This week on Fully Ramblomatic, Yahtzee reviewed Metaphor: ReFantazio. Support us on Patreon: / secondwindgroup Second Wind Merch Store: sharkrobot.com...
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.
@@sanai97 no it doesn't, don't be silly. You can like something whilst still acknowledging that it's problematic. He openly talks about how he doesn't like how persona and anime games in general sexualised characters but insist on making them school age.
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.
Tho I am not sure if they took the right lesson. My problem was never that Persona was horny, my problem is that it was same type of horny, at worst times at often underage girls. You can have charachters attracted to one another be down bad in a game, hell in a game about building relationships I even welcome it. Just write it well and with a point. Hot springs were never there to be written well or to show charachter dynamics, they were there for cheap jokes and fanservice.
"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.
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
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'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.
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
"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.
@@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 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.
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!
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.
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 sonce 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.
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**
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 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
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 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.
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.
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.
Wait, what is even supposed to happen in the end of this weird election plot? "Now that I have a support of 53 percent of the voters, and the people believe in me and my cause, I will... give up all this power to the half-dead prince in his bedroom." Yeah, right.
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'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!
Since I didn't see the joke from a brief comment scroll I'm just going to say it "My name is Metaphor ReFantazio. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
I adore you for somehow making a Paddington/Trump combo make sense. Been watching you since your The Darkness review when I was 16 so literally half of my life (Sweet Merciful Christ). Thank you for the 16+ year parasocial relationship my dude it's been grand.
Watched as the names scrolled past near the end and happened to notice that in the PHOENIX level patron section there was a dude named "My Wet Rooster" and... I just can't stop thinking about it. If you read this, rooster person, please drop in and say "hello".
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
Yep, if enemies are far enough below you in level, you can just murder them on the dungeon crawling portion and it just gives you the rewards without a fight.
The game also intentionally litters weak enemies in large hoards around the dungeons so you can utilize your archetype passives (usually mage's MP regen)
Yeah I'm not hyped up or anything, I will probably get it later on a sale, have plenty of other RPGs to play besides a game that feels a little like persona but not much
"I particularly liked 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." Well, congratulations, sir. You've defeated me via morale damage.
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.
I'm only just past the Cathedral arc right now, but I'll honestly be shocked if Metaphor doesn't get at least a nod for soundtrack of the year. A lot of people like to point to the advantage battle theme, but honestly the entire OST is insane from what I've heard of it so far. You wouldn't expect a mix of grand orchestra, choir, and Buddhist chanting to be such an earworm but I swear Shoji Meguro must've ascended to another plane of existence when he was composing this soundtrack.
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)
Didn't even realize this was out. After hearing about it for what feels like years, I just assumed all the news lately was still just saying "yep, still coming." My realization that I enjoyed Persona games (particularly 4 and 5) in spite of a lot of elements has me still thinking this one's probably a pass for me, too.
The PC version still needs some work. There are two different audio bugs plaguing people (as well as a few quest soft-locks and typos, apparently). The more common one seems to be the sound always dropping incredibly low. The more agregious one is where the sound just stops working. A temporary in-game fix is to go to your menu, switch autio outputs, save, go back to change the audio output to the one you're actually using, save again and it's fixed for the next few minutes. Then it will inevitably fail again, and if it's during a cutscene or dialogue where you don't have access to your menu, you're out of luck as you either have to read the whole thing without having music or vocals and imagine what it would have been like while you correct your sound for the next few minutes, or stop the game, restart from the last save and hope there's not too much you've missed as you replay that piece of game (since you can't save in a dungeon anyway) until you reach the cutscene again, hoping the sound doesn't fail yet again in that timespan or you'll be stuck playing it a THIRD time. I unfortunately do suffer from this misfortune and thus have to wait for a fix, because after having stopped or changed sound outputs no less than ten times after two and a half hours of playtime but not yet having left the mines at the start...I cannot stomach such an uncaptivating experience. Everytime I feel like I'm sucked into the experience, I'm dragged back out kicking and screaming.
FFV is my fave FF, so as soon as I heard "job system" and "persona Devs" I instantly bought it... 10hr in, only just finished the "tutorial" but hey... It's fun!
I have been getting very strong Fire Emblem 3 Houses vibes from Refantazio so far. I think its the medieval fantasy setting combined with the art style and cinematics.
I like the game so far. I still only have 3 people and just got the land runner, but i enjoy it so far. I do love being able to defeat low level enemies instantly while still gaining experience.
