I think in one of his side-videos, he mentioned that fact 'from my Zero Punctuation days' as though he had retired it due to the shake-up that happened.
The beauty of it is that it's not a singer at all: it's a Buddhist monk, and he's chanting in Esperanto. Makes me wonder what the lyrics are and if they're actually sutras of some kind 😂
The game is so shockingly dedicated to unhorniness that at one point a party member suggests "Lets all go to the hot springs!" and then pretty much immediately gets shut down. Given how meta the story and themes already are, I choose to believe this was intentional awareness on the devs part.
oh absolutely, they have a character's who's main aesthetic is pink named Catherina in the game that was directed by the guy who also did Catherine, there's no way any of this kind of thing was an accident.
That actually kinda kills my interest in it. Not only can I not run around the streets of Tokyo, and the characters in your party (that I've seen) are kinda un-sexy, but not even a beach or hot-springs sequence? Wtf would I even look forward to? We finally got elves, catgirls and fairies and they nerfed them?
@@fleetingimmersion the more overt political themes about classism, racism, jingoism, fascism, etc. are better served and more fully explored without the inclusion of love interests. But I can see how this would make someone lose interest.
Big reason for having backup party members: Because you can't change Archetypes on the fly mid battle, you can instead switch to another character kitted for for a specific use. Enemy's buffing themselves nonstop? Hit 'em with a Thief that knows Dekaja from the Faker line. Enemy is hitting your Knight's weakness? Switch to a Warrior that has some Knight skills on them. It gives you limited flexibility without overdoing it.
Also some character stat are way too skewed to be really all purpose, like Heismay has pretty atrocious natural Str so his physical attacks are weak so you're just better off using someone else if you want to use Phys stuff
@@beforejam theif's main thing is Steal and buff manipulation, so the most important thing to have is speed/Ag which he has the highest handily still making the base Thief class useful on him despite lower damage from naturally low Str, this applies less to the higher ranked Thief class where their skills are much better served to high str characters but can still work via say, Assassin's Insta kill skills
@@Brian-tn4cd well, you can sortof try to turn him into a dodge tank, which I suppose is about the best you can get out of him, it's not too bad with his statline, and you can get a talisman where if he dodges he straightup nukes all their turns (though I'd rather rely on repel effects than dodges). I'd say though that the game does somewhat seem to nudge your main character as a mage character because it's super awkward to really use any of the party members as a mage nuke considering how late you get the actual magic users (and one of them is seemingly more of a support mage rather than a nuker, and for the other going into mage to get hyper is like a huge archetype xp detour).
@@Brian-tn4cd actually stats don’t matter too much in this game. Weapon equipment now affects damage and generally has a bigger impact than stats do (as in a character with a strong weapon will outdo a character with a high Stat). Even low END doesn’t really matter as iirc a single point in armor has a higher effect on damage than a point in END.
@@studentt6064 Funny, after a month or so he's actually considered completely broken now lol. As a dodge tank he can cause enemies to lose all their stars. EVEN THE BOSSES. Anytime any enemy does a AoE they basically lose the rest of their turn, it's insane.
"I particularly like the part where the insane dude who blatantly attempted to seize power with a violent coup somehow still has half the country's popular support." Once, I would have thought this is completely unrealistic. How naïve I was...
Yup, with protags name being kuro and shiro with the theme being duality.. atlus has been getting to more and more disco elysium level writing recently
Ah yes, the magical land of Cardiff. Known for being invaded by ghosts, aliens, and transdimentional emotionless Cyborgs. I might be thinking of just Doctor Who and related spinoffs.
How's Cardiff been handling it since Torchwood went out of business? Or do the extradimensional horrors cease to flow through the time rift as soon as the folks capable of defending against them disappear, no longer finding it fun if there's no resistance?
Nah all that stuff really happened. Humanity is just so bad at processing alien invasions that unless you were paying close attention that day you probably missed it. I mean one of his companions literally had the past world-shaking invasion events listed for them and apparently hadn't heard of _any_ of them, either from noticing themselves or from people talking about it afterward. So the idea that it's happening to our actual Earth is (supposed to be) plausible. Somehow.
@@SuccubiPie well, this comment made my day after Yatzee defeated me via emotional damage (with the comment on the coup-fomenting madman still having ~50% popular support), so thank you for that!
I'm sorry, I didn't finished watching the video. As soon as Yahtzee said "Its the job system of Final Fantasy V" my hands moved on their own to buy the game.
He doesn't get into it but yeah it's a really well done job system that plays heavily into Atlus element stuff, every single class has strengths and vulns so you can't just bull through
@@daevious_ it's literally a hero class with a bunch of prerequisites, just like dancer and berserker I was like "dang dancer seems super broken for a starter class" then I opened it up and was OHHHH lmao that's why
Since Persona 5 was once pitched as a globe spanning journey, but walked back from the idea. I always wanted to see what that would be like. This is an interesting test of concept
They need a globe-spanning journey that starts in Japan and goes somewhere far, like Egypt, Italy, or Florida. Preferably if it stars, has, or relates to a blonde man
considering the persona games characters are all mid-late teens in high school world spanning journeys are a little hard in modern settings unless they're all loaded
"I particularly like the part where the insane dude who blatantly tried to seize power in a violent coup, still somehow has about half the country's popular support." Yeah... what a ridiculous stretch of logic. Videogames, am I right?? Haaahhh...
@@MediaMunkee people so upset their guy didn't win that they turn violent still support him afterwards, who would have expected that? Well, technically violent anyway. Vandalism is technically violence.
My question is: where the fuck was Stone Dad when the King was murdered? When the prince was cursed to eternal sleep? WHERE WAS STONE DAD WHEN THE WESTFOLD FELL?
That's what I'm thinking too. However, it's probably a situation like a parent who heard some shit going on, didn't see what started it, can't be arsed finding out how it all happened, and throws you the "I don't care who started it! I'm finishing it! Now do it proper!"
Considering the King is the Stone Dad (as far as I know since they could plot twist me later on) and only becomes him after death, it'd be hard for him to show up during those times
I actually really liked Final Fantasy 5’s job system. It gives you the ability to customize the party somewhat. I for one always made the pirate lady/long lost sister a blue wizard because the image of a pirate lady doing magic taken from monsters is fun
@@Nirwanda001FFV actually had amazing designs for all the different characters. You could have an entire party in the same job and still look cool as hell!
I actually kinda like Metaphor's setting. In the current gaming landscape of gritty realism and modern urban fantasy, it's refreshing to go back to form with a nice old classic fantasy. Not that we're short of that in the JRPG scene, but it's a solid take on the setting nonetheless
I agree, I feel like its a fall back onto basics in its own way, and settings like this are a JRPG staple for a reason largely because they work. If they decide to make sequels for the game I can imagine that's when they'll experiment more now they've achieved success with the basic formula.
