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.

[Splinter of Chaos]

> 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).

I think part of the problem is trying to compare Atlus with AAA companies. While Metaphor may look like it's trying to compete with AAA games, it's not nearly in the same league. Atlus makes relatively niche games for niche audiences and much of the company's success comes from delivering and extremely high quality experience relative to budget of their productions.

> Story execution (I guess Persona games are the same) feels tedious due to the AMOUNT of sheer text in it.

This is very much a "different strokes for different folks" kind of thing. Personally, I am a little disappointed in the writing in that while I feel Atlus wanted to make a more grown-up experience that concerns more impactful and serious issues than the trivialities of daily school life, characters do sometimes behave as two-dimensional side-jokes. I could see it in Persona, but it feels out of place here for me.

Still, I feel like people who don't enjoy on some level the long dialogues and narrative experience probably aren't going to appreciate this game or Persona as much as other games that are more gameplay or plot-focused, and I think that's okay.

Probably the mainline Shin Megami Tensei is better if you don't like long, slow dialogue, but it still has the same dungeon design and turn-based combat.

[Griever]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Splinter of Chaos:

...

I actually love a deep quality story, I'm in the minority of gamers that cares about story in a game, and I do think that Atlus delivers AAA quality stories compared to the newer FF games (Rebirth) where the story is frankly mediocre.

I do think here however, that you get lots of text, for what amounts to a run of the mill Isekai anime story. For example, I felt just reaching the end of the extended prologue and going after the necromancer took an extremely contrived amount of hours and dialogue, for what could have been a single hour in a FF game. Although I do hear that Persona games are similar, and why many people don't end up completing them. It's the repetitiveness and tediousness and gratuitousness of the dialogue, like sometimes the characters are just thinking out loud, and you know that good writing should remove fluff like that. It becomes a game where you basically need to skip lots of the dialogue because "we get the damn mission and what we have to do". It's no longer world building but bla bla.

And don't worry, graphics are not everything to me, above all I judge other things, but one can't deny that whether it's the Persona games including Metaphor, there are extremely questionable gameplay design choices, a major persona youtuber said "Atlus got overly comfortable after P3 to remake the same game" and I kind of agree.

I will do my best to persevere through the game. But the idea that I'm going to have to repeat the Cathedral dungeon + daily activities gameplay loop for like 7+ dungeons that are even bigger feels extremely tedious to me and that's a bad sign when you start a game, and not be bored by say, late game (like I was with FF16).

[REBirthTheEdge]

Yeah, I have to disagree with OP right there, more games need maze-like dungeon like in Metaphor.

I also play FFXVI on the side, and that game would benefit massively from having actual dungeons like Metaphor.

Also disagree with the whole dialog thing, I enjoy the dialogs, this is basically the complaint behind FFXVI being muh movie game, just calm down and enjoy the plot. This helps your attention span.

[Griever]

Początkowo opublikowane przez REBirthTheEdge:

Yeah, I have to disagree with OP right there, more games need maze-like dungeon like in Metaphor.

I also play FFXVI on the side, and that game would benefit massively from having actual dungeons like Metaphor.

Also disagree with the whole dialog thing, I enjoy the dialogs, this is basically the complaint behind FFXVI being muh movie game, just calm down and enjoy the plot. This helps your attention span.

I actually have massive complaints about both FF16 and Rebirth (I'm a FF fan and Square Enix fan, those are basically the only games I play). Just very different complaints. If I could sum up FF16, I would say my main complaint would be an over-focus on a story that turns out to be somewhat not perfect (but still satisfying), and too much of a lack of RPG mechanics (crafting, etc), and a combat system that whilst being an upgrade is lacking complexity (needed more characters, elemental affinities, magic control, etc etc). I'm absolutely not calling those games perfect.

And I agree that FF16 would benefit from dungeons, its just that my critique of the Metaphor Dungeons is a different one. The first Cathedral dungeon just felt immensely tedious to me, but maybe I just need more time with the game. I was already pretty overlevelled and it still felt very "ugh..."

Also, I agree with a number of reviewers like SkillUp that somehow the way they've done the graphics, UI, and stuff popping on screen, it can give headaches, but this is just a subjective opinion.

[archonsod]

Początkowo opublikowane przez SQUIRREL JELQING:

the concept and similar premise existed since about 2017 when a election wasn't even going on at the time.

IIRC it started development in 2016, which was an election year, but was also nearly a decade ago so would be a bit of a stretch (even if we assumed for some reason a bunch of Japanese software developers gave a fig about American politics to begin with).

As to why? Probably due to rewrites on how to approach the game.

