Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age review

How old are you?

Boredom is a funny thing that takes us to strange places- unless you're a gamer in which case there's very little guess-work about the places your boredom is going to take you. For me, however, the boredom which led me to finally delving into the vast world of Final Fantasy (for which my only prior experience was a bit of XIII, the entirety of XV and the 7 games) was tinted with anticipation over the upcoming launch of XVI on PC. A launch which has apparently not been very profitable for Square, maybe because it was so under-marketed that I only knew it was happening because my sickly seventh sense for upcoming video games poked me to search for any news on the PC port randomly only to find it due within the coming month. (My sixth sense is the ability to know a good or bad game or movie before release with a high rate of accuracy, for those keeping track.)

Picking up and immensely enjoying that demo was enough to secure my purchase, if not the majority of other gamers, which meant that FFXVI would be on my mind for the next month- how would I deal with that? Well, there was always the vast well of other titles with more traditional JRPG systems to keep me entertained- I thought- and surely they could keep my attention for at least a bit of that torturous waiting period. Surely I wouldn't actually end up finishing an entire Final Fantasy game within that short time for what legendarily massive adventures they are. But I guess that's the thing about legends, isn't it? You can never live up to them. I ended up beating FFXII just before XVI launched and experienced enough to have some very definite thoughts about my time and it only took me- give me a moe... Yikes, Steam says '62.9 hours'. I withdraw my point- I'm an addict.

Now, it's very important you understand my reasoning and expectations going into Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age so that you can be on the same level with me in that experience. I wanted a Final Fantasy type game to bide over my time that gave me familiar JRPG vibes of your everyday Japanese title. The kind of turn-based tactically light stuff I play from indie devs off Itch.io running on RPG Maker every other week. I also knew actually nothing about this game, or really any Final Fantasy I haven't played aside from the major ones like... I think there's a guy called Tidus in... FF X? And... is VIII the one with Squall? (That silly bugger who calls himself Leon in Kingdom Hearts.) As for XII? I actually didn't know the protagonist's name and spent a decent chunk of time wondering how I was ever going to take a guy called 'Reks' seriously over the course of an entire game. (Thank goodness that young boy got murdered in the prologue... uh... spoilers I guess. The game is eighteen years old, I'm going to spoil at least a little bit of the story.)

Now with those expectations, those who are familiar with FFXII might understand exactly where I'm going with this. My face dropped the moment I started playing the game and found out to my surprise- the combat isn't turn based. Not really. It's this weirdly horrific mix of MMO-reminiscent auto-attacking accompanied with acquirable skills and an 'action cooldown' that has your player stand around awkwardly between slashes in combat. It's weird and ugly to look at... but when you're playing a 60 hour JRPG there are things you just have to get used to and this was one of them. I grew to... endure this combat system and in doing so came to reflect a bit more on Final Fantasy as a whole to realise- I'm not sure if they've ever had a traditional combat system!

I mean I assume the pixel games have, 1-6 look like they do from screenshots I've seen, but all the titles I've played have some kind of hybrid between tactical turns and straight action gameplay or are simply just action games out-and-out. It really did surprise me how 30 odd years of video game legacy just kind of clouded my actual analysis, as I think it did a lot of people who assumed FF16 suffered from breaking away from FF's formula- despite the franchise not really having a clearly defined gameplay formula really ever. I guess that's why Final Fantasy is a monolith- you really never do know what you're going to get next.

So after surviving that combat-jumpscare, my next point of remark was the world of Final Fantasy XII both visually and within the plot. For which I have to say- Final Fantasy always covets some of the quality world building throughout all JRPGs. I couldn't tell you the name of the starting towns in half of the average RPGs I've played but every Final Fantasy world exists with distinction in my mind. FFXII is a great example of this with Ivalice serving as a fantasy world plucked straight out of the fruits of the imagination tree. With unique and interesting fantasy races, (alongside the race of tall bunny girls that5 have half their asses hanging out at all times) fabulously grandiose middle-eastern inspired architecture and really striking character designs. It's all really rather inspired if you ignore the very obvious Star Wars Prequels influence.

Rabanastre might be pretty much fantasy-Naboo but it's all a richly beautiful and diverse city teeming with people going about the open-air bazaars, taking in the fabulous courtyard water fountains, and gazing up at the giant maximalist structures that will make you wish the game let you look up a bit more reliably. I feel like a real-estate broker saying all this but seriously, the work put into bringing these spaces alive is truly excellent and whilst I think the first city is probably the most brimming with character and visible culture- that design excellence persists throughout. Sure the black armour of the Inquisitors looks like a take on Darth Vader's famous armour- otherwise the obvious Japanese Samurai helmets have literally no visual place within these design themes- but I find something nostalgic about going back into the era of prequel-mania- even through the eyes of a... visual copycat feels a bit dismissive but I mean that with all the love in the world.

