Does the story get any better?

[Zaum]

Playing through the demo... its ok. The serious tone of Persona is just not there yet. I loved the allegorical nature of Persona 5 with different castles and "sins" depicted on a rather good level writing-wise combined with light hearted usual anime stuff.

With Metaphor it feels like a very cliche fantasy good vs evil with not much depth so far. Gameplay might be good but an anime rpg stands and dies with its story for me. Whats your impression of the story after 20 - 30h so far?

[Clown Reemus]

Okay... I got heckishly bored during a thirty-minute long exposition/cutscenes section of the game (all of which could be just one e-mail), gave up on it and just went on to read the wiki.

It does not get better. It's a trope-ridden, primitive fantasy with simple villains and twists that have grown stale at least a decade ago. By the time you finish it - if you dare strain yourself so - you will think to yourselves "I've read/watched/played this one before".

But what's worse - the potential is (was) there. Interesting characters, high-level concepts and strong symbolism. But none of that ever seems to get any delivery. It's just cheap drama and typical "hero's adventure". Could be so much more if Atlus actually cared for the story, and didn't make a typical Japanese game instead. Just... just go watch Gundam Unicorn. Look in the face of pure art rather than this second-hand light novel with a very well done cover.

[Comatose Dolphin]

Originally posted by Clown Reemus:

Okay... I got heckishly bored during a thirty-minute long exposition/cutscenes section of the game (all of which could be just one e-mail), gave up on it and just went on to read the wiki.

It does not get better. It's a trope-ridden, primitive fantasy with simple villains and twists that have grown stale at least a decade ago. By the time you finish it - if you dare strain yourself so - you will think to yourselves "I've read/watched/played this one before".

But what's worse - the potential is (was) there. Interesting characters, high-level concepts and strong symbolism. But none of that ever seems to get any delivery. It's just cheap drama and typical "hero's adventure". Could be so much more if Atlus actually cared for the story, and didn't make a typical Japanese game instead. Just... just go watch Gundam Unicorn. Look in the face of pure art rather than this second-hand light novel with a very well done cover.

What about Gundam Wing? LMAO

[Alvinklauer]

"The serious tone of persona"
LMAO get the ♥♥♥♥ outta here

[birthbysorrow]

I'm in this same boat, really. The 5-ish hours from the demo just did not captivate me on a narrative level. And it seems most agree that if you do not like the demo you won't find much more in the full game.

I will say one thing: the narrative, if the early game is anything to go by, is not deep (not that this is a bad thing). It is very surface level and to the point. Even the title of the game tells you it's a metaphor, what you are seeing is a mirror of the political strife of the modern world. What you will learn is about the ideologies of our society that are at odds with one another. And it will pull no punches.

The issue is that a political-heavy story doesn't often make for an entertaining one. Another issue is that the characters feel too cartoonish, too "anime" in my opinion for this story. They feel like Persona characters plucked out of time and plopped into ancient ones.

Or perhaps it's the dialog I have issue with, I can't say for certain. But they just come across like "Persona at home" type characters, like Atlus wanted Persona but in a Fantasy Medieval setting. It doesn't help that almost every gameplay decision is derived from Persona with a little SMT sprinkled in. Maybe this is the actual problem. Again I don't know.

I am of the opinion if you want to tackle politics, tackle the hell out of it - in a modern setting. It's harder to get invested in the politics of today when you see the politics of today, but it's yesterday not today. There is a disconnect there I can't get passed. I also just generally am not someone who enjoys medieval fantasy settings. So maybe THAT'S the issue.

But I am also someone who feels the politics of today over-complicate many of the issues there are. So I will also roll my eyes at things I think should be non-issues because... well, fact is being ignored often backed by science or thorough research such as with gun violence and abortion, etc... and both sides won't dares blink in the presence of the other or else lose their power. From my perspective, politics is a bunch of children flinging poop at each other because they can't get along. And... maybe this is the problem, who knows?

So a game, especially one that wants its cake and to eat it too, not committing fully to its themes with characters and gameplay lifted straight out of an RPG about modern teenagers, a fantasy setting with modern sensibilities, a heavy-handed theme that feels childish to me, is going to be boring and painful to get through.

So I guess it just isn't for me. I guess ALL of it is the issue.