Nah, conceptually it's still largely the same, you're still looking at people in a fantasy world fantasizing about our world. The main shift is away from the more traditional Tolkien style fantasy world but I suspect that might be down to the expected release date - Euchronia is basically a mash up of Atlus' previous games, as befitting of a 35 year anniversary release.

Considering much later on the game, its clear what Re Fantazio is tied to. it maybe spells the future of the Etrian Odyssey series.

If you're paying attention I think almost every Atlus game is called out in there somewhere. Some obvious, like the island or Catherine (a), some a little more hidden. I don't think the intent is to tie it to any one in particular, it's a play on words - the world is literally a fantasia of Atlus' previous work.

[REBirthTheEdge]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Griever:

Początkowo opublikowane przez REBirthTheEdge:

Yeah, I have to disagree with OP right there, more games need maze-like dungeon like in Metaphor.

I also play FFXVI on the side, and that game would benefit massively from having actual dungeons like Metaphor.

Also disagree with the whole dialog thing, I enjoy the dialogs, this is basically the complaint behind FFXVI being muh movie game, just calm down and enjoy the plot. This helps your attention span.

I actually have massive complaints about both FF16 and Rebirth (I'm a FF fan and Square Enix fan, those are basically the only games I play). Just very different complaints. If I could sum up FF16, I would say my main complaint would be an over-focus on a story that turns out to be somewhat not perfect (but still satisfying), and too much of a lack of RPG mechanics (crafting, etc), and a combat system that whilst being an upgrade is lacking complexity (needed more characters, elemental affinities, magic control, etc etc). I'm absolutely not calling those games perfect.

And I agree that FF16 would benefit from dungeons, its just that my critique of the Metaphor Dungeons is a different one. The first Cathedral dungeon just felt immensely tedious to me, but maybe I just need more time with the game. I was already pretty overlevelled and it still felt very "ugh..."

Also, I agree with a number of reviewers like SkillUp that somehow the way they've done the graphics, UI, and stuff popping on screen, it can give headaches, but this is just a subjective opinion.

The dungeons here are inspired by DDS/SMT3 dungeon, which are maze-like and have elements of puzzles.

I love these actually, because the essence of these games are dungeon crawlers with some social elements.

[Haze]

Ehh final fantasy is mid

[Volcano Princess Enjoyer]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Griever:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Viper:

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

I'm on console.

Początkowo opublikowane przez SQUIRREL JELQING:

...

- .

If you get a grasp of press turn, id just recommend Nocturne and SMT IV. theyre fairly short compared to Metaphor anyways even with random encounters in Nocturne. SMT IV has a ton of story but even reading all of it is still shorter than Metaphor, as Rubyeyed mentioned though, the story does get goofy/corny af and in prospect if you only think in terms think of it as just a goofy plot point then thats what it will feel like but some of the stuff has it’s place even when absurd.

Yeah the game does have a ton of loading screens the calendar stuff i think is kinda cute much later on, it might be obnoxious for people, but i really like the small story descriptions for every area. If it were skippable I think people would see less of an issue, but thats not really an option. I can see where you come from though, I guess I am just more willing to write it off since it feels like a much more artistic choice rather than being a horrible offense such as MHW having unskippable cutscenes. also it feels very similar in vain to Etrian Odyssey which in itself is also absurd. Because eldritch horrors are causing most of the issues in that series, so it raises the question what happens after Metaphor that causes aliens to invade the planet and cause the yggdrasils, i know at times the remaining humans also helped create them too, and Brilehaven probably sinks

I play a ton of random games and even some indie stuff i am fairly surprised by very small things, but with metaphor its overall direction feels much more refreshing to me than any game has probably stuck out in the last 7 years or so aside from something like ffxvi or ffxiv shadowbringers and Endwalker. On that note, i think the pacing and story in metaphor hits the notes i like, and for me it feels very similar to ff6 with such a goofy cast and likeable characters.

[IdleThoughts]

I always consider it to be a bit irrational to say that this game is intentionally a commentary of the US November Elections. This game has been in development for years, and would-be tyrants who respect power over anything else is not a concept invented by a US Election candidate.

It's really interesting how so many people feel like their chosen leader is being criticized through Louis, a character explicitly written to be evil.

[Volcano Princess Enjoyer]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Griever:

Początkowo opublikowane przez REBirthTheEdge:

Yeah, I have to disagree with OP right there, more games need maze-like dungeon like in Metaphor.

I also play FFXVI on the side, and that game would benefit massively from having actual dungeons like Metaphor.

