Metaphor: ReFantazio JRPG

[Scraper]

I recently found out about this upcoming release from Atlus. It has a weird title (Metaphor: ReFantaazio) but apparently it's a fitting name once you play the game.

Anyway it's a brand new JRPG that looks really promising. Here's one of the best parts, it's not just coming to the PS5, but the Series S/X as well. So Xbox gamers will finally get a JRPG not named Persona. There is a demo on both the Playstation and Xbox and I put about 2 hours into it this morning. So far I'm really liking what I played. The game is a fantasy type setting but the look of the game is really unique. While it takes about 45 minutes to actually experience combat what little combat I did play seems promising. It's turn based (As all good JRPGs should be).

Here's a preview from Gamespot https://www.gamespot.com/articles/metap ... 0-6526308/

[Skinypupy]

It looks to be quite similar to the Shin Megami Tensei series, which puts it on my "eventually, if it's on sale" list.

Never been a huge fan of those.

[Scraper]

It looks to be quite similar to the Shin Megami Tensei series, which puts it on my "eventually, if it's on sale" list.

Never been a huge fan of those.

Other than the look of the game and the turn based combat I would say this one is nothing like the Persona series. I can't get into Persona at all, but I did enjoy this demo and will buy the game at some point. $60 is probably a bit too much but I would easily spend $40 if the reviews aren't terrible.

[YellowKing]

Thanks for the heads up on this, I'm definitely keeping an eye on it. Probably not a day one purchase as I still need to finish Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but I do plan on trying out the demo.

[Scraper]

I finished the demo (It was about 7 hours long) and by the end of it I was definitely impressed with the game. Comparing it to Persona is fair BUT the annoying class room segments are non existent in Metaphor. Instead, during the day you can choose to spend time doing side quests and content or you can advance the story and delve into dungeons, the choice is up to you, which to me is much better.

It's getting great reviews too. IGN gave it a 9 and Gamespot gave it a perfect 10. Needless to say it's been added to my must play list.

I would add that Gamingtrend gave it a 100 as well, but honestly what game don't they give a 100 to?

[Skinypupy]

The reviews on this one are overwhelmingly positive. However, every review has also noted how similar it's combat is to the SMT series, which I'm not a huge fan of. So it'll go on my "eventually" list. I definitely like the medieval fantasy vibe and the story seems interesting, but I've got the Diablo 4 xpac, New World Aeternum, and Dragon Age 4 to get to first.

[YellowKing]

I played through a bit of the demo, and I think I'm also putting this on the "eventually" list. I loved the art style, story, and even the combat - which to me just seemed like basic JRPG turn-based combat, just highly stylized. Maybe it gets more advanced later on. The monsters and bosses were super cool.

However, despite loving pretty much everything about it, it's too crowded a gaming season right now to justify dropping $70 on it. I'm still playing LIke a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (already paid for), will be playing New World: Aeternum in 2 days (free), and have multiple boardgame Kickstarters arriving in the next month. I'm hoping by the time I get a break in the backlog to play this, it will at least be on a $20-$30 discount. Heck, I haven't even played Final Fantasy VII Rebirth yet!

[Kurth]

At the Tokyo Game Show last month, this one had a huge presence. I tried a demo, but like most of the demos at the show, it was all in Japanese, and it was mostly wasted on me. But it was generating lots of buzz at the show, for whatever that’s worth.

[hitbyambulance]

https://octopusoverlords.com/forum/view ... 0#p3065180

(it was developed by the same team behind Persona 3, 4 and 5)

[RMC]

I bought this, as the Persona games are one of my favorite in the JRPG arena. I am still in the beginnning of the game. But I am enjoying it. Also, I have a steam deck, and honestly this game plays very smoothly on the steam deck.

I am not as big a fan of the SMT games, but I do like the Persona(especially 5 Royal) games, and this one has a lot of familiar designs as the Persona series. So if you like Persona for the game play, and you wanted something outside of any classroms and more fantasy, then you will like this game.

I'll try to remember to update this once I have played for a few more hours, because I am still in the first major "story" dungeon.

[Scraper]

This is on sale in Sony's Black Friday PSN sale. It's still close to $50 but at that price I took the plunge. It's also pretty cool that the demo save carries over to the full release, so I won't lose the 7 hours I already put into the game.

[MCQueen2]

$50 isn’t bad if it’s as solid as everyone’s saying, but I’m still curious if it keeps that magic throughout.

[Skinypupy]

Got through everything else on my list, so I grabbed this last night. It was a literal coin flip between this or Dragon Quest 3.

Played further than I got through in the demo and I think I mostly like it. It does suffer from the massive analysis paralysis that always hits me with Atlus games though. Am I developing my character correctly or totally gimping them? I'm putting my extra points into Magic because I'm currently a Mage, but am I supposed to be spreading them around? I skipped fighting the dragon in the first dungeon because I thought that's what you were supposed to do, but it now it seems like that's the best way to get an extremely powerful weapon. Am I screwed? How often should I be switching class jobs to level them?

