Summary
If you’re an Atlus fan, you know the drill by now. The studio launches a banging game, then a few short years later—just about when you’re recovering from the 100+ hour journey you poured your heart and soul into—it releases the game again, only new and improved and with a slightly longer name.
Persona 3 received both Portable and FES, Persona 4 had Golden, Persona 5 had Royal, and this grand plan isn’t restricted to Persona. Shin Megami Tensei has had its fair share of re-releases with director cuts and new content, with SMT 5 recently receiving the souped-up Vengeance. There’s a clear Atlus pattern here, but I’m not convinced I wantMetaphor: ReFantazioto follow it.
If we take Persona as an example, we’d be looking at a possible extended calendar, a new character or two, new features, an expanded story, and other tweaks. There are some things that would easily fit into a spruced-up Metaphor, such as a whole bunch of new Archetypes, which would likely come from a new range of Followers and quests. But this isn’t just DLC being added in, these expanded versions would build on the story and force you to start from the beginning. While having more of a good thing is generally, you know, good, I can’t help but wonder how it would change Metaphor’s narrative and ultimately be too much.
When it comes to Persona 4 Golden, I played thatbeforePersona 4. For me, Golden is top tier and I can’t imagine it any other way. However, when it came to Persona 5, I played that before Royal. Don’t get me wrong, Royalisthe better version as there is more of it: more locations to explore, another Palace to conquer, more Confidants, new features, revamped areas, and you may’t deny that grappling hook is awesome.
For the most part, the range of extra content and new features were great as they don’t meddle with the storyline much. It added flair to an already great game and you’re able to’t really quibble on that front. But does Royal tell a better story? I feel this comes down to a few main contributing factors: a new party member, a new semester, and two new endings.
For me, the addition of Kasumi Yoshizawa always felt shoe-horned in, mostly because she was. The original story didn’t fit her. I just never really felt like she belonged. Maybe that’s my dislike of change talking given I was accustomed to vanilla Persona 5. There’s a whole extra semester of added storyline and two additional endings, creating a new ‘true’ ending, which even teased the survival of a fan favourite character. Yet I’m still not sure whether this made the storybetter.
As far as that final character tease goes, I think it undermines his character growth as he chose to ultimately sacrifice himself to help the team, redeeming himself in the process. Until Atlus teased that it wasn’t a sacrifice at all…
Metaphor feels more finely balanced than Persona in a few ways, and narrative is certainly one of them. There’s no blur of who you may or may not romance (since the answer is ‘no one’), and though there are certainly a few ways you can roll credits early, arguably through the ‘bad endings’, there aren’t multiple ‘normal’ or ‘good’ endings. There’s just one. In that respect, Metaphor feels set in stone. The story is what it is meant to be, and is told how it was meant to be told. I found it refreshingly satisfying that I didn’t have to worry about different relationships and different outcomes, and I’m not sure I want to disrupt that balance.
There’s definitely room for the story to grow from where Metaphor ends, either as a direct sequel or just Atlus exploring more of this new world it’s created. But I’m not convinced that stretching out the original Metaphor story as it stands in an enhanced version would improve upon the existing narrative. We all think we’d like more of something we enjoyed, but would feel a bit unsatisfied with how extra bits are squeezed in for the sake of it.
For example, each of the characters that are in the protagonist’s inner circle, including the protagonist themself, represent the nine different tribes. Metaphor deals with issues of racism between the tribes and there’s a lot here to really emphasise this group of travellers, a union of all the tribes, and why it’s important in more ways than one. If Atlus tries adding in another ally, how do they fit in? Which tribe are they? Do we invent some new tribe? Outside the obvious of how do you fit in a new character narrative-wise, it immediately ruins this perfect tribe union the game has going for itself.
To this day, I can’t decide whether I prefer Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal. I know technically and gameplay wise, Royal is the better of the two. Yet my heart isn’t set on the tweaked Royal storyline. But since I do lean heavily towards Golden, I suspect it’s just a preference based on whichever I played first.
However, I played Metaphor first, because there was no other option. I think it’s pretty near perfect as is,hence the reason I gave it a 5/5, so I’m not convinced that adding on some new bells and whistles will improve the game. In fact, I’m worried it’ll detract from what is already an amazing experience.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
WHERE TO PLAY
From the creative minds behind Persona 3, 4, and 5 comes Metaphor: ReFantazio, a unique fantasy world, where your protagonist will journey alongside his fairy companion, Gallica, to lift the curse from the kingdom’s lost prince.Control your destiny, face your fears, and awaken magical Archetype powers that lie dormant in your heart. By awakening to an Archetype, you will unlock the power to channel and combine the abilities of unique job classes. Strengthen your bonds and build your party to take down powerful foes and discover the kingdom’s true nature.