That honestly was one of the big selling points of the game when they announced it years ago. That they would be attempting a more classical fantasy RPG after decades of doing mostly modern urban fantasy. (Etrian Odyssey notwithstanding.) And I really like the world they created. It has a lot of classical fantasy tropes, but still has its own identity that sets it apart.
Agreed. It's honestly become a bit of a rarity for newer games to go back to the tried and true settings, so at this point they tend to have a bit more appeal. Whether it's nostalgia for the old or fatigue for the new it's hard to say. Probably a bit of both.
Not kinda, i freaking love it. It takes the traditional fantasy settings and made it work, and i can't wait to see where they're taking the IP. Yahtzee is just a hater, and that's fine too. Personally I'm also really happy that they finally make something that's not about highschoolers playing hero of justice. Not everyone will like the same thing.
That was abit strange. Did he forget about the Eggs with legs and the talking teeth monsters? I liked how they juxtaposed the traditional fantasy creatures with the "human" enemies.
I don't think I've ever seen a setting where god is undeniably real and present and intervenes just enough to enforce fair elections to allow humanoid self government. I may have seen a Sci Fi setting with very powerful AI constitutional enforcement, but never a fantasy one.
It's not god that's the big stone head. It's described as the King's special magic that enforces his will. Different religions are present in the plot but haven't played much yet.
Actually, whats the difference? Two beings saying they are god. Both have a certain level of omnipotence, the only difference is that one being has a recorded history and the other does not.@Steamedhams578
The music also changes and the tempo of the battle if you're actually at a weaker end in the battle the music will actually change if you're winning the battle actually changes and if the battle is easy it's different too.
It might be interesting to have an antagonist that actually solves problems and gains legitimate popular support, though possibly with a little more heavy-handed rule than you might like. You go to a village to solve their bandit problem only to find that all of the bandits have been crucified outside of town and there are some black armored guards patroling around. The people a a bit put off, but no bandit raid has reached the town since the scary guys came to town.
I'm gonna be the "um, actually". The bad guy in this game is doing that, somewhat. Violence and authority grant you legitimate popular support even at the best of times, so imagine how easy it is to garner that support if there is a perceived threat for the populace. Dictators and strongmen dont appear out of thin air, not to mention that the important figures that mark the status quo will always support authoritarians because they tend to perpetuate said status quo and those same figures there.
@@VicStrange9 I'm not familiar with the game. I'm just pondering having an antagonist who has legitimate public support from actually helping at least some people. I suppose there would be a fine line to walk if you wanted to avoid supporting fascism while still making the bad guy interesting.
@@Nerdnumberone Atlus does this with many of their games, to be fair. Lot of them go about how order is usually achieved by force and violence and still is considered a viable choice by the masses. Here's my 2 cents: showing exactly why fascism is appealing for people is far, far preferable than caving it to the fear of being perceived as its supporter. Fascism promises many, many things, and some of them (violence, blood, alleged "glory" through battle) it delivers as it is a war ideology. It cannot exist without enemies. Thus, creating problems that can be blamed on said enemies and then "solving" them is how it makes its impact on people, much like capitalism creates a problem to sell a solution. I feel that it is important for each of us to understand that we're not immune to propaganda.
You almost hit the nail in the head. Not big spoilers, but since hour 1 the game explains that the villain, while being a regicide and a dick is also a genuinely good leader, talented mage and strategist with ample support from the army, nobles that never like the past king and the population for being the figured head that stop a rebellion some years ago. He is a asshole but a charismatic asshole in a word with enough racist self center assholes to make a difference
You'd think the metaphors are a bit on the nose, but believe me when I say that that it will fly right over the heads of a vast majority of the target audience...
That's what the fairy is there for. Every time something that is extremely blatant but someone somewhere has even an infinitesimal chance of missing, she cheerfully chimes in to explain exactly what the symbolism is just in case
I know he only got about half way through the game, because he didn't get to the Devil Summoner, Persona Master, or Soul Hacker classes. Because Subtly thy name is not Atlus
Think that's bad? Without spoilers, one of the towns is called Eht Ria and the dungeon there is...well.. This whole game is like Atlus' loveletter to itself lol
"I particularly like the part where the insane bastard who blatantly tried to seize power in violent coup still somehow has half the countries popular support." *slowly intake of breath* ..... **SIIIIGGGGHHHHH**
It can be a good bit harder in Metaphor than Persona. Later on it can take 5-10 hits to get the stun off on an enemy in order for you to get advantage, but they get advantage against you in one hit. Especially if you're trying to dodge and strike 3-4 enemies at once.
@@inuclearpickle8628 Yea well SMT is just rpg combat on crack and that is what makes it better then most IMHO. At least you have to pay attention unlike i don't know ff where the game just plays it's self half the time (if not more)
4:13 its fun to swap between all the characters for the situation you fall into, fighting a big lava slime, might want to switch out the guy with a fire weakness for the lady with an ice spell mid combat.
2:54 "I distinctly like the part where the guy who tried to usurp power in a violent coup still has about half the country's support" Haha yeah, that would never happen in real life, what a silly concept.
Seriously. I'm willing to respect his opinion on the matter, but he's just dead wrong about the soundtrack, and clearly never heard Strange Journey's soundtrack either.
You see that a lot with people who lack broad familiarity. Without enough general knowledge of something, they have to use what little they DO know as a frame of reference. So Yahtzee can only judge a JRPG by comparing it to Persona 5, because that's what he knows.
@@PsychicWars But the soundtrack is hardly anything like Persona either, other than some very broad similarities due to being the same composer. Good or bad is subjective. But saying it's "generic" is an implication that it sounds like everything else out there and doesn't stand out from the norm, which is objectively not true. I'd be shocked if anyone found even one other JRPG that uses an actual monk singing in esperanto as their core backing vocals.
idk i skimmed through the OST and the vast majority of it sounded like generic medieval high fantasy 'epic'. doesnt mean its bad it does the job i guess but yeah
I feel like it would be fun, in an attempt to subvert the whole city-desert-jungle-water levels trope to set an entire game in say, a desert, with everything you acquire and gain skill with targeting that environment. Then in the final act, the environment switches to something like an underwater environment, forcing you to rethink the skills and items you’ve acquired to figure out which ones have any value, and which ones are utterly worthless.
