Metaphor: ReFantazio

Nice

Note: I've beaten SMT3 HD, SMTV Vengeance, Soul Hackers 2, Catherine, and Metaphor at least once. I've only played a bit of P5 Royal though and none of 3 or 4 yet. That said, if this is your first Atlus game, much less JRPG, you're in for a treat. Metaphor solves one of the biggest problems with JRPGs by delivering a top-notch English translation and English voice acting. So if you're new to JRPGs, much less Atlus games, Metaphor should be (one of) your first. Even if you're a long-time Atlus fan, you'll find a lot of the features you love from their other games, a lot of great Easter eggs, and a few new innovations. Maybe the best innovation though is that the game didn't launch with a bunch of overpriced DLC's or DLC's that include content they should've just included in the base game to begin with. That, and you can ride on a hovering sword through town through much of the game. After a certain point in the game, you can even shoot a lot of lower-level monsters from a distance if you don't feel like facing them in turn-based combat (though this mechanic can get a little clunky sometimes). In general, it's just nice to see most enemies beforehand instead of them all randomly engaging in combat with you. This also makes the rare surprise encounters a lot more fun. --- As for the real meat of the game itself? Well, there's a lot of game here--unlike, say, SMT3 HD or Soul Hackers 2, Metaphor is actually worth the full price. Even if you sped through all the dialogue and cutscenes, there's still an awful lot of gameplay here. Though if it's your first playthrough, you should definitely enjoy the dialogue and cutscenes while you're playing. It's a long game, but they put a lot of time into making sure you're not just wasting your time most of time you play it: - Generally, the game mechanics and level progression are very well-balanced and fine-tuned, with minimal unwarranted difficulty spikes. - The characters are generally likable/relatable and fleshed out, and the story is generally well-paced and enjoyable. The game can be incredibly dark, but there are a lot of funny moments as well. I have a small gripe with how the last few hours at the very end feel a little padded out but I've beaten the game multiple times regardless. - I've beaten the game multiple times, and both the English voice acting and Japanese voice acting with English subtitles were quite enjoyable. - The music, sound design, and art are unique and well put-together in general. Hieronymous Bosch is my favorite visual artist though so I'm a little partial to the monster designs inspired by his work but yeah. My only real gripe here is that you can't turn down the string music inside a couple taverns at night in the game that clashes with the background music once the end-of-day cutscene begins (I guess it's not a huge deal to take off the left side of my headphones during these scenes though). - Levels are well-designed and, while challenging, aren't completely obscure. You're rewarded for your curiosity if you choose to explore but you can generally work through a dungeon in a reasonable amount of time if you're not feeling too curious to discover any secrets. - My only REAL gripe? Catherina should've been a playable character. That said, Atlus still has plenty of material here to make her a main character (or one of them) in a DLC/sequel/prequel/side story.