What Exactly Is Jim Sterling Reviewing? Not Much Apparently

DualShockers.com writes,

"As many of you may have seen, Jim Sterling at Destructoid wrote a less than stellar review for Final Fantasy XIII (4/10). One of his tweets even read:

Jim_Sterling: I am officially done with Final Fantasy XIII. That last chapter is an egregious mess of bullshit.

Sterling wrote all over twitter about how bad the game was, and he is entitled to his opinion, because at the end of the day that's what a review essentially is. However that opinion may have been tainted considering he never finished the game… and we have proof to show for it. Please enjoy exhibit A below."

[Tomarcus]

What a liar.

[math]

liar liar pants on fire

[math]

Here's Two Sterling Classics

http://n4g.com/gaming/News-...

[Noctis Aftermath]

This doesn't really prove that he hasn't finished the game(or other games for that matter), he could of used multiple accounts, dev kit etc.

But if he has in fact not completed the game then it just shows his lack of credibility as a reviewer(which was already being questioned).

[Danteh]

I dislike that sucker, but this doesn't prove sh!t, lol :O

[blitz0623]

Level 6? LOL

[Kerrby]

Woo! Go Dual Shockers!

I hope Destructoid dies and Jim Sterling finishes gaming forever.

What a waste of space that website is.

[Ch1d0r1]

With the attention he gets he could make a change in the gaming scene. But instead he gives his troll reviews, its not just him theres others out there too. These people should be thankful they have that job. Like Ryan from Area5, check out the speech he gave @ GDC 2010

http://area5.tv/blog/making...

good read, some one should link Sterling to it.

[The Lazy One]

What does this prove? That's the last story trophy you can get, so it's more evidence that he did complete the story than that he didn't. Am I missing something?

http://www.allps3trophies.c...

[Nike]

Regardless of what the truth is, do so many of you Dual Shockers guys (Chadness, Tomarcus, JoeIT, Hitman0769) have to come here and spam the article with comments to raise the degrees? Seems to me you're the only ones looking for attention and thriving off negative attention here.

Edit: I'm neither agreeing with Sterling's review nor dissing you for your detective work (he could have other accounts, not synced trophies, etc. but no one can be sure). Just wondering why you're so desperate to milk this controversy as much as possible by spamming the comments section(s). Seems like a personal vendetta against Jim, and it really brings into a question how one can trust the intentions of a journalism site that so excessively attacks another.

[Abash]

This guy is starting to get on my nerves.

Jim Sterling is 400 pounds of douchery

[Biggest]

You get that trophy for making it to Gran Pulse, The Lazy One. That is no where near the end of the game.

[anh_duong]

as a gamer, i don't mind reviewers giving good games a low score but giving bad games a high score is the worst thing a reviewer can do.. why? because it screws the consumer - ultimately reviewers are there to look after the consumer...

[n4gn4gn4gn4g]

is a whiter and fatter HipHopGamer...nothing more.

Keep his ridiculous site off N4G and we will all be better off.

[Syronicus]

Ever????

That site is a pile of trash and has been for years now. Jim and the gang are nothing more than troll douche bags and deserve no such hits from those of us that truly game. If love gaming, then you despise sites like Destructoid. It's oil and water folks, oil and water.

[HolyOrangeCows]

Jim Sterling is worthless. He's what is wrong with video game journalism.

[Kornholic]

So, he's literally a big fat liar.

[silverbeld]

Jim Sterling should get fired!

[Christopher]

How the heck is it that I have more trophies and a higher level than someone who reviews games for a living? I'm about as limited in my gameplay time as one can get...

[Blaze929]

you guys know that most reviewers don't base their review off retail disc but instead debug titles right? They play retail builds once that is available to see if there is any difference but their reviews mostly come form debug discs which do not play on normal systems nor track achievements/trophies. This proves nothing but how stupid some people can be. Who the hell cares - lay off the guy.

[DarkTower805]

Like others said, that doesn't prove anything. Maybe he hasn't synced up yet. Either way, reviewers can't 100% complete games, especially long games like FFXIII which will take days of gameplay to finish. With so many games out there it's just not feasible.

[MmaFanQc]

all he want is hits on his bs blogs

[The Lazy One]

my bad, but the picture doesn't show any of the silver or gold story related trophies.

