Metaphor: ReFantazio, the upcoming RPG from key Persona developers, is starting to sound like it could be quite hardcore. The game's latest information dump — with arrives via a lengthy press release stuffed with new screenshots — specifically mentions difficulty when outlining the title's turn-based combat system.
It reads: "During command battles, players can make various choices, such as handing over their turn to the next member, switching between front and back rows, and switching party members. Players are required to assess the battle situation and use a variety of tactics to fight."
It continues: "The difficulty level of battles in this game is intentionally made to be high, designed to emphasize the tension of deliberating and selecting commands to earn a great sense of accomplishment that comes with victory."
The reason this stands out is because the Persona games make a point of providing a range of difficulty settings — some of which make battles far easier for players who may just want to enjoy the story. We would have assumed Metaphor would follow that same blueprint, but with high difficulty combat being mentioned specifically, we're now wondering whether it's going to be a hard game by design.
Of course, Atlus is no stranger to making difficult RPGs. Many of the older Shin Megami Tensei titles are brutal at times, and even the early Persona games have their moments. It could be that Metaphor is a callback to those less forgiving adventures.
That said, we've still got another five months to go before Metaphor drops, and so there's plenty of time for Atlus to make clarifications. We'll no doubt be seeing much more of the game over the summer.
How would you feel about Metaphor being hard by design? Are difficulty options necessarily a bad thing? Use your turns wisely in the comments section below.
Comments 14
SMT games are usually hard on the standard difficulty but still have options for those wanting an easier challenge. So I'm sure this will be the same.
I beat Persona 2 back in the day, so I'm not especially concerned. I also prefer combat that requires a little consideration, rather than just mashing on the next action to get it over faster.
Dang, I used to have patience for really hard JRPGs. Now not so much. Really hope they decide to include different difficulty modes for wimps like me.
Straight from the combat details excerpts:
“Difficulty level can be adjusted at any time, with useful features to help you in battle.”
If no difficulty settings that sucks and I won’t buy. I hate turn based combat especially Personas so I appreciate being able to turn it down to the easiest to experience the story and characters. If I can’t do that here that will be a major bummer because this game looks so cool
Actaully never mind, there are difficulty options, this was taken from an interview with the creator
Of note, Hashino revealed the beginning of the game can be quite difficult due to the protagonist’s low level, “At the beginning of the game the protagonist isn’t strong yet so the difficulty of the battles is intentionally pretty high in this area.”
He then explained this decision, “We wanted players to get a sense of both tension and accomplishment. I might die if I risk fighting right now so I’ll explore cautiously during this segment. That said there are multiple difficulty levels and convenience factors to make things easier so we hope anyone who wants to play can enjoy it.”
@dark_knightmare2 @NinjaWaddleDee There is, see above comment.
I don't get these devs trying to make a game as hard as possible. A game should by default be at a standard difficulty with options to make it more difficult or more easy, not hard by default with just options to make it easier.
@UltimateOtaku91 yeah saw your comment thank god I can go back to being day one
Awesome. My one issue with recent Persona games has been that they're brain-dead easy even on higher difficulty settings.
I'd love to see them give us something closer to SMT in terms of engaging and challenging combat.
If it's designed to be difficult so be it. Nothing wrong with designing a game to be difficult if that is the creator's intent. There are plenty of other games out there that are more approachable for people who might feel too intimidated.
I reckon this game will end up in the GOTY talks, perfect storm brewing and releasing in the right timeframe for game of the year discussions
I can't wait to play this. Will need to finish persona 3 tho.
I'm almost positive the game will feature a Safe difficulty option.
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