Metaphor: ReFantazio details setting, tribes, prologue, and unique gameplay mechanics
Details from the Metaphor: ReFantazio end-of-year broadcast.
Publisher ATLUS and developer Studio Zero shared new information on the setting, tribes, prologue, and unique gameplay mechanics of fantasy RPGMetaphor: ReFantazio during today’s end-of-year broadcast with the voice cast.
Get the details below.
■ Story Setting
A world separate from our own, inhabited by eight tribes.
In this world is a land known as the United Kingdom of Euchronia.
The union, founded by the heroic first king and ruled by a strong royal family that inherited powerful magic, has gradually succumbed to corruption over the years, and is descending into a “virtueless nation” torn apart by inequality and discrimination.
In the vast realm, dangerous animals and mysterious monsters known as “Humans” run rampant, making the lands outside city walls seldom safe. And the assassinations of Euchronia’s prince and king have unleashed further chaos and unrest unto a kingdom now without a ruler.
■ The Eight Tribes
Clemar
A tribe characterized by the horns on each side of their heads. Their physique and physical capabilities are average. They occupy a number of important positions in the royal family and monarchy, and are often considered the central tribe of the kingdom. They themselves tend to subconsciously internalize the sense that this is true.
Roussainte
A tribe characterized by their long, protruding ears. With a remarkable physique and physical capabilities, many of them are soldiers or occupy important positions in the military. Many possess a combative nature, fixated on victory versus defeat and seeking to determine the inferiority or superiority of anything and everything.
Ishkia (spelling to be confirmed)
A tribe characterized by the elegant wings on various parts of their bodies. They possess greater intellect than other tribes. Many hold high positions in intellectual labor, such as scholars and clergymen, and many are wealthy. Coupled with their appearance, they are a tribe that is sometimes admired, but as there are also those who tend to look down upon others, they are equally despised.
Rhoag
A tribe characterized by their long lifespan. Some live more than twice the average life expectancy of other tribes. Their aging is unique, with middle and old ages occupying the majority of their lifetime. In traditionally seniority-based positions, they consequently tend to hold higher positions. Their culture emphasizes great value in “passing down” knowledge and purpose.
Nidia
A tribe characterized by their large eyes and eye color. Despite lacking any particularly extraordinary traits, many are said to be sociable and charismatic. However, their nature is often taken negatively by some, who consider them “untrustworthy smooth talkers” or “weirdos.”
Paripus
A tribe characterized by their beast-like ears and tail. While physically very strong, their senses are also physical, and they are for better or worse pleasure seekers. While their love for feasting and liveliness, and their carefree cheerfulness can at times be a strength, it can also manifest as an impulsiveness that does not favor deep contemplation. They lack political dominance and are looked down upon by other tribes.
Eugief
A tribe characterized by their bat-like wings and ears. Due to their difference in appearance and abilities compared to the humanoid tribes, they are often seen as creepy and discriminated against. For that reason, the majority live life without wealth and are lower in rank among the other tribes. They are generally mild-mannered and cooperative. However, they are not good at making big decisions and tend to hesitate due to their constant concern for others.
Mustari
A tribe characterized by the “third eye” on their foreheads. They are often viewed as strange due to their unique masks and traditional attire. Since they follow their own faith separate from the state religion, they are often persecuted as “heretics” in the mainland, and are somewhat mysterious.
■ The Monstrosities Known as “Humans”
Unidentifiable creatures with bizarre appearances unlike any other known animal. Each one harbors a substantial amount of rampant Magra in their systems, prompting them to indiscriminately attack everything around them. While generally unintelligent and aggressive, their biology is a mystery, such as their use of a magic far too advanced for people to easily handle. Their bodies are robust, and the larger ones are capable of annihilating even entire armies.
■ Prologue
A boy and his fairy set out on a journey to break a course…
The protagonist is a boy of the elda tribe, a detested tribe few in number. Together with his partner, the fairy Galica, he must find a way to break the curse that has been placed on the prince.
The only way to break the death curse consuming the prince—“to take the life of the sorcerer who cursed him.”
As he travels across the vast continent, the boy will meet and form bonds with many people, and eventually come to learn the true nature of the kingdom.
The boy’s journey begins with a major incident that shakes the entire kingdom.
■ Introduction
A battle for the throne breaks out through “election-enforcing magic”…
The king falls to an assassin’s blade, and the United Kingdom of Euchronia loses its ruler without a successor. Who will become the next king? In the midst of the chaos, a “magic” that no one could have seen coming is invoked at the king’s funeral.
