 40. So I'm inclined to say FFXII can't be all that bad.

[Kelegacy]

Best FF ever, confirmed once again :)

The anticipation is killing me :( US/ Euro launch date? ? ?

This Final Fantasy will be the worst ever. Just because I said so.

*cough* Ugh, I'm not feeling well. I think I'm coming down with a case of the Perigons.

Edit: I called my physician and he told me this is easily remedied. First, take your foot. Then, insert in mouth. Voila, cured!

[mulligan]

You forgot to curse it up for extra edgeness points... here let me do it for you..


Same shit I was hearing about FFX. It sucked. Chances are good that this will fucking suck too. You are all a bunch of fucktards and pricks!

I'll rent it, or buy it when it drops to $30, meanwhile, suck my dick motherfuckers!

[outontheporch]

Tactics owned.

XII was pretty dope.

edit: the demo, that is

[Venkman]

Vagrant Story was the best square game on PS1. That dev team is awesome.

[Tricky Thumb]

$90 dollars? My god are you serious? Those Japanese really do pay out the ass four their uh, shit.

I think that made some semblance of sense.

[Borys]

Vagrant Story was the best square game on PS1. That dev team is awesome.

Shut up, wapanese nerd. Why don't you buy some real man's game like GR:AW or Madden? Oh wait, you are too big of a pussy to do it.

:rolleyes:

[MosBen]

That brief description of the story sounded about as cliched as an RPG story can get. Granted, there have been many games with cliched stories that have been plenty fun to play. Still, I do wish the writing in games was a bit better.

[Valkyrist]

That brief description of the story sounded about as cliched as an RPG story can get. Granted, there have been many games with cliched stories that have been plenty fun to play. Still, I do wish the writing in games was a bit better.

While I agree completely that it sounds cliche, I'd like to point out that Star Wars was not only horribly cliche, but (storywise) completely unoriginal. We still love it thought, myself included.

And of course, Lord of the Rings. While in it's day, it was very very original, the recent movies to today's generation viewed it as quite cliche. Yet we still went to see them multiple times, and bought all the DVD box sets.

Hopefully, with the writers of FF:Tactics behind the wheel on this game, the story will be much better than your typical jrpg.

[Vandenh]

Tactics Advance was pretty cool but it has nothing to do with an RPG of course. I also wouldn't call the story "epic" ;) Still I wasted countless hours of my life on that one.

>Shut up, wapanese nerd

Otaku would be the word. BTW going crazy over FF virtually guarantees you you will never touch a Japanese woman in your life ;) A kind of cruel irony I guess :)

[bapenguin]

Vagrant Story was the best square game on PS1. That dev team is awesome.

Vagrant was indeed a great game. I loved the combo system and the weapons building.

I hated the fact the main characters name was Ashley, traditionally a girls name in the US.

[MosBen]

Well, I don't think it's really fair to call the movie adaptation of an original book cliched, even if they are separated by fifty years, during which various knockoffs came out. LoTR will always be the original, no matter what form the story is told in, and the others will always be knockoffs.

But hey, there's always a chance that it could be a good story, I just don't have my hopes up after playing too many RPGs, especially JRPGs, with lame stories. And this little blurb didn't exactly get me excited.

[MosBen]

Vandehn, in order to touch Japanese women, do you have to be a fan of Dragonquest instead? ;-)

[Banacek]

I hated the fact the main characters name was Ashley, traditionally a girls name in the US.

Watch out, all those internet Evil Dead/Bruce Campbell fans are coming for you...

[Borys]

Otaku would be the word. BTW going crazy over FF virtually guarantees you you will never touch a Japanese woman in your life ;) A kind of cruel irony I guess :)

I'm fine with my slavish lass, thank you :)

[bean19]

The interesting thing about this article is that it tracks other "perfect" scores from Famitsu.

Perfect scores from Famitsu:

The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - 1998 (Gamespot scores it a perfect 10 too (http://www.gamespot.com/n64/adventure/legendofzeldaoot/index.html?q=legend%20of%20zelda%20ocarina))
Soul Calibur - 1999 (Gamespot scores it a perfect 10 too (http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/soulcalibur/index.html?q=soul%20calibur))
Vagrant Story - 2000 (Gamespot scores it a 9.6 (http://www.gamespot.com/ps/rpg/vagrantstory/index.html?q=vagrant%20story))
The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker - 2003 (Gamespot scores it a 9.3 (http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/adventure/legendofzeldathewindwaker/index.html?q=the%20legend%20of%20zelda:%20the%20wi ndwaker))
Nintendogs - 2005 (Gamespot scores it a 9.1 (http://www.gamespot.com/ds/strategy/nintendogslabradorandfriends/index.html?q=nintendogs))
FF XII - 2006 - No U.S. release, so no U.S. comparison can be made yet, but we can draw the conclusion from the previous titles that it will probably get a superb score in the high 90's.

