{"id":38322,"date":"2024-10-15T12:48:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=38322"},"modified":"2024-10-15T12:48:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T03:48:19","slug":"metaphor-refantazio-was-initially-supposed-to-be-a-conventional-tolkien-inspired-high-fantasy-but-the-team-couldnt-get-into-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/metaphor-refantazio-was-initially-supposed-to-be-a-conventional-tolkien-inspired-high-fantasy-but-the-team-couldnt-get-into-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Metaphor: ReFantazio was initially supposed to be a conventional Tolkien-inspired high fantasy, but the team couldn\u2019t \u201cget into it\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Atlus\u2019s Metaphor: ReFantazio <\/strong>boasts an unusual and very modern-looking fantasy world and character designs. However, the game\u2019s director recently revealed that Metaphor was originally going to look like a traditional Tolkienesque high fantasy, but development went through a \u201creset\u201d in its early stages. In an interview with Famitsu<\/a>, Katsura Hashino talked about the early concepts Studio Zero had in mind for Metaphor\u2019s worldbuilding and why these got changed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the early stages, we were considering a high fantasy setting \u2013 with elves, dwarves and the like,\u201d the director revealed. With such a concept in mind, the developers took to rewatching the movie adaptation of Tolkien\u2019s Lord of the Rings for inspiration. However, it seems that reproducing conventional high fantasy didn\u2019t sit right with Metaphor ReFantazio\u2019s team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Metaphor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had Soejima (Persona series\u2019 artist Shigenori Soejima) come up with a bunch of sketches, but it kind of felt ordinary. It didn\u2019t look like something that was unique to us. Then, as we discussed how to make the characters stand out and what to be more flexible about, things gradually started changing, shaping up to our liking. However, I wouldn\u2019t say that we strayed on to an unexpected path, but rather, I feel like we settled on [Metaphor: ReFantazio\u2019s] current style just by pursuing what we wanted to do,\u201d Hashino explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he originally \u201caspired to make a so-called traditional high fantasy,\u201d Hashino realized that sticking to a traditional format left little room for free thinking. \u201cThis approach didn\u2019t last long, and the staff couldn\u2019t get into it either.\u201d Interestingly, he suggests that if the game had been a smaller 6-month project that the team could have completed in 6 months or so, he might have been more open to pursuing the original idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Metaphor<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are already so many great fantasy works out there. Rather than a traditional approach, we decided to focus on our unique take on fantasy, and were careful not to stray from that. From there, well… we just let things take their course.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Metaphor: ReFantazio<\/a> is available for the PC (Steam\/Microsoft store), PS4\/PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metaphor ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino talks about the game’s early worldbuilding concepts and why they were scrapped.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":38325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-38322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nMetaphor: ReFantazio was initially supposed to be a conventional Tolkien-inspired high fantasy, but the team couldn\u2019t \u201cget into it\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Metaphor ReFantazio director Katsura Hashino talks about the game's early worldbuilding concepts and why they were scrapped.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/metaphor-refantazio-was-initially-supposed-to-be-a-conventional-tolkien-inspired-high-fantasy-but-the-team-couldnt-get-into-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Metaphor: ReFantazio was initially supposed to be a conventional Tolkien-inspired high fantasy, but the team couldn\u2019t \u201cget into it\u201d\u00a0 - 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