Almost finished the game, eight years of hype... for this?

[Sid]

Like, what were they doing for eight years developing and writing this 'game'?

Is Hashino a hack, whose older games were only good thanks to the talents of others?

The game is dull and tedious, but I feel compelled to finish it because I live in a third-world country where buying a game is a luxury, so I need to get my money’s worth.

I'm curious to hear from others who felt disappointed by this highly praised and rated game. What exactly went on during its development since it was revealed in 2016?

The game's pacing is awful, and it's surprisingly short (which is almost a plus for a bad game, I guess?). It basically has four main dungeons—the Tower, the Baby, the Temple, and the Final Dungeon—with three others that feel more like 15-minute fillers. You spend around 80% of the game relying on basic archetypes (you only get access to MP regeneration after obtaining the Singer companion, so you’re mostly forced to use the Brawler and save MP for healing). There are side dungeons, but they feel more like Persona 5's Mementos, so it’s hard to even count them as full dungeons. Persona 5 had twice as much content in comparison(not to mention P5 dungeons were much better when it comes to design).

You don’t even get the last two companions (or three, technically) until just before the final dungeon, meaning 75% of the game is spent with the starting trio. Honestly, I don’t see why they even bothered adding them so late in the game.

The entire story revolves around racism, and aside from a few side quests (like collecting bugs or buying a toothbrush), nearly every character and problem involves someone being racist or a victim of racism (with occasional blame on the church or tradition). Almost all the social link episodes deal with racism or oppression. Speaking of social links, there are only 14 compared to the 23 in Persona 5 Royal, and they’re shorter too. There’s no real depth to the characters; it’s either racism or, well, more racism.

The characters feel poorly written, with villains who are either stupid (the main ones) or pathetic and stupid (the side ones).

The art and music are decent, though.

Honestly, I could go on and on.

It really feels like Hashino is a hack; Metaphor is just a weaker Persona clone, and all he managed was to recycle Persona—but in a worse way.

[causality]

Originally posted by Sid:

Like, what were they doing for eight years developing and writing this 'game'?

Is Hashino a hack, whose older games were only good thanks to the talents of others?

The game is dull and tedious, but I feel compelled to finish it because I live in a third-world country where buying a game is a luxury, so I need to get my money’s worth.

I'm curious to hear from others who felt disappointed by this highly praised and rated game. What exactly went on during its development since it was revealed in 2016?

The game's pacing is awful, and it's surprisingly short (which is almost a plus for a bad game, I guess?). It basically has four main dungeons—the Tower, the Baby, the Temple, and the Final Dungeon—with three others that feel more like 15-minute fillers. You spend around 80% of the game relying on basic archetypes (you only get access to MP regeneration after obtaining the Singer companion, so you’re mostly forced to use the Brawler and save MP for healing). There are side dungeons, but they feel more like Persona 5's Mementos, so it’s hard to even count them as full dungeons. Persona 5 had twice as much content in comparison(not to mention P5 dungeons were much better when it comes to design).

You don’t even get the last two companions (or three, technically) until just before the final dungeon, meaning 75% of the game is spent with the starting trio. Honestly, I don’t see why they even bothered adding them so late in the game.

The entire story revolves around racism, and aside from a few side quests (like collecting bugs or buying a toothbrush), nearly every character and problem involves someone being racist or a victim of racism (with occasional blame on the church or tradition). Almost all the social link episodes deal with racism or oppression. Speaking of social links, there are only 14 compared to the 23 in Persona 5 Royal, and they’re shorter too. There’s no real depth to the characters; it’s either racism or, well, more racism.

The characters feel poorly written, with villains who are either stupid (the main ones) or pathetic and stupid (the side ones).

The art and music are decent, though.

Honestly, I could go on and on.

It really feels like Hashino is a hack; Metaphor is just a weaker Persona clone, and all he managed was to recycle Persona—but in a worse way.

Atlus games are just 50-70 usd soundtracks with a game attached. You actually aren't suppose to enjoy the games, you enjoy the music.

[dethtrain]

I didn't even know about the game until the demo dropped. Not having a high school scene was a breath of fresh air IMO. Pacing becomes... funny by Mid to late September. I wish the combat had slightly more complexity - having enemies changing rows, having pincer attacks from being ambushed. Maybe even just turning it into a grid system the way some 4X games do their battles. It sated my thirst though for more SMT gameplay though. New Game+ is really weak.

[Syynx]

Lot of complaining about something you didn't even buy

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Syynx:

Lot of complaining about something you didn't even buy

I said this before (and I'll say it again) but consoles exist lil fella. Especially when there's no good forums for xbox or ps. And ♥♥♥♥ reddit.

Either way even if he didn't buy the game it doesn't change facts. Just because I bought ♥♥♥♥ and you stole it doesn't mean it's not ♥♥♥♥ on my end.

[Griever]

I’m at the island dungeon.
So far I’m not super impressed by the story, and I expected more, this being my first atlus game.

I think that persona games and Megami tensei games are obviously their main expertise and have much more depth and content.

This was their foray in a new ip and genre that usually belongs to square Enix, their competitor. And they’re obviously less experienced at fantasy than square Enix.

I’m enjoying it but I expected something to rival final fantasy and I’m not impressed yet.

[REBirthTheEdge]

I doubt OP is even playing the game if muh racism is all he gets out of the story.

[Sid]

Originally posted by Griever:

I’m at the island dungeon.
So far I’m not super impressed by the story, and I expected more, this being my first atlus game.

I think that persona games and Megami tensei games are obviously their main expertise and have much more depth and content.

This was their foray in a new ip and genre that usually belongs to square Enix, their competitor. And they’re obviously less experienced at fantasy than square Enix.

