The long-waited Xenoblade Chronicles 2 has received its first review courtesy of Japanese publication Famitsu. The open world RPG receives scores of 9/9/8/9, which adds up to a cumulative 35/40. You might notice that Sonic Forces has a similar cumulative score, which is far from a great game.


At first, let’s check out Famitsu’s reviews:



Advantages:

The game has a great world outlook with fantastic character design and ravishing story;



Performance effect is excellent, and music is perfect;

Combats factors open up gradually according to the game progress;

Blade switch in combats is strategic;

Quick Transport function is very convenient;


Disadvantages:



Combat is complex, and you need to focus on too many things;

Too much in-game cinematics;

When exploring the big world, you will find yourself chased by more powerful opponents frequently;

You need to farm monsters to make money, which slows down your game progress;

Map looks a little confusing;

A single combat lasts too much time.

Is the score reasonable?

Before talking about this question, let’s have a quick look at Famitsu’s scoring mechanism: four reviewers score a game according to their personal preference, and adds up their scores to generate a final score. This is how Famitsu scores a game scientifically and objectively!


When scoring a game, most medias will apply their scoring mechanisms, and editors will produce the final score subjectively. However, Famitsu’s score is way too unreasonable, not even with a scoring mechanism.




On the other side, for Famitsu reviewers, they will definitely need to review several games a week, so their time for a game is quite limited, perhaps just a few hours. That is unfair for Xenoblade Chronicles, which is a massive world, and you need more than hours to have a general picture of it. Perhaps Famitsu will update their score for XB 2 to 41 after the official release.


Famitsu actually promotes Xenoblade Chronicles 2 greatly?



It might not be a reasonable score, but it can draw your attention. And if it is a full score, the attention could be greatly reduced. In fact, complex combat, too much in-game cinematics, powerful opponents, farm monsters and single combat duration mentioned in the Disadvantages are just the strong points of RPG games. Therefore, you might need more time to actually enjoy Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and find its real disadvantages.


In conclusion, Famitsu reviewers must lack time to experience Xenoblade Chronicles 2 fully. Therefore, they can only give a safe score, which is not satisfying, but it can’t be ignored that the score has promoted this switch title with much more attention.




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