I found this review very useful. Maybe you would have too, if you read more than the opening.

He has written books on the video game industry. He has interviewed tons of video game developers. He has probably been playing video games longer than you have been alive, or close to it. And you think his opinion is useless?

You are incorrect. This review was helpful to many people, including me.

Jason can you please rewrite this review so I can justify spending my money on this game. Please make sure to be as glowing as possible so I can also have someone to blame later when I realize that I wasted my money. Great talk, Thanks!

I always enjoy your curt dismissals of hyperventilating, pearl-clutching commenters who don’t get that reviews of video games are opinions, and opinions are subjective, and an interesting opinion is one that brings insight to the table, not one that reinforces the opinions of the commenter.

Gamers: Media companies and journalists are too close to the industry and aren’t critical at all.

As someone who loved Xenogears, but couldn’t get into Xenoblade Chronicles (and already starting to feel like a weirdo because of everyone praising it - out of the Wii JRPGs coming out in that period, I actually liked The Last Story way more), this review was exactly the right angle for me.

Yeah, why would they have the RPG guy review an RPG? Pffft.

I guess this is one of the times that reviewing a game really sucks. 50+ hours in a game you didn’t like. It’s like finishing a 400 page book you can tell is awful by page 25.

I trust your reviews, and while I like what I’ve read about the game, you shouldn’t have to like previous installments to enjoy a game in a series. Usually that means they’ve done a poor job (unless it’s HIGHLY contingent on story continuity). Btw, I got into Trails in the Sky recently because of you and it’s awesome.

I agree there, and I have to thank you for this:

This was a good review Jason, people will get upset that someone who doesn’t love the series reviewed it, but I’m glad you gave it an honest shake with a optimistic outlook and skeptics honest result.

Remember, if you don’t fawn all over a title a particular reader really wants to be good, then you’re biased and incapable of impartial, rational assessment.

I’m with you on being baffled by this evident demand for uniformity across reviews and reviewers. While I definitely make use of Kotaku’s reviews in making…

I chose to review it because, as I said in the second paragraph, I was hoping that Takahashi and crew would make something I enjoyed more this time around.

Can someone enlighten me?

finally somebody that isn’t telling me to “yiff in hell and die!”.

If the creative people with whom Anita Sarkeesian meets have so little conviction in their work that they wilt to her whims the moment she talks about what she values in the depiction of women in games, that’s on them, no?

I’m all for people criticizing video games. what I don’t like is when those critics are going into dev studios and telling them to change stuff in their games. effectively telling the developer to self censor anything that they don’t approve of.

this was another response that I posted in this thread, but it applies to what you are saying:


Okay lets say the character was intended to be nothing more than a sexual object (I have no idea if she has a personality or anything because I haven't played the game, nor would I find anything wrong in the character simply…

Okay lets say the character was intended to be nothing more than a sexual object (I have no idea if she has a personality or anything because I haven't played the game, nor would I find anything wrong in the character simply being a sexual object).

Is having a character designed to simply be a sexual object any more…

Drawing big boobs on girls is automatically sexism. Got it.

Sex makes some people so uncomfortable it's funny really.