I had very high expectations for Metaphor ReFantazio, especially after playing Persona 3 Reload, and it absolutely delivered. The story is excellent, with each character being deeply developed, and the soundtrack is epic. The graphics are impressive, though slightly inferior to Persona 3 Reload, but they’re still far from bad. A particular standout is the game’s menu art, which is one of the most beautiful designs I've seen in video games. The turn-based combat is highly varied, and the archetype system offers players great freedom in customizing their party. However, I found the level progression a bit unbalanced. Even after completing all the available missions, I still had to grind significantly to reach the required level for certain quests.
If you enjoy Persona or turn-based RPGs, this game is a must-play.

Metaphor is a breath of fresh air and an easy 10/10 if I gave numbered reviews. It's a hell of a weird journey, with a narrative that's all over the place tonally. But that same uneven tone helps set it apart and give it a flavor all its own, even stranger than the Persona games (though you can see some through lines with 5's sense of humor and world-building in this game).

In particular, I love the class system, which functions a lot like jobs from the Final Fantasy games. A bit more individuality in these would have gone a long way but it's a hell of a jumping off point if they make this into a series, and they damn well should. The combat is easy to pick up and understand, with its complexities coming from a gradual introduction to enemy weaknesses, buffs, and debuffs. Some of the dungeons are overlong, a problem with the Persona games too, but it's easy to overpower your characters and cut a swath through the mobs, so there's that, at least.

If I have any sort of real quibble it's that not all your party members or important NPCs are as equally interesting. There's one standout party member I won't name here but when acquired, his storyline made me eager to see it through to its end, a rarity among NPC party members for me in the genre. Some of the other party members are bland in comparison but still completely solid.

The music too is sometimes a pretty big swing and a miss, but it's always interesting and unique. That uniqueness also applies to a certain class of enemies - which again, I don't want to spoil here, but which play a pivotal background role to the game's lore. Someone on the design team was told to make those special enemies as weird and wild as they could, and damned if it doesn't work. I love it.

It's a fever dream of an RPG, one I cannot recommend enough. Give it a shot if you need proof that the JRPG is alive and capable of flourishing in 2024.

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