Metaphor ReFantazio has fourteen characters to bond with, and having them around makes the journey fun and memorable. Unlocking them requires you to complete a side quest or interact with them at a specific location. In addition, they also bring helpful skills and passive boosts to the team and the protagonist. One of the characters that you will get an opportunity to bring aboard your team is Maria. In this guide, we have put up all the details on how to unlock Maria and increase your bond with her in Metaphor ReFantazio.
Maria Overview
Here are Maria’s basic details you will find very useful when you bring her to the party. The healer class never disappoints when you are up against a tough boss that can do massive damage to wipe out the health of your squad.
Start Date: 6/10
Archetype Lineage: Healer
Unlock Quest: None
Location: Honeybee Inn, Grand Trad
Bond Requirements: Tolerance Rank 2 and Tolerance Rank 4.
How To Unlock Maria In Metaphor ReFantazio
Spending some time with Maria on your first visit to Honeybee Inn will unlock her as a team member in Metaphor ReFantazio.
Unlike most of the Bonds in Metaphor ReFantazio, Maria is one of the characters that unlocks just by talking to her. After you read with her on 6/10 in Hushed Honeybee Inn, just talk to Maria downstairs to start the first bond level. There are no quests you have to complete to unlock the character. Since Maria is part of the main quest line, you will unlock her while doing the main story content.
Maria Bond Guide
While unlocking Maria in Metaphor ReFantazio will be easier, activating all of her abilities will take some time. Her bond conditions do require us to be better at Tolerance. We will need our Tolerance Rank to be at 2 and 4 to unlock later abilities. We will also need to hand Neura’s drawings to her, as she will then hang the drawings on the walls in Honeybee Inn. Here is a bond guide for Maria and you will also find information on what exactly you need to do to unlock her abilities.
| Rank Level | Unlock Conditions | First Ability | Second Ability |
| Rank 1 | Progression in the Main Questline (Automatic from 6/10) | Healer Archetype – The party can now study the Healer. | – |
| Rank 2 | * Tolerance Rank 2 * Complete Promising Returns Speak to Maria during the day on 6/29 * Give Tree of Prophecy drawing | Healer Enlightenment – Decreases the MAG cost to study Healer Lineage. | – |
| Rank 3 | * Speak to Maria during the day on 7/5 *Give Midnight Sunsands drawing | Healer Archetype: (Adept) – unlocks Cleric to study | Scion’s Skill: Skill inheritance slots for the Healer raise to 2. |
| Rank 4 | After the events of Kriegante Castle in Martira, talk to Maria during the daytime. | Purpose: Increases Experience. | Speed Cooking: Prevents time from passing when cooking in the Gauntlet Runner |
| Rank 5 | * Talk to Maria during the daytime after a full day. * Give City Ruins drawing | Healer Veneration– Decreases MAG cost to study | – |
| Rank 6 | * Speak to Maria during the day on 7/23 * Give Peregrine Falls drawing | Scion’s Merit: Skill inheritance slots for the Healer raise to 3. | – |
| Rank 7 | * Tolerance Rank 4 Speak to Maria during the daytime from 9/13 | Burning Purpose–Raises Experience. | Chef’s Chops: Ability to create an additional dish when working with a Gauntlet Runner. |
| Rank 8 | Talk to Maria during the daytime after a full day. | Healer Archetype: (Elite) – Saviour Open for Study. | Scion’s Essence: Skill inheritance slots for the Healer raise to 4. |
Why Should You Raise Maria’s Bond Level?
Two things: Experience points and Cooking.
Having Maria will help you gain more experience, which is always what you need in an RPG. Once you get to Rank 4 Maria, her ability and Purpose will help you immensely in the squad battles. In the second phase, once you add Burning Purpose, you are just adding fuel to the fire here, as now you will gain more EXP from the squad battles.
If you love Cooking in the game, you will fall in love with her, as she will allow us to cook dishes with rare ingredients. After one dish is out, we can put another one for free, no cost attached. We will also get a bonus XP from cooking.
In an RPG, you want to hit a higher level to deal more damage and get the best gear in the game. Without Maria’s abilities active, it’s going to take a long time to level up. And it doesn’t take much, you just need to talk to her to get her rank up. Once you have the Tolerance level up to 6 or 7, you will have Maria’s abilities to help you ease your journey.
Another character to unlock and work on increasing your bond level is Catherina, and we have put up a guide on that as well for you to go check out. Getting different characters on your team will help you prepare better for bounty quests and boss fights like the one here on how to defeat Grotesque Guptauros.
