Metaphor: ReFantazio
(These are notes I’m making as I’m playing the game; not a complete review yet.)
- Very Persona-esque
- Artstyle incongruent at times: the background textures, being a medieval setting, tend to be muddy or dirty, which does not gel with the characters being - in Atlus’ signature character style - impeccably clean aesthetically. I don’t really like the background textures in general either, since I don’t feel they work well with the relatively low resolution they have. I think leaning more on having the backgrounds still be clean - a la Persona - despite the setting would likely feel better to me overall.
- The Runner & Study areas feel fine, though. It’s generally the outdoor areas that feel wrong.
- Archetypes (read: Personas) are interesting and combat is fun! Whilst similar, it’s not a carbon copy of the Persona combat system.
- Protagonist cannot change Archetypes mid-combat. This is fine - and the game does generally do a good job of allowing you to adequately prepare for dungeon bosses - but the surprise combats can be incredibly frustrating as a result when your build is inappropriate for the fight (as you weren’t expecting it).
- The fastest way to fix this is generally to Alt+F4 to reload the last save - typically just before the combat. An in-game button to just abandon the fight and reload would be much better.
- Hanging out with ‘Followers’ is always a guaranteed rank-up with them, which is much nicer!
- Choices don’t affect progress with the follower, instead providing extra currency if you pick the ‘correct’ option. I like this! Still incentivises learning the character and thinking about your choice, but doesn’t mandate you get a guide up each time lest you spend too long on a single social link.
- Gallica is by far the best guide character I’ve seen; miles better than Morgana, that’s for sure.