Metaphor: ReFantazio has been a very long time within the making. It was introduced in 2017 as Challenge re Fantasy by a bizarre lengthy video that stated little or no. Since then, Atlus has swapped the Challenge for Metaphor and scoured Google Translate to discover a cool approach to say ‘fantasy.’ It’s additionally made an enormous fantasy JRPG — and after rolling by a demo at Summer season Sport Fest final weekend, I’m dying to play it.
ReFantazio is the primary unique title by Studio Zero, a comparatively new Atlus division headed up by Katsura Hashino. Because the director of the third, fourth and fifth Persona recreation, Hashino is liable for the Persona sequence’ pivot in the direction of social simulation parts. After ending up Persona 5, Hashino left P-Studio to work on all-new titles unrelated to Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei and Persona sequence.
Atlus and Hashino are each identified extra for (-) grounded city fantasy than wizards and elves, and ReFantazio in that sense represents an enormous departure. That is an epic, sprawling story protecting an entire nation, the UK of Euchronia. The Euchronian king has been assassinated, and the individuals of the land should elect (!?) a brand new one.
Euchronia is house to eight “tribes” (fantasy races) and our hero is attempting to reunite them. There’s additionally a cursed prince who everybody thinks is lifeless, a royal match for the throne in six months and monsters in all places. To make issues worse, Euchronia is being invaded by hideous, Hieronymus Bosch-inspired creatures known as people, which operate as the sport’s bosses. People, huh? Marvel if it’s a… metaphor?
Given Atlus’ storytelling historical past, the broad strokes of ReFantazio will in all probability make extra sense than the moment-to-moment beats. Greatest to simply let it wash over you.
The sport takes place over the course of six months, and also you’ll be touring throughout Euchronia in a Gauntlet Runner (a cool ship designed by the Evangelion mech man) attempting to rally assist in your entry into the royal match. Every city within the recreation has a tavern the place you possibly can seize a chew and collect data, a recruitment heart the place you possibly can settle for quests, varied outlets and an inn the place you possibly can relaxation. Finishing quests and making pals alongside the way in which will achieve you supporters among the many varied tribes, which is vital to each the overarching story and the fight.
Atlus’ Summer season Sport Fest demo was segmented into three 15-minute chunks. The primary was a coaching sequence of types, story-heavy and lightweight on fight. This felt largely like a showcase for ReFantazio’s cinematics, which had been beautiful, regardless of the TVs within the demo space being set to interpolate frames. Atlus has a convention of showcasing top-quality anime in its video games, and the demo clips had been among the many finest I’ve seen. What I appreciated greater than the standard of the animation was how carefully the character designs and vibe of the sport matched the cinematics.
Additionally memorable is the voice appearing. For the English-speaking solid, Atlus is taking the “United Kingdom” of Euchronia very critically, as everybody I bumped into had a completely over-the-top British accent. Because the proprietor of an English accent, I discovered the characters past theatrical however nonetheless satisfying. At one level within the demo I met a hyper-cockney cat lady that might’ve been auditioning for Oliver.
In one other phase, I fought alongside an lovable floppy-eared fellow from fantasy Liverpool who seemed like he was . If none of this excites you, the Japanese voice solid appears to be capturing for a typical fantasy vibe. Personally, I can’t think about taking part in this recreation in something aside from English at this level.
Not all the things is voiced — as in numerous JRPGs, key strains and conversations play out in full, however many interactions shall be confined to textual content, with the voice actors emoting slightly alongside the way in which for taste. As a velocity reader, that is completely superb by me.
Phase two was all about dungeon-crawling fight — time for the Persona comparisons! The setup right here shall be acquainted to followers of Atlus video games: It’s a turn-based JRPG, with varied forms of bodily and magical assaults, standing results and illnesses. ReFantazio’s model of the traditional JRPG class system is Archetypes — there are 14 lineages containing over 40 distinctive Archetypes, together with some acquainted roles like Mage, Thief, Knight and Healer.
