Final Fantasy XII achieves perfection

PS2 News | With a full set from Famitsu.

Final Fantasy XII isn't going to be released in stores across Japan until next week but it's already acheived something ultimately unique. It has become only the sixth title to recieve the perfect 40 score from Famitsu magazine - meaning that each of the four reviewers score the game 10/10.

The famous Japanese gaming magazine is notoriously tough with its scores and the four reviewer panel makes it extremely difficult for a game to score perfectly. 1UP.com have reported that each of of the four reviewers praised the graphics, scenario and game system extensively. They made particular mention with regards to the freshness that the latest entry has brought to the Final Fantasy series.

To date, only five games have ever scored a perfect 40 from the magazine. These are Vagarant Story (PS1) Soul Calibur (DC), The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GC) and the most recent, Nintendogs (DS). Interestingly, no system has ever had more than one game to achieve this score and this is the first for the PS2.

As mentioned, Final Fantasy XII is released next week in Japan with a US release following in August. Unfortunately, there is no confirmed PAL release date. If we were to analyse general release trends of Square-Enix games from the time they're released in Japan till they reach PAL lands, we generally find an 11 month gap. Baring some sort of minor miracle, it looks like we'll be waiting till 2007 to see whether this score is justified. More as it happens, here at PALGN.

Related Final Fantasy XII Content

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22 Feb, 2007 A fantasy becoming a reality - the Australian review of the latest chapter in a role-playing legacy.

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16 Feb, 2007 For PAL FFXII ads to be precise.

24 Comments

?oe?oe

7 years ago

Just makes you wonder what score Zelda will get.

FFXII and Zelda are the big titles of the year, in terms of hype.

Qbert

7 years ago

Dam I wish I has a PS2.

Cro

7 years ago

Sweet, I can't wait, so importing sems likely.

theory

7 years ago

Famitsu giving a 40 doesn't mean anything to me anymore. I believed them with Nintendogs and then got sick of it within the first 10 days.

?oe?oe

7 years ago

Yeah Nintendogs didn't deserve 40. It was ok.
They must be into dogs in disturbed ways.

Jellyfish

7 years ago

After hearing what Penny Arcade said about the demo, I'm sceptical that, the fans of the traditional FF gameplay will be happy with this one. But then again, this will sell like the PS2 on launch day reguardless.

Will this be the final Final Fantasy? Just how many have been made so far?

PS, sorry for the old joke..

Mark

7 years ago

Too bad they (Famitsu) get paid off from developers for their coverage, meaning their creditiblity is pretty small in my opinion.

After playing the demo for a little bit, I'm just hoping they fixed up the damn combat system. It's terrible.

LeonJ

7 years ago

This is why I have a US PS2. The lag time for PS2 is shockinig. Nintendo is bad too, but I cannot NOT support Nintendo Australia.

Vagarant Story didn't deserve a 10, nor did Wind Waker and Nintendogs. But Soul Calibur and Zelda:OOT sure did.

I'm seriously looking forward to this FF. I think it will build on Xs quality and story telling ability. I thought the setting for Final Fantasy Tatics on the GBA was fantastic with the guardians etc, and can't wait to play this game!

New Zelda and FF in the same year? We are spoilt aren't we.

EvilHayama

7 years ago

Famitsu don't have the respect they used to have, but this -should- mean that FF12 doesn't have many faults. I don't know what their system is, but 40/40 still doesn't mean it's the best game -to you-, personal tastes being so different. That said, Nintendogs and wind waker wouldn't get near perfect scores from me :/

Can't wait! Late this year in the US?

slapshakle

7 years ago

They also gave Castlevania DoS (ds) 38 or 39, I know it's a really great game, but it doesn't exactly come close to perfection.

LeonJ

7 years ago

slapshakle wrote

They also gave Castlevania DoS (ds) 38 or 39, I know it's a really great game, but it doesn't exactly come close to perfection.

I dunno, it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long while...

slapshakle

7 years ago

leonmc wrote

slapshakle wrote

They also gave Castlevania DoS (ds) 38 or 39, I know it's a really great game, but it doesn't exactly come close to perfection.

I dunno, it's one of the most enjoyable games I've played in a long while...

Yeah I know it's a great game, but there were some things missing ie the game is only around 8 or 9 hours long and the graphics could have been cleaner.

Castlevania is one of, if not the best ds game IMO, but I still feel Famitsu over-rated it a touch.

Qbert

7 years ago

I thought that the graphics on Castlevania DoS were superb. However, I agree that a 38/39 is a little high.

Cro

7 years ago

theory wrote

Famitsu giving a 40 doesn't mean anything to me anymore. I believed them with Nintendogs and then got sick of it within the first 10 days.

Ahh fair point, the exact same thing for me too.

Bitchacho

7 years ago

I got Castlevania DS with no expectations, having not played any other games of that series. However I am pretty disappointed, it's not my cup of tea. It's pretty fun, nonetheless. I can't place a finger on what I don't like about it, though. I still don't understand what the plot of the story is. Someone attacked me, now im scoping out their HQ?

jojota

7 years ago

i played final fantasy 12 demo right through and i loved the battle system i tought every thing was great the fact that they have moved away from random battles makes it a lot better! oh i am so importing cant wait for this

Kaboth

7 years ago

I had a feeling this game was gonna be pretty special. I'm no Final Fantasy fan but FFXII has me interested due to dumping many of the tired old mechanics.

Wind Waker definately didn't deserve 40/40.

ObsoletE

7 years ago

opinions and arseholes imo.

k1dcharm

7 years ago

Japanese are crazy about FF series. Don't forget, they just rated FFX the best game of all time.... FFX is a pretty good game, but no way it can be rated as the best game of all time.

Fumitsu also rated MegamanX (remake on PSP) 27/40... it may be a remake, but it is definitely better than Nintendogs.

Infested Jibbs

7 years ago

k1dcharm wrote

Quote

they just rated FFX the best game of all time....

How can they do when like almost no-one has played the damn thing?Oh well, theyv'e already said that oot is the best game of all time.It called shotgun, it wins

And i can understand the enthusiasm for nintendogs in japan.Myabe we don't get 'it' here or the uk, as we well, own dogs, can own dogs, have lots of space and places to play with dogs.......while in japan, standing room only also applies to sleeping.

So maybe there just going nuits over it cause it's filling a void for them , a void that is filled for us by our real-life pets.

theory

7 years ago

Here's a pic of that very FFXII review...

realitybites

7 years ago

Yes as I said in another forum place

they could have given it a 20 and it will still sell like hotcakes.

Vagrant Story also didn't deserve a 40 either. My stupid fault for thinking Famitsu was on top of the game with that one. Famitsu has a habit of religiously supporting the home grown Japanee developer.

Could it be the perfect marketing ploy?

EvilHayama

7 years ago

According to the PalGN survey, people here would have (probably) given 40/40 to Mario64, RE4, FF7, Goldeneye 007, and Ocarina of Time. We agree with Famitsu on one at least. I wouldn't give a perfect score to half of these personally, but I bet we could find people who would... Personal taste!

mangaman

7 years ago

funnliy enough, they're all (the 40+ score games) at my local gametraders, and FFXII i got for $10! Ah, I'm so glad. Not that i have them ^^"

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Final Fantasy XII

Pre-order or buy:
PALGN recommends: www.Play-Asia.com

Australian Release Date:
  23/02/2007 (Withdrawn)
Standard Retail Price:
  $99.95 AU
Publisher:
  UBI Soft
Genre:
  RPG
Year Made:
  2007

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