How is it? Worth $70?

its fine on its own but there are much better games.

what would you recommend? i just got a streaming device and long games sound comfy in bed

definitely play the demo first, it's got like 6 hours of content which is enough to tell if you'll like the game

1 million on every platform besides the switch

gangbusters

Lol

What would you recommend to someone who's been eyeing Atlus games for a while but didn't go for it (other games in the backlog) and now digs the idea of this setting without knowing at all what's the story itself? Worth starting with this one?

Yes, 1 millions for JRPG is gangbusters

My story with atlus games started with p4, then p3, then p5. Played also Aegis 13, and i still have unicorn overlord left
im not gonna lie saying im an "oldfag", but at least ive got my fair share
Never played SMT or etrian oddisey
Persona 3 can be a little tricky to play first, and persona 4 is more colorful and fun,

Worth starting with this one?

Yeah sure, imo metaphor teaches you everything you need to do and it is very friendly with newcomers imo. Other games like Elden ring kinda build up from past games. Metaphor, while it shares stuff from past games, they teach you everything you need to do and its friendly with its time management options.

Maybe unicorn overlord? looks like a good game and its from the guys that did aegis 13 so i hope it is entertaining
Romancing saga 2 has been doing fine as well i think
FFVII rebirth if you want something more AAA
Cant say i recommend persona 3 reload unless you already played the og game, or Yakuza 8 since while good, fun gameplay, it kinda shits the bed with its story and in that regard, Y7 is better but gameplay it is very amateur

loved aeigis rim but mainly for the plot, i just want a really good story, i have played p3p on psp years back and got burned out on grinding. so i need a really good story to keep me on hook. koudelka and shadow hearts the closest i have came at finishing a jrpg

worth $70

isnt it cracked already?

kinda and its apparently possible to play it on the ps4 emulator

Job system, press turn combat and time management already make it sound like a good game.

loved aeigis rim but mainly for the plot, i just want a really good story

Yeah me too, i liked the gameplay but i think it was too free. I liked the pretty colors and hype music tho

i have played p3p on psp years back and got burned out on grinding. so i need a really good story to keep me on hook

Persona 3 reload is more firendly with its grindy mechanics since it is easy, but i dont like how they changed the overral tone, art and even music. Plus, gameplaywise, persona 3 is really unique to its successors, its more "hardcore" if you will and with other options. Thats why i recommend the original first and then a more laidback option later. At least push through the original version.
It is mainly the reason why i dont recommend persona 3 FES for newcomers (funny, because thats how people use to experience persona for the first time when this game came out, talk about shock therapy)

what are the best stories in jrpgs? not sure if aegis rim counts but its up there for me, anything similar ? never played a final fantasy game

it's honestly pretty disappointing

Junah is at least a Norwood 3

Maybe unicorn overlord? looks like a good game

UO is a great game, so long as you understand that you're not getting a traditional turn-based rpg game, but one where you set up your tactics before the actual battle starts. It's more akin to being a general that gives orders on what to do but then has to trust the soldiers will carry it out as well as they can.
Also Scarlett best girl.

OP here, I loved Aigis Rim but I definitely would not consider it a JRPG. I also really liked Unicorn Overlord despite its lack of difficulty simply because its mix of Ogre Battle and FF12 gambits was done extremely well.

I will definitely play the demo of Metaphor though to see how it is.

It was my second jrpg ever and it turned me off the whole genre. Dropped 10hrs in.

Overrated. Unless you're an Atlus fanboy, you might wanna wait for a sale.

Archetypes systems underdeveloped (e.g. no system for switching)

Barebones dungeons

Annoying characters

Frivolous dialogue

I appreciate what they were going for. Hopefully they'll do something like this for Metaphor 2:

Archetypes can be switched, maybe like FFX-2's Garment Grid or even something simple like Pokemon

Dungeons react to Archetype composition and take more inspiration from P5's Palaces

Dialogue rule: if there's no room for a voice line, it's cut

Fold the character virtues into the Archetype system

More mechanics around Gauntlet Runner; moving around is when the game's most fun

Oh man thats another can of worms that i dont want to open because its really hard to praise a story since theres too many factors. Maybe someone else can answer that.

