Hidden JRPG super-bosses are at this point a genre tradition, making players test their mettle after conquering every other challenge in the game. But even in a crowded field, Atlus' end-game super-bosses always stood out as particularly tough, from Persona 5 Royal's Lavenza to Shin Megami 5: Vengeance's openly unfair Demi Fiend. So perhaps Metaphor: ReFantazio's biggest surprise was that its secret bosses didn't make me want to pull my hair out, but the JRPG's lead battle planner Kenichi Goto says they weren't intentionally easier at all.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ at the Game Developer's Conference 2025, Goto explained that the journey of "levelling up and strategic planning" in order to take on an optional boss is "one of the most appealing aspects of the RPG genre" - you're essentially preparing to make an impossible fight possible, and it's why the "concept is implemented not only in Atlus games but also in numerous RPGs."
