Metaphor: ReFantazio

Gets good after 30 hours trust

ok阿，现在应该是刚过完王国国葬剧情，剧情神完了，上次感到这么雷霆的剧情还是p3r的无敌小手枪

Played like 10-15 hours on OLED Steamdeck and the game runs fine with MetaphorFix, outside of some city areas in free time where the frames drop to mid 20s, the game runs at stable 40 fps. No official 800p or ultrawide support but that's classic ATLUS. Fixable with MetaphorFix although not perfect. This review is mainly for people familiar with Persona as I'll be comparing this game with it. This game is solid. It very obviously builds on Persona with its mechanics but deviates enough to make it worth playing in my opinion. The highlight for me are the combat and power system. I love Archetypes. I love that any party member can take on any Archetype and fill that role (though some characters are better at certain roles based on their inherent stats). The progression is nicely done and only breaks towards the end where you'll be showered with xp and resources if you care to grind for an hour or two. Still, taking the power scaling from the MC (like MCs in persona) and spreading it among the party is a brilliant move and made it more enjoyable for me to grind. Because of this though, it loses some of its complexity compared to the persona system. But that's fine, Archetypes are its own thing and fit the world very well. Pros and cons. This system also ensures no XP is ever wasted as you can just continue playing with your maxed out Archetype, leveling up here gives you XP items that you can use to level up other Archetypes meaning you never need to fight with underleveled Archetypes except for the very beginning of the game. Combat functions a little bit different. You're still aiming to hit weaknesses and crit but there's no All-out attack. There's also no baton passing but characters can pass their turn to give it to the next person in line. There is also a new type of move called Synthesis. These are stronger but more expensive moves and which ones you have access to wholy relies on which Archetypes you brought. Dungeon exploration was a bit bland here, I would have liked more complex design or some actual puzzles. The overworld mechanics (aka how you engage the enemy before going into turn based mode) are sufficient and let you skip fights once you're 3 levels above the enemy (thank God). Story is OK. It aims for that epic journey and mostly delivers. Without spoiling I'd say the story is utterly predictable and does not surprise except for that one part in the mid to late game. Characters here are okay, just okay. Maybe it's because instead of Persona's 10 ranks of social links, you only get 8 here and when you do hang out with someone, it's always going to rank the relationship up. I felt most of these were bland, not unenjoyable but I wasn't really looking forward to them either. And the fact that bonds are not fully voiced does not help it either. Some characters are better than others of course. OST slaps as is usual with ATLUS. Sound design is also great. Voice acting is also good (I played in japanese) and OMG the protag voices his responses, crazy right? The UI is clean and stylish. One nitpick, I hate how many menus there are in the game (one for skills, one for items, one for equipment, one for party, really?) but that's in line with Persona. I also don't like how you need to go through your inventory to look up intel on monsters and dungeons. The idea is novel but needed to be implemented in a more QOL kind of way. This game is a solid 8/10. If you're coming from Persona and looking to play a turn based power fantasy, this is a great pickup. If you rely more on characters and story to have fun, you might be disappointed. For players new to ATLUS games, this can be hit or miss. I'd suggest to try one of the persona games first.