Edge 213 scores

[Charlie]

They felt FFXIII's initial twenty five hours of gameplay dull, so how is their awarding it a 5 a wonder or a piss take? I'd argue any game that in the eyes of the reviewer includes twenty five hours of tedium is fortunate to score a 5.

[rmoxon]

Its a piss take becuase the review, as has already been stated by other people, reads more like a 7 or 8 out of 10 than a 5, the score is a piss take, which in turn makes the review a piss take really as it makes you feel like you might as well have not read it.

[Brats]

Doesn't read like a pisstake to me. As Charlie correctly says, if Edge thought the game had 25 hours of crapness (25 hours!!!!!!!) before it got good, then it deserves 5/10.

[Guts]

Its a piss take becuase the review, as has already been stated by other people, reads more like a 7 or 8 out of 10

No, it really doesn't.

Edit: I read the online review (it's the same as in the magazine, right?) a second time and here's some bits from it:

"It’s best to get the beginning out of the way: it’s a disaster of pacing that both bores and condescends to the player."

"By the time you encounter anything approaching a challenge, FFXIII is stirring one emotion in particular: boredom."

"When your party is finally operating at full capacity, there’s still more of the linear story to trudge through – and it is a trudge. The game’s producers have gone on record as saying that western audiences don’t understand this first section, but in fact we do: it’s just a bit rubbish."

"The first 25 hours of the game are one long corridor of palette-swapped enemies, fights that never quite find the right level of challenge, and cutscene after cutscene (after cutscene) leaving your joypad entirely idle. "

"It’s (the game world) a significant prop to a story that has moments of poignancy and a few good characters, but ultimately falls flat. This is such a well-realised world that to have it inhabited by Final Fantasy clichés is especially disappointing."

"If you submit 25 hours of your life to a misjudged series of linear battles and cutscenes, Square Enix lets you play FFXIII, and you’ll get 25 decent hours out of it."

"FFXIII takes brave risks with the series’ foundations, but they ultimately create trembling fractures throughout the entire edifice, that robust battle system unable to support the weight of an entire world. Final Fantasy games are always an investment. This time, the returns are questionable."

[Brats]

There's no way on Earth a review with those comments in should be a 7 or 8.

[rmoxon]

It says some bad things about it, but it also says things like " the fanbase, certainly, will find Lightning to be the Cloud substitute they’ve been yearning for, and in the hunting side-quests the grinding fix they’re after. For anyone less dedicated – who wouldn’t really care if a Chocobo makes an appearance or not – it’s more troubling. FFXIII is uncommonly beautiful, with a background fiction as rich as its story is poor, and at its beating heart is a battle system that stands among the genre’s finest."

Now thats a horribley written excert that sounds like at one point its going to tell us somthing bad about the game and actualy never does, but still, coming near the end of the review it makes it, despite its shortcomings, sound like a great game and not somthing I would belive sounds like a 5/10.

If I could be that positive about somthing, saying some of its elements are better than anything the genre has ever seen while at the same time giving fans of the series the things they love, it deserves a good score.

At the end of the day its not really a good review at all so its amazing we have spent so much time discussing it.

[Lebowski]

To have a 25 hour tutorial before you get to controll the game the way it was intended really is a piss take. I don't remember any other game in the series behaving so consedingly towards the player.

[Brats]

That excerpt is purely about one charcater and the look of the game (which does look amazing) and should have very little impact on the final score. A game can be the best looking game on the planet, but the idea that 'it deserves a good score' is ludicrous.

Fairplay to Edge for pointing out what the game does well, but how that translates into 'sound like a great game and not somthing I would belive sounds like a 5/10' is beyond me. There's very clearly a lot more negative in the review about the really important stuff.

At the end of the day its not really a good review at all so its amazing we have spent so much time discussing it.

A number of people have already commented that it's an excellently written review. It just seems to be the people that disagrtee with the score trying to pick holes in it.

[Guts]

but still, coming near the end of the review it makes it, despite its shortcomings, sound like a great game and not somthing I would belive sounds like a 5/10.

No. It really doesn't.

It basically says: 25 hours of crap, followed by 25 hours of decent stuff.

Therefore a score of 5/10 is totally in line with the review.

[rmoxon]

No, The game got plenty of good scores elsewhere and many people just laugh at edge reviews these days, I dont think many people are actualy that bothered other than they like to have a little moan in threads like these to pass the time.

I just think its a poorly written review really, I'm entitled to my opinion brats, even though i know you like to try and stuff yours down my throat.

[rmoxon]

No. It really doesn't.

It basically says: 25 hours of crap, followed by 25 hours of decent stuff.

Therefore a score of 5/10 is totally in line with the review.

It dosent say that though, as Ive already stated it says it looks great, has the best battle system in the genre ever and delivers loads of things fans love.

These are things that are there in the first 25 hours as well as the second...

You see my point?

I'm not sure why you are arguing about it when its written down on the site.

[Guts]

No, The game got plenty of good scores elsewhere

Oh, so this is where it boils down to.

You're not talking about if the score reflects the review, you're talking about how in your opinion EDGE got the whole review wrong.

[rmoxon]

Oh, so this is where it boils down to.

You're not talking about if the score reflects the review, you're talking about how in your opinion EDGE got the whole review wrong.

Not really since in the very same sentence as the one you quoted I said I doubt anyone really cares what edge score games anymore. But you can think that if it makes you feel better.

[Guts]

It dosent say that though, as Ive already stated it says it looks great, has the best battle system in the genre ever and delivers loads of things fans love.

In the end, looks should be totally irrelevant to the final score. They said the battle system is great, that's why it got 5/10 and not say, 3/10.

These are things that are there in the first 25 hours as well as the second...

They say the first 25 hours is boring. That's pretty bad considering video games are meant to entertain.

You see my point?

In this case, I really don't.

[Guts]

Not really since in the very same sentence as the one you quoted I said I doubt anyone really cares what edge score games anymore. But you can think that if it makes you feel better.

Apparenly you do care a bit. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this discussion, right?