My problem with the MC
Before I say anything I will basically be spoiling the game so don’t read if you haven’t finished it. So I’ve been replaying Metaphor recently and after getting about halfway through I’ve kind of realized something. I don’t think I like the way they used Will.
When Atlus revealed they were having a voiced MC I think a lot of us were really excited since they normally don’t do that in their games. But if I’m being honest, in my opinion, he still feels like silent protagonist a lot of the time. This is nothing against his VA, he does a good job but he rarely ever speaks outside of our direct input. Most of the time after he says his lines, he kind of just stands there and lets others talk for a really long time without any real back and forth. I know anyone who’s played Persona is used to that (I’ve only played SMT 5 Vengeance so idk if other SMT games have silent protagonists besides that one) but I feel like they missed a chance to help this game stand out from Persona by making the MC an actual character.
What bothers me is this leads to him feeling really passive a lot of the time. There’s a reason we all say Strohl is the real MC because he’s the one driving the story a lot of the time. He’s the one who comes up with the idea to catch Heismay, he’s the one who comes up with the assassination plan(with help from the others but still) he’s the one who suggests confronting Forden. Why couldn’t we be doing any of that? Why is the MC, a guy who’s supposed to be a leader and the literal King by the end of the game the least invoked member of the group? Literally every other party member contributes to the plans more. Even massive himbo Basillio comes up with an idea to have us impersonate the prince.
I really hope this didn’t come across like criticism for the sake of it I really love this game but if Atlus wanted this game to stand out more from Persona I think they missed a chance to do something different for them and make the MC more similar to how controlling a character like Cloud in Rebirth works. Where you can control how nice or mean you are to people, but otherwise he has a very set in stone and clearly defined personality. So am I alone on this or does anyone agree with me?
Before I say anything I will basically be spoiling the game so don’t read if you haven’t finished it. So I’ve been replaying Metaphor recently and after getting about halfway through I’ve kind of realized something. I don’t think I like the way they used Will.
When Atlus revealed they were having a voiced MC I think a lot of us were really excited since they normally don’t do that in their games. But if I’m being honest, in my opinion, he still feels like silent protagonist a lot of the time. This is nothing against his VA, he does a good job but he rarely ever speaks outside of our direct input. Most of the time after he says his lines, he kind of just stands there and lets others talk for a really long time without any real back and forth. I know anyone who’s played Persona is used to that (I’ve only played SMT 5 Vengeance so idk if other SMT games have silent protagonists besides that one) but I feel like they missed a chance to help this game stand out from Persona by making the MC an actual character.
What bothers me is this leads to him feeling really passive a lot of the time. There’s a reason we all say Strohl is the real MC because he’s the one driving the story a lot of the time. He’s the one who comes up with the idea to catch Heismay, he’s the one who comes up with the assassination plan(with help from the others but still) he’s the one who suggests confronting Forden. Why couldn’t we be doing any of that? Why is the MC, a guy who’s supposed to be a leader and the literal King by the end of the game the least invoked member of the group? Literally every other party member contributes to the plans more. Even massive himbo Basillio comes up with an idea to have us impersonate the prince.
I really hope this didn’t come across like criticism for the sake of it I really love this game but if Atlus wanted this game to stand out more from Persona I think they missed a chance to do something different for them and make the MC more similar to how controlling a character like Cloud in Rebirth works. Where you can control how nice or mean you are to people, but otherwise he has a very set in stone and clearly defined personality. So am I alone on this or does anyone agree with me?