But two reviewers form the consensus for a game ?
*sigh*
I'll say this one last time, and then I'm done explaining myself. First, my impression wasn't based off of two reviews but the conglomeration of a majority of the reviews I read. Story impressions varied vastly from each outlet, some heralded it as the best thing since TW3, others merely found it okay, and others found it severely lacking. Thus, the consensus that the narrative is purely amazing is not true. Second, I trust certain reviewers and sites more than others, Easy Allies and specifically Brandon Jones (a person whose taste in game I actually know) are going to hold more weight to me than whichever IGN person is brought out to review the game. Thus, when Jones says the narrative highs are few in the game and mostly only picks up until the end, I'm going to trust his opinion a little bit more than a person I don't know that simply says, "everything is great."
Third, story/narrative is difficult to critique and most game reviewers are either ill-equipped or don't care much for it in the first place. FFXV was given great review scores while reviewers either said the story was merely okay or barely decent. Now, whether FFXV is a "good" game is beside the point, I'm talking about what I like in a good game or RPG. Thus, when FFXV gets a 9/10 despite having a terrible, incomprehensible story it tells me where the reviewers priorities lied. As a result, as hard as it can be I prefer a more nuanced break down as to why a story was good or bad in a review. The USGamer review was impressionable to me because of this, a nuanced and detailed breakdown of the narrative faults by this specific reviewer. The same goes for Jones' review.
Okay. This is why I typically avoid review threads, too much fanboyism and stakes in the ground over games that aren't even out yet. I'm judging my thoughts based on the reviews I read, which is what reviews are for. My impressions of the game will likely continue to evolve past release. It may actually turn out to be a game I really enjoy after seeming more and hearing more, but at the moment, these reviews didn't not allay my concerns.