It doesn't even show FFXIII on his public trophies for me, so I can't verify what trophies he has.

[silverbeld]

@above

But you can verify with trophies that he, as a game reviewer never actual finish any game!

And it shows obvious that he is not even a gamer!

How can you then give a review when you only played a game for like one hour.

[Nikuma]

Jim Sterling = Joke of a gamer.

Destructoid = worthless site desperate for hits.

[JoelT]

he really HAS been talking out of his A$$ all along. The man doesn't finish the games that he's being paid to review.

[Nike]

Sterling's reply to your site's "investigations" (via his twitter):

"That dualshockers post about me is hilarious. No, I couldn't be f*cked to beat the last boss as I publicly stated. WHAT DETECTIVES! They also post achievements for games I've either beat or gotten to the last stage of. HOLY F*CK SHELOCK HOLMES IS BORN AGAIN! Drama queens."

[iiprotocolii]

It's funny that he states something like this in his defense after he's already been exploited for being an egotistic ignoramus and a liar.

Jim Sterling thrives on attention which is why he does his tiring rants about <insert illogical topic here to piss of X group>. He has a handful of achievements on his XBL account in which it seems he did complete it. Personally, for someone to have a strong influence to whether or not purchasing a game is valid (and yes, even though his opinions aren't praised by everyone, there are people who read his stuff and decide whether or not to warrant the purchase of a game - just like people who depend on IGN, etc), his review scheme is pretty unprofessional. There are games on that list that haven't even hit two-digits in achievement.

And it's pretty sad, Nike, that you'd actually defend this guy for his egregious practice of games journalism. People have an opinion, yes. But "professionals" like him should really try to promote the issues with a game itself rather than the issues he personally has with it.

[JoelT]

Pants on fire

[Das_Bastardion]

I knew a hooker had more credibility that this cheap motherfvcker, and im glad he's finally exposed. He's not a professional, he's not a journalist, and of course, he's not a gamer.

He's just a motherfvking xbot wich believes that he has the right to bash everything because a lame website gave him the oportunity to write.

I really really hope this exposure have SEVERE consecuences for his "career", and we finally get rid of him

[TROLL EATER]

he should get sacked

[God_Of_Epicness]

Deadly Premonition ftw!!! LOLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

[Tomarcus]

Where is the integrity?

[Chadness]

When a game is heavily based on story like FFXIII, you gotta finish it for your review to even have any credibility.

[Hitman0769]

I completely agree.

[math]

I go to destructoid but ever since the Deadly Premonition Heavy Rain stunt I have paid no mind to the reviews just because I don't want to have decided whether the guy is being serious or not. Plus, it's totally bad to the games he does this too. Final Fantasy had some flaws. But 4/10, 4/10, Seriously 4/10. It's a travesty. But it is comforting to know that he gave Deadly Premonition a 10. There's a fine line between baiting once in awhile to stir up a conversation, and constantly baiting for notoriety, and Jim Sterling craps all over that line.

[kingdavid]

The 4.5 assassins creed 2 review was equally childish.

Waaahhh look at me, im jim sterling and i need attention.

[Redempteur]

i think the gran pulse spike in difficulty might have been too much for some people ( this guy in particular )

[creatchee]

While I totally disagree with Sterling's Heavy Rain review (I love the game), I also agree with his Deadly Premonition review. That game was fun as hell for all of the wrong reasons, but fun nonetheless. It was Showgirls/Troll 2 bad, which makes it good - especially to people who like seeing things go horribly wrong.

Back to topic though - I don't really know what to make of this. Yes, he could have not synched his trophies. Even more plausible was that he reviewed during the "ApocalyPS3" - I actually did not earn any GOW 1 trophies on Collection during that day. Then there's the even more likely scenario where he didn't play it all of the way through.

However, given the body of his review, he really didn't have to play it all of the way through, as he seemed to be having a pretty miserable time getting through what he did play. I understand that journalists have to take what they are reviewing as a whole to give a fair review, but at that point, what would making it to the end have done for him? He already hated the story - its closure means nothing to him if he has nothing vested in it. He hated the dialogue - it's not going to get unlittered with what he's copmlaining about. The gameplay doesn't change. Really - he made up his mind at some point during the game as to what he was giving it.

