Game Informer recently conducted an interview with Katsura Hashino, the director of the modern Persona series and of Metaphor: ReFantazio, looking back on the development behind the fantasy RPG and discussing his approach to future projects.
Critical Reception
- Initial reactions for Metaphor: ReFantazio were more about the narrative and the story’s theme, which surprised Hashino as early feedback for Persona games would be more about superficial elements like the aesthetic, sound or characters.
- Hashino found it interesting that, in Japan, the character who won the popularity contest was simply the good-looking noble Strohl, while in the West, something unique to fantasy (Heismay) and edgy (Brigitta) resonated the most. [Character Election results]
- Hashino met the team behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 when they visited Japan, and he received a copy of the game from them. He’s been playing through it, and notes it’s “well made and crafted very deeply.”
Thoughts on Development
- Hashino feels like they were able to achieve everything they set out to do when creating Metaphor given the resources, skills, and staff they had available.
- Metaphor represented an opportunity for Hashino and his team to build something completely from the ground up since Persona 3, within the same scope. Being able to determine which elements the team excelled at and would carry into Metaphor, while determining which were not necessary to bring, will be of help in their future titles.
Thoughts on Future Projects
- Hashino doesn’t want to just jump on the opportunity to create a sequel to Metaphor because it was successful. He wants him and his team to really think about it, and make sure that, if they were to continue this series, they’re able to build upon the first game’s values and create something worthwhile for the fans.
- Rather than focusing on making a fantasy game or not, Hashino wants to focus on how he can evolve their “JRPG,” where he feels it’s coming to a turning point where they can bring how they execute the genre and create their games to the next level. [Hashino has previously discussed the point of “JRPG 3.0.”]
- Hashino’s juniors are currently heading P Studio, while he’s been watching them from the sidelines. Because of this, Hashino hasn’t been too involved in the series since Persona 5. However, all of the major Atlus development arms reside on the same floor, and there is connection between them from a creative standpoint.
- When asked about the possibility of an “updated” version of Metaphor like with games in the Persona series, Hashino says it’s TBD, and that the team are considering things from different angles.
- Hashino considers these “changing times,” and that moving forward he would like to create games that are more widely playable and for a wider audience, and not just within JRPGs. He thinks of updating their format bearing that in mind.
Read the full interview on Game Informer.