Metaphor: ReFantazio Repeats A Classic Persona Problem

Metaphor: ReFantazio takes a lot of inspiration from Persona, but that's not always to its benefit. Borrowing the concepts of Personas (which it calls Archetypes), Social Links/Confidants (which it calls Bonds), and awakenings (which it calls...awakenings), Metaphor isn't exactly a Persona sequel, but with little more than a name change, it certainly could be. It's not just a carbon copy of the rest of the series, either; in many ways, it builds on classic franchise tropes, blending Persona and the wider Shin Megami Tensei series to create the next evolution of the Atlus formula.

But that formula has its limits, and one of them is very apparent from the first hours of Metaphor. Recent Atlus games may have lulled players into a false sense of security, thinking the studio had finally found a way to crack the code and avoid this early pitfall, but it's just as present and just as frustrating in Metaphor as it was all the way back in Persona 3.

Metaphor: ReFantazio's Intro Is Too Long

It Takes Several Hours For Gameplay To Begin

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Simply put, Metaphor: ReFantazio's introductory sequence is far too long (and long-winded) for its own good. Depending on how the player paces themselves during its opening chapters, it could take two hours before they get their first real taste of combat. When they finally do, they do so without access to all its features - it takes significantly longer for them to be able to summon their first Archetypes. Immediately after, the player is forced back into more lengthy story scenes.

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This pattern repeats itself several times until all the gameplay features are unlocked. Then and only then is the player given a measure of freedom, allowed to explore the world, tackle dungeons, and complete side activities at their own pace. All in all, it takes about five hours to complete Metaphor: ReFantazio's tutorial in full; that's roughly the entire length of the free demo. It's hard to sell a player who's never tried an Atlus game before on those early story scenes alone.

To some extent, it makes sense: Metaphor: ReFantazio has a lot of mechanics to introduce, between the ins and outs of battle, the peculiarities of the Bond system, and the complexities of Archetypes. It's a lot more than a typical RPG, so it doesn't have the luxury of simply explaining what experience points are and then turning the player loose. Add that to its complex, completely original setting, and Metaphor kind of needs a long tutorial.

That goes double with its calendar system. Players have a limited amount of time to complete certain activities; miss one, and it might be locked out for the rest of the playthrough. It's only fair to make sure the player is aware of all this before the clock starts ticking. But even so, that doesn't have to make its opening hours so long or boring. The tutorial could've been a little more interactive, but instead, it mostly consists of watching story scenes and wondering when the gameplay is due to start up again.

Long Intros Are A Persistent Persona Problem

And An RPG Staple More Generally

Metaphor's not the only game that has this problem; many an RPG has an overlong intro, forcing players to complete hours of story scenes interspersed with snippets of combat before the game properly begins. However, Persona games are consistently the worst offenders in this category, and it's unfortunate to see Metaphor follow in this tradition.

Persona 3 had one of the shorter intros, lasting about three hours if the player takes their time. Persona 4's is roughly the same. Persona 5's intro is the longest, taking up to six hours to complete, depending on how much the player decides to do and explore during the brief gameplay moments that punctuate this lengthy chapter. It does, however, make one tiny change to the usual formula that completely turns this issue on its head, giving players a better idea of what's on the other side of all those tutorials.

Persona 5 Had A Much Better Tutorial

A Taste Of Combat Right Up Front

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Persona 5 starts with a flash-forward, a thrilling action sequence that takes place in the final chapters of the game. Less than five minutes after they click "New Game," the player is thrust into combat against endgame enemies, pulling off high-level abilities as they explore a stunningly unique dungeon. Next, they're treated to a crash course in the game's stealth mechanics, having to sneak past a room of enemies without getting caught. This sequence only lasts a few short moments, and comes to an abrupt end as the protagonist is arrested.

What follows is another long sequence of story scenes, but ideally, the player is already entranced by the satisfaction of those first moments in combat. If they stick out the exposition for a while, they'll inevitably get back to battle eventually, gaining a chance to develop those same abilities from scratch. It's a simple solution, but an effective one: players get to experience the game at its best from the very start, so they're more willing to spend time working their way back up to it afterward.

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Now, compare that to the intro of Metaphor: ReFantazio. It's about the same length of time between the start menu and the player's first moments in-game, but this time, as soon as they're dropped in, they're given a clear, one-sided directive: head in that direction, and if an enemy gets too close, run. Fleeing from the mere potential of battle just isn't fun, and unfortunately, it's basically the player's only choice here. If they try to engage with the first enemy they see, they'll inevitably find themselves outmatched, almost certainly dying before they even get into turn-based mode.

That's shortly followed by another long sequence of dialogue scenes, and then, finally, that first limited taste of combat. Only during the first boss battle will the protagonist finally awaken to their Archetype, and be able to wield their powers to the fullest potential in combat. After that, things expand greatly; there are still some lengthy cutscenes, but there's plenty of actual gameplay in between. Still, it's frustrating to see a problem that Persona 5 seemed to solve repeated in Metaphor: ReFantazio.