Bro, change up the soundtrack once in a while!

My first play through I reached mid game to realise only my protagonist knows any elemental spells. I messed up the other party member builds and it was just a mix and match of random skills.

So I started a new hard campaign. Just wanted to see everyone’s opinions on good builds for each party member?

Protag is a pure spellcaster/buffer

I'm currently in the choice of I challenge you to a duel, you'll pay for the prince, let us go does those decisions impact the story? And how do you get the true ending for future gameplay

Final time: 71:40, all Supporters maxed, dragon trials and colosseum done. Got to level 80, achieved through Tycoon spam.

Fantastic game, does justice to the Persona formula. Loved the characters. I grinded a lot but that was kind of fun its own way, and was rewarded with a nice and easy final fight on Normal.

LOTS of false endings, but the walkabout epilogue and wrapped-up-with-a-bow bit were great. I didn't mind the lack of romance because Gallica is and will always remain the MC's aromantic life partner and a third wheel would make it weird.

Will I play it again? Probably not, because big linear games like this are sort of a one-and-done experience for me... unless an updated rerelease comes out!

Anyway, that was a good couple weeks of hyperfixation. Now I'm all prepped for Persona 4 again.

Because she made me ugly cry in a cafe when I was doing her story. As an orphan myself it hit too close to home.

*hugs Maria if i could*

Poor man couldn't take Hulkenburgs training session during the bond event let's see how long we last against her while our dear friend develops back or neck pain

Really good game overall, the story, characters, and gameplay were great. I had a good time!

Some advise for y‘all:

- While it isn’t mandatory to complete a dungeon on the very first day, you will have to, as you need the time to max out bonds and the like.

- The above is donr thanks to the mage’s passive, as you recover 1MP for every KO on rapid combat.

- Some bonds can only be increased on the vehicle, or at night. This means you must plan accordingly, as you won’t be able to level them up otherwise.

- Ignore delivery quests. With a few exceptions, most are on the way to a different quest, and they don’t have a time limit. This allows you to do two or three quests on the least amount of days.

- Certain bonds increase your royal skills. Strohl grants courage for example.

- Reading gives a huge boost, but prioritise anything with your party members. book give 3-4 points every time, plus 4-6 points once you finish the book. Party members give 4-6 points almost always.

- You must grind if you want archetypes. There’s no way around it. You’ll come across several optimal spots, but the gist is the same: try for it to near an academia/exit door (so enemies respawn), go for overworld combat most of the time (is the fastest), and repeat. You should do this farming with archetypes that either OHKO, or the merchant (grants gold on kill).

- Enemies will reflect/block attacks, or won’t have weaknesses at all. **Invest on the buff/debuffing archetypes, these make your life easier**.

- While some characters have an “optimal” archetypes, this does not mean it’s their strongest, not that they cannot go with a completely different class. Strohl can be a mage (and should be), otherwise he‘s a sitting duck against the enemies that reflect all physical damage.

- At the very end of the game, you will be given one month to do as you please. If you did everything correctly, you should be able to max out bonds, finish optional quests/enemies, and max out your royal skills, and colisseum.

- Remember that you can drop/increase the difficulty at any time. Enemies do more damage and have more stats on higher difficulties.

Hey guys, it's been a while. I purposely avoiding this sub just not to get spoiled, but right now I want to let it out after seeing the cutscenes after saving Virga Island.

First, about Strohl's awakening, it left me with a quite impression about the impact of their awakening. For Strohl, it was really something else I must say. Now, seeing Heimsays and Junah's awakening seems so-so. That's how Strohl really left an impact for me and it kept my expectation high when seeing their awakening. Next, Eupha's awakening, I have a mixed feeling on this one, if not for the Dragon in the background, I think this scene would play much better, I mean would you wait for your opponent to do something first? The dragon didn't do anything in the background and I was laughing and getting emotional at the same time while the scene was being played out.

Second, regardless of what I said above, I still really like the pace of the gameplay and story. I'm just playing at my own pace and enjoying it as it is like a lobster and steak served at my table. Though, I think I overleveled a bit since I want to maxed out some archetypes.

Third, you know what. Ever since they keep getting involved themselves with Louis, I can't help but find myself agreeing with Louis on some instances, but I'll still see how this plays out.

Lastly, please don't spoil me but I really hope the fidelio brother's would join our cause and I also understand now why everyone here (if not everyone) adores Maria. lmao

I'm playing on my phone using steam link if you're wondering, and also on hard difficulty.

