PSA: Don’t ignore Metaphor ReFantazio’s purification, the RPG’s low-key best feature

There’s a lot going on in Atlus’ latest RPG, but Metaphor ReFantazio’s purification system is low-key its most important feature

Atlus/GLHF

There’s a lot going on in Atlus’ latest RPG, but Metaphor ReFantazio’s purification system is low-key its most important feature – and one you can easily ignore for a long time. The more observant among you might recall seeing a descriptor in a weapon or, less common early in Metaphor, a piece of armor that tells you a church can purify this piece of equipment, which sounds easy – but there’s a catch.

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Churches are easy to find in Metaphor’s big cities, but they don’t like you, since Elda just existing is a challenge to Sanctist doctrine. A priest will reluctantly agree to purify your gear, but only once your Wisdom reaches level two, Informed. Our guide for the best way to raise your Royal Virtues lays out how you can reach that point quickly, and the added bonus of reaching Informed Wisdom status is that you can also start Brigitta’s Follower relationship.

Anyway, after you fork over your Blessed Water and the item you want purified, the equipment takes on a new form. Purification increases the item’s base stats, but it will often also add a new feature to it, such as imbuing it with a specific element, making the wearer more likely to dodge a certain kind of damage, or, in the case of Merchant abacus weapons, reduce or increase how much your money skills cost to cast.

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Purifying weapons and armor might come with some drawbacks. For example, purifying Dragon’s Indignation adds a fire element to it, which makes it useless against enemies resistant to fire. However, even if it does require some extra planning to implement well, purified equipment has much more to offer than the base version. Just be sure to spend your Blessed Water and Graced Water carefully. Blessed Water is comparatively easy to find, but Graced Water is rarer.