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@incorrectallpersonaquotes
Ann and Ryuji playing Yakuza 2, reach the final battle
Ann: But this... this is stupid! The building is about to blow up and they insist on having a fistfight instead of getting out of there, even if it means they'll die?! Ryuji, deeply touched, almost tearing up: Shh, Ann, they're about to settle this like real men.
Yeah, we've been playing Persona 5 The Phantom X
Nagisa: Guys, I can explain… Yu: Your parents regularly send you texts and call you to see how you're doing? My parents left me with my uncle and I heard nothing from them for a year! Akira: With your uncle?! My parents left me with a literal stranger! Minato: Your parents are alive?
Playing around with http://www.p5generator.com/
After a very busy month, we finally finished Metaphor Refantazio.
Here, I'll talk first about our troubled journey to be able to play it, and then about the game itself (no spoilers, so you can read it with no problem).
Unlike most Atlus games, this time we were unable to purchase directly at release due to lack of money. So, the game was released in October, we only managed to buy it in November and only managed to beat it now, literally in the early hours of December 1st. In fact, throughout the month of October, a recurring joke of ours was to say "wow, this game is so awful" to contain our anxiety while we waited for the month to pass soon so we could have money to buy it.
The day I would buy it would be on my pay day. But, for some reason, the company took longer than usual to deposit the money, so it was more than 15:30 and still no salary. They finally deposited at 16h, but my internet stopped working right at the same time, and I was without internet until after midnight. So, I couldn't work (I work HomeOffice), but without internet I couldn't buy and download the game. In other words, if the salary had dropped a little earlier, or the internet had dropped a little later, we could have played, but since that didn't happen we spent a whole day anxious about playing, without being able to play.
The next day we finally managed to play, and everything went smoothly until we reached the final stretch of the game. Before the final boss, the game has some optional bosses that it recommends killing to prepare for the ending. I started killing these bosses, but they were some tough motherfuckers, so I spent about two days killing them, and got stuck on the last one. But I started to feel remorse because Babi was anxious to finish the game, so I decided to just finish the game as quickly as possible, and after that I would dedicate as much time as I wanted to kill the optional boss.
Result: in my rush to resolve things quickly, I ended up stuck on the final boss for two whole days, because I thought that, with the right skillset, I could kill him without grinding. But I wasted a lot of time on this, until I finally gave up and started grinding, then I killed him on the first attempt (but it was still a tough fight). Okay, that was about our experience playing. Now, about the game itself:
The game's biggest appeal is easily its visuals, and I can safely say that if it doesn't win Best Art Direction at The Game Awards, the result was bought. The game is beautiful, the designs are all incredible (although there are some bizarre ones, like Edeni), the screen transitions, the menus, the enemies, everything is built perfectly, and in this aspect it is on the same level as Persona 5, I think even a little higher. It's incredible.
The gameplay is also extremely fun, stimulating and, above all, challenging. The game has a Rewind feature in battles, it allows you to "reset" a battle from scratch if you realize you're losing, and I've seen some imbecile idiots out there saying that this automatically makes the game easy (makes me want to do with them what the MFing dragons in the game did with me). The beginning of the game is difficult, the middle is quite easy, and at the end it becomes difficult again, but it's the type of difficulty that is stimulating, not frustrating: yes, I was stuck on the game's bosses for almost a week, but I was having fun like never before, and if it weren't for my anxiety about finishing the game soon because I was playing together with Babi, I would have enjoyed this part of the game immensely (and, to be clear, this was something just for me, because Babi herself said that, although she was anxious to see the end of game, she would 100% understand if I spent a little more time grinding, leveling and doing the necessary things, I decided to rush everything thinking about her, but it wasn't something coming from her). And, above all, even though the game requires you to level grind frequently, it offers resources to do so in a faster and more fun way. In other words: the game is challenging in the right way, and takes all the necessary measures to make facing these challenges fun, and not frustrating.
ALL characters are charismatic, fun and interesting. The only one I found more or less was Junah, but otherwise they are all cool and fun, both the party characters and the Social Links and the villains. About this, I open a new item here just to talk about a specific character.
Louis Guiabern, the main villain of the game, is the biggest villain in this SMT/Persona niche. Like, using Persona as an example, we have villains that you end up liking because you empathize with them in some way (Akechi, Maruki), villains that you hate and end up not liking as much as you should because they are just detestable (Adachi, Ikutsuki, Takaya, Shido ) and villains who are just plain boring (Yaldabaoth, Izanami). Louis, on the other hand, is a villain that you absolutely hate, but he is a GREAT villain. Powerful, intimidating, manipulative, intelligent, he's basically Char Aznable in the world of SMT. Every time you do something, the impression you have is that he predicted your movements and is three steps ahead of you. Every time he appears, he exhales the same aura of power and authority, and every revelation regarding him hits you like a rock. And his characterization is clearly based on Lucifer, even more so in spoilery parts of the game, which have major references to the Divine Comedy.
By the way, the academic references part is also incredible. The entire game is based on the book Utopia, by Thomas More, but in addition it has very strong references to Socratic philosophy, as the "Velvet Room" in this game is literally called Akademeia and there is a cat there called Plateau (a reference to the philosopher Plato, founder of the Academy, which was originally a school of philosophy), and the political and fantasy theme itself has references to Plato's philosophy (even if to contradict it).
Not to mention, of course, the references to other games in the franchise, such as Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Devil Summoner, Etrian Odyssey and Catherine. Whether it's Easter eggs or direct references here and there, the game never makes a beautiful collection in these aspects, so that you being by seeing it as something 100% original and disconnected from the rest, but then you eventually start to see the relationships between everything.
