Are the BAD reviews true? Or just haters?

[godhand2k]

That’s exactly why reviews don’t mean a thing to me. I don’t let any number mess with my own gaming experience. I have played plenty of “60’s” that I’ve enjoyed a lot. 
 

I believe that reviewers are being harsh with this game in particular. It may not be a GOTY candidate but it’s a great game overall, in my opinion.

[Alayaes]

This game screams Joss Whedon to me. A person who has single-handedly destroyed creative writing since 2012.

[Moridin83]

On 1/26/2023 at 5:50 AM, AffectatiousDonk said:

I don't bother with reviews, although I understand dropping money on every game is not an option for everyone. However this game has sort of drawn a line in the sand for me. Should you play it, well probably not if you are only interested in the western A+ that is being pushed by the review houses. But if you write this game off I think it pigeon holes you into this category. This game has firm nods to Nier Automata, Babylons Fall, Strangers of Paradise, not surprising obviously. I am very happy with this direction for Square. The world building is good, after all it is a dead world, do you really expect an NPC selling you a hat and his life story at every turn. Enjoying the world exploration for what it is without a question mark or point of interest is refreshing. I have nothing against location lead exploration but for a JRPG open world enthusiast it is not necessary or warranted. Not every game is for everyone but I think this game really highlights the lack of depth of many of the reviewers in their own gaming oeuvre. 

I haven't played the game yet, so I have no horse in that race, but I don't think it's necessarily about just wanting "western A+". Check my profile, and you'll see that definitely not all I play. The issue I know I have, and I think probably a lot of others do as well, is that this game is presented, marketed, and priced like a AAA title. That brings certain expectations with it that I don't think are unreasonable.

I like quirky, weird, or unconventional games, and not everything needs, or should have that level of polish. But if it doesn't, you don't market and price them that way. I can afford it no problem, but if you're not giving your game that level of attention, why should I pay for it like you are? Add to that the fact that this isn't the first Square game recently that has released for a premium price and been underwhelming, and I can definitely understand wanting some reviews before dropping that money.

[Shintetsuken]

On 2023-01-26 at 7:40 AM, mega-tallica said:

Even professional critics, they're just another person with a subjective opinion really except they just happen to get paid for theirs. Who cares what they think, it's what you think is what counts and matters at the end of the day. 

 

Let’s say it’s 2018 and you could only buy one game. You don’t know if it should be Metal Gear Survive or God of War (2018). Would you really not look around for reviews before purchasing, and just think “I need to make my own decision?” It makes a lot more sense to make an informed decision before committing to something.

 

You can still make your decisions on what other people say that way, you don’t need to experience every single thing in the world (I imagine eating garbage tastes bad, I don’t need to experience it).

[mega-tallica]

14 minutes ago, Shintetsuken said:

 

Let’s say it’s 2018 and you could only buy one game. You don’t know if it should be Metal Gear Survive or God of War (2018). Would you really not look around for reviews before purchasing, and just think “I need to make my own decision?” It makes a lot more sense to make an informed decision before committing to something.

 

You can still make your decisions on what other people say that way, you don’t need to experience every single thing in the world (I imagine eating garbage tastes bad, I don’t need to experience it).

 

Yes and that decision would be easy; I'd pick God of War every time since my own experience of Metal Gear tells me I'm not a big fan of those games. Other people don't need to tell me that, that's my own judgment from my own experiences. 

 

Same with your garbage analogy. Your own judgment and experience tells you garbage would taste bad if you ate it. You don't need other people to tell you that, that's common sense. 

[Blackmist_FFXI]

I'm not super far into the game. Only just beat the first boss; have been doing alot of free-roam and working on purple magic *earth* upgrades so I don't lock my self out of anything. (Likely missed some side quests lol)

 

I'm enjoying the game play so far. The story is... eh ok, alot better then Babylons fall.

 

Combat is quite fun, wish litchdom battle mage was more like this, only thing I don't enjoy is losing my charge shots, when I gotta dodge 100 projectiles. 

