Ghost said:
Sorry but a game is a package, art and story are part of that package, if they are bad, and apparently they are, then thats valid criticism of the game.
Ok, I can sort of appreciate this point. Some games, like a lot of Japanese RPGs rely A LOT on art and story and they really excel in those aspects. People go into those games looking for the awesome art and engaging in this epic story, the gameplay is really secondary or even tertiary after the music. So if you're looking at the percentages of what most people look for in a japanese RPG it's probably
40%-Art (graphics, music)
30%-Story
20%-music
10%-Gameplay (combat, running around town, etc)
Those are obviousy just rough estimates that will vary from person to person, but the overall order is probably consistent. Now judging the game will have to work on that basis, if the art is bad then it detracts significantly from the game, same with the bad story.
However, Sudeki is not a japanese RPG, it's an Action RPG meaning its main focus is the combat and story. Now, if you don't like the combat for whatever reason, such as its lack of fluidity when compared to NG, then that's a valid criticism and may ruin the entire game for you. If you absolutely HATE the story that you have no motivation to continue on, then again that'll probably ruin the game for you as well unless you really love the combat. However, the story isn't *that* bad, and the art isn't bad at all. The character art has been stated as fugly, FINE, I won't even bother arguing that. In fact I could go on to say that the character art is the ugliest character art of ALL TIME. BUT in terms of TOTAL art of the game, it doesn't affect it that much at all, since you barely see their faces and the environments are so stunningly beautiful. Since you're seeing the environments far more than the stupid character faces, I'd even say that the art is pretty good.
The story, I don't know enough about it, but if it's your standard fare, then it's your standard fare that has existing in videogames since its inception, and I don't know why Sudeki is all of a sudden made to be the example for contrived game stories. It's an average story, done. Not a *bad* one (at least so far in my experience), and everything I've read suggests it's an average story as well.
So now watch Sudeki's breakdown:
40% - Gameplay (Totally depends if you're into the genre. If you are, then this'll be a high rating)
25% - story (average)
25% - art (average, bad character art offset by gorgeous environments)
10% - music (average/forgettable).
So you see, that doesn't make a BAD game. It makes a decent game, and if you don't care about teh character art, and really like the combat could actually be a really great game. But if all you care about is the art and story, then Sudeki will be a large disappointment because you're expecting the wrong things from it.