Recent reviews by Matt

THE ANSWER

The high spike of negative rewards is because a lot of people unfortunately lost their progression from early-access when the game officially came out. Thankfully I was asleep then at work so I never experienced any data loss but it sucks for those who did.

As for the game it is another continuation of the success story started from 2K22 - just like any annual sports franchise you need to make a decision if you are okay with very small but meaningful quality of life changes, the very high price for essentially the complete edition (the 40 year version is 160 Canadian + tax) or if its okay to wait for a sale or skip a year or two. I dont like factoring price into the review as price is subjective and it can fluctuate over time.

The game is an improvement over 2K23 if that helps

I do have a laundry list of ideas that I want to see in ASAP, things dating back to the PS2 days of 2K wrestling like meaningful decisions in matches depending on if you're a heel or face. We used to be able to do cocky pins, holding onto rope break pins or submissions for example to get momentum up if we were a heel for example. Right now for a very long time since the Xbox One / PS4 versions of 2K every match regardless if you're heel or face is the same outside of crowd reactions. We need to bring this kind of interactivity and immersion back in matches.

We also need a much better story/universe mode. I really miss the days, again in the PS2 era, where you can walk around back stage and actually live the life of a WWE superstar. I really do appreciate the MyRise mode but it really cant keep being a static conversation with borderline poor voice acting from the wrestlers.

The lack of immersion missing from these kinds of things to say the least is really disappointing.

So yeah, overall its a good game - MyFaction is a joke and a waste of time. I legit tried it for about an hour and I cannot stand anymore of it let alone ever would consider putting actual real money into it. The grind is outrageous too - you need to play endless amount of matches just to make enough for a basic junk back that has garbage in it.

I know this "review" is a mess but I just wanted to write something up to counter balance all the negative/mixed stuff even though my review wont even count towards it because I bought it from GMG - hopefully it can just get viability to prospective buyers

I absolutely love this game - it's my favourite Persona by a long mile and the remake is honestly everything I wanted now with The Answer coming later this year. Yeah FemMC being missing is a disappointment but there still is Persona 3 Portable for that. You owe yourself to play this especially if you played FES on the PS2

Music is GREAT

But this is an APP - not even DLC MP3s/Flac

My preferred method is always:

Downloadable/Steam Soundtrack > Downloadable Content which is MP3/Flac > * > THIS, an app that gates you from doing anything else to listen to this soundtrack.

PLEASE FIX - give us the ability to listen to this music outside of the application. Please and thank you

This is very difficult for me to put into words:

Infinite Wealth is objectively RGGs best video GAME to date - rivaling in my opinion Yakuza 0 and 2 Kiwami, it is much better than Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7) - it has an incredible amount of content and things to do to keep you busy. Look at my time played, about 130 hours to beat the game and to get most achievements. The only thing I can understand is if you are not a fan of the turn based combat because outside of that the actual game is as superior or more to anything in the series.

However this is also objectively the weakest, one of the worst, stories in the series to date. I truly think RGG tried to cram too much into the game with both Ichiban and Kiryu needing somewhat equal screen time. At around chapter 8 or 9 of the 14 total chapters I just tuned out. It is an incredibly unfocused story and by the nature of the series shouldn't be taken seriously. Characters are quickly introduced and disposed of, too many exposition dumps out of nowhere and almost or near plot holes are quickly brushed aside to keep moving the story forward. They have crammed way too much into this game and unfortunately it affected the overall quality of the story/plot.

I do recommend the game but do not play this for the plot.

Also, personally, I was very disappointed with the lack of closure for both Ichibans and Kiryus story arcs - this is not something I could ever talk about in a review format but when I finished the games main story I was left the same way, but not as extreme, as I felt with Mass Effect 3. Just a very disappointing and almost rushed feeling to an obviously long and stacked game. In particular Kiryus life links and memories of his life and how (and who) he interacted with them were very underwhelming for me. Like a Dragon Gaiden is a much tighter and refined game in comparison and also handled his legacy much better in my opinion.

Which is a shame because the new characters, namely Chitose and Eric are some of my favourite in the series and I would love to see them again in another game - however knowing their history of always introducing new characters just to forget about them there is no guarantee..

Overall yes, this is a good game. The good far outweighs the bad or the sour. I just hope that RGGs next game can be more focused plot/story wise - the core of the game is there with the great turn based combat (even though I wish you could increase the battle speed) and the mini-games, we just need a more focused or nuanced story/plot.

Coming from day one I think Season 2 is much better than season 1 - which also means the game is in a better state then it was at launch. I understand people will write negative things because its easier to be upset - the game is much faster, more chaotic then launch. I went from 1-50 in less than a day just by doing the Season 2 Harvests - a helltide like zone that are unlocked from the get go instead of having to wait til level 50 then tier 3 nightmare.

For season 2 you are given vampire powers, they are much more easier to use and abuse than season 1. Season 1 was an honest mess, having to grind/find specific items to take to specific dungeons to level up powers. Season 2 does all away with that by dropping "Potent Blood" which you can immediately use to upgrade and unlock powers. Then you can slot your powers on a grid, they are always active as long as you have the gear stats for them. I never had any issues with getting my gear to activate my vampire powers and there are these items that drop to add +1 to your gear stats if you are having any issues with making the minimum.

Aside from that, the core game is still Diablo. What can I say - people will be negative because it was not or is not exactly how they like it or how Blizzard treated its customers by releasing the game again on steam about 6 months after launch.
It has a cosmetic shop and a paid (with a free tier) battlepass which everyone in the conmments will bring up - both of which dont add any power to the game. My only real problem is still to this day you can get some real bad rubber banding only in this game. It really makes me put off making a hardcore character, especially on anything higher than a tier 1 character. Also the view is really zoomed in for me - its something that will likely bug you if you havent tried it yet and there's no way to fix it.

If you are going to double dip then know if you have a higher tier version somewhere else like BattleNet or another console you can buy the standard version here and all your goodies will carry over. meaning if you bought Ultimate on BNET you can get standard here like I did.

Overall if you havent played Diablo 4 - give it a go. If you have already made your mind up then I dont think there is anything anyone can do or say to change that which is a shame because this is a really great game.

Absolutely incredible multiplayer

Beautiful game - very much recommended.

The game play loop is digital crack cocaine

Technical review - not very good. Its probably a 3 out of 5 at best; I do not think there is a computer existing today that can play this game flawlessly in 2023

Gameplay review - a huge step up on Fallen Order, which was already a fantastic game - a 5 outta 5 from me, gameplay wise. I really did enjoy the story, character and world building and where we're going for the series/next game. Great Star Wars experience - its only a wonder why Disney Star Wars cant be this good on TV or in the movies.