#akademia (game) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thatfrenchacademic · 1 year ago

Text

Justice as spectacle in Fontaine, or a too long word vomit from a tired PhD in Law gushing over Genshin 4.0

Alternative title: “Justice must be seen to be done”, a visual playbook by Genshin 4.0

Intro: This is a valid use of a PhD in law, actually.

I made the mistake of playing the 4.0 update of Genshin while I was finalizing my PhD in law and politics, and the result was my brain refuse to think about anything else than judicial performativity and the use judicial spectacle in Fontaine. So time to make good use of 9 years of University by dissecting why I absolutely love how Fontaine’s justice system is presented. It was initially much longer and covering why justice as a spectacle is not necessarily an issue or sign of a disfunctionning legal system, then what exactly about the Fontainian justice system is actually fucked up, but it got too long so I’m keeping that for the indeterminate future. So the pitch of this thing is: Mihoyo is basically providing us with an animated First Person POV game version of legal ethnographic works on justice and the courthouse, and it is really cool.

And since I am a nerd with both too much time to read and to play, we are making this a proper academic, with literature and all, because listen to me, LEGAL ACADEMICA IS COOL, ACTUALLY, and law and literature at large is a genuine field of study that we, as a society, need to talk about more.

[also there is non-zero chance that I edit this brainrot and submit it for publication at some point]

Warning: I am basing this on 4.0, up to and including Act IV Chapter II (hence no discussion of the prison system) and if Mihoyo thwarts the whole thing with 4.1 [oops I am late so now 4.2, since 4.1 did not thwart it] then let’s do what we do when new results contradict existing theories in academia and just collectively agree to ignore it.

TL;DR: Someone at Mihoyo read Simonett’s 1966 essay on The Trial as One of the Performing Arts [Here, just read it, it is fascinating] and decided to make it everyone’s problem

Part 0: if this was not Tumblr.com I would make a recap explaining broadly what Genshin and Fontaine are but since you are reading this I’m going to assume you already know the context.

Part 1: Ok so how does the Fontanian Justice system work, exactly?

Alright, so each area of Teyvat has 1) one core theme/value and 2)a threat to that core theme/value.

Mondstadt has Freedom and people living in fear of a dragon.

Liyue has Contracts/order and the pandemonium of having Rex Lapis killed.

Inazuma has Eternity and being virtually frozen in time.

Sumeru has Knowledge and being entirely manipulated by the Akademia.

Fontaine has Justice and… Justice being parodied into a spectacle?

WRONG.

Because the spectacle of justice, especially the way it is done in Fontaine, is not antithetic to Justice itself. Spectacle is part and parcel of Justice and of any courthouse. Sure, all the dials are turned to 11 and y’know, it is legit called an Opera, but that is more the writers being a bit on the nose and adding drama for the player. The spectacle of Justice, itself, is not that far off from reality. And, hot take but bear with me: it is not (necessarily) a problem.

Ok, let’s dive into what we know of the justice system in Fontaine.

Broadly speaking, we have seen the criminal justice system, and it is an accusatorial, or adversarial model. It’s the US-style criminal procedure: you have a defendant trying to prove that they didn’t do it your honor, and a prosecutor proving that they totally did it your honor. To avoid this becoming a fistfight, you have a strict procedure to follow outside but especially inside the Court, and in the end, a neutral third party decides on the outcome or the trial.

Ok, now let’s zoom on a few things, and why the theatrics of them are actually very common.

Furina, our cringefail darling, is the prosecutor. And they get a lot of stuff right regarding the role of the prosecutor! She decides whether or not to prosecute, based on the information that she has, and whether she likes her odds or not. Fittingly since she is the Archon, the prosecutor in a trial represents the State, the interest of the State (the judge ! does ! not!). It makes sense that Furina, the ruler (theoretically) would be prosecutor and not judge. Moreover, and as we see plenty of times during the trials, Prosecutor Furina is not concerned with the victim, and not even necessarily with the truth; the prosecutor wants to know how likely they are to obtain a conviction in the end. Her job is to be convincing enough to establish a legal truth.

Neuvillette, for his part, sometimes look terribly powerless… but friends, that is what a Judge sitting during a criminal case often is. The first part of his job is to find sufficient information for the prosecution to decide whether or not to prosecute; he is supposed to be entirely neutral at this stage. He kickstarted the investigation straight after the death of Cowell, and was also the one starting investigation on Vaughn right after Lyney is proved innocent. He gathers enough evidence, hands them over to Furina and asks “So? Are you game or do you want to leave that alone?”

And once the prosecutor has decided to move forward with prosecuting, his job is to make the procedure move along, take some decisions based on new information, ensure all respect the rules (hence Childe’s immediate smackdown when he starts to act out a bit too much at the end. My man is here to make sure the rules are enforced and that also applies to Snezhnayan gremlins). In the liminal space of the courthouse, he is the supreme authority… over the procedure. He can tell anyone, including Furina, to stfu k thx. He starts and stops the trial. He allows witnesses to be heard or not.

And the last party involved at this point is the defense, usually the Traveler and any adorable twink we befriended that day [good for you, Traveler, good for you]. They present evidence, they have to be convincing, it’s basically Ace Attorney, we know that part.

Part 2: Mihoyo makes it clear that we are all actors in the Courtroom

Ok, first moment of pause.

Even though these are the most basic parts of a criminal trial, they are ALREADY steeped in drama and theatrics, both IRL and in Fontaine.

First off, Furina plays a prosecutor, Neuvillette plays a judge and the Traveller plays the lawyer.

No but really: they play their role in the Courthouse.

The game painstakingly presents Furina for the first time not as a prosecutor in a courthouse but as a cringefail princess. When we see her initially welcoming the Traveller, going “Fight Me” at them in the streets of Fontaine, she is not a prosecutor, she is just Furina the cringefail princess. We meet Furina as Furina, and later on only, we see her with her Prosecutor face. Furina is not a prosecutor, outside of the Courthouse.

I don’t even have to explain how much Traveler plays lawyer. We are, and I cannot stress it enough, NOT lawyers (yes, even you who developed an unhealthy obsession with Ace Attorney before Genshin). The developers even took the time to develop an entire new gameplay to really, really highlight that is a behavior that the Traveler can only have in the Courthouse. Traveler is not a lawyer outside of the courthouse.

Neuvillette is a bit of a special case. We do meet him for the first time in the Courthouse, as a Judge. But once again, the moment we meet him outside of the courthouse, he is much more approachable, definitely not the same persona as when he bitchslapped my problematic Harbinger into the Meropides prison [we are so going to write something about the Meropides prison once I have played enough 4.1 my friends – update post 4.1: ok Mihoyo that was weak commentary on the privatization of prison and prison labour but I’ll take it]. Neuvillette is probably the one that is the most associated with his courthouse persona, but there is still this gap between Neuvillette-Judge and Neuvillette-reflecting-in-the-end-of-Chapter-II.

