I never took famitsu reviews seriously but 29/40 is pretty shocking by their standards.

Enough with trying to find excuses why the game is still awesome while the reviews are sub-par.

When 4 reviewers give 3 sevens and an eight a game, there is only one explanation: None of them thought the game was awesome. None of them had an great time. They all thought it was "so-so, ok at best".

There is no other way to look at it. So stop trying to twist it.

So when Famitsu gives games really good scores, they're unreliable. But when they give a promising PS3 game a decent score (3 7's and an 8 is not bad) it must be true.

However, the Japanese opinion of games does not automatically translate equally to the West (i.e. Lair getting a 34/40)

Famitsu scores tend to be generous, especially for RPGs.  It think that is why everyone is all riled up.  Japanese reviewers sure do know how to boggle the western mind.

Unfortunately early reviews are fairly critical in the hardcore community. They cause players to reevaluate their stance on games. Either causing them to become more positive or more negative. Either a player becomes more committed, or it causes them to reign in their expectations.

Like it or hate it the first reviews of a game are critical in as much as early adopters making it a point to support a title. Whether others say it or not. Everyone in this thread has downgraded their expectations. Now it is up to the game to make up the ground in just lost based on its first review.

Ouch, Famitsu is very reliable, too. Weren't people saying it will be this gen's first AAA JRPG? Yeah, so much for that. I'll leave that up to Star Ocean 4 and FFXIII, thank you very much.

they didn't give it 6's

7 is good

8 is very good

just a thought,

WKC seems to have a Western flavor to it's RPGness, maybe this didn't fly as well with these reviewers.

They gave Nintendogs a 40/40, they aren't 100% reliable...