My brain always goes into overdrive and starts to melt with these games.

[RMC]

Got through everything else on my list, so I grabbed this last night. It was a literal coin flip between this or Dragon Quest 3.

Played further than I got through in the demo and I think I mostly like it. It does suffer from the massive analysis paralysis that always hits me with Atlus games though. Am I developing my character correctly or totally gimping them? I'm putting my extra points into Magic because I'm currently a Mage, but am I supposed to be spreading them around? I skipped fighting the dragon in the first dungeon because I thought that's what you were supposed to do, but it now it seems like that's the best way to get an extremely powerful weapon. Am I screwed? How often should I be switching class jobs to level them?

My brain always goes into overdrive and starts to melt with these games.

The item is nice, but get's outdated fairly quick. And you get tons of booster items to grant XP, so if you need to level someone quickly in a class, it's not that painful. Well, assuming you are not playing on the higher difficultiy levels. I play on normal mode.

[Scraper]

Got through everything else on my list, so I grabbed this last night. It was a literal coin flip between this or Dragon Quest 3.

Played further than I got through in the demo and I think I mostly like it. It does suffer from the massive analysis paralysis that always hits me with Atlus games though. Am I developing my character correctly or totally gimping them? I'm putting my extra points into Magic because I'm currently a Mage, but am I supposed to be spreading them around? I skipped fighting the dragon in the first dungeon because I thought that's what you were supposed to do, but it now it seems like that's the best way to get an extremely powerful weapon. Am I screwed? How often should I be switching class jobs to level them?

My brain always goes into overdrive and starts to melt with these games.

Strategically this game makes you change your classes often. I'm about 15 hours in and my main character has 3 different classes above level 10. So don't worry about picking one class and sticking with it.

I've run into 3 different fights so far that were extremely hard with my preferred classes, but as soon as I switched things up and retried the fight they were much easier.

[Scraper]

$50 isn’t bad if it’s as solid as everyone’s saying, but I’m still curious if it keeps that magic throughout.

I'm about 20 hours in now and the game has been consistently great. I don't see any signs of it wearing thin unless it's a 200+ hour game or something crazy like that. If you like JRPGs then this game is easily worth $50. It's definitely a Japanese RPG in that the core elements of a JRPG are there, but the game is unique enough that it feels entirely new. In other words this isn't Dragon Quest 8 or Final Fantasy 13.

I like almost everything about the game, but if I did have one complaint it's that it can be a tad difficult on the medium setting. For me this is just fine, but gamers who prefer story over challenge should probably play it on the lowest difficulty setting. I have had several party wipes in the 20 hours that I've played it, leading me to experiment with different classes and party makeups, which sometimes means that you have to grind some class levels prior to going back to a particular fight.

Also, almost everything in this game has a timer and if you fail to complete the mission prior to the timer expiration you can fail that mission. It's been entirely manageable for me so far but I guess it could give some people anxiety. I have no idea what happens if you fail a main story mission because of the timer, since I've been able to complete them all in time so far.

[YellowKing]

I plan on picking this up while it's on sale. I'm really trying to finish up Dragon Quest III first though, as I know if I start this I may never go back to DQ. I'm really close though, I think I'm on the last step before hitting the final boss lair.

[Paingod]

I've liked titles from Atlus in the past, but am curious if this can be answered:

Is there an element of "relationship" management in the game that takes place outside of combat? Like Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Marvel's Midnight Suns?

Not asking because I like those elements - quite the opposite. A game has to be spectacular otherwise to carry that crap and make me want to deal with it. I stopped playing both games despite really enjoying the combat portions of the game because I just didn't care about which tea someone liked or which mushroom they preferred - but to get the most out of the characters in combat, you need combos you develop by rubbing someone's feet with the right kind of lotion.

[RMC]

I've liked titles from Atlus in the past, but am curious if this can be answered:

Is there an element of "relationship" management in the game that takes place outside of combat? Like Fire Emblem: Three Houses or Marvel's Midnight Suns?

Not asking because I like those elements - quite the opposite. A game has to be spectacular otherwise to carry that crap and make me want to deal with it. I stopped playing both games despite really enjoying the combat portions of the game because I just didn't care about which tea someone liked or which mushroom they preferred - but to get the most out of the characters in combat, you need combos you develop by rubbing someone's feet with the right kind of lotion.

It does have relationships, but they are super easy, they will tell you when you can visit, and level up the relationship. It's not so much a mini-game as it is a decision on what Class you want to expand with the person who provided the class to you. Much easier than the other ATLAS titles, in my opinion.

[Skinypupy]

I'm about 10 hours in and am finding myself mostly just bored with this. The whole Persona/SMT aesthetic isn't my favorite to begin with, and this does very little to change that formula other than give it a more fantasy feel (instead of modern day Japanese teens).