 

I would still somewhat side with ACG on his review,

 

Totally a you love it or hate it game.

 

I'm on the enjoyment side of things 

[Liir01]

I've been playing Forspoken since release day on Tuesday and just earned the Platinum so I feel like I have a good enough understanding of the game to maybe help some people to make the decision of whether to buy it or not. 

 

To preface, I've been off work this week and have spent around 65 hours on Forspoken (bit of dawdling in parts for myself so definitely could be shorter) to get the Plat. 

 

I've been a lover of JRPGs since I started playing games as a kid and as anyone would see from looking at my profile, I definitely have experience in this area. 

 

Initially, I loved the game, not all JRPGs are known for their amazing dialogue and there's generally some form of cringe inducing character that people take a dislike to (What comes to mind is Vanille from FFXIII) so I have quite a high tolerance in that area. Luckily there's the option to turn down the rate at which Frey and Cuff interact. I left mine at the default setting and it did at times seems to be a bit over the top, moreso the repetition of the same phrases rather than the actual words themselves 

 

Storywise, I enjoyed the overarching plotline, but the game definitely felt rushed where the build up to the first boss was great then everything seemed to rush towards conclusion rather quickly. If you're looking for a huge story driven experience, Forspoken isn't the game for you. 

 

Gameplay overall was really fun. I definitely play games as a completionist, collecting everything, exploring every area and that itch was definitely scratched. The 4 main areas in the game feel expansive and unique from each other. Unsure why so many people have said the world all looks the same as that's definitely not the case. Enhancing spells, collecting gear and exploring the world was what kept me feeling engaged with playing, almost like you're Frey experiencing Athia for the first time alongside her. Combat overall was great, i took quite a sizable detour before getting the 2nd set of spells and felt comfortable using the first set by this time but it does take some getting used to. Definitely not a hack and slash kind of game. I enjoyed experimenting with the 4 different spell sets in the post game and didn't find myself sticking to one even at the very end. To address the open world feeling empty, there is a reason related to the story that everyone is contained in 1 'main hub' world but there was a steady flow of enemies and things to collect that I never felt bothered by this.

 

Graphic-wise, I played in Performance Mode from the start never changing and while the graphics didn't really blow me away, I didn't go into the experience expecting that. They are by no means as bad as some peoples perception seems to be. I had 2 hard crashes (Potentially from running the game all day without turning it off) and a handful of freezes that lasted no longer than 5 seconds but apart from that everything ran smoothly.

 

Overall, I'd say Forspoken was 8/10 for me. Storyline was the main reason for this, if I'd been asked 10 hours into the game I'd of gone for 9/10.

 

Hopefully this helps at least 1 person to make up their mind if they should pick up the game or wait for a sale.

 

One final note, don't base your decision solely on the demo, which I don't feel was a great representation of the game overall.

[EriksBlue]

I give it a 8/10 for where I am in the game after finishing the first boss. I have no big issues with the story so far it reminds me and gives me strong vibes of "The Twelve Kingdoms" one of my favorite isekai with a female lead. 

 

The traversal and combat has been really fun and the accessibility options are helpful.

 

My recommendation is wait for a sale at $70 it is not worth that price imo grab it at $50.

[Zid960]

For what I've seen. The game is just plague with disjointed decisions in ever aspect of the game. And whether or not you can tolerate it or not will make you love or hate it.

 

As we know the writeing. You can cleanly see that one person wrote the the dialogue for say the bad guys and the emotions and all that. Then someone after wrote completely different dialogue for the main to say. And it doesn't match killing the screen.

 

Or not matching character personality with logical scene progression. Exp as it the start. The girl is down on her luck criminal. That owns money to a gang that what to kill her for it. No family or friends. Just lost her home. With only her cat.

Then she is isakied to a different world where she has power and respect. And her only motivation is to go home... Home to what? She has nothing. There would be no reason to want to go home short of her cat.

