MY NAME IS...!! - Metaphor: ReFantazio - 4

[@NicoB]

This chick is bad fucking ass.

[@QuizMasterEntertainment]

Quality awakening incoming

[@taddad2641]

i will say that as obviuos as the grius death was, i was like 'come oooon we even got a not persona with him. certainly they wouldn't...' aaand nope.

[@isekaimaou3581]

Id Rather Grind Some Money With quest i rather think also Grinding For Levels 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@insomniacnerd5592]

She’s also genuinely hilarious throughout the game. Love the HULKENBURG.

[@Flutterdark_]

if you want to have enemies respawn, go to akademia or save rooms.

[@TheHarzlek]

Fun Fact time: You ask why humans look the way they do. But I finished this game entirely, and I was very giddy when it hit me; as a lover of history, the Humans are inspired by a Renaissance artist name Hieronymus Bosch from the Netherlands from 1450 to 1516. for example, the First human Boss who fights back at the castle and the Human who drops from Louise's airship are both from the painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. So when you see a weird-looking human enemy, it's definitely mostly likely inspired by this artist.

[@Mathamus1]

I recommend talking to every NPC in the night market. one of them actually let's you do something special that gives you a reward(and, kinda funny considering what it is, raise your popularity). It's not actually necessary to do, just a fun extra.

[@MrPeaTearGryfin]

Nico, something to note about Hulkenberg now that you've unlocked her, despite her starting Archetype being a knight on horseback, her stats being heavily favored for health and endurance, and the game constantly leading you to believe otherwise, Hulkenberg not only greatly excels as a Mage, but it is actually required to advance in her Knight archetypes too.

[@Leddy51]

A quick tip about the combat, cause this game doesn't even allude to this being possible until it just starts happening with later skills: Buffs and Debuffs stack in this game up to 3 times (which something that happens in other of SMT games) and these are actually quite big multipliers that can easily make you win or lose fights in this game, so keep in mind how much many you have at once. You can tell how many stacks someone has by targeting them or using the Status button (it's at the bottom during combat).

[@silvermoon808]

SUPER helpful info that was a real game changer for me when I found out. Good tip!! 👍

[@Mathamus1]

If my understanding is right, a level 1 buff is a 20% increase. while a level 3 buff is 40%. meaning the difference in strength between a level 1 and a level 3 buff is the same as the difference between no buff and a level 1 buff. same fo debuffs I believe. As such in most cases I only refresh my level 1 buffs when they run out. and increase the level/duration of debuffs right before they run out.

[@joelsasmad]

Nico. I really recommend getting used to using the "Pass" option as opposed to attacking every time

[@DBRay_]

Yea, it wasn't as big a deal cuz attacking with the weak was a "free" pass along side damage anyways but if a party member can't do anything meaningul, pass it to someone that can

[@oberon_relic1161]

Nico, if you're not using a phys skill there is absolutely no reason to be in the front row. Otherwise move to the back to reduce damage taken

[@AzaliFinrandi]

I was looking for this comment. And not guarding when there's a clear indicator a big attack is coming would have saved him some pain too.

[@sato-lr2ln]

@@AzaliFinrandiguarding sacrifices your chance of dodging though. If you’re in the back you might just wanna risk it and do more damage

[@DBRay_]

Also using syntehsis skills when they have weaknesses essentially are free actions, like the medium ice skill would have helped a lot.

[@oberon_relic1161]

@@sato-lr2ln if the enemy is preparing an attack then that's something you don't wanna risk unless you have multiple agility buffs and debuffs

[@oberon_relic1161]

@@DBRay_ it's not free at all, it still takes 2 halves

[@darksoulsjaboi6160]

I can’t believe the power of love for their daughter caused Grius to overpower Zorba’s necromancy after the party knocked some sense into him and he became a social link shared with his wife and daughter and they lived happily ever after. Yep, Definitely what happened…

[@jameslawrenson1208]

If only this happened in media.

[@Oryips]

11:26 Nico if you see a green glow that means there is a new text you can check

[@SJK9000]

So, in terms of time management, this game is pretty generous. I didn't use a guide at all and still ended up with about week of "free time" where I didn't have any quests or social links to do. So I wouldn't stress and just play how you want. If you want some generalized advice: In each town you visit there will usually be a "main dungeon" with a long deadline, and you're required to complete it before the story moves on. It's better to try and complete a main dungeon in a single day if you can. That said, in the very early game, you'll probably be strapped for MP, so there's no shame in tackling this first dungeon over the course of a couple days instead. There's a quick travel system inside the dungeon, so you won't be forced to redo sections you already beat if you do exit and come back later. As to whether you should do the main dungeon as quickly as possible, or do side quests and whatnot first: It's a bit of a toss-up. Doing side quests will level you up, making it easier to tackle the main dungeon in a single day. But there are activities that only unlock after you've cleared a main dungeon, so I wouldn't leave it to the very last day or anything.