To accompany this visual treat we have the writing and acting which is... the quality of a 2006 game. Far enough along in the game that actual actors who know what they're doing are being employed, but not enough for decent recording equipment and/or sensible sound mixing practises to become the wide-spread norm. Then maybe there's a lack of enthusiasm in some cast members, and some rather clear poor direction resulting in ill-fitting performances of the odd line. But overall I wasn't offended by the quality of the voice work and coupled with rather gorgeous and well-parsed verse in the script, I found some meat on the bones to latch onto. Of course, I speak of the writing here, less what the writing actually says- and that's because I'm trying to start off positive. But I guess in the pursuit of an authentic review I'm going to need to expand my feelings.

I don't like the combat. I don't like that when you start it takes no fewer than three button presses in order to perform a basic attack. I don't like that in order to 'overcome' this limitation that game expects you to literally write basic if/and conditional code using their rudimentary interface so that the Ai presses the buttons for you. I hate how the sign of a well-balanced and wisely deployed team is a battle that fights itself with minimal, sometimes even no, input from the player whatsoever. I don't like the fact that the 'Esper' system the game employs in place of traditional summons appears to be functionally useless by the time you reach the mid-game, also that it takes forever and is bad. I hate the fact that basic spell upgrades which every other boss enemy has are hidden as one-time drop items tucked away in the deepest recess' of the most out-of-the-way dungeon instead of, you know, cool thematic items that flesh out the world by simply existing where they do. And finally- I think the dungeons are kinda crappy too.

Ah- but as you picked up in the midst of all that- I do like the game enough to want to learn more about it's world- I wish it related to the gameplay more. And I also wish that the complex lore snippets earned by extensive monster slaying and bestiary filling pertained to lore that more closely linked to the plot in even the most abstract way. You know, like if the extensive religious pantheon they spell out were in any way presented in the actual gods that appear in the plot! Imagine how silly I felt learning about the various myths and legends only to be told "Actually, nah these are different deities who we failed to set up in the story sufficiently before literally launching them at you." But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What is FFXII's story on an even basic level that it eventually involves the gods? A redundant question, this is a JRPG- the game could be about maintaining a successful farm and somehow end with a duel against god. (I'm still only on the first month of Harvestella but I'm pretty sure that's where that game is heading too.) FFXII actually surprises as a tale that doesn't so much ground itself in a heroes journey against the heavens as many other FF stories do, but instead takes a more macro sweeping eye at wide-stage geopolitics as the various co-existing nations of Ivalice are threatened by... >sigh< an evil empire... This one isn't just a Star Wars reference, rather a reference to Final Fantasy's many reoccurring plot elements. Little sick of it by now, to be honest.

In this pursuit FFXII took a rather drastic sacrifice of the individual stories being told throughout the game, not that you don't get characters with personal drives to them- just that they don't drive the plot as much as are carried along by it. Much of the plot is actually pretty lazily strung along with a 'do this and then do that' structure that belies connective tissue and makes it hard to really feel the pulse of the plot. Unless you engage with discovering the world, like I did, I can definitely see this boring people expecting a narrative to the level of, say, Final Fantasy VII at least. As for the wider nation-shifting narrative- there are some problems there too. Problems very much highlighted in gusto after my playthrough of the narratively excellent Final Fantasy XVI which managed to marry complex nation movements and individual character storytelling without skimping on either. (Guess 20 extra years of storycraft is going to amount to some improvement.) 

What we have here is a story of plucky rebellion against overwhelming power, and the nature of power of what it comes to wield it eventually being brought to the table and... left about for inspection. Final Fantasy has never been the most introspective of theme-examiners and XII is no different, but I respect there was at least an attempt to establish a heart and it shines through. From a distance, on a list, the game has all the formulas it needs to give us a tale about the human cost of power, whilst in practice it sort of plays out a bit more unfocused than that. And perhaps the game would have a better time figuring itself out if it wasn't for it's protagonist problem, Yes, we're talking about Vaan in this review. 

Now I have to come to learn that little Vaan has something of a cultish devotion which, upon examination, seems to have spung up for a very particular purpose. You see, Vaan is singular amidst Final Fantasy protagonists as being... how do I put this... not particularly good. And that is a pretty vague sentiment which could go in a million directions, but I keep it general rather to highlight just how overwhelmingly 'not good' the man is by every metric. Is he interesting? No. Is his journey engaging and dynamic? No. Does he take charge in the narrative? No. Is his perspective an invaluable perspective to providing a complete story? And this is the tough one because it really is the last bastion that his fanbase rally to... but honestly the answer is still no. Vaan is laughably redundant in every aspect- so why do so many insist otherwise?