 

Fighting is the same. You gain different elements. But you can only have one type on. So everything is make to be done with all types. This makes all the fights play the same after a few hours. Making so many new power is null. As you know how to beat everything with your base power.

It's makes for different styles but there no point to them it.

 

Graphically its just bla. It not that it well done in. But let face it. Graphics of hit a threshold in gaming during the 360/ps3 gen. This is just going to keep being a thing going forwards. If you don't stylize it it some way. It going to be bla.

 

Then you have poor control. As you have a auto dodge if you hold the O button which makes it so you can't control the camera and dodge the same time. This should be a easy fix to change it to the L or R. Shows that they didn't play test this.

 

SqE know this was a B lvl game at best. That why they made the embargo same day. Someone may enjoy this. A garbage cash grab, assist flip can be enjoyable if you go in with the right mindset going in.

But let's face it off are most players will dislike it.

Edited January 29, 2023 by Zid960

[Jeanolt]

On 25/1/2023 at 9:41 AM, Allhelluja said:

I think "hater" is one of the stupidest word going around in this reddit/twitter lingo era (that and "literally")

Off-topic but I would like to know why "literally" lol, it's a word I use a lot, specially in my language. It always has existed so it's not a creation from this century.

[puckelberry]

Just got the platinum which took about 40H and I gotta say the start was a tad slow but the rest was a blast I enjoyed the story it has some twists that are obvious and some not so obvious but its interesting.

The only complaints I have are that the spell upgrade descriptors are sometimes wrongly translated meaning you have to search it (Looking at you Tempest Lv 2) and the way the dialogue skip works it skips a lot of scene sometimes which I suppose is to be expected but still threw me.

 

The upgrade system is great finding new equipment unlocks new add on effects but each can be fully upgraded to the same point so it means you can wear your favourite outfit because it looks cool not just because of the stats and you're incentivised to find more equipment for more effects that you can create. I wish more RPG systems did this, most of the time my loadout is stat based and I end up looking ridiculous

 

Solid 8/10. 

Edited January 29, 2023 by puckelberry

[Happyrinx42]

I have now finished the game and platinum in 38H.

 

The game does not deserve so much hate, ok it has flaws, the beginning is a bit long, some fights are a bit messy and some areas of the map are too big and not filled enough.

 

It's not the GOTY 2023 for sure, but the game is still very good, I found myself enjoying the 38H of play, the upgrade of the hundred and five spells did not bother me, the clean neither does the map.

 

Because the course is fluid, it's pleasant, the "collectibles" are fights for the most part and not leaves to pick up on the ground.

The fights are nice and the wide variety of spells allows you to have different approaches to each fight.

The scenario a little slow at the beginning, accelerates and finally does not disappoint thereafter, I also laughed well on the kind of easter egg for the second end.

 

Also, in 38 hours I had NO bugs, no crashes, no FPS issues in performance mode, yes, any AAA out today should offer this but in the end there are few games that come out without bugs now. 

 

I didn't expect anything from the game and I wasn't really enthusiastic, but in the end I had a great time and that for the first time in a long time with a AAA Day one.

 

I don't see any concerns for the dubbing either (I'm French), ok, the heroine does a lot of "fuck/shit" but I don't see how that's problematic.

 

I give a good 17/20 to Forspoken, who could have had more by making his OW a little more lively but don't listen to the critics and make up your own mind, it's much better that way

Edited January 30, 2023 by Happyrinx42

[aZombieDictator]

Glad to see reasonable people here. This is the most hated game I've seen since like overwatch 2.0. (Which deserved the hate because fuck blizzard)

 

Forspoken is just overall fun and not nearly as bad as what these loudmouth haters say. 

 

Forspoken just became the "cool" thing to hate on recently.

 

Hopefully in a few months they'll quiet down and people will realize the game is fine.

[Alayaes]

I don't think it's cool to hate on Forspoken. I think most people just generally have a dislike for a main character who's insufferable up to the last second without some form of redemption arc.

