If you are on a Steam Deck or any other gaming handheld, this issue is more than likely to be a non-issue, because of the much lower display resolution and size anyways.

The in-game settings should suffice in those cases.

• Anti-Aliasing (The most obvious one)
  
  In the game, only SMAA and FXAA are implemented, but quite poorly which is most likely the reason you are here on this guide.
  
  https://youtu.be/_ih53JlZOyU
  As you can see, there is not much difference between each setting.
  SMAA (Subpixel Morphological Anti-aliasing) only makes it worse while FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing) makes the edges just a tiny bit smoother, but far from enough. Implementing TAA (Temporal Anti-Aliasing) would have been the best course of action for the developers.
  
  
• Rendering Scale
  
  As in most modern games, you have the option to select a rendering scale, which ultimately means that if you set it to a higher amount, the game renders the game with much denser pixel counts leading to less visible jagged lines on screen. If you set it to a lower amount, then you get the opposite effect as one would expect.
  
  https://youtu.be/A6t0ZCQ9YCo
  As you can see it can massively help with visual clarity, especially along the edges as it somewhat acts as a pseudo Anti-Aliasing method. Having a higher rendering scale can lower performance due to the game running on a higher resolution.
  I recommend setting it to at least 125% or higher if your PC is capable.
  
  Some people say that using SpecialK can help in boosting performance, but that's for another guide.

• Camera Shake
  
  As it says, it adds a bit of camera shaking while moving. Having this option turned off means less camera movement, which also means less visible jagged lines on screen.
  
  
• Dash Effects
  
  This setting is practically a "hidden" motion blur. It's best to turn this off as soon as you can since noone likes motion blur in their games.

To do so, you need to have the mod called MetaphorFix[www.nexusmods.com] installed (which is also full of other goodies and I recommend checking them out). Installing it is super easy, as the mod's description says, you just have to extract the files into the game's folder. Easy as pie.

Once the files are extracted, open the MetaphorFix.ini file, in which you can disable Camera Shake entirely among these lines:


By disabling Camera Shake/Sway completely, the Anti-Aliasing issues will not disappear magically. It will only make jagged lines to be much less prominent.

In the NVIDIA App > Graphics > Program Settings > METAPHOR.exe (You will most likely have to add in Metaphor's ".exe" file manually, since the NVIDIA App is known for not recognizing tons of games automatically) > Scroll down and click on Show Legacy Settings

The most important settings within the NVIDIA Driver itself are obviously the Anti-Aliasing ones.

Once you find these, crank them up all the way to the max.


In Global Settings, turning on DSR (Dynamic Super Resolution) can be a tremendous help, but this method will only work if you change your in-game resolution to the one(s) you have chosen within this driver setting. The most important setting you can change within DSR is called DSR Smoothness.

As you hit apply, the screen(s) will flicker for a few seconds, but don't worry, your PC is not going to explode as it will be just scaling the resolution.

It has to be noted that using DSR will lower your FPS, since you will be using a resolution that is higher than your native resolution.

In Program Settings, you may also change the DLSS Override - Super Resolution Mode to DLAA (100%), but this is more of a placebo rather than anything since the game itself has no DLSS support.

In AMD Software Adrenalin > Gaming > Games > Metaphor: ReFantazio (AMD's driver will most likely detect the game instantly unlike NVIDIA's Driver)

Just like in the NVIDIA App, the most important settings within the AMD Driver are obviously the Anti-Aliasing ones yet again.

Once you find these, crank them up all the way to the max.

It is also important that you choose Override application settings to get the best results along with Supersampling instead of Multisampling for the Anti-Aliasing Method if your PC is capable enough, if not, then vice versa.

AMD's equivalent to NVIDIA's DSR can be it's VSR (Virtual Super Resolution) feature, although I'm not sure if it is as capable as NVIDIA's DSR.

There is a mod called Metaphor Better Antialiasing[www.nexusmods.com], which basically adds SMAA+TAA/FXAA via Reshade, but is not necessarily the greatest method to go for in my opinion.