But, that is his right - we can call him on it, but at the end of the day, a review is subjective and his score is based on what time he had with the game. In most cases, one should go all of the way until the end, but it wouldn't have made a difference in this one.

[Ninferno]

jim sterling? is that guy still relevant in this industry?

[Hitman0769]

He never was relevant to me as a gamer. A lot of reviewers probably think they are more relevant than they really are to the community. I would rather take the humble approach and assume that no one has ever heard of me and hopefully they don't expect me to KNOW who they are. Simply reviewing games for a big site is not enough for me to care, you have to be a real gamer and I have to have a connection to what you're saying and be able to relate to that.

Real gamers are a different breed!

[math]

wow good detective work

[badz149]

but his reviews are up there at metacritic which is making him more annoying than he already IS! and metacritic is so annoying as well with their selective reviews! 55 reviews for PS3 but only 30 reviews for 360 for FFXIII and this douchebag's review is right there for the ps3 but conveniently absent in the 360 one. gaming journalism is stooping to a new low recently, I feel like stoping myself from reading any of them!

[Hitman0769]

Wow this is pretty shocking, but then again is it really? I had a sneaking suspicion that this was going on with certain reviewers (not going to name any names). This guy just draws so much attention on himself, his latest review clearly underlines a person who didn't give Final Fantasy XIII a chance. If I'm wrong then I'll take it back but really it seems like his comments speak for themselves.

[Chadness]

So it begins...

[JoelT]

hopefully comes to an end.

[rucky]

That is some pretty good detective work but no need to spam your own article

[Ninferno]

sterling? isnt that like jewelery or something?

[Hitman0769]

Yeah that's what people get each other when it's pretend. Sterling is pretend game reviewer and Sterling silver is fake silver, how ironic!

[Hitman0769]

This makes me kinda angry at the fact that it is degrading to real reviewers who finish their games, many of whom are doing this entire review process out of the pure passion and love for gaming.

[Hitman0769]

This is pathetic, all for Destructoid to get hits, and he could be playing all these amazing games for a living but instead simply starts internet riots!!!!!!

[Hitman0769]

Great Job Exposing this guy DualShockers!

[leeger]

maybe he forgot to sync his trophies.

[RememberThe357]

But we will see soon enough, he has to sync his trophies eventually.

[JoelT]

then check out the Army of Two: The 40th Day trophies and his review for it. And we know he has synced trophies since then.

[Biggest]

If he played on the PS3 and it was connected to the internet, the trophies were auto-synced.

[ReservoirDog316]

Actually, that's not true. You have to manually sync them every time you stop playing a game. I know cause I actually enjoy manually syncing them and do it every time I'm done playing.

More facts, you can't sync in-game and it automatically syncs when you compare trophies with a friend.

On topic though, I doubt he used a separate account. Apparently you get that trophy roughly 25 hours in. Why would he stop and restart on a new account after 25 hours, especially since he "hates" the game. Also, look at the times of the tweets he left about the ending and the time he posted his review. Should help this along.

If true, destructoid loses all credibility till he's gone. Also, the word libel comes to mind too.

[Mr_Bun]

You actually CAN sync in-game....instead of clicking on your "trophies" icon, scroll over to your icon under the PSN and click it. You don't have to compare trophies, just click on your own icon and it will start the sync process while you are in-game

[JeepGamer]

Game reviewers are a type of journalist when it comes right down to it. They are suppose to approach everything with objectivity and try to be as fair as possible. While it is true that bias is always going to creep in, it has become even more true during this console generation.

What this guy basically did was succumb to his own biases and give a perfectly decent game a bad score because of them. He couldn't get around his own preconceptions and ideas about what the game should be as opposed to what it actually was.

[Odion]

You know instead of jumping to conclusions there are many reasons why it may not show up as him not finishing the game, you know he got to the final chapter, maybe he wasn't connected to the net when he beat it, maybe he played it on a different console for review.

[Tomarcus]

He is online right now, and he said he beat the game. He clearly did NOT.

[Chadness]

Why would he play the game on ANOTHER machine or PSN account, and have an almost complete list of trophies on this "public" PSN account. Did he play the game twice? Doubt it.

