Oh yeah Metaphor is just as crazy as P5 in terms of “oh shit this kinda seems like the real world”. But it still does have a bit to improve on gameplay-wise imo.

We’re on a similar clip! I have played P5R and Metaphor maybe a year or two ago, but in the past few months, I picked up Persona 3 Reload on sale. There’s something about getting to the end of these 100+ hour, character-focused JRPGs (for me, at least) that leaves such a specific feeling (bawling my eyes out for the last hour of the game).

SPOILER FOR P5R NARRATIVE

Since this was your first time through P5R - How did you feel about the Justice Confidant’s arc? I usually don’t feel too much remorse for villain characters in these types of games, but I can honestly say that Akechi gets me right in the feels, despite the awful things he’s done. Some of it is probably due to his voice actor. The guy has some breadth to convince me that this “pleasant boy” really went insane during his arc.

END SPOILER

I’d genuinely like to know your thoughts on the game as a whole, or anything about the characters.

The reason I brought up P3R is because I beat that (hard recommend if you enjoyed P5R, by the way), but then didn’t know what game I wanted to start into next. So, I just hopped back into P5R because I evidently wanted to keep crying after another 100 hours. Got through that, and went into Metaphor next, which is what I’m replaying now. I had started my P5R replay as NG+ at first, but the way that works, I had so much access to endgame stuff that the beginning just didn’t feel quite right, so I just started brand new games for both my P5R and Metaphor playthroughs (although I think Metaphor might handle NG+ in a way I would like better)

Metaphor will be a little different than Persona, but it remains reminiscent of it. A lot of mechanics you’ll just probably vibe out though. Combat won’t use the “1 more” system you’re used to, but the replacement system is still interesting to me, in terms of getting me to think through how I will take each character’s action. Social links/Confidants are fairly similar with some Quality of Life improvements (no more going to the Velvet room to pick up a pile of personas you aren’t gonna use for combat, just for Confidants!). Metaphor builds a good sense of adventure with its mechanics, too which I like. I could see some people being a little off-put by the game’s presentation of its narrative and fantasy elements. All in all, I’m enjoying, laughing, and crying along with this replay of it. Once again, the voice work for these characters is doing wonders. For its tone, Metaphor has some moments that are GRIM. Sometimes way more grim than I thought they’d take it, with their somewhat cute-sy presentation. But its narrative is very specifically about making the world a better place going forward.

If you are aiming for “more P5R”, I’d point you to pick up P3R as your next title. But, if you want a little break from that particular scene (modern-ish city/school life), then Metaphor is a great pick, too.

The game is 10 years old already. It’s sad to see the state of the world today. In democratic countries, why do we still fall for the false promises of Shidos and Yaldabaoths?

I know Persona 5 is not the first to deliver its message but that only makes it even more concerning.

Yeah, when I played vanilla P5 it was around the end of Trump’s first presidency, and then I played Metaphor right around or before his second election. It was depressing, and hell, I played the Tellius games of Fire Emblem, which featured NPCs who gladly cheered and turned traitor against the main crew in order to save their hides from the invading facist country. (Only to then realize that they sealed their fates and it got worse) These have alk been during this shitty regime.

It’s hard to stomach them sometimes when thinking about the world around you, especially knowing that some people played the game and came out completely blind, or worse, in favor of the very thing it opposed.

But I think the hardest part sometimes is just feeling inadequate or incapable compared to the characters. I’m not a Phantom Thief with the ability to magically change hearts and minds, I’m not a mercenary with a blessed sword that cuts all evil. I know we’re supoosed to think about the things we can do in real life, but it feels impossible sometimes, and i think that’s what holds us back the most.

It just feels like if you aren’t rich or famous, then it’s impossible to introduce major positive change. It’s hard to reach out to people, I have my college friends but I have never really known my neighbors my whole life nor have much desire to. Reaching out to people and convincing them they’re not alone in their thinking is hard. And with social media it drowns it out even more.

I really wish I knew how to solve the issue of people falling for propaganda and this destructive desire to burn everything down even if it means hurting yourself just to see the other person cry. I wish I knew how to fix echo-chamber psychosis. I wish I knew how to get people to care and vote. But I think humanity’s greatest thinkers have been trying to solve this problem since humans decided to start living in social groups, and we’ll probably never find the answer anytime soon.

So I just try to make peace with the minimum and focus on living and at least educating and caring about those close to me and myself. I try to limit where, who. and what I spend on, I spread posts about things that matter to me, I openly speak about what I feel is right and wrong to those I meet, and I vote and contact reps to do as much as I can without literally risking my life or future career. And at least I can say that’s better than being slothful and willingly turning my eyes away.

I hope you enjoy Metaphor, I found it to be a fantastic game and I realise it’s one of the few Atlus games where I liked almost every social link. And I frequently find myself missing and looking back on it :)

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Please do let us know what you think once you’ve played metaphor.

Had my play-through on the Switch a couple of years ago. It was my first persona game and I really loved the soundtrack. Awesome game!