Let's keep it short, starting with cons:
- Terrible performance. Like, it looks like early PS3 game (with your favorite brown-yellow-green filter), but I never had a stable 60 FPS anywhere, while having a decent rig. Also looks pretty bad without 200% render (game on 200% looks like it should look on 100%). It was wild to get a game in this kind of technical state after getting Persona 3 Reload earlier this year
- Something near 4 graphical settings on release, so additional community tweaks were needed to get rid of some questionable stuff (yeah, motion blur, i looking at you)
- Not really optimized for a Steam Deck. Having a Atlus JRPG which for multiple reasons are barely playable on portable is a huge bummer for me personally. Yeah, it IS playable, but tiny text and low resolution combined with game performance could make your experience miserable
- Royal Archetypes execution is a bit odd to my taste. I mean, I love the progression system overall and leveled up all RAs anyways, but the fact the game punishes you for assigning any archetypes you want on any characters is somewhat disappointing. Gameplay spoiler: I can build a Mage Strohl, but what's the point of it, if his pinnacle archetype is Warrior, just like his starter one?
- Dungeons architecture is a bit boring. We have a cave, a sandy cave, a fleshy cave, a cavy cave. Sometimes we have a tower. Not bad, but wanted something more

Aaaaand that's honestly all with cons, nothing more to say. But all I said earlier just fades if you'll look at other sides of a game:
+ Yep, I said Royal Archetypes execution is a bit odd, BUT it's very good overall anyways. It was truly engaging to unlock new archetypes and combo them into sometimes broken builds. And if you interested in doing side-activities, you'll have some exp to spare for your experiments
+ Combat system inherited from Digital Devil Saga is just a best, hands down, feels great
+ Story about fantasy elections feels really fresh and delivers it's message without aggressively trying to shove it into your throat
+ Every character you'll meet along the way is worthy of your time in my opinion. Hell, I would love to see some of them as a detailed followers. And yeah, no boring "social links" here
+ Artstyle is a godsent. Sights and villages backgrounds, portraits, character designs. Everything is pure eye-candy, really enjoyed it
+ Music slaps
+ English dub is exceptional, probably the best ENG dub of JP game I've ever heard

Metaphor: ReFantazio kept my attention through the whole journey around Eucronia, showing me mesmerizing sights of it's nature, telling me the stories with More's soothing voice, and channeling great music right into my brain with Gallica's magic.

While being very skeptical about the game from the very first glimpse on it, I'll say with all confidence this is the best ATLUS game so far and probably the best starting point if you always wanted to tried their other JRPGs. So, yeah, this is my Game of the Year, would recommend.

Heroism lies in the soul that stands firm against its fears.

One of my favorite stories in video games so far. Add beatiful world building, a slick UI and a good artstyle to the mix and you get one of the best games of 2024, probably even of all time. If I must find a flaw, I would say that the hybridization of archetypes feel less meaningful and more similar to skill inheritances from the SMT series.

If you haven't played it yet, just give it a chance and experience it's greatness.

GOTY 2024!!!