2 things 1:SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS yes you were the prince, well a homunculous form that was the prince splitting in two 2:Acording to doctor who Cardif has ritualistic sacrifice anyways
Persona 5 will go down in history as the funkiest JRPG ever made, Metaphor could not hope to live up to that. It's still good though, and Yahtz didn't even mention the colon this time!
I think the developers who aren't trying to make live service games finally realized that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is able to crank out a new major release every handful of months by reusing their same systems and most of the same assets and they're trying to get more out of their big technological investments by employing them in extra games outside of their initial IP. They already have Persona's battle system, inventory, schedule format and stuff solved for, so with distinct investments in art assets, writing, etc, they can reuse those at lower marginal cost and less risk than with a new mainline entry into the flagship Persona IP.
You're saying this as if Atlus never reuse anything prior to this lol 95% of unlockable Persona in 3, 4, and 5 already existed in the SMT franchise, and comparatively Metaphor have a much more unique assets for its monsters and archetypes.
You clearly never been or even seen game delevement before Everyone reuses assets in fact most games you like do The reason it takes so long for a game to be made nowadays is because they spend most of their time making new assets and testing them.
I'm actually quite into the style of this game, I felt it would be inherently interesting to see the persona devs tackle a full on fantasy setting and so far I think it's succeeded in both being interesting and pretty good! I also quite like the world building!
1:25 I just checked, not only does Jack Frost cameo as a snowman because of course Atlus' mascot is going to show up in a game made by Persona devs but apparently there's a Devil Summoner class with a select few SMT demons (which again includes Jack Frost because of course it does, as well as the most popular western cryptid in existence, Mothman).
It gets even better because there's a class than can equip special items that let them mimic another class and it's called the "persona master", and if you equip the Devil Summoner mask to the Persona Master, they will just yell out "Personaaaa!" whenever they do special attacks. It's such a cool easter egg.
"You have to pkay it for 8 hours before you get to what the fame is actually about. " Which is exactly how long the prologue demo goes for. They knew exactly what was happening with their pacing.
Yataee: I love that the insane dude who political tries to seize power in a violent coup still somehow has half the country's popular support! Me, An American: 🫥
One gameplay thing i really like is how job exp and job mastery is handled. You know that age old problem when you max out a job's level, but you dont want to use it anymore beacuse doing so would mean wasting potential exp that could go into another job? Well metaphor solves this by allowing mastered job's to still gain exp, and with every 1000 gained will give you a consumable item that will grant 1000 exp to any job of your choosing. Essentially allowing you to play the jobs you want without stagnating your growth. Which is brilliant imo.
Metaphor to me is just a spiritual Successor to the SMT Devil Survivor Games. The art style, Their specific Time mechanic, it's all Devil Survivor. Even the The stories theme's are right on point. It's really exciting to see as I never thought I'd see anything continue from that particulare offbranch.
So one team has a bastard that attempted a coup and the other is campaigning for a "rightful heir" that's asleep all the time and thus has no idea what's going on? I'd say this game came out a few months too late to be *truly* topical.
I honestly feel more sorry for F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg who is probably no longer going to be first Hulkenberg to appear in search results for his surname now.
And for those of us who have played far too many Atlus and Sega RPGs - there are a gaggle-fuck-ton of references. Probably the largest one I saw being to Etrian Odyssey but also that same area has a few bits toward 7th Dragon
The sudden campaigning thing reminds me of that Fable game where you have to raise enough money in a year to defeat a Shoggoth invasion (or whatever it was)
I actually prefer Metaphor over Persona for many of the reasons given in the vid. The story is cohesive, the political intrigue is realistic, but most importantly it doesnt include pervy schoolage weirdness. The lack of Shinmegami-Tensai creature collection is a tad unfortunate, but the combat system is essentially identical. Deffinately worthwhile for the story
The characters interactions and the social link like events are also some of the best Atlus has made, I have maxed out all but one follower and can't really say that one of them was worse than others, all were extremely well explored and makes you care for those people
the dialogue has been fantastic. i find the starting three have a wonderful dynamic and it only gets better. atlus hit their stride for character writing.
Demon collecting is a great mechanic in SMT, but I honestly prefer the way this game handles the Archetypes to how any Persona game has handled Persona's. It feels way more balanced and cohesive than those games usually do, where the recent games have weighted so much of your team's power and customization potential into the MC, while your teammates trail behind as just good enough support for the MC, with almost zero customization or build potential. In this game everyone feels important, and everyone feels like they make a meaningful difference to your team. It's reminiscent of Persona 1 and 2 mechanics, with more limited options, but significantly better designed. I would much rather they take some inspiration from this game for future Persona games than to just go back to what they were doing before.
@@Zeik56 And I also loved the synthesis skills, the choice of using extra turns icons to a more powerful attack creates a very good dynamic in combat I still think SMT5V has better buildcrafting but to top that is really hard but Metaphor truly is a great step forward when compared to persona for sure
2:44 To be fair, they *did* just flat out name the game 'Metaphor'. It's not like they didn't say, explicitly, right at the start, what you were getting.
Persona 6x: The Grind👌 That being said, it's still a 7.7 for me where narrative and combat mechanics are concerned. Some things I didn't quite fancy include but are not limited to: - It felt like a watered-down Persona game when it should have been an upgrade since the devs are no longer bound to the franchise's restrictions. - The PNG map had banger narrations to it and some great hangout moments but ultimately breaks the supposedly adventurous immersion (especially since it opened as if there's this fully explorable, linked map). If open world/semi-open world was a stretch, an overworld approach would still have been better. - The side dungeons are too repetitive (as expected) and the towns though pretty still ended up feeling hollow. - Didn't really like the calendar system. It works in Persona since you're a student stuck in a single hub city/town, but in an expanded world setting, it felt more like I am being forcibly brushed off from one point to another. - They forgot to add a class clown. Quirky foodie Hulkenberg and the wolfpack brothers are it. - The 'dungeon only' special outfits should stop being a thing. The protagonist is no longer a student that is burdened with a strict dress code; it makes no sense as to why we still cannot wear our drip trips outside of dungeons. Also, please come up with new alt costume designs as the Persona repeat imports are getting old--Raidou Kuzonoha isn't even in the wardrobe this time! - If there's a social link aspect in the game, there should be romance options. Deciding to be half-assed, catholicchurchy about it is just old testament levels of cruelty. - One-handed swords without sheaths are just ugh... - NG+ exclusive content is kind of salty for lengthy RPGs. - Time marches on, and the age of the new king draws nearer...
