Mastodawn

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul

Want to start Metaphor but the blurb is all FIGHT FOR THRONNNE tbh I ideologically more against being royal than being on rich list, and it's not just because I'm convinced that the only reason people are on rich list is because they don't have royal's resources to hide their awfulness

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

Thank you @neatchee I'm sold.

Persona ish series are always odd. When they want to make good social commentary they are always spot on, but then they'd just do a whole subplot about sexual harassments and effect on teen girls, immediately followed by a skit where the player would give three options of a "joke" and all of them are sexually harassing your friend who is still dealing with the aftermath like WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

I vaguely remember there were some comments about Metaphor has a build problem that if you got into it blind, the game can become unplayable later on. I also don't want to look it up because people are shit at spoilers.

So.

Is that true? What do I need to be careful about?

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

Alright let's do it

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

Huh protagonist's fairy is Misty from Pokemon???

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

Of course I named my protagonist Psyduck.
#metaphor

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

On one hand, Psyduck doesn't wear shoes to bed.

On the other hand,

HEY LISTEN
HEY LISTEN
HEY LISTEN
HEY LISTEN
HEY LISTEN
HEY LISTEN
H

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

FUCK YEAH THE MONSTERS HERE ARE "HUMANS" I WAITED FOR THIS DAY FOR SO LONG

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

While Atlus isn't what I'd call the peak interesting game system creator (that's TriAce), I have to say that when it comes to UI plus style, Atlus is on its own league.

There are better UI and there are better style. Atlus got the mixture down to distinctive functional art form.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

You cannot convince me that Metaphor verse isn't a mirror of Persona verse. Akademia is where they kidnap humans from Tokyo to turn them into Pokemon, like what Velvet Room does.

Shin Megami Tensei series are something else altogether. I got to the obliterate everything ending in IV and decided I can't deal with that degree of depressive media. And I'm raised on pre Soviet depressing Russian novels.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

Kitty!!

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

HAHAHAHAHAH I AM HOWLING because I think the entire central city is built on this meme.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

Hold on is this a normal rat (pest), a supercharged rat (pest), or a protected species of indigenous massive rat (not pest)?

Only asking because I have ran into protected large white tail rats in urban settings before.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

Wait what the main streets of Grand Trad near the cathedral is literally Sydney CBD? As in I can believe it if the scenary was taken from there. I'd show you a photo if I weren't 700km away

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

Metaphor so far:

Royal = good
Lineage based authoritarian state = good
Being completely subservient to royal = good
Low born working their way up = evil

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

That scene where that The Substance styled giant face coming down from the sky was hella cool.

I hope Grius stays dead. I really don't like him. He's the worst at this whole assassination business, worse than Tetsuya Yamagami.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 18

Not a fan of how every cat/dog/foxgirls only have two breasts

Probably why I'm never allowed to do furry arts

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 18

I do find Metaphor pretty good for what it is, I just absolutely cannot with royalty and to say that I give less than 0 shit about the everyone's motivation is too much shit to give.

I just miss the flavour of Persona. Give me an urban fantasy any day over this.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 18

I just unlocked the influencer popularity piss context meter. There is no escape.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 18

Protagonist gains bonds by shaking hands with potential allies. Here goes my dream of bonding with handless crewtures, like those sandworms outside of the carriage crash.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 18

Just give me Chie Yukiko and Yosuke baaaaack

The cast feels like Persona 3. I could never get into Persona 3, even though nothing was wrong with any of them really, they were coworkers who have a job to do. I just never felt that anyone ever became friends even til the end. Just, ok clock off, hide the evoker so we don't get arrested for carrying, see you tomorrow.

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 16

@BigShellEvent if you're going to be playing on Hard Mode like I did, you might want to look up how to unlock each characters Royal Archetype (their Ultimate Persona, basically) otherwise you'll find yourself with a whole load of grinding to do when you reach endgame. that was enough for me to quit the game as I just cba, still not finished it

if I play it again I'll be following a build guide

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@COMPU73E good to know. Damn. Still sad about Saga Emerald. I physically cannot continue that game anymore even though I want to

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 16

@BigShellEvent basically each Archetype (Warrior, Mage, Assassin, etc) levels up independently for each character, and the mid level ones require earlier ones to be at certain levels (eg. to unlock Knight you need to have leveled up Warrior to say level 10*)

some of the later ones require multiple earlier Archetypes to be at certain levels, and if you made the "wrong" choice for that particular character you won't be able to unlock their Royal Archetype without grinding the earlier ones. the game doesn't tell you this at any point until you reach endgame

*just an example, probably not what it actually is in game

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@COMPU73E oh fuck. I will not play on hard then. I like exploring and experimenting, and if I have to use a guide I might as well just watch a youtube video playthrough.

