Is Metaphor: ReFantazio worth playing?

[Viviana Santos]

So, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a JRPG developed by Atlus and released last year, it was developed by the same team that created the modern trilogy of the Persona series and Catherine. It was also directed by Katsura Hashino (the director of the modern Persona trilogy and Catherine)

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Some people here may already know this, but I'm not a big fan of Katsura Hashino, I have nothing against him, I really like Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3 and Catherine (games directed by Hashino).

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But at the same time I don't like Persona 4 and I HATE Persona 5, Persona 5 is a game I despise deeply and it killed my faith in Atlus, the latest games Atlus developed that I played (such as SMT IV Apocalypse and Soul Hackers 2) were pretty shit (I never played SMT V btw). However, I saw that Metaphor received a lot of praise from critics and the public.

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However, I don't really trust the reviews of video game journalists because many video game journalists have praised Persona 4 and 5. and I also don't have much faith in modern Atlus as a game developer.

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So, that's why I want to hear the opinions of RGT users who have played and finished Metaphor.

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Is Metaphor really a good game? Does the game have a well-written story and characters? Does it not contradict its message and themes, unlike Persona 4 and 5?

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

I would like to know too as I never saw the price lower than 40% off and that's also a steep price.

 

[Zarathusta]

Yea lt is though its very long l like it a lot more then persona 5.

 

[Faust03]

I like the monk chanting in esperanto in the soundtrack
I also checked out the demo, it was also alright

 

[RetroGameUser25]

There is a free demo you could try and see if it grabs you. But its one of my favourite games of all time now. I thought it had great characters, music and narrative and art design and voice acting.

 

[Gingers]

I got bored of it pretty quickly and I really like Persona and even beat Tokyo Mirage Sessions (possibly my favorite out of them all). Story is neat, but I didn't like how limited you are with elemental attacks. Didn't really care for the characters at all either. Maybe it's a slow burn, but I'm not waiting for this cardboard manlet to become king.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

There is a free demo you could try and see if it grabs you. But its one of my favourite games of all time now. I thought it had great characters, music and narrative and art design and voice acting.

50 GB demo, nice.

 

[RetroGameUser25]

50 GB demo, nice.

Demo has the opening part and some early dungeons and cutscenes hence why it's big.

 

[Netra]

Nope, this game have a lot of problems for the price they want to us to pay for it.
If we divide the game in three parts I can say the first one is great, a very good start to be hyped by the world building.

In the second part you start to see the problems, disgusting grinding, God forgive you if you want to build your characters to play in a certain way because the game will punish you with more grinding to correct your choices to what is optimal.
If you like the storytelling and world building until now sorry to tell you It all falls apart almost immediately because everyone forgets to act as if these racial issues and conflicts of interest actually exist. Everything they tell you at the beginning feels like filler to shove text in your face to fill hours of "gameplay".

And for the last part I can't imagine a way to do the things worst, they extended a confrontation that should have ended in the first hour of this third part.
Not to mention how annoying the final fight is and how forced many of the sacrifices are. I just don't forgive them the deus ex machina in the end to save the one who sacrifices themselves, a total disappointment of a game.

PD: sorry for my broken english is 3:55 and I'm in the way to home before a double shift.

 

[Cantarella]

Thought the intro was pretty wild.

After that, it feels like junk in the same way modern Persona titles are. Style, which this time I didn't really gel with, and not much beneath the surface. The systems, writing, characters, even the... music all feels like a proof of concept to me.

Post automatically merged: Thursday at 8:20 AM

Is Metaphor really a good game? Does the game have a well-written story and characters? Does it not contradict its message and themes, unlike Persona 4 and 5?

Oh, I should add. So, it absolutely does this. the defining trait of persona now, where you are allowed to be revolutionary and rebellious as long as you don't rebel too hard and eventually just conform to the status quo anyway. Somehow, it feels slightly less offensive in this medieval world, and there's nothing quite like how P5/4 treat gay people, but yeah.

