" @InfiniteStateMachine:  I think world maps are stupid in the extreme.  What they are is essentially a way to artificially lengthen a game by enforcing a long slog through random encounters or pointless traversal.  You rarely if ever explore a world map, because for plot reasons, most of them have nothing available except the next town in the story.  "

I agree with the score, the game really was a disappointment.

" But this game is getting a lot of hate from people who never finished it, came to it with preconceived ideas, or just use it as another excuse to bash jrpgs. "
 

Yes, because you find a review that you agree with finally it is the only one that is correct. "sigh"

I kinda agree with Brad but for me it would be a 4/5. The first 20 hours i would give 3/5, it's far from bad and it kept me entertained. And the last 30 hours is for me a 5/5.

After 80 hrs i've put into the game, i would say brad's review is fair.  I flucuated between bordom and fun-dom whening playing this game. 
 
I'm a little cheesed off at it right now.  There are so many pacing and design choices which are a pain in the arse. Some people get over these and others, well it hits them like a brick wall. For me they just leave a bad after taste. 
 
Take for instance what pissing me off atm. I was fighting the mission 55 neochu (i really hate this boss) i have maxed out all my main roles. With light/fang/hope.
 
I treid and retreid this mission for at least 2 hrs! getting so close to beating it each time. But before the end i always got overwhelmed by pollen and those little respawning mother fuckers. My strategy seemed sound, building chain gauges with mystic tower, buffing and healling to counter the scream and pollen. but to no avail.
 
Then i gave up, switched in vanille, and spammed death, it was over in less then 4 mins. "FUCK THIS GAME! With it's shit leveling system, shitty weapon upgrade system and stupid battle system." this my review atm....

i still love his review on dark cloud 2 ....back in the days at gamespot

Yah, I wouldn't give it more than a 3/5. His thoughts on it being too linear for it's own good are spot on.
 
The imaginary freedom older FF games gave you is far better than what is given to you in 13.
 
It's painfully obvious they're trying to just make the game all about it's story, which would be fine if they could write a decent story. The world they built around the game is stellar, and the story doesn't do it justice. 
 
Even with that being said, the game is still enjoyable. It's probably more enjoyable for those who've never played an older FF game, or who started at 10.

he played a game before he reviewed it? OMG shock horror!!
 
oh wait it's his job big deal

even though i don't agree with his review, it still was a very well written review.

Well done on playing a game and saying what you thought about it.

Congrats, Astras! Excellent thread. 
 
Everything you said was true. This game is just mediocre, and all the sheep and "reviewers" giving this game anything more than a mediocre score obviously is just blind or hasn't even played the game.
 
Why do you think the Square Enix president said he wouldn't look at reviews? He knew the game was mediocre, and nothing special. Surprisingly, it turned out the reviews given were mercy points because it is a Final Fantasy game.
 
If this game was called something else, no one would care, and would call it out for its obvious mediocrity.

For fuck's sake, what if some people LIKE THE GAME!?
 
O_O
Deadly Premonition has a perfect score on Destructoid even though he says it's broken and kind of the worst thing ever, but it's hilarious and irreverent and a fever dream that keeps mounting himself.
 
Reviews are analytical opinions. What's good to someone isn't good to someone else. Ge'ez, gamers suck sometimes.

" It's a little weird that Brad reviewed FFXIII. I don't think of him as an RPG guy. Actually, I don't think of Brad as necessarily being an expert in any genre, although it's fun to watch him die over and over in shooter quicklooks. "

His review is spot on. Good job Brad.

" @Romination: OP has Sephiroth as his avatar, I find it hard to take him seriously. That's just me though... "

" I've heard the game doesn't get good for about twenty hours.
 
I don't care if it becomes the greatest game ever after that point. If you're asking me to slap down 60$ for an entertainment product and THEN ask me to play it for 20 hours before it becomes fun, I don't see how it could possibly be higher than 3 stars. "

" @Zenaxzd said:

" @Romination: OP has Sephiroth as his avatar, I find it hard to take him seriously. That's just me though... "

yep, you are the problem. Why have some people that like FF7 been tarnished with this brush that they have:  Never played anything else,  They only repeat playing FF7 over and over,They only have an opinion on any other game if it promotes FF7, They are all Playstation fanboys, They are manga fanboys, They all cried and self harmed when Aeris died, They dress up as FF7 characters regular They have turned there flat/house into an exact copy of the highwind They only drink out of a glass that says elixir on it They try and convincingly explain the existance of Caitsith and that he is a shinra employee and the cat with a mic was a good idea.  I mean is that list why??? because frankly it's bullshit and it's all far from the truth. It's almost like game racism.. that just because you like FF7, people immediately start.. infact i'm starting a new thread about this! "

FFXIII is probably one of the most polarizing games I have ever seen! I, for example, have very little problem with the linear first 30 hours, and I don't get it when reviewers say it was suffocating or stiflingly confined. But then again, I was one of those people who wished you spent more time in Midgar at the start of FF7, so maybe thats just me being crazy.