[@mythriljojo]

I think the best indicator for whether a dungeon should be done first thing is to look to the party members. If you cannot advance your bond with them then it's worth doing the main dungeon quick. If the party members are available then they expect you to do other things before the dungeon.

[@TimeAxis]

Yeah as long as you're doing something productive each day (either raising a royal virtue, doing a sidequest, hanging out with a follower, or something else that you would have to do eventually anyway), you'll be fine no matter what order you do things.

[@MementoMortis21]

Keep in mind, all skills that can be inherited only need to be purchased once per character. Once you pay for any skill, it becomes available for all other Archetypes that character has and will unlock, free of charge. You will also be able to eventually put more than one inherited skill on Archetypes when you start ranking up rhe characters they are linked to, so don't be afraid to go ahead and buy some of them when you have some Magla to burn.

[@finnmchugh99]

Yeah and that includes passives too, the caveat being passives are often more MAG pricy compared to normal skills

[@Colorado0091]

I struggle with Magla in the late game, maybe don't unlock expensive skills/passives, without having some idea how to use them.

[@ninjaydes]

1:22:18 It's a tooth of wisdom... a wisdom tooth.

[@NockNox]

Tooth of truth, or if you will, a trooth

[@YukiMizuno]

Ba dum tish.

[@Christian_Kim]

Not sure if you noticed or commented on it, but new weapons and purified weapons actually get new designs and models! For example, the purified Dragon sword looks awesome now that it’s been purified!

[@jackratscratpack9323]

I like that hulkenburgs archetype awakens when you tell her the prince is alive those reigniting her purpose and goal to protect the prince Also explains her archetypes abilities as those as a protector

[@JackFrost-el3ed]

This wont apply until later, but dont worry about using a maxed out archetype if you find a favorite, once an archetype hits lvl 20 it takes 1k exp which upon level up will grant you an item worth that 1k archetype exp allowing you to spend it on whoever and whatever you choose.

[@nataliecoronado4206]

It's a system I really appreciate, and it makes you feel like you aren't wasting EXP on a Rank 20 Archetype and can focus on whatever strategy you need. Wish more RPG's in the future would adopt this system

[@finnmchugh99]

It helps also that in NG+, the Archetype ranks carry over. So when you 1st get the Seeker in NG+ It will be lvl 20. I also appreciate that ranking up Bonds doesn't require having a matching archetype equipped like in the Persona games or that is given by random points, just every meet-up with a Bond is a definite rank up.

[@IrfanFakhrianto]

To give a detailed breakdown about Hulkenbergs default archetype, Knight archetype has pretty meh skills offensively but really good utility (Knights proclamation is really good in a boss fight that mainly uses single target attacks, and Shield arts is a good way to stack evasion down but youre not using it for damage), however the synthesis it has are all great. Jump thrust can lower enemy defense which is really good for overall team damage increase, since buffs and debuffs can be stacked up to 3 times. Magic/Protect guard can block an attack once which could be clutch depending on the enemy you're facing (Theres two points of importance you might not realize, the first is that one time blocking an element is different from tetrakarn/makarakarn repel in that "remove repel" does not work against it so its more reliable, the second is that there are elemental moves that scales off physical stat which gets blocked by Magic guard instead of Protect guard). And last but certainly not least Hammer of Justice that not only deals heavy damage, but also can implant a one time Pierce weakness to an enemy. Anything that can implant weakness is some of the strongest move in the game with the press turn system, if you do not "spend" the one time weakness implant before a Knight can use Hammer of Justice again, you can functionally loop it to deal constant big damage that hits weakness while being effective with the turn economy, since hitting weakness means instead of spending two full turns, you only use two half turns. Suffice to say, smart use of the Synthesis system can easily turn the tide of a battle, however you need to be careful when to use it as the biggest downside compared to regular skills is that it uses the participants turn icon and MP, which is especially rough early on when you only have three party members. The risk of using them is high, but the reward of proper synthesis usage is even higher.