Mechanically, Metaphor is very similar to Persona. But, despite the initial gripe of it taking several hours to get through the "cold open", at least you aren't being constantly told to go to bed. While the dungeons for sidquests can feel a bit samey, at least it helps break up the monotony present in Persona games when you are waiting for a deadline to arrive. And there is time management, but the tradeoffs for doing one activity versus another aren't as stark. So you can still accumulate some of the resource for unlocking jobs and skills by raising a social stat or social link. Conversely, you can improve social stats as part of completing sidequests. So, the calendar system is ever-present, but there isn't the anxiety of missing out on something or doing something sub-optimally. If you do the sidequests while during a major dungeon deadline, you'll probably end up slightly over-levelled for the major dungeon, so you'll be able to tackle it one day. Social links have 8 levels instead of 10 and the level increases each time you talk to them, regardless of how you answer the questions that are asked. "correct" responses generate more Job/Ability points, though. All in all, I think someone could go in blind and still manage to max all social stats and links without needing a complex guide and spreadsheet in a single playthrough.
You can tell he liked it from the start when he didnt mention the colon in the title
_(dry heave)_
*Validation Points: Granted*
@@DrRESHES Validation Points *HEURGH* Granted
😂😂😂 Right?
I think in one of his side-videos, he mentioned that fact 'from my Zero Punctuation days' as though he had retired it due to the shake-up that happened.
Bought the game because persona devs.
Kept playing for the opera singer falling down a flight of stairs
Stares at shin megami tensei
Man is giving it his whole-ass soul as he tumbles down those steps.
Supposedly he’s singing in Esperato. Thanks to him, I’m now learning the language
ravioli indeed on him
The beauty of it is that it's not a singer at all: it's a Buddhist monk, and he's chanting in Esperanto. Makes me wonder what the lyrics are and if they're actually sutras of some kind 😂
The game is so shockingly dedicated to unhorniness that at one point a party member suggests "Lets all go to the hot springs!" and then pretty much immediately gets shut down. Given how meta the story and themes already are, I choose to believe this was intentional awareness on the devs part.
oh absolutely, they have a character's who's main aesthetic is pink named Catherina in the game that was directed by the guy who also did Catherine, there's no way any of this kind of thing was an accident.
Either that, or they wanted to leave that for Persona.
Going to the hot springs is not automatically horny
That actually kinda kills my interest in it. Not only can I not run around the streets of Tokyo, and the characters in your party (that I've seen) are kinda un-sexy, but not even a beach or hot-springs sequence? Wtf would I even look forward to? We finally got elves, catgirls and fairies and they nerfed them?
@@fleetingimmersion the more overt political themes about classism, racism, jingoism, fascism, etc. are better served and more fully explored without the inclusion of love interests. But I can see how this would make someone lose interest.
Big reason for having backup party members:
Because you can't change Archetypes on the fly mid battle, you can instead switch to another character kitted for for a specific use. Enemy's buffing themselves nonstop? Hit 'em with a Thief that knows Dekaja from the Faker line. Enemy is hitting your Knight's weakness? Switch to a Warrior that has some Knight skills on them. It gives you limited flexibility without overdoing it.
Also some character stat are way too skewed to be really all purpose, like Heismay has pretty atrocious natural Str so his physical attacks are weak so you're just better off using someone else if you want to use Phys stuff
@@beforejam theif's main thing is Steal and buff manipulation, so the most important thing to have is speed/Ag which he has the highest handily still making the base Thief class useful on him despite lower damage from naturally low Str, this applies less to the higher ranked Thief class where their skills are much better served to high str characters but can still work via say, Assassin's Insta kill skills
@@Brian-tn4cd well, you can sortof try to turn him into a dodge tank, which I suppose is about the best you can get out of him, it's not too bad with his statline, and you can get a talisman where if he dodges he straightup nukes all their turns (though I'd rather rely on repel effects than dodges). I'd say though that the game does somewhat seem to nudge your main character as a mage character because it's super awkward to really use any of the party members as a mage nuke considering how late you get the actual magic users (and one of them is seemingly more of a support mage rather than a nuker, and for the other going into mage to get hyper is like a huge archetype xp detour).
@@Brian-tn4cd actually stats don’t matter too much in this game. Weapon equipment now affects damage and generally has a bigger impact than stats do (as in a character with a strong weapon will outdo a character with a high Stat). Even low END doesn’t really matter as iirc a single point in armor has a higher effect on damage than a point in END.
@@studentt6064 Funny, after a month or so he's actually considered completely broken now lol. As a dodge tank he can cause enemies to lose all their stars. EVEN THE BOSSES. Anytime any enemy does a AoE they basically lose the rest of their turn, it's insane.
"I particularly like the part where the insane dude who blatantly attempted to seize power with a violent coup somehow still has half the country's popular support."
Once, I would have thought this is completely unrealistic. How naïve I was...
It's a metaphor, one might say.
Have you never heard of... history?
A Methaphor but not Fantazio@@Deadbeat-Senpai
I mean.... it's realistic
@@umarthdcso you’re saying the full game title is Metaphor Realistic Fantazio?
"The Greenlight for Persona 6"
See it's funny because Persona 6 has been in development for years and because it WILL likely be green!
Yup, with protags name being kuro and shiro with the theme being duality.. atlus has been getting to more and more disco elysium level writing recently
@@xyzmangaka19 is that good or bad?
@@Aristaios Yes.
@@Aristaios Hardcore.
Hooray
Ah yes, the magical land of Cardiff. Known for being invaded by ghosts, aliens, and transdimentional emotionless Cyborgs. I might be thinking of just Doctor Who and related spinoffs.
That's only the quarries.
Yeah, outside of Doctor Who it's mostly just us English invading.
How's Cardiff been handling it since Torchwood went out of business? Or do the extradimensional horrors cease to flow through the time rift as soon as the folks capable of defending against them disappear, no longer finding it fun if there's no resistance?
And the Fomorians according to Koudelka.
Nah all that stuff really happened. Humanity is just so bad at processing alien invasions that unless you were paying close attention that day you probably missed it. I mean one of his companions literally had the past world-shaking invasion events listed for them and apparently hadn't heard of _any_ of them, either from noticing themselves or from people talking about it afterward. So the idea that it's happening to our actual Earth is (supposed to be) plausible. Somehow.
So what you're saying is, _Metaphor_ is _Persona_ before she takes off her glasses and shakes her hair out.
@@SuccubiPie well, this comment made my day after Yatzee defeated me via emotional damage (with the comment on the coup-fomenting madman still having ~50% popular support), so thank you for that!
@@SuccubiPieNo smt is persona after the hair's down AND the whips are out
Except with the coolest boat ever, which Yahtzee was weirdly quiet about
I'm sorry, I didn't finished watching the video. As soon as Yahtzee said "Its the job system of Final Fantasy V" my hands moved on their own to buy the game.