So everyone is just themselves in their daily life, but there is something about a Courthouse that turns people into their judicial role. That’s what we call the liminality of the courthouse (Hadar, 1999). And it exists IRL, in a way shockingly close to what we see in the Opera Epiclese.

Magistrates, whether prosecutors or judges, do not act in their own names, they have a role to play. Someone woke up that morning, had breakfast, swore at the neighbour who did not park properly again, spilled some coffee on their documents again ffs, stumbled a bit on the little steps leading to the courthouse, and then, they put on their costume and started to play the role of the judge. As someone who has been in what can only be referred to as “backstage” of a court , and entered the courthouse with the magistrates, I cannot stress enough how drastic the shift in person is the moment a magistrate steps into the space of the trial room.

From there on, they are a Role. Furina, like any prosecutor, is not a prosecutor, until they are The Prosecutor, and then they are not themselves anymore, in the enclosed space of the courthouse. Have you ever seen a lawyer talk in their daily life the way to talk in a courthouse? No. Someone is just some person, until their put on the robe and their Lawyer Face and start their Lawyer Movement and Lawyer Tone. Traveler cannot go all OBJECTION when they have a disagreement with a random shopkeeper in Teyvat. The game doesn’t even give you the option – because you are not lawyer, unless you are in the court. None actually plays a lawyer, unless they are in the courthouse.

And an adversarial model encourages this. You have character, but for it to be a play, or an opera, you need a narrative (murder, ok, that will kickstart a narrative) and you need dramatic tension. Drama is created by the opposition of two characters having opposite goals, confronting each other. Simonett, a former Minessotta Supreme Court Judge, has a fascinating article called “The Trial as One of the Performing Art”, which really ecapsulates how an adversarial system is built on this drama:

‘The trial has a protagonist, and antagnonist, a proscenium and an audience, a story to be told and a problem to be resolved, all usually in three acts”.

More than an inquisitory model (hello, fellow continental Europeans), parties are encouraged to bounce off each other, take initiative, undermine and interact with each other. US courthouse TV shows loooove that, and Genshin absolutely leaned into that. The potential for drama was so strong and intrinsic to the story that For the first time, we got to play a character that was not even with the traveler: Traveler was off investigating, and we played Navia in the courthouse, because the sheer drama of being in the courthouse is too good for the game to pass.

Do you see it yet? Here is more. A judicial role is a role. IRL, a lot of it is emphasized by the robes -the - sometimes complete with wigs and accessories- that judges and magistrates must wear before entering the space of the courthouse. You put them on like you put on a costume -defendant, prosecution, judge and even audience alike (Cabatingan, 2018), there is a ritual of preparing for the performance of a trial the way you prepare for a play. Genshin characters cannot change their clothes [give us a proper fancy-af-judge-robe for Neuvilette Mihoyo you COWARDS], so the game does all it can to realllllyy show you a separation between the judicial role and the actor playing I in the courthouse.

Part 3: Game designers said yes this an Opera and a Courthouse because these are the same thing and they are right

[The urge to include Foucault in this section, but I do not have Discipline and Punish with me rn, rip]

Ok, ok, why not. But what about the stuff that is not in your random courthouse, like a damn AUDIENCE and the fact that it takes place in an actual OPERA ?

Aight, we gotta dive a bit deeper into two things: the role of audience in the judicial spectacular, and studies on legal architecture/judicial space. I told you legal research was cool.

Let’s start with the most obvious one: architecture.

The architecture of Courthouse is actually really important for the delivery of justice. The building embodies the task itself, and targets evert single person that interacts with the building in any way? It matters specifically because we take it for granted, that this this is just a building, that there cannot be more to it. Or: “Law in its everydayness, banks on the usage of visual means of representation, for they seem to lack artifice, and thus enjoy high persuasiveness” (Kumar, 2017, also this is a study on the architecture of the Indian Supreme court and it is so good). But thi is, of course, on purpose.

My friends, your local courthouse looks like an opera. Recently, I went to a play which was entirely a trial, and they barely had to do anything to set-up the scene because… the opera looks like a courthouse, and vice versa. Fontaine’s Opera Epiclese is this on steroid, and also actually used for entertainment like the magic shows, but its architecture and structure are so close to a proper courthouse that once you see it you cannot unsee it. Not matter how different they might look from each other, all, ALL courtroom have the same setup:

Judges on an elevated position compared to all other parties : Neuvillette absolutely kills it here [my man is placed so high up I was close to writing something about the religiosity of justice.]

Prosecution and accused on two opposite sides, virtually separated by the judge, even putting the defendant in their own little liminal space in the liminal space (Zoettl, 2016, Mulcahy, 2007)

Audience space and trial space clearly separated, with interdiction for the audience to enter the trial space

Audience space allowing to clearly see all angles of the trial space

The architecture of courthouse is strikingly similar to that of an opera’s, both in its spatial organization and its grandiose. The entire building is an opera, not just the ground of the stage. You even have a lobby, the space right in the Opera but not the courtroom, which is very similar to the space where people mingle during the interlude at the Opera – the social settings were many legal negotiations happen (Hansen, 2008)

[Fun fact: I am pretty sure the design of the audience space of the Opera Epiclese was inspired by two Parisian Opera houses: the Théâtre de la Comédie Française et the Théâtre du Châtelet. The stage itself is almost more church-like ; I am curious if anyone knows what the inspiration for the “outside building” actually was, for the Opera Epiclese?]

Eltringham (2012) has some really cool writings about the architecture, and people interact with the structure of courts (in his case, the International Criminal for Rwanda) and how all these features contribute to making the courthouse this liminal space where people can play their role, whether they realise it or not.

But, Almost-doctor, I hear you say, what about the spectacle ?! The audience enjoying the show ?!

Ah, yes. The audience. Just as with an Opera, the audience and the actors enter through differentiated means (the “segregation of circulatory systems”), all with their own point of access to the stage or the seats, and never the two shall meet. It is so important to a court system that you will find this feature highlighted by the architects that renovated the Bordeaux Courthouse and the US courthouse design and planning guide [These are just fun and striking illustration I stumbled on while writing this, you can find dozens of others from any given country]. These differentiated access path help reinforce the liminality of the courthouse not just for the actors, but for us, the audience as well.

You could even agree, with Garapon, that the audience itself is “playing” the audience, in the Courthouse (go read Garapon’s 2004 book, if you read French, it’s so good I swear and like it fueled 90% of whatever this word vomit is)). You are not really yourself, you have new, liminal role of spectator. A trial has a “need for a public”, even a silent one. “'Performance always intends an audience”, for Kapferere. and we can indeed talk about a Performance of Justice, when talking about how justice unfolds in the courthouse, especially in a criminal trial (Sausdal and Lohne, 2021).

