The Collectopaedia in Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition is a great resource for explorers. Never has collecting in-game item drops been so fun and exhilarating! This game mechanic allows you to keep track of your collectible items. Once you complete certain rows, you’ll be rewarded with weapons, armor, or even gems!
So, to understand the Collectopaedia and its function, we’ll have to look at the items themselves.
Collectible Items
Xenoblade Chronicles has collectible items that appear randomly throughout the world. You may see them as small blue lights on the ground. You can also find these blue lights strewn around on climbable walls. However, this isn’t the only way you’ll be able to get the collectibles.
Indeed, you can get the elusive collectibles by trading with NPCs across the world. You can also find some of them in stores as well. As is to be expected, getting those elusive collectibles through NPC trading will not be so easy. Why? Because it requires your affinity with the region you’re in to be increased. That way, you’ll be able to get some of the rarer items.
Remember when we said in our Starting Guide that completing quests is important? This is the main reason why. Getting the affinity to a higher level requires you to complete multiple sidequests and talk with named NPCs as often as possible. Each region starts with one star in the Affinity chart and can go up to 5. So, make sure to be friends with everyone in the world on your journey!
The Collectopaedia
The Collectopaedia will have different collections for the different regions you’ll be visiting in Xenoblade Chronicles. As such, the collectibles you’ll find on Colony 9 will be in an entirely different category to those you find in Bionis’ Leg. Each category can have 3-6 types of items listed in the collection.
There are 8 different types of collectibles to find:
- Veg
- Fruit
- Animal
- Flower
- Nature
- Parts
- Animal
- Bug
- Strange
As mentioned before, these items will spawn at random on the map. However, certain locations within the region will have higher spawn rates for certain types of items than others. As such, exploration is important to get all of the items within the region. However, there’s also a factor of decisions that comes into play when it comes to collecting these elusive items.
To Collect or to Use
Some quests in Xenoblade Chronicles require you to actually use the items you’ll be collecting! In fact, the game does actually warn you about this in the form of visions of upcoming sidequests. The image pictured above shows one example of items that will be required at a later sidequest. So, you should take that into consideration when working on the Collectopaedia, as each entry takes 1 of the collected items to be fit into the category.
Another use of the items is to give them as presents between your party characters. This is done to increase their affinity. We’ll be going in-depth about Party and Regional affinity later on. For now, just keep the fact that you’ll be using the collectibles you come across in mind. When completing the Collectopaedia, you’ll have to ask yourself if you really need that or if you can spare one to fill the chart.
Reaping the Rewards!
Each time you complete a row of item types in the Collectopaedia, you’ll be rewarded with predetermined items. For example, completing the Veg row from the Colony 9 collection will net you a Quick Step III Gem.
You can pretty much get some great items ahead of time by just being a good explorer. However, you also get an additional reward for completing the entirety of the category in question. For example, you’re given the White Cluster weapon for completing the Bionis’ Leg category.
Completing the Collectopaedia is a very optional task. However, there are some great rewards for the players that go above and beyond. Of course, as the game progresses, the collectibles required for the Collectopaedia will become harder to find. Not only that, one category is purely focused on highly rare tradeable items. Better hope your affinity with the regions is in order by then!
The Deep and Optional Collectopaedia
As you can see, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition offers a lot of rewards for explorer players. With the Collectopaedia, players that go above and beyond will often get some essential items that will aid them in their quest. However, this is just one of the many gameplay systems and mechanics that will help you out in your journey.
Do you want to start your own collection? Well, the Xenoblade Chronicles wiki has an understandable guide for all of the Categories in the Collectopaedia. You can click here to see where the items appear in the regions you’ll explore. Mind you, there are some minor spoilers about future regions. So, keep this in mind.
In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy #XenobladeMonth.