Reading the reviews, I don't really put much stock in them. The IGN one as well as others were filled to the brim with unqualified statements with no justification. I'm not sure what they expected, something different from a traditional JRPG? Every non-reviewer I've read/heard talk about it has said that it was what they've been waiting for, so I don't know. It just makes me feel like video game media is in this ultra horrible state right now, some say it's always been, but not like this.

For example, every major gaming outlet that talks about FFXIII prefaces it with "I'm not a huge fan of the series myself..." Games like Call of Duty and Ghost Recon get the highest regards, but something like White Knight Chronicles gets thrown under the bus for being exactly what it's supposed to be. These people aren't real gamers to me, they're the true "casual" gamers.

I've just come to terms with the average "journalist"/critic nowadays not being into video games for the same reason a lot of us are.