Atlus
9 things you should know before jumping into Metaphor: ReFantazio
Planning to jump into Metaphor: ReFantazio? The game can be a bit complex sometimes, so here are some tips to enjoy your experience as much as possible.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is out in stores today and both fans of what Hashino and his team have done with Persona, as well as JRPG lovers, have an unmissable date with one of the games most celebrated by critics in 2024. To help you in that great journey you’re about to embark on, we offer you a series of tips and recommendations (without spoilers) that we hope will help you.
- Don’t stress, breathe. For the fan of the latest Persona, a certain state of anxiety is normal about the issue of the protagonist’s personal development and achieving all social ties to the maximum, a primary objective that has given many headaches in the past. The fact is that the theme has been relaxing quite a bit since Persona 3 and in Metaphor it reaches new heights. The problem in the past is that everything could be very measured, you needed to reach a certain level of attributes to advance in the relationship with different characters, and doing so (or not) sometimes depended on things like answering questions correctly in class or on exams, and to plan very well to avoid getting stuck, which was common. In Metaphor there are also questions, but even if you don’t answer “correctly” you will get progress and there are also many opportunities to upload attributes at various times, especially in the final days, when there are multiple opportunities to upload attributes and you can catch up. day to achieve the maximum in all relationships (the Opera, which can be visited at night, is a fundamental element if you have left something behind). Without rushing, but if you pause, you will arrive.
- It is a good idea to raise bonds as soon as you can, especially for members who are fighting. This is a fundamental premise, since delving into the relationship of a group member character brings important advantages: one of the most important being that you will be able to accumulate experience without having to actively put him in the group. In addition, deepening relationships brings all kinds of general advantages that will be noticeable in the long term: discounts in stores, more experience, less MAG spending to equip archetypes... In addition to exploring the personal stories of your group and supporters is one of the highlights of the experience.
- Buy everything, and in sufficient quantities. Metaphor follows in the footsteps of megaten where group status changes are frequent and potentially deadly. Status changes often prevent you from using synthesis attacks (especially powerful combo attacks) and have a variety of undesirable effects (for example, illness will cause us to be unable to heal that character, and curse will cause the character to take all the damage they deal. ). It is essential to have our inventory well stocked with remedies for any condition, in addition to having characters with status healing abilities (preferably more than one, the basic ability to restore a character is in the cleric archetype and you do not have to invest much to get it). It is also essential to have a good amount of objects that wake up the character from the KO, because obtaining the Recarm ability is more expensive.
- A timely withdrawal is a victory. There is a huge difference between starting a fight with an advantage and starting a fight at a disadvantage. When approaching the enemy we can decide the neutral option and automatically enter the combat in turns, or use the beat’em up mechanics to try to end their resistance, in which case we will enter combat dealing massive damage and leaving the rival group stunned, leaving it to us on a platter. But if the enemy manages to hit us with a single blow, we will be the ones who will enter the combat in turns at a disadvantage, and it may be difficult for us to turn the tables. In that circumstance, it is best to try to run away (if you can), heal yourself, and try again.
- Stop the enemy’s advantage by all means. There are a wide variety of enemies that use buffing abilities and it is a big mistake to leave them free to do so, even if you think you have the advantage. The Dekaja ability is absolutely essential in these cases, as certain fully powered attacks can wipe out your party in one turn, even if everyone is at maximum health.
- Information is power. In every tavern in the big cities in the game there is an agent who will exchange money for information. Many times it is not mandatory to go through him, or buy everything he has, but it is highly recommended to do so. It usually gives us quite precise information about the type of enemies we will face, as well as very useful information about the final enemy of each dungeon. The configuration of our group and the skills we equip ourselves with must be conditioned to this information.
- There is no fatigue, but mana marks the limit. Gone are the exhausting efforts with the group’s fatigue (although some of us miss that more demanding management). But once inside a dungeon, whether main or secondary, there is no way to recharge the MP with which we can perform skills, which are mandatory to be able to overcome enemies. Items that restore MP are rare and expensive, while skills and items that replenish MP are quite advanced and not available to the entire party. Since it is advisable to try to complete the dungeons in one day, to have more time to develop attributes and relationships, a good tip is to rely heavily on the Fighter archetype, which is a character whose special attacks spend life points, instead of P.M. It is worth having several characters equipped with fighter skills, or with the same archetype, since being able to dispatch battles using HP (Health Points) is a good saving measure to reserve mana for more difficult encounters where it is essential.
- Don’t go crazy with the archetypes and specialize each character well. The archetype system is one of the main new features of Metaphor and is an analogy to Final Fantasy’s own job system. It is a very flexible system, in which each character can be equipped with practically whatever we want, but in which reaching the deepest degrees of specialization and, therefore, the best skills, is expensive in the resource used to these tasks, the MAG. The main advantage of this system is that the skills that we will learn with each character are permanently learned and can be equipped in other archetypes (at a sometimes prohibitive cost). In this way we can have offensive characters with some support or healing ability, or vice versa, in addition to being able to have a wide range of options to adapt to different circumstances. In any case, everyone cannot do everything, and it is worth keeping in mind that achieving the maximum degree of specialization requires having the relationship with the character to the maximum and a costly development that usually involves several archetypes.
- Strengths and weaknesses are your dearest friends. It is essential to know what each enemy is lame about, and what each member of your party is lame about. Not only for the sake of achieving the greatest possible damage, but also because the number of actions we have depends on knowing how to take advantage of this circumstance. Turns start with four stars, one for each active party member. Each action consumes one star, but if we successfully exploit the enemy’s weaknesses, we will consume half a star, leaving us the potential, in the best of cases, to double the number of actions. On the other hand, if the enemy blocks, absorbs, dodges or returns an attack, we will lose two hit stars (and the same for our case). For this reason, it is important not to make attacks that affect the entire group if we are not sure that the attack can be effective with everyone (sometimes enemies are mixed).
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