There's that sensation when you've been around the hype train ringer a few times and you just can't be bothered with it all anymore. Feeding off every single press junket and little snippet of information stringing you along for months, rising heartrates every time you see a headline only to endure a puff-piece about how some guy on Reddit who super promises they're trustworthy is pretty sure that Persona 6 is gonna release in a couple of weeks and you'll be able to customise your own protagonist including making them a sentient teddy bear- stuff like that just wears on you. And in that sort of state marketing can start to develop an adverse effect- the more you see of it the less you care- at this point there's been so many Dragon Age: Veilgaurd info drops that I've stricken the game off my radar entirely. I don't even wanna hear reviews- I'll see if I care again in a year or two at this rate.
This was kind of the way I was with Metaphor ReFantazio- but from a slightly different perspective. You see, I just saw that that this game was going to be 'Persona but with a Fantasy setting' and that was it. Job done. You've made your sale, I don't know why you keep talking. I'm always an advocate for Sci-Fi over fantasy because a mediocre Sci-Fi is nearly always still fascinating and fun whereas Mediocre fantasy is the pits of humanity- but a kick-ass Fantasy will top all but the pinnacle of Sci-Fi every day of the week. And if there is one thing I know about ATLUS- it's that they don't do half measures. Quarter measures. They just don't take shortcuts, period. If they were committing to a new genre- it's because they have something exciting cooking and I want to experience fresh on release.
Or at least- that was my original stance. Then I start seeing that the game has a demo out and as a demo purist who believes in the transcendent sanctity of this oft forgotten part of the game marketing process I simply had to bite. Final Fantasy XVI's demo sold me on that game's release- I was already sold on Metaphor but a little bit of early gameplay couldn't hurt things, could it? At the very least it would bring me up to date on exactly what everyone is getting so excited about with this game apparently being the 'most stylish game yet' and a 'masterpiece' according to Yoko Taro. (But then again, it's impossible to know when Taro is being serious and when he's simply mugging.) And after giving a substantial amount of time over to a heftier demo than I was expecting, what did I get from ReFantazio?
Playing Persona 3 Reload earlier this year kind of reset my expectations about what the next game from ATLUS would be. I saw the vast improvement to the gameplay flow and readability of that game and just sort of accepted those as steps forward for the game design philosophy of ATLUS without contemplating the very real fact that most of the fundamentals were unchanged from the original game. Tartarus was still a mono-dungeon, Social links were still mostly tied exclusively to summoning, the narrative was still largely in the hands of the players as early as possible- I forgot that overall Persona 5 is the closest predecessor to what ReFantazio would ultimately be: which made my experience a tad more new feeling than it otherwise might have felt.
ReFantazio is not a Shin Megami Tensei game, and it carries it's ties to major ATLUS franchises very loose on it's sleeves. You aren't seeing the same spells as you usally do covering the various elements- with a few exceptions like 'Hama' and 'Rakunda'- you won't find ATLUS' extended family of Demons/Personas- with the exception of one Jack Frost cameo I saw tucked away in the trailer- this feels like a successor to those works in many ways even more so than an addendum. I also get this sense of grand purpose in this game right from the outset- I know that it wants to says something out of the gate- which is nothing new for ATLUS- that's practically their entire MO- but this time around I'm feeling that purpose baked dutifully into every facet of the game- kinda like ATLUS at their utmost driven, such as for P3,4 and 5; rather than them at their decent such as for Soul Hackers 2.
This world is brimming with purpose, from the very charged atmosphere of widespread fear, racisim and political turmoil and rich with actionable lore logs detailing the various tribes of the world, the peculiarities of societies relationship with magic and even how the currency works. Effort went into realising ever facet of this world to feel as real as possible, even as it sits as a metaphor for what I can only assume is to be compared to our own. Heck, the game asks for your real name at the beginning from which point it weighs you as an entity within it's narrative. Not in the cringe way that the fourth wall is bent so a protagonist can make a witty joke, but more in the poignant fashion that the value of a fantastical narrative could effect the larger world placed against your own head as a challenge to the real person behind the keyboard. I've yet to know what comes of it but I'm already invested.
My only point of worry with the game is the slight turn-based action combat hybrid they have going on. Entering into any dungeon gives you a basic set of tools to play as free of turns as you want, swinging like a madman, although that is only really to break the 'guard' of an enemy unit in the open world so then you can start the proper fight with advantage. It feels like an evolution upon Persona's dungeon exploration on a raw level- however the fact there's an actual healthbar to deal with and a dodge button to dodge their swipes and the risk of entering disadvantage if you get clipped makes it feel more involved- whilst simultaneously lacking actual action-gameplay depth. I'm not sure if more will come of the system as the game stretches on but I'm doubtful off the bat- might be the weakest portion thus far.
Metaphor was always going to be a good game, that was never in doubt, but now I'm certain it's going to be exceptional and with a hit of something more. I get the inclination that this really is something of a passion fuelled swansong moment for the talent involved and if it really can stand on the shoulders of Persona 5 and reach that much higher this could mark a brand new precipice for the JRPG genre of games as a whole! Could this be a new masterpiece about to drop? I would never make such a prediction with my chest out before release but I'm certainly getting the sense that it could be in the cards. At the very least- this game makes me excited right from the get-go: and I'm not sure I've felt quiet like that since Persona 4 Golden.
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