There has been at least one complete essay written in his staunch defence and when you actually take to the word of the argument it becomes pretty clear why. The sentiments are wavy but follow a similar vein- 'Vaan is the audience perspective', (despite that clearly being Ashe) 'Vaan represents the common man in a story about powers which dehumanise the human cost.' (only he offers no presence or perspective in key moments concerning such costs, nor does he seem all that impassioned about the plight of 'the people' in general.) And finally the 'Well why does Square keep putting him up as the face of the good characters every crossover fighting game if he's so bland?' (Precisely because he's bland. There's no ambiguity to him. No depth, no contradiction. He's just along for the ride and will hop aboard anything short of genocide.) So what's the heart behind his impassioned defence? It's actually pretty simple. It's the underdog effect.

Vaan has been in the crosshairs of everyone confused about his protagonist status since the game launched, and when you love a game (as some do for FFXII) it's natural to default to defending the thing. It's easy to push away the glaring flaws and hold up your project on a pedestal as some sort of eternal monolith of perfectly logical consistency, instead of a product developed by people who sometimes get it wrong. Just ask Square developers why they made Vaan. Their last game, Vagrant Story, garnered some criticism for their adult protagonist and so they decided to err towards a younger man for the next game. It feels right to create some sort of excuse, to fill in the blanks with your own imagination and conjure some genius interpretation of the character when if you just be objective, look at the character plain, and most importantly- observe the effect he has on the audience: he's just a dud of a character. Even if we lived in a world were the writers had knowingly cooked up a protagonist so inactive to the plot that he literally doesn't even share any words with the end-game antagonists, all in some thrilling subversion of expectations- (in a game with an already shaky narrative) it pretty clearly failed to translate to most of the critical audience. Maybe Vaan is a stroke of genius, (he isn't) but he didn't pan out that 'genius' in a way that enriched the narrative. So Vaan's crap, rant over.

As for the rest of the cast? They're fine. I get the feeling that FFXII was born at a time of rapid improvement in technology, were studios had to really put down their foot to keep up with the changing times and maybe some more fundamentals, such as rounded character writing, got lost in the scuffle. The original Final Fantasy 7 arguably had some much simpler characters, but they gave each cast member time to develop- with FFXII it feels like they picked favourites constantly. Fran was a decently interesting character; (Choice to have her voice direction be so quiet she can barely be heard in the sound mix aside) but her story kind of fizzles out so Balthier can take the stage. Balthier actually has a really solid narrative on paper, but his actually solid character connections with his father and the parallels his origins shares with other members of the cast and the theme of power in general feel rushed. I know! 'Rushed' in a 60 hour game! Maybe we should have had more time to unravel his character and connections- which we could have done were he the protagonist? (Actually Balthier is a pretty early companion, they had plenty of time to make him more than 'the rather ironically soft-spoken supposedly 'suave' swashbuckler-type who gets vague about his past all the time.')

Ashe is the real protagonist of FFXII in all the ways that matter. She has the impetus of the story laid upon her, her's is the internal struggle that plays out detailing the core theme of the plot and it is from her perspective that the world and it's people are slowly uncovered as we explore the vast lands of Ivalice. She's also the princess who's Kingdom is stamped upon by the Empire, and who's bloodline just happens to hold overwhelming significance to the plot. I would go so far as to call her presence the connective tissue which pulls events together if this were a slightly tighter narrative that I could confidently call 'pulled together'. And she is... a fine character. I'd categorise Ashe less of a 'dull character' and more a 'product of her time where protagonists had to be a certain way'. Some Final Fantasy protagonists break from the 'middling scope of personalities' available to that generation of storytellers, but most didn't. I understand why Ashe, nor most of her party, wind up at the top of 'favourite Final Fantasy characters' with the exception of Fran. But her popularity is so deeply tied to her looks that when Final Fantasy XIV respectfully yoinked the bunny-race of the 'Viera'- they effectively plucked all of Fran's cultural relevance with them. Rather mean of them if you ask me.

What this game does wonderfully, as I hope out of any Final Fantasy game, is provide that sense of vast adventure across a wild and fascinating land of varying cultures, peoples and traditions. Travelling the land from one edge to the other, as is genuinely asked of you from time to time, will take you from snowy outcrops writhe with winged beasts to hollowed out ancient oil rigs plunged across a vast desert haunted by dangerous tribal scavengers. There's so much diversity and intrigue to Ivalice that I held absolutely no surprise to learn this land ended up being the setting for the much beloved 'Final Fantasy Tactics' games. Games which are still not legally purchasable on modern hardware for some insane reason! (I'd love to try them out.)

Ivalice also treads a curious line between the manifested gods of Final Fantasy lore and the more grounded aspects of less fantasy-driven world building. The famous summons of the series for example, Odin, Bahamut, Shiva are present not as summons but rather gigantic airships that are central to the narrative as unstoppable machines of war. Much of Ivalice culture is based around skytravel, (despite there being no actual sky-plane gameplay for some insane reason) so these flying fortresses determine the shape of the world in a much more tactile way than magically shifting mountains and waging celestial warfare. It's a really inspired subversion of the typical Final Fantasy reoccurring factors, only slightly dampened by the fact that they did actually try to include their own magical summons through the 'Espers' system, only for those Espers to be vanishingly forgettable and crappy by comparison to the old summon system. 

