Metaphor: ReFantazio

[h1] Studio 0 First game [/h1] For those unaware, this is a new dev division spun off from alumni from within ATLUS. Much of their staff came from the older people of P-Studio (Who developed Persona) who wished to move on from Persona and make new IP. [h1] A Darker Story but... [/h1] Much of Metaphor was written as a critque of modern society and explores still relevant themes such as class divide, wealth inequality, racism, etc. As someone who played though persona's exploration of the human condition (I.E remember you can die in P3, our perception of truth in P4, rebellion against society and our place in it in P5) it was quite refreshing to see a ATLUS take on society. After all, the monters are called "humans", the word "utopia" is mentioned multiple times, and the location [spoiler] Dragonshine Shinjuku [/spoiler] at around the midpoint of the game is pratically screming commentary of society. [h1] No real follow though [/h1] However, Metaphor exploration of its themes are really quite surface level. Despite such good world building, metaphor never really writes any concequences to the dark theme and therefore fails to properly explore it to its full potential The social links try their best to explore mature themes but ultimately fall to (in my opinion) quite anime tropy writting where all the problems are eventually handwaved away. Its almost as if the writters chickened out in the end. For example in Catherine's social link: [spoiler] She starts of with the main idea of eating the rich and graudally realises that this is to extreme. Her solution to this is work training for their paprius (dog people). When the NPC say to her that no one who hire the the paprius for decent work due to racism, she links them up with a businessman whos' not racist [/spoiler] But the social link never really explores the concequences of inequality and how explotative work pratices are carried out, why they occur, and how racism sometimes plays a role in labour. There are some good social links who actually had something worth reading, but most of the links which explore the darker themes usually go like this: Introduce a good meaning but misinformed strawman argument who was wronged by a problem > Show flaws in their arguement > show solution There's never any actual decent exploration on WHY THESE PROBLEMS EXIST, HOW THEY IMPACT PEOPLE, and the surrounding cirumstances. [h1] Combat [/h1] Its the press turn system which is still really fun to play. For those unaware, attacks take up turn icons, hitting a weakness or a crit refunds half a turn. Half turn icons do not refund icons. Dodging or blocking attacks drains double turn icons, and repelling attacks ends the turn. This applies to both you and enemies so building into dodge tanks or repel tanks works well unlike some JRPGs. You have your standard ATK/DEF/AGI buffs which affect DPS, DMG taken, and dodge and hit chance. Plenty of skills that buff and debuf, apply repel of any affinity, etc. Where its intresting is Metahpor's synthsis system, where if you have the right Archetypes in your party allow you to perform attacks that take up multiple turn icons. This allows Studio 0 to balance the game in intresting ways that they might not be able to in SMT or persona. However, this system does make combat awarkard at times, becuase early game synth skills are usually just stronger version of your normal skills or modified to hit multiple enemies and DPS will be lacking if you fail to take advantage, which may be hard if you misbuild your team. Combat starts in the "overworld" as a real time action brawer, although a very simplistic one. If you are about 3-4 ish levels above the enemies, your attacks outright kill them. If you are equal or lower, your attack builds up a stun meter which eventually stuns them. You can then press the Y buttion (on xbox) to start turn based combat in which you open with some major damage on the monsters. If the enemies hit you, they start their turn first. If you start turn based combat within stunning them, you deal no damange but start your turn first. [h1] Overall thoughts [/h1] It's good but there's a reason this wasn't GOTY at jeff's show and i think it shows. The story is a bit overrated but i appriciate how it tries. Its a solid 9-8/10 and def worth a playthough, and another one after you forget everything in a few years.

has eupha

Krazy game, Krazy dev, Krazy me 10/10 gameplay 10/10 characters 10/10 visual Live Love Brigitta

fantastic game and story. hightly recomend if you like turn based RPG's

Hulkenberg nuff said

You’re a metaphor, they're a metaphor, I’m a metaphor. Are there any other metaphors I should know about? Great game, the story is marvelous and I was hooked. If I had to explain it in a few words to get someone to try it, “Persona-esque recency-era with racism and existential hierarchy." The story does go down with what you can consider a traditional fairytale concept but literally. That is also a very good way to describe the game, which is the whole point. “It’s a metaphor, there are character archetypes, it appears as a romantic cliche of a fantasy novel but with a twist.” It is a very lore packed world and is self-aware, even makes a few jokes about it sometimes. It has a massive amount of stuff going on in the background and a very convenient little book that fills as you progress the game. This little book even has some things that go into more detail and updates. Some of these things you can miss and encourage you to talk to NPC’s. Also, these NPC’s have a lot to say, changing dialogue with the current events. It also has a very helpful way of showing you who you have and haven’t talked to. I was so interested in what people had to say that any time I got a cutscene I was running around and looking to see what people had to say about it. A game that has me going around to learn “what’s the tea” is NPC’s done right. The characters are also interesting to watch grow and triumph the conflicts they overcome. The game also takes out the guesswork of how you talk to them as your bonds are guaranteed to rank up, so long as you spend your time with them and have the stats needed to continue. The small fights you undertake with them also show just how much they grow through the story. It's well done in my opinion. And if you must know, Basilio is my favorite, And the *monsters*. I *love* monster design and while there are the classics (slimes, ghosts, birds, goblins) they look so unique compared to the standard you have in other games. Gritty, dark, serious, when I first encountered a slime I was so shocked by how it looked. AND THE MIMICS! The mimics are the most fascinating takes on monster chests I have *ever* seen! And most of the monsters are all considered average fauna in this game. These are just natural animals going about their business unless the characters say otherwise. I could go on but I’d be making this too long. So let me go over the battle play. Much like many Atlus JRPG games it can be very grindy if you want to unlock everything you can as soon as you can but not entirely necessary. And even then, certain Archetypes make it go much faster than it could’ve. The battle system is Persona and it does take some assets from Persona 5. There are sound effects that I could swear are just ripped from the game. But I didn’t notice more than two so it gets a pass. My critique is that certain skill and item descriptions can be a little confusing and could have been translated or worded better. Late game you can fight bosses that if you planned your builds right, you can wipe them in a single turn, even on hard mode. New Game+ offers a harder difficulty but if you over-achieve on your first playthrough, it’s also a breeze. Overall, positive review and I encourage you to play it. Oh, and of course there's references. There's enough Easter-Eggs in here there may as well be a resurrection.

Отличная игра, но чтож японцы так затягивают их?

ô final dificil da porra hein mano