 

[BigTony]

So, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a JRPG developed by Atlus and released last year, it was developed by the same team that created the modern trilogy of the Persona series and Catherine. It was also directed by Katsura Hashino (the director of the modern Persona trilogy and Catherine)

---

Some people here may already know this, but I'm not a big fan of Katsura Hashino, I have nothing against him, I really like Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3 and Catherine (games directed by Hashino).

---

But at the same time I don't like Persona 4 and I HATE Persona 5, Persona 5 is a game I despise deeply and it killed my faith in Atlus, the latest games Atlus developed that I played (such as SMT IV Apocalypse and Soul Hackers 2) were pretty shit (I never played SMT V btw). However, I saw that Metaphor received a lot of praise from critics and the public.

---

However, I don't really trust the reviews of video game journalists because many video game journalists have praised Persona 4 and 5. and I also don't have much faith in modern Atlus as a game developer.

---

So, that's why I want to hear the opinions of RGT users who have played and finished Metaphor.

---

Is Metaphor really a good game? Does the game have a well-written story and characters? Does it not contradict its message and themes, unlike Persona 4 and 5?

I lost all faith in Atlus after persona 5

 

[anAccount5]

Basically it is worth playing to see glimpses of what the game would've been. It is an enjoyable game that was meant to be much more, in a sort of Final Fantasy XV way. Just looking at the ambitious nature of the cover art, it kind of hints at how much of "project re:fantazio" they couldn't fit in. I'd say it's about 60-70% of a unique vision, and they filled the rest with a bit of the persona formula slop.

Spoiler: Plot Spoiler

a point in the game where it is both an etrian odyssey reference dungeon and also a major plot twist with cinematics done in a style seen nowhere else in the game which felt very powerful, but soon after none of that is really ever revisited again. So again, another example of enjoyable but incomplete.

Towards the end the antagonist Louis' arc which is tied to the protagonist's arc is done sloppily in my opinion, he goes from a respectable rival to suddenly a run off the mill Persona final boss where your last minute Persona 5 Satanael deus ex machina slays him very anticlimactically.

It is a beautiful game of course, like the persona series except the backgrounds are fine art inspired. If you pay attention the skies in each hub town display different art styles, impressionism in the castle town. Post-impressionist in the harbor town. etc. The soundtrack may be the best of 2024, one of the very enjoyable and unique aspects of the game as it's done in a fake "latin-esque" language to my understanding like how the Nier soundtrack does things.

For me, I always enjoyed playing DS games in it's limited capacity, seeing what lore and pieces of the game they hint at which couldn't be fit in. Things that could/might be which you will never truly know. So in that way, I enjoy playing Metaphor.

Anyways that's my two cents, I give it a 85/100, if you enjoy looking at art pieces from the Louvre give it a try.

 

[Rox00]

Honestly as someone who's was more into P3/Nocturne than his later works, I do really like Metaphor a lot as it hits a lot of spots for me in terms of the fantasy setting alongside enjoying the gameplay a ton (I really like grinding in games like FF V and having the 100% team).

I can definitely see when the flaws are there and they are apparent but I found the experience to be much more positive compared to the negatives, far from a perfect game looking back months later but I'd still recommend it, just know it's a real long experience and it's a slow burn.

 

[Yousef]

So, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a JRPG developed by Atlus and released last year, it was developed by the same team that created the modern trilogy of the Persona series and Catherine. It was also directed by Katsura Hashino (the director of the modern Persona trilogy and Catherine)

---

Some people here may already know this, but I'm not a big fan of Katsura Hashino, I have nothing against him, I really like Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3 and Catherine (games directed by Hashino).

---

But at the same time I don't like Persona 4 and I HATE Persona 5, Persona 5 is a game I despise deeply and it killed my faith in Atlus, the latest games Atlus developed that I played (such as SMT IV Apocalypse and Soul Hackers 2) were pretty shit (I never played SMT V btw). However, I saw that Metaphor received a lot of praise from critics and the public.

