Eight years in the past, Japanese director Katsura Hashino introduced that he was forming a brand new workforce inside Atlus after greater than a decade spent engaged on the Persona sequence (and Catherine), saying he wished to strive one thing new. Last summer season, his sport was lastly revealed – Metaphor: ReFantazio, an RPG that options loads of similarities to the Persona video games, however has a character all its personal.
In broad strokes, Metaphor retains many acquainted parts from Hashino’s earlier video games. Like its religious predecessors, Metaphor makes use of a turn-based command system constructed round exploiting the weaknesses of enemies. The principal character, an outcast who makes use of forbidden magic, appears to be like an ideal deal just like the hero of Persona 3 Reload thanks in no small half to the artwork of Shigenori Soejima. Even among the terminology is identical, a notable instance being Tarukaja – a spell that reinforces assaults in Persona and now Metaphor (although Hashino denies any hyperlink between the 2).
Its pedigree and glorious manufacturing values has been sufficient to generate pleasure in some RPG circles, with some going as far as to name it their most anticipated sport of the yr. But others within the broader gaming neighborhood are a bit extra perplexed, both due to the similarities to Persona, due to the unconventional identify, or each.
So what’s Metaphor: ReFantazio actually all about? And does it have an opportunity to step out of Persona’s shadow and set up a fanbase all of its personal? These are nonetheless open questions, however I did get a bit nearer to creating my very own understanding of Metaphor once I performed it at Summer Game Fest earlier this month.
About Metaphor’s identify, and why it would not have romance
First, that identify, which is unquestionably a mouthful. The Metaphor half is simple sufficient to grasp – Hashino says that he needs gamers to have the ability to relate the story to their very own lives. In quick, he needs it to be a metaphor. “We had all these totally different concepts. We could not consider many good ones so we have been like, ‘Okay, simply Metaphor. It’s simple.’”
As for the second half, Hashino says, the workforce wished to rethink the thought of a fantasy world. Hence, ReFantazio. Okay, so it doesn’t fairly roll off the tongue, however you possibly can’t say it’s not memorable.
As for the sport itself, the demo I noticed consisted of three totally different sections – a narrative sequence, a dungeon crawling sequence, and a boss battle. The demo begins by establishing among the world by Gallica, a fairy companion who brings a little bit of an 80s D&D vibe to Metaphor.
In the sequence, Gallica relates the legend of a spot that appears suspiciously like New York City, with Gallica amazed by a world with no magic, no tribal battle, and “towers of glass that attain the heavens.” It’s a narrative that appears to recommend that discrimination is a recurring theme by Metaphor, with lots of the principal solid members battling prejudice of some type.
Speaking with IGN in a follow-up electronic mail, Hashino confirmed that Metaphor’s story is “intently associated to the theme of adjusting the world for the higher.”
“As we approached this challenge, we wished to problem ourselves to do one thing totally different from our previous works whereas nonetheless leveraging the great power and expertise of Atlus as an RPG maker. As we developed the idea of the sport, we realized our curiosity in exploring the thought of interior power and the way folks overcome limitations. Essentially we wished to discover how we are able to turn out to be the very best variations of ourselves,” he mentioned.
“To obtain this, we centered on how folks understand one another based mostly on character or private interactions. This led us to the concept biases or prejudices can type round judgements of those traits. We created a backdrop to this world round the concept varied characters on this world are uncovered to some type of bias or prejudice on this regard.”
While the fantasy world of Metaphor is totally different from ours in some ways, if we’re capable of convey it properly, we imagine followers will be capable to discover varied similarities between it and our personal.”
Ultimately, Hashino says, his principal objective for Metaphor was to maneuver away from Persona’s fashionable setting whereas sticking to the format he is aware of greatest. That signifies that Metaphor performs an ideal deal like Persona on a second to second foundation, which is particularly evident within the dungeon crawling and boss battle sequences. It even has summons that look so much just like the demons from Personas. Admittedly, there’s loads of nuance to be present in these comparisons – amongst different issues, an enormous a part of the technique is positioning your characters within the entrance or the again row, and the battles total are a lot sooner – however on the floor the resemblance is obvious.
The most significant change might be discovered within the third part of the demo, which along with the boss battle showcases a little bit of how the story progresses. Where the latter day Persona video games are constructed round a linear every day faculty calendar, Metaphor is structured extra like a highway journey the place you may have the liberty to go the place you please (Hashino compares it to a vacation the place you will not be capable to see the whole lot in a single playthrough).
Setting a vacation spot on the Gauntlet Runner, the crew’s landship, will take a sure period of time to succeed in, throughout which you’ll construct up your stats by studying books with titles like “Pride and Persuasion” or doing laundry.
Notably, Metaphor doesn’t have any romantic connections to construct, not like Persona, which Hashino attributes to the will to keep away from making a “romance sport.”
“We made [Persona] as a RPG story about youngsters. And youngsters, they date, they’ve romance. That’s a part of the enjoyment of being a teenager exploring your boundaries. So that was why we included it within the sport…as a result of if we did not have this in, it would not actually really feel genuine. For our new gam…we did not wish to embody it as a result of it did not really feel as pure, if that is smart,” Hashino explains.
“The second level I wish to make is the primary plot focus is that there is this character, the protagonist, who’s attempting to turn out to be the subsequent king. And relatively than specializing in his love life, we wished to verify we have now this entire follower system. So we wished folks to give attention to that.”
Metaphor attracts closely from 80s and 90s fantasy
This method sits on the core of what separates Metaphor from Hashino’s earlier work. I’ve usually in contrast the latter day Persona video games to one thing like an anime Buffy the Vampires Slayer, that includes Japanese youngsters who take care of highschool drama by day and battle demons by evening. When I performed Metaphor, although, the primary present that popped into my head was Aura Battle Dunbine – an early instance of the isekai sub-genre that includes a younger bike fanatic who’s transported to a fantasy world populated by big robots resembling bugs.
Hashino acknowledges that he’s a fan of Dunbine, however chalks up any affect it might need to its vital recognition within the Nineteen Eighties. More vital could also be what Soejima calls “the fantasy growth” of the Nineteen Eighties and 90s, which gave rise to Record of Lodoss War, Dragon Quest, and a number of different well-known properties.
“So I lived by the late ’80s and early ’90s when there was a fantasy growth over right here, and all of the fantasy stuff that existed in that period and that beforehand got here from abroad was a part of my creative DNA,” Soejima says. “After that, I learn numerous actually severe fantasy stuff, which got here into me and combined into this different base layer and helped type my DNA as properly. The first fantasy I interacted with was [Dungeons & Dragons] means, means again within the day. Probably greater than books, Wizardry can be what actually influenced me from the fantasy style.”
One means or one other, Metaphor figures to be an attention-grabbing experiment for Hashino and firm. Given a brand new canvas, the workforce appears eager to place their very own stamp on the fantasy style, drawing from well-known influences and giving them a brand new spin with their distinct verve and magnificence. It feels directly acquainted and invigorating – a recent method that also leans into their particular person strengths, with a heightened artwork fashion and even sooner battle system. Atlus, for its half, is treating it just like the launch of a brand new franchise, giving it a world launch with a first-rate launch slot in October.
“When we have been creating this sport, we thought, okay, we all know that folks do just like the method that we take,” Hashino says, “so we have now extra confidence to comprehend our imaginative and prescient with out concern of how folks will react, as a result of we predict folks will like our sport.”
We’ll be capable to see for ourselves when Metaphor: ReFantazio releases October 11 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director in addition to co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