[Odion]

He may have had to beat the game on a debug unit for getting the game early, happens all the time.

P.S. Please Hitman don't spam the same video, esp when there is no need to post it to begin with.

[JoelT]

He doesn't have a Debug. If Jeff Gerstman from Giant Bomb doesn't own one, you can bet the farm the Jim doesn't either.

[Odion]

Jeff Gertsman works in a office, I am sure they just keep the debugs there, Destructoid is all tele-commute so they would all have their own gear.

Honestly its a lot more plausible that he just didn't like the game and hence in his opinion the game is bad.

Smalltime game journalism doesn't get respect it deserve because of stuff like this.

[Chadness]

@Odion: He constantly tweeted that that he was waiting for his copy to come, and didn't get one until release day because Squeenix was slow sending them out for fear of piracy (I have no idea either). I got a review copy on the same day Jim did. It's a retail copy.

Just because a copy comes early doesn't mean it is a debug copy.

[JoelT]

Big time Journalism doesn't get the respect because of stuff like this.

And no, Giant Bomb doesn't have a debug unit (at least not a PS3 one). Need proof?

http://img697.imageshack.us...

We're on the list, and I know who else is on it too.

I wouldn't tell you or make assumptions on how to moderate here, the same way you can't say who has what if you simply do not know.

[Odion]

I don't know why you always seem to make comments about my moderation when I have a difference of opinions.

I never said either way who had what, I was saying its more logical that the alternative is happening.

Also you said that you assumed that since Jeff didn't have one that Jim doesn't have one. If you knew who was on the list then wouldn't you be able to say for sure that Jim doesn't have one?

[LordMarius]

FIGHT!

[Mr_Bun]

After reading Jim's review, it is more than obvious that he didn't spend any time playing through more than once.

Either he lied and enjoyed it enough for a second attempt, or he never completed it in the first place. One way or another, Jim has been caught

[Pennywise]

Odion, maybe you are right... But, even if you are... can you really defend this guy? You want to be on that side of this fight?

Jim Sterling is the pp of journalism. It is a disgrace.

[WildArmed]

Maybe you are right..

but i hate this guy called Jim Sterling..
he keeps messing up Nate Ford's plans!
UGH!

http://tvmedia.ign.com/tv/i...

[Nike]

@Odion:

Let Dual Shockers have their one day of fame. As if their opinion mattered at all before this whole thing came along for them to exploit (did I mention you're right in every single way?).

And you DS guys still haven't provided any concrete proof aside from showing which games he has and has not earned trophies for. I know you guys think your theory is so airtight, but do you have to be connected to the net all the time to play a game (on the basis for which your theory lies)? Maybe Ubisoft should consider bringing their DRM to consoles as well, if you guys are so right.

Seriously, you stated your points. You had your fun. Now go home. If Sterling himself doesn't see the need to post a formal reply to your nonsense in the form of a rebuttal or article, it shows how much he cares about what you think. And if Sterling doesn't give a crap, you can just imagine how many better people do (i.e. don't quit your day jobs).

[Dsnyder]

Everyone spam his psn and send disturbing images to his account.

[Silly gameAr]

No. Don't do that. That would be childish and it would pretty much give him ammo for his next crappy article.

[saint_john_paul_ii]

no. do that. raids /b/ style can make someone go crazy and suibomb. this guy deserves to get raided. Im down for that.

you are a reviewer, your opinions about a game have an effect on whether the product should be purchased or not. and if your review is inconsistent with the other reviews that are listed, you have to state a very valid, coheisive, and well detailed statement as to why the review is inconsistent.

that fact that they are listed on Metacritic supports what i state.
i mean WTF is this?
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

[Obama]

how about put his psn account on 4chan and let them do the work :3

[nightelfmohawk]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Hitman0769]

'This is how you look like a total fool, hey guys how come you're not on the bed doing it with me?'

[Obama]

It's funny because he's FAT. :D

[SnukaTheMan]

He does own a POS3....he does use it as a tax write off no doubt.

[Bathyj]

Someone with lots of time on their hands needs to go back and cross reference his trophies against his reviews.

Expose this prick for what he is.

Yes I hope you are sacked and lose your livelihood.