---

However, I don't really trust the reviews of video game journalists because many video game journalists have praised Persona 4 and 5. and I also don't have much faith in modern Atlus as a game developer.

---

So, that's why I want to hear the opinions of RGT users who have played and finished Metaphor.

---

Is Metaphor really a good game? Does the game have a well-written story and characters? Does it not contradict its message and themes, unlike Persona 4 and 5?

As someone who adores persona, is a bit whatever smt and would absolutely love more persona stuff I’d say; nah, don’t bother, game’s boring as hell.

 

[qw90700]

Okay. To make a point first I'll mention why people liked Persona 4 and Persona 5.

Persona 4 has a thing for interesting you with small town vibes and murder mystery. When I like Twin Peaks and I have a specific interest for murder mystery the game from the start hooked me up. But I even say that the murder mystery felt flat and lost my insterest too soon. However perhaps why Persona 4 is a good game is in the way how characters interract with each other and honestly these character dynamic make you feel happy because lots of fun stuff happens. Perhaps this is why I like certain RPGs despite I dislike them as a video game. In the end Persona 4 stopped being a game for me, I just wanted to keep having fun with what funny and heart-warming situations going on with Persona 4. I felt the similar thing when I played Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. When characters are interesting, realistic, feels "really alive" and when they are "larger than life" it always makes you hooked up to RPGs despite you may dislike rest of the game and gameplay is not fun at all. Persona 4 gameplay is boring and I wish there was a way to skip the dungeons.

However Persona 5 is a very different game. All characters feels empty and what they do doesn't feel natural as how Persona 4 is, it's more like someone tried to copy Persona 4 but had no idea why Persona 4 was liked. Everything in the game feels fake regarding what characters does, how they behave. For example in Persona 4 the natural friendship that happened makes sense, but in Persona 5 it doesn't make sense that characters act so close to each other. They are not well written at all. But why Persona 5 is liked? As an art form it's peak in video gaming as visual style, soundtrack and better way of using Carl Jung's ideas and turn them into an art form so the story and situations are deep and different in good way. Other than these, if you have no thing for psychology and have no care of Kaitou Kid-like video game only reason you would be interested in the game is how cool it's and school kid simulator aspects.

As for Metaphor: ReFantazio, honestly the game seems like some random kid really loved Persona 5 as in visual style and tried to copy-paste that style but failed miserably. Visual arts-wise it's so bad, everything just hurts your eyes. It's like the game is a kid trying to be a wannabe cooler person. Other than these the game is more like a visual novel way worse than Persona 5. For example Persona 4 had great harmony between visual novel and gameplay aspects. You didn't have to read much. But Persona 5 make you read same texts over and over again as people talk a lot and say lots of obvious reasons. They felt like for whatever happens characters has to talk about it and this is why I skipped conversations in Persona 5 a lot. At least in Persona 4 people talked but it was interesting, funny, heart-warming, cool, informative, et cetera. In Persona 5 people talk to talk. In Metaphor: ReFantazio they clearly wanted to develop a visual novel but they decided to add gameplay aspects at last minute. Gameplay is bad, you get stuck in places just because you cannot jump in the game. The whole game is a huge fan service to Japanese people. Lots of characters talks and talks, and talks and then the talk but they saying nothing. The issue is not empty conversation or they drag it a lot when they can be concise. They just talk like a headless chicken to make you enjoy the act of reading as how some visual novels are. As a game it's a game and generic one at it. It try to be cool as much as Persona 5 but it cannot be. I have lots to say about the game but I'll keep short and will say everything about the game developed badly but if you like its style and how different it looks like you would like it. However this is not a game "as you play it you'll like it more game" as much as Persona 4, instead you will dislike Metaphor: ReFantazio and as you go you will hate your whole existence for lol. The whole game is like trying to like a food that make you wanna puke as you eat it. No flavor or something that comes later to make you enjoy your experience. For example Persona 5 gets "bigger than it was" as you play it but in Metaphor: ReFantazio the quality drops when already the game had no quality to begin with. Even its graphics are so bad due to style choice it hurts your eyes eventually.