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 16

@BigShellEvent I mentioned Hard Mode as the Royal Archetypes were pretty much required to beat the game iirc, probably not so on Normal

it's a great game, I was loving it until that point

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@COMPU73E this is just infuriating thoooooooough like whyyyyyyyyyyyy

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E Another question. Does the game tell you what royal archtypes each character have, or do you have to unlock and grind each one to trial and error?

I really want to avoid guides if I could. But also, it sounds like potentially the worst grinding hellscape possible that isn't Saga Emerald.

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 17

@BigShellEvent each character has a unique Royal Archetype that only they can use, but you don't find out what they are until quite late in the game

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E But they do tell you right? Right? Not like, unlock the entire deck of minor arcana, ok your Royal Archtype is reverse seven of cups

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 17

@BigShellEvent they tell you what the requirements are, but you may have made different choices for that particular character throughout the game and not leveled the ones you need, so you then have to go back and grind the earlier ones to level them up

eg. to unlock Bob's Royal Archetype of Super Galactic Ninja you need to have leveled Ninja to 25, Ninja requires Assassin 20 and Rogue 20, Assassin requires Thief 10 and Ranger 10, Rogue requires Fighter 10, but you might've decided to make Bob your mage character instead and leveled up all the magic classes on him, so you're locked out unless you grind all those earlier ones

I hope that makes sense!

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E it makes sense, just sounds like the devs really dropped the ball here tbh.

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 17

@BigShellEvent yeah it's not a great system and doesn't really lend itself to experimentation and coming up with your own builds

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E Ok, guide dammit. Got it. Weep.

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 17

@BigShellEvent you don't need to look up story spoilers, but when a new character joins your party and you get a feel for what sort of character they are I would just search [name] + Royal Archetype and look at what classes you need to unlock

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E hahahahaha I looked up and I already built the wrong archtype for my cast.

This is... Not the kind of fuck up I expected from Atlus, tbh. This is like straight circa 2000 video game fuck up.

さよなら皆さん Feb 17

@BigShellEvent LMAO I love watching you play video games. You’re ruthless 🤣 @COMPU73E

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@sayonaraminasan @COMPU73E Me: I LOST 10 YEARS OF MY LIFE EXPECTANCY IN THIS SHIT BECAUSE OF FURY but also favourite game ever; always

COMPU73E ❄️Feb 17

@BigShellEvent now imagine you are 100+ hours into the game and you'll get a feel for how annoyed I was, I'd made the "wrong" choices for nearly every single party member 😅

"you can choose your own playstyle and make your own builds!"

...

"not like that"

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 17

@COMPU73E crying into my bowl of ice cream right now

Uncool mouse Feb 16

@BigShellEvent Metaphor doesn't have the exact same problems that Persona does, but I do think that it does not meaningfully question the status quo. There are bits of writing that are pretty openly regressive. And even some of the parts that are actually good are written in a way that might make you roll your eyes.

It is a fun game and did manage to scratch some of the Persona itch for me, but yeah, still good to keep your expectations in check and not go in hoping a full 180 from ATLUS.

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@uncoolmouse got it. Tbh I don't expect Altus games to really explore things well anyway, just not surprise!gross

neatchee Feb 16

@BigShellEvent without spoilers: the game will make you uncomfortable about royalty, meritocracy, and everything in between in some of the best ways possible. It's message is excellent IMO and the writing is designed to make you feel complicated emotions about this subject in particular

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@neatchee I AM GLAD because Blue Prince very much did not impress me

neatchee Feb 16

@BigShellEvent eh Blue Prince cares a lot more about its puzzles and mystery than its political identity, that's for sure

Manic Emo Dream Ghoul Feb 16

@neatchee i feel like it could've gone a little further with "the faction think they are entitled as rulers left a series of propaganda about how they are the only good people and how they were oppressed by being good people who are not power hungry entitled shits at all" ok then

neatchee Feb 16

@BigShellEvent it's high fantasy and does not shy away from using lineage meaningfully. The meritocracy aligned character is not a good person. And IMO the ultimate message is that the best thing is to approach the world with an eye for nuance and personal responsibility.