Which presents will raise your Affinity the most in Xenoblade Chronicles?

With hundreds of gifts to choose from, it can be challenging to know whether a present will raise or lower each character's Affinity. If you choose wrong, you can even lower the Affinity between your party members. Fortunately, we here at iMore have everything you need to know about obtaining Collectibles and gifting presents in Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition.

What are presents?

Presents or Collectibles are items you will find all throughout the world of Bionis. These items will show up as glowing orbs and can be picked up by walking through them. While collectibles can be sold, their real value is in trading with the various NPCs you meet or gifting them from one member of your party to another to raise the Affinity between those two characters.

Trading

When you come across named NPCs, you will be given the option to trade, in addition to talking with them. Every NPC has different items they will trade with more added when you raise your Affinity. Trades are always one-to-one, and you have to have an item of greater value than the one you wish to trade for. There are hundreds of named NPCs, each with different times of day they are active and several different possible items to trade. Fortunately, you won't have to keep track of them.

1. Press X to open the Main Menu.

   

2. Using the left joystick or D-pad, scroll down to Affinity Chart.

3. Press A to select Affinity Chart.

   

4. Using the left joystick or D-pad, place the circle over the area you wish to check.

5. Press A to select the area.

   

6. Using the left joystick or D-pad, scroll down to the NPC you wish to know more about.

7. Press ZL for a character's profile.

   

8. Press ZR for a character's trade list.

   

Every named NPC you speak to will be added to the list, and will also appear on the Affinity Chart: Settlements. While the latter is useful for seeing connections between NPCs, the list is easier to navigate. In each character's profile, you will find their general location, more specific usual spot, and hours of activity, as well as less useful personal information. The trade list will have all the items they will trade at their current Affinity level. As you raise Affinity with NPCs, they will offer more items to trade.

How to exchange presents

Exchanging gifts between your party members is a great way to raise Affinity and the best use for all of those collectibles you've gathered.

1. Press X to open the Main Menu.

   

2. Using the left joystick or D-pad, scroll down to Affinity Chart.

3. Press A to select Affinity Chart.

   

4. Press A to select Affinity Chart: Party.

   

5. Press Y to Give Gift.

6. Using the left joystick or D-pad, place the circle over the character you want to give a present.

   

7. Press A to select the character who will give a present.

8. Using the left joystick, move the circle over the character you want to receive a present.

   

9. Press A to select the character who will receive a present.

10. Press A to select the gift.

    

11. You can also press Y to select categories, or change the way your collectibles are sorted. As you get further in the game, this will become more useful as there are hundreds of different items.

    

If your character liked the gift, there will be between one and four pink hearts. Likewise, if they did not like the gift, there will be between one and four black hearts. Once a character has received a gift, the hearts will appear next to that item in the list, so even if you do accidentally give someone a gift they don't like, you can avoid doing so again.

Collectibles

There eight types of collectibles: Vegetables, Fruit, Flowers, Animals, Bugs, Nature, Parts, and Strange. Although some characters have a preference or dislike of certain types (Shulk, for example dislikes vegetable,) each individual item has a different score for each of your playable characters. There will even be some in classes a character dislikes that still yield points. While collectibles are abundent, some are much easier to find than others, and some are necessary for quests. If you use up all of your existing stock of a rare collectible, it could take a significant amount of time finding them again.

Trade specific collectibles

While most collectibles can be found or traded for, a handful of items can only be gained by trading:

• Minute Mantis can only be obtained by trading with Sonia in Colony 9.
• Love Beetle can only be obtained by trading with Lupa in Frontier Village.
• Golden Cog can only be obrained by trading with Oleksiy in Colony 9 or Colony 6.
• Angel Engine Y can only be obtained by trading with Rakzet in the Junks of the Hidden Machina Village.
• Thunder Compass can only be obtained by trading with Jarack in Eryth Sea.
• Coin of Fortune can only be obtained by trading with Ma'crish in Colony 6.
• Love Source can only be obtained by trading with Jer'ell in Colony 6.

Of these, Love Source is the best gift you can give to any character. It earns 100 points across the board.

Questions?

Do you have any questions about Collectibles and gifting in Bionis? Drop us a comment below and be sure to check out our other guides on Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition so you can unlock the secrets of the Monado!