While creating an entirely new fantasy world in Metaphor: ReFantazio, its developers supposedly looked to classic fantasy fiction for inspiration before quickly chucking all of that research out the window to pave their own path forward.
"At the very beginning of the development of Metaphor: ReFantazio, we looked into traditional fantasy culture," modern Persona director Katsura Hashino said in an interview with the Official Xbox Podcast, citing J.R.R. Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings book as a touchpoint. "We researched not just what traditional fantasy was, but why it was written the way it was, what inspired it to be written in the way it was. So we did a lot of research."