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.
Atlus didn't include romance because the characters are finally over 18
UFFFFFFFFFFF
@@Voss_Man yathzee likes persona, which sadly makes him very sus
It's standard Japanese rules, where everyone loses all relevancy, hope and sex drive after the age of 18.
@@sanai97 no it doesn't, don't be silly. You can like something whilst still acknowledging that it's problematic. He openly talks about how he doesn't like how persona and anime games in general sexualised characters but insist on making them school age.
Oof lol
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.
Tho I am not sure if they took the right lesson. My problem was never that Persona was horny, my problem is that it was same type of horny, at worst times at often underage girls.
You can have charachters attracted to one another be down bad in a game, hell in a game about building relationships I even welcome it. Just write it well and with a point.
Hot springs were never there to be written well or to show charachter dynamics, they were there for cheap jokes and fanservice.
Either that, or they wanted to leave that for Persona.
Going to the hot springs is not automatically horny
@@goldenhorse4823 I cant stand eunuchs like you.
"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.
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
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 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.
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
"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?
"Vote Narcolepsy" and "Vote Shithead" caused me to swallow cherry Coke down my windpipe.
So what you're saying is, _Metaphor_ is _Persona_ before she takes off her glasses and shakes her hair out.
It's called Shin Megami Tensei dude
@@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 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.
‘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!
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
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.
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?”
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
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.
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 sonce 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.
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
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 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**
Lead Writer: So how many plot twists do you want?
Atlus: Yes.
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
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
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.
"...Implying that the protagonist starts the game as a cowardly, boring, ignorant, inarticulate racist." God bless ye Yahtzee.
Just like himself!
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
1:29 I have that exact goblin mini for dnd.
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.
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.
Yahtzee should look at Tactical Breach Wizards, the dialogue/writing is right up his alley and he’s enjoyed tactics games in the past
Man, another 5 JRPG reviews to build up his tolerance and Yahtzee might actually be ready to take on Trails.
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.
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
It's like Persona, surprise.
You'll never see it coming
The red tie. Lol.
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
Okay, the picture of Joker about to rip Aslan's face off made me giggle!
Paddington beating up someone with a Popsicles, didnt know i needed that.
As a Welshman, have you seen how dire Welsh rugby has been recently? You can slag off we wooden-spooners all you like.
Damn, Yahtzee was closer then he thought with his hopes for the ending
2:50 is such a killer line
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.
As someone who has struggled to enjoy the Persona games, I absolutely loved the demo for Metaphore.
"OOH even more timely" plus the red tie equals absolutely savage comedic writing
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.
Wait, what is even supposed to happen in the end of this weird election plot?
"Now that I have a support of 53 percent of the voters, and the people believe in me and my cause, I will... give up all this power to the half-dead prince in his bedroom."
Yeah, right.
No, that didn't happen.
Edited after a spoiler warning.
Presumably you fight god, because that is the JRPG arc in a nutshell
@@蔡登宇-k6b bro don't spoil
TIL Tinker Bell is actually anime because she’s a pantsless fairy
"google Tinker Bell r34" - "holy hell"
I genuinely never thought I'd see an All Black's reference in a Yahtzee video.
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
"The best fcking song in the history of audible sound" indeed.
you forgot to mention the merchant class beat your enemies with the power of cash
I'm not gonna say what but the man got it.
The Shin Megami Tensei folks played Fable 3 and said: "We can do better."
Can taste the freshness of the snark!
Yay, happy to see the review this fast (i'm just not in tune so no idea if it's early or late)
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!
While it's likely I will never play Simile ReFandango, I did enjoy this review of it.
3:13 That overlong red necktie has become pretty iconic hasn’t it?
I love how he referenced that a lunatic who attempted a violent coup still has half the peoples support. Spot on
Since I didn't see the joke from a brief comment scroll I'm just going to say it "My name is Metaphor ReFantazio. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
That last joke made me smile. Love how Commonwealth folk can take and give jabs to one another as easy as breathing. XD
This basically just confirmed what I thought: that this is Persona with Fire Emblem shoved in there. I'm sold
I adore you for somehow making a Paddington/Trump combo make sense. Been watching you since your The Darkness review when I was 16 so literally half of my life (Sweet Merciful Christ). Thank you for the 16+ year parasocial relationship my dude it's been grand.
