How to control your party in Metaphor ReFantazio
Plus, how to unlock party control.
Controlling your party in Metaphor: ReFantazio will help you make decisions about how, when and what reactions your party members have during the many battles you face on your adventure.
In true Metaphor ReFantazio fashion, you need to put in a bit of work (aka a few hours of gameplay) before you reach the point you can even begin to think about this - but once you do unlock it, you can really start to play with your battle tactics and figure out which fighting formations work for you.
Without further ado, here's how to unlock party control and how to control your party in Metaphor ReFantazio.
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How to unlock party control in Metaphor ReFantazio
To unlock the ability to control your party in Metaphor ReFantazio you need to play through the main story until you visit Akademia again and create a bond with Gallica. When you leave here, and after a small bit of dialogue, you will be able to control your party. This took us roughly two hours of playtime to achieve on a 'normal' difficulty.
How to control your party in Metaphor ReFantazio
You can control your party in Metaphor ReFantazio both in the middle of a battle through on-screen commands or by visiting the 'Party' section in your main menu - however the latter only lets you change their formation and a few other key details. The main way you control your party's actions is through battle.
In Battle
When you're in the middle of a battle you can control your party through the commands prompted in the bottom left corner of the screen:
- Formation - Whether they're at the front or back attacking row
- Target - Which enemy their attacks are aimed at (if there are multiple enemies) or which part of a larger enemy they're attacking
- Status - A better view of the character's current stats
- Auto Battle - A hands-off mode where you trust your party to win the battle on their own
- Analyse - Just like in the overworld, this is Gallica's breakdown of an enemy
- Assist - This chooses your most powerful move in your set to attack an enemy's weakness
- Tactics/Escape - Can change the Auto Battle tactics here for the whole party or you can try to escape (though escapes aren't always possible)
During a battle you can control each party member's attacks when it's their turn, but keep in mind that all of these will use up one turn:
- Archetype - This lets you select one of their Archetype's special moves to use against enemies, be careful though as they use up MP
- Melee - A generic melee attack with the weapon the character is wielding, though sometimes this is highly effective
- Pass - This lets you skip this character's turn
- Guard - Lets the character guard for the next enemy attack
- Item - You can use an item from your inventory, such as Medicine, on yourself or a party member.
- Synthesis - You won't get this until further on in the story but this allows you to combine one characters Archetype with another's in your party to execute a powerful move.
In the bottom right corner of the battle screen you can keep an eye on your party's current HP and MP levels as well as their position. You can't control them from here but it's good to know how they're doing so you can make informed decisions when it comes time to control them, such as whether they need an MP boost.
Two more things that are worth paying attention to during a battle is the turn counter at the top of your screen, again this isn't a direct way to control your party but more of a way to inform how you decide to use the party to its best ability.
Also, if you find your current party controlling tactics aren't working you can 'Turn back the clock' to retry the battle from the beginning.
Main Menu
If you're outside of a battle you can still control your party in a way, though it's not as detailed as it is controlling them mid-battle.
To control your party via the main menu you need to enter the 'Party' option.
On here, you should be able to see your current party members. Select which member you want to edit/control and then you should be able to see various options appear in the bottom right corner of the screen.
You can move your party member's position to front or back, remember this effects how they perform in battle and what kind of damage they'll take/if they're a priority target for enemies. You can also change your party's overall tactics here for auto-battle too.
That's it for now! We hope you enjoy Metaphor ReFantazio.