Metaphor: ReFantazio: 5 Tips I Wish I'd Known When I Started Playing

The king has been murdered and a magical spell has gripped the world, forcing the next in line for the throne to be chosen based on a strange popularity contest. Metaphor: ReFantazio is the next RPG from Studio Zero, a division within Persona game studio Atlus. 

Much like the games in the beloved high school drama/RPG Persona series, in Metaphor you'll command a band of outcasts as they move through their daily lives and take on enemy-filled dungeons. This time around, the developers have traded the Japanese school setting for a more medieval fantasy vibe. However, the studio's signature stylish aesthetic is still in play here and will delight fans and newcomers alike.

We previewed Metaphor back during Germany's Gamescom event. Now that I've sunk around 20 hours into the game, here are five things I wish I'd learned earlier that you'll benefit from knowing as soon as possible.

Change classes (called archetypes) frequently

Your characters' classes are referred to as archetypes, and just like leveling up the character itself, using an archetype will increase its rank for that specific person. As you rank up, more skills and abilities will unlock, and these can range from passive buffs to new moves to be used in combat. You'll begin with a starting selection of RPG mainstays such as warrior, mage, healer and brawler, and you'll unlock new archetypes with more complex roles as you progress and meet new allies. Don't ignore them -- it behooves you to change up your character archetypes often. 

While it is advantageous to rank up an archetype as much as possible, it's equally important to switch classes often since you can inherit skills and mix them between classes. For example, the seeker archetype learns wind magic early on, so switching to warrior next will allow you to get the physical attack skills from warrior while inheriting the wind magic from seeker. Once meeting requirements, each character in your party can unlock archetypes by spending a small amount of MAG points, which are earned through quests, battles, and other activities. Switching to a new archetype only has to be paid for in MAG once, so they can swap back and forth for free, allowing you to rank up different classes with ease. 

Archetypes affect the way combat kicks off in the overworld 

When you've entered a dungeon, you'll be able to engage in combat by running into the enemies you see scattered around. It's advantageous to attack these monsters before they strike, so you can stun them and get an extra turn at the beginning of the fight. However, the archetype you've selected for your main protagonist will change the weapon they're able to equip, which affects how strong and fast their attack will be in the overworld. 

The starting class, Seeker, has a small sword that swings quickly but will require a few hits before being able to stun the enemy into combat. Warrior, on the other hand, wields a greatsword that's slow to attack but can deal huge damage and will usually stun an enemy in one or two strokes. 

Sell excess MAG points for money

If you find yourself inundated with more MAG points than you need, you can sell them at a vendor in town. While MAG points are key to getting the most out of the archetype tree, you can easily find yourself with more than enough if you've spent a good deal of time in combat. Right after finishing a dungeon, for example, is a good time to sell some of your excess MAG  in order to buy more powerful weapons and potions. 

There is a specific vendor in various towns who will exchange currencies like MAG for you and to make things even better, the exchange rate will change. Metaphor has a time of day structure to its gameplay but each day will also bring about different weather conditions. MAG exchangers will give you extra money for your points if, for instance, the weather is bad. Try and hold onto your MAG until it is cloudy or raining since that can earn you twice the amount of money for your points.

Lock formation in battles so you aren't fiddling with it every fight

While in combat, formation matters, and your characters can either stand in the front or back. Being in the front will allow for stronger physical attacks but will also open them up to receiving more physical damage. As a result, it's advantageous to put magic casters (healer, mage, etc) in the back row to protect them while still being able to deal plenty of damage from afar.

You can change your character's positions at any time during their turn, but by default the game is set to starting everyone in the position you designated for them in the Party menu. However, if you don't want to have to remember what you set everyone to, and are finding yourself mixing things up often, you can adjust this setting. In the Settings menu, toggle the Save Formation option. This means every time you initiate combat, your party will be in the same formation you last used in the previous fight. 

Give yourself a few in-game days to tackle a dungeon

Many of the main and side quests in Metaphor will have a deadline -- ranging from a few days to a few weeks -- for you to complete them, which helps you prioritize the quests that should be tackled first. Many of these will use up long chunks of your day so you'll have to coordinate when to take on certain tasks since you only have so many opportunities before they expire.

When you're coming up against a major story dungeon, don't leave it until the last moment to attempt. These dungeons can be extremely long. And while you can stay in a dungeon for as long as you want with no penalty, your characters' health and magic meters will continue to drain fight after fight. The only way to replenish these is with limited potions or by leaving the dungeon and resting. 

Luckily there are checkpoints spread throughout that you can warp back to. This allows you to avoid repeating sections, but leaving and resting will cause the day to move forward to the next. Give yourself a few days before a deadline to tackle these large dungeons since you'll often need to leave and rest up a few times, especially before the boss fights.

Armed with these tips, I hope you'll have an easier time taking on Metaphor than I did. They'll help streamline your playthrough as you begin the first handful of hours, and they should offer more clarity into the game's mechanics.