Not that I really care about FFXIII, I just wish some of these "journalist" would start taking their jobs a bit more seriously. Perhaps a stint of unemployment would be a wakeup call for Jim.

[Uncle Rico]

Glad to see a gaming site doing some real detective work rather than just stealing news.

[Odion]

whoops wrong spot

[XxRoosterxX]

I've been here since N4G began, and for the first time I think I have to agree with Odion.

It's called a debug people.

Even if Jim didn't finish the game, it sounds like he gave the game more than a fair shake by struggling to get to the final chapter. A reviewer has to be pretty fed up with a game to not finish it, so I doubt the ending would have changed anything.

Reviews are subjective, he didn't like it. He provides evidence for his position and gives it score to match his context. Much like every reviewer since the beginning of editorial.

Heck, he even gives people fair warning before the review about what their getting themselves into. If anyone wants to actually read his review and get both sides of the story here's the link:

http://www.destructoid.com/...

[Obama]

I hope Jim got fired. He should get a job as a professional troll instead.

[awesomeperson]

He'ld fit in with the bots well.

[KazumaKiryu]

Yeh you're right, he would make a good ms employee.

[Redlight]

I'm no fan of Sterling but the article, and most of the comments resulting from it, are idiotic.

Many reviewers play games on debugs for review.

If you don't know that, then you shouldn't be posting comments here. If you do know that then just shut up. Please.

The writer of the article should be embarrassed by their own ignorance. They think they're Sherlock Holmes, but it turns out that they're only Inspector Clouseau.

[Tomarcus]

@Redlight, why would he play it on debug and on his PS3 at the same time? hmmmmmm... Think before you write anymore, you are making yourself look foolish. I don't mean to be rude, I am just trying to be honest.

[MMFGaming]

Reviewers got their debug copies of FFXIII a good several weeks before the retail copy was distributed to the press (which was only a few days before launch). As a result, it's not unreasonable at all to assume that the review was based on the debug copy and then the retail copy was played for a few hours to verify that nothing had changed between the debug copy they reviewed and the actual product sold to the consumer.

I disagree with the review, sure, but this explanation makes a lot more sense than these tin-foil hat conspiracies.

[Noob]

You guys are just PS3 fanboys.

/s

[JonnyBigBoss]

It's multiplatform.

You're paranoid and hateful.

[LordMarius]

maybe he hasn't synched his trophies....

[xyxzor]

I don't like Jim Sterling, but this article has no place on N4G.

Edit: You can disagree all you want, this article is a lame attempt to get hits and isn't newsworthy.

[XxRoosterxX]

frankly, this is the only home for "articles" like this.

Edit: I do agree with your edit though.

[Biggest]

Kind of like the reviews in question, huh? Lame people do lame things to get attention.

[SnukaTheMan]

Nothing like old final fantasy's of the past.....final fantasy 7 shows whats missing on this chapter of final fantasy...gambling..little mini games...hell how about some non linear grinding....I read the review from gamepro and came away with the same conclusion...this is not final fantasy... square enix tried so hard to not be a JRPG that it shows....

[PotNoodle]

He just likes attention, he'll review bad games with great scores and good popular games with bad scores.

[JonnyBigBoss]

I love your content DualShockers! RawGamePlay and DualShockers hold it DOWN!

[dredgewalker]

I didn't like FF13 but it deserves an 8 than a 4 for me. Maybe he should be reviewing his career.

[juggsaw]

Wow way to fuel the fanboy wars. Really, if his opinions are "biased and irrelevant" I don't even see the case of digging for all this shït. Just let his reviews do the talking, but that is assuming people have the courtesy of at least acknowledging that it is his only opinion and nothing more.

People bïtch too much these days about scores, but at the end either they are just in it for the hits (like this lame piece that has no place in a news site) or by fanboys butthurt by metacritic trying to prove a point while at the same time disregarding the fact that reviews are just opinions, nothing more.

N4G sucks as a community, there's nothing even slightly relevant to the articles that get approved/lots of heat. I'm out of here for good.

[rakunado]

if it is his own opinion that is fine by me, i respect that.

If it is a payed opinion... no.