[@FlareSouL]

So, Synthesis skills are really cool. Like the game explains, the synthesis skills are activatable by your team’s archetype setup and uses 2 or more turn icons at once. *It is only based on the type of archtype class, not to a specific party member fyi.* If you use an attack Synthesis skill that hits a weakness/Crit in the boss, it uses only 2 half icon meaning if you can hit an enemy’s weakness or Crit with it, you can keep 2 turns as long as you have at least 2 FULL Turn Icons. I do recommend u to look at each synthesis condition closely as some of them like Metaphor fire 3 turn icon skill you used in the ep (can make 3 full turn icons into 3 half ones by weakness/crit) would require even 3 party members at once (3x mp cost in total across the 3 members) and/or to unlock a specific skill in the archetype class. Synthesis Skills decide what class formation ur team will be as they are a core function. It's recommended to have a formation where you have the most options to ur disposal. This is where the "Pass" option in a party member's turn becomes essential to setup a sound tactic. Basically, you can pass to use half a turn icon to delay ending the "Player Turn". Once you get before the party member with the synthesis skill you want to use with, *what you can do is guard at the last turn icon, let the enemy use their turn, and then have that party member hit their weakness.* If you do this right, _you basically can get 2 extra free turns at the start and back line everyone to raise their defense either to also guard or buff/debuff _*_right BEFORE the enemy begins their turn._* But Synthesis Skills have another price to consider, say if a 2 person synthesis skill costs 15 mp. Then *it takes from both party members’ mp pool, in total 30 mp.* Both/all party members stats are taken into dmg calculation meaning if the move is also synthesis skill, it’s naturally more powerful than if it was a normal skill. *Not to mention if you miss a synthesis skill, it takes away 3-4 TURN ICONS meaning instant turn end most of the time.* I usually instantly restart after a synthesis skill miss. I love the "Pass" option as you can easily manipulate _how your current and future turns can play out._ I suggest you experiment how you use the "Pass" options with the synthesis skills.

[@Leddy51]

Another thing of note is that Synth Skills uses all of the characters involved's stats in their calculations, making them exponentially stronger than their common counterparts. But this also means that their cost is shared (not divided like you may think); If a Synth Skill says it costs 20 MP, that means it will take 20 MP from all the characters involved's pools. Oh yeah, having multiple people with the same single target skill will unlock a synth version of their multi-target or higher rank; Basically, if 2 characters have Bot, you unlock GaBot or Bottra.

[@ScorbunGame]

Synthesis is such a cool mechanic that makes you think about what archetypes each party member has equipped, unlike Personas where you can just make a OP Persona and sweep most of the game with it.

[@Zeik56]

​@@Leddy51That's only really true for Mage and Priest lineage spells, and only while running a Mage or Priest, since it's an inherent synthesis skill. You can't inherit fire to other archetypes and then do an aoe if they aren't both mages.

[@Leddy51]

@@Zeik56 Really? Thought it was like DDS, where that was the case Hmm'st'd've

[@bluestrawberry679]

One thing I want to add, is that I personally think is that if you have at least one party member who can hit a weakness, then if you have only full turn icons and its the turn of a party member who cannot hit a weakness, its usually best to simply pass. There are exceptions of course, but considering passing as the "default" in this specific situation is what I would do. Important to this is also, that while passing and hitting a weakness both consume half a turn icon, passing always consumes half of the leftmost turn icon, regardless of whether its full or half, whereas hitting an enemy weakness consumes half of the first full turn icon, as long as you still have any of those. This means that hitting a weakness is basically always worth it, whereas passing becomes worse than doing basically anything else if you have ANY half turn icons. Due to this, its important to note that my "default strategy" has you only pass, if you have none of those.

[@Eviltwin1]

Fun fact since you didnt do the whole demo, from the point where it introduces deadlines it would only give you 3 days past that point to do whatever you want (Though it would stop you if you went to a certain point in the main dungeon) then at the end of the third day it ended the demo and gave you an in demo trailer for the full game that was pretty hype. So yeah that demo was dang hefty and i loved it.

[@PJSam1998]

It's important to note that, unlike Persona, buffs and debuffs follow the SMT model of staking up to 3.

[@peterwinter1962]

You wont waste any time doing the main deadline quest right away. It just basically gives you free time to do whatever without any stress. Which is nice, considering going dungeon diving takes up a whole day. Once that's out of the way, you basically have both the day and night to do whatever you'd like. Like raising your Royal Virtues, as there are surprisingly a lot of opportunities to increase them.

[@mythriljojo]

I will say, Nico, the stat up passives that modifies the character's stats based on party members with same lineage can be insanely good. They vary in effectiveness but I've heard some of them go up to around 30%. And if you have Synthesis skills that requires achetypes of the same lineage like mage to get multi target spells, you could use a skill that increases magic attack and use all mages. Then you could get some crazy power. You could also use passives that makes up for an archetype's weakness. There's a reason they are crazy expensive. Consider only getting them for setups where you prioritize one member as the main damage dealer and the others for support. So consider careful use of your MAG as these abilities can make or break setups.

[@OneColdRepublican]

I can't believe how wild last episode got. Grius said it was Vandam Time and jumped at Louis giving him a mortal blow. Unfortunately he did take the brunt of the old Kings Magic and is probably going to be out for a majority of this adventure, but holy cow did he leave on helluva impression on that bastard prince. YOU GO OLD MAN!!!!

