Metaphor: ReFantazio wins Gamespot's GOTY!

What do you guys think? Is it the best game of the year? Is it the best JRPG of the year?

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/metaphor-refantazio-is-gamespots-game-of-the-year-2024/1100-6528323/

Well deserved. Once i'm back in my place, I need to finish it up.

Still need to play it myself. It does look like a great game and something I’ll really enjoy. Personally my GotY is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth though.

Congrats to a turn based JRPG single player story based campaign winning GOTY

Well deserved. Game is better than 99% of what's out there.

I bought the game on the last Steam Sale but I haven't started it yet.

My personal GOTY is Rebirth followed by Astrobot. But i haven't played BM Wukong and Metaphor yet. Planning to pick one of them up once im done with Tears of the Kingdom and Dying Light 2

Sega does what Nintendon't.

Never even heard of it.

Atlas games... It's the persona people making a stylized RPG in a different universe.

Got killer reviews when it launched a couple months ago

@TheEroica: I get most of my gaming news from YouTube now and that didn't really stand out enough for me to remember it. Not quite my genre.

Have not played it but I intend to later down the line. Looks ok and I like Persona games so I might like it despite P5 being a disappointing to me

Turn based weeaboo garbage.

Sadly, for me once a main story hits 40+ hours I'm basically out... It's gotta be elden ring good to hold my attention that long... I have found that I really love being in the Atlas built persona worlds, I just have no interest in that much content.... Trim it down please!

Game is mediocre at best. I am always astonished how the standards for JRPGs are so low.

Nintendo has won game of the year many times?

@Sam3231: Yep, and will win it again with something something with Mario or Zelda in its title.

How much of this game have you played?

... that beat out your favorite Western made game here at home!

I will never play it.

I mean, it's JRPG and you all know by now how I feel about those 😋

But! I'm genuinely happy for those of you that played and enjoyed this game and are happy to see it win an award. No doubt there are more to come for this title 😊

I'll just be over here, in my mom's basement, playing $20 indie games on my $10,000 PC.

...on a gaming website game advertisement site that leans heavily towards JRPG's and anything that isn't a "typical" Western game, whatever that might mean.

Yeah, I wouldn't read into it too much, in either direction. But hey, take the victory I guess, even if it's meaningless.

It's just cringy when people put the j in front of rpg. Some of us are old enough to know it's an rpg. And those who were gaming in the 80's/90's who use the j, you are even cringier 🤦‍♂️

As for GS opinion, well I couldn't trust them to run a chook raffle, so their opinion on games is pretty meh for me.

Beat the game recently, put about 90 hours in. Amazing game in terms of gameplay and battle mechanics. But for me it left a lot to be desired when ti came to story/characters/world. But definitely addicting and amazing gameplay.

I don't see why you would think that as we also have WRPG, ARPG, and finally, JRPG. This has always been this was as long as I can remember. Not targeting you, but I just don't think its that big of a deal when someone adds the J in RPG.

Edit: As for Metaphor: ReFantazio, I didn't look into it that much, so I just wrote it off from my list. Sorry to say but I'm slowly getting burned out by JRPG genre at this point.

That copium...

@davillain: Mate I have old 80's /90's rpgs on my old Sega consoles that state rpg, the West just like to think they're clever like making things up, nonsensical things like putting a j in front of rpg and calling games "immersive" sims.

I'm old school and will call them the way they were called btly the creators of these games.

Yes, the "J" is entirely warranted.

I don't care if you just call it an RPG, but don't give me any flak for calling it a JRPG. There is, in most cases, a very specific aesthetic style and gameplay style to JRPG's that set them apart from ARPG, WRPG, and other kind of RPG's.

Classifying things help. If you told me "Hey you should play this RPG called 'XYZ'" I'd like to know what kind of RPG it is. Is it like Diablo, or Final Fantasy, or Baldur's Gate? Or maybe it's a first-person RPG like Deus Ex or Vampire: The Masquerade:-Bloodlines?

Telling me the "J" isn't deserved is like telling me if I like Diablo I will like Final Fantasy, and that is not the case.

@last_lap: @mrbojangles25: Tell that to Game Developers who label the J into RPG.

@mrbojangles25: C'mon now you're on a gaming forum, you know what type of rpg you're going to get from the game of the dev/pub. You don't need an extra initial at the start, and if you do, then you're not a knowledgeable gamer.

It's just aggravating because, you know, these things matter.

*deep breath* Rant incoming:

Let's go with beer. Do you like beer? Yes, no?

