Skyrim: First Western Game To Get Perfect Famitsu Score

Joe Dart 37 Comments

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has become the first game developed in the West to get a perfect 40/40 score from highly-respected Japanese gaming mag Famitsu.

Skyrim becomes only the 17th ever title to receive the accolade and joins the likes of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XII on the acclaimed list.

Although Skyrim is the first western game to nab that elusive 40/40 score, many have come close with titles such as GTA IV, CoD: Modern Warfare 2 and L.A. Noire falling just shy with 39/40.

Are we finally at the point at which we can say that western games have successfully managed to permeate the Japanese market?

Source: MCV

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37 Comments

  1. It would have to be an RPG, wouldn’t it? :P
    Looking forward to Santa delivering it to me!

  2. Maybe theres just a little bit too much praise, with its current issues and some things that I find a bit disappointing (imo Dragons) 39.9/40?

    • It’s all opinion, surely? I’ll bet there’s someone out there who’d give it a really bad score… and 39.9… Might as well be 40?

  3. cant wait to get this game, no money at the moment though. ive resorted to buying gta 3 for ps2. never played it before.

    • Great game.

      Handy hint: Get grenades. Park car (or a couple if necessary) across a junction stopping traffic. Lob grenade. Sit back & watch the ensuing chaos with a sadistic Grin on your face.

  4. Seems odd that a game with countless bugs and under-developed combat is given a ‘perfect’ score. Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying Skyrim, just saying…

    • I guess it’s all about the ‘experience’ really isn’t it – If the bugs don’t detract from the experience in any way, then they can be forgiven i suppose.

      • Normally I would agree with that but to give you an idea, I encountered a nasty bug last night that has completely screwed my 30+ hour save! :( Wish I had waited for the (reasonably) bug-free GOTY edition

      • I would say that was pretty spot on evidence that the bugs DO detract from the experience in that case!!

        Or rather than ‘detract from’, that should maybe be ‘entirely remove’ the experience perhaps (due to the fact that it basically killed your game)? Either way, not good Bethesda…

    • Yep, I’ve given it seventy hours, even waited for the lag patch but the sheer amount of quest glitches has ruined it now for me. Beautiful world, potentially one of the best games ever, but it’s ruined by quest bugs at the moment. Not just a few, loads, even main quest game-ending glitches. I really hope next-gen is like a new start for this company and gaming in general – too many games are blatantly sub-par products at release and nothing is ever done about it.

      • Same. I was absolutely loving the game despite the frequent glitches but the game crashed last night and corrupted my save. Think I might trade it in this weekend and invest again when it gets to sub-£10 and its been properly patched.

      • Unfortunately, you have to realize that such nasty game bugs (which I’ve encountered by the truckloads in Oblivion) are not going to be magically fixed with the next generation of machines. If nothing else, the situation will be worse. Hardware has nothing to do with script bugs. Quality assurance and company policy have.

    • My thoughts exactly. Also, FFXII was one of the weaker FF titles in my opinion, so their judgement might not be in sync with mine anyways…

      • They also gave Nintendogs on DS 40/40 as well, so their judgements aren’t always 100% in sync with a lot of people…

  5. I’d agree with this one but Famitsu really lost the plot when they gave FFXII a perfect 40. They must have been playing a completely different game altogether.

  6. FFXII is brilliant, what’s with the hating? Easily the best battle system, a vibrant world and cool enemy designs. Personally I’ve clocked well over 200 hours in XII.

    I think Skyrim deserved this, it’s just excellent in every way. It helps that I haven’t had any bad glitches at all, it really has been just wonderful.

    • Hated it. lol. I don’t even know why but I did. Pre-ordered that game along with a free strategy guide, took a day off work for it etc. Was so let down. I think it was the fighting system that I didn’t enjoy

      • Haha, different people different opinions but that’S what makes it interesting, right? :)

    • Don’t get me wrong. I really like the battle system, which kind of reminded me of FFXI and the game world but I personally think the narrative was all over the place and the progression system with the scrolls that unlock abilities? Not my cup of tea. I’d love to give it another chance but not on the PS2 as it’d be an inconvenience to play it with a wired controller from the comfort of my couch (wire is too short…).

      • I’ve got a PS2 set up in my room so I can play it in bed ;)

        I thought the Licence Board worked well, much less confusing than that behemoth Sphere Grid from X, though I liked that too if I’m honest.

        I’ve got my fingers crossed that after the remastering of X is done Square’ll start on XII, that would be superb :)

      • See, I loved the sphere grid! Just goes to show that square can never please all the fans. I have my ps2 set up and I have a wireless controller for it. Tempted to give FFXII another go now, from the start as I have completely forgotten how to play it.

      • I’d get the remasterd HD version if it came out. My problem with the license board was that I sometimes ended up with good gear and weapons just to realize that I lacked the license to equip it. In X I got to equip whatever I wanted and then buff my character with abilities and spells on the Sphere Board, the difference being that unlocking it actually meant being able to use it. :)

    • I too couldn’t get on with it. I seem to remember having to battle a massive wall, got stuck and stopped caring lol. X still remains my favourite :)

      • I remember that wall, sort of a mini-boss that killed you if you didn’t finish it fast enough?

        I do love X, but as to my favourite I really couldn’t choose between VIII, X or XII. Despite their flaws, they’re all perfect to me :)

      • Now that you mention it… I actually can’t decide if VIII or XII was my least favourite… I might even have to say VIII but even then it would be a close call… :P

  7. How odd?

    I mean it doesn’t work well on PS3 and no one owns a 360 over there, was it released on DS?

    :D

  8. I can easily see both sides of the coin on this. There are many issues with the game: graphical, quest glitches, certain aspects of the leveling system etc.

    But at the same time, I’ve sunk over 160 hours into it so far and I never know exactly what I’ll be doing within half an hour of loading it up. Sure I’ll have an idea of what I want to get done. But it doesn’t take much to distract me off onto a complete tangent. And there are still two main cities I haven’t even been to yet.

    All things considered though, it is the most richly detailed sandbox style game I’ve played. And I thought it’d take a lot longer than this to surpass Red Dead.

  9. Fully deserved score. Yes some of the quet related bugs are rather annoying, but otherwise it’s stunning and my GOTY.

  10. oh bugger, I thought Bethesda had chagned, but after reading about all the bugs and glitches I’m thinking about not getting it now.

    Is good that famitsu gave it such a high score, but I think things like this give Bethesda the ammunition to keep releasing bug ridding games.

    • While there are a lot of bugs this is by no means anywhere near as bad as the Fallout games!

      • I haven’t seen anything to get me worked up about on Fallout (NV or 3). Ok maybe the wasteland has sunk every now and then and someone sits on an indivisible chair. Not even had one crash on the game yet. Seen more glitches and crashes on UC3! So if Skyrim has less it’s going to be amazing for me.

      • Sorry, I should have said I meant when they were first released :) I too have put plenty of bug-free hours into New Vegas since it was patched but it was terrible day-one if i recall

      • Never played them day one so I haven’t had experience with it. Just as I speak Fallout 3 crashed for the first time. When I wrote my earlier comment should have said *touch wood*

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