Also, they put in the last four to approach the perfect score:

Dead or Alive 4 (January 2006) (39/40)
Kingdom Hearts II (December 22nd, 2005) (39/40)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (December 15th, 2005) (39/40)
Dragon Quest VIII (November 27th, 2004) (39/40)

I think that we can draw the conclusion that Famitsu is a much kinder reviewer than the ones we are used to here in the States, but that the "perfect" review is a strong predicter that FF XII will be an excellent game that recieves superb reviews and thus it is a "must have" for all fans of the J-RPG genre.

People who don't like the genre, of course, should look elsewhere because even the best of a genre you don't like is still a game you wouldn't enjoy. This is the reason that I haven't picked up Battle for Middle Earth II, or the new Star Wars RTS. I don't like RTS games and even though these look really cool, I know that I'll just be bored out of my mind after I learn the most winning strategy. I prefer my strategy games turn-based and full of depth and different ways to win or be oppossed. RTS games move so quickly (to me) that they tend to rely on players winning the game using the same strategies over and over. Then again, online multiplayer probably changes all this and I never learned a game well enough to be competitive online. . . I'm probably missing out and don't even know it.

[jpublic]

Just out of idle curiosity, are there any JRPGs you Final Fantasy haters *like*?

I'll admit that I'm not a devoted fan of the series - of the PS1/PS2 series out there, I'd rank it behind Tales, SMT/Persona, Shadow Hearts, and almost anything by Tri-Ace - but I'd rank them as consistently *fun* games to play.

If Square was a literary author, they'd be the kind of writer that would pump out books that even if you didn't think were great, you'd still buy them just because they were a decent read.

I'll admit to some trepidation towards FF12, but I remain confident I'll get at least my money's worth from it.

[Rakael]

This Final Fantasy will be the worst ever. Just because I said so.

*cough* Ugh, I'm not feeling well. I think I'm coming down with a case of the Perigons.

Edit: I called my physician and he told me this is easily remedied. First, take your foot. Then, insert in mouth. Voila, cured!


I just choked on hot coffee (irony?)...thanks a lot.

[Borys]

Just out of idle curiosity, are there any JRPGs you Final Fantasy haters *like*?

My out-of-the-blue guess: Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, eNCHANT aRM.

:rolleyes:

[OSX]

Am I the only one that thinks that the gameplay in FF12 really isnt that drastic a change? I mean you have your menus, your spells, attacks, potions, etc. The only difference is you walk to your enemy instead of stopping and making a big show of the fight. It makes it look a whole lot different, but at its core its basically the same. I cant tell you how many people i have in whining about how the DQ8 demo make them purge their breakfasts, but when I played it, it was essentially the same, just with more joystick action.

Actually looks kinda fun in my opinion, but anywhere you go (here being the usual exception) its nothing but negatives.

[Grimmjow]

tactics was great! but i love FF7, it was that game that open my eyes and allowed me to see a new verizon :)

[Mason]

The interesting thing about this article is that it tracks other "perfect" scores from Famitsu.

Perfect scores from Famitsu:

The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time - 1998 (Gamespot scores it a perfect 10 too (http://www.gamespot.com/n64/adventure/legendofzeldaoot/index.html?q=legend%20of%20zelda%20ocarina))
Soul Calibur - 1999 (Gamespot scores it a perfect 10 too (http://www.gamespot.com/dreamcast/action/soulcalibur/index.html?q=soul%20calibur))
Vagrant Story - 2000 (Gamespot scores it a 9.6 (http://www.gamespot.com/ps/rpg/vagrantstory/index.html?q=vagrant%20story))
The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker - 2003 (Gamespot scores it a 9.3 (http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/adventure/legendofzeldathewindwaker/index.html?q=the%20legend%20of%20zelda:%20the%20wi ndwaker))
Nintendogs - 2005 (Gamespot scores it a 9.1 (http://www.gamespot.com/ds/strategy/nintendogslabradorandfriends/index.html?q=nintendogs))
FF XII - 2006 - No U.S. release, so no U.S. comparison can be made yet, but we can draw the conclusion from the previous titles that it will probably get a superb score in the high 90's.