@@Teh_Akod same lmao. Love that shit
He doesn't get into it but yeah it's a really well done job system that plays heavily into Atlus element stuff, every single class has strengths and vulns so you can't just bull through
You can tell they took from FFV because the summoner class works exactly like the sports car version of a regular mage.
@@daevious_ it's literally a hero class with a bunch of prerequisites, just like dancer and berserker
I was like "dang dancer seems super broken for a starter class" then I opened it up and was OHHHH lmao that's why
Since Persona 5 was once pitched as a globe spanning journey, but walked back from the idea. I always wanted to see what that would be like. This is an interesting test of concept
That's true but this plays a lot more like Persona 5 Strikers in terms of story set-up anyway with the road trip aspect;.
They kind of went back to that with P5 Strikers' road trip around Japan.
i mean, they went to Hawaii. that spans.... some... world?
They need a globe-spanning journey that starts in Japan and goes somewhere far, like Egypt, Italy, or Florida.
Preferably if it stars, has, or relates to a blonde man
considering the persona games characters are all mid-late teens in high school world spanning journeys are a little hard in modern settings unless they're all loaded
"I particularly like the part where the insane dude who blatantly tried to seize power in a violent coup, still somehow has about half the country's popular support."
Yeah... what a ridiculous stretch of logic. Videogames, am I right?? Haaahhh...
*sweats in American*
Damn, i wonder if it might be a Metaphor for something...
@@MediaMunkee people so upset their guy didn't win that they turn violent still support him afterwards, who would have expected that?
Well, technically violent anyway. Vandalism is technically violence.
Oh fuck off you cry baby he wasn't even in support of it. Leave it to you lot to play victim all the time.
You mean when Donald Trump was invited to speak at a protest and said everyone should obey the law?
The cowardly boring ignorant inarticulate racist absoluteley sent me. That is the type of profound video game journalism I am here for.
"He's literally me."
"Why can't weeby friends" is an all-timer among Yahtzee's visual one-liners.
Sent you where?
I haven't laughed that loudly for any joke, in a long time. It was genuinely hilarious.
I have only played the demo, but I had a similar reaction when I saw tolerance as one of the stats. “ what does that mean I start out as a racist?”
‘Why Can’t Weeby Friends?’ Is something I’ll mentally store away for later
Glad I wasn't the only one who thought damn that's a banger line
You and me, buddy!
My question is: where the fuck was Stone Dad when the King was murdered? When the prince was cursed to eternal sleep? WHERE WAS STONE DAD WHEN THE WESTFOLD FELL?
"Sorry! I was too busy catching up on me soaps. You catch the latest _The Young And The Restless?_ A real treat that was."
That's what I'm thinking too.
However, it's probably a situation like a parent who heard some shit going on, didn't see what started it, can't be arsed finding out how it all happened, and throws you the "I don't care who started it! I'm finishing it! Now do it proper!"
Considering the King is the Stone Dad (as far as I know since they could plot twist me later on) and only becomes him after death, it'd be hard for him to show up during those times
Stone dad is a spell the king had setup when he died because he had no heir
I think you missed the part where stone dad was the contingency plan if he died.
I’m a few hours in, and already this is a more precise “fire emblem x SMT” game than the game Atlus actually marketed as a Fire Emblem x SMT game.
I actually really liked Final Fantasy 5’s job system. It gives you the ability to customize the party somewhat. I for one always made the pirate lady/long lost sister a blue wizard because the image of a pirate lady doing magic taken from monsters is fun
V is still my favorite system of the entire franchise. I'm a big fan of job-based systems (assuming they're done even reasonably well)
I do it as well! But i do it because she looks sick in that super hero costume lol.
@@Nirwanda001FFV actually had amazing designs for all the different characters. You could have an entire party in the same job and still look cool as hell!
So You make her into a Magic Using Pirate just like the lovechild of Shantae And Risky
I actually kinda like Metaphor's setting. In the current gaming landscape of gritty realism and modern urban fantasy, it's refreshing to go back to form with a nice old classic fantasy. Not that we're short of that in the JRPG scene, but it's a solid take on the setting nonetheless
well DQ3 2D HD is coming out on the 14th of next month, yesterday trailer looked so good.
I agree, I feel like its a fall back onto basics in its own way, and settings like this are a JRPG staple for a reason largely because they work. If they decide to make sequels for the game I can imagine that's when they'll experiment more now they've achieved success with the basic formula.
That honestly was one of the big selling points of the game when they announced it years ago. That they would be attempting a more classical fantasy RPG after decades of doing mostly modern urban fantasy. (Etrian Odyssey notwithstanding.)
And I really like the world they created. It has a lot of classical fantasy tropes, but still has its own identity that sets it apart.
Agreed. It's honestly become a bit of a rarity for newer games to go back to the tried and true settings, so at this point they tend to have a bit more appeal. Whether it's nostalgia for the old or fatigue for the new it's hard to say. Probably a bit of both.
Not kinda, i freaking love it. It takes the traditional fantasy settings and made it work, and i can't wait to see where they're taking the IP.
Yahtzee is just a hater, and that's fine too. Personally I'm also really happy that they finally make something that's not about highschoolers playing hero of justice.
Not everyone will like the same thing.
Man, another 5 JRPG reviews to build up his tolerance and Yahtzee might actually be ready to take on Trails.
You say the monsters are generic Yatz but I don't think I have ever seen RPG enemies based on The Garden of Earthly Delights before.
Literally that in 'Hieronymous' game trailer. Very pretty, in a Bosch-ian style.
They gave the goblins chest hair! That was enough for me to be happy.
Brutal Orchestra
He's joking right? This is weird as shit. I don't get the joke.
That was abit strange. Did he forget about the Eggs with legs and the talking teeth monsters? I liked how they juxtaposed the traditional fantasy creatures with the "human" enemies.
"Vote Narcolepsy" and "Vote Shithead" caused me to swallow cherry Coke down my windpipe.
Gets out notepad.
Trying to violently overthrow your country in a coup: Bad.
Got it.
sneaks up behind you and adds an asterisk
Trying to violently overthrow your country in a coup*: Bad.
*while being watched by a giant stone dad
"Trying to violently overthrow your country in a coup: still roughly 50% of the vote."
@@pieoverlord I wonder if the world of Metaphor has an electoral collage.
I'm waiting for the videos that say Metaphor is too woke
@@ArmoredChocoboLPs I hope not, is not.
Yahtzee himself is reading too much into it, not everything is about the USA.
I don't think I've ever seen a setting where god is undeniably real and present and intervenes just enough to enforce fair elections to allow humanoid self government. I may have seen a Sci Fi setting with very powerful AI constitutional enforcement, but never a fantasy one.
