Metaphor: ReFantazio director looked at classic fantasy films like Lord of the Rings, but decided that doing so 'would lack the originality that defines us.'

Metaphor: ReFantazio Director Katsura Hashino stated that the team decided to "abandon any inspiration" gained by researching material such as The Lord of the Rings, in favor of an "original creative endeavor" with things the developers actually enjoyed about the genre.

Atlus has diverted from its usual high school/post-apocalyptic setting of JRPGs yore in favour of a more adult-populated fantasy in Metaphor: ReFantazio. It's a relatively new territory for the developer, especially when you consider director Katsura Hashinos' 30-year career across Shin Megami Tensei and Catherine.

It's not surprising that the team wanted to explore a lot of fantasy media when creating the world of Euchronia. According to GamesRadar's report, Hashino spoke about the team’s research on an episode the Official Xbox Podcast.

He said that "At the beginning of the development of Metaphor ReFantazio we looked at traditional fantasy culture such as Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings." Atlus was keen to understand both the writing style and the author's intention. Hashino added, "We did a great deal of research and found a lot very interesting background."

Hashino said that adding all these classic fantasy elements didn't work. "We realised that we couldn't make a [traditional fantasy] game. It wouldn't feel like us, it wouldn't have that originality we define. We also found that it was difficult to bring out the creative side that we wanted in more traditional fantasy worlds. We decided to abandon all the inspirations we had at some point and create something completely new.

Hashino continued, "We took things we personally liked and tried to find a way to bring it into the games. It was like a stopping our research and a beginning of this original creative endeavor."

I'm glad Atlus re-focused. I recently reached the 100-hour mark with Metaphor: ReFantazio. I've been absorbed in the United Kingdom's lore. I've read the Memorandum, which is similar to Final Fantasy 16's Active Time Lore. I then proceeded to infodump all the new information on my poor partner. Metaphor has me sucked into its web. I don't normally read all the extra material, but it has me in its grip.

The setting reminds me of Final Fantasy 12 in a way, with its fantastic lore and sprawling political narratives. The setting reminds me of Final Fantasy 12, with its fantastic lore, sprawling political stories and the mixture of old world and modern sprinklings. Maybe that's the reason I love it so much.