Well i'm playing the better version of FFXIII, 10 hours in, and I think it's by far the worst since FFIII. Not a bad game by any means, but this time I pretty much agree with the reviews in the 80-85 range that have been given to it.

I also recently finished Star Ocean International and I think that's a better game than FFXIII, and that one is also far from perfect.

Probably. It was mostly pop-in, and excessive loading times. Almost all of it came from the UE3 as I seem to recall, or at least thats what everyone I talked to about it seemed to agree on. Installing the discs would likely solve the vast majority of them, and leave the rest as minor enough to not be noticed. I played before that was an option though. Not like it was anything game breaking mind you, but it was annoying at times.

I think reviewers developed a deep hatred of any RPG that's turn based and not open world this gen. Lost Odyssey is one of my favorite JRPGs that I've ever played but it only got a 78.

FFXIII doesn't deserve a 9+ score by any means.

What the fuck!? why is LO so low?! thats ... wow just wow.

As for FFXIII, thats actually really low to for the 13th gold standard, was thinking it'd be 97 by now, and it deserves it to, this is why i hate meta and don't care about it.

Great story, solid voice acting, excellent battle system, beautiful graphics, amazing soundtrack...yeah doesn't sound like a 9+ to me either

How is Eternal Sonata so highly rated, the ending of that game is enough to take off 20 points

well the meta is an 82, which puts it behind Valkyria Chronicles and Demon's Souls which I agree with from what I've played so far, but I think that the meta for Eternal Sonata is too high since FFXIII is definitely better than that by more than the difference in meta scores would make you assume.

and @selnor too:

well, things change
ME2 is more shooting, less RPG (from review)

Neverthless, for FFXIII, I would say it is an action RPG but not really a JRPG

I mean : when game evolve and go away from the franchise, when it is noted (negatively) by EVERY reviewer, it is perhaps time to admit : FFXIII is not a JRPG, it is an hybrid game.

That does not mean it is shit, it means it is not a "JRPG"

easy all JRPG have lower than expected score as they are just not as good as the used to be!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so far my experience with ff has been pretty fun, battle system is great so far! i was expecting worse lol.