It's not god that's the big stone head. It's described as the King's special magic that enforces his will. Different religions are present in the plot but haven't played much yet.
@@Steamedhams578 it describes itself as omnipotent though, so while it might not be a god or the god, it certainly has god-level power
@@feral_orcYes but there's a big difference between being god-level compared to direct involvement from a god.
Actually, whats the difference? Two beings saying they are god. Both have a certain level of omnipotence, the only difference is that one being has a recorded history and the other does not.@Steamedhams578
Is there
Now I'm very interested in knowing what an opera singer falling down the stairs sounds like. What's the name of the track, Yahtzee?
It is the regular Battle Theme, it goes hard.
Just look up Metaphor battle music.
The music also changes and the tempo of the battle if you're actually at a weaker end in the battle the music will actually change if you're winning the battle actually changes and if the battle is easy it's different too.
You ever watch 5th Element?
The battle music uses a Buddhist monk chanting an Esperanto. And no I am not kidding.
5:43 “Never ask for directions in Wales, Baldrick; you’ll be washing spit out of your hair for a fortnight.”
- Edmund Blackadder
Yeah but that’s just because we don’t like smug twats
"Broadcast in all frequencies and all known languages. Including Welsh."
- Arnold Rimmer -
How do you get two whales in a London taxi? Go west down the M4 and turn right at Bristol.
@@marktaylor6491 At least he didn't say, "And also Welsh."
@@ChrisMattern-oh6wx speaking as someone born there: underrated comment
It might be interesting to have an antagonist that actually solves problems and gains legitimate popular support, though possibly with a little more heavy-handed rule than you might like.
You go to a village to solve their bandit problem only to find that all of the bandits have been crucified outside of town and there are some black armored guards patroling around. The people a a bit put off, but no bandit raid has reached the town since the scary guys came to town.
I'm gonna be the "um, actually".
The bad guy in this game is doing that, somewhat. Violence and authority grant you legitimate popular support even at the best of times, so imagine how easy it is to garner that support if there is a perceived threat for the populace. Dictators and strongmen dont appear out of thin air, not to mention that the important figures that mark the status quo will always support authoritarians because they tend to perpetuate said status quo and those same figures there.
@@VicStrange9 I'm not familiar with the game. I'm just pondering having an antagonist who has legitimate public support from actually helping at least some people.
I suppose there would be a fine line to walk if you wanted to avoid supporting fascism while still making the bad guy interesting.
Ah yes.
The plot of Fallout: New Vegas
@@Nerdnumberone Atlus does this with many of their games, to be fair. Lot of them go about how order is usually achieved by force and violence and still is considered a viable choice by the masses.
Here's my 2 cents: showing exactly why fascism is appealing for people is far, far preferable than caving it to the fear of being perceived as its supporter. Fascism promises many, many things, and some of them (violence, blood, alleged "glory" through battle) it delivers as it is a war ideology. It cannot exist without enemies. Thus, creating problems that can be blamed on said enemies and then "solving" them is how it makes its impact on people, much like capitalism creates a problem to sell a solution.
I feel that it is important for each of us to understand that we're not immune to propaganda.
You almost hit the nail in the head.
Not big spoilers, but since hour 1 the game explains that the villain, while being a regicide and a dick is also a genuinely good leader, talented mage and strategist with ample support from the army, nobles that never like the past king and the population for being the figured head that stop a rebellion some years ago.
He is a asshole but a charismatic asshole in a word with enough racist self center assholes to make a difference
You'd think the metaphors are a bit on the nose, but believe me when I say that that it will fly right over the heads of a vast majority of the target audience...
That's what the fairy is there for. Every time something that is extremely blatant but someone somewhere has even an infinitesimal chance of missing, she cheerfully chimes in to explain exactly what the symbolism is just in case
@@Dragonatrix Oh god, it's Genshin Impact again.
@@tweetug3697
😂
At least her voice is not on the annoying sude
Lead Writer: So how many plot twists do you want?
Atlus: Yes.
I can't belive they made a Ninja bat my favorite character like they didn't need to make the marketble plushy the coolest character
I know he only got about half way through the game, because he didn't get to the Devil Summoner, Persona Master, or Soul Hacker classes. Because Subtly thy name is not Atlus
Pretty sure I guessed that from the dlc outfits.
They name the game 'Metaphor'. Subtlety was most definitely not the point.
Think that's bad? Without spoilers, one of the towns is called Eht Ria and the dungeon there is...well..
This whole game is like Atlus' loveletter to itself lol
@@FluffyThieves Well saves me the time to write them a loveletter. I have never played atlus game that was bad.
"I particularly like the part where the insane bastard who blatantly tried to seize power in violent coup still somehow has half the countries popular support."
*slowly intake of breath* ..... **SIIIIGGGGHHHHH**
Damn, Yahtzee was closer then he thought with his hopes for the ending
The Shin Megami Tensei folks played Fable 3 and said: "We can do better."
That pre battle attack system sounds like it came straight out of Mario & Luigi games
Flip that, as MegaTen has been around and using it for far longer
@@MidBoss666It's a bit more involved than the last couple mainline megaten games, in that there's a dodge button now!
and Super Mario RPG for that matter
"...Implying that the protagonist starts the game as a cowardly, boring, ignorant, inarticulate racist." God bless ye Yahtzee.
Just like himself!
Keep delaying Silent Hill 2, Yahtz. It'll hit you eventually.
He said that review will be next week
^Yurp. He said on the podcast last week that this one would be coming before Silent Hill 2.
In my restless dreams, I see that review
@@rcurl44 I wonder if Ys X will soon follow. He seems to really like that series too, and is generally less skeptycal about new instalments.
@@rcurl44so it'll hit him next week
I'm frankly a bit taken aback by just how much Yahtzee seems to love Last Surprise.
It's a damn good song, but man does he LOVE it.
“Magic Dad Enforced Democracy”
😂😂😂😂
The red tie. Lol.
"OOH even more timely" plus the red tie equals absolutely savage comedic writing
4:40 "Because again, like Persona, if a standard enemy EVER lands a hit on you at all, you've already fucked up." Omg, ain't that the truth.
It can be a good bit harder in Metaphor than Persona. Later on it can take 5-10 hits to get the stun off on an enemy in order for you to get advantage, but they get advantage against you in one hit. Especially if you're trying to dodge and strike 3-4 enemies at once.
Pff if you think getting hit is bad in Persona clearly he has never played SMT.
