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The turn-based combat inMetaphor: ReFantazioshares a lot of similarities with the way things were handled in previous Atlus games, like Persona, but with some key changes to keep things fresh and interesting.
In Metaphor, players fight battles with the aid of their party members, who caneither be directly controlledor set to auto-battle mode. Where a character stands during a battle directly influences how much damage they can deal and how vulnerable they are to enemy attacks. This setting can be customized using Formations. Here is how they work.
How Do Battle Rows Work in Metaphor: ReFantazio
There aretwo rows during any battle: the front row and the back row. When it’s their turn, players can direct their controlled character to move to the front row or the back row; the buttons to press will be displayed on the bottom right corner of the screen.
Moving between rows when it’s a character’s turn does not consume any turn pointsor actions; this can be done freely and for no cost. During a character’s turn, you can direct them to move to the front or move to the back as many times as you want, but when they perform any action like using a melee attack, using an ability, or even a synthesis skill.
Formation of other squad members has no effect on the usage of Synthesis skills. Only the position of the character using the Synthesis skill matters.
The benefit of moving party members between rows is simple. A character who is in the front row will deal the maximum damage from melee attacks and skills and will take the full damage when targeted by enemies. A character who is in the back row, on the other hand, will deal reduced damage using melee attacks and skills but will also take reduced damage from enemy attacks.
How to Change Formations in Metaphor: ReFantazio
Formations allow players to preselect their squad’s battle row positions before a battle starts. The way to do it is simple. Open the pause menu and chooseParty. Here, you’re able to select each member and change their position to either the front row or the back row by using the Formation hotkeys displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen.
Keyboard/Mouse
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You can also quickly see what your current party formation is by looking at the character sprites on the right. Characters on the front row will be indicated by a red Front, and the ones in the back row will be indicated by a blue Back, as displayed in the screenshot above.
By default, all party members are stationed on the front row.
How to Use Formations Correctly in Metaphor: ReFantazio
Archetypes like Gunner, Healer, and Mage, who almost exclusively rely on ranged attacks to deal damage, will always want to position themselves in the back row to reduce how much damage they receive. Melee fighters like Brawler and Warrior, on the other hand, want to stay in the front row in order to deal the maximum amount of damage possible during their turns. However, that is not always something that’s set in stone. If a Knight is on low health, for example, and uses his Knight’s Proclamation skill to attract all attacks on himself, he should move to the back row beforehand because he isn’t doing damage in this turn, only drawing aggro. By moving to the back row, he’s essentially halving the damage he would receive in the following turn with no downsides.
Additionally,some powerful enemy attacks target entire rows instead of a single character,as seen in thefight against Homo Fulquilo. Often, these skills are preceded by a warning indicating where they will land. Moving all characters to a different row ensures that the skill will miss everyone.
Knowing when to move between rows is crucial knowledge to have to get the most out of your party, which is practically a requirementat higher difficulties. The value of a formation lies in creating a base template for a party to follow. But always remember that once a character takes an action, their position is fixed until it’s their turn to move again.
