WIRED Staff
Culture

FFXII Scores Perfect In Famitsu

It’s never really wise to trust Japanese magazine scores. It’s well-known that the scores these magazines give are usually more commensurate with the amount of money the game’s publisher pays to the advertising department. However, when a game scores a perfect 40 points from Famitsu, it’s worth noting — considering the magazine has given out […]

It's never really wise to trust Japanese magazine scores. It's well-known that the scores these magazines give are usually more commensurate with the amount of money the game's publisher pays to the advertising department. However, when a game scores a perfect 40 points from Famitsu, it's worth noting -- considering the magazine has given out a total of SIX perfect scores in its two-plus decades of existence.

Today's lucky winner is Final Fantasy XII. Says 1up:

Each of the four reviewers praised the graphics, scenario and game system extensively, in particular the freshness that the latest entry has brought to the Final Fantasy series. Interestingly enough, this is the second time a Yasumi Matsuno game received a perfect score from Famitsu; he was also the director of the critically-acclaimed PlayStation epic, Vagrant Story.

By the way, clicking on that link above will take you to my impressions of the demo, where you can find me expressing at least some concern about the game's radical new direction. Can we officially say that maybe these fears have been calmed? Probably.

However, I don't know if I really want to play through FFXII in Japanese. I did the last two games in their original language, but it was because I was living there at the time. Do I want to do it again? Hmmmm. If my DS Lite order from Play-Asia gets delayed any longer, I could just toss FFXII in the same shipment and save on UPS charges. Hmmmm indeed.