@@koenvandiepen7651getting hit once and the enemy criting/hitting a weakness in SMT then watching it snowball into death is funny
@@inuclearpickle8628 Yea well SMT is just rpg combat on crack and that is what makes it better then most IMHO. At least you have to pay attention unlike i don't know ff where the game just plays it's self half the time (if not more)
2:45 Yeah... I... uh... may wait a couple of months before playing this one.
After finishing the game, I find it very clever how he snuck in some spoilers
TIL Tinker Bell is actually anime because she’s a pantsless fairy
"google Tinker Bell r34" - "holy hell"
Baka Peter-san!
2:20 Isn't this basically the plot of... Fable 2? 3?
4:13 its fun to swap between all the characters for the situation you fall into, fighting a big lava slime, might want to switch out the guy with a fire weakness for the lady with an ice spell mid combat.
2:54 "I distinctly like the part where the guy who tried to usurp power in a violent coup still has about half the country's support"
Haha yeah, that would never happen in real life, what a silly concept.
"It's the Job system from Final Fantasy 5"
Say no more. Let me get my wallet.
Calling the soundtrack "generic" is the most insane thing I've heard in a while
Seriously. I'm willing to respect his opinion on the matter, but he's just dead wrong about the soundtrack, and clearly never heard Strange Journey's soundtrack either.
he just has poor taste in music...in general.
You see that a lot with people who lack broad familiarity. Without enough general knowledge of something, they have to use what little they DO know as a frame of reference. So Yahtzee can only judge a JRPG by comparing it to Persona 5, because that's what he knows.
@@PsychicWars But the soundtrack is hardly anything like Persona either, other than some very broad similarities due to being the same composer.
Good or bad is subjective. But saying it's "generic" is an implication that it sounds like everything else out there and doesn't stand out from the norm, which is objectively not true. I'd be shocked if anyone found even one other JRPG that uses an actual monk singing in esperanto as their core backing vocals.
idk i skimmed through the OST and the vast majority of it sounded like generic medieval high fantasy 'epic'. doesnt mean its bad it does the job i guess but yeah
Okay, the picture of Joker about to rip Aslan's face off made me giggle!
Yahtzee should look at Tactical Breach Wizards, the dialogue/writing is right up his alley and he’s enjoyed tactics games in the past
Paddington beating up someone with a Popsicles, didnt know i needed that.
I wonder for how many countries the choice between a child in a coma and an avowed regicide would be an improvement over current choices in 2024
Alright, I'll admit it, the rugby joke at the end got me. Well played Yahtzee.
@@ThreeCatProductions though heed his advice carefully, only the welsh get to insult the garbage team.
yeah as a Welsh-born who's lived in NZ all my life that got a "snrrk"outta me
I was aware of this game, but hadn't really given it much consideration. But you've kind of sold me on giving this one a try sometime in the future.
I feel like it would be fun, in an attempt to subvert the whole city-desert-jungle-water levels trope to set an entire game in say, a desert, with everything you acquire and gain skill with targeting that environment. Then in the final act, the environment switches to something like an underwater environment, forcing you to rethink the skills and items you’ve acquired to figure out which ones have any value, and which ones are utterly worthless.
FFIV had an idea like this in a cave where all metal equipment was useless so the paladin had to switch to a Bow and wear leather, etc.
Raft and Subnautica in reverse
2 things
1:SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS
yes you were the prince, well a homunculous form that was the prince splitting in two
2:Acording to doctor who Cardif has ritualistic sacrifice anyways
I love how he referenced that a lunatic who attempted a violent coup still has half the peoples support. Spot on
Persona 5 will go down in history as the funkiest JRPG ever made, Metaphor could not hope to live up to that. It's still good though, and Yahtz didn't even mention the colon this time!
It's like Persona, surprise.
You'll never see it coming
To fast for your eyes
I think the developers who aren't trying to make live service games finally realized that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is able to crank out a new major release every handful of months by reusing their same systems and most of the same assets and they're trying to get more out of their big technological investments by employing them in extra games outside of their initial IP. They already have Persona's battle system, inventory, schedule format and stuff solved for, so with distinct investments in art assets, writing, etc, they can reuse those at lower marginal cost and less risk than with a new mainline entry into the flagship Persona IP.
I don't think that applies here though, I'd say the majority of metafor is new assets. The game has also been in development since at least 2016.
@@TheNameIsSRI don't know what I expected from Project ReFantazy but I certainly wasn't expecting Persona 5, that's for sure.
You're saying this as if Atlus never reuse anything prior to this lol
95% of unlockable Persona in 3, 4, and 5 already existed in the SMT franchise, and comparatively Metaphor have a much more unique assets for its monsters and archetypes.
You clearly never been or even seen game delevement before
Everyone reuses assets in fact most games you like do
The reason it takes so long for a game to be made nowadays is because they spend most of their time making new assets and testing them.
Disappointed you didnt **HURK** for the unnecessary colon in the title
Can taste the freshness of the snark!
I'm actually quite into the style of this game, I felt it would be inherently interesting to see the persona devs tackle a full on fantasy setting and so far I think it's succeeded in both being interesting and pretty good! I also quite like the world building!
2:56 Yes, very timely indeed. Especially for us doomed Americans
2:50 .... Too on the nose.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who came back here after the recent news...
1:25 I just checked, not only does Jack Frost cameo as a snowman because of course Atlus' mascot is going to show up in a game made by Persona devs but apparently there's a Devil Summoner class with a select few SMT demons (which again includes Jack Frost because of course it does, as well as the most popular western cryptid in existence, Mothman).
Theres a shit ton of easter eggs in the game background. At one point someone puts a "piggy" (persona 5 boss) on a table.
@@nathank2289 and the demonica suit head
It gets even better because there's a class than can equip special items that let them mimic another class and it's called the "persona master", and if you equip the Devil Summoner mask to the Persona Master, they will just yell out "Personaaaa!" whenever they do special attacks. It's such a cool easter egg.
While it's likely I will never play Simile ReFandango, I did enjoy this review of it.
For anyone interested, there’s a free demo of the game that takes you through the prologue.
As someone who has struggled to enjoy the Persona games, I absolutely loved the demo for Metaphore.
"You have to pkay it for 8 hours before you get to what the fame is actually about. "
Which is exactly how long the prologue demo goes for. They knew exactly what was happening with their pacing.
Yataee: I love that the insane dude who political tries to seize power in a violent coup still somehow has half the country's popular support!
Me, An American: 🫥
One gameplay thing i really like is how job exp and job mastery is handled.
You know that age old problem when you max out a job's level, but you dont want to use it anymore beacuse doing so would mean wasting potential exp that could go into another job?
Well metaphor solves this by allowing mastered job's to still gain exp, and with every 1000 gained will give you a consumable item that will grant 1000 exp to any job of your choosing.
