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everyone go read medalist!!!!! highly recommended if you like manga that are good
When Flynn and Nanashi were getting together they were all nervous and embarrassed with flirting and went about it in different ways.
One time Flynn asked Nanashi out, apologized, flirted with him, apologized again, tried to justify it by saying the flirting was a defense mechanism in life-threatening situations, then apologized. Flynn's talkative when he's nervous but most people don't notice unless they're familiar with him because he can fib with a perfectly straight face. Flynn tries to flirt and his mouth opens and suddenly the memory of the next 30 minutes is gone. All he knows is that he managed to make Nanashi laugh a few times and he clings onto that.
Nanashi can't keep a straight face. It turns red when they're close and he struggles to look Flynn in the eye. He has trouble saying lovey dovey stuff and holds back because he's afraid to look uncool, he can't yolo it like Flynn. Instead he relies on small, deliberate actions like brushing his shoulder against Flynn's, adjusting his coat, playing with the sleeves. Nanashi doesn't think it's much, but inside Flynn is squeeing.
Their prime first dates spot is the Kinshicho bar, there's food and a terminal nearby and Nanashi lives right there. This whole song and dance happens right in front of Asahi while she works. After the third date she starts to water down their drinks whenever they sit at the bar.
Just realized Strohl is a foil to Louis. Both are clemar who are not discriminatory towards other tribes, which is rare for the most numerous tribe. That's about it for their similarities. Louis is might makes right, Strohl is noblesse oblige. Louis has a nobody background risen to king candidate, Strohl is a fallen noble. Louis is calculating, Strohl is hot-headed. Louis is the villain, Strohl is our staunchest ally.
lowest moment of my life. instead of enjoying my weekend im coding and smell like potato chips
Esperanto in Metaphor: ReFantazio
Not long ago I saw this this tweet pointing out that the in-game language in Metaphor is Esperanto (written in another script) and I decided to investigate for myself! The vocal tracks are in Esperanto as well, but I want to focus on the text here since I don't have a great ear for it. (The quoted tweet also points out that you can rearrange the title to get an Esperanto phrase - I think it would be more accurately spelled "Metafore Fantazio," or "metaphorically fantasy"!)
For the unfamiliar, Esperanto is the world's most widely spoken constructed language, developed in the late 19th century with the aim of being an easy to learn secondary language that could act as a bridge between speakers of other languages. While its vocabulary and grammar are largely derived from various European language families, it has speakers worldwide, including a sizeable number in Japan. Given the relationship between Metaphor's world and our own, I think it's a cool choice to take a constructed secondary language and make it the in-universe primary language—not to mention the game's themes of uniting different people with a language intended to do just that.
I studied Esperanto myself for some time 9 years ago, though I've forgotten most of it, so I'm very rusty. That said, I was able to sit down and parse one particular block of text that the game provides a translation for, and use that to read the rest! I'm slowly combing through the demo and translating any legible text, and I wanted to share some of the interesting details I found. If any Esperantists see this and want to weigh in, please do! There's plenty I may not remember or be aware of.
Continued under the cut, including content from the demo:
Let's start with the text the game translates for us! Here's what the VO/subtitles say:
O Great Seeker, bearer of fantasy empowered... Hear my wish, and come forth from thy epoch of glory to grant me thy guidance.
Here's the "deciphered" Esperanto:
Ho, granda serĉanto, kiu vivas en epoko de gloro, kiu enkarnigas la povon de fantazio. Bonvolu disdoni al li vian gvidadon.
And here's a more "direct" translation:
O Great Seeker, who lives in an epoch of glory, who embodies the power of fantasy. Please grant him thy guidance.
Not too much different of note here other than the pronoun usage—in Esperanto, the speaker explicitly uses "he," likely referring to the protagonist. I suspect that the English is actually translated from the Japanese line, which is ambiguous, so they made an educated guess here. But, since this is the same speaker who narrates awakening cutscenes and new bonds, it makes sense that they're calling to the Seeker on his behalf!
This is a point I'm unsure about, but from my understanding, "granda" (here translated as "great") typically refers to size, so it seems like an odd word choice to me—but it's possible there are connotations I'm not aware of.
After some poking around I stumbled across some text on the background of the name entry screen that reads "signaro" (character set), followed by the whole Latin alphabet on the next line.
"But Batts!" you may say. "Esperanto doesn't use QWXY! What about the diacritics!"
Well. There aren't any! There are 6 characters with diacritic marks used in Esperanto (ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ), and since our character set doesn't use any of them, we have to make some educated guesses about which one it is at any given time. This is mostly a non-issue since they're real, existing words, but it does make it a bit trickier at points, and relates to another problem I'll get to in a bit. (There are a select few instances where I've seen diacritic marks on handwritten text or shop names, but there are still far fewer than there should be.)
