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Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1472 (NieR 39/40)

Link.

This week’s Famitsu review scores are in.

Dragon Sinker (3DS) – 8/7/8/7 [30/40]
Island (PS Vita) – 8/8/8/8 [32/40]
NieR: Automata (PS4) – 10/10/9/10 [39/40]
Plantera Garden Life (Wii U) – 7/8/8/7 [30/40]
Plantera Garden Life (3DS) – 7/8/8/7 [30/40]
Ride 2 (PS4) – 7/7/8/8 [30/40]
Super Robot Wars V (PS4) – 9/8/8/9 [34/40]
Super Robot Wars V (PS Vita) – 9/8/8/9 [34/40]
Timepiece Ensemble (PS Vita) – 7/7/6/6 [26/40]
The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2 (PS4) – 8/8/8/9 [33/40]
Yoiyami Dreamer (PS4) – 7/8/8/8 [31/40]

Thanks, Hachima Kikou.

Let's hope their scores are somewhat true this time around.
 
Never trust Famitsu scores. They're the most bought and sold reviewers in Japan.

Might as well await the Breitbart review. I expect the new NieR to review very well for the most part, but this is not the place to look for it.
 
High praise indeed.

fnZjXwe.jpg
 
Don't their reviews depend on if a publishers check clears?

Never trust Famitsu scores. They're the most bought and sold reviewers in Japan.

Might as well await the Breitbart review. I expect the new NieR to review very well for the most part, but this is not the place to look for it.

Yeap still a thing
 
Looks like Square Enix is wisely investing the FFXV profit back into making their upcoming games look good!

Famitsu... they're like the Japanese EGM...

Fixed. You can generally get more information from an IGN review than a Famitsu one because at least it'll be more than 4 repeated paragraphs long.
 
Is that really true? Any sources or links I can read up on this?
You can most likely Google for some semi-readable articles. But it has been known for a long time that Famitsu enjoys the kind of early 2000s level of score manipulation. You cannot really have a magazine full of massive ads for game X and then give game X a poor review in the same issue. Japanese gaming media still exists in a very weird print era bubble and publishers exert enormous power over the monopolistic Famitsu. For all it is worth, their reviews are bite-sized ads.
 
Remember the old days, when Famitsu was this quasi-mythical gospel tome that everyone took as THE authoritative source for gaming reviews?

oh, 90s.
 
I find myself wondering whenever Famitsu scores creep up if they actually play the games or just make up numbers on how they expect it to do, higher points rewarded if the check clears.
 
Looking forward to the game (finished Nier 1 with all 4 endings and enjoyed the Automata demo) but these scores mean nothing to me. The average score in that mag seems to be 35 with a standard deviation of 4 or something. Just pointless.
 
Is that really true? Any sources or links I can read up on this?
I don't know if they are directly bribed, but people have noticed the correlation between Famitsu's scores and the amount of advertisement and coverage they had of these games. It's hard to say if their reviewers are simply driven by the hype they cultivate themselves, or if the publication wants to stay on the good side of publishers to get the scoops. Whichever it is, the result seems to be indistinguishable either way.
 
You can most likely Google for some semi-readable articles. But it has been known for a long time that Famitsu enjoys the kind of early 2000s level of score manipulation. You cannot really have a magazine full of massive ads for game X and then give game X a poor review in the same issue. Japanese gaming media still exists in a very weird print era bubble and publishers exert enormous power over the monopolistic Famitsu. For all it is worth, their reviews are bite-sized ads.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/2009/08/famitsu-monster-hunter/amp/?client=safari

Famitsu is a marketing rag. Most JP publications are. It's not like I'm the western world where the relationship is murky and you can find real reporting and opinion pieces if you know where to look.

Thanks for the response.
 
The original Nier had 34/40 in Famitsu btw (according to wikipedia). I guess they lacked the money to buy max scores before they realized that idiots like me would pay full price for their games three times per title.
 
This magazine should be a banned source at this point, surely? It's almost comical the way they score stuff.

Or does it have good articles or something?
 
This magazine should be a banned source at this point, surely? It's almost comical the way they score stuff.

Or does it have good articles or something?

The magazine itself gets way too many Japanese games scoop so it wouldn't be great the ban the magazine entirely.
 
I thought Famitsu was one of the most reliable unbiased sources? You know, getting a full score is really rare etc. When did this change?

it started to change in PS2 era... and has been getting worse and worse. By PS3 era, their eview scores became joke.
 
For reference, NieR Gestalt and Drakengard 3 got 34/40.
 
SE paying Famitsu well. Good to see they have enough confidence to pay for a 39.

Also obligatory worse than Jojo All Star Battle!
 
Any specific details from each editor?
 
Famitsu is harmless as is most western gaming coverage that you-know-who argues is ""unethical"".

It's video games. These people aren't covering politics. Who cares.
 
Both were weird EOL of PS3 games and Square was not willing to drive a dumptruck full of money to the Famitsu building. Albeit Drakengard 3 was lucky enough to get that grade.

Not NieR though. It came out the same year FFXIII EN came out, so mid life.
 
Famitsu's way of protesting a shit game that was paid for by publishers is to hold the review back for a couple of weeks after launch and give it all 7s.

That being said NieR is probably pretty good. Though whether it's 39/40 good on its own merits maybe a stretch.
 
I thought Famitsu was one of the most reliable unbiased sources? You know, getting a full score is really rare etc. When did this change?

I don't think reliable and unbiased is something anyone should have ever said about Famitsu, but the score explosion started around 2008.

From 1991 (when it officially transited to a weekly magazine) to 2007, there were a total of 6 games with perfect scores, and 16 games with a score of 39/40.

From 2008 until now, there have been 16 games with perfect scores, and 29 games with a score of 39/40.

In particular, in 2008 they gave 3 games 40/40, and in 2009 they gave 4 games 40/40.

The common believe is that when the Japanese game industry sharp a sharp drop in productivity and people were demotivated, Famitsu editorial staff took it upon themselves to help prop up national pride and motivate the industry by giving higher scores, especially to significant local releases.
 
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