I particularly love the inclusion of optional 'hunts' to encourage the player to explore. High level and sometimes gimmick strewn duels that will drag you all the way over Ivalice and really put you to the test. There's a progression tree to committing to them, actually substantive rewards for the early game and an invaluable familiarity with the quirkier aspects of the combat system up for grabs for those that engage- as well as some curious tidbits about the history and biology of these creatures in the log book that a Monster Hunter lover like me just finds invaluable. It's really right up my alley. Some of these hunts even carry curious side-quest style plot threads with them that offer some of the really unique moments which stick with you after the game. The system is still a little finnicky though, with there being no real neat way of tracking which bounty belongs to which applicant if you do something sacrilegious and 'take a break from the game and forget what you were doing'. (Hell, I didn't take any breaks and still struggled keeping everything straight!)

And of course as you get deeper into the game the optional content starts to bloom outwards, although unfortunately a lot of that delves into the more 'ultra obscure game guide bait' style of content. Side Quests with ludicrously vague steps you'd never happen across in a normal playthrough, secret weapons so obscure you would literally never know they are there unless you looked it up and the route to one of the superbosses being an utterly impenetrable maze of near-identical hallways scattered across a slog of a dungeon. That's another point, these dungeons kind of suck. Final Fantasy never really boasted the most interesting dungeons in JRPGs but FFXII in particular seems to subscribe to the 'drag it out until the player wants to tear out their hair' school of design. I might actually consider calling SMT 3's dungeons better by comparison, until I remember how trail and error the last one in Nocturne was. Yeah, I'd rather slog through a near endless dungeon then bash my head against a maze of invisible teleport traps for the rest of my existence.

All this belies the fact that despite how much there is to do and see around Ivalice, the main story actually doesn't do a great job of handling a geopolitically driven narrative. You hear about the rising tensions of the various world nations under the blustering of the Empire and yet none of it feels as tactile as it should. You hear about Bhujerba's rivalry to the empire but the Bhujerba you visit is little more than a relatively tiny floating town with a prominent mining community, they don't really sell the 'independent city state' vibe very well in the actual presentation and game - it seems unfeasible to think of that as the basis for so much as even a military annoyance for the giant empire. And what about the... I have to look this up... the Rozzarian Empire, not to be confused with the more obviously antagonist Archadian Empire. They have such little actual presence in the game the fact they exist is only brought up when their debonair harem-wielding prince saunters into a scene halfway through the game to shameless flirt at a totally nonplussed Ashe and vaguely threaten global warfare against the Archadians. This isn't how you handle political drama guys, you need to give us a proper global overview of the world situation first so we understand and respect the weight of individual shifts of state across the various nations later- which is exactly how Final Fantasy XVI does it.

Now I've talked a lot about 'Final Fantasy XII' but where does this 'Zodiac Age' come into it, you may wonder. I was actually quiet curious about this one going in, speculating that these 'Zodiac' might refer to some aspect of the lore which this rerelease edition expanded on to some greater degree and I was half right. Kinda. The Zodiac are one of those vaguely mentioned sub-lore aspects that are buried by the actual gods present in the narrative, and as for 'The Zodiac Age'. That entirely refers to the revamped class system. Yeah, they named an entire rerelease for a job system that bares no relevance on the plot. (Simpler times.) The Zodiac job board presents a kind of semi free-hand system of class building where you pick a couple classes and then use battle obtained points to select 'licences' to use certain spells and equipment. It's... serviceable as far as RPG systems go. But very sterile and bland too. When all your levelling amounts to static stat block increases or the 'legal right' to equip a certain tier of armour, progression can feel pretty passive. And in passive progression systems I usually prefer to be hands off and let the stats build in the background, instead of in the forefront picking the hardly noticeable power increases by hand. On the flipside this system does uniquely allow for extreme low-level playthroughs if you are that deranged enough- so there's that.

But if you've followed along with me this far you'll no doubt how picked up on a certain passion with how I speak about this game and it's world, no matter if I'm praising it or digging at it. And that's because I did actually really enjoy playing it! For it's faults and gaffes there is a heart to Final Fantasy XII which makes it fully understandable why some out there hail this as a formative game for them- it may not be perfect but it's hardly a bad game by really any metric- it just shapes up poorly in comparison to actual masterpieces out there- which is no great shame. I even think that somewhere, with some spit'n'shine and a total rewrite of Vaan's character so that his driving motivations don't almost completely disappear the second Ashe joins the party, and I think this game could make for a blinding Remake one day. Unfortunately, I'm sure there are far more deserving Final Fantasies worthy of a remake first- so I'm not sure XII will ever see that day.

