Sometimes the optimal play is to not play optimally at all. In Altus’s Persona-like RPG, Metaphor: ReFantazio, there are the class options you’d expect from the genre, so you might expect to be told the best possible choice to most enjoy the game. It’s just…it doesn’t work like that here. It’s better.
I’ve been giving tips about video games on the internet ever since I was old enough to type “hellom my name is timoby monbleau XD” on whichever message board my dial-up connection could load first. Over that lifetime of experience, I typically see the same questions appear when it comes to RPGs like Metaphor: ReFantazio: “What are the best characters to use? What are the best builds? Which classes should I pick to make the game easier? Why do I see Mega Man in my dreams?”
Typically, my advice for questions like these is “experiment and figure out what works for you!” Because, sure, there’s always an optimal build, and there’s always an optimal class to pick. But trying different party configurations is one of the most fun parts of a class system in an RPG, and I firmly believe that it’s okay to do 20 less damage per turn in the name of having more fun with your 70+ hour game.
I’m here to give this same advice about Metaphor: ReFantazio, but not strictly because I value class experimentation more than optimal play. Actually, Metaphor’s classes (called “Archetypes” in-game) are so well-designed that experimentation often is the optimal play. If you’re ready to begin your journey to become king, let’s break down why you shouldn’t worry about whether or not you’re using the “best” class at any given time.
2 / 7
If you’ve played the demo of Metaphor, you’ll know its battle system is one part Persona and two parts Shin Megami Tensei. It uses the “Press Turn” mechanic from the latter series, in which both your party and your enemies can exploit the weaknesses of the other to earn extra moves during a turn. Hitting elemental weaknesses is standard procedure for RPGs, but if an enemy can exploit your weaknesses and chain attacks, the tide of battle will quickly change.
Your characters’ weaknesses and resistances are determined by their equipped Archetype. And no matter how leveled up a certain Archetype may be, you’re often better off switching to another low-level Archetype if it means gaining a resistance to an enemy’s attacks. Some bosses will even lull you into a false sense of security by having a weakness to an element that one Archetype specializes in, only to use attacks that specifically target that Archetype’s weakness. In cases like these, stubbornly sticking to your established party composition is often more trouble than it’s worth. This is especially true because…
3 / 7
If you’re a fan of games like Final Fantasy Tactics or Bravely Default, you know that mixing and matching the skills of different classes can create diabolically powerful synergies. In Metaphor, each Archetype can initially inherit one skill from any Archetype the equipping character has leveled up. This does require a one-time fee of the MAG currency, but unlocked skills can be attached to any Archetype that character uses from that point onward. As you advance your Follower relationships (think Social Links from Persona), each of your Archetypes can inherit even more skills.
With a little planning, this system lets you come up with some incredible combos. For instance, a physical character who bounces between the Warrior and Brawler Archetypes can use skills like Battle Cry and the Heat Up passive to optimize their damage output. Alternatively, you can switch a character to an Archetype that specifically resists a boss’ attacks while still keeping the most important skills you’ll need for the fight. A Mage will struggle against bosses that inflict Piercing damage, but magic users can just switch to the Healer Archetype and keep whichever elemental spell they’d use anyway!
Even if you don’t want to optimize your party for a specific encounter, inheriting skills lets you fulfill class fantasies that the game might not support out the gate. For instance, I enjoyed equipping Strohl with the Seeker Archetype alongside the Healer’s restorative spells to emulate a Paladin like Cecil from Final Fantasy 4. In a game all about the power of fantasy, it’s fitting that the only limit for your character builds is your imagination. Well, that and the literal limits imposed by the game’s mechanics, but clarifying sentences like this are not how I passed my 9th Grade English class.
4 / 7
Archetypes do feature a handful of skills that you can’t pass down, but don’t worry, these ones are worth building your team around. Synergy skills in Metaphor are kind of like Double Techs and Triple Techs from Chrono Trigger, which I am legally obligated to call “probably the best game of all time” as per the orders of the All People Of Millennial Age Or Older Coalition™. That is to say, if you have the right combination of Archetypes in your party, characters can use especially powerful skills that cost two or three turn icons to use.
Even from the earliest moments in the game, Synergy skills can turn arduous encounters into a total breeze. For example, Mages can’t use multi-target skills on their own, but Synergy skills let them use their elemental attacks on every enemy at once. Some Archetypes can learn seriously awesome support skills, such as buffs that affect every party member’s stats with a single cast. The Seeker lineage of Archetypes can even hit weaknesses via Synergy skills that they wouldn’t be able to exploit on their own!
You do need to be careful with these moves, as consuming multiple turn icons at once can sometimes put you at a disadvantage, compared to just letting each character use their own skills. However, do note that if you hit a weakness with a Synergy skill, it will only consume half turn icons. That is to say, you’ll still get that extra turn with potentially no downside depending on how your party is equipped. If you know a Synergy skill will seriously help you out for any reason, it’s worth the effort to rethink your whole team just to use it.
5 / 7
If the strategic possibilities of Archetype experimentation wasn’t enough for you, Metaphor literally rewards you with a permanent stat increase whenever a character maxes out the level of any Archetype. These increases might not individually make a huge impact on your team’s performance, but they do add up as you continue to max out each Archetype.
If you continue to use an Archetype even after hitting its respective level cap, you’ll instead earn items that boost the EXP of other Archetypes. This is a great mechanic, since you won’t be “punished” for continuing to use your favorite Archetypes. At the same time, the game couldn’t be nudging you any harder to start building different Archetypes once you get to this point. You’re literally wasting those items if you don’t!
6 / 7
Having said all of that, I’m not going to pretend that every Archetype is completely equal. You’ll typically need to use a Mage more often than a Merchant, for instance. But even then, Merchants get skills that can debilitate Mimics, and they can learn some valuable passive skills that other Archetypes can inherit. How you’ll fit niches like these into your party is up to you.
Generally speaking, you’ll often want to run a combination of a physical attacker, magical attacker, healer, and supporter in your party. Because of this, each member of your party should focus on the Archetypes that will help them best serve the role they most often fill. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still encounter situations where turning your entire party into Healers is your best play. But at the very least, thinking about how your team generally performs will at least save you from needing to level grind because you didn’t realize you’d need someone who can use physical attacks.
As time goes on, I’m sure the greater video game community will figure out which Archetypes in Metaphor are mathematically the best for each encounter. Heck, that’s the very foundation that speedruns are based on, and I can’t wait to see the first person who can beat this thing in under six hours. But with how much Metaphor continuously rewards you for playing with its class system, the gap between optimal play and casual experimentation isn’t quite as vast as you might think. So get out there, have fun skateboarding on your sword, or else the Mega Man in my dreams is going to chastise me about giving ineffective advice on the internet again. Don’t give me that look.
7 / 7