In the gaming industry, you often have a choice between sticking with the franchise/franchises that has/have made you plenty of money or gotten you lots of acclaim or attempting to do something fresh and new to see what you can come up with next. For the team at Atlus, it’s been pretty clear that they’ve been focused on the Persona series ever since the success of the Phantom Thieves title led them to global acclaim and Game of the Year nominations. However, while they are working on that, they’re about to drop Metaphor ReFantazio, which is the company’s shot at a brand-new RPG set in a more fantastical world.
The questions about what is alike and what is different between the two franchises has been asked by many. So, the PlayStation Blog decided to drop a post highlighting what is familiar and what isn’t between the other franchise and Metaphor ReFantazio. Shall we begin?
First, there’s combat. You can expect plenty of turn-based battles in this RPG but with one key twist. If your squad has levels well above certain creatures, the combat will shift to real-time fights where you can wipe the enemies out without needing to use any special attacks. That way, you can get on with your experience and not have to fight everything with full force and waste precious resources. You can also actively dodge attacks!
Another key difference is the game’s setting and tone. As noted, it’s more of a fantasy world that you’ll find yourself in, and the plot revolves around more personal themes on top of the fantastical ones:
“The game’s inciting incident comes from a savage act of regicide, and things only get wilder from there with its medieval fantasy setting exploring themes of bigotry and the value of imagination, especially when overcoming our own fears and anxieties.”
To that end, you actually aren’t human! You’re from a special tribe that just happens to look human, and the humans in this world are actually full-on monsters. So, you’ll need to be ready to take them all down.
A massive difference in this new RPG is that you won’t have Personas to collect and horde but Archetypes to build and transform over time:
“These transformed figures are part of a job system where your party members can switch between the 40+ differently skilled Archetypes, spread across 14 different lineages to suit your playstyle.”
Read the full blog for more key similarities and differences. Then, get the game on the 11th and see what it’s like!
