This isn’t a game for everyone for sure.

[Griever]

The reviews are amazing but I couldn’t find a single honest normal one. I ended up buying the game as a final fantasy fan as I’m into the medieval fantasy genre. Played over a dozen hours, completed multiple dungeons, pretty much got the point of the game.

Personally I don’t think it’s a game for everyone. It’s really an old school turn based JRPG. The graphics are dated, though this isn’t my biggest problem with the game. The game suffers from the usual problem with turn based combat and that is fighting 100s of encounters in labyrinthian dungeons that take hours. It gets very tedious to complete the dungeons, even with QoL stuff like being able to kill lower level enemies instantly without entering turn based combat. You just go mad fighting goblins, dogs, and skeletons over and over in this turn based combat. IMO there is a reason Square Enix dropped that combat style to go the real time combat route, it’s jarring how much more exciting something like FF16, rebirth, Nier is tbh. This game seems like a game from 2015 in terms of mechanics.

In terms of story, I can’t judge it too much yet. But it seems like just pure politics. It’s basically the November US elections but in fantasy. It doesn’t grab me so much. Many characters and villains are extravagant anime villains. I do like the female characters like Maria or Hulkenberg and also male characters like Stohl.

Also not a fan of the calendar system and the days loading every single day. The same screen appearing gets hammered into your brain and it gets tedious. This is the thing about this game, there’s lots of tedious repetitive mechanics that I feel wouldn’t be needed, they could have done this entire story with more streamlined combat and without such a calendar system, added to the fact that you literally can only do one activity per day which means you don’t achieve much.

My conclusion is that it’s a good game, but you need to be into these Atlus persons day to day calendar games, and repetitive turn based battles and relatively boring dungeons. If you’re not into that and want a faster paced RPG, I would avoid.

I’m not sure if I will complete the game, I’ll see, but i spent like 10 hours until I completed the first major cathedral dungeon, I have a feeling this game will take me forever, not sure if I want to be doing that.

What are your thoughts on the game, if you played over 10-20 hours?


PS: after playing what I feel are more next gen games like FF16 and rebirth I have a hard time imagining this game as GOTY, I’m just not seeing it. Unless the story blows my mind later on which would surprise me.

[N/A]

I hated Rebirth because the "action" elements felt clunky and forced and to me that detracted from the experience I thought I was going to get, a turned based RPG.

Saying action games are more modern is not true either, they are just more popular in the west and that's the market they have been struggling to capture for the longest. Anyway to each their own.

[Cosmic Spirit]

Turn based combat is the main reason I play jrpg.

Calendar system is what made persona 3-5 so addictive i think, at least for me.

After 30+ hours I still can't say anything about story. It's kinda unique for me but not so catchy.

[Xariot]

Originally posted by Griever:

I don’t think it’s a game for everyone.

This isn't a thing sir, there is no such thing as a game for everyone...

Originally posted by Griever:

My conclusion is that it’s a good game, but you need to be into these Atlus persons day to day calendar games, and repetitive turn based battles

So what you're saying is: in order to like a game you need to like that kind of game... got it...

[Scearcely]

Not liking turn-based combat is completely valid
Buying an Atlus game and not expecting turn-based combat isn't

Originally posted by Griever:

What are your thoughts on the game, if you played over 10-20 hours?

You're not really going to get the spread of opinions you seem to be expecting with this question. Very few people put more than one gaming session into a game they don't enjoy. Anyone who meets your "over 10~20 hours" criteria is going to be in favor of it. Either they knew what they were in for prior to purchase (me) or they didn't but enjoyed it enough to keep playing after their first day.

But if you're wondering if you might have gotten the wrong 1st impression, I'll let you know - nope, if you made it to/through the first dungeon, you understand the core loop of the game. Features options and choices will be added, but its a turn-based JRPG through and through.

[zero]

theres not a game out there made for everyone, nor will there be, and thats a good thing.

personally, i like the game, a traditional jrpg story, im not the biggest fan of the character designs, i do like turn based combat and all the dungeons in general.

im not a fan of the persona social-link mechanics or the calander system, the former is just personal bias and the latter being that if i can do everything in a single playthrough then the calander system is functionally pointless to me.

overall, solid 7-8/10, i'd give it 2 more point if it gave me a megadungeon i could spend 30 hours in, but i dont expect that from any game.(Labyrinth of Galleria can fill that void, or games like it)

[alex010300]

Playing this game on the PS5 is like playing Person 5, if you like P5 you will love this game.

