Metaphor: ReFantasio (PS4/PS5, XSX/XSS, PC)

[Albatros]

Most of the people who whine about localization at this point in my experience barely know anything about one language, let alone two. Haven't played Metaphor and likely won't for several months, but Atlus usually does well enough there, and I would assume this game being explicitly less Japanese than a Persona game made things easier. Although Persona games usually go for M ESRB ratings and it looks like this one is T so that can always cause some hurdles.

They should do a strict translation of one game just for laughs. Even now we have the odd "please take care of me" line in Persona games, but I wonder how many weebs could follow it through a whole game.

 

[Turin]

Man this game is good. Very engrossing after the tournament begins.

 

[Turin]

Spoiler: Joanna plot

Man the empathy the characters show for somebody who fed children to a giant demon baby is dumb as hell. It doesn’t matter what happened to you in the past. Gtfo with that writing.

 

[Andrei79]

Downloaded the demo, production value is sky high. It honestly looks really interesting, which I havent felt like that for a JRPG in years.

 

[Tw1ster]

Started this tonight and I’m loving it already. Definitely scratching the Persona itch.

 

[DJ Spinoza]

Yeah I am really digging this. Still relatively early on, just got to the part of the tournament starting, but I am surprised at how much this is both scratching the Persona itch while still seeming pretty fresh in a number of ways. The archetype system allows for a lot of flexibility in party construction and so far it seems like the game sort of forces you to dig into it.

I also appreciate that the regular encounters still feel threatening enough to keep up the challenge. Weirdly I haven't had as much of an issue with the boss fights, but so far the difficulty in general is rewarding, which is a little different than Persona games, especially 5.

 

[Tw1ster]

Yeah I am really digging this. Still relatively early on, just got to the part of the tournament starting, but I am surprised at how much this is both scratching the Persona itch while still seeming pretty fresh in a number of ways. The archetype system allows for a lot of flexibility in party construction and so far it seems like the game sort of forces you to dig into it.

I also appreciate that the regular encounters still feel threatening enough to keep up the challenge. Weirdly I haven't had as much of an issue with the boss fights, but so far the difficulty in general is rewarding, which is a little different than Persona games, especially 5.

What’s your archetype load out looking like so far? Hulkenberg just joined the party and I’m now able to do sidequests and spend time in the day how I choose, just wondering what I should be using with my main. I switched from Seeker to Warrior briefly and hated it

 

[Turin]

Yeah I am really digging this. Still relatively early on, just got to the part of the tournament starting, but I am surprised at how much this is both scratching the Persona itch while still seeming pretty fresh in a number of ways. The archetype system allows for a lot of flexibility in party construction and so far it seems like the game sort of forces you to dig into it.

I also appreciate that the regular encounters still feel threatening enough to keep up the challenge. Weirdly I haven't had as much of an issue with the boss fights, but so far the difficulty in general is rewarding, which is a little different than Persona games, especially 5.

Yea the difficulty was a nice balance. I had to actually turn it down from Hard in the beginning to normal, I'm sure now that I understand how the game works more it would be more manageable but I'm still dying here and there on normal which just didn't happen in Persona 5, Royal esp.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I haven't had much of an opportunity to sink my teeth too deep into this one yet, but what I have played I have absolutely loved. Sometimes you just know you found your game of the year within an hour of turning it on. Considering my adoration of everything else this team has made it's not exactly a huge surprise, but I don't take games of this quality for granted.

There is absolutely no mistaking that this was made by the Persona team and I respect them for not shunning what they do so well in order to try to make it more different than it needs to be. Either way this very much has the feel of a Persona game without the setting of one, and I'm here for that. The strengths of this team are fully on display. The contemporary Japanese setting was and remains a selling point of the Persona games for me, but it's nice getting a different flavor with every bit as much detail and polish.

I can't wait to experience the rest of the game. On a personal level I am already thoroughly intrigued with the conceit and what they wind up doing with it. Usually I struggle to identify with the fantasy tropes, but in this case the Igor of the game shares a namesake with the church I grew up being forced to go to and I took multiple classes on Utopian/Dystopian literature in college. You have my attention, game.