If you want my personal opinion, i really like persona 3 story, its really emotional, beautiful ending and themes, and the characters are more grounded and less ideal unlike its successors.
My favorite story in Final fantasy has to be either FFIX (even if it shits the bed in some aspects 3rd disk and onwards) and FFX. FFVII is often mentioned here and i could agree but i think FFVII story is more entertaining than good. Howeer, it is by no means a bad story. controversial opinion, the remake in itself is exploring FFVII themes better than the original game but im not gonna discuss this shit here

Xenogears is often also mentioned as a great story but i havent played it to agree 100%, but i do know something about it and it is dark as fuck and REALLY interesting to me. Apparently the gameplay is kinda bad however and it is, unironically, incomplete in its second half, to the point they had to rush it.
Trails in the sky trilogy, before it became falcom slop with cold steel, was also really interesting and one of my favorites stories. Its VERY anime, but it is entertaining anime. The first game is slow since it presents the world but it has a shocking ending that will make you want to instantly start the second chapter.

yeah im planning on playing once im done with metaphor
im between romancing saga 2 and unicorn

also what said
just play the demo, its free
i advice people against it JUST if you have to spend 70 dollars, but for free its alright. See if it gets you.

just pirate it lmao

I pirated it and really enjoyed it, but it is definitely not worth $70. Absolute abdured of Atlus to charge that much for a game with a quarter of the budget P5 had.

Dont pay more than $20

controversial opinion

Rebirth filtered a bunch of midwits. It's absolutely kino and maybe the best game in the past 10 years.

yes most definitely. its the best game released this year.

Best Atlus game since p5.

I’m waiting for a big sale.
Y8 and P3R were my big JRPGs for the year, and the setting of Metaphor isn’t 100% my jam anyways.

not really. writing is shit, combat is inferior to SMT and Persona in every way, and all female characters have been trannyfied by the DEI department except for Gallica .
Only worth playing if you're seeking something deeply flawed but with a unique setting and art style.

sounds like it's not even worth pirating
thanks

Its much more fun than the 70% of persona 5 for sure

I liked it a lot but it's not worth 70 bucks. The story is a huge step up from P5 and the some of the themes resonated with me as I'm sure they'll resonate with most people. It's definitely a feel good game in the same way as P4, but more leaning on the side of hope for a better future for everyone instead of the bonds of friends and family that P4 has. I've played almost every Megaten game and can say that the job system is good, dungeons are ok but they're not palace tier. I think this is the one thing where P5 is better.

One of the things I didn't like is that you're kind of railroaded into being a magic user because while able, your early party members are not exactly magic damage types. I think getting one of the magic members earlier in the game instead of halfway through would've fixed that but that would change the story a bit.

I know they're two dimensional most of the time and as everything the writing is flawed but some of the characters have some of the best s.links in the persona franchise. Heismay, Strohl, Maria, Briggitta come to mind. I would pirate the game since it's very easy to, if I were you, and try to see if you like it. If you're 10 hours in and you don't like it then its probably not for you

The direction in most of the scenes that were previously hand drawn animation was better than the remake and half of the music is a step down imo. Compare the camera angles and colors in the orpheus awakening and you'll probably see what I mean

Anyone can become kang

Any tribe, even an filthy elda

Through your journey you make people love you, and forget about their discrimination and they rally behind you

Common man, from the most disliked tribe, wins everyone's support and will sit on the throne , not someone who will get to rule just due to bloodline

Actually you're the prince and his OC donut steal with insane powers

NIGGER WHAT

I got caught up in the hype, I'm much preferring to it FF16 which I played previously and I'm something of a fan of the Persona games.

I'm happy I bought it and I would easily recommend it but if $70 is quite valuable to you atm I would suggest on a sale.

That only means that he earned his rightful claim :)
The king's gambit plot point was craaazy. I also digged what happened to the prince's elda mother and the TRUE seeker (You) guiding and pushing forward the prince.

some of the characters have some of the best s.links in the persona franchise

Strohl

Briggitta

LMAO

Metaphor was my biggest hype for 2024 and sadly the game is fucking mid. I still need to play Rebirth but I'm sure it'll be better than Metaphor, since Remake is way better than metaphor already

Worth $70?

I would hope not. This game is graphically rivaled by a 2013 FFX remaster.

but there are much better games.