Sorry, it's more complicated with that.

Do you like ales or lagers?

Wait, hold up, let's go a bit deeper. Let's pick ales.

English, Belgian, American, or....?

Let's pick Belgian Ales.

Do you like funky wild Flemish ales made in barns loaded with Brettanomyces? Or clean, bright, lemon-sour ales fermented with Lactobacillus? Or perhaps the strong, malty Trappist brews made by monks?

Or maybe you like Belgian-style ales made by breweries outside of Belgium, since anything made outside of the country of origin needs to have the _-style applied to the label (calling it just "Belgian" would imply it is from Belgium).

Don't tell me you like beer, tell me what kind of beer you like. And don't tell me an RPG is an RPG, tell me what kind of RPG it is.

Rant over.

ROFL this is fun. Arguing about stuff that doesn't matter is the best 👍😋 Are there any forums that debate zombie survival stuff?

Hey if Bioware made a JRPG I'd need the J 😋Otherwise I'd assume it would be their regular offering of either action sci-fi or fantasy.

Sure, we'd have to call it a Japanese-style RPG, but it'd still be a JRPG.

@davillain: Are these the same developer who made the last main line FF game in 16 calling for the term to be dropped?

On a side note, isn't FF16 a hack n slash stlye rpg, so it's an jrpg that's an arpg, putting a letter in front of rpg is just plain dumb.

So if an rpg from Japan is a jrpg, what is FF16 then, a jrpg that's an arpg? starts to get dumb when we start adding letters.

I am indifferent towards JRPGs even if they win GOTY. I am also indifferent towards the gaming media just like the legacy news media.

And how did this thread went off-rails and became a JRPG discussion?

What really gets my goat is when people don't distinguish between JRPGs and SRPGs.

Then it's a JARPG, but you have to say it like a pirate. JARRRRRRRRRRRRRPG.

If adding letters is dumb, then add words.

"Action JRPG". See? Easy. Tells you just about everything you want to know at first glance; it has the aesthetics and style of a typical JRPG but with action gameplay instead of the more traditional turn-based.

Just 82 hours.🤷🏽‍♀️

@mrbojangles25: You can stick to your way and I'll stick to mine, but since I'm old school I will continue to think it's cringy af to put letters in front of a genre.

Now how many of those 82 hours are tutorial. Lol

It's okay but it didn't leave as much of an impression on me when I finished it as Persona did.

Nice. I enjoyed Metaphor. It wasn't the best JRPG I've ever played, but it kept me hooked for a few weeks - moreover than most games that released this year.

I think JRPG is a fair moniker for it.

JRPGs are this weird subgenre of RPGs that feature zero roleplaying. You have no meaningful impact on who your character is, how they overcome obstacles, or how the story plays out. They're basically action-RPGs that largely mimic the tropes established by Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, which is the common feature that defines their subgenre.

Not that much, surprisingly.

Metaphor had significantly better pacing than Persona. The first few hours introduce you to the world, and then it jumps right into things without all of those month-long gaps between story events.

WRPG fans always have this weird take about JRPGs. Dunno why you guys always get caught up in the main character needing to be the lone hero who is "the chosen one" all the time. So generic and predictable and tired...

Most rpg's from Japan are known as turn based, which is a better description than putting a letter in front of rpg. Now devs from the West have made rpg's with a turn-based combat system and you can't call them jrpgs, that's just not right.

Lol GS. :P

“By weaving magical elements with universal topics--such as prejudice, poverty, grief, cycles of violence, anxiety, and the role religion and politics can play in both oppressing and empowering the people“

“Metaphor: ReFantazio is a beautiful exploration into how fantasy is a vessel for ideas and humanity even in the darkest of times. It understands the impact that art and the ideas transferred through it have on society, and asks us to both believe in and scrutinize the media we consume.”

”But in the year 2024--a year marred by political unrest, growing inequality, fear, distrust, misinformation, and division--no game feels quite as apt and essential.”

Like nails on a chalkboard…

@shadyacshuns: This game you literally play the chosen one and the entire storyline is textbook generic JRPG.

@Pedro: I dunno I think the story and characters had a lot to them. I'm not sure how you're the chosen one in this game.

Anyway if you're going to eliminate the chosen one trope from entertainment like movies, books, and games then that's cutting a lot of fiction. Personally I don't really have anything against it.

Congrats! Haven't played it, but heard good things about it.

This happens to be the first GameSpot GOTY for Atlus as a developer (they previously won GOTY as publisher for Demon's Souls).

@girlusocrazy: how far are you in the game?