[@azizhm3829]

I cried when the protagonist said "MY NAME IS METAPHOR REFANTAZIO". Peak fiction ngl

[@Oryips]

John Metaphor

[@MementoMortis21]

53:16, I don't know if you noticed, Nico, but Atlus FINALLY added the much needed quality of life improvement by showing you how close you are to ranking up your Royal Virtues, as the "arrow" tip actually inched upwards! I am so glad they got around to doing that, and hopefully they continue with it in their future RPGs, as previously it was incredibly annoying to never know exactly how close you were to upgrading your social stats.

[@TheViolet911]

The main dungeons can be done on the first day. Reccomended, actually, because they block the progression of your bonds with party members. But there are certain times throughout the story where those main dungeon quests do not block the progression of party member bonds! Surprisingly! Thats when I consider other activities such as bonds, raising virtues, and other side dungeons to be a good use of time for preparation before doing the main objectives. Trust me, I've repeated the first two months in-game just to know what's optimal for time. I was 3, some 4, in all my virtues before the third main quest ended. 😅

[@finnmchugh99]

Yeah... also, you can grind them to help get lvl ups in archetypes...tho personally it's better to grind using side-quest dungeons over main dungeons but it's recommended for both types to try and completely clear them of any chests, items etc... There is one exception to this rule and it's a dungeon I hate but won't spoil obviously

[@DanielPereira-ey9nt]

Fun Fact: in the Japanese version rather than entrusting the party with "his Highness and Maria's home" Grius says "his Highness and this country Maria lives in". I think thiw shines a bit more light into his motivations, he was fighting to make a country where his little girl could be happy

[@lautaro.O.L.]

Nico, I'm saying it just in case, don't forget to have someone equip the Healer Archetype for More's quest, don't know if it's in the main character or in someone else, but I highly recommend it

[@finnmchugh99]

I think it needs to be lvl 10 on the MCs Healer. Also that archetype is helpful imo early on

[@kjdj9976]

It works for anyone in the party

[@ninjaydes]

15:40 Still not as fast as Kite rushing to say hi to Juniper in XC3.

[@KaoRYuusha]

Synthesis skills mechanic is carried over from past MegaTen game called Digital Devil Saga, called Combo Skills which works the exact same way as this one. I'm glad it made a return in this game.

[@TlocRevelc]

Hey Nico, here is a fun tip for the knight class. Set whoever is on the knight to the back row if you dont plan on attacking with them. Once in the back row, use knights proclamation to aggro any single target attack whether phys or magic. This strategy works very well against enemies you know will spam exclusively phys attacks, such as the guptauros, as it will draw all single target attacks. Plus, phys attacks have drastically weakened power when targeting the back row so you take significantly less damage in doing this meaning you spend less time healing. This strat can work against single target magic as well, but keep in mind that magic is not bound by the row penalty debuff. On a side note, moving everyone to the back row is a good defensive option when you have doubts. Side note: The main story dungeons are almost a copy and paste of persona palaces in which it will not skip to the deadline if you beat them early

[@ScorbunGame]

Hulkanburg's awakening made my jaw hit the floor when I saw it. This scene showed such a massive improvement in ATLUS'S cutscene cinematography that to me it's now the standard of what I expect from their more big budget games.

[@ZenoKnightShade]

Yeah, Belega corridor catches more than a few people. The Goborns aren’t shit, but the damn Guptauros is basically an iron wall at this level. You’re kinda intended to do it AFTER the main story, but somehow (as is practically tradition) you managed to brute force your way through it. Little note for future reference though. There are a handful of tower based dungeons. Those DO have something further after you clear the boss at the end.

[@Mathamus1]

The informant advised me to do it after the the main dungeon so I did it after the main dungeon. glad I did that.

[@finnmchugh99]

It doesnt help that the Goborns do that sneak attack behind pillars n stuff.

[@CelestialAgony829]

It must've been nutty to work on this game during Shinzo Abe's assassination.

[@crazybagel9979]

Hulkenburg: MY NAME……..IS HULKENBURG!!! *Hulkenburg transforms into a giant muscular red woman* Hulkenburg: HULKENBURH SMASH!!! *She goes on a rampage and starts destroying everything* Bizzle: Wow……. That’s pretty hot. Strohl: What? Bizzle: What?

[@GrayFieldIon]

What?

[@RosyMiranto]

Auw... I thought she transforms into an F1 Car :(

[@betwixt0008]

Don't worry Nico, the deadlines in this game function like Persona. Without spoiling it, whenever you have a certain amount of days to complete a mission, doing the dungeon in one day doesn't advance the story immediately, and you get the rest of the days to do side quests and spend time with your followers. Just like Persona, it's recommended to do the dungeons immediately. With the Mage class, it's fairly easy to conserve MP and beat them in one day, too.

