Metaphor: ReFantazio Impressions - High Fantasy Persona

[CriticalGaming]

Its kinda weird seeing someone have that reaction to another atlus game cause that's exactly how I felt with P5, the main character is a blank slate with no story to speak of and the main story is disconnect from what you do playing it.

Well I would argue that you get enough information from him via the opening cutscene where he saves a girl from being raped and is blackballed out into a new school and town. Additionally the "blank slate" is a benefit because with the RPG choices you can use the opening cutscene to as a starting point for how you wanna RP him.

The main character in Metaphor is not a blank slate. Which I dont know why they let you name him because it's totally pointless. But regardless he isn't a blank slate, he is voice acted, has his own personality, and even a backstory....probably eventually. There in lies the issue in that they've clearly got a whole story for him but I'm like 20 hours in now and I don't know shit about him other than vague little things.

It's so exceptionally poorly told that I feel like I'm taking crazy pills seeing people praise this game. Much the same way people praised FF16 when that story is fucking garbage! Yet people are out here simping for characters that suuuuuuuuuuck. I dont get it, I don't understand what the fuck is happening right now. Have we gone so long since something came out with a good story that anything half-way competent is something to go crazy for?

 

[Dreiko]

Btw the protag's canon name is Will, they let you name him but he does have a name too.


And yeah the game just takes a ton of crazy turns and twists left and right with the plot as it unfolds once it gets going, and is a really big game too. Like the default combat is with 4 party members but you don't even get a fourth up until nearly 30 hours in.

I just got the 7th party member who I did not see coming and found a bunch of answers which only ask more questions, nearly 80 hours in. It's kinda hard to talk about it without spoiling but yeah a lot of stuff eventually makes sense.

 

[CriticalGaming]

Btw the protag's canon name is Will, they let you name him but he does have a name too.


And yeah the game just takes a ton of crazy turns and twists left and right with the plot as it unfolds once it gets going, and is a really big game too. Like the default combat is with 4 party members but you don't even get a fourth up until nearly 30 hours in.

I just got the 7th party member who I did not see coming and found a bunch of answers which only ask more questions, nearly 80 hours in. It's kinda hard to talk about it without spoiling but yeah a lot of stuff eventually makes sense.

So is it a pacing issue? Like does the game just have an obnoxious slow burn that runs longer than what's usual for a Persona game?

 

[Dreiko]

So is it a pacing issue? Like does the game just have an obnoxious slow burn that runs longer than what's usual for a Persona game?

If anything people are praising the pacing here, for them it's more that it has more dungeon crawling and few socializing elements I think. A lot of the side quests are you actually fighting stuff as opposed to having coffee or going out for karaoke or something, but they give you kingly traits anyways. But the plot isn't really fast or slow, there's just a lot that transpires, you think you're out of the fire but you're just tossed into the inferno right away mutiple times and it layers on top of eachother. And after every end of deadline boss a new big thing always happens that sends you off in another segment of the quest that's different.

But yeah I am a terrible person to ask for pacing issues cause I always held that if you have a long enough session of anything you won't feel pacing issues, and this game has been my recent time-vanisher where a minimum session is like 7 hours long. Even some things like one piece which apparently are notoriously complained about due to their pacing I found fine by just simply not doing the one episode per week thing, and instead amassing a ton of episodes and marathoning them. I think I did nearly 400 episodes in a single month a while back lol. No way to have pace issues when you're watching for 12 hours a day lol. Which actually reminds me I'm due for another one of those at some point. I got over 300 eps to go.




Ultimately I just never felt any slow burns here, I just burned through them engrossed in the gameplay probably.

 

[Dreiko]

Just beat the game at just over 123 hours. Man, this was kinda perfect all the way to the end. Extremely satisfying. The epilogue was so masterful. It really felt rewarding doing your best for the people.

Also the gameplay goes super nuts when you unlock the final archetypes. I hit a boss for 42.000 damage once lol. And I'm playing on hard too. Suffice it to say, you can make some really strong team compositions.


Also while the ending is extremely satisfying it also has room for a sequel. Apparently there's other lands beyond the sea. With the way this game is selling it may not be impossible for us to get another one at some point.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Hades]

Seems all very fine. Not really exiting since it really IS just Persona in another setting, but its not like there's anything wrong with that. I LIKE the game for being Persona in another setting. I also like the setting is not quite so medieval as people keep saying. The capitol honestly seems more like a 19th century city than a 9th century one. More FMA than Shield Hero.

