Sacred Symbols+, Episode 426 | Metaphor: ReFantazio Review Discussion and Spoilercast
Added 2024-12-21 17:00:11 +0000 UTCFor seven or eight years, a spin-off team at Atlus quietly toiled away on something new. Led by the director of Persona 3, 4, and 5 (and Catherine!), and buttressed by a small cadre of experienced talent that previously worked on all sorts of P-Studio fare, their efforts led to Metaphor: ReFantazio, an all-new JRPG released this past October. Metaphor is structured a great deal like a Persona title -- there are social links, a calendar, and other familiar trappings -- but in many other ways, it's markedly different. It's a game about the race to become king of a distant, fictional land, and yet it focuses on the very essence of being a normal, decent human being. To discuss Studio Zero's maiden effort, I (Colin) assembled three other people in our family to discuss Metaphor's story, gameplay, inspirations, and much more: Dustin, Brad, and Gene. Together, we unwind the mysteries of the Kingdom of Euchronia, a multiracial empire that's suffering from a mighty bout of anxiety. Maybe Thomas More can help?
Comments
Same brother
Ilan Zinoviev
2025-01-08 13:02:54 +0000 UTCOh right, after 3 months of playing this game, I can actually listen to this cause I beat it yesterday lmao. Game is way way too long for me.
KrazyBean14
2025-01-08 10:47:43 +0000 UTCThe guys pretending they haven’t already looked at the Metaphor porn out there at least out of curiosity is so funny to me
Jared R
2024-12-26 21:14:23 +0000 UTCProb will never play this game and enjoyed this discussion quite a bit. thanks guys!
Guybrush Threepwood
2024-12-26 11:10:05 +0000 UTCGotta agree with almost everything Dustin said.
Joseph Gedgaudas
2024-12-24 18:33:40 +0000 UTCWhat are the best skills to set to the royal thief
Chris Van Buren
2024-12-24 16:00:56 +0000 UTCI didn’t even know this until after I had already finished and my buddy pointed this out to me. Don’t know how I missed it. Sounds like I wasn’t the only one. 😅
NeO JD
2024-12-24 14:37:49 +0000 UTCGreat game, but the lack of anti aliasing was very distracting. I enjoy the art style, but the game looked incredibly dated.
Chris Van Buren
2024-12-24 11:05:50 +0000 UTCYeah, all these people complaining about the difficulty , meanwhile here I am with my Heismay dodge tank, breezing through the game 😂. I didnt found the game very difficult at all, just appropriate and fun
Pianopower
2024-12-24 06:19:52 +0000 UTCCant wait to watch this when Im done.
Adam Belgharbi
2024-12-23 12:13:41 +0000 UTCyep i agree with most people that around that part and reveal, the game started to lose some gas. the final level was great and it ended great but it does kinda meander a little more than it needs to
Gene Park
2024-12-23 01:45:11 +0000 UTCA lot of the Royal Archetypes are so broken. Specifically Heismay where he can just straight up end the enemy turn as long as he dodges. He also gets like almost 99 agility too towards the end. It’s ridiculous!
Ricardo Chavez
2024-12-22 23:08:44 +0000 UTCWell shit, I guess Intergalactic is just gonna live in my head now as "GeneGame"
Rat Pobertson
2024-12-22 21:52:47 +0000 UTCI'm pretty aure Atlus said they're done doin special revised editions of these games. It'll be dlc in the vein of Episode Agies in P3 Reload from here on out.
Morgan
2024-12-22 14:10:10 +0000 UTCHeismay is OP, his royal archetype allows his dodges to negate entire enemy turns. It makes the super bosses trivial
Joshua Jones
2024-12-22 14:08:38 +0000 UTCSo glad Gene mentioned the Mage Academy. That was when the game really took a nosedive for me. Classic Atlus difficulty spike and pacing issues
Diddy’s Dong Quest
2024-12-22 13:39:48 +0000 UTCOn the concept art released back in 2016, the caption was “A fool’s journey begins”. I was thinking about this as Colin summarized Utopia
Justin 24Hr
2024-12-22 12:27:04 +0000 UTCWeird game. Objectively looks like dogshit, runs like dogshit - especially baffling because of how bad it looks. Dungeon layout is PS1 levels of basic (a bit generous). Some genuinely amazing characters (Heismay, Strohl, Basilio, Hulkenberg) and really touching moments, accompanied by a lot of thoughtful, pointed writing. It’s dragged down by a lot of contrived slop and laughable nonsense, so, the whole product feels pretty uneven and undercooked. Like, we have less followers than traditional Persona, less ranks 8 as opposed to 10) and we still can’t get those scenes voice acted? The virtue system adds nothing and is there to fit a mould, the calendar system is so loose and generous that it doesn’t bear any real consequence for the player. Towns that solely exist as flat JPEGs, like, what? I hate that the combat boils down to both the player and enemy just arbitrarily adding more turns via items / spells. Loved the game until the whole Rella sequence.