The whole package is very stylish and the story/world are kinda interesting, but the dungeons are boring slogs through really dull-looking zones. I also can never shake the feeling (one that I've had with every one of these type of games) that I'm just not playing it "right". Like there's some unseen observer over my shoulder who consistently says "Wait, you're choosing to do that? Ooh, that's a bad choice that will totally come back to haunt you later."

My guess is that if you already like the Persona and SMT series & style to begin with, you'll really enjoy this one. If you don't, I doubt this game is going to do much to change your mind.

[Scraper]

My guess is that if you already like the Persona and SMT series & style to begin with, you'll really enjoy this one. If you don't, I doubt this game is going to do much to change your mind.

I don't like Persona or SMT but I'm still really enjoying this one. So you're mileage may vary. I don't like those games because of all the character relationship management, but someone else already said Metaphor streamlines those parts.

[Scraper]

I'm about 30 hours in and still loving the game. For those who are unsure at the beginning I recommend getting through the giant sand worm segment and then deciding whether you want to continue or not.

Here's a helpful hint that took me about 25 hours to figure out. You can teleport to any of your acquaintances by hitting the left D pad and selecting them. This works during the free play times and it's a huge time saver. It also helps you figure out who has relationship progression that you can advance.

[YellowKing]

I bought it from Fanatical before it went off sale, as I was finished up with my other two PC RPGS (Dragon Quest III remake and The Thaumaturge).

It was a bit of a gamble, as I'm with Skinypupy on my general dislike of the Persona series (I tried at least 4 times to get into Persona 5 and it failed to grab me every single time). On the other hand, I did enjoy what I saw of the demo in terms of the story, combat, and monster design, so I guess we'll see.

[Scraper]

Here's another tip. Never just go to bed at night unless you have no other options. Most of the time you can head back into town and accomplish something and once you get the teleport ability you can freely travel to any acquaintance like I talked about above and do their story quest if they have one available. This usually works no matter where you are in the game world in comparison to your acquaintance.

[YellowKing]

I finally got in a good session last night and I'm loving it. Finally, a JRPG without a whiny and/or annoying protagonist! All the characters seem more mature so far, and I definitely get the vibe of this being a more "adult" story. The cutscenes definitely have the feel of the darker anime I enjoy the most.

I do like the hybrid real-time overworld combat that transitions to turn-based. Very cool, and keeps you from having to waste turn-based time on trash mobs (unless you really want to).

I definitely understand the feeling of "am I doing this right?" I have no clue if I'm leveling the right attributes right now. But I'm tired of constantly consulting strategy guides and walkthroughs for these types of games - I'm just going to wing it and see what happens. If it's a well-designed game, then it should be difficult if not impossible to bork your character enough to make the game unbeatable. Fingers crossed.

[RMC]

I finally got in a good session last night and I'm loving it. Finally, a JRPG without a whiny and/or annoying protagonist! All the characters seem more mature so far, and I definitely get the vibe of this being a more "adult" story. The cutscenes definitely have the feel of the darker anime I enjoy the most.

I do like the hybrid real-time overworld combat that transitions to turn-based. Very cool, and keeps you from having to waste turn-based time on trash mobs (unless you really want to).

I definitely understand the feeling of "am I doing this right?" I have no clue if I'm leveling the right attributes right now. But I'm tired of constantly consulting strategy guides and walkthroughs for these types of games - I'm just going to wing it and see what happens. If it's a well-designed game, then it should be difficult if not impossible to bork your character enough to make the game unbeatable. Fingers crossed.

I think you can respec at almost any time, so no harm in trying things. I will say some dungeons are better with a certain combination of classes, and I have had to die a few times to figure those out, but once you do, it is much easier.

[Skinypupy]

I think you can respec at almost any time, so no harm in trying things.

While you can respec the Archetypes, you can't respec any of the skill points you assign each level.

[Scraper]

Most of the first classes in each branch level very fast once you hit about the 25 hour mark. It's also worth while to level several classes for each character since you can carry over the unlocked skills to other classes. So I wouldn't worry about "wasting" time by leveling any class.

[Scraper]

About 40 hours in I hit a boss fight that I could not beat. I tried it several times with different classes and strategies. I eventually lowered the difficulty to easy and beat it. Needless to say this game is a bit harder than other recent jrpgs, which I actually appreciate.

[Scraper]

I'm about 5o hours in now and the actual final showdown was just set up. If it's any indication as to how I'm enjoying the game I was really hoping for more time with the game prior to being forced into the final showdown. Luckily you get 30 days between the setup and the forced showdown, which for me was very welcome. After 50 hours I still want to level my characters and prep for the final battle.

[Scraper]

I know I said I was near the final boss fight at 50 hours. But I'm 80 hours in now and I still haven't fought him because I have become obsessed with leveling my characters. I have unlocked their final "Royal" classes and I'm trying to level them up before I take the boss down. Needless to say I really like this game and it's combat.