[@hypercube1955]

That last part is only half true. The game will tell you at several points that it might be wise to work on quests and level up *before* venturing into the dungeon, sometimes even strongly recommending it. What is true is that some activities only unlock after beating the dungeon. However, not having access to these activities won't really cost you time in the end; you're just doing them later than possible.

[@PhantomVizor777]

I love the awakening scenes so much. Especially the music that plays during them.

[@insomniacnerd5592]

In this house, we stan big elf lady.

[@destinydivided8689]

She's not fat

[@rosietales]

@@destinydivided8689 She's tall and has a grandious aura.

[@PatrickkT]

One thing that really helps with fights are items that deal elemental damage to enemies. They do a decent amount of damage and allow you to hit a enemies weakness even if you don't have anything that could do it normally. They also deal a set amount of damage which would have been very useful against the minotaur since the most first damage one does 100. Even when i was level 40-50 i still found myself using them since every little bit helps, especially on hard mode and when your doing a run where you don't spend any of your stat level ups. (wish Regicide was useable from the start)

[@insomniacnerd5592]

Hulkenberg IS the defensive lynchpin of the team, from my experience. She rarely went off the team. Everyone else did the damage while she took enemy turns by blocking attacks, and then debuffed their defense otherwise. She doesn’t hit particularly hard, but she’s very valuable.

[@NockNox]

Something interesting about the royal virtues chart, is that as the gold colored bars fill up, it looks like the protagonist is wearing a crown. Literally growing into becoming more kingly!

[@dakotasan8719]

So fun fact Nico, the man who sings that chant during the battle music is actually the head Priest at Myojoji Temple.

[@hjt091]

The joke: a friendly tooth monster that gives you useful advice - it's a wisdom tooth

[@iaut2laff]

So I want to say something about the combat that many would overlook. The basic attacks are incredible! Every party member (yes even Mr death flag himself) will attack with their own combat style no matter the weapon they have at the time. The protagonist is generally good with all weapons (what a shock), Strohl will use any weapon as if he is weilding a bastardsword (I love seeing him swing a wand like its just a club lol), and Hulkenburg weilds anything like it is nothing more than a dagger to her, the reason being that her tribe's females are said to have super strength. As you go on I highly recommend testing how the growing party and archetypes play with each other! They put way to much effort into just the basic attack...

[@KeeperOfUntoldDreams]

If you have the MAG, I'd recommend unlocking every Archetype you can for every character. And you will need the Healer, or at least Hama, in the Cathedral.

[@TruthTrald]

As someone who has finished this game multiple times I can say with certainty that there is no downside to finishing the "Main Dungeons" first actually it could be considered recommended as some followers "Party Members" will not continue their events until it is done for example I have noticed that in this first dungeon you cannot continue with Strol or Hulkenburg until the Dungeon is finished

[@Gestrid]

10:35 _game shows the dungeon entrance_ _Backside of the TV intensifies_

[@jackratscratpack9323]

Reason why people gravitate so much to Lois is cause they are the lower class they belive louis will actually bring them equality and not be a stepping stool for nobility and the church

[@jack04man20]

Yeah in a world with so much uncertainty the simple rule of might equals right is not only reassuring, but appealing to people.

[@joelsasmad]

It was also established that he is a proven military genius that has been protecting them from the Humans. He then hams this angle up with bringing in the Human corpse and reporting the destruction of a military unit by a human(even though he caused it). People scared of the Human threat will turn to the one able to protect them, even if he is literally a treasonous criminal.

[@Official_RetroMania]

Exactly what you and the other 2 comments have already said. Louis is telling the public what they want to hear, it can be true or false it doesn't matter and like most politicians he is obviously corrupt, ironic isn't it and the funny thing is people believe Forden is better lol. Forden is also a metaphor to our real world, he is the corrupted religious guy, you are picking between aids and cancer, enjoy.

[@destinydivided8689]

​@@joelsasmadHow do you know Louie cause a hoomahn to attack a fort?

[@Bivizzle]

@@destinydivided8689because the captain in charge of the mission intentionally lead the new recruits to their deaths by the human. He also tried to make sure there were no survivors

[@Zribuieb]

It's safe to do the main story dungeons in one day. Time won't skip forward to the deadline once completed, so you'll have the time to focus on your activities/followers. Whether to finish them early or later is up to you, although earlier is always better.