 

[Tonberry]

It’s very heavily inspired by a book called Utopia, the game becomes way cooler if you know about that story beforehand.

I haven’t played it more than a few hours, but I watched my brother play the whole thing. There are some narrative concepts that are really fucking cool that I don’t think any game ever has done better, but they show up pretty late, and they’re spoilers.
The way they explain magic is so fucking sick though, and is kind of how I view it IRL, but that too would kind of be a spoiler.

Game is your typical Atlus fare but the themes surrounding it are mostly great.

Great art design, too. But it seems very love/hate depending on who you ask. Very cool and outlandish, the mix between medieval fantasy and 60s contemporary fashion is very interesting.

 

[Rorisu]

So, Metaphor: ReFantazio is a JRPG developed by Atlus and released last year, it was developed by the same team that created the modern trilogy of the Persona series and Catherine. It was also directed by Katsura Hashino (the director of the modern Persona trilogy and Catherine)

---

Some people here may already know this, but I'm not a big fan of Katsura Hashino, I have nothing against him, I really like Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3 and Catherine (games directed by Hashino).

---

But at the same time I don't like Persona 4 and I HATE Persona 5, Persona 5 is a game I despise deeply and it killed my faith in Atlus, the latest games Atlus developed that I played (such as SMT IV Apocalypse and Soul Hackers 2) were pretty shit (I never played SMT V btw). However, I saw that Metaphor received a lot of praise from critics and the public.

---

However, I don't really trust the reviews of video game journalists because many video game journalists have praised Persona 4 and 5. and I also don't have much faith in modern Atlus as a game developer.

---

So, that's why I want to hear the opinions of RGT users who have played and finished Metaphor.

---

Is Metaphor really a good game? Does the game have a well-written story and characters? Does it not contradict its message and themes, unlike Persona 4 and 5?

i bought it day one, the answer is yes it is, is more like persona 3 than 5 from my point of view, i liked p5, but i think it is by long the most overrated persona game, the combat system is really peculiar too, i liked the mix between "action on map" and turn based only if the enemy is stronger or if you press a button to start it, and i think the boss fight difficulty and some other system of the game like the "information system" where you can pay npc to learn weakness of bosses or various info that can give you advantage in the game is great, because normally those are things that i would never pay to know, but in this game? if you don't know those you really are at a disadvange, add the time limit mechanics for the passing days ingame and you get a real reason to pay for those even if you normally wouldn't, for the characters themself i liked them, but i still have to finish the game itself because i play it really slowly to enjoy every detail of it and if i'm not in the mood for that kind of play i wait until i'm again in the mood before continuing it, but personally i think is one of the best game released last year without a doubt, so yes, it's definitely worth it!!

 

[Mini_Man.XW]

I thought it was fine, wasn't really impressed with it. The story is interesting, but sometimes has the nuance of a brick through a window. I had the same criticisms about persona 5's corny, irredeemable villains.

 

[qw90700]

i bought it day one, the answer is yes it is, is more like persona 3 than 5 from my point of view, i liked p5, but i think it is by long the most overrated persona game, the combat system is really peculiar too, i liked the mix between "action on map" and turn based only if the enemy is stronger or if you press a button to start it, and i think the boss fight difficulty and some other system of the game like the "information system" where you can pay npc to learn weakness of bosses or various info that can give you advantage in the game is great, because normally those are things that i would never pay to know, but in this game? if you don't know those you really are at a disadvange, add the time limit mechanics for the passing days ingame and you get a real reason to pay for those even if you normally wouldn't, for the characters themself i liked them, but i still have to finish the game itself because i play it really slowly to enjoy every detail of it and if i'm not in the mood for that kind of play i wait until i'm again in the mood before continuing it, but personally i think is one of the best game released last year without a doubt, so yes, it's definitely worth it!!

Yep. the game felt like Persona 3 that's distorted with BS aspect of Persona 5 in the most wrong way possible by trying to do something new by focusing on visual novel aspect and then making gameplay a "simulation" in its own context. In the end it make the game turn into "good game if you like it" and "don't bother with it if it didn't click" thing lol.

