It is bizarre for 2024 to have not one, but two major, Japanese role-playing games with the same exact theme involving a contest to determine the next king. Despite not being the most common story premise around, both Metaphor: ReFantazio and FFXIV Dawntrail feature the same idea and launched within months of each other. So, when it comes to Metaphor: ReFantazio vs FFXIV Dawntrail, which ultimately does the concept of a contest for the throne better?

To determine a winner, if there is any, it is worth diving deeper into the good and bad sides of both games in terms of just the throne contest. For Metaphor: ReFantazio, specifically, the key positives I took away from this monumental new Atlus JRPG regarding the contest is the grand scope of it all and the actual characters.

The Kingdom of Euchronia feels massive and like an actual kingdom that the player explores across. I will say there is some awkwardness to the game, such as feeling like the exploration loses a bit of its wonder in the second half, but it makes up for that with the unbelievable number of contestants.

You start out with a popularity ranking of more than 8,000 and there is a substantial number of candidates with dedicated portraits. I will say I wish there was more focus on some of the characters because they ended up feeling useless. Characters like Milo and Loveless are just there and had little influence on the actual contest, at least in my playthrough.

By far my biggest issue with this contest is the direction it goes in. I won't go into spoilers here but it has more of a whimper of an ending in my opinion than it deserved. Furthermore, the actual activities that make up the contest, such as the core tests, are pretty underbaked. Outside of the first test where players visit Martira, I had no interest in the pretty basic and unsurprising, highly repetitive activities.

Then there is the contest for FFXIV Dawntrail. Despite also taking place across an entire continent, it feels far more personal. It lacks the grandeur of its competitor but it makes up for that in other ways. For one, while I am not a huge fan of the smaller cast of candidates, I do feel like proper attention was given to all of them in equal enough measure.

In addition, the actual activities are far more intriguing and numerous as well. You spend time cooking a dish for one tribe, taking down a legendary beast in another, or learning about the lore of the society in still more. Despite the focus Metaphor has on its tribes and racism, I honestly think Dawntrail did a finer job of getting to know each group in Tural. In addition, the areas are just generally more beautiful and fun to visit, such as the gorgeous jungles in Kozama'uka and the stunning glowing forest of Yak T'el.

That said, the characters aren't arguably as intriguing as the ones in Metaphor. Though they get more attention, they don't have as much of an 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 contest in question. As such, the contest left a bitter taste in my mouth. It felt a little too plain, simple, and predictable, especially in its conclusion.

In the end, it is quite difficult to say which of Metaphor: ReFantazio vs. FFXIV Dawntrail has the overall better throne succession storyline. Both are solid games and they both have their positives that are, quite frankly, the opposite of one another but they also have their flaws almost equally so.

If you want the grand spectacle of it all, Metaphor is the way to go. If you prefer a true adventure that feels more personal and emotional at times, Dawntrail is likely the place to be. However, if I had to pick one overall winner, I would go with Metaphor. I think I prefer Dawntrail's contest conclusion but Metaphor makes the contest a grander focus.

Dawntrail's throne storyline is essentially half or around 60% of the actual plot and the best part of this expansion is what comes afterwards. On the other hand, Metaphor is at its strongest in the earlier parts of the throne contest and it focuses more on this aspect a bit better in my opinion. Plus, the neat features like being able to check your popularity ranking at any point makes it feel like a more legitimate tournament. As such, I would say Metaphor takes the crown in this strangely coincidental situation.