That said, I have to say that the overall story is good, but it is a weak point compared to the other aspects I mentioned here. It's as if the visuals, sound and gameplay were a 10 and the story was an 8, so… it's not bad, it's just not up to par with the other aspects. The story starts extremely well, but in the middle and at the end it goes awry: apart from some memorable plot twists, the script is convenient in an even more blatant way than Persona 5 and 4, relying on coincidences and situations taken out of nowhere to maintain the story more or less cohesive with the "calendar" game format, in which the story unfolds on specific days. And the end, although cool, is very plain, it has none of the tremendous emotion of other Personas. Like I said, it's not bad, but it's not breathtaking, so… it could have been better.
Overall, it's an incredible, wonderful game and one that I recommend to anyone, but especially to those already familiar with Shin Megami Tensei, Persona and the like. It was a purchase that was 1000000% worth it.
Now, just waiting for a "Metaphor Refantazio Royal". This is something that Atlus has done a lot lately that makes people angry, launching the base game and then launching a new version with everything improved and reformulated to make you buy the same game twice, and the case of Metaphor is one that is clearly seen that would benefit from this, little things here and there that, in a reworked version, if they were improved would make the game perfect. So… if that happens, my surprise will be zero. Even so, I'm going to think it's revolting. And, of course, I'll buy it anyway.
Recreation of this post by @incorrectallpersonaquotes
*this isn’t an edit or a screenshot, this is 3D fanart*
Persona Paradise is amazing <3
Makoto: My friends, I have to confess something... I'm a lesbian. Ryuji: Oh. Okay. Haru: Oh! I'm a lesbian too! Ryuji: What? Geez, isn't there any Phantom Thief who likes dick? Yusuke: I do. Ryuji: That's not... okay, everyone, if you're straight, raise your hand! * nobody raises their hand * Ryuji: That's incredible, I... Ann: Ryuji? Why didn't YOU raise your hand? Ryuji: ... Ann: Something you wanna share with us? Ryuji: Okay, I confess, sometimes I look at Joker and... Ann: Oh. If it's about Joker, it's okay. Everyone thinks Joker's hot. Ryuji: Wait, really?! Haru: I just came out as a lesbian and still would bang Joker.
Akihiko, leaving shower: Babe, could you get me a towel? Minako, drooling: Sure… after I'm done staring.
Aigis: Yukari-san, I’ve got this weird pain in my chest. Yukari: Like a sharp stabbing pain around your heart? Aigis: No, sort of like this dull ache, right in the middle. Yukari: Oh, you’re probably experiencing some emotions. Aigis: Oh. Aigis: How do I stop?
Akihiko: This is bad...! This is really bad! Junpei: Dude, what is it? Akihiko: I kissed Minako! Junpei: Woah… I owe Yuka-tan so much money.
Minato: Hey, Junpei. Minato: Do you ever wonder at what point you just got to say fuck it, man? Like, when you gotta stop living up here, and start living down here? Junpei: It's 7.30 in the morning, dawg.
Shinjiro: I understand you’re trying to be edgy and show off your tattoos, but seriously, go put on a shirt. You’re gonna get a cold. Takaya: Cold? Why, this world is cold. The hearts of people are cold and empty, existence is cold, everything is meaningless and… Takaya: ACHOO! Shinjiro: Told ya.
Minato: Why do you walk around without a shirt? Takaya: My coat is invisible to idiots. Minato: Oh. Just like my hat. Takaya: What hat, you’re not wearing any…? Takaya: Oh. Smart.
Akira: I love you, Akechi. Akechi: Oh, umm… thanks. And I… as well… to you, I mean. Ann: You mean "I love you too, Akira." Akechi: That's… the gist of it. Ann: "You're my beloved boyfriend and I LOVE LOVE LOVE you." Akechi: Sure. That. Ann: Ha! I'm like your feelings translator. I understand the language of grumpy. Go on, say something! Akechi: Ain't there someone else you can go bother? Ann: Translating! "Talking about LOOOVE makes me uncomfortable." Akechi: Whatever… I gotta stretch my legs. Ann: Translating! Ann: "I'm gonna just leave because Ann is totally right but I don't wanna admit it!"
We're in the process of making a huge series of quotes to celebrate P3 Reload, in the meantime have some random ones we thought
We're destroyed inside. And very happy.
Akihiko: You make a chronogram to reach an objective. But, without a future... a training chronogram is useless. Akihiko: Damn! I don't know what to do... Minato: Just keep training, thinking about punching Nix in the face. Minato: If that's enough to beat her, no problem. If not, you'll die knowing you punched Nix in the face. Akihiko: ... Akihiko: That's... actually very motivational. Thank you.
After finding out the truth about Ryoji
Fuuka: So... Ryoji-kun has a human personality because of the time he spent being part of Minato, right? Yukari: That's right. Fuuka: But... Ryoji-kun's personality is based on hitting on every girl he ever meets. Yukari: You're right! So, that means... Yukari and Fuuka: * suspiciously looking at Minato * Minato: Don't look at me. I don't do that. Yukari: Then, how do you explain it? Minato: Maybe... it's Junpei's influence on me? Junpei: Hey! Leave me out of this! Yukari: That's... actually very possible. Fuuka: A very coherent hypothesis, yes. Junpei: Hey! Not you too! Minato: Honestly, Junpei. Tell me it doesn't make sense. Junpei: ... Junpei: Damn, it does.