There’s additionally a tactical component to occasion composition, with a back and front row taking part in a component in fight, and Synthesis strikes that let you mix your occasion’s Archetypes for stronger assaults. Every thing has slightly Persona and SMT to it — you handle Archetypes in an Akademeia (just like a Velvet Room), they will evolve by expertise, and their proficiency in battle is linked to your bond together with your supporters.
A twist on the traditional turn-based formulation — and one I’m very happy about — is the Quick battle system. Once you come throughout an enemy, you’ll be capable to gauge their energy earlier than initiating fight. The Quick system enables you to goal a selected enemy and strike them; this will insta-kill underpowered foes, which lets you keep away from turn-based battling totally when grinding low-level enemies. For stronger foes, you should utilize Quick to butter them up and begin a squad battle with benefit, however in case you mess up this engagement you possibly can begin the turn-based fight in your ass. Different Atlus video games have an analogous risk-reward system to permit gamers to achieve a bonus, however that is extra nuanced and satisfying.
The interface for all of it is a sometimes beautiful menu system and UI that feels extra refined than ever. Easy actions are assigned a face button on the controller, which implies much less time spent in menus. It’s all fairly intuitive, and in the direction of the tip of my brief demo I used to be already dashing by the turn-based fight with out questioning what button did what. Taken as an entire, the fight system looks like a pure evolution to the traditional formulation Atlus is thought for.
The ultimate demo part begins contained in the Gauntlet Runner. It’s a claustrophobic area, extra submarine than tremendous yacht, however stuffed with issues to do. There are individuals to speak to, actions to partake in, and routes to decide on. Just like Persona, the sport occuring over a set interval means you doubtless received’t be capable to do all the things you wish to, and as an alternative have to resolve how finest to spend your time every day. You may attempt to degree up one of many major character’s 5 traits — braveness, knowledge, tolerance, eloquence and creativeness — or maybe give attention to preventing monsters or incomes money. I performed to kind and skim a ebook, which was sadly not sufficient to boost my braveness from “craven.”
My cozy ebook session led instantly into the principle present: a face-off in opposition to an enormous human. This started with an anime sequence, which gave approach to traditional four-on-one fight. The human designs on this recreation are buckwild. This one was known as, “Sea Horror Homo Sabara” and listed below are the Cliff’s Notes:
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Lengthy violet beard and eyebrows.
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One yellow eye, one white eye, each glowing.
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12 ears organized in two rows? Edgy piercings.
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Crown of thorns. Truly, make that two crowns of thorns.
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Prime half of head has been scalped. There appears to be a human coronary heart protruding.
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Additionally, eight big bejeweled tentacles as weapons.
It’s not like I haven’t seen loopy bosses in a JRPG earlier than, however this octodad was numerous enjoyable to struggle. There was no main problem: Take out the tentacles, wail on the physique, tentacles regenerate, repeat. However he hit arduous, and the demo clearly set me up for achievement. It’s simple to see this man wiping your staff in case you don’t come correctly ready.
Of all of the issues Atlus squeezed into the brief Summer season Sport Fest, the human battle was essentially the most memorable. From the lore being drip-fed to followers, it looks like the people are literally from our world, and are being Isekai’d into Euchronia as these messed-up monsters. Right here’s hoping numerous them made it over.
At first blush ReFantazio looks like an actual auteur second for Hashino — as if, after the worldwide success of Persona 5, he’s mainly been given a clean verify. Hashino’s Persona titles bend over backwards to point out you the way cool and edgy they’re, however the one concern for ReFantazio is how loud, assured and distinctive it may be.
Sure, there are parts borrowed from nearly each Atlus RPG you possibly can consider, nevertheless it’s all been remixed and refined. I left my temporary time with ReFantazio stuffed with this excellent milieu of nostalgia and shock, a heat familiarity from one thing in contrast to something I’d performed earlier than.
Metaphor: ReFantazio involves PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox Collection consoles on October 11.
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