Completely missed the boat back when it came out, so it's been on my backlog for a while. As somebody who considers himself a Persona fan, I couldn't miss out on this studio's most recent project.
I didn't want to talk about Persona too much, but what stood out to me is that Metaphor: ReFantazio follows the formula of that series very closely. There's a calendar system with a deadline to finish the current dungeon, there's Social Link system, protagonist attributes (like Wisdom, Courage, etc) that you work on, there are things called "Archetypes" that your party awakens to in moments of distress, there's a Velvet Room-like place with an Igor type figure that helps you with these Archetypes... It's hard not to keep thinking about and comparing it to Persona when the game reminds you of it at every turn.
Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing. FromSoftware has been following a template since Demon's Souls and their games are some of the best ever. But ultimately that sort of design makes it more common to compare with what came before, even if the games don't share the same series.
This is all to say that I do not like Metaphor: ReFantazio as much as Persona.
I simply did not connect with the setting, story and characters as much. None of it is terrible though -- the worldbuilding is solid, the stakes are clear, characters' motivations are done well and Metaphor: ReFantazio does carry a hopeful message about building a better future. It's just that these elements didn't really resonate with me. I wonder if it's the fantasy setting viewed through a Persona lens that didn't quite work for me. Regardless, credits rolled and I just kind of shrugged.
But I will say that I really liked Louis. It's interesting to see a villain written the way he is. He's very elegant and polite -- he never loses his temper at the characters once, I think. I thought he was gonna end up a moustache twirling evil guy, but I found his characterization to be better than that, especially when you look back at the Persona villains.
I gotta say though, my biggest disappointment with this game was the music. This is, without a doubt, Shoji Meguro's weakest work. There's some good stuff, sure: the two main battle themes are so unique with the vocals by Keisuke Honryo. But that's pretty much it. The rest is just there. I think the fantasy genre did not bring the best out of Meguro's creativity. There's one track here that I actively dislike -- the one that plays where you fight the human monsters. The most generic fantasy battle possible. I actually lost my mind when it played during the 1st phase of the final boss.
I only complain about this because, again, what came before is simply generational. Just picking one game - Persona 5 in this case - I can list off several tracks that I still listen to this day: Beneath the Mask, Wake Up Get Out There, Whims Of Fate, Rivers In The Desert, Blooming Villain... Metaphor: ReFantazio doesn't even come close here.
But there's one aspect of this game that I think it's better than Persona: combat. I think it's done very well here -- which makes me think I should check out the mainline Shin Megami Tensei games because I'm pretty sure Metaphor shares more similarities to those than Persona. It's all very strategic and challenging, even on the normal difficulty. It was actually crazy playing a JRPG where the hardest fight in the game was the final boss (I didn't fight the secret boss though).
I did enjoy my time with Metaphor, despite my complaints. I think the Persona template still works well here. I just felt it was a bit of a stepdown from this studio's previous works.