Final Fantasy XII is a strange one. Solidly made but structurally flawed, evocative yet unfulfilled, ambitious yet narratively absent. And also I don't like the combat but I'll confess that's a personal bias. As far as Fantasy games go, however, Final Fantasy XII nails it where it counts for someone like me, who flocks to this genre for fascinating worlds that spark the imagination. Ivalice is another unforgettable world in a franchise full of them and it's light alone deserves a recommendation if just to see the grandeur of Rabanastre if not to stick around for the whole game. The story does kind of fall on a flat note and I'm not sure any character really feels that fully developed- and the player character really let's the story down in terms of connecting the audience with the moment. I think my feelings can be summed up in one scene: at the very apex of the game, when the protagonists and final villain finally meet, and that same tyrant turns to our heroes and says "Who are you?" It's the beginning of a middling speech but by god in that one moment I thought "Right! Who the hell am I?!" Which shouldn't really be your take away by the time of the plot climax. FFXII deserves it spot in fantasy games history, if not exactly a plinth of honour for all it achieves. Which leaves me with a tentative recommendation if all those negatives I just described doesn't fully turn you away and a arbitrary review grade of... this one is hard... I'm going to go C. C+ if you just love fantasy enough. Not a failure, but far from the best this franchise is capable of and what this world deserved. 

Metaphor Refantazio review

 Fantasy lives on...

Persona has risen very much from the depths of niche-hood into the very heart of relevance thanks to the runaway smash-hit of Persona 5. Just like the Yakuza franchise had done before it- 5 introduced a whole new breed of potential fans to the wonders of the Japanese game market- wherein forgoing the absolute cutting edge of technology allows for quicker turn arounds, developers who are more familiar and adept with their current toolsets and, usually, more introspective and interesting stories. I still find myself utterly stunned with just how many ATLUS projects we've seen in the past 5 years compared to the best of the western world. Five games in as many years- (with one technically being a re-release with more content in 'Persona 5 Royal') What about Naughty Dog? Last of Us Part 2 and... remasters of both games. With an upcoming second remaster of Part 2 soon. My point is- the Asian gaming market is on the rise and for good reason.

Of course I did find myself wondering just how transitive the success of Persona would ultimately be on ATLUS as a whole. I mean sure- I ended up really gelling with the brand and introducing myself to the wider world of their products- but I'm an anomaly with too much time on my hands. Shin Megami Tensei V certainly did decently, but it's still a niche brand in comparison to Persona and it seemed like ATLUS really understood that what with how thoroughly the team committed to milking Persona 5. What else did they have? Soul Hackers 2? That game got panned, unfairly so I'd argue, for the crime of not really being anywhere near as good as the Persona games. (Not that it was really trying to be- you could feel the lower budget seeping through every aspect of that game.) Which is what brought me to considering Metaphor a risky proposition.

Don't get me wrong- from an artistic standpoint I thought that marrying the ATLUS formula with the creative freedom of a pure fantasy world was such a no-brainer that it honestly astounds me that the team seem so surprised that they went this direction ultimately. The tacit comprehension of complex themes disseminated and personified into tangible aspects of a thematically driven plot, broad and emotionally driven character writing that colours shades of personality into even the most drab places, a deep grasp of various international cultural myths and the intellect to cleverly appropriate those aspects to create fascinating world spaces. (Take note: 'Devil May Cry'; you haphazard culture-nicker, you!) ATLUS had been cultivating these skills with every one of their projects up until now- of course they were primed to bring it together into a fantasy. In fact, a fantasy setting could even be the perfect melting pot to bring all those talents to their ripe-most fruition!

Now those are very bold proclamations that I make, and it was with a tempered heart I reflected on what Metaphor would actually be. First off, ATLUS were forming a new team to make it, Studio ZERO- which could either be an investment made in confidence that this would form a team worthy of carrying their own legacy for years to come- or a calculated risk to isolate a limb in the off-chance it may need to be cauterised if things go south. In a manner so very fitting for the subject matter of the day, I gave into my fear of the unknown and allowed anxiety to close off my heart to the hype train for Metaphor- only really re-engaging around about release time when I figured- "Eh, there's a free demo- might as well see what it's like." Needless to say, I brought the game on the spot soon after.

In many ways Metaphor feels like a marriage of everything ATLUS has achieved up until now, in every aspect from the character writing to the storytelling to the gameplay. But for the sake of observable and easily communicable evidence, lets start with gameplay. Metaphor borrows the press-turn combat system from Shin Megami Tensei alongside it's buff/debuff stacking kit- accessing the much greater tactical burden and reward afforded this system over the more pithy, albeit quicker and punchier, Persona route. Yet it neatly nicks the celebrated Social Link relationship heart of the Persona games in order to bring the relationships to the forefront of the narrative and world every bit as successfully as that franchise does. Picking and choosing.

