Metaphor: ReFantazio Steam Charts & Stats

Love it. A much better RPG than the Persona games imo. Much more focus on dungeon delving and combat, and the combat mechanics are actually really fun. Every combat feels like a puzzle, which is how it should be with turn-based RPGs. The story, the characters, and the world are also really great.

So to be clear, I have not finished the game because it was not able to keep my attention until the very end - since ATLUS has quite a big fandom I want to say - for majority of ATLUS fans this game is easily a minimum of 8/10 for me -for the parts I have played myself, it was a solid 6.5/10. I would heavily recommend to play the demo just to see if you enjoy the combat system and general artstyle. Those where for me the best content. What was not really my cup of tea was the story. I had something completly different in mind when I started the game and for me, personally, it turned into a 0815 anime friends story which I did not enjoy at all. Also I did not enjoy the day system which other people of course love. I still highly recommend this game, try it out.

Metaphor : ReFantazio oh what a game this is. If you asked me personally what my game of the year of 2024 I would definitely answer with "Metaphor : Refantazio. While I haven't played other games like Astro bot \ Wukong \ Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth which I assume are also great games but Metaphor is the one that caught my attention for the following reasons : First of all its Atlus and from my experience with their games, you just can't get wrong with them as long as you enjoy this type of games. Second of all I'm a sucker for anime like games And lastly once I saw the gameplay I knew I would fall in love with this game. The question now is what type of game is Metaphor ? Well its a Turn based combat JRPG sounds pretty cliche and simple right ? Anyone who has ever played Persona games or Shin megami know that Atlus never make simple and cliche games while they may add some cliches they utilize it to its fullest potential. Metaphor gameplay is really smart addition to the turn based combat and you will encounter enemies where you will need to research or battle them (and die) a few time to really understand how to beat them (especially end game enemies). The usage of buffs and debuffs and other stuff are really well done here most other game I very rarely used those types of skills but here ? it was necessary. For your information I played on Normal difficulty so I can't even imagine how Hard difficulty must be. As a matter of fact read that some people were frustrated even on easy difficulty when facing those specific enemies where you need to strategy and build the right team as well use the right skills for combat (and sometimes items). Graphics are great played on Steamdeck on dock 90% of the time looks great and runs great but I did encounter a few frame drops here and there (very rarely). Soundtrack amazing as always from Atlus team the music does hit and is enjoyable Story is not perfect but I do liked it for the fact that they payed a lot of attention on Politics \ Religion \ Environment \ Society \ Racism \ Poverty \ Different cultures and misunderstanding \ and building connection. The story might look very obvious from the trailer and what you first see in the game but let me tell you there are some twists and turns that some might be obvious some might not and it was delivered very well. You as the player in order to get stronger must pay attention to your allies and connection with them and once you managed to build them up to the maximum it is really worth it not to mention that each character has its own tale to share with you (specifically the characters that are part of the "Followers" group). You will have to manage you time really well at first glance it seems that it is really restricted but it is not just be smart about it meaning you need to give priority to Followers and you social skills before doing anything else ( I wasted some of my actions on other stuff and because of that didn't managed to complete all the followers levels I was missing 2 days in gameplay wise before being able to do so and that was because I wasted my time on plants which are not important at all and also on cooking before acquiring a really good skill that allows you to cook without wasting time). Buyer know the following things : 1) The tutorial goes for around 6 hours and the game is long you can complete it withing 60- 80 hours but it is recommend to fully experience all it has to offer and thus you can get to 100 hours. 2) Use guides when you are stuck the community is great and don't get frustrated that's how you can learn of new builds and setups (which anyone can do) you don't need to return to the latest save as the game is built so that you can use multiple strategies 3) Prioritize your time on tasks \ followers and improving your social skills its important and if you don't know how look up tutorials for that (but the game does tell you everything you need to know) 4) Boss fight are always beatable the question is how you perform the only issue I found was the extra boss fights that might kill you instantly if you don't read the text and what the npc tell you about it. 5) Don't be afraid to play on Hard or Normal difficulty you can always change it in the middle of the game 6) While the game might seem childish at first glance it is not, there are some really disturbing content here which I will not say cause it will be a spoiler. TL:DR Metaphor is the best game I played in 2024 Excellent in terms of gameplay sound and voice acting Story is great and characters are lovable THERE IS NO ROMANCE HERE just so you know This one is absolutely worth a buy even at full price if you are new to Atlus games look up tips for beginners. 9.5/10 it's been really a long time since I enjoyed a game so much in past couple of years. Those who liked Persona and Shin Megami don't miss this one it's up to your alley just get the game and enjoy it

Great story, great gameplay, great music. Highly recommended!