It has some negatives. Sometimes the writing fumbles in regard to racism. You're supposed to be at the absolute bottom of the social chain but the game doesn't act like it. Sure you have rude NPC's, but then you have a sidequest where someone is of a race so oppressed he isn't even allowed to visit shops. But you know who is allowed to visit shops? YOU! The one at the bottom of the social chain. Whether its shop based discrimination, creepy experiments or using one's race to frame them for crime it always happens to people supposedly far higher on the social chain then you are. Also its a good thing I don't care about graphics because this game has visuals only its mother would love.

And are you playing it in English or what? Cause Galica is a darling. Her localization just made her annoying for no reason but in JP she's very sweet and considerate

English Galica is fucking awesome, you shall speak of her with respect.

 

[Dreiko]

Seems all very fine. Not really exiting since it really IS just Persona in another setting, but its not like there's anything wrong with that. I LIKE the game for being Persona in another setting. I also like the setting is not quite so medieval as people keep saying. The capitol honestly seems more like a 19th century city than a 9th century one. More FMA than Shield Hero.

It has some negatives. Sometimes the writing fumbles in regard to racism. You're supposed to be at the absolute bottom of the social chain but the game doesn't act like it. Sure you have rude NPC's, but then you have a sidequest where someone is of a race so oppressed he isn't even allowed to visit shops. But you know who is allowed to visit shops? YOU! The one at the bottom of the social chain. Whether its shop based discrimination, creepy experiments or using one's race to frame them for crime it always happens to people supposedly far higher on the social chain then you are. Also its a good thing I don't care about graphics because this game has visuals only its mother would love.



English Galica is fucking awesome, you shall speak of her with respect.

You may not have played enough in the story but Erda are not "low in the social order" but more like "an evil race people are not sure is even real, that their religion has brainwashed them to think it is an evil race with a cursed power". So it's actually not really racism but more like the caste system in India where someone is the untouchable, but with an added demonic aspect from christianity attached to them. Seeking american concepts of racism in Metaphor is an exercise in futility. The closest thing to that is going to be found with regards to the Paripus folks (the beastkins with fox tails), not your race.


And I speak Japanese but play with english text so I can tell you for sure that English Galica's text is mistranslated to have her sound more bossy and mean-spirited and less warm and cheerful throughout the entire game. This is no debate. She's still a good char of course but I was responding to someone who found her annoying with these remarks, trying to figure out why, and he was playing in English in fact.

 

[BrawlMan]

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[Hades]

One thing I find disappointing in that this and Persona 5, both Atlus' ''political'' jrpg they take the cop out that the public you're saving isn't really cheering on the obvious criminal on their own accord, but that they're influenced by weird magic. This was already adorably optimistic in 2016 with Shido, and all the more so in 2024 with Louis. It also detracts from both villains.

On his own Shido's kinda bland, but he resonates because at that time politicians just like him cropped up anywhere. That's more relatable then Cognative magic. And the game's setting is such a hellhole that there need not be any magic related reason why Louis would sweep.

 

[Dreiko]

One thing I find disappointing in that this and Persona 5, both Atlus' ''political'' jrpg they take the cop out that the public you're saving isn't really cheering on the obvious criminal on their own accord, but that they're influenced by weird magic. This was already adorably optimistic in 2016 with Shido, and all the more so in 2024 with Louis. It also detracts from both villains.

On his own Shido's kinda bland, but he resonates because at that time politicians just like him cropped up anywhere. That's more relatable then Cognative magic. And the game's setting is such a hellhole that there need not be any magic related reason why Louis would sweep.

Lous is only using the magic near the end parts where he usurps the royal spell, before that his support was legitimate entirely. And he did it as a last resort to him feeling he might lose. So by that point the public had already spoken, you just kinda needed to take that extra step and safeguard their choice. But before that part, he really did use fear and anxiety to control people's emotions. That's entirely on them. And this is kinda spoilers but once you learn the function of the royal spell you can't really say it absolves the people in any way. In fact it's quite the opposite.