[@colt1903]

Damn... I mean, I was thinking it when he lept into the air last episode but after what his zombie did this episode... Grius was really holding out on us, wasn't he?😂

[@katzewerfer63]

The three things you always have to watch out for when dealing with necromancers Raising an undead army Raising a former friend Hickies

[@ubermenschen01]

I've seen people complain about the cutscenes in this game that use 3d models, like Hulkenberg's awakening. TV anime in particular has a problem balancing dramatic tension and character's talking, aka "Why aren't they just standing around talking instead of doing something to the bad guy?" This game handles it well, IMO, by leaning into the cutscenes not being "real", but instead "theatrical". They'll compose a scene where the camera angle is very wide, and the characters are in a flat plane, like watching a stage play. Think Strohl and Klinger in the mines, shouting their challenge at each other, charged with power. They will have characters move or do things that aren't "realistic", but instead to add dramatic tension or interest. Think Forden and Louis facing each other at the funeral. They're far apart, the camera cuts to their faces: facing left, facing right, facing left, the mood is tense, and suddenly Louis is back-to-back with Forden, still facing right. "Shall we test, then?" Or Louis constantly emoting with his body during his speech: sweeping his arms wide, then bringing them close, never repeating the same motion twice. In short, cinema....tography.

[@Vinylmelody1517]

Healing is calculated by a combination of the magic star and weapon str. So healing, even with weak healing spells, can heal a lot if the one using it strong enough

[@rosietales]

Funny how Nico played like I was at first and I was struggling so I went back, did the main quest and then this dungeon and went through with flying colours. You do level up a lot in the main quest plus the skills you're able to inherit do help with this. But like always, brute force still works lol

[@mastermindmonokuma]

Funny you mention it Nico, the NPCs DO REACT to you riding your sword, around some of them manifest speech bubbles in the corner if you take it out near them.

[@finnmchugh99]

A small tip for dungeons, if you're low on MP, swap to the Mage archetype and when you use the overworld attacks to stun break or kill enemies (latter for the blue outline enemies) you get MP back to the whole party for each enemy beaten this way. It helps when some enemies respawn after a while...its one way to grind for levels too if you have the time.

[@Mathamus1]

34:55 Gallica: what do you have agains sleep? More: Well before plateau , there used to be this other strange cat here named morgana...

[@colt1903]

Remember Nico, this game is more SMT than Persona. That means Buffs Are King.

[@pedroH01]

Hey Nico, now that you unlocked your first "damage blocking" skill, here is a tip for you to remember: As typical SMT press turn system, having an attack nullified consumes more press turns for both allies AND enemies, so actually having a defensive strategy is a good idea in theses games, different from the Persona series, where we usually just marakukaja and call it a day. Now, early game is not really necessary to worry about that, but I decided to give this tip now so maybe you can experiment a bit, but of course, this is your game, you play how you want. Regardless of what you do, this will be an entertaining series all the same.

[@Rixec2]

Poor Grius, losing his life and then being used by a twisted necromancer.

[@acaudill06]

Yeah, them eating around the table and talking to your party members reminds me of Grandia as well. I would be so happy if you did a stream of Geandia like you did with Legend of Dragoon!

[@LianteakaLia]

Remember you can lock onto enemies in a dungeon. (L1 on a PS controller, not sure if it's the same on an X-box one). Doing so will make your character dash towards the enemy really quickly and then dash towards the next closest one. It makes clearing out large group of weak enemies super fast. And it's also really convenient for quickly getting behind a stronger enemy to break their guard more easily. :)

[@DoktorWieg]

One thing I noticed about how enemy respawns in dungeons : it seems to be time-based. The timer is a bit long though so that might be why going to Akademia made them respawn as I suspect you did some study and unlocking skills. I'm not 100% certain if time in battle counts however but it seems that any non-battle time passing will lead to enemies respawning.

[@gintamaenthusiast04]

yeah its like persona you still can use your free days after completing a main dungeon, its not wasted days unless you take too many days completing a dungeon

[@1408alejandro1408]

For that boss I used the Knight's Synthesis, since you know weak to pierce, while also lowering his defense, you can triple stack the debuff and then you do real damage

[@ChronoEclipse]

No, I recommend building progress in the dungeon because it's a relatively long first dungeon so you'll be making trips back and fourth especially since MP is sparse in terms of MP recovery items, however, doing sidequests are important too since they build your Royal Virtues as well and you'll need them for a lot of follower related stuff, Metaphor puts the literal saying "Balance of your time" to a T, but after you complete the main dungeon (if you complete it early) you'll still be able to do other stuff like build up virtues or pick up any more quests and increase the bond of followers

[@QuizMasterEntertainment]

I love how the game has the personal formula without really feeling like the persona formula.

[@ajbXYZcool]

One guy... That becomes 4? He's actually 4 blokes?!?!

[@banditle6458]

Hulkenburg: MY NAME IS...!! Me: Is it steve?

[@mikkyasara5438]

Hulkenberg about to crash the enemies like the Hindenburg

[@blackdragoncyrus]

"That boy doesn't have horns or long ears! Get him!"

[@krasherom]

Glad it wasn't just my imagination that the dungeon was strangely tough. I had to even delay beating it till I was at a later point in my first run.

