i thought ,western reviews these days are more harsh for J RPG.
so this is unexpected good score to me

Which is pretty messed up since WRPGs mostly still suck anyways.

I suspect it'll end up in the mid 80s when it's all said and done.

X is an action game with tons of boring CGI that has as  a main character a strange emo-Meg Ryan hybrid who talks like he  just went 13 years old. It was the most linear FF title ever created, Its final boss was the most stupid encounter I've ever had,and it removed the world map from the series. Oh, and not to mention the stupid blitzball mini games that made me facepalm. And Wakko. 

Worst FF? Final Fantasy X is one of the greatest games ever created...nevermind worst FF.

@Khuutra - I'm with you on this one buddy!!! FFXII is one of the highlights of the series for me. A masterpiece in almost every way. Greatest plot in....welll in a damn long time.

@AngelosL - Yes...I mean to tell you I've played every game in the series. EVERY SINGLE GAME except for the new Crystal Chronicles for Wii. That's a lot of freaking games...and Final Fantasy XIII just made it's way into the top 3...above all but VII and XII. By the time I'm finished it may even overtake those, but currently not.

@PSRock - I'm fully aware that a lot of PS3 games are hated on or even don't make it to AAA status on metacritic. But I also 100% believe that if FFXIII was still an exclusive, it would be rated higher right now, possibly the highest rated FF to date. I'm saying this as someone who has the game and is almost finished beating it.

@Fab_Ss - Everything you said made PERFECT sense untill you started hating on FFXII.

Anyway FFXIII is gangster you should all try it.

Meh w/e, I've enjoyed every Final Fantasy game so far so I doubt XIII will be any different

I think the Metacritic score will go up once it releases anyways, probably just shy of 90 :P

How much does Metacritic mean to a game with "Final Fantasy" in its name again?

Well I'm glad you liked XII , I expected you to be a FFX supporter :P  .XII was different but one of my favorites as well. I guess I'll just wait and see...

FF X is my 2nd favorite, and XII is my 4th fav in the series. So I don't expect to be let down by SE, they never do when it comes to the main series.

This is truer than some might think, after all - if it was exclusive it would have been out 2 years ago when the GFX alone would have been impressive enough to keep it in the mid 90's. The past year has really raised the bar, and GFX alone will have a more difficult time keeping review scores high.

 Squeenix shot themselves in the foot by going multiplat after the game was finished, they would have been much better off releasing XIII on PS3 2 years ago, and going multiplat with a new FF game which would probably be finished in time for Xmas of 2010.... not to mention a dollar in your pocket is better than 10 in your future.

 Squeenix has an axe to grind with Sony, and was not about to help Sony sell systems is all I could ever make of their FF XIII decisions.