Las night’s Metaphor: ReFantazio presentation gave us a good look at what we can expect from character building in the game, as well as the relationship between the protagonist and supporting characters (both friends and foes) and how this will affect the game’s narrative.
Katsura Hashino, the game’s director and the main person in charge of presenting each of the new features in these livestreams, began by giving a brief overview of the story in the opening moments of Metaphor: ReFantazio, placing our protagonist on his mission to take down Louis, the assassin of the monarch of Euchronia who had planned a coup d’état. Suddenly, a giant face, presumably of the deceased king, appears in the sky, tasking all citizens with the mission of attracting enough support to become the next king. In order for all candidates to be eligible without chaos spreading across the continent, the Tournament for the Throne is declared.
In order to keep track of the progression, the protagonist’s popularity ranking in his race to the Throne will always be visible at the touch of a button in the game, although it will not fluctuate in real time. It is just a detail to keep track of where we are in the story. Popularity will naturally increase as the population feels the impact of our actions, either through speeches, or through concrete actions and side quests.
In the Tournament for the Throne, the main opponents for us, the protagonist, are Forben and Louis. Both have great support, either through experience or through the strategy of terror, and they will be antagonists in the game, but they will not be the only ones. We also meet here Gideaux, who is not a candidate for the throne, but wants to take down the protagonist because of a racial issue, as well as many other secondary “villains” and candidates for the throne. Glodell, Milo, Loveless, Rudolph, Lina, Goddard, Roger, Jin, Julian… It goes without saying that in Metaphor: ReFantazio social issues such as class struggle and racism are an integral part of the game’s story, and the protagonist will have a diverse group of companions from all these different species. At the presentation it was confirmed that some of these characters, initially enemies, may eventually become important allies to our cause, so it’s best not to judge too much for now.
In addition to these rivals, we will have the option of gaining followers, characters who will not be companions when we form the party to fight and explore the world, but whose Social Bonds will allow us to unlock new Archetypes to use in combat. And remember that certain enemies are only affected by one or a few of the 40 types of Archetypes that appear in the game. So the better we get along with them all, the better.
Definitely, the introduction of so many relevant characters can only mean one thing: We’re going to have a very, very long story ahead of us when the game comes out on October 11.