Also disagree with the whole dialog thing, I enjoy the dialogs, this is basically the complaint behind FFXVI being muh movie game, just calm down and enjoy the plot. This helps your attention span.

I actually have massive complaints about both FF16 and Rebirth (I'm a FF fan and Square Enix fan, those are basically the only games I play). Just very different complaints. If I could sum up FF16, I would say my main complaint would be an over-focus on a story that turns out to be somewhat not perfect (but still satisfying), and too much of a lack of RPG mechanics (crafting, etc), and a combat system that whilst being an upgrade is lacking complexity (needed more characters, elemental affinities, magic control, etc etc). I'm absolutely not calling those games perfect.

And I agree that FF16 would benefit from dungeons, its just that my critique of the Metaphor Dungeons is a different one. The first Cathedral dungeon just felt immensely tedious to me, but maybe I just need more time with the game. I was already pretty overlevelled and it still felt very "ugh..."

Also, I agree with a number of reviewers like SkillUp that somehow the way they've done the graphics, UI, and stuff popping on screen, it can give headaches, but this is just a subjective opinion.

The PS2 Megaten games aside from Persona have semi neat dungeons to be honest. Metaphor has it feel tedious because its not even thought provoking or a cool gimmick, every dungeon after the Cathedral is MUCH shorter though

[MrSoul]

Oh far more behind the times than 2015 my friend.

FF12 came out in 2006, THATS when Square ditched turn based.

Nothing fundamentally wrong with that like saying but wanted to correct cos this game legit has combat from the late 90’s.

[Griever]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Mr.Soul:

Oh far more behind the times than 2015 my friend.
FF12 came out in 2006, THATS when Square ditched turn based.
Nothing fundamentally wrong with that like saying but wanted to correct cos this game legit has combat from the late 90’s.

Also, one reason why turn based was semi OK back then is because the game worlds were just smaller. You could often complete these games in a couple play sessions. Now with next gen games being way more massive, having thousands of generic turn based encounters feels downright tedious.

Despite the massive criticism I have of Rebirth, it did open world encounters the best.
1. The combat in Rebirth is pretty insanely good, flashy, exciting.
2. The amount of actual mobs in the open world isn't that massive.

Here you have dungeons with thousands of mobs everywhere, plus I noticed they literally respawn when you move room to room.

Początkowo opublikowane przez SQUIRREL JELQING:

The PS2 Megaten games aside from Persona have semi neat dungeons to be honest. Metaphor has it feel tedious because its not even thought provoking or a cool gimmick, every dungeon after the Cathedral is MUCH shorter though

Yeah, the cathedral dungeon and the corridor dungeon felt so dated in terms of design.
I'm hoping what you say is true with later dungeons, though I saw the review by Mortismal Gaming and he said the final dungeon is literally like 6 hours long or something lol.

[no_idea_for_a_name]

Początkowo opublikowane przez 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.

The new FF games with their action based gameplay are atrocious. They're an insult to the FF series and they're the reason the FF series is dying. Those games sell consistently much less than Square anticipates, because they're horrible. If you don't like TB combat, then why did you buy this game? There was a demo available. The TB combat is actually the best part of this game.

[Volcano Princess Enjoyer]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Griever:

-.

If you grind sure, the final dungeon is like 20 minutes at best. An hour or two if you do a bunch of side stuff, but dont let this be covered by the fact its like 2 areas at worst that you CAN technically just run into the final boss if you think youre strong enough. Unless he meant the dungeon before that one, that one is like 1 hour at worst. By that point of the game you should be very strong if you know what youre doing.

I wouldnt really give E-celebs or Youtubers much credit a decent amount of them are fairly media illiterate as mean as that may seem. Some people just greatly exaggerate how things are, like as soon as someone says “SMT V is 100 hours to finish once” I hold their opinion to a much lower regard because most SMT games should really never take that long unless youre doing some incredibly CBT challenge.

[Welly]

It's simply overrated. It's graphics are hideous. It's gameplay relies on weaknesses to a point where there is no point in fighting without knowing them so you just save scum and reset fights because you will likely die without knowing them to change archetype, just bad game design. The story is pretty much Racism bad. MP regen system is terrible at the start and it gives you a 2 hours long dungeon. The calendar system is just annoying. The UI is a mess as well it's like they tried too hard here. The characters are some what interesting from what i've played but it's not exactly anything special

Gonna just say it, if you believe this is even remotely game of the year material then you are literally insane. It's not any where near good enough for that. If this is considered the top of the JRPG genre then i'm really sorry but the standard is incredibly low, there isnt anything standout here.