The audience is an inherent part of the spectacle of justice – because is there a spectacle if there I no audience? If comedians perform a play with no audience, did it really happen? In the words of our own European Court of Human Rights (I am quoting the ECtHR on Tumblr.com, what is life): “Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done” (Delcourt v Belgium, 1970). For Garfinkel “Legal rituals ... depend on the outside witness to confer on them not only recognition but validity” (Garfinkel, 1956);

Or, to put it more eloquently: “The need for the presence of a validating public at trials is enshrined in many constitutions and built into the very fabric of court complexes throughout the world. (…) Tthe court as a whole requires its reflection in the bodies of validating witnesses in order that this created place will bring sufficient gravity to itself.” (Eltringham 2012).

If a courthouse was just about the truth, or the parties involved reaching an agreement on what the truth is, there would be no need for the theatrics. We could handle a trial in a meeting group like problem-solving session in any run-of-the-mill company. Put everyone around the table, have a moderator, have a decider. That actually exist, it’s called arbitration, and you may have never heard of it despite the absolutely enormous amount of money that are involved (we are talking literal Billions of dollars every year, here), because the whole point is that it is discrete and confidential. But that is not how trials are, anywhere. It does exist though. It is called private arbitration, a form of private justice that focuses on problem-solving, expediency and secrecy, often because my friends, it involves big names and big money.

But justice? My friend, it needs to be a spectacle. It needs an Opera. Because this is how it gains sociological legitimacy, and it needs sociological legitimacy to function. By having an audience, it gains transparency and accountability.

Conclusion: teaser on why the spectacle of justice is not necessarily always totally bad, but also I am too tired to fully argue that.

Now, you might that it’s a bad idea. That what Genshin is doing is denouncing this inherently spectacular aspect of Justice, that there is something inherently wrong in justice being public and publicized for the gain of legitimacy, and sure, spectacular justice can become a parody of justice or a manipulation of justice and this has happened many times in history. And yes, you could go for that (although show trials have typically been at the service of an authoritarian regime in a transition phase, rising or declining, and target political opponents, which we do not see in Fontaine) but… I have another take for you.

Justice being a spectacle is not… inherently bad.

Hear me out. Making justice into a spectacle does not have to affect its outcome. The presence of a public does not change the course of a play.

Spectacular justice brings elements of entertainment such as narrative fulfillment and catharsis. That is clearly what Fontainians want: a satisfying end to the story, the truth exposed. Justice as a spectacle help people make sense of their reality, comfort them in knowing that justice does prevail. That the guilty do not go scott-free, that the good guys win, that justice is transparent, that prosecutor need to be able to build a good story to prosecute, and there is no good story is there is not someone who caused harm, and a victim that deserves justice. And, from the information we have so far, this does not seem to lead to miscarriages of justices, or a generally biased justice system. But frankly this is too long already and I just wanted to show that the depiction of the Spectacular in everyday justice is actually present everywhere IRL, and Genshin is just providing a really handy illustration, at this point of the story.

The Fontanian system is fucked, don’t get me wrong, but that’s not about the spectacular on its own. Long story short since it be worth its own word-vomit-style essay, it’s because the jury has been replaced by ChatGPT and there is no civil court, only a criminal court, k bye.

#I have no idea what this is it just would not leave my brain until it was written #genshin impact #tagging genshin bc it is the most relevant #law and literature #Usual followers feel free to ignore #Genshin people: this is NOT my usual content #might fuck around and turn it into something publishable at some point #this is probably still full of typo but I am not proof reading a word vomit that goes on this hellsite

134 notes · View notes

serotonin-dose · 13 days ago

Text

this is incredibly corny but something about the Akademia theme for Metaphor just makes me want to cry.

the gentle singing, with the piano and the strings in the background. and then the swell of instruments that sound like pure victory. fuck, man, video game OSTs are so good

#metaphor refantazio #sero rambles

17 notes · View notes

lilyandthegenshinbrainrot · 11 months ago

Text

Rhinedottir brainrot,,,, So I like a few different headcanons but one that I will live and die by is the idea that Zandik the scholar was inspired by Gold Rhinedottir. He was a student at the Akademia who studied Khaenri'ahn machinery. He wants to force the divine to be equal with humanity, and he is willing to commit insane acts in medicine and alchemy to give humans the same power as a god. Rhinedottir's motives are unclear, but it can be safely estimated that she only cares about the nature of her work. She calls herself a mother, and she also immediately leaves once she has the relic that she was hoping for (the heart of naberius; which is unclear). I think that it would be insanely interesting to have Dottore who was inspired by and admires Rhinedottir in game, because it would add a new layer to the Scaramouche-Albedo comparisons and also allow us to say that there is someone better than Dottore at what he does so he's not as great as he holds himself to be.

#rhinedottir #rhinedottir genshin impact #il dottore #dottore genshin impact #khaenri'ah #genshin impact world building #genshin impact #lily's rambles #half baked fic tag #hc that rhinedottir fucking hates dottore and he adores her like a crazed fan send post #i just really think that'd be funny okay

40 notes · View notes

illegiblewords · 20 days ago

Text

Honestly justice for Lahabrea getting dehumanized both in-universe and by fans on a meta level for how he emotes in response to trauma.

We know he acts weird through the game. We know he genuinely cares about others from ancient times up through the present. He isn't a sadist and he's willing to put himself through hell in order to keep others safe.

People haven't been looking at the expressions and situations when conflict happened between him and Erichthonios with a shred of empathy.

"Oh, Erichthonios was manipulated heavily by his mother. Maybe he took Lahabrea trying to give him tools to protect himself in the maximum security prison as overly critical when the guy just didn't want him to get hurt while he was there."

"Hm. The times we hear Lahabrea actually say something negative to Erichthonios in-game tend to involve Erichthonios assuming the worst of him or being reactive on very personal subjects. I wonder why he might be frustrated or upset about that. I mean he sacrificed his relationship with his son because he thought Erichthonios would be happier with the false memory of his abusive mother than his still-living father. Surely that was what he wanted. Gosh, weird how he explicitly says Hephaistos' deepest desire wasn't to raise himself high but to have his family back. I wonder what that could mean?"