Essentially allowing you to play the jobs you want without stagnating your growth. Which is brilliant imo.
Love this function
Yay, happy to see the review this fast (i'm just not in tune so no idea if it's early or late)
Im friends with a few Welsh people, but i cant deny they're more beast than man.
1:29 I have that exact goblin mini for dnd.
"The insade dude who violently tried to sieze power still has support of half the country"... well thats original >.>
Warriors in Valour is amazing, what has Yahtz been smoking?
I love this game but appreciate those who are critical of it as well. Thank you for making this video.
oh this is definitely more of a high praise by Yahtzee standards lol
I bet it'll make his top 5 at the end of the year 2024 good, bad, ugly lookback.
you forgot to mention the merchant class beat your enemies with the power of cash
I love the silly ttrpg stuff you put in. Very fun.
2:50 is such a killer line
Metaphor to me is just a spiritual Successor to the SMT Devil Survivor Games. The art style, Their specific Time mechanic, it's all Devil Survivor. Even the The stories theme's are right on point. It's really exciting to see as I never thought I'd see anything continue from that particulare offbranch.
I thought this looked like Zero Punctuation good to see you Yahtzee
As a Welshman, have you seen how dire Welsh rugby has been recently? You can slag off we wooden-spooners all you like.
So one team has a bastard that attempted a coup and the other is campaigning for a "rightful heir" that's asleep all the time and thus has no idea what's going on? I'd say this game came out a few months too late to be *truly* topical.
I genuinely never thought I'd see an All Black's reference in a Yahtzee video.
I honestly feel more sorry for F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg who is probably no longer going to be first Hulkenberg to appear in search results for his surname now.
And for those of us who have played far too many Atlus and Sega RPGs - there are a gaggle-fuck-ton of references. Probably the largest one I saw being to Etrian Odyssey but also that same area has a few bits toward 7th Dragon
The Battle Theme is WHAT??????????
Perfect timing! 24 seconds ago is wild.
I think it’s funny he chose Santa for the face in the sky, when it’s pretty much exactly the Moon from Majora’s Mask
Ok did Yahtzee make Heismay a healer?
Glad you enjoyed the Ice Cream Sales Run, Hat Dad!
The sudden campaigning thing reminds me of that Fable game where you have to raise enough money in a year to defeat a Shoggoth invasion (or whatever it was)
I thought the exact same thing.
I actually prefer Metaphor over Persona for many of the reasons given in the vid. The story is cohesive, the political intrigue is realistic, but most importantly it doesnt include pervy schoolage weirdness.
The lack of Shinmegami-Tensai creature collection is a tad unfortunate, but the combat system is essentially identical.
Deffinately worthwhile for the story
The characters interactions and the social link like events are also some of the best Atlus has made, I have maxed out all but one follower and can't really say that one of them was worse than others, all were extremely well explored and makes you care for those people
the dialogue has been fantastic. i find the starting three have a wonderful dynamic and it only gets better. atlus hit their stride for character writing.
Demon collecting is a great mechanic in SMT, but I honestly prefer the way this game handles the Archetypes to how any Persona game has handled Persona's. It feels way more balanced and cohesive than those games usually do, where the recent games have weighted so much of your team's power and customization potential into the MC, while your teammates trail behind as just good enough support for the MC, with almost zero customization or build potential. In this game everyone feels important, and everyone feels like they make a meaningful difference to your team. It's reminiscent of Persona 1 and 2 mechanics, with more limited options, but significantly better designed.
I would much rather they take some inspiration from this game for future Persona games than to just go back to what they were doing before.
@@Zeik56 And I also loved the synthesis skills, the choice of using extra turns icons to a more powerful attack creates a very good dynamic in combat
I still think SMT5V has better buildcrafting but to top that is really hard but Metaphor truly is a great step forward when compared to persona for sure
game is the best parts of all the jrpgs in one game. its the best one of them all
2:44 To be fair, they *did* just flat out name the game 'Metaphor'. It's not like they didn't say, explicitly, right at the start, what you were getting.
"The best fcking song in the history of audible sound" indeed.
Persona 6x: The Grind👌
That being said, it's still a 7.7 for me where narrative and combat mechanics are concerned. Some things I didn't quite fancy include but are not limited to:
- It felt like a watered-down Persona game when it should have been an upgrade since the devs are no longer bound to the franchise's restrictions.
- The PNG map had banger narrations to it and some great hangout moments but ultimately breaks the supposedly adventurous immersion (especially since it opened as if there's this fully explorable, linked map). If open world/semi-open world was a stretch, an overworld approach would still have been better.
- The side dungeons are too repetitive (as expected) and the towns though pretty still ended up feeling hollow.
- Didn't really like the calendar system. It works in Persona since you're a student stuck in a single hub city/town, but in an expanded world setting, it felt more like I am being forcibly brushed off from one point to another.
- They forgot to add a class clown. Quirky foodie Hulkenberg and the wolfpack brothers are it.
- The 'dungeon only' special outfits should stop being a thing. The protagonist is no longer a student that is burdened with a strict dress code; it makes no sense as to why we still cannot wear our drip trips outside of dungeons. Also, please come up with new alt costume designs as the Persona repeat imports are getting old--Raidou Kuzonoha isn't even in the wardrobe this time!
- If there's a social link aspect in the game, there should be romance options. Deciding to be half-assed, catholicchurchy about it is just old testament levels of cruelty.
- One-handed swords without sheaths are just ugh...
- NG+ exclusive content is kind of salty for lengthy RPGs.
- Time marches on, and the age of the new king draws nearer...
Yo that opera singer goes hard though.
Mechanically, Metaphor is very similar to Persona. But, despite the initial gripe of it taking several hours to get through the "cold open", at least you aren't being constantly told to go to bed. While the dungeons for sidquests can feel a bit samey, at least it helps break up the monotony present in Persona games when you are waiting for a deadline to arrive. And there is time management, but the tradeoffs for doing one activity versus another aren't as stark. So you can still accumulate some of the resource for unlocking jobs and skills by raising a social stat or social link. Conversely, you can improve social stats as part of completing sidequests. So, the calendar system is ever-present, but there isn't the anxiety of missing out on something or doing something sub-optimally. If you do the sidequests while during a major dungeon deadline, you'll probably end up slightly over-levelled for the major dungeon, so you'll be able to tackle it one day.
Social links have 8 levels instead of 10 and the level increases each time you talk to them, regardless of how you answer the questions that are asked. "correct" responses generate more Job/Ability points, though.
All in all, I think someone could go in blind and still manage to max all social stats and links without needing a complex guide and spreadsheet in a single playthrough.