One of Metaphor: ReFantazio's best upgrades over Persona isn't just a time saver, it's becoming my go-to get-rich-quick scheme
Oct. 15, 2024The JRPG’s Merchant Archetype isn’t one to miss
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One ofMetaphor: ReFantazio’s subtle improvements on Persona may be better than you think, saving you time and actively earning you some dosh or recouping precious magic points if you play your cards right.
Metaphor approaches combat a lot like Persona does – baddies potter around ‘dungeons’ until you run into ‘em and fight through turn-based combat. What’s neat about Metaphor, though, is that you can whack and insta-kill them if you’re appropriately strong. No fuss, no fight loads, just a modest helping of experience points.
Now, that’s not totally new to JRPGs and is an evolution of what we’ve seen in Persona – Ryuji could insta-flatten weak Shadows in Persona 5, and spooking fiends in Persona 3 Reload before fighting them gave you an advantage. But! Throwing all of that together and making it more accessible to your main character – suck it, Ryuji – got an approving nod from me when I played Metaphor’s demo.
It doesn’t stop there, either. Metaphor is like many RPGs in that you’ll need cash – called Reeve – to buy stuff, though players are quickly finding ways to game the system. An earlyMetaphor Archetypeyou can unlock called The Merchant ispretty handyfor making money despite actually spending money to use certain attacks, and it’s all thanks to that combat innovation.
As plenty of other fans havenoted online, they have an ability called Alchemy that gives you a lil’ bit of dosh when you stun or defeat an enemy on the field. The in-game text undersells it by saying there’s only a chance of it happening, but it seems pretty consistent to most players. Essentially, go push over some weaklings in a dungeon, and you’ll get paid.
As for which dungeon, plentyseem keenon picking up the ‘Man’s Not-So Best Friend’ bounty to return to the Tradia Desert and put down dogs for dosh – I said the money-making scheme was effective, but I didn’t say it was moral.
It’s not just money, either. If you find your MP drying up by the time you reach a dungeon’s boss, you can swap to the Mage Archetype to earn a slither of MP for, you guessed it, going and pushing over some rube into the dirt.
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It’s no wonder ourMetaphor: ReFantazio reviewrates the JRPG so highly.
Director of stylish JRPGs Metaphor: ReFantazio and Persona 5 isn’t excited by “highly polished games that look like they were designed by a bunch of people in a CEO boardroom.”
Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.
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