Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition has a mechanic that’s similar to Materia in Final Fantasy VII. Gems provide some additional boosts to certain stats and even some incredibly useful effects on characters. Much like FFVII, you can equip them on your weapons and Armor. Learning how to work with Gems is one of the most essential aspects behind a good experience in XCDE.
What are Gems in Xenoblade Chronicles?
So, Gems are essentially mechanical bonuses that apply to weapons and equipment that allow them. They provide various increases in stats like Strength, HP, Physical Defense, and Agility. However, some of them can provide different effects such as Status Effect resistances! Yes, that means you can resist aggravating status effects such as Topple, Bind, and even Instant Death.
Gems can also provide attack modifications that allow the player to automatically put debuffs on enemies. For example, the Slow gem enables your auto attack to have a chance to inflict Slow on enemies. If you attract too many enemies to you, you can use a Spike gem to inflict damage on them as they attack you.
Some Gems can also have a field use as well. For example, the Quick-Step gem allows you to run faster through the field; The Aerial/Earth/Aquatic Cloak gems allow you to decrease the detection range of enemies, making slipping past overleveled bosses an easier task.
Overall, Gems are an essential tool for Xenoblade Chronicles players as they can provide needed buffs and stat increases.
How to Acquire Gems?
At this point, you might be asking: “Well, that’s great, but how can I get Gems for my equipment?” The answer to this question is quite simple. You can either have them given to you through Quests or the Collectopaedia rewards or craft them yourself.
The former is easily explained. Just explore the world around you and complete each of the categories of the Collectopaedia to get them as a reward. Completing certain categories can net you with some incredible Gems such as the Spike or EXP Up. Of course, clearing quests and raising your affinity with the regions will also net you some Gems as well.
You can also purchase Gems off the shops located in the various regions of the Bionis. Finally, you can acquire some through the Time Attack mode with the Noponstones currency. In fact, outside of the new Tephra Cave exploit, this is also a way to get Rank V Gems earlier than usual.
Of course, we also have the second method, which is crafting them by yourself.
Crafting
Using the Ether Furnace in Colony 9, you can combine Ether Crystals and Cylinders to craft your own Gems. You can find Crystals in the treasure chests dropped by enemies or in certain mining spots spread throughout the world.
Flame Types
During the crafting process, the party members will be using different flame types to boost the Gems’ stats. Strong Flames (Red color) raise the quality of one gem by a lot; Medium Flames (Blue color) raises the qualities of all Gems by a bit; Gentle Flames (Green color) raises the Cylinder Count (the bar on the left side of the chart).
Once the process of crafting is finished, if the quality of the Gem reaches a point beyond 100%, it becomes a Gem of that Rank. Reaching 200% allows it to reach a Heat status in which it becomes a higher Rank. Going even beyond that to 300% results in a Mega Heat where instead of one higher Rank Gem you get 2 at full strength.
Any other Gems that didn’t reach 100% can be turned into cylinders which can be used on the next crafting process. However, the number of cylinders you can create is limited to the cylinder count when the crafting process is finished. It’s often recommended to have high-value cylinders to reach Heat and Mega Heat easier.
Shooting and Engineering
When you craft crystals, two characters from the party will be part of the process. The first member serves the role of the Shooter while the second takes the role of the Engineer. The Shooters provide effects while Engineers provide unique qualities depending on the Flame type.
In the image above, Shulk is the Shooter while Reyn is the Engineer. Shulk’s effect allows him to go into a Fever (Where flame strength increases) easily while crafting. Reyn offers Great performance for Strong Flames, which makes them pop more often than usual. With this, I could reach Heat levels while crafting them, resulting in a Rank VI Gem.
Shooters and Engineers go through cycles while crafting. You can increase the number of cycles by increasing the affinity between characters. If you have other party members on standby with high-affinity levels, they will join in on the action and boost the stats of the Gems a little bit more.
As you can see, affinity plays a major role in some of the game’s mechanics. Don’t worry, we’ll describe Affinity a bit more in an upcoming article!
The Greatest Utility!
Using the Gems in Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition can actually provide you with a huge advantage against your enemies. Of course, more and more options become available to you as you increase your party affinity and complete quests. In fact, one quest rewards you with your very own Ether Furnace which lets you craft them whenever you want!
As mentioned in the Starting Guide, getting to know the world is essential to have a smooth adventure in Xenoblade Chronicles. It rewards you for being an explorer and helping as many people as possible.