Archaeotania being held at the Words of Lahabrea for study and breaking out despite Lahabrea being present trying to contain it? Couldn't have a thing to do with not wanting that near Erichthonios in Pandaemonium. All those concept statues for Zodiark and emphasis about how the place specializes in phantomology? The creation of protective entities? Just coincidence surely. The NPC outside the dungeon said it was silly to think anyone could be in trouble at Akademia Anyder because Lahabrea never needs help with anything and is infallible. That's not an insane amount of pressure to put someone under. Seeing Lahabrea unable to do something couldn't possibly have ramifications before Zodiark's summoning either. Lahabrea being known to have been self-harming throughout the Ardor with body hopping is just a weird, quirky, evil thing he did. Lahabrea was probably a complete monster and did terrible things to Thancred's body while possessing him because he is a subhuman evil baddie who just does terrible things for the sake of it. Never mind when we catch him in a moment with his guard down at The Waking Sands he's slumped over exhausted and waves you away saying he's just tired. You know in his head he was cackling evilly and taunting Thancred, who he specifically chose to possess because they shared a lot in common and it would be easier.

Lahabrea laughs at inappropriate situations sometimes and struggles to emote at other times, and you know that never happens with trauma. Couldn't be hysteria or dissociation. Couldn't be that he doesn't feel safe expressing shit around people who are looking to do him harm.

The Scions knew what they were about when they called him an 'it' and were excitedly talking about how they've learned how to murder Ascians.

Canonical tempering that we know nobody could resist? Oh no that would never be a relevant factor in any of this. It's only horrifying if it happens to a sundered person. Venat's distinct summoning method created after Zodiark doesn't temper, so that means nothing else could possibly temper anyone either. Let alone Zodiark, the first and most powerful primal ever summoned without safety rails.

#a lot of sarcasm under the cut #it's just insane to me that it isn't intuitive to other people #who have discovered emet-selch and elidibus were in horrifying and tragic situations + have sympathy for them #to pause and look back at our treatment of lahabrea in the early game and go 'oh. we might have been assholes to someone in trouble.'#but instead just double down #what's more fun than beating up on an enslaved and traumatized guy with survivor's guilt amirite

7 notes · View notes

wickedsick · 2 months ago

Text

I think that if they do a Metaphor etrian odyssey spinoff like the Q games, it'll take place within the book Will's writing in the end cutscene. Similar to how Akademia connects Will to the world of More's novel, Will's novel draws the party inside of itself.

#metaphor refantazio #metaphor spoilers

11 notes · View notes

neristudy · 1 year ago

Text

◦ Lets study some damn German ◦

A collection of my main online resources that have been found and sorted by me for my personal use. Feel free to steal it for yourself, though.

To fully learn a language, you need to know and comprehend:

⊳ Reading;

⊳ Writing;

⊳ Listening;

⊳ Speaking.

But since I have ADHD, I add one more thing: learning through games. This will include literal computer games from German developers with German voiceovers, or just gamification of learning like Duolingo.

Because why the hell not?

°°••....••°° 〘Chapter one: Reading〙 °°••....••°°

➤ LingQ

There aren't as many non-political articles as I'd like (and certainly not enough articles on cooking!), but poor people can't be choosers.

➤ German.net

The site has a pretty decent library of resources not only for reading, but I put it in this category because of the presence of texts with comprehension tests at the end. It's a very nice way to see if you really understood what was written there or not.

➤ ... probably, some german book? Is there a comunity of german writers on AO3....

°°••....••°° 〘Chapter two: Writing〙 °°••....••°°

They all more or less focus on grammar, so I don't see the need to describe each one separately. However, pay attention to the last 3 links - those are resources with avaliable Ukrainian language.

➤ Learn German online

➤ German with Laura

➤ Deutschbuch.com

➤ FluentU

➤ Easy-Deutch.com

➤ Lingvvozone

The only one that deserves further explanation, for this site is essentially a very thicc online dictionary. Very useful.

❥ Грамматика з нуля ❥ Golernen Akademia ❥ Deutsche Welle

°°••....••°° 〘Chapter three: Listening〙 °°••....••°°

Beware: mostly Youtube, so get your adblock up maties.

➤ Learn Languages With Isa

Cute short german stories.

➤ Easy German

The man, the myth, the legend.

➤ Learn German with Herr Antrim

He’s got whole courses and deserves a watch at least bc of his shiny personality!

➤ Learn German With Falk

Great, slow podcast with managable pasing.

➤ Listen to German music, playlists are:

- here

- and here

- and also here!

°°••••°° 〘Chapter three: Speaking 〙 °°••••°°

➤ Sing along german songs (even better if you have studied a song before and know what it is about);

➤ Start a voice diary: daily send yourself (on Telegram or wherever it is convenient and / or easy for you) a voice message in which you tried to talk about something (or on a specific topic) for x minutes.

➤ The most scary and/or hard one: get yourself a buddy who learn or already native to German language. Can also write to me, and we can study together!

°°••....••°° 〘Chapter four: Games〙 °°••....••°°

➤ Piranha Bytes & friends

For now the greatest sourse of my active german playing is games from Piranha Bytes & friends, ya can fing their bundle here on steam. Just scroll down a bit.

➤ Duolingo

The infamous legend. Acually quite helpful to study in casheer line, or on a 15-mins break. Not much helpful in other stuff.

For now it is basically all I have. Would add more later!

#deutsch lernen #deutschlernen #learn german #langblr #deutsch #german #language learning #german language #german vocabulary #mine

99 notes · View notes

justash02 · 2 years ago

Text

That sounds like a sex disease.

I took such a long ass break from writing but this man has me in a choke hold, my bio is literally Al-Haithams slave😩

Full master list -> here

*^*^*

Al-Haitham x GN reader

*^*^*

Word of a special game made from some scholar has gone around Tevyat, why not show it to your boyfriend?

*^*^*

“Have you heard about TCG?” One of the male scholars spoke to his colleague, his words seemed to echo through the library.

“Yes! It’s some much from!” His female colleague said, sounds very excited. Ah of course, word as gone around a new game, called TCG.

“Y/n! Wanna try it as well?” The words of Kevah, your boyfriends roommate ran through your ears. You ripped your eyes off of the sentence you were reading just seconds before and looked at the blond man.

“Uhh, I haven’t had the chance to go through the rules.” You said, looking over at the table, there the game was, neatly laid out with characters, dice, a hourglass and some other stuff.

Kevah laughed and pulled you in by the arm, “doesn’t matter, we can teach it to you! Shouldn’t be a problem since your the second smarted at the Akademia.” He spoke while doing his annoying puppy eyes.

“Fine…” you heard the blond softly saying “Yes!” While jumping a little in excitement, “But only because your pout is annoying me.” I said while looking in his redish eyes.

“Yeah yeah, Al-Haitham.” He said while winking at you, you snorted and walked over to him, oh this is gonna take forever.

*^*^*

After an hour-ish you had finally understood it, you had beat kaveh and the other scholars that were there at the moment and you really wanted to show it to Al-haitham.

So you did, you knocked on his door only for a shirtless Haitam to open up the door. “You look like a whore.” You said looking at him up and down, “You open the door for anyone dressed like that?” He scoffed and shook his head, “You’re bothersome.” He lets you in and closes the door behind him.

