Eloquence is one of five Royal Virtues in Metaphor: ReFantazio. It’s also the hardest to come by (compared to Courage, Wisdom, Tolerance, and Imagination) because opportunities to do so are relatively limited. But not impossible!
In this Metaphor: ReFantazio guide, we’ll show you how to raise Eloquence, and explain what you get for the effort.
Unlocking the Royal Virtues
You naturally unlock the ability to check your royal virtues simply by playing the game. During the prologue, you will head into the mines with Grius and Strohl, and have an encounter with your favourite author, More.
From here, you can check your Royal Virtues while doing your thing in the overworld. As long as you’re not in a dungeon or cutscene, you can hit the button prompt at the bottom of the screen to see your crown grow into the role of ruler.
There are two things to note here: You don’t need to check this unless you’re trying to figure out the best way to spend your time on a given day. We recommend checking your Follower list to see if anyone has a black handshake icon next to them. Clicking this will usually say something along the lines of: “I don’t think [NAME] will talk to me with this level of Eloquence.” That’s usually your hint to hit the proverbial books.
You can also speak to them in the overworld, and see the virtue’s icon with a number next to it. This tells you the unlock condition required to move forward.
Second: Don’t worry, there’s no such thing as being too eloquent — once maxed out, any bonus Eloquence will automatically be converted into MAG to spend later on.
Below, we’ll detail the ways to increase your Eloquence.
Reading books
Your first chance to raise your Eloquence comes when you strike out of Grand Trad on your fancy new Gauntlet Runner. If you check the lounge, you will see a bookcase nestled in the back right corner.
As the game progresses and you add to your roster, new books will appear on its shelves. As it happens, Pride and Persuasion is one of the first books you automatically collect, and is ready as soon as you hit the road.
When moving between cities and dungeons, you can usually complete one action, such as talking to a party member and raising their friendship, cooking, cleaning, or reading a book.
Each book will take two or three sessions to read your way through it, with completion of the book netting you a huge and free bump in your virtue’s stats.
Debate practice
The quickest way to raise your Eloquence is unlocked shortly after the king’s contest begins. Head to the King’s Rock and look for the raised platform where you’d normally see a crier like Batlin in a cutscene.
During the Brilehaven section of the game, your fellow contenders for the throne will occasionally jump up on these and start preaching to the masses. These are fantastic opportunities for four reasons:
- Beating them in the debate raises your Eloquence…
- It also raises your Imagination…
- While giving you a 5,000 reeve cash reward…
- And who doesn’t love taking their enemies down a peg or two?
If you see someone on stage, save the game and then jump on stage to give the opponent a tongue-lashing.
You will be asked to choose a response to what the opponent is saying — unlike the Persona games that genuinely test your knowledge of everything from kanji to mathematical theories, the answer here is pretty obvious. Read back on the conversation log if you need to, but simply pick the answer that suits your character most.
If, for example, someone says something “Only the strong get to live in my society,” you say “I think everyone should be treated equally.”
If done correctly, Gallica will praise you for wiping the floor with your opponent. However, if she slumps and tells you you messed up, simply load the game and try again! Your reward is a huge stat boost, a couple of grand and the pride that comes with thrashing your enemies.
It’s also worth noting that if there’s nobody to debate against, you can still get up on stage and speak to your adoring masses; you just won’t get the imagination or cash bonus that comes with a full-on debate.
Learning from your friends
Reading books isn’t the only way to raise your eEoquence while riding the Gauntlet Runner. After you leave Brilehaven, you will unlock a new party member who is particularly eloquent.
When you stop the Gauntlet Runner for the night, you’ll have the opportunity to spend time with them on the deck, raising your Eloquence in the process.
Since this is one of the few recurring ways to increase your Eloquence outside of debates in town, you should prioritize it over the other virtues while traveling.
Seeing a show
If you’re in the end-game and haven’t maxed out your Eloquence, we strongly recommend seeing a show. From the end of September, Altabury’s Opera House puts on five propagandist plays for the Sanctist Church. Each will raise a given attribute for the princely sum of 1500 reeve.
In this case, you want to watch The Stripling and His Stewards — a story of a clever boy who sets off to eradicate some monsters. Listening to the boy’s skilful negotiations helps improve your Eloquence to the tune of seven points.
Perks of Eloquence
Is being a great person not enough of a perk? No? Fine. By maxing out your five royal virtues, you become “the heroic embodiment of heroes lost, [marking you] scion to a forgotten Hero King.”
More specifically, it unlocks the ability to unlock the ability to unlock the Heroic Embodiment for your other party members.
The other two unlock conditions are, of course, getting the party member to friendship rank 8, and then the daunting task of unlocking and leveling up the right Archetypes for each character. Good lord, that costs a lot of MAG…
As it happens, getting your party members to Rank 8 also hinges on your ability to raise your royal virtues to the max, with each requiring their own level. The final companion that joins your party will need Rank 5 Eloquence in order to become a Rank 8 Follower.
That’s everything you need to know about Eloquence in Metaphor: ReFantazio! For more, see our guides on how to unlock all Followers, Archetypes, and endings.
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