[Mellenthin]

1 hour ago, Alayaes said:

I don't think it's cool to hate on Forspoken. I think most people just generally have a dislike for a main character who's insufferable up to the last second without some form of redemption arc.

 

Don't be too upset about it. Ubisoft is falling apart as we speak, and Forspoken is an excellent example of why that is.

 

 

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Mellenthin

[Goshafeelgood]

Had to ignore the storyline completely since the main character is just unbearable to listen to.

The gameplay ain’t so bad but getting a plat on this game..what a chore 

[Rozalia1]

On 29/01/2023 at 5:10 AM, Jeanoltt said:

Off-topic but I would like to know why "literally" lol, it's a word I use a lot, specially in my language. It always has existed so it's not a creation from this century.

 

"Literally" gets hate because many people use it in place of "figuratively", to the point that some dictionaries now make note of it. A similar case would be "I could care less"  which many use in place of "I couldn't care less".

[SilkyJay86]

On 1/25/2023 at 9:37 AM, Alos88 said:

I'm going to wait for a deep sale myself. The game doesn't look that bad but there are just so many great games coming out this quarter, I don't personally feel the need to grab this when far better titles are just around the corner.

Im going to wait for it get so deep before i sniggle a copy

[RadiantFlamberge]

I've enjoyed it, and it doesn't deserve the flack it gets. Dialogue gets a bit narm (so bad it's good) sometimes. The prologue could stand to be trimmed down some. That said, it gets fun when the game truly begins, especially after you've picked up a few support spells. A couple of my favorites are Disperse (a rock-spitting plant) and Crucible (a firewall). I don't really use Arc Slash's single attacks, but its charge does decent damage and is good at hitting multiple enemies. Forspoken's mix of 3rd person shooting with magic weapons and exploration isn't bad.

 

At least you don't need all the archives for Archivist. 80% (464/580) is enough. The platinum looks about medium difficulty, just maybe a bit time consuming.

 

[Infected Elite]

33 minutes ago, RadiantFlamberge said:

I've enjoyed it, and it doesn't deserve the flack it gets. Dialogue gets a bit narm (so bad it's good) sometimes. The prologue could stand to be trimmed down some. That said, it gets fun when the game truly begins, especially after you've picked up a few support spells. A couple of my favorites are Disperse (a rock-spitting plant) and Crucible (a firewall). I don't really use Arc Slash's single attacks, but its charge does decent damage and is good at hitting multiple enemies. Forspoken's mix of 3rd person shooting with magic weapons and exploration isn't bad.

 

At least you don't need all the archives for Archivist. 80% (464/580) is enough. The platinum looks about medium difficulty, just maybe a bit time consuming.

 

 

I will probably get it on sale, or in April as not much is out then. But yeah the world looks so bland. I watched the reveal and as usual, reveals look 100x better than final product. I don't know how the game did sales wise but it would be nice to see a sequel. I like to think we could start seeing new series take off and succeed instead of a one and done so many games seem to get now.

 

Out of 10 what would you give it?

[GanseySargent]

one of my favorite games from the X360 era got 52 on metacritic, so no, I never really cared about reviews and never will.

[mega-tallica]

On 2/1/2023 at 0:14 PM, Mellenthin said:

 

Don't be too upset about it. Ubisoft is falling apart as we speak, and Forspoken is an excellent example of why that is.

 

 

 

 

Forspoken was developed and published by Square Enix, not Ubisoft. 

 

I'm sure Ubisoft is doing just fine themselves. Just because the quality of games are going downhill doesn't necessarily mean the company is also. They could survive off the success of Assassin's Creed and Far Cry alone. People are always going to buy those games no matter what and Ubisoft knows they'll always have those as perpetual revenue streams. 

[x410xDragon]

Who cares what people say/think. People are entitled to their opinion, but if you like it and or want to play it, play it.  

[Galserik]

Almost 30 hours into this game, and here is MHO:
 

The game is not nearly close to be a GOTY, but is a solid 7,5-8/10 for me. Is fun to play, the parkour is pretty nice, runs very very smoothly, very fast loading screens (or no screen at all), no performance issues, I didn't find any bug until now.