Also, they put in the last four to approach the perfect score:

Dead or Alive 4 (January 2006) (39/40)
Kingdom Hearts II (December 22nd, 2005) (39/40)
Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (December 15th, 2005) (39/40)
Dragon Quest VIII (November 27th, 2004) (39/40)

I think that we can draw the conclusion that Famitsu is a much kinder reviewer than the ones we are used to here in the States, but that the "perfect" review is a strong predicter that FF XII will be an excellent game that recieves superb reviews and thus it is a "must have" for all fans of the J-RPG genre.

Good post, but I didn't get the same conclusion from the article, if anything it cast a lot of doubt over the reviews. Famitsu seems pretty political with its scores, and apparently suffers from score-inflation that makes IGN look like a bunch of rank amateurs. Hell, the article notes that Dirge of Cerberus getting a 28 was horrible. 70% is only failing if your score system never goes below 50%.

And like I've said before, the Japanese value very different things in the FF games than Americans or Euros. We love 6, they rank it near the bottom, there's pretty clearly a cultural disconnect there. So I think it is pretty safe to view these reviews with a dash of sodium.

[Zeal]

I have the Japanese version on the way, so we'll find out if everyone's full of shit or not. Personally, I'm expecting another FFX. All flash, but with a totally incoherent plotline.

The realtime hack-and-slash battle system also sounds repetitive and boring. A FF should never have realtime anything.

The return of airships and an overhead map does sound promising, though.

EDIT: "Moreover, the game does not look or feel like an anime at all. Rather, the two girls, for example, look like Yuna and Rikku of Final Fantasy X, if Final Fantasy X were made into a live-action movie and then made back into a videogame."

Oh thank God. It might stand a chance afterall.

[Spigot]

If Square was a literary author, they'd be the kind of writer that would pump out books that even if you didn't think were great, you'd still buy them just because they were a decent read.
That is about the best analogy I've heard to describe the Final Fantasy experience. I liken it to having a comfy shoe that may not be anything special, but you know it's going to feel good when you put it on.

I'm still pretty stoked for the focus that airships are getting and the giant battles between the airship navies look pretty sweet, what little we see on the demo.

Ah... airships...

[bean19]

Good post, but I didn't get the same conclusion from the article, if anything it cast a lot of doubt over the reviews. Famitsu seems pretty political with its scores, and apparently suffers from score-inflation that makes IGN look like a bunch of rank amateurs. Hell, the article notes that Dirge of Cerberus getting a 28 was horrible. 70% is only failing if your score system never goes below 50%.

And like I've said before, the Japanese value very different things in the FF games than Americans or Euros. We love 6, they rank it near the bottom, there's pretty clearly a cultural disconnect there. So I think it is pretty safe to view these reviews with a dash of sodium.

I agree that Famitsu's scores are extremely inflated, but by comparison to Gamespot's titles you could safely assume that it will get a 9.0 or above. . . 5 examples isn't nearly enough for a good sample, but that's the way the limited numbers point.

Nintendogs DIDN'T deserve the 9.1 that it got IMO, and certainly not a perfect (good lord!), but that's one aberration in an otherwise exemplory list.

I chose Gamespot because they are known for being very tough, but fair in their reviews, and even they agreed with perfect scores for 2 of the games Famitsu scored as perfects, and I'm hard pressed to disagree that Ocarina of Time and Soul Calibur were not 10's at the time that they were released.

It points to both conclusions really. . . that Famitsu is overblown in their game scores, and that FF XII will be reviewed as at least a superb game (if not perfect) in the U.S.

You are also right that they rank their RPGs differently than we do in the Americas, and no RPGs are represented in our relatively small sample of games that received perfects. However, the game did receive one more point than Dragon Quest VIII. That says to me that it will be at least as good as DQ8. . . you know, generally. Mileage differs for everyone of course.

[endrom]

Im sorry but i don't dig the whole "design" of the FF series, I loved the Little tactics version for the GBA (I still have it with 78 hours on it). Maybe its just me, but the whole FF series seems more like a fashion show, then a then a franchise you can take seriously.