Topic: Metaphor: ReFantazio Thread

@kyleforrester87 I got a really good deal and got it for 32 quid just before Christmas!

@kyleforrester87 Metaphor's structure definitely feels like a solid evolution of what they did with Persona.

Still really happy I got in pre-release at around $40 on PC, lol.

The best thing is that the difficulty balancing is actually really nice in this game. Much more SMT than Persona. You have to actually play carefully on a higher difficulty setting.

First time I had to drop the difficulty down. One of the enemies in the Dragon God Temple I just couldn't get pass. Killed it first time on easy!

I had changed my party up to try exploit it's weaknesses but it was feeling like I was getting nowhere.

I am possibly a little under levelled however this dungeon had the lowest recommended level compared to the other quests available.

@Jimmer-jammer I think that Spire one I've got upcoming, looking forwad to it!

It was the Crag Manjula that was giving me grief. Tried using strike attacks and stuff like Masked Dancer's ability to make it weak against certain elements, but it always seem to wipe my party out in a couple of goes. All the other enemies in the dungeon I seem to manage ok with.

I’m not really sure when to start changing job roles, I have a healer, knight and warrior all around level 10. Is it better to start bringing some of the others through? I am still in the first dungeon, 6 days left.

@Jimmer-jammer I faced one yesterday and somehow managed to cast Forget on it, so it couldn't cast any of its spells! Not quite how I did that, but I did steal some of it's MP so maybe that is why.

@kyleforrester87 Yeah I would as some of the next tier of Archetypes you need two of them at a certain level. Magic Kinght you need Knight at level 20 and Mage at level 10 as an example. It has caught me out recently as some of the reccommended Archetypes for some of the dungeons I've not levelled up one of the Archetypes to a high enough level.

I've also found you get more than enough MAG to invest in skills. Money is bit more tighter and I've used the MAG converter a few times. Try to use that on a rainy day/Idlesday to get a better conversion rate.

I see, I read MAG was a bit stingier but maybe that’s wrong then. I was a bit reluctant to go nuts. Also I don’t have many classes available yet really. I got Brawler recently but it seems kinda sucky (maybe I’m wrong!)

Anyway, beat the necromancer, done the desert bounty and the plot is moving along a bit too! Enjoying it.

@kyleforrester87 Hopefully that doesn't come to bite me in the backside then! MP restoring items are quite hard to come by, so you either have to grind or go back to town to rest.

How many days did it take you to complete the dungeon?

Yeah the Brawler can be a pain as you have to keep topping up it's HP. You could always use items to replenish HP, which won't consume MP. I always make sure I buy a load on Idlesday when everying is cheaper. Later on you can cook meals too.

@JohnnyShoulder As someone who's finished the game, I would definitely advise to slow down on the MAG exchange. I never used it and I was running out of MAG by the end of it and had to work to level the archetypes up fot everyone. I think I only just was able to unlock everyone's best archetype before credits rolled, but didn't even master all of them! Meanwhile, the money will come rolling in over time and I had hundreds of thousands in cash with nothing to spend it on.

@Tjuz That is good to know, thanks!

I've not used the exchange for awhile now, but have been spending MAG quite liberally when buying skills.

The Merchant archetype is good to use if you are short of cash.

I'm having a break from the game, hopefully only in the short term. I think I'm quite near the end too. I've tried to get through the cut scenes after the opera house, but real life has gotten in the way.

I am at Brilehaven, still working through the introductory cutscenes - I am guessing there will be lots of side quests here once I am let off the chain. I've been playing 35 hours and I'm level 26-27. Really enjoying it tbh! Hope I don't bounce off it...

@HallowMoonshadow You should probably like it. Feels like Digital Devil Saga and Persona had a baby together.

I'm gonna replay it soon as well! I never actually finished it because I got distracted by life stuff, but I'm in much more of a gamer mood lately.

@HallowMoonshadow Enjoy! I finished it late last year and had a good time with it. Since you're already used to the Atlus philosophy of making games, this should fit right in for you. Especially after I just read on the Mass Effect thread you're more of a fantasy than sci-fi gal, so this should scratch that itch for you! Let us know how you get on with it.