That said, there is also some plain English text using this script as well, so the game does make use of those extra letters, such as the Memorandum UI - scrolling books have titles like "Marine," "Royal Capital," "100 Mystery of Ningen (humans)," and "Melancholia Gen" (?), plus cute notes in the background like "I want to read slowly" and "already read very good."
Anyway, this diacritic ambiguity bugged me for a bit when I started translating some text with "Euchronia" in it, like the above "Regno de Eŭcronio - Dezerto de Tradia." The Esperanto "C" and "Ĉ" are always pronounced "ts" and "ch" respectively, so the pronunciation here is a bit awkward either way, as both characters are meant to precede a vowel. A more natural pronunciation in line with both the Japanese and English would be "Eŭkronio," a spelling I found once in the body of the contract our protagonist signs to join the army, and never again. Alas.
I noticed a few interesting details while translating place names - the "Trad" in "Grand Trad" (Granda Tradicio) means "tradition" - and many locations are labeled on the map that I don't think are mentioned in the demo's runtime - Oceana to the west is named, but also of note are Kalendulo ("marigold," maybe "Calendula" in English) to the east, the Hulkenmont mountains surrounding that region, and the "Malnova Insularo" (old archipelago) to the south.
(Screenshot grabbed from justonegamr on Youtube.)
Lots of fun stuff going on with these posters - the big propaganda poster says "Mi volas vin por homoj" - "I want you for humans!" The poster immediately to its right and the one with the light-haired paripus are both wanted posters with rewards of 50,000 and 7,000 respectively, and the former has a somewhat legible name - Mikelan something (?). There's also quite a bit of illegible text that I'll need to boot up the game to stare at, textures willing.
Here is where I noticed an occasional problem with the text in this game: some of these posters include words that should have diacritic marks, but instead the characters are gone entirely or replaced with a space. For instance, the poster with the face that appears twice on the bottom row reads "Ser a peto - i tiu viro" where it should say "Serĉa peto - ĉi tiu viro" (Search request - this man). I spent so long wondering what "Dan ero" meant on the poster with the red "no" sign before I realized it was meant to be "Danĝero" (Danger).
This extends to some other parts of the game, such as the world map title ("Unuiĝinta Reĝlando de Eŭcronio" written as "unui inta re lando de e cronio," which is how I knew it was a plain C oops), and the giant statue in More's study covered in archetype names, some of which are missing characters.
I suspect that at some point in the process, these characters couldn't be properly encoded and got lost before making it into the game. Most of the UI text seems to be intact, and this only affects graphic text as far as I've seen. Luckily, we can usually use context to guess at what they should be.
There's a ton more that I'm still hunting down and translating, so if you'd like to see it, you can check out my spreadsheet here! I'm hoping to keep updating it as I play through the full game, and I may make some more posts if I encounter any particularly interesting details. A few more tidbits before I go:
This appears to be an annual calendar - number 1 is at the top and it circles around to 12, and then the inner circle runs from 1-30, likely representing the weeks.
Various graffiti found around Sunshade Row that reads:
Ĉi tio estis infero (this was hell)
Malbela elda (nasty/ugly elda)
Merdo (shit)
And in the words of our favorite tooth...
Elbe venontfoje! (Maybe next time!)
...This is going to be a thing for months isn't it?
I really want to talk about something in metaphor but I can't because it's spoiler and it's honestly better to go through it yourself
I really want to talk about something in metaphor but I can't because it's spoiler and it's honestly better to go through it yourself
Conspiracy theory that teddie is pharos: shadow, small boy, can’t stop breaking into houses
(Source)
The line between Flynn being a functioning if traumatized human being and a wreck is Isabeau. Just Isabeau. Just her. Hometown destroyed childhood friend dead new friends dead. Just Isabeau!
Amabie's Bromide Reactions
Amabie's sidequest requires you to give her photograph to a student; if you don't go back to the school before things go to hell, the only one who can accept it is the guy who hangs around the dorm roof. That happened to me, so I figured I'd record the other students for posterity (this was a Canon of Creation playthrough, so I don't know if you can give it to Yoko).
Miyazu: Huh? A present? But why me...? [...] O-Oh, wow...! This is so cute! [...] That gleam in her eyes is a really nice touch! And her hair is so sleek... [...] (voice line gasps) Huh? It's some kind of good-luck charm for staying healthy? [...] That's... why you gave it to me...? [...] I'm... I'm glad. Really, really glad. I promise I'll treasure it.
