I agree with Basil, I was foolish enough to pay full price for XIII and XIII-2 just to see both drop in price quickly. I'll either rent this or wait a month or two to see it drop to 20 bucks.

"I was excited about Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. Between the game’s concept seemingly tailor-made for my love of time control and time travel, and the apparent high amount of customization implied by the demo, I found myself looking forward to this third chapter of Lightning’s tale."

The first 2 sentences of the review.

"I felt that Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 were average-level RPGs, with the second being the better game overall. To me, they were worth playing, and I don’t regret my time with them at all, but they don’t come close to being my series favorites and I’m probably not going to replay them. The third time might be the charm, as LR: FFXIII looks to be another step up, if this TGS play was any indication."

His closing words of his impression.

Those aren´t the words of a butthurt VII fanboy who hates on the game because it is popular.

And I appreciate the full use of the 10 point scale, a 5 indicates average games, 4 is below average.

CGI animations cutscenes were cool at 90s. But this is 2014. The amount of resource square enix puts in that can be used for making the game better.

This one did look a bit better and from the review it is. But, XIII was a turd, and XIII-2 followed suit. Ofc the same team will just deliver more of this. I just hope they dont get them making anymore mainline FF's. This team has nearly destroyed the brand completely (along with the FFXIV misfire, but that team was laid off, this one is still around).

I would go so far as to say: fire these guys. This team is not working. And i was criticised when i said on their latest dev diary they were beeing arrogant by sending compliments to each other. Yeah... this is usually how it turns out. Well done guys, you made another turd. Pat yourselves in the back some more.

Final Fantasy XV, originally known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, is the fifteenth installment in the main Final Fantasy. It makes up Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy, alongsideFinal Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy XIII-2and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

Well this sounds like it would have scored a few points more if the reviewer hadn't had such high hopes.
Never mind though. It's a Final Fantasy game and as such it already has the built in preorder.

It could however very much be that this will be my least favorite FFXIII. I loved XIII, and I quite liked XIII-2. I played a few hours of this one but I definitely don't really like the new combat system. Handling Lightning alone instead of having a proper party is also a letdown.

Oh snap that's not good at all. To be honest I dislike the direction FF XV is taking. I rather have a more traditional Final Fantasy game and frankly the mythos in Final Fantasy XIII is shit. 

Damn you Square...

From what I´ve read and seen, the combat system seems to be the only thing going for LR.

Everything else seems to be shit.

I would wait for the inevitable price drop you won´t have to wait long

Two very good points brought up in this thread so far:

- I'm really looking forward to playing Lightning Returns, but if it's reviewing like this I might just wait a month or two until it's in the bargain bins.

- He gave XIII-2 a 5/10. I really, really loved XIII-2. Therefore I don't much care for this review.

Well I already imported the game and also preordered an english version. And I will definitely not cancel it just because of some dude who doesn't love FF as much as I do.

I've played the game and I didn't like the combat system that much. I've played not for too long so it could be that I haven't reached the point where strategy comes into play. But compared to the previous games it is a lot slower and not as smooth and fluid. It felt quite sticky to me. Which is to be expected because it's just Lightning on the field. Just imagine playing any FF game with just one character. That's how it felt.