[xyparadox]

As someone who is part of a gaming website just starting out, I make it a point to play through the entirety of a game and give as honest an opinion as possible. I guess there's a reason I never go to Destructoid, Jim Sterling's reviews for Final Fantasy XIII and Assassin's Creed 2 are two examples of some of the worst journalism I've ever seen.

To those saying he could have played it on a Dev kit, why replay the game on his normal account if he hated it so much to attain those few trophies?

[rakunado]

@xyparadox

"To those saying he could have played it on a Dev kit, why replay the game on his normal account if he hated it so much to attain those few trophies?"

thumbs up to this!!! ^_^

[rakunado]

man i can't believe he is missing the instrument of faith and change which are the last two chapters.

I literally spent like 20+ hrs in gran pulse alone in the japanese version.

Funny thing was, apart from the score of the game, i agreed with a lot of his points in the review.

I wonder if he even has Kelger's Cup trophy... i guess not.

I literally have no respect for a reviewer who believes he can voice an opinion and not do the thorough work required. Does he think we are stupid lemmings who follow what he says just because he tries to be "different". Seriously he isn't only making the review process look stupid, but he is also making us look stupid. IGN held their review back because they needed to cover as much as possible and in all fairness their score and review is much more sound.

To those that think reviewers do tests on debug machines... if that is the case, why the hell is he playing it again on his machine? Not to mention how much he dislikes it, gives him more reason not to play it on two machines.

[MMFGaming]

Probably to check if there's any visible disparity in terms of graphics and/or gameplay between the debug copy and the retail copy.

Makes a whole lot of sense really.

[rakunado]

You do realize even his review spells out that he hasn't completed it, especially when he mentions the chocobo song and how it appears for a very short time in one certain event.

In actuality you can acquire a chocobo much later in grand pulse, and the theme song for that is very much different.

I actually overlooked it first time round, but now when i think about it, the way he writes it does seem he has little knowledge of endgame.

Overall FF13 wasn't that very good, but i don't really need an opinion from a half a$$ed review. It's like someone reviewing a movie but only watching half of it, how on earth is that possible?

[AliTheBrit19]

He's scum, remove Destructiod from Megacritic!

[spinbot_lv1]

I'm not surprised. it was almost clear that this is the level of professionalism for most of the reviewers in the gaming media,very low.this is the reason why today we have mindless shooters,generic multiplayer games and overhyped boring games rated with perfect scores.they write reviews with their opinions.sorry but gamers can have an opinion on games. reviewers should give a professional evaluation of the product.Jim sterling gave 10 to deadly premonition.that review not made me laugh.review is not a joke.

[Hitman0769]

I guess I'm not very SURPRISED as much as I am offended.

[kwyjibo]

That's bullsh*t. You don't have to sit through 60 hours of dreck in order to label it as such.

If the narrative is dull, if the story is dull, you don't have to get to the end of it to say so.

I never finished FF12, because half way through, I got sick of the slow pace, pointless grinding filler sections, contrived plot, and stupid characters.

[bjornbear]

he's same level as ME?!

and i started my account in August =P and i don't play THAT much...not more than a GAME REVIEWER anyway xD

still, like many have said he probably uses company account to review games? still, shows he doesn't play many games on his own console =/ maybe he's loosing the love for videogames?

[Ashta]

You know. All of these comments on N4G about Destructoid or Sterling isn't going to change the fact that FFXIII is still the worst Final Fantasy game they have ever produced.

Ok...maybe not the WORST. Mystic Quest is still all sorts of terrible, but you get the idea.

[PirateThom]

Hardly, it's better than any post VIII Final Fantasy games, without a doubt.

I'd say the only games that are better are VI, VII and VIII, in fact, and VII and VIII are borderline. It's a different type of game, but it's still Final Fantasy.

[ThaGeNeCySt]

For all we know, he could have NOT sync'd his trophies. I get messages all the time saying "how are you this far in the game but don't have ______ trophy?"

Because I forgot to sync lol

[Braineater2448]

Sterling is a troll looking for hits. Destructoid is awesome and needs to fire him.

[DarK-SilV]

Sterling is a joke ,this guy should be fired ,nothing good comes from him ,thank you DualShockers.com for exposing this idiot

[Silber]

If you dont synchronice your Trophies, there will not show the actual standings. And even with this Trophy he have played around 30 Hours.