Tao: Huh? Is this for me? [...] Pfft! Hahahaha! [...] Oh, sorry, sorry! I'm not making fun of it! I just didn't expect this kinda thing from you, that's all... [...] You've got some interesting tastes, you know that...? Maybe I'll stick this in my planner. [...] (voice line of "Thank you.") Heehee... Thanks!
Ichiro: For real? I can have this? Nice! [...] (voice line of "Seriously?") ...Wait, what even is this? Some kinda... froggy mascot? [...] Uh... Why'd you give this to me? [...] Don't tell me... you just wanted a reason for us to talk? [...] (voice line "Hey, come on.") Aw, c'mon, man! You don't need to be all indirect about it! We're friends! We can talk whenever you want! [...] Naw, but I get it. You've got all the popular kids in your class, right? Hard to just walk up and start talkin'. [...] (voice line "Hey.") But you can talk to me any time, y'know? I don't need any presents or whatever. [...] ...Anyhow, now that I look at this froggy thing... It's actually kinda cool. Got a real unique style to it. [...] (voice line "Thanks a bunch.") I bet I could find a way to work this into a video... Hell yeah. Thanks, man!
Yuzuru: ...Uh... sorry, but what IS this? Some character from TV or something? I don't really follow what's popular these days... [...] Oh, it's a spirit that brings good luck? And you want me to have this? [...] Well, in that case, thanks. I'll gladly take it. [...] It's kind of like this bracelet I wear, huh? That's a good luck charm too. [...] Feels like I've only ever wished for one thing. And now, I'll have your charm on my side for a little extra luck. [...] Haha, who knows? Maybe your spirit will grant that wish of mine.
I like the little bit of characterization from everyone. I wound up giving it to Miyazu because she liked the picture even before she knew it was a good luck charm. I don't recall Yuzuru ever mentioning the bracelet anywhere else. Ichiro's so starved for attention that he doesn't see the significance, and Tao is grateful for a gift from a friend without really looking at it. And we get a little bit of how V-kun is seen; he's serious enough that Tao doesn't think Amabie fits his image.
Metaphor: ReFantazio
Happy launch Metaphor: ReFantazio!✨
Have fun playing everyone!! Can't wait to receive my collector edition later today and dive into this world!😍
The Protagonist (Will), Strohl, Hulkenberg & Gallica🧚
I spent the entire evening on this piece yesterday <3 I had fun playing around with shapes & colours to make the most of the composition I could!
The white part of the background makes a crown, but also Metaphor: ReFantazio text logo! Each parts are in the characters' respective colours!
Sketch & WIP
I like how Will has a range of responses from "uwu im just the kindest sweetest thing you've ever met" to "Fuck this shit I'm out". My headcanon is that he acts the former with people he's unfamiliar with, then turns to Gallica and goes "omg did you see what that bitch Louis did this time?"
I was looking at my activity tab and saw this again and died laughing. Whole post about how this man is real lonely and desperately wants a friend and I got his name wrong the entire time. I'm sorry buddy.
Playing the Metaphor Refantazio demo and poor Stohl. Protag has known him a week and already every time you answer positively to him he's always like "ah ofc :) I should've known I didn't need to ask :D you're always so trustworthy and support me XD you know me so well XDDDD"
This guy must have been the loneliest mf before, like Grius doesn't act like this and Gallica definitely doesn't it's just Stohl. Man raring for connection so hard he's doing the shotgun wedding version of best friends. He'd probably cry if protag friend-divorced him at this point.
Hey Louis really sorry but can you repeat what you just said I couldn't hear it over George Michael - Careless Whisper (10 HOURS)
"Sometimes it takes a real man to be best girl" but instead of a femboy it's just Strohl.
When Tsukuyomi decided to run for prime minister some poor Bethel intern was tasked to come up with "human traits" to convince voters.
Intern: Can we say...has a pet? Hayao Koshimizu owns a dog, or maybe a cat?
Tsukuyomi: [thinking about Hayataro] Let's go with dog.
Intern: Any family?
Tsukuyomi: [starts looking sad]
Intern: Oh gosh I'm so sorry director I forgot! Um okay no family then, I'll put you down as an orphan.
SMTIV English Artbook Scans
Today, I was able to finish scanning my entire English SMTIV art book! This book is weirdly hard to find so I'm glad I was able to do this, and I hope that everyone enjoys being able to read the official translation of this incredible art book!
Yes yes Metaphor Refantazio is the baby of mainline SMT and Persona, it's Persona 6, it has a Metascore of 94, it's got a rec from Yoko Taro, whatever. Big deal.
The real question is whether or not it'll bring back crossdressing in the overworld.
osamu nishi's career has been slowly trying to boil the frog to see how much crossdressing she can put in a manga before people start to ask questions. currently ichi the witch seems to be setting up for a crossdressing-based power set for the protagonist, breaking new ground entirely