“Learned from the best.” You answered sarcastically, he simply sighed and sat down on the couch, patting the couch as a sign for you to sit also. He grabbed the book that was laying face first open on the page he was on and continued reading, not paying much mind to you.

“So, I learned about TCG today.” You said while placing your bag with your cards and the rest of the game.

“That sounds like a sex disease.” Oh, well that caught you off guard, “Y-you’re actually right.” You mumbled chuckling a bit. “I mostly am.” He said back as he was still reading his book.

“That’s debatable, Scribe.” His soft lips formed into a small smile that is only destined for you. “I want you to play with me.” As soon as those words fell out of your mouth someone was banging on the front door.

“Who the fuck is that?” You asked while looking at the door from across the room. “Kaveh.” He answered simply, “I took his keys.” You laughed at stood up, “you are such an ass.” He just shrugged his shoulders, his eyes still trained on the book.

You walked over to the door resulting in Kaveh almost falling in the house, “Haitham, you dick. What’s your obsession with always taking my fucking keys?” Kaveh groaned as he walked towards the grey haired man.

“And look at you, you look like a fucking whore without a shirt.” Kaveh said annoyed, Haitham being Haitham just simply ignored the blond and continued to read on.

“Kaveh, want to play with us?” You asked him, hoping that would lighten the mood. Kaveh just hummed and sat across from Haitham on one of the brownish chairs.

“Let’s bring it on babyyyy.”

*^*^*

“Get that card away from me.” Haitham spat at Kaveh, “Why it’s just Cyno-“, “I said get it away from me. If I am going to play this idiotic game I’m doing to do it how I want to.” Kaveh pinched the tip of his nose and sighed in annoyance.

“It’s just a card, Haitham.” You said while laying a hand on his leg, he just sighed and ripped the card out of Kaveh’s hands.

“Okay so take three characters.” You said and you grabbed three of your own, “Where is my card?” You heard him say, “The scholars who made this game probably hate you.”

Haitham’s eyes ripped to the blond man and rolled his eyes, “You’re also not playable, so either you’re just that unnoticeable, or unbearable.” He shot back at his roommate.

*^*^*

“WHAT, HOW DID YOU WIN ALREADY?!” Kaveh scream while throwing his cards in the table, Haitham has yet again won… from the 4 time in a row.

“Pretty easy, you’re just stupid.” Haitham said while wrapping an arm around your waist, pulling you closer. You leaned in to his touch and laid your head against his chest, while playing with the shirt he had put on before you started playing.

You heard Kaveh stomp around the house but you didn’t pay much mind to it as soon as you felt Haitham’s fingers lightly grab your chin.

Your eyes met his and you could feel his soft, pink lips on to yours, he slowly pulled away and whispered in your ear; “I’ll play it more if I don’t have to play that scumbag.”

*^*^*

I was playing TCG and immediately thought “yeah alhaitham would def say it’s a sex disease” SO HERE YALL GOOOOO.

#al haitham #alhaitham x reader #genshin impact #genshin fanfic #genshin fluff #genshin x you #genshin al haitham #x reader

244 notes · View notes

thelastbicorn · 4 months ago

Text

The Metaphor: Re Fantazio hype train isn’t quite chugging at full speed yet, so I thought I might share some of my theories regarding the plot: Specifically: who is the *real* villain? The Big Bad? The final boss? I can identify a few candidates, who I’ll list in order of increasing likelihood (in my opinion).

1. Louis - This is the obvious one. Too obvious, methinks. I honestly think this guy is going to turn out to be an anti-villain/hero in the end. We’re probably still going to have a big climactic battle with him (bonus points if he has an archetype), but it won’t be the final battle. I predict that he will be defeated, die staring into the Protagonist’s eyes as they realize they weren’t so different after all, and then...the Prince’s curse doesn’t wear off. Uh-oh. We did exactly what another bad guy wanted us to do. Fuck. Who is that nefarious villain, you ask? Read on...

2. More - I’m not sure I trust this guy. We know he’s a prisoner in Akademia. For what? Writing a book that the powers that be didn’t like? Maybe. Or perhaps there’s another reason that he’s not telling us? I dunno. I might just be having P5 flashbacks. (They wouldn’t pull that twist AGAIN, would they?)

3. Forden - This is the “other bad guy” I was talking about. The game seems to be setting him and Louis up as foils and rivals for the throne, and while we’re being led to believe that the latter is the more dangerous/evil one, I don’t buy it. I seriously wonder if Louis is really the one responsible for the Prince’s curse. We see the masked figure cast the spell, but how do we know it’s Louis? If Forden wants the throne himself, he would have just as much reason to want the King’s only heir dead. As the leader of the Sanctist Church, he’s already seen as a de facto leader, and he starts the election in the #1 position anyway. He probably wouldn’t have killed the King with his own hands like Louis did, but as a Rhoag (with their long lifespans), he could afford to play the waiting game once the Prince was out of the picture. I’m rambling now, but you get the picture. This guy is potentially just as villainous as Louis, if not more so.

4. Hythlodaeus V aka the late King aka the Big Giant Floating Head of Doom - Yes, I’m serious. I mean, just look at him/it! That thing is just screaming Final Boss. Hell, it could be a final dungeon in itself, like Sin in Final Fantasy X. It’s present in the battle UI from the moment it appears. Why? Because it’s watching you. It’s watching *everyone*. In-game they mention a “royal magic” that only the King can wield, which isn’t described in detail but is said to be a deterrent to invasion. That sounds pretty damn powerful, whether it’s defensive or offensive in nature. It sort of seems like it has a will of its own, activating after the King’s death right in the middle of his funeral. The election “seems” a tad fishy to me too. Sure, it seems progressive for a high fantasy setting, but consider this: What if the purpose of the election isn’t necessarily to find a new ruler for the kingdom, but for finding the royal magic a new *host*?

Honorable Mention: “Scheming Man” - As shown in the latest preview, this character appears in the beginning, breaking the fourth wall to ask the player for their name. So...what exactly are they scheming, anyway? If they can perceive our world, then they could easily know some things that no one else in-universe does. That already makes them more dangerous, potentially. There’s also the possibility that it’s someone we know already. It could be More; I need to listen to their voices again. If it is More, then he belongs at the top of the potential villain list. If not, then he stays where he already is. This is why this entry is off to the side. I don’t know if he’s somebody we’ve seen or not.

In any case, I’ve talked enough. I can’t wait until next month, when all of my predictions get proven completely and utterly wrong. I’m honestly hoping for some kind of mind-bending twist at the end of the second act, but only time will tell.

#metaphor refantazio #metaphor refantazio theories #wall of text #ramblings #video games

11 notes · View notes

arondight-overload · 3 months ago

Text

Alrighty, first thoughts on Metaphor Refantazio.

