It’s strange that 2024 has not one but two major Japanese role-playing games with the same theme involving a contest to determine the next king. Although not the most common story premise, both Metaphor: ReFantazio And Dawn Trail FFXIV had the same idea and launched a few months apart. So when it comes to Metaphor: ReFantazio vs Dawn Trail FFXIVIn the end, which concept of competing for the throne is better?
To determine a winner, if there is one, it is necessary to delve deeper into the good and bad of both games in terms of competing for the throne alone. Because Metaphor: ReFantazioIn particular, the main positives I took away from this epic new Atlus JRPG regarding the competition were the vast scope of it all and the realistic characters.
The kingdom of Euchronia feels vast and like a real kingdom for players to explore. I will say that the game has some awkward things, such as feeling like the exploration loses a bit of its magic in the second half, but it makes up for that with the unbelievable number of contestants.
You start with a popularity ranking of over 8,000 and have a significant number of candidates with dedicated headshots. I will say that I wish there was more focus on some of the characters because they end up feeling useless. Characters like Milo and Loveless are just there and have little impact on the actual competition, at least in my gameplay.
By far my biggest problem with this contest is its direction. I won’t go into spoilers here but in my opinion it had more of a whimper for an ending than it deserved. Furthermore, the actual activities that make up the competition, such as the core tests, are quite rudimentary. Aside from the first test where the player visits Martira, I wasn’t interested in the activities which are quite basic and, unsurprisingly, highly repetitive.
Advantages and disadvantages of FFXIV’s Dawntrail Throne contest
Then there’s the competition for Dawn Trail FFXIV. While it also takes place across an entire continent, it feels much more personal. It lacks the grandeur of its competitors but it makes up for it in other ways. First, while I’m not a huge fan of the smaller pool of candidates, I feel like they all get the right amount of attention to the same degree.
In addition, practical activities are also much more attractive and rich. You spend your time cooking a dish for one tribe, slaying a legendary beast in another tribe, or learning about the lore of the society in many other tribes. Regardless of concentration Metaphor has to do with tribes and racism, I honestly think Dawn trail did a better job of getting to know each group in Tural. Additionally, these areas are generally more beautiful and more interesting to visit, such as the beautiful forests of Kozama’uka and the beautiful glowing forest of Yak T’el.
That said, the characters are arguably not as compelling as those in Metaphor. Even though they get more attention, they don’t have as much impact or interesting writing. At least that is until the second half of the expansion, but that has nothing to do with the actual succession struggle in question. So the competition left a bitter taste in my mouth. It seems a bit too obvious, simple and predictable, especially in its ending.
In the end, it’s hard to say which one is which Metaphor: ReFantazio vs Dawn Trail FFXIV has a better overall throne succession plot. Both are solid games and both have their positives, quite frankly opposing each other but they also have almost equal flaws.
If you want the grand spectacle of it all, Metaphor is the way to go. If you like a real adventure that sometimes feels more personal and emotional, Dawn trail most likely that place. However, if I had to pick an overall winner, I would Metaphor. I think I like it by Dawntrail Concluding the contest but Metaphor makes the competition more focused.
by Dawntrail The throne plot is basically half or about 60% of the actual plot and the best part of this expansion is what happens after that. On the other hand, Metaphor was strongest in the previous parts of the struggle for the throne and in my opinion it focuses more on this aspect a little better. Plus, convenient features like being able to check your popularity ranking at any time make this feel like a more legitimate tournament. So, I will say Metaphor won the crown in this strangely coincidental situation.
Metaphor: ReFantazio currently available for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and computer. Dawn Trail FFXIV available for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and computer.