@HallowMoonshadow SMT V isn't a perfect game, but at least in the case of Vengeance and the new story route, it's sort of the game I wish Nocturne had been. I absolutely adore it.

But it's also a game some people just don't love. I think it heavily depends on how you feel about the level design and gameplay loop.

@HallowMoonshadow lol it's my least favorite mainline SMT. Even including the first two. I love the vibe of Nocturne, but the dungeons and story, ugh. Also not a fan of Meguro's soundtrack beyond a few tracks, as heretical as I know that sounds to people who worship the PS2 era of Atlus.

Kinda funny how this one even mirrored the Nocturne trajectory of requiring a re-release to fix the story. Although Vengeance had a LOT more work put into it than Nocturne Maniax. And pretty much all of Atlus' other re-releases. They pretty much remade the campaign from the ground up, which is why it's one of the few times I'm not all that annoyed by a Director's Cut version of the game existing.

Is this game worth to get now for $33 on Amazon, or should I wait till it drops even lower or even when a Royal type of edition releases like Atlus did with Persona 5?

@BeyondKnight I mean, it was worth getting at full price, so certainly for $33 if you like Atlus JRPGs!

I'm glad Sega seems to be clueing in that doing remasters for recently released games with no upgrade paths is scaring off consumers.

Falcom games will follow if they keep up with the Ys X shenanigans.

@HallowMoonshadow Definitely do so! And that goes for anyone who decides to revive this thread by diving in! I had a complicated, but ultimately positive relationship with it myself, so I'm intrigued to see what you all will make of it.

@HallowMoonshadow Metaphor was actually the first Atlus game I've played, so I can't really comment on the comparisons you've made to their previous games. The unique premise for this one is ultimately what got me to try it out. I definitely agree that quite a few of the archetypes feel rather useless. I'm sure some of them could work great when synergizing them with a party built around it, but that's above my pay grade really. I've never been a min-maxer who cares much for specialising my party's builds to get the best out of it. I try to simply get something usable and go from there until I hit a wall and clearly need to adjust some things. I think when you have more opportunity to mix and match certain archetypes over time, you'll have a bit more fun with the system from the sounds of it. A few of my characters definitely turned into something very different from what their selected archetype would suggest by the end of it.

Totally agree that I was very disappointed the bonds weren't voiced. It saddens me to hear that they did that for Persona 3 Reload but not here. That's a rough regression. Like you said, the voice acting is really quite good all around, so any excuse to have more of it would've been acceptable. More importantly though, I think it does cheapen the effect the bonds are supposed to have. They're the big character-building moments that should have had tremendous care put into them, and yet they fall flat on too many occasions because of it. With the scousers representation, I assume you mean Junah? I'm not well-versed on British accents, but that's the one that jumps to mind as standing out. Loved her voice and accent, so it was a solid choice!

I get your frustration that none of the characters are romanceable. I actually like that all of them were platonic, since I don't think this story is served in any way by becoming about who's the best girl, but there's definitely plenty of great options we could've had if they had decided to go that route. That said, and I know that this likely wouldn't have been possible either way, Strohl would've had to be my romance pick. Love that man (and he's hot)!

A lot of the fantasy races do feel like "here's a regular model, but we added a little something so they're a whole different race now". The eugiefs are by far the most distinct from what I can remember. I think they largely make up for it with the writing, but having it visually represented as well would've been better. The places this game goes with the elda in particular I found very interesting. Totally echo your sentiment on the ugly human designs though! I forget what their inspiration was for those, but I think they nailed it. They look really cool.

I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far, minus the hiccup with the pacing in Brilehaven. I think I enjoyed Brilehaven more than you as I enjoyed the getting together of all the champions, but it does run a bit overly long. I think that's a problem I have with the game in general, where by the end it was less about seeing its culmination and more about getting it over with. Not that there isn't good stuff throughout as well as specifically at the end, but the pacing can be a bit messy sometimes. There was definitely a point where I started feeling burnt out, but that could be a mix of the game as well as my own tendency towards shorter games.