[ShockedHearts]

of course its not for everyone.

people have different tastes. absolutely no game should be made for 'everyone'
that would be the most boring game imaginable.

games have target audiences.

[ichigozanget]

First and foremost. FFXVI is not a JRPG... it's a hack and slash with very few RPG components.
FFVII rebirth/remake has a worse combat system than this JRPG in my opinion.
If Squarenix left aside the turn-based combat system, it's because they simply don't know how to make turn-based games and the rest was just making excuses.

From the moment Enix absorbed Square the quality of the "turn-based games" they have made decreased until they simply said to trash them. I put it in quotes because the only turn-based game they have made has been FFX the rest have been "action turn-based games" from the original FFVII to FFXV.

Atlus and RGG with Yakuza have shown with their latest releases that turn-based combat was never "outdated" or "obsolete" as Square declared. And currently I think they far surpass Squarenix's games as JRPGs.

For your question I actually have 90 hours in this game (second playthroug in regicide for the 100%) and im superinvested.

[Rubyeyed]

Want some honest thoughts?

I'm also not a fan of the calendar system but it is a staple feature for Atlus at this point. On the bright side it seems to be very relaxed. I always do dungeons in one day so I'm always left with like 2 weeks of free time.

Personally, I think swapping the big monster/persona system to the archetype system we have here was a mistake. The collector/pokemon angle is more fun. All those archetypes have the same design which is really dull big metal armors and aren't as fun as gathering and building your "team" of varied and totally whack creatures.

Graphics are lacking. It would be better if they went even further and stylized the game like the menus. Give everything this hand drawn feel. As it is now it's just a mixed bag of good textures (especially on enemy NPCs and playable chars) and a horrid vomit-textures. It's better to not look too closely.

Story starts really strong but nonsense shows up every now and then. Also, a lot of characters that are supposed to be serious behave like total clowns. Honestly, when I see most of the other "candidates" my eyes roll. I also don't like how the game won't let you "ruin" the plan. Like that one time you meet Louis and you are supposed to pal up to him I tried to say something like "I want the throne" and the game was like "you don't want to say that, pick something else". Nice illusion of choice right there.

On the up side though, the game isn't treating the player as a complete idiot as is the case with (Y7) Like a Dragon and to a lesser extent with Infinite Wealth where you get a recap/re-explanation of the situation at every possible opportunity like you have alzheimers or something.

There are very minor localization issues. For example, "a Gallica" or character saying that a guy was petrified when he was visibly strangled. Also, octopus has tentacles not legs (I think). At least I haven't noticed any "hidden agenda" being pushed which seemed to be a big concern for some.

Balance of difficulty isn't the greatest either but it's typical "you roll them or they roll you" affair. My problem here is that you cannot easily swap archetypes and if you don't spoil yourself about enemy weaknesses you will likely get floored. Which will lead to retreat or death and reload to change your lineup. Reset button doesn't help if your guys don't have appropriate moves on for the opponents.

Overall, not bad but I expected it to be better. Certainly not a GOTY material.

[Griever]

@rubyeyed, first legit response with some level in this thread, thanks. I agree with everything. What I will say about the calendar system is that it’s not the calendar system itself that bothers me, but the constant “it’s a new day” screen appearing with the voice. There are too many constant loading screens in the game that it becomes headache inducing, also with sounds every time. Gallica in combat starts to be insufferable also especially in English. Why for example is she telling you every turn that “Stohl is dead, help him”? There is too much extra dialogue that is just redundant in this game.

On difficulty, I actually find it challenging on normal but I don’t usually play turn based RPGs so it might just be me. I never died yet but i had sketchy situations in th first cathedral dungeon alone which surprised me as I normally never struggle this early in a game. I also find the dungeons overly long and not congruent with how big a building should be. You literally spend hours in a dungeon which is too much.


Voice acting is actually solid in English but I overall prefer the Japanese.

And yes it’s hard to see this being GOTY.

[alex010300]

The game is made for Persona 5 fans which is why it is successful.