This comes from the pedigree of Studio ZERO which is picked from across ATLUS' greatest hits with talent from Neon Genesis and elsewhere padding out the other artistic positions- presumably lending to the uniquely lively style of ReFantazio's visual artistry. And personally, as one deeply entrenched in ATLUS' emotionally-poignant examinations of the human condition, I am so happy to find Metaphor not just full to bursting with one of the studios most complete breakdowns of their theme, but a beautifully evocative commentary on so much more besides, from the very nature of power to the purpose of art as a concept. Once more ATLUS amaze with how aware and clever their narratives can be- leaving not a pinch of doubt in anyone's mind when they took the 'Best Narrative' award at the Game Awards.

Metaphor presents a fantasy world that slips away from many of the usual go-to tropes that Japanese fantasy in particular falls down- there's no World Tree- thank god! In fact- there's no central worshipping force around which all the world revolves- sorry, Final Fantasy. Instead there's a deeply grounded soul to the world of Euchronia. (very cute synonym there, by the way- with 'Euchronia' literally meaning a utopian era of technological and social achievement- in stark contrast to the world present.) The world is made up of fantastical races split into tribes, with Elf-like Rhodanthe prized for their martial strength to the bat-like Eugief who are treated as an ugly and dirty people- likely for how distinct they look from other more humanoid style peoples. This is a land of social struggles and racially-enforced classism that leads to strife and discord across the land- it's a near endlessly rich world depicting a society on the brink in such a tangible way.

Such a turbulent world is brought to a boiling point where the king is brutally assassinated by a villain we establish directly from the get-go- Louis, or as I like to call him: "Fantasy-Dio". Forgoing the cat-and-mouse of later Persona titles we have our man of the hour front and centre before we even have controls in our hands which gives Metaphor plenty of time to give us one of the best villains ATLUS has ever made. Both distant enough to remain a point of intrigue for a good portion of the story and oppressively present so that his essence looms over proceedings finally complete enough that when the puzzle pieces do start coming together, it feels every bit as rewarding as you'd hope. Louis feels like the perfection of the Takaya-style Strega character that ATLUS have been taking a shot at every now and then ever since Persona 3.

That 'conflux of good practises' comes to a pinpoint in the combat too, which really seems to nail all it aims for. Aside from hitting on a more tactically rich space than Persona without getting overwhelming, Studio ZERO also built in one of the most user-friendly features I've ever seen from a JRPG. At the press of a button you can instantly reset any fight to the start in order to try it again. If ever things aren't going your way, or you used too many resources that one time, or maybe you just missed an opening you really wanted to nail and are willing to save scum to get it right- Metaphor gives you that power in the most seamless way possible and I simply love how accessible it makes an otherwise potentially foreboding fight system. You can get to learn a fight by slamming yourself up against it before starting again with a clearer idea of how to tackle it. Clever- but that's just the iceberg.

What they did for dungeons is hats-off brilliant yet so-very simple. As you can imagine- dungeon delving is an important part of Refantazio, both in side-questing in the surprisingly rewarding side-content on offer or simply hitting the main dungeons throughout the core game. Each of these spaces are visually distinct and usually filled with their own brand of thematically appropriate enemy, sometimes with cute gimmicks such as a fear of mages that causes goblins to flay into a rage whenever they see a staff and becoming much harder to kill. But engaging with these dungeons takes valuable days to commit to- you don't want to waste a trip on an ill thought-out loadout, do you? Thus was born the informant system. People shoed up in Inns who, for a small pittance, give stories about locations of interest stuffed with hints about the kinds of monsters there, the gimmicks at play and what sort of weaknesses you'll want to exploit or shore-up against. Suddenly you're gearing up for dungeons beforehand- spending wisely on appropriate gear, changing up your party makeup prematurely. In a simple hint system built within the game's fiction Studio ZERO have reinforced the 'adventurer fantasy' so beautifully that I'm going to be asking for something similar out of my future RPGs. That alone has reshaped the standard. So smart! 

And that's without even touching on the boss fights themselves! Metaphor contains some of the most interesting boss fights across the ALTUS catalogue by, again, just injecting a little bit more core creativity in design. Of the larger bosses you'll find mechanics built into various targetable limbs that serve different functions throughout the battle and offer specific steps-up if you target them, explicit attack patterns that demand study and dutiful response and classic attack chains that challenge the player's rounded party composition. Once again, these take the best from across the board. The gimmick fights of Persona 5, the attack patterns of Soul Hackers and the attack chains of SMT (and some choice Persona 3 bosses.) Identifying the best-of-the-best is one victory- bringing them together so deftly is yet another.