[@Vinylmelody1517]

Something interesting is that luck effects the number of times attacks like slicer do. High luck means higher chances of getting all 5 hits. High luck and str builds can go nuts with this.

[@Kimo-Cyrus]

Fun fact about synthesis, its a mechanic from another atlus game called digital devil saga and works basically the same but relied on having specific skills rather than classes and im pretty sure it didn't make your press turns flash when you hit a weakness/crit like it does here (its been awhile) Something you should decided earlier rather than later is if you want to build your MC for physical or magic and go all in on that stat. In smt (the closet comparison for gameplay) physical is usually better late game while magic is better early on. Both are valid in metaphor but im a strength gang guy so thats what i recommend but thats up to you. (Also just because you build physical doesn't mean you cant hit elemental weakness, as you can see by the physical light attack seeker has) Just wanted to share my strategy because its fun, for the boss here i went double knight and 1 warrior and spammed jump thrust until it died (also that thing was like 10 lvl higher then you)

[@nicolefz92]

✨Awesome ✨ Corpse Party 2: Darkness Distortion

[@kmaster57]

So now that we are introduced to the synthesis. A cool tip is the set up of teams in this game. With synthesis, you can mix and match your team to generate variety of synthesis skills. You can even make a monoteam to generate strong synthesis move (like metorphor for three mages) Speaking of mono team, there are some skills in this game that make mono team archetypes pretty good. For instance, the heat up skill can be good for a mono warrior team. If equip to three party members who have the same warrior class, the attack power buffs to 20% (could be wrong about the percent but you get the point). And those skills can be moved to other classes. So you can heat up on three seekers and still have the same effect. So something to consider. It’s really cool once you see how the archetype and battle system work in this game

[@tebeakim3670]

Nice, Eiselin Burchelli Meijal Hulkenberg joined official the party and is the "knight". ^_^ She is a great person and I like her already. (It is a bit confusing that she is called by her last name instead by her first, but it is ok, too... we get used to it. ^^) So the necromancer resurrected Grius and used him to fight the main group (it looks kind of like resurrection jutsu/Edo Tensei from Naruto). It was cruel and sad, but he also could said his final words/wish to them, too. It seems that his power as the mage returned back to the protagonist waiting for another follower later, I guess. This game is very similar to the Persona series with all that awakening, power, social links/points and requests stuff and has some special thematics, too, especially race/racists and reputations. It is cool that your popularity goes higher when you help someone and taking requests, so that your race does not matter anymore and hopefully the Elda will earn more respect and someday all races are equal (jjust like in the book of the prince). ;-)

[@NockNox]

In regards to the deadlines, if you finish the main quest with days to spare, then you will still have those days to use. It will be just waiting for the next story bit to come up. All story events are on set days so in the end, everyone will get the same events on the same days

[@patriciaholt4964]

Although we only saw him briefly, the necromancer guy who works under Louis, Zorba is his name, he is a Halfblood like Maria. He's half Clemar and Mustari (the people that wears masks on their faces). You can tell he a Halfblood because he has one horn, and a third eye that doesn't open on his forehead. Actually, you can get a peak of him in the cutscene where Grius describes Louis to us for the first time. His silhouette, along with a few others, is in the background, behind Louis, and is somewhat visible if the brightness is high enough.

[@tylergaudry8050]

17:20 so hulkenberg is using her heart as a microphone just like strohl

[@creepercraftguy5326]

7:00 I’m fairly sure that in the previous cutscene, one of the crowd members called Louis a “Kingslayer,” so I think they all did hear him. The way I see it, Louis killing Grius was the deciding factor for his “popularity” because people are now afraid that if they don’t back him, Louis will kill them. There’s no way they can fight back, because Louis already demonstrated that he can kill Human’s, and that he’s now protected by the king’s magic. With that being said, there is still an element of devotion from some people and it’s not hard to see why. I think makes Louis such an interesting villain right off rip is that while we haven’t seen much of him so far, he’s never actually tried to obscure what he believes or what he’s done. He outwardly chastised the king’s sovereignty in a way that’s honestly kind of fair. He’s not afraid to garner attention by words or by force, killed Grius in front of everyone despite there being potential consequences, and at no point, even before he admits to it, does he ever deny that he killed the king. I’m sure he wouldn’t deny his plot to send a bunch of soldiers off to die either, because the point he was trying to make was that Humans are dangerous and the people need him to protect them from him. And…they are, and that massacre proves that point. Also, a big part of his motive to become king is to abolish the rampant racism we’ve seen thus far, which we all know is a problem.