There is just no "much better games" if you're looking for a bombastic AAA turn-based JRPG

Maybe Honkai Star Rail but that's tainted by gacha for some people

There's nothing in this game THAT good

Except the story, gameplay, and incredibly unique setting that feels fresh for the fantasy genre. There are downsides to the game but to pretend like there's nothing on offer here is pretty much lying. I've seen people flip stances on turn based games over this game due to its sheer quality. What it does well, it does EXTREMELY well. There is a reason why this is in talks for GOTY, and no, your little shpiels on 4chinz aren't gonna do much to sway people to your side.

I'll have to take your word, because I literally had the opposite reaction with Persona 5. I came into that game gleaming with anticipation only to be catfished with 5 minutes of gameplay and then ambushed by an hour of introductory cutscenes and tedious exposition dumps. I've never felt so betrayed.

for me, it’s P3>4>Metaphor

catfished with 5 minutes of gameplay and then ambushed by an hour of introductory cutscenes and tedious exposition dumps

This game isn't so different in that regard, just so you know

Strohl

Briggitta

LMAO

Care to elaborate? I found them fine. Better than Alonso and most of the s.links of 5

My personal gripe with HSR is not even the gacha but the consistency of the writing between chapters. Space station was fun, Jarilo VI was good, space china was horrible, penacony was amazing and now we're back to extremely boring space china

It is pretty formulaic personaslop. But at least you aren't a highschooler and it's not as braindead easy as P5R or P3R.

Strohl entire character is "I am a noble and they burned my village"
There is nothing more to explore in the character because he is already a perfect and idealized character. I remember the scene after Louis first death... The first thing he said is ~muh Louis bad because he burned my village
His S. Link is also about the people who fled his village.

I found this story pretty boring desu. In fact, most where except for heismay, and the reason is because they are so detached from the main story. They have to do something with the social links and connect them better to the main game.

Is it pirateable?
I don't want to pay for communist DEI propaganda, but I am too much of an Atlus sucker to ignore the game.

I disagree that it has "nothing" special going for it, I think the party dynamics in this game are probably the closest to having an actual group of relatable friends and associates, and the characters are for the most part pretty charming without ever being annoying. On top of that, it has better gameplay than persona, though it probably could use better superbosses and less reskinned enemies. Definitely recommend playing the demo before you go into it, as it's a pretty good indicator for how most of the game will go. Personally, the plot is better than persona's though not by much, and it comes with the MUCH better antagonist. Louis kinda makes this game what it is, and it has much better highs and set pieces than P5 without overly redundant character arcs. Despite what I said though, anon is pretty accurate that the game isn't really "that" good. Persona 5 basically had nearly everything meshing together well except for redundant character arcs and lacking subtlety (and the party), while metaphor is less stylish while still trying to ape what made P5 popular. Essentially, P5 was lightning in a bottle especially for the time it came out in, Metaphor isn't close to being lightning in a bottle but it's a more consistently good game than P5

It's nice, but nothing amazing. It is essentially a Persona reskin. There are several issues with it. The story sort of goes to shit in the last third and the dialogue really starts repeating itself at that point.

Too much grind is needed to unlock and level up Archetypes, meaning you're going to be stuck with only two or three lineages on each character. Together it's enough to cover them all, but the system feels needlessly restrictive. You also only get to play with most of the good ones in the last stretch of the game.

It's a lot less interesting than SMT fusion for example.

The story dungeons are alright (again, nothing amazing), one in particular is great though.
The non-story dungeons are all copy-pasted shit however.

I'd say it's worth maybe $30, but certainly not $70. I really don't understand the 93 metacritic score, it's not bad but nothing special either.