Nobody can deny that Final Fantasy XIII is really disapointing. Nearly all other actual JRPG´s are twice as good than that. Hey even Star Ocean 4 is better. Yesterday i played through it and the story was so itchy.. really.. to much for me.

The Idea about the L´Cie and their Focus is great, but they made a alot off dumb storyfollowups with it.

They shoudn´t name this Game Final Fantasy. It´s something else. They onle took the Name because it woud sell better.

If you are looking for good JRPG´s you shoud avoid this and buy Lost Odyssey, Tales of Vesperia, Demons Souls, Blue Dragon, Star Ocean 4, Valkyrie Chronicles or End of Eternity at the End of the Month.

Square is not Square anymore and Final Fantasy is not Final Fantasy anymore...

[Claudinho69]

i dont know why he didnt just give it a 1/10

[Arksine]

Does anyone actually base their decision to buy a game on one of Sterling's reviews? He is probably the most unprofessional journalist out there, and no one takes him seriously. He is an attention whore, and I'll give him credit, he is excellent at drawing attention to himself.

I do wonder if Destructoid will continue to allow him to review games. I have to feel at some point Metacritic will give them an ultimatum...either this clown stops reviewing games or your site is off metacritic.

[unworthyBOZO]

Who cares, if you go to Destructoid for reviews then you fail.

[lightningsax]

I'm really happy that a few reviewers finished this game before reviewing it. You can tell by most of the reviews you'll read in the MC or GS rankings that some of these guys didn't have a clue what happened past Chapter 2. At least Sterling got to (spoiler).

Basically, fans of FF will buy this game, and this game resonates really well with the fans. You can tell from the reviews who likes this type of game and who got stuck reviewing it instead of GOWIII and was a bit pissed.

[Pug]

"Sterling wrote all over twitter about how bad the game was, and he is entitled to his opinion, because at the end of the day that's what a review essentially is" .... WRONG. This person will be paid to write this article. It is NOT their opinion that they should be offering. Like any good journalist it should be an unbiased, impartial critique of the subject matter, in this case a game.

The number of fools I read about on here marking something down as just an "opinion" is ridiculous. This is just more slapdash, sub-standard journalist and unfortunately it’s lapped up by the majority of its audience which are single-celled organisms.

[Chadness]

I wouldn't go that far. All reviews are opinion. So, he hates the story - OPINION. I love the story - OPINION. He hates the repedativeness of the battle system - OPINION. I love everything about the battle system - OPINION.

It is all opinion, because if it was objective, completely devoid of opinion, it would be a bunch of factual details about the game and nothing more. That isn't a review, that is a press release describing the game in detail.

[Chadness]

To be as objective as I can, after yesterday's rather heated emotions - I have nothing against Jim Sterling personally, I don't hate the man, I actually like some of his articles, I'm sure he's possibly a nice guy if I met him in person.

You don't say you completed a game on Twitter and then turn around and say, "Oops, sorry, I stopped right before the final boss." That is not completing the game. I can certainly understand not completing an entire game to write a review in certain situations. However, when he bashes apart the story as much as he did, he had darn well better have completed the story, and until you defeat the final boss, the story is not complete, which pretty much makes his arguments less than credible.

I know he should understand this, and honestly, if he got up to the final boss, why the hell didn't he just spend the extra 30-60 minutes to finish the game? His review itself and the arguments he presents in it would be a lot more credible if he did.

So, ultimately, no you don't have to finish a game to write a review, even a well-written, logical "bad" review for a game that Metacritic has sitting around 85-86. I don't care. But in this case, it completely invalidates one major argument he was trying to make against the game, because he didn't complete the story.

[Throwaway2020]

why would you even lie about something like that. I fail to see the point.

[AzarVC]

I'm too drunk,to taste this chicken.

[-Gespenst-]

Then Jim Sterling is a conceited a**hole. The amount of extrapolation in that review is outrageous if he truly didn't even play the game. What a falsely cynical douchebag; trying to appear aloof and intellectually superior based on a poorly constructed opinion.

Yes, one is entitled to their own opinion, but that dosen't make it right; especially if it's unfounded and lacking in the appropriate prior knowledge.