[Cosmic Spirit]

Originally posted by Rubyeyed:

Want some honest thoughts?

I'm also not a fan of the calendar system but it is a staple feature for Atlus at this point. On the bright side it seems to be very relaxed. I always do dungeons in one day so I'm always left with like 2 weeks of free time.

Personally, I think swapping the big monster/persona system to the archetype system we have here was a mistake. The collector/pokemon angle is more fun. All those archetypes have the same design which is really dull big metal armors and aren't as fun as gathering and building your "team" of varied and totally whack creatures.

Graphics are lacking. It would be better if they went even further and stylized the game like the menus. Give everything this hand drawn feel. As it is now it's just a mixed bag of good textures (especially on enemy NPCs and playable chars) and a horrid vomit-textures. It's better to not look too closely.

Story starts really strong but nonsense shows up every now and then. Also, a lot of characters that are supposed to be serious behave like total clowns. Honestly, when I see most of the other "candidates" my eyes roll. I also don't like how the game won't let you "ruin" the plan. Like that one time you meet Louis and you are supposed to pal up to him I tried to say something like "I want the throne" and the game was like "you don't want to say that, pick something else". Nice illusion of choice right there.

On the up side though, the game isn't treating the player as a complete idiot as is the case with (Y7) Like a Dragon and to a lesser extent with Infinite Wealth where you get a recap/re-explanation of the situation at every possible opportunity like you have alzheimers or something.

There are very minor localization issues. For example, "a Gallica" or character saying that a guy was petrified when he was visibly strangled. Also, octopus has tentacles not legs (I think). At least I haven't noticed any "hidden agenda" being pushed which seemed to be a big concern for some.

Balance of difficulty isn't the greatest either but it's typical "you roll them or they roll you" affair. My problem here is that you cannot easily swap archetypes and if you don't spoil yourself about enemy weaknesses you will likely get floored. Which will lead to retreat or death and reload to change your lineup. Reset button doesn't help if your guys don't have appropriate moves on for the opponents.

Overall, not bad but I expected it to be better. Certainly not a GOTY material.

I agree except Archetypes part. After all these smt games I've played (not so many in total) archetypes looks really fresh and interesting. I like how many variations I have to think about and always try something new. Persona games for me was just strong physical aoe for like 80% of the game.

And Archetypes swapping in combat would kill any strategic aspect and left the game even easier that it is.

[Comatose Dolphin]

Originally posted by Griever:

-

I was not really gonna reply but I do want to correct a few things here. This game for one has nothing to do with the November Elections, the concept and similar premise existed since about 2017 when a election wasn't even going on at the time. This is not about the U.S and its about the world overall and its current affairs along with how society is. It is clear, however, the concept did change. The alternate opening you see in the game is re-edit of the original concept trailer, you can watch it for yourself and see it is a similar premise but clearly there is no 'ranger' class. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reYl4RUpF_M

The music itself has changed as well, you're free to look into this yourself https://youtu.be/LHTc0am-KGU?si=r_ZqKzaLm0DHgeuN
https://youtu.be/UDcWlmMKG8Y?si=seg_CxYSxcSZ3vVQ

As to why? Probably due to rewrites on how to approach the game. Needless to say, I waited for this game, quite pleased with the overall approach they went with. Now that isn't to say your criticisms are invalid, because if you came into this expecting an immersive open world medieval JRPG its clear by the first 20 hours you weren't gonna get that sadly, and I get that it is disappointing. There could be points about its overall core theme being rehashed from SMT 4's main story but in a much more hopeful tone in comparison to SMT 4's incredibly nihilistic and depressing one.

Press turn itself is a much better system than traditional turn based combat. A decent amount of people get confused and think its just regular turn based combat, but for megaten fans its regarded as probably the best turn based system there is, and theres a reason why Atlus dumped Demon Co-op and swapped to press turn for the mainline series. Now for the market it is arguably a 'short sighted' or poor decision, simply because the current market wants more action games or something much more invigorating. That being said, companies either do or don't take risks and theres some honor to be had about Atlus doubling down on it, since for game devs it is much more safe to keep the formulaic formats of popular games going. There is a thing why as mentioned Nier, ZZZ, DMC or a bunch of action games like Monster Hunter are thriving in the current market.