[@KuroMochiKimchi]

Hey nico, I'm sure most people have told you but completing the dungeon in no way will make you lose time in this game. Every point of the game even when it might feel like it might, won't skip days and the dungeons themselves are a bit stand alone as you saw that this side quest brought you to a different area rather than say "Oh yeah can you go in the dungeon and find "x" for me?" So there is rarely going to be a moment where you have to visit the same place twice. Also yes going to academia, a safe room or the entrance of the dungeon will re-spawn all enemies on the map minus the ones that are un-respawnable. Things such as the glowing orbs, spawners, unique-ish enemies will just disappear forever.

[@fireballdragon21]

An aloof, red-haired woman of a prominent upbringing wielding an otherworldly power to fight evil alongside a blue-haired young boy and a white-haired powerhouse of a man... Why does that sound familiar?

[@creepercraftguy5326]

Don’t know what you’re talking about 😚

[@creepercraftguy5326]

Don’t know what you’re talking about 😚

[@EmilyGamerGirl]

"How could they vote for him, are they out of their mind" . . . well, certainly reflects real life....

[@Gestrid]

1:29:54 "Most of the other guys aren't that bad." Nico, by the time you tackle this dungeon, you're supposed to be high enough level to kill many of the grouped up enemies in the overworld (like that group that was just dancing in a circle) in a single hit without ever entering turn-based combat.

[@mastermindmonokuma]

the tutorial that says you can unlock archetypes through quests is a bit deceptive its technically true but those quests also unlock a bond with a follower and therefore a new archetype.

[@franknova987]

The dialogue in this game can be goofy and enjoyable, especially when the VA going full on or having to double take their dialogues

[@Triforce_of_Doom]

to answer the question from the end of the part, beating the story dungeon does NOT automatically advance the calendar. Think of it like Persona where you just free your time up to do all sorts of things. I do recommend that for future dungeons you at least do some sidequests beforehand because some of the fights in the dungeons can kick your ass if you go in immediately & the archetypes/gear you get from those quests can really help. I say future since you already took care of this big early side dungeon.

[@markramiro4354]

Nicob doubting heat up.. Me: me having a have a 4 same lineage team with heat up

[@NotaStalker1000]

Oh this reminds me! While some of the blurbs in the top left are unvoiced, they *are* saved into the log. So check the Text History to see what you missed!

[@Ardith50]

When increasing your social stats, your responses affect how many points you get.

[@PichuStardust]

I always love how this videos brighten my day 😊

[@EternalFireLynx]

I half-expected the awakening theme from Persona 5 to start during these scenes.

[@destinydivided8689]

I don't blame you, both are too dam good

[@wjamesmci]

So Nico didn't show it but one small thing that impressed me was when you save in dungeons gallica says "He says hes finished saving your progress" which for people like me that are like "Did it save ok?" And resave to be sure. This small feature is a god send. Haha

[@Vinylmelody1517]

Certain enemies do not respawn u less u leave a dungeon entirely. Some enemies can be reloaded by visiting akademia or going to the entrance but these are usually only the weakest enemies.

[@chrisjohnsen8448]

Party member bonds can't be ranked up further until you clear the first dungeon completely, so that is something. Also, this first dungeon is obscenely long so it might take more than one day anyways.

[@levito53]

I'd say doing the dungeons early rather than later is better in this case, since in some cases you only unlock certain followers after clearing the story dungeon of the area. Oh and another hint: Don't cook until later on, trust me.

[@soulwrite5963]

The elemental orbs are like the magitama of this game, they give a ton of A exp and magla, here's a tip they're weak to the element that is strong against the color they are. The blue ones for example are weak against fire.

[@Christian_Kim]

Just like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, we lost our Vandham, but enters our new OP female party member!

[@Mathamus1]

I was wondering why the rouisante tribes(the one with the elf ears) were known for their strenghth out of all tribes. Untill I looked at a horse model and saw they had the same ears. With that it seems that at least alot of the tribes we have met so far seem to be based on animals: Clemar - goats rouissante - horse Paripus - Dogs Ishika - birds Rhoag - Turtles???(they live longer) not discussing the other tribes yet, because I don't want to spoil. but wondering if anyone knows if their is an intentional animal motive for every tribe.

[@LarryButz]

…Shake Zula, the mic rulah The old schoolah, you wanna trip? I'll bring it to ya (Raw) Frylock and I'm on top, rock ya like a cop, Meatwad you're up next, with your knock knock Meatwad make the money, see Meatwad get the honies, G' Drivin' in my car, livin' like a star Ice on my fingers and my toes and I'm a Taurus Ha-ha, check it Uh, check-check it, yeah 'Cause we are the Aqua Teens Make the homies say, "ho," and the girlies wanna scream 'Cause we are the Aqua Teens Make the homies say, "ho," and the girlies wanna scream Yeah Aqua Teen Hunger Force Number one in the hood, G' - Hulkenberg, totally.