" @Astras:  I'm pretty sure most reviewers for the big sites finished the game before reviewing it. I think Brad just took so long because he sorta sucks when it comes to games, harsh but true. "

Theres nothing bad to be said about the game mechanics, the battle system is the best its been in the series, the major flaw of the game is the convoluted way the story is told and the progression and late introductions of the game mechanics. The game could have been condensed more, about 20 hours of stuff could be cut out, like the endless hallways of mobs just to get to the next cutscene, some of the paths just felt like extreme filler, if they made leveling up faster the could condense the game and make it far more effective in storytelling, and it took me 30 fricking hours to get to a place where I could roam freely, and then when you procede past that point your back to the yellow brick road.

" @gunslingerNZ said:

" @Astras:  I'm pretty sure most reviewers for the big sites finished the game before reviewing it. I think Brad just took so long because he sorta sucks when it comes to games, harsh but true. "

Dude, Brad has awesome SHMUPS skills and can handle a bullet hell game like a pro.  He was better than Jeff in that Japanese Import SHMUP quick look.  He doesn't suck at all.  
 
 

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• 

   All this 'pulled a Brad crap' came about because he's often a person talking and playing at the same and possibly also gets a little nervous under pressure when the camera is rolling so to speak.  My guess is he took so long because he has more than one game to review at the moment, as is normal for Games Journos. "

"The game is solid and I would maybe have given 4 stars myself but every point Brad makes is 100% valid.  13 ultimately suffers because Square apparently decided to listen to all the whiners who complained about 12. 12 was an amazing game that was too good for JRPG fans. "

" @jmrwacko:@jmrwacko said:

" It's a little weird that Brad reviewed FFXIII. I don't think of him as an RPG guy. Actually, I don't think of Brad as necessarily being an expert in any genre, although it's fun to watch him die over and over in shooter quicklooks. "

Hey could everyone maybe stop saying such casually dickish things about Brad? I don't undestand why so many people like to dump on him. "

@Dylabaloo

" Spot on, that first comment is ridiculous of course Brad is a perfectly capable gamer he's S-ranked many a game including batman which has some harsh challenge rooms. Many Giantbomb staff members die while playing quicklooks because its difficult to play and talk, which has been pointed out before. Take Vinnies bufu accident in persona endurance run as an example. Also you have to take into account the events such as GDC that were going on that would hinder his review. "

" @jmrwacko:   You're so full of it mate.  FFXIII earned the score it earned.  You can't riff of 'pulled a Brad' in the one breath but act as FFXIII apologist in the other.  Either you're a person who critiques harshly or you're not.  The only point you've proven is that you're inconsistent. "

" @josty81 said:

"The game is solid and I would maybe have given 4 stars myself but every point Brad makes is 100% valid.  13 ultimately suffers because Square apparently decided to listen to all the whiners who complained about 12. 12 was an amazing game that was too good for JRPG fans. "

Final Fantasy 12 is shite, i've played every FF game, XII is the worst. Even Crystal Chronicles was better "

Eh, I disagree with the review, but I very often do with reviews here, not exactly what I come to the site for.  Here for video coverage/QLs/and the like.  I just don't share the same opinions about a lot of games as the GB staff, which is totally fine, I don't really expect to.  There are plenty of other sites great for reviews and that have more staff to get reviews out in a timely manner.  I'd frankly prefer to see less reviews on this site and more of the other type of content, as that is really where GB is best.

 I would of liked to have seen it achieve 4 stars but I think 3 is fair still. Those 3 stars have to go the Battle System and the look of the game. The story just didnt intergrate me like a normal Final Fantasy usually does and so had to lose out massively in score as thats what the series is heavily built on. Concerning the time it takes for the game to get "good", I personally dont have a problem with the large amount of time it takes as I feel im getting more from the £40 I paid for it. If this were the case in other games, usually the quality suffers in place of a longer game but with XIII it feels sustained through that intial 24hr period and then comes into its own after that point.
Reviewers that voice their opinion without even finishing the game annoy me more than those that I feel gave it less than I thought it deserved. Brad's review was pretty much spot on.

I thought the game deserved a 1. >_>