Home Gaming Hong Kong Magazine Tears Final Fantasy XIII A New One

Hong Kong Magazine Tears Final Fantasy XIII A New One

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While Western RPG fans are chomping at the bit waiting for the latest game in the series about androgynous emo heroes with spiky hair saving the world from certain destruction, gamers in the East are already doing so, with numerous publications reviewing the game.

One such publication, a Hong Kong Based magazine has reviewed the game quite harshly indeed, going so far as to call the game “The biggest joke of 2009.” Ouch.

This is what they have to say of the highly anticipated game from Square-Enix :

“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”

Scenario: 2.0 — “An epic tear jerker”
System: 1.0 — “Such a crude system barely warrants being called an RPG at all.”
Graphics: 9.0 — “Full marks here.”
Sound: 7.0 — “Mostly quality.”
Enthusiasm: 1.0 “As if you could play this for 100 hours! I could put up with 8.”
Total: 4.0 — “To think it got this bad…”

Expecting some sort of backlash, the magazine prefaced the review with a disclaimer, saying that the journalist on question is a “non-gamer” and “borderline-retarded.” Nice to see the magazine respects its writers. Back to the point; While this review does score the game ridiculously low, it does echo the sentiments of many Japanese speaking Western gamers who’ve decried the game’s linearity and its battle system, many of them calling this the worst Final Fantasy game available.

I wonder how long it’ll be though before the games problems get blamed on it becoming multiplatform, and PS3 fanboys start burning 360’s en masse. I lost interest in Final Fantasy – and JRPG’s in general -  some time after the ninth instalment. The excellent Demon’s Souls is out RIGHT NOW, and with Mass Effect 2 getting a 9.5 from OXM, I know where I’ll be getting my RPG kicks from next.

Final Fantasy XIII gets a Western release on March 9.

Source : AllGamesBeta

Last Updated: January 11, 2010

11 Comments

  1. easy

    January 11, 2010 at 15:26

    minus a million points for the magazine for using a ‘non-gamer’ to review a highly touted game.
    plus 10 points to the writer for being honest albeit a touch harsh.

    Reply

  2. WitWolfyZA

    January 11, 2010 at 15:26

    hmmmmm….. still getting it though 🙂 this dude can rate this game so low… We need to introduce him to “Jumper” and “Leisure suit Larry Box office smash”

    He’ll have a field day

    Reply

  3. Darkling

    January 11, 2010 at 15:26

    LOL,didn’t expect that! :blink:
    Does anyone know where to get Demon’s souls locally? And Why is it not available here? :unsure:

    Reply

  4. Darkling

    January 11, 2010 at 16:09

    I tried Ps3za,but i’ts extremely rare and the guys usually ask crazy prices for it 2nd hand.

    Reply

    • RSA-Ace

      January 11, 2010 at 20:25

      Luckily my friend is bringing me a copy from USA – he gets back on the 14th!

      the guys on ps3za dont seem to charge to much it’s just they bid for it because it’s so sought after. and that bidding price goes up really fast!

      Reply

  5. Dawid

    January 12, 2010 at 08:32

    Weird, I actually just wrote a piece of why this whole ‘Linear = bad’ thing is irritating the crap out of me. Hearing that it is SO linear has just made me more envious to get my hands on it.

    Reply

    • easy

      January 12, 2010 at 09:10

      all games are linear to a certain extent. its just that some games give the impression of being non-linear.

      Reply

      • Geoff

        January 12, 2010 at 09:13

        Try playing Noby-Noby boy. 😀

        Reply

        • easy

          January 12, 2010 at 09:19

          whoa!
          just had a look at it… i take your point humbly 😉

          Reply

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