It is at 83 at the moment. Though I'm not sure why you think 1 point on Metacritic is such a big deal. :P

I dunno. Checking all the reviews, that only seems to be the case on the reviews over 80, which is half the metascore right now. 80 and below, people complain about the unique narrative and Trico's endeavours, (I guess frustrating control on the +80 reviews don't help either) which ultimately bring the score down to 83, or 77 if you use OpenCritic.

The foundation of the game is solid, but not a "masterpiece" (even though this valoration is ultimately left to the player). It needed more than an animal-esque responsive Trico and emotional ending, that's the note I can gather from half the critics so far.

So a lot of reviewers have issues with the framerate. This must have been an absolute slideshow on the PS3, lol.

A score of 83 for a game like this isn't going to put people off that had interest in the first place. And people who maybe didn't know anything about the game will see a score of 83 and will at least be intrigued.

In the big scheme of things, it was never going to sell big anyway

What did I say

already 5 10/10 and 5 sub-70s

you can see who has the palate and who eats junk

Now
82 on MC
77 on OC

I respect Jim's reviews, it's just that he's not a very patient gamer. Some people need to be hooked in right away with a game and this sounds like the creature's mechanics is going to test some people's resolve, when, that's what the game's narrative is built around, earning its trust.

Do you realize uniqueness for uniqueness' sake doesn't necessarily have to push you over +90 meta in these times, right? Like I said, the times of ICO and SotC being the only referencial unique masterpieces are long gone, since there are plenty of new games that manage to grasp at that unique mantra. Now, I haven't played The Last Guardian and as such my comments can't weight without a proper valoration, but if TLG just rested on its shoulders trying to carry on the uniqueness of the previous two games, then it should have done much better than that to earn its +90.

there are two 4/10 reviews out there but I'm not sure if they are on MC or not

Interesting how "PS2 Game" is used as a pejorative in some of these reviews. I don't think games have seen a linear progression in quality. Rather, design choices that often split fans as hear often complaints about "modern games" specifically in regards to low difficulty and hand holding.