Cameron Sturre
2024-12-22 10:58:19 +0000 UTCHaven't wrapped it up yet, but I'm interested to listen eventually. I wonder if anyone will critique how surface level the game's writing actually is. For all the talk of it being mature and well written, it's mostly just people with cat tails saying "racism is bad".
kunsam
2024-12-22 01:21:53 +0000 UTCI found this episode very not spoilery! More high level thoughts, couple of story beats mentioned, but I'm more excited to play now after finishing 😁
latenitecali
2024-12-21 22:56:01 +0000 UTCFor sure thought Cog would be here! He was going crazy for this game!
Mykal
2024-12-21 21:18:50 +0000 UTCSame, I was pretty tired of it by the ending and I thought the game and also the ending were both fantastic. It just really got repetitive and a little too long. Had +100hours in Baldurs Gate 3, Elden Ring and Tears of The Kingdom these past year and half and never got burnout by any of these games even thought they are very long too.
Breno Bezerra Bluhm
2024-12-21 20:56:19 +0000 UTCI see what Brad is saying about the normal attack stuff, but I do think there’s a lot of JRPGs where doing normal attacks is still very useful. Characters like Sabin in FF6, Steiner in FF9 or even in Chrono Trigger- it can still be worth it. In Atlus games, a normal attack does like 1/10th of what a skill does and it’s kinda annoying IMO.
Diddy’s Dong Quest
2024-12-21 19:52:05 +0000 UTCI really loved Metaphor but the last month was such a slog it soured it a little bit. Still a fantastic game but after 100 hours I'm glad to put a bow on it.
Eric the human
2024-12-21 19:30:42 +0000 UTCNo Cog :'(
Eric the human
2024-12-21 19:25:39 +0000 UTCRetardazio let’s goo!
Tristan Kimball
2024-12-21 19:24:06 +0000 UTCThat’s totally understandable! Sometimes it’s hard to finish a massive JPRG before these podcasts comes out. I’m also at the hour and a half mark with this listen and they’ve forgoed a lot of story beats and are focusing on the themes and combat which you might find helpful. So fair game to listen as far as you want especially if you don’t care as much. Hope you enjoy the game as you get through it ~
Daniel E
2024-12-21 19:02:46 +0000 UTCI generally don't care about spoilers, but this game has been pretty intriguing. I just never have time to finish games before these eps come out. Might as well hold on to it for a little longer. Thanks!
latenitecali
2024-12-21 17:53:40 +0000 UTC10 hours into Metaphor barely scratches the surface of this 80+ hour odyssey. There are a lot of twists and character reveals that are great to experience in the moment and not be spoiled on, so would wait until you’re end game-ish. That being said the first 30 minutes of this spoiler cast is pretty spoiler light
Daniel E
2024-12-21 17:47:24 +0000 UTCShould I wait to listen to this? I'm like 10-12 hours into the game
latenitecali
2024-12-21 17:39:01 +0000 UTCMetaphor is a wonderful game, can't wait to listen
Damien Groome
2024-12-21 17:36:09 +0000 UTCWas waiting for this one! After 90 hours I finally finished it yesterday, the difficulty spike on those last bosses was insane! Metaphor was my choice for GOTY but after I finished it I feel like Astrobot was the right choice after all. Don’t get me wrong, Metaphor is amazing and the ending really delivered everything I hoped for, but the game really suffers from pacing issues mainly on the last third of it’s runtime.
Breno Bezerra Bluhm
2024-12-21 17:22:08 +0000 UTCOff topic but I would appreciate if Sony would remaster MLB The Show...
Boots!
2024-12-21 17:06:39 +0000 UTC