However, unlike those games ReFantazio seeks to tell a narrative sort of picture book story first with a core message. The calendar system is in poor taste to many without a doubt, but the more I think about it, it works well. An open ended version of the game would probably lessen the stakes and make the content loop much more disappointing since you'd reach the content and be like "oh thats lame". Overall though, dungeon crawlers are not nearly as popular or indepth as they once were. Things like Etrian Odyssey, Wizardry, SMT, and Barony are popular with much smaller audiences overall or big hits in Japan primarily. Atlus as a whole doesn't really produce games with dungeons like SMT3, SJ, or DDS as much anymore as a result. They probably want to make it much more attractable to wider audiences, despite "under budget" complaints. On another I like to see this game in the same vain as ff6 where sure you can explore around but the main objective itself is clear and it seeks to tell a high fantasy story first. So yeah, sure it maybe disappointing the "game isn't a game." But it can regarded as a fairly good story.

As for visuals they are pretty dated but as others have mentioned it is also stylized, the world itself the sky box looks pretty bad, but the more you look into it you can notice the sort of strokes that an artist makes in a painting or image. That in itself is cool, because its like previously mentioned 'picture book' or art book-esque look. The characters do look a bit too anime-ish and at times may clash with the artistic design tbh. There are other smaller details otherwise though, they are story related, but if you pay attention carefully they in itself hint at things. Atlus is known for that as much as people neglect it, SMT 4 does environmental story telling almost as good.

Despite its flaws, i do think its relatively refreshing that these companies are at least trying to take risks, but it is apparent they are not working. FFXVI only broke its dev costs and I don't know about Exo Primal and Kunitsu Gami with Capcom if it performed according to expectations. It is telling and sad to say, the investors will feel much less inclined to keep doing this.

Edit: Also I do not mind the Archetype designs. Considering much later on the game, its clear what Re Fantazio is tied to. it maybe spells the future of the Etrian Odyssey series.

[Viper]

He doesn't even own the game. SO how the heck is he playing it.

[Griever]

Originally posted by Viper:

He doesn't even own the game. SO how the heck is he playing it.

I'm on console.

Originally posted by SQUIRREL JELQING:

...

Thanks for the in depth response.
Not to go too much lost into detail, but my gripes with the game is less with the SYSTEMS, but the way antiquated tech basically makes the gameplay experience work.

- For example, countless loading screens in a game that has the graphical fidelity of a PS3/PS4 game (same as all these Tales series games and JRPGs really): This is very jarring in 2024 when we start getting games with graphics like Stellar Blade, Wukong, Jedi Survivor, FF16, etc with barely any loading screen. It feels antiquated compared to what is possible today, there is no excuse for this. I get that every Atlus game is like this (Persona games, etc), but in 2024 it's lazy to not upgrade the technology. However many game analysts and Atlus fans have said that apparently they're resting on their laurels after the success of P3 and P5. Compare this with Capcom or Square Enix, who have created entirely new engine to fuel their next gen games (Resident Evil Engine, proprietary engine for FF16, etc).

- Dungeon crawling is tedious because it feels like 2015 JRPG level. Literally square corridors on the map, with rooms, enemies, treasures to open. And the dungeons get bigger with time but are very copy & paste, just with different colors. The 100+ encounters in the dungeon with length turn based combat makes it worse (although its obv way faster than usual due to QoL stuff like the instant combat or auto combat but still), it's so jarring compared to like FF16 or Rebirth where the overworld isn't spammed with enemies, and you can extinguish the enemies you do see relatively fast due to real time combat. You can see that this is a total upgrade. I just played NieR Replicant and i also feel that it does overworld combat perfectly and excitingly.

- Visuals themselves are dated and jarring for PS5/Next gen, but not so much a problem for me as the technical limitations of the game such as loading screen every 5 min.

- Story execution (I guess Persona games are the same) feels tedious due to the AMOUNT of sheer text in it. There is just so much dialogue for what seems to amount to a basic Isekai like story. Also I'm 10 hours into the story and my mind isn't blown yet, but we will see.

Conclusion: I'm obviously more of a Square Enix fan. I thought I would transition to Atlus games easily, but I think it's not my cup of tea, and really convinced me that it would be a mistake to buy either P3 or P5. It's the questionable lengthy game design above all that does it for me.