In the end I feel so about all ATLUS games. For example I like Persona 1, not P2 and P3, I like P4 and I know I would dislike P5 if I didn't like the Kaitou Kid theme. In the end perhaps gotta appreciate ATLUS for always trying to do something different even in same series games, but popularity of Persona 5 seem to even ruin P3 remake and upcoming P4 remake and IMO the way Metaphor: ReFantazio is seem like future of ATLUS endangered with bad copy-paste generic Persona 5-like games lol. Whatever stuff Persona 5 had as in its art style was only great for the theme it has but Metaphor: ReFantazio using the same logic made my brain float to the floor and it seemed too salty and edgy for my taste lol.

But then if ATLUS had developed remake of Radiant Historia even in the way how Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 3 Remake is then I would pre-order for $200 and roll in the floor like a fan girl lol.

 

[Mopeybloke]

However, I don't really trust the reviews of video game journalists because many video game journalists have praised Persona 4 and 5. and I also don't have much faith in modern Atlus as a game developer.

That is the consensus on those games journalist or no.

 

[freebie#47]

If you have Xbox Gamepass, it is on their Ultimate plan and you can play it without buying to see what it is like. AND to answer your question, YES it is worth it. I haven't cause I am in the middle of several.....way too many games.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

I still prefer the original art of Radiant Historia.

Yep. the game felt like Persona 3 that's distorted with BS aspect of Persona 5 in the most wrong way possible by trying to do something new by focusing on visual novel aspect and then making gameplay a "simulation" in its own context. In the end it make the game turn into "good game if you like it" and "don't bother with it if it didn't click" thing lol.

In the end I feel so about all ATLUS games. For example I like Persona 1, not P2 and P3, I like P4 and I know I would dislike P5 if I didn't like the Kaitou Kid theme. In the end perhaps gotta appreciate ATLUS for always trying to do something different even in same series games, but popularity of Persona 5 seem to even ruin P3 remake and upcoming P4 remake and IMO the way Metaphor: ReFantazio is seem like future of ATLUS endangered with bad copy-paste generic Persona 5-like games lol. Whatever stuff Persona 5 had as in its art style was only great for the theme it has but Metaphor: ReFantazio using the same logic made my brain float to the floor and it seemed too salty and edgy for my taste lol.

But then if ATLUS had developed remake of Radiant Historia even in the way how Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 3 Remake is then I would pre-order for $200 and roll in the floor like a fan girl lol.

So is it the gameplay bogs down the visual novel aspects with grind that isn't offset by addictiveness of gameplay to warrant the large playtime required to get to the story? I can get that so the demo isn't going to prepare me for the slog is it?

 

[moonbits]

You do make a habit of saying how much you hate Persona. Like going to an In n Out and saying "I fucking hate hamburguers, tell me why you like the new burger".

The game is fine, interesting mix of their design philosophies and medieval fantasy. I'm waiting for the Royal/Golden re-release treatment with a signature waifu to play it completely

 

[qw90700]

So is it the gameplay bogs down the visual novel aspects with grind that isn't offset by addictiveness of gameplay to warrant the large playtime required to get to the story? I can get that so the demo isn't going to prepare me for the slog is it?

These days we see how video games developed for how Steam's refund policy is and Metaphor: ReFantazio is the worst in that part:

Despite you skip all the text and get on with pointless walking and chore tasks to progress you can easily hit 2+ hours mark until the actual game starts. Until then things are rather like 90s weird TV movies about something weird happens just to cause "things are interesting illusion" so you would wanna watch the movie and actual part of the movie start when its left 30 minute until the movie will end because they didn't have much budget and/or will to do work so they compressed everyting and put it on last part. This logic is fundamental of this game. When you thought the game started then you realize nope, story paused with visual novel side content lol.