Good news is that it is very easy to install. You would just have to drop the files of the mod into the game's folder and to uninstall it you would just simply have to delete said files.
Since it is only a Reshade mod, it can be customized further by pressing Home on your keyboard while being in-game.

It does provide somewhat smoother edges, but there is a very annoying blur/ghosting that comes with it.

See for yourself:
https://youtu.be/fhtQLHy_Q94
Nonetheless, it would be a great mod if it wasn't for the ghosting, but if this is not bothering you as much as it bothers me for example, you can go with this method and tweak it to your liking if needed.

---

I personally recommend having a clean install of Reshade[reshade.me], which in itself is a very easy process. At the bottom of the webpage, there is the option to download ReShade along with its version number.


Upon starting the installer, it will ask you to select a game or application. We are obviously selecting Metaphor: ReFantazio (METAPHOR.exe).


Then it will ask you to select the rendering API. You can leave it at the default option which will most likely be DirectX 10/11/12.


Now you will have the option to choose from a plathera of effects, which is up to you as to what you choose, but having SweetFX by Ceejay.dk chosen is more than enough (and the one we need) for this method.


Once you hit Next, the mod will be installed in mere seconds. That's how simple it is.

• reshade-shaders (folder)
  
• dxgi.dll
  
• ReShade.ini
  
• ReShade.log
  
• ReShadePreset.ini

---

Now when you are in-game, press Home to open the menu of Reshade. It will ask if you would like a tutorial or not, I will leave the choice up to you.

From among the effects, select FXAA and SMAA along with LumaSharpen. Once you enabled them, you will be able to customize them in the very same menu.

• Subpix: 1.000
  
• Edge Detection Treshold: 0.200
  
• Darkness Treshold: 0.100
  
• You can leave the Preprocessor definitions settings alone.

• Edge Detection Type: Depth edge detection
  
• Edge Detection Threshold: 0.100
  
• Depth Edge Detection Threshold: 0.010
  
• Max Search Steps: 80
  
• Max Search Steps Diagonal: 15
  
• Corner Rounding: 75
  
• You can leave the rest of the settings alone such as Predicated Thresholding, its connected settings along with the Preprocessor definitions settings

• Sharpening strength: 0.800
  
• Sharpening limit: 0.250
  
• Sample pattern: Normal
  
• Offset bias: 0.500

Having a bit of sharpening is important after such methods, because after aggressively injecting our Anti-Aliasing methods, especially FXAA, it blurs our image a bit and it is where LumaSharpen comes into play.

Here it is in screenshot format:

If you enable Performance Mode, you will be unable to make changes to the injected effects.

---

https://youtu.be/kG5Xr_HUPBQ

• 1440p Native Resolution (2560x1440)
  
• Rendering Scale set to 125%
  
• FXAA enabled (In-game)
  
• SMAA+FXAA w/ Reshade along with a tiny bit of LumaSharpen to negate blur. (Previous Section)
  
• Camera Shake: On (I left it enabled only because it elevated some scenes artistically, but it is not mandatory for you to leave on)

• Antialiasing - FXAA: On
  
• Antialiasing Transparency: 8x (supersample)
  
• Multi-Framed Sampled AA (MFAA): On.

However, as I have stated in the previous section, the settings that I have used are not carved into stone as every PC and person is different. Use this guide as well... guidance to eliminate as much jagged lines as possible while trying to achieve a much smoother image quality.

If you still don't find the anti-aliasing to be as good as you were expecting even after trying out these various methods, the last advice I can give is... to endure it.

Unfortunately it will never be perfect, that's just the way Metaphor's engine is, but the game has an insanely good art direction anyways that after a while, the Anti-Aliasing won't bother you as much as in the early hours of the game.

I hope I was able to help making Metaphor: ReFantazio a visually better pleasing experience for you! This was one of the longest guides I have ever written and I hope it was worth all the effort.

In case you found the guide helpful, make sure to leave a like, an award or even consider adding it among your favorite guides!


If you would like to... you could read my extensive review of Metaphor: ReFantazio!