Material (XC1)

Materials are common items in Xenoblade Chronicles. They are most often found by defeating enemies, though many can also be obtained via trading.

Materials come in two varieties: common and rare. The only difference between the two, aside from their menu icon, is what sorts of enemy chests they can be obtained from.
 * [[Image:Drop common.png|20px]] Common materials can be found in wood chests. They are generally the most likely thing to get from any single enemy. Some enemies (mostly s) do not carry any common materials.
 * [[Image:Drop rare.png|20px]] Rare materials can be found in wood chests, though less often than common ones. In addition, silver and gold chests always contain one rare material.

Many s are partially or fully completed by collecting an amount of certain materials. Once the condition is met (even if the materials were collected before the quest was received), the materials are consumed and the quest advances. Collecting certain materials will trigger a vision, which notifies the player that this material can be used for a future quest and thus should probably not be sold or dropped. Such materials are marked with a blue exclamation point until they are used in the quest. (This is the case even if the quest later becomes unavailable.)

Materials can be sold to s to gain. Doing so is a helpful source of income in the early part of the game, but later on it becomes much less than quest rewards. Materials can also be used in trading.

In the original Wii or New 3DS versions, the player's inventory can hold 150 different materials, stacked up to 99 of each. However, as there are over 400 materials, eventually some will have to be sold or discarded to make room for newer ones. This limitation was removed in the Definitive Edition, meaning that up to 99 of each material can be held at once. Not all materials have a purpose other than selling or trading.