[CrimsonBlue]

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3148658

Final Fantasy XII gets perfect score in Famitsu. While scores generally don't mean that much, there have only been five other games with a perfect score in Famitsu, and this is the first Final Fantasy to score one. Others are OOT (N64), Soul Calibur (DC), Wind Waker (NGC), Vagrant Story (PS1) and Nintendogs (NDS).

Guess it's a good game then. Let's hope it's as good as THEY make it out to be.

[insane_cobra]

My god, that really is a surprise.

[CrimsonBlue]

Originally Posted by insane_cobra

My god, that really is a surprise.

Well, considering the history of perfect scores in that magazine it IS a surprise. And NONE of the other Final Fantasys got a perfect score.

Besides, it was the READERS top 100, not the journalists - you know, the one who have specialized themselves in writing reviews of games. It wasn't a surprise it was going to get a high score, but a PERFECT score is extremely rare in Famitsu.

[insane_cobra]

It doesn't matter, my point was Japanese are crazy about (Japanese) RPGs.

[CrimsonBlue]

It does matter, it's still the first FF game ever to get a perfect score in Famitsu. Japanese love RPGs, but this is just the second RPG to get a perfect score. No matter how popular a genre is in a country, you can't ignore a score when it only appears very rarely.

Just because the readers of a magazine enjoy certain type of genre doesn't mean the actual magazine automatically rate the game higher.

I believe a perfect score in Famitsu is just as representative as a perfect score in EDGE - another magazine that are quite greedy on perfect scores.

[insane_cobra]

Fine, it matters, it just doesn't matter much. It would if they'd given a perfect score to a non-Japanese game (hahaahahahaahqahahahaaha) or a non-RPG, which I see has happened before. I haven't played Nintendogs, but Soul Calibur definitely deserved it and most people would call Zelda games RPGs, even if I wouldn't.

[Jayel]

As much as I love good games, some natually being Japanese, I can't help but feel a bit creeped out by Final Fantasies and Japanese RPGs in general.

It's like... if Japanese people could replace their own DNA to look like a blue-eyed, blonde, adolescent girl, they'd do it.

[CrimsonBlue]

I'd say Zelda is as much RPG as Beyond Good & Evil or Jak and Daxter is.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by Jayel

It's like... if Japanese people could replace their own DNA to look like a blue-eyed, blonde, adolescent girl, they'd do it.

You were saying?

[CrimsonBlue]

Just found a list of the scores Famitsu has given the Final Fantasy series over the years.

FF: 8.25
FFII: 8.25
FFIII: 9
FFIV: 9 (Easytype; 7.75)
FFV: 8.5
FFVI: 9.25
FFVII: 39/40
FFVIII: 38/40
FFIX: 38/40
FFX: 39/40
FFX-2: 34/40
FFXI: 36/40
FFCC: 33/40
Dirge of Cerberus: 28/40
Final Fantasy Tactics: 33/40
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: 34/40

Notice that these are the original japanese versions (obviously), so it follows the japanese numbering, as in FFIII does not equal FFVI.

[Fop]

So... Final Fantasies get absurdly high scores in Famitsu.

[CrimsonBlue]

Most of them deserve it, you know.

[Fop]

That high? Nah.

[CrimsonBlue]

Some people consider a few of the Final Fantasy games the best games they've ever played. I for one put Final Fantasy VII in the top 5 easily, and FFIX in top 20. I think they deserve scores that high.

[RLacey]

I happen to think that pretty much every Final Fantasy game (and particularly VII) is, from what I've seen, vastly overrated. But then I look at GameFAQs, where FFVII wins every award ever, and realise how out of touch I must be .

[Dale Baldwin]

I did enjoy playing through FFX over the last 2 weeks. FFX-2 on the other hand feels like a chore - the lack of a strict narrative certainly isn't helping.

[Fop]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

Some people consider a few of the Final Fantasy games the best games they've ever played. I for one put Final Fantasy VII in the top 5 easily, and FFIX in top 20. I think they deserve scores that high.

I don't really care how good some people consider them to be. FFVII is a pretty good game, but there's no way I could give it more than 90 using our traditional scale. Famitsu seems to say that FFVII - FFX were almost perfect and I can't think of any justification for that.

[CrimsonBlue]

That's true, but I don't see 40/40 as perfect, but more of a way to say that this is as good as it gets for now. A game can get 10/10 and suffer from a lot of issues at the same time from me, it's the overall package that counts and if that overall package is better than most everything else out there, then it deserves a top score.

Scores don't last forever. Impressions don't last forever. 40/40 doesn't necesserily perfect, but it means it's one of those games that really stands out. OOT had a lot of issues - but it's one of the best games ever released. I think FFVII is even better, but that's another issue. The main thing is, FFXII may end up being one of the best games ever created - we'll just have to wait and see to judge for ourselves.

[SoccerDude28]

*Looks at number next to game*

Don't people get bored of 12 versions of a franchise.

[insane_cobra]

Originally Posted by CrimsonBlue

A game can get 10/10 and suffer from a lot of issues at the same time from me

You sure have a peculiar take on things.

40/40 doesn't necesserily perfect, but it means it's one of those games that really stands out.

If a game really stands out, it gets a seal of excellence, a gold medal or something like that. If it gets a 100% score, then it means it's pefect. That's why I think NO game should EVER get such a high score (yeah, I said Soul Calibur deserved a perfect score it got - consider that a momentary lapse of reason).

I prefer when reviewers use the whole range so that on a scale from 1 to 10 5 means a good, average game that hardly stands out in any way. 6 is better than average so it's already better than most games out there. 7 is truly excellent and 8 and 9 are reserved for those rare groundbreaking achievements in gaming. 10 out of 10 is an impossible score! However, in many mainstream mags everything below 7 is percieved as a bad game. That's just absurd.