I’m enjoying it but I expected something to rival final fantasy and I’m not impressed yet.

Yeah, the production value is laughable compared to Persona 5 (an 8-year-old game), and FF16 just mops the floor with Mid'a'phor by comparison.

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Sid:

Originally posted by Griever:

I’m at the island dungeon.
So far I’m not super impressed by the story, and I expected more, this being my first atlus game.

I think that persona games and Megami tensei games are obviously their main expertise and have much more depth and content.

This was their foray in a new ip and genre that usually belongs to square Enix, their competitor. And they’re obviously less experienced at fantasy than square Enix.

I’m enjoying it but I expected something to rival final fantasy and I’m not impressed yet.

Yeah, the production value is laughable compared to Persona 5 (an 8-year-old game), and FF16 just mops the floor with Mid'a'phor by comparison.

Honestly ff16 destroys it in general lol. Story may not have been perfect, and neither the gameplay but there weren't any moments that made me want to just quit and never play again lmao

[Jargous]

Says it's all about racism, then mentions 'or' oppression. Much more to it, with racism being the surface. What is conveniently forgotten was the book that the prince loved to read was the adventure of the MC. Can't call it an adventure without all the hardships they go through, whether it be racism or oppression (and that's just only covering what OP mentions).

This OP's explanation of character stories being poorly written does mad injustice to the late characters that join, but not getting into spoilers for them. For villains, they are for the most part straight-forward, cut and dry some would say, but perform their role as described given how the story unfolds.

[Giganx]

So far game's been great. Similar great writing, turn-based gameplay and quality to Persona 5 without the lame high-school setting and teenage drama.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Sid:

Originally posted by Griever:

I’m at the island dungeon.
So far I’m not super impressed by the story, and I expected more, this being my first atlus game.

I think that persona games and Megami tensei games are obviously their main expertise and have much more depth and content.

This was their foray in a new ip and genre that usually belongs to square Enix, their competitor. And they’re obviously less experienced at fantasy than square Enix.

I’m enjoying it but I expected something to rival final fantasy and I’m not impressed yet.

Yeah, the production value is laughable compared to Persona 5 (an 8-year-old game), and FF16 just mops the floor with Mid'a'phor by comparison.

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

Originally posted by Sid:

Yeah, the production value is laughable compared to Persona 5 (an 8-year-old game), and FF16 just mops the floor with Mid'a'phor by comparison.

Honestly ff16 destroys it in general lol. Story may not have been perfect, and neither the gameplay but there weren't any moments that made me want to just quit and never play again lmao

FF16 only wins in production value.

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Originally posted by Sid:

Yeah, the production value is laughable compared to Persona 5 (an 8-year-old game), and FF16 just mops the floor with Mid'a'phor by comparison.

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

Honestly ff16 destroys it in general lol. Story may not have been perfect, and neither the gameplay but there weren't any moments that made me want to just quit and never play again lmao

FF16 only wins in production value.

And characters, romance. Gameplay to an extent. Music. Boss battles obviously. Metaphor had some good level design tbh. Ff16 felt a little flat in those regards in comparison to previous titles. And difficulty wasn't just one hit kills lol

[Sid]

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

FF16 only wins in production value.

And characters, romance. Gameplay to an extent. Music. Boss battles obviously. Metaphor had some good level design tbh. Ff16 felt a little flat in those regards in comparison to previous titles. And difficulty wasn't just one hit kills lol

When it comes to production value, Final Fantasy XVI arguably has some of the best cinematic cutscenes ever created for a video game. Metaphor, on the other hand, features anime-style cutscenes that fall short, even when compared to Persona 5. The late-game cutscenes in Metaphor are nearly static, with a quality that rivals famous anime like Mars of Destruction.

The production value, however, is debatable, as Final Fantasy XVI’s budget is rumored to be around $59 million. This is low for a AAA title and likely not much higher than Metaphor’s.

The main difference is probably that Final Fantasy XVI had real talent behind it, while Studio Zero’s work on Metaphor feels like an attempt to copy Persona (and make it worse) in a medieval setting.

[nephalim]

I just gave up in the Dragon Temple, which is a serious slog. Tedius, boring characters, slow and dull overall story, bad repetitive music, the job system just doesn't work.
It started off ok but the game just felt like it went nowhere.

[Johnathon Fortnite]

Originally posted by Sid:

Originally posted by Johnathon Fortnite:

And characters, romance. Gameplay to an extent. Music. Boss battles obviously. Metaphor had some good level design tbh. Ff16 felt a little flat in those regards in comparison to previous titles. And difficulty wasn't just one hit kills lol

When it comes to production value, Final Fantasy XVI arguably has some of the best cinematic cutscenes ever created for a video game. Metaphor, on the other hand, features anime-style cutscenes that fall short, even when compared to Persona 5. The late-game cutscenes in Metaphor are nearly static, with a quality that rivals famous anime like Mars of Destruction.

The production value, however, is debatable, as Final Fantasy XVI’s budget is rumored to be around $59 million. This is low for a AAA title and likely not much higher than Metaphor’s.

The main difference is probably that Final Fantasy XVI had real talent behind it, while Studio Zero’s work on Metaphor feels like an attempt to copy Persona (and make it worse) in a medieval setting.

I think both are good in their own regards but for me ff16 was just better in everyway lol. Metaphor would've been better if the gameplay was more than just ambush enemy instant win or die
And bosses for me were either stupidly hard (necromancer guy) or stupidly easy (boss baby)

Something about the game just disappointed me mega hard when I got past baby and into the boss rush ship. Completely destroyed my entertainment and I ended up just not going back.

Idk how the people from persona and smt (despite my grievances with smt) made their gameplay so unnaturally uninteresting. Was this not the same studio that made p5, 4 3 smt v etc?