The demo is damn good. They gave us a really nice little chunk of the game. Spoilers to follow, since I'm talking about the whole thing and speculating.

Gut feeling first thoughts off the cuff, Strohl's VA understood the assignment, damn. Gonna be hard pressed to do an awakening cooler. Hope he doesn't outshine anyone else.

Rip Grius. Knew he was a dead man as soon as he didn't form a bond.

Would like the church guy to not be a fucker. “Evil church” is a little overdone in jrpgs these days. I could vibe with an actually chill priest with some shitty subordinates.

Just by existing, Louis draws Griffith parallels, and I hope that they actually knew that when creating him. He's got necromancer subordinates, so he definitely seems likely to be even more shady than just starting a coup.

Hulkenburg is interesting, but not necessarily the sort of character I go for. She is for someone though, since my partner is obviously feral for the “duty bound knight” trope.

Since we're not in persona land anymore, I truly hope we see some more permanent party divides as ideologies change. I can totally see Strohl deciding to go his own way, for example, and even supporting him in doing so.

Why does More have my name? That's not gonna come back in a wild reveal or anything. More is fun. Miss Igor. Miss fusion in general. Hope Archetype evolution is a good replacement.

Love synthesis attacks. Especially the one that triggers an extra turn pip if it kills. Love overworld passives that give mana on overworld kill.

Was sad to see health costs go, so yayyy, Brawler!

Multi target magic being pretty synthesis heavy is really neat.

Would really like Archetype switching out of combat without going to Akademia. Not in combat though, I like the limitation.

100000% sure the Prince is gonna be evil.

Loved the dragon optional boss. Give more of that.

Archetypes at the moment go Brawler > Mage > Healer > everybody else.

Why is everyone so racist to protagonist :(

Buttons are annoyingly mapped or at least interfering with p5 muscle memory.

But yeah anyway this game looks to be really good so far. Two weeks can't go fast enough. I'm gonna bootstrap this fandom by any means necessary, so my Metaphor people, hit me up.

#Metaphor Refantazio #metaphor Refantazio spoilers #metaphor Refantazio demo

8 notes · View notes

fandomtrumpshate · 10 months ago

Text

Listed fandom rankings ...

We've just hours to go before signups close for the 2024 FTH auction. In the history of FTH we've only had one fandom ever break 100 signups in a single auction — MCU had 100+ signups in 2020. Right this minute, however, we're only 3 signups away from having a second fandom crack that number. K-pop is RIGHT ON THE EDGE. Will you help it make it across that line? Or sign up for another fandom and bump them up the list? There's still time. Do the thing!

At the top of our listed fandom leaderboard, we have the top ten:

97 K-Pop * 83 Good Omens 55 Sherlock Holmes * 47 Harry Potter * 46 Marvel * 39 Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed 37 DC * 35 Avatar The Last Airbender 30 Star Wars * 29 Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

And falling out of the top ten (by just one signup) -

28 Red, White, & Royal Blue

Beyond that, we have several ties for various places -

[# of signups][fandoms]

23 Teen Wolf

21 Baldur's Gate 3, Locked Tomb Trilogy, Stranger Things, Supernatural

20 All for the Game, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Witcher

19 Boku no Hiro Akademia (My Hero Academia), Original Work, Our Flag Means Death, Tolkien *

18 Haikyuu!!!

16 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 Lone Star, Hockey RPF, Star Trek *

15 Tian Guan Ci Fu (Heaven Official's Blessing)

14 Jujutsu Kaisen

13 Hazbin Hotel, Naruto, The Old Guard, One Piece

12 The Magnus Archives

11 A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon, Check Please!, The Maze Runner, Raven Cycle

10 Final Fantasy *, Merlin, Shadowhunters

9 Doctor Who *, Dungeons & Dragons, Fullmetal Alchemist, The Sandman, Yuri!!! On Ice

8 Dragon Age *, Hades (video game), Hannibal, Heartstopper, James Bond, Justified, Kingsman, The Murderbot Diaries, SK8 the Infinity, Suits

7 Captive Prince, Critical Role, Genshin Impact, Grishaverse, Queen's Thief, Rusty Quill Gaming Podcast, Steven Universe, Top Gun Movies

6 Kinnporsche, Malevolent (Podcast), RWBY, Stargate,

5 Alex Rider, Arcane, Interview With The Vampire, Legend of Zelda, Nirvana in Fire, The Owl House, Pokemon, Witch Hat Atelier

4 Erha He Ta De Bai Mao Shizun (The Husky & His White Cat Shizun), Hunger Games, Les Misérables, The Magicians, Miraculous Ladybug, Trigun, Welcome to Night Vale

3 Disney's Descendants, Elder Scrolls, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Gundam Wing, Hetalia, Leverage, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Spy x Family, Super Mario Bros., Tian Ya Ke / Word of Honor, Wheel of Time, Young Royals

2 Benoit Blanc Mysteries (Knives Out, Glass Onion), Bleach, Disco Elysium, Encanto, Homestuck, The Last of Us, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Schitt's Creek

1 Assassin's Creed, Attack on Titan, Chainsaw Man, Diamond no Ace, Goncharov (1973), Stellar Firma, Wednesday / The Addams Family

Signups are STILL open. There are just hours to go. Wanna help set records? Do the thing!

#fth 2024 #fandom trumps hate #fanworks charity auction #listed fandoms #signups are OPEN!

46 notes · View notes

satoshi-mochida · 7 months ago

Text

Metaphor: ReFantazio ‘Awaken’ trailer; ‘ATLUS Exclusive’ introduces Archetype job system - Gematsu

Publisher ATLUS and developer Studio Zero have released the “Awaken” trailer and a second “ATLUS Exclusive” showcase video for Metaphor: ReFantazio.

During the showcase, Metaphor: ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino explains how Archetypes, or jobs, branch and evolve throughout the player’s journey. There are 14 basic Archetypes—such as the Magician, the Thief, the Seeker, and the Monk—which each have a lineage that expand to more Archetypes that unlock as the game progresses. In total, the game features more than 40 Archetypes, including the Masked Dancer, the Summoner, the Berserker and many more.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is due out for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam and Microsoft Store on October 11.

Watch the trailer and showcasee below, including a full transcript.

Awaken Trailer

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

Atlus Exclusive 2 Showcase

English

youtube

Japanese

youtube

Transcripts:

Opening

Hello everyone, I’m Katsura Hashino, the director of Metaphor: ReFantazio. You may know some of my previous work, including Shin Megami Tensei III and Persona 3, 4, and 5. At Summer Game Fest held in Los Angeles, California, we announced there are 14 Archetype lineages, which amount to more than 40 Archetypes. Understanding the various Archetypes is crucial to mastering this title’s battle system. In this edition of the ATLUS Exclusive 2 Metaphor: ReFantazio Showcase, we will dive deeper into the different types of Archetypes and how to use them. For those who haven’t watched in our previous Showcase, we introduced the overall game flow. We will continue to reveal new content on Metaphor: ReFantazio on our ATLUS YouTube channel, so please be sure to subscribe. Let’s get started!

