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.

 

[Turin]

Kind of feels like Ive been stuck in the last month of the game for weeks now. Pacing is a little weird. I think the combat is more fun and challenging than the modern Personas, but I would be lying if I said I felt the game as a whole was a good as P4, 5 and 3R. I think I just don't care about the characters on the same level this time around. Still a lot of fun though.

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.

Was very confused until I realized you probably meant a parish named after Sir Thomas More.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Was very confused until I realized you probably meant a parish named after Sir Thomas More.

Saint Thomas More, if you're in the Catholic cult.

Probably the single biggest 'oh I get it' stare at the camera/Jim from The Office moment I've ever had with a game.

 

[Tw1ster]

About 23 hours in and arriving at Oceana. Not too far into the game but the time I’ve put in has been the most fun in a game I’ve had all year. I’m loving every minute of this game

 

[Turin]

Saint Thomas More, if you're in the Catholic cult.

Probably the single biggest 'oh I get it' stare at the camera/Jim from The Office moment I've ever had with a game.

I'm more Eastern Orthodox , however I have a lot of respect for the man from what I know about him haha. An interesting historical character to say the least.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Don’t know if I should buy this or Persona 3 Reloaded for my next Atlus game. Finishing up P4G so it might be nice to switch up the setting a bit.

 

[Turin]

Don’t know if I should buy this or Persona 3 Reloaded for my next Atlus game. Finishing up P4G so it might be nice to switch up the setting a bit.

For varieties sake I would probably suggest Metaphor but I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy P3R a little bit more.

 

[Turin]

The lack of MP items in the game has caught up to me at the end, and now I'm stuck at the final boss. Spent literally 4 hours trying to beat him with a variety of different strategies and just cannot do it. On Normal mode I cannot even get to his second phase before my MP is gone, and I can't just go back and grind and come back. This sucks ass.

 

[TheDoldrums]

Game is 25% on the PSN store, Sega never shy with sales but that’s still pretty quick. Might have to pull the trigger

 

[TheDoldrums]

I never had any doubt that they would knock it out of the park.

People associate Hashino with the more recent mainline Persona games that are high school simulators but he has been involved in many Atlus projects since the late 90s. I am talking projects like Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga and Catherine which are great and very different then the Persona high school sims.

So he is not and never has been someone who stuck to a single style who knows nothing else. He just took elements from different projects he worked on and used them to make Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Man I love Catherine, really enjoyed the Full Body version. The puzzles were…whatever, but the story and characters were so great. Just so rare to have that kind of mid-life crisis representation in games, I felt seen!

 

[DJ Spinoza]

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

Sorry for the long delay! Been super busy and very slow and plodding with the game, but hoping to get back into it tonight/this weekend.

I haven't gotten a great handle on my archetype load out just yet. For a brief period I actually had Hulkenberg as a mage which was a bad fit given her stat, but I had for some reason made Strohl into a merchant and was basically just spamming different options with the MC.

Part of why I lost some momentum was that I tried making the MC a gunner and it was a pretty bad fit for the period of time I was using it. However, on the whole I was still impressed with the difficulty and balance of the game. I'm curious to see how the game opens up now -- extremely minor character spoiler ahead, just the name of the party member you get after your initial three

Spoiler

Heismay joining makes it feel like the strategy of archetypes really opens up, since it makes sense to start funneling characters towards different styles. Part of why I got stuck with Hulkenberg as a bad mage was because I needed magic to hit weaknesses but I had gotten stuck with the other two being unable to do it.

In any case, excited to dive back in.