Metaphor: ReFantazio - Fantasy Persona has Never Been More Appealing and Engrossing
And I genuinely believe this can easily hold a candle to the amazing Persona 5.
Okay, so metaphor has come out. I initially didn't pay attention to the game when it was announced until about a month ago and I've been waiting since. Then I played the demo and I was absorbed. I couldn't wait for the 11th. Now that it's out and been almost 2 weeks, it's time for me to do a review on this very rare Thursday post.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
Earlier this year I did replay Persona 5 and have already talked about my thoughts on that and Persona 3 here. Those games took a few hours to really get going, I think particularly 5 had a slow burn from the start. Metaphor only took about 4 hours to really get going. Which is several hours shorter than 5. At the end of those 4 hours you get sent into the Grand Cathedral after the whole Royal Palace flies into the fucking sky and the giant face on it decides to start a struggle for claiming the crown and becoming King. That kicks off the real plot and it lit a fire under me to push into the story as quickly as possible while still enjoying things and taking my time.
In Persona 5 the dungeons each have a fantastical element like being a castle, or a Space Station, or a Casino, or a giant Cruise Ship. Metaphor starts with a castle and then a cathedral. They're definitely different locations and have different feels but something I immediately missed was the amazing contrast each dungeon had in Persona 5. There were instant stark personality shifts between dungeons that Metaphor does not have. I think a lot of this has to do with the setting, Metaphor has a rather interesting setting from the get-go and literally has a giant rock in the sky with a face on it staring down at you. The fantastical element doesn't come from the dungeons because the whole world is fantasy already. its something I find interesting but I do miss Persona 5 having such stark differences in the dungeons. If anything the game shows me the developers are definitely capable of making large dungeons that, while definitely having different feels, also still have similarities due to the nature of the world and interesting structures. Whether or not this is preferred is purely subjective. It'd be weird for a fantasy game to have a space station after all. I personally enjoy it though, I like seeing the developers flex their narrative World setting muscles with such a different setting than Persona games.
Once the story really starts to get going there is more variance in both main quest design and dungeon structure and themes. One small one is even the intestines of a Human, another is a holy temple that ends up leading you to a skyscraper in Shinjuku (more on that later). The thing about the dungeon structure that stood out to me immediately is it just feels larger than in Persona 5. For instance, what's particularly obvious are the ceilings, they are so so high up. Obviously this is for the gameplay and the camera, but it definitely makes the dungeons feel less realistic. They reminded me more of Persona 5 Strikers in that they're still carefully designed, but more...hollow. Meanwhile, the side quest dungeons remind me a bit of Elden Ring in that they are all rather similar, with slight color variance and the occasional forest, and have a boss you are searching for and some chests to open. Plus there are mimics and that is not something I expected but did enjoy.
The story was incredibly intriguing for me, I really liked the idea of changing the world of theocracy for the better. And the consistent introduction of new characters from different tribes makes you start to genuinely care for the world around your characters, and genuinely want to make it better for them. There's also an interesting story device where the main character carries around a fantasy book which is based on our world. Each companion comments, reads, and enjoys the world the book puts forth and hope that through their work, they're able to make their world into something better and similar to the portrayal of our world the book puts forth. I think it's an interesting way to connect the player to the setting and allow them to understand the tremendous problems with the setting of the game. The book is of course, a utopian ideal of our world that is not at all accurate, but its something that we in the real world often strive for so I think it's a good way to introduce specific concepts to our party members.
But as I've talked about in most of my posts, something that I really care about is the feel of the game. I want it to be fun to play. Metaphor is a hell of a step forward from Persona 5. Now there's some real time combat for weaker enemies, which makes going through the dungeons immensely more fun and faster. But when you actually get into the turn based combat, there are also a lot of better gameplay decision than Persona 5. Particularly, the turn counter. Something that pissed me off in both Persona 5, Persona 3 Reload, and Persona 4 Golden was me not knowing how many actions the enemies get. I genuinely hated the feeling of playing the game and the enemy getting 5 fucking actions without me necessarily knowing why. I understand they did this for balance, but the number was inconsistent and just plain annoying. So with Metaphor, it counts how many actions you as a team and the enemy team have for their turns. Its an amazing feature and I hope it gets brought into Persona 6 because I can't imagine going back to not knowing how many actions the enemy has. The game also has the same easy mode that I play on because I'm terrible at turn based games, that allows me to try my best and when I inevitably die I don't have to redo a bunch of progress and fail at the same combat encounter again and again. This is one of the best accessibility settings I've ever experienced and I'm so glad it made its way to Metaphor, I just wish more games had it, like Yakuza.
Another amazing progression in gameplay from Persona 5 is that the skills you have (Courage, Wisdom, Tolerance, Eloquence, and Imagination) all actually show you the progress you're making towards the next level. Something I genuinely hated about the Persona games was that I never knew how much I was progressing my skills. I found myself often thinking "how many more study sessions do I have until I level up my Knowledge? 3? 5? 8? Is it better to just power through a couple and hope I'm almost there? Or should I spend time with a confidant?" I thought this about every single skill and it was infuriating and one of the most annoying parts of all the Persona games I've played. Metaphor has fixed this and I am incredibly thankful and also hope this makes its way to Persona 6, because otherwise I'm just gonna feel cheated that the developers know it's more satisfying to know how you're progressing, but decided against showing it.