Fantastic Story, Characters and Gameplay. Must play for JRPG fans!

10/10, probably the best project Atlus has released, absolutely amazing. The story, characters, and combat all very thrilling and well put together. Glad this was made, enjoyed every second of it.

The characters and their social links are amazing, the story is great, and the combat is probably the best it's been for atlus in a long time. Plus it's quite clear that the game wants you to break it's combat which is always fun. Fully recommended

Atlus back at it again with a banger. Unique and relatable characters, Many locations with beautiful views to explore, and a great plot with many twists and turns. One of my favorite takes on turn based combat, it's most similar to Shin Megami Tensei V, another Atlus title. The game was perfect for me on normal difficulty. I died on occasion but never got stuck on a boss, even on the 4 optional bosses at the end of the game didn't take me anymore than 5-6 deaths before I figured out a fool-proof strategy. Kinda CHEESE SPOILER, but i found the strongest strategy in the game to be making Heismay into a dodge tank. Once he's max bond and you can unlock his best ability which is to end the enemies turn anytime he dodges an attack. Giving him Knight's Proclamation from the Knight archetype makes this an extremely effect tactic.

[h1] Fantasy Is Dead [/h1] [h3] An unfinished mess too ambitious for its own good. [/h3] [b] Let me start off by saying I commend Atuls for trying something new and I’m glad people enjoy it. I want Atlus to succeed and make new things. Coming from Persona 4 and 5 however, I found this game to be very flawed and disappointing. I appreciate the risk, but I also have to give honest critique. (Abridged review) [/b] [b] Plot Summary & Criticism: [/b] The story starts off with our nameless protagonist and friends attempting to assassinate Louis. This is to avenge the King and break a deadly curse on the Prince. We never get to know the King nor the Prince prior to nor after these events. Louis attempts to usurp the crown, only to be interrupted when the deceased King shows up in the sky as a disembodied head. He declares that through the King’s royal magic a new ruler will be chosen by the will of the people. You and your friends agree that entering the contest may be the only way to break the Prince’s curse. We then start our journey through Euchronia battling adversaries along the way and work to gain more followers to stay in the race. Despite our interest in breaking the Prince’s curse, we never investigate or find concrete proof of who cast it. Once the Cursed Prince plot is resolved, the story completely loses track of all character goals and motivation for the remainder of the game. [spoiler] We spend 45 out of the total 65 hour long runtime figuring out who cursed the Prince. Despite knowing possible clues we never pursue any. [/spoiler] It’s a “Whodunit” mixed with a morally confused “good vs evil” story. Any meaningful metaphor gets buried under its reluctance to engage in wider systemic critique. The existence of Magla undercuts the metaphor they’re trying to create. None of us seem to have a real motivation to win the competition besides beating Louis, something he points out. It’s only a means to save the Prince from the curse until it no longer isn’t. From here on, the story is left in complete shambles. The story devolves into moral absolutism and self grandeur it has not earned. It attempts to deliver on its high concept ideas, but it’s clear this was beyond the capabilities of the writers. [b] Characters & World Criticism: [/b] The world is mainly contrasted in “Utopia”, a book the protagonist read throughout the game. Utopia describes a version of our world where everything works ideally. However you never seem to internalise or embody any of these ideas. This makes not just the main character, but all his friends forgettable. It very much feels as if they are all written by the same person speaking in different voices. There is very little contrast or discernible qualities to tell them apart. It’s not helped by the fact that despite having talented voice actors they’re all directed to give the same monotone boring delivery. Characters are given nothing to do and no time to bond with you in the story. Their roles could’ve been easily filled by a taxi service and arms for hire. I struggle to connect with characters who seemingly never go through anything or grow throughout the game. Most of their substories are static shots of poorly written dialogue. Most of their issues could've been solved on their own, you didn’t need to be there. It makes them seem helpless cardboard cutouts with no agency. [b] Technical & Graphical Criticism: [/b] The game is an ugly mess, it looks unfinished and unpleasant. Texture assets look like unfinished placeholders, the campsites look like you’re out of bounds, and excessive copy-pasting are just a few issues I have. The cities and boss battles are the graphical highlights, however you'll spend most of the time inside and close up on low quality assets. Even with the update, SMAA does very little to eliminate shimmering and jagged edges. Everything looks like an over-sharpened Switch game. You can usually make out the same 5-6 characters for crowds. Each city serves as a hub with different quests and items with little to no reason for visiting cities later on. They don’t update their stock as you progress meaning cities you’ve been to have worse items in stock and nothing to offer. Scenes are poorly directed, characters mostly stand still doing absolutely nothing and barely emote. The lip sync is terrible and distracting, I honestly prefer looking at the dialogue portraits more than the in-game models. Load times are pretty fast which helps a lot when the game is divided into multiple hubs and smaller sized areas. [b] Balance & Combat: [/b] The game is poorly balanced and the combat underdeveloped. Central mechanics are relegated to missable tutorial prompts and never taught to the player through gameplay. Early game combat is tedious, hours of grinding is required. Every archetype starts at level 1 across characters. There are 47 in total, if you want to experiment you have to grind +300 archetypes. This offers very little flexibility and opportunities early on and can even get you softlocked. This was not an issue in Persona where the main character could freely switch between personas during combat. Had combat been less rigid and unforgiving I would’ve maybe been more favourable to this new weakness based system. Elite Archetypes is a late game unlock that has a ton of contingencies for every character. You’ll barely have time to use it before the end of the game and it will remain unavailable in Ng+ until the same point in the story. Real time combat is admittedly a nice addition! However this is a real pain against stronger enemies who will lunge over great distances and out of view of the camera. This leads to a lot of unfair and frustrating encounters. Bad weather makes it impossible to hit enemy weaknesses making the game unplayable. In order to change the weather, you’ll need to cook Almighty Golden Stew for grown ass man Edeni, even after saving his sister. You can only cook these meals while the Gauntlet Runner is traversing with difficult-to-find ingredients. [b] Menu & UI: [/b] Going from the fantastic menu of Persona 5 where text was readable, had a sense of flow and intuitive layout, the ReFantazio UI is a nightmare. There is a constant fast moving graphic effect on background elements that constantly draws your eyes away from text. Menus look too similar to distinguish and can be very confusing during battles when skills and synthesis look the same to players. It’s a sensory nightmare and exhausting to use. This is style above everything else, it’s not practical or usable. It is snappy, but this only makes it more chaotic and disorienting. [b] Music & Sound: [/b] The OST is quite excellent, Warriors Of Valour being a highlight. There is however only about 2 hours worth of music spread over a nearly 70 hour long game. For comparison, Persona 5R has an 8 hour long soundtrack across 125h of gameplay. I wish the OST was longer and also had more calm tracks, some of them can be quite loud and demanding of the listener. I found myself being fatigued by the constant blaring music, menu and characters talking. This is not the fault of the composer, but rather the game director. I also feel that the mixing is not quite there. I rarely ever mess around with the in-game mixer, but this game is very loud and in your face. Sound design overall is serviceable. I don’t think it does anything impressive or special and is drowned out by the loud music most of the time. [b] Conclusion: [/b] I really wanted to like the game, but it simply has too many issues for me to ignore. I gave it the 100% completion treatment and made sure to learn everything I could to give the game a fair chance. They seem to have completely forgotten many of the previous lessons I thought they’d learned from the Persona franchise. It’s very much two steps back one step forward. I sadly am not excited to see more Metaphors from Atlus any time soon.

the story is great, the quality of life changes are great too coming from persona games. 10/10 would play it just for the story, and please play it on hard difficulty because it makes guarding and defensive abilities actually meaningful to use