“On Hero’s Day in the 10th Month… by the day my soul truly departs this world, the one who has gathered the most trust from the people of the land will become the next king.”
The sky had suddenly echoed with the voice of a king supposedly dead. In exchange for his life, the king devised a grand magic that would allow the nation to compete for the throne via national ballet.
To carry out his mission, the protagonist throws himself into the great race for the throne that will envelop the entire kingdom.
Point 1: A unique battle system evolved from Persona 5 that combines action and command-based mechanics. While command-based mechanics are the core battle system, lower-ranked enemies on the field can be defeated with action-based mechanics.
Point 2: All party members can be customized, allowing for a wide variety of party formations.
More details to be announced!
Travel
Point 1: The realistic “daily life” mechanics of the Persona series have evolved! Enjoy a realistic daily life experience as if you were actually planning a journey.
Point 2: Travel around the world aboard your Gauntlet Runner. Move between multiple bases and set off on a worldwide journey!
■ ATLUS’s 35th Anniversary
The ATLUS brand will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2024.
ATLUS Brand 35th World Tour: Road to Metaphor: ReFantazio
In celebration of the ATLUS brand’s 35th anniversary, ATLUS is planning a worldwide premium tour featuring the latest information on Metaphor: ReFantazio. Please look forward to more details to be announced!
Watch a 14-minute developer diary below, as well as an archive of the end-of-year broadcast.
Creator’s Voice: “This is Metaphor: ReFantazio“
English
Japanese
Transcript
Katsura Hashino, Director: “Strategy is also left up to the player. Everywhere you go, developments change.”
Shigenori Soejima, Art Director: “I’d say it’s less like you are controlling yourself but rather that you are a character in this world.”
Shoji Meguro, Composer: “I want to entice players with the melody in the battles.”
Hashino: “The protagonist gets involved in this election race and, as the story unfolds, he embarks on a journey to travel around the country and gather support. When I look back and see what is being created now, I realize it is quite a grand game. While it’s a story that has several twists and leaves you wondering what happens next, the game is also really fun. And I feel that it’s shaping up to be a very rewarding experience.”
The World
Hashino: “Even though it’s a world where magic exists, people can’t use it without help. In this world you have to purchase a special piece of equipment to be capable of magic. Magic is a kind of power that is supposed to spring from a person’s imagination, but that art has been lost over time. Now magic has more restrictions. In other words, people have become reliant on the world’s magical tools. That said, the main characters are able to transform their own bodies into weapons which we call Archetypes. People are born with various heroic aspects, but these embodiments are typically never awakened, and when they are, it’s not as though it was predetermined. An Awakening happens by interacting with others and being inspired by their actions.
“For example you might think to yourself that someone acts very much like a knight, or another person might seem like a true warrior. By making this connection, the Archetype of the warrior which has been dormant within you since birth is awakened. That’s how the system works.
“The game is set in a kingdom, but the King has been killed. The king who is killed, in the process, gives way to the person who will gain popularity among the people as the next king. In modern terms you’d call this an election. This is where the story starts. As this sort of election is cast on the world in the form of magic, the goal of becoming king is a classical one. But the road to that goal is full of ups and down downs, and I think one of the things to look forward to is the mystery of how it unfolds.
Under this election magic, anyone can become king if he or she becomes the most popular. There will be people who make outrageous promises to gain popularity, and some pretty interesting battles and turmoil unfold.
The Story
Hashino: “The starting point of the story is that any person can become king if he or she becomes the most popular. After that many things can happen. Those currently in power frame the election as a competition so they can display their own power, hoping to maintain the control they currently have.
“The protagonist gets involved in this election race and, as the story unfolds, he embarks on a journey to travel around the country and gather support. We’re combining this aspect with the element of travel, which is a critical element in a fantasy in our own unique ATLUS approach. We are trying to combine a very grounded and realistic travel experience with a more serious and mysterious main story for players to enjoy.
“Previously with the Persona series, we created stories about daily school life continuing through the first and the second semester of a school year. School life is a bit like a journey in that sense. In the first semester students are divided into separate classes and basically spend the rest of the school year in the same class… Well not exactly… Once in a lifetime, there are these encounters that take place within a defined period of time before everyone parts ways. I think that school life is kind of like a microcosm of the flow of life from beginning to end.
“Journeys also have a beginning and an end. You meet and say goodbye to many people along the way. Travel is a common concept in games and, most of the time, you can travel as much as you like without any time constraints. But just like in our own modern lives, the time allotted for travel within the world of Metaphor is limited. Maybe you could travel for just a week or two weeks, or you might have only days. By framing this election as a travel experience—something we’ve experienced in modern times—those in the running are faced with the need to travel around the country within a set amount of time.