 

The story is not the greatest thing ever, but is not terrible either. I found it good for now, let's see if my opinion of it changes when I complete it. It has flaws, of course. Graphics suffered a huge downgrade since the trailers, BUT they don't look terrible or, as other people like to say when they talk shit about this game "lOoKs LiKe Ps3"... er, no. Is not Horizon Forbidden West or Plague Tale Requiem, but they look fine enough.

 

Maybe the worst thing about the game (the worst doesn't mean bad) is the world. Very big and empty, and very nowadays-classic: ruins everywhere, collectibles, fast travel points, chests... Nothing remarkable about it.

 

I don't know, honestly I don't understand the huge hate about this game, or people saying "iS FoRWoKen"... I just think Forspoken is the same case that Days Gone, but in 2023: every media, and most of the people hate it for absolutely no reason at all, probably most of the haters didn't even played it... but 2-3 years from now on, you will read and see articles and comments like "Forspoken was such an underrated game / A hidden gem you must play / I always was a fan of it please S-E make Forspoken 2". I'm totally convinced of it.

 

Honestly, for all of those who are doubting, give it a chance. Not a GOTY, but definitely good.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Galserik

[mega-tallica]

I'm almost done with the story and it's safe to say at this point that the bad reviews for this particular game are accurate in my opinion.

 

This game is not good at all. Right off the bat, you play a completely detestable and unlikable character in Frey. She's insufferably terrible, always whining and moaning about everything the whole time. The most hateable character I've come across in a video game in a long time. Don't know who's decision it was to make the main protagonist a whiny Gen-Z'er with a victim complex thinking that's a good idea but that person needs to be fired. 

 

Secondly, the dialogue is awful. I'm not talking just the cutscenes with Frey whining, those are fine, it's the talking to people throughout the town during events and detours and such. God awful. Static dialogue scenes where two characters are standing awkwardly face to face with huge pauses in between the conversation that gets completely drowned out by background noise that you need to turn the subtitles on just to hear what's being said. 

 

Game world is devoid of anything interesting and is just empty landscape mostly and it's way too much empty landscape, the world is massive but not in a good way. This includes the city of Cipal which is like the main HUB part of the game, complete lack of detail in anything in this city. It's just static, dead, boring, and devoid. For a next-gen only game, this is inexcusable. I don't agree with the graphics complaint, the graphics are fine, it's just the world is devoid of detail that makes it pop out to the eye. Just nothing but blandness everywhere. 

 

Game is still not stable even with new patches. Gets incredibly laggy out of nowhere sometimes and consistently crashes. About once every 1-2 hours of playtime. 

 

Gameplay itself is okay, but it just doesn't feel fluid and as good as it could've been as the control scheme is kinda wonky/counter-intuitive. It's just chaos and turns mostly into an exercise of button-mashing and blocking/dodging when you get charged/attacked and that's pretty much the scope of the gameplay. Nothing that exciting and certainly not ground-breaking here. 

 

Coming off playing a great game that's incredibly polished and detailed like Hogwarts Legacy to something like this has just been torture. The concept could've been great if it was executed properly but it wasn't at all. 

 

I get people have different opinions but seeing so many giving something like this an 8/10? That's crazy talk, if Hogwarts Legacy is a 9/10 and both of these games are very similar in nature in theme and gameplay style, there's no way this is an 8/10 in comparison. Not even close to the same caliber. 

 

4/10 and that's all it deserves. Usually I have good judgment when it comes to picking games to play and I'm not left disappointed in my own decisions, not the case for this one though. Worst AAA game I've played in years. The bad reviews are totally true and valid in this case and many of the positive reviews make a lot of excuses for its short-comings because they're upset the game is getting so many bad reviews because they may have mildly enjoyed it themselves so they counter it by overcompensating with a higher score out of spite against the bad reviews mostly. Those reviews are more misleading if anything. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by mega-tallica