First, let’s review the battle system introduced in the previous live stream. Metaphor features a turn-based and action-oriented battle system where enemies of lower rank are defeated through real-time action, allowing you to proceed at a quick pace. In this innovative battle system, against higher ranked enemies, players can use the real-time action to enter turn-based combat with an advantage.

Metaphor incorporates tactical planning through action into its established systems, along with a high degree of party composition freedom through job changes. Central to this approach are the game’s new job types known as Archetypes, which players can equip to their protagonist. To prepare these Archetypes for the protagonist, it’s crucial to first introduce the facility known as the “Akademia.”

Akademia

In the early stages of the story, the protagonist gains access to a mysterious location called “Akademia.” As you can see, it’s a place adorned with a plethora of books, giving it the atmosphere of a sanctuary of knowledge.

The individual in Akademia has high hopes for the protagonist’s awakened Archetypes. He is well-versed in Archetype knowledge and will lend his support to the protagonist’s journey, helping him to awaken Archetypes.

Archetypes are managed in lineages such as this one, branching out as they are acquired during the journey. This is a game screen from the early stages of the story, so right now we only have access to the initial Archetypes with basic skills, but once you’re able to swap Archetypes, the real game strategy begins.

Details on how the protagonist comes to visit this place will be shared in detail in subsequent updates, so please look forward to it.

Now I’d like to introduce the types and characteristics of Archetypes, as well as details about the related battle system, including some that have not yet been revealed.

Archetype Lineage

In the last live stream, we introduced the different types of Archetypes, including some of the foundational ones.

The Versatile Seeker, who is a well-rounded Archetype; the Mage, who can exploit the enemy’s weak points with powerful magic; the Thief, skilled in abilities like robbery; the Brawler, who excels in physical attacks using their fists.

In terms of other initial Archetypes, we have the Warrior, who excels in sword attacks; the Knight, with outstanding defensive skills; the Healer, who specializes in recovery; the Commander, with skills related to formation and support; the Gunner, who can shoot from a distance; the Merchant, who can use money-related attacks; and the Faker, with tricky moves.

As the game progresses, players can unlock evolved Archetypes such as the Masked Dancer, whose skills and resistances can be fully changed with equipment; the Summoner, who is perceived as a highlight in job change games with its power to summon monsters; and the Berserker, who has tremendous destructive power.

There are 14 basic Archetype lineages, and when the variations of each Archetype are added up in total, there are more than 40 Archetypes available.

Each Archetype gains experience through battle and learns various skills. There’s a wide variety of skills with different attributes and ranges, such as buffs, recovery, and passive skills to improve abilities. Mastering these skills allows players to gain an advantage in battles. Furthermore, as Archetypes evolve through growth, players can advance to higher-tier Archetypes.

While the Archetypes like the ones introduced earlier are unlocked as the base Archetype of each lineage, progressing them through battle and strengthening bonds with supporters encountered on the journey is crucial. This system unlocks conditions for acquiring even more advanced Archetypes, providing substantial depth and party development for players to enjoy and experience.

For example, the Seeker, which first awakens for the protagonist, is a lineage in the Seeker category. And by deepening the bond with the supporter who controls this lineage, the character can evolve into the Magic Seeker, who wields powerful wind magic as well as reinforcement support and passives, and then onto Soul Hacker, who has powerful magic such as additional MP recovery effects and penetration resistance.

The Gunner, who can shoot from a distance, is a heroic figure in the ranged category, and can evolve into Sniper, who is good at all target attacks, and then onto Dragoon, who can trigger attacks with various magical attributes by deepening the bond with the supporter who controls this lineage.

Each Archetype variation is uniquely crafted with dedicated artwork and the appearance of each character changes based on the equipped Archetype, so I think you will enjoy the work very much.

Guest Artists

This title was created with the cooperation of guest creators, including Koda Kazuma for the background concept art, and Ikuto Yamashita for the gauntlet runner design.

The Archetype designs, boasting over 40 variations, are not only designed by Shigenori Soejima, who is in charge of character design for this title, but also by Yuji Himukai, the character designer for the Etrian Odyssey series, who is likely familiar to ATLUS fans. The Etrian Odyssey series is a dungeon-crawling RPG based on creating characters from a large number of jobs and organizing them into parties, and the fact that we have incorporated the ideas of the creator who has consistently been in charge of the design of the series is not only impressive, but also an appropriate element for the 35th anniversary title of the ATLUS brand, so please look forward to it as well.

Archetype Battle SYstem

In the last live stream, we explained the Archetype system that allows you to transform at any time during a battle and activate their skills, after entering a turn-based battle with the squad button. Today I would like to introduce the Archetype battle system in more detail.

Against higher ranked foes, players can stun enemies with fast action before engaging in advantageous squad turn-based battles. However, if attacked by enemies first, the turn-based battle will begin with a disadvantage. Players who prefer certainty in their attacks or struggle with action sequences should not try to take on the enemies through fast battle, but rather use the squad button to engage in turn-based combat. Depending on the situation, players are encouraged to adapt between high-risk high-reward combat and low-risk low-reward strategies.

The squad battle is a turn-based battle system adopted from Shin Megami Tensei III. In this system, the number of actions per turn is determined by the number of party members, and the number of actions increases if the enemy’s weak points are exploited. So, strategize your next move wisely. You can eliminate enemies unilaterally without giving them a turn. However, this system is a double-edged sword, since this also applies for the opponent. If enemy attacks exploit your party’s weaknesses, then your party’s turn may not come for a while, leading to challenging battles. Metaphor is an evolution of our command battle system that has been cultivated over the years, and its innovative Archetype system is unique to this title.

In command battles, players can change the party formation front and back, and each Archetype has its optimal position of strength. For example, the Mage can cast magic from the back row to compensate for its weak point, low defense, to some extent, maintaining its attack power. The Knight can withhold its attacks and attract enemy attacks from the back row, and therefore induce enemy attacks with minimal damage. The Gunner, who can use shooting is an Archetype that specializes in long-range attacks from the back row. The Commander can change the formation of all members with its skills, allowing each player to freely create their own strategy.

Synthesis

There is a special technique called Synthesis that differs from normal skills. Synthesis, which means integration in psychological terms, is a system that allows Archetypes to combine with other party members’ Archetypes. It can activate a special technique that is not available otherwise. To perform this skill, it consumes more than a normal action as it consumes an additional action from your ally’s turn as well. This technique is more powerful for that reason.