These flexible fights are made feasible by the archetypes system, which is personally the only aspect I'm still not in-love with when it comes to Metaphor. It presents the overall flexibility of demon/persona-collecting with skill-swapping and collecting in a manner somewhat reminiscent of SMT. Which it gives a lot of play variety, I personally found it robbed the individuality of your teammates until the very late-game when your builds are set in stone. Which in some ways is very much the point of the system, allowing for definite replayability when it comes to totally fresh party builds- but I guess I just have a soft-spot for knowing who my damage dealer is from the moment I lay my eyes on their stat sheet. More of a personal preference issue I guess. Also I'm not a huge fan of the over-designed style of the archetypes, a lot of which look indecipherable at a glance- but that is the first and last time you'll hear be critiquing Metaphor's art style.

Refantazio is ATLUS' most gorgeous looking game by an absolute country mile- solidifying the company's refined anime style just as some bigger slop studios were starting to work their way around to something similar. 5 decent-quality anime waifu-collector games dropped in 2024 and Metaphor totally shot past the rapidly-deprecating generalised anime visual with grace. Metaphor breathes with swirls and patterns that dance in the sky and even in the shading on people's bodies. There is constant subtle movement painted into the groves of this world that conjure to my mind some of the abstract of JOJO's art-style, and which make the otherwise intentionally grim environs, such as the backstreets of Gran Trad, alive and almost squirming. It feels flowing and never stagnant, matching the beating heart of the world and narrative neatly.

And then there's the music, oh the music! Had I been on the Metaphor hype train and spent months listening to what was coming, I probably wouldn't have got it. The bombast, the weird monk chants- none of it gells with the typical ATLUS image in a vacuum- but in context it is pitch perfect. Dramatic, ritualistic, anxious, alive! Music is actually canonical to the fiction of the world, presented as 'the first music' and played within the protagonist's head by his guiding fairy, Gallica, and that pans out with the how every track perfectly enhances the moment. From the hollow tones of the Sandworm burrow to the rapid rap-pace of the 'surprise' theme- ATLUS have once again proven utterly singular in the art of game soundtracks, even when stepping into ostensibly well-trodden musical mediums.

What more can I really say whilst keeping this a specifics light-review? I loved every single character dearly, from the core cast all the way down to the incidentals who show up once or twice but leave an impression. I am absolutely enraptured by the world of Metaphor that even though I feel it almost sacrilege to the spirit of the game to do so I simply yearn for a sequel. Or prequel. Or re-release with more content. Just anything to keep me in this world! Once again ATLUS have nailed their ending in a way only they can. Beautifully rich and narratively fulfilling- they make it look easy. I've come away thinking about this game, it's story, it's themes and mulling over the messages it imparts. I haven't felt this buzzed about an ATLUS game since I first discovered them, and that is the highest praise I can muster given how they are my current favourite JRPG developer. 

After having Baldur's Gate 3 totally redefine the standard for Western RPGs last year I absolutely was not expecting to have similar bars raised over in the Eastern world. And to be fair, Japanese RPGs tend to be distinct enough that there isn't really a thing as 'overall bar raisers'. But if any title was going to do it, it would be Metaphor Refantazo. A step-up from what many, myself included, believed to be their defining game in Persona 5- Metaphor does the near-impossible by encompassing the best of what ATLUS is and distilling it into an inspiration of a product. The game is art and none of my little gripes here and there with things like the Archetype system or certain aspects of the endgame (particularly the final boss composition) detracts enough from my view of Metaphor- as an example to the artform. And you know what examples get, don't you? A recommendation, of course, and an S grade in my arbitrary review scale- which technically breaks my school-theme I've got going for these grades but I gave the same to Baldur's Gate so I figure the ship's already sailed on that one. If you only ever play one JRPG in your life (and I strongly recommend you make the time for at least a few more) let it be this one. 

When it rains

 

Even given my time stepping back from the forefront of the news cycle to literally do anything else, somehow I find myself constantly faced with the sheer insanity of the daily goings-ons in this fair industry of ours. And wouldn't you know it- somehow Ubisoft have remained the centre of my ire even after all this time? I should rename the blog into 'The Ubisoft hate circle' for the amount of times they appear on the pages- but I guess I just can't help the fact that, for some insane reason, their management is determined to make themselves a cancer upon the industry. I'm talking- genuine danger to the health of gaming as an artform- that seems to be their biggest goal in life; beyond even making a profit. I don't even know if EA were ever this bad. Or at least, EA did a better job at hiding their active disdain for games and those who buy them.

Of course I'm referring to the recent rumour popping about (big underline with the 'rumour' part of this, the source is unnamed and i've yet to see anyone reputable back this up- it just happens to fit the Ubisoft MO so horrifically well.) Star Wars Outlaws. Apparently Ubisoft have acknowledged the flop internally and expressed a desire, alongside some other unnamed accomplices, (I imagine Sony must be one) to pressure Steam into restricting their API access. Basically they want strict provisions put around the data that the public have access to so that they can keep figures such as Player Numbers private- to what end? All this would achieve is giving Ubisoft the anonymity to gussy up a flop in front of investors- essentially giving them the authority to white lie when they want to. Which is illegal so I'm not accusing them explicitly of lying to investors- just that they happen to want to pursue the very tools that would facilitate such lying.

