But even Joystiq is saying the same thing. Some highlights:

"The game gets exceptional after this one moment -- but, regrettably, this moment came for me after suffering 15 hours and 30 minutes of pure, unadulterated tedium."

"Fifteen-and-a-half hours probably demands more from a player's patience than they'll be willing to give -- especially if said player is one of the Final Fantasy newcomers the game is seemingly tailored for. Still, if you can make the time investment, there's a lot to love about the roundabout story."

"Perplexingly, Final Fantasy XIII keeps its sextuplet of protagonists divided into three groups of two for a large chunk of the game. Though each character appears to have the potential to be interesting, they just don't shine while they're adhering to the game's compartmental introduction. However, once the characters are brought together, and begin to forge engaging relationships between one another, your concern for their well-being increases exponentially -- as does your interest in the mission that has been forced upon them."

"However, it takes a while to get to a point where you can start developing strategies for yourself. In those grueling, first 15-and-a-half or so hours, you will have no control over the characters selected for your party. What's more, the game's new character progression engine, the "Crystarium," doesn't offer much room for specialization until later in the game."

Overall, it's far more positive than Edge's review, but if Joystiq gave numbers, I'd imagine it to be a 7 or so. Essentially, the beginning is slow, but "There is a moment in Final Fantasy XIII where everything just clicks." That's what I'm getting out of these reviews.

Edit: Figured I'd post the review for anyone that hasn't seen it http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/05/review-final-fantasy-xiii/

Well, if you're reading Joystiq, that's your problem right there... yeesh.

On Edge:

The fact that Edge gave Dragon Age a 5 as well should give any actual RPG fan pause when considering whether Edge might be the only site "telling it like it is."

They obviously have been embarrassingly wrong in the past about RPGs. Dragon Age is an incredible game which was nominated for many Game of The Year awards and will probably be remembered and played by RPG lovers for as long or longer than Mass Effect 2.

I look it as critic site's in general, I think many gamer's are taking the review's at too much of face value, rather than "just someone's opinion piece"

that's the problem with the movie industry , and now the Game industry is following suit.

to many Critic's not enough people trying out the movie or game to make up their own mind.

that's why i never take any stake in Critic's because it's the game experience of each game that should matter, if's it's crappy, than it's crappy for ME, that does not mean someone else may not enjoy it.

Hey now, what's so bad about Joystiq.

As for DA:O, I'm not really that big of a fan of it on 360. I've been wishing I got it on PC. I'm waiting/hoping for a bundle with upcoming expansion(s) in a year or so and I'll pick it up. I could see myself really liking the game, just not in "console form".

Either that or I just made too many characters -.-

And yet, all of the differences between the PC version of Dragon Age and the console versions involve mere polish and not the drastic changes in game design you yourself were arguing a Final Fantasy game would need to make it a "good game," no matter how polished and well executed it might be, a few posts back in this thread ^^

Just saying


Definitely get the PC version of Dragon Age, though. It really is a game where you're making a mistake by not getting the best version. In my opinion, anyway. RPGs and a few less conventional games are the only things that really get me excited about playing games. Also, you can play all the user-made mods, which are looking like they're going to be huge. You can even play my mod, whenever I manage to finish it :)

Edge gives a low score to a rpg colour me shocked. Edge ranks pretty low for decent reviews.

HEY! I hate death metal, and I like rap. Jerk.

However, I love thrash, particularly Metallica and Megadeth.

kbai

From what I've been told, the PC version takes a more strategy-RPG perspective versus the action-RPG perspective of the console versions. A change in perspective is not the same as just polish.

I was saying about the Final Fantasy genre that I want somthing more out of it, though from some of the stuff I've been reading about the FF13, they may have already started doing a few of the things I liked. I won't really know until I play it.

But what does that have to do with DA:O? DA:O is a new franchise, it's not like I expect anything "drastic" from it; it doesn't have a foundation to work off of and subsequently improve/change. So I'm not sure what you're really trying to say. Something about me somehow being hypocritical (though in a nice way, thank you for that, politeness is a rare virtue these days, especially online) but I don't think it applies. If DA:O were the 4th or 5th installment in the franchise and it was all essentially the same game, or at least with a similar feeling/atmosphere throughout, things would be different. I guess, in a sense I expect less from new franchises since I just want to see how it starts out.

Polish/good execution is NOT the most important part of a game; fun-factor/entertainment is. Polish means nothing if it's boring, and if many of these reviews are claiming the first 10-15-20 hours of a game are tedious and slow, I think that's a serious issue that shouldn't be ignored. I'm not saying it means the game is awful, but it is awful design, and surely detracts from the overall experience.

I expected low 80's high 70's of FF13. It strays to far from it's very own formula. In fact it's been heading that way from 10 onwards. From 10 onwards the wow factor was going downhill. It all becomes a point and click adventure of which you have no chance to explore.

LOL have you even played FF10 & FF12

if you have you make a big contradiction

I'll let you try to figure it out yourself.