Metaphor is an amazing leap in the developers ability for creating a satisfying, rewarding, and enjoyable game that isn't as confusing as past iterations. But something I began to think was that it was marketed as a 100 hr RPG and it is not that. Its still an amazing game and still long, 50 hours, but it is not the 100 hours that was advertised. i maxed my skills, my follower social links, leveled up to level 90, mastered all archetypes, and did all the side quests I could find (although I didn’t get the achievement so I likely missed a couple). It was all thoroughly enjoyable but about 3/4 of the way through I thought "am I already nearing the end at only 35 hours?" This made me think of Cyberpunk 2077. The game's single player campaign was only about 27 hours, a decent length, but wasn't anywhere near the Witcher 3 length. Now, Cyberpunk wasn't advertised as being the same length, in fact it was advertised as shorter since the Witcher 3 apparently had a drop off of the amount of people that actually finished it. I can only assume Metaphor is somewhat similar but it was still advertised as the same length as Persona 5 and my first run through of that was 80 or so hours.
Part of this is probably that I played on the easiest difficulty. Obviously this meant that I didn’t have any gruelingly long battles (except that one dragon that only takes almighty damage, that was awful) and didn't have to redo any of the game when I died, but I wouldn't have thought it took that much time off the game. Another example of the length being miscommunicated in the marketing is that Persona 5 lasted from April to December. Metaphor: ReFantazio lasts from June to October. Honestly I think this is my only issue with the game, that it wasn't as long as I had hoped. Thankfully, I finished it in time for me to write about it today, and in time for me to be able to not have to worry about splitting my time between it and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. But I still wish it had been longer.
Speaking of the ending, sort of, I want to summarize and talk about it so word of warning. I will not post any screenshots in this section.
Begin Ending Spoilers
Okay, first off, it turns out after playing for so long to try and save the prince, that you actually ARE the prince. That was not something I personally expected but it was a pretty cool moment, although i started to come to the realization just a few minutes before. I always appreciate when a game can hide something like that long enough. Then once you've found that out you are told that this world that our characters exist in is something that came about post the real world where differences lead to mass conflict and end of the world once magic was discovered. This lead to magic permeating the land and transforming all humankind to be the tribes we see in the game. A twist that I kinda guessed back when we visit Shinjuku in the Dragon Temple. Although I got parts of it wrong.
And then you also find out that Louis is also Eldan and has simply been trying to end the Clemar monarchy because of the terrible things they did to the Elda, something that makes sense when the monarchy burns your town and kills your family. Not only that, he intends to force all people to transform into humans through royal magic and go full "strongest survive" with it by allowing those that can't handle the transformation to die. That way Louis can rule a country of the strong. And he also intends to go through MULTIPLE of these cullings just to be sure. Such a genocidal asshole. Although he insists it is not injustice to go through those cullings.
Anyway, then you discover, after tearing out your real heart, that More is your father. Or at least the ideals of your father before he lost his wife and son, your mother and you. Then you refuse to accept that your world is a fantasy and that our world is the reality and we wake up,, having healed from the heart ripping, with the party members, that we have come to love, around you. Then, like all Persona games that have come before it, you fight a fucking massive godlike enemy, which is Louis turned into a Human.
Once defeated, dawn breaks and you discover the King archetype and do away with Louis once and for all in an amazing anime cutscene that mildly reminded me of the end of Persona 5 when Joker says "Begone" to the Holy Grail. Not quite as impactful, but still amazing, just in a different way. Then you are coronated as the new King.
I thought this would be the end but nope, you fast forward by a year! You get some quick exposition from no names about some of what has happened in the last year, like Heismay leading the royal guard and Junah being the headmaster of the Magic Academy. Then you get to wonder the city and after talking with all your party members, the game ends with a tease for a sequel with you and your party leaving the capital for their next adventure except this time, Maria is coming along.
Honestly, I loved the ending. All of it. The reveals, the moments where I thought it was gonna end or lead into something else, the last bit of being able to wonder the city to speak one last time with your party members, and then the heartwarming feeling of seeing the party embarking on their next journey. The game ended with a bang and I loved it.
End Ending Spoilers
The game provides a deep world and story for the players to enjoy. It provides interesting characters to get to know, skills to develop, significant investment for your time with archetype mastery unlocking some incredibly useful skills, and an experience that in many ways is better than Persona 5. Now, obviously Persona is the series Metaphor will be compared to the most and at the end of the day, it is definitely just fantasy Persona. But that doesn’t mean it's bad. If anything I actually enjoyed having that newness to this formula that provides some very interesting dynamics. Particularly with the focus on discrimination and how the system is systemically designed to favor certain people. Its a rather interesting portrayal that wouldn't really fit into a Persona game.
The director says he thinks games can help improve people and I fundamentally agree. The game shows through the political struggle of all the tribes for acceptance that a society of equality is worth fighting for. That no one is inherently more deserving of power, or riches, or being treated like a person. That we are all connected and even though we might look different, we are still one people deserving of rights and respect. Rights that we should fight for.
Overall. The game is an amazing experience that makes you interested from the start and something that I cannot recommend enough. As of now, this is my own personal Game of the Year. But that might be outdone by Dragon Age: The Veilguard on the 31st. If you are considering getting it, and loved Persona 5 like me, just take the leap and get it. It might not be as long as you'd expect if you play on an easier difficulty, but it's still amazing, worthwhile, and has a message that a lot of people should experience. Go out and buy it.
Meow,
Cat