It's either this one, P5, P3R, or SMTV/Nocturne, those are pretty much the most approachable games they have atm, and this one has the most conveniences by far (battle retry, frequent auto saves, ease of grinding)

If we're looking for the best in JRPG story telling, you'd have to be looking for a consistently good plot without schizophrenia (no FFVIII). I do like 9 but I feel like it shits the bed kind of hard at times, at least compared to 7 and 10. 7 itself never quite shits the bed but it has some very absurd segments that really tell it's age as a progenitor of modern FF story telling.
10 is good but the way the story is framed makes it hard to digest in some points. It's definitely a difficult question, because even the best of JRPG writing has some insane plot holes or twists.
P3 itself is very good, and the characters make the game better but it's no exception to crazy plot twists or inconsistent characters. I think everyone's going to have a different opinion of what they would pick, given everyone has different headcanons on what happens or digests the jrpg'isms differently.
Personally I'm a huge fan of FF8 and 10, and while I think 8 has one of the best stories, you have to parse it between a bunch of disconnected and insane lore, as well as open interpretations to the ending, disk endings, and start of the game

The game's introductory catfish and tutorial is a lot shorter than the two-three hour tutorial you get for P5 though

SMTV is much more fun.

at least the music is fantastic. final boss theme was a letdown though.

The one that had the Akademia leitmotif ?

yeah. it's not bad or anything, but the persona games are known for having absolute banger final boss themes. I was just a little disappointed with it.

In fact most of the boss themes in the game aren't that great. Shame because I love the rest of the soundtrack.

I thought it was almost the best track in the game. I don't disagree though the game's kind of lacking a The Rivers in a Desert banger, and the boss theme is overused. Louis's theme was phenomenal though, and I loved the dungeon/travel music

both gauntlet runner tracks are great. grand trad theme fucking rules. I also loved the dungeon music in the cathedral and dragon temple/shinjuku

an underrated song is that first castle in the very beginning of the game when the humans attack. I think it's only used there.

Yeah, outstanding music in those segments. I like the battle theme (both of them) as well but man is it overused over 80 hours. It's sort of the same problem persona 5 had as well I guess

More RPGs need to embrace having more than battle theme. I can't think of an example right now but I know I've played games before where some intense story moment happens and then the regular battle theme is different after that.

Vaguely remember that being the case somewhere, maybe a squeenix rpg like 8 or 9

It was never fair in the first place dum dum no one normal had any chance

Would have been more interesting if the prince actually just dies and you have to keep up the lie of you being him

would also have been interesting if the made academy and rella was a bigger part of the game It's been a pretty long time since we had rpgs with real choices

Yeah, it's odd that the game gives you dialogue choices to be a massive prick to people, but the ending is always the same. I was genuinely surprised when I found out none of the choices really mattered. I was sure that there was some sort of morality counter that would determine the ending.

Choices

What about the times you get 3 choices and the game tells you, "UHM NOT THAT ONE, PICK ANOTHER UNTIL YOU GET IT RIGHT"

On one hand, I'm glad none of the choices matter because in Persona you have to be a Yes-man to often retarded social links, but on the other hand I also don't like a relative lack of reaction the main character being somewhat of an asshole, though it's usually funny

THIS IS WHO I AM

It's funny how you get strong-armed into it, I was expecting it to be like a Sekiro moment where at some point you suddenly get to make a real choice with consequences. Shame it wasn't but I can dream

You can get real choices in Metaphor: Non Fiction edition in 2 years.

only if you're a persona fan
but then again, if you are you're probably mentally retarded and don't know the value of money anyway

At least the game has sort of bad endings. They aren't fully animated or anything, but at least they're described to you. It's funny how horrible they are

youtu.be/Ixha0Qx7iEQ?si=skcBLuBiUuxZNbFf

METAWOKE REWOKEWOKEY WOKE! WOKE WOKE WOKEY WOKE? OH I'M CUMMING! I'M CUMMING FROM BEING RETARDED!!!

Yes it's good, play it.

It's the best JRPG released this year by a large margin.

non fiction

You mean nonfictionio

Genuinely wish the party would tell you off for making bad choices more often

the ending where you side with Louis at the last second is so stupid. Your dumbass party just sides with you anyways even though you're going against the very thing you fought against for 80 hours.

Is Metaphor Re Fantazio the most based game ever conceived? Id say so. as a chud it gets my approval.

They turned Louis from the best Atlus villain into the worst one in the last hour of the game. I have no idea why they had to escalate him into an insane moron when he was fantastic as just a guy who had a different view of how the world should be than you.

$70

Get Smtvv for 60 bucks instead

The picture book definition of a 6/10.

feels nice to have both
god I fucking love jrpgs

Nevermind the 3 people that have Louis to blame directly for their misfortune

Just buy both. They're the best two games released this year.

I'll buy it for 30 dollars maybe on a steam ssale