For example, while a Mage and Healer can only target a single enemy with their attack, with the use of synthesis, the target can be changed to all enemies. The Seeker’s main attack is wind magic. But by using synthesis, the seeker can use attacks with attributes that are normally unavailable to it, such as light or strike. In addition, Warriors are good at physical attacks. But if many of the same Archetype are placed in a party, the attack characteristics will naturally be skewed. However, the special Synthesis attack that can be unleashed by three Warriors can do a surprising amount of damage even in the early stages of the game.

This system is an important element of the strategy, and if used properly, it can eliminate the enemies all at once. The activation conditions change depending on the combination of the party, so it is a fun element to try out different configurations and discover new synthesis combinations.

Party Configuration

Moreover, the development team has worked hard to ensure that the diverse range of Archetypes remains engaging even in the later stages, allowing players to enjoy different compositions. We aimed for a balance to avoid a situation where players’ party compositions become similar as the game progresses, or where only certain Archetypes are used. When players change from one Archetype to another, they can inherit the skills they have already mastered to the new Archetype.

The command battle system not only includes action count strategies, but also formation tactics, special moves called Synthesis, and a skill inheritance system, providing numerous ways to creatively configure Archetype strategies in the party. While the party consists of four members initially, it can expand to seven as the story progresses. All members can equip any of the 40-plus Archetypes, so we hope players enjoy developing their unique strategies.

Fast Battle Actions

Now that we have explained how to use Archetypes in command battles, let’s discuss how Archetypes abilities come into play in other ways.

Weapons change depending on which Archetype is equipped, and this also affects the real-time action fast combat that can be used before entering turn-based squad battles. For example, the Seeker’s one-handed sword allows for quick, successive strikes to deal damage to enemies. Let’s change the Archetype of the protagonist to the Unlocked Warrior. You can change the Archetype of your party members as well from each tree, but the fast action is a move specific for the protagonist, so we want you to try out not only the command battles, but also the strategic action.

In the case of the Warrior’s Great Sword, its large swing delivers powerful blows, and while swinging it, the user is not susceptible to preemptive strikes from enemies. In the case of the Mage’s Staff, the attack range extends not only forward, but also around the user, making it effective in situations where the player is surrounded by multiple enemies. It can wipe out many monsters when outnumbered and outclassed.

Additionally, there are Archetypes that can use ranged weapons. The Faker can throw knives, and the Gunner uses a crossbow, allowing attacks from a safe distance. Enemies roaming the field also have various characteristics and weaknesses. For instance, you might use a Gunner with long distance attack range to take down flying foes. However, if you choose the protagonist’s Archetype focusing mainly on fast action, you will fight with that Archetype when you enter a squad battle. You cannot swap Archetypes in a squad battle, so it’s important to plan ahead of time.

We hope that everyone will enjoy the fast and squad combat.

Dungeon Progression

Let me also talk about the dungeons. There are various enemies in the dungeons. Many familiar creatures from fantasy worlds are recreated in a modern design. Some enemies that ambush you, some that hide underground, and some that appear in a groove. There are no dungeons that require a specific type of Archetype party, so please enjoy trying out various party strategies of your choice.

Although there are tough enemies and bosses that force you into battles. When this happens, the type of party you bring will affect the battle. Monsters called “Humans” are especially tricky to face, so beware. We think you will enjoy planning strategies for the battles ahead.

Moreover, the degree of freedom and party formation, and the fact that the difficulty level varies depending on which quest you conquer first, can affect the perceived difficulty of battles, and a slight error in judgment can be fatal in this battle. The difficulty of the game can be changed at any time, and by using the Retry feature, you’ll be able to return to the top of the battle and take on the challenge again with other strategies you might have thought of. So please rest assured that this game is made in a way that ensures all players can confidently take on the challenges.

Additionally, a Network feature allows players to view the party compositions used by other players who’ve cleared the same dungeon, available to view at any time. With the press of a button, you can instantly switch to those compositions, making it easier to adapt and strategize. I’m sure there are players who remember playing classic job change games based on the recommended information of specific party setups for certain dungeons. This Network feature is like a modern version of that kind of playstyle. Above all, we wanted players to be able to see firsthand how other players are progressing in the dungeon they are currently conquering, using their own party composition and ingenuity, even though it is a loosely connected aspect.

Summary

So, what did you think? In this video, we have introduced the various types and uses of Archetypes. We hope that even those who are unfamiliar with past ATLUS titles will be able to easily enjoy this fantasy RPG based on its unique job system, which is a staple in fantasy RPGs. We’ve added various unique features into Metaphor, from the system and volume to its visuals, and we hope that you will enjoy this fantasy RPG.

Metaphor is launching on October 11, 2024 and is open for pre-orders. Starting today, you can also pre-order the digital version. If you are interested in Metaphor, please be sure to pre-order or add to your wishlist. Those who pre-order will receive pre-order bonuses, including the “Archetype EXP Chest Set” and an “Adventurer’s Journey Pack.” Both in-game item sets are useful for battles and party development. They are great value downloadable contents that you can get just for pre-ordering, so please consider them.

Metaphor will be available in both standard and special editions for physical and digital formats. The development team has come together to create a Collector’s Edition that allows everyone to celebrate ATLUS’ 35th anniversary. The outer box is designed by Mr. Soejima, and the art book is truly gorgeous, including art from various guest artists. We hope you will have a copy on hand to enjoy.

In the digital 35th Anniversary History Book, you will find a timeline of past titles, introductions to major titles, and a conversation with a very special guest talking about what makes RPGs so much fun to play. Additionally, this edition is filled with congratulatory comments from various creators in the industry.

The digital soundtrack includes an all-time best album that looks back on the brand’s 35th anniversary. It is a fascinating musical journey that gives both old and new fans a sense of the history of ATLUS’ sound.

In addition, we have included a cloth world map of the United Kingdom of Euchronia, a set of pins representing the Homo Tenta monsters, a SteelBook with dedicated key art, a two-disc Metaphor: ReFantazio soundtrack composed by Shoji Meguro, a digital costume and battle background music set, and a sticker sheet of national flags, Archetype designs, and more. This is a limited edition, so if you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please consider pre-ordering while supplies last.

Thank you for your continued support and excitement for Metaphor: ReFantazio. We hope you will enjoy these special items and look forward to seeing you in the next Showcase.

Closing

We are happy to hear that so many people were interested in the battle system in the last live stream. So finally, next time, we would like to introduce not only the gameplay, but also the world setting, characters, and story that we have been elaborating in our first attempt at a fantasy RPG. This is a work full of twists and turns, so please stay tuned for the next Exclusive.

Metaphor is planned to be released on October 11. Be sure to pre-order and add to your wishlist. Thank you very much for your time today.

#Metaphor: ReFantazio #Atlus #Studio Zero #RPG #Gematsu #Youtube

12 notes · View notes