However Metaphor: ReFantazio is more than that in modern sense. The game has whatever is popular in Japanese media. For example visual novel aspects in games exploded since PS Vita-era and it seems it gets too full on that. I don't judge how Japanese people are but I don't like to read just to read. I never saw so much conversations in a game that's not a visual novel so it even takes long to skip these conversations. Another side of the coin is whole progression of the game happens in how new American tv series are as in 2 episode content stretched to whole season and until then there are nonsense hypes and pointless dialogues happens. This is different than drama and event based fiction that constantly hook up audiance with what bad happen and then there is relief, characters just having a conversation and it seems they are doing something.

Metaphor: ReFantazio's story seem like they had no idea what to do so it goes on like a headless chicken. Writer decided what it's supposed to be later on and it feels like watching "The Boy and the Heron". Only after you get in the middle of the game you actually learn what the game is about and around until the end you won't see the actual game. Until then things get too visual novel and when it's not it's mostly the study of grind and how to defeat enemies. In that regard the game is a generic JRPG with weird gameplay decision I'll explain later, what's not generic is the art style and the fictional world it take place in despite fantastical elements are generic. Still as a game I don't think it's bad, it's playable but the matter is if you wanna enjoy it or not.

Play the demo and see how it's. If you dislike the game it's safe bet it won't get better for you. For example if it was Persona 4 it gets better as you play, even it's how Persona 3 is despite I dislike the game. The game is more like Persona 5 but imagine it takes 10 hours to make Joker learn about the app on his phone and another 10 hours that he learns about persona and shadow and you jump into first place in 50 hour mark and along the way it gets "how to defeat" simulator while you are exposed with visual novel parts that's like 99% of the game lol. For example the whole "story" aspect of the JRPGs that make them seem like a visual novel usually happens and end in first few hours, not in this game. So what you get in 1st hour is what you will get until the game ends. Usually new JRPGs are mostly tutorials and imagine this game is a huge tutorial bundled with visual novel lol.

Perhaps what to like in this game as a JRPG for those who like it is the generic character situations retained but gameplay is more serious for serious players. For example Persona games are more based on story and school sim elements and gameplay is relatively not so serious, but Metaphor: ReFantazio takes things too seriously for my taste.

Now thinking about it but I kinda felt like they wanted game to turn into Dark Souls-like game beyond the usual grind-based JRPGs, however the game doesn't let you know how the gameplay is until beyond of return point. Despite you grind, get best gears and set your party properly and hit the weaknesses things still left "almost impossible to defeat" sometimes because you are not lucky enough and you didn't choose proper development path for your whole party so you are stuck with a bad party and when things gets too hard for you then you better restart the game and this time set your party properly. Even with best possible party you have gameplay is not strategy but huge gamble. Even texas hold 'em poker game is less luck-based game than this game. Soon after the whole gameplay turns into "prey for characters dodge" and then "prey you won't die just because you wasted your turn for heal and fixes" and then "prey that you can attack the enemy after so many years" lol. Clearly the game is developed upon the idea of replaying the game a lot until you beat it and increase the gameplay time as much as they can. For example in Persona games gameplay time is long in natural way, but in this game you feel like it could be shorter and if it was shorter as a movie it would be better just like watching new American tv series lol. TBH Atlus these days leans more on video games's anime adaptation and the game seem like developed to use all the way the game developed easy to turn into anime lol. However the way they developed this game is too weird. Usually even when you play JRPGs in hardest way and when you do what's best for you in the game you get good enough to handle battles but not in this game. Things beyond strategy, you have to develop your whole party in a "lucky" way to handle the game otherwise even Jesus cannot help you. There is no such thing as everyone will be useful to you in battles as long as they level up and have the best gears. In that regard I understand the appeal but the game is not for me.

 

[Sir Auriel of Lionel]

That sounds disappointing, I'm used to unfair/you should have built your team better thanks to SaGa but SaGa at least allows you to brute force your way once you grind for it and if they're locking the full gameplay out by hours instead of 1 hour that's usually a bum. Well time's run out on the sale so I'll think about it next winter sale.