Metaphor: ReFantasio takes a lot of inspiration from Personbut this does not always benefit him. Borrowing from the concepts of Personas (which he calls Archetypes), Social Connections/Proxies (which he calls Links), and Awakenings (which he calls…awakenings), Metaphor it’s not really Person a sequel, but with a slight name change it certainly could be. It’s not just a carbon copy of the rest of the series; in many ways it is based on the classic stereotypes of the franchise, combining Person and the wider Shin Megami Tensei series to create the next evolution of the Atlus formula.
But this formula has its limitsand one of them is very noticeable from the first hours Metaphor. Recent Atlus games may have lulled players into a false sense of security, believing that the studio had finally found a way to crack the code and avoid this early pitfall, but it’s just as present and just as frustrating in Metaphor as it was in the distant past Persona 3.
It takes several hours to start gameplay
Simply put, Metaphor: ReFantasiothe intro is too long (and wordy) for its own good.. Depending on how the player moves during the early chapters, it could be two hours before they get their first real taste of combat. When they finally do, they do so without having access to all of its functions – it takes them significantly longer to summon their first Archetypes. Immediately after this, the player is forced to return to longer story scenes.
Connected
This pattern is repeated several times until all gameplay features are unlocked. Then and only then is the player given a certain amount of freedom, the ability to explore the world, complete dungeons, and complete side activities at their own pace. Generally, it will take about five hours Metaphor: ReFantasiotextbook fully; that’s roughly the entire length of the free demo. It’s hard to sell a player who’s never tried an Atlus game before on these early story scenes alone.
To some extent this makes sense: Metaphor: ReFantasio there are many mechanics that can be imaginedbetween the intricacies of combat, the idiosyncrasies of the Bond system and the complexity of the Archetypes. This is more than just a regular RPG, so it doesn’t have the luxury of simply explaining what experience points are and then letting the player go. Add this to its complex, completely original setting, and Metaphor Looks like you need a long tutorial.
This is doubly due to his calendar system. Players have a limited amount of time to complete certain actions; miss one and it may be blocked for the rest of the playthrough. It’s only fair to make sure the player knows about all of this before the clock starts ticking. Even so, work hours don’t have to be so long or boring. The tutorial could have been a little more interactive.but instead it mostly consists of watching story scenes and wondering when gameplay will resume.
Long introductions are a constant personality problem
And the main element of role-playing games in general
MetaphorThis is not the only game that has this problem; Many RPGs have too long introsforcing players to spend hours watching story scenes interspersed with action sequences before the game properly begins. However, Person games are consistently the worst offenders in this category, and it’s unfortunate to see Metaphor follow this tradition.
Persona 3 had one of the shortest intros, lasting about three hours if the player takes his time. Persona 4We have about the same thing. Persona 5The intro is the longest, taking up to six hours to complete, depending on how much the player chooses to do and explore during the short gameplay moments that punctuate this long chapter. However, there’s one tiny change made to the usual formula that completely turns this problem on its head, giving players a better idea of what’s on the other side of all those tutorials.
The tutorial was much better in Persona 5
A taste of the fight right at the beginning
Persona 5 starts with a flash forward, a thrilling action sequence that takes place in the final chapters of the game. Less than five minutes after pressing the “New game“The player is drawn into battle against end-level enemies using high-level abilities while exploring a stunningly unique dungeon. They then get a crash course in the game’s stealth mechanics, where they have to sneak past a room of enemies without getting caught. This scene lasts only a few short moments and ends abruptly when the main character is arrested.
Another long sequence of plot scenes follows, but ideally, the player is already captivated by the satisfaction of the first moments of combat.. If they hold out for a while, they will inevitably return to battle eventually, given the chance to develop the same abilities from scratch. It’s a simple yet effective solution: players can enjoy the game at its best from the start, so they’ll be more willing to spend time coming back to it later.
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Now compare that to the intro Metaphor: ReFantasio. There’s roughly the same amount of time between the start menu and the first moments of the game, but this time, as soon as they log in, they’re given a clear one-way directive: go in that direction, and if an enemy gets too close, run. Running from the mere potential of battle is no funand, unfortunately, here this is essentially the player’s only choice. If they try to engage the first enemy they see, they will inevitably find themselves overwhelmed and almost certainly killed before they even get to turn-based mode.
Another long sequence of dialogue scenes soon follows, and then finally the first limited taste of combat. It is only during the first boss fight that the protagonist will finally awaken to his Archetype and be able to fully use his powers in battle. After this, the situation expands significantly; there are still a few long cutscenes, but there’s a lot of actual gameplay in between. However, it is unpleasant to see a problem that Persona 5 the decision seemed to be repeated in Metaphor: ReFantasio.