18 Metaphor: ReFantazio Tips To Help Your Quest For The Throne

Metaphor: ReFantazio, the newest game from the team behind Persona 3, 4, and 5, has arrived and we have tips to help you navigate this massive JRPG. While some of the mechanics might feel familiar to fans of the team's previous works, Metaphor: ReFantazio has a unique job system and a large variety of systems and resources to manage. Luckily our spoiler-free tips can help you navigate this new fantasy world.

One of the biggest differences between Metaphor: ReFantazio and the Persona games is the combat and how you enter it. Depending on your level, enemies will be highlighted either blue, yellow, or red, which you can see by activating Gallica's Fae Sight. Blue enemies can be killed in the overworld, while yellow and red enemies must be beaten in turn-based combat. Attacking them in the overall is a key part of getting an advantage in combat, but your attacks are based on your weapon. Different melee weapons have different ranges and some weapons, like crossbows, can attack enemies from afar.

While getting hit by blue enemies does damage, it doesn't start combat with them. That isn't true for yellow and red enemies though, as getting hit by them will send you into turn-based combat, giving the enemy the advantage. The enemies in Metaphor: ReFantazio have some teeth to them, so starting combat this way will put you at a huge disadvantage. You will want to attack them in the overworld. Breaking their stance will start combat with your enemies stunned, but you can also hit the Y/Triangle button at any point to hop in with no advantage for either size.

The Archetype system functions essentially like a job system, with multiple Archetype trees. While unlocking new Archetypes comes from leveling your bonds with your Followers, actually being able to use them is another matter. To use advanced Archetype's there are typically level requirements for other Archetypes. One stable requirement is level 20 in the previous Archetype, like the Magic Seeker Archetype requires that character to have level 20 in Seeker first, so it's beneficial to fully max out an Archetype before jumping to another one.

In dungeons you will come across doors with black fog spilling out from them. While the image is ominous enough to set off alarm bells, what's hiding behind that door is fairly consistent. It's always going to be a tough fight of some kind, usually a boss fight. When exploring dungeons, these doors are also typically where you can find your next main objective, so you know that any unexplored areas at that point are side areas where you might find extra loot.

Each Archetype has their own skills, but they also have a variety of Synthesis abilities as well. These are combo moves that take MP from two characters and use two turns, but offer more powerful attacks and abilities. The Synthesis abilities available depend on which other Archetype families are represented. For example, the Mage tree gains elemental attacks that hit all enemies if a Seeker tree Archetype is available. While these powerful abilities cost a ton of MP and turn icons, they are also very useful, so check out your party status to view all available moves.

One of the more unique aspects of the Persona games is also in Metaphor: ReFantazio; the calendar system. The premise is simple; you have a limited amount of in-game days to complete your main quest and if that deadline is missed, it's game over. Now, there is usually plenty of time to get that done, but it also means you have to be efficient with your time when it comes to side activities. Traveling to side dungeons, spending time with your companions, and working on your Royal Virtues all take time, so it's important to be mindful of what you need to prioritize. Some side quests have set deadlines, while others do not, meaning you should really focus on the ones that will expire first.

Royal Virtues are the equivalent of social stats, which are required to progress certain Follower bonds or even complete some side quests. While you might be tempted to grind out these activities, it's actually beneficial to avoid doing that as much as possible. Leveling your Royal Virtues is beneficial, but there are tons of other ways to do it, many of which will happen while doing other tasks.

Many quests offer experience for one of the Royal Virtues and there are plenty of events that happen during your travels, both main story and side content, where you will get some leveling. There will also be instances, usually while traveling on the Gauntlet Runner, where the only activities available to you are for leveling Royal Virtues, like reading books. The only time I would recommend choosing to level Royal Virtues over other activities is if you need to rank up for the next Follower bond level. The two Royal Virtues that you earn the least amount of progress for doing other activities are Eloquence and Tolerance, so if you have to do a Royal Virtue activity those two are good ones to focus on.

In the main dungeons, where you are completing your primary objective, there are safe rooms scattered throughout. These rooms let you save, but, more importantly, they serve as checkpoints you can return to if you leave a dungeon and come back on a different day. Metaphor: ReFantazio has some teeth to its combat, even on normal, so you will likely need to complete these dungeons across multiple days, so finding and entering the safe rooms is important. Safe rooms can be spotted by their shimmering door or by the table icon on the minimap that appears when you approach them. In some instances your party will call them out to you, but the checkpoint only counts if you enter the room.

Shortly into the first main dungeon More will introduce you to his cat, who can be found in both main and side dungeons. He offers a few important services; saving, leaving the dungeons, and going to Akademia. That last one is the most helpful early on in Metaphor: ReFantazio, as it allows you to change Archetype's or unlock new inherited abilities mid-dungeon. You can eventually unlock the ability to unlock Archetypes anywhere, but More's cat can be unlocked much earlier.

