Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio director “tries not to be that conscious” of feedback, as “looking at reactions isn’t good for your mental health”
He stays off social media, too
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Katsura Hashino, the legendary director behind many of the bestPersonagames and JRPGMetaphor: ReFantaziosays he avoids delving too deep into negative feedback for the sake of his mental health.
Speaking alongsideSilent Hillcreator Keiichiro Toyama in a recent interview withFamitsu(translated byAutomaton), the lead developer explains how detrimental criticism and social media can be to wellbeing - a fact I’m certain we can all relate to. Although the online world has made it easier for devs to learn what players think of their games, Katsura “tries not to be that conscious” of feedback. He doesn’t avoid it altogether, however, “such as right after launch.”
“It’s not like I can adjust [the game] based on what I see,” describes Katsura. “When I need to look something up, I do it quickly in one go, because constantly looking at reactions isn’t good for your mental health.” When Toyama asks the Metaphor director whether he ever looks himself up, Katsura admits that he indeed doesn’t - nor does he engage with social media at all: “I don’t, and I don’t use social media either.”
Not only does the dev feel uncomfortable online, he also states that he doesn’t feel comfortable while attending in-person promotional events for his games, either. However, fellow director Toyama, who’s working on upcoming survival horror titleSlitterhead, says that he prefers to more actively listen to fan feedback so as to take any comments on board if he finds them useful.
New Metaphor: ReFantazio patch aims to resolve game-breaking progression bugs in the JRPG, with a PC release coming “at a later date”
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After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she’s not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she’s probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she’s spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur’s Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you’ll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.
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