And I want to impress just how largely useless such a move would be. I know that companies like Ubisoft are so desperate to divest themselves of responsibility for any mistake they'll accept any old scape goat that flies through their window- but it takes a special kind of delusional to think that the observation of player numbers would drive people away from a single player open world game. A multiplayer title? Sure. I'll bet that at least some people considered buying Concord only to see it on the path to crashing and burning and decided against that purchase. Outlaws? Not a chance. More likely they saw the developer, weighed their reputation up and decided to wait for a sale. That's pretty much how I think of Ubisoft- that developer who puts out games that are never worth their RRP. And, well... that's the kind of reputation which is pretty well earned!

But that's not the only story of the day. How about FromSoftware, kings of the Souls-like, currently being hunted by Sony for an acquisition. Oh good lord, why do the horror stories never end. Sony have proven themselves ill partners in the modern age of the live service order, which has already documented at least two strictly single player studios having their arm pulled into spitting out live service prototypes- both of which proved not interesting enough to be developed to launch. FromSoft have their art nailed down to perfection, they've managed to iterate upon their own greatness and reach ridiculous heights- and they seem to be one of the only modern respected studios building themselves to be generational, so that when the current guard inevitably move on- the studio will retain that sparkling standard with the next generation. (take note Bioware.) They don't need Sony stepping on their back.

Now as far as we're aware the Sony acquisition is not entirely their own volition. They're being called to the role, as if they're saviours bearing down from up high. But that doesn't change the fact that their proven track record has been atrocious, they have themselves a FromSoftware game they've bitterly refused to work in the slightest. Not porting it to their newest consoles, let alone to other platforms, the same as with Metal Gear Solid 4 which has been trapped on it's release platform since release. (Although in fairness that one is just as much due to Konami being mean.) I don't want Playstation standing guardian over who gets to play game this big. Heck, it's been under a Sony exclusivity deal that the once biggest JRPG in the world, Final Fantasy, has floundered and failed to make the cultural impact that it- following my actually playing FFXVI- fully deserves to. That game slaps! Sony just aren't the partners they need to be right now.

And the last point of this dying embers of the year is hardly a revelation but deserves mentioning all the same. Bethesdsa just really don't seem to get any of the heat that has fallen their way. Now obviously I really liked Starfield for what it was, not for what people wanted to be or even what I hoped it was going to be. (Although to be fair, I gave up on my hopes years before launch the very second they made it clear the game wasn't going to be 'fun' sci-fi. So maybe that's just low expectations going in.) But the game honestly isn't a patch upon it's predecessors and it has nothing to do with it being a new IP that goes in a new direction that fans aren't sure about. Metaphor Refantazio dropped this very year from a pedigree that mainlined Shin Megami Tensei and Persona for decades beforehand and it might just be the single most complete, thematic strong, relatively lean and mean JRPG of all time. What's the difference? ATLUS gets it. Bethesda don't.

From the absolute barest of the bare faced peep- sure, we can look at the fan dissatisfaction with Shattered Space and conclude that people would have been happier if the game saved up some of it's free releases and dropped them with the DLC (As Todd Howard was said to to have proposed during a chat with Phil Spencer). I objectively believe that would have been partially true, even if buggies actually don't gel well with the DLC's environments specifically. But that wouldn't have been real satisfaction. That wouldn't have been solving a problem. That would be like sticking a pacifier in the mouth of a screaming child- give something to focus on for the next few minutes but not actually addressing the route issue. That issue? Shattered Space just wasn't very good. It lacked a core thesis, I don't know if they even know what sort of fantasy they were working towards providing, I personally think it's visual palette was frightfully uninspired and dull, (which is a hot take, apparently) and it stands as perhaps the least engaging full-blown DLC's that Bethesda has released for one of their mainline games ever. That should be a significant wake-up call. And it hasn't been.

Now at the tail-end of all this is a reminder that no- this hasn't been the end of everything this culture has to offer. This has been such a solid year for games that I genuinely have a dissociative moment whenever I see anyone claim otherwise. If you haven't managed to find at least one game that released in 2024 that hasn't scratched at your best-of sensibilities then I have to be honest- that is a skill issue. Unless you're a sports game fan but those folk should be used to disappointment by now. (Actually, they did get their College Football madden-style game they waited 10 years for- so even that crowd should be pleased.) But it's important to take the lumps with the porridge. To not let compliancy cloud what could be improved, what might not be going the way it should and how next year might grow to even greater heights. And man, for the companies mentioned here today (sans Ubisoft) I sincerely hope that they do. They deserve it all.