In addition to the skills each party member gets from their Archetype, they also get access to synergy moves. These moves take up two turn icons and cost MP from two party members, but they are also more powerful than basic moves. For example, Archetypes from the Mage tree get elemental skills to attack opponents, but these skills only target one enemy. But if an Archetype from the Seeker tree is present, the Mage can use a version of their elemental attacks that target all enemies. Overusing these abilities will deplete your MP very quickly, but they can be useful in tough fights. If you view a party member's Archetype in the equipment menu there is a tab where all currently usable synergy abilities.

The toughest resource to manage in Metaphor: ReFantazio is mana, also called MP. MP is needed to use abilities, which are your main damage dealers in combat. Mana items are somewhat limited, with only a few vendors offering them and usually in limited quantities.

Maximizing the amount of damage you do and weaknesses hit in combat can help with this problem, but you can also swap out party members once you have more than four. Whenever you can wipe out an enemy with just normal attacks, do it.

That said, there are certain circumstances where you don't need to worry about managing an MP. In side dungeons once you reach the final boss and have no other objectives to complete, you can go all out since you will have the option to leave the dungeon once the fight is won. Occasionally you will have to fight random monsters and enemies on the Gauntlet Runner while traveling. Your mana will be fully restored once the fight is over, so there is no reason to conserve it.

In the Persona games, you could switch your equipped Persona on the fly in battle, making it easy to exploit enemy weaknesses. That isn't true of the Archetype system, as you cannot change Archetypes mid-battle. You can unlock the ability to change in dungeons, but once a fight starts you're stuck with what you have. That said, in most dungeons you can learn about enemy weaknesses ahead of time. There is an informant in the local tavern of each major city from whom you can buy information. You certainly don't have to do this, but the information is fairly cheap and if you know what weaknesses the enemy has, you can change your Archetypes accordingly.

Turns in Metaphor: ReFantazio are represented by turn icons, crystal looking icons at the top of the screen. You get one per party member currently in battle and not KO'd. You do have several options for extending these icons though. Hitting a critical attack or weakness on an enemy can extend your turn, so long as you are on a large turn icon. If you hit either of these, your large turn icon turns into a small one, which still gives a full turn, but itself cannot be extended, even upon hitting a weakness or critical attack. You can also pass on a turn, which will turn a large icon into a small one, preserving the amount of turns you have. This can be beneficial if one of your party members can't hit a weakness but the other members can. Using an ability that gets blocked by an enemy will cost you two turn icons, while hitting a repelled attack will automatically end your turn.

Dungeons can have bad weather, which affects the monsters inside in ways you don't want to deal with. The most common impact is that hitting an enemy weakness doesn't give you an additional turn regardless of your turn icons, although sometimes enemies also get powered up attacks as well. If you are traveling a single day, the current weather of a location is shown on map, but if it takes multiple days, you won't be able to see what the weather will be. You can find a psychic in town, marked by a crystal ball icon, who you can pay a small fee to to learn about the weather in the next few days. This lets you make sure you won't arrive at a dungeon on a day where the enemies are tougher than usual.

Perhaps one of the most interesting mechanics in Metaphor: ReFantazio is that on your turn, at any point during a battle, you can hit a button to restart the fight. There is no fee or resource cost nor is there a limit to the number of times you can do this is a battle. If you accidentally hit a blocked or repelled attack and lose a turn, or just take a few unlucky critical hits you can restart. While you might be tempted to try and power through, if you wipe in combat you will get sent back to your last save, so just restarting the battle can save you some time over losing the battle.

Whenever you reach a new major city or are given your next main deadline, you can pick up bounties from the Recruitment Center, which can be found in most major cities. These bounties are side quests that will send you to a side dungeon to take down a powerful enemy. These quests are worth a hefty chunk of change and typically award points for the Courage Royal Virtue, but these monsters are usually pretty tough compared to where you are at that point in the game. For bounties buying information about their weaknesses is extremely helpful, but you should also aim to do the bounty as one of your last missions in each area. It can still be before completing the main dungeon, but if you have any other side dungeons available, prioritize those ones first, as an extra level or two can make a big difference for completing bounties.

Just like the Persona 5 social links, there are bonuses for advancing your bond level with Followers beyond the story tidbits you get. The biggest bonus is new Archetypes and the advanced version of them. The initial Archetype is unlocked with the first bond rank, but after that it depends on the number of advanced classes. If there are two or more, these are typically unlocked at level three and then either seven or eight. If there is only one, it's typically at level six.

Beyond that there are special bonuses like reducing the MAG cost of studying Archetypes in each tree, but most Followers have one or two special abilities. For example, Maria unlocks Speed Cooking which allows you to cook without time passing and Catherina has the Bounty Bonus which increases how much money you earn from completed bounties.

If you find yourself lacking in either levels, MAG, or money, you may want to take some time to grind a dungeon. While there isn't a specific dungeon to do this in, as you will just want to pick one around your level, it can be necessary, especially in the later half of the game. You will need to either conserve MP or use MP recovery items to extend how long you can do this, but it can be worthwhile to power up your squad. While enemies in dungeons slowly respawn over time, exiting the dungeon to the entrance area--the place you can save, head to Akademia, or leave completely--it will completely respawn all non-boss enemies in a dungeon, letting you run through it again.