Also, thank you all for the last tips on my last post here. It was really helpful.

Hi guys, this is the first game I have ever fully enjoyed and played nonstop in nearly 15-20 years. After a BIG GAP. However since I have been out of the gaming scene so much, I realised metaphors system is rigid compared to older jrpgs I played where you have all the time in the world. It seems in metaphor, I have to do certain things efficiently and it’s only possible to do most things in the game if I do these things right such as followers and archetype maximisation. When I reached the final month, I realised I messed up and didn’t have enough time to do all quests and also max followers (not all) just enough to get full archetype mastery.

I was so bummed cuz I didn’t want to do new game plus, luckily I had a save file that was saved in virga island. So I replayed from there again. Now I am at the final month, doing followers every time it popped up and most of the quests. But now I am in my 17th day, and realising maybe again it might be hard to get all archetypes, most of the followers and also complete all quests. Is this the case???
I have got like 10 follower scenes to do and trial of dragons left and 3-4 quests which two of the quests take 2 days to reach. Can you not do everything in one playing??!!!!!!!

Just got 7/23 and the game saying to prioritise bounties and stuff over the actual infiltration so does that mean I have to do it after 20 days or do I do everything that’ll get me to a high level while securing the route by 08/12?

I’m in my last stretch of a Metaphor Hard playthrough - the period between 9/26-10/27. I’m trying to find some love for the game but I just don’t see how the game was a GOTY contender. I liked Metaphor enough to continue this far, but little of this game speaks “exceptional” to me. Instead I see an above-average game with glaring design flaws, and a few great qualities. I realize I am more interested to finish this (and move on to something else) than I am to actually play it. 

For those who love this game, could you help me appreciate or approach things I may have missed? I'm usually not critical on games I think are genuinely fun, even if flawed. I am open to having my opinion swayed in the last few hours of the game if I have been playing this wrong.
And, if I am having these complaints about Metaphor - said to be a mechanically improved streamlined version of Persona - should I just stay away from Atlus titles in general?

Here are my biggest pain points. I know some points get addressed by endgame, but shouldn't game be evaluated by what happens for most of its playtime and not the very end?

One Missed Dodge = Slow Prolonged Death 
In overworld combat, one missed dodge leads to 5-10 minutes of a punishing battle where you will likely inevitably die (on Hard difficulty). From a FromSoftware veteran, this makes everything stressful, especially large groups of enemies. Many forums I visited say that quitting and reloading the save (ALT+ F4) is the most efficient method to deal with this, which is wild to me - Is this how you play Atlus games?

Discouraging Exploration 
Going to a far off dungeon takes several in game days. If you find you are under-level for the dungeon, you are either forced to eat the penalty of lost time (both in-game and for the player) or reload to an earlier save. This discourages exploration and pretty much drives busy players to refer to a guide instead of trying to explore the world for themselves.

Frustrating Archetypes 
If your party is not equipped with the right archetypes (both in-combat and in-reserve), again you will likely have to die and reload to an earlier save. Did your second attempt go wrong? Die and reload again. Metaphor has a lot of potential depth with the Archetype system, but the rest of the game is not conducive to trying different approaches. A simple death option to "retry right before this battle" I think would have helped it, but the game will often punish you beyond that point.

Progression is also a bit frustrating, where to advance in the advanced archetypes (Adept, Elite), you have to choose completely different archetypes to meet the pre-requisites. Maybe it's a way the game funnels players to trying new builds, but man - it really feels like a chore. And that sentiment holds true for much of the game.

Lack of Immersion
Subjective, but for an RPG, overall I feel this game hasn't immersed me in the world as much as other games have succeeded.

• Exploring the world is mostly glorified menu-hopping.
• Character side events/stories feel like a chore to get through. For most of these stories, when you remove the voice acting (my highest praise for the game), the allure of the story-telling also disappears.
• This leaves you with stiff character animations and crude graphical presentation, which do less to carry immersion
• Even in chore-heavy Ubisoft games, I still feel there's a living world in which you are completing those chores. When I play Metaphor, I feel like I am opening up a task-simulator, that has a semblance of world in its systems.

LIKES
Giving praise to where it's due:

• Voice acting is excellent. #1 praise I can give the title. Gallica is the best.
• Genuinely interesting premise and themes. I still want to see what happens.
• Strong efforts at world building, especially the random attractions you’ll spot on the way while traveling. 
• Combat has a great deal of depth and promotes challenging strategies/optimization

While playing this I often find myself thinking of playing something else. But to give Metaphor credit, it did capture me enough to continue to invest my time.