“In order order to turn the people you meet across the world into supporters, you have to fight a variety of battles. Basically the idea is to follow the main storyline and enjoy how it leaves you wondering what could happen next. But in terms of the time you have between those major events, the strategy you make and the order you do things in is all left up to the player. I guess it puts you in a situation where you’re playing and you’re not sure what the correct answer is, but in a good way.
“When you’ve got this dungeon that you absolutely have to clear, for example, do you head straight there to get it done. Or, because this dungeon looks difficult, do you make all kinds of plans to, for example, do this other quest over here first and do some leveling up, and then go there?
“I don’t know how to describe it, but you can make judgment calls as you play, where you’ll consider the difficulty of each quest, or the sense of danger you feel, and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment for having completed a quest based on those assessments.
“I think one of the main attractions of this game is that it takes the good part of the Persona series to date, which progressed on a schedule, and adapts it in a way that perfectly matches the storyline for this work and the travel system we’ve created.”
The Battle System
Hashino: “As for what kind of game we are making this time… as creators involved in Persona, naturally we have included command battles, which you might say is our specialty or our expertise. I wouldn’t exactly call them a waste of time, but often battles with low-level opponents that you already know how to beat can at times feel like a hassle. Those parts should be quick and fun. There are other parts that are more deserving of the player’s time—it could be a part of the story that leaves you wondering what happens next, or the party customization aspects, or planning your journey as you strengthen your party. We would like players to spend their time on the more interesting aspects like these.
“In order to achieve this, we decided to adopt a new battle system where we have the command battles as the base, but on top of that we’ve incorperated a system where you’re able to defeat enemies on the field directly if you determine that they are weaker than you. It’s not a separate two-part system where some enemies can only be fought in command battles, or some must be defeated with action. We actually let the players judge which enemies are stronger than they are, or which ones they have fought before. We were very particular about letting the player make that determination and giving players the option to choose at all times. This is an all-new system, so I strongly encourage you to pick it up and play with it.”
Characters / Art
Soejima: “The main character wears a checkered coat, and some people said ‘isn’t it strange that he is traveling wearing white clothes that can get dirty?’ I designed the protagonist with the idea that I wanted to create a character with a sense of style, prioritizing design.
“Both Persona and Metaphor don’t have a name for the protagonist, meaning they’re the player’s characters, but the context in which I designed the protagonist this time is a bit different. When I draw illustrations, there’s an overall impression you get when the protagonist comes to the forefront.
“How should I put it… I think you can sense more of the character in the eyes than before, going beyond just a self- projection. For example, the protagonist does things like riding on a sword, and there’s a vehicle called a Gauntlet Runner.”
Hashino: “Since the setting is a new world of fantasy, we needed to borrow some new wisdom and creative energy. The original designs of the vehicles, which we call Gauntlet Runners, were made by Ikuto Yamashita, famous for his work on Evangelion and other productions. We decided to ask Koda Kazuma, who has been very active in works such as NieR: Automata, to do the background artwork.
“We talked in depth with them both about the themes of the game, the nature of the work, the story, and various other baselines, and the things they came up with and proposed felt very unexpected. It was very creatively stimulating for us to hear their ideas and interpretations, and piggybacking on this. I feel they provided such power and creativity to the game. I couldn’t be more satisfied .
The Music
Meguro: “I feel that the diversity of the music is very extensive and broad in range. The theme was based on religious music, but it also needed to reflect the worldview of Metaphor. The world of Metaphor has many different tribes of people, so their faiths are as varied as they are.
“I took it upon myself to dig deeper and contemplate what music rooted in this idea would be like. I think there is a much broader interpretation of the music since they were written in accordance with such a theme. It’s not often that we’ve done such large-scale live recordings of the music at ATLUS, so I feel that the sound is very elaborate in that regard. We are taking a different approach than with Persona.
To All RPG Fans Around the World
Hashino: “Naturally, the game has a lot of battles, character growth, party customization, and the everyday aspects of travel. We designed it with with the intention that the player can enjoy these various elements while always keeping pacing in mind. As the work nears completion, I think it has a great deal of those elements in a very condensed form. The way it’s turning out, I don’t feel like there’s anything quite like it out there. I wanted to bring Metaphor: ReFantazio to RPG fans around the world. I can’t talk specifics yet but I would like to bring a demo of the game to events in countries around the world so you can play through it for yourself so. I look forward to meeting you and I hope you will continue to support us.”
Metaphor: ReFantazio End-of-Year Special with the Main Cast