Watched as the names scrolled past near the end and happened to notice that in the PHOENIX level patron section there was a dude named "My Wet Rooster" and... I just can't stop thinking about it. If you read this, rooster person, please drop in and say "hello".
For anyone interested, there’s a free demo of the game that takes you through the prologue.
Disappointed you didnt **HURK** for the unnecessary colon in the title
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
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
4:23 Wait? Weak little guys disappear? Did a game finally implement SMAAAAAAAAAAASH to skip the bog wading?? ONLY BEEN 30 YEARS
Yep, if enemies are far enough below you in level, you can just murder them on the dungeon crawling portion and it just gives you the rewards without a fight.
The game also intentionally litters weak enemies in large hoards around the dungeons so you can utilize your archetype passives (usually mage's MP regen)
Yeah I'm not hyped up or anything, I will probably get it later on a sale, have plenty of other RPGs to play besides a game that feels a little like persona but not much
As someone from Cardiff I can confirm Yahtzee is correct
Not a word about Heismay, I thought?
And then the end credits gag came and I was pleased
JP version has English subs and isn't censored, for anyone wondering.
2:45 Yeah... I... uh... may wait a couple of months before playing this one.
"I particularly liked 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."
Well, congratulations, sir. You've defeated me via morale damage.
A wonderful review! I disagree with bits based on my own experience, but it’s excellently done. Thank you!
Gallica is super adorable and the canon romance, I refuse to believe otherwise
From a welshman that welsh comment at the end is absolutely bloody hilarious hahahahahaa
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
Perfect timing! 24 seconds ago is wild.
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.
I'm only just past the Cathedral arc right now, but I'll honestly be shocked if Metaphor doesn't get at least a nod for soundtrack of the year. A lot of people like to point to the advantage battle theme, but honestly the entire OST is insane from what I've heard of it so far.
You wouldn't expect a mix of grand orchestra, choir, and Buddhist chanting to be such an earworm but I swear Shoji Meguro must've ascended to another plane of existence when he was composing this soundtrack.
Warriors in Valour is amazing, what has Yahtz been smoking?
I'm gonna leave the city, got to get away
I'm gonna leave the city, got to get away
All this fussin' and fightin', man, you know I sure can't stay
Yahtzee, you know how Persona 5 broke your JRPG hatred? This game did the same thing to me. I can't believe that day would come.
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)
5:42 I actually LOVED the dub accents in the English version! Quite a laugh!
XD
Didn't even realize this was out. After hearing about it for what feels like years, I just assumed all the news lately was still just saying "yep, still coming."
My realization that I enjoyed Persona games (particularly 4 and 5) in spite of a lot of elements has me still thinking this one's probably a pass for me, too.
The PC version still needs some work. There are two different audio bugs plaguing people (as well as a few quest soft-locks and typos, apparently). The more common one seems to be the sound always dropping incredibly low. The more agregious one is where the sound just stops working. A temporary in-game fix is to go to your menu, switch autio outputs, save, go back to change the audio output to the one you're actually using, save again and it's fixed for the next few minutes. Then it will inevitably fail again, and if it's during a cutscene or dialogue where you don't have access to your menu, you're out of luck as you either have to read the whole thing without having music or vocals and imagine what it would have been like while you correct your sound for the next few minutes, or stop the game, restart from the last save and hope there's not too much you've missed as you replay that piece of game (since you can't save in a dungeon anyway) until you reach the cutscene again, hoping the sound doesn't fail yet again in that timespan or you'll be stuck playing it a THIRD time.
I unfortunately do suffer from this misfortune and thus have to wait for a fix, because after having stopped or changed sound outputs no less than ten times after two and a half hours of playtime but not yet having left the mines at the start...I cannot stomach such an uncaptivating experience. Everytime I feel like I'm sucked into the experience, I'm dragged back out kicking and screaming.
FFV is my fave FF, so as soon as I heard "job system" and "persona Devs" I instantly bought it... 10hr in, only just finished the "tutorial" but hey... It's fun!
Look, I'd never been threatened at knifepoint in my life until I went to Swansea.
Man, I was kind of waffling on this game, but this video has me convinced. Tomorrow, I'll go out and buy Metaphor Refantasia
Hellow from Cardiff.
I have been getting very strong Fire Emblem 3 Houses vibes from Refantazio so far. I think its the medieval fantasy setting combined with the art style and cinematics.
I like the game so far. I still only have 3 people and just got the land runner, but i enjoy it so far. I do love being able to defeat low level enemies instantly while still gaining experience.