In my final hours of the game, could anyone offer perspective to help me see the game in a new light and finish strong?

I made a tier list of my least and most favourite characters. Am i correct?

Holy fuck, what an absolute chore. I thought I'd level grinded enough in the tower dungeon immediately before, but when I got there on the first day it was available every single enemy was either yellow or red. And despite levels in the 65-70 range, their EXP yields were just pitiful.

Slow-down puddles, massive rooms, door puzzles, and the only segment with red spawners is *timed* so you can't even grind there.

I liked the stort beats tho! I'm getting close to the end I think... but there's so many bounties left.

Yes it's specifically about Basilio. But more broadly, I can't help but feel the way they naturally give information to the player falls off massively in the last third of the game. Multiple follower bonds easily missed because you have to talk to them at a particular time/place to start or advance past a certain point. Royal archetypes that they barely inform you of.

And Basilio, poor Silly-o. He arrives so late that when I still noticed a blank spot in my followers menu I just didn't grok that it was Basilio. I distinctly remember looking through my list and comparing it to one I looked up and when it mentioned Basilio I was like "oh yeah I got 'im he's in my party" =^) . His bond is designed. so. motherfucking. poorly. You get him after a buncha big plot revelations so you're not rlly thinking about starting his bond (again broader issue, the later follower bonds not being started automatically with plot is nightmarishly cloddy) and the condition to start it is talking to him... on the gunner... at NIGHT SPECIFICALLY. AFTER YOU GET THE ABILITY TO FLY AND CAN GET BASICALLY ANYWHERE IN ONE DAY SO YOU'LL ONLY SEE NIGHT GUNNER EVENTS IF YOU REST WHILST AT A DUNGEON.

That's what pissed me off specifically because I looked through SO many posts trying to figure out why Basilio ain't showing up on the gunner despite me going on so many gunner runners. Then whilst grinding insolently for magla I had the thought to check and BINGO.

It rlly rlly just baffles my how a late game party member bond ain't started automatically. Like, I'm used to Atlus' dogwater design with their games, they've always strove for the heavens and crashed into hell with how they design their games/specific dungeons/bosses/etc. (I still hate Eradinus this many years later even though it's not even a hard dungeon, it just sucks ass) but with this one they clearly were trying very hard to make the game more accessible and they just fumbled at the ass-end of the game.

y’all can have your opinions and disagree with me (i wanna hear your opinions too) but this is my top five best/favourite songs from the ost.

1. Arrow of radiance (sung by junah at the opera house)
2. Overflow, harmony (sung by junah at the start of the tournament, both 1 & 2 eng version)
3. Royal capital grand trad (the day version)
4. Requiem for a hero
5. Face of the palace (plays during the palace dungeon at the end)

HM:
Fantasy lives on
Warriors in arms

I haven’t listened to the whole ost in my own time so my opinion might change.

Definitely my favourite attack animation in the game. LOVE stomping on everything with him on my NG+ run 😋

🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤🤤

Got the poster from the orchestra concert framed at Hobby Lobby, plus added some other photos from the LA concert and merch I got while there. The cloth map of Euchronia I got from the collectors edition and the Ad poster for the concert I got from asking a Tiger Sugar employee since I saw it hanging a day after the concert had finished. I know it’s late, but the LA concert was amazing and the community was really friendly. If anyone took videos of the LA concert, please share them, ty!

I am on Hard difficulty in the Forsaken Tower and, from what I understood, the giant enemies are supposed to give you a turn after buffing up but in Hard, they immediatly attack, giving me no chance to remove the buffs or defend myself. You'd think these monsters would be excluded from the extra turn modifier (like plenty of other fights in past dungeons) but they aren't. I am kinda lost on how to beat them.

Baby will and the prince

Part 2 here (endgame spoilers)

So thanks to Atlus' marketing, I finally got to playing Metaphor Refantazio. I really liked how it started but felt like it was falling off in the middle during the 2nd and 3 dungeon but I still continued it because I loved the characters and yup it got better. One character I never expected to like and didn't hear much of was the character of Fidelio (I didn't talk to anyone about the game fearing of spoilers) I couldn't clearly explain why but I'm always drawn to older brothers in Media and he really resonated with me.

But I felt uncomfortable knowing that Basilio was gonna be a party member. I feared for the worst because, knowing the trope means, he's likely marked for dead.... I was ready, I was so ready, and yet